BREAKING: Google holds illegal monopolies in ad tech, US judge finds.

Alphabet’s Google illegally dominates two markets for online advertising technology, a judge ruled on Thursday, dealing another blow to the tech giant and paving the way for U.S. antitrust prosecutors to seek a breakup of its ad products.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, found Google liable for “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges which sit between buyers and sellers.

The decision, opens new tab clears the way for another hearing to determine what Google must do to restore competition in those markets, such as sell off parts of its business at another trial that has yet to be scheduled. It is the second court ruling that Google holds an illegal monopoly, following a similar judgment in a case over online search.

Whatever the remedy is, it will be slow in coming.

I MISSED THIS EARLIER BUT IT’S KIND OF A BIG DEAL:

BREAKING: Texas House just passed UNIVERSAL SCHOOL CHOICE.

The vote was 85 to 63.

The Senate already passed a similar bill 19 to 12.

Texas will be the 16th state to pass universal school choice.

This is the way. pic.twitter.com/l78MEiaZMy

— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) April 17, 2025

School choice coming to the second-largest state in the union — and unlike California, still growing — is a very big deal.

WELL SAID:

His son was stabbed to death. I’d say that was pretty “disrespectful,” you scum. https://t.co/MdDp1fEE9E

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) April 17, 2025

Previously: Being an accused murderer with multiple witnesses ain’t what it used to be.

DON’T TOUCH OUR SHIPS IS THE THEME OF THIS WEEK’S THURSDAY ESSAY [VIP]: Houthis, China, and Us: The Great Game on the High Seas. “Most Thursdays, I take readers on a deep dive into a topic I hope you’ll find interesting, important, or at least amusing in its absurdity. These essays are made possible by — and are exclusive to — our VIP supporters. If you’d like to join us, take advantage of our 60% off promotion.”

VDH: Will Harvard Go Full Hillsdale?

Harvard University has rejected various demands of a presidential commission on anti-Semitism.

The task force wants to persuade Harvard to ensure Jewish students on its campus are no longer harassed, or else lose its federal funding.

Harvard retorts that it won’t be bullied by Washington.

Among its other requirements, the Trump administration also warned Harvard to cease using race as a criterion in its admissions, hiring, and promotion, contrary to law.

And it also directed the campus to ban the use of masks that, in the post-COVID era of protests, have emboldened violent demonstrators with anonymity.

The administration’s order to stop race-based bias was in accordance with civil rights statutes, and a recent Supreme Court decision specifically banning affirmative action at Harvard and elsewhere.

No matter. Harvard claimed that the Trump administration infringed upon its First Amendment rights.

So, it has temporarily rejected the administration’s orders. At least for now, Harvard has lost its annual $2.2 billion grant of federal funds.

Former President Barack Obama, among others, lauded Harvard’s rejection of the demands of the administration’s anti-Semitism task force. He claimed the Trump administration’s efforts were ham-handed.

But what academic freedom are Harvard and Obama talking about? The freedom to discriminate and segregate by race in hiring, admissions, dorms, and graduations?
…
Hillsdale does not take federal money, period—whether doled out by either a Democrat or Republican administration.

If Harvard cares for its principles, such as they are, more than your money, they’ll have to go Full Hillsdale.

HISTORY: Lexington and Concord: 250 Years Later.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Why the Left Self-Censors in Trump 2.0 Era. “Stars are either censoring their own work or finding their voices silenced by fellow progressives. This time, it’s all tied to President Donald Trump. The Commander in Chief, they fear, might punish them for speaking up.”

Everybody wants to believe they’re Trump’s Enemy #1.

GOOD LORD: Georgia Factory Used Forced Labor of Trafficked Chinese Migrants.

HMM: Astronomers say they’ve found strongest ever ‘hints’ of life beyond our solar system.

Astronomers announced Thursday that they had detected the most promising “hints” of potential life on a planet beyond our solar system, though other scientists expressed skepticism.

