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tv   The Journal Editorial Report  FOX News  December 12, 2020 12:00pm-1:00pm PST

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eric: there's the president on the field at west point. the president attending the army-navy football game. we'll have updates throughout the day here on the fox news channel on the game. you know, the army black knights are facing the navy mud shipmen. -- midshipmen. the army has a better record, 7-2 over the navy, they have a 3-6 record. it is quite a special day up in west point. as you can hear the chants and the cheers, the midshipmen and cadets are in the stands. the general public not allowed. usually the game is played in philadelphia. this is the first time since 1943, world war ii, that the game has been played up at wes point. if not only -- west point. not only a chance for the president to greet and be with and see the game with many of the young cadets at west point
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and the others, also a very poignant day because navy offensive tackle billy will be honoring one of his former teammates, david fornow, a 22-year-old left guard who died this in his dorm of cardiac arrest earlier this year. and his pal billy will be wearing his friend's consumer city e number, number -- jersey number, number 68. and all the navy players will have a decal with the name of david fornoy who was only 22 years old. let's see if he can listen in for a sec. [inaudible conversations] [background sounds] [cheers and applause]
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>> [inaudible] al might few god -- at the end of an incredibly difficult year, we stop for a moment to focus on the joy of america's game. [inaudible] we see the light, feel the wind -- [inaudible] strive with all their might to win. but soon in the days ahead they will be deployed to a new
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battle -- [inaudible] how thankful we are for your devotion displayed by the players on the field -- [inaudible] we as a nation -- [inaudible] that we as a nation, even as we strive -- [inaudible] only through our discipline and only through our sacrificial service to others -- [inaudible] so, lord, bless this day, bless this game and, lord, god bless america. amen. [cheers and applause]
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>> and now, please remain standing for the -- [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> -- and united states naval academy. ♪ o say can you see by the dawn's early light -- ♪ what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming. ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight -- ♪ o ear the ram -- o ooh'er the ramparts we watched were so glal atlantaly streaming. ♪ and the rockets' red glare,
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the bombs bursting in air -- ♪ gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. ♪ o, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave -- ♪ o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ [cheers and applause]
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[cheers and applause] [inaudible conversations] eric: -- and the others. and as you can see, the president ea applauding and acknowledging the cheers of the cadet cans and the midshipmen as the teams are coming on the field. navy kind of has a worse record, but navy does lead this 121-year tradition, 61 games to 52 the over army on a very misty, kind of rainy day up on the shore9 of the hudson river on west point. a magnificent, patriotic plus. if you ever get a chance to visit, it ising magnificent. arthel, wonderful that the game is about to begin. arthel: i mean, it's not perfect football weather, but it doesn't matter, because the enthusiasm is there. you know, it made the choir
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sound that much more angelic. i mean, their rendition of the national anthem was just beautiful. so, listen, the coin toss is going to happen, the president will go sit with the army, then the navy and we'll cover it for you. eric and i are back at four eastern. u don't. [grunting noise] i'll take that. woohoo! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. with nutrients to support immune health. so wrap up a supportive casper mattress and pillows. soft percale sheets, all things cozy for your best night's sleep. give the gift of a better bedroom with 10% off at casper.com
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♪ ♪ paul: initial jobless claims rising sharply last week to more than 850,000 as a nationwide spike in coronavirus cases push more cities and states to impose new covid restrictions and shutdowns. the restaurant industry the among the hardest hit with the national restaurant association reporting this week that some 10,000 restaurants have closed in the last three months alone. governor andrew cuomo announced friday that indoor dining will be banned once again in new york city starting monday. let's bring in our panel, "wall street journal" columnist deputy editorial page editoar dan
