“Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an agreement with Hamas to pause the war in Gaza has been finalized, suggesting it’s on track to begin on Sunday. Netanyahu, in a statement on Friday morning, said he ordered his security cabinet to meet later in the day to approve the truce, which has been backed by US President Joe Biden and incoming leader Donald Trump. … Far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir have threatened to walk out the ruling coalition if a ceasefire’s approved.” (01/17/25)
“The Biden era is ending. The Trump era is arriving. The shift will not be from intervention to isolation, but from one form of intervention to another. The results are unlikely to be much better.” (01/16/25)
“Author and podcaster Meghan Daum lost her home in the Palisades Fire. She joins the show to discuss what the city is like right now, and how it got this way.” (01/16/25)
“A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk’s flagship rocket program. SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites but no crew, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities at 5:38 p.m. EST (2238 GMT). Video shot by Reuters showed orange balls of light streaking across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, leaving trails of smoke behind.” (01/17/25)
“The FDA produces terrible results even when it tries to do its actual job (approving/banning drugs and foods), and we’d do a lot better just letting the insurance industry use a UL-like system to advise us. When the FDA receives more power from Congress (or just seizes that power through ‘administrative rule-making’), the results tend to get even worse … because the real incentives for government agencies tend toward expanding their own powers and increasing their own budgets, not toward ‘serving the public’ on health or any other subject.” (01/16/25)
“China’s population fell last year for the third straight year, its government said Friday, pointing to further demographic challenges for the world’s second most populous nation, which is now facing both an aging population and an emerging shortage of working age people. China’s population stood at 1.408 billion at the end of 2024, a decline of 1.39 million from the previous year. The figures announced by the government in Beijing follow trends worldwide, but especially in East Asia, where Japan, South Korea and other nations have seen their birth rates plummet.” (01/17/25)
“There is little doubt that President-elect Donald Trump’s posture vis-a-vis Israel is a key reason why a ceasefire in Gaza has finally been achieved. According to a diplomat briefed on the matter, this was ‘the first time there has been real pressure on the Israeli side to accept a deal.’ This means that for 15 months, Israel has dropped American bombs on children in tents, on refugees sheltering in schools, and on patients seeking help in hospitals without President Joe Biden exerting any ‘real pressure’ on Israel to stop. And once the mere posture of pressure was exerted on Israel by an envoy representing a man who isn’t even President yet, lo and behold, a ceasefire was secured.” (01/16/25)
“The main opposition coalition in Guinea has called for its members to withdraw from the country’s legislative body after the ruling junta missed a deadline for a return to democratic rule. The Forces Vives de Guinee coalition group, which includes the country’s main opposition parties, called for its members to withdraw from the National Transitional Council in a statement late Wednesday. The council has served as the parliament since the military took power two years ago. Guinea is one of several West African countries where the military has taken power and delayed a return to civilian rule. The country’s leader, Col. Mamadi Doumbouya, in power since 2021, agreed in 2022 to launch a democratic transition after a Dec. 31, 2024, deadline. The ruling junta’s failure to meet the deadline led to opposition protests that paralyzed Guinea’s capital Conakry last week.” (01/16/25)
“Britain and Ukraine’s leaders on Thursday signed a ‘landmark’ 100-year agreement that pledges strengthening defence ties between the two countries during a visit to Kyiv by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Loud blasts and air raid sirens rang out over Kyiv just hours after Starmer’s arrival as air defence systems repelled a Russian drone attack, officials reported. … The deal commits the two sides to cooperate on defence and battlefield technology, such as drones, while implementing a system to help locate grain exported by Russia from occupied parts of Ukraine.” (01/16/25)
“As the sun sets on Joe Biden’s presidency, the Commander-in-Chief and his top staffers are using their final moments in power to convince the American people that we live in a safer and more stable world. ‘The United States is winning the worldwide competition compared to four years ago,’ Biden declared Monday. ‘America is stronger. Our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker.’ The claims that America is winning and strong are as laughable as when the mainstream media repeatedly attempted to convince the American people that Biden is as ‘sharp as a tack.’ Americans have witnessed Joe Biden’s physical and cognitive decline over the past four years, which perfectly personifies the American empire. Rather than becoming stronger, the treasury and arms depots were exhausted for the benefit of Ukraine and Israel.” (01/16/25)
