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Executive Order on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain | The White House

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Archived Version

Thu, 16 May 2019 20:38

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,

I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that foreign adversaries are increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology and services, which store and communicate vast amounts of sensitive information, facilitate the digital economy, and support critical infrastructure and vital emergency services, in order to commit malicious cyber-enabled actions, including economic and industrial espionage against the United States and its people. I further find that the unrestricted acquisition or use in the United States of information and communications technology or services designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign adversaries augments the ability of foreign adversaries to create and exploit vulnerabilities in information and communications technology or services, with potentially catastrophic effects, and thereby constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. This threat exists both in the case of individual acquisitions or uses of such technology or services, and when acquisitions or uses of such technologies are considered as a class. Although maintaining an open investment climate in information and communications technology, and in the United States economy more generally, is important for the overall growth and prosperity of the United States, such openness must be balanced by the need to protect our country against critical national security threats. To deal with this threat, additional steps are required to protect the security, integrity, and reliability of information and communications technology and services provided and used in the United States. In light of these findings, I hereby declare a national emergency with respect to this threat.

Accordingly, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Implementation. (a) The following actions are prohibited: any acquisition, importation, transfer, installation, dealing in, or use of any information and communications technology or service (transaction) by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, where the transaction involves any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest (including through an interest in a contract for the provision of the technology or service), where the transaction was initiated, is pending, or will be completed after the date of this order, and where the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the United States Trade Representative, the Director of National Intelligence, the Administrator of General Services, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and, as appropriate, the heads of other executive departments and agencies (agencies), has determined that:

(i) the transaction involves information and communications technology or services designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied, by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary; and

(ii) the transaction:

(A) poses an undue risk of sabotage to or subversion of the design, integrity, manufacturing, production, distribution, installation, operation, or maintenance of information and communications technology or services in the United States;

(B) poses an undue risk of catastrophic effects on the security or resiliency of United States critical infrastructure or the digital economy of the United States; or

(C) otherwise poses an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons.

(b) The Secretary, in consultation with the heads of other agencies as appropriate, may at the Secretary's discretion design or negotiate measures to mitigate concerns identified under section 1(a) of this order. Such measures may serve as a precondition to the approval of a transaction or of a class of transactions that would otherwise be prohibited pursuant to this order.

(c) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted prior to the effective date of this order.

Sec. 2. Authorities. (a) The Secretary, in consultation with, or upon referral of a particular transaction from, the heads of other agencies as appropriate, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including directing the timing and manner of the cessation of transactions prohibited pursuant to section 1 of this order, adopting appropriate rules and regulations, and employing all other powers granted to the President by IEEPA, as may be necessary to implement this order. All agencies of the United States Government are directed to take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of this order.

(b) Rules and regulations issued pursuant to this order may, among other things, determine that particular countries or persons are foreign adversaries for the purposes of this order; identify persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign adversaries for the purposes of this order; identify particular technologies or countries with respect to which transactions involving information and communications technology or services warrant particular scrutiny under the provisions of this order; establish procedures to license transactions otherwise prohibited pursuant to this order; establish criteria, consistent with section 1 of this order, by which particular technologies or particular participants in the market for information and communications technology or services may be recognized as categorically included in or as categorically excluded from the prohibitions established by this order; and identify a mechanism and relevant factors for the negotiation of agreements to mitigate concerns raised in connection with subsection 1(a) of this order. Within 150 days of the date of this order, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the United States Trade Representative, the Director of National Intelligence, the Administrator of General Services, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and, as appropriate, the heads of other agencies, shall publish rules or regulations implementing the authorities delegated to the Secretary by this order.

(c) The Secretary may, consistent with applicable law, redelegate any of the authorities conferred on the Secretary pursuant to this section within the Department of Commerce.

Sec. 3. Definitions. For purposes of this order:

(a)the term ''entity'' means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization;

(b)the term ''foreign adversary'' means any foreign government or foreign non-government person engaged in a long'term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or security and safety of United States persons;

(c)the term ''information and communications technology or services'' means any hardware, software, or other product or service primarily intended to fulfill or enable the function of information or data processing, storage, retrieval, or communication by electronic means, including transmission, storage, and display;

(d)the term ''person'' means an individual or entity; and

(e)the term ''United States person'' means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States.

Sec. 4. Recurring and Final Reports to the Congress. The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to submit recurring and final reports to the Congress on the national emergency declared in this order, consistent with section 401(c) of the NEA (50 U.S.C. 1641(c)) and section 204(c) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1703(c)).

Sec. 5. Assessments and Reports. (a) The Director of National Intelligence shall continue to assess threats to the United States and its people from information and communications technology or services designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary. The Director of National Intelligence shall produce periodic written assessments of these threats in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies, and shall provide these assessments to the President, the Secretary for the Secretary's use in connection with his responsibilities pursuant to this order, and the heads of other agencies as appropriate. An initial assessment shall be completed within 40 days of the date of this order, and further assessments shall be completed at least annually, and shall include analysis of:

(i) threats enabled by information and communications technologies or services designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary; and

(ii) threats to the United States Government, United States critical infrastructure, and United States entities from information and communications technologies or services designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the influence of a foreign adversary.

(b)The Secretary of Homeland Security shall continue to assess and identify entities, hardware, software, and services that present vulnerabilities in the United States and that pose the greatest potential consequences to the national security of the United States.The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with sector-specific agencies and coordinating councils as appropriate, shall produce a written assessment within 80 days of the date of this order, and annually thereafter.This assessment shall include an evaluation of hardware, software, or services that are relied upon by multiple information and communications technology or service providers, including the communication services relied upon by critical infrastructure entities identified pursuant to section 9 of Executive Order 13636 of February 12, 2013 (Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity).

(c) Within 1 year of the date of this order, and annually thereafter, the Secretary, in consultation as appropriate with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the United States Trade Representative, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, shall assess and report to the President whether the actions taken by the Secretary pursuant to this order are sufficient and continue to be necessary to mitigate the risks identified in, and pursuant to, this order.

Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,May 15, 2019.

Vaccines

New measles case reported in Berkeley '' East Bay Times

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Archived Version

Sat, 18 May 2019 12:04

The city of Berkeley announced Friday that a resident has contracted measles.

While the person is no longer contagious, city officials have advised anyone who visited Berkeley Bowl, located at 2020 Oregon St., from 3 to 5 p.m. May 7 and is not immune to look for the first stage of symptoms: runny nose, red eyes, cough and fever.

The next stage involves a rash that typically appears on the face before spreading down the body.

Measles symptoms start to show seven to 21 days after exposure and infected people do not show symptoms during the first four days of their most contagious period, city officials said.

According to the city, the virus is easily transmitted, usually through a cough or sneeze that can linger in the air for up to an hour-at which time the risk of infection dissipates.

Inhalation of the airborne virus reportedly infects up to 90 percent of those not immune.

City officials are urging certain groups to be particularly aware of potential symptoms, including unvaccinated children, unvaccinated adults born in 1957 or later, and those with weakened immune systems.

Former Merck Scientists Sue Merck Alleging MMR Vaccine Efficacy Fraud - AHRPAHRP

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Archived Version

Thu, 23 May 2019 14:10

Stephen A. Krahling and Joan A. Wlochowski, former Merck virologists blew the whistle by filing a qui tam action lawsuit '-- U.S. v Merck & Co. '-- in August 2010. The scientists allege that the efficacy tests for the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MMR) were faked. The document was unsealed in June, 2012.

This is a major federal case alleging fraud in vaccine testing; it encapsulates how medical research can be manipulated to achieve desired results, and why it may be wise to question the integrity and the validity of ''science-based medicine.''

The suit charges that Merck knew its measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine was less effective than the purported 95% level, and it alleges that senior management was aware and also oversaw testing that concealed the actual effectiveness. According to the lawsuit, Merck began a sham testing program in the late 1990's to hide the declining efficacy of the vaccine. The objective of the fraudulent trials was to ''report efficacy of 95% or higher regardless of the vaccine's true efficacy.''

According to Krahling and Wlochowski's complaint, they were threatened with jail were they to alert the FDA to the fraud being committed.

In January 31, 2016, the court ordered that discovery, the process of gathering evidence, must be completed by 1 March 2017, over a year from now. The court also ordered that expert discovery needs to be completed by 31 October 2017.

Other motions must be filed by 20 December 2017. A motion for class action certification must be filed by 1 March 2018; and Merck must file its opposition to class certification by 5 April 2018.

The plaintiffs charge that Merck defrauded the U.S. for more than a decade by faking a vaccine efficacy rate of 95% even though the real rate was significantly lower.

''As the single largest purchaser of childhood vaccines (accounting for more than 50 percent of all vaccine purchasers), the United States is by far the largest financial victim of Merck's fraud. But the ultimate victims here are the millions of children who every year are being injected with a mumps vaccine that is not providing them with an adequate level of protection against mumps. And while this is a disease the CDC targeted ts the single largest purchaser of childhood vaccines (accounting for more than 50 percent of all vaccine purchasers), the United States is byo eradicate by now, the failure in Merck's vaccine has allowed this disease to linger with significant outbreaks continuing to occur,'' the suit alleges. (Forbes June 6, 2012)

According to the suit, the objective of the fraudulent trials was to ''report efficacy of 95% or higher regardless of the vaccine's true efficacy.''

''For the new testing method, the children's blood was tested for its ability to neutralize the virus using the vaccine strain virus, instead of the wild type strain that is much more infective, and the one that your children would most likely catch'... But still it was not 95% effective. In order to make the blood pass the test, antibodies from rabbits was added. The addition of rabbit antibody increased the efficacy to 100%. But that was not the end, because the test has to be done on pre-vaccine blood and post-vaccine blood.

Just the addition of rabbit antibody made the pre-vaccine blood go from 10% positive to 80% positive and that was such an obvious sign of foul play that yet another manipulation had to be made.

The desired end result is to have very low pre-vaccine antibody and 95% or more post-vaccine efficacy as measured by antibody neutralization. So, yet one more change in procedure was made: The pre-vaccine tests were all redone'...by fabricating the ''plaque'' counts on the pre-vaccine blood samples, counting plaques that were not there. What this allowed was a mathematical dilution of the pre-vaccine positive blood counts.'' (Court House News Service, June 27, 2012)

Dr. Susan Humphries

Suzanne Humphries, MD, an internist / nephrologist who practiced medicine in the conventional system for 19 years, witnessed first-hand how that approach fails patients and creates a new disease time and again' summary explains in layman's terms how the tests were manipulated. Dr. Humphries is on the board of directors of the International Medical Council on Vaccination.

''In the complaint, the scientists outline in great detail exactly how Merck manipulated the efficacy results in order to be able to say they had a 95% effective vaccine so that they could meet the fairytale goal of vaccine-induced ''herd immunity by 2010.''

Well, it turns out that the vaccine could not meet the goal that CDC projected to eradicate mumps by 2010, BECAUSE the vaccine, in its current state cannot reliably confer immunity, and is in fact a dilute version of what it once was when Maurice Hilleman invented it using the virus of his five year old daughter. The same viral mumps strain has been in use in every mumps or MMR vaccine Merck has made since 1967.''

If what these scientists claim is true, the net result of Merck's questionable activity was epidemics and outbreaks. It is known that the mumps component of all MMR vaccines from the mid 1990's has had a very low efficacy, estimated at 69% (Harling 05). The outbreaks started in UK and Europe in 1998. USA's outbreaks began in 2006.

These mumps outbreaks have already been proven NOT to be the result of failure to vaccinate, but vaccination failure'... and now it looks to all be a result of Merck's cooked books, used in order to maintain a commercial monopoly to generate increased revenue from increasing numbers of boosters.(Humphries Scientists Sue Merck: Allege Fraud for MMR Vaccine, GreenMedInfo.com)

Read more of Dr. Suzanne Humphries' thoughts about vaccine safety and why ''They Don't Want Your to Hear the Other Side''

The former Merck virologists '' Krahling and Wlochowski '' claim that over the years the effectiveness of the mumps vaccine declined because of its repeated passage through eggs. In order to continue the FDA license, Merck had to convince the FDA that the effectiveness stayed at a similar 95% effectiveness rate over the years.

They claim that by faking effectiveness tests ''i.e, committing fraud ''Merck misled the government about the effectiveness of the mumps component of its MMR II vaccine. The vaccine contained the same strain of mumps vaccine which had been shown to cause meningitis and was removed from the Canadian market. In 1978 Merck introduced the MMR II, using a different strain of the rubella vaccine, but the same strain of mumps vaccine.

These Merck whistleblowers claim they were threatened; that if they called the FDA they would be jailed. But they were reminded of the very large bonuses would come their way after the vaccines were certified.

Two other class action lawsuits against Merck were filed in 2012. One was filed by a clinic, the other by two physicians claiming Merck violated the Sherman Act '' with monopolistic, anti-competitive practices '' and various violations of state laws. The two suits are being handled together. (U.S. v. Merck and U.S. v Merck and Chatom v. Merck). Courthouse News Service, July 2012:

''Merck has known for a decade that its mumps vaccine is ''far less effective'' than it tells the government, and it falsified test results and sold millions of doses of ''questionable efficacy,'' flooding and monopolizing the market'... Chatom says in its antitrust complaint that Merck falsely claims its mumps vaccine is 95 percent effective. That claim ''deterred and excluded competing manufacturers,'' who would enter the risky and expensive vaccine market only if they believed they could craft a better product'...

Merck is the only manufacturer licensed by the FDA to sell the mumps vaccine in United States, and if it could not show that the vaccine was 95 percent effective, it risked losing its lucrative monopoly'...

That's why Merck found it critically important to keep claiming such a high efficacy rate, the complaint states. And, Chatom claims, that's why Merck went to great lengths, including ''manipulating its test procedures and falsifying the test results,'' to prop up the bogus figure, though it knew that the attenuated virus from which it created the vaccine had been altered over the years during the manufacturing process, and that the quality of the vaccine had degraded as a result.'' (cited by Dr. Mercola here )

On September 5, 2014, Judge Jones II of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, rejected Merck's motion to dismiss. The Court rejected Merck's claim that FDA preempts state law. The purpose of the False Claim Act, a federal statute, was to allow whistleblowers to bring such claims in the name of the government.

June 2015: Whistleblower attorney accuses Merck of stonewalling by withholding information and files a motion to compel Merck to comply. In his letter to the court overseeing the case, wrote:

''Rather than answer questions, Merck has taken an ''evasive approach in its blanket refusal'' to provide information effectiveness'... Instead, the drug maker cited data from nearly 50 years ago, when the vaccine was introduced, and that it is not possible to conduct new trials.

Either Merck knows the current efficacy of its mumps vaccine, or it does not,'' the attorney writes. ''Whichever the case, Merck should not be permitted to raise as one of its principal defenses that its vaccine has a high efficacy, which is accurately represented on the product's label, but then refuse to answer what it claims that efficacy actually is.''

Ed Silverman noted in The Wall Street Journal:

''The lawsuit has gained attention because it comes at a time of ongoing controversy over vaccine safety, in general, and resistance by some parents to having their children vaccinated. The issue was highlighted again last year after a measles outbreak at Disneyland in California, where 147 people were infected, prompting push back against religious exemptions for vaccination.

The mumps vaccine is a sizeable product for Merck, which reported that sales reached $721 million last year, when including both the MMR II vaccine '' which is mumps, measles and rubella '' and the ProQuad vaccine, a combination product that is also used to thwart chickenpox, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The federal government, by the way, declined to intervene '' or join '' the whistleblower lawsuit. We should note that several physicians later filed a lawsuit seeking class action status and charged the vaccine was mislabeled and was not the product for which the government or other purchasers paid, which meant that Merck violated the False Claims Act, according to court documents.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that mumps is no longer common in the U.S., although the number of cases has been rising. Last year, 1,151; two years ago, the number of reported cases reached 438 people.'' (Merck is Accused of Stonewalling Over Effectiveness of Mumps Vaccine Jun 8, 2015)

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He went on to say that he hoped the cameramen will "finally find some cool couples" in the audience.

Image copyright EPA Image caption "We all deserve to be loved," Dana International told the audience in Tel Aviv As Dana International was performing Bruno Mars's song Just The Way You Are, the Belarusian presenter remarked: "Dana is singing that love has no religion, no boundaries, no racial or any other limits. But you know, I want values to preserve their value, so that love remains love."

'Rock bottom'Mr Perlin's views provoked strong reaction on social media.

"I felt so embarrassed!" wrote Radio Liberty journalist Ales Piletski on Facebook. "The good thing is that these boorish jokes are not heard in other countries."

Another journalist, BelaPAN news agency director Andrei Aliaksandrau didn't hold back: "It feels like the Belarusian Television presenter really hit rock bottom this time, though BT is a champion in hitting rock bottom."

The sentiment was echoed by others on social media. One user tweeted: "A homophobic commentator is an embarrassment to the country."

"They show men kissing and Perlin freezes. Oh, my god, this is gay propaganda on BT! A historic moment indeed," remarked another.

Reporting by Dmytro Zotsenko and Gennadiy Kot

Next story: Russian deserter dodged arrest for 14 years

Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter.

Winning Song Video - Duncan Laurence - Arcade

When we say we'll do something, we mean it! | T-Mobile Newsroom

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Archived Version

Tue, 21 May 2019 09:50

Over the last few months, I've been writing a lot about the New T-Mobile and the various ways a supercharged Un-carrier will benefit American consumers and businesses. I've also been doing a lot of listening. After all, we built this Un-carrier revolution by listening to others and then acting decisively. So why would we approach this merger any differently? As we've made our case for the New T-Mobile, we've been listening to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and many others. Today, we took some action on those discussions, and we submitted a set of commitments to the FCC around the New T-Mobile to address what we've heard. We listen and we take action. It's who we are.

Let me be clear. These aren't just words'... they're verifiable, enforceable and specific commitments that bring to life how the New T-Mobile will deliver a world-leading nationwide 5G network '' truly 5G for all, create more competition in broadband, and continue to give customers more choices, better value and better service.

I particularly want to thank Chairman Pai for his statement of support for these commitments and our merger '' as well as his ongoing leadership to help ensure our country is a leader, not a follower, in the 5G era. We look forward to continuing to meet and work with a variety of important stakeholders to demonstrate the powerful benefits the New T-Mobile will bring '' but today's filing is at the center of our plans to bring 5G to American consumers. Ultimately, today's commitments are about our shared goal to put the U.S. at the forefront of 5G innovation, driving massive economic growth, helping bridge the Digital Divide, creating more competition, and of course, giving consumers and businesses more for less. The commitments we're making today help advance all of these goals! It is that simple.

Specific Enforceable Commitments to Deliver 5G for All First, we've committed to key milestones we'll hit as we build out 5G for ALL '' both on a nationwide scale and specifically for rural America. We've laid out aggressive targets for this supercharged 5G network. In three years, we've committed that the New T-Mobile will cover 97% of the U.S. population with 5G on low-band spectrum and 75% of the population with 5G on mid-band spectrum. That will grow to 99% of the U.S. population covered with low-band 5G in six years and 88% with mid-band 5G.

This is critically important because it ensures that this country will have broad AND deep nationwide 5G utilizing both mid and low band spectrum, which will deliver a radically better, more expansive experience than the status quo. This should also force Verizon and AT&T to re-evaluate their 5G strategies and accelerate their investment and 5G deployment.

We also established milestones to cover 85% of rural America with 5G on low-band spectrum in three years and 90% in six years. We set targets for the number of people with access to equal or greater than 100 Mbps and 50 Mbps average download speeds (hint: it's a lot'... 90% and 99% of the country's population respectively in six years, and we even outlined how we'll verify those speeds with drive tests!).

We've also made clear commitments around in-home broadband. I've said before that we are going to ''Un-carrier'' broadband, and that's what we're going to do. Because this is one of the most un-competitive industries in the country '' and the least customer-friendly! Almost half the country's households'--45% '' have no high-speed service or only one option to choose from. The numbers are worse for rural households, 76% of which have no high-speed service or only one choice available.

With our nationwide 5G network, we can change this dynamic! So, we made real commitments to offer in-home broadband to a specific number of households across the U.S., including in rural areas, in very specific timeframes.

I believe we will nail all of these goals '' nationwide 5G, rural 5G and in-home broadband! We are so confident in our ability to follow through that we are willing to put our money where our mouth is by committing to specific measures that will hold us accountable'... You see, if we don't meet these milestones, we'll pay until we do. These are tangible commitments that we are happy to be held to. Why? Because when we say we'll do something, we mean it.

And we believe in transparency on all of this, so we'll give an annual report card to the FCC to show our progress.

This clear set of specific, enforceable commitments reinforces our plans and bring them to life '' and show what I've been saying all along: this 5G network will make a huge difference for millions of Americans across the entire country.

An Independent Path for Boost Another area of FCC feedback we heard is around the prepaid business. In response, we have committed to divest Sprint's Boost pre-paid business to a third party following the closing of the merger. We'll work to find a serious, credible, financially capable and independent buyer for all the assets needed to run '' and grow '' the business, and we'll make sure that buyer has attractive wholesale arrangements. This is an exciting opportunity for Boost employees and customers with a buyer bringing the ability to invest in the brand and the opportunity to run on the supercharged New T-Mobile network!

We have always chosen to serve pre-paid customers. To give hardworking people everywhere the wireless they deserve. Wireless they can be proud of. It's part of who we are to offer underserved communities more choice and value in wireless. That's a big part of why we've been able to more than double the size of Metro since 2013. We aren't backing down from that commitment '' at all '' and we plan to compete aggressively in pre-paid with Metro and Virgin in the years ahead.

Same or Better Prices! Now this one, I've said before , and we've already put our commitment in writing to the FCC. The commitment still stands. The New T-Mobile will deliver the same or better rate plans at the same or better prices for three years. And that includes 5G. Period.

But I'm not quite done yet'... when we combine the Sprint and T-Mobile networks, we're going to create a 5G network with 8x more capacity by 2024 than Sprint or T-Mobile standalone today. We're going to want MVNO partners to help put all that capacity to use, and today's commitments also address that. We want to work with a whole community of partners to utilize all the capacity this deal will unlock!

We are going to bring 5G to every corner of this country and challenge the failing status quo that has left millions of Americans with too few options and too little value, tolerating terrible treatment and believing it can't change. It can change, and the New T-Mobile can provide the competition to change it. The New T-Mobile will be a disruptive rival with the resources to go toe-to-toe with established behemoths to drive competition and innovation that benefits everyone, everywhere.

That's what today's news is about, and that's why I'm more excited than ever about the difference the New T-Mobile will make in millions of peoples' lives. I look forward to continuing to make the case for the New T-Mobile in the days and weeks ahead with all of the key stakeholders!

John

Important Additional Information U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the ''SEC'') on October 29, 2018, and which contains a joint consent solicitation statement of T-Mobile and Sprint Corporation (''Sprint''), that also constitutes a prospectus of T-Mobile (the ''joint consent solicitation statement/prospectus''), and each party will file other documents regarding the proposed transaction with the SEC. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE JOINT CONSENT SOLICITATION STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. The documents filed by T-Mobile may be obtained free of charge at T-Mobile's website, at www.t-mobile.com, or at the SEC's website, at www.sec.gov, or from T-Mobile by requesting them by mail at T-Mobile US, Inc., Investor Relations, 1 Park Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10016, or by telephone at 212-358-3210. The documents filed by Sprint may be obtained free of charge at Sprint's website, at www.sprint.com, or at the SEC's website, at www.sec.gov, or from Sprint by requesting them by mail at Sprint Corporation, Shareholder Relations, 6200 Sprint Parkway, Mailstop KSOPHF0302-3B679, Overland Park, Kansas 66251, or by telephone at 913-794-1091. No Offer or Solicitation

This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This communication contains certain forward-looking statements concerning T-Mobile, Sprint and the proposed transaction between T-Mobile and Sprint. All statements other than statements of fact, including information concerning future results, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words ''anticipate,'' ''believe,'' ''estimate,'' ''expect,'' ''intend,'' ''may,'' ''could'' or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the proposed transaction, including anticipated future financial and operating results, synergies, accretion and growth rates, T-Mobile's, Sprint's and the combined company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions, and the expected timing of completion of the proposed transaction. There are several factors which could cause actual plans and results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the failure to obtain, or delays in obtaining, required regulatory approvals, and the risk that such approvals may result in the imposition of conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction, or the failure to satisfy any of the other conditions to the proposed transaction on a timely basis or at all; the occurrence of events that may give rise to a right of one or both of the parties to terminate the business combination agreement; adverse effects on the market price of T-Mobile's or Sprint's common stock and on T-Mobile's or Sprint's operating results because of a failure to complete the proposed transaction in the anticipated timeframe or at all; inability to obtain the financing contemplated to be obtained in connection with the proposed transaction on the expected terms or timing or at all; the ability of T-Mobile, Sprint and the combined company to make payments on debt or to repay existing or future indebtedness when due or to comply with the covenants contained therein; adverse changes in the ratings of T-Mobile's or Sprint's debt securities or adverse conditions in the credit markets; negative effects of the announcement, pendency or consummation of the transaction on the market price of T-Mobile's or Sprint's common stock and on T-Mobile's or Sprint's operating results, including as a result of changes in key customer, supplier, employee or other business relationships; significant transaction costs, including financing costs, and unknown liabilities; failure to realize the expected benefits and synergies of the proposed transaction in the expected timeframes or at all; costs or difficulties related to the integration of Sprint's network and operations into T-Mobile; the risk of litigation or regulatory actions; the inability of T-Mobile, Sprint or the combined company to retain and hire key personnel; the risk that certain contractual restrictions contained in the business combination agreement during the pendency of the proposed transaction could adversely affect T-Mobile's or Sprint's ability to pursue business opportunities or strategic transactions; effects of changes in the regulatory environment in which T-Mobile and Sprint operate; changes in global, political, economic, business, competitive and market conditions; changes in tax and other laws and regulations; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Form S-4, as well as in T-Mobile's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and in its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, including in the sections thereof captioned ''Risk Factors'' and ''Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,'' as well as in its subsequent reports on Form 8-K, all of which are filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov and www.t-mobile.com. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, persons reading this communication are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. T-Mobile assumes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this communication (whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise), except as required by applicable law.

