Bye, Biden
Plus: Gaza ceasefire, Pam Bondi, red dye bans, Elon vs. the SEC, and more...
Bye, then: In a primetime address, President Joe Biden bid goodbye to the nation.
On the one hand, he promised that eventually, Americans would realize that his presidency was actually super duper great: "It will take time to feel the full impact of all we've done together," the president said. "But the seeds are planted, and they'll grow, and they'll bloom for decades to come."
On the other hand, he also warned that things were about to get very dark. "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." So…he's not taking credit for planting the seeds of oligarchy?
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It's an odd parting message, in that it essentially boils down to: You can't see how much great work I've done yet, but trust us, it's coming, and it'll be wonderful—but also, so is a terrifying anti-democratic oligarchy that threatens all we know and love.
Mixed bag, I guess?
Ceasefire? After 15 months, there's finally a ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza. Or at least it looked that way on Wednesday afternoon. The arrangement, which calls for a 42-day truce and the release of hostages, was expected to be swiftly approved by the Israeli cabinet. But the vote has already been delayed, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has "accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement," The New York Times reports, "without specifying which ones."
A cessation of the hostilities, if it happens, would be welcome. But it shouldn't have taken this long. As Reason's Matthew Petti writes, the ceasefire deal is fundamentally the same as the one that was discussed in May 2024:
Israel and Hamas will reportedly exchange captives as Israeli troops pull out of Gaza, the Palestinian enclave, in a three-stage deal beginning on January 19. It is basically the same framework that Hamas, Israel, and the United States had all agreed to in May 2024. But over the following months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked back his agreement, stating that he "will not stop the war and leave Hamas standing in Gaza," and expanded the war into Lebanon.
President Joe Biden tacitly endorsed the "de-escalation through escalation" strategy, flooded Israel with weapons at U.S. taxpayer expense, and even deployed U.S. troops onto Israeli soil. In November 2024, the Hamas negotiating team was kicked out of Qatar, reportedly because of Biden administration pressure. Thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians were killed. And for what?
Hundreds of Israeli troops have died since May 2024, as well as several Israeli hostages who would have been released under this week's deal, including at least one American. Hamas has nearly recovered from its military losses by recruiting new fighters, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared in his farewell speech on Tuesday. As Israeli troops withdraw, Hamas fighters will once again be in charge of Gaza.
Bondi, Pam Bondi. After incoming President Donald Trump's first pick for attorney general, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R–Fla.), withdrew his name from consideration, the once (and future) occupant of the White House gave the nod to another Floridian: former Sunshine State Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Yesterday, Bondi appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing. During the hearing, Democrats repeatedly pressed her on whether her loyalty to Trump would conflict with her duty to uphold the law.
"My concern, on the basis of statements that President-elect Trump has made, is that he does identify people as political enemies…and there may come a day where there is pressure on you," Sen. Peter Welch (D–Vt.) said, according to Politico. "I'm just going to express my hope that…when it comes to the constitution or pressure from a higher official, you're going to choose the constitution."
Over the course of the hearing, Bondi dodged a number of questions from Democrats, saying she wasn't familiar with headline-making news events like Trump's infamous call with Georgia election officials, in which he repeatedly insisted that he won the 2020 election. Maybe once she's attorney general, she'll be able to afford a newspaper subscription? Or at least one of those fancy, paid-for X accounts.
In any case, Bondi insisted that "politics will not play a part" in her role at the top of the American justice system. To some extent, that was intended to placate Democratic senators worried that Bondi will cave to pressure from the Trump administration—although she wouldn't quite come out and flatly say that she would resist pressure from the White House.
But Bondi's carefully phrased response was also a signal to the MAGA-verse about how the justice system would treat the incoming president. For years, Trump and his supporters have railed about the deep state and the "weaponization" of the Department of Justice (DOJ) against the president in response to various investigations. But in her opening statement, Bondi said "that partisanship, the weaponization will be gone." DOJ weaponization? Bondi expects it to die.
Better dead than red (dye number 3): In 2022, a group of "food safety and health advocates" petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the food coloring known as red dye number 3, reports Reuters.
Yesterday, the FDA took action, officially banning the substance, which in some studies has been shown to cause cancer in rats. The dye gave the signature color to a number of snacks and candies, as well as those bright red, super-sweet maraschino cherries you sometimes see on ice cream Sundays.
Was the dye actually dangerous to humans? Maybe not. "Importantly, the way that FD&C Red No. 3 causes cancer in male rats does not occur in humans," said Jim Jones, the FDA's deputy commissioner for human foods.
On the one hand, I'm always wary of FDA substance bans, especially when top officials come right out and say there's probably no danger to humans.
On the other hand, as a semi-official cocktail guy, let me assure you: Those little black brandied cherries made by Luxardo and a few other companies are somewhat pricey—but if you're making a Manhattan, they're much, much better.
Scenes from Washington, D.C:
There's a new pizza shop advertising pizza made with "Brooklyn water." Because that's better, apparently? Just…don't try drinking straight from the Gowanus Canal. This is mainly important because the pizza shop in question is right next to the old Reason office.
QUICK HITS
- In the wake of the devastating recent Los Angeles wildfires, the owner of The Los Angeles Times says that the paper's endorsement of city mayor Karen Bass was a "mistake." Always remember: Bass was on the shortlist to be President Biden's vice president.
- Inflation ticked up to 2.9 percent, with higher gas prices driving the surge.
- Earlier this week, Biden took Cuba off the list of nations the United States officially accuses of sponsoring terrorism. But in a confirmation hearing on his nomination to become Trump's secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.) said he wants to put Cuba back on the list.
- Mark Zuckerberg is cohosting a party for Trump's inauguration. The dress code is reportedly black tie, but we all know that it's the accessories that make a gala outfit, so I'll be curious to see how he incorporates his new gold chain.
- Speaking of tech-guy co-presidents, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing Elon Musk, saying he "failed to timely file with the SEC a beneficial ownership report disclosing his acquisition of more than five percent of the outstanding shares of Twitter's common stock in March 2022, in violation of the federal securities laws."
- I haven't been keeping up with the Marvel TV shows recently, but the revived Daredevil series—Born Again, presumably based at least partly on the classic Frank Miller run from the 1980s—looks pretty good!
