Month: August 2024

Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A survey across 141 countries found that more than 52 percent of respondents “anticipate serious harm from drinking water in the next two years,” according to a recent study.

The study, newly published in Nature Communications, analyzed data from more than 148,000 adults from the 2019 Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll.

Researchers from Northwestern University and UNC found that in the United States, despite over 97 percent of the population having access to clean water, around 40 percent of people anticipated harm.

The lowest rate was reported in Singapore (0.9 percent) and the highest was reported in Zambia (54.3 percent).

The findings showed that having clean water access is not about building more infrastructure, “but a lot more about public perceptions of safety and trust,” the study’s lead author, Joshua D. Miller, a postdoctoral student at the University of North Carolina, told The Epoch Times.

But people’s perception may not be wrong, he said.

Perception vs. Reality

The big question with the finding is if people’s perceptions are true, Miller said.

He points to a recent report published in Science by Swiss researchers, which estimated that 4.4 billion people globally do not have access to clean water.

“We had originally thought it was around maybe about 2.2 billion, but as people started to aggregate more data and try to make some new water quality estimates … it’s now doubled … So that suggests to me that people’s perceptions are already ahead of where we are in the water quality world,” Miller said.

“People have a good sense through taste and smell and historical experiences of experiencing harm from water knowing whether it’s safe or not to drink water.”

On the other hand, Miller highlighted that people’s perceptions drive behaviors that shape their health decisions and outcomes.

“When we mistrust our tap water, we buy packaged water, which is wildly expensive and hard on the environment; drink soda or other sugar-sweetened beverages, which is hard on the teeth and the waistline; and consume highly processed prepared foods or go to restaurants to avoid cooking at home, which is less healthy and more expensive,” Sera L. Young, the study’s senior author, said in a press release.

“Individuals who self-report exposure to unsafe water experience greater psychological stress … and are at greater risk of depression than those who do not,” the authors wrote in their study.

Corruption the Biggest Driver

The Nature Communications study showed that the public’s perception of corruption is the strongest predictor of their anticipation of risks from drinking water.

Several factors may explain why different countries have different rates of anticipation of harm.

Among these, public perception of corruption is the biggest factor, the study says, accounting for more than 50 percent of the differences among countries.

Additionally, countries that are corrupt also tend to have less clean water available and invest less in their communities and infrastructure, Miller said.

However, people’s opinion of the government cannot account for all the differences.

The authors also found that two-thirds of individuals who anticipate harm from water in the next two years said that their government did a “good job” in ensuring safe drinking water.

Other major factors that may increase a country’s rate of anticipation of harm include having a high proportion of people harmed by drinking water, and or having a high proportion of deaths linked to drinking water.

Growing Water Concerns

At the individual level, people who were female, educated, and reporting financial difficulties tended to anticipate harm from drinking water.

“I think people are increasingly becoming aware of water issues and other environmental threats,” Miller said.

“It’s just report after report of the dire situation we are in,” Miller said, listing increased floods, droughts, runoff, contamination, and extreme weather events that contaminate and damage water infrastructure.

Despite extensive water processing and purification to remove the contaminants, some remnants would remain.

At the same time, researchers are finding new chemicals and substances in the water supply that may pose risks to health, which require more studies and setting new regulations.

“I don’t want to malign utility providers in the United States, it is really difficult,” Miller said. “Every time we impose a new restriction or threshold at which they have to achieve water quality, that means more costs, and either they have to ask consumers to pay more or they aren’t going to meet the guidelines. And I think that’s the constant tension that the government faces with setting new regulations, and why sometimes it’s really slow.”

Though research may find contaminants that are potentially harmful, it is difficult for the government to make new regulations due to the cost implications.

“We really have to reckon with the value of water and how much we’re willing to pay for it,” Miller said. “There is a growing list of contaminants we are potentially concerned about, and there’s varying levels of evidence about how harmful they are and at what threshold. So I think it requires a lot of really clear public health messaging about what is in our water and whether it is harmful or not.”

Toronto-Dominion Bank’s shockingly lax anti-money laundering (AML) program could be just the tip of the iceberg in the US government’s investigation into a Chinese Communist Party-run North American money laundering network that launders billions of dollars in fentanyl cash through a “command and control” structure based in Toronto. This revelation comes as more than 100,000 Americans and Canadians perish each year in horrific overdose deaths from fentanyl poisoning in what some call ‘reverse opium wars’ by China. 

