Understanding Antitrust Laws

By JAMES CHEN,  Updated Jul 31, 2020
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/antitrust-law.asp

Many countries have broad laws that protect consumers and regulate how companies operate their businesses. The goal of these laws is to provide an equal playing field for similar businesses that operate in a specific industry while preventing them from gaining too much power over their competition. Simply put, they stop businesses from playing dirty in order to make a profit. These are called antitrust laws.


KEY TAKEAWAYS

Antitrust laws are statutes developed by governments to protect consumers from predatory business practices and ensure fair competition.

Antitrust laws are applied to a wide range of questionable business activities, including market allocation, bid rigging, price fixing, and monopolies.

Core U.S. antitrust law was created by three pieces of legislation: the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890,1 the Federal Trade Commission Act,2 and the Clayton Antitrust Act.3

What Are Antitrust Laws?

Antitrust laws also referred to as competition laws, are statutes developed by the U.S. government to protect consumers from predatory business practices. They ensure that fair competition exists in an open-market economy. These laws have evolved along with the market, vigilantly guarding against would-be monopolies and disruptions to the productive ebb and flow of competition.

Antitrust laws are applied to a wide range of questionable business activities, including but not limited to market allocation, bid rigging, price fixing, and monopolies. Below, we take a look at the activities these laws protect against.

If these laws didn't exist, consumers would not benefit from different options or competition in the marketplace. Furthermore, consumers would be forced to pay higher prices and would have access to a limited supply of products and services.

Market Allocation

Market allocation is a scheme devised by two entities to keep their business activities to specific geographic territories or types of customers. This scheme can also be called a regional monopoly.

Suppose my company operates in the Northeast and your company does business in the Southwest. If you agree to stay out of my territory, I won't enter yours, and because the costs of doing business are so high that startups have no chance of competing, we both have a de facto monopoly.

In 2000, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found FMC Corp. guilty of colluding with Asahi Chemical Industry to divide the market for microcrystalline cellulose, a primary binder in pharmaceutical tablets. The Commission barred FMC from distributing micro-crystalline cellulose to any competitors for 10 years in the United States, and also banned the company from distributing any Asahi products for five years.4

Bid Rigging

The illegal practice between two or more parties who collude to choose who will win a contract is called bid rigging. When making bids, the "losing" parties will purposely make lower bids in order to allow the "winner" to succeed in securing the deal. This practice is a felony in the U.S. and comes with fines—even jail time.

There are three companies in an industry, and all three decide to quietly operate as a cartel. Company 1 will win the current auction, so long as it allows Company 2 to win the next and Company 3 to win the one after that. Each company plays this game so they all retain current market share and price, thereby preventing competition.

Bid rigging can be further divided into the following forms: bid suppression, complementary bidding, and bid rotation.

Bid Suppression: Competitors refrain from bidding or withdraw a bid so a designated winner’s bid is accepted.

Complementary Bidding: Also known as cover or courtesy bidding, complementary bidding happens when competitors collude to submit unacceptably high bids for the buyer or include special provisions in the bid that effectively nullify the bids. Complementary bids are the most frequent of bid-rigging schemes and are designed to defraud purchasers by creating the illusion of a genuinely competitive bidding environment. 

Bid Rotation: In bid rotations, competitors take turns being the lowest bidder on a variety of contract specifications, such as contract sizes and volumes. Strict bid rotation patterns violate the law of chance and signal the presence of collusion activity.

Price Fixing

Price fixing occurs when the price of a product or service is set by a business intentionally rather than letting market forces determine it naturally. Several businesses may come together to fix prices to ensure profitability.

Say my company and yours are the only two companies in our industry, and our products are so similar that the consumer is indifferent between the two except for the price. In order to avoid a price war, we sell our products at the same price to maintain margin, resulting in higher costs than the consumer would otherwise pay.

For example, Apple lost an appeal regarding a 2013 U.S. Department of Justice ruling that found it guilty of fixing the prices of ebooks. Apple was found liable to pay $450 million in damages.5

Monopolies

Usually, when most people hear the term "antitrust" they think of monopolies. Monopolies refer to the dominance of an industry or sector by one company or firm while cutting out the competition.

One of the most well-known antitrust cases in recent memory involved Microsoft, which was found guilty of anti-competitive, monopolizing actions by forcing its own web browsers upon computers that had installed the Windows operating system.6

Regulators must also ensure monopolies are not borne out of a naturally competitive environment and gained market share simply through business acumen and innovation. It’s only acquiring market share through exclusionary or predatory practices that is illegal.