There has been vigorous debate in scientific circles about whether the planet K2-18b, which is 124 light-years away in the Leo constellation, could be an ocean world capable of hosting microbial life, at least.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a British-US team of researchers detected signs of two chemicals in the planet’s atmosphere long considered to be “biosignatures,” indicating extraterrestrial life.

On Earth, the chemicals dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide are produced only by life, mostly microscopic marine algae called phytoplankton.

Developing. Slowly, but developing.

WELL, YES: Trump Plans to Use Tariff Negotiations With 70 Nations to Isolate China.

Trump is also trying to engineer another Sino-Russian split, but that effort isn’t going as well and is likely premature.

WHAT IS A WOMAN? JK ROWLING IS A WOMAN, A GENUINELY TOUGH WOMAN:

Maugham has an unblemished professional record in the same way that I have an unblemished karaoke record: misplaced confidence followed by making a complete tit of yourself. pic.twitter.com/a3gR3bWRBA

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 16, 2025

NICE: Israeli Soldiers Rescue Dog Kidnapped on Oct. 7.

IMPRESSIVE: High School Student Discovers 1.5 Million Potential New Astronomical Objects by Developing an A.I. Algorithm. “Matteo Paz from Pasadena, California, recently won the first place prize of $250,000 in the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search for combining machine learning with astronomy. Self-described as the nation’s ‘oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors,’ the contest recognized Paz for developing his A.I. algorithm. The young scientist’s tool processed 200 billion data entries from NASA’s now-retired Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope. His model revealed 1.5 million previously unknown potential celestial bodies.”

CHANGE? Meet the Man Who Murdered the Democratic Party. “A pair of earthshattering, history-altering, Chris Christie-sized stories broke this week, but they’ve (mostly) skated beneath the political periphery. That’s because you can’t grasp the sheer enormity of the consequences until you connect them together.”

I’VE HAD SIMILAR THOUGHTS: Is It August 1941 Again? If So Is There A Chinese Operation Z In The Works?

For many years before the United States entered World War II, tensions between the United States and Japan escalated. In the months prior to December 7, 1941, those tensions reached the breaking point. Responding to the Japanese occupation of airfields in French Indochina, the U.S. froze all Japanese assets on July 26, 1941. On August 1st, it imposed an embargo on oil and gasoline exports to Japan. Without those exports, the Japanese economy and military would grind to a halt.

The Japanese were faced with a clear choice. The sanctions imposed by the United States were a fatal blow to Japan’s economy. Tokyo could knuckle under, or it could strike first.

That didn’t work out very well.

EITHER THE NUKES HAVE TO GO OR THE REGIME DOES: Netanyahu Says Iran’s Nuclear Program ‘Must Be Eliminated’ As U.S. Set to Meet With Iran Again.

JOYLESS GUARDIAN WRITER SAYS: The Blue Origin flight showcased the utter defeat of American feminism.

This lede is just too precious for writer Moira Donegan’s utter lack of self-awareness while decrying our lack of self-awareness: “There are some spectacles of US decadence and decline that almost seem too on the nose – the sort of orgies of vulgar provocation or fantastic lack of self-awareness that exceed the limits of parody, so that if they were in a novel, you’d think the writer was laying it on a little thick.”

Say what you will about the merits of Blue Origin’s all-female passenger flight but those women touched the edge of space on an American-built joyride that you can’t get in Britain at any price.

If that’s decadence and decline, then what do you call Britain’s ongoing dewesternization?

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Loading Up on Popcorn to Watch Trump Break Harvard. “No one on the Right has even taken a brief, easy run at the grifters in Academia before. President Trump is going after them and their money hard. There’s a lot at stake here. The rot in Academia is so deep that getting rid of it without burning it all down (a guy can dream) can’t be done with halfhearted measures.”

UNEXPECTEDLY! David Hogg Turning Out to Be a Terrific Pick for DNC Vice Chair.