This week, Sam Cooper, an investigative journalist behind the Substack “The Bureau,” published an interview with David Asher, a former senior investigator for the State Department. Asher explained the Chinese command and control center for North American drug money laundering is controlled by Chinese Triad leaders like Tse Chi Lop, who are working with the CCP to facilitate global money laundering and drug trafficking operations that involve Mexican cartels flooding the US with illicit drugs.

Asher said this is all part of the CCP’s strategy of weaponizing drug cartels against Western countries.

He noted. “TD is really the tip of a deep iceberg, is how I’d put it on the record. What do TD Bank’s leadership in Canada know about what was going on in the US?”

He added, “And then the question is, this is the US. So what the hell is going on with TD Bank in Canada? We don’t know.” 

“So the Chinese government is underwriting the reverse opium war, and we know that definitively,” Asher explained.

Given TD failed to effectively monitor, detect, and report suspicious activities of Chinese fentanyl laundering networks, Asher pointed out, “And most of what we’re seeing is coming from this TD Bank case, and there’s a lot more. We’ll see which one of the big four US banks gets named next.” 

Here are the highlights from Cooper’s discussion with Asher:

• Chinese State-Triad Nexus: David Asher claims that Chinese Triads like the 14K and Sun Yee On have been co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party to facilitate global money laundering and drug trafficking.

• Toronto Command Center: US investigations indicate that key command-and-control operations for North American money laundering are based in Toronto and other Canadian cities.

• Chinese International Students Used as Mules: Tasked within Beijing’s foreign influence arm, the United Front Work Department, Chinese students are systematically used to deposit fentanyl cash for Triads and Mexican cartels into North American banks, Asher said.

• TD Bank Under Fire: TD Bank’s alleged involvement in laundering fentanyl-related funds has triggered regulatory and criminal investigations that could cost TD more than $4 billion, but Asher suggests this is just the tip of the iceberg.

• Major US Banks: Investigators believe financial institutions have been allowing internationals “from China on student visas to drop billions of dollars a month into all of the biggest banks in the US,” Asher said.

• Canada’s Inaction: Asher criticizes the Canadian government for inadequate cooperation in the Tse Chi Lop and broader fentanyl-trafficking and Triad money laundering investigations and suggests possible political and financial influences are hampering effective law enforcement.

• Fentanyl Crisis Link: The failure to disrupt these networks is contributing to the ongoing fentanyl crisis, which claims tens of thousands of lives annually in the US and Canada.

• Beijing Subsidizing Meth Trafficking: Asher disclosed that US Congressional investigators allege the People’s Republic is not only incentivizing fentanyl precursor exports but also methamphetamine sales.

• Call for Action: Asher, currently a Senior Fellow with the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, calls for stronger international cooperation and more aggressive action to dismantle these sophisticated transnational criminal networks.

Recall in mid-April, the House Select Committee revealed the CCP used tax rebates to subsidize the manufacturing and exporting of fentanyl chemicals to Mexican cartels manufacturing illicit fentanyl drugs. Then, Chinese organized criminals in the US laundered the proceeds. Essentially, it’s an end-to-end Chinese Communist scheme. 

Cooper noted on X that the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada “has total visibility on massive fentanyl laundering into Canada’s big banks, but I believe Justin Trudeau and his office/Cabinet would have to make this a priority RCMP enforcement concern, or nothing happens.” 

If you missed this exclusive from The Bureau, the chart shows @FINTRAC_Canada has total visibility on massive fentanyl laundering into Canada’s big banks, but I believe Justin Trudeau and his office/Cabinet would have to make this a priority RCMP enforcement concern or nothing… pic.twitter.com/ZoBQfhhwCa

— Sam Cooper (@scoopercooper) August 30, 2024

Copper told ZeroHedge his reporting in Vancouver uncovered how the Triads first used Chinese students to carry bags of drug cash into casinos, and the casinos washed these funds from fentanyl into luxury condos and mansions, driving Canada’s housing affordability crisis, along with fentanyl deaths. But when Covid shuttered Canadian casinos, the Triads just evolved, getting students to open bank accounts and carry bundles of fentanyl cash straight into bank deposits, across North America.

