Tech Review | Tesla $TSLA And Elon Musk's Wild August Ride (video)

Tech Review (TR 2018-09-01)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Tesla $TSLA And Elon Musk's Wild August Ride (video), 2) Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in DC Sep 5, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes: Stocks, Brexit, Trade, China, News: Signal or Noise? 4)ICYMI Tech News: Google, Amazon, Facebook, AI, Paypal.

1) Tesla $TSLA And Elon Musk's Wild August Ride

$TSLA

Baby you can drive my car, Yes I'm gonna be a star

Baby you can drive my car, And maybe I'll love you

--Drive My Car (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)

Tesla $TSLA: "After considering all of these factors, I met with Tesla’s Board of Directors yesterday and let them know that I believe the better path is for Tesla to remain public. The Board indicated that they agree."--Elon Musk writing on tesla.com (Aug 24, 2018). Look on the brightside--"According to ARK Invest’s research, Tesla should be valued somewhere between $700 and $4,000 per share  in five years. Taking Tesla private today at $420 per share would undervalue it greatly, depriving many investors of the opportunity to participate in its success. In our view, given the right investment time horizon, TSLA is a deep value stock today"--ark-invest.com. On the other hand: "The corporate-governance disaster that is Tesla continues--Jim Chanos.

Tesla And Elon Musk's Wild August Recapped

Tesla and its headline-stealing CEO Elon Musk had a wild August. Here's how the drama played out on CNBC: the month began with the electric car company reporting second-quarter earnings and Musk apologizing for some recent ill-advised outbursts. But a week later, the Tesla and SpaceX founder took to the social media platform to announce that he wanted to take the company private. It set off a media firestorm that consumed the business news cycle for weeks. But near the end of August, Musk had reversed his position on going private. CNBC.com video above published Aug 30, 2018.

2) Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: House Energy & Commerce Committee Hearing Sept 5

Twitter CEO Dorsey to testify before House panel on September 5 https://t.co/8OobPpllIz pic.twitter.com/GBteJpWWXJ

— Reuters Tech News (@ReutersTech) August 25, 2018

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) announced that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify before the committee the afternoon of Wednesday, September 5, 2018, regarding Twitter’s algorithms and content monitoring--energycommerce.house.gov.

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite +2.26% | S&P 500 Index +0.93% | DJIA +0.68%  The month of August was positive: S&P 500 posted a +3% monthly rise, the Dow advanced +2.2% and the NASDAQ +5.7%.

The biggest winners in the stock market’s hottest sector in August--Technology has led the way, with AMD, Autodesk and Nvidia among the high-fliers--Marketwatch.com.

Wall Street's Charging Bull

Investing Notes:

'U.S. Consumer Confidence Surged in August to Near 18-Year High; Conference Board index climbed to 133.4 this month from 127.9 in July.' From WSJ: https://t.co/RjsexlqHlT

— Byron York (@ByronYork) August 28, 2018

• Warren Buffett Says 'I'm Buying Stocks' (video), including Apple $AAPL.

• Trade: U.S. wants quick progress on EU trade issues, officials say | reuters.com. President Donald Trump notified Congress on Friday, Aug 31, 2018, he intends to sign a trade deal with Mexico 90 days from now, and will include Canada "if it is willing," according to a statement from the U.S. Trade Representative--marketwatch.com. 

• Reality Check--No-Deal Brexit a/k/a Hard Brexit--UK Prime Minister Theresa May agrees that a no-deal Brexit 'wouldn't be the end of the world' ... the UK would continue trading--sky.com.

• US airlines cut flights to China--chinaeconomicreview.com.

• Malaysia PM confirms cancellation of $20 billion Chinese infrastructure projects--chinaeconomicreview.com.

