Censorship, Antitrust Probes: Big Tech Is Back to Fighting Familiar Foes After Taking on Coronavirus

Amazon, Twitter, and other major tech companies are facing intense criticism on antitrust issues and censorship claims in the months since government officials reportedly began asking for help from Silicon Valley on ways to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

The president and lawmakers have turned their sights on Twitter and Amazon, respectively, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other attorneys general are reportedly ratcheting up their antitrust investigation targeting Google’s business model. The White House asked them in March to fight coronavirus disinformation while also assisting the government in its virus response.

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Commentary: Leftism, Not Racism, Destroys Black Upward Mobility

The rioting and looting across the United States have been widely—though not universally—condemned. The “peaceful protests,” on the other hand, have been universally praised. But is this appropriate? Wouldn’t a broader and more balanced discussion be more constructive than praise without reservation?

Obviously, people have the right to peacefully protest injustice, and obviously incidents of murderous police brutality are more than sufficient justification for protests. But that’s as far as it goes. The scope of these protests is disproportionate to the offense, not because the offense wasn’t hideously wrong, but because there are far more dangerous challenges facing black Americans. The biggest challenge of all: leftists who indoctrinate blacks to think they are always first and foremost victims of racism.

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Commentary: School Reopenings in Denmark Did Not Worsen COVID-19 Spread, Data Show

A new Reuters report says data show the school reopenings in Denmark did not lead to an increase in the spread of COVID-19.

Sending children back to schools and day care centers in Denmark, the first country in Europe to do so, did not lead to an increase in coronavirus infections, according to official data, confirming similar findings from Finland on Thursday.

As nations around the world seek to end the restrictive lockdowns designed to curb the spread of COVID-19, many expressed worry that reopening schools could result in a surge of coronavirus cases. That did not happen in Denmark.

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Supreme Court Urged to Rethink Legal Immunity for Police Officers Amid Floyd Protests

The Supreme Court is weighing petitions to reexamine legal immunity that protects officers from being sued in instances of brutal arrests, use of excessive force and the shooting of innocent people in their homes.

The call for reassessment comes during nationwide protests of police brutality, the most recent instance being the death of George Floyd. Floyd died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, video of the incident shows.

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California Governor Ends Police Training in ‘Sleeper Hold’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered the state’s police training program to stop teaching officers how to use a neck hold that blocks the flow of blood to the brain and endorsed legislation that would ban the practice statewide.

It marked his first action on police use of force following more than a week of protests across the country over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd died on Memorial Day after a police officer put his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while he was handcuffed and lying on the ground.

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Government Job Losses Are Piling Up, and It Could Get Worse

Jobs with state and city governments are usually a source of stability in the U.S. economy, but the financial devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic has forced cuts that will reduce public services — from schools to trash pickup.

Even as the U.S. added some jobs in May, the number of people employed by federal, state and local governments dropped by 585,000. The overall job losses among public workers have reached more than 1.5 million since March, according to seasonally adjusted federal jobs data released Friday. The number of government employees is now the lowest it’s been since 2001, and most of the cuts are at the local level.

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Commentary: America’s Small Business Owners Have Been Horribly Abused During These Riots and Lockdowns

For nearly 20 years, Bridget McGinty and her sister ran Tastebuds, a popular lunch spot in downtown Cleveland.

On May 1, she made the torturous decision to close it forever after keeping it on life support for weeks after being closed due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.

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More Active-Duty Troops Leaving D.C., Others Remain on Alert

Nearly 500 of the active-duty troops brought in to help if needed with the civil unrest in the nation’s capitol have been given orders to leave Washington after a fourth day of largely peaceful protests, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and other officials said Friday.

But a number of other active-duty soldiers remain on alert in the region, prepared to respond if needed.

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Twitter Disables Trump Campaign’s George Floyd Video Tribute

Jack Dorsey

Twitter has blocked a Trump campaign video tribute to George Floyd over a copyright claim, in a move that adds to tensions between the social media platform and the U.S. president, one of its most widely followed users.

The company put a label on a video posted by the @TeamTrump account that said, “This media has been disabled in response to a claim by the copyright owner.” The video was still up on President Donald Trump’s YouTube channel and includes pictures of Floyd, whose death sparked widespread protests, at the start.

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Commentary: Social Justice Cancels Social Distancing

And just like that, social distancing is canceled. At least for some.

After submitting to house arrest orders for the past three months in order to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, Americans may have noticed a slight change in the rules this past week. There are no duct-taped outlines on city streets telling unruly mobs protesting the death of George Floyd where to stand. Rioters are not instructed to loot stores in opposite directions on downtown streets in order to avoid contact. Face coverings are optional but certainly useful when attempting to avoid identification by local law enforcement.