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henninger. editor. coronavirus stats, terrible toll, more than 3000 on at least one day this week. lockdown advocates are saying, you know, we toll you so. we were right -- we told you so. have they been vindicated? >> no, they have not been vindicated, paul. there is no real correlation between the lockdowns and causes per 100,000 in the -- cases per 100,000 in the united states. "the wall street journal"'s just published a fascinating map showing the cases per 100,000 population of every county in the united states. and, you know, we know that florida, texas, georgia had minimal lockdowns, and their case load for 100,000 is very lowment meanwhile, states like california have a high case load. oregon and washington, which
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have been very restrictive, have low caseloads. to there's been no correlation. it becomes increasingly difficult for restaurant the owners in big statements like new york and california -- big statements like new york and california to see any justification why they are beinged asked to shut down and take the brunt of trying to solve the coronavirus surge over the next three months, because they are the ones being put out of business. paul:allysha, what are you coaching with out there? if -- coping with out there? >> he's basically locked us up inside. granted, you can go to the hiking trails, but, you know, lounge ares and national parks are all closed, playgrounds are now open but, you know, barbershops, outdoor dining, most things in the state that are, quote, nonessential -- of course, essential is a term of liberal politics. you know, film studios are
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essential, but other nonessential activities are shut down and closed. paul: and that has had a significant economic effect, i mean, has it not? i looked at the data nationwide of states that have had severe lockdowns like california, they have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country still. >> oh, yes, i think that's right. and i think you're getting a little bit of a revolt among the business class. the restaurant industry in l.a. sued to overturn a local outdoor dining ban and this week, on tuesday, a local judge actually said, you know, you need to produce some kind of science to justify this and show the cost benefit analysis because there is none. and thit you're having tens, hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs. paul: right. so, kim, there does seem to be something of a big problem here a lot of people perceive it as a
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double standard when it comes to behavior here. with politicians making arbitrary distinctions. i mean, i think most americans think, you know what? if the hospitals are overflowing in your area, then we really do need to clamp down. but if they're not, then we need to let as much business life and normal life go on as possible expect for, you know, the most vulnerable, nursing homes and so on. what do you think people -- how do you make sense of the lockdown decisions? >> well, it's hard to, and that's whew you're seeing people now begin to revolt. everyone saw, to your point about double standards, that restaurant owner out in california this week showing a picture of her shutdown business, and right across the street, vast numbers of tables that had been set up to feed a movie crew. and then you have all of these folks who are in a situation -- earlier this spring, we calm
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into this with a very strong economy, and people had some are serve to weather some of this. but this time around, this round there's know reserve left. and so that's why you're seeing so many businesses shuttered. and when you have politicians that are similar blue willy-nilly putting these lockdowns, there's no scientific evidence that what they're doing is going to work. or as dan pointed out, those statistics. that's the problem, and it seems to be more kind of heady tyrants coming to play. they can do it, to they do do it, but it isn't based on rational ed. paul: dan, the a argument is, well, look, the vaccine's right around the corner, let's just tough it out for the next two, three months before the herd immunity sets in, and that'll be fine and we'll save a lot of lives. what's your response to that? >> well, my response to that is they simply are pursuing the wrong and inequitable strategy. most of these deaths are still among people age 65 or over.
