Google Issuing Refunds To Advertisers Amid Fake Traffic Epidemic $GOOG

The Wall St. Journal reports that Google is now issuing refunds to advertisers who ran promotions on websites with fake traffic, typically generated by ‘bots,’ and is rolling out a new ‘transparency’ tool for marketers to better monitor ads they buy through its platform. 

Over the past few weeks Google informed hundreds of marketing partners and ad agencies about the issue with ‘invalid traffic’ also known as ‘ad fraud,’ in which ads bought using the company’s DoubleClick Bid Manager were served to sites which pay for traffic.

That said, the refunds are for just a fraction of the invalid traffic. Via WSJ:

Google’s refunds amount to only a fraction of the cost of the ads served to invalid traffic, which has left some advertising executives unsatisfied, the people familiar with the situation said. Google has offered to reimburse its “platform fee,” which ad buyers said typically ranges from about 7% to 10% of their total purchase.

The ad spending flows through to the exchanges. The problems arise when ads run on publisher sites with fraudulent traffic, including those where clicks are generated by software programs known as “bots” instead of humans. This is an issue of growing concern to marketers. It is difficult to recoup the money paid to those sites when the issue is discovered too late.

Google declined to state the dollar figure of the refunds, though some ad buyers told the Wall St. Journal that refunds range from “less money than you would spend on a sandwich” to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Advertisers aren’t too happy about the refunds, as they haven’t been given specifics about which ‘fake traffic’ sites their ads ended up on, or the specific exploits used. “We need to be very careful about commenting on or discussing specifics about bots or our detection,” Said Scott Spencer, director of product management for Google. “Often fraudsters will change their approaches and strategies based on our public comments.”

Scams within scams.

FarLeftWatch is out with another exposé on militant liberals, this time spotlighting the activities of the “Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement (RAM),” a violent leftist organization training to “radicalize a new generation of revolutionaries.”

Re-published with permission.

In the last few days, several prominent Antifa websites have been promoting the expansion of the far left group Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement (RAM). It’s Going Down, Sub.Media, and Insurrection News published articles and took to twitter to encourage their followers to donate to a Fundrazr account to help RAM launch a new cell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

What do we know about RAM? Well, according to their website:

“The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement is a political movement dedicated to freeing people from bondage and building resistance in the United States.”

Just like every other Antifa group, they oppose white supremacy, racism, and bigotry. Seems reasonable, right? But read a little further into their “Political Foundation” and you will find a few things that aren’t so reasonable.

They advocate for the abolition of gender:

They advocate for the expropriation of good, lands, and tools:

And finally, just like every other Antifa group, they oppose capitalism and are open proponents of communism. On their website they go on to say:

“as revolutionary anarchists, the abolitionist struggle must be extended to the state and capitalism, the perpetrators of oppression. The revolutionary movement in the US today is at a cross roads, as fascist movements are expanding, and the state becomes increasingly authoritarian. The Rojava Revolution, in northern Syria, provides us with a model for revolution today with its foundation in communal and council based political organization and militant defense.”

In this statement they specifically mention “The Rojava Revolution” as a model for revolution. Most of the “revolutionary fighters” involved in this conflict are Marxist and communist guerrilla groups like the IFB, YPG and specifically the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF). Not surprisingly there is a lot of cross promotion and “acts of  solidarity” between RAM and the IRPGF.

If this wasn’t enough, RAM has been conducting a series of workshops at their Brooklyn, NY branch designed to radicalize a new generation of revolutionaries. These include an “Introductory Class” a “Legal Training” workshop, an “Introduction To Anarchism” class, and even an “Our Enemies in Blue” anti-police workshop.

If you have been following our coverage of the growing far left extremist movement, this information is likely not surprising. Unfortunately, the media has now dedicated dozen of articles to normalizing and justifying the violence from Antifa and the far left. They repeatedly tell us that Antifa and these far left groups are a response to neo-Nazis and white supremacy. Why do they exclude Antifa’s militant opposition to capitalism? Why do they exclude Antifa’s proclivity towards communism, a political ideology that is responsible for the death of 94 million people? Perhaps we should ask them.