Below are a few types of monopolistic behavior that can be grounds for legal action:

Exclusive Supply Agreements: These occur when a supplier is prevented from selling to different buyers. This stifles competition against the monopolist as the company will be able to buy supplies at potentially lower costs and prevent competitors from manufacturing similar products. 

Tying the Sale of Two Products: When a monopolist has dominance in the market shares of one product but wishes to gain market shares in another product, it can tie sales of the dominant product to the second product. This forces customers for the second product to buy something they may not need or want and is a violation of antitrust laws. 

Predatory Pricing: Often hard to prove, and requiring a careful examination on the part of the FTC, predatory pricing can be considered monopolistic if the price cutting firm can cut prices far into the future and has enough market share to recoup its losses down the line.

Refusal to Deal: Like any other company, monopolies can choose who they wish to conduct business with. However, if they use their market dominance to prevent competition, this can be considered a violation of antitrust laws.

Mergers and Acquisitions

No introduction to antitrust legislation would be complete without addressing mergers and acquisitions. We can divide these into horizontal, vertical and potential competition mergers.

Horizontal Mergers: When firms with dominant market shares prepare to enter a merger, the FTC must decide whether the new entity will be able to exert monopolistic and anti-competitive pressures on the remaining firms. For example, the company that makes Malibu Rum and had an 8% market share of total rum sales, proposed buying the company that makes Captain Morgan’s rums, which had a 33% of total sales to form a new company holding 41% market share.7

Meanwhile, the incumbent dominant firm held over 54% of sales. This would mean the premium rum market would be composed of two competitors together responsible for over 95% of sales in total. The FTC challenged the merger on the grounds that the two remaining companies could collude to raise prices and forced Malibu to divest its rum business.7


Unilateral Effects. The FTC will often challenge mergers between rival firms that offer close substitutes, on the grounds that the merger will eliminate beneficial competition and innovation. In 2004, the FTC did just that, by challenging a merger between General Electric and a rival firm, as the rival firm manufactured competitive non-destructive testing equipment. In order to go forward with the merger, GE agreed to divest its non-destructive testing equipment business.8


Vertical Mergers. Mergers between buyers and sellers can improve cost savings and business synergies, which can translate to competitive prices for consumers. But when the vertical merger can have a negative effect on competition due to a competitor’s inability to access supplies, the FTC may require certain provisions prior to the completion of the merger. For example, Valero Energy had to divest certain businesses and form an informational firewall when it acquired an ethanol terminator operator.9

Potential Competition Mergers. Over the years, the FTC has challenged rampant preemptive merger activity in the pharmaceutical industry between dominant firms and would-be or new market entrants to facilitate competition and entry into the industry.

The Big Three Antitrust Laws

Let’s take a brief look at the main antitrust laws in the United States. The core of U.S. antitrust legislation was created by three pieces of legislation: the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890,1 the Federal Trade Commission Act2—which also created the FTC—and the Clayton Antitrust Act.3

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act intended to prevent unreasonable "contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade," and "monopolization attempted monopolization or conspiracy or combination to monopolize." Violations against the Sherman Anti-Trust Act can have severe consequences, with fines of up to $100 million for corporations and $1 million for individuals, as well as prison terms up to 10 years.1 

The Federal Trade Commission Act bans "unfair methods of competition" and "unfair or deceptive acts or practices." According to the Supreme Court, violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act also violate the Federal Trade Commission Act. Therefore, even though the FTC cannot technically enforce the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, it can bring cases under the FTC Act against violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.2

The Clayton Antitrust Act addresses specific practices that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act may not address. According to the FTC, these include preventing mergers and acquisitions that may "substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly," preventing discriminatory prices, services and allowances in dealings between merchants, requiring large firms to notify the government of possible mergers and acquisitions, and imbuing private parties with the right to sue for triple damages when they have been harmed by conduct that violates the Sherman and Clayton acts, as well as allowing the victims to obtain court orders to prohibit further future transgressions.3

The Bottom Line

At their core, antitrust provisions are designed to maximize consumer welfare. Supporters of the Sherman Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act argue that since their inception, these antitrust laws have protected the consumer and competitors against market manipulation stemming from corporate greed. Through both civil and criminal enforcement, antitrust laws seek to stop price and bid rigging, monopolization, and anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions.