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they are the most vulnerable. they should be protected. by but the restaurant owners in california, new and elsewhere, look, we've been in this for ten months. they made a good faith effort to comply. many have made nor mouse investment to allow people to sit outdoors while their indoor dining was limited to 25%, and now many of them in states like michigan, illinois, new york, california, minnesota, new mexico are told to shut down indoor dining altogether. why are they being asked to themselves take the brunt of getting us through to the vaccine? it just makes no sense whatsoever, paul. paul: all right, dan, thank you. when we come back, hunter biden the subject of a criminal probe as questions swirl around his foreign business dealings, plus, a federal judge finally dismisses the case against michael flynn but not without some parting shots. ♪
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♪ ♪ paul: federal prosecutors in delaware reportedly probing the business dealings of president-elect joe biden's son hunter. authorities are said to be examining multiple financial issues including whether biden and husband associates violated tax and money land oring laws in business dealings in foreign countries, most notably china. we're back with dan henninger, kim strassel and "wall street journal" columnist bill mcgurn. kim, first, congratulations, you wrote about this and the e-mails before the election and were roundly criticized by the herd of independent minds in the main stream media. so congratulations on your vindication. but what do you make of this new news about the tax investigation? >> well, what i make of it is that, as we pointed out, this was a legitimate issue that the press corps largely missed in
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the runup to a very consequential presidential election. don't forget that as some of these stories came out, we had the uniform cry from the media claiming that it was russian disinformation. it wasn't. it was verifiable, and it raised some profound concerns about the degree to which hunter biden has spent years selling access to his father or to other political officials and then what, we don't know yet, but what kind of problems that might cause in terms of putting him in a compromised position and other officials. so, you know, this is something now the press corps is interested in it, but it would have been useful information for voters to have had back in october. paul: yeah. bill, you know, there's a lot of people now who are saying on the republican side bill barr should appoint a special counsel to investigation this now. obviously, with the biden administration coming in. do you agree with that?
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>> no, i as you know, or i'm not a fan of special comes -- [laughter] so -- counsels, so i don't think he should. he's also being create sized for not -- criticized for not leaking news of this investigation, but his job isn't to leak news. actually, his job is to not leak. so i think that's a mistake, and i think, as kim said, i think that the justice department did the right thing in this case. but the press not only ignored the stories, they deliberately ignored it. they turned their backs on it. they wouldn't examine things, and they gave joe biden softballs. i mean, when he was first asked about husband son's role on burisma -- his son's role on burisma, ukrainian energy company, when he had no background in ukraine or energy, you know, he basically said my son did nothing wrong, i love him and he won't do it again. i mean, this deserved a lot more reporting and a lot more cover average, and he never got it. -- coverage.
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and one reason is because some soul in the media like kim asks the question, and then he just brushes it off. and he brushed it off because he knew no one was going to press him on that. just imagine if this had been a trump family -- paul: yeah. not only does he brush it off, but the press doesn't follow up with biden, and then the press attacks kim and says how dare you ask, outrage that you would, indeed, do your job. [laughter] >> and worse than that, paul, "the new york post" had a, you know, a ground breaking story about the e-mails allegedly from the laptop. they put the caveats in. what happens? it gets banned on twitter. this was see knowville, hear know evil, speak know evil and especially ask no questions. paul: on this point about the special counsel, i want do you about that because some people say, look, if you don't have a special counsel, it'll just get burr trued in the justice department.
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the press should start to focus on hunter biden and joe biden and start to say you must answer questions. we're not going to bury this inside the justice department. i why don't you just until us what happened. just come out and especially answer questions with. it seems to me that -- and joe biden in particular if, hunt or too and his brother, joe's brother james should start answering some public questions. [laughter] >> yeah, that's right. i mean, special prosecutors, take them first. going back to the reagan administration we had independent counsel. the difficulty with them that they're like inspector -- they have one target and their job is to indict, and they basically house people, innocent or guilty, to the ends of the earth -- hound people. it's a very destructive instrument. as for the press, look, were a first amendment in this country -- we have a first amendment in this country. the press has a distinct function, and we have a first amendment not so that the press could affiliate itself with one party or the other and work on behalf of electing, say, liberal
