Thank You, FCC Commissioner Clyburn

The following statement can be downloaded here.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn:

I dissent. I dissent from this fiercely-spun, legally-lightweight, consumer-harming, corporate-enabling Destroying Internet Freedom Order.

I dissent, because I am among the millions who is outraged. Outraged, because the FCC pulls its own teeth, abdicating responsibility to protect the nation’s broadband consumers. Why are we witnessing such an unprecedented groundswell of public support, for keeping the 2015 net neutrality protections in place? Because the public can plainly see, that a soon-to-be-toothless FCC, is handing the keys to the Internet – the Internet, one of the most remarkable, empowering, enabling inventions of our lifetime – over to a handful of multi-billion dollar corporations. And if past is prologue, those very same broadband internet service providers, that the majority says you should trust to do right by you, will put profits and shareholder returns above, what is best for you.

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Thank You, FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel

The following statement can be downloaded here.

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel

Net neutrality is internet freedom. I support that freedom. I dissent from this rash decision to roll back net neutrality rules. I dissent from the corrupt process that has brought us to this point. And I dissent from the contempt this agency has shown our citizens in pursuing this path today. This decision puts the Federal Communications Commission on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the American public.

The future of the internet is the future of everything. That is because there is nothing in our commercial, social, and civic lives that has been untouched by its influence or unmoved byits power. And here in the United States our internet economy is the envy of the world. This is because it rests on a foundation of openness.

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Net Neutrality Chant

The following is by Bruce Kushnick; 12/13/2017 04:54 am ET; Original article here.

On December 14th, 2017, the FCC will vote to shut down Net Neutrality. The decision has already been made; the vote will just be a formality. The Republican ‘FCC Gang of 3’ (Pai/O’Rielly/Carr) is now a voting block, which AT&T, Verizon, ALEC et al. put into place to remove nearly all federal regulation and obligations on the Telecommunications companies (phone, broadband, Internet, cable, wireless, etc.) companies and is preempting state laws to get this done.

Unfortunately, the FCC’s decision on Net Neutrality is only one of 15-20 different current FCC proceedings that are designed to all work together, which we dubbed the “Wheel of Mis-Fortune”. While Net Neutrality is a catchy phrase, it is more of a distraction; the real problems are much deeper and they have gotten far too little attention.

Sue the FCC; Break Up Verizon & AT&T

(Note: I will address the cable companies’ role in all of this in a future story.)

Our position is simple. We need to have a collective ‘Ah-Ha’ moment. America needs to need

  • Restore properly functioning competitive markets
  • Light up the fiber-optic networks for which we already paid
  • Enforce the fiber optic installation contracts that the Telecomm firms and the FCC have conveniently ignored.
  • Stop AT&T and Verizon Cross-Subsidies: these Telecom firms have been looting their Wireline Utility Networks to Cross-Subsidize construction and operations of their other subsidiaries, including Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility.
  • Take back our rights as the public

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Four Organizations Sue the FCC Over Shut Down of Legacy Copper Telephone Networks

By John Eggerton; Original article here

Various groups have taken the FCC to court, appealing its decision on speeding the transition to fiber and the retirement of legacy networks to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, generally thought to be a more friendly venue than the D.C. Circuit.

Asking the Ninth Circuit to reverse and vacate the November order were

  • Public Knowledge,
  • The Greenlining Institute,
  • The Utility Reform Network, and the
  • National Association of State Utility Advocates.

In another remake of a decision under his Democratic predecessor, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and the FCC’s Republican majority voted last month to make changes to the timetable for the copper-to-fiber-based IP network remakes, changes billed as “speeding the transition to modern broadband networks”.

Public Knowledge et al. support the Wheeler approach in 2015, which put in various requirements to maintain those legacy networks and services during the transition. Pai said at the time those were needlessly slowing the transition.

“The protections the FCC previously adopted ensured that the retirement of legacy phone services would be an upgrade for everyone, not an upgrade for some and a downgrade for others,” said Public Knowledge senior VP Harold Feld. “The FCC claims that removing these protection will encourage telephone companies to upgrade their networks more quickly. But it practically guarantees that these companies will continue to leave rural America behind.”

In their petition for review, the groups said that the decision was arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion, and otherwise illegal.

Bernie Sanders Tells the Truth

Bernie Sanders: TRUMP IS LYING!!!


. . . regarding the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — read the full details here:All Actions & Bill Text

Trickle-down economics has never worked. Those who don’t read history are doomed to fall for this same trick tried every ten years or so, most recently in the failed trickle-down tax cut experiment in the State of Kansas.