• News: Signal or Noise? You're On Your Own: "today forty percent of the public believe the “[New York] Times” is biased and evil. And forty percent believe the same about “The Wall Street Journal.” There is no paper of record in the public’s mind. And only a few million people are paying attention to either of these outlets. Youngsters don’t read the newspaper, whether it be physical or virtual, they get their news on the fly, from multiple sources, where it originated does not matter ... Same deal for TV news. Most people don’t see it, check the ratings, they’re miniscule."--Lefsetz.com. 

If You Want to Survive this Election with Your Mental Health Intact, Turn Off the "News" and Social Media Now--charleshughsmith.blogspot.com.

 “To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week’s newspapers.”--Nassim Taleb

 "Why You Should Stop Reading News"--Shane Parrish

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• Apple $AAPL: Banking on iPhone X: Apple's new phones are the razors, services are the blades--zdnet.com.

• Alphabet $GOOGL $GOOG: Google is facing obstacles in its efforts to establish a presence in China in search, smartphones, autonomous cars, and more--NYTimes.com. Editor's note: anyone surprised?

• Alibaba Puts the Brakes on U.S. Cloud Expansion--theinformation.com.

• U.S. accuses China of `super aggressive` spy campaign on LinkedIn--reuters.com.

• Amazon $AMZN: Amazon's Twitter Army--theguardian.com.

•  GDPR is strengthening the hand of giants such as Google and Facebook in the $200 billion global digital advertising industry--reuters.com.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Bank Of England Chief Economist Warns Of Disruptive AI Threat In "Fourth Industrial Revolution"--zerohedge.com. 

• PayPal partners with Brazilian bank Itaú Unibanco--reuters.com. PayPal also announced a partnership with British bank Barclays last April.

• Trump Effect: Ford kills plan to sell Chinese-made vehicles in the United States--reuters.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Ignore The Noise About Trade Wars: Charting US Earnings Boost (video)

Stephen Auth Says Everyone Knows That The Chinese Have Been Cheating On Steel

Bloomberg.com video above published Mar 2, 2018: Michael Collins, PMG Fixed Income, Senior Investment Officer; Stephen Auth, CEO of Federated Investor Equities (federatedinvestors.com), Jonathan MacKay, Schroders Investment (schroders.com) Strategist share their views on U.S. Tariffs and the Markets on Bloomberg Markets.

Markets Now: Everything Rallies But the Dow as Tariff Tantrum Peters Out | Barrons.com March 2, 2018: "4:18 p.m. Call it a comeback. Despite the early losses, the S&P 500 finished up 0.5% at 2691.25 today, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1% to 7257.87, and the small-company  Russell 2000 climbed 1.7% to 1533.17. Even the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 70.92 points, or 0.3%, to 24,538.06, finished well off its low of the day."

Wall Street's Charging Bull

NASDAQ Composite Up 5% This Year:

Wilbur Ross Says Steel Tariffs Are About Jobs and National Security

Bloomberg.com video above published Mar 2, 2018: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discusses President Donald Trump's tariff plans with Bloomberg's David Westin on "Bloomberg Markets."

Charting the US Earnings Boost

Financial Times (ft.com) video published Mar 2, 2018: The Trump tax reforms have left US companies flush with cash, and above investing more in their businesses, are boosting returns to investors. The FT.com's US business editor breaks down the numbers.

Percent increase in Q4 2017 earnings by sector

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MacroView: Three Weeks In, 'Trump Team USA' Is Clearly Winning

Domain Mondo's weekly review of  macro economic and investing news:
 
MacroView Feature •  Ignore the MSM noise, fake news, and click bait; take off your NYTimes-WaPo goggles, and take another look: with just 3 weeks under their belt, Trump Team USA is clearly winning despite some "rookie mistakes"--

•  Majority in US Now Optimistic About Job Market | Gallup.com: "For the first time since Gallup began tracking the question in 2001, a majority of Americans (54%) say it is a "good time" to find a quality job."

•  Daily Presidential Tracking Poll | RasmussenReports.com Friday, February 10, 2017: The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance.