The full explosive interview regarding US government investigations into the CCP’s command and control money laundering network in North America can be viewed at The Bureau. 

Authored by Huey Freeman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Many foods marketed for infants and toddlers are unhealthy and may lead to increased obesity, poor dietary habits, and chronic diseases, according to a new study examining many of the most common products.

Researchers analyzing 651 products from 10 U.S. grocery chains discovered that 60 percent of the processed foods fell short of nutritional requirements set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The foods sampled were intended for children 6 to 36 months old.

“The lowest compliance was found for total protein and total sugar, with over 70% of products failing to meet protein requirements and 44% exceeding total sugar recommendations,” the researchers wrote in the study published last week in the journal Nutrients.

“Infant formulas, fortified milk, and oral electrolytes were not included because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates these products separately,” the authors added.

Fail to Meet Nutritional Standards

The rising popularity of processed convenience foods for young children is concerning, Elizabeth Dunford, assistant professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina and co-author of the study, told The Epoch Times.

“Early childhood is a crucial period of rapid growth and when taste preferences and dietary habits form, potentially paving the way for the development of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and some cancers later in life,” Dunford said.

Many baby foods, specifically puree-based foods designed for weaning off breast milk or formula, may not be appropriate at the start of solid food introduction, according to Dunford, because they are high in sugar and low in fats, proteins, and other important nutrients such as iron. According to the study, 44 percent of baby foods exceed sugar requirements.

“Our findings highlight the urgent need for better regulation and guidance in the infant and toddler foods market in the United States. The health of future generations depends on it,” Dunford said.

The widespread use of foods not found in nature has been responsible for the rise in obesity among children, Katy Talento, epidemiologist and former lead health advisor to the White House told The Epoch Times. Talento was not involved in the study.

Low protein content is a significant factor in baby food because of the key role protein plays in development, Talento said. Babies are doubling the size of their bodies size during their first year, to build muscle, crawl, walk, and do all the things they need to do.

“Next to healthy fat, protein is the most essential thing for babies,” Talento said. In the study, more than 70 percent of products failed to meet protein recommendations.

Popular Pouches Pose Risks

Food pouches, the fastest-growing product segment, are among the unhealthiest of all baby foods, the researchers found.

“Snack-size packages had the lowest compliance with nutrient requirements,” the researchers wrote. “These findings highlight that urgent work is needed to improve the nutritional quality of commercially produced infant and toddler foods in the United States.”

The study showed that the use of pouches has grown by 900 percent during the past 13 years—dominating the baby food market with nearly 50 percent of all products on the shelves in 2023.

Another group of foods marketed for young children—snack and finger foods—had a low rating of compliance with nutritional and promotional guidelines.

This includes fruit and cereal bars, as well as puffed snacks. A nutrition guideline from the WHO expresses concerns with the composition and promotion of foods for infants and small children. Some of the concerns include frequently misleading product names and claims of “no added sugars” even though most of the energy from the food is through sugar.

“Together, pouches and snack foods make up the vast majority of the market and are likely to continue increasing in popularity as parents lean toward these products over homemade foods due to busy lifestyles, rising birthrates, and a growing number of women in the workforce,” the researchers wrote.

Squeeze pouches in other countries often contain warning labels stating that contents should be put onto a spoon or in a bowl and not sucked directly from the pouch, Dunford said. “However, in the U.S. we found an extremely small number of products that did this, with most in fact encouraging consumption from the pouch,” she added.

Talento said pouches prevent babies from developing proper relationships with food.

“Neurodevelopmentally, they need to smear the food all over their face,” she said. “They need to touch food; they need to smell it. They need to get in their hair, to really interact with it.”

The youngest children need their brains to be trained in healthy eating habits, by sitting them up and talking to them about what they are eating, Talento said.

“They need to learn about food, what it looks like and tastes like, and what is good,” Talento said. “It is an important part of the process, regardless of how inconvenient it may be.  When we sanitize it, and we make sure there is literally no contact with food, except the little sucking nipple on the apple sauce pouch, they miss out on that.