T-Mobile commitment redacted

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Tue, 21 May 2019 10:01

May 20, 2019 VIA ECFS Marlene H. Dortch Secretary Federal Communications Commission 445 Twelfth Street, S.W. Washington, DC 20554 REDACTED FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION Re: Applications of T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corporation for Consent to Transfer Control of Licenses and Authorizations; WT Docket No. 18-197 Dear Ms. Dortch: T--- ¨ ''ª ...¬---§ '' '£ >>£' ...¬'£¨ '' '--'£¥--¨ ...£ ---¨ ¬¸''£§ ----¨ -- £ ...££--' ex parte presentation in the above-referenced ''--£ ¤¤'£ £ --'£' ª®¬²...§ £-- >>'''® ¤--¨ °" >>ª¾ªª ª ª®¬²...§ª Based on the record in this proceeding and subject to the commitments set forth herein, the Applicants request grant of their applications for transfer of control to permit the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. ' £-- ¤' '£----£ ££--'--'£ ...¬§ '' ¤-- ¤--'£ ¤'--¨ --''----' '' --'''' showings, Applicants have demonstrated that their merger will produce enormous consu mer --'--£ '' '£--'¨ ''--££'ª -- '----' '''¨ ...¬--... ---§ ... -- -- £ leverage a unique combination of complementary spectrum and cell sites to unlock massive synergies. This will allow New T-Mobile to invest nearly $40 billion within three years of closing to deliver a more robust nationwide 5G network and next -generation services than either company can achieve on its own. New T---® ± '--£... ... ¥-- '£® ''-band spectrum to create massive capacity, T---® ...-band spectrum to provide broad coverage, and lower costs so that American consumers will pay less and get more. The nationwide 5G network will deliver transformative fiber-like speeds for mobile services; bring broadband wireless service to millions of unserved and underserved rural Americans; unleash a competitive alternative to in-home, fixed broadband providers; benefit MVNOs; and accelerate 5G deployment in the United States, thereby ensuring American leadership in the next -generation of wireless technology. The Applicants recently have ''¤--' £-- '----® --'--£ with the Commission and listened to concerns about certain aspects of the transact ion. In order to respond to these concerns and

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch May 20, 2019 Page 2 address them definitively, the Applicants submit herewith proposed commit ments to ensure that: (1) New T-Mobile builds a world-leading 5G network; (2) rural Americans receive robust 5G broadband service; (3) in-home broadband competition is enhanced and choice becomes a reality for American consumers; and (4) Boost Mobile is divested to a serious and credible buyer who can compete aggressively in prepaid services on a long-term basis. These commitments will be enforced by strong verification measures, substantial voluntary contributions for missed deadlines, and continuation of the voluntary contributions until unmet obligations are fulfilled. In addition, the Applicants reconfirm their prior commitment to make available the same or better rate plans as those offered by T-Mobile or Sprint as of February 4, 2019 for three years following the merger. Finally, the Applicants make commitments concerning the Altice post -merger MVNO relationship with New T-Mobile. Each of these commitments is summarized below and set forth in detail in the attachments. Commitment to Build a World-Leading Nationwide 5G Network New T---® £¨ £ '--£-- ' ¤'--'--'--'£--'¨ ...'-leading, nationwide 5G network is the ¤'''£--£--' --¨£'-- £ '----ª ¹¨ '''' '£® ''-band spectrum and T---® low band spectrum, the merger will posit ion the United States to lead the 5G era by not only accelerating the deployment of a nationwide 5G network, but also increasing competitive pressure on other mobile wireless carriers to accelerate and expand their planned 5G deployments. New T---® ± '--£... ... -- £-- ''--££¥-- ££ ... --'¤-- ¸'--' --'' £-- ...'® --'' £--''' ''¤£ '--§£-generation services and applications bringing untold benefits to the American people. The record conclusivel y demonstrates that New T---® ± '--£... ... -- '-- ¤' £-- '''--' ...-band and mid-band spectrum of T-Mobile and Sprint to provide virtually ubiquitous and deep 5G coverage across the country, including in rural areas. Within three years £-- '----® '--¨ this unique combination of complementary spectrum will enable New T -Mobile to provide fiber-like speeds to hundreds of millions of Americans1 and deliver average speeds of over 150 Mbps and peak speeds of 1.6 Gbps.2 Within six year £-- '----® '--¨ ¥---- '' -- ----' will have surged to 450 Mbps and 4.2 Gbps, respectively.3 Applicants are confident in their 5G network plan. Accordingly, they are willing to back it up with firm commitments, set forth in Attachment 1 at Section I, that include a detailed network build schedule with hard deadlines for providing coverage of the country based on population covered and deploying 5G spectrum and sites. The firm commitments also include speed 1 Applications of T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corporation for Consent to Transfer Control of Licenses and Authorizations, WT Docket No. 18-197, Joint Opposition of T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint >>£' ...¬'£ £'§¨ ¸§ª ¹¨ ¼--'£' --¥-- ¨¨ ½§--'¤£¥-- '-- --'--'£ '' Chief Technology Officer, T-Mobile US, Inc. at 15 (Sept. 17, 2018). 2 Joint Opposition at 42. 3 Id. ----''

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch May 20, 2019 Page 3 commitments verified by nationwide drive tests. The Applicants commit that within three years £-- '----® ''¨ --... -Mobile will blanket three-¤£ £-- '¤'£¨® ¤£' with mid-'' --'£¤' '' '¥-- µ" --'--'£ £-- '¤'£¨® ¤£' ...£ ...-band spectrum. This broad and deep spectrum deployment will result in almost two-thirds of Americans receiving speeds in excess of 100 Mbps within three years of closing. Within six ¨-- £-- '----® '--¨ £-- ¸''£ '''£ £ '--¨ ± '--£... ...£¶ ...-band coverage of at least 99 percent of the population; mid-band coverage of at least 88 percent of the population; 5G sites nationwide; an average of megahertz of low-band and mid-band 5G spectrum deployed across the 5G sites; 99 percent of the population experiencing download speeds equal to, or greater than, 50 Mbps; and 90 percent of the population experiencing download speeds equal to, or greater than, 100 Mbps. New T---® ± '--£... ... -- -- to achieve these exceptional performance targets through the combined capabilities of T---® ...-'' '' '£® ''-band spectrum, and, in doing so, help lead the U.S. to victory in the global race to 5G. Commitment to Provide High-Speed 5G Services for Rural America ¸''£® ' --'rd for rural 5G deployment recognizes that consumers in many rural areas have limited choices for wireless service and that entrenched rural incumbents have failed £ '--¥-- £-- ¤£¨ --¥'-- ££ ''¤'-- ' ¤ ¸'--' '----¥--ª ¸''£® ngs detailed how rural America represents an untapped business opportunity for New T-Mobile to create much-needed competition, seize customers from unchallenged incumbents, and deliver a new and higher standard of service for rural customers by expanding o utdoor 5G coverage to 59.4 million rural residents, and indoor 5G coverage to 31 million rural residents.4 The Applicants detailed their plan for New T-Mobile to become an aggressive new competitor in rural America by taking advantage of merger synergies and leveraging its low-band (600 MHz) rural deployment to simultaneously deploy mid-band (2.5 GHz and/or PCS/AWS)) radios in rural areas at a very low incremental cost.5 The deployment of mid-band spectrum in rural America means that New T---® ' and deep 5G coverage will not be reserved for urban areas only, but will create tremendous benefits in rural areas as well. Building on this aggressive planned rural deployment, the Applicants now propose to expand and accelerate their rural deployment plans and back it up with a strong commitment, ensuring that even more rural Americans receive the same world-class speed and service from New T---® ''-band coverage as the rest of the country. 4 See Applications of T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corporation for Consent to Transfer Control of the Licenses and Authorizations, WT Docket No. 18-197, Description of Transaction, Public Interest Statement, and Related Demonstrations at 65-66 (filed June 18, 20´§ ...¬¤' '£----£ ££--'--'£§· see also Joint Opposition at 94. 5 Joint Opposition at 96-97. ----''

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch May 20, 2019 Page 4 ¸''£® ¤ --¥'-- '''£'--'£ --£ £ ' ¸££'hment 1 at Section II, accelerates and ''---- £-- ¸''£® --¥¤¨ ¤'££--' ± ''' '¥---- ' ¤ ¸'--'' by going further than any company has before to help bridge the rural Digital Divide. Specifically, New T-Mobile will accelerate the deployment of approximately mid-band sites in rural America, deploying them within three years of closing years sooner than previously planned. New T-Mobile will also add 5G mid-band to approximately additional low-band sites within six years of closing to further accelerate rural 5G deployment. This rural mid-band acceleration will mean that the advantages of high-capacity mid-band spectrum will be extended to 6.5 million more rural Americans in the first three years of deployment faster than originally planned. Further, by year six, New T-Mobile will increase its mid-band coverage of rural America by an additional 6.1 million rural Americans who would not have been covered with 5G mid-band spectrum in the original plan. As a result, within three years of closing, New T-Mobile will deliver 50 Mbps or higher to two-thirds of the rural population and 100 Mbps or higher to over half the rural population. £' § ¨-- £-- '----® '--¨ --... -Mobile will deploy a 5G network with low-band coverage of at least 90 percent of the rural population; mid-band coverage of at least 66.7 percent of the rural population; 5G sites in rural areas; an average of megahertz of low-band and mid-band 5G spectrum deployed per 5G site; 90 percent of the rural population experiencing download speeds equal to, or greater, than 50 Mbps; and 66.7 percent of the rural population experiencing download speeds equal to, or greater than, 100 Mbps. No other company has rural 5G deployment plans even remotely as aggressive as New T-Mobile, and New T-Mobile is the only company that will bring the benefits of 5G mid-band spectrum to millions of rural Americans. Again, New T-Mobile will lead the way for the U.S. to be the global champion for 5G. Commitment for In-Home Broadband Applicants have detailed thoroughly their plan to leverage the unprecedented coverage, capacity, and speed of New T---® ± '--£... £ -- ¤''--' '-home broadband service, ...¬--... --- '-- '£--'--£§ '¥--' ¥-- £-- '¤'£¨® ¤--' £ ... '-- £ consumers and a low incremental cost to New T-Mobile.6 Applicants have demonstrated how this new service will create direct benefits for all in-home broadband consumers, regardless of whether they subscribe to New T-Mobile, by forcing incumbent broadband providers to lower prices and improve services to respond to an aggressive new broadband competitor. ¸''£® ' --... -Mobile Home Internet will break the mold for in-home broadband. ¸ '--'--' ' ¸''£® '¨ --... -Mobile Home Internet will: provide minimum 6 See generally Letter from Nancy J. Victory, Counsel to T-Mobile US, Inc., to Marlene T. Dortch, Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, WT Docket No. 18-µ" ...ª ²¨ ®¬µ§ ...¬'-home ¹''' ½§ £--§ª ----''

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch May 20, 2019 Page 5 speeds of 25 Mbps downlink and 3 Mbps uplink (more than fast enough for streaming 4K Ultra HD video); provide average speeds above 100 Mbps downlink; be priced significantly ( per month) below incumbent provider prices for service with comparable speeds; have no extra charge for the router; have no installation charge; have no contract; and provide customer care from T---® ...'-winning Magenta Glove Team.7 Indeed, New T-Mobile Home Internet is poised to fundamentally shift the competitive landscape of one of the least-competitive industry segments in America. Rural Americans who want and need access or choice for in-home broadband will benefit from the newly accelerated and increased rural deployment of the 5G network described above. Indeed, the in-home broadband service deployment in rural areas also will be accelerated and increased. The number of supported rural households will be approximately 300,000 more within three years and approximately 400,000 more within six years from the closing than originally planned. Here again, rural Americans will be big beneficiaries of the commit ments. Applicants stand behind their representations in the record about their incentive and ability to deliver in-home broadband to millions, including in rural areas. As set forth in Attachment 1 at Section III, Applicants commit that, within three years of closing, New T-Mobile will market the in-home service to 9.6 million eligible households, of which at least 2.6 million are rural households and will have at least million supported households, of which at least million are rural households. In addition, within six years of closing, New T-Mobile will market its in-home broadband service to at least 28 million eligible households, of which 5.6 million are rural, and will have at least million supported households, of which at least million are rural households. Commitment for Divestiture of Boost Mobile ¸''£® ' ¤'-- ' '¥¥--' ''£' £-- '£ --' ''¨ ''¤'' ¹£ -- ...¬¹£§¨ '£ '¥---- rtfolio of prepaid options that could leverage the powerful New T-Mobile 5G network to provide a high-quality, 5G prepaid service at a low price. While Applicants had planned that Boost would continue to be an effective and meaningful competitor as part of the New T-Mobile portfolio of brands, Applicants now commit to divest and sell the Boost business to remove any remaining doubts regarding the impact of the merger on prepaid wireless customers and competition. Therefore, as described in Attachment 2, Applicants will divest Boost through a market -based process to a serious and credible buyer. New T-Mobile will offer the Boost buyer terms for a six-year wholesale MVNO agreement that will include wholesale rates that will meaningfully improve upon the commercial terms reflected in the most favorable of T---® '' '£® three largest MVNO agreements. The wholesale network arrangement will also ensure that New T-Mobile and New Boost retain strong incentives to compete against each other for customers. 7 See id. ----''

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch May 20, 2019 Page 6 The Applicants further commit that the MVNO arrangement will prevent New T-Mobile from treating New Boost in a discriminatory or anticompetitive manner relative to Metro, such as through unwanted discriminatory throttling, de-prioritization, or limitations on access to new network technologies. New T-Mobile will also offer other standard commercial support arrangements to the buyer, including a transition services agreement that is customary for a transaction of this nature. This will ensure that New Boost will be an aggressive competitor to New T-Mobile and other facilities-based, and non-facilities-based operators going forward. New T-Mobile commits to identify the buyer of Boost and submit the negotiated MVNO agreement to the FCC within 120 days of closing the merger (subject to two 30-day extensions). The divestiture process implemented by New T-Mobile will result in the orderly transfer of Boost customers to the Boost buyer. It will also ensure the continued and seamless operation of Boost during the pendency of the divestiture. New T-Mobile commits to make significant voluntary contributions to the U.S. Treasury should it fail to timely negotiate and submit to the Commission an MVNO agreement that adheres to the principles in its commitment or maintain the competitiveness of Boost during the divestiture process. Pricing Commitment Applicants demonstrated through business and economic evidence that wireless consumers will pay less for 5G service and get far better service and more data as a result of the merger. However, on February 4, 2019, to enhance the public interest benefits of the merger and simplify £-- >>'''® --§--'£¤ --¥--...¨ £-- ¸''£ ¤'££--' ' '''£'--'£ ££ ¬--... T-Mobile will make available the same or bett er rate plans as those offered by T-Mobile or '£ £'¨® '£-- £---- ¨-- ...' £-- '----ª8 The Applicants once again take this opportunity to unequivocally reaffirm the February 4, 2019, pricing commitment and include it for convenience as Attachment 3. As previously stated, this commitment not only ensures that prices cannot go up, but that 5G comes at no extra cost in contrast to surcharges imposed by Verizon and planned by AT&T. In light of the proposed Boost divestiture, the commitment will cover the Boost plans only until Boost is divested. Commitments Regarding Altice As Applicants have demonstrated in the record, t he same economic principles that will drive lower prices for retail consumers will also apply to wholesale prices and MVNOs, creating a unique value proposition for New T---® ª9 New T---® ''£' '--£... 8 See Letter from Nancy J. Victory, Counsel for T-Mobile US, Inc., to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, WT Docket No. 18-µ" ...¾--ª °¨ ®¬µ§ ...¬'' >>''£'--'£ --££--§ª 9 Joint Opposition at 88-91. ----''

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch May 20, 2019 Page 7 capacity and lower per unit costs will create an incentive for the combined company to lower wholesale prices to MVNOs in order to ensure that the new network capacity is not wasted by sitting idle.10 MVNOs will benefit not only from the capabilities of the New T-Mobile network, but also the unprecedented capacity and lower cost per GB, which will translate into lower wholesale costs, and, ultimately, lower prices for MVNO subscribers.11 In addition to these competitive incentives, T-Mobile has publicly represented that New T-Mobile will honor the terms of existing Sprint and T-Mobile MVNO agreements¨ ''¤'' '£® ----'--'£ ...£ Altice.12 As described in Attachment 4, Applicants now commit that New T-Mobile will not exercise any £--''£' £ ¤''-- ¸£'--® ----'--'£ ...£ '£ ££ '£ -- £----' ¨ £-- merger. In addit ion, New T-Mobile commits to engage in good faith negotiations to expand the existing Sprint/Altice agreement to the New T-Mobile 5G network. Verification and Enforcement Applicants take these commitments seriously, expect to be held to their word, and they are prepared for financial consequences if they fail to do so. Accordingly, Applicants commit to a verification and enforcement regime of unprecedented rigor. Failure to meet New T---® obligations will trigger severe, increasing, and continuing voluntary contributions that will make failure prohibitively expensive and incentivize New T-Mobile to meet its commitments. At the same time, New T---® '''£'--'£ will set a new standard for regulatory transparency, providing regular and robust information in annual reports regarding its progress in meeting its nationwide 5G, rural 5G, and in-home commitments. For New T---® £-----year and six-year commitment dates, the company will provide a comprehensive report that includes data from drive tests, polygon coverage shapefiles, population and household coverage figures, site lists, marketing figures, and executive certifications. ¸''£® ¤ ¥--'£on processes will be accompanied by an even more exacting enforcement structure. Voluntary contributions will be calculated separately for each missed commitment. Furthermore, each of New T---® §-year commitments will continue until satisfied and, accordingly, their respective voluntary contributions will continue to accrue and increase during their pendency. This enforcement standard is unprecedented in its strength. The Applicants are prepared to submit to the substantial financial consequences of missed deadlines or obligations because all of the deadlines and obligations are consistent with the New T-Mobile plan. They simply ensure that New T-Mobile does post-merger what the Applicants 10 Id. at 88. 11 Id. 12 Id. at 89. ----''

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch May 20, 2019 Page 8 have described will happen in their Public Interest Statement and subsequent filings, as well as the accelerated and expanded deployment of the 5G network to rural America included in the merger commitments the Applicants make today. Commission Grant of the Transfer of Control Applications In view of the record in this merger proceeding and the commitments submitted herewith, the Applicants request prompt grant of their applications for transfer of control as serving the public interest. Please direct any questions regarding the foregoing to the undersigned counsel for the Applicants. Respectfully submitted, SPRINT CORPORATION By:_/s/ Regina M. Keeney______________ Regina M. Keeney A. Richard Metzger, Jr. Lawler, Metzger, Keeney & Logan, LLC 1717 K Street, NW, Suite 1075 Washington, DC 20006 (202) 777-7700 T-MOBILE US, Inc. By: _/s/ Nancy J. Victory______________ R. Michael Senkowski Nancy J. Victory DLA Piper LLP (US) 500 Eighth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20004 (202) 799-4000 cc: Chairman Ajit Pai Commissioner Michael O®Rielly Commissioner Brendan Carr Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Commissioner Geoffrey Starks David Lawrence Kathy Harris Linda Ray Kate Matraves Jim Bird David Krech Joel Rabinovitz ----''

£££££££ATTACHMENT 1 ----''

NETWORK AND IN-HOME COMMITMENTS I. Nationwide 5G Network Deployment. T-Mobile and Sprint commit that: (A) within three (3) years of the closing date of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, New T-Mobile will deploy a 5G network with: 1. a Low-band 5G Coverage Area covering at least 97% of the U.S. Population; 2. a Mid-band 5G Coverage Area covering at least 75% of the U.S. Population; 3. 5G Sites nationwide; 4. MHz of low-band and mid-band 5G Spectrum averaged over all 5G Sites deployed nationwide (the sites described in Section I.A.3 above); 5. 75% of the U.S. Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 50 Mbps, as verified by a drive test; 1 and 6. 63% of the U.S. Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 100 Mbps,2 as verified by a drive test. (B) within six (6) years of the closing date of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, New T-Mobile will deploy a 5G network with: 1. a Low-band 5G Coverage Area covering at least 99% of the U.S. Population; 2. a Mid-band 5G Coverage Area covering at least 88% of the U.S. Population; 3. 5G Sites nationwide; 4. MHz of low-band and mid-band 5G Spectrum averaged over all 5G Sites deployed nationwide (the sites described in Section I.B.3 above); 5. 99% of the U.S. Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 50 Mbps, as verified by a drive test; and 6. 90% of the U.S. Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 100 Mbps,3 as verified by a drive test. II. Rural 5G Network Deployment. With regard to the nationwide 5G network deployment described above, T-Mobile and Sprint further commit that: £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££1 New T-Mobile will fund the drive tests to take place at the end of years 3 and 6. The drive tests will utilize a methodology mutually agreed to by New T-Mobile and the Wireless Telecommunications ½¨¥--¨ ...®½¨¥--¨¯§ within 60 days of the closing of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. The goal of the drive testing is to reflect actual user experience under ordinary utilization and compare them to the speed and coverage commitments stated in Sections I and II. The drive testing will involve oversight by an independent third party, but may be conducted by T-Mobile personnel. The drive testing will commence at the three (3) and six (6) year anniversary of the close of the transaction and be completed within nine (9) months thereafter in each case. The drive test would make use of T-Mobile-Certified 5G Devices. 2 While not a part of the formal commitment, the 63% of the U.S. Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 100 Mbps are expected to experience average upload speeds of 15-20 Mbps. 3 The 90% of the U.S. Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 100 Mbps are expected to experience average upload speeds of 15-20 Mbps. See n.2. ----''

...££(A) within three (3) years of the closing date of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, New T-Mobile will deploy a 5G network with: 1. a Low-band 5G Coverage Area covering at least 85% of the Rural Population; 2. a Mid-band 5G Coverage Area covering at least 55% of the Rural Population; 3. 5G Sites Deployed in Rural Areas; 4. MHz of low-band and mid-band 5G Spectrum averaged over 5G Sites deployed in Rural Areas (the sites described in Section II.A.3 above); 5. 66.7% of the Rural Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 50 Mbps, as verified by a drive test; and 6. 55% of the Rural Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 100 Mbps,4 as verified by a drive test. (B) within six (6) years of the closing date of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, New T-Mobile will deploy a 5G network with: 1. a Low-band 5G Coverage Area covering at least 90% of the Rural Population; 2. a Mid-band 5G Coverage Area covering at least 66.7% of the Rural Population; 3. 5G Sites Deployed in Rural Areas; 4. MHz of low-band and mid-band 5G Spectrum averaged over 5G Sites deployed in Rural Areas (the sites described in Section II.B.3 above); 5. 90% of the Rural Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 50 Mbps, as verified by a drive test; and 6. 66.7% of the Rural Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 100 Mbps,5 as verified by a drive test. III. In-Home Broadband. T-Mobile and Sprint commit that: (A) within three (3) years of the closing date of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, New T-Mobile will: 1. Market its In-home Broadband Service product to at least 9.6 million Eligible Households, of which at least 2.6 million are Rural Households; and 2. have at least million Supported Households, of which at least million are Rural Households. (B) within six (6) years of the closing date of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, New T-Mobile will: 1. Market its In-home Broadband Service product to at least 28.0 million Eligible Households, of which 5.6 million are Rural Households; and 2. have at least million Supported Households, of which at least million are £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££4 The 55% of the Rural Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 100 Mbps are expected to experience upload speeds of 15-20 Mbps. See n.2. 5 The 66.7% of the Rural Population having access to download speeds equal to or greater than 100 Mbps are expected to experience upload speeds of 15-20 Mbps. See n.2. ----''

