Creating a public option for the internet

1. Socialized internet President Obama is calling for the Federal Communications Commission to overturn state laws that hamper municipal broadband. [Vox / Tim Lee] "Municipal broadband" just means cities and towns providing high-speed internet access, usually via fiber. [Vox / Tim Lee] You can think of it as a public option for the internet. [Vox / Ezra Klein and Susan Crawford] Chattanooga, Tennessee and Lafayette, Louisiana have municipal fiber systems and boast some of the fastest internet connections in the world (at lower cost than many other cities). [Vox / Matt Yglesias] But the cable industry has succeeded in getting laws passed in 19 states, limiting the practice in various ways. [Washington Post / Brian Fung] Critics argue that municipal broadband represents unfair government interference in private markets. [Technology Liberation Front / Braden Cox] FCC chair Tom Wheeler has suggested that he's open to the idea of blocking the state laws. [Ars Technica / Jon Brodkin] Last summer, the House voted to take away his power to do that. But that has no chance of making it past Obama. [The Hill / Cristina Marcos and Kate Tummarello] 2. Misc. The case for having the government buy up lots of stocks and distibute the proceeds to everyone as checks, no strings attached. [Project Syndicate / Dani Rodrik] A 15th century church in Milan uses an optical illusion to look much bigger on the inside than it actually is. [Atlas Obscura / Stane] Let us now praise Kaitlin Olson, the most underrated comedic actor on TV. [Slate / Mark Peters] Poor kids in Denmark get 2.6 times as much money from the government as poor kids in America do. [Demos / Matt Bruenig] The Fed's impending rate hike is like deficit reduction: everyone in DC wants it, even when it would probably hurt the economy. [Jared Bernstein] 3. Verbatim "Abbi and Ilana on the show allow us, the businesswomen, writers, and creators, to make mistakes and think they are funny, rather than flog ourselves." [Ilana Glazer to Vox / Kelsey McKinney] "It's not everyone who can write about modern art or Dionysus who has a PhD in mathematics from MIT." [Ian Malcolm to New Republic / Jeet Heer] "You start with the concept that force-feeding is not a nice thing to do." [John Burton to Eater / Wyatt Williams] "After all these years under state protection, I almost feel guilty for still being alive." [The Guardian / Roberto Saviano] "Carry bolt cutters everywhere." [Werner Herzog via Jason Kottke] Read the latest Vox Sentences here!

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