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Revealed: How billions in EU farming subsidies are being misspent

AUGUST 21, 2020, by Lund University
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-revealed-billions-eu-farming-subsidies.html

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A unique study has analyzed in detail how EU agricultural subsidies flow down to the local level. The new data show that most income support payments go to intensively farmed regions already above median EU income, while climate-friendly and biodiverse farming regions, as well as poorer regions, are insufficiently funded. Consequently, the majority of payments are going to the regions causing the most environmental damage and the farmers in the least need of income support.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the EU's largest budget item, averaging EUR 54 billion annually. It is well known that over 80% of payments are going to only 20% of farmers, but to what extent these payments support policy goals is poorly understood, due to a lack of transparency and complex reporting.

"Our analysis shows that at least €24 billion per year goes to income support in the richest regions, while the poorest regions with the most farm jobs are being left further behind. That misspent money would more than cover the €20 billion per year needed to meet the EU's Biodiversity Strategy," says Kimberly Nicholas, study author from the Lund University Center for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) in Sweden.

The researchers created a unique database that maps the geographical location and purpose of CAP payments for the first time. It includes individual payments to all farmers in the EU from 2015. This detailed breakdown allowed analyzing and mapping how CAP money is spent across its nine modern goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

"By revealing the extreme concentration of payments to relatively wealthy regions, we hope this study can catalyze radical change in the distribution of CAP funding towards needs-based income support and sustainable development," says Mark Brady, an economist from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Lund University.

"We show in black-and-white that current spending is exacerbating, rather than reducing income inequality among farmers, and that payments intended to support rural development are going to urban areas like London. Current payments primarily support farming regions causing the most climate pollution, with the least biodiversity-friendly farming and fewest farm jobs," he continues.

With CAP currently up for reform, the researchers believe their results are timely, as the opportunity exists for re-allocating funds to meet the massive social and environmental challenges highlighted in existing policy goals, as well as creating a more sustainable food system and vibrant rural societies.

"Right now, the farming regions with the highest greenhouse gas emissions from intensive livestock production are getting paid to pollute. Farm payments should be needs and results-based to ensure social and environmental benefits. The EU has an obligation to harmonize reporting of CAP spending data, tracked using more relevant indicators, to ensure public spending actually provides public benefits," concludes Kimberly Nicholas.

The study is published in One Earth.

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'Space guests': Russian cosmonaut captures possible UFO footage from International Space Station

Ivan Vagner captured video of mysterious lights which 'appear flying alongside with the same distance,' he said in a tweet

Author of the article:

National Post Staff

Publishing date:

Aug 21, 2020  •  Last Updated 6 hours ago  •  2 minute read
nationalpost.com 

 While passing over Antarctica and Australia, Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner was recording video of the southern lights when captured a strange phenomenon. IVAN VAGNER/TWITTER 

 

A one-minute video captured by Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner aboard the International Space Station (ISS) appears to show potential UFOs, Global News reports.

While passing over Antarctica and Australia, Vagner was recording video of aurora australis — the southern lights — but he managed to catch something else, too.

Vagner published the video in a tweet Wednesday morning. 

Space guests, or how I filmed the new time-lapse. The peak of aurora borealis when passing over the Antarctic in Australia’s longitude, meaning in between them. However, in the video, you will see something else, not only the aurora.

Visible are the glowing curve of the Earth and the green of the aurora moving across it. The “space guests” Vagner refers to appear from nine seconds into the video and last until the 12-second mark, a string of four to five lights arranged in a diagonal line.

Since the video was shot in a time-lapse, the flash of “objects” which quickly appear and disappear in the video actually lasted some 52 seconds. The objects “appear flying alongside with the same distance,” Vagner wrote in further tweets. “What do you think those are? Meteors, satellites or … ?”

It’s unclear precisely when the footage was captured or whether Vagner observed the phenomenon at the time, as he filmed.

This mission is Vagner’s first aboard the ISS. According to a recent blog post by NASA, his work on the station has involved maintenance on its orbital plumbing system as well as “exploring ways to improve Earth photography techniques.” He is working alongside Anatoli Ivanishin, also of Russia, and American commander Chris Cassidy.

Crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) Chris Cassidy (left) of NASA, Anatoly Ivanishin (centre) and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos pose for a photo as they attend final qualification training in Star City near Moscow, Russia March 12, 2020. EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/REUTERS

While NASA has yet to comment on the sighting, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos boosted Vagner’s tweet with the note: “An interesting and at the same time mysterious video made by cosmonaut of Roscosmos Ivan Wagner … from the International Space Station.”

