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Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- Officials announced Thursday that there were no survivors from the collision of a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet approaching D.C.’s Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night. A total of 67 people were killed, making it the deadliest crash in America since 2001. The D.C. fire and EMS chief said Thursday morning that rescue operations were switching to a recovery effort to retrieve the victims, and, as of 5:30 p.m. ET, first responders had pulled 40 bodies from the Potomac River. An investigation into the crash remains ongoing and there are no confirmed details as to the causes of the incident. Multiple outlets obtained copies of a preliminary internal Federal Aviation Administration report on the accident that said staffing at the airport’s air traffic control tower during the time of the collision was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.” One air traffic controller was working both with helicopters and planes, a job typically split between two people.
- Eight more hostages returned to Israel on Thursday after 482 days in Hamas captivity. The individuals released included three Israelis—Agam Berger, Arbel Yehoud, and Gadi Mozes—and five Thai nationals—Thenna Pongsak, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Seathao Bannawat, and Rumnao Surasak—who were abducted by the terrorist group on October 7, 2023. Before Yehoud and Mozes were handed over to the Red Cross, Hamas gunmen paraded them through swarming and chaotic crowds in the southern city of Khan Younis, leading the Israeli government to delay the latest release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel later freed 110 prisoners on Thursday after the two sides reached an agreement to ensure the safe passage of Israeli abductees in future exchanges.
- The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Thursday to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s planned $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Enterprises, a wireless local area network (WLAN) products and services company. The department said the tie-up would bring 70 percent of the WLAN suppliers market under the control of just two companies, the Hewlett and Juniper umbrella and the market leader, Cisco Systems. “This proposed merger would significantly reduce competition and weaken innovation, resulting in large segments of the American economy paying more for less from wireless technology providers,” said Omeed Assefi, the acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
- President Donald Trump said Thursday that he intends to follow through on his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico beginning on Saturday, February 1st. But the president told reporters that the tariffs could include exemptions on oil imports, in keeping with his promises to reduce energy costs for Americans. Trump has also indicated possible plans to impose a 10 percent duty on Chinese-made goods as soon as Saturday—a move, like the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, ostensibly aimed at curbing the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
- Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—President Trump’s picks to lead the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Department of Health and Human Services, respectively—all appeared before Senate committees for confirmation hearings on Thursday. The trio faced grillings from Democratic and some Republican lawmakers on their past statements, and, in some instances, endeavored to distance themselves from views and policies they’ve endorsed in the past. While Patel appeared to have garnered unified Republican support in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gabbard and Kennedy still face uphill battles in advancing beyond their respective committee votes.
- The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday that real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024, down from 3.1 percent growth in the third quarter and slightly below economists’ expectations. For all of 2024, GDP growth was 2.8 percent. The bulk of fourth-quarter growth came from consumer spending, with spending on goods and services growing 6.6 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, both up from the third quarter.
Read Yascha Mounk's new Substack!
Confirmation Hearing Commotion
“Bobby! Bobby!” Supporters decked out in MAHA (“Make America Healthy Again”) pins and hats chanted this as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for health secretary, entered a packed room for his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
But the enthusiasm of his cheerleaders belied the uphill battle Kennedy now faces in advancing beyond a committee vote and, if he gets there, winning enough support in the full Senate. Senators also grilled Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel—Trump’s nominees for director of national intelligence and FBI director, respectively—this week, signaling the first serious congressional pushback against the president’s picks after his first batch of Cabinet nominees sailed through the Senate with relative ease.
As expected, Democrats questioned Kennedy—who appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Health Committee on Thursday—on his previous advocacy against vaccinations, stance on abortion, and qualifications to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Republicans, meanwhile, appeared eager to …
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Worth Your Time
- Writing for the New York Times, Alex Vadukul revisited the Luddite Club—a group of Brooklyn high schoolers he profiled in 2022 who formed a club dedicated to engaging with one another free from technology. With the original group now in college, Vadukul wanted to see how their Luddism has fared. “Two years later, I’m still asked about them. People want to know: Did they stay on the Luddite path? Or were they dragged back into the tech abyss?” he wrote. “I put those questions to three of the original members—Ms. Watling, Jameson Butler and Logan Lane, the club’s founder–when they took some time from their winter school breaks to gather at one of their old hangouts, Central Library in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza. They said they still had disdain for social media platforms and the way they ensnare young people, pushing them to create picture-perfect online identities that have little [to] do with their authentic selves. They said they still relied on flip phones and laptops, rather than smartphones, as their main concessions to an increasingly digital world. And they reported that their movement was growing, with offshoots at high schools and colleges in Seattle, West Palm Beach, Fla., Richmond, Va., South Bend, Ind., and Washington, D.C.”
Presented Without Comment
President Donald Trump had the following exchange with a reporter during a briefing yesterday on the D.C. airport crash.
Reporter: Today, you have blamed the diversity element, but then told us you weren’t sure the controllers made any mistake. You then said perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones that made the mistake.
Trump: Yeah, it’s all under investigation.
Reporter: I understand that, that’s why I’m trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion, right now, that diversity had something to do with this crash.
Trump: Because I have common sense.
Also Presented Without Comment
Bloomberg: Romania’s Far-Right Candidate [Calin Georgescu] Dismisses Ukraine as ‘Invented’
Romania’s far-right presidential frontrunner called Ukraine an “invented state” that will be dismembered after losing the war with Russia–and proceeded to make territorial claims of his own.
…
Georgescu said Romania should seek to benefit from a peace settlement ending the war—and reclaim territories that were once part of Romania. He mentioned several traditional regions—northern Bukovina and Maramures, as well as Budjak—that are currently part of Ukraine. “Everybody is interested” in border changes, Georgescu said. “We are interested.”
Also Also Presented Without Comment
New York Times: U.S. Funding Freeze Threatens Security at ISIS Camps in Syria
In the Zeitgeist
After a 34-year run involving more than 82,000 gallons of paint, the Blue Man Group will hold its final Off-Broadway performance on Sunday.
Toeing the Company Line
- In the newsletters: Will Rinehart explored how AI development is moving faster than regulators and Nick Catoggio unpacked (🔒) the woes of trying to cover the second Trump term.
- On the site: Mike Warren details the Trump administration’s rift with Catholics, John McCormack reports on RFK Jr.’s tough road ahead, Charles Hilu considers Kash Patel’s confirmation odds, and Kevin Williamson argues that you can’t run government like a Silicon Valley startup.
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