βοΈ OVERLONG GOODBYES β Thursday, January 16, 2025 β C&C NEWS π¦
MidEast peace deal offers hostage return but media complains; Biden's baffling long farewell settles political scores not much else; Florida's great Governor leads immigration from the front; more.
Good morning, C&C, itβs Thursday! Can you believe we have only four more days? Todayβs quick but hard-hitting roundup: possible Middle East peace deal hangs in the balance while media tries to scare up a controversy; Joe Biden delivers an extended farewell address to the nation and settles scores; and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis throws down the immigration enforcement glove, once again leading the nation FROM THE FRONT.
π WORLD NEWS AND COMMENTARY π
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The New York Times dourly ran what should have been an encouraging story yesterday headlined, βBiden and Trump Defy Their History of Animosity to Seal Gaza Cease-Fire.β Leave it to the Times to obscure good news. The potential deal is much better than some temporary cease-fire; the terms between Israel and Hamas would require the return of all civilian hostages, just as Trump demanded. But the Times (and all corporate media) still managed to find a dead Gates Foundation mosquito in the good news ointment, a media-generated controversy over the credit: βBut the extraordinary collaboration between outgoing and incoming presidents did not stop both sides from claiming credit.β
To be honest, corporate media has just been a sad disappointment lately. They used to be so much cleverer. It really seems like they are getting dumber by the minute. This was another brainless take, a failed narrative, since the deal isnβt done. Itβs only mostly done, so thereβs no real credit contest. Itβs all made up, they jumped too fast.
For the record, Israelβs politically-savvy Prime Minister thanked both Trump and Biden yesterday evening (although, perhaps wisely, Trump first). Itβs too early to safely assign credit for a deal not yet signed.
All that said, there is plenty of reason to believe it is, in fact, the Trump Effect producing another miracle: the first significant movement in the conflict since October 7, 2023, the date of the original barbaric invasion.
First of all, the Biden Administration has allegedly been trying to broker a peace deal for over a year now. Regular readers will recall Bidenβs negotiations have, for some reason, been led by the CIA instead of the State Department for what, despite the Biden Administrationβs stalwart βcommitment to transparency,β remains a complete mystery. But set that aside. The point is, no deal even got close to being inked until now, the last few days before Trumpβs Inauguration.
Indeed, the reports say Bidenβs negotiators offered this same deal in May (which is why they call it βBidenβs dealβ) but Hamas refused. It seems logical they only agreed to it now because of the pending change in U.S. government.
It required more than just the Trump Effect by itself. On top of issuing broad, ill-defined, Reagan-like threats against Hamas, Trump also dispatched his long-time friend and real-estate developer Steven Witkoff to the Middle East to help Bidenβs Team negotiate.
Various reports suggest Witkoff promptly took the lead, and that heβs a hardened, hard-charging dickerer with haggling skills comparable to a Turkish rug merchant. For example, earlier this week, Israeli media complained about Witkoffβs unyielding demands, disclosing that Witkoff had insisted on meeting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in person on Saturday, despite the Prime Ministerβs protests about it being the Jewish Sabbath.
Apparently, Witkoff βthen in Qatar, presumably meeting with Hamas representativesβ responded βspicilyβ after Netanyahuβs aides offered different dates. The upshot was the men met at Netanyahuβs office. On Saturday, just as Witkoff had asked.
In other words, Witkoff got Netanyahu to change his position from βnoβ to βyesβ in an early round, preparing him psychologically for making more material concessions in later rounds. Brilliant. The Art of the Deal.
The Times quoted former Representative Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), who is no Trump fan, admitting on Twitter that the βdeal,β such as it is, only came together because of the Trump Effect:
π₯ Despite all the frantic triumphalism celebrating the cease-fire agreement, as of this morning it remains un-inked, and it involves parties notorious for agreeing to things and then backing out, sort of like what we used to call βIndian givingβ until we found out that was racist, or culturally appropriative, or micro-agressive, or something, dammit, I canβt be expected to keep up with all this nonsense.
In any event, Netanyahu obviously agreed. The outlines of the agreement must still be approved by Israelβs cabinet in a meeting scheduled for later today, and as of this morning, the Jerusalem Post was already complaining Hamas is βtrying to change the deal.β Apparently, not all the details have been fully worked out. So things could still easily go sideways.
