Lester Holt: The Third Debater?

Via Heat Street,

At last night’s debate, Donald Trump faced off not just against Hillary Clinton, but against moderator Lester Holt.

The game of two-on-one saw Holt ask no questions about:

  • Hillary’s emails
  • Benghazi
  • The Clinton Foundation

While ignoring these issues, Holt grilled Trump on stop-and-frisk, the birther story, his comments about women, his many bankruptcies, why he hasn’t released his tax returns — and a host of other issues the media sees as unfriendly to the Republican candidate.

Holt also repeatedly attempted to “fact check” on some of Trump’s positions, such as his claim to have opposed the Iraq War from the beginning. Holt interrupted Trump several times to interject, but rarely succeeded (and may have come across as weak and impotent).

The Twittersphere has taken note:

The nerds at Vox.com tried to argue that Hillary was interrupted a lot during the debate because she is a woman. However, the cute little graphic they made actually shows that Lester Holt interrupted Trump far more often than he interrupted Hillary.

Many liberals and members of the mainstream media either praised Holt for challenging Trump during the debate, or lashed out at him for not being aggressive enough.

Some joked that Lester Holt wasn’t even at the debate, due to his failure to adequately admonish Trump for not giving the “right” answers.

And, of course, one prolific tweeter took special note:

After the debate, however, Trump told reporters that he thought Holt did just fine as a moderator.

 

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Teen Girl Suspended for Days After Publicizing School’s Dirty Water

JucoA senior at John Glenn High School in Westland, Michigan, was suspended for three days after she took a photo of the disgusting water in the girls’ restroom and posted it on Twitter.

The student, Hazel Juco, had aimed to call attention to the dirty water. But it’s against school rules to take pictures in bathrooms.

“I was called to the office and told by one of the assistant principals that an administrator found a photo of the girl’s bathroom on social media and that I’d be issued a three-day out-of-school suspension for ‘inappropriate use of electronics,'” Hazel told CNN.

I’m often quick to criticize schools for needlessly punishing students, though in this case I agree that Juco deserved a little bit of scolding. Privacy is important, and young people do need to learn that there are some places in the world where selfies just aren’t appropriate. The school bathroom is one of those places.

But a three-day suspension is a fairly strict punishment for a well-intentioned lapse of judgment. Why not simply give her after-school detention, or something?

It seems to me that school officials weren’t actually interested in enforcing sensible privacy rules—they wanted to punish a student for making them look bad, I suspect.

Thankfully, the district superintendent erased the suspension from Juco’s record and directed the school to figure out why the water was such an ugly shade of yellow. As it turns out, a corroded pipe needs replacing.

Too bad the school’s first impulse was to quash dissent, rather than fix a problem. But that’s what happens what you get when your schools are run by the government and thus shielded from market incentives.

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Global Trade To Grow At Slowest Pace Since Financial Crisis

Over the past several years, whenever we have looked at the IMF’s global growth forecasts, the only chart we said is worth keeping an eye on, is that of forecasts for global trade, because while GDP can be massaged, retroactively revised, and “double-seasonally adjusted” when the need arises – and is far more a political “metric” than an economic one – trade remains the most objective indicator of how the world is truly doing at any given moment, especially since “central banks can’t print trade.”

In fact, it has been our contention for several years now that the single best indicator of the global economy is the rate of growth in global trade, which unfortunately has been slowing for the past 5 years.

Making matters worse, according to a new update from the World Trade Organization, global trade is now set to grow at the slowest pace since the financial crisis. In a report issued today, the WTO said that world trade will again grow more slowly than expected in 2016, expanding by just 1.7%, well below the April forecast of 2.8%.

The forecast for 2017 was also slashed, with trade now expected to grow between 1.8% and 3.1%, down from 3.6% previously. With expected global GDP growth of 2.2% in 2016, this year would mark the slowest pace of trade and output growth since the financial crisis of 2009.

Merchandise trade volume and real GDP, 2012-2017 a


Volume of merchandise exports and imports by region, 2012Q1-2016Q2


Volume of merchandise exports and imports by level of development, 2012Q1-2016Q2

If the revised projection holds (if anything, it may be revised further downward), 2016 will be the first time in 15 years that the ratio between trade growth and world GDP has fallen below 1:1.

