End of net neutrality

Image: darkness brought to you by the opponents of net neutrality.

Today the U.S. Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality: http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/14/politics/net-neutrality-latest/index.html .

An editorial in The Guardian on December 13, 2017 explains the situation:

“Net neutrality is a rule against censorship and manipulation. It means that if you are a broadband provider, like AT&T, Verizon or Google Fiber, you cannot discriminate in favor of or against any of your customers. You aren’t allowed to carry the content or data of one website or video provider at one price and the content or data of another website or video provider at a different price. You can’t censor, throttle, or slow the carrying of data for any but technical reasons.

“With net neutrality in place, whether you are a newspaper, a blogger discussing sexual assault, a video provider, or someone filming a public official at a town hall, Verizon or AT&T can’t slow or block your ability to put your content online and speak. Without it, they effectively can.”

Excerpt from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/13/net-neutrality-corporate-power-monopolies-ajit-pai . Click on the link to learn more.

More here: http://www.businessinsider.com/fcc-to-vote-on-net-neutrality-repeal-2017-12 .

And more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/13/opinions/importance-net-neutrality-opinion-baker/index.html .

 

 

 

Peter F. Drucker’s first book

Drucker’s first book was published in 1939.

“The End of Economic Man traced the rise of the Nazis in the aftermath of the Great War and Depression.

“’These catastrophes broke through the everyday routine which makes men accept existing forms, institutions and tenets as unalterable laws,’ Drucker wrote. ‘They suddenly exposed the vacuum behind the façade of society.’ Looking for a miracle, he added, the masses turned toward the ‘abracadabra of fascism.’

“Drucker was determined never to let things break down like that again. And the only way to do that was to build effective and responsible institutions, including those that by the 1940s were emerging to be the most powerful in the world: big American corporations. Management, practiced well, was Drucker’s bulwark against evil.

“…Drucker displayed incredible powers of observation—to ‘look out the window and see what’s visible but not yet seen,’ as he put it. In fact, he discerned many of the major trends of the 20th century before almost anyone else did: the Hitler-Stalin pact, Japan’s impending rise to economic power…”

Excerpts from http://www.drucker.institute/about-peter-f-drucker/ . Click on the link to learn more.

Although not in southern California in 1939, he arrived in 1971 upon joining Claremont Graduate University.

L. A. stocks reach new highs

Image from California Digital Newspaper Collection https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SBS19390713.1.20&e=——-en–20–61–txt-txIN-1939+Claremont——-1 .

Ontario gas station

Image: undated but appears to be circa 1939 based on the motor vehicles; courtesy Ovitt Community Library Model Colony Room, Ontario, California

“[Conrad] Stroh — “Connie” to everyone who knew him — operated one of the smaller gasoline stations anywhere at the northwest corner of Euclid Avenue and Transit Street from 1931 to 1947. He had two pumps, did oil changes, and had a small one-man building, probably to keep him dry or out of the hot sun.”

“The tiny station was a short block below Holt Avenue (then A Street) and the popular Ford Lunch. Folks driving from Los Angeles to Palm Springs filled up at the restaurant and Stroh’s station.”

Excerpts from Joe Blackstone Daily Bulletin history column at http://www.dailybulletin.com/lifestyle/20170626/how-an-ontario-man-made-a-tiny-gas-station-a-big-success .