“I think the real problem here is that parents are going to these foods at all. When you are weaning babies off breast milk or starting to combine breast milk with other food, what we ought to be doing is taking our human food that we eat ourselves and throwing it into a blender.”

Misleading Labeling Is Common

A more honest labeling of baby foods would have a significant impact on the consumption habits of babies, according to Dunford.

“As a mother of two young children myself, even as someone educated in this area, I still found myself drawn to products that made claims about healthiness,” Dunford said. “I feel if manufacturers were not allowed to display prohibited claims unless their products met a certain threshold of healthiness, that it would be much easier for parents to make healthier choices for their children.”

A major problem is that the regulatory agencies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are not looking out for the best interests of parents and children, Talento said.

Israel’s military has withdrawn from eastern Khan Younis following a nearly month-long major ground operation, which has left central parts of the southern Gazan city utterly destroyed. 

On Friday, Gaza health authorities have recovered at least nine bodies in the rubble, following many civilian and militant deaths over the course of the IDF’s 22-day operation. Israel’s army has said the operations focused on Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah has killed over 250 militants over the past month.

The IDF has issued official statements in Arabic telling Khan Younis residents that they may return to their homes and (mostly destroyed) neighborhoods, if they still have homes to return to.

The army has been cited as describing that “Tunnel routes used by the Palestinian militant group Hamas with a total length of more than 6 kilometres were destroyed during the operation and the bodies of six hostages recovered.”

These deceased hostage recoveries took place earlier this month, and the circumstances of their deaths are still under investigation.

An Al Jazeera correspondent currently based in central Gaza says that the IDF’s announcement of the end of Khan Younis operations and the ability of civilians to return is misleading and is a ruse.

“The [latest] Israeli evacuation orders are perceived as misleading and contradictory,” Hani Mahmoud has warned. “They are very similar to orders in which people were told to evacuate to area that were supposed to be safe but they ended up being killed in those areas.”

The Al-Jazeera correspondent continues, “This is what we’re seeing right now with the withdrawal [of Israeli troops] from some of the areas in the eastern part of Deir el-Balah City and from the eastern part of Khan Younis.”

Meanwhile a ‘polio pause’ in fighting is still expected to begin in central Gaza on Sunday…

Months of deteriorating conditions caused by ongoing war and siege have fuelled the spread of disease across the #GazaStrip@UNRWA and partners are ready to roll out a #polio vaccination campaign for over 640,000 children, but humanitarian pauses will be critical. pic.twitter.com/sftWcfjjY1

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 30, 2024

But despite the hopes that limited pauses in fighting could allow some 2,000 UN health workers to begin vaccinating hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children could eventually lead to a more permanent ceasefire, all signs point to an IDF expansion in operations.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz and Israeli Army Radio have just reported that the Israeli government is expending an order for the recruitment of 350,000 reservists. This order is in effect through the end of 2024.

Authored by Peter St. Onge via Money Metals,

From taxes to spending, Kamala is the most left-wing major party candidate since George McGovern — who proposed a Universal Basic Income in 1972 and went on to win a single state.

But her most hare-brained scheme — so far — has been price controls, where she’s to the left of McGovern, threatening to punish grocery stores for daring to charge more than their costs.

In fact, grocery stores make 1 to 2 pennies on the dollar. Meaning they have to pass along costs that come straight from the Washington money printer.

That means price controls would, in short, break food.

Price Controls Always Fail

In a recent video I mentioned how price controls have been tried many times, and each time they failed so spectacularly they were repealed. After much pain, suffering, and empty shelves.

When France tried, they got a black market that actually did price gouge. Even Venezuela repealed price controls in 2016 after food shortages and nationwide riots.

But what do price controls look like in reality? For that I go to a great thread by Robert Sterling, a former M&A executive at one of the biggest food producers in America.

Robert walks us through a thirteen step process from grocery price controls to widespread food shortages — something we haven’t seen in this country since the Great Depression, when FDR also imposed price controls.

Stage One: Bankrupt Grocers

So, first, the government announces grocery stores can’t raise prices even though inflation continues — courtesy of the Fed and Wall Street. That means their costs keep going up, so those pennies of profit turn into losses.

Like any business that’s losing money, they shut down.