Ratio of world merchandise trade volume growth to world real GDP growth, 1981-2016

Redundantly, the WTO adds that “historically strong trade growth has been a sign of strong economic growth, as trade has provided a way for developing and emerging economies to grow quickly, and strong import growth has been associated with faster growth in developed countries.  However the increase of the number of systematically important trading countries and the shift in the ratio of trade and GDP growth makes it more difficult to forecast future trade growth. Therefore, the WTO is for the first time providing  a range of scenarios for its 2017 trade forecast rather than giving specific figures.  As Chart 1 below shows, the current trend in the relationship between trade growth and world GDP is lower than observed over the last three decades.”

The ongoing collapse in world trade will likely get even worse in coming months, especially if as a result of the ongoing Europe backlash against the TPP, Obama’s trade agreement fails to pass.

As the WTO admits, the latest figures are a disappointing development and underline a recent weakening in the relationship between trade and GDP growth.  Over the long term trade has typically grown at 1.5 times faster than GDP, though in the 1990s world merchandise trade volume  grew about twice as fast as world real GDP at market exchange rates. In recent years however, the ratio has slipped towards 1:1, below both the peak of the 1990’s and the long-term average.

Needless to say, WTO director general Robert Azevedo was shocked by this dramatic trade slowdown:

The dramatic slowing of trade growth is serious and should serve as a wake-up call. It is particularly concerning in the context of growing anti-globalization sentiment.  We need to make sure that this does not translate into misguided policies that could make the situation much worse, not only from the perspective of trade but also for job creation and economic growth and development which are so closely linked to an open trading system.

 

“While the benefits of trade are clear, it is also clear that they need to be shared more widely. We should seek to build a more inclusive trading system that goes further to support poorer countries to take part and benefit, as well as entrepreneurs, small companies, and marginalised groups in all economies. This is a moment to heed the lessons of history and re-commit to openness in trade, which can help to spur economic growth.”

The WTO’s appeal to “revise” globalization echoes a similar call made by the IMF, although it is difficult to see how such a transformation could take place. That said, the IMF recently took a pot shot at none other than Donald Trump for his protectionist agenda, when she said that “Those who promote ‘getting tough’ with foreign trade partners through punitive tariffs should think carefully”, said the IMF’s Maurice Obstfeld earlier in September. “It may be emotionally gratifying; it may boost specific industries; the threat may even frighten trade partners into changing their policies; but, ultimately, if carried out, such policies cause wider economic damage at home,” he said.

Looking at the collapse in global trade under the existing “non-protectionist” paradigm, the damage has already been done.

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Richmond Fed Disappoints: Employee Head Count Crashes To 7-Year Lows

It would appear the people who The Conference Board were asking about their ‘confidence’ were not from the Richmond fed region. A 3rd massive contraction in the last 4 months was not the worst of it as the “number of employees” subindex crashed to -13 – its lowest since June 2009.

 

And while that looks ugly, this chart ‘takes the biscuit’…

 

But then again – it’s probably nothing.

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Gary Johnson’s Post-Debate Reactions Live at 10:15 a.m. ET!

Well, we did the pre-game last night, so it’s time for the Tuesday morning quarterbacking: Watch Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson take my questions and yours on Reason’s Facebook page (and right here) starting around 10:15 a.m. ET. What do you want to know about the campaign strategy ahead? Ask away….

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Consumer Confidence Is The Highest In 9 Years (& The Lowest Since 2015)

Just days after Bloomberg's Consumer Comfort index plunged to its lowest since 2015, The Conference Board reports a spike in Consumer Confidence to 104.1 – the highest since Sept 2007 (right before the market topped out).

You decide…

Consumers' assessment of current conditions improved in September. Those stating business conditions are "good" decreased from 30.3 percent to 27.4 percent. However, those saying business conditions are "bad" declined from 18.2 percent to 16.2 percent. Consumers' appraisal of the labor market was more positive than last month. Those stating jobs were "plentiful" increased from 26.8 percent to 27.9 percent, while those claiming jobs are "hard to get" declined from 22.8 percent to 21.6 percent.

Consumers' optimism regarding the short-term outlook was more favorable in September. The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months decreased from 17.6 percent to 16.5 percent. However, those expecting business conditions to worsen also declined from 11.4 percent to 10.2 percent.

Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board.

