Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest U.S. message for Israel: “Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today that the Israeli government ‘does not have to choose between removing the threat of Hamas and minimizing the toll of civilians in Gaza,’ where nearly 20,000 people have been killed since the start of the war on Oct. 7. ‘It has an obligation to do both, and it has a strategic interest to do both,’ Blinken said in remarks at a year-end news conference.”
* A major swap: “The U.S. has reached a deal with the Venezuelan government to release an ally of President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for freeing 10 jailed Americans and a group of Venezuelan political prisoners, senior Biden administration officials said Wednesday.”
* Until after the holidays: “Congress gave up Tuesday on a last-ditch bid to speed through emergency military aid to Ukraine before the end of the year, as negotiators failed to cement a deal that Republicans have demanded tying the money to a crackdown on migration across the U.S. border with Mexico.”
* The obvious call: “A federal judge on Tuesday allowed the Arlington National Cemetery to remove a century-old Confederate memorial one day after blocking the removal over a report that gravesites were disturbed.”
* In the Red Sea: “The U.S. and a host of other nations are creating a new force to protect ships transiting the Red Sea that have come under attack by drones and ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Tuesday in Bahrain.”
* FAA: “The Senate cleared an extension of the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding authority until March after Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet lifted his hold on the bill, averting a lapse in the FAA’s authority before senators leave for the holidays. The bill, passed by unanimous consent Tuesday evening, now goes to the president and would be the second extension of the FAA’s funding authority in the last three months as senators continue to negotiate a long-term FAA reauthorization bill that’s been held up since June.”
* Where is Navalny? “After two weeks without word from Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, his lawyers and allies, fearing the worst, are running a frantic campaign to find him. Their efforts have included requesting information from dozens of Russian prisons and taking to social media to raise awareness of Mr. Navalny’s disappearance and to call on the Russian government to reveal his whereabouts.” * Quite a story: “Nearly three years ago, a young professional in the nation’s capital was sitting in her apartment after the Jan. 6 attack and saw that the FBI was looking for help identifying the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol. So she opened up the Bumble dating app, changed her political beliefs to conservative and got to swiping. … On Wednesday, one of the Bumble users she turned in to the FBI pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers with chemical spray while holding a metal whip.” * In New York: “New York state will create a commission tasked with considering reparations to address the persistent, harmful effects of slavery in the state, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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