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or progressive candidates. they're supposedded to pursue without fear or favor the political class and to protect us from their excesses and their corruption. so that is what you're suggesting, simply ask these questions as a counterweight against the excesses of the politicians and as a complement to the justice process which is very, very powerful. short of having someone abused by that power, better to have the press asking these questions and surfacing them. paul pal all right, kim, let's -- before with we go, i want to ask you about a pardon for general flynn. the judge finally dismissed the case but not without grandstanding on his way out. tell us what happened. >> well, this should have been an easy call. the department of justice, after an impartial review, found the charges should never have been brought. the judge's only job here was to dismiss the case on the basis of
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that doj request. instead, a 40-some page decision in which he basically accused the department of justice as being corrupt. there was no evidence of this, this really besmirched the judiciary. it's unfortunate that it happened. paul: all right, thank you all. still ahead, joe biden's pick for defense secretary facing some bipartisan skepticism as lawmakers question another recently-retired military the officer taking the civilian job. we'll talk to retired general jack keane about biden's choice and the foreign policy challenges ahead. ♪
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get set up right with a live bookkeeper with intuit quickbooks. ♪ ♪ paul: president-elect joe biden up veiled his choice to lead the pentagon this week, and his pick is facing bipartisan skepticism. general lloyd austin, who retired from the already in 2016, would require a waiver from congress to serve in the civilian post, something lawmakers may be reluctant to grant after giving one to retired general jim mattis just four years ago. austin acknowledged the hurdle on wednesday. >> if i come to this role, this new role as a civilian leader with military experience, to be sure, but also with a deep appreciation and reverence for the prevailing wisdom of civilian control of our military. i recognize that being a member of the president's cabinet requires a different perspective
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and unique responsibilities from a career in uniform. paul: let's bring in retired four-star army general jack keane. he's a fox news senior strategic analyst. general, great to see you again. i think general austin served under your command, if i remember correctly. you know him well. ing what do you think of his selection as secretary of defense? >> well, that's right. and full disclosure, when i commanded fort bragg, he worked with me there, and also when i was retired, i gave him some advice along with others like general petraeus when he was in combat. this is a very unusual general in the sense that he's got a considerable amount of combat experience as a general officer. at every rank of general officer, one, two, three and four-star, he was commanding in combat. and that's quite extraordinary. and he finished as a theater of war commander in the iraq. he was literally our last
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commander there. and then also he was commander at central command dealing with the entire middle east which is our toughest neighborhood in the world to cope with. so a huge amount of experience, respected, admired, certainly, very well, very well liked, thoughtful, measured, has all the great attributes that some of our best leaders certainly have. so he comes into that, 41 years of public service out of his 67 years of life, as very experienced. paul: okay, but here's -- well, let me ask you, let me follow up on that, general, because some of the experience is, as you said, is in the middle east. but there are some people who say, look, we're moving towards asia now, and china our most significant add very sauer. and he doesn't have -- adversary. he doesn't have experience in that theater or facing that challenge. what do you make of that criticism? >> well, i don't think it'ses inly fair. the whole country -- necessarily
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fair, the whole country is strategically turning toward ors china. certainly one of the things the trump administration, i think, got right the strategic framework that we're dealing with, bug power competition with china being our number one threat. we're all a making a major strategic adjustment, and he's certainly capable of doing that. paul: okay. now, what about his mideast record in some people say that the withdrawal from iraq was not a great, great strategic decision. do you give him any blame for that? >> no, absolutely not. here's the facts that i know. one, he didn't want to withdraw from iraq. two, he recommended we keep a residual force there of 22,000, and that was rejected by the obama administration right off the bat. they wrought that number down to 10,000, and prime minister maliki didn't think that was sufficient and wound up with zero. so austin did not play in that decision other than to make a recommendation to stay and also with a respected force.
