Extra, Extra
Moving Target: As Taylor Swift’s year-defining Eras era comes to a close, she has one more market to move. While more and more shopping moves online, the previously struggling Target had a pretty darn good Black Friday. They are the exclusive sellers of the The Eras Tour Book. Taylor Swift might just save Target’s Christmas.
+ Quarter Horsepower: So much for the grass roots. This election (and the next four years) was all about billionaires. One in particular. Elon Musk spent a quarter-billion dollars electing Trump, including financing mysterious RBG PAC. Consider that Musks net worth is about 337.3 billion. It cost him less than the .3 to win an election and become perhaps the world’s most powerful person.
+ Healthcare Hitman: “‘This is a smart guy. This has been very well planned out. Being on a bus, he would be inconspicuous and would not have to go through all the problems that would arise at an airport with a gun.’ But the thing he didn’t account for, Long said, was being asked to drop his mask by a clerk at his hostel — a moment that ultimately gave investigators crucial surveillance footage of his face.” The healthcare hitman is still on the loose. Amazing he’s been able to hide for this long in NYC in this era of widespread camera coverage. Here’s the latest.
+ An Apple a Day: “Much as the CEO seems awestruck by AI and his just-released Apple Intelligence, he’s more convinced that the tech giant’s health apps will define the company’s legacy.” Tim Cook Wants Apple to Literally Save Your Life. (Hopefully the health apps are more accurate than the AI notification summaries…)
+ Ballot Boxers: “A top Romanian court on Friday annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election, days after allegations that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round.” (Anyone else sensing a trend?)
+ Assad Ending? “Islamist-led rebels are closing in on Syria’s third largest city Homs The rebels seized Hama to the north on Thursday, a second major blow to President Bashar al-Assad who lost control of Aleppo last week. Their goal is the overthrow of Assad’s regime.” Syrian rebels close in on Homs as Russia tells its citizens to leave country.
+ Tik Block:“A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a law banning TikTok nationwide unless the viral video app was sold off by its China-based parent company, rejecting TikTok’s claim that the crackdown violates the free speech rights of millions of Americans.” Now we all have to keep swiping to see what the Supreme Court thinks.
+ Court Orders: “At the company’s plant amid the forests of the Upper Peninsula, workers traversing a maze of conveyors, saws and other machinery dried, cut, planed and shaved strips of wood during the two 10-hour shifts that run six days a week.” A really cool look at a company that makes basketball courts for everyone from high schools to the NBA. NYT (Gift Article): The Midwestern Roots, and Woods, of N.B.A. Courts.
