Do you remember the bipartisan consensus on SOPA/PIPA? "This bill, COICA, was introduced on September 20, 2010, a Monday. And in the press release heralding th

Do you remember the bipartisan consensus on SOPA/PIPA? "This bill, COICA, was introduced on September 20, 2010, a Monday. And in the press release heralding the introduction of this bill, way at the bottom, it said it was scheduled for a vote on September 23 — just three days later. And while of course there had to be a vote — you can't pass a bill without a vote — the results of that vote were a foregone conclusion. Because if you looked at the introduction of the law, it wasn't just introduced by one, rogue, eccentric member of Congress. It was introduced by the chair of the committee — and co-sponsored by nearly all the other members — Republicans and Democrats. So there would be a vote, but it wouldn't be much of a surprise, because nearly everyone who was voting had signed their name to the bill — before it was even introduced. I can't stress enough how unusual this is. This is emphatically not how Congress works. I'm not talking about how Congress should work, the way you see on Schoolhouse Rock. I mean the way it really works. I think we all know that Congress is a dead zone of deadlock and dysfunction. There are months of debates and horse-trading and hearings and stall tactics. ... Whoever was behind this was good." https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jwherrman/how-aaron-swartz-joined-the-fight-against-sopa https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jwherrman/how-aaron-swa... (excerpt from talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqriFtr2k-k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqriFtr2k-k -- FWIW the lobbyist behind sopa/pipa was Chris Dodd, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Dodd#Motion_Picture_Association_of_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Dodd#Motion_Picture_Asso...)