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paul: all right. what about the record in syria where he was responsible for the program, training the non-islamist rebels in that country. that program did not go terribly well. >> it did not go terribly well, is right, and i don't know all the details of that. i don't think we applied the right resources to it to begin with. we eventually turned that program over to the central intelligence agency to do it covertly and clandestinely, and that probably was the best choice right from the start. but that's, that's something we learned from experience. paul: and you don't think general austin bears responsibility for that? >> well, certainly he bears responsibility for it, and i think he would accept accountability for the program not going well. i don't think he's going to dodge that issue. paul: okay. let's talk about this issue of the waiver that congress would need to grant for him to get the job. how do you feel about whether
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congress should grant that waiver, and is it a good idea to have a former military men heading defense? >> listen, my preference, and it has always been, that we should have highly qualified civilians as secretary of defense. that's the direction we should be going in. however, i also believe that a president should be given wide latitude in who he wants to have for secretary of defense. remember, his number one responsibility as president is to protect the american people. and the department of defense bears the lion's share of the responsibility to do that. so as such, i think that latitude should be given if he decides that he wants to bring a military man into that position because of the trust and the confidence has in this particular individual and he's comfortable with him in a job of that immense responsibility. i also believe that general
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austin should go before the congress and should answer questions about civilian control in the military, how he will conduct himself in this position as a political appointee, not as a general, serving the president of the united states and serving his full agenda and how he intends to overis see -- how he intends to oversee the military and be able to command of them the kind of performance anybody would expect of them and hold them accountable to that performance. paul: well, so you would grant the waiver if he gives sufficient answers on that. because remember, there's only been two generals in the past, as you know, who have been granted that waiver, general marshall and general mattis. if it's a thursday, this will become really -- a third, this will become really a pattern. >> i don't think it should become a pattern. as i said, i believe civilians should be the secretary of defense as a preference. but, yes, let's get before the
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congress, answer the -- the congress has a right to ask him these very important questions, let him answer those questions. i think he will do that quite handily because he, like me and most everybody i know that i associated with in the military who's achieved senior rank, believe strongly in civilian control of the military. it's not just a bye word, it's something that's in our dna. paul: thanks, general. still ahead, amid reports a closer look posed by beijing and what a biden administration is prepared to do about it. this holiday season, wake up in a winter slumberland. soft percale sheets, all things cozy for your best night's sleep. give the gift of a better bedroom with 10% off at casper.com
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♪ ♪ >> if we don't educate ourselves, if we are not honest about what's taking place, we'll get schooled by beijing. we cannot allow this tyrannical regime to steal our stuff, to build their military might, brainwash our people or buy off our institutions to. -this many cover up these activities. paul: secretary of state mike
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pompeo this week highlighting the threat posed by beijing to american national security and efforts by the chinese communist party to infiltrate american universities. pompeo's warning comes amid reports that a suspected chinese intelligence agent developed extensive ties to u.s. politicians including california congressman eric swalwell in what officials believe was an operation run by china's main civilian spy agency. we're back with dan henninger and bill mcgurn. bill, let's first talk about eric swalwell and this attempt to infiltrate his -- to gain influence through him. what do you make of it? >> well, look, it's not surprising. he's a member of congress who's on the intelligence committee. we have to will be this was years ago. he was given a briefing, i believe, by the fbi in 2015 and cut ties. but there's no reason to think there are not hundreds of cases like this. i mean, unfortunately, the sexual relationship is getting
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all the attention when the spying's the issue. and it's not just congressmen. think of the vulnerability of different staffers on key committees. i think secretary pompeo's point is this is just one aspect of china's attempt to challenge us on every front it can. we closed down their cons lawsuit in houston this year -- consulate in houston this year, earlier this summer, as a hotbed of spying. you know, they're confronting us on hong kong, they're confronting us on their military, all sorts of things. it is a concerted effort. and this, you know, congressman swalwell is just one little part in this bugger story of -- bigger story of china's bad activities here. paul: dan, as you watch the early signs in the biden administration, i wonder what you're seeing in terms of how they are looking at china after the trump administration which in many ways reset our relationship with china. and i should say, china reset its own relationship with us by
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its predator behavior. what do you think about the science coming out of the biden team? >> well, we're not getting too much in the way of signs yet, paul. they talk about working with our allies, working through diplomatic channels, and it remains to be seen whether they will continue the policy initiatives set by the trump administration, secretary of state pompeo. this is one of the big consequences of president trump losing this election. i think mr. pompeo was setting the united states and, indeed, the world on a realistic course towards china. its country, communist government there is now an adversary, and we need to reit the world's -- reset the world's attitude towards china. and the question is whether the biden team coming in will extend that or whether they will try to soft shoe it. i personally think, paul, we need at this point something like we had in 1950.
