Happy Friday! We were sad to learn of the death of legendary baseball play-by-play announcer and former player Bob Uecker, who died at age 90 Thursday. Uecker—whose voice was the summer soundtrack to many a Brewers fan through the decades—was the rare non-national commentator who transcended not just his own team but the sport itself. Over the decades he racked up plenty of pop culture highlights, but this TV ad for Miller Lite in 1983 will remain one of our favorites. Farewell to a legend.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- After an eleventh-hour crisis threatened to derail the U.S.-announced deal between Israel and Hamas yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Friday that the agreement will go forward as planned. The phased ceasefire and hostage release deal was signed in Doha, Qatar, Thursday night and is scheduled to take effect on Sunday afternoon. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir—a far-right member of Netanyahu’s coalition—formally threatened on Thursday to withdraw his party from the government if the deal goes through, but the move alone wouldn’t topple the ruling coalition. The Israeli security cabinet is set to meet on Friday to hold a vote on the deal, but the full cabinet is not expected to convene until Saturday night.
- China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported Friday morning that the country’s gross domestic product grew by 5 percent last year, bolstered by rising exports and robust investment. Economic activity was particularly strong in the final months of the year—the statistics agency said that the Chinese economy grew 5.4 percent year-over-year in Q4 2024, exceeding economists’ expectations. But the top-line figures, if accurate, belie other indicators pointing toward a weaker economic performance, including low consumer spending and continued fallout from the country’s real estate crash.
- The Treasury Department on Thursday leveled sanctions against the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, over his military’s alleged indiscriminate attacks on civilian sites and denial of food aid as a war tactic. Also on Thursday, the New York Times reported that al-Burhan had, according to U.S. officials, used chemical weapons on at least two occasions during his forces’ ongoing civil war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group. The revelations followed Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s announcement last week formally accusing the RSF of committing genocide in Sudan for ethnically motivated attacks in Sudanese territory under its control.
- President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Thursday aimed at bolstering federal agencies and contractors’ safeguards against cyberattacks. The new rules require software firms selling to government agencies to demonstrate that their products meet basic cybersecurity requirements and give the federal government more authority to sanction hackers who attack critical infrastructure, among other things. The action followed news last month of a major hack targeting the Treasury Department, in which—Bloomberg News reported Thursday—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s computer was breached.
- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani reached a settlement on Thursday in the $148 million defamation lawsuit against him, avoiding trial. The former Trump attorney was ordered in October to turn over personal assets to two Georgia election workers who won a defamation suit against him after he falsely claimed they committed election fraud in the 2020 elections. Details of the settlement have not been disclosed, but Giuliani said on X that he would retain his New York and Florida properties and personal belongings. “This resolution does not involve an admission of liability or wrongdoing by any of the Parties,” he added. “I am satisfied with and have no grievances relating to the result we have reached.”
- Firefighters continued to make slow progress against wildfires in and around Los Angeles on Thursday, as high winds abated. The Palisades and Eaton fires—which combined currently cover roughly 38,000 acres—have been 27 percent and 55 percent contained, respectively. At least 27 people have died in the natural disaster that began last week.
Trump’s Nominees Face the Music
This week’s Senate’s confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s first wave of Cabinet-level nominees got off to an uncharacteristically smooth start, as Trump’s picks flexed their loyalty to the president-elect and fended off Democratic attacks—or, at least, avoided shedding GOP votes.
A few fiery exchanges notwithstanding, Trump’s high-profile picks—Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense nominee; Pam Bondi, the pick for attorney general; and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state nominee—all appeared poised to coast through the Senate despite significant Democratic opposition.
The raft of lower-profile hearings included: John Ratcliffe (CIA director), Sean Duffy (transportation secretary), Chris Wright (energy secretary), Russell Vought (director of the Office of Management and Budget), Doug Burgum (interior secretary), Scott Turner (housing secretary), Lee Zeldin (EPA administrator), and Kristi Noem (homeland security secretary), whose hearing is scheduled for today.
The first hearing, for Hegseth, was also the most contentious thus far. Tapped to lead the country’s largest government agency at the Pentagon, the former Fox News host and Army veteran faced Democratic lines of questioning about …
As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. You can read our 1,485-word item on the first wave of Senate confirmation hearings in the members-only version of TMD.
Worth Your Time
- Reporting from Greenland’s capital of Nuuk, Max Colchester spoke to locals about Donald Trump Jr.’s recent trip to the Danish territory—and his father’s offer to buy it. “Donald Trump Jr. mingled with a small group of hastily gathered MAGA-hat-wearing Greenlanders to extol the virtues of being part of America. Some locals did the Donald Trump dance while being filmed. And then the president-elect’s son left. ‘It was very weird,’ says Malik Dollerup-Scheibel, a 20-year-old Greenlandic student who attended the event last week. Life in Nuuk hasn’t been the same since Donald Trump offered to buy the place. … On a recent day, a news ticker in the center of town beamed on a loop the answer from the Greenlandic prime minister to Donald Trump: The autonomous Danish territory isn’t for sale. It is a view that most locals echo,” he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “Dollerup-Scheibel, the student, says he regrets ever going to the pub with Trump Jr., saying it was all an elaborate stunt aimed at convincing U.S.-based MAGA supporters that Greenlanders want to be taken over, which he says isn’t the case. Sitting at home, the student says he just wanted some free beer and to meet a famous American. He didn’t expect his face to be plastered all over social media in a MAGA hat. ‘This is probably the most shameful thing I own,’ he says, holding the hat he was given.”
Presented Without Comment
Politico: ‘Everyone’s trying to kiss the ring’: Trump’s inauguration devours corporate cash, smashing records
“The stigma of a Trump donation, which was out there to some degree eight years ago, is no longer there,” said Brian Ballard, a longtime fundraiser for Trump who’s raised money for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. “Who knows what’s going to happen two months from now? But for today, up and down, corporate America is solidly pro-Trump.”
Also Presented Without Comment
New York Times: Late Adapter? Bob Dylan Joins TikTok in What May Be Its Final Days.
In the Zeitgeist
Who doesn’t love a good prodigy story? In its latest Tiny Desk Concert, NPR hosted three young musicians in a classical music tour de force.
Toeing the Company Line
- In the newsletters: Will Rinehart looked into why Southern California’s ecosystem is so prone to fires, and Nick Catoggio wrote on the ousting of Rep. Mike Turner from his position atop the House Intelligence Committee.
- On the podcasts: Sarah Isgur is joined by David French, Jonah Goldberg, and Steve Hayes on The Dispatch Podcast roundtable to discuss the confirmation hearings, Joe Biden’s legacy, and more.
- On the site: Mike Warren solicits former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s advice for incoming Trump administration officials, Gary Schmitt considers how Trump could try to use “impoundment” to cut federal spending, and Charles Hilu reports on a common feature of the confirmation hearings. Plus: David Drucker speaks to Democratic insiders about the electoral consequences of their party’s cultural messaging, and Kevin Williamson writes on the role of population change in exacerbating the loss of life and property damage from the California wildfires.
Please note that we at The Dispatch hold ourselves, our work, and our commenters to a higher standard than other places on the internet. We welcome comments that foster genuine debate or discussion—including comments critical of us or our work—but responses that include ad hominem attacks on fellow Dispatch members or are intended to stoke fear and anger may be moderated.
With your membership, you only have the ability to comment on The Morning Dispatch articles. Consider upgrading to join the conversation everywhere.