The other ISS crew members have not addressed the footage but Vagner has reported that it has been submitted to Roscosmos experts for review. The video is being examined at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian outlet TASS confirmed. One official told TASS:

“It is too early to make conclusions until our Roscosmos researchers and scientists at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences tell us what they think. It was decided to hand over those materials to experts, who will tell us what that was in their opinion.”

In July a New York Times article revealed the U.S. government has funded research into the topic of UFOs for years — research that is ongoing. On August 14, the Pentagon announced it had launched a task force to “improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena).”

Venezuela Looking to Buy Iranian Missiles: Colombian President Says

by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff 

www.algemeiner.com 

  A display featuring missiles and a portrait of Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen at Baharestan Square in Tehran, Sept. 27, 2017. Photo: Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi / TIMA via Reuters.

Colombian President Ivan Duque said on Thursday that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s administration is looking to buy Iranian missiles and is handing over weapons made in Russia and Belarus to Colombian armed groups.

Colombia does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s leader and Duque refers to him as a dictator. The Colombian government is among more than 50 countries which consider opposition leader Juan Guaido to be Venezuela’s president.

Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza called the claim “fiction” on Twitter.
“In Colombia the massacres, unleashed violence, uncontrollable drug trafficking do not stop,” he wrote. “@IvanDuque returns to infamies and anti-Venezuelan fiction to distract public opinion.”

Though Venezuela has previously purchased weaponry from countries such as China and Russia, Maduro’s government is mired in a long-running fiscal crisis, struggling to provide basics like fuel despite its huge oil reserves.

“There is information from international intelligence organisms that work with us which shows there is interest from the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro in acquiring some medium and long-range missiles through Iran,” Duque said during a virtual event.

“The information is that (the missiles) still haven’t arrived but there has been contact especially under instructions from (Venezuela Defense Minister Vladimir) Padrino,” Duque said.

Duque reiterated his frequent accusation that Maduro protects and supports former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel group who reject a 2016 peace deal and the still-active National Liberation Army guerrillas.

The neighboring countries’ 2,219-kilometer (1,380-mile) border is home to numerous armed groups principally involved in drug trafficking and illegal gold mining.

Colombia is the top destination for Venezuelans who have fled their country in recent years. More than 1.7 million Venezuelans reside in Colombia.

 

Feds and Ontario reach agreement with 3M to make N95 masks in Brockville, Ont.

Shawn Jeffords, The Canadian Press, Published Thursday, August 20, 2020
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/feds-and-ontario-reach-agreement-with-3m-to-make-n95-masks-in-brockville-ont-1.5072777

TORONTO :  The federal and Ontario governments have secured an agreement with 3M that will see the company produce N95 masks at a facility in Brockville, Ont., a spokesman for the province's minister of economic development confirmed Thursday.

Ottawa and the province will each contribute $23.3 million to help increase capacity at the Brockville plant, allowing it to produce up to 100 million N95 masks a year, Robert Gibson said.

The masks made at the expanded facility will be used to meet "private sector, provincial, and North American market demand throughout the pandemic and beyond," Gibson said in a statement.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford both appearing in Brockville on Friday, where they are expected to make the deal official.

Ford has repeatedly said the province needs to ramp up its own production of personal protective equipment in light of the pandemic.

He has also been publicly critical of U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to limit the export of N95 masks from American plants.

"We will never be put in this position again," Ford said during a news conference in April. "I'm not going to rely on any country ever again."
This will be the second domestic contract to produce N95 masks, after Quebec-based Medicom signed a 10-year agreement to supply N95 and surgical masks to the federal government in April.

Medicom's combined contracts are worth more than $113 million, and include providing 24 million surgical masks and 20 million N95 respirators each year.

The company turned a warehouse in Montreal into a mask factory in a little over two months. It has already started producing and supplying surgical masks to Ottawa. N95 production is to begin this month with the first deliveries expected in the fall.

Health Canada regulations require approval of the masks and each shipment must be inspected by the Public Health Agency of Canada for quality control.

Canada has contracts for 154.5 million N95 and KN95 masks, and thus far all have been imported from outside the country. As of Aug. 3, more than 54 million N95 and KN95 respirators have been delivered.

KN95 masks are the Chinese equivalent of the N95 respirators that are certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the United States.

