THE BREW WITH HEADLINES

August 04, 2020 View Online | Sign Up TOGETHER WITH Good morning. In this issue: the TikTok saga from the Chinese POV, The Rock buys a sports league, we announce an exciting new podcast, and more audience participation. To everyone on the East Coast, stay dry! MARKETS NASDAQ 10,902.80 + 1.47% S&P 3,294.62 + 0.72% DJIA 26,664.93 + 0.90% GOLD 1,993.10 + 0.36% 10-YR 0.549% + 1.40 bps OIL 40.83 + 1.39% *As of market close Economy: New metaphor alert, courtesy of Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin: “Four months ago, when we did the first stimulus, we thought the economy faced a pothole and the stimulus put a plate over it so we could navigate. Now escalation of the virus may be making that pothole into a sinkhole and creating a need for a longer plate,” he said yesterday. Markets: Pothole, sinkhole, the Nasdaq glides right by. The index closed at a record high. RESTAURANT Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

Francis Scialabba Restaurants across the country are folding, but nowhere is the crisis more pronounced than the Brew’s own stomping ground.  In July, 83% of NYC bars, restaurants, and nightlife establishments weren’t able to pay full rent, according to an NYC Hospitality Alliance survey of 471 businesses. 37% couldn’t pay at all. Some landlords have tried working with battered tenants: Almost 29% waived some rent. But struggling with bills of their own, most did not.  NYC’s commercial tenant eviction moratorium expires tomorrow. The Hospitality Alliance has asked for an extension, as well as extra support for landlords.  The city has tried helping NYC allowed margs-to-go and, with indoor dining banned indefinitely, set up the Open Restaurants program to convert sidewalks, parking spaces, and even streets into outdoor dining spaces. Nearly 10,000 restaurants signed up, helping an estimated 80,000 laid-off employees get back to work. But social distancing and reduced capacity means they still aren’t bringing in enough foot traffic to cover expenses.  Open Restaurants runs through October 31, and NYC is considering options to keep it running through winter for al freezing dining. Yesterday, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised it’ll return again next year by June 1.  Big picture It’s not just restaurants. Over 2,800 NYC businesses have closed since March 1, the most of any major U.S. city, according to Yelp. Of those, minority- and female-owned businesses were likely the most vulnerable.  And the forecast is cloudier than Isaias. Small businesses account for more than 3 million jobs in the city, and so far, they’ve already lost 520,000. When the pandemic eases, a third of NYC’s 240,000 small businesses may be gone, per the Partnership for New York City. + While we’re here: 100+ execs from some of the U.S.’ biggest companies sent a letter to Congress requesting more small business aid.

GEOPOLITICS The TikTok Drama: How It’s Playing in China Not well.  By now, you’re aware that the U.S. government has essentially forced Chinese tech company ByteDance to sell its TikTok app to an American firm to keep operating in the U.S. That American firm appears to be Microsoft.  Yesterday, both Chinese citizens and the government went on the attack. The Communist Party tabloid Global Times called a forced sale the “hunting and looting” of TikTok. And hundreds of social media users took aim at ByteDance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming, who they accused of capitulating to the U.S.—China’s top economic and political rival.  In a letter to staff yesterday, Zhang conceded, “We understand their decision in the current macro environment.” “Their” refers to CFIUS, the U.S. agency that investigates mergers for national security concerns. Zoom out: On the surface, ByteDance resembles another Chinese tech company, Huawei, which has faced U.S. opposition as it’s tried to expand globally. But Huawei is more strategically important to the Chinese government than ByteDance, the FT reports, so Beijing isn’t likely to retaliate against the U.S. over TikTok.   + While we’re here: Yesterday, President Trump said the U.S. government should get a “substantial portion” of TikTok’s sale for “making it possible for this deal to happen.”

TECH Google Starts Week With a Double Shot

Google Google brushed off last week’s antitrust drama with two big announcements yesterday.  Announcement #1: A 6.6% stake worth $450 million in home security company ADT, which will sell, install, and service Google’s Nest line of home security devices. The goal is for Nest to become the “cornerstone” of ADT’s smart home business. By linking up with one of the leading home security providers, Google’s going toe-to-toe with Amazon’s Echo smart devices and Ring home security system. Announcement #2: A trio of new Pixel smartphones, including the $349 Pixel 4A that’ll start shipping this month. With competition tight in the <$500 smartphone market, Google packed the 4A with the Pixel’s famous camera, a good battery, lots of storage, and priced it lower than Apple’s budget iPhone SE. The new phone won’t get much love from carriers, which are focused on 5G compatibility, but Google also announced the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4A 5G, coming this fall with next-gen network support. Looking ahead...Samsung answers Google’s call at its Galaxy Unpacked event tomorrow.

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SPORTS The XFL Is Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Giphy But for once, that’s a great place to be. Yesterday, a group consisting of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his business partner and ex-wife Dany Garcia, and private equity firm RedBird Capital agreed to purchase the XFL for $15 million, Sportico reports. An auction for the league was set to begin just hours after the announcement. The backstory: The XFL, a fan-favorite experimental football league, is the brainchild of WWE CEO Vince McMahon. After an inaugural season in 2001 that ended in bankruptcy, the league was resurrected in 2018 before again succumbing to bankruptcy in April after the coronavirus pandemic cut its return season short. The Rock is literally the perfect buyer The Miami Hurricanes football player turned wrestling phenomenon turned cod's worst nigthmare turned Kevin Hart sidekick is an expert promoter, and says his decision to buy the league was "rooted deeply in two things—my passion for the game and my desire to always take care of the fans.” Looking ahead...don’t expect any football right away. The XFL will look to secure media partners before even thinking about launching a new season, Axios says.

