Extra, Extra
The Swift and the Barrier: “After 10 months, Swift’s U.S. tour is finished, but so are most of the meaningful reforms consumer advocates and industry groups had hoped to pass this year.” Outrage so often dissipates before change happens. After outrage over Taylor Swift tickets, reform has been slow across the US. Meanwhile. Swift just altered the landscape in another economy. Her Eras Tour movie broke presale records in less than three hours.
+ Freeze Frame: He seems to be OK for now, but this week’s “freeze” is a reminder that, even if you dislike him, If Mitch McConnell Goes, the Senate Could Get Very Scary. Of course, Mitch isn’t the only old politician. Susan Glasser in The New Yorker: The Twilight of Mitch McConnell and the Spectre of 2024. “What if Biden has his own McConnell moment? Imagine it happening in the latter days of the 2024 campaign, with Trump as the Republican nominee and the fate of the free world itself on the line. This is hardly an implausible hypothetical.”
+ Gutter Guards: From the Senate to the states, in many cases there are just a handful of officials keeping things from going off the rails. In Georgia, Gov Kemp is an increasingly lonely GOP voice trying to keep the state from punishing Fani Willis for prosecuting a crime we all saw with our own eyes. And there are fewer and fewer members of Congress willing and able to stand up to the coming madness. Kevin McCarthy: House impeachment inquiry into Biden is a ‘natural step forward.’
+ Jetski Conditions: “The Algerian coastguard has shot dead two tourists holidaying in Morocco who reportedly strayed into Algerian waters on their jet skis.”
+ Bear Market: “The move delivers a life preserver to the athletic departments at Stanford and Cal, which were left twisting amid the Pac-12’s implosion. Stanford has an athletic department that is considered the gold standard in college athletics. Both will face increased travel costs, which will significantly impact a Cal athletic department that faces hundreds of millions in debt.” ACC adds Stanford, Cal, SMU as new members beginning 2024-25. Chalk this up as a horrible outcome that was better than the remaining alternatives. Slate: College Football Will Never Look the Same Again. Amazing they still get to use the word college at all.
+ There Goes the Neighborhood: Tech Billionaires Launch California ‘Utopia’ Website: See Renderings, New Details.
+ Splitter: “Would he be able to keep kosher while making his way through the small towns that populate the minors? Would he be able to properly observe the Sabbath, abstaining from riding in cars and buses and using any kind of electricity? Could professional baseball and Orthodox Judaism coexist?” WaPo (Gift Article): How the first Orthodox Jew in an MLB organization is making it work. (I’m a reform Jew, but an orthodox baseball fan.) Meanwhile, in other baseball news, Phillies fans can now enter the ballpark using facial authentication in place of a ticket. This tech must be pretty good because Philadelphia sports fans can have some pretty strained expressions.