Of course, not all grocery stores are created equal — small ones lack economies of scale, and while rich people buy high-margin vegetables and expensive cuts, the poor buy low-margin packaged foods.

So the small stores and the low-income stores go first.

You get food deserts, as people in urban centers or rural areas have to drive miles — or take multiple buses — to find food. And, ironically, you get more concentration, as the little guys drop out.

The survivors increasingly aren’t even selling food. They shift shelf-space to things that aren’t price-controlled. Clothing, furniture, supplements.

Grocery stores start to look more like a Dollar Store, with a little food and a lot of junk.

As cities clear of food, you’d need police patrolling parking lots and armed escorts on delivery trucks — perhaps you could even have government-run groceries like Chicago just announced.

Stage Two: Bankrupt Food Producers

The only way to save any grocery stores is to price-control their costs. Meaning food producers like Kraft, Heinz, Tyson, Hormel.

Of course, again, Kraft’s costs aren’t being controlled — their ingredients, wages, parts and electricity. So now they’re losing money.

Like groceries, they wind down, closing marginal factories and running out equipment then not replacing it.

As food producers downsize or go under, now you start getting actual shortages. And the only solution — once again — is price control the next level down. Farmers.

Stage Three: Bankrupt Farmers

Which brings us to the final stage. Because remember Farmers, too, are now forced to sell at a low price, yet their inputs like fertilizer or tractors are still going up.

They, too, go under.

You are now full Venezuela, with the only alternative to starvation a complete government takeover of the food supply, centrally planned from farmer to grocer.

As Sterling puts it, “The government will struggle to operate one of the most complex industries on the planet. The entire food supply chain starts imploding.”

“Imploding” as in starvation.

What’s Next

It’s very unlikely we’ll get to the point of starvation. For the simple reason that at some point the frog boils and the voters — or rioters — share their thoughts with policymakers.

That’s exactly why price controls fail, from France to Venezuela.

Having said, we managed it before under FDR.

And, unfortunately, if the morons running Kamala’s brain trust are dumb enough for price controls, they’re dumb enough for a whole lot more.

(Article image is Florence Thompson “Migrant Mother,” a migrant pea farmer family by Dorothea Lange in March 1936)

Today in “victories by our Border Czar Kamala Harris” it was reported that this past week a group of about 20 migrants tried to board a children’s school bus in California, “terrifying” the children. 

And the incident came one day after another group of migrants were walking down the highway trying to stop another bus, according to a report by the NY Post. On Tuesday, at least 3 migrants were in traffic on Highway 94 trying to stop a bus that was ultimately forced to go around them. 

Then, early Wednesday, about 20 people tried to board a bus at a stop near the highway while students were getting on for school.

Both incidents took place in the Jamul-Dulzura Union School District close to the Mexico border, according to the Post. 

Mother of one child, Nicole Cardinale, said: “It was definitely really scary. Your initial shock is you’re helpless.”

“He said these adults — they weren’t kids — had backpacks on and they were trying to get on our bus … He said there was a lot of them,” she continued, stating that the kids were “really confused” by the episode. 

She continued: “It’s just scary that these kids were put in that situation. If those 20 people would have gotten onto the bus and tried to take over the bus, these kids and the bus driver could have been in real danger.”   

The NY Post writes that the district reported the incident to the California Highway Patrol, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, and US Border Patrol. Of course, an “activist” assisting at the nearby border suggested the migrants might have seen the bus as a way to reach a safer area with support.

The Sheriff’s office commented: “The Sheriff’s Office takes issues regarding student safety very seriously and are working with the school district in order to keep the students and our community safe.”

And School district Superintendent Liz Bystedt is telling drivers to skip bus stops where there are migrants nearby. She said: “Please stay [vigilant] and if the bus drives by, please follow the bus to pick up your child at the next stop.”

Sounds like a reasonable long-term solution that’ll definitely stop the problem at its source…

Authored by Eric Lendrum via American Greatness,

On Tuesday, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that illegal aliens do not have the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, due to the fact that they are not American citizens.

As reported by Fox News, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that federal law prohibiting illegal aliens from owning firearms is legal, as the Constitution does not apply to anyone who has entered the United States illegally.