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Kanye West Attends Chicago Protest, Donates $2M to Victims

Kanye West has donated $2 million to support the families and legal teams for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.

A representative for the rapper confirmed that some of the money donated would fully cover college tuition costs for Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter, Gianna. Floyd died last month after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck for more than eight minutes as he pleaded for air.

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Five Democratic Senators Kneel at George Floyd Memorial

Five Democrat senators knelt during a moment of silence for George Floyd in a caucus meeting on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon.

Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) knelt, which lasted for eight minutes and 46 seconds, The Hill reported. That was the length of time fired Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck before he died. Chauvin faces a second-degree murder charge over the incident.

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Chinese Dissident Xu Zhiyong to be Honored by PEN America

Xu Zhiyong, a prominent Chinese activist and legal scholar detained by the government since earlier this year, is being honored by PEN America.

The literary and human rights organization announced Thursday that Xu is this year’s winner of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, which recognizes those imprisoned for free expression and previously has been given to dissidents everywhere from Cuba to Turkey. Xu’s award comes on the 31st anniversary of the so-called Tiananmen Square Massacre, when Chinese soldiers shot and killed pro-democracy demonstrators.

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Andy Ngo Files Lawsuit Seeking $900,000 from Rose City Antifa for 2019 Assaults

Independent journalist Andy Ngo is suing a Portland-based Antifa cell and several specific individuals nearly a year after he was brutally assaulted by a mob of black clad, masked agitators.

Ngo is seeking $900,000 in damages “for assault, battery, emotional distress and racketeering by those who acted to ‘suppress Ngo’s journalism through intimidation and violence,’ and for “ongoing neurological and health issues,” the Portland Tribune reported. A PDF of the lawsuit is here.

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Districts Jettison School Police Officers Amid Protests

An increasing number of cities are rethinking the presence of school resource officers as they respond to the concerns of thousands of demonstrators — many of them young — who have filled the streets night after night to protest the death of George Floyd.

Portland Public Schools, Oregon’s largest school district, on Thursday cut its ties with the Portland Police Bureau, joining other urban districts from Minneapolis to Denver that are mulling the fate of such programs. Protesters in some cities, including Portland, have demanded the removal of the officers from schools.

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May Jobs Report: 2.5 Million Jobs Gained, Unemployment Falls to 13.3 Percent

The U.S. economy gained 2.5 million jobs in May, while the unemployment declined to 13.3%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday.

Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 2.5 million in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, and the number of unemployed persons fell by 2.1 million to 21.0 million.

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Joe Biden Has His Deplorable Moment: ’10 to 15 Percent’ of Americans Are ‘Just Not Very Good People’

Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden put his foot in his mouth again on Thursday when he said that “10 to 15 percent” of Americans are “just not very good people.”

The former vice president made these comments while holding a town hall on Thursday night with black supporters, according to Fox News.

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Wall Street’s Rally Zooms Higher After Surprise Gain in Jobs

Stocks are rushing higher in morning trading Friday after a much better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market gave Wall Street’s recent rally another shot of adrenaline.

The S&P 500 was up 2.2% after the government said that U.S. employers added 2.5 million workers to their payrolls last month. Economists were expecting them instead to slash another 8 million jobs amid the recession caused by the coronavirus and the shutdowns put in place to stem it.

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Commentary: Stop Using the Boston Tea Party to Justify Violence in Modern America

Lawful protest in the American political process isn’t the same as the lawless rioting, looting, and destruction of lives and property that became a threat to the public in the past week.

The death of a black man, George Floyd, at the hands of a white police officer May 25 in Minneapolis sparked widespread protests there and across America. Many of the demonstrations, despite the general lockdown and stay-at-home orders still in place during the coronavirus pandemic, have been peaceful.

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Commentary: Democrats Offer Nothing

If Americans who voted for President Trump ever felt compelled to explain themselves to their friends and neighbors, at this point there is no longer any need to justify a vote to reelect him in November. As a matter of fact, the reasons for reelecting President Trump and for handing control of Congress to the Republican Party could not be any clearer than they are right now.

As the nation spirals out of control and buildings burn in various American cities, Democrats in Congress are nowhere to be found. More astonishingly, members of the campaign staff for the Democrats’ presumptive nominee have contributed to a fund intended to help release the violent rioters who have been arrested.

