January 10 2025

1. Deadly California Fires Spread as Water Systems Fail I
2. Deadly California Fires Spread as Water Systems Fail II
3. DOGE Operating Out of SpaceX Office in Washington DC, 50 Staff Already Working
4. US Drug Prices Subsidize Global Healthcare
5. Battle for Eurasia Update: Trump’s Ukraine Dilemma, Ukraine Advances Automated Warfighting Systems
Sports: Notre Dame advances to national championship game
January 10, 1918: House of Representatives passes legislation for women’s suffrage

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1. Deadly California Fires Spread as Water Systems Fail I

The threat of more fires propelled by blistering Santa Ana winds hung over Southern California on Friday as firefighters battled to contain the raging blazes that have killed at least 10 people and destroyed thousands of structures. More than 35,000 acres, an area twice the size of Manhattan, have burned in and around Los Angeles. A new fire, the Kenneth fire, broke out Thursday evening in West Hills, north of Calabasas, and grew rapidly to 1,000 acres within hours. Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted before midnight as the fire was partially contained, but its outbreak showed “we are absolutely not out of this extreme weather event,” Los Angeles fire chief Kristin M. Crowley said. The two biggest blazes in the region were barely contained on Friday morning. The Palisades fire, at nearly 20,000 acres, had destroyed more than 5,000 structures, many of them in Pacific Palisades on the west side of Los Angeles. The Eaton fire, near Altadena and Pasadena to the east, destroyed as many as 5,000 structures as it burned through 13,600 acres, fire officials said. That puts both fires among the five most destructive on record in California.  

Article Source: NYT

2. Deadly California Fires Spread as Water Systems Fail II

Capt. Kevin Easton and his firefighting team had already spent hours battling an out-of-control fire sweeping through Los Angeles’s Pacific Palisades area, leaving gutted homes in its wake. Then, around midnight, their water lines started to sputter. Before long, the hydrants had run dry. “Completely dry — couldn’t get any water out of it,” said Captain Easton, who was part of a small, roaming patrol of firefighters who were trying to protect the community’s Palisades Highlands neighborhood. Even on Wednesday afternoon — hours after the hydrants had gone dry — there was still no water. Houses in the Highlands burned, becoming part of the more than 5,000 structures destroyed by the Palisades fire so far. Officials now say the storage tanks that hold water for high-elevation areas like the Highlands, and the pumping systems that feed them, could not keep pace with the demand as the fire raced from one neighborhood to another. That was in part because those who designed the system did not account for the stunning speeds at which multiple fires would race through the Los Angeles area this week.

Article Source: NYT

3. DOGE Operating Out of SpaceX Office in Washington DC, 50 Staff Already Working

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are sending representatives to agencies across the federal government, four people familiar with the matter said, to begin preliminary interviews that will shape the tech executives’ enormous ambitions to tame Washington’s sprawling bureaucracy.  In recent days, aides with the nongovernmental “Department of Government Efficiency" tied to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have spoken with staffers at more than a dozen federal agencies, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media. The agencies include the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service and the departments of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services, the people said.  At the same time, Musk and Ramaswamy have significantly stepped up hiring for their new entity, with more than 50 staffers already working out of the offices of SpaceX, Musk’s rocket-building company, in downtown Washington, two of the people said. DOGE aims to have a staff of close to 100 people in place by Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, they said.