The decision came as the result of an appeal by an illegal alien named Jose Paz Medina-Cantu, who had been arrested in Texas in 2022 by the Border Patrol. He was charged with illegal possession of a handgun, and illegally re-entering the country after having already been deported.

Although he pleaded guilty to the charges, his lawyers argued during his appeal that the gun charge was a violation of his Constitutional rights. In their appeal, the lawyers cited the landmark Supreme Court decision in the 2022 case New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, where the court ruled in a 6-3 majority that Americans do not have to provide a reason when seeking a concealed-carry permit. This ruling has led to numerous anti-gun laws across the country being challenged in court, with many being overturned based on Bruen’s precedent.

After hearing the appeal of the illegal’s lawyers, the three-judge panel ruled that the rights granted to American citizens by the Constitution do not apply to illegals.

“The Second Amendment protects the right of ‘the people’ to keep and bear arms. Our court has held that the term ‘the people’ under the Second Amendment does not include illegal aliens,” said U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho in a concurring opinion. “As to common sense, an illegal alien does not become ‘part of a national community’ by unlawfully entering it, any more than a thief becomes an owner of property by stealing it.”

“The Court has repeatedly explained that ‘an alien… does not become one of the people to whom these things are secured by our Constitution by an attempt to enter forbidden by law’… But that’s, of course, the very definition of an illegal alien – one who ‘attempts to enter’ our country in a manner ‘forbidden by law,’” Judge Ho continued. “So illegal aliens are not part of ‘the people’ entitled to the protections of the Second Amendment.’

Following Bud Light’s disastrous social media partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which triggered nationwide boycotts and left beer volumes struggling to recover, the brewer has yet to apologize for pushing the woke religion on its blue-collar, working-class customer base. Instead, they’ve now tapped comedian Shane Gillis for a new ad, this time, free of 100% far-left wokeism propaganda and back to the good ole’ days of downright classic humor. 

Ad Age reports that Gillis’ appearance in the new television ad “revives an age-old brand joke—the guy who will do anything for a Bud Light—in a scene recalling Dean Wormer admonishing the Deltas in Animal House.” 

Range Media Partners, Gillis’ agency, is behind the new ad, which the comedian co-wrote. “The Dean’s Office” shows a football player pressured to admit he cheated on an exam with the offer of a cold Bud Light. The move backfires when each of the onlookers in the room can’t resist confessing to their own embarrassing secrets. Frequent Gillis collaborators Steve Gerben and John McKeever (who also directed) also appear. -Ad Age

The new 30-second ad will air on Saturday during college football games across various networks, including ABC, ESPN, and NBC.  

Bud Light’s move to revive classic ads without pushing the woke religion comes as the latest Nielsen Beer data shows Bud Light has yet to recover from the boycott that began in April 2023. Data also indicates Bud Light has been the worst performer in the AB portfolio this summer. 

Here’s the ad.

Shane Gillis’ debut appearance as a Bud Light rep revives an age-old brand joke—the guy who will do anything for a Bud Light—in a scene recalling Dean Wormer admonishing the Deltas in “Animal House.” pic.twitter.com/9hZ4IfZD4f

— Ad Age (@adage) August 30, 2024

To sum up, the Bud Light boycott persists as customers were awakened that they were actually drinking overpriced crap light beer.

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Local search company Yelp has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of using its search engine monopoly to thwart competitors.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Aug. 28. The complaint was brought to “safeguard competition, protect consumer choice, recover damages, and prevent Google LLC from engaging in various anticompetitive practices designed to monopolize the markets for local search services and local search advertising,” according to the lawsuit.

Yelp focuses on public reviews of local neighborhood businesses, with the company making money by selling local search advertising. The lawsuit accuses Google of abusing its “monopoly power in general search” to divert traffic away from competitors to its own local search product.

Companies such as Yelp are known as specialized vertical providers (SVPs) as they respond to user queries on a specific subject matter through proprietary, structured data unavailable elsewhere. Other SVPs include Glassdoor for jobs and employers, Expedia for travel, and Zillow for real estate and apartment rentals.

The lawsuit argues that on a level playing field, SVPs such as Yelp threaten Google given the ability of these platforms to siphon traffic and ad revenues away from the tech giant.