•  “We support the [Trump] Administration’s policies to level the global playing field and make U.S. manufacturing competitive worldwide through new regulatory standards and investment policies.”--Intel CEO Brian Krzanich in an email to Intel employees.--Intel and Trump tout new $7 billion investment to create 10000 jobs | TheHill.com: Intel Corp. announced a $7 billion investment Wednesday [Feb 8, 2017] that the company projects will create 10,000 new jobs. The company will use the $7 billion to complete its Fab 42 factory in Chandler, Arizona, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said at a meeting at the White House with President Trump. Krzanich said the decision to make the announcement with the White House was borne out of Intel’s support for Trump’s economic and trade policies.

•  Trump will get all of his Cabinet picks confirmed despite the dysfunction, obstruction, and delay tactics of "loser" Democrats on Capitol Hill.

•  Wall Street hits records again, boosted by Trump economy hopes | Reuters.com:

The Trump Rally extends its run: DJIA and S&P 500 Index (source: google.com)

•  Despite manifold predictions and chatter among Trump's critics and doomsayers inside the beltway and the coastal bubbles, this new administration hasn't come close to the disasters of other new first term Presidents. Want some facts? John F. Kennedy took office on January 20, 1961. Only 74 days after taking office, President Kennedy approved, on April 4, 1961, the CIA's disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion plan. The resulting damage to U.S. prestige globally, and foreign relations with Cuba and beyond, has now lasted for generations, but MSM doesn't want you to remember that. Journalist Glenn Greenwald nails it including the current MSM mindset:

The number of people who instantly believe every anonymous evidence-free claim from Intel community & treat it as Fact is genuinely alarming

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 12, 2017

Big portion of US "news": 1) IC anonymously dumps what it wants to public; 2) media outlets oblige, get clicks; 3) believe what feels good

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 10, 2017

•  Dear Europe re: NATO--Trump says US taxpayers no longer willing to be EU's paying patsy--NATO's target for all of  NATO's 28 member states is that defense spending equal 2 per cent of each member state's economic output. At present, only the US, UK, Estonia, Poland and Greece meet the target (even NATO member Canada falls short!). One accounting shows Germany should spend $30 billion more each year, Italy $18 billion, Spain $16 billion, and France $6 billion. One problem: increases in defense spending for many EU nations would put them in violation of EU budgetary rules, which means EU members may have to re-allocate their spending to meet NATO's target, perhaps cutting their contributions to the EU budget?--more at FT.com.

•  Chaos and confusion in the EU as "kicking the can" and "extend and pretend" nears the end, and Poland and other nations demand an overhaul of the European Union.

• Italy’s Banking Crisis Is Even Worse Than We Thought | WolfStreet.com: "The country’s Five Star Movement is gaining momentum both in the polls and in its efforts to call for a referendum on euro membership."
• Global Shipping Meltdown Mauls German Banks, Retail Investors, Taxpayers | WolfStreet.com: Germany holds 25% of global shipping loans as industry collapses.

•  At least the UK hasn't floundered and is on track for Brexit, even UK Prime Minister May is now "prepared to walk away from the European Union (EU) without a deal"-- 

British House of Commons gives green light to Brexit process:

Video above published by FT.com Feb 9, 2017.

Brexit's impact on U.K. banks?

Diamond on Brexit: "The challenge is more for Europe than it is for the UK." Video above published Feb 10, 2017, by FoxBusiness.com: Atlas Merchant Capital CEO and former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond on Brexit, European banking, Atlas Merchant's strategy and the shift of regional banks to a more local focus rather than a global focus.

Who's Afraid of Brexit?  According to a PwC study, the UK's economy is set to grow faster than any other major advanced economy up until 2050, even if the UK takes a significant financial hit as a result of its exit from the European Union:

source: Statista

Trump and the ‘One China’ policy

US President Donald Trump has told Chinese president Xi Jinping that he will respect the “One China” policy, in his first conversation with the Chinese leader since entering the Oval Office. The move is expected to ease tensions between the two powers. Video above published by FT.com Feb 10, 2017.

