The Evolution of Marco Rubio. Plus...

It’s Thursday, January 16. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Coming up: How DEI helped stymie Biden’s $42 billion broadband scheme; New York’s mayor gets beautified; is Vivek Ramaswamy being exiled to Ohio?; and much more.

But first: a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel—and what it means for our future secretary of state:

Yesterday it was announced that a three-phase ceasefire deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas. The first phase could begin as early as Sunday, when Hamas will release 33 hostages—among them the Bibas babies. (For the best analysis of the deal—and what it means—read Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, in our pages.)

At the very moment the deal was being finalized, Marco Rubio was addressing his old colleagues in the Senate during his kid-gloves confirmation hearing. Rubio made the case that there are opportunities amid the ruin of the region—in Lebanon, Syria, and even Gaza. The world has changed, writes Eli Lake. And so has Marco Rubio. Once a reliable hawk, now the former senator is selling himself as an America First realist.

Read Eli’s piece, “The Evolution of Marco Rubio.”

Is DEI Stopping Rural Americans from Getting High-Speed Internet?

Four years ago, the Biden administration promised 25 million people in rural areas that they would get reliable access to the internet, signing BEAD, the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. To date, the program has yet to hook up a single customer.

Our intrepid reporter Madeleine Rowley wanted to know why.

What she found was a jumbled mess of bureaucratic mismanagement and unnecessary, ideologically motivated regulation. Just one example: States that wanted to participate in BEAD had to come up with a Five-Year Action Plan to collaborate with “underrepresented communities,” including prisoners and LGBTQI+ people, among other groups.

Read Madeleine’s shocking new report: “Inside Biden’s Broadband Boondoggle.”

Climate Realism

As fires continue to raze southern California, scientists, the media, and Democratic politicians are blaming climate change as the cause of the ongoing disaster.

But Steve Koonin says not so fast. The theoretical physicist, former professor, former under secretary for science at the Department of Energy, and leading voice for what he describes as “climate realism,” sat down for a Q&A with The Free Press’s Emily Yoffe. He explains how the number of acres burned in California’s wildfires has actually decreased from prehistoric times, what other factors besides climate change are at play in the LA area, and what the future of America’s energy infrastructure should look like.

Read our Q&A with Steve Koonin here: “Climate Change Did Not Cause the LA Fires.”

Inside the Rose Bowl’s Firefighter Village

As the Eaton fire continues to rage across 14,000 acres, over 3,000 firefighters find themselves living in trailers and tents at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, usually home to UCLA’s college football team. Free Press correspondent Austyn Jeffs visited the stadium this weekend. What he found was a massive operation of disaster relief experts banding together to house, feed, and take care of the firefighters, enabling them to get their laundry done, eat fajita dinners, and even hang out with an emotional support dog.

Watch Austyn’s video below:

The Mayor Gets His Eyebrows Done

Last Friday afternoon, NYC mayor and Turkish airline enthusiast Eric Adams visited a salon in Corona, Queens, to get his eyebrows threaded. But this wasn’t just a random metrosexual escapade. Only a few months earlier, the neighborhood was on the front lines of New York’s illicit sex trade, earning the nickname the “Market of Sweethearts.”

Today in The Free Press, our pavement-pounding reporter Olivia Reingold explains how citizen activists successfully joined together to reclaim their neighborhood, battling progressive counterprotesters who defended the crime syndicates, rampant drug use, and prostitution.

She even got a freshly threaded Eric Adams to give his thoughts on what the term progressive means to him.

Read Olivia’s brilliant new piece on “Operation Restore Roosevelt.”

Marilyn Manson performs during the Astroworld Festival at NRG Stadium. (Suzanne Cordeiro via Getty Images)

• Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, promised at her own confirmation hearing to end the “partisan” weaponization of the Justice Department. She says the DOJ “targeted” Trump during Joe Biden’s presidency, and she wants to restore its “integrity.” In a testy exchange, Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) challenged Bondi on her support for Trump’s denial that he lost the 2020 election. “I’m not going to be bullied by you, Senator Padilla,” Bondi said.

• When J.D. Vance is inaugurated as vice president next week, his Ohio Senate seat will be left vacant. And apparently Trump is encouraging Vivek Ramaswamy to fill it. Currently slated to co-direct the new Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk, Ramaswamy has said nothing on social media since he waded into the MAGA civil war over H-1B visas. Is he being exiled to Ohio? Or is the Senate seat a reward? We’ll see.

• It’s not just fact-checkers Mark Zuckerberg is getting rid of. The CEO of Meta—which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram—announced plans to cut roughly five percent of the company’s global workforce yesterday. In a memo to staff, Zuckerberg said that “low performers” will be the first to go, in what is shaping up to be an "intense year.” Speaking of “low performers,” how’s the Metaverse doing, Zuck?

• Davos has begun! Yesterday our benevolent lizard overlords at the World Economic Forum began their four-day retreat in the Swiss Alps. The elites, who once told us we’d own nothing and be happy, plan to discuss armed conflict, extreme weather, and disinformation. Excited to see what they have planned for us!

• You know what else is beginning? MAHA, baby! On Wednesday, the FDA announced that Red No. 3, a color additive, will be banned from food products and ingested drugs. . . well, at least eventually. Food manufacturers will have two years to get rid of it completely and drug manufacturers will have three. The dye was banned from cosmetics and topical drugs in 1990 due to evidence that it can cause cancer in rats.

• The impeached president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, was finally arrested yesterday—after 1,100 police officers and investigators showed up at his home. In early December he declared martial law and accused his political opponents of “anti-state” activities, and was promptly impeached. He’s been hiding out since then, protected by a large security team, which prevented an arrest attempt on January 3.

• President Biden has announced that one of his last acts as president will be to remove Cuba from America’s list of states that sponsor terrorism. The deal will see Havana release 553 prisoners that a Biden official described as “detained unjustly.” Apparently, it was brokered by the Catholic Church, but I can’t help but wonder if Havana has Hunter’s number.

• A new three-part documentary accuses shock rocker and Gen X edgelord Marilyn Manson of sex crimes and inappropriate behavior with minors. One review asks if he was “a monster who hid his misdeeds in plain sight?” Who could have predicted that a greasy-haired heterosexual cross-dresser who said he loved Satan might not be a stand-up guy?

And Finally. . . a Brand-New Podcast from The Free Press!

Last year, Eli Lake’s piece, “How Republics Unravel: From Rome to. . . America?” was a smash hit. Eli loves thinking about history, and we discovered many of you do, too.

That’s why we couldn’t be more excited for the launch of Eli’s brand-new podcast, Breaking History. Starting January 22, every other Wednesday, Eli will break down the news by breaking down history.

The debut episode next week will explore how Trump tapped the chords of American populism and became the first populist president since Andrew Jackson.

You can listen to the trailer now, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, so that you never miss an episode. Live in the present. Learn about it from the past.