Happy Thursday! It turns out Duo, the owl mascot for the language-learning app Duolingo, faked its “death” earlier this month in what turned out to be an elaborate marketing ploy. That’s the last time we trust the word of a fictional green avian.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- Hamas returned the bodies of four slain hostages to Israel early Thursday morning as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal. Forensic scientists confirmed that the group included Itzik Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, Tsahi Idan, and Shlomo Mantzur—the oldest hostage in Gaza at 86 years old at the time of his abduction. Meanwhile, Israel began the release of more than 600 Palestinian prisoners, 151 of whom had been serving life sentences or long prison terms, into the West Bank and Gaza. The exchange marked the final handover of the first phase of the three-phase ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Negotiators have yet to agree to terms for a second stage of the deal.
- A new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog—indicated that Iran grew its supply of uranium enriched to close to weapons grade by 50 percent in the last three months. The confidential report, which was seen by several news outlets on Wednesday, found that Iran had increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent from 182 kilograms to 274 kilograms in the last quarter. The country is now enriching enough uranium for one nuclear bomb each month. “The significantly increased production and accumulation of high enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear weapon State to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern,” the report stated.
- Texas health officials confirmed Wednesday that an unvaccinated school-aged child died this week from measles—the first death from the disease the country has seen in a decade. The death comes amid a measles outbreak in Texas, where at least 124 people—the vast majority of whom are unvaccinated children and teenagers—have been infected and 18 people have been hospitalized. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to downplay the significance of the outbreak on Wednesday, saying the outbreaks are “not unusual” and that the hospitalizations were “mainly for quarantine.” Local hospital representatives said the patients were admitted for respiratory issues, not to quarantine. Kennedy also stated incorrectly that two people had died.
- President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration is preparing to impose sweeping tariffs on the European Union (EU). “We have made a decision and we’ll be announcing it very soon,” the president said from the first Cabinet meeting of his second term. “It’ll be 25 percent generally speaking, and that will be on cars and all other things.” Meanwhile, the European Commission threatened to take retaliatory steps. “The EU will react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade,” it said in a statement. The bloc is reportedly preparing a list of U.S. goods to impose tariffs on in response.
- Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily paused a federal judge’s order compelling the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to end their freeze on the disbursement of foreign aid by 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The Trump administration, meanwhile, indicated plans on Wednesday night to make sweeping cuts to U.S. foreign assistance programs, including ending nearly 10,000 grants and contracts awarded by the State Department and USAID. The changes, outlined in a court filing by administration attorneys and an internal memo, would save the U.S. government an estimated $58.2 billion, a State Department spokesman claimed Wednesday.
- The heads of the offices of Personnel Management and Management and Budget shared a memo with executive branch agencies on Wednesdays directing them to prepare for mass firings or “large-scale reductions in force.” Agency heads were directed to submit “reorganization plans” by March 13, with a “focus on the maximum elimination of functions that are not statutorily mandated while driving the highest-quality, most efficient delivery of their statutorily-required function.” The memo did not include a specific percentage of positions to be eliminated, but Trump said Wednesday that the Environmental Protection Agency is planning to cut its workforce by 65 percent.
A Budget Bonanza
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to see his tax and spending priorities passed in “one big, beautiful bill” this year. On Tuesday night, House Republicans took one big, beautiful stride toward that goal with the passage of a budget resolution calling for hefty spending and tax cuts.
But it’s just the beginning of a long and bumpy road for budget negotiations. The resolution’s passage, on a near-party-line vote of 217-215, is just the first step in shepherding through a budget for the next fiscal year.
To see Trump’s single bill realized, House Speaker Mike Johnson will need to corral not only his narrow Republican majority in the lower chamber but also the Senate. GOP leadership is counting on the budget to pass as part of the reconciliation process later this year, allowing it to bypass a Senate filibuster by Democrats. But for that to happen, both chambers of Congress must agree on the eventual bill’s framework.
At the very least, budget negotiations now have momentum. Following dramatic scenes in which ...
As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. You can read our 1,267-word item on Congress’ competing budget resolutions in the members-only version of TMD.
Worth Your Time
- Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Israel on Wednesday to watch the funeral procession of Shiri Bibas and her 4-year-old and 9-month-old sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were taken hostage by terrorists on October 7, 2023, and murdered in Gaza. Yarden Bibas, who was kidnapped separately and released earlier this month, delivered a heart-breaking eulogy for his wife and children yesterday. “Mishmish, who will help me make decisions now?” Yarden said, addressing his wife. “How am I supposed to make decisions without you? Do you remember our last decision together? In the safe room, I asked if we should ‘fight or surrender.’ You said fight, so I fought. Shiri, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you all. … Shiri, people tell me they’ll always be by my side, but they’re not you. Shiri, this is the closest I’ve been to you since October 7th, and I can’t kiss or hug you, and it’s breaking me! Shiri, please watch over me… Protect me from bad decisions. Shield me from harmful things and protect me from myself. Guard me so I don’t sink into darkness. Mishmish, I love you!”
Presented Without Comment
Jeff Bezos in a note to Washington Post employees on Wednesday:
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
Also Presented Without Comment
Politico: Gavin Newsom Is Launching His Own Podcast—And Inviting MAGA Favorites
Also Also Presented Without Comment
Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, made the following announcement on Tuesday:
Grateful to announce that I am drafting legislation to direct the Bureau of Graving and Printing to design a $250 bill featuring Donald J. Trump. Bidenflation has destroyed the economy forcing American families to carry more cash. Most valuable bill for most valuable President!
In the Zeitgeist
We were sad to learn of the death Wednesday of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman at the age of 95. Hackman—who starred in Bonnie and Clyde, The French Connection, Mississippi Burning, and several other classic films—became known as a veritable Hollywood everyman over the course of his four-decade career. It was an unforgettable performance as Sheriff “Little Bill” Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 revisionist Western, Unforgiven, that secured Hackman his second Academy Award.
Toeing the Company Line
- In the newsletters: Scott Linciccome unpacked the false assumptions underlying fears of a “retail apocalypse,” Jonah Goldberg argued that not considering Donald Trump’s motives misses the forest for the trees, and Nick Catoggio explored the strange decline of pro-Palestinian activism.
- On the podcasts: Jonah is joined by Christopher Scalia on The Remnant to discuss the value great books can offer the conservative movement, and Sarah Isgur is joined by Judges Charles Eskridge and Brantley Starr on Advisory Opinions to discuss executive powers and all things Texas.
- On the site: Kevin Williamson reports from Dallas on the current strange moment for oil and gas industries.
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