There is a curious historical parallel. The Times invested several paragraphs eerily comparing President Carterβs mangled hostage crisis to this one. In 1981, Carter finally managed to broker a deal with the Iranians to return over 400 American diplomatic staff after years of standoff, but only because of incoming President Reaganβs threat. History has properly credited Reagan for ending the Carterβs hostage crisis.
Both Biden and the Times are worried that, just like Reagan, Trump might get the credit for ending this hostage crisis, too. Credit is the last thing they should be worrying about, but they cannot help it.
Not only that, but a deeply paranoid Biden believes the Prime Minister is trying to screw him β on purpose. The Times reported, βBiden advisers and allies have suspected that Mr. Netanyahu was deliberately holding off on a cease-fire deal to hand the victory to Mr. Trump in an effort to kowtow to him.β
Think about the unlimited narcissism revealed by that comment. Biden and his team actually believe that Israelβs Prime Minister would let the hostages molder in captivity for months and endure all the negative political damage the awful, Carter-like crisis is inflicting on Bibi β just to score a few points with Trump. Their arrogance truly has no boundaries.
While opinions may differ on the value (or lack thereof) of Israelβs global influence, even here, most folks will agree that getting the innocent hostages back and halting the fighting would be good for everybody.
It is terrific and encouraging progress. But since the deal isnβt done yet, nobody can claim the credit. We pray for peace, for the hostages, and for their families.
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The Times wasnβt done burnishing Bidenβs bunions. It ran a front-page story this morning headlined, βIn Farewell Address, Biden Warns of an βOligarchyβ Taking Shape in America.β In a 17-minute farewell that only felt like an hour and a half, Joe used his whispery, slow voice to interminably say goodbye. You know the one, the voice with less emotional range than a talking doll, each sentence repetitively sighed out with the exact same rhythm and cadence, the emphasis always landing on the final syllable. Maybe talking that way hypnotizes Democrats or something.
CLIP: Jesse Wattersβ summary of Bidenβs extended farewell (1:13).
It might not have been the longest presidential farewell in American history, but it felt like it. Joeβs speechwriters failed. It was so enervating that none of the headlines quoted a single sound bite, perhaps fearing the written version would stun readers into sleepy boredom. Most tellingly, out of all the half-dozen long-form, magazine-style articles the Times ran about Joeβs long goodbye (17-minutes!) and his wonderful βlegacyβ β not one included a clear picture from last nightβs address. I had to grab the one above off Twitter.
Sometimes, we can learn more about what the corporate media thinks by what it doesnβt report.
π₯ In typical Biden style, his speech was a pugilistic opportunity to settle some final scores. After spending four years calling Republicans βdangerousβ (especially MAGA supporters), Biden directed his dangerous ire into dark warnings about Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Trump, and even Congressional Democrats, since Nancy Pelosi pushed him out and nobody stuck up for him.
βIt literally threatens our very democracy,β Joe began, repeating his most-used line, misusing the word βliterallyβ again, and obscuring which problem βitβ referred to.
All of βit,β I suppose. Or, Joe was full of βit.β Your choice.
π₯ Since Elon Musk helped the Republicans win the most recent election, Joe has βtoo lateβ discovered the awful threat of βoligarchsβ βmeaning billionairesβ influencing politics. Oh, it was perfectly fine when George Soros and Mark Zuckerberg did it to help Democrats undermine our representative form of government. But now, Joe practically feels like fainting at the thought any billionaire could courageously align with conservatives β despite the risk of Democrat retaliation. But I digress.
At bottom, it was embarassingly obvious that Joe was just mad at Elon, so his handlers wrote a song about it. Thatβs all it amounted to. Not one reportable soundbite. (Media loved the word βoligarchβ though, so expect a lot more of that over the next four years. And Joe should know about oligarchs; some of his best business deals involved them.)
In what his speechwriters probably expected to be Bidenβs most clever moment, the Old Man recalled Eisenhowerβs warning about the military-industrial complex βa prophetic warning we completely ignoredβ and offered his very own version: the looming danger of the rising βtech-industrial complex.β Hearing that piqued our interest; maybe Biden would talk about the dangers of AI, self-directed weapons, gene editing, and photo fakeryβtruly threatening technologies that nobody seems able to get an arm around.
