Highlights of the News

Donald John Trump is still our president.

ITEM 1: Bloomberg reported, "Australia’s government has ordered Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to share revenue generated from news articles, adding to growing global regulatory and political pushback against the digital giants.

"The two companies will have to negotiate with traditional media on remuneration in good faith, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Friday. If no agreement is reached, there will be a binding arbitration process and penalties for breaching the code of up to A$10 million ($7 million) or 10% of local revenue.

"The move aims to correct what the government says is a power imbalance between two of the world’s most profitable companies and a local media industry that’s bleeding jobs as it loses advertising revenue to digital platforms. It follows measures elsewhere in the world, including in France where antitrust regulator in April ordered Google to pay media companies to display snippets of articles."

Good for Australia.

Let us do that here.

ITEM 2: The Treasury Department announced, "On Friday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned one Chinese government entity and two current or former government officials in connection with serious rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

"These designations include the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), Sun Jinlong, a former Political Commissar of the XPCC, and Peng Jiarui, the Deputy Party Secretary and Commander of the XPCC.

"The entity and officials are being designated for their connection to serious human rights abuse against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, which reportedly include mass arbitrary detention and severe physical abuse, among other serious abuses targeting Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim population indigenous to Xinjiang, and other ethnic minorities in the region."

So much for the Trump administration being Islamophobic.

ITEM 3: The Daily Wire reported, "Clinton Was With Epstein On Private Island At Same Time As ‘2 Young Girls,’ Witness Claims In Unsealed Court Docs."

The story said, "One revelation that came from the released court documents was the allegation that former Democrat President Bill Clinton traveled to Epstein’s pedophile island, a claim that Clinton has denied.

"Accuser Virginia Giuffre said that when Clinton was on the island with Epstein, there were '2 young girls' there whom she 'could identify.'"

I remember President Trump denying improprieties abroad saying he knew the Russians were taping him. It turned out to be true as the Russian dossier was a proven hoax.

Clinton does not strike me as being that savvy. He bungled Lewinsky big time.

I wonder what such dirt on a president's spouse would have been worth to Epstein. Thanks to Donald Trump, we will never know.

ITEM 4: Rasmussen Reports announced, "The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. 48% disapprove."

Obama was at 47% approval at the same point in his first term.

ITEM 5: The Washington Examiner reported, "Taken down by the same digital and social media papers heralded for years, a new survey found that just 3% of adults get their political news from print sources.

Instead, they turn to social media and digital media. Even radio does substantially better at drawing an audience, at 8%, according to the Pew Research Center."

The newspaper-founded center announced its findings with the headline, "Americans Who Mainly Get Their News on Social Media Are Less Engaged, Less Knowledgeable.

"Those who rely on social media for news are less likely to get the facts right about the corona virus and politics and more likely to hear some unproven claims."

Speaking of unproven claims, the newspaper industry handed out Pulitzers to newspapers that fell for the Russian collusion hoax.

ITEM 6: The truth accidentally showed up at a congressional hearing.

WATCH → Dr. Fauci says @realDonaldTrump's leadership saved lives and that he was in agreement on the decisions.

Did stopping flights from China and Europe save lives?

Fauci: "Yes."

Did early domestic strategies to slow the spread save lives?

Fauci: "I believe it did." pic.twitter.com/AGSr9ygwIQ

— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) July 31, 2020

Perhaps Fauci (who survived 5 previous presidencies) believes there will be a second term.

ITEM 7: Politico reported, "President Donald Trump scored a legal victory Friday as a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling tossing out a libel lawsuit filed against him by adult film star Stormy Daniels over a tweet Trump fired off about her in 2018.

"The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accepted arguments by Trump’s lawyers that he was merely offering his opinion and not leveling any factual claims of his own when he issued the tweet casting doubt on her claims that she faced intimidation as she prepared to go public with allegations that she and Trump had a sexual encounter.

"A three-judge panel unanimously ruled that Trump’s tweet amounted to an opinion about another Twitter user’s message suggesting that a sketch Daniels helped prepare of a man who allegedly intimidated her in a casino parking lot looked much like a photo of Daniels’ ex-husband."

The panel consisted of 2 Cliunton judges and an Obama one.

Hahaha!

ITEM 8: CNN reported, "James Murdoch, the youngest son of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, made a dramatic break from the family business on Friday.

"He resigned from the board of directors of News Corp, the family's publishing empire, and said he was exiting the company over 'disagreements over certain editorial content published' by its news outlets and 'certain other strategic decisions.'

"James Murdoch, whose older brother Lachlan Murdoch serves as the CEO of Fox Corporation, had already left that side of the family business, partly due to his disgust of Fox News.

"But he had remained on the board of News Corp — something that had intrigued friends of the family.

"The younger Murdoch repeatedly clashed with his father and brother's conservative political views, occasionally even in public. He donated to Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and fumed about climate change denialism."

Thanksgiving will be awkward.

That's the problem with silver spoons. If you are born with one in your mouth, you are more likely to grow up to be a liberal.

ITEM 9: Fox reported, "The Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote has denied a request to halt construction of President Trump’s border wall over environmental concerns.