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we had the national security directive and president truman formally saying that our policy was going to be to contain the soviet union. i'm not saying we need to contain china, but i think we need published formal rules of the road that both the chinese and the west understand that we recognize what the threat is. but there's no indication yet, paul, that the biden foreign policy team is set to pursue a course like that. paul: bill, let's talk about a specific issue which is hong kong. you know it well, you loved there. so dud i. -- lived there. so dud i. the new sanctions imposed on chinese officials related to hong kong, for the crackdown there, yet china has returned that and is now sanctioning american officials, although they haven't said who. meanwhile, they have charged jimmy lye, the publisher and contributor sometimes to the "wall street journal," with violating the national security law. they're going full speed ahead,
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aren't they, china, to control hong kong and pun if you should dissenters. >> right. none of this is any surprisement we know what they want. they've erased the distinctions between hong kong and china. the u.s. has sort of acknowledged that in rescinding a lot of hong kong's perfect preferred trade status. and they're bent on this, and this is going to be one of the challenges joe biden faces. i agree with dan on the truman point. i mean, truman put in a lot of the architecture for the cold war. it's a different challenge from china, but there's no reason -- my fear is that they view all these sanctions as trump's china policy rather than america's chai china policy. and the more things that trump had put in place and mr. pompeo puts in place, i think the stronger biden is when he takes office. he said this week that he's not inclined to relax sanctions right away, he's going to wait and see. i understand he doesn't want to enter office picking a fight
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with china. my fear is that his priorities, for example, a global climate deal with china's signature on it, my fear is that they can override a lot of these issues whether it's hong kong or spying in the u.s. or setting up confucius institutes on our campuses. that's my fear. paul: yeah. that's a good point to make. all right, when we come back, the ftc in 46 states accusing facebook, the social media giant, of predatory behavior, but do they have a case is? our panel takes a closer look next. when i was diagnosed with dupuytren's contracture, i waited to get treated. thought surgery was my only option. but then i found out about nonsurgical treatments. it was a total game changer.
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♪ ♪ paul: the federal trade commission along with 46 state attorneys general sued facebook this week accusing the social media giant of illegally
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squashing its competition when it bought out instagram and what's app. the lawsuit, if successful, would force facebook to sell those platforms as the federal government steps up its efforts to break up big tech. we're back with dan henninger, kim strassel and alicia funnily. so -- ah liberty shah, what is the government actually alleging facebook did? >> well, it's alleging that it gave -- neutralized by buying what's app in 2014 and instagram in 2012. it essentially says that facebook is now a monopoly, though it provides no evidence of actually anti-expectative conduct. anti-competitive conduct. facebook is too big, therefore, we must break it up. paul: all right. so they bought instagram. no doubt -- and what's app too -- to eliminate some competition. that's what a lot of big companies do. how strong is the case that they make, the justice department makes? >> well, i think it's very weak in part because, one, they can't
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show any consumer harm. these products are all free. in fact, facebook eliminated fees that it charged -- subscriber fees it had charged internationally on its product, what's app, and it still doesn't charge on instagram. it has actually increased or monetized instagram which is before it hadn't sold any ads. these are all three products. the ftc essentially alleges, well, maybe they would be better products, maybe they would provide more privacy protections or something else if they were stand-alone company or facebook had never bought them. so that's the counterfactual we will never know. paul: okay. what about the issue of network effects as -- i know it's a jargon term, but what it means is that tech is uniquely, benefits from having a dominant position because the network you have is very hard for another
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competitor to come in and brach up because they're -- break up because they're starting with zero people on the network, and the government says that provides the monopoly advantage to facebook, and they have to break up that. what's your response? >> well, i think that the government actually undermines its own argument because then it says, well, these network effects can actually be broken when you create a distinct product which was what instagram is, that's what tiktok is. you've seen explosive in tiktok. it provides a distinct product. it's very different than facebook. and these are actually multiple, i mean, there are multiple social media network platforms. they don't directly compete. people are on different platforms, and so they're in a way key for user engagement, but people can use different platforms. these aren't direct competition. paul: okay. kim, i want to talk about the politics of this because here we