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Cherry, Coconut & Avocado Ice Cream, Dairy Free

Dairy Free Cherry, Coconut & Avocado Ice Cream Yield: 5 cups

http://www.alkalinesisters.com/dairy-free-cherry-coconut-avocado-ice-cream/2861/

2 cups cherries pitted, + 6 cherries finely chopped
1 400ml/14oz tin organic full fat coconut milk
1/2 large avocado, or one small
1/3 c cashews, soaked 15-30 mins, rinsed & drained
2/3 cup filtered water
juice of 1/2 lemon
10 soft dried dates, pits removed
2 tsp agave syrup, optional
finely chopped organic dark chocolate, optional
2 tbsp beet juice, optional for colour

In high speed blender, place 2 cups cherries, coconut milk, avocado, cashews, water, lemon juice and dates. Blend well til creamy, testing for desired sweetness, adding agave syrup, if needed. Stir in chopped cherries and optional dark chocolate. Pour into ice cream maker and process as per manufacturers directions. Freeze further for firm ice cream or enjoy as a soft serve texture. Garnish with fresh cherry.

Toilets with transparent walls installed in two Tokyo parks

Staff Report 20 hours ago
filipinotimes.net 





Two public parks in Tokyo, Japan are attracting extra attention after transparent toilets were installed in the area.

The unusual design was made by Shigeru Ban Architects as part of the Nippon Foundation’s Tokyo Toilet Project.

The see-through walls turn opaque once a user enters the restroom and locks the door.




The transparent restrooms can be found at Yoyogi Fukamachi Mini Park and Haru-no-Ogawa Community Park.

“There are two things we worry about when entering a public restroom, especially those located at a park. The first is cleanliness, and the second is whether anyone is inside,” the toilet project said in its website.

The design is also to ensure that cleanliness is being observed when no one is using the toilets.

Police Officer Pulls Man From Wheelchair Stuck On Tracks Within Seconds Of Speeding Train – WATCH

By Ailsa Ross

Aug 17, 2020

www.goodnewsnetwork.org 

 

In California last week, a local police officer became a hero when she pulled a man stuck in his wheelchair from the tracks within seconds of a train barreling past. 

Her body camera footage shows the tense moments leading up to the rescue. 

On the morning of August 8th, at around 8:44am, Officer Erika Urrea jumped out of her patrol car when she saw what was about to happen. The railroad crossing arms were coming down. A train was approaching. 

She ran over and, after the wheelchair wouldn’t budge, pulled the anonymous man from his chair. They both fell back onto the ground and were safe, just moments before they would have been hit. 


The man, 66, suffered a leg injury, but was immediately tended to by Urrea and her colleague, Officer Delgado, who had arrived at the scene to help. 

The team at Lodi Police Department wrote of the daring events on Facebook, “Officer Urrea risked her own life to save another and her actions prevented a tragedy today. We are extremely proud of her heroism.”

(WATCH the body camera footage of Officer Urrea’s brave rescue below.) 

 

Mediterranian Chicken

A Recipe by Sara for The Woks Of Life

Mediterranean Chicken Thighs

By Sarah • December 14, 2016

You guys love easy chicken recipes––I fully realized this fact when I posted this one-pan roasted lemon chicken recipe a while back and The Woks of Life readership went crazy for it.

Since then, I’ve been dreaming up new ways to cook entire meals using just one pan, and this Mediterranean Chicken Thighs recipe may just be the best idea yet––perhaps even (dare I say it?) better than the roasted lemon chicken recipe.

It uses the same basic concept as that recipe––of roasting chicken and potatoes in one pan for a complete meal (maybe with a salad on the side). But instead of lemon as the primary flavor, this recipe includes roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and capers.

You only need about 10 ingredients for this recipe, many of which you probably already have in your pantry. You just sear the chicken thighs quickly in your roasting pan, placed right on your stove. Then you dump in a few potatoes, a jar of sliced roasted red peppers, a bottle of capers, a pint of grape tomatoes, a few garlic cloves, and some oregano.

It all gets tossed together with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then you can throw it into the oven for an hour and get on with all the other things you have to do on a busy weeknight or weekend afternoon.

When you take that roaster out of the oven, it is a complete, delicious meal that tastes good enough for a fancy dinner.

Before we move on, I will say that you need a pretty big roasting pan to execute this recipe. I recently bought this Cuisinart Multiclad Pro Roaster to cook an extra Thanksgiving turkey (we had 50 people over this year, and one turkey wasn’t going to cut it), and I’m really happy with it!