SOCIAL MEDIA SnapTok? TikChat?

Spiderman meme

Remember when Snapchat released Stories and then seemingly every other social network hopped on the bandwagon? Now Snap is the bandwagon-hopper. Yesterday, it announced it's adding “a robust” music catalog to the app, giving users the ability to incorporate music in their Snaps. 

It’s a subtle-but-not-so-subtle bid to attract a potentially fractured TikTok audience that’s unclear about the future of the app in the U.S.

How it’s different: Unlike TikTok, there won’t be a public feed where you can browse through videos. And when a user clicks on a song featured in a Snap, they’ll be redirected to listen to the full song and get info about the artist and album, rather than seeing other videos using the same song.

Bottom line: With the looming entry of Instagram Reels, the short-form video app market is getting crowded. But Snap says its new feature is meant to capitalize on Snapchat's existing strengths—facilitating connections with friends (and now artists) on a one-to-one basis.

ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1961 Barack Obama president of United States 1955 Billy Bob Thornton American actor, director, and writer 1901 Louis Armstrong American musician 1900 Elizabeth queen consort of United Kingdom 1792 Percy Bysshe Shelley English poet 1929 Kishore Kumar Indian actor, singer, composer, and director

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August 04

FEATURED BIOGRAPHY Barack Obama READ MORE   FEATURED EVENT 1704 Gibraltar captured by Britain READ MORE

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MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY 2007: The U.S. space probe Phoenix was launched, and a year later it landed on Mars. Among its most-important discoveries was the existence of water ice beneath the planet's surface. [ Test your knowledge of space exploration.] 1962: American baseball pitcher Roger Clemens—who was one of the most successful pitchers in history and the first to win the Cy Young Award seven times—was born in Dayton, Ohio. [ How much do you know about baseball?] 1944: The secret annex in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and seven others were hiding was discovered by the Gestapo; all were sent to concentration camps, with only Otto Frank surviving. 1914: In response to the German invasion of Belgium, Great Britain entered World War I, declaring war on Germany. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about World War I.] 1901: Louis Armstrong, a prolifically gifted natural musician and the leading trumpeter in jazz history, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. [Take our music quiz.] 1892: Lizzie Borden's parents were murdered in Fall River, Massachusetts. [Read about 10 “trials of the century,” including the case involving Lizzie Borden.] SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY

Columnists No Matter What Happens, Joe Biden Can't Slither Out of Debating Trump Matt Vespa Maybe The Experts Should Listen To The Experts Derek Hunter Woman Punches Teen Boy in Walmart For Not Wearing Face Mask Todd Starnes As MLB Restarts, Minor League Baseball Survives and Waits Its Turn Salena Zito Trial Lawyers Looking for a $100 Billion Coronavirus Jackpot Stephen Moore House Moves to Cripple ICE and the Border Patrol Tom Homan As the Filibuster Goes, So Goes the GOP Pat Buchanan A Madhouse We Might Consider Ignoring Bill Murchison John Lewis Funeral Was a Political Event Cal Thomas ADVERTISEMENT From the People Who Brought You 2020 Jason Killmeyer Ignoring the Costs of the Rioting Robert Knight Can We Stomach a Second Shutdown? Parissa Sedghi What America Really Needs Michael Youssef The UN Failed to Address Iran's Crimes Against Humanity, It's Time For Western Democracies to Step In Tahar Boumedra Truman's Decision Saved a Million Lives William D. Balgord Video Gov. Evers: Saying Abortionists 'Execute Babies' Is 'Blasphemy' Trump blasts Schiff as 'political hack' Pelosi's condescension offers some laughs Pelosi open to border infrastructure INVESTING What Jesus Said About ‘Mask Wearers’ World’s Leading New Testament Scholar On How The Church Should Respond To Pandemic Microsoft President Responds To Cavuto Question About Treatment Of Conservatives Government Needs To Focus On The Real Public Goods A Modest Proposal to Reduce Income Inequality How Powerful Is The Fed?

Tipsheet With Police Being Attacked and Under Threat of Being Defunded, July Gun Sales Were One for the Record Books Matt Vespa Karen Bass Previously Praised the Church of Scientology and Now It's Biting Her In the Butt Beth Baumann Why Our Ambassador to South Korea’s Mustache Became a Controversial Issue Matt Vespa Why President Trump Is Calling for a Revote In a Primary Election Beth Baumann One Democrat's Hypocrisy Soars to New Heights... All Over National Parks Beth Baumann Pro-Police Groups Paint Nation's First 'Back the Blue' Street Mural in Tampa Madeline Peltzer Deutsche Bank Launches Investigation into Kushner Banker Rosemary Vrablic Micaela Burrow At Last, A Victory for Education: Maryland Governor Comes Through for Private Schools Ellie Bufkin Watch: President Trump Holds White House Press Conference Townhall.com Staff Fatal Shark Attack in Maine Strikes Fear in Beachgoers Across New England Alex Corey ADVERTISEMENT Political Cartoons Bearing Arms How The Media Lies About Guns | Tom Knighton Indiana Sheriff Won't Enforce Gun Control | Tom Knighton Latest Data Shows Continued Surge In Gun Sales In July | Tom Knighton As Dayton Anniversary Approaches, Some Upset At Lack Of Action | Tom Knighton Latinos Among Those Buying Guns | Tom Knighton