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Adapted from an article by Jon Brodkin, Aug 12, 2020 | Original Ars Technica here.

The Ninth Circuit, Surprisingly, Upholds Significant FCC Overreach Into Municipal Rules

The Federal Communications Commission has defeated dozens of cities in court on many issues, with judges ruling that the FCC can preempt local fees and regulations imposed on wireless carriers deploying 5G networks. The ruling is good news for AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

Read the Aug 12, 2020 Ruling yourself.

The FCC voted to limit the fees that cities and towns in September 2018 could charge, saying the move would prevent local governments from charging wireless carriers about $2 billion worth of fees over five years related to deployment of wireless equipment such as small cells. That’s less than 1 percent of the estimated $275 billion that the FCC said carriers would have to spend to deploy Densified 4G/5G small cells throughout the United States. This is a forced subsidy from local governments to private Wireless Cos. that could still be challenged in Court on a case-by-case basis.

Cities promptly sued the FCC, but a ruling issued yesterday by the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit went mostly in the FCC’s favor. It wasn’t a complete victory for the FCC, though, as judges overturned a portion of the FCC ruling that limited the kinds of aesthetic requirements cities and towns can impose on carrier deployments.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said wrote:

"The court rightly affirmed the FCC’s efforts to ensure that infrastructure deployment critical to Densified 4G/5G . . . is not impeded by exorbitant fees imposed by state and local governments, undue delays in local permitting, and unreasonable barriers to pole access."

On the losing side of this part of the Order were localities including Portland, Oregon; San Francisco; New York City; Los Angeles; Boston; Chicago; Washington, DC; Las Vegas; Philadelphia; Austin, Texas; and others.

Continue reading “Most of FCC Small Cell Streamline Order Affirmed By Ninth Circuit”

Adapted from an August 10, 2020 briefing statement | Original briefing statement here.

President Donald J. Trump

Secure 5G networks will absolutely be a vital link to America’s prosperity and national security in the 21st century.

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Uh . . . is his nose growing again? Get the ruler.

President Abraham Lincoln:

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time"

Not this time, Donald . . . just because you write or tweet something, it doesn’t make it true.

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FREEING UP RESOURCES:

President Donald J. Trump is taking decisive action to release more spectrum for commercial use, strengthening the United States’ leadership in 5G communications. At the President’s direction, the Administration announced that 100 megahertz of contiguous, coast-to-coast mid-band spectrum will be made available for commercial 5G deployment.

This spectrum will give Americans access to the greatest 5G networks in the world, leading to cutting-edge innovation, economic prosperity, and strong national security. The American wireless industry will be able to build and operate 5G networks nationwide using the 3.45-3.55 GHz band.

Through collaboration with the Department of Defense, the Administration has worked carefully to ensure commercial use of this critically-needed mid-band spectrum does not compromise military preparedness or national security. President Trump’s commitment to strengthening the United States’ leadership in 5G communications is vital to ensuring the security and prosperity of the American people.

Continue reading “President Trump Unleashes 5G Potential”

Effective Vaccine is ‘Unlikely’

By Steven Mosher Aug 10, 2020 | Original Blog post here.

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Professor Giuseppe Tritto, an internationally known expert in biotechnology and nanotechnology, says that the China Virus definitely wasn’t a freak of nature that happened to cross the species barrier from bat to man.

PETITION: No to mandatory vaccination for the coronavirus! Sign the petition here.

August 10, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – It will not be possible for the Dr. Faucis of the world to dismiss Professor Giuseppe Tritto as a crank. Not only is he an internationally known expert in biotechnology and nanotechnology who has had a stellar academic career, but he is also the president of the World Academy of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies (WABT), an institution founded under the aegis of UNESCO in 1997.

In other words, he is a man of considerable stature in the global scientific community. Equally important, one of the goals of WABT is to analyze the effect of biotechnologies — like genetic engineering — on humanity.

In his new book, this world-class scientist does exactly that. And what he says is that the China Virus definitely wasn’t a freak of nature that happened to cross the species barrier from bat to man. It was genetically engineered in the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s P4 (high-containment) lab in a program supervised by the Chinese military.

Prof. Tritto’s book, which at present is available only in Italian, is called Cina COVID 19: La Chimera che ha cambiato il Mondo (China COVID 19: The chimera that changed the world). It was published on August 4 by a major Italian press, Edizioni Cantagalli, which coincidently also published the Italian edition of one of my books, Population Control (Controllo Demografico in Italian) several years ago.

What sets Prof. Tritto’s book apart is the fact that it demonstrates — conclusively, in my view — the pathway by which a PLA-owned coronavirus was genetically modified to become the China Virus now ravaging the world. His account leaves no doubt that it is a “chimera”, an organism created in a lab.

