US justice department sues California over new net neutrality law

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Jeff Sessions said in a statement that “states do not regulate interstate commerce – the federal government does”

Sessions’ point is accurate, but almost totally irrelevant to the law. While internet content providers (like Google or Twitter or even me) operate interstate and internationally, intent access providers (like Time-Warner and Comcast), while they may be giant international companies, operate locally as access providers, and frequently have virtual monopolies.

In reality, the California law probably doesn’t go far enough. Since Comcast and Time-Warner also provide internet content, they should probably be forbidden from controlling access at all, just as Microsoft was once forbidden to make their browser a critical component of Windows. Without net neutrality, Time-Warner or Comcast can, in theory, provide decent access speed only to their own content and block or stall everything else. While Time-Warner has been relatively transparent and fair so far (with some exceptions), Comcast has been caught many times blocking unfriendly content, and then lying about it.

Cubs lose! Cubs lose!

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The guys in my golf league thought I was nuts about a month ago when I believed the Brewers could catch the Cubs and win the division. Well, to be honest, I’m not sure I really believed it either, but somehow I was right. They won today to clinch the division, having won 28 times in their last 38 games, including eleven wins in the last thirteen games.

Although their success was a team effort, it’s worth noting that Christian Yelich batted .488 in those last thirteen games. By the way, Yelich got three hits and knocked in the first Brewer run today, but had no homers and no additional RBI, so his triple crown chase came up a hair short.

The Brewers starter, Jhoulys Chacin, held the powerful Cubs to a single hit on their home turf at the “friendly confines.” Chacin is a true journeyman in the literal sense of the word – five teams in the last five years – but Milwaukee seems to agree with him. He went 15-8, marking his only 15-win season in ten years in the majors.

By amassing the best record in the league, the Brewers have also clinched the home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.