Print Recipe

4.87 from 30 votes

Mediterranean Chicken Thighs

Mediterranean chicken thighs roasted with potatoes in one pan with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and capers makes an easy yet delicious and hearty meal.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Total Time1 hr 10 mins

Course: Chicken and Poultry

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Keyword: mediterranean chicken

Servings: 4

Calories: 647kcal

Author: Sarah

Ingredients

• 8 chicken thighs
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds potatoes (680g, scrubbed and cut into small chunks)
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes (about 275-300g)
• 10 ounces roasted red peppers (280g, drained and sliced)
• 1/4 cup capers (drained)
• 8 cloves garlic (peeled and crushed)
• 5 sprigs fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried oregano)
• 3 tablespoons parsley (finely chopped, optional)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a roasting pan over high medium high heat and add a few tablespoons of olive oil.
• Sear the chicken skin-side down until lightly golden. Flip the chicken over and turn off the heat.
• Stir in the potatoes, tomatoes, red peppers, capers, garlic, and oregano. Season everything with a bit more salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle with a few more tablespoons of olive oil. Throw into the oven for 45-55 minutes.
• Sprinkle with parsley if desired and serve!

Nutrition

Calories: 647kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 44g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 221mg | Sodium: 1480mg | Potassium: 1599mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1435IU | Vitamin C: 85.6mg | Calcium: 170mg | Iron: 9.8mg

Senate Intel Committee Concludes Russia Took Advantage of ‘Inexperienced’ Trump Team, FBI Gave Steele Dossier Too Much ‘Credence’

By Zachary Evans

August 18, 2020 12:35 PM

www.nationalreview.com 

 

 

 

Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Richard Burr (R-NC) and the committee’s vice chairman Senator Mark Warner (D-VA)(5th R) stand with members of the committee as they speak on Capitol Hill, March 20, 2018. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

 

 

The Senate Intelligence Committee released the fifth and final volume of its report on the Russia investigation on Tuesday, concluding that Russia attempted to influence the Trump team but also that the FBI gave “unjustified credence” to the Steele dossier.

The committee found that Russia “took advantage” of the Trump team’s “relative inexperience in government, opposition to Obama administration policies, and Trump’s desire to deepen ties with Russia to pursue unofficial channels through which Russia could conduct diplomacy.” However, the report concludes that the Trump-campaign did not “collude” with Russian operatives to win the 2016 election.

“Over the last three years, the Senate Intelligence Committee conducted a bipartisan and thorough investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election and undermine our democracy,” acting committee head Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) said in a statement on Tuesday. “No probe into this matter has been more exhaustive.”

Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), a member of the committee, said that the U.S. should now move to focus on future threats to the country.
 

“It’s now time to shift our focus to the many national-security threats facing our country instead of re-litigating the 2016 election,” Cotton said in a statement. “Just because Russia failed this time doesn’t mean it won’t keep trying.”

The report detailed the vulnerabilities of several Trump-campaign officials, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort as well as George Papadopoulos, to exploitation by Russian intelligence. Manafort is currently serving a 7.5 year prison sentence for various fraud charges.

In March 2016, Manafort “directly and indirectly communicated” with pro-Russian oligarchs in Ukraine, including Russian national Konstantin Kilimnik.

“On numerous occasions, Manafort sought to secretly share internal Campaign information with Kilimnik,” the report states. “Taken as a whole, Manafort’s high-level access and willingness to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the Russian intelligence services, particularly Kilimnik and associates of Deripaska, represented a grave counterintelligence threat.”

As for Papadopoulos, the report states that he “was not a witting cooptee of the Russian intelligence services,” however he “presented a prime intelligence target and potential vector for malign Russian influence.”

While the report found substantial evidence of Russian attempts to meddle in the 2016 elections, it concluded that the Trump-campaign did not actively collude with Russian operatives. Additionally, the report is highly critical of “deeply troubling actions taken” by the FBI during their investigation into alleged collusion, “particularly their acceptance and willingness to rely on the ‘Steele Dossier’ without verifying its methodology or sourcing.”

 

Keto Noodles

Keto Noodles (African Keto Diet)
½ cup almond flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
½ tsp salt
4 egg yolks

In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the eggs. Let thicken for 1-2 minutes. Put on a work surface; add a pinch or 2 of coconut flour or more almond flour. Knead. Roll out, then roll it again. Slice into noodle strips.