•  It's Not Just Trump Derangement Syndrome affecting Coastal Bubble Elites and MSM: Some investors [and news media] really are this stupid | evidenceinvestor.co.uk: "The Super Bowl Indicator is, of course, complete and utter nonsense. But that still hasn’t stopped at least half a dozen semi-respectable media outlets in the United States discussing its significance over the last few days."

One More Thing: 

"If man is not to do more harm than good in his efforts to improve the social order, he will have to learn that in this, as in all other fields where essential complexity of an organized kind prevails, he cannot acquire the full knowledge which would make mastery of the events possible. He will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve, not to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiwork, but rather to cultivate a growth by providing the appropriate environment, in the manner in which the gardener does this for his plants.”--Friedrich von Hayek, Nobel Prize Lecture 1974

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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MacroView: Ignore the Noise, Stay the Course, Full Speed Ahead

Domain Mondo's weekly review of  macro economic and investing news:

MacroView Feature • Much to the chagrin of certain establishment elites, their biased liberal media, Democratic Party cohorts and comrades who believe in denying free speech, particularly on college campuses, U.S. markets and investors are moving ahead despite MSM's attempts to generate a toxic atmosphere using "journalists" who have no interest in accurately or ethically reporting the "news," just their "noise." See Errors From The Press Are Piling Up In Trump's First Days | DailyCaller.com and Fake news rises on left | Axios.com: "Fake news is rising on the "disempowered" left ... The Atlantic's Robinson Meyer discovered that progressives now face their "own kinds of hoaxes and fables"..." and The 1st Annual Fake News Award Winners | LifeZette.com: "The mainstream media had some big ones — here are seven of the 'best'."

The Trump Rally has regained its footing on Wall Street:

CNN learns a hard lesson from Donald Trump | WashingtonTimes.com: Donald Trump, a new kind of politician, shows no fear of the press "... He’s not afraid of the press ... This stuns some of the journalists, who are not accustomed to being called for their own mistakes." See also Bret Easton Ellis: Trump is President, get over it | IrishExaminer.com: "Speaking as he launched his art exhibition in central London alongside multimedia artist Alex Israel, Bret said: “I didn’t vote Trump, I’m just saying the hysteria is bothering me a lot more than the reality of what he’s doing."

NEC's Gary Cohn on U.S. Jobs Report, Regulations:

President Trump's National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn discusses the Trump administration's focus on growing U.S. jobs and wages and their approach to banking regulations and trade. He speaks with Bloomberg's David Westin on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas" on Friday, February 3, 2017.

•  The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday, February 3, 2017, shows 54% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance.

•  Australian Media Has a Very Different Understanding of What Just Happened with President Trump | ijr.com: “Malcolm Turnbull thought he could outsmart Donald Trump and trap him into taking 1,250 of our boat people,” Andrew Bolt wrote in the Herald Sun of Melbourne. “Huge mistake, and now he's been humiliated.” Bolt's fellow columnist at the Herald Sun, Rita Panahi, wrote that “you have to admire Donald Trump's powers of perception. It took months for most of the media and much of the public to figure out the P.M. is a dud — Trump did it in just 25 minutes.”

•  Trump Effect: Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, plans to propose a widespread economic U.S.--Japan cooperation package to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the U.S., when he meets with Trump next week--"A $150 billion investment in U.S. infrastructure, funded by Japan's government and other private sources, over 10 years. The focus points, per Japanese media, would be high-speed trains, liquefied natural gas facilities in Asia to help expand exports of U.S. natural gas, and expanding nuclear energy-related sales. If implemented, the plan is expected to generate $450 billion in new business."--Axios.com

•  Mad Dog an "instant hit" in Asia | Axios.com: "That's how the Associated Press describes the welcome given to Trump's Secretary of Defense [retired U.S. Marine Corps General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis] in Japan and South Korea ... " Why it matters: China has been making illegitimate territorial claims and actively working to dominate and initmidate its Asian neighbors.