If you have any tips on far left activities please submit them here.

Brian Karem, Playboy Magazine ‘s White House correspondent who was last made headlines with his embarrassing attempt to dress down WH Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders before shouting at Mike Cernovich – tweeted that he “Met a young Hispanic boy while riding the metro,” who happened to notice his press credentials, before asking “why does the President hate me?”

Met a young Hispanic boy while riding Metro. Saw my press credentials and asked me "why does the President hate me?" @realDonaldTrump

— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) August 24, 2017

Karem, who wears his White House press credentials on the metro, was mocked incessantly on Twitter…

Met an American boy with parents who lost their jobs due to immigration. He asked – when will they #BuildTheWall?https://t.co/inECkm8Xvu

— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) August 25, 2017

Wonder if this "young Hispanic boy"'s uncle works in the same garage where @BillKristol parks. https://t.co/09h0lnzzPP

— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) August 24, 2017

Was he 9 years old? Because it's usually 9 year olds who share that kind of insight.

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) August 24, 2017

Kids don't watch press briefings…. and have no idea of your relationship to the president…. #FakeNews

— Nik Lentz (@NikLentz) August 25, 2017

….and then the kid explained how he reads playboy for the articles!!

— Nik Lentz (@NikLentz) August 25, 2017

Do you also carry War and Peace with the cover facing out? https://t.co/OSRjujZlIU

— Mike Cernovich ?? (@Cernovich) August 25, 2017

pic.twitter.com/94EECgRel9

— Jodi Lee (@APLMom) August 24, 2017

pic.twitter.com/qtz3NEzfN0

— Rich Kelsey (@RichKelsey) August 25, 2017

In what can only be called a bad week for the idiot now known as “pepper balls,” Derek Staahl of Arizona CBS channel 5 reports that Phoenix PD have arrested the man who kicked a tear gas can at police before getting shot in the crotch with a pepper ball.

The protester who kicked canister at police, then got hit in the crotch with a non-lethal round, has been arrested by Phoenix PD.

— Derek Staahl (@DerekStaahl) August 24, 2017

Look! It's Mr. Pepper Balls! His day didn't end well. ??? pic.twitter.com/LEc3pQXlu8

— Baglady (@fubaglady) August 24, 2017

‘Crush the bigots, not your nuggets” 

"Crush the Bigots, Not your nuggets"

Don't end up like Pepper Balls. pic.twitter.com/WAgnIouOxe

— Hello, Friend (@MattsIdeaShop) August 24, 2017

Meanwhile, there have been remixes…

Police hit Antifa in the nuts + Pat Benatar = Good times pic.twitter.com/wrYNAnTKRl

— Hello, Friend (@MattsIdeaShop) August 23, 2017

Protester gets hit in the nuts to the tune of "I will always love you" @benshapiro pic.twitter.com/Ol3nRPBfym

— Nick Raff (@NickRaff85) August 23, 2017

And parodies… This one is from the “AZ Antifa” satirist “Camacho” who went so far as to appear in a hospital room to parody ‘pepper balls.’

#AntiFa's "pepper balls" speaks from the hospital #PhoenixRally #PhoenixProtests pic.twitter.com/y441j6KhXy

— MicroMeatSnacks™ (@MicroChunkyChip) August 23, 2017

In other news, Americans are still drowning in debt and broke as fuck…

CNBC’s Jessica Dickler reports that while 78 precent of full time workers say they live paycheck to paycheck, 71 percent are in debt, and nearly 10 percent of those making $100,000 or more say they can’t make ends meet, according to CareerBuilder.

“Seventy-eight percent of full-time workers said they live paycheck to paycheck, up from 75 percent last year, according to a recent report from CareerBuilder.

Overall, 71 percent of all U.S. workers said they’re now in debt, up from 68 percent a year ago, CareerBuilder said.

Sorry, but if you’re making over $100,000 and you can’t make ends meet, you’re fucking up by the numbers. Move, downsize, commute further to work, cook more at home. Sure, a glorified closet in high-rent cities like San Francisco and New York start at $3K / month – but driving an extra 20 miles will cut that down enough to pay down debt and make your depression-era grandparents proud.

