Rees-Mogg, Xi Jinping, Beverly Hills, WeWork, David Beckham
Caracal Global Daily
March 26, 2019
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross
Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia
Caracal Global Daily = News + Analysis at the Intersection of Globalization + Disruption + Politics
TOP FIVE
✔️ Rees-Mogg signals readiness to back May’s Brexit deal
✔️ Italy’s hug makes China feel warm inside
✔️ How eating habits changed at George Mason University when delivery robots came to the campus
✔️ Release of Mueller report sets off political tussle
✔️ Apple looks to TV as part of its own digital ecosystem
ROSS RANT
Time and money
“I can’t afford it.”
“I don’t have the time.”
…almost always means, “this is not a priority.”
When we care, it’s amazing how much we can get done. One way to choose to care is to be clear about your priorities, which means being clear in your language.
And so we can say to ourselves, “I’d love to do that, but it’s not a priority.”
Remarkable work is usually accomplished by people who have non-typical priorities.
-- Seth Godin
GLOBALIZATION
UK Parliament votes to take control of Brexit from May: WSJ reports, Britain’s Parliament moved to pry control of the Brexit process away from Prime Minister Theresa May, forcing votes on alternatives to her unpopular plan to extract the UK from the European Union.
Rees-Mogg signals readiness to back May’s Brexit deal: FT reports, leading Eurosceptic issues warning after MPs vote to take control of EU withdrawal process.
Robert Shrimsley: Brexit paralysis pulls Tories towards an early election: Forcing the parties to clarify their positions would ideally create a majority.
France: President Macron, Jean-Claude Juncker, Xi Jinping, and Angela Merkel meet in Paris to discuss global governance.
“We would like to make progress renovating multilateralism. We have divergences, obviously in the history of humanity power does not go without rivalry, none of us are naive,” Macron said after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. “But we respect China and are determined to have dialogue and cooperation.”
Chinese investments in Europe: German EU commissioner floats EU veto right: DW reports, alarm bells are ringing over Italy's involvement in Beijing's infrastructure project. EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger thinks an EU veto over future Chinese deals in Europe could protect the continent.
Virginia Postrel: Italy’s hug makes China feel warm inside: The first G-7 country to join Belt and Road embraces Beijing’s benign view of its place in the world.
European Parliament to vote on controversial copyright reform: DW reports, will the reform of European Union copyright law herald the downfall of the digital era as we know it, or is it merely a matter of compensating artists? The European Parliament is set to vote on the landmark dispute.
Australia weighs laws against ‘weaponised’ social media: FT reports, PM wants to make groups accountable for content after Facebook streaming of NZ attacks.
Mexico asks Pope Francis and Spanish king to apologize for colonialism: DW reports, Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador told the Spanish king and the Vatican that "wounds are still open" from the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1521. The Spanish government was not amused.
DISRUPTION
Beverly Hills weighing ban on all tobacco sales: The famed city of Beverly Hills is considering a ban on the sale of all tobacco products. The city’s health commission is meeting today to finalize its recommendation, which it will present to city officials in May.
How eating habits changed at George Mason University when delivery robots came to the campus: WP reports, in the two months since the robots arrived, an extra 1,500 breakfast orders have been delivered autonomously, say the companies that run the service.
30 legendary startup pitch decks and what you can learn from them http://bit.ly/2SMNA2C
Kara Swisher: Owning a car will soon be as quaint as owning a horse: The shift away from private vehicles will happen faster than we think.
Brain ‘creates cells until well into old age’: The Times reports, The human brain produces new cells well into its twilight years, according to a study. In research that may offer a new path towards understanding forms of dementia, scientists have found that the hippocampus region of the brain, used for memory and mood, generates fresh cells even in its tenth decade.
POLITICS
Release of Mueller report sets off political tussle: WSJ reports, Trump offered praise for Robert Mueller as his 2020 campaign ramped up efforts to use the special counsel’s findings as a political weapon, while Democrats set a deadline for delivery of the full Mueller report to Congress.
Republicans and Democrats angle to take the offensive after Mueller report: LAT reports, in the wake of the special counsel's report, both parties are calling for further investigations. Democrats want to examine obstruction. Republicans want to investigate the investigators.
An unnamed adviser to the President says the White House will renew its attacks on the media this week: The alleged strategy to "slam and shame the media" follows Friday's news that the so-called “Mueller Report” had been delivered -- an announcement that has prompted broadcast news to revamp schedules on the fly all weekend and into this week.