"Consumer confidence increased in September for a second consecutive month and is now at its highest level since the recession,"

 

"Consumers' assessment of present-day conditions improved, primarily the result of a more positive view of the labor market. Looking ahead, consumers are more upbeat about the short-term employment outlook, but somewhat neutral about business conditions and income prospects. Overall, consumers continue to rate current conditions favorably and foresee moderate economic expansion in the months ahead."  

Consumers plans to buy Cars, Homes, and Major Appliances all dropped… and forward income expectations tumbled.

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US Services PMI Bounces But Employment Hits 33-Month Lows

US Services PMI bounced in September (flash) to 51.9 – the highest since April, but a weaker expansion of new business had a negative impact on employment growth in September. Staffing levels continued to rise, but the latest increase was only slight and the slowest since March 2013. The rate of job creation has now eased in two consecutive months.

Not great for GDP hope, because as Markit pointed out, "the overall rate of economic growth remains subdued. Add these service sector results to the manufacturing data and the PMI surveys suggest that the economy is growing at an annualised rate of only around 1% again in the third quarter."

… and also not great for jobs:

"The slowdown in hiring means the survey results are consistent with a 120,000 rise in non-farm payrolls in September"

Commenting on the flash PMI data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said:

“The service sector sent mixed signals in September, with faster growth of activity during the month offset by gloomy forward-looking indicators. Although business activity showed the largest monthly rise since April, inflows of new business slowed and employment growth was the weakest for three-and-a-half years. A drop in optimism about the year ahead to a near post-crisis low meanwhile cast a shadow over the outlook.

“What’s more, even with the latest uptick in activity, the overall rate of economic growth remains subdued. Add these service sector results to the manufacturing data and the PMI surveys suggest that the economy is growing at an annualised rate of only around 1% again in the third quarter.

“The slowdown in hiring means the survey results are consistent with a 120,000 rise in non-farm payrolls in September, which is a solid rate of expansion but somewhat disappointing compared to the gains seen earlier in the year.

“The slowdown in hiring is perhaps a natural symptom of the economy reaching full employment, but companies also reported a reduced appetite to hire and job losses due to weaker inflows of new business and worries about the outlook.”

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Deutsche Bank Contagion: Nord LB, Lufthansa, Korean Air Pull Bond Deals

As noted earlier, the post-debate market relief rally has given way to concerns over banking woes, with stocks turning lower in Europe as focus returns to Deutsche Bank and Italy’s constitutional referendum, now scheduled for December 4. More troubling is the overnight news that two German issuers – Nord LB and Lufthansa  – followed quickly by Korean Air Lines, have pulled their bond deals prompting commentators to suggest that ‘uncertainty on the credit front appears to be weighing” on some and may be raising concerns about the German economy.

As IFR reported overnight, concerns around potential contagion from the German banking sector forced Norddeutsche Landesbank to shelve a 7 year senior unserued bond on Tuesday “after the issuer struggled to find enough demand to cover the seven-year trade.” The German lender, rated Baa1/NR/A-, started marketing the benchmark trade on Monday at 90bp area over mid-swaps via leads BNP Paribas, DZ Bank, NordLB, Santander (B&D) and UniCredit. However, Nord LB’s ambitions were cut short as renewed concerns around Deutsche Bank’s capital position swirled around the market, sending spreads wider.

“It didn’t get the response that you would want. There is too much noise around the German banking sector,” a lead manager said. Deutsche Bank’s bonds shot wider despite the bank insisting it can weather a potential U$14Bn fine without raising extra capital and that it had not sought a government bailout. A 750m 4.5% 2026 Tier 2 bond has widened 24bp since Monday’s open to swaps plus 509bp.

But Deutsche Bank is not the only culprit. The German Landesbank sector, of which NordLB is a part, has also come under intense scrutiny this year given the damaging scale of its shipping loan exposures. Reuters reported earlier this month that the German state-controlled lender had agreed to take full control of its loss-making Bremer Landesbank unit, which is suffering from a weak shipping market that is chipping away at its capital.

Moody’s downgraded NordLB earlier this month following that announcement after both entities reported losses in the first half. NordLB’s senior rating was lowered to Baa1 (negative) from A3. It is A- (stable) by Fitch. NordLB’s 750m January 2021s, issued in January at swaps plus 77bp on books of just under 800m, were bid around 41bp on September 6 but are now around 67bp, according to Tradeweb prices.

And while fundamentals have largely not mattered in recent months as investors felt backstopped by central banks, such concerns returns with a vengeance on Monday.