Continue reading “Renowned European scientist: COVID-19 was Engineered in China Lab”

Adapted from an article by SAMUEL CONTRERAS Aug 6, 2020 | Original Android Central article here.

• https://www.nperf.com/no/map/5g

• https://ourtownourchoice.org/vhp/spectrum

• https://ourtownourchoice.org/glenellyn

• 5G on Verizon: Everything you need to know

• 5G on AT&T Wireless: Everything you need to know

• 5G on T-Mobile: Everything you need to know

• I used T-Mobile’s 5G network, and it’s a whole lot like using its 4G network

Source: Andrew Martonik / Android Central

All of the major U.S. carriers are hard at work on their 5G strategy. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have launched 5G networks and are aggressively expanding those networks through 2019 and into 2020. Recently, Sprint’s 5G network was devoured by T-Mobile and taken offline as T-Mobile refarms Sprint’s spectrum. 5G service not only provides faster speeds but also reduced response times allowing for new services and cloud computing not previously available. For now, the major difference between LTE and 5G will be speed but as coverage continues to roll out to new areas, more services that rely on instant connectivity should become possible.

5G Carriers / Frequencies

Carrier	Frequencies
Verizon	n261 (28GHz)
T-Mobile	n71 (600MHz) n260 (39GHz) n261 (28GHz) n41 (2.5GHz) from Sprint
AT&T	n5 (850MHz) n260 (39GHz)

Continue reading “US Cities with 5G Coverage”

Sonoma County Urgency Ordinance Authorizing Enforcement of COVID-19 Health Orders

August 6, 2020 10:23 AM | Original Ordiance here.

An Urgency Ordinance of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Sonoma, State of California, Authorizing Administrative Enforcement of COVID-19 Virus Related Public Health Orders. Urgency Ordinance: 4/5 Vote

The ordinance gives the county the ability to enforce current local and state health orders.

Personal (non-commercial) violations include:

1. Not wearing a face covering when you’re outside your home, and are either indoors or outside and unable to maintain 6 feet of social distance between you and people who are not members of your household.

2. Hosting gatherings of more than 12 people who aren’t sheltering in the same household.

3. Not self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19.

Continue reading “Aug 6 Order by Health Officer of Sonoma County”

By JOHN HENDEL July 8, 2020 | Original Politico article here.

In moving to free up Wi-Fi and bolster superfast service, Pai has alienated some industries, congressional committees and Trump Cabinet leaders.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai takes a drink from a mug during the commission vote on net neutrality in 2017. | AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

FCC chief Ajit Pai is angering a lot of powerful people as his chairmanship hits its fourth and potentially final year. The Pentagon, the Commerce Department and the Department of Transportation. Electric utilities, airlines and the auto industry. Public safety officials and weather forecasters. Top lawmakers of both parties, including an ally of President Donald Trump’s who controls the FCC’s purse strings on the Senate Appropriations Committee.And most of that is because of actions Pai has taken this year.

Every FCC chair makes decisions that draw criticism, from judging proposed mergers by broadcasters and cellphone companies to setting rules for net neutrality and robocalls. But the barbs coming Pai’s way have multiplied in recent months as he leads the commission in divvying up billions of dollars’ worth of wireless spectrum for a new generation of Wi-Fi and 5G wireless service — moves that are leaving a lengthening trail of winners and losers and putting Pai’s decision-making under the microscope.

Continue reading “FCC Chairman Pai is Making Lots of Enemies for Attempting to Force Densified 4G/5G on Americans”

By Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft, July 8, 2020 | Original ZDNet article here.

Microsoft is adding a bunch of new features to Teams in the coming weeks and months, some of which are catching up with what’s in competitive services, and others of which are new and different.

Microsoft is outlining a slew of new features coming to Teams for work and school before the end of calendar 2020. The new features, which Microsoft disclosed via a blog post on July 8, are meant to make chats, meetings and other collaborations less tiring and more productive.

Some of these features are available already in Microsoft’s Skype service and others, in competitive services like Zoom and Slack. But some are new and different, like "Together Mode." Together Mode will allow participants to appear in a common, shared background. It’s designed to make participants feel like they’re in the same meeting room or classroom together.

Continue reading “Microsoft Adds New Shared Background to Teams App”

The National Park Service is racing to expand cellphone service at parks nationwide. Do we really want a connected wilderness?