§££Rural Households. Provided, however, that the requirements of Sections III.A.1 and III.B.1 will terminate once New T-Mobile has 9.5 million simultaneous In-home Broadband Service subscribers. IV. Verification. T-Mobile and Sprint commit that: (A) Within 60 days following each of the first, second, fourth and fifth annual anniversaries of the closing date of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, New T-Mobile will submit to the Bureau a report that details the progress the company is making toward meeting the site and spectrum deployment and other commitments described in Sections I-II and the In-home Broadband commitments described in Section III (including the number of subscribers) as of the corresponding anniversary date. (B) Within 9 months following each of the third and sixth annual anniversaries of the closing date of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, New T-Mobile will submit to the Bureau a report that will include: 1. drive test results; 2. polygon shapefiles showing New T-Mobile°... ª-band 5G Coverage Area and Mid-band 5G Coverage Area as of the 3-year or 6-year date (whichever is applicable); 3. a statement quantifying the U.S. Population and Rural Population covered by each of the Low-band 5G Coverage Area and Mid-band 5G Coverage Area as of the 3-year or 6-year date (whichever is applicable); 4. a list of 5G Sites (including information identifying individual sites, e.g., latitude and longitude) and spectrum deployed, broken into rural and non-rural categories; 5. a certification from New T-'°... ¾' ¬ '¥ §--§ § representations in the shapefiles, population coverage numbers, site and spectrum deployment numbers, and speeds are true and correct; 6. a statement describing the means by which New T-Mobile has Marketed its In-home Broadband Service product to date; 7. the number of households, with reasonable precision, that received or were covered by each form of In-home Broadband Service Marketing as of the 3-year or 6-year date (whichever is applicable); 8. the number of Supported Households, and of those the number of Rural Households; 9. the number of subscribers of New T-'°... In-home Broadband Service as of the 3-year or 6-year date (whichever is applicable); and 10. a certification from New T-Mobile°... ¨§'(C) ' --¥ § -home Broadband Service business that the representations in the report regarding In-home Broadband Service Marketing, Supported Households and number of subscribers are true and correct. V. Enforcement. T-Mobile and Sprint agree that, in the event that the Bureau determines that New T-Mobile has failed to meet any of the commitments described in Sections I-III ----''

¨££above, New T-Mobile will make a voluntary contribution to the U.S. Treasury in the manner directed by the Bureau within 60 days of such determination. This voluntary contribution will be in lieu of the Commission taking any action under its forfeiture authority for failure to meet the commitments described in Sections I-III above. The amount of the voluntary contribution will be calculated in accordance with this section: (A) In the event that the Bureau determines that New T-Mobile has failed to meet any of the 3-year commitments, the applicable voluntary contribution shall be calculated as follows: 1. The amount of the voluntary contribution shall be cumulative, calculated separately for each missed commitment (Sections I(A), II(A), and III(A) each constituting an individual commitment) commensurate with the percentage by which New T-Mobile missed the commitment. The total amount of the voluntary contribution shall be the sum of the amounts assessed for each missed commitment; 2. Where a commitment has multiple elements (as in Sections I(A), II(A), and III(A)), the Bureau shall determine the percentage by which New T-Mobile has fallen short under each element6 and calculate the voluntary contribution for the particular missed commitment based on the highest calculated percentage missed of any element; 3. Each 1% of shortfall with respect to the commitment in Sections I.A.5 and II.A.5 shall constitute 0.5% for purposes of the calculation in 2; and 4. The following contribution scale will apply: Missed Percentage Voluntary Contribution >0%-5% $10,000,000 >5%-10% $25,000,000 >10%-25% $50,000,000 >25%-50% $100,000,000 >50% $250,000,000 £(B) In the event that the Bureau determines that New T-Mobile has failed to meet any of the 6-year commitments, the applicable voluntary contribution shall be calculated as £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££6 For example, if there is a commitment to serve 55% of the population (180.1M people out of a total population of 327.48M) and New T-Mobile is able to serve only 160.3M by the deadline, the company would fall short by 19.8M people, which would be a percentage missed of 11% (19.8M · 180.1M X 100 = 11%). ----''

(C)££follows (with a maximum contribution for such a determination of $2.4 billion repeatable as described in Section V.C.): 1. The amount of the voluntary contribution shall be cumulative, calculated separately for each missed commitment (Sections I(B), II(B), and III(B) each constituting an individual commitment) commensurate with the percentage by which New T-Mobile missed the commitment. The total amount of the voluntary contribution shall be the sum of the amounts assessed for each missed commitment; 2. Where a commitment has multiple elements (as in Sections I(B), II(B), and III(B)), the Bureau shall determine the percentage by which New T-Mobile has fallen short under each element and calculate the voluntary contribution based on the highest calculated percentage missed of any element; 3. Each 1% of shortfall with respect to the commitment in Sections I.B.5 and II.B.5 shall constitute 0.5% for purposes of the calculation in 2; 4. The voluntary contribution for each 1% (rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent) up to 20% that a commitment is missed shall be $10,000,000, and $5,000,000 for each 1% thereafter; however, the minimum contribution amount shall be $25,000,000; and 5. The voluntary contribution calculated for failure to meet the commitment described in Section II shall be doubled.7 (C) New T-'°... '--§' § ¨' § '§ §... ' §'... ...½§(C) ...½§(C) -- III(B) remains until satisfied. Within one year after a Bureau determination that New T-Mobile was deficient with respect to any element of these commitments, New T-Mobile shall submit to the Bureau a report demonstrating whether it has satisfied any remaining deficient element(s). A determination by the Bureau that New T-Mobile has failed to meet any of the remaining deficient elements shall be subject to the same voluntary contribution amounts described in Section V(B) and the process described in this section V(C) until satisfied. (D) In making a determination regarding New T-'°... £'-- ¨¥ §'... IV(A)-(C) above, the Bureau shall take into account and, in its reasonable discretion, appropriately reduce the metric, extend the deadline or reduce the contribution amount associated with commitments missed due to unanticipated circumstances ¬ § £--¬°... §¥ ...e.g., acts of God, such as fire, flood, earthquake, or other natural disasters; terrorist events, riots, insurrections, war, strikes or national emergencies; law or order of any government body; or significant interruptions in the supply chain). VI. Definitions. The following terms are used in this document: (A) ®²¯ '... ' --... § ² ª --' --'¥ '§¥-- ...§----¥ --... ...¥' ' ° Release 15. Available at https://www.3gpp.org/release-15. £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££7 For example, a 20% shortfall on each of the commitments in Sections I(B), II(B) and III(B) would translate into a combined $800M voluntary contribution ($200M + (2 X $200M) + $200M = $800M). ----''

ª££(B) ®5G Sites¯ '... ' --... --¥ ...'§... ª' ² ¥--'... --¥ £¬ (C) ®5G Sites Deployed in Rural Areas¯ --... ² Sites that are physically located within a Rural Area. (D) ®² Spectrum¯ '... ' --... '--§ '... ...£§¥¨ ¨... ¥ ª' ¥ ¨£' with 5G radios and does not include spectrum shared dynamically with LTE. (E) ®¼......¯ § ...£'' ...£... --... §--§ ¨...¥... -Mobile-Certified 5G Devices will experience the specified download speeds on average (mean) across actual utilization. (F) ®'' ¨...¯ '... ' --... -- ¨... --§ ' -- ¥--£¬· ...¼§ (C)¥ which New T-'°... §ª¥ ª' £¥(C)' ...'-- ¤¨--'§¬ ...¨'§-- § ...¨££¥§ § In-home Broadband Service; and (B) in which New T-'°... §ª¥ --... ...¨''§ capacity to serve one or more households with In-home Broadband Service, as shown in the polygon shapefile submitted to the Bureau. (G) ®-home Broadband Service¯ '... ' --s a residential broadband service with minimum speeds of 25 Mbps downlink and 3 Mbps uplink. (H) ®ª--- ² ¾(C)¥-- ¼¥--¯ '... ' --... §--§ --¥-- '¨ ª'§' § ¨... the polygon shapefile submitted to the Bureau representing geographic coverage for 5G service using Low-band Frequencies with coverage based on T-'°... ¥'--¥¬ course coverage analysis. The coverage shapefiles used to calculate covered pops will be verified by a drive test at the 3 and 6 year intervals. See n.1. (I) ®ª--- ¥¤¨'...¯ '... defined as those radiowave frequencies below 1 GHz including, but not limited to, frequencies in the 600 MHz, 700 MHz, and 800 MHz bands. (J) ®--¥§¯ '... ' --... § --(C)¥§'... -- ¥ -- £¥¨§ ¥ ...rvice for sale including, but not limited to, through TV, radio, Internet, digital, electronic, voice, print, mail, or in-person channels. (K) ®'--- ² ¾(C)¥-- ¼¥--¯ '... ' --... §--§ --¥-- '¨ ª'§' § ¨... the polygon shapefile submitted to the Bureau representing geographic coverage for 5G service using Mid-band Frequencies with coverage based on T-'°... ¥'--¥¬ course coverage analysis. The coverage shapefiles used to calculate covered pops will be verified by a drive test at the 3 and 6 year intervals. See n.1. (L) ®Mid--- ¥¤¨'...¯ '... ' --... §... ¥--'ª--(C) ¥¤¨'... --(C) ® -- below 6 GHz including, but not limited to, the AWS, PCS, and 2.5 GHz bands. (M)®¨¥-- ¼¥--¯ '... --... ' ¬ § ¯® ¾...¨... (N) ®¨¥-- ¨......¯ '... ' --... ¨...... --§ ª'§' -- ¨¥-- ¼¥-- (O) ®¨¥-- £¨--§'¯ '... ' --... § ££¨--§' ª'§' Rural Areas derived from the population data licensed through the 2016 Pitney Bowles study, which provides population at the census block level. The 2016 Pitney Bowles study is based on the ----''

££2010 U.S. Census, but then updated based on more recent information. According to the 2016 Pitney Bowles study, the Rural Population is 61.98M. That population number is fixed for purposes of calculating compliance with these commitments as is the population per census block through which covered pops will be determined. (P) ®¨££¥§ ¨......¯ '... ' --... §... '' ¨...... §--§ ª -Mobile will have the capacity to serve with its In-home Broadband Service at any given time (based upon an average usage across the sector of GB per month per household as of 3 years following the close of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger and an average usage across the sector of GB per month per household as of 6 years following the merger closing). Supported Households will be calculated according to the methodology set out in T-'°... ex parte filing detailing its In-Home Broadband plans. See Letter from Nancy Victory, Counsel for T-Mobile, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, WT Docket No. 18-197 (Mar. 6, 2019). Within 60 days of the closing of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, New T-Mobile and the Bureau will work in good faith to refine this methodology to utilize actual deployment numbers. (Q) ®-Mobile-¾¥§'' ² (C)'¯ --... -- (C)' §--§ -Mobile or New T-Mobile has certified as compatible with its 5G network (it is expected that all 5G devices available through New T-Mobile retail will be T-Mobile-Certified 5G Devices). (R) ® £¨--§'¯ '... ' --... § ££¨--§' § '§ §--§... ...'¨' § ² states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories) as derived from population data licensed through the 2016 Pitney Bowles study, which provides population at the census block level. The 2016 Pitney Bowles study is based on the 2010 U.S. Census, but then updated based on more recent information. According to the 2016 Pitney Bowles study, the U.S. Population is 327.48M. That population number is fixed for purposes of calculating compliance with these commitments as is the population per census block through which covered pops will be determined. ----''

£££££££ATTACHMENT 2 ----''

BOOST MOBILE DIVESTITURE T-Mobile and Sprint commit to divest the Boost Mobile business. The market-based process implemented by the Applicants will ensure that New T-Mobile will divest Boost Mobile to a serious and credible buyer ¥¥·y'...... and receive fair value for the assets. As part of the process contemplated in this commitment, the Applicants and Buyer will be free to agree to commercial terms of their choosing, subject only to the limitations set out below: I. Overview of Divested Business. The Boost Mobile assets and operations to be divested (the ¥¹' ' ·''''... ' ¥ ·'...) include: A. Boost Mobile-branded customers '' ¥' ... ·' Mobile account;1 and B. ¥Dedicated... Boost Mobile assets, properties, systems, management team and employees that are necessary to operate the Boost Mobile business as it is conducted as of the merger closing date.2 The Divested Business will include all ownership interests in, and rights to use, the Boost Mobile brand and its associated brands and trademarks.3 II. Obligation to Maintain Divested Business Prior to Divestiture. New T-Mobile must undertake commercially reasonable efforts to maintain Boos§' competitiveness prior to completion of the divestiture. III. Commercial Arrangements with Buyer. To allow for the continued operation and growth of New Boost, New T-Mobile will offer two principal support arrangements to the Buyer: A. Wholesale MVNO Agreement. The terms of the wholesale MVNO agreement will be consistent with the following principles: 1. Wholesale Network Pricing a. ·'§' '' ' ''' ' ' '' '' ability for New T-Mobile to compete against New Boost for customers, and vice versa, similar to their respective competitive incentives and capabilities £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££1 For purposes of this submission§ ¥' ... ·' ' '' any account that (i) has had a positive account balance at any time during the 120 days immediately prior to the Boost Mobile divestiture closing date, and (ii) has not been suspended, cancelled or otherwise terminated during such 120 -day period. Divested customers do not include Boost Mobile customers of third parties who are not controlled by Sprint and offer wireless service under the Boost brand. 2 ¼' ''' ''' '''''§ ¥'... ' £ ''§ ''£§ '£' ' £ ' '' 'lely and exclusively allocated for use by Boost Mobile. 3 The divestiture of the Boost Mobile business will ensure all third parties who have rights to utilize the Boost brand and marks shall retain such rights.£----''

...£today. For clarity, the pricing will not prevent New T-Mobile from recouping its full network costs associated with serving New Boost customers. b. ·'§' '' ' ''' ' ' ' ' ' -run network cost efficiencies of New T-'§' °½ ' oyment. c. ·'§' '' ' ''' ' '£ '' ' commercial terms reflected in T-'§' ''§' ® '' agreements based on 1Q 2019 wholesale revenues. For clarity, the commercial terms will meaningfully improve on those reflected in each of the 6 agreements, taking each as an entire agreement. 2. Discrimination and Competitive Constraints a. ·'§' '' ' ' -Mobile from treating New Boost in a discriminatory or anticompetitive manner as compared to Metro or any successor to Metro as New T-'§' ' ' '§ '' ' through unwanted discriminatory throttling, de-prioritization, or limitations on access to new network technologies. For the avoidance of doubt, reducing '§' 'es to win subscribers from New Boost would not constitute anticompetitive treatment. b. ·'§' '' ' ''' ' ' ''' ' ' '' '' services. 3. Long-Term Competition and Facilities Deployment a. ·'§' '' ' '' it to deploy and utilize its own spectrum, systems, network infrastructure, and other facilities if it chooses, and enjoy reasonable cost benefits of doing so. b. ·'§' '' ' '' ' ' £ -term basis, with a minimum wholesale agreement term of six years, and New T-Mobile will not unreasonably withhold consent to changes in New Boost ownership (for example, it would not be unreasonable for New T-Mobile to withhold consent to a change of control to a facilities-based provider who refuses to provide New T-' '' ''' '' ' ' ''§' facilities on reasonable terms; it would be unreasonable to withhold consent to a sale with the objective of keeping New Boost in the hands of an unsuccessful owner). 4. S '''' ·'§' ''' a. New T-' ' '' ·'§' '' '' ''' '' '''' independent ownership. b. ·'§' '' ' ' ' ·' '' '' ' -Mobile network on the same timeline as Sprint, the ability to activate on the ----''

§£New T-Mobile network on a nondiscriminatory basis, and reasonable advance notice of network transition plans that could affect New Boost customers. B. Transition Services Agreement. The Transition Services Agreement offered to the Buyer will include up to a two-year term (as required by Buyer) with customary transition services offered at cost to the Buyer. The terms of the Transition Services Agreement (or any other related agreement) shall be consistent with, and not undercut, the principles in Section III.A., to the extent they are applicable. IV. Commission Review of Buyer and New Boost Wholesale MVNO Agreement. New T-Mobile must submit the wholesale MVNO agreement negotiated with the Buyer to the Wireless ''' ·' ¥¥·'...... for review prior to consummating the divestiture. A. ' ·£' ' ¥'''' '' '''-'£ £'§... ''' will be an entity that: 1. has, or has access to, the financial resources to acquire, maintain and expand the Divested Business, and 2. is unrelated to either of the Applicants. B. A New Boost wholesale MVNO agreement, consistent with the principles in Section III.A., must be submitted to the Bureau for review within 120 days after closing of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. 1. No later than seven (7) days prior to the deadline, New T-Mobile may request from the Bureau a thirty-day extension of the deadline. To obtain an extension from the Bureau, New T-Mobile would have to provide a status report and certify that it is both undertaking commercially reasonable efforts to reach a final agreement as quickly as practicable and to meet its obligation in Section II. Under this process, New T-Mobile may request, and the Bureau may grant, up to two thirty-day extensions. 2. Once the New Boost wholesale MVNO agreement is submitted, the Bureau will have 30 days to make a decision as to whether the agreement is consistent with the principles set forth in Section III.A. and whether New T-Mobile has fulfilled its obligation in Section II. This 30-day review timeline can be extended only with the consent of New T-Mobile. V. Enforcement. In the event that the Bureau determines that New T-Mobile has failed to meet the requirements in Sections II and/or IV, New T-Mobile shall make a voluntary contribution to the U.S. Treasury in the manner directed by the Bureau within 60 days of such determination. This voluntary contribution will be in lieu of the Commission taking any ----''

¨£action under its forfeiture authority for failure to meet the commitments in Sections II and IV. The voluntary contribution shall be assessed and calculated in accordance with this section: A. If New T-Mobile fails to submit to the Bureau a wholesale MVNO agreement with the Buyer of the Divested Business (or in the case of a submitted agreement that has been rejected, a revised agreement) by the deadline set forth in Section IV.B., New T-Mobile shall owe a voluntary contribution of $3.5 million per day until a new agreement is submitted. B. If the Bureau decides that the submitted wholesale MVNO agreement is not consistent with the principles set forth in Section III.A., then the clock (if not yet expired) will continue without pause or, if the clock (and any extensions) has expired, a $3.5 million per day voluntary contribution will begin to accummulate immediately and continue until a revised wholesale MVNO agreement is submitted to the Bureau. C. If the Bureau finds that New T-Mobile did not have a good faith and reasonable belief that the wholesale MVNO agreement was consistent with the principles set forth in Section III.A., New T-Mobile shall owe a voluntary contribution of $3.5 million per day for the period during which the Bureau was reviewing the agreement. D. If the Bureau decides that the wholesale MVNO agreement is consistent with the principles set forth in Section III.A., but that New T-Mobile has not met the obligation in Section II, then New T-Mobile must take appropriate ste' ''' ·'§' competitiveness to the Bureau§' '''' shall make a voluntary contribution of $3.5 million per day starting from the date that the wholesale MVNO agreement was submitted until those steps are complete. E. If the Bureau decides both that the agreement was not consistent with the principles set forth in Section III.A. and that New T-Mobile has not met the obligation in Section II, then New T-Mobile shall make a voluntary contribution of $3.5 million per day from the date that the wholesale MVNO agreement was submitted until both of these problems have been remedied and the divestiture is complete. ----''

£££££££ATTACHMENT 3 ----''

DLA Piper LLP (US) 500 Eighth Street, NW Washington, DC 20004 www.dlapiper.com Nancy Victory nancy.victory@dlapiper.com T 202.799.4216 F 202.799.5616 February 4, 2019 VIA ECFS Marlene H. Dortch Secretary Federal Communications Commission 445 Twelfth Street, S.W. Washington, DC 20554 Re: Applications of T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corporation for Consent to Transfer Control of Licenses and Authorizations; WT Docket No. 18-197 Dear Ms. Dortch: ¤¤'£ £ --'£' ¬(C)¬±¥... £-- ¹'''® ¤--§ ¯² ¹(C)½(C)(C) ª ¬(C)¬±¥...§ '£'-- hereby provided of a written ex parte presentation in the above-referenced docket. T-Mobile US, ''(C) ¥¬---... '' '£ ¹£' ¥¬'£§ '' '--'£¥--¨ ...£ -Mobile, ¬·''£... ¥-- ££--' ' £-- ¤' '£----£ ££--'--'£§ '' --£--£--' ----£--'¨ ''--§ ££ the merger will --'¤-- ££ ¬·'--'' ''¤'-- ... ¨ -- '' --£ '--(C)1 Our merger will enable the deployment of a world-class nationwide 5G network with massive capacity and lower marginal costs per customer, with the result that customers get better service and more data at the same or lower prices.2 -- ·''£® ------'££' ££ ''¤'-- ... ¨ -- --¤£ the merger is supported by the New T-Mobile business plan,3 declarations from T-Mobile 1 See, e.g., Applications of T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corporation for Consent to Transfer Control of the Licenses and Authorizations, WT Docket No. 18-197, Description of Transaction, Public Interest Statement, and Related Demonstrations at i (June 18, 2018) ¥¬¤' '£----£ ££--'--'£...¶ Applications of T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corporation for Consent to Transfer Control of Licenses and Authorizations, WT Docket No. 18-197, Joint Opposition of T-Mobile US, Inc. and Sprint Corporation at i (Sept. 17, 2018) ¥¬'£ £'...(C) 2 Public Interest Statement at 51. 3 Id. ----''

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch February 4, 2019 Page 2 executives,4 merger simulations focused on New T-Mobile prices,5 and economic work showing all wireless consumers will benefit from a decrease in price per GB due to competitive responses from AT&T and Verizon.6 The Public Interest Statement also provided further assurances to existing customers of T-Mobile and Sprint that prices will not go up following the close of the merger. Specifically, the Applicants stated that ¬New T-Mobile will guarantee each [Sprint] customer a rate plan that is equal or better than the plans they currently enjoy with Sprint.7 The Applicants also noted the T-Mobile Un-contract rate promise to their customers and that it would be extended to Sprint customers post-closing.8 These assurances were intended to address any concerns about post-closing price increases and they are fully consistent with the New T-Mobile business plan. Despite all this, merger opponents tried to raise questions about New T---® '' incentives during the three-year period from merger closing until completion of the network combination and customer migration. The Applicants believe that the myriad showings on the record fully answer those questions. However, to remove all doubt and simplify the ¹'''® --¥--... £-- '----, the Applicants are providing the following statement to remove any doubts, concerns or ambiguity: New T-Mobile will make available the same or better rate plans as those offered by T-Mobile or Sprint as of ¸µ date for three years following the merger. T-Mobile and Sprint legacy rate plans will continue as New T-Mobile plans for three years after the merger or until better plans that offer a lower price or more data are made available, 4 Public Interest Statement, Appx C, Declaration of G. Michael Sievert, President and Chief Operating Officer, T-Mobile US, Inc. at ¶21; Public Interest Statement, Appx. D, Declaration of Peter Ewens, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy, T--- § ''(C) £ " ¥¬¼...--' >>--'(C)...(C) 5 Joint Opposition, Appx. F, Declaration of Compass Lexecon, Mark Israel, Michael Katz, and Bryan Keating at ¶6; John Asker, Timothy F. Bresnahan, and Kostis Hatzitaskos, Economic Analysis of the Proposed T-Mobile/Sprint Merger, Cornerstone Research at 1-6 (Nov. 6, 2018). 6 Public Interest Statement, Appx. G, Declaration of David S. Evans, Market Platform Dynamics, ¬¼'''' ·'¨ £-- ''£ £-- --' ---- -Mobile and Sprint on the Deployment of °¾ ¹--¤ --''--§ £-- °¾ · ¼'¨£--'§ '' ¹'¤'--§ ¼'£----§ '' £-- ¼'''¨§ £ ¶¶220-44. 7 Ewens Decl. at ¶8. 8 Id. ----''

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch February 4, 2019 Page 3 whichever occurs first.9 The retained legacy rate plans may be adjusted to pass through cost increases in taxes, fees and surcharges as well as services from third party partners that are included in the rate plans, as these increased costs are not within the control of New T-Mobile. The legacy plans may also be adjusted to modify or discontinue third party partner benefits based on changes in the terms of the offering initiated by the third party partner, as this is also not within the control of New T-Mobile.10 As New T-Mobile CEO John Legere has said, we would be pleased to discuss the details of this commitment with the Chairman, Commissioners and Transaction Team. As noted, this representation is fully consistent with the New T-Mobile business plan and responsive to merger-specific questions that have been raised. For those reasons, the Applicants have no objection to this representation being included as a formal merger condition in the order approving the transaction. Please direct any questions regarding the foregoing to the undersigned counsel for Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile. Respectfully submitted, DLA Piper LLP (US) /s/ Nancy Victory Nancy Victory Partner cc: Chairman Ajit Pai ¹'''-- '-- ®--¨ Commissioner Brendan Carr Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Commissioner Geoffrey Starks David Lawrence Kathy Harris Linda Ray Kate Matraves 9 When a better post-merger plan is offered, New T-Mobile may discontinue a less appealing legacy plan. 10 Device/handset offerings are not included in this pricing commitment. ----''

Ms. Marlene H. Dortch February 4, 2019 Page 4 Jim Bird David Krech ----''

£££££££ATTACHMENT 4 ----''

£ £ £ £ALTICE MVNO COMMITMENT£££T-Mobile and Sprint commit that: (A) >> >>' µ¨¹¨ ¤>>¥ -- set forth in the Master Wireless Wholesale Agreement by and between Sprint and Altice USA, Inc. ¤°¥ ·' ¬... (C)ª ¤ ° ¶¾·¸ °¥, or in any other existing agreement between Sprint and Altice, that arises from consummation of the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint Corporation; and (B) New T-Mobile will negotiate in good faith an amendment of the Altice MVNO Agreement to include the networks, including 5G network, operated by New T-Mobile. ----''

AT&T 5G Efforts Focuses on mmWave and Faster Broadband

Link to Article

Archived Version

Tue, 21 May 2019 10:14

AT&T is conducting 5G trials and using the data collected to contribute to the 3GPP wireless standards body's work on 5G. The telecom giant is deploying equipment, investing in a specific mix of spectrum and technology, and laying the foundation for its evolution to 5G. AT&T intends to deliver state-of-the-art 5G speeds as soon as late 2018.