But no, whatever promise was offered by all that history and the dramatic rhetorical setup immediately fizzled. It turned out all Biden meant by βtech-industrial complexβ was the lack of government control over βfree speech.β Heβs just mad that Zuckerberg threw him under the bus this week, so he was getting in a few licks.
π₯ Finally, the speechβs physical characteristics amounted to a kind of gloomy metaphor for Bidenβs presidency. Joe started in the basement without anyone but family, no rallies, events, or press conferences, only the continuous flicker of his ever-fading Zoom presence and the discordant dripping of his endless teleprompter gaffes. And now, in a very similar manner, his failed presidency has ended, again alone, again in a room with no one but family, no supporters, no fans, no allies, no ceremony β just Joe, reading his script, winding it down.
So thatβs about it! Thereβs no need now to watch Joeβs Long Goodbye (youβre welcome). How we have longed for this happy day! Seeing Joe go was almost worth watching the whole 17 minutes. Almost.
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Fox13-Tampa Bay ran a story yesterday headlined βGovernor Ron DeSantis, law enforcement officials push 'sense of urgency' on illegal immigration.β Two days ago, the leaders of Floridaβs legislature pushed back against DeSantisβ plan to hold a special legislative session on immigration, calling the Governorβs plan βpoorly definedβ and βunnecessary.β So the Governor amped up the pressure. Yesterday, he held a press conference with Floridaβs most popular sheriffs and laid out a more specific and very aggressive list of bold immigration reforms he wants to see legislators deliver next week.
βWe in Florida have a sense of urgency to accomplish this mission,β DeSantis explained. Well, most of us have a sense of urgency. βThe mission is very simple,β he continued, βwe need to end the illegal immigration crisis once and for all in these United States of America.β
Huzzah.
As he often did during covid, DeSantis also delivered a one-page primer describing the legislative package he is looking for. The scope of what the Nationβs Best Governor wants is astonishingly bold:
βYou canβt just say βwait till they commit a serious felonyβ until you deport them,β DeSantis argued. βIf you have gangs, like these Venezuelan gangs running roughshod around the country βwe have some in Florida, tooβ you shouldnβt have to wait for them to commit a crime and victimize somebody. You should be able to just turn βem over to ICE and get them back to their home country where they belong.β
Indeed.
Leading βfrom the frontβ Governor DeSantis added, βWe need to enact strong policies that will help this Administration accomplish the mission the American people spoke loudly and clearly about in November.β
As we reported yesterday, the Governor recalled Floridaβs lawmakers back to Tallahassee on January 27th to handle this agenda. Iβm somewhat sympathetic to the legislators, whose late January schedules are being ripped to shreds. Plus, here in stingy Florida, where we donβt turn politics into permanent careers, lawmakers only receive $29,697 a year for their service. They also get $152 per diem during legislative sessions, which is not luxurious.
So we can sympathize with their discomfort, but we also have expectations for their commitment. They all signed up for this. And this is why we voted for them. Like during the pandemic, now is the time for Floridaβs lawmakers to lead the country like our stellar Governor is doing. Now is their opportunity to help make history help and make the country great again.
Legislators: we are with you. Trust Governor DeSantis and follow his lead. Remember how well DeSantis led us during covid. Grab this historical moment with both hands. Turn our national Titanic back into a luxury cruise.
The Inauguration is in four days. Brace for impact!
Have a terrific Thursday! Sail back here tomorrow morning for another delightful trip on the S.S. Coffee and Covid, when we will tour the islands of essential news and commentary.
Donβt race off! We cannot do it alone. Consider joining up with C&C to help move the nationβs needle and change minds. I could sure use your help getting the truth out and spreading optimism and hope, if you can: β Learn How to Get Involved π¦
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The Trump effect just got my husband a 50% raise at his job. It wasnβt even a personal raise - the company looked at industry standards for his career and realized - suddenly, after 50 years of pay stagnation in this field - that they needed to increase the pay scale for this skilled labor category.
Companies donβt want to lose desperately needed and limited skilled employees (aviation mechanics with A&P licenses) and need to be able to compete to hire the few who are replacing the Vietnam era A&P retirees.
But the industry knew this all was an issue for decades (it was talked about when my husband was in college and getting his license over 20 years ago) and weeks before Trump gets back in, here we are.
Coincidence? π€·ββοΈ
The ONLY reason I watched the Biden farewell is to see how many "cuts" were in the LIVE broadcast. I counted 19 but I am sure there were more.