  • View 27:00 — vigorously oppose the Republican Tax Cut Bill, which attempts to create an American oligarchy: a government in which a small group exercises control for corrupt and selfish purposes. Any tax cuts for the middle class expire by 2025 – 2027. Corporate tax cuts are permanent.
  • View 29:05 — overturn the disastrous Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision, which allowed the Koch brothers, other billionaires and the Republican American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to buy and co-opt Congress.
  • View 31:00 — to hear an alternative and progressive vision that is gaining momentum in America.
  • View 34:25 — it is about time the billionaires and large corporations of the world, who are doing phenomenally well, start paying their fair share of taxes.
  • View 40:15 — we are at a pivotal moment in American history; billionaires suffer from a serious, addictive problem: they are willing to step over the elderly, the children and the sick to amass more money for themselves.
  • View 43:25 — the Republican Tax Cut Bill will next go into a Conference committee; we have just 2-4 weeks to rally Americans against this Bill. The 99% are the vast majority of the American people. Use your power. Call your Senators and Representatives daily until Christmas. Jam the lines.

Call your US Senators

Call your US Representatives

Tell them to VOTE NO on this Tax Bill.

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NY Attorney General: Stop Dec 14 Net Neutrality Vote

New York AG Schneiderman and FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel
On Faked FCC Comments Submitted on Net Neutrality

Key Video Clips:
  • Go to http://ag.ny.gov/FakeComments to see if your identity was used to submit a fake comment on Net Neutrality.
  • View at 4:14 — Fake comment made with NY AG staffer’s stolen identity.
  • View at 5:07 — Hear the FCC’s response to Schneiderman’s 11/21/17 Open Letter, reproduced below.
  • View at 8:18 — FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel introduced.
  • View at 16:58“[The FCC] has to stop this vote, you cannot conduct a legitimate vote on a rulemaking proceeding if you have record that is in shambles, as this one is.”
  • View at 19:44 — Rosenworcel describes the Administrative Procedures Act, guaranteeing public participation in rulemaking.
  • View at 21:42 — “Under Section 5 of the Communications Act [Chairman Pai] has the power to deal with this differently . . to make sure the integrity of our record is secure.”

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FCC: A$$-Backwards to the Future

By Bruce Kushnik 12/08/2017 03:31 am ET; Link to original article here.

In the recent FCC ‘shut off the copper’ decision on 11/16/17, FCC Chairman Pai added a statement claiming that a fax machine — ancient technology — played a “critical” role in a movie called Back to the Future II. When I read this, I started laughing.

In Back to the Future II, the villain, Biff Tannen, was literally based on Donald Trump. This means that one of Chairman Pai’s favorite movies has a villain based on the very President that made him FCC chairman.

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Broadband Fail: Crown Castle Sues Piedmont

Read the 11/15/17 Crown Castle vs. City of Piedmont Complaint. Crown Castle filed this complaint within 30 days of the five cell tower denials in order to meet the FCC 30-day limitation on filing an appeal for decisions made on 10/16/17. This action was filed in Federal Court before the City made decisions on the remaining four so-called “Small Cell” cell towers in Piedmont (all were approved). Both Crown Castle and the City of Piedmont were aware of the lawsuit during meetings held between 11/16/17 and 11/30/17, but neither Crown Castle nor the City of Piedmont disclosed this to the public during these meetings.

Crown Castle wants the judge to overturn the five denials and the conditional approvals on three cell towers without having to meet the conditions. Crown Castle would then be free to install noisy, ugly towers of any shape or size and block the sidewalk however they wanted & such as they one they installed for the AT&T tower on lower Grand Ave.

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Nasa Engineer’s Letter to the Editor

Read Nasa Engineer Peter Harvey’s 12/4/17 Letter to the Piedmont Post Editor

Dear Editor:

In last week’s letters to the editor, a letter entitled “A Calming Note” made erroneous claims about the dangers of RF Microwave radiation. In the note, the author says non-ionizing radiation cannot cause DNA damage and that we should trust the FCC to determine the health effects of RF Microwave radiation. He cites no research to back up his claims, and quotes the current World Health Organization erroneously.

In reality, since May, 2011, the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified RF Microwave radiation as a Group 2B carcinogen. In addition, the results from the May, 2016 National Toxicology program’s $25 million, 16-year animal study of Carcinogenesis of Cell Phone Radiation concluded statistically significant increases in brain cancer, heart cancer, pre-tumors and DNA damage in test animals vs. control animals.

These results mean that RF Microwave radiation is a known toxic agent. Importantly, the NTP study showed a dose-response relationship between this toxic agent, RF Microwave radiation, and these adverse biological effects. Further, these effects occurred at exposure levels that were not high enough to heat the animals’ tissue to any measurable degree. The NTP study shows that biological hazards from RF Microwave radiation exposures occur at levels far below that which would cause tissue heating and far below current FCC RF Microwave radiation exposure guidelines.

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FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel: Save Net Neutrality

FCC Wrote an OpEd in the Los Angeles Times on 11/22/17:

I’m on the FCC. Please Stop Us From Killing Net Neutrality.

11/22/17 Los Angeles Times OpEd by FCC Commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel

Right now, you can go online and connect with friends, watch videos and read the news. There’s a good chance you are reading this online right now. We do much more on the internet than consume content, however. Increasingly, the internet is also where we create. We use online platforms and digital services to develop, share and spread ideas around the corner and around the globe.

This is the open internet experience we all know, and it’s a big part of why America’s internet economy is the envy of the world.

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