Article Source: WaPo

4. US Drug Prices Subsidize Global Healthcare

Pharmaceutical companies often invest billions to develop new drugs, with the U.S. market as a crucial target. The benefits extend globally. Consider the $11 billion acquisition of Pharmasset by Gilead Sciences more than a decade ago, which led to the development of Sovaldi, a groundbreaking hepatitis C treatment. When Sovaldi was launched in the U.S. at $84,000 for a 12-week regimen, it sparked widespread criticism for its high cost. Policymakers and patient groups slammed Gilead. Yet there was a clear beneficiary from America’s willingness to pay sky-high prices: the rest of the world. Egypt, for example, which at the time had the world’s highest hepatitis C prevalence, got a 99% discount on the drug at the time. As Donald Trump awaits a return to office, he is likely to revisit his stance that the U.S. is being “ripped off” by other countries. While his first term focused heavily on trade deficits and NATO contributions, his administration also tried to address global drug-pricing disparities through an executive order. The most-favored nation rule, as the executive order was known, sought to link some U.S. drug prices purchased through Medicare to those of other wealthy countries. Though the order was never implemented because of legal challenges, there are indications that Trump might revive similar efforts. Recently, Eli Lilly Chief Executive David Ricks, who dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, hinted at the possibility of such initiatives resurfacing. Unlike other countries, the U.S. hasn’t been willing to impose strict drug-pricing controls, leaving Americans to pay about three times more than drug systems elsewhere. While the U.S. accounts for a little over a quarter of the global economy, it contributes about 70% of pharmaceutical profits, according to University of Southern California research.  

Article Source: WSJ

5. Battle for Eurasia Update: Trump’s Ukraine Dilemma, Ukraine Advances Automated Warfighting Systems

Editors note: This ongoing conflict pits the West, led by the United States, against an axis of adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. At stake is dominance over the vast and strategically critical landmass of Eurasia. The conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, and rising tensions with China in East Asia are all interconnected, forming part of a larger struggle: the Battle for Eurasia. To dive deeper into my framework for understanding the Battle for Eurasia, see my article.

A. Vice-president Elect J. D. Vance once said that he doesn’t care what happens to Ukraine. We will soon find out whether the American people share his indifference, because if there is not soon a large new infusion of aid from the United States, Ukraine will likely lose the war within the next 12 to 18 months. Ukraine will not lose in a nice, negotiated way, with vital territories sacrificed but an independent Ukraine kept alive, sovereign, and protected by Western security guarantees. It faces instead a complete defeat, a loss of sovereignty, and full Russian control. This poses an immediate problem for Donald Trump. He promised to settle the war quickly upon taking office, but now faces the hard reality that Vladimir Putin has no interest in a negotiated settlement that leaves Ukraine intact as a sovereign nation. Putin also sees an opportunity to strike a damaging blow at American global power. Trump must now choose between accepting a humiliating strategic defeat on the global stage and immediately redoubling American support for Ukraine  

B. It was the year of the explosive drone: speedy, agile craft the size of dinner plates that in 2024 became Ukraine’s main defensive weapon against massive Russian ground assaults. The new year will see the rise of killer robots, as computers take over more functions from human pilots, including flying to the battlefield and striking selected targets. Automation could help the Ukrainians hold off a giant foe determined to take control of their country no matter the cost in men and machines, even if the new Trump administration slows or halts arms deliveries to Kyiv. But humans will remain in control. Next-generation drones won’t be swarms of fully automated, computer-controlled slaughterbots that color the dreams of military geeks and the nightmares of moralists. Instead, Ukrainian companies are seeking incremental advances that boost a strike drone’s chances of reaching and hitting its target.

Article Source: Atlantic, WSJ

Sports: Notre Dame survived a 27-24 Orange Bowl thriller with Penn State to gain a spot in the national championship game

January 10, 1918: In Washington, the House of Representatives passes legislation for women’s suffrage

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Sources

1. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/10/us/fires-los-angeles-california/here-are-the-latest-developments?smid=url-share

2. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/us/los-angeles-fire-water-hydrant-failure.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/10/musk-ramaswamy-doge-federal-agencies/

4. https://www.wsj.com/health/pharma/trump-says-world-is-free-riding-on-u-s-health-spending-he-has-a-point-176f0860?st=p8Dx2o&reflink=article_copyURL_share

5. A https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/01/trump-putin-ukraine-russia-war/681228/
B https://www.wsj.com/world/ukraine-advances-killer-robot-drones-with-more-automation-efficiency-0ab132a6?st=joS8GQ&reflink=article_copyURL_share