•  U.S. crude oil exports will surpass production in four OPEC nations in 2017, due to a resurgence in shale oil and gas, which Trump is counting on to create jobs and rebuild roads, schools and bridges, and may grow even more according to Bloomberg.com.

•  Extreme obstruction tactics by Senate Democrats are backfiring. A boycott of the Senate Finance Committee by Democrats in an attempt to thwart Trump's Cabinet nominees was cheered by liberal activists but "infuriated" Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who called the tactic "pathetic" and Democrats "idiots." Committee rules require at least one member from each party to be present for a meeting, but when Democrats boycotted the Committee, the Committee's Republicans simply changed the rules Wednesday to allow confirmation votes to proceed: “We took some unprecedented actions today due to the unprecedented obstruction on the part of our colleagues," Hatch said. The longer the unprecedented Democratic obstruction and grandstanding goes on, the more skilled Republicans in Washington will become at changing rules and procedures, which will leave Democrats with even less power than they otherwise have now. (Not a smart strategy if you're a Dem.)

•  Trump Cabinet status report on three of the most important positions for investors:

• Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson, confirmed and sworn-in February 1, 2017;
• Secretary of Commerce: Wilbur Ross, approved by committee January 24th, awaiting Senate confirmation
• Treasury Secretary: Steven Mnuchin, approved by committee February 1, 2017, awaiting Senate confirmation

Rex Tillerson is one of Trump's best picks, it has been a long, long time since the U.S. has had a Secretary of State of his caliber:

Video above: Newly-confirmed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke to State Department employees for the first time on Thursday, February 2, 2017.

Just think, we don't have to worry anymore about having a politician Secretary of State maintaining a homebrew email server with classified material, blaming Benghazi and Mideast violence on a YouTube video, exclaiming "what difference does it make" when American lives are lost, disclaiming responsibility for incidents like Benghazi, making a mess of Syria and Libya, or 'leveraging' her position as Secretary of State in various "pay to play" schemes.

•  Get Over It! "The worst-kept secret inside Democratic circles is how bitter Hillary Clinton's team is at President Obama over her election loss. We have heard from numerous, anguished people in Clinton-land blaming Obama -- more than Putin, FBI Director James Comey or, um, Hillary herself -- for the defeat."--Axios.com

•  President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, will be confirmed:

1. He is eminently qualified and has wide support, e.g., Special report on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch | rcfp.org:  Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press finds Judge Gorsuch's decisions in libel and invasion of privacy cases reflect solid First Amendment principles.
2. Chuck Todd said on NBC's live coverage of Trump's announcement that Gorsuch is so impressive that his confirmation "should be a layup -- he meets all of the criteria ... made an incredible first impression." Chuck said that in this environment, confirmation will still be "noisy" because of the pressure on Dems from their base. Nevertheless, "I think it's going to be much harder for them to unify and be against and force a filibuster after he spends one-on-one time with them."--Axios AM | axios.com
3. Ultimately, the Democrats cannot stop confirmation--115th Congress (2017-2019): Senate Majority Party: Republican (52 seats); Minority Party: Democrat (46 seats) + 2 Independents who caucus with the Democrats. Total Seats in the U.S. Senate: 100, and Vice President Mike Pence can vote to break any ties. Currently a successful filibuster threat requires a supermajority of 60 needed in favor of cloture, in order to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. Republicans have the option to invoke the nuclear option which would change the rules to allow Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed by simple majority without threat of filibuster. President Trump has already indicated that if necessary, Senate Republicans should invoke the nuclear option in order to confirm Gorsuch. Rejections of Supreme Court nominees are relatively uncommon, the Senate has explicitly rejected only twelve Supreme Court nominees in its history. The most recent rejection of a nominee by vote of the full Senate occurred thirty years ago when the Senate refused to confirm Robert Bork in 1987.

