• Rubio shines: When Donald Trump nominated Florida Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state, many knew he was a shoo-in. Sitting before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, Rubio competently demonstrated his command of the country’s foreign policy issues. In his opening statement, Rubio touted his support for Trump’s “America First” agenda, contending that “for our country, placing the interest of America and Americans above all else has never been more relevant or more necessary than it is right now.” Rubio pointedly identified China as our leading geopolitical adversary, arguing that it was a mistake to welcome the communist nation into the global world order. “They took advantage of all its benefits,” he said, “but they ignored all its obligations and responsibilities. Instead, they have lied, cheated, hacked, and stolen their way to global superpower status — at our expense.” Another theme for Rubio and Trump’s other nominees is the rejection of woke equity ideology and a return to equality-based standards of meritocracy. Demonstrating that Rubio will be quickly confirmed, New Hampshire Senator and ranking Democrat Jeanne Shaheen told him, “I believe you have the skills and are well qualified to serve as secretary of state.”

• Is Angry Joe’s Israel-Hamas deal already in jeopardy? During his farewell address last night, Joe Biden took full credit for the new ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas — a deal he says involved “eight months of nonstop negotiation.” Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, though, thanked both President-elect Donald Trump and Biden, and he thanked Trump first. Trump, after all, issued a threat on December 2 that the hostages be released, Reagan-like, by his January 20 inauguration lest there be “all hell to pay.” He played an undeniable role. In any case, Netanyahu now says his cabinet won’t meet to approve the ceasefire until Hamas backs down from certain last-second demands. Perhaps the swap terms of 30 Palestinian prisoners for every hostage — and 50 for every female hostage — aren’t good enough for the Hamas barbarians. If the deal holds, three American hostages are scheduled to be released: Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel in the first phase, and Edan Alexander in the second phase.

• Porn on the ropes at SCOTUS: The Supreme Court justices yesterday seemed likely to allow as constitutional a Texas law that requires users to verify their age before gaining access to porn sites. It’s difficult to overstate the societal and interpersonal damage that pornography causes, but in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the justices seem willing to draw a line about what sorts of speech warrant absolute First Amendment protections. Despite decades of “faulty” precedent allowing “online pornographers to get away with lower standards of security,” the Washington Examiner’s editorial board writes, “that is now likely to change thanks to the originalist majority of justices on the Supreme Court.”

• Johnson removes Republicans from two committees: Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) has been removed from the powerful House Rules Committee and replaced by Morgan Griffith (R-VA). Massie was the only Republican to vote against Mike Johnson (R-LA) for the speakership. With Johnson having successfully secured the speakership, he is moving to strengthen his leadership position, which this decision clearly reflects. That said, Massie was not forced out against his will, as he volunteered to depart amicably. Johnson has also removed Representative Mike Turner (R-OH) as chair of the House Intelligence Committee after the Ohio lawmaker called last year for the declassification of intel on Russian anti-satellite technology. Johnson was blindsided by Turner’s action and was clearly unhappy with him. Turner also had a reputation for being willing to go against the Trumpian wing of the Republican Party on issues like support for Ukraine.

• Doctor Jill vs. Trader Nan: Little noticed amid all the inanities in Joe Biden’s feckless farewell speech last night was this brief but none-too-subtle shot across Nancy Pelosi’s bow: “We need to ban members of Congress from trading stock while they’re in the Congress.” Perhaps Jill had a hand in that language. We say this because the rift between the Bidens and the super-trading former speaker has increasingly spilled out into the open since she shivved the Big Guy and forced him out of the presidential race. “Let’s just say I was disappointed with how it unfolded,” said Dr. Jill to a sympathetic Washington Post scribe who added, “This is the same Nancy Pelosi whom Jill has known nearly as long as Joe. Who had been a close friend to Joe as they ascended to the highest tier of American politics. Whom Jill couldn’t wait to invite to the White House once coronavirus restrictions allowed the Bidens to entertain. And who went on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ in July with a shiv.” “We were friends for 50 years,” said the first lady. “It was disappointing.”

• DC bureaucrats caught living in CA, OR, and CO, not Washington: “Department of Interior employees rarely see the interior of their office,” Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) recently charged. “Just 14% of Interior’s headquarters is being used while D.C. employees living elsewhere are overpaid more than $400,000. I am giving bureaucrats a simple choice: Get back to work or be fired.” Ernst’s comments concern an Interior Department inspector general report that many employees who are supposed to be working in Washington have, in fact, been living in other states, including California, Oregon, Colorado, and several states in the Midwest and Southeast. The Biden administration initiated “temporary” telework policies during the COVID pandemic. However, numerous federal workers have effectively been allowed to telework permanently. According to a House Oversight and Accountability Committee report released on Wednesday, roughly 228,000 federal employees, which amounts to 10% of the workforce, never show up to work in the office. Meanwhile, an additional 1.1 million federal workers are designated as eligible for telework part of the time, with nearly all of them taking advantage of it. DOGE might quickly identify government waste to cull.

• TikTok users bolting to another Chinese app: A China-based app dubbed RedNote has been downloaded by hundreds of thousands of Americans in recent days. Many of these users are calling themselves “TikTok Refugees.” They see RedNote as an alternative to TikTok, which faces an imminent U.S. government-mandated shutdown. Notably, the language on RedNote is Mandarin, and experts warn that it’s even worse than TikTok. “TikTok is FourLoko to RedNote’s fentanyl-laced painkiller,” explained former FCC policy advisor Nathan Leamer. “Whereas TikTok pretends to have safeguards and has a US presence to give a veneer of credibility, RedNote doesn’t even try to hide its connection to the Chinese Communist Party.” RedNote is a data-collecting app for the Chinese communist government under the guise of a social media platform. NordVPN cybersecurity expert Adrianus Warmenhoven pointed out, “Like TikTok, RedNote is subject to Chinese data laws, which may grant government authorities access to user data without the privacy protections expected in the US. The platform collects extensive personal data, including location, browsing activity, and device-specific information like IP addresses.” In other words, avoid RedNote like the plague.

• Newsom fiddles while LA burns: Yesterday, we asked whether California Governor Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambitions had gone up in smoke. Setting aside his miserable stewardship of the world’s fifth-largest economy, and his administration of a state whose lawlessness has caused residents and businesses alike to flee, and his state’s inexcusable unpreparedness for the calamitous wildfires that have so far cost $150 billion and killed at least 24, Newsom and his one-party state legislature agreed on Sunday to allocate $50 million to fight Donald Trump and defend the illegal immigrants in their midst. As Politico reports, “The deal includes $25 million Newsom had proposed for the state Department of Justice to fight the federal government in court shortly after Trump’s reelection in November — plus $25 million more proposed by state Senate leaders to defend immigrants against deportation, detention and wage theft. The $25 million proposed by the Senate would fund grants for legal nonprofits and immigration support centers.” To answer the question we posed at the top: Yes. Emphatically, yes.

Headlines

• Pam Bondi vows to end Justice Department weaponization as attorney general (National Review)

• Ron DeSantis announces Ashley Moody to replace Marco Rubio in Senate (NY Post)

• DeSantis rolls out legislative blueprint to fast-track Trump’s deportation operations (The Federalist)

• Biden’s claim he would have beaten Trump opens rift with Harris (WSJ)

• “Millions of dollars” in Hunter Biden artwork was destroyed in the Palisades fire (Not the Bee)

• California abandons diesel truck ban before Trump is sworn in (CalMatters)

• Humor: In effort to improve Senate confirmation hearings, Democrat women replaced by rabid hyenas (Babylon Bee)

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