Following are some tests and trials that the company has been performing recently, resulting in new intelligence about millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum.

Source: AT&T

AT&T 5G: mmWave PerformanceIn 2017, AT&T launched a series of fixed wireless 5G trials to business and residential customers, gaining insight into mmWave performance and propagation. The company is learning interference-related lessons involving device placement, surrounding environment (foliage, building materials), and weather '-- specifically, how those things impact the signal and system in real-world environments.

''Taking our fixed wireless 5G trials out of the lab and into the real world helps us learn important factors about mmWave and 5G,'' said Marachel Knight, SVP, wireless network architecture and design at AT&T. ''And in doing so, we're learning how to better design our network for the future.''

AT&T plans to continue testing fixed and mobile wireless solutions operating in the mmWave spectrum. What the company learns from these AT&T 5G trials should help speed up standards-based deployment as early as late 2018.

AT&T 5G: Faster BroadbandConcurrently, AT&T is testing faster broadband service in which a connection's last leg is delivered by mmWave to a home or business. The company delivered an ultra-fast Internet connection to residential, small business, and enterprise locations. Trial participants were able to enjoy faster broadband services and stream live TV via DirectTV Now over a fixed wireless 5G signal.

''The technology behind 5G is about advancing social trends like mobile video streaming,'' said Knight. ''The network of the future will help redefine what connectivity means to both consumers and businesses. This trial helps show that the new reality is coming fast.''

AT&T expects 5G to introduce new experiences and use cases to consumers and businesses'--largely thanks to the advantages of enhanced mobile broadband, critical Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, and low-latency applications. Participants in this trial were able to experience the real-life benefits that fixed wireless 5G offers.

The AT&T 5G FutureBy conducting its tests and trials with a variety of audiences, AT&T is gaining new insights into mmWave performance characteristics that are necessary for industry standards development. The company is working with other top players to make 5G a reality.

5G Technology Promises Faster Connections, Lower Latency

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Tue, 21 May 2019 10:11

5G technology is the next generation of wireless communications. It is expected to provide Internet connections that are least 40 times faster than 4G LTE. 5G technology may use a variety of spectrum bands, including millimeter wave (mmWave) radio spectrum, which can carry very large amounts of data a short distance. The drawback of the higher frequencies is that they are more easily obstructed by the walls of buildings, trees and other foliage, and even inclement weather.

The forthcoming 5G technology will come from various vendors and will be composed of solutions designed to provide very fast download speeds and low latency. Today'--in advance of 5G's expected debut around 2020'--companies such as Verizon, AT&T, Samsung, and Ericsson are testing new advances in signal processing, chips, and antenna technologies that will enable the next generation of mobile connectivity.

But when you dig deeper into the 5G evolution, you'll find an array of 5G technology that will underpin future wireless communications.

Source: IEEE Spectrum

The 5G Technology That Will Make Everything HappenAs the 5G technology market comes into focus, we're seeing a number of technologies emerge as vital to the 5G experience. These include the aforementioned mmWave technology; small cells; massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO); full duplex; software-defined networking (SDN); and beamforming.

Millimeter wave: Millimeter waves are broadcast at frequencies between 30 GHz and 300 GHz, compared with the bands below 6 GHz used for 4G LTE. The new 5G networks will be able to transmit very large amounts of data'--but only a few blocks at a time. Although the 5G standard will offer the greatest benefits over these higher frequencies, it will also work in low frequencies as well as unlicensed frequencies that WiFi currently uses, without creating conflicts with existing WiFi networks. For this reason, 5G networks will use small cells to complement traditional cellular towers.Small cells: Small cells are low-powered portable base stations that can be placed throughout cities. Carriers can install many small cells to form a dense, multifaceted infrastructure. Small cells' low-profile antennas make them unobtrusive, but their sheer numbers make them difficult to set up in rural areas. As 5G technology matures, consumers should expect to see ubiquitous 5G antennas, even in their own homes.Massive MIMO: 5G technology enables base stations to support many more antennas than 4G base stations. With MIMO, both the source (transmitter) and the destination (receiver) have multiple antennas, thus maximizing efficiency and speed. MIMO also introduces interference potential, leading to the necessity of beamforming.Beamforming: Beamforming is a 5G technology that finds the most efficient data-delivery route to individual users. Higher-frequency antennas enable the steering of narrower transmission beams. This user-specific beamforming allows transmissions both vertically and horizontally. Beam direction can change several times per millisecond. Beamforming can help massive MIMO arrays make more efficient use of the spectrum around them.Full duplex: Full duplex communication is a way to potentially double the speed of wireless communication. By employing a 5G full duplex scheme on a single channel, only one channel is needed to transmit data to and from the base station, rather than two. A potential drawback of full duplex is that it can create signal interference.SDN: SDN and network functions virtualization (NFV) are considered the foundation for how 5G will be deployed.5G Technology Is RampantThis assemblage of 5G technology'--along with much more that's still evolving through vendor cooperation'--will power the wireless networks of the future, enabling such use cases as interactive television, high-definition and 3-D video, social gaming, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), robotics, automated vehicles, advanced manufacturing, healthcare imaging and diagnostics, and more.

Additional 5G Technology ResourcesWhat is 5G? Everything You Need to Know '-- A Definition

AT&T's 5G Efforts Focus on mmWave, Faster Broadband

Will 5G Replace WiFi?

5G Trials in the United States'--Steps Toward Standardization

5G Standards - What You Need to Know - SDxCentral

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Release 15 5G PROTOCOL

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Tue, 21 May 2019 10:04

Update of April 26, 2019

After initial delivery in late 2017 of 'Non-Stand-Alone' (NSA) NR new radio specifications for 5G, much effort focused in 2018 on timely completion of 3GPP Release 15 '' the first full set of 5G standards '' and on work to pass the first milestones for the 3GPP submission towards IMT-2020.While initial specifications enabled non-standalone 5G radio systems integrated in previous-generation LTE networks, the scope of Release 15 expands to cover 'standalone' 5G, with a new radio system complemented by a next-generation core network. It also embraces enhancements to LTE and, implicitly, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). This crucial way-point enables vendors to progress rapidly with chip design and initial network implementation during 2019.

As the Release 15 work has matured and drawn close to completion, the group's focus is now shifting on to the first stage of Release 16, often referred to informally as '5G Phase 2'. By the end of the year, 83 studies relating to Release 16 plus a further thirteen relating to Rel-17 were in progress, covering topics as diverse as Multimedia Priority Service, Vehicle-to- everything (V2X) application layer services, 5G satellite access, Local Area Network support in 5G, wireless and wireline convergence for 5G, terminal positioning and location, communications in vertical domains and network automation and novel radio techniques. Further studies were launched or progressed on security, codecs and streaming services, LAN interworking, network slicing and the IoT.

Other activities focused on broadening the applicability of 3GPP technology to non-terrestrial radio access systems '' from satellites and airborne base stations to maritime applications including ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communications. Work also progressed on new Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) functionality for LTE, enhancing railway-oriented services originally developed using GSM radio technology which is now nearing its end of life.

(Source: ETSI Annual report 2018)

Further reading: Some Early Background on Release 15, in the context of the 5G story:

5G-NR workplan for eMBB5G Phase 1 underway in CT Groups3GPP on track to 5GSA1 completes its study into 5G requirements

Iran

US speaks of peace talks, while 'holding a gun' at Tehran '' top Iranian official '-- RT World News

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Fri, 17 May 2019 12:18

Iran has pulled no punches with regards to Washington, saying that while the US is urging talks, it simultaneously holds a gun at Tehran. The latest war of words comes as tensions between two states continue to grow.

''The actions of American leaders in exerting pressure and launching sanctions ['...] while speaking of talks, is like holding a gun at someone and asking for friendship and negotiations,'' Rasoul Sanai-Rad, a political deputy of the armed forces command said as quoted news agency Mehr quoted.

US President Donald Trump has been recently insisting his country was not on a path of war with Iran and that the latter ''will want to talk soon.'' That said, two US Navy destroyers entered waters of the Persian Gulf on Thursday.

Also on rt.com 2 US destroyers enter Persian Gulf amid tensions with Iran Hawks in Trump's administration have long been calling for tougher stance on Tehran. Last year, Washington unilaterally pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and renewed sanctions on the country.

In recent days, the situation in the Middle East has dramatically worsened with the White House rushing the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to the region ahead of schedule in response to ''a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings''. The deployment was meant to be ''a warning'' to Iran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier this week assured that neither Iran nor the US actually seeks war. Meanwhile, as tensions between Washington and Tehran gain ground, European leaders have urged both countries to measure their statements. That said, the bloc again expressed its regret on US sanctions targeting Iran as well as ditching the landmark nuclear accord (known as JCPOA), which Trump has been boasting as one of his major achievements.

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Panic Over War With Iran Is An Info Operation To Preserve The Iran Deal

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Is the United States on the brink of war with Iran? That's the message the American people have been getting from much of the mainstream media as well as from prominent Democrats.

They are arguing that Trump is blundering the country into war with Iran and the only sane alternative is to stick with President Barack Obama's nuclear deal. Yet while tensions with Iran are rising, this critique is essentially the same argument we were hearing a few years ago when Obama's pact was being debated. At that time, the country was told its only choices about Iran were war or appeasement.

But as the United States has sought to regain the leverage over Iran that Obama discarded during the course of the negotiations'--the ones that led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)'--we must realize that this is a false choice. President Donald Trump's success in re-imposing sanctions has essentially returned the West to the point it was at in 2013. That was when Iran returned to the negotiating table only to find that the Obama administration was so desperate for a deal that it was prepared to abandon almost all of its key demands on the nuclear issue, as well as drop its concerns about other issues like missile production and terrorism.

The question now is whether Democrats and their media allies can help promote and exploit the country's legitimate concerns about the possibility of war to the point where it could cause the administration to alter its policy.

How Much Influence Does Media Have on Trump?Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and his subsequent re-imposition of economic sanctions on Tehran were supposed to be a total flop. Or at least that was the assumption of Obama alumni and the rest of the foreign policy establishment as well as the journalists that former Obama Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes aptly described as the former president's media ''echo chamber.''

But they were wrong about Trump's ability to fundamentally alter the debate about Iran. But by the end of 2018, the administration had gone beyond threats of renewed sanctions. By implementing restrictions on commerce with Iran and warning its trading partners that they would have to choose between economic ties with the United States and those with Iran, it quickly became apparent that Tehran's confidence that it could wait out the Trump administration'--as former secretary of state John Kerry said he had advised his former negotiation partners to do'--and rely on support from Western Europe, Russia, and China to fend off American pressure was unfounded.

European efforts to help Iran evade unilateral Western sanctions were a failure. Neither the Germans nor the French were really prepared to choose commerce with Iran over doing business in the United States. Plans to try to evade the U.S. sanctions by establishing a barter system with the Iranians never had a chance of success.

While the JCPOA had enriched and empowered Iran, Trump's decision dealt its economy and ability to fund foreign adventures a body blow. By this spring the regime's terrorist auxiliaries were also feeling the pinch. As The New York Times reported, Hezbollah fighters were quoted as complaining that Iran no longer had the resources to support their efforts.

Their troubles are now being compounded by administration plans to shut down Iran's remaining foreign oil sales, which provide its main source of export income, a measure that Obama stopped short of imposing even at the height of economic sanctions. Faced with an economic crisis that was undermining its bid for regional hegemony, Iran has been left with a stark choice.

As for Iran's ChoiceIran can return, as it did in 2013 when international sanctions were starting to bite, to the table. That would mean a much-needed revision to the nuclear agreement that would close the loopholes Obama left wide open, such as the fact that the deal will expire within a decade. Equally important would be to condition the lifting of sanctions requiring Tehran to end its funding for international terror and its illegal ballistic missile program.

While Obama said that the JCPOA gave Iran a chance to ''get right with the world,'' his willingness to sign a deal at any price ensured they would have no incentive to do so. Trump's efforts are the only way for Obama's hope to be realized.

There are two alternatives to negotiations for Iran: They can try to wait out Trump hoping that he will be defeated for re-election in 2020. Or they can threaten to resume efforts toward building a nuclear weapon and ratchet up tensions in the region in an attempt to convince Trump that the price of continuing pressure will be increased terrorism and war.

For the moment, Tehran has chosen the latter option. Sources in Washington have spoken of reports about heightened warnings of possible Iranian terror in Iraq and throughout the region as well as efforts to squeeze the West by threatening the flow of oil from the region through the Persian Gulf. The reported attempts at sabotage of oil tankers in the last few days are widely believed to be the work of Iranian agents.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also announced last week that the regime is initiating small steps toward producing nuclear fuel and to resume the production of nuclear centrifuges. But Tehran did not take any action to withdraw from the nuclear pact, yet another sign that it needs the deal more than the West does.

Much of the media attention on the current tension has focused on the terror warnings (which resulted in a partial evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad) and reports about Pentagon contingency plans for responding to Iranian military threats.

Does Iran Want War? Probably NotBut while no one should underestimate Iran's capacity for terrorism'--a tactic the Islamic Republic has regularly employed since its establishment in 1979'--or the possibility of a miscalculation, it's also clear that Tehran is no more interested in an open military conflict than Washington is.

Iran knows its forces cannot hope to prevail against the United States and such a conflict would likely end the theocratic regime. And no matter how much the Europeans despise Trump, any Iranian attack on Western targets would force them to side with the United States. That is also true of an Iranian decision to attempt a nuclear ''breakout'' that would allow them to produce a nuclear weapon in the next year or two.

But Iran still hopes their threats will convince Americans that the only possible choices available to them are war or a return to Obama's policy of appeasement. That's been the kneejerk reaction from liberal editorial boards and the chorus line of ex-Obama administration officials on CNN and MSNBC. They are sure that Trump is bungling his way to a war that the United States shouldn't fight and can't win.

Trump Should Trust His InstinctsBut as with the original decision to abandon the nuclear pact despite the warnings from the foreign policy establishment, Trump's instincts seem far keener than those of the so-called ''experts.'' While there are no guarantees of success, Iran's war talk is a bluff it can't back up. The regime can use its auxiliaries to strike soft targets or even seek to heat up the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. But in its current economic straights, it cannot sustain a prolonged conflict without endangering its survival.

The president's use of sanctions has brought the West back to the inflection point abandoned by Obama in 2013. Trump's signals of his willingness to negotiate also give Iran an exit strategy that, sooner or later, it will be forced to take. Or at least it will be if the president doesn't lose his nerve because of the misleading war panic his opponents are attempting to gin up.

Tough sanctions ruthlessly enforced have always been the formula to end Iran's nuclear program and terrorism. The mistaken belief that war is the only alternative to surrender is what brought the ayatollahs their diplomatic triumph over Obama.

Trump needs to ignore the revived efforts of his predecessor's media echo chamber to scare the country into abandoning sanctions. If he sticks to his willingness to make Iran pay a price they cannot afford, the result is far more likely to be an American diplomatic victory than a conflict that Washington has no intention of being drawn into.

The Purge

Facebook Suspends Candace Owens For Saying Liberal Policies Incentivize Fatherless Homes '' Summit News

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Fri, 17 May 2019 17:13

Politics Says white America will not concede power ''until its death rattle.''

New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow lauded the ''inevitable'' demographic decline of white people in order to bring down the ''white male racist patriarchy''.

Blow, who is notorious for his schizophrenic obsession with identity politics, doesn't waste any time labeling all Trump supporters as racist in the very first sentence of his article, writing, ''The white male racist patriarchy will not be denied. It is having a moment. It has its own president.''

He then goes on to express thinly veiled glee at the ''demographic displacement'' of white people.

''We are living through a flagrant display of a white male exertion of power, authority and privilege, a demonstration meant to underscore that they will forcefully fight any momentum toward demographic displacement, no matter how inevitable the math,'' writes Blow.

Blow ends his piece by lamenting that white America will not concede power ''until its death rattle.''

This once against illustrates the media's outright double standard when it comes to discussing demographic changes.

Anyone on the right who raises the issue is accused of discussing ''white genocide'' and is conflated with white supremacists and extremists.

It seems it's only possible to highlight the demographic decline of white people without a backlash if you agree that it's a good thing.

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There is a war on free speech. Without your support, my voice will be silenced.

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Politics Maurice Levy happy that socials will clamp down on ''hateful content''.

Davos elitist Maurice Levy is happy that new ''hateful content'' rules for the Internet will see ''discussions'' being ''quickly erased from social networks''.

Levy is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Publicis Groupe, the world's third largest advertising and communications group and a regular attendee of the World Economic Forum.

He has joined with global leaders like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron to promote the ''Christchurch Call,'' which demands countries and social media giants ''clamp down on hate content'' in response to the New Zealand mosque shooting.

During an interview with CNBC, Levy praised New Zealand's effort to combat ''hate'' following the attack.

''Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern '... (made) a very moving speech regarding how the hatred and speech of hate are contaminating the social network(s), and I believe that this is a landmark in how people will now operate and how some discussions will be quickly erased from the social networks,'' he said.

As we previously reported, part of combating this ''hate'' in New Zealand includes police making home visits to citizens to grill them on their political beliefs.

And as ever, ''hateful content'' coincidentally looks almost identical to 'expressing opinions which go against the status quo'.

What could possibly go wrong?

As we document in the video below, social media censorship is just the beginning. We are moving quickly towards a Communist Chinese-style social credit system where people are denied banking and the ability to buy and sell because of their political opinions.

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Politics Entire case file sealed by judge.

The case of two anti-Trump leftists, one of whom is transgender, who shot up a school in Denver last week has been placed under seal by a judge, banning the public from seeing it.

Devon Erickson, 18, and Alec McKinney, 16, opened fire on two classrooms at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) charter school in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, on May 7, killing one student and injuring eight others.

16-year-old Alec McKinney identifies as male but is biologically female, having been born Maya Elizabeth McKinney.

Following the shooting, it emerged that his accomplice Erickson had posted anti-Christian and anti-Trump messages on social media while praising former President Barack Obama.

It is now being reported that details of the case will remain secret to the public after it was sealed by a judge.

''Douglas County District Judge Theresa Slade has put the charges along with the entire case file under seal, banning the public from seeing it,'' reports Reuters.

The student who was shot dead, 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo, bravely rushed towards the two shooters in an attempt to prevent further loss of life. He was remembered as a ''compassionate, bright young man'' during a memorial service on Wednesday.

The shooting appeared to disappear from headlines quickly when it turned out that the individuals responsible were anti-Trump leftists and that one of them was transgender.

One wonders if the media's reaction would have been different if it was two Trump supporters who had shot up a school.

Others highlighted the double standard of a smirking boy being villified by the media while an actual school shooter was largely ignored.

Both of these students are minors.

One smiled calmly at an Indian while his personal space was invaded.

The other is a murderer.

Which one was smeared by the media for an entire week, sent death threats by celebrities, and had his name released despite being underage? pic.twitter.com/yUhC3k3Ive

'-- Aphrodite ''¤¸ (@venusreborn_) May 15, 2019

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Masterton woman to be charged over Facebook post about Christchurch mosque shootings | Stuff.co.nz

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GEORGE HEARD/STUFF

50 people were killed in the March 15 attacks on two Christchurch mosques.

A Masterton woman who posted a message on Facebook about the Christchurch shootings will be charged with inciting racial disharmony.

Senior Sergeant Jennifer Hansen said the 28-year-old was reported to police after she published the "upsetting" message, saying it was related to "the events in Christchurch and this person's views on what had occurred".

"We were made aware that this post had been put up on Facebook which had upset a number of people to the point that they felt uncomfortable taking kids to school because of the comments that had been made."

PIERS FULLER/STUFF

Senior Sergeant Jennifer Hansen says people should be careful with what they post on social media.

She would not provide details of what was in the post.

READ MORE: * Live: Survivor's sleepless nights after Christchurch mosque shootings * Hate speech '' we need to understand the damage it does * Security expert warns of 'copycat' risk as national security threat level remains 'High' following mosque shootings * Christchurch mosque attacks a chance to unite and stamp out racism, says MÄori leader

"I wouldn't want to say what had been said but there was reference to the Muslim community in amongst those comments."

The post was taken down shortly afterwards due to the backlash from other users, Hansen said.

"But not before police were made aware of it and she was subsequently brought in and spoken to."

To be charged with inciting racial disharmony under Human Rights Act legislation, police must have reason to believe that the comments published were either threatening, abusive, or insulting.

They must be likely to create hostility or ill-will against any group of people in New Zealand due to their colour, race, ethnicity or nationality.

The woman's message was shared among members of a local school community.

Masterton Primary School principal Sue Walters said she was aware of an offensive post but would not comment on its details.

"Otherwise I'm guilty of promulgating the same stuff."

Hansen said the case could potentially be dealt with by the Iwi Justice Panel.

She said Facebook posts were not considered private because they could be widely disseminated.

"People have this perception that if they put something on their Facebook page that it's their private views.

"The reality is that with Facebook it just goes so much further than that. Anyone has the ability to share that message and it can be seen by quite a wide audience."

SJWBLMLGBBTQQIAAPK

Report: SAT will assign a new score that factors in where you live and how much your parents make | myfox8.com

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Thu, 16 May 2019 22:48

The nonprofit group that administers the SAT will assign an adversity score to each student who takes the test to reflect social and economic backgrounds, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The move comes amid heightened scrutiny that colleges are facing over the admissions process and the diversity of their student bodies.

''There are a number of amazing students who may have scored less (on the SAT) but have accomplished more,'' David Coleman, chief executive officer of the College Board, told the Journal. ''We can't sit on our hands and ignore the disparities of wealth reflected in the SAT.''

The number will be calculated using 15 factors, the Journal reported, including the crime rate and poverty levels of a student's high school and neighborhood. Colleges will be able to see the number when considering applicants, but students themselves won't be told their scores.

According to the Journal, 50 colleges used the adversity score in a beta test last year, and the College Board plans to expand the program to 150 institutions this fall.

CNN is reaching out to the College Board for confirmation of The Wall Street Journal's report.

According to the Journal, the score does not account for a student's race. Students are rated on a scale of 1 to 100 based on publicly available data from records such as the US census, Coleman told the paper.

A score of 50 would be considered average, the Journal reported, while a number above 50 indicates hardship, and a number below 50 privilege.

The news comes against the backdrop of a bombshell college admissions scandal, which saw a slew of indictments against wealthy and powerful parents who allegedly paid their kids' ways into elite universities. The scandal reignited the debate surrounding race and economic backgrounds and what role they play in college admissions.

Some parents were found to have paid bribes to have the SAT taken by others for their children. Not all the students were aware of the cheating arranged by their parents, according to the criminal affidavit in the case. No students currently face charges in the scandal.

A lawsuit against Harvard University also has accused the school of discriminating against Asian-American applicants by giving them low ''personal'' ratings that take into account traits such as leadership and likability '-- which lessen their chance of admission '-- while giving higher ratings to African-American and Hispanic students.

Harvard has denied there is any evidence of stereotyping. A judge has yet to make a ruling in the case.

The College Board has been concerned about income inequality influencing SAT results for a long time. White students scored higher on average than black students and Hispanic students in 2018, while Asian students scored higher on average than white students. And students whose parents are wealthy and college-educated typically did better than their peers.

Yale University was one of the schools that tried using the adversity scores as it worked to increase socioeconomic diversity on its campus.