NordLB is the second deal to be pulled this week in the European bond market. Lufthansa mothballed a proposed €500MM no-grow seven-year on Monday after refusing to compromise on pricing, stating that pricing was not “achievable in the current market.”

In a statement released on Tuesday NordLB thanked investors for their interest in the transaction, but said it had “decided not to proceed with the transaction at this point. The company is looking forward to re-engaging with investors again in the future.”

And then, most recently, completing the trifecta of pulled deals was Korean Air Lines which pulled a US-denominated 30NC3 deal. The carrier decided not to proceed with transaction in current market and will “review future issuance windows”, according to Bloomberg.

The trend of pulled deals is, needless to say, disturbing since that has been the primary pathway the central banks have focused on in recent months: from the ECB’s March announcement of corporate bond buying, to the BOE following suit over the summer. With the bulk of proceeds from new debt issuance continuing to fund stock dividends and buyback, should the “contagion” spread to more issuers, it is probable that equities will be the first asset class to suffer should the bond issuance window indeed slam shut.

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Trump Won? His Attacks on the Fed and Politics Need to Go Even Deeper

Via The Daily Bell

Fed on ropes as Yellen seeks to fend off Trump blows … Populist attacks from all sides make central bank vulnerable to calls to rein it in, say analysts. – Financial Times

The Financial Times continues to provide a blow-by-blow description of Trump’s attacks on central banking.

Trump is hurting the Fed, and well he should. Things will likely get a lot worse before they get better.

Janet Yellen picked a bad time to accept the job. And worse, she has not been able to raise rates, meaning that sooner or later a tsunami of easy money will flood the West and the world. It will be an era, as we’ve pointed out, resembling the 1970s, but on steroids.

Nobody said to her, “Ms. Yellen, the people you are counting on to protect the Fed intend to tear it down,” but that is what’s happening.

Unfortunately, you don’t build world government by plebiscite. It’s not put to a vote.

Banking elites have one way to create real global governance and that is via continued destruction of the current system.

Only when mere shards are left will desperate and dying people agree that the system that has created their plight ought to be expanded, deepened and further globalized.

Destruction precedes further globalization. This is the way.

After World War One, the League of Nations was created. When that didn’t work, another war took place and the globalization deepened. After World War Two, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the UN all were born. The foundation for true globalization was created.

Lord knows what will appear after the next war. But the planning is obviously evolving. That’s one reason the Anglosphere continues to attack Russia verbally and militarily. War will be had, it seems, one way or another.

More:

The rise of populists such as Mr Trump has come at a time when trust in institutions and experts has been ebbing among some sections of the public. This will only make life more difficult for technocratic and somewhat mysterious institutions such as the Fed.

“The Fed recognised after the crisis it needed to go out and explain itself to a broader audience,” Mr Kohn says. “The populace now seems to be more divided and polarised, and the recovery has been slower than many wanted. Maybe these efforts need to be redoubled.”

Notice how the Financial Times returns to the theme of “populism.” We have analyzed the meme of “populism versus globalism” in past articles, most recently yesterday, here.

Donald Trump is playing the role of populist in this election and thus one could see the election as a kind of structured event. Hillary is the wise globalist and Trump is the populist.

In England, the populists won recently via Brexit and one can make an argument that this elite meme is now subject to directed history. In other words, the elite plan is for populism to gain ground in the near future – before disintegrating and ushering in further globalism waiting in the proverbial wings.

If so – despite our suspicion that Hillary has already won the election – Trump may actually have a good chance of winning. The larger question becomes whether his victory, if it takes place, will make a difference.

In his first debate, Trump made a number of good points about the dysfunction of politics and Hillary’s part in sustaining business-as-usual. This is why those who maintain that Hillary won by seeming “presidential” are missing the point. This election is all about people’s desire to move beyond politics as usual.

The attacks against central banking are part of the process. It seems natural enough, of course, but it’s not. It’s what we call “directed history.”

Is Donald Trump part of a larger plan? Hard to say. Certainly, a criticism could be made of Trump that he is still not radical enough. To be truly effective he needs to move beyond solutions provided by 21st century government and create new solutions via private markets and entrepreneurialism.  Call this the “Ron Paul” approach.