$1 million in the bank will conservatively net you $30 – $40k / year in passive income with enough left over for your kids to blow on cruises and cars they think they ‘earned’ by being your offspring. Social Security, if it’s still around, will provide another $20-$24k if you receive maximum benefits. If you can’t comfortably live on $100K now, much less save up for retirement, you’ll be in good company at the state-run retirement ghettos when it all runs out.

A DC Federal Judge has approved a reworked warrant seeking records from users and subscribers to anti-Trump website ‘disruptj20.org,’ which has been linked to organizers of an inauguration riot and other disruptive and illegal behavior.

The website connected users through mailing lists and planned meet-ups, and provided a calendar of anarchistic events as well as resources to help people prepare for the mayhem. The site also provides a ‘legal guide’ for those arrested.

The original warrant came under fire for its broad scope – which would have forced website host DreamHost to produce over 1.3 million IP addresses and other information on visitors to the site.

“In essence, the Search Warrant not only aims to identify the political dissidents of the current administration, but attempts to identify and understand what content each of these dissidents viewed on the website,” said DreamHost General Council Chris Ghazarian in a legal filing opposing the request.

DOJ narrows scope of request

In response, the Department of Justice said it had no idea how many records were involved, and amended the warrant to protect ‘innocent users’ from having their 1st and 4th amendment rights violated.

Via ZeroHedge: 

Chief Judge Robert Morin ruled that DreamHost, an LA-based web-hosting company, must turn over data about visitors to the website disruptj20.org, which is a home to political activists who organized protests at the time of Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president in January, many of whom have since morphed into the controversial “antifa” movement.

Morin, who will oversee review of the data, also said the government must explain what protocols it will use to make sure the data of “innocent users” is not seized by prosecutors, according to Reuters. Bloomberg adds that prosecutors would have to tell the judge which data it intended to seize.

The DOJ is still getting IP addresses though…

After privacy concerns were raised over the original warrant casting a ‘digital dragnet’ to root out political dissidents, prosecutors narrowed the scope and agreed to set aside and seal any information that doesn’t involved rioters – however their request still includes the IP addresses of those suspected of committing crimes.

So far 19 people have pleaded guilty out of over 200 who were charged with various felonies linked to the inauguration riots, which organizers used ‘disruptj20’ to verify the identity of participants who logged into the site to confirm their participation.

During Tuesday night’s 76 minute rally in Phoenix, President Trump threatened to shut down the government if his proposed border wall doesn’t receive congressional funding.

Pres. Trump in Phoenix: "If we have to close down our government, we're building that wall." https://t.co/wavOsFiEZZ pic.twitter.com/Fl7BHh6hBb

— ABC News (@ABC) August 23, 2017

“If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” he said.

The next day, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders didn’t back down from this claim.

“Look, I think the President is committed to making sure it happens, and he’s also committed to working with Congress to make sure that we move forward,” said Sanders, adding “And as I think Speaker Ryan said, it’s not necessary, so maybe that means he’s on board with making sure it happens.”

Paul stalls on the wall

Paul Ryan said earlier in the day that he doesn’t think a government shutdown will be necessary, does doesn’t think “most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included.” Ryan noted that the House had already passed funding for the wall, but that the narrowly divided Senate would need more time to act.

“The fact is though, given the time of year it is and the rest of the appropriations we have to do, we are going to need more time to complete appropriations process particularly in the Senate,” said Ryan, who added that a short-term government funding bill would probably be necessary to keep the government functioning past September.

Democrats reject

Democrat leadership shit bricks, as Nancy Pelosi said “President Trump’s multi-billion dollar border wall boondoggle is strongly opposed by Democrats and many Republicans, adding “Democrats will stand fast against the immoral, ineffective border wall and the rest of Republicans’ unacceptable poison pill riders.”

Meanwhile Chuck Schumer “If the President pursues this path, against the wishes of both Republicans and Democrats, as well as the majority of the American people, he will be heading towards a government shutdown which nobody will like and which won’t accomplish anything.”