At one time, Google sought to acquire Yelp, an offering that was rejected. Google then began a “years-long mission” to restrict Yelp’s ability to reach customers through Google search, Yelp alleged.

“Google has engaged in numerous anti-competitive practices, including stealing information from Yelp’s website and passing it off as Google’s own; preferencing Google’s own local search results over Yelp’s; implementing a ‘OneBox’ feature to prioritize Google’s own inferior local search services at the top of the search results page; and even going so far as to tweak its algorithm and steer customers away from Yelp,” the lawsuit alleges.

Google’s actions to prioritize its local search products over competitors allegedly prevent other businesses from achieving scale and reaching more consumers.

This enables the tech behemoth to retain dominance in these markets, reducing competition in the ad space and allowing it to extract higher fees from advertisers, the lawsuit states.

Yelp argued that Google’s conduct has lowered its traffic and ad revenues. It accused Google of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act as well as California’s Unfair Competition Law.

The company asked the court to approve monetary damages and issue an injunction prohibiting the tech giant from engaging in anti-competitive practices.

A Google spokesperson defended the company against the lawsuit, telling multiple media outlets that “Yelp’s claims are not new” and that “similar claims were thrown out years ago by the FTC [Federal Trade Commission], and recently by the judge in the DOJ’s case.”

“On the other aspects of the decision to which Yelp refers, we are appealing. Google will vigorously defend against Yelp’s meritless claims,” the spokesperson said.

Google didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for further comment by publication time.

Antitrust Cases Against Google

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in early August that Google violated antitrust laws in another case filed in October 2020.

The 2020 lawsuit accused Google of illegally paying mobile manufacturers, wireless carriers, and browser developers to become the default search engine, preventing people from exploring alternate choices. In 2021, Google paid such partners $26 billion to secure its leading market position, Mehta stated.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, Kent Walker, president of Google global affairs, said that the decision “recognizes that Google offers the best search engine” but concludes that the firm “shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available.”

Google is also facing an antitrust lawsuit filed by developer Epic Games, which accuses Google of monopolizing the market for distribution of mobile apps to Android users and the market for processing payments.

The FTC filed an amicus brief in the case, suggesting that the court take strict actions against such practices.

In May, the News/Media Alliance sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FTC, raising concerns about “Google’s misappropriation of digital publishers’ content to power its generative artificial intelligence (“GAI”) products to enhance its monopoly power.”

When using such content for its AI, Google does not make any payment to the publishers, the letter said.

Google now plans to deploy its GAI products nationwide, it noted. For instance, Google aims to place its AI Overviews atop search engine results. AI Overviews offer a preview of a searched query.

Positioning such content at the top “will reduce click through to publishers’ websites even further and thus further strengthen Google’s monopoly,” the group said.

“Google’s AI Overviews will significantly reduce publishers’ ability to monetize their content through advertising, subscriptions, and affiliate links, and instead drive that monetization directly to Google.”

For the fourth week in a row, money market funds saw inflows (+$21BN) which lifted the total AUM to a new record high of $6.26TN…

Source: Bloomberg

All of which took place as stocks puked hard and recovered.

Bank deposits, on the other hand, were flat the week-ending 8/21 (+$0.9BN on a seasonally-adjusted basis)…

Source: Bloomberg

But, on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, US banks saw a large $85BN deposit drawdown… the biggest weekly decline since May…

Source: Bloomberg

WTF is a ‘seasonally-adjusted deposit’ anyway?

Excluding foreign deposit flows, this meant US domestic deposits tumbled $94BN last week (NSA)… or – after Fed fuckery – just $11BN (SA)…

Source: Bloomberg

The seasonally-adjusted flows saw small banks add $9BN in deposits while large banks saw $20BN in deposit outflows (as everyone and their pet rabbit piled back into NVDA?) On the other hand, non-seasonally-adjusted, large and small banks saw major deposits runs (-$86BN and -$8BN respectively).

Interestingly, on the other side of the ledger, small bank loan volume shrank (admittedly by just $372MN) as large bank loan volume surged (+$13.5BN) in the week-ending 8/21…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, as stocks market caps soared back towards record highs this week, bank reserves at The Fed dipped once again…

Source: Bloomberg

That’s quite a divergence!!