Maybe it was because it was National Daughter's Day. Maybe it was because of weakness and lightheadedness associated with our Yom Kippur fast. Whatever it was, yesterday afternoon, my 15 year-old daughter who has never watched a down of football and almost never offers unsolicited personal information to me, said this: "Dad, I'm a Kansas City Chiefs fan." And so it was across the country in the hours after Taylor Swift attended the Chiefs game as Travis Kelce's guest. The NFL is America's biggest entertainment brand. Almost. This Defector headline sums things up: Football Game Played Near Taylor Swift. The bonding moments (between Taylor and Travis, my daughter and me, and Swifties and the NFL) aside, you may be wondering why I'd lead NextDraft with a salacious, voyeuristic romance story, that for all we know is fake, and which is not serious, not political, and has virtually no importance beyond good old fashioned titillation—and that we all know will eventually be covered in much greater detail in a Taylor Swift breakup song (86ing 87, Travisty, Tight End of an Era?). Well, I'm leading with TnT precisely because it's light and fun and gossipy; because I'm nostalgic for news stories that are unrelated to the impending end of American democracy. We'll get to those, believe me. But isn't it nice to spend one blurb on a topic that doesn't involve election overthrowing, indictment denying, insurrections, mugshot worshipping, government shutdowns, or Jewish Space Lasers? Who knows, if I cover this story extensively enough, maybe my daughter will even subscribe to NextDraft (editorial note: she won't). The New Yorker: "Swift and Kelce are a dream pairing for the NFL: it’s an alliance with the only cultural force in America bigger than itself. On TikTok, the official N.F.L. account changed its bio to read, 'Taylor was here.' On sports radio, in Boston, the legendary coach Bill Belichick said that Swift would be the biggest catch of Kelce’s career." Kelce-Swift Is a Dream Pairing for the NFL. (It's a dream-pairing in my household, too. At least until/if the the 49ers play the Chiefs in the SuperBowl.) 2The Bullhorn Pulpit"Lawmakers often appear at strikes to show solidarity with unions, and Biden joined picket lines with casino workers in Las Vegas and auto workers in Kansas City while seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. But sitting presidents, who have to balance the rights of workers with disruptions to the economy, supply chains and other facets of everyday life, have long wanted to stay out of the strike fray — until Biden." In an un-presidented move, Joe Biden joined the autoworkers on the picket line. 3The Path of Khan"FTC Chair Lina Khan’s meteoric rise to the helm of the antitrust enforcement agency has been closely tied to the e-commerce company. She gained national attention while still a law school student for a paper titled 'Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,' arguing the e-commerce giant constitutes an anti-competitive threat that evades political scrutiny because of the relatively narrow way the courts have interpreted antitrust law. Her paper has been at the center of a broader political movement that argues monopoly law should be more creatively and aggressively enforced, extending beyond the prices consumers pay." Lina Khan’s paper just got real. WaPo (Gift Article): U.S., 17 states sue Amazon alleging monopolistic practices led to higher prices. "In a sweeping lawsuit, the Federal Trade Commission alleges the e-commerce giant abused its powers to raise prices for shoppers and levy high fees against businesses that sell on its platform." (At this point, it doesn't look like the feds are looking to break up Amazon, so relax, your package won't be delayed...) 4Tongues Twister"What if podcasters could flip a switch and instantly speak another language? That’s the premise behind Spotify’s new AI-powered voice translation feature, which reproduces podcasts in other languages using the podcaster’s own voice." (Like everything in AI news these days, this is both incredibly promisingly and strangely disturbing. That said, this Fall I plan on offering a version of NextDraft in tongues.) 5Extra, ExtraOfficial Time Out: "'It was just exhausting,' Daniels said. 'It really was like The Twilight Zone of government service. Groundhog Day ... every day you wake up and it's the same thing over and over again. It doesn't matter how much information and data you share, it doesn't matter how many concerns you answer. There will just be a new group of critics to again dish out the new conspiracy of the day.' Daniels is part of a large group of voting officials who have decided to leave the profession since 2020 and the tension and pressure that followed Donald Trump's loss in that election." These days, the crazies are running people out of politics. They're also running people out of working on election fairness. So who will be left? You know who. In some states, more than half of the local election officials have left since 2020. 6Bottom of the NewsForget Ozempic. Just weigh yourself in Indiana. Uneven Gravity Makes You Weigh More in Illinois Than in Indiana. "A number of factors cause you to be lighter or heavier in different parts of the world." (This may related to the unexplained phenomena that makes everyone in Fulton County Georgia 6'3 and 215 pounds.) Get a copy of my 📕, Please Scream Inside Your Heart, or grab a 👕 in the Store.
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