Enter Maggie

The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman hinted in a tweet early Wednesday that “Trump is setting up a major clash with his border wall/govt shutdown threat, where WH aides say privately they’re drawing line for base.”

Trump is setting up a major clash with his border wall/govt shutdown threat, where WH aides say privately they're drawing line for base

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 23, 2017

What exactly will this showdown look like? Moreover, Trump never said the shutdown was contingent upon the wall being built – rather, the he would pull the trigger on the wall if the government shuts down. Big difference.

Hmm, I guess since that whole civil war thing isn’t exactly panning out and CNN panels are backing the President’s remarks on Charlottesville, we’re back to Muh Russia with a BRAND NEW tale of malfeasance and treason!

Except that this is truly the mother of all McNothing Burgers… which, of course, means it’s a CNN EXCLUSIVE!

Anonymous sources tell CNN that Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Rick Dearborn, received an email in June of 2016 from some guy ‘seeking to connect top Trump officials with Vladimir Putin,’ which Dearborn forwarded to campaign officials.

As an aside – I guess this means there was no preexisting back-channel, right?

Via CNN:

The person was only identified in the email as being from “WV,” which one source said was a reference to West Virginia. It’s unclear who the individual is, what he or she was seeking, or whether Dearborn even acted on the request. One source said that the individual was believed to have had political connections in West Virginia, but details about the request and who initiated it remain vague.

The same source said Dearborn in the email appeared skeptical of the requested meeting.

CNN then points out that June of 2016 is the same month as the Trump Jr. Trump Tower meeting with a Russian attorney – which was set up and attended by associates of ‘Trump Dossier’ firm Fusion GPS. DUN DUN DUN!

The Fake News Network then goes on to loop the Russians into Trump’s election win – stating “While many details around the Dearborn email are unclear, its existence suggests the Russians may have been looking for another entry point into the Trump campaign to see if there were any willing partners as part of their effort to discredit — and ultimately defeat — Hillary Clinton.”

Mayflower Hotel

While Dearborn’s name hasn’t been mentioned in conjunction with the Russia probe, CNN is also tying him to an April 2016 event at the Mayflower Hotel in D.C. which Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak attended a speech by President Trump on foreign policy.

“Dearborn was involved in helping to arrange an April 2016 event at the Mayflower Hotel where Trump delivered a major foreign policy address, sources said. Kislyak attended the event and a reception beforehand, but it’s unclear whether he interacted with Sessions there.” -CNN.

Could CNN be talking about the same Sergey Kislyak who was sitting with Democrats during Trump’s March address to congress?

Or who met with Nancy Pelosi and Claire McCaskill?

Wow, all these Russia ties are making my head spin.

Buried Truth

Of course, in another ‘anonymously sourced’ March 2016 email between Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos and top campaign officials with the reported subject line “Meeting with Russian Leadership — Including Putin.”

Of course, CNN buries this tidbit: “Sources told CNN that senior campaign officials dismissed that proposal.”

Papadopoulos apparently kept peppering the administration with emails about meeting with Russians – reportedly emailing former campaign manager Corey Lewandowsky “Putin wants to host the Trump team when the time is right.”

To sum up…

Two Trump aides forwarded emails they received regarding potential meetings between Trump and various Russians, including Putin – which senior campaign officials dismissed.

Meanwhile, Russia’s largest state-owned bank paid the Podesta group $170,000 to lobby for the removal of sanctions when Hillary was expected to win. Anyone want to look into that?

Whoops!

Six CNN panelists brought in to discuss Trump’s Charlottesville comments absolutely destroyed host Alysin Camerota’s plan to showcase Trump supporters turning on their commander-in-chief.

Unfortunately for CNN, the panel wasn’t having that shit – starting with nobody raising their hands when Camerota asked who was “troubled” by the President’s response to the violence at the rally.

In fact, one panelist BTFO of CNN’s narrative right after:

“I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I mean he addressed the problem. Let’s face reality, there are problems on both sides.”