Trump’s criticism, as verbalized in last night’s debate, certainly extended far beyond the Fed, even though they should go still farther. Such criticisms are surely supported one way or another by tens of millions of Americans who have seen their living standards decline and their futures dissolve into doubt.

People really do want change, significant change, not just cosmetic adjustments.

The trouble is that the mass of the US electorate is not “conspiratorial” and thus has trouble with a valid analysis of what is taking place. Trump has avoided being “conspiratorial” as well. In fact, many of his solutions involve “law and order” and use of the current government paradigm despite his vehement objections to business as usual.

It’s hard at this point to verbalize a true criticism of the West’s plight without presenting what might be seen as a fairly radical perspective. Point out to most individuals that their entire society – its educational, monetary, military and industrial elements – have been formulated to fail and they won’t believe you, though its true.

As Ludwig von Mises pointed out, even a little socialism is deadly to society and Western societies are slathered with socialism. Schools, banks, corporations – every part of society is filled with government interference in the private sector.

Unfortunately government solutions are significantly leavened by force. Force cannot generate anything other than a price fix, by forcing people to perform certain tasks against their will. Price fixes always distort markets and create manipulated and dysfunctional solutions.

Price fixes simply don’t work, in other words. And laws are price fixes. (Think of how many price fixes are contained in the Fed’s $3 trillion annual budget, a virtual tidal wave of economic dysfunction.).

None of this is mere happenstance. Powerful forces have turned a republic into a government driven entity and it is most questionable as to whether there is a way back.

Donald Trump is arguing that America can become “great” again, but even some of Trump’s prescriptions involve leveraging government to create increasingly evanescent prosperity.

Nonetheless, it would seem that Trump would make a better president than Hillary Clinton because Hillary is the ultimate expression of elite plans for the West. Wealth is to be drained in increasingly massive quantities by war, monetary debasement and industrial dysfunction. All of this is taking place.

The real problem is that even if Trump wins, the larger currents of Western society are seemingly locked into place and will continue to create catastrophe.

This is why we regularly argue that people need to take their destiny into their own hands. Socioeconomic and political decisions are going to be generated out of a system that is already dysfunctional and have little possibility of working, even with  someone like Trump driving them.

Conclusion: Seek out places where you have access to a regular food supply and potable water. Buy and hold precious metals – near you if possible. Self-employ as feasible even if it means a lower income. The more independent you become, the less dependent you will be on the dysfunctional vagaries of the society around you.

See more at The Daily Bell: Incredible Mainstream Avoidance of Hillary Debate Collapse 

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Euro Logic: We Must Kill Free Speech to Promote Free Speech

Recent “hate speech” investigations in European countries have been spawned by homily remarks by a Spanish Cardinal who opposed “radical feminism,” a hyperbolic hashtag tweeted by a U.K. diversity coordinator, a chant for fewer Moroccan immigrants to enter the Netherlands, comments from a reality TV star implying Scottish people have Ebola, a man who put a sign in his home window saying “Islam out of Britian,” French activists calling for boycotts of Israeli products, an anti-Semitic tweet sent to a British politician, a Facebook post referring to refugees to Germany as “scum,” and various other sorts of so-called “verbal radicalism” on social media.

One might consider any or all of these comments distasteful, but Americans (recent trends on college campuses notwithstanding) tend to appreciate that for a free-speech right to truly exist, we must severely limit the types of speech—true threats, slander, etc.—that don’t deserve protection from government censorship and potential prosecution. Not so in European Union (E.U.) member countries, many of which have laws against any language that “insults,” “offends,” “degrades,” “expresses contempt,” or “incites hatred” based on certain protected traits like race, religion, or sexual orientation. As Nick Gillespie has put it, “hate speech” is like the secular equivalent of blasphemy.

On Monday, Věra Jourová, the E.U. Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, gave a speech stressing the importance of such laws and calling for even more intense policing of so-called hate speech. (Just to be clear, by “hate speech” we are not talking about things like threats or criminal harassment.) “My top priority is to ensure that the Framework Decision on Combatting Racism and Xenophobia is correctly translated into the national criminal codes and enforced, so that perpetrators of online hate speech are duly punished,” Jourová said.

The commissioner offered a characteristically European rationale for the imposition: only by government censorship of free expression can free expression flourish.

“In recent years, we have seen messages of extremism and intolerance spread around the globe like wildfire” and “we need to stand united against this growing phenomenon,” said Jourová. “Our commitment is to deliver change so that people do not need to live in fear, and to ensure that the internet remains a place of free and democratic expression, where European values and laws are respected.”