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Michigan Anti-Lockdown Protesters Had Their Phone Data Tracked – Floyd Protesters Did Not

Phone data from about 400 activists in Michigan’s capital who protested coronavirus-related government orders was reportedly collected by a progressive advocacy group, but the same group has not collected similar data on George Floyd protesters.

The Committee to Protect Medicare and Affordable Care, under the direction of former Democratic congressional candidate Dr. Rob Davidson, used cell phone data generated by an application called VoteMap to track the movements of the rally’s attendees after they departed from the capital, according to The Detroit News.

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Senate Confirms Trump’s Pick to Lead Voice of America

A divided Senate voted along party lines Thursday to confirm President Donald Trump’s choice to head the Voice of America and other U.S. government-funded international broadcasters that have been the subject of harsh criticism from the White House.

Despite significant Democratic opposition and concerns over his fitness for the job, the Senate voted 53-38 to confirm Michael Pack to run the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA and its sister outlets including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Cuba-oriented Radio and Television Marti.

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Citing Recent DOJ Decision, Former Flynn Associates Seek Reprieve in Turkish Lobbying Case

Two former associates of Michael Flynn have seized on the Justice Department’s motion to drop charges against the retired general to call for relief from charges that they illegally lobbied for the Turkish government.

Bijan Rafiekian, a former Flynn business partner, and Ekim Alptekin, a former Flynn client, claim to be collateral damage in the government’s investigation of Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017.

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Leading Study on Malaria Drug for Coronavirus Retracted: ‘Based on This Development, We Can No Longer Vouch for the Veracity of the Primary Data Source’

Several authors of a large study that raised safety concerns about malaria drugs for coronavirus patients have retracted the report, saying independent reviewers were not able to verify information that’s been widely questioned by other scientists.

Thursday’s retraction in the journal Lancet involved a May 22 report on hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, drugs long used for preventing or treating malaria but whose safety and effectiveness for COVID-19 are unknown.

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Trump via Twitter: Republican Convention Not Happening in North Carolina

In a series of tweets, President Donald Trump said the Republican National Convention will look at states other than North Carolina to host August’s event, blaming Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

Cooper and North Carolina officials had been going back and forth with Republican officials over safety concerns regarding hosting a convention during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Judge: $750K Bail for 3 Ex-Officers Accused in Floyd’s Death

A judge set bail at $750,000 apiece Thursday for three fired Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting in the killing of George Floyd, as a memorial service took place just blocks away.

Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng made their first appearances in Hennepin County District Court as friends, relatives and celebrities gathered to memorialize Floyd at a nearby Bible college.

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Full Autopsy Released, Shows George Floyd Tested Positive for Coronavirus, Had Meth and Fentanyl in Blood

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner released a full autopsy Wednesday in the case of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was allegedly murdered by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day.

The 20-page report was released with the permission of Floyd’s family and determined that Floyd’s heart stopped while being restrained by officers. A summary of the findings released earlier this week listed the “manner of death” as a homicide, but the coroner’s office said that a manner of death classification is “a statutory function of the medical examiner.”

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New U.S. Unemployment Claims Drop Below 2 Million, but Total Claims Top 42 Million

The number of new unemployment claims filed last week dropped to 1.88 million, the first time weekly claims didn’t exceed 2 million since mid-March.

Still, the total number of claims filed since government restrictions closed businesses deemed nonessential to slow the spread of COVID-19 surpassed 42 million in the 11 weeks since states began shutting down significant parts of their economy.

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On Tiananmen Anniversary, Hong Kong Bans Insults to Anthem

Hong Kong’s legislature approved a contentious bill Thursday that makes it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem.

The legislation was approved after pro-democracy opposition lawmakers tried to disrupt the vote. It passed with 41 lawmakers voting for it and just one voting against. Most of the pro-democracy lawmakers boycotted the vote out of protest.

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Commentary: Check Your Radical Privilege

In the taxpayer-funded, cushy corridors of leftist academe, the radically chic proselytizers of hatred smugly define their concept of “White Privilege”: If you don’t need to care about a societal problem, it is because of your white privilege. (The shorthand for “White privilege” is simply “privilege,” because 1619.)

By pouring this racist tenet of cultural Marxism into those too intellectually and emotionally immature to resist the call to hate others, oneself, and America, the object is to inure its adherents against the ability to measure one’s actions by any moral criteria except vapid virtue signaling. If these insular radicals were still capable of introspection, they’d shortly realize they epitomize “privilege.”

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NASCAR Ready for Long-Term Commitment in Nashville

Here’s what NASCAR hopes is the honky tonk truth — that a Nashville reboot is good enough this time to make the sport a tough ticket in the heart of one of the entertainment hot spots of the south.