According to the Tyndall Report, the three main broadcast networks made the Russia collusion investigation the second-most-covered news event of 2018, trailing only the Kavanaugh hearings, another scandal.
Trump and Republicans seek to turn the tables in post-Mueller Washington: NYT reports, Trump denounced adversaries, calling them “treasonous” people who are guilty of “evil” deeds and saying they should be investigated themselves.
Jonathan Bernstein: Even in victory, Trump shows his weakness: Predictably, the president is overselling his supposed exoneration – and demonstrating why he’s unfit for office.
The US Gulf coast has become a net exporter of crude oil.
Digital hype aside, report says political campaigns are mostly analog affairs: NYT reports, a new report finds that, on average, campaigns in the 2018 midterm election cycle spent no more than 5 percent of their overall media budgets on digital ads on platforms like Facebook and Google.
Television ads and direct-mail campaigns remained the biggest expenses for campaigns, accounting for about half of all media spending, the group said.
Job approval of Congress: Congress' 26% job approval rating is the highest it has been in over two years.
"The Democrats won the 2018 midterms by focusing on the issues, not collusion. For most voters, politics is about their lives, not a self-righteous TV show." -- David Brooks
Election 2020: Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) announces he won't seek re-election.
Democratic candidates, pressured by party base, split on how liberal to be: WSJ reports, presidential aspirants test waters on health care, environmental policy; ‘bring on the tension.’
COMMERCE
McDonald’s to buy AI company Dynamic Yield: FT reports, the acquisition will help burger group customize its menu displays based on differing variables.
New space race on the horizon: It's going to take some deep pockets to challenge Richard Branson-backed OneWeb and Elon Musk's SpaceX. A group of private equity firms and pension funds have agreed to buy Inmarsat for $3.4B, launching the UK-based satellite operator's shares up 8.4% in London. The bidders - Apax Partners, Warburg Pincus, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board - were drawn to the "considerable potential for in-flight connectivity and the internet of things," they said in a statement.
WeWork said its loss last year doubled to nearly $2 billion.
Airbus secures $35 billion China deal in new blow to Boeing.
Nike’s Air Jordan brand is winning over European soccer fans: Bloomberg reports, the iconic basketball brand is storming onto Adidas’s home turf.
Hyundai and Kia have now recalled three million vehicles in North America since 2015.
Volvo chief warns against ‘irresponsible’ self-driving roll-out: FT reports, Hakan Samuelsson said it was “irresponsible” to put autonomous vehicles on the road if they were not sufficiently safe, because that would erode trust among the public and regulators. “We have a responsibility and everybody who’s in this business has that responsibility, because otherwise you’re going to kill a technology that might be the best lifesaver in the history of the car,” he said.
Faraday Future signs a strategic partnership with Chinese video game firm The9 to build a car in China: The jointly-owned venture will manufacture an EV based on the previously announced FF91.
Apple looks to TV as part of its own digital ecosystem: FT reports, the company is offering more services but questions over pricing remain.
JD.com and Alibaba export AI and robot logistics expertise: Nikkei reports, e-commerce giants expand delivery and warehouse solutions beyond China.
Alibaba acquires Israel-based Infinity Augmented Reality: Infinity offers AR tools for a range of Industries including gaming and healthcare.
AR > VR
SPORT
'It's a no-knickers feeling!' The healing power of wild swimming: Liz Richardson’s new show explores the transformative qualities of a freezing cold dip. http://bit.ly/2U6riJk
Brexit, a threat to Britain's sporting hegemony? AFP reports, can British sport, which has benefited massively from the opening of European borders, survive Brexit? Experts say the uncertainty created by Britain's probable EU exit could undermine the multi-billion-dollar Premier League and Formula One. Since its inception in 1992, the Premier League has become the richest football league in the world, a financial juggernaut fuelled by huge television contracts that has attracted a global audience.
Formula One divided as Brexit threat zooms into view: AFP reports, the new Formula One season is underway but the action on the track is being overshadowed by concerns over the implications of Brexit, with so many teams calling Britain home. Seven of the 10 F1 teams are based in Britain and there are nine European races this season, making the nation's impending departure from the European Union an unwanted headache even for such a globalized sport.
Sports Illustrated predicts Nats will miss playoffs, Bryce Harper’s Phillies will lose World Series: WP reports, the magazine picked Washington to win the National League pennant in four of the previous six years.
Why David Beckham is desperate to keep Inter Miami out of the suburbs: Guardian reports, the former England captain wants his team to play in downtown Miami, as soccer in North America markets itself as an urban game.