Put noodles in hot water and bring to a boil, then drain. You can then fry them or heat them with other sauce ingredients.

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WATCH: Squad Member Calls for 'Unrest in the Streets'

Bronson Stacking
Posted: Aug 15, 2020 5:00 PM
townhall.com


 
 Source: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

During an appearance on one of MSNBC's low-rating shows, Squad member Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) called for unrest in American streets in response to the Left's latest conspiracy theory that President Trump is using the postal service to somehow "sabotage" the November election.

"There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there is unrest in our lives, and unfortunately, there's plenty to go around," Pressley declared on Saturday, following weeks of violent left-wing riots in American cities.

Pressley instructed the violent leftists to continue to "show up," saying that "there needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there is unrest in our lives, and unfortunately, there's plenty to go around."

Democrats keep finding excuses for the mob to riot. First, it was police brutality. Next, it was racist statues. Then, it was systemic racism. Now, it's a conspiracy theory about the post office.

The violent mob does not need any more encouragement from its Democrat leaders. As Pressley called for unrest, a mob of leftists were busy targeting the DC home of USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his family. The mob has been threatening, harassing and intimidating government officials and their families, having targeted the home of acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf this past month.

"This is as much about public outcry, and organizing, and mobilizing, and applying pressure so that this GOP-led Senate, and that these governors who continue to carry water for this administration, putting the American people in harm's way, turning a deaf ear to the needs of our families, our communities -- hold them accountable," Pressley stated.

Does Pressley's warped brain really believe that violent protesters out on the streets assaulting people, vandalizing property, attacking police officers, throwing explosives, breaking windows, destroying businesses, taking over entire neighborhoods, and frightening and harassing the families of government officials, are somehow "people in harm's way"? It's everyday Americans and members of the community whose lives are being destroyed because of the unrest in the streets.

Pressley doesn't care about her constituents or their communities. It's always been about the November election. With their latest conspiracy theory, Democrats are already planting the seeds to declare the results of the 2020 election illegitimate.

UNHINGED: Squad member Democrat Rep. Ayanna Pressley calls for targeting GOP officials with “unrest in the streets” pic.twitter.com/WmHartKDDz

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) August 15, 2020

How the QAnon Conspiracy Theory Went Global

By Masood Farivar

August 15, 2020 03:10 AM

www.voanews.com 

 

 

David Reinert holding a Q sign waits in line with others to enter a campaign rally with President Donald Trump in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

WASHINGTON - Until recently, the fringe conspiracy theory known as QAnon was largely an American phenomenon — a belief that U.S. President Donald Trump is secretly battling a “deep state” cabal of pedophiles that control the world. 

The far-right theory has gained adherents throughout the United States as the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns heat up. Trump has repeatedly retweeted messages from accounts that promote QAnon while more than a dozen Republican candidates running for Congress have embraced some of its tenets. 
 
All this has sparked concerns about conspiracy-theory-driven domestic extremists that the FBI has identified as a potential domestic terror threat.  But QAnon is no longer exclusively focused on U.S. politics.  
 
Fueled by worldwide anxiety over the coronavirus pandemic, the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory has gone global, with adherents popping up in at least 71 countries, according to QAnon researcher Marc-André Argentino. 

“There has been massive growth,” said Argentino, a Ph.D. candidate at Canada’s Concordia University and an associate at the Global Network on Extremism & Technology. 
 
Conspiracy theories thrive in times of crisis, experts say.  With anxious people around the world trying to make sense of the killer pandemic as leaders struggle to deal with it, QAnon has found an enthusiastic audience with the promise of salvation from tyranny at the end of a struggle dubbed "The Storm."    
 
Outside the U.S., Germany, though spared the worst of the pandemic, has become home to the largest number of QAnon followers overseas, according to Argentino.  One German QAnon channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram boasts 120,000 members.  
 
In the past month, the biggest growth in QAnon’s international followers has come from Brazil, a pandemic hotspot where the virus has killed more than 100,000 people.   
 

FILE - A man holds a sign that reads "Q-Nited We Stand" during a rally held by members of Patriot Prayer and other groups supporting gun rights near City Hall in Seattle.

Here is a primer on QAnon:   

What does Q stand for? 