"A number of groups, including the ACLU and Sierra Club, had asked the high court to get involved again after the justices last year cleared the way for the administration to use military funds for construction while the case played out in the courts.

"A federal appeals court had ruled against the administration last month, but the justices, for now, have given another temporary victory to the administration."

Chief Justice Roberts' coin must have landed on heads.

ITEM 10: Eric Lendrum reported, "Officials from the Department of Justice have officially filed a request with the courts asking for the removal of special protection for journalists in the ongoing riots in Portland, due to rioters often disguising themselves as journalists in order to commit violence, according to Politico.

"In a filing submitted to U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon, the Department of Justice asks Simon to consider overturning his previous temporary restraining order issuing special protections for journalists, which, among other privileges, allowed journalists to remain in place even if the police force rioters back or attempt to disperse the crowds."

It's an Obama judge who is also a nephew of playwright Neil Simon.

Journalists should move when they are told to amid a riot.

ITEM 11: The New York Post reported, "An appellate court has tossed the death sentence and overturned three of the convictions of 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

"The ruling will not result in Tsarnaev, 27, being freed, and the death penalty can now be revisited in a penalty-phase trial do-over.

"If federal prosecutors do not pursue a second death penalty trial, Tsarnaev will remain imprisoned on multiple life sentences that are not affected by Friday’s ruling.

"The death penalty was invalidated because the trial judge did not adequately screen jurors for pre-trial bias, the ruling read."

BLDM.

Boston Lives Don't Matter.

ITEM 12: Breitbart News reported, "Former President Barack Obama is privately telling some of the biggest and most influential donors on the left that the 2020 election will not be a lock for former Vice President Joe Biden because President Donald Trump’s voters are glued to outlets on the right like Breitbart News and will turn out in droves in November, according to a Thursday report in the New York Times.

"Obama has reportedly raised $24 million for Biden in two months by having conversations with people like LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, actor George Clooney, and top party leaders."

But that's OK. The polls show Cellar Dweller Joe is up by 8 points, right?

ITEM 13: Fox News reported, "The St. Louis County, Missouri, prosecutor said Thursday that he will not be charging the White police officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014, after quietly reopening the investigation.

"Civil rights leaders and Brown's mother reportedly hoped that Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, who became the county’s first black prosecutor in January 2019, might reopen the investigation into police officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown six years ago."

Bell's entire political career is based on Brown's death. The death got him elected to Ferguson's city council and then as prosecutor. Yet he could not find evidence of a crime.

This proves the whole Brown story was a fable. I was right, which sometimes makes you a heretic in the news business.

ITEM 14: The Washington Examiner reported, "Former CIA Director John Brennan, a vocal critic of President Trump, found out he had been blocked from accessing his classified notes and records while working on his new memoir."

He never should have had access.

He's a communist.

ITEM 15: Liberals always hurt worst the people they champion.

According to a law enforcement source, there have been 22 homicides in Portland since 1 June. In all of 2019, there were only 36 homicides. Last month, @tedwheeler dismantled the Gun Violence Reduction Team because he and others said it was unfair to blacks.

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 30, 2020

In LaLaLiberalLand it is better to be murdered than have police hurt someone's feelings.

ITEM 16: Politico reported, "Allies of Kamala Harris sought and received a meeting with Joe Biden’s campaign staff this week after a leader of his vice presidential vetting team was quoted doubting whether she’d be a loyal No. 2.

Prominent supporters of the California senator asked for the virtual sit-down on the heels of a Politico report Monday that Harris is not a lock for VP. It quoted former Sen. Chris Dodd, one of four members of the vetting unit, remarking to a prominent Democratic donor that Harris had no remorse for attacking Biden during a debate last year. Biden’s campaign at the time viewed the attack — Harris went after Biden for opposing a school busing program — as a cheap shot contrived to make him look racially insensitive.

"That story and another recent Politico report detailed that a contingent of Democrats is lobbying against Harris to be chosen as Biden’s running mate.

"The conference call included several of the state’s highest-ranking elected officials and labor and business leaders, including Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, state schools chief Tony Thurmond, state Treasurer Fiona Ma and Chad Griffin, a Democratic consultant and former head of Human Rights campaign, according to organizers."

Tough, decisive leadership -- NOT!

ITEM 17: KOMO reported, "SEATTLE - The suspect arrested for a deadly shooting at an Aurora Avenue motel last week has 48 previous convictions dating back to when he was a juvenile, including a 1992 conviction for violently beating and slitting the throat of a 16-year-old girl who he threw naked into a dumpster and left for dead, according to court records.

"The suspect, identified in court records as Larone Deshawn Charles, 48, was tracked down and taken into custody Saturday night in Kent, police say. He is charged with second-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and second-degree assault in connection with the motel shooting."

Sickening.

ITEM 18: CNBC reported, "Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk lamented the entitled and complacent character of people in the United States, and lauded the smart and hard-working people of China, in the first installment of a three-part interview with Automotive News’ Daily Drive podcast published Friday.

"Specifically, Musk criticized New York and California -- states that have supported his businesses, especially Tesla, with considerable tax breaks, regulatory credits and other government help."

Ingratitude aside, he's right.

FINALLY in basketball news...