“Twitter on Wednesday said it would ban all advertisements about political candidates, elections and hot-button policy issues such as abortion and immigration, a significant shift that comes in response to growing concerns that politicians are seizing on the vast reach of social media to deceive voters ahead of the 2020 election. The ban marks a break with Twitter’s social media peers, Facebook and Google-owned YouTube, which have defended their policies on political ads in recent weeks. The political ad ban might not have much impact on widely followed accounts, including President Trump’s, whose tweets already reach more than 66 million users each day. Some critics, including Democrats, have urged Twitter to block or remove the commander in chief’s tweets, arguing that his comments are incendiary or incorrect. Twitter has declined to take action, beyond stressing some narrow cases in which it would limit the reach of tweets from a head of state.” Tony Romm and Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Washington Post, MORE
“There was good news and bad news in the U.S. third-quarter GDP report released Wednesday... GDP growth slowed less than expected, dipping to 1.9%, which is above expectations of 1.6% growth. It's also well above the growth seen in developed market peers like the eurozone and Japan, which have seen growth this year between 0% and 1%, or worse... Business investment was negative for the second consecutive quarter, falling 3%, which follows a 1% decline in the previous quarter. It's a dramatic turnaround from increases of 4.4% and 4.8% in the two preceding quarters, the latest sign that President Trump's trade war is showing up in more U.S. economic data.” - Dion Rabouin, Axios, MORE
“The Fed's rate-cutting cycle went from pause to "pause lite," Fed chair Jerome Powell almost rocked the boat during the FOMC's October press conference on Wednesday after announcing a third straight cut to U.S. interest rates. Powell initially said it would take a “material reassessment” in the outlook for the Fed to change its view that no further rate cuts were needed. But minutes later he reversed course, saying that holding rates at their current levels would be appropriate as long as the outlook stayed within the Fed’s expectations...Powell's adjustment to "pause lite" reversed the decline in U.S. equities and the gains in U.S. Treasury yields” -Dion Rabouin, Axios, MORE
“Wildfires and lack of affordable housing - these are the two of the most visible and urgent crises facing California, raising the question of whether the country’s dreamiest, most optimistic state is fast becoming unlivable. Climate change is turning it into a tinderbox; the soaring cost of living is forcing even wealthy families into financial precarity. And, in some ways, the two crises are one: The housing crunch in urban centers has pushed construction to cheaper, more peripheral areas, where wildfire risk is greater. California’s housing crisis has exacerbated its wildfire crisis, and its wildfire crisis has exacerbated its housing crisis. That vicious cycle is nowhere near ending.” Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic, MORE