Jeremiah Quinlan, the school's dean of undergraduate admissions, told the Journal that Yale has nearly doubled the number of low-income students and those who are first in their families to attend college to about 20% of new students.

''This (adversity score) is literally affecting every application we look at,'' Quinlan told the Journal. ''It has been a part of the success story to help diversify our freshman class.''

SAT to Give Students 'Adversity Score' to Capture Social and Economic Background - WSJ

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Thu, 16 May 2019 22:48

The College Board plans to assign an adversity score to every student who takes the SAT to try to capture their social and economic background, jumping into the debate raging over race and class in college admissions.

This new number, called an adversity score by college admissions officers, is calculated using 15 factors including the crime rate and poverty levels from the student's high school and neighborhood. Students won't be told the scores, but colleges will see the numbers when reviewing their applications.

Fifty colleges used the score last year as part of a beta test. The College Board plans to expand it to 150 institutions this fall, and then use it broadly the following year.

How colleges consider a student's race and class in making admissions decisions is hotly contested. Many colleges, including Harvard University, say a diverse student body is part of the educational mission of a school. A lawsuit accusing Harvard of discriminating against Asian-American applicants by holding them to a higher standard is awaiting a judge's ruling. Lawsuits charging unfair admission practices have also been filed against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California system.

The College Board, the New York based nonprofit that oversees the SAT, said it has worried about income inequality influencing test results for years. White students scored an average of 177 points higher than black students and 133 points higher than Hispanic students in 2018 results. Asian students scored 100 points higher than white students. The children of wealthy and college-educated parents outperformed their classmates.

''There are a number of amazing students who may have scored less [on the SAT] but have accomplished more,'' said David Coleman, chief executive of the College Board. ''We can't sit on our hands and ignore the disparities of wealth reflected in the SAT.''

The SAT, which includes math and verbal sections and is still taken with No. 2 pencils, is facing challenges. Federal prosecutors revealed this spring that students cheated on both the SAT and ACT for years as part of a far-reaching college admissions cheating scheme. In Asia and the Middle East, both the ACT and SAT exams have experienced security breaches.

Yale University is one of the schools that has tried using applicants' adversity scores. Yale has pushed to increase socioeconomic diversity and, over several years, has nearly doubled the number of low-income and first-generation-to-attend-college students to about 20% of newly admitted students, said Jeremiah Quinlan, the dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale.

''This [adversity score] is literally affecting every application we look at,'' he said. ''It has been a part of the success story to help diversify our freshman class.''

Colleges could glean some of the information that the adversity score reflects from other parts of a student's application. But having the score makes comparisons more consistent, Mr. Quinlan said.

James Conroy, director of college counseling at New Trier High School, which serves several affluent and mostly white communities north of Chicago, said the focus on diversity by elite colleges is already high and the adversity score would magnify that.

''My emails are inundated with admissions officers who want to talk to our diversity kids,'' Mr. Conroy said. ''Do I feel minority students have been discriminated against? Yes, I do. But I see the reversal of it happening right now.''

The College Board tried a similar effort two decades ago but quickly dropped it amid pushback from colleges. In 1999, after California and Washington voted to ban affirmative-action preferences in public education, the College Board created a program it called Strivers.

The program aimed to measure the challenges students faced. It created an expected SAT score based on socioeconomic factors including, if schools chose to add it, race. Students who scored at least 200 points more on the SAT than predicted were called Strivers. Because minorities often had lower predicted scores, they were more likely to be Strivers.

The adversity score, by contrast, doesn't take into account race and is superior because it is steeped in more research, said Connie Betterton, vice president for higher education access and strategy at the College Board.

''Since it is identifying strengths in students, it's showing this resourcefulness that the test alone cannot measure,'' Mr. Coleman, the College Board CEO, said. ''These students do well, they succeed in college.''

The new score'--which falls on a scale of one through 100'--will pop up on something called the Environmental Context Dashboard, which shows several indicators of relative poverty, wealth and opportunity as well as a student's SAT score compared with those of their classmates. On the dashboard, the score is called ''Overall Disadvantage Level.''

An adversity score of 50 is average. Anything above it designates hardship, below it privilege.

The College Board declined to say how it calculates the adversity score or weighs the factors that go into it. The data that informs the score comes from public records such as the U.S. Census as well as some sources proprietary to the College Board, Mr. Coleman said.

The College Board began developing the tool in 2015 because colleges were asking for more objective data on students' backgrounds, said Ms. Betterton. Several college admissions officers said they worry the Supreme Court may disallow race-based affirmative action. If that happens, the value of the tool would rise, they said.

''The purpose is to get to race without using race,'' said Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. Mr. Carnevale formerly worked for the College Board and oversaw the Strivers program.

The dashboard may also be an advantage in a tight competition for market share with the ACT, another college-admissions exam. A spokesman for the ACT said it is ''investing significant resources'' in a comparable tool that is expected to be announced later this year.

At Florida State University, the adversity scores helped the school boost nonwhite enrollment to 42% from 37% in the incoming freshman class, said John Barnhill, assistant vice president for academic affairs at Florida State University. He said he expects pushback from parents whose children go to well-to-do high schools as well as guidance counselors there.

''If I am going to make room for more of the [poor and minority] students we want to admit and I have a finite number of spaces, then someone has to suffer and that will be privileged kids on the bubble,'' he said.

Write to Douglas Belkin at doug.belkin@wsj.com

Tony Robbins Berated Abuse Victims, Leaked Records Show, And Former Followers Accuse Him Of Sexual Advances

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Fri, 17 May 2019 16:57

When Tony Robbins leaps onstage in arenas around the world, under strobe lights and pulsing speakers, he's greeted by thousands of screaming fans. They clap with him, jump with him, and when he puffs his chest and lets out a primal roar, they roar with him too.

The world's most famous self-help guru whips crowds into fits of euphoria few pop stars could dream of, but many of his fans are grappling with life's most serious problems. Victims of sexual and physical abuse, along with people who struggle with addiction and have mental illnesses, pay thousands of dollars to see him on the promise he has the power to ''transform your life'' and ''rewire your brain.''

At the core of Robbins' teachings is the message that his followers should not see themselves as victims, and should instead view their pain as something they have the power to ''destroy.'' He claims to have revolutionized millions of lives with this philosophy, while building a multibillion-dollar business and working with celebrities from Donald Trump and Bill Clinton to Oprah and the Kardashians. Access to his most exclusive membership program has cost as much as $85,000 a year.

But behind that dazzling veneer, Robbins guards his empire with intense secrecy. Employees are bound by strict confidentiality agreements, and audiences who attend his multiday coaching camps must sign contracts forbidding them from recording what goes on inside.

A yearlong investigation by BuzzFeed News, based on leaked recordings, internal documents, and dozens of interviews with fans and insiders, reveals how Robbins has berated abuse victims and subjected his followers to unorthodox and potentially dangerous techniques. And former female fans and staffers have accused him of inappropriate sexual advances.

Two former followers who went on to work for Robbins provided BuzzFeed News with signed statements swearing under oath that they felt he had sexually harassed them by repeatedly pursuing them after they made clear they weren't interested. Two more women who worked as his assistants said Robbins expected them to work alone with him when he was naked in his hotel room or in the shower. And another former employee said she was fired after having a consensual sexual relationship with Robbins. The events described by all five women took place in the 1990s and early 2000s, when Robbins' fame was skyrocketing and before he married his second wife.

BuzzFeed News; Photo: Carlo Allegri for The Washington Post / Getty ImagesSecret recordings and transcripts from inside his events reveal Robbins has unleashed expletive-laden tirades on survivors of rape and domestic violence after inviting them to share their stories in front of a vast audience. ''She's fucking using all this stuff to try and control men,'' he said after one woman said she had been raped. When, in 2018, another woman said her husband was physically violent and emotionally abusive, Robbins accused her of ''lying'' and asked: ''Does he put up with you when you've been a crazy bitch?''

Interviews and records reveal how Robbins has created a highly sexualized environment in which both men and women have been told to touch themselves intimately and simulate orgasms '-- but he has repeatedly singled women out of the crowd for more personal attention. One secret recording from 2018 captured him laughing as he told a woman in the audience that he wanted her to ''come up onstage and make love to me.'' And two former bodyguards told BuzzFeed News they were sent out to trawl audiences for attractive women on Robbins' behalf. Two women told BuzzFeed News they had witnessed it or experienced it themselves.

''She's fucking using all this stuff to try to control men.''

Robbins vehemently denied ''engaging in any alleged 'inappropriate sexual behavior,''' sending security personnel into the crowd to solicit women on his behalf, or making such approaches personally. He was ''never intentionally naked'' in front of staff, his lawyers said in a letter. ''To the extent that he may have been unclothed at various times in his home or in hotels when working while either dressing or showering, and whether a personal assistant may have been present for some reason at that time, Mr. Robbins has no recollection.''

The letter said Robbins ''admits he has made mistakes in relationships and other aspects of his life but he never behaved in the manner intimated by these salacious and false accusations,'' and he has been ''faithful and committed'' to his second wife, Sage, since they married in 2001. No one has ''ever filed a verbal or written sexual harassment or abuse complaint against Mr. Robbins in the last four decades,'' the letter said.

The firm denied that Robbins' comments to abuse victims were harmful, or that he exposed his fans to potentially dangerous techniques. On the contrary, it said, Robbins went to ''great lengths to ensure the safety, comfort and enjoyment of all attendees.''

The #MeToo movement has triggered reckonings inside a wide range of professions where men hold sway. Scandal after scandal has engulfed Hollywood giants, politicians, and CEOs, forcing a major change in the politics of sex and power. But the self-help industry, which generates billions of dollars every year, has faced little scrutiny.

Licensed professionals who treat mental health issues must undergo extensive training and follow strict ethical guidelines governing their relations with their clients. Self-help coaching requires no such qualifications or standards. But it creates a potent recipe for the abuse of power, setting its leading lights up as godlike figures with answers to life's most painful questions, and placing the supplicants who seek their wisdom in their thrall.

Robbins claims that his methods have helped fans overcome severe trauma, averted suicides, and transformed the lives of ''phobics, the clinically depressed, people with multiple personalities.'' Many credit him with extraordinary breakthroughs. They report summoning the strength to quit dead-end jobs, launch new companies, reunite with estranged family members, end toxic relationships, and find their soulmates as a result of his teachings. Some of the women who spoke to BuzzFeed News still view Robbins with awe and reverence '-- one said she sees him as someone who ''saves lives.'' And the fan whom Robbins accused of ''lying'' after she said her husband was abusive told BuzzFeed News it was a positive experience and that she was grateful for the advice not to be a victim, which had helped her leave that relationship.

But some long-term staffers, including Robbins' former director of security Gary King, who spoke exclusively to BuzzFeed News, said they were deeply troubled by the psychological impact of his methods on vulnerable audience members.

''We used to joke about it. People started 'popping like popcorn.'''

Robbins' intensive multiday events are often held in rooms kept deliberately cold and run from early in the morning to well past midnight, with few breaks for food and water. Followers are encouraged to run across hot coals. Internal company emails reveal concerns about fans suffering mental breakdowns after days of emotional exhaustion as well as ''sleep deprivation and dehydration.'' In this intense atmosphere, some audience members became disoriented as the days went by, said Todd Spendley, a former logistics contractor for the organization. ''We used to joke about it,'' he said. ''People started 'popping like popcorn.'''

Robbins' lawyers said there have been ''very few reported instances of anyone suffering any form of significant physical injury or adverse medical condition'' at his ''thousands of events over the past 40 years.''

Several leading national experts on domestic and sexual violence who reviewed transcripts of Robbins' private events said berating traumatized women and blaming them for their reactions to abuse is a dangerous strategy.

''It's not only secondary trauma, but a secondary assault,'' said Ruth Glenn, president of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. ''This behavior from a self-touted self-help expert is just beyond egregious.''

''We are alarmed that he's using his platform to ridicule victims privately and publicly,'' said Jodi Omear, an executive at RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

''It's not only secondary trauma, but a secondary assault. This behavior from a self-touted self-help expert is just beyond egregious.''

Like many famous men caught up in the #MeToo movement, Robbins has engaged powerful lawyers to try to shut down accusations: Lavely & Singer, a Hollywood megafirm with a client list including Bill Cosby, Charlie Sheen, and Scarlett Johansson.

The firm has been shielding Robbins from scrutiny since at least 2007, after a website published anonymous criticism of Robbins, including allegations that he had sexually harassed and manipulated women insiders. The site quickly disappeared, and website registration records show the domain was taken over by Lavely & Singer. The firm said the site was ''not a source of reliable information,'' and was taken down because it ''was illegally using Mr. Robbins' tradename.''

Robbins did face some rare public criticism last spring, after leaked video emerged of him calling the #MeToo movement an excuse for some women to ''try and get significance'' by ''attacking and destroying someone else.'' He apologized after widespread backlash, professing ''profound admiration'' for #MeToo and promising to examine his own behavior to ensure he was ''staying true to those ideals.''

But behind the scenes, Lavely & Singer had tried to shut the story down, sending a letter to a woman who posted the video online, warning that the footage was a ''clear violation'' of the legal agreement she had signed before being let into the event, and demanding she remove it.

And secretly recorded audio from another private event in December 2018, obtained by BuzzFeed News, shows Robbins soon doubled down on his attack. ''Victimhood is now rewarded in our culture,'' he railed. People can now ''make claims about anybody, and everyone jumps to support them.''

Lavely & Singer defended that stance in its letter to BuzzFeed News. ''While BuzzFeed attempts to portray Mr. Robbins' remarks in a negative fashion, it is important to remember that when Mr. Robbins says something like 'victimhood is rewarded in our culture' that's because, in some cases, it is,'' they wrote.

Have you had experiences with Tony Robbins that you would like to share? To learn how to reach us securely, go to tips.buzzfeed.com. You can also email us at tips@buzzfeed.com.During the reporting of this story, Lavely & Singer launched what it called an ''extensive'' counter-investigation to make legal threats against two people accused of speaking with BuzzFeed News. One received a letter warning that if he did not retract what he had told reporters, his life would ''be forever changed.'' The other was told that he had 48 hours to recant his story or face damages which could ''easily be tens of millions of dollars.''

When BuzzFeed News sent Robbins a letter seeking his comment eight days before publication, Lavely & Singer said it had not been given enough time to respond fully, but accused the reporters of pursuing a ''predetermined'' narrative against Robbins ''as part of their 'Me Too' Agenda.'' The firm threatened legal action that would have a ''devastating impact on the financial condition of BuzzFeed and its investors.''

Three of the women who said Robbins had mistreated them initially agreed to speak publicly but later withdrew permission for their names to be published, saying they, like many others interviewed for this story, feared reprisals from Robbins and his lawyers. BuzzFeed News has corroborated key aspects of their stories, interviewed dozens of insiders, and obtained sworn witness statements from six former followers and staffers who raised serious concerns about the inner workings of Robbins' world.

This is the story Tony Robbins never wanted told.

Kypros / Getty ImagesTony Robbins, circa 1990.

Like so many of his fans, Tony Robbins found self-help at a moment of need. In interviews and writings, he has described how an ''incredibly violent'' childhood and a mother with alcoholism left him ''floundering and fat,'' grindingly poor, and lonely to the point of ''emotional death.'' But at 17 he scraped together enough cash from a gig as a janitor to see the motivational speaker Jim Rohn, and was ''mesmerized'' by the message that change starts from within.

It was the 1970s, and Robbins delved deep into the era's proliferating personal-improvement literature. Once he had learned how to stop thinking of himself as a victim and overcome his pain, he became determined to show others how to do it too.

Robbins had natural charisma and dominated the stage at 6-foot-7, with a gravelly baritone voice. He started drawing sizable crowds to seminars promising to ''unleash the power within.'' As business boomed, it became a pillar of his own self-help story, which he told and retold to eager audiences. He had lost ''thirty-eight pounds of fat,'' married ''the woman of my dreams,'' and ditched his tiny apartment for a Spanish-style castle in Southern California.

But Robbins told Charlie Rose in a 2000 interview that what really ''made my career'' was calling the bluff of a psychiatrist who had phoned into a radio show to attack him as a ''charlatan.''

''Give me your patient, I'll be at the Holiday Inn tomorrow night.''

Robbins said he had thrown down a challenge: ''Give me your patient, I'll be at the Holiday Inn tomorrow night.'' He claimed he quickly cured a patient the psychiatrist had been treating for seven years for snake phobia. He had even wrapped a snake around her. ''It was like this shootout,'' he told Rose. ''It was like a movie.''

A flair for the dramatic accelerated his rise. He persuaded audience members that they could walk over hot coals, psyching them up with drums and chants of ''YES, YES, YES!'' It was proof of what positive thinking could accomplish, he explained in his 1986 debut book, Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement.

Robbins started touring around the country, amassing an army of volunteers who often worked 12- to 18-hour shifts to keep his shows running. ''You don't have any food, you're literally in the room until Tony gives you permission to go for a break, you hardly get any sleep,'' said Jon Richelieu-Booth, a former Robbins volunteer. They were not rewarded with a wage or travel expenses '-- but they did get to hear him speak for free.

In 2018, Robbins' company confidentially resolved a class action lawsuit over these unpaid hours, arguing that the volunteers are ''providing services for their own pleasure, education and enjoyment,'' according to a settlement notice obtained by BuzzFeed News. Robbins' lawyers told BuzzFeed News the company ''vehemently denies'' violating labor laws and settled the case ''in order to avoid the time and disruption.''

Robbins pledged that his methods could help just about anyone. He knew from his own experience that abuse and depression didn't have to weigh you down. It was a choice: ''In one stroke,'' he wrote, ''I had purged my vocabulary of disempowering language and thus a feeling that can devastate even the stoutest of hearts.''

Courtesy of Gary KingGary King with Robbins, his current wife Sage, and their security team.

In 1991, Gary King was holed up inside his Florida home in a deep depression. A former powerboat racer with a love of floral shirts, King had built a career in event management, but the recent breakup of his relationship had left him unable to work and suicidal. ''I was a broken person,'' he told BuzzFeed News.

A friend told him he should try out a Robbins event nearby, and right away, King said he found the event's ''high energy'' and ''euphoria'' addictive. He felt his depression lifting, and handed over around $600 to sign up for the next event, going on to volunteer for a few years before a contract opened up as Robbins' director of security in 1994. King jumped at the chance.

King was soon spending many of his waking hours with Robbins, traveling the world with him, carrying his luggage, and even sometimes accompanying him to the bathroom. At first he revered Robbins as ''some kind of savior,'' King said '-- but two decades in the guru's inner world would leave him with troubling questions about much of what he witnessed. Robbins' lawyers said King was ''disgruntled'' and ''unreliable.''

Robbins demanded relentless energy and a willingness to confront your darkest fears. He spoke openly about his use of ''taboo language,'' humor, and other shock tactics to try to shake fans out of emotional stagnation '-- often swearing, berating audience members, and talking graphically about sex '-- and he didn't censor himself even when addressing his most troubled fans. For some, this led to ecstasy. Others found his events mentally and physically shattering.

King said he soon found that a key part of his job involved responding to calls about participants who had threatened or attempted suicide or needed to be hospitalized after suffering mental breakdowns. At one 1995 Life Mastery event in Hawaii, he said he had to intervene after one participant started biting members of the hotel's security staff and guests. ''I was dealing with crisis and emotional meltdowns from the start,'' he told BuzzFeed News.

''Date With Destiny'' events could be especially difficult. The six-day program, which currently costs as much as $7,995 per person, left little time for sleep or rest and was packed with soul-searching activities and deeply personal ''interventions'' in which Robbins selected audience members to publicly unpack their despair.

After a March 2003 Date With Destiny in Australia, Robbins held court in a ''debriefing'' session with his staff. A transcript of that session was made so that Robbins could pull out material for his next book. BuzzFeed News obtained a copy.

One woman had told him through tears that she had been raped. Robbins recounted how he had ''cut her off'' in a ''warm'' and ''elegant'' way and informed her that she was ''fucking using all this stuff to try and control men.''

''I don't support anybody fucking raping her or taking advantage of her,'' he said, according to the transcript, ''but I don't support her fucking manipulating herself, men, and other people by trying to use that tool when it's really not the primary experience of her life now.''

''Women's torment is that men fucking look, and men's torment is that women are fucking insane.''

By now, Robbins had set himself up as an authority on relationships, dispensing a theory about ''two opposing energies '-- masculine and feminine.''

''Women's torment is that men fucking look, and men's torment is that women are fucking insane,'' he said at the same 2003 event.

Robbins also described using ''orgasm or masturbation'' as ''humor'' to break a suicidal woman's ''pattern'' at another event, the transcript shows. He also told a woman struggling with relationship issues to grab her breasts.

''I said 'which breast is more sensitive,' she said 'my right breast' and I said 'I know,''' Robbins said, according to the transcript. ''I just watched her face. It just freaked her out that I knew which one of her breasts was more sensitive.''

Have you had experiences with Tony Robbins that you would like to share? To learn how to reach us securely, go to tips.buzzfeed.com. You can also email us at tips@buzzfeed.com.Robbins' lawyers said ''none of the participants at those events ever raised any concern or made any complaint that Mr. Robbins' statements or conduct were inappropriate or harmful in any manner.''

Gary King said this was the sort of line he had often heard Robbins use to distract nervous women during fire-walks: ''Which one of your breasts is bigger?'' And by now, he had reason to believe that Robbins' intimate interest in his female fans was more than just professional.

King said that Robbins often dispatched him to get the phone numbers of attractive women in the audience, an allegation which Robbins' lawyers fiercely denied. Though he felt deep down that what he saw wasn't right, King said his entire world revolved around Robbins, so he tried to bury his discomfort. But as time went on, he said, his concerns grew. ''Ultimate power corrupts,'' King said. ''I watched it like a movie unfolding.''

Mark Peterson / ReduxRobbins in the early 1990s.

Marie, a young woman living in California, was in such a dark place that she was making plans to drive her car off a cliff near her home '-- until she saw Tony Robbins on a television infomercial. The more she learned about his teachings, the more she began to believe she could save herself.

At her first seminar, in Newport Beach in 1999, Robbins walked up to her in the crowd and tapped her on the shoulder. ''I remember everyone gasping like it was this great honor,'' Marie said. He invited her onstage with several other audience members, where he hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear to find him after the event was over, Marie said. She declined, but he continued to ask for her number, she said. ''I considered him my mentor and I didn't want to blur any lines,'' Marie said. Like others, Marie spoke with BuzzFeed News on the condition that her full name not be used.

Robbins denied Marie's allegations, and his lawyers said he had never engaged in any ''inappropriate sexual behavior.'' They said his microphone would have made it impossible for him to whisper anything while he was on stage without it being broadcasted to the whole crowd.

Despite her discomfort, Marie came away from the seminar feeling more upbeat than she had in a while. So she went back to other events, including a Date With Destiny seminar in Miami. There, one of Robbins' bodyguards stopped her in the bustling hallway. ''Tony sent me to take you to his room,'' she remembered him saying. The bodyguard kept his eyes on the ground, she recalled, and told her she was ''too good for this'': ''If it's not you that goes to his room, it's going to be somebody else,'' she remembered him saying. Again, she declined.

BuzzFeed News tracked down that former bodyguard, who spent more than a decade working for Robbins. He said on condition of anonymity that, while he could not recall this specific occasion, his former boss did give him notes to pass to ''young, attractive women'' and he witnessed Robbins make direct advances to women in the crowd.

Robbins' vehemently denied that he had ''authorized or participated in any systematic selection of event audience members for personal intimate sexual encounters backstage.'' His lawyers said he ''openly admits that he had consensual relationships with women, many of whom aggressively sought him out.''

Robbins has indeed spoken publicly about the attention he has received from female fans. ''They'd send me their panties and show up at events in limousines to get through security, or turn up at my house to convince me they had an offer I couldn't refuse,'' he told Playboy in 2013. ''I was beyond tempted at times. There was no drought, for sure. I was like a kid in a candy store.''

The bodyguard confirmed that many women sought Robbins' attention. It was a different time, when people had ''completely different beliefs, values, and rules.'' But some women had clearly not welcomed Robbins' advances, he said. ''It's who he is to take advantage of women.''

Both Heather Porter, a former event manager, and Miki Knowles, who worked as Robbins' personal chef, recalled hearing colleagues describe how the security team would pluck women from the audience on Robbins' behalf. ''The security guys would tell stories about women they'd had to take up to his room,'' Knowles said. Lavely & Singer said that both women referenced their work with Robbins in a positive light in their online profiles.

Robbins went on to approach Marie directly at that Florida event, she said. As the seminar came to a euphoric close around 2 a.m., she heard him shout, ''Come here!'' across the crowd. Robbins clamped his hand over Marie's arm, she told BuzzFeed News, and pulled her toward the greenroom. She twisted free and melted into the crowd, she said, hoping he would lose sight of her.

