If your FIRE plan involves betting all your savings on your preferred party taking Congress in 2024, it’s time to come up with a new one. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rejected a proposal yesterday from the online financial exchange Kalshi for offering cash bets on US House or Senate elections.

The CFTC’s decision foils the company’s plan to become the first US exchange to let institutional investors wager up to $100 million on congressional election outcomes. Kalshi is among a crop of companies selling futures contracts on yes-or-no events like the actors strike ending before Halloween or SBF getting Adderall in jail by Sept. 30.

But CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam said laying bets on elections is illegal and not in the public’s best interest.

• Behnam claimed election betting reduces “key facets of the democratic process to a source of revenue for some, fascination and entertainment for others.”
• He warned that letting Kalshi move forward would turn the CFTC into an “election cop” tasked with policing attempts to manipulate voting outcomes, for which it doesn’t have a mandate.

Kalshi says regulators just don’t get it

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour compared election betting to financial products like insurance and ETFs, which also made regulators uneasy when they first came out.

The company claims it’s trying to help companies hedge against risks associated with specific political outcomes (e.g., Build-A-Bear making a lucrative bet on the Senate getting swept by a party with a vendetta against teddy bears). Proponents of election betting also argue that data from election betting is immensely valuable to political researchers.

If you still want to bet on elections: A New Zealand-based prediction market, PredictIt, accepts US election bets of up to $850. As a small, nonprofit experimental research project, it was initially given permission to allow the bets, but the CFTC later revoked that permission. PredictIt sued over the about-face, and an appeals court ruled PredictIt can continue with them...for now.—SK

Good health—and a good morning—starts with your gut. If your crummy days begin with an upset stomach, it might be time to switch up your daily routine.

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🚙 UAW expanded strikes at GM and Stellantis—but not Ford. Yesterday, the auto workers union made good on its threat to strike at more locations if wage talks with Detroit’s Big Three did not progress. Another 5,625 workers went on strike at 38 more locations across 20 states, bringing the number of striking workers to over 18,300. The expansion, which targeted parts distribution centers, is aimed at hurting dealerships’ ability to fulfill repair requests in hopes they will help pressure the manufacturers. Ford was spared from this round of expanded strikes because it’s “serious about reaching a deal,” UAW President Shawn Fain said. The stakes are high: President Biden said he plans to join UAW workers on the picket line on Tuesday.

CDC panel backs Pfizer’s maternal RSV vaccine. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee yesterday recommended administering the vaccine to pregnant people during the third trimester to prevent infants from contracting the virus. The vaccine is already available, and another RSV vaccine made by AstraZeneca and Sanofi, which is given directly to babies, also won approval recently. RSV sends ~80,000 children under five to US hospitals annually, according to the CDC, and it’s the second leading cause of death for under-one-year-olds globally.

A pig’s heart was transplanted into a man. It’s only the second time the groundbreaking surgery has ever been performed. University of Maryland doctors said yesterday that a Navy veteran who had been facing death from heart failure was talking and laughing after receiving the genetically modified heart two days before. The same team performed the surgery the first time about a year ago on a different patient who lived for two months afterward. These efforts at animal-to-human transplants come amid a shortage of human organs for patients who need them.

Here’s another reason to chirp your friend from New Jersey: Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez—chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—is facing federal charges for…allegedly corrupt foreign relations.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine, are accused of wielding his political influence to benefit three New Jersey businessmen, as well as pushing the US to send hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Egypt in exchange for bribes. Prosecutors indicted them both yesterday for conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud, and extortion.

Both vehemently deny any wrongdoing. But according to federal prosecutors…

• A raid on the Menendez home and safe-deposit box revealed more than $550,000 in stashed cash, 81.5 ounces of gold bars, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible, all believed to be bribes.
• Nadine texted an Egyptian official, “Anytime you need anything you have my number and we will make everything happen.”
• After returning from a trip to Egypt in October 2021, Menendez searched the web for “how much is one kilo of gold worth.”

Run it back: Having dodged different corruption charges back in 2015, Menendez is the first sitting senator to be indicted twice on separate criminal charges. He’s up for reelection in 2024 and has agreed to step down as head of the Foreign Relations Committee temporarily. New Jersey’s governor, a fellow Democrat, called for him to resign from the Senate.—ML

Good thing we’ve all already rabidly consumed season two of The Summer I Turned Pretty, because Amazon said yesterday that it’s going to slap some ads between the piercing blue-eyed stares and other teen drama.

Starting early next year, customers can pay an extra $2.99 a month on top of their $14.99/month or $139/year Prime membership to keep their TV and movie experience ad-free. Otherwise, they’ll be automatically enrolled in the new ad-supported tier at no additional charge. Live sports will continue having ads no matter what plan you choose.

Big picture: Amazon was one of the last streaming holdouts to embrace ads. Disney+ and Netflix both created cheaper, ad-supported tiers in the last year (and Netflix did so after years of insisting it never would). The only major platform that still avoids ads entirely is Apple TV+, although that may be up for debate given how many Apple products it put in Ted Lasso alone.

Looking ahead…after blowing up the linear TV model, streaming services are scrambling to start making some dang money. Amazon claims it will use the extra revenue to reinvest in content—hopefully not more Elven flops.—MM

Stat: A whole lot of people really want to watch someone else scrub a toilet. TikTok’s “Cleantok” hashtag has attracted 84 billion views, making it the most viewed hashtag on the platform, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company that makes Domestos and Seventh Generation has noticed: Unilever recently said it would pay 100 cleanfluencers to feature its products in their vids, saying there are Gen Zers who now view “staying home and cleaning as the new going out.”

Quote: “If sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by 1%, then we will continue doing sportswashing. I don’t care.”

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made it clear in an interview with Fox News this week that he doesn’t give a toss if you think his kingdom’s efforts to own the entire sport of golf or attract world-class soccer players to its teams are distractions meant to cover up its abysmal human rights record. Human rights groups…do care, and they criticized the statement on social media.

Read: The real message of the Real Housewives: You better work, b*tch. (The New Yorker)

Eat: Football season is sandwich season, so here’s the best one in every state.

Play: It’s your chance to be the hot dog with a Costco-branded Monopoly game.

Listen: A comedian’s song extolling the virtues of sitting is actually a bop.

Or try a whole album: Continuing the “music from unlikely corners” trend is this album from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (really).

Enjoy business news again: Morning Brew Daily has the wittiest and smartest takes on business news. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts.

Brew crossword: Solving today’s fall-themed crossword is like drinking apple cider while eating cider donuts as an Angry Orchard chills in the fridge. Play it here.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that knows how to be a lady in the streets, and an even classier lady in the crisply tucked sheets. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Today’s home is a four-floor, 5,975-square-foot masterpiece in Brooklyn, NY, built in 1899. The townhouse is rumored to have the only home theater in the world that won’t make guests regurgitate their dinner. Amenities include:

• 7 beds, 5 bathrooms
• Attic for storage
• Drawing room for revealing family secrets

How much for a place that could double as a set for The Gilded Age?

Open House: $16.8 million

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: vehemently, meaning “in a zealous manner.” Thanks to Kyrie from Indonesia for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.