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The Critical Hour
The mainstream news outlets play it safe by parroting the perspectives of their corporate benefactors. The Critical Hour uses clear, cutting edge insight and analysis to examine national and international issues impacting the global village in which we live.

Lawmakers Launch Investigation Accusing Tech Giants of Squeezing Out Competition

Lawmakers Launch Investigation Accusing Tech Giants of Squeezing Out Competition
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On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Kari Paul, technology reporter for The Guardian.

In the latest example of a rising wave of antitrust investigations against big tech firms, Texas and other US states are expected to announce an investigation into Google on Monday to examine whether the Silicon Valley giant has become too adept at either crushing or acquiring its competitors. A probe into Facebook's market dominance was announced Friday by another group of US states, and the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and Congress are likewise conducting their own investigations. Have these companies gotten too big for their britches and so powerful that they pose a threat to the competition?

US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter Friday that he had cancelled a secret meeting at Camp David with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and senior Taliban leaders, which was due to take place Sunday. The cancellation was due to the Taliban admitting responsibility for a recent bombing in the Afghan capital of Kabul that killed a US soldier. What’s really behind all of this confusion?

"In the largest of a number of demonstrations across Britain on Saturday, crowds gathered outside Downing Street to protest against 'Boris Johnson’s coup against the democratic process' and hear combative speeches from anti-Brexit campaigners. The London protest was marred by violence when scores of pro-Brexit counter-protesters attempted to disrupt the rally and provoke the anti-Brexit demonstrators by marching through the crowd holding a banner demanding the UK revert to WTO rules – which some believe would be the default eventuality after a no-deal Brexit – and verbally insulting them," The Guardian reported Saturday. All of this occurred after Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd launched a broadside against UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's "aggressive and dangerous" approach to Brexit when she resigned on Saturday from the Conservative Party. Rudd, who favors Britain remaining in the EU, warned that if Johnson continues to pit Parliament against the people, violence in the streets will follow. The saga continues.

Former South Carolina governor and congressman Mark Sanford said on Sunday that he's challenging Trump in 2020 for the Republican presidential nomination. "I’m here to tell you now that I am going to get in … I think we need to have a conversation on what it means to be a Republican … As a Republican Party, we have lost our way," Sanford told Fox News. The former governor also said he was particularly concerned about the US national debt and deficit spending. "We have got to have a national conversation and a Republican conversation on where are we going on debt and deficit," he said. Can he win? As I sit here today, I would have to say no. My question is: how damaging to Trump would this conversation be if it were allowed to take place?

GUESTS:

Kari Paul — Technology reporter for The Guardian.

Elisabeth Myers — Editor-in-chief of Inside Arabia.   

Jim Kavanagh — Political analyst and commentator and editor of The Polemicist. 

Carmine Sabia — Journalist and writer for Citizen Truth. 

We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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