“I think it’s ridiculous to have me choose between Hitler and Stalin which is what I consider both groups are.”

“The Antifa group to me is totally a very Stalin-ish kind of group.  If you’re willing to set fires and burn places to the ground, that doesn’t seem like a very peaceful group to me.”

When asked about whether there were “very fine people” protesting in Charlottesville – referring again to the President’s comments, Camerota’s attempts to smear Trump once again failed. Panelist Daphne Goggins replied:

“It hasn’t been investigated so we don’t really know who was out there.  But I’m telling you, I’ve seen videos of other people who were out there who were not neo-Nazis.”

Wew!

Last but not least, panelist Robert McCarthy melted the MSM’s face off when he commented on the fact that the media refuses to cover violent Antifa counter-protesters who showed up in “helmets, body armor and clubs… ready to do battle.”

 “That’s the night before the clash happened.  The Antifa people didn’t show up Friday night, they showed up Saturday.  They came there to do battle.  They showed up with helmets, body armor, clubs… They showed up with ballons filled with urine.”

“The media is not covering it.  They’re only focused on making neo-Nazis and white supremacists out to be Trump supporters.”

“He said there was trouble on both sides.  Was there not trouble on both sides?  I saw bats on both sides.”

Watch: 

Teachers in the Belgian town of Ronse are sounding the alarm over ‘radicalized’ Islamic toddlers who call their classmates “unbelieving pigs” and make throat-slashing gestures with their thumbs, according to a document titled “Indoctrination in Kindergartens,” which leaked on Monday.

“Teachers sound the alarm because even children seem to be under the influence of extremist flow within Islam,” reports Belgian newspaper The Last News.

Via nrc.nl (translated)

“This is a moment of fear,” said Belgian politician Matthias Diependaele who is a member of the Commission to combat violent radicalization. According to Diependaele, it is not a case of radicalized toddlers because “toddlers do not radicalize.” According to him, there are toddlers who pick up the hate speech at home. “Parents in the Muslim community should feel responsible for this.”

The director of the school in Ronse, Dirk Moulart, does not deny the contents of the internal document, but the affair calls a storm in a glass of water. According to him, the testimonies of four childhood juveniles about their experience with six children from three problem families known to the police.

Radicalizing the Youth

Following coordinated suicide bombings in March 2016 by Islamic terrorists all under the age of 30, Belgium has stepped up its fight against radicalization. As such, the town of Ronse has unveiled the ‘Network Islamexperts,’ for teachers to be able to report radicalized students.

So far, 481 reports have been filed in total – however school director Dirk Moulart notes that the radicalized toddlers are about one percent of the total number of children at school.

“I hope he’s right,” said Diependaele. “But it is worrying that this is now happening in Ronse, a small rural municipality in the Flemish Ardennes. I hold my heart for the situation at schools in major cities like Antwerp or Brussels. But Diependaele is pleased that Belgium’s deradicalization policy is finally taken seriously,” adding “It is staggering that we must signal these problems in this early kindergarten stage. But doing that is a good thing.”

That’s cute and all

The case of the Belgian toddlers is not an isolated incident. Radical Islamists have been using children as young as four to wage war.

Via USA Today

“Armies historically have used children as drummer boys and standard-bearers. The militant groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip teach children to hate Israelis and look forward to killing them. And like the Sri Lanka rebels, Tamil Tigers and various African and Colombian militias, groups fighting in Syria use children for spying, smuggling and combat.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, goes even further in developing a system to recruit, indoctrinate and deploy children, Horgan said.

“To desensitize them to violence, they’re shown videos of beheadings, attend a live beheading,” Bloom said.

Then the children participate in beheadings, by handing out knives or leading prisoners to their deaths, she said. The gradual process is similar to that used by a pedophile who lures a child into sex, “slowly breaking down the boundaries, making something unnatural seem normal,” she said.

After selection, children are taken from school to military training, with uniforms, marching, drills, weapons training and continued indoctrination. This period usually lasts one to two months, but if there’s a battle nearby, youngsters might be fast-tracked, Horgan said.”