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Google bans ZeroHedge from advertising platform, issues citation against The Federalist

J. Edward Moreno
The Hill
Tue, 16 Jun 2020 21:39 UTC
Google bans Federalist and Zerohedge
© Getty Images
The far-right news site, ZeroHedge will no longer be able to generate revenue from any advertisements served by Google Ads and The Federalist may follow suit.

The two sites were found to be in violation of Google's policies on content related to race when they pushed unsubstantiated claims about the Black Lives Matter protests sparked in recent weeks by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody on May 25, NBC News first reported.

"We have strict publisher policies that govern the content ads can run on and explicitly prohibit derogatory content that promotes hatred, intolerance, violence or discrimination based on race from monetizing," a Google spokesperson told NBC. "When a page or site violates our policies, we take action. In this case, we've removed both sites' ability to monetize with Google."

A Google spokesperson told The Hill that sites are judged holistically when being reviewed for content violations. Both ZeroHedge and The Federalist were flagged for violations related to their comment sections that they did not do enough to mitigate.

Comment: See also: Google cracks down on 'fake news' by permanently banning 200 sites

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Arrow Down

Trump confirms plans to reduce US troops in Germany

Leo Shane III
Military Times
Tue, 16 Jun 2020 00:00 UTC
TrumpTroops
© Andrew Harnik/AP
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet members of the military at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
President Donald Trump confirmed Monday he is looking to cut the number of U.S. troops stationed at American military bases in Germany because of his lingering concerns that leaders of the European power aren't spending enough on their own national defense.

Until now, White House officials had not publicly confirmed the rumored troops cuts, first reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. In an impromptu press conference at the White House Monday afternoon, Trump said he intends to reduce the American military presence there because German officials are "delinquent in their payments" to NATO.

"They owe NATO billions and they know it," Trump said. "Why should we be doing what we're doing if they don't pay?"

According to the Wall Street Journal, White House officials have already ordered (but not publicly disclosed) an end-strength reduction of about 9,500 troops from U.S. military bases in Germany in coming months.

The instruction would also cap American troop levels in the country at 25,000, creating a potential logistics problem for military leaders. U.S. bases there often serve as a stopover point for troops deploying to a host of worldwide locations, meaning end strength totals in the county can swell by thousands of troops from day-to-day.
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Padlock

China reimposes lockdown on Beijing, blaming 'Coronavirus resurgence'

Lily Kuo
The Guardian
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 07:07 UTC

Comment: This time around, the Chinese authorities have no excuses; like Western govts, they by now KNOW this virus is benign...


Beijing paramilitary police
© Roman Pilipey/EPA
Paramilitary police officers wearing protective face masks stand guard next to the closed Xinfadi market.
Authorities in Beijing have locked down residential compounds and fired officials over a new Covid-19 outbreak, as health officials warned the risk of the outbreak worsening was "very high".

On Monday, authorities announced 49 new cases, 36 of which were linked to the Xinfadi seafood supermarket in Beijing's southern Fengtai district. The wholesale market was closed on Saturday after it was identified as being at the centre of a new cluster of cases.

"The risk of the epidemic spreading is very high, so we should take resolute and decisive measures," Xu Hejian, a spokesman for the Beijing city government, said at a press briefing on Monday. On Sunday he said Beijing had entered "an extraordinary period".

As of Monday, a total of 21 residential communities, housing about 90,000 people, near Xinfadi as well as a second seafood market in Haidian district, where cases linked to Xinfadi were also confirmed, had been closed off. Residents have been ordered to quarantine at home and undergo tests for the virus.
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Bad Guys

NATO slowly imploding because it lacks a credible enemy: Serious people in Paris & Berlin know Russia isn't a real threat

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Tue, 16 Jun 2020 17:33 UTC
us soldiers
© AFP / Christof STACHE
US soldiers sit in a tank type ‘M1A2 SEP’ during the exercise ‘Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2017’ at the exercise area in Grafenwoehr, Germany.
You know NATO's in bother when even the Atlantic Council's head honcho realizes the game is up. It's now abundantly clear that the US' main focus is switching to Asia, and Europe is becoming increasingly irrelevant to Washington.