“Q” is an online persona claiming to be a government insider with Q-level top security clearance and knowledge of the deep state's inner workings. The anonymous poster first appeared online in October 2017 when he went to the 4chan image board with a wild premonition: Former secretary of state and Trump Democratic rival Hillary Clinton would soon be arrested and riots would ensue.  
 
The prediction, needless to say, proved false, as did many others that followed, including the forecast of mass indictments of other Democrats.  But that did not stop Q from continuing to post about Trump’s “secret war” against a deep state cabal of pedophiles, with his cryptic online "drops" parsed and amplified by a growing ecosystem of believers.   
 
Thus was born a new conspiracy theory movement, with Q taking off where earlier “anons” such as “FBIAnon” and “CIAAnon” had petered out. What made QAnon stick was that it came on the heels of Pizzagate, a 2016 conspiracy theory that claimed the Democrats were running a child sex trafficking ring out of the basement of a Washington pizza shop.   
 
No such thing was ever uncovered.  While Q's latest ramblings are focused on the deep state's efforts to thwart Trump's reelection, child abuse and sex trafficking remain a constant in its belief system. 

In his last, long-winded "drop" on July 31, Q ranted that the coronavirus pandemic was partly designed to help "shelter" presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden from appearing in public and participating in debates and to "eliminate" or delay Trump rallies.
 
"At the core of the current interpretation of this ideology, QAnon believes President Trump is the person who will save the world from this network of bad actors and he will uncover the Deep State that exist in the United States and overseas," said Kevin Grisham, associate director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino.  
 
QAnon promoters say the deep state is all real, and they reject the notion that they "worship" Trump or "Q." 
 
“Qanon is a worldwide group of non-violent truthers/patriots dedicated to God, saving our children from trafficking, and removing the Satanic DS (Deep State),”  prominent QAnon promoter Joe Stroh, who goes by "Obiwan Qenobi" on social media, recently tweeted. 

Who exactly is Q? 

Despite rampant speculation, no one has unraveled the mystery person behind Q.  Outside QAnon circles, few take him as a real insider.  Many experts believe more than one person may have been behind the Q account over the years.  

FILE - Supporters of President Donald Trump shout down a CNN news crew before a rally in Tampa, Fla.

Who are QAnon adherents? 

While Q has hopped from one fringe imageboard to another, his followers have thrived on mainstream platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Telegram. On any given day, an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people post about QAnon on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram, according to Argentino, who says that it would be a mistake to dismiss them as “lunatics with tin foil hats living in their parents’ basement.”  
 
Georgia businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who promotes the QAnon conspiracy theory, won a Republican primary race Tuesday for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is expected to win the seat in November in her heavily Republican congressional district. 
 
Former national security advisor Michael Flynn appeared in a July 4 video reciting a popular QAnon slogan: "Where we go one, we go all." While Trump has not explicitly endorsed the movement, he enjoys broad support from QAnon followers who have attended his rallies wearing QAnon T-shirts.    
 
A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not respond to a question about whether Trump welcomes their support.    
 

How has the pandemic impacted QAnon?   

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, QAnon following has rapidly climbed. The number of QAnon Facebook group members has jumped 800% to 1.7 million while Twitter accounts that post on QAnon related hashtags have increased 85% to 400,000, according to Argentino’s research.   
 
In recent weeks, both Facebook and Twitter have taken down QAnon accounts for running afoul of their policies and standards.  Further actions are expected.  
 
But experts doubt the disciplinary measures will banish the movement.  For one, the conspiracy theory is protected speech and social media companies can't simply label QAnon under their "dangerous group" category.  Second, banning QAnon followers from Facebook and Twitter would only reinforce their belief that they’re engaged in an information war against media elites and others in the deep state, according to experts.   
"The crackdown only plays into their conspiratorial beliefs," Grisham said. 

Romanian supporters of QAnon take part in a rally against the government's measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections, like wearing a face mask, in Bucharest, Romania, Aug. 10, 2020.

How popular is QAnon overseas?   

The vast majority of the recent growth in QAnon following has taken place overseas. 
 
"You're starting to see these sort of groups popping up everywhere," Grisham said.  
 
Among countries that have seen the largest increases in QAnon activity: Germany, Britain, Australia and Canada, followed by France, Italy and New Zealand.     
 
"The fact that we're seeing it spread all around the world shows its significance for a global audience," Grisham said. 

While in some locales QAnon followers see Trump as their savior, in others, adherents believe local leaders will emerge to destroy their own deep states, Argentino said.