•  Brexit is on!
UK Lawmakers Approve Brexit Measure In Key Vote:

Video above published Feb 1, 2017: CNBC.com's Wilfred Frost reports that the first measure put to the U.K. Parliament on Brexit has passed 498 votes in favor to only 114 opposing.

•  Italy Increasingly Likely to Abandon the Euro | MishTalk.com: "The only missing ingredient is an early election. And early elections are now the odds-on favorite."

•  Trump Looms Over EU Summit: "U.S. President Donald Trump loomed over a Mediterranean gathering of European leaders ... annoyed by the new U.S. President’s biting remarks about the viability of the EU project ..."--Bloomberg.com. See also How France has become the number one target for extremists in Europe and has been repeatedly brutalised in terrifying new war against terror | thesun.co.uk and French soldier shoots, wounds machete-wielding attacker at Paris Louvre | Reuters.com: Paris, Fri Feb 3, 2017: The man shouted Allahu Akbar and rushed at police and soldiers before being shot.

•   Is Germany a Currency Manipulator? China? Arguably Yes, Under Bill Obama Signed: Full Blown Currency War on Deck | MishTalk.com: "Germany and China each meet at least 3 of the 4 criteria. China may meet all four. Trump may decide 3 out of 4 is enough; and US manufacturers and steel producers will be egging him on to do just that. A bill that Obama likely never meant to use, is now a huge sword in Trump’s hand."

One More Thing: The Central Banks Pull Back: Now It's Up to Fiscal Policy to "Save the World" | charleshughsmith.blogspot.com: Remember when the financial media was in a tizzy of excitement, speculating on what new central bank expansion would send the global markets higher in paroxysms of risk-on joy? Those days are gone ...


-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

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TechReview: Facebook's Anti-Trump Fake News, Was It Effective?

Domain Mondo's weekly review of technology news:

Feature •  Facebook anti-Trump fake-news writer: "There’s nothing you can’t write about now that [some] people won’t believe. I can write the craziest thing about Trump, and [some anti-Trump] people will believe it. I wrote a lot of crazy anti-Muslim stuff — like about Trump wanting to put badges on Muslims, or not allowing them in the airport, or making them stand in their own line — and [some] people went along with [believed] it!"--WashingtonPost.com

In other words, if you were a Hillary supporter you were more likely to believe anything derogatory about Trump you saw published online (and the reverse was likewise true for Trump supporters). Is anyone surprised by this? You shouldn't be--followers applaud fake news that agrees with their own pre-existing opinions, and people who disagree are more likely to be the fact checkers.

But does fake news change opinions? The answer is: No. Why? Confirmation bias--"people aggressively avoid ideas that challenge their basic philosophy and opinions. Social media has become an echo chamber, an exercise in preaching to the choir and other members of your own tribe. I’ll end this by posing just one request: If anyone switched their vote because of a Facebook post or a 140-character squib on Twitter, please let me know. I’ll be waiting."--Barry Ritholtz, Facebook Didn't Tilt the Election | Bloomberg.com.

The real problem isn't "fake news," instead it is the "misinformation crisis" in mainstream media (MSM)--According to Snopes, Fake News Is Not the Problem | backchannel.com: "... The misinformation crisis, according to Binkowski, stems from something more pernicious. In the past, the sources of accurate information were recognizable enough that phony news was relatively easy for a discerning reader to identify and discredit. The problem, Binkowski believes, is that the public has lost faith in the media broadly — therefore no media outlet is considered credible any longer ..." And for good reason.