The Atlantic Council's worries are understandable. After all, the think tank saw its annual revenue rise from $2 million to $21 million between 2006 and 2016 on the back of NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe. It's most certainly raking in much more moolah now.

The main driver of the pressure group's financial success was good timing. The US establishment had decided to reinstall Moscow as the "chief enemy" in the post-Osama and Saddam-era, and the pro-NATO outfit's adroit anti-Russia messaging was useful. It also cultivated dozens of high-profile 'fellows' - united by their hostility to everything Russian - and it was quick to jump on the "disinformation" bandwagon. Indeed, it wound up providing censors to Facebook during the height of the "Trump-Russia" hoax.

But now the good times are over. China is the new bogeyman in Washington and Russia is becoming old news. The narrative has been exhausted.

The Democratic Party has flipped from mentioning Russia non-stop to barely talking about it at all. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron is trying to pull Moscow "back" into Europe, and Angela Merkel, the 'Atlanticist' German chancellor, has entered her lame-duck period.
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Stock Down

A dollar crash is virtually inevitable, Asia expert Stephen Roach warns

Stephanie Landsman
CNBC
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 17:06 UTC
Stephen Roach
© AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Stephen Roach, Senior Fellow, Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University
The stronger dollar era may be on borrowed time.

Stephen Roach, one of the world's leading authorities on Asia, is worried a changing global landscape paired with a massive U.S. budget deficit will spark a dollar crash.

"The U.S. economy has been afflicted with some significant macro imbalances for a long time, namely a very low domestic savings rate and a chronic current account deficit," the former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Monday. "The dollar is going to fall very, very sharply."

His forecast calls for a 35% drop against other major currencies.
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Health

More fear-mongering: Beijing city raises COVID-19 emergency response level to II from III


Global Times
Tue, 16 Jun 2020 17:00 UTC
beijing decontamination
© Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao
Members of the Beijing Blue Sky Rescue(BSR) team conduct disinfection at the Yuegezhuang wholesale market in Beijing, capital of China, June 16, 2020. Beijing has disinfected 276 farm produce markets and closed 11 such underground and semi-underground markets as of 6 a.m. Tuesday to better curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Chen Yankai, deputy director of the municipal market supervision bureau, told a press conference on Tuesday. A total of 33,173 catering service providers have also been disinfected, Chen added.
Beijing raised its COVID-19 emergency response to Level 2 from Level 3, reinstating closed managements on communities, requiring people to have temperatures taken, register, and check health codes before entry. Communities, sub-districts, streets in high/middle risk areas would ban outsiders and cars from entering; and communities of high risk sub-districts would have closed-off management, allowing no one to leave.

Chen Bei, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing municipal government, announced the decision at a press conference on Tuesday night, noting the capital's situation is still grim.

Under the COVID-19 emergency level 2, underground cold places in Beijing will be closed. Other public places such as libraries, museums, art galleries and parks will implement time-limited reservations with visitor traffic no higher than 30 percent.

Trans-province group travel to Beijing will be banned. Many inter-provincial shuttle bus services at Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport have been suspended.

People from medium and high-risk areas and personnel related to Xinfadi wholesale market are prohibited from leaving Beijing, Chen said.

Comment: At least 10 neighborhoods were placed under lockdown this weekend after a reported spike in infections centered around the Xinfadi market in Beijing (where 36 of the 49 new cases reportedly originated). Local officials have been fired (that's how politics works in China).

Meanwhile, Chennai city in India also reimposed lockdown for 12 days after an alleged spike in new cases. It looks like this could be the way things go from here on out...

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Magnify

EU launches antitrust probes into Apple's App Store and Apple Pay

Sam Shead
CNBC
Tue, 16 Jun 2020 17:00 UTC
Margrethe Vestager
© Emmanuel Dunand | AFP | Getty Images
EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager addresses a press conference on two state aid cases at the European Commission in Brussels on October 4, 2017.
The European Commission announced Tuesday that it's launching two antitrust investigations into Apple's App Store rules and the Apple Pay platform.

The Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said it will assess whether Apple's rules for app developers on the distribution of apps via the App Store breach EU competition rules.

While companies can place their apps on the App Store at no cost, Apple charges companies 30% from in-app purchases and 30% on subscriptions for the first year, then 15% thereafter.

Spotify, which competes directly with Apple Music, feels this is unfair and filed a formal complaint in March 2019. Kobo, an e-reader company that competes with Apple Books, has also filed a complaint.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said in a statement: ″Mobile applications have fundamentally changed the way we access content. Apple sets the rules for the distribution of apps to users of iPhones and iPads."

"It appears that Apple obtained a 'gatekeeper' role when it comes to the distribution of apps and content to users of Apple's popular devices. We need to ensure that Apple's rules do not distort competition in markets where Apple is competing with other app developers, for example with its music streaming service Apple Music or with Apple Books. I have therefore decided to take a close look at Apple's App Store rules and their compliance with EU competition rules."
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Star of David

Senior Likud source says Netanyahu seeking to dissolve government

Michael Bachner
The Times of Israel
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:53 UTC
gantz netanyahu
© Knesset
Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum on May 17, 2020.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking for a reason to end his partnership with Benny Gantz's Blue and White party in the near future, prompting another national election that is expected to greatly benefit him, according to a report citing senior sources in the premier's party.

"The marriage between us and Blue and White will end at the Rabbinate [with a divorce] much faster than everyone thinks," a senior Likud source was quoted as saying by Channel 12 Sunday. "Netanyahu is trying to find the right timing and pretext to call elections."

The source said negotiations over the state budget, which must pass by the end of August, could provide such a pretext.

The official claimed Netanyahu's wife Sara and son Yair were pushing to dismantle the government, with Likud responding that that was an "ugly lie."

Netanyahu has reportedly been irked by statements made recently by several Blue and White ministers, including Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn defending the justice system from the premier's attacks and Social Equality Minister Meirav Cohen saying her party "doesn't believe Netanyahu or in Netanyahu."
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Dollar

Trump administration wants to replace $600 unemployment benefit with back-to-work bonus

Greg Iacurci
CNBC
Tue, 16 Jun 2020 16:36 UTC
Larry Kudlow
© Stefani Reynolds/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Larry Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, June 15, 2020.
The Trump administration wants to end enhanced unemployment benefits and replace them with a different policy, according to a senior aide.

Federal coronavirus relief legislation enacted in March authorized jobless Americans to receive an extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits.

Those payments are scheduled to end after July 31, which may lead to a sharp decrease in cash flow for the roughly 30 million people currently receiving the benefit.

The unemployment rate in April and May was higher than at any time since the Great Depression.

The Trump administration, in line with many congressional Republicans, wants the $600 payments to end. The administration believes they provide a disincentive to find work or return to a job, according to Larry Kudlow, White House economic advisor.

Comment: Lawmakers have really put themselves in a bind trying to undo the damage that they did with their unnecessary lockdowns. Whether the U.S. federal government decides to extend the unemployment benefits or creates a new financial incentive for returning to work the means by which either will come about is the same. The Federal Reserve printing money like there's no tomorrow. Further inflating the money supply and pushing the US closer to hyperinflation.

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Heart - Black

FDA revokes emergency use of hydroxychloroquine

Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
CNBC
Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:12 UTC
Hydroxychloroquine
© George Frey | AFP | Getty Images
Hydroxychloroquine
The Food and Drug Administration said Monday it is ending its emergency use authorization for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drugs backed by President Donald Trump to combat Covid-19.

The agency determined the drugs were "unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19 for the authorized uses in the EUA."

"Additionally, in light of ongoing serious cardiac adverse events and other serious side effects, the known and potential benefits of CQ and HCQ no longer outweigh the known and potential risks for the authorized use," the FDA wrote in its notice Monday.

The FDA issued the emergency use authorization for the drugs in March. The EUA meant that doctors would be allowed to use the drugs on patients hospitalized with Covid-19 even though they had not been formally approved by the agency.

Comment: Previously:

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