Still, Marie could not tear herself away from Robbins' world '-- a common theme among people who said they had experienced behavior that crossed a line but continued to work with him for years.

Marie still believed Robbins' message was invaluable. ''I knew that had saved my life,'' she said, and she wanted to help save others. So she became more deeply involved, first as an unpaid volunteer '-- and then as an employee.

Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images for DuJourRobbins' at a birthday celebration and launch for one of his books, Unshakeable.

By the early 2000s, Robbins' business empire was flourishing: He had sold millions of self-help tapes and books, become a TV infomercial star, and was attracting audiences of thousands all over the world. Many women who worked at Robbins Research International '-- his San Diego''based company '-- said they loved the experience. One former employee, Marie Kozak, said there was ''never a stray hand or a wrong look.'' Traci Porterfield, who worked as an HR executive from 2004 until 2009, said the job ''literally changed the trajectory of my life.'' In around five years, she said she never received any sexual harassment complaints.

But other former employees and volunteers told a different story.

One former personal assistant, who said she worked for Robbins for around 18 months in the 1990s, said he made her take notes while he showered. ''He would call you into the bathroom with him. 'Hey come here, I need you to make a note of something,''' she said. ''He just didn't care, he was too powerful.''

The assistant, who was then in her twenties and asked to be identified only as ''B.,'' said on one occasion, Robbins came out of the shower when she was working in his hotel room and dropped his towel. She shouted at him to cover up, she said, then left in tears. ''I called my parents,'' she said, ''and I was like, 'What in the world makes him think I would want any part of that?'''

B.'s mother confirmed that her daughter complained about Robbins' sexual advances at the time.

B. first told BuzzFeed News she wanted to tell her story using her full name, but later changed her mind, citing her fear of Robbins.

''To the extent that he may have been unclothed at various times in his home or in hotels when working while either dressing or showering, and whether a personal assistant may have been present for some reason at that time, Mr. Robbins has no recollection.''

Kate Rittase, who worked for Robbins from the late 1990s to early 2000s, also told BuzzFeed News that she had to work with him while he was nude. ''My job would be to get him out of bed in the morning so I'd wake up and pull his naked butt out of bed,'' she said. ''I had to get his naked butt into the shower and into his suit.'' Robbins would also call her into the bathroom while he showered, she said. ''I guess some people would think it was weird,'' she said, but she just saw it as part of the job. ''Yes I could be a victim, I could go down the victim road but I just chose not to.''

She said she was careful never to be in the room with him when he was naked unless he needed something, and ''never put myself in a position of being vulnerable or exploited.'' Robbins seminars were ''life transforming'' for her and her family, she added.

A fourth woman, Kay, joined Robbins' crew in the late '90s. She told BuzzFeed News that he singled her out immediately, frequently telling her she was beautiful. Over the next few years, she said he encouraged her to end two separate relationships, offered to fly her out to visit him, and gave her a secret phone number. The more she refused him, she said, the more he ''relentlessly'' pursued her.

''It's part of what he teaches: Go after what you want,'' she said. ''And he wants to acquire you as a woman.''

Kay recalled one seminar where Robbins told the crowd to imagine they were having an orgasm. He then stepped down and whispered in her ear, ''I wanna see you have an orgasm,'' she told BuzzFeed News. Again, Kay refused. ''I'm not showing you anything,'' she recalled thinking, ''that feeds that monster.''

Robbins' lawyers said Kay's accusations were ''false and preposterous.'' They said Robbins wore a microphone at all times while he was on stage and his events are typically recorded from start to finish using multiple cameras.

Kay stayed in Robbins' universe until 2001. A friend of Kay's told BuzzFeed News that about a decade ago, Kay disclosed to her that Robbins had repeatedly hit on her.

Kay first told BuzzFeed News she wanted to speak publicly about what happened, then changed her mind, and spoke on condition that her full name not be used. ''He's very connected, he's very powerful, and he's very wealthy and able to squash bugs,'' Kay told BuzzFeed News. ''And we're the bugs.''

''He's very connected, he's very powerful, and he's able to squash bugs...and we're the bugs.''

One former staffer who did consent to a sexual relationship with Robbins said she came to regret it. The woman, who asked to be identified only as J., worked as Robbins' personal assistant in the 1990s, when she was in her twenties and he was more than a decade older. They began an affair soon after they started working together, J. said, but she was fired after his then-wife became suspicious.

Distraught, J. turned to a friend, attorney Ron Blumberg, who told her she had a strong legal case for sexual harassment and unfair dismissal, in part because of the ''difference in power'' between the two parties.

''He was on a pedestal as few celebrities in any field were at the time,'' Blumberg told BuzzFeed News. ''Everything about him '-- his looks, his demeanor, his money '-- was crafted to define himself as having extreme power.''

Both J. and Blumberg said they met with Robbins' lawyer. Afterward, J. told BuzzFeed News, she was ''scared to death.'' So she never brought a case.

Robbins' lawyers said he denied J.'s claims ''generally and specifically.''

J. said it took her time to make sense of the experience. She remained in touch with him for several years after she was fired.

J. was not the only former Robbins employee who claimed she was unfairly dismissed after his sexual attentions turned sour. Marie said that Robbins stopped making direct advances after she started working for him, but still made her feel ''totally violated'' at times by staring at her breasts and stomach. Still, she stayed at his company for years. When people asked why she stood by him, she said she would tell them, ''Listen to the message, not the messenger.''

Then one day in the mid-2000s, a senior manager called her to a meeting at an empty hotel restaurant in the middle of a Robbins event and fired her on the spot. Marie said she received no explanation for her firing.

But speaking to BuzzFeed News on condition of anonymity, one employee with knowledge of the incident explained the decision to fire Marie: An order came from above that she had to go because she was ''obsessed'' with Robbins. This was not the first time a woman had been fired for similar reasons, that employee said.

''I felt like I was being disfellowshipped from a religion.''

Robbins' lawyers denied Marie's allegations, and said that he ''is not involved in the day-to-day operations'' of his company, ''including the hiring and firing of employees.''

Marie said she was ostracized by many of the people she was close with in Robbins' orbit. ''I felt like I was being disfellowshipped from a religion,'' she said.

The day she was fired, she was ordered to head back to her hotel room, pack her belongings, and get in a taxi straight to the airport. Gary King escorted her away.

Courtesy of Gary KingRobbins and King.

King still believed that Robbins was a force for good. And he enjoyed sharing the perks of superstardom '-- golf outings, global travel, and standing next to Oprah as she did a firewalk with Robbins on TV.

But when his son, who had depression, killed himself, King's concerns about the mental health of Robbins' more vulnerable followers grew more acute.

In 2014, a man wrote to the Robbins organization to complain that his wife had collapsed and begun hallucinating after a Date With Destiny event '-- believing a clock was moving backward and a lightbulb was the moon. A staffer had advised him that this was not uncommon and she would be ''back to normal'' the following day, yet his wife had continued to hallucinate after being admitted to the hospital, and remained in a ''poor'' mental state months after the event, the man wrote. The couple did not respond to repeated requests from BuzzFeed News for comment.

An employee forwarded the email to King. ''The reality is, there is collateral emotional and physical damage at DWD [Date With Destiny], there always has been,'' King replied. ''In a room full of every personality disorder and personal emotional need and financial need, it goes without saying.'' He said he had flagged the problem repeatedly, but ''it falls short of being taken seriously enough.''

''The reality is, there is collateral emotional and physical damage ... It falls short of being taken seriously enough.''

Glen Lechtanski, who was a registered emergency nurse during more than a decade spent volunteering for Robbins, including as director of medical operations for his live events, told BuzzFeed News that he too had witnessed participants becoming ''mentally unstable'' due to a lack of sleep, water, and food.

Lechtanski also recalled treating dozens of participants with second-degree burns from a 2012 San Jose firewalk. ''He's been taking risks with everyone's health and safety,'' he said.

Robbins' lawyers said Lechtanski was terminated from his volunteer position ''based on certain inappropriate conduct,'' and that as a result he, like King, had become ''disgruntled'' towards Robbins' company. Lechtanski said he had been let go for taking fan merchandise such as CDs and vitamins from Robbins' product tables to hand out to the team of volunteers he oversaw in lieu of pay.

Todd Spendley spent a decade working for Robbins as a logistics contractor but left in 2014 after growing increasingly disturbed by the way the company was run. At one Palm Springs, California, event, Spendley said he witnessed a fan experience ''what I would describe as a seizure, or a sort of mental and physical breakdown.'' Robbins staffers attempted to help him themselves instead of calling an ambulance, Spendley said. ''I realized that many of these trainers had no qualifications besides being trained by Tony,'' Spendley said. ''I felt like there was no regulation, and very little protection if someone was vulnerable.''

Robbins' lawyer said his events are ''fully staffed with a team of security personnel, medical personnel, coaches and trainers who are available at all times.''

In 2014, Robbins let a documentary filmmaker inside a Date With Destiny event to produce a film called I Am Not Your Guru. As always, the access to his private world was tightly controlled. Robbins struck a deal with the director allowing him to cancel filming at any time during the six-day seminar and retain ownership of the footage if he chose.

In the documentary, Robbins said staff kept a keen eye on people in the audience with serious mental health issues.

In one scene, a young woman told Robbins she was sexually abused while growing up in a Christian cult. Robbins' response was to instruct her to pick three men, all strangers, out of the crowd to serve as ''uncles'' to watch over her for the next ''10 years.'' Later, he acknowledged that he had never ''dealt with this issue or anything like this before, obviously.'' Citing her book about the experience, Robbins' lawyers said that the woman's ''breakthrough and transformation speaks for itself.''

When it debuted on Netflix in 2016, critics panned the film as ''almost fawning'' and ''self-help snake oil.'' The New York Times dismissed it as a ''missed opportunity'' to analyze how Robbins' ''peacocking dominance'' inspired a ''near-religious devotion'' from his audience. ''There are no in-depth interviews with employees or family members and no negative experiences,'' the reviewer noted.

King and another person at the event said film crews shot footage of a woman on the foyer floor screaming while Robbins staff tried to help her. Another employee later told King that this woman then tried to jump out of a hotel window, King said.

The scene didn't make it into the documentary. The film's director said it was because she refused to sign a release form. ''I was not asked to nor did I make a 'fawning' film,'' he said, adding viewers could draw their own conclusions about Robbins.

By now, King was at the end of his rope. After working a seminar in London in March 2015, King sent a one-sentence email: ''Effective Immediately, I resign from responsibilities and communication with RRI.''

Over the next few years, King would reinvent himself as an ''international happiness expert.'' Lavely & Singer said King had a ''self-interest'' in attacking Robbins because he viewed him as a competitor.

King said he did his best to move on with his life. But in 2018, a woman reached out to King in a state of distress about Robbins. ''Please get in touch with me,'' she wrote. The woman declined to be interviewed for this story, but BuzzFeed News reviewed her correspondence with King.

By then, the #MeToo movement was in full effect, and King started hearing from others who used to be in Robbins' orbit. He began to wonder about how those women he had approached on Robbins' behalf might have felt.

At the encouragement of a friend, he reached out to a reporter at BuzzFeed News. ''It's a classic case of nobody will come forward,'' he wrote in one email, ''because they fear his money and power.'' It was time to change that, he said.

David Paul Morris / Bloomberg / Getty ImagesRobbins during a live event in 2016.

A couple of months later, Robbins faced his first real backlash, after he was filmed criticizing the #MeToo movement.

Robbins also praised the casino magnate Steve Wynn, who had recently been accused of sexual harassment. He said he knew a ''dozen'' men who were afraid of hiring attractive women because it posed too big a risk.

This was a rare moment: footage from inside Robbins' world released outside of his tight control.

Robbins apologized, but less than two weeks later, secret footage obtained by BuzzFeed News captured him pointing out a fan at a London show whom he called ''attractive as hell'' before declaring he wanted her to ''come up onstage and make love to me.''

And in December 2018, Robbins was in Palm Beach, Florida, for another Date With Destiny event. A woman stepped up to the microphone. Speaking softly, she told Robbins that her husband had emotionally abused her.

That set Robbins off. In a 50-minute secret recording obtained by BuzzFeed News, he launched into a tirade, punctuated with expletive-laden questions. ''What the fuck is emotional abuse?'' he asked the woman. ''Are we that fucking weak that someone can't tell you with passion what they fucking feel without them abusing you?''

''Are we that fucking weak that someone can't tell you with passion what they fucking feel without them abusing you?''

''She's focused on her needs,'' he went on. ''We've not heard one thing in the last 12 minutes about his needs. And we're already characterizing it as emotional violence. There's no fucking thing.''

''There has been physical violence,'' the woman clarified soon after.

''What led to that?'' Robbins shot back. ''What role did you play? I'm not suggesting there's any excuse for hitting a woman, so hear me, but I also want you to know that people don't just act a certain fucking way.''

When the woman tentatively began to describe the violence '-- details she asked BuzzFeed News not to publish '-- Robbins interrupted her and said her husband ''sounds like somebody that actually wants to engage with you because he loves you.''

''What I find when I usually dig in,'' he later said, ''is what they call abuse is a relabeling of 'they didn't like what the person said or did.''' He later turned back to the crowd. ''She's lying to herself,'' he said. ''She's done it so often she doesn't even know the difference between a truth and a lie anymore."

''Has he loved you?'' Robbins went on. ''Has he looked out for you, does he put up with you when you've been a crazy bitch? Have you ever been a crazy bitch? Ever?''

''Probably, yes,'' the woman answered, her voice shaky. The crowd laughed. The song ''Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?'' by Moby began to play on the speakers.

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, the woman said she understood why people would find Robbins' comments upsetting. But she was able to take ''whatever served'' her from the intervention even if she didn't feel everything Robbins said applied to her situation. ''I didn't take it personally,'' she said.

''Does he put up with you when you've been a crazy bitch?''

Robbins' team attended to her afterward, and with their help, the woman realized she ''had a self-love issue,'' she said. (Both the woman and Robbins' lawyers said there was a follow-up portion but declined to provide the recording to BuzzFeed News.) The experience helped her discover her own agency and sever ties with her husband for good. She later published an account thanking Robbins for his teachings.

''In no way, shape, or form I would like to give the wrong impression that I found the interaction with Tony to be damaging to me or that I found it not useful,'' she said. She also repeatedly asked to make clear she was not the person who had leaked the audio, and therefore had not violated the rules of the event.

Experts in domestic violence who reviewed the 50-minute transcript voiced serious concerns about the encounter.

''In some ways, the dynamics of Robbins' relationships with the women in these workshops is essentially the same as the dynamics of the abuse that may have brought them to him in the first place,'' said Leigh Goodmark, a professor and director of the Gender Violence Clinic at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law.

''I'm glad that experience was empowering for her, but another survivor sitting in that room might have felt like she was being ridiculed and her experiences were being dismissed,'' she said.

''There is no context that would make this okay,'' said Latifa Lyles, an executive at the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

One morning in late November 2018, Gary King received a threatening letter from Lavely & Singer, the famously aggressive Hollywood law firm whose founder once told the New York Times its ''goal is to try to kill the story.''

''We have been informed by several individuals that you are the source of false and malicious information and rumors that have been provided to on-line publication BuzzFeed,'' the letter read.

The firm warned King that his conduct could cost him a fortune if he didn't take back everything he had already said within 48 hours and promise not to make any more ''defamatory'' accusations against Robbins.

King's lawyer responded that the threats were triggering the post-traumatic stress disorder he had developed after his son's suicide. Lavely & Singer replied that King had ''no one to blame other than himself.''

King received a third letter from Lavely & Singer in February. ''We are informed that Mr King met with BuzzFeed reporter, Jane Bradley, last week in Florida.''

In April, in-house attorneys at Robbins Research International sent out a new nondisclosure agreement to staff. It demanded not just silence but also a promise to take action to stop their colleagues from disclosing ''Confidential Information.'' If they breached the NDA they would have to pay Robbins up to $100,000 in damages.

Lavely & Singer also sent threats to another staffer accused of speaking with BuzzFeed News. Unlike others in Robbins' orbit, the man said he had never signed an NDA. Yet one letter, reviewed by BuzzFeed News, warned that if he did not retract his story, ''Your life will be forever changed.''

He also received text messages from a former colleague asking him to pass on information about BuzzFeed News to Robbins' team. He said that the colleague told him he could receive an unspecified ''reward'' if he did so. That same woman had previously spoken with BuzzFeed News herself claiming to have been a victim of sexual harassment by an event leader who worked for Robbins' company '-- but failed to produce any evidence. In May, an attorney for Robbins wrote to the staffer to say that a goodwill payment of $3,485 could be available to him on the condition that he sign a legal document agreeing not to cooperate with the BuzzFeed News investigation. He refused.

Employee NDAs are ''common and standard in the industry,'' Lavely & Singer said. The idea that Robbins' company conducts its business with ''intense secrecy'' is ''misplaced and sophomoric.'' Lavely & Singer denied that it is an ''aggressive firm'' saying, ''we merely apply existing law to counter and preclude illegal conduct by others, including individuals who would publish false and defamatory statements regarding our clients.''

The firm's threats serve as ''an example of using the law to silence people and keep conduct in the dark,'' said Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women's Law Center and cofounder of the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund. ''In the era of #MeToo, more and more people feel emboldened to speak out,'' she said. Threats such as the ones Lavely & Singer directed to people in Tony Robbins' orbit ''are sending a reminder: 'You are not as powerful as you think.'''

Jerod Harris / WireImageRobbins motivates a crowd.

Gary King said he decided to speak out as a gesture of solidarity with the women who felt too scared to come forward. ''Nothing is more important than your character in life,'' King said. ''Knowing I knew all that stuff that went on and I didn't do anything about it? I couldn't function like that.''

Though each of the women who backed away from speaking on the record about Robbins said they were afraid, some also gave more complex reasons.

To this day, Marie believes Robbins' work ''saves and changes lives.'' In fact she said it helped her not to see herself as a victim when she grapples with the way he treated her. ''It's easy to blame someone else for our problems however we don't grow or change by doing so,'' she told BuzzFeed News in one email. ''While I may not agree with everything Tony does as a person, I am forever grateful for the gift Tony's been in my life.''

After years of therapy, she is still struggling to recover from her experiences in Robbins' inner sanctum. ''I had so much confidence and was so strong and powerful in how I saw myself,'' she said. ''I haven't gotten that back.'' '

Opening art: Benjamin Lowy / Getty Images; illustrations by Akiko Stehrenberger for BuzzFeed News.

[Editor's note: The maker of I Am Not Your Guru also directed a documentary based on reporting by Katie J.M. Baker, one of the reporters of this piece.]

Tony Robbins is the world's most famous self-help guru. This is the story he doesn't want you to read. A BuzzFeed News Investigation

An Open Letter to BuzzFeed Editors and Board of Directors from Tony Robbins

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Archived Version

Fri, 17 May 2019 19:20

This letter is one that I would have preferred not to write.

I have been the target of a year-long investigation by BuzzFeed. Unfortunately, your organization has made it clear to my team that you intend to move forward with publishing an inaccurate, agenda-driven version of the past, pierced with falsehoods. It is intended to disparage me personally, my family, my life's work, and the efforts of the millions of individuals around the globe who have taken this journey with me over the last 40-plus years.

Please see this video with one person's account of how your reporters so eagerly tossed her truth aside: https://youtu.be/xJ3kWMBJE5Y

To put it in the words of your own reporters, you are preparing to publish an article with the malicious intent to ''take Tony Robbins down.''

You have denied my team's requests to meet with you in-person to present key evidence that contradicts your false allegations. You do not seek the truth; you seek to further your own agenda.

After more than a year-long investigation by your online entertainment company, you allege that approximately 20''30 years ago''--'when I was in my 20's and early 30's''--'I was negligent with both my employees and individuals who chose to attend my seminars. You also allege (through anonymous sources) that I pursued conflicting intimate relationships. Your claims range from indistinct to ridiculous.

We have evidence to prove that your reporters rejected and otherwise ignored factual accounts from several individuals you contacted. In some cases, those individuals were even harassed and lied to when their accounts did not align with Buzzfeed's predetermined thesis.

What stands out''--'even in today's sea of mis-representation and journalistic corner-cutting''--'is the 2014 report by the industry-standard, non-partisan, Pew Research Center which cites Buzzfeed as ''the least trusted news source'' of them all. So, it stands to reason that you are presently facing financial, organizational, and management troubles. BuzzFeed is unapologetically fueling the current cultural divide by targeting well-known individuals with false allegations to boost its readership and serve its shareholders.

Let me be clear, while my open-classroom therapeutic methods are not for everyone, and while I am on my best day still only an imperfect human being, I have never behaved in the reckless, irresponsible, or malicious manner intimated by false, unfounded, and incendiary allegations suggested by BuzzFeed story-tellers.

Several individuals have contacted us to let us know that you attempted to manipulate their testimony and, in some cases, even ignored their legal counsel when they pointed out inaccuracies and mischaracterizations of their client's personal accounts at the hands of your reporters.

Why didn't you listen to what these individuals had to say and instead choose to proceed with inverted truths as your central narrative?

Your organization cannot claim objectivity or journalistic integrity when your written ethics and standards policy claims that in ''activism'' issues ''there are not two sides.'' As we all know, in the context of a just democracy, there are always two sides.

In my six decades on this earth, I've had the privilege to work with leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, presidents of countries, and international companies, not to mention millions of dedicated human beings from over 100 countries around the world. Never in my life have I witnessed a cultural climate quite like the one we're living in today. This is an era marked by deeply-divided environments where click-bait headline news is designed to instigate a polarized public, grab their attention, and incite minds on constant-alert, waiting for the next notification to react to and believe the worst.

The foundation of what we teach in my seminars and audio programs hinges on understanding the power and impact of human belief systems, the importance of clarifying one's values, and the constant effect that language has in shaping our emotions and our lives.

To understand how our country's discourse has deteriorated into constant conflict, consider the world's foremost dictionaries recent Word of the Year selections:

In 2016 Oxford Dictionary chose: ''post-truth''In 2017 Collins Dictionary chose: ''fake news''In 2018 Dictionary.com chose: ''mis-information''The very heart of my life's work is empowering others to find the TRUTH that sets them free''--'the honesty and authenticity to breakthrough and expand. For more than 40 years I've encouraged people to seek the tools of transformation to grow into the men and women they dream to be in order to live the fulfilling lives they envision for their highest self. Through the course of my career, more than 50 million people have utilized my teachings''--'this includes more than 4 million people who have attended live events in-person.

My record is nearly a half-century long. I stand on that.

We need to start having a different nature of conversations in a very different way. Real change is nothing but finding new patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that meets our collective needs on a deeper level than the previous pattern. This current pattern is no longer serving our highest good. We demonize human beings for simply being human. If we learn from our mistakes we will evolve into better human beings.

Amidst all the divisiveness in the world today, I truly believe there is a yearning and a calling within all of us for a kinder way''--'a life of compassion, forgiveness, and a desire to live as brothers and sisters. I pray that, out of all of this, we can choose to unite rather than separate; to drop our judgments and criticisms, and look for the goodness in each other. We are all human beings doing the best we can. It's time we come together.

Millions of people have experienced life-changing breakthroughs and transformations on our journey of growth and I invite them to join me now to stop BuzzFeed and others from tearing our society down by denying and mischaracterizing the truth. Enough is enough.

-Tony Robbins

Below is a link to just one example of an individual who is frustrated by the way your reporters tried to take two minutes of seminar footage out of context in order to frame my two hours of work with her as ''abusive'' rather than acknowledging her direct experience and testimony to you of how it positively and profoundly changed her life.

https://youtu.be/xJ3kWMBJE5Y

When is the 'OK' gesture not OK? - BBC News

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Archived Version

Sat, 18 May 2019 14:49

Image copyright Ruuben Kaalep Image caption Marine Le Pen said she had no idea this sign was not OK France's Marine Le Pen, of the far-right National Rally, is the latest politician to find themselves in hot water for signalling that everything is OK.

While visiting Estonia's far-right EKRE party, which has just entered government, she made the ancient hand gesture in a selfie with the party's youth leader, Ruuben Kaalep.

There is just one problem - the symbol has been widely used by white nationalists in recent years, and for many people has taken on a darker meaning.

"I'd never heard of the second meaning of this trivial gesture," Marine Le Pen said.

But she has still come in for criticism, with some asking how the political leader could be ignorant of a major trend among the far-right scene she operates in.

From the ultra-right to American conservatives and even the suspect in a mass murder, the symbol is being used to "troll the media" and ruffle feathers.

So when is the gesture not OK?

Internet trolls turned trendsettersThe entire saga started out as an online joke - taking an innocent and widely-used gesture and pretending there was a sinister hidden meaning behind it, hoping to trick the media and left-leaning people into outrage.

But the joke was so successful, and the gesture so widespread among the far-right and white nationalists, that many believe the OK sign is changing meaning.