The first step? Convincing its star drivers the trip to Nashville Superspeedway in 2021 is the spark of a motorsports rebirth in the area and not just another lazy ride on an intermediate concrete track.

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US Legislatures Slow to Pass Laws Limiting Use of Force

A wave of police killings of young black men in 2014 prompted 24 states to quickly pass some type of law enforcement reform, but many declined to address the most glaring issue: police use of force. Six years later, only about a third of states have passed laws on the question.

The issue is at the heart of nationwide protests set off by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer in Minneapolis pressed a knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes while he pleaded for air.

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Cinema Chain AMC Warns It May Not Survive the Pandemic

Movie theater chain AMC warned Wednesday that it may not survive the coronavirus pandemic, which has shuttered its theaters and led film studios to explore releasing more movies directly to viewers over the internet.

All of AMC’s theaters are shut down through June, which means the company isn’t generating any revenue. AMC said it had enough cash to reopen its theaters this summer, as it plans to do. But if it’s not allowed to reopen, it will need more money, which it may not be able to borrow.

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North Carolina Gov. Stands Ground, Says GOP Conditions for Convention Are ‘Very Unlikely’

Uncertainty surrounding the 2020 Republican National Convention increased Tuesday as Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper rejected the GOP’s request to have a full, in-person convention.

In a letter addressed to the Republican National Committee (RNC), Cooper cited his concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

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Who Is Funding and Organizing the Antifa Insurrection?

Someone is organizing criminals and vandals to loot and destroy cities but the corporate media don’t seem all that interested in getting to the bottom of it. In fact, Democrats and their allies in the press have been actively engaging in misdirection, lamely accusing white supremacists of being behind the mayhem plaguing “peaceful protests.”

A looter who was caught by the police in Santa Monica, California on Sunday was very candid with a local reporter when he was asked about his motive.

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Commentary: FBI Director Christopher Wray Should Be Replaced

There must be someplace warm and inviting that needs an ambassador where FBI Director Christopher Wray can be sent to lounge around without getting in the way of the Nation’s important business.

We urge this action because it has becoming increasingly clear that Director Wray has no stomach for the hard work necessary to focus the FBI on the important work at hand, namely crushing the terrorist organizations now destroying American cities and cleaning up the mess Obama and Comey left in the wake of the set up of LTG Mike Flynn the spying on President Trump and his campaign.

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US Job Losses in May Could Raise 3-Month Total to 30 Million

The epic damage to America’s job market from the viral outbreak will come into sharper focus Friday when the government releases the May employment report: Eight million more jobs are estimated to have been lost. Unemployment could near 20%. And potentially fewer than half of all adults may be working.

Beneath the dismal figures will be signs that job cuts, severe as they are, are slowing as more businesses gradually or partially reopen. Still, the economy is mired in a recession, and any rebound in hiring will likely be painfully slow. Economists foresee unemployment remaining in double-digits through the November elections and into 2021.

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Commentary: Is China Threatening Taiwan, Hong Kong While the U.S. Is Weighed Down by Pandemic, Recession and Riots?

Is China on the precipice of an aggressive expansion into Taiwan and Hong Kong while the U.S. is bogged down with the Covid-19 pandemic, the worst recession in a generation with more than 23 million jobs lost and riots over the police killing of George Floyd?

Amid the global response to the China-originated coronavirus, in January, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen was reelected in a landslide, saying she supports the current political status of the island nation, which in her eyes is that Taiwan is so independent it doesn’t need to declare independence.

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Tennessee House Votes to Be Second Amendment Sanctuary Amid Nationwide Riots

Tennessee is now one step closer to becoming a Second Amendment sanctuary after the state House of Representatives passed a resolution Monday strengthening legal protections of gun ownership.

Resolution HJR074, drafted in March, requires the state to “[extend] a safe harbor to Virginians and other United States citizens whose constitutional rights are being violated by elected officials.” It also affirms that citizens have a right to maintain arms equivalent “to those of their government’s basic infantry unit.”

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No Evidence White Supremacists Are Derailing the Protests, Left-Wing SPLC Says

A researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center said he had not seen evidence supporting the theory that white supremacist militia members were responsible for inciting violence at protests against police brutality last week.

“I have not seen any clear evidence that white supremacists or militiamen are masking up and going out to burn and loot,” Howard Graves, a research analyst at the SPLC, told The New York Times for a report published Sunday. The group, which tracks anti-government extremist groups, has been criticized for calling mainstream conservative organizations “hate groups.”

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