Happy Thursday! The coyote scourge continued in Chicago this week after United Airlines confirmed that one of its flights was forced to return to O’Hare International Airport after striking one of the varmints during takeoff. We thought they would’ve learned by now not to mess with airplanes.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump each announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a phased ceasefire and hostage deal, setting the stage for the end of the 15-month war that began with the terrorist group’s October 7, 2023, attack. In the first phase, Israel will withdraw its forces from most areas of Gaza, Hamas will release 33 hostages—including Americans—and Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. During the six-week pause in fighting, Israel will negotiate the second phase, which includes a permanent end to the war and the release of all hostages. Biden stated that the ceasefire would extend as long as needed for negotiations to continue. Hamas confirmed its approval of the deal on Wednesday, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday morning that the group had reneged on some of its terms. At the time of publication, the Israeli cabinet had not yet voted to approve the agreement.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia of planning terrorist attacks against airlines around the world. Speaking at a news conference Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Tusk did not elaborate on whether the terror threat was ongoing. Russian operatives field-tested explosives throughout the summer, detonating devices in Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom in what Western officials believed were trial runs for a larger attack. Tusk’s revelations followed a report by the New York Times on Monday, which found that U.S. officials in August discovered a Russian plot to smuggle explosives onto cargo planes bound for the U.S. and conveyed to President Vladimir Putin that Washington would hold him responsible for “enabling terrorism” in the event of such an attack.
- With rescue efforts now concluded, South African authorities confirmed on Wednesday that at least 78 people died in a standoff between police and miners at an illegal gold mine. Beginning in at least November, police had sealed the mine’s entrances and blocked shipments of food and water to force the illegal miners to leave, and on Monday, a court-ordered rescue operation searched for anyone left underground. At least 200 survivors were pulled from the shaft. With unemployment at 42 percent in South Africa and political instability plaguing the region, thousands have resorted to looking for gold in abandoned mines. The South African government says that the unsanctioned mining costs the country more than $1 billion a year.
- Biden delivered his farewell address from the Oval Office Wednesday night, highlighting the policy achievements of his one-term presidency. But, in a thinly veiled shot at President-elect Donald Trump, Biden dedicated much of his speech to painting a dark picture of the country’s trajectory. “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” he said. Biden warned of the dangers of “an avalanche of misinformation” and the “potential rise of a tech-industrial complex,” and called for term limits on Supreme Court justices and a constitutional amendment “to make clear that no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office.”
- The Biden administration unveiled a plan on Wednesday to reduce the nicotine in cigarettes by 95 percent to make smoking less addictive. According to projections by the Food and Drug Administration, the changes could help nearly 13 million people quit smoking within a year. The policy—similar to one proposed during the first Trump administration—comes just days before President Biden leaves office, leaving the plan’s ultimate fate in the hands of the incoming administration. The same day, the FDA officially banned Red No. 3 from food, drinks, and drugs—more than 30 years after the synthetic dye’s use was prohibited in cosmetics for causing cancer in lab animals.
- The Consumer Price Index rose 0.4 percent month-over-month and 2.9 percent annually in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday, up from 0.3 and 2.7 percent in November but short of economists’ expectations. The Federal Reserve has a long way to go to reach its 2 percent inflation target, but officials are still expected to hold interest rates steady when they meet later this month.
A Hostage Deal—Maybe
TEL AVIV, Israel—Crowds of protesters gathered on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street last night, as they’ve done every week since the 15-month war’s start to demand the release of Israeli abductees from Hamas captivity. But the mood was one of celebration, not anger, as reports of a long-awaited ceasefire and hostage release deal began to trickle out.
Just after 7 p.m. local time, President-elect Trump announced on Truth Social that Israel and the terror group had reached “A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.”
Two hours later, President Joe Biden delivered a speech outlining the ceasefire agreement his administration worked for more than a year to reach. “We’ve had many difficult days since Hamas began this terrible war,” he said. “We’ve encountered roadblocks and setbacks. We’ve not given up, and now, after more than 400 days of struggle, the day of success has arrived.”
That success looked less certain in the cold light of day. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed a planned cabinet meeting to vote on the deal this morning, saying Hamas had reneged on some of its promises “in an effort to extort last-minute concessions.” At the time of this newsletter’s publication, Israel had not formally approved the agreement. But if the sides are able to overcome the eleventh-hour crisis …
As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. You can read our 1,240-word item on the possible Israel-Hamas deal in the members-only version of TMD.
Worth Your Time
- Writing for Works in Progress, economics professor Carola Conces Binder unpacked the history of the tool we use to measure inflation, the consumer price index (CPI). “The CPI and related measures affect monetary and fiscal policymaking and are often used to adjust Social Security payments, income tax brackets, and wages for millions of workers,” she wrote. “Because of these far-reaching impacts, even relatively small changes in the measurement of the CPI can have major implications for households, firms, and the government’s budget. Thus, the technocratic task of measuring the price level is often at the center of political controversies. The evolution of inflation measurement in the United States has reflected both technical progress and these political forces.”
- Cal Newport—the anti-social media computer science professor and author of books like Deep Work and Digital Minimalism—detailed his experience of joining TikTok in an essay for the New Yorker. “A decade ago, I viewed social media as Manichaean: these platforms could distract and mislead their users, but they could also topple dictators and enable free expression,” he wrote. “But much of the content on TikTok, and on comparable services like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, borders on nihilism. It seems to revel in meaninglessness, sometimes even poking fun at the idea that a video should be useful. The most popular platforms are saying the quiet part out loud—that there is no deeply meaningful justification for their digital wares—and their users seem to understand and accept this new agreement.”
Presented Without Comment
BBC: AI Brad Pitt dupes French woman out of 830,000 Euros
Also Presented Without Comment
First Lady Jill Biden told the Washington Post about her disappointment with Nancy Pelosi’s role in pushing her husband to drop out of the 2024 election:
“Like I said,” Jill says now, seated in the Green Room of the White House on the first Sunday of January, “I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships.”
…
“It’s been on my mind a lot lately, and — ” Jill pauses. “We were friends for 50 years.” She is using her teacher’s voice now. “It was disappointing.”
Also Also Presented Without Comment
Axios: Georgia Group Founded by Stacey Abrams Fined for Campaign Finance Violations
In the Zeitgeist
We’re not sure how we feel about the new indoor golf league called TGL. But watching a professional golfer skull a shot that but for hitting the flagstick could have nailed a spectator is pretty fantastic content.
The cherry on top was watching the tears of laughter from the GOAT.
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