It was even used in court by the suspect in the Christchurch killings, after he killed 51 people after opening fire on two mosques - bringing it to international attention as a genuine white power symbol.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The accused in the Christchurch killings during his brief public moment It all began in 2017 on the infamous internet message boards 4Chan. Through its long and controversial lifespan, the site has been the source of many internet memes and jokes but also has a strong right-leaning political audience.

The hoax planned on 4Chan was simple - to ridicule media by convincing reporters of a fake white power symbol. The preposterous reasoning to be given was that in a hand making the OK sign, the three straight fingers make a "W" shape, while the closed thumb and forefinger symbolise the letter "P".

It was wildly successful, and the popularity of the gesture used to mock left-leaning people or "troll" viewers exploded.

In the two years since, however, its constant use by right-wing or extremist individuals has turned the hidden meaning into a genuine connotation.

As the US Anti-Defamation League (ADL) puts it: "By 2019, at least some white supremacists seem to have abandoned the ironic or satiric intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy."

Many now consider the sign to be a white nationalist "dog whistle" - a sign only intended to be understood by those in the know.

Which makes its use in the current political climate a bit complicated.

False accusationsAround most of the world, the OK sign still means what it always has - that everything is fine.

In some countries, however, the gesture is considered vulgar. It can also have other meanings - among young men, it is frequently used in the "circle game", where making the sign below the waist and getting a friend to look at it entitles the prankster to thump said friend on the arm.

Before the hoax tried to invent an alternative meaning, supporters of US President Donald Trump had frequently been photographed using the OK sign - a gesture in selfies which spread among the group.

"In the end, it can mean almost anything," as the US-based Southern Poverty Law Centre says in its explanation of the topic.

The ADL, too, warns against jumping to conclusions about the meaning, saying the "overwhelming usage" is still the traditional sense.

"Someone who uses the symbol cannot be assumed to be using the symbol in either a trolling or, especially, white supremacist context unless other contextual evidence exists to support the contention," the organisation says in its educational material.

"Since 2017, many people have been falsely accused of being racist or white supremacist for using the "okay" gesture in its traditional and innocuous sense."

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Martin (L) and Mart Helme make the OK sign during their swearing-in Context, then, is key: which is why Estonia's EKRE, who Marine Le Pen was visiting in May, have come under fire.

The group's two most prominent leaders, father and son Mart and Martin Helme, both made the symbol while being sworn into office as they entered government.

Mr Helme the senior has suggested that indigenous, white Estonians are being "replaced" by immigrants, while his son has previously said "I want Estonia to be a white country".

But it has also spread far outside politics. A Chicago baseball team banned one fan from the stadium for making the sign on a television broadcast, while a US Coast Guard employee was pulled from duty for the same offence.

What began as an online joke has transformed into a loaded gesture with very real consequences.

OTG

Genius chat app links you with other users whose phone battery is about to die '' BGR

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Archived Version

Fri, 17 May 2019 03:28

We're so addicted to our phones that we simply can't fathom the idea of not being able to use it because it's out of battery juice. That's why we're constantly charging our devices, making sure they have enough battery to get us through the day.

But who said that having your battery die can't be a fun experience, especially if you don't have a charger or external battery on hand. That's where the brilliant $1 Die With Me iPhone and Android app will come in handy.

Die With Me only works if your phone's battery dips below 5%. That's actually everything you need to know about it:

The chat app you can only use when you have less than 5% battery. Die together in a chatroom on your way to offline peace.

That means the app connects you with people in the same situation, who may be looking to kill time while their batteries run out. It also means that you can't use the app unless the battery indicator shows 5% of charge or less, which makes this chat concept so unique. Each chat experience should be totally random and unique.

Reading the comments of some Android users on a Reddit thread Reddit thread made me realize you can use the app to test out the health of your battery.

Completely discharging your phone's battery just for the sole purpose of trying out Die With Me seems silly. But you might consider doing it just to see if your phone's battery can get all the way down to 0%. It's not a scientific test to measure the health of your phone's battery. But if you can't get below 5%, then there might be something wrong with the battery.

Some Reddit users complained that their devices '-- other than iPhones '-- shut down unexpectedly even when the indicator shows there should be plenty of battery life left. Those devices likely need to have their batteries replaced with a new one.

Download the appropriate version of Die With Me at this link.

Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019 | Ars Technica

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Archived Version

Fri, 17 May 2019 11:05

The dumb home '-- The Nest ecosystem is dead. Nest accounts are dead. Nest's privacy firewall is dead. Ron Amadeo - May 10, 2019 11:09 am UTC

Ron Amadeo / Nest

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.'--Don't be distracted by the shiny new "Nest" smart display that was just announced: Nest died at Google I/O 2019. "Google Nest" is the new reality now, where Nest is no longer a standalone company but instead is a sub-brand (not even a division) of Google. The shutdown of Nest as an independent company was announced in 2018, but the pile of announcements at and around I/O 2019 marks the first time we're seeing what the future of Nest looks like inside of Google.

Nest laid out its future in an ominously titled "What's Happening" page on Nest.com and a notice on the Works with Nest page. It sounds like a brutal outcome for users, who are looking at a dead-end ecosystem, potentially broken smart homes, and the shattering of the Google/Nest privacy firewall.

Meet the ''Google Nest Learning Thermostat''First up is Google's salvaging of the Nest brand as a general purpose smart home sub-brand. Just as Google has the "Pixel" brand for smartphones and laptops, it will now use the "Nest" brand similarly, so get used to saying and reading "Google Nest," which now means "a Google smart home product."

The first item announced under this new branding was the

Google Nest Hub Max, a bigger version of the

Google Home Hub smart display. The original Home Hub is getting renamed as well and is now the Google Nest Hub.

The new branding hasn't hit the Google Store yet, but dig through Google's help pages and you'll see that every Nest product has been renamed to "Google Nest." Now we have the "Google Nest Learning Thermostat," the "Google Nest Protect," "Google Nest Secure Alarm System," "Google Nest Hello" (this one is a doorbell), and the "Google Nest Cam IQ Outdoor." These are all a bit awkward and wordy, but they have nothing on the "Nest x Yale Lock with Google Nest connect," which is the actual name of a Nest door lock now.

The takeaway here is that since Nest is not a standalone company anymore, "Nest" doesn't get to be a standalone product brand anymore. Officially, it will always be "Google Nest."

So far, the Google Home speakers have not been renamed, but if Google is really serious about this, we might end up with "Google Nest Speakers" or something similar. Google Wi-Fi is also not yet called "Google Nest Wi-Fi." The Chromecast has not gotten a name change yet, either'--though as a streaming stick named after a Web browser, it still has the strangest branding of any Google product.

Nest's smart home platform is deadEnlarge / "Works with Nest" will no longer work with Nest.

Nest

The second big thing to come out of the show is that Google is killing the "Works with Nest" platform. This was a smart home platform that would let the Nest thermostat act as a hub and coordinator for a lot of your other smart home products. A notice on the "Works with Nest" webpage reads, "Works with Nest is winding down." Google's smart home strategy will now revolve around only the "Works with Google Assistant" program, and Nest's ecosystem will shut down in a bit over three months, on August 31, 2019.

I'm sure there are "Works with Nest" ecosystem users out there that bought products specifically because they "Worked with Nest." When the service shuts down in August, it sounds like all of those (probably expensive) third-party smart home products will stop working with any Nest-based automation workflows. This mandatory feature removal situation is pretty much a smart home owner's worst nightmare.

Nest-branded products will continue to work with each other, but since "Works with Nest" was a program that let other services talk to Nest, a lot of third-party integrations will be going away. The Verge has a good rundown of just how many services are going to break, and it's a brutal who's who of smart home products. Amazon Alexa, Philips Hue, IFTTT, Logitech Harmony, Lutron lights, August Home, and Wemo switches will all be affected.

Alexa, it seems, will be getting special treatment and will continue to work. Google has a special page for Alexa, which reads, "We are working with Amazon to migrate the Nest skill on Amazon Alexa to ensure a smooth transition for Nest customers prior to winding down the Works With Nest program in August." Google and Amazon have had trouble working together in the past, but they seem to have called a truce lately. Other services have not been so lucky, and there are already emails out from IFTTT, Lutron, and others declaring the death of their Nest integration.

"Works with Nest" users will be facing a broken smart home and will have to pick up the scraps of their smart home ecosystem and MacGyver together another solution out of the pieces. The somewhat good news is that most smart home products are compatible with multiple smart home ecosystems, so it should be rare for something to turn into a complete brick. You'll just have to switch to a new ecosystem, go through a ton of setup, and be ready to deal with all the things that won't work the same way they worked before. Theoretically ,some of these services could continue to talk to Nest by supporting the Google Assistant system instead.

"Works with Nest" was always a bit of a strange solution for smart home management. It made the thermostat the center of your smart home not because that made any sense from a smart home architecture perspective but because a thermostat was Nest's most popular product. "Works with Nest" didn't offer any kind of control interface for this ecosystem of smart devices, either. If you, for example, managed to find a "Works with Nest" smart lighting system, Nest didn't give you a way to actually control the lights'--just location detection through the Nest app.

"Works with Google Assistant" is a voice and touch-centric smart home solution, which makes a lot more sense. The system revolves around Google Home speakers and Google Nest smart displays, which are both excellent control interfaces. You can turn on lights and lock doors with voice or touch commands; you can raise the temperature on a thermostat; and you can run routines that do a lot of these things at once.

Nest accounts and data separation is deadAs part of the Googification of Nest, Nest accounts are being phased out of Google's smart home strategy. Existing users won't have their Nest accounts taken away, but the FAQ on Nest.com "strongly recommends" Nest users migrate to a Google account. Nest's FAQ warns that "As Nest offers new connected home devices and services in the future, many of those will only be available to our users with Google Accounts." New Nest users will be required to use a Google account.

Migrating to a Google Account means turning all your Nest data over to Google'--data that previously had been kept separate. Google says it will use your Nest data in accordance with the Google Privacy Policy. Nest data includes a lot of scary feeds from motion sensors, cameras, and microphones and Google has a whole extra page up on "Google Nest Privacy" in the home, where it outlines three major principles:

We will be transparent about the data we collect and whyWe will never sell your personal information to anyoneWe will empower you to review, move, or delete your data

There are even special pages outlining principles and data retention for cameras, microphones, home sensors, and Wi-Fi data.

Keeping the Nest data separate from Google was a big concession made when Google bought the company, designed to allay privacy fears. Now that that is going away, I would imagine some Nest users are not happy.

Other Nest things that will probably die in the futureSo far it seems like the plan is to remove as many Nest-proprietary things as possible and get Nest people on Google versions of those products and services. Nest's website promises that "over the coming months, you'll begin seeing changes across our products, accounts, services, and policies as we bring everything together under Nest." It would not surprise me to hear that all of these "changes" involve shutting down a Nest product or service in favor of a Google version.

We just had a clash between "Works with Nest" and "Works with Google Assistant," and the Nest product was shut down, so let's whip out our crystal ball and extend this to a few other points of crossover.

The Google Home app versus the Nest AppEnlarge / The Nest app.

Nest

The app situation is a mess right now, with both a "Google Home" app and a "Nest" app. The Nest app is for thermostats, cameras, the security system, smoke detectors, and any other old Nest products, while the smart speakers, Chromecast, and "Google Nest" smart displays use the Google Home app.

The Google Nest hardware rebranding muddies the app situation. People buying a newly branded Google Nest Hub or Google Nest Hub Max might be tempted to install the Nest app, but that would be

wrong'--these products need to be set up in the Google Home app. The Nest Hub Max smart display has a camera on top, and while this is a "Nest cam" that can record video to Nest's security camera cloud system, the video feed is also viewable in the Google Home app.

Having two smart home apps for inconsistently named products seems like a really clunky solution, and with the Google Home app already picking up some basic Nest camera compatibility, it would not surprise me to hear that the Nest app will shut down. As a Nest thermostat user, I would love for the Nest app to die because it's awful. It is unable to get basic functionality right, like reliable background location, which is kind of important for a "smart" thermostat designed to sync the house temperature with your comings and goings. Nest app crashes frequently and even when it does work, it doesn't follow any of Google's design language.

The Nest transition FAQ page asks, "What will happen to the Nest app?" and gives a curt response of "At this time, the Nest app will continue to be available." Google could have answered this question with lots of flowery language about how great the Nest app is and how it empowers users to do more with their smart home ecosystem experience, but this answer instead makes it sound like the Nest app will be jettisoned as soon as Google Home re-implements all of its features.

Nest Aware versus Google OneAnother overlap is in the area of cloud storage subscriptions, where Nest has Nest Aware and Google has Google One. Nest Aware gives you online storage of Nest Cam video footage for $5-$30 a month, depending on how far back you want your video history to go. Google One is an upsell for more storage on your Google Account. A basic Google account gets 15GB of storage for Gmail, Drive, documents, and photos, and Google One offers upgrades starting at 100GB for $2 a month and going to stratospherically high prices, like 30 terabytes for $300 a month.

Double dipping on storage subscriptions would be pretty lame, but given that Nest products will start to use a Google account and Google One is for more storage on your Google account, it would make sense for Google One to give you storage for Nest camera footage. Google has other subscription products, but those are always for content, like ad-free YouTube, YouTube TV, or Google Music streaming. In these cases, Google is paying a third-party for content, and that money needs to come from somewhere.

RIP Nest the company, hello Google NestNest

While Google wanted to spin the Google Nest Hub Max unveiling at Google I/O as some kind of positive thing, it feels like we are witnessing the end of Nest as it used to be. The new "Google Nest" will be all Google, all the time, and anything that isn't a built-by-Google device, application, or service now seems like a legacy item. At some point in the future, it seems like only the brand will be left.

I've gone to Nest product launches several times, and every time, the company would talk about how Nest was the most recognized brand in smart homes. Clearly Google still values the Nest mark and wants to keep the brand around inside Google, but first it has to go through a clumsy and awkward shutdown process, which will almost certainly be damaging to the brand's reputation with existing users (and anyone else paying attention).

Google has been on a bit of a product shutdown rampage in 2019, and you can add "Works with Nest" to the list of things Google has murdered lately, along with Google Inbox, Google+ Google Hangouts, Google Music, and Chromecast Audio.

With more options, the future of TV only gets more complicated - News - Austin American-Statesman - Austin, TX

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Fri, 17 May 2019 19:44

Omar L. Gallaga @omargFriday May 17, 2019 at 1:26 PM May 17, 2019 at 1:26 PM

For the Hayden family, TV has gotten to be too much of a good thing.

After years as loyal customers of Grande Communications for their internet, TV and digital phone service, the Austin family is going to keep the internet service, but cut the digital phone and TV programming. They're opting to wade into the booming TV streaming market that includes Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and many others in order to shave their $220-a-month bill to less than $150, including internet service.

But it wasn't only cost that was the deciding factor, said Tim Hayden, president of Austin's Brain+Trust Partners consultancy.

''We have way more TV than we need,'' he said. ''The reason we wanted to cut the cord is we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 channels and we only watch 10 of them with frequency.''

Hayden, his wife and their 7-year-old son already subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, CBS All Access and Nat Geo TV as well as MLB TV for Texas Rangers games. As part of their transition, they'll be spending about $300 to $400 for equipment to replace their cable DVR in order to record over-the-air broadcasts.

But even with all those services, Hayden says he knows they won't be able to watch everything out there '-- and that's part of the point.

''When you look at the fantastic programming that is coming from HBO and Netflix and Amazon and Hulu, you make some sacrifices,'' he said. ''You start to understand that hey, maybe we're not going to watch 'Game of Thrones.' Maybe we're not going to pay that $10 a month for HBO Go. I'm not saying we're not going to, but in the near term, maybe we don't need all these things.''

The Haydens are going through what a lot of peak TV-era viewers are right now: Evaluating where they want to spend their entertainment dollars and whether subscribing to a batch of online TV services is better and cheaper than what they can get with a cable or satellite TV subscription.

A research survey released in March from consulting firm Deloitte found that for the first time, more Americans are paying for internet video services than are paying for cable and satellite.

Guy Bisson, research director with Ampere Analysis, said consumers are, on average, taking on two or three streaming services at a time. With new TV services arriving this year from Apple and Disney, in addition to some that could emerge from movie studios, Bisson says the number of streaming subscriptions customers are willing to pay for might grow.

''The real question is at what point does it stop or cap out,'' Bisson said. ''In the medium or long term, that ceiling will be breached; people will take much more than two or three services.''

So what's a cord-cutter or someone who just wants to get the best mix of TV programming supposed to do?

Not everyone will have the patience or strategic sense to reexamine their options every six months, as the Haydens plan to do. But a sense of the streaming-TV landscape over the next few months might help, and some mythbusting couldn't hurt.

In the interest of helping you make your own plan of attack for TV watching, let's take a look at some claims you might read on the very unreliable internet, and see if they hold weight:

Claim: It's getting easier to cut the cord and you should do it.

On the surface, this is true. Pretty much any new HDTV you buy today has streaming TV channels built in. If you have an internet connection, you can access them easily that way or with an inexpensive Roku or Amazon Fire TV add-on device.

But if you're comparing ease of use of services such as Hulu and HBO Now to turning on a cable box and flipping channels, you start to realize that it's not that simple for everyone. Those with poor internet connections, or who don't want to deal with remembering logins and passwords, or hunting for programming across multiple services, could end up missing their old cable package.

Claim: Streaming TV is cheaper than cable

Again, this seems true now for people who are subscribing to two or three services at a time, but if you factor in TV/internet bundles that offer discounts, the rising prices of services such as Netflix (which had a recent price hike and can cost up to $15.99 a month) and the sheer number of services we'll eventually have, some might end up paying more to get all the programming they don't want to miss.

Bisson predicts that movie studios such as Warner Bros. will follow Disney's lead and start their own streaming services, further fragmenting the market.

''The key there is they own all the content or the majority of the powerful content brands,'' he said. ''When they start to remove content from other services, that will impact their competition; that will impact and change the market.''

Claim: Cable TV and satellite operators will be left behind by internet streaming

This might have been true before industry consolidation created tech/content behemoths that not only control the internet pipes, but who also own entertainment brands of their own. Your (AT&T-owned) DirecTVs and (Charter-owned, Time Warner-adjacent) Spectrums are going to be doing their own TV streaming and partnering and try to steer you to their own original shows and movies.

Bisson says some viewers could choose to re-attach the cord if these companies consolidate TV packages in an attractive way with so-called ''skinny bundles,'' or full-blown subscriptions that integrate Netflix and other streaming TV into their own offerings, something Apple plans to do as well.

''Right now, it's very distinct when you go in and out of interfaces and applications,'' he said. ''Once that can be integrated, it might be through Apple TV or a TV operator, the distinctions start to disappear.''

Claim: Netflix's growth is slowing and the company is vulnerable

Netflix has been so dominant in the streaming TV market that it's fashionable to predict that the service will eventually take a fall or be overtaken by something better.

But even as the company's growth has slowed in the U.S., it still has a staggering 139 million subscribers worldwide and is continuing to expand rapidly overseas.

Bisson said that when viewers take on multiple streaming services, Netflix is usually the first one they choose.

''It's the gateway drug for streaming,'' he said. The company's offerings, with about 300 originals currently in production, are ''second to none,'' Bisson said.

A recent price hike caused a lot of grumbling, but the $2-on-average Netflix price increase is going to help the company become cash-flow positive, he said.

''Their finances are going to look very different,'' Bisson said. ''They'll be able to spend at least at the rate they are now, if not at a greater rate.''

How much does Netflix spend on original programming? It's expected to shell out $15 billion in 2019 alone.

Claim: Apple and Disney are going to disrupt the streaming-TV market

Apple TV Plus is scheduled to launch in the fall with original programming from Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams and others. But it hasn't announced a subscription price and its few dozen planned movies and shows are likely to be dwarfed by the number of offerings on competing services, at least at first.

Apple has mountains of money to spend on content, but its original video programming to date has consisted of ''Carpool Karaoke'' and ... some other shows and concerts that have been less than memorable.

Its big advantage is reach; as with Apple Music, it can push the service to its many, many iPhone, iPad and Apple TV customers and play the long game.

Disney, on the other hand, is bursting with popular content, from its deep library of animated films, to ''Avengers: Endgame,'' which will debut on Disney Plus on Dec. 11. Movies such as ''Black Panther,'' ''Incredibles 2'' and ''Star Wars: The Last Jedi'' will disappear from Netflix and move over to Disney Plus.

Disney also owns ESPN and has a big stake in Hulu, which means it will likely offer bundle of those services with its $6.99 Disney Plus.

It's too early to say which service will make the bigger splash, but the smart money might be on Disney, at least at the outset.

Claim: You'll have to pay a bundle no matter what you do

A lot of what we've talked about so far mostly applies to people who are consuming a lot of television, the kind of viewer who wants to be up to date on ''Stranger Things,'' ''The Handmaid's Tale'' and ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' in addition to what's on broadcast TV and cable channels such as Comedy Central and HBO.

But if you're not so hooked on television, you might save a bundle of money by simply opting out of bundles (skinny or otherwise), limiting yourself to a single streaming TV subscription at a time, or just getting a decent HDTV antenna and enjoying live television for free, something Tim Hayden encourages.

''With an HD antenna, you can pick up about 55 to 65 different signals in the Austin area,'' he said. ''What we've found is you can get about 30 of them very clean, with 1080 resolution coming in.''

Almost every streaming service, from Netflix to HBO Now to Hulu, has a free trial period where you can stream and binge to your heart's content to decide if you really want to subscribe. That's more than enough time to catch up on a few seasons of ''Game of Thrones'' or ''The Crown'' without paying a dime.

Examining what you're willing to pay for streaming TV, cable, satellite or additional hardware could bring you to the realization that you should be downsizing anyway.

Hayden said that while most cord cutters are trying to do a 1-to-1 replacement of their programming with streaming services, he's not as interested in the all-you-can-watch approach.

''We're trying" he said, "to whittle this down to what we need to watch.''

BTC

Baltimore Resists Bitcoin Ransom to Enter Second Week of Lockdown

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Source: BitcoinNews.com

Fri, 17 May 2019 13:03

Baltimore City continues to resist the demands of hackers who have managed to infiltrate and lock its government systems, ensuring that the city has essentially remained in lockdown mode since 7 May 2019.

The ransomware attack has shut down systems essential for completing home sales, halting property deals in Baltimore during one of the busiest times of the year. https://t.co/znfzgXyJvJ

'-- The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) May 14, 2019

The ''Robbinhood'' ransomware attack has placed the local government under siege for two weeks now, forcing it to return to an analog age for most aspects of daily life. Real estate purchases, for example, cannot be carried out because records are simply inaccessible and new ones cannot be filed.

Its incoming mayor, Bernard Young, who will be replacing ousted ex-mayor Catherine Pugh, has remained steadfast and refused to pay the BTC 13 (now worth USD 104,000) that was demanded by the hackers. So far, law enforcement and its online tax portal for property are affected, but city departments are seeking workarounds.

Critics are saying that the refusal to pay could incur even more costs later on, but Baltimore, whose population is at 600,000 people, has already lost money, including some USD 2 million spent this year for upgrading storage. Those new systems have now been irreparably damaged.

The ransomware hackers apparently released some names and passwords from the hack on Twitter, teasing the FBI with a message: ''We've watching [sic] you for days and we've worked on your systems to gain full access to your company and bypass all of your protections.''

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Algo's

This AI-generated Joe Rogan fake has to be heard to be believed - The Verge

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Fri, 17 May 2019 19:58

Artificial intelligence isn't creating fake photos and videos '-- it can do fake voices, too.

Up until now, these voices have been noticeably stilted and robotic, but researchers from AI startup Dessa have created what is by far the most convincing voice clone we've ever heard '-- perfectly mimicking the sound of MMA-commentator-turned-podcaster Joe Rogan.

Listen to clips of Dessa's AI Rogan below, or take a quiz on the company's site to see if you can spot the difference between real Rogan and faux Rogan. (It's surprisingly hard!)

In terms of making a convincing fake, Dessa chose its target well. Rogan is probably the world's most popular podcaster, and has recorded nearly 1,300 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience to date. That provides ample training data for any AI system.

It doesn't hurt that the company's engineers are obviously familiar with Rogan's favorite talking points. Speculating about whether or not we're living in a computer simulation, or admiring the upper body strength of chimps '-- that's all prime Rogan material.

But of course, being able to convincingly fake someone's voice has disturbing implications, too. As Dessa's engineers note in a blog post, malicious uses cases for fake voices include spam calls that impersonate your loved ones; using fake voices to bully or harass people; and creating misinformation through faked recordings of politicians.

''Clearly, the societal implications for technologies like speech synthesis are massive,'' Dessa writes. ''And the implications will affect everyone. Poor consumers and rich consumers. Enterprises and governments.''

