Since he was first elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2010, Scott Wiener has proven to be a highly effective legislator, passing bills regulating the environment, housing protections, and the LGBT community. Now, as San Francisco's representative in the ...read more
Last month, California State Senator Scott Wiener introduced bill SB-822, which would extend net neutrality protections throughout the state and strike a major blow to the FCC and its chairman, Ajit Pai. Today, the bill received a hearing from the State's Energy, Utilities, and ...read more
Since repealing net neutrality last December, the FCC has faced significant pushback. In the federal government, Senators have introduced a resolution to overturn the decision. The governments of Montana, New York, and Hawaii have passed laws protecting consumers from ISPs that ...read more
Fresh off of Moonlight's stunning Best Picture win, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences might unveil another group of all-white acting nominees this January, and only nominate films made by white filmmakers. To do this would be a huge step backwards for the Academy, ...read more
The Banter Long Read: Icarus, Bryan Fogel's new documentary out on Netflix, is a compelling look inside an aspect of Putin's Russia that's gotten a bit lost in the shuffle amidst all the news coming out about their election meddling: their history of using Performance Enhancing ...read more
In this issue of Banter M: The Catholic Church and Me - Ben Cohen describes his new and complex relationship with the Catholic Church, and what Netflix's shocking documentary 'The Keepers' means for him on a personal level. Trump's Embarrassing NATO Speech Represents More ...read more
This article was originally published in Banter M, our digital mag for members. While roughly halfway through the Netflix documentary series sensation ‘Making a Murderer’, it dawned on me that I was not watching an intellectually honest work of objective film making. I was in ...read more
Back in 2012, I interviewed Jake Caputo, a web designer who had a novel idea for how to convince HBO to launch a standalone subscription service that didn’t require a cable package. Instead of simply voicing his wishes, he created a website called TakeMyMoneyHBO.com. It provided ...read more
If you've ever worked in the television industry or been around people who do, you should be under no illusions as to how real 'Reality TV' is. Even if you haven't, watching five minutes of any modern reality show should let you know that it has nothing to do with reality and ...read more
The capture of alleged Benghazi attack ringleader Ahmed abu Khattala this week has demonstrated, once again, the enduring potency of Obama Derangement Syndrome, but it was on MSNBC's Melissa Harris Perry show Saturday morning that the condition reached new heights of ...read more
Happy Friday. Here's what's going on in the world -- or at least on the internet -- that you can use to pass the time until you get to start your weekend. 1. All the talent that NBC has unceremoniously dumped over the years that's actually been, you know, talented and somehow ...read more
Happy Tuesday; we've got a long way left to go. Here's what's happening on the interweb: 1. Syria War Stirs New U.S. Debate on Cyberattacks The Obama administration has been engaged in a largely secret debate about whether cyberarms should be used like ordinary weapons, ...read more
It was reported that in the wake of new net neutrality laws, Netflix has agreed to pay Comcast to ensure that its movies and TV shows stream more quickly . Now I already spent a few hundred words last week discussing how Netflix not only climbed out of a grave, but has thrived ...read more
This past Valentine’s Day, more than a few couples decided that in lieu of fancy dinners and romantic trysts they would spend night at home and maybe order food in instead. And this wasn’t because people have developed a newfound appreciation for intimacy and this wasn’t ...read more
Welcome back to Monday. Hope you've recovered from yesterday's beer-fest and are ready for the new work week. Lord knows some of us aren't. Here are a couple of morning headlines and goodies from around the internet. 1. Ball Busters So, a real shocker in yesterday's Super Bowl. ...read more
Whenever I don’t know a lot about something/I need a creative way to talk about a certain topic, I decide to interview everyone’s favorite search engine, Google. In the past, Google has learned me up on things like Terry Richardson’s perverseness and the “God Drug” DMT, but ...read more
The holiday season is officially over and that means that if you have a job there's a pretty good chance you're back at it today. Here's what's going on in the world as well as some other assorted reading material to soften the blow. 1. I'm With Against Stupid Grab the popcorn. ...read more
Welcome to this week's edition of The Daily Banter mailbag, where Bob Cesca, Ben Cohen and Chez Pazienza answer reader's mail as best we can! Today we discuss meaningful movies, whether Glenn Greenwald has a personality disorder and the effect Angelina Jolie has on the ...read more