It has been a busy spring since winning a Democratic National Committee Vice Chair post [Beege adds: 1 of 5 VCs], an event I can only attribute to the current state of Democratic Party upheaval and disarray, and, evidently, the overwhelming lack of a single, sane member.

Hogg’s ascension was the lunatic cherry on top of the DNC Crazy Town sundae – we all know who’s in charge of the asylum now.

It didn’t take the twee lad long to exercise his tremendous powers of persuasion. Two weeks after winning, DNC members were already being persuaded that this attention Hogg was a big mistake.
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Some were questioning the wisdom of elevating a media-made creature of so little accomplishment, particularly at a time when the party was being held in so little regard.

When you’re considered too young and callow for the party currently going all-in on AOC as the party’s future…

ICYMI: You’ll Never Believe What Slow Learners the Democrats Are. “Democrats want their party to become more progressive than what, exactly? Sorry, I didn’t mean to mislead you, but this actually raises a whole host of questions about current progressive policies and proposals — and I don’t even need to drink my lunch before asking them all.”

COMMIES LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING: China’s Defense Budget Is Bigger than You Think.

During the Cold War, the United States never trusted its adversaries’ claims about their capabilities. Instead, it always sought to verify them through intelligence analysis. Today, China’s impressive and aggressive military expansion, allegedly achieved on a shoestring budget, should raise eyebrows, even from typically credulous consumers of official CCP reports. Specifically, China reported at the National People’s Congress (NPC) earlier this month that its defense budget included total expenditures of only $245 billion.

Historically, these reports are intentionally vague and conveniently oversimplified. This year’s announcement is no different. It’s hard to know what the real numbers are. Still, it’s even harder to believe China’s officially reported military budget of $245 billion, which would equate to an implausibly low 1.5 percent of GDP.

The U.S. Defense Department’s 2024 China Military Power Report estimated that China’s 2024 military budget was publicly understated by at least 40–90 percent. The DOD has not yet released its 2025 China Military Power Report, but we can infer from perennial experience that the same is true again this year; China’s real military expenditure, accounting for all (or at least some) “off-budget spending,” probably amounts to between $330 and $450 billion. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) has estimated the real Chinese defense budget is as high as $700 billion—and that was last year.

The CCP has expanded its military budget by at least 7.2 percent for two consecutive years. However, that figure itself also comes from official CCP reports and should be regarded with skepticism.

One thing is certain. China isn’t indulging in the fastest peacetime naval expansion in history on a $245 billion budget.

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: A HUGE Win for Free Speech: Rubio Shuts Down Controversial State Department Office.

A TRILLION HERE AND A TRILLION THERE…: ‘Massive Numbers’: Trump’s Economic Agenda Sparks $7 Trillion In Investment.

FAIL, BRITANNIA: Once-Great Britain Took Another Big Step on the Road to Venezuela.

HMM: Chinese factories are taking the trade war somewhere new.

Chinese suppliers have been flooding American social media this week, urging users to outflank President Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs on Beijing by buying directly from their factories.

One TikTok user, who goes by Wang Sen, claims that he is the original equipment manufacturer for most luxury brands, while standing in front of a wall of what appear to be ultra-spendy Birkin bags. OEMs work behind the scenes to make the products that another company then sells under its own brand.

“Why don’t you just contact us and buy from us? You won’t believe the prices we (will) give you,” he said in one clip.

His video was later taken down by the app. In the meantime, though, DHgate, an online wholesale store infamous for selling Chinese dupes of luxury goods, has shot to #2 on the US Apple app store. Another app, Taobao, China’s OG e-commerce site, is at #7.

It’s highly improbable that these are real suppliers for brands like Lululemon and Chanel, multiple experts told CNN. Legitimate manufacturers usually sign non-disclosure agreements, so it’s unlikely that these creators are selling the real thing.

Or they’re desperate enough to try, regardless. Who knows? So caveat emptor.