Fake AI voices could be used for misinformation, but they could also improve technology

The company notes there are benefits as well. These include the creation of more realistic AI assistants; quicker and more accurate dubbing for TV and film; and designing realistic, personalized synthetic voices for individuals with speech impairments.

We've reached out to Dessa for more information about their work, but the company says because of the possibility of malicious uses it won't be releasing its research in full or making its AI models publicly accessible. (A stance we've seen from larger AI labs like OpenAI, which controversially withheld the final version of its text-generating AI system.)

Although there's a good argument to be made that fears about deepfakes are overblown (the technology has been available for years but a fake has yet to impact mainstream politics), it's also clear that the technology is only going to improve and become more accessible in the future.

''Right now, technical expertise, ingenuity, computing power and data are required to make models like RealTalk perform well,'' says the company. ''But in the next few years (or even sooner), we'll see the technology advance to the point where only a few seconds of audio are needed to create a life-like replica of anyone's voice on the planet.''

Listening to AI Joe Rogan talk about chimps ripping your balls off is, strangely, only the beginning.

Update 2.40PM ET: In an Instagram post, Rogan responded to the Dessa voice clone, saying: ''At this point I've long ago left enough content out there that they could basically have me saying anything they want, so my position is to shrug my shoulders and shake my head in awe, and just accept it. The future is gonna be really fucking weird, kids.''

Clips

VIDEO - Hertz has a pattern of mistakenly reporting cars stolen leaving customers arrested, attorney says

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Thu, 23 May 2019 13:17

Consumers around the country are sharing the tales of renting a car to then be accused of stealing it by Florida-based rental car giant, Hertz.

"Seven hours I was detained," said Dina Johnson of Cleveland, Ohio. Johnson was on her way back from visiting family in Canada last year when border patrol agents told her to pull off to the side and turn off the engine of the rental car she was driving.

"I'm terrified. Reliving it is unbearable," Johnson said of the moment she learned the car she was driving was stolen.

"They gave me a stolen car!"

Turns out, the car belonged to another rental car company that had reported it stolen a few days earlier. Yet, a Hertz agent processed the rental and put her in the car.

Johnson has hired an attorney.

So has Magalie Sterlin who says her 2017 rental from a Hertz in South Florida left this mother of one facing the barrel of multiple guns after she was stopped during a checkpoint.

"They had me a gunpoint. I'm like what's going on?" Sterlin says. The officer then told her the car was reported stolen. "I'm like what? I said that's impossible because I rented this car," she says. Sterlin ended up getting arrested and was jailed for a half-a-day. In her police report Sterlin told officers "she did not return the vehicle despite the employee asking her." But Sterlin claims Hertz called her a few days earlier and told her to return the car because the registration was about to expire. She says, Hertz agreed she could return the car Monday instead of Thursday. She was arrested on Sunday.

"When I got out of jail I was told there was a glitch in the system," she said.

Her Philadelphia-based attorney, Francis Alexander, says Hertz's "glitch" has a created a company-wide pattern of wrongly reporting cars stolen and customers, he says, are paying the price.

"Now we're talking about 10-20-30 cases all over the country," Alexander said. One client of his in Pennsylvania was arrested and charged before a judge threw her case out. Another client in Indiana settled her case with Hertz after she too, was wrongly arrested and wrongly accused of stealing the vehicle she rented from Hertz.

"The problem is Hertz has broken computer systems. They have broken policies around standard operating procedures and, as a result of that, good people are being thrown in jail. It's shocking, it's bad and it needs to stop," he said.

But Estero, FL based Hertz, which manages a fleet of 800,00 vehicles and processes tens of millions of rentals each year, is driving home another point.

"False reports of stolen vehicles are extremely rare," said Hertz spokesperson Tressie Rose, told us in a statement. "When it has occurred, it has been the result of unique and extenuating circumstances. In the rare instance an error within our controls has occurred we take responsibility," she said.

The bizarre incidents have consumer protection experts who love to give advice at a standstill.

"What can you do if you find yourself in a position like this" asked Bill Newton of Florida's Consumer Action Network. "It sounds like the plot of a movie," Newton said.

If that's the case, the end of Magalie Sterln's movie is still in the works.

"I've been fighting this case for about 2 years," she said. Sterlin has pled not guilty to a third degree felony for failing to return a rental car. Hertz, in response, told us ''filing a report is a last resort and maintains it followed its overdue rental process in her case including extensive communication with the renter over the course of several weeks.'' Sterlin stands by her story.

Dina Johnson's movie is also still playing out in lawyer talks. This month marks one year since Hertz put this grandmother in someone else's stolen car.

"Seven longest hours of my life. The humiliation, I'm just in shock," she said.

Statements from Hertz More from the Florida Investigative Team Florida Teachers: Failing and Frustrated Florida is key player in medical device fraud scheme described as one of largest in U.S. history Fla. lawmakers want schools to do more to protect kids from lead exposure, but who will pay for it? Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

VIDEO - Goldman: Apple's earnings would drop by nearly 30% if China bans its products

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Thu, 23 May 2019 11:32

CEO of Apple Tim Cook attends China Development Forum 2019 at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on March 23, 2019 in Beijing, China.

VCG | Getty Images

The U.S.-China trade war could take a big chunk out of Apple's bottom line if China retaliates by banning its products, according to an analyst at Goldman Sachs.

Analyst Rod Hall said in a note to clients that Apple's earnings could drop by 29% if the company's products were banned in mainland China. The analyst cut his price target on Apple to $178 per share from $184, representing a 4.6% downside from Tuesday's close of $186.60.

Apple's China business accounted for more than 17% of its sales in its fiscal second quarter, coming in at $10.22 billion. The company also sells billions of dollar worth in iPhones every year in China.

"Should China restrict iPhone production in any way we do not believe the company would be able to shift much iPhone volume outside of China on short notice," Hall said. "We believe that Apple is near its annual rapid ramp of new iPhone production to prepare for new device launches in the Fall so even a short term action affecting production could have longer term consequences for the company."

Hall also noted that China's "tech ecosystem" and local employment could take a hit if Apple products are banned. Most of Apple's supply chain rests in mainland China, including the iPhone's final assembly, which is executed at Foxconn.

Apple shares are down 7% for the month through Tuesday's close as China and the U.S. ratchet up trade fears. The U.S. hiked tariffs on $200 billions worth of Chinese goods earlier in May. China retaliated by raising levies on $60 billion worth of U.S. imports.

Hall is not the only analyst raising concern over Apple's exposure to China. On Monday, HSBC analyst Erwan Rambourg cut his price target on the tech giant to $174 per share from $180. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse analyst Matthew Cabral said Tuesday that Apple's earnings per share would fall by about 15 cents a share for every 5% drop in Greater China sales.

WATCH: Chinese 'nationalism' hurting iPhone sales in China

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VIDEO - Tom Elliott on Twitter: "Actor Jeff Daniels: It's "the end of democracy" if voters elect Trump president again in 2020.'... "

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VIDEO - ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. BREAKS HIS SILENCE - YouTube

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Thu, 23 May 2019 11:24

VIDEO - Feds bring new charges against lawyer Michael Avenatti for misappropriating nearly $300,000 from former client Stormy Daniels - ABC News

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Thu, 23 May 2019 11:14

Federal prosecutors in New York charged Michael Avenatti with additional financial crimes Wednesday, including allegedly forging the signature of his former client Stormy Daniels and diverting nearly $300,000 owed to her for a book advance into his own account, according to court records filed on Wednesday.

Interested in Michael Avenatti? Add Michael Avenatti as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Michael Avenatti news, video, and analysis from ABC News.Prosecutors said that he then used money he took from Daniels to make monthly payments on his Ferrari, as well as to cover airfare, dry cleaning, hotels and restaurant bills, as well as payroll and insurance costs for his law firm's employees.

The new charges accuse Avenatti of misappropriating money that was supposed to be paid to Daniels when Avenatti was representing the adult film actress in her public battle against President Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen.

"Avenatti used misrepresentations and a fraudulent document purporting to bear his client's name and signature to convince his client's literary agent to divert money owed to Avenatti's client to an account controlled by Avenatti," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement. "Avenatti then spent the money principally for his own personal and business purposes."

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan -- who have already accused Avenatti of extortion in a case involving Nike -- also indicted him separately on extortion charges in the Nike case on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Avenatti denied the fraud and identity theft charges to ABC News, saying that ''No monies relating to Ms. Daniels were ever misappropriated or mishandled."

"She received millions of dollars worth of legal services and we expended huge sums in expenses," he wrote in a statement to ABC News.

"She directly paid only $100.00 (not a typo) for all that she received."

Not so, said Berman in a statement.

Federal prosecutors charge in court papers that Avenatti forged Daniels signature on a document for the purpose of diverting the funds she was owed into an account of his own, and leaving Daniels with the impression that the publishing house she was contracted with to write a book had not delivered the promised advances.

"A month after diverting one payment of $148,750 into his own account, Avenatti allegedly used funds received from another source to pay" Daniels, prosecutors said in the statement.

One week after that, according to prosecutors, Avenatti diverted a second payment of $148,750 to Daniels into his own account.

"To conceal his scheme, and despite repeated requests to Avenatti as [Daniels'] lawyer, for assistance in obtaining the book payment that [Daniels] believed was missing, Avenatti led [her] to believe that [her] publisher was refusing to make the payment...," prosecutors claim.

Avenatti "abused and violated the core duty of an attorney -- the duty to his client," Berman charged in the statement. "As alleged, he used his position of trust to steal an advance on the client's book deal. As alleged, he blatantly lied to and stole from his client to maintain his extravagant lifestyle, including to pay for, among other things, a monthly car payment on a Ferrari. Far from zealously representing his client, Avenatti, as alleged, instead engaged in outright deception and theft, victimizing rather than advocating for his client."

In a subsequent statement to ABC News after the charges were filed, Avenatti again reiterated his innocence and said he was entitled to the money from the book advance.

"I look forward to a jury hearing all of the evidence and passing judgment on my conduct," Avenatti wrote in the statement. "At no time was any money misappropriated or mishandled. I will be fully exonerated once the relevant emails, contracts, text messages, and documents are presented. I was entitled to any monies retained relating to a book per my agreement with the client. It was part of my agreement for representation and compensation.

Daniels' current attorney, Clark Brewster, had a different take when contacted by ABC News.

''I doubt Michael Avenatti is looking forward to jury hearing evidence about his blatant dishonesty and embezzlement of Stormy's book advances," Brewster told ABC News. "If that sentiment is true he has a delusional disorder that merits attention.''

News of prosecutors' inquiry into his business dealings with Daniels marks the latest legal blow for Avenatti, coming after federal prosecutors on both coasts unsealed charges against the controversial 48-year-old attorney.

The Daniels investigation is not related to those charges. But it is being run by the same team of federal officials who slapped Avenatti with two counts of extortion for his alleged role in what prosecutors called ''an old-fashioned shakedown'' of Nike.

He and another celebrity lawyer, Mark Geragos, allegedly threatened to release damaging information about the sportswear giant if it refused to pay the two attorneys millions of dollars. Geragos was not charged with a crime.

In the Central District of California, prosecutors targeted Avenatti with wire- and bank-fraud charges in a scheme that included stealing funds from a client to pay off his own expenses.

Avenatti gained prominence last year when he began representing Daniels in a defamation lawsuit against Trump. A federal judge in California later threw out the suit and ordered Daniels to reimburse Trump for legal fees.

VIDEO - Kellyanne Conway, Nancy Pelosi clash after Trump meeting with Democrats was cut short | Fox News

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Thu, 23 May 2019 11:13

White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, had a terse exchange after a meeting between President Trump and Democratic lawmakers was cut short on Wednesday.

Trump scrapped the meeting, which was slated as an opportunity to discuss the country's infrastructure, after Pelosi told reporters that the president "engaged in a cover-up" following a meeting with her caucus.

After Trump left the room, Conway asked the Speaker if she had a "direct response to the president," Fox News confirmed.

TRUMP DEMANDS END TO 'PHONY INVESTIGATIONS' IN FIERY ROSE GARDEN STATEMENT, AFTER MEETING WITH DEMS CUT SHORT

"I'm responding to the president, not staff," Pelosi shot back.

Conway slammed Pelosi's dismissal of her.

"Really great. That's really pro-woman of you,'' the White House counselor is said to have responded.

PELOSI RATCHETS UP RHETORIC, SAYS TRUMP MAY HAVE COMMITTED 'IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE' IN 'PLAIN SIGHT'

The tense moment came before Trump blasted Democratic lawmakers with his remarks from the Rose Garden, telling reporters, "I don't do cover-ups."

''You can't do it under these circumstances,'' Trump said about negotiating with Democrats. ''Get these phony investigations over with.''

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Pelosi doubled down on her accusation at the Center for American Progress 2019 Ideas Conference Wednesday afternoon.

''The fact is, in plain sight, in the public domain, this president is obstructing justice and he's engaged in a cover-up. And that could be an impeachable offense,'' Pelosi said.

VIDEO - Theresa May set to go after Andrea Leadsom quits over Brexit fiasco and Cabinet try to force her from power

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Thu, 23 May 2019 03:27

ISOLATED Theresa May was last night holed up in No10 amid an extraordinary Cabinet bid to force her from power.

Brexiteer Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom quit over the PM's bid to offer MPs the chance of a second EU referendum.

London News Pictures

A tearful Theresa May has been left isolated and holed up in No10 Andrea Leadsom arriving back at her London home following her resignationPA:Press Association

Andrea Leadsom's letter of resignationAnd seven other Cabinet ministers also told No10 they will not back Mrs May '-- a clear signal for her to step down.

But the PM refused to budge, with aides saying: ''She is going nowhere until she gets Brexit done.''

Mrs May even refused a series of ministers' demands for face-to-face talks, scrapping an appointment with Scottish Secretary David Mundell with ten minutes' notice.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith last night joked that Mrs May was virtually barricading herself in at Downing Street '-- saying: ''The sofa is up against the door, she's not leaving.''

Cabinet rebels are furious at Mrs May for saying the Government will legislate for a second referendum, insisting they agreed only to offer the Commons a vote on it.

One minister said: ''It's not just her intention of legislating for a second referendum. It's also become a clear reality the PM is no longer getting a hearing, so someone else now needs to do it.''

Mrs May's bleary-eyed look was reminiscent of ex-PM Margaret Thatcher' tears after she quit in 1990.

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The Sun's coverage of Margaret Thatcher's departure from office as PMAfter her resignation, Leadsom delivered a withering personal attack on Theresa May '-- accusing her of blowing Brexit and calling on her to quit ''in the interests of the country''.

The PM's ex-leadership rival reignited their long-running feud with a devastating letter to Mrs May while resigning as Leader of the Commons.

In it she came close to hinting Mrs May had lied to the Cabinet by failing to consult ministers, which saw a second referendum plan passed without their say-so.

It also emerged that 76 Tory MPs '-- a quarter of her party '-- are now vowing to vote down her deal.

Tomorrow the PM faces a crunch showdown with Tory kingmaker Sir Graham Brady.

He will tell her she must name her departure date by the end of the day '-- or face being forced out by his powerful 1922 executive committee within days.

The 18-strong group, which governs party leadership rules, yesterday decided to give Mrs May 48 hours to leave No10 with ''dignity''.

AP:Associated Press

Mrs May unveiled her controversial 'new deal' on Brexit on Wednesday in a desperate bid to win round Labour MPs' support to help pass itLondon News Pictures

Theresa May exits Downing Street's back gate last night as calls for her to go come from all sidesPA:Press Association

In a devastating blow, Brexiteer Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom quit over the PM's bid to offer MPs the chance of a second EU referendumMembers had held a secret ballot on whether to change Tory rules to hold a fresh no confidence vote in her leadership, with their votes sealed in envelopes.

If she does not stand down, the envelopes will be opened by Sir Graham. One 1922 executive said last night there was ''a clear majority'' in the room for a rule change.

The senior MP added: ''Theresa will have to go on Friday, whatever happens now.''

Former minister Tim Loughton was among Tory MPs who sent new letters to Sir Graham calling for her to go.

He even tweeted a photo of the addressed envelope, with the words: ''Enough said.''

On another day of high drama in Westminster;

Tory kingmaker Sir Graham Brady will tell Theresa May she must name her departure date on Friday or face being forced out by his powerful committee within days.Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn refused to engage with the PM, telling her it would be pointless because ''she only has a few days left in the job''.Desperate Tory and Labour chiefs attacked Nigel Farage in a last-ditch bid to stop him trouncing them at the Euro elections, as the nation goes to the polls.Senior ministers demanded meetings with the Prime Minister to tell her NOT to offer MPs a chance to vote on a second Brexit referendum - but she refused to meet themDozens of Tories - including previously loyal backers of Mrs May - say she has now run out of road and must resign as soon as possible and leave Brexit to her successorThe Chief Whip told party bosses she was not planning to stand down last night and instead will hold a crunch showdown with the Tory backbench chief tomorrow - after today's Euro electionsTory grandees pulled back from changing party rules so the leader can be removed immediatelyThe PM's DUP allies warned she is leaving Britain at the mercy of the EUANDREA'S THREE-YEAR WAIT FOR REVENGE

COMMONS Leader Andrea Leadsom was Theresa May's rival for the Tory leadership '-- and her stinging resignation letter was her revenge served three years later.

Mrs Leadsom quit last night with a devastating attack on the Prime Minister's latest Brexit climbdown and her handling of Cabinet tensions.

But it was just the boiling over of the simmering antagonism between the pair.

Mrs Leadsom, a former banker and married mum of three, had been a prominent Leave supporter in the referendum campaign. She stood against Remain-backing Mrs May after David Cameron resigned as PM in 2016.

The women made it to the final two but then Mrs Leadsom gave a disastrous interview in which she appeared to suggest she was a better choice for PM because she had children.

She claimed this meant she had a ''stake in the future'' by contrast with Mrs May who cannot have children for health reasons.

Mrs Leadsom, 56, told a newspaper back then that Mrs May only had ''nieces, nephews'', adding: ''But I have children who are going to have children who will directly be part of what happens next.''

She withdrew from the contest soon after the controversy and so cleared the path for Mrs May to enter Downing Street.

The new Prime Minister appointed Mrs Leadsom as her Environment Secretary only to demote her to Commons Leader in a reshuffle after the disastrous 2017 General Election.

Then last summer it emerged Mrs Leadsom had attacked Mrs May's doomed Chequers plan '-- telling colleagues how she ''hated'' it for breaching Government red lines on Brexit.

Afterwards Mrs Leadsom did not quit the Cabinet but is believed to have been unpopular in No'10 for her hardline stance. Last month she made more waves by claiming that No Deal would not be ''nearly as grim as many would advocate''.

Mrs Leadsom has also repeatedly clashed with Commons Speaker John Bercow. Last year she confronted him over claims he called her a ''stupid woman''.

But, as Commons Leader, Mrs Leadsom has also been central in tackling the ''Pestminster'' culture of sexual harassment and bullying.

In 2017, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon was forced to quit after she accused him of making lewd comments to her.

By Martin Beckford, Whitehall Editor 'Theresa May delivers her ten point Brexit plan to the Commons'Seven other Cabinet ministers also told No10 they won't back Mrs May's high stakes final Brexit gamble '-- a clear signal for her to step down.

Others in the top table revolt include Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Environment Secretary Michael Gove, Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss and Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay.

In the event of a new Tory leadership contest, former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would be a front-runner. But allies said Mrs Leadsom is considering whether to mount a new Tory leadership challenge to succeed Mrs May.

It would be her second tilt at the top job following her controversial bid in 2016 when she was forced to withdraw after appearing to suggest she was a better choice for the PM because she had children.

In her resignation letter, Mrs Leadsom said the PM's plans would fail to ''deliver on the referendum result''.

She acknowledged that leaving on the eve of today's European elections was damaging but she insisted she had to quit as she was ''fundamentally opposed'' to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which she was due to unveil to MPs today.

STARMER BREAKS RANKS TO BACK PEOPLE'S VOTE

SHADOW Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer broke ranks with Jeremy Corbyn yesterday to demand a People's Vote.

He said Theresa May should put a firm proposal for a ''public vote'' in legislation.

He spoke as Labour peer and former EastEnders actor Michael Cashman, 68, quit the party and said he would vote for the Lib Dems in today's European elections.

PA:Press Association

Theresa May's letter to Andrea Leadsom'URGE YOU TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS'Hinting that the PM had lied to the Cabinet after her second referendum plan passed without their say-so, she wrote: ''There has been such a breakdown of Government processes that recent Brexit-related legislative proposals have not been properly scrutinised or approved by Cabinet.''

And in a call for Mrs May to stand down in the national interest, Mrs Leadsom finished her letter by saying: ''I fully respect the integrity, resolution and determination that you have shown during your time as Prime Minister.

''No one has wanted you to succeed more than I have, but I do now urge you to make the right decisions in the interests of the country, this Government and our party.''

Senior No10 staff were given no warning about Mrs Leadsom's departure, and she rang the PM to inform her of the decision only 30 minutes before making it public shortly before 8pm last night. Downing Street issued only a curt response, with a spokesman saying Mrs Leadsom had served ''with distinction and great ability''.

Mrs May said she was ''sorry'' Mrs Leadsom was off, praising her ''passion, drive and sincerity''.

THE SUN SAYS

THOSE who predicted Theresa May would be a poor Prime Minister have regrettably been vindicated.

In fairness, her task has been harder than any predecessor's since Winston Churchill. It became all but impossible after she blew her majority in 2017.

Even so, Mrs May and her woeful Cabinet of mainly third-rate friends have failed on Brexit and the social justice mission she initially championed. Andrea Leadsom cannot bear to be a part of it any longer.

All PMs want a ''legacy''. It can be the only reason Mrs May has clung on so long.

And though she will leave office with none to speak of, she can at least retain her dignity in defeat.

Even that is ebbing way.

PA:Press Association

Boris Johnson has continued to push for Mrs May to quitPA:Press Association

Sajid Javid is part of the Cabinet revolt - and has requested a meeting with the PMPA:Press Association

Cabinet plotter Jeremy Hunt leave the Houses of ParliamentPA:Press Association

Sir Graham Brady - the chair of the 1922 Committee - has given Mrs May a 48-hour deadline to leave No10 with her 'dignity' intactShe said she was ''grateful for the support given over the last three years'' in working to deliver Brexit.

But the PM said she believed Mrs Leadsom was wrong to argue that the deal negotiated with the EU meant the UK ''will not become a sovereign country''.

In a further sign of the PM's support slipping away, eight junior ministers led by Nadhim Zahawi pleaded for a meeting with her after deciding they couldn't support the Withdrawal Agreement Bill due to the second referendum pledge.

They were snubbed after putting their request to Chief Whip Julian Smith.

Mr Zahawi told The Sun: ''We decided we had to act.

''It's a matter of credibility now. We've been arguing all along that a second referendum would lead to more uncertainty and division. We just cannot offer one.''

MORE 'DIVISION AND DEADLOCK'In a statement after the 1922 Committee meeting, Sir Graham said he would meet the PM tomorrow and then consult with the 1922 executive. Tory MPs were told of tomorrow's meeting last night.

It came amid a growing rebellion of Tory MPs to Mrs May's ''new'' Brexit deal, which she outlined on Tuesday.

The number opposed to the deal has more than doubled since the speech, which promised MPs a vote on a second referendum and customs union.

Crucially it means Mrs May must now win over more than 70 Labour MPs to have any chance of getting her deal through the Commons.

The PM even lost several loyal Tory MPs who have voted for the deal on all three previous occasions '-- including Martin Vickers, Robert Halfon and Geoffrey Clifton-Brown. Despite scores of MPs coming out against the deal, Mrs May pushed ahead with a Commons statement pleading with them to support her faltering plans.

She said that another rejection would plunge Britain back into yet more ''division and deadlock''.

And unveiling her deal to the Commons, she insisted the Government would ''make provisions'' for a second referendum if MPs voted for one.

Furious People's Vote backers said the commitment didn't go far enough for them to back her Brexit bill.

ANGER AS PM SHUNS NO DEAL

THERESA May incensed Brexit-backing Ministers by killing off a Cabinet No Deal debate despite calls for a ''step change'' in preparation, we can reveal.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay implored the Government to increase contingency planning.

He said a ''cliff-edge'' exit on October 31 would be ''far worse'' for business than March 29 and warned of pre-Christmas warehousing shortages.

But the PM stunned Brexiteers in Tuesday's Cabinet by postponing a vote on No Deal work until after the half term break. Yesterday, she claimed a No Deal could threaten the Union's future and leave Britain more vulnerable to terrorists.

The PM agreed with MP Richard Graham that Brexit Party chief Nigel Farage's ''superficially seductive'' line about leaving on WTO terms was dangerous.

She said the UK's security relationships with the EU27 was ''fundamental'' to keeping the country safe, yet leaving with no deal would close them off.

Exclusive by Steve HawkesAdditional reporting; Kate Ferguson and Martin Beckford

GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk

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