Morning Media Summary

Tech:

FCC’s net neutrality plan faces growing chorus of bipartisan opposition:
“As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prepares to vote next week on a set of rules that will give the federal government the power to regulate news and information content online, members of Congress are stepping up their opposition. The takeaway? Almost everyone opposes what has been termed “net neutrality” except, as the December 21 vote is expected to show, the majority of the FCC’s five commissioners.”

Google Lets You Dumb Down Your Search Results With “Reading Level” Filter:
“Google has added a new advanced search filter named “reading level” to the advanced search page. I reported this at the Search Engine Roundtable after spotting a thread at the Google Web Search Help forum where a Google Web Search product manager somewhat announced this feature.”

Global Warming / Environment / Energy:

Go Green, KILL PEOPLE! (Crowder Visits Mexico):
Video

Insurance / Gambling:

Judge Questions Online Gambling Prosecutions At Dikshit Hearing:
“Judge Jed Rakoff called into question US prosecutors on Thursday at the sentencing of former PartyGaming co-founder Anurag Dikshit. The admitted felon received no jail time in a case that has spanned several years and led to many questions about online poker laws in the US.”

Health / Safety:

First HIV ‘cure’ comes with a very big catch:
“In a rare victory against AIDS, German scientists say that three years after a unique stem cell transplant was tried on a patient, “cure of HIV has been achieved in this” man. This is the first time anyone has been pronounced cured of the disease. But as New Scientist notes, their radical therapy strategy offers no hope for the tens of millions of people around the world with the lethal virus.”

Economics:

Ron Paul Appears Poised to Irk the Fed Chief:
“A congressman from Texas, long a dissident critic of the Federal Reserve, is scheduled to become the chairman of a House panel with jurisdiction over the central bank. It promises to be a miserable time for the Fed chairman as he is peppered with hostile questions at oversight hearings and with legislation to force complete audits of Fed operations.”

Where is the Democratic pro-growth message?:
“Two Democrats take a look today at the electoral catastrophe of the midterms and ask a good question of their compatriots. Jay Eisenhofer serves on the DSCC Majority Trust and Richard Schiffrin chaired Hillary Clinton’s finance committee in Pennsylvania, and partner on an essay at AOL’s Politics Daily that warns their party that they have lost the mainstream of political thought by focusing on redistributive policies and social engineering to impose their concept of fairness on Americans. If the party doesn’t rethink its policy and public-relations approach, it risks long-term marginalization:”

Senate Dem leader drops nearly $1.3T spending bill:
“After wrestling with – and finally abandoning – a 1,900-page catch-all spending bill stuffed with more than $8 billion in home-state projects known as earmarks in Washington and pork in the rest of the country, Senate leaders need to come up with a measure to keep the federal government running into early next year.”

Bill preventing big tax hikes heads to Obama:
“A massive bipartisan tax package preventing a big New Year’s Day tax hike for millions of Americans is on its way to President Barack Obama for his signature.”

Food prices rise sharply – and there’s more to come:
“For the first time since 2008, inflation is hitting consumers in the stomach.”

Legal:

Pro-WikiLeaks hackers may be hard for U.S. to pursue:
“Attorney General Eric Holder said last week he was “looking into” it but there are enormous challenges finding, moving, investigating and finally convicting those the United States might accuse.”

House GOP may require constitutional test for all new legislation:
“Insofar as this sort of thing might encourage the public to think more critically about constitutional limits on government, I like it. Insofar as it’s aimed at reining in Democratic legislative excess … I don’t get it.”

Court Rebuffs Obama on Warrantless Cell-Site Tracking:
“A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected the Obama administration’s contention that the government is never required to get a court warrant to obtain cell-site information that mobile-phone carriers retain on their customers.”

Labor:

Judge: Kaiser Withheld Wages, Benefits From Workers Who Left SEIU:
“An administrative law judge recently ruled that Kaiser Permanente violated federal labor regulations by withholding scheduled raises and other benefits from 2,300 workers in Southern California who voted to leave the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West earlier this year, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.”

Transportation/ Land Use:

Dems: High-speed train refusal could cost taxpayers:
“Two Democratic state lawmakers are asking Gov.-elect Scott Walker to explain how he’ll pay for certain train-related expenses after the Republican refused federal funds that would have covered them.”