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are at the end of the trump administration, and we had the google lawsuit by the justice department some weeks ago. now we've got the facebook suit. these guys are leaving town very quickly. [laughter] and there's going to be a new biden ftc. how do you explain the politics here late in the game? >> well, you know, it's actually remarkable. i mean, first of all, there's been this pent-up demand for republicans to do manager about these -- something about these social network giants who they believe are biased against conservatives. but the amazing thing is you don't see any democrats complaining about it either, because they hate the social network giants too. mark zuckerberg is the most friendless person in washington. i mean, look at the range of states that have all joined on what's an incredibly weak, very weak case. and the reason is because people are mad at facebook and others for what they perceive as social and political problems. i think the problem with this
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lawsuit and some of the others is that that's not what antitrust law is designed to deal with. but you aren't going to see anybody, practically anybody in washington push back on this. in fact, there'll be more suits to come. paul: all right. so i guess it'll play out in the court. all right. we have to take one more break. when we come back, hits and misses of the week. ♪ humira patients,... ...this one's for you. you inspired us to make your humira experience even better... with humira citrate-free. it has the same effectiveness you know and trust, but we removed the citrate buffers, there's less liquid, and a thinner needle... . . . humira citrate-free. and you can use your co-pay card to pay as little as $5 a month. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections,... ...including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened,... ...as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,... ...serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure.
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paul: time now for hits and misses of the week. kim, start us off. >> paul, a hit to an honest to god american hero, chuck yeager, the fay mor test pilot who passed away this week at 97. yeager's most famous for being the first man to break the sound barrier. he went mach one his whole life. he once shot down one german aircraft in one day in world war ii, led missions in see ya, vietnam and -- korea and
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vietnam. he gave everything for his country. we mourn his passing. paul: bill? >> powell, credit where -- paul, credit where credit is due. a big hit to alexandria ocasio-cortez, goya's ceo said he named her employee of the month for boosting sales when she supported a boycott. he provoked the boycott by appearing at the trump white house and the congresswoman put out a tweet showing her making her own seasoning, one of goya's most popular. kudos to the congresswoman for helping the sales and good for the ceo for not backing down and having a sense of humor. paul: alicia. >> this is a miss to my dysfunctional state of california. it can't keep the lights on, can't prevent forest fires and now it can't even make unemployment benefits without screwing up.
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bank of america reported this week up to $2 billion in fraud with benefits going to prisoners, infants, is there anything the state can do right? paul: all right. dan? >> i'm giving a very tiny, almost microscopic hit to portland, oregon's mayor, ted wheeler. ted wheeler became famous during the protests this summer while mayhem and anarchy roared across portland for doing basically nothing. this week, he allowed the police to move in on a house in a black neighborhood that had been the site of an armed occupation for three months and allowed them to clear it out. i wouldn't say portland has quite turned the corner yet but at least the intersection is being cleared. paul: all right. remember, if you have your own hit or miss, be sure to tweet it to us at jer, on fnc. that's it for this week's show. thanks to my panel and thanks to all of you for watching.
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i'm pau paul gigot. hope to see you all right here next week. ♪ eric: well, after months of shutdowns, wearing masks and social distancing, this weekend could mark the beginning of the end in the fight against coronavirus. the fda green lighting the first vaccine here in our country with the very first shots expected to arrive in the states on monday morning. hello, everyone. welcome to a brand-new hour of america's news headquarters. i'm eric shawn. hi, arthel. arthel: hello, everyone. i'm arthel neville. the cdc voting to recommend the vaccine from pfizer and germany company biontech for people 16 and older, this just happened a