That's why purging what someone arbitrarily or subjectively judges to be "fake news" is nothing less than censorship, the repression of free speech and free market competition in favor of  MSM channels that have lost credibility and trust. Facebook, Twitter, whatever:

@wikileaks all fair points. We are working to get here

— 🚶🏽jack (@jack) July 21, 2016

Here's where it starts to get scary:

Photo of Google/Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt wearing Clinton campaign "staff" badge pic.twitter.com/uZANaEwOPD

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 17, 2016

Will the Censorship "Fake News" Purge work? Doubtful. Inside Gab: The New Twitter Alternative Championed By The Alt-Right | FastCompany.com: "The purge is happening. At least according to the universe of alt-right users on social media: Many of them claim that in recent days their Twitter accounts have been suspended and that their posts on Facebook are not being promoted or shared like they used to. It’s all part of a crackdown on "fake news" in the wake of reports that misleading reports shared on Facebook and Twitter helped influence the election. To many, these efforts are an overdue attempt to maintain online civility. But to others it’s blatant censorship."

"Careful studies of media bias in the US show that most newspapers and radio or TV stations don’t try to persuade their readers and viewers; instead, they pander to the biases of their audience. It is hard to combat naive realism because the illusion that we see the world objectively is such a powerful one. At least I’ve not had to worry about it too much myself. Fortunately, my own perspective is based on a careful analysis of the facts, and my political views reflect a cool assessment of reality rather than self-interest, groupthink or cultural bias. Of course, there are people to the left of my position. They’re idiots. And the people on my right? Maniacs."--Tim Harford, Delusions of objectivity

Final Post-Election Memo: What Does The Election Mean For Us?: "President Obama never sold a subscription for us or wrote a line of code for us and neither will Donald Trump. Who the President is will not make us successful (or not successful). That is on us. Ignore the noise."--CBinsights.com

Other Tech News:

•  Google commits to massive new London HQ: A new 10-story building that will be as long as London's Shard is tall, Google's new headquarters in London will have 650,000 square feet of floorspace (60,400m2), and will lie alongside King’s Cross station. Google will also continue to occupy its current building in the development, a 380,000 square feet office at 6 Pancras Square which accommodates 2,500 employees. Construction on a second building that Google will occupy but not own began earlier this year, with Google slated to be moving in in 2018. In contrast, the new headquarters will be designed and owned by Google, a first outside the United States.--more at TheGuardian.com

•  SpaceX seeks U.S. approval for internet-via-satellite network: an orbiting digital communications array that would eventually consist of 4,425 satellites--Reuters.com

•  Tencent Holding's (TCEHY) CEO Pony Ma on Q3 2016 Results | Earnings Call Transcript | Seeking Alpha.com: "So, I think in terms of the mobile game business performance versus our expectations in the industry, we disclosed our mobile game revenue grew over 80% year-on-year. So you can assume that we're very happy with 80 something percent year-on-year revenue growth."

•  The Void Within Apple | SeekingAlpha.com: No one seems to be in overall charge of the product.

•  How Casino Technology Enables Gambling Addiction: "Modern slot machines develop an unbreakable hold on many players—some of whom wind up losing their jobs, their families, and even, as in the case of Scott Stevens, their lives."--TheAtlantic.com. Electronic gaming machines, which now number almost 1 million nationwide, are the prevalent mode of gambling today in the U.S., with variations on slots and video poker. This technology has accelerated gambling addiction and reaped huge profits for casino operators, with a significant amount of revenue coming from just a small percentage of customers playing machines designed to lull them into a trancelike state that the industry refers to as ‘continuous gaming productivity.’

•  Canada and U.S. (FCC) agree to work together against robocalling (pdf)

•  Goodbye & Good Riddance: US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, known for combating Edward Snowden and lying under oath to Congress, resigns ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump--TheGuardian.com. See HasJamesClapperBeenIndictedYet.com.

Farewell, James Clapper https://t.co/GbLrt3kaoM

— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) November 17, 2016

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on hacks and Russia. #SpecialReport pic.twitter.com/V1FvzH8FG8

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 16, 2016

AP: James Clapper has resigned stating: intelligence agencies don't have good insight on when or how Wikileaks obtained the hacked emails.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 17, 2016

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