“The spread of illegal hate speech online not only distresses the people it targets,” she continued, “it also affects those who speak up for freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination in our society. If left unattended, the fear of intimidation can keep opinion makers, journalists and citizens away from social media platforms.”

It’s easy to see how folks might buy Jourová’s idea that allowing intolerant speech online “means a shrinking digital space for freedom of expression.” We’ve all heard about public figures or controversial thinkers who were allegedly hounded off of social media by online criticism, with its harsh, vulgar, and sometimes violent tones. And what is gained by such uncivil opprobrium? By sanctioning not only violent threats and ongoing harassment but also speech that serves no purpose but to troll, denigrate, or spread bigotry, we can usher in a more welcoming environment for all sorts of ideas and speakers online…

Or so the thinking goes, anyway. But the fatal flaw in this conceit is pretending there’s some bright line between desirable, pro-social speech and speech that merely incites offense, fear, or feelings of negativity.

Of course, many of us object on pure principle to censoring the latter forms of speech. But setting aside classical-liberal notions, there are still plenty of good arguments against EU-style speech policing. For one, it makes distinctions between legal and illegal speech based not only on what is being said but who is saying it and whom it’s said to.

For instance, a few years ago Slate’s William Saletan complained that countries were (in practice) criminalizing insults against Jews but not against Muslims. Now, a more common complaint is that speech critical of Islam, Islamic customs, or refugees form Muslim countries gets monitored and punished more than any other speech.

There’s also the fact that officials can’t possibly go after everyone who insults someone’s religion on the internet, disparages Syrian migrants, espouses non-egalitarian views about the sexes, or expresses empathy for some hated group. Thus police and political elites tend to concentrate on those who are either the most visible (celebrities, opposition leaders) or deviate most from the intellectual status-quo. The result is speech policing that leaves alone plenty of people who fly under the radar or direct their hate in the right direction, while denying protection to the sorts of ideas and speakers who need protection most.

Yes, allowing a “right to offend” may mean more vulgar and inflammatory online environments. But there are plenty of non-governmental and less draconian ways to address problems that arise from this than imprisoning people for saying dumb, mean, or unpopular things. Technological tools, business practices, and social shaming have all been known to work—and to work more effectively than police playing an endless, expensive game of whack-a-mole with online speech.

How could officials ever expect to put a dent in online intolerance through individual criminal prosecutions? I’m not sure that’s actually their point—rather, high-profile and individual “hate speech” investigations are intended as a morality play put on by government to teach its desired values and ideologies.

Jourová more or less admitted as much, crowing that new European Commission initiatives seek “to step up” the spreading of “counter-narratives” that give “due space to the messages that oppose hate speech and respect our values.” One way it’s doing this is by issuing an IT code of conduct, agreed to in May by companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. You can find all sorts of details (and official justifications for it) here.

As Jourová explained Monday, the code “means that notifications for removal of illegal hate speech have to be assessed and relevant action has to be taken [by IT companies], in the majority of cases, in less than 24 hours.” These polices must be “checked not only against the companies’ terms of service but also against the law.”

The commissioner insisted that free speech was alive and well in the E.U., and no one was denying “the right ‘to offend, to shock or to disturb the State or any part of the population.'” Speech rights do not, however, “include the right to incite violence and hatred,” Jourová said. “Speech inciting violence or hatred is illegal. It is a crime.”

Yet spreading “hate” isn’t like punching someone in the face. Hatred, unlike violence, is an entirely internal and subjective thing. Thus criminalizing the incitement of hatred necessarily involves banning or censoring speech merely because it winds up offending, shocking, or disturbing some individual or the state.

Jourová comes close to admitting this, too, stating that while “many cases of online hate speech, notably those inciting violence,” will be easy for online companies to recognize and deal with, in other cases “it may be more difficult to decide whether a speech is illegal or not.” This is the major issue with E.U.-country speech rules—how does one determine conclusively whether an off-color comment is merely uncivil/sexist/racist/whatever or whether its criminally actionable?

Yet Jourová waves away the entire tension in one sentence, acknowledging that business leaders already “make difficult legal compliance decisions” in many areas, “such as tax, accountancy or workers’ rights cases” and “ensuring compliance with hate speech law is no different.”

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