By CHRISTOPHER KETCHAM | June 25, 2020 | Original Sierra Club article here. ILLUSTRATIONS BY EUGENIA LOLI

In 2018, I went on a solo backpacking trip into the wild stone labyrinth of the Needles district in Canyonlands National Park. After three days among the canyons and hoodoos, happily not seeing another person, I crested a rise of slickrock overlooking the stunning basin-and-mesa country that reaches from Utah’s La Sal Mountains to the Abajo range. I had an iPhone with me, which I was using as a camera, and on a lark I decided to see if I could catch a signal. Sure enough, I could.

Like one of Pavlov’s dogs, I descended into the behavior that the sight and sound of my device always calls forth. Dutifully, I checked email, the weather, the headlines. When a flood of texts poured in, I felt a surge of satisfaction—that dopamine thrill of virtual connection.

I immediately regretted having turned on the phone. There was something idiotic in my tinkering with an electronic toy when all about me was a beauty and immensity that dwarfed the merely human. Three days of sweet calm and mental quiet faded in the light of the screen and, instantly, I was back in the frenetic informational overload we call civilization. I vowed to never again bring my phone on a backpacking trip. The temptation to look for a signal is too great, and the psychological cost— the loss of serenity and a sense of presence — is, for me, too high.

The parks were never intended to meet the expectations of every visitor . . . if the Park Service fails to protect the preservation values at the heart of its mission—and in the process fails to serve those visitors who seek the beauty and complexity of life on Earth untrammeled by industrial civilization — the parks will be no different than surrounding landscapes. And thereby they will lose all their special meaning.

Continue reading “Big Wireless in the Wilderness?”

By Jenny Leonard and Josh Wingrove, June 16, 2020 | Original Bloomberg article here.

• Push comes with current funding law set to expire on Sept. 30
• Democrats unveiled their own $500 billion proposal this month

$1 Trillion for Infrastructure to Spur Economy

The Trump administration is preparing a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure proposal as part of its push to spur the world’s largest economy back to life, according to people familiar with the plan. A preliminary version being prepared by the Department of Transportation would reserve most of the money for traditional infrastructure work, like roads and bridges, but would also set aside funds for 5G wireless infrastructure and rural broadband, the people said.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to discuss rural broadband access at a White House event on Thursday. An existing U.S. infrastructure funding law is up for renewal by Sept. 30, and the administration sees that as a possible vehicle to push through a broader package, the people said. They asked not to be identified because the Trump proposal isn’t final and hasn’t been announced.

The news buoyed U.S. stock futures early Tuesday, including for companies that may benefit from a burst of new public spending. Fluor Corp. surged 11% before regular U.S. trading, while Vulcan Materials Co. climbed 8.3%.

The draft plan is emerging as lawmakers from both parties and Trump debate the timing and scope of more stimulus for a U.S. economy plunged into recession by nationwide lock-downs needed to halt the spread of coronavirus. It’s the latest sign of momentum in Washington for some kind of infrastructure spending blitz ahead of the election.

Continue reading “Trump Weighs $1 Trillion for Infrastructure to Spur Economy”

. . . to Allow Local Governments Adequate Time to Respond to Wireless Equipment Rule Changes, Amid COVID-19 Response

 

Re: WT Docket No. 19-250: FCC Implementation of State and Local Governments’ Obligation to Approve Certain Wireless Facility Modification Requests Under Section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act of 2012

June 2, 2020

Washington, D.C. – Twenty-four Democratic Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter today to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai urging him to delay a vote on a Declaratory Ruling that would limit local governments‘ role in the deployment of wireless infrastructure. The Declaratory Ruling would grant companies the right to expand existing cell sites without any regard to local processes and potential conflicting priorities, which would be especially harmful right now given the ongoing challenges that local governments face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The FCC is currently scheduled to vote on the Declaratory Ruling on June 9.

The Members wrote:

“We are especially troubled by the burden responding to this Declaratory Ruling will place on local governments that are rightfully focused right now on combatting the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Likewise, we worry that if this Declaratory Ruling does not benefit from meaningful input from local governments, the result could undermine municipalities’ ability to balance their responsibilities to public safety and community design with their desire to ensure access to affordable wireless networks and the next generation services.”

This letter follows an April request by Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and other House Committee Chairs calling for immediately extending public comment deadlines across the federal government in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Members continued:

“We believe such a delay is further warranted as local public servants and elected officials are filling the void left by their federal counterparts. These local officials cannot be expected to conduct a meaningful review and respond to an item of this nature within the very limited time provided by the FCC. If local governments are forced to respond to this Declaratory Ruling instead of focusing on their public health and safety responses, it very well may put Americans health and safety at risk.”

The letter was signed by Pallone, Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rep Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY), Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA), Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX), Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL), Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-VA), Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL).

To read the letter, click HERE.