Plus, an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal, and the debate about fluoride in drinking water

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Good morning,

We’ve had Liberty and Bell (2023), Chocolate and Chip (2022), and Peanut Butter and Jelly (2021). Yesterday, President Biden marked his last turkey pardon with Peach and Blossom — named after his home state’s official flower, the peach blossom.

Keeping with the tradition, the birds from Minnesota stayed in a suite at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel near the White House leading up to their big day.
- Now, instead of ending up on a Thanksgiving table, they will spend the rest of their days at Farmamerica: MN Agricultural Interpretive Center in Waseca, Minnesota.
🦃 The unique ceremony, filled with jokes, started in 1989 during George H.W. Bush’s presidency. However, it was President Harry Truman’s "poultry-less Thursdays" — a move to conserve food in the aftermath of World War II — that prompted the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board to present him with a bird as a peace offering in 1947.
- The National Turkey Federation’s chairman John Zimmerman, who raises more than 100,000 turkeys each year, said he picked two of his best for Biden this year.

Congrats to Peach and Blossom!

Mosheh, Jill, Sari, & Lauren

PS: Don’t forget to refer friends & family to subscribe to the Mo Newsletter… you could get free Mo News merch — DETAILS at the bottom of this newsletter!

📌 WATCHING THANKSGIVING DAY STORMS

Thanksgiving Day is poised to be cold and wet for much of the country – as Americans traveling by planes, trains and automobiles are poised to break travel records.

STORM WATCH
A storm is moving east from California's Sierra Nevada on Tuesday night, reaching the Rockies by Wednesday.

On Thanksgiving Day, the storm system is headed to the Northeast.
- Most people in the region will just see rainfall, but parts of northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine could get snow.
Cold front: Over 100 million people across 38 states will be experiencing below 40-degree weather on Thanksgiving.
- Parts of the Midwest are expected to experience strong winds that will make it feel like it’s in the teens.

Even if there’s only rain in your area, the FAA warns it might need to slow down air traffic due to staffing shortages, particularly in the Northeast. Travelers are advised to check airline apps for real-time updates on their flights.

📌 ISRAEL AND LEBANON EXPECTED TO ANNOUNCE CEASEFIRE DEAL

Israel and Lebanon are reportedly close to a ceasefire deal that would end more than 13 months of fighting. The Israeli Security Cabinet is expected to vote today in favor of the deal.

An agreement, if reached, would effectively end the violence between Israel and Hezbollah — a terror group funded by Iran. Hezbollah began the conflict by firing rockets over Israel’s border on October 8 of last year, in solidarity with Hamas’ Oct 7 attack, and has continued nearly daily rocket attacks since.

The conflict escalated with an Israeli ground operation in late September, aimed at pushing Hezbollah away from the Israeli border, and a massive bombing campaign across southern Lebanon and in the capital of Beirut.

INSIDE THE DEAL
The draft of the agreement reportedly lays out a 60-day plan in which Israel would withdraw from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah would be required to move its heavy weapons about 20 miles north of the Israeli border, and the Lebanese army would deploy troops near the Israel/Lebanon border to make sure Hezbollah does not reestablish itself there.

During negotiations, one of the big sticking points for Israel was that it wanted the ability to re-engage in military action if a threat is detected near the Lebanese border, or if Hezbollah breaches the ceasefire agreement. Under the proposed deal, Israel would be able to do so, only after consulting with the US and ensuring the Lebanese military has not dealt with the threat.
- The Lebanese army historically has been either incapable or unwilling to challenge Hezbollah within its borders. This new deal will test them.
The deal also stipulates that a US-led oversight committee would monitor the transition period and look out for any violations.

More than 3,500 people have been killed and more than 15,000 injured since the start of the war, according to Lebanese health ministry. The Lebanese government does not distinguish between Hezbollah fighters and civilians killed. Most of Hezbollah’s top ranks have also been killed in Israeli attacks.

Nearly two million Israeli and Lebanese people have been displaced on both sides of the border. This agreement could be a step toward getting people from both countries back home safely.

REACTIONS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to approve the deal “in principle;” but far-right leaders in Israel, like Itamar Ben-Gvir, are saying this is a “big mistake” and a missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah. Critics don’t trust Hezbollah to abide by the agreement in the long term, and worry this just delays the next war. The last major round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 ended with a similar agreement.

Others in Israel are welcoming a deal that could bring relative peace. But White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby warned against getting hopes up, saying “nothing is done until everything is done.”
Biden’s top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk is visiting Saudi Arabia today to discuss the possibility of using the Lebanon ceasefire deal as a catalyst for a deal with Hamas in Gaza, including “a return of hostages and increased stability in the region.”

📌 INSIDE AMERICA’S FLUORIDE DEBATE

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is President-elect Trump's pick to lead US health policy, has zeroed in on removing fluoride from American tap water. It has sparked a major debate.

RFK vowed to advise water districts to stop adding fluoride to tap water when Trump takes office, calling the mineral “an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.” It comes as a federal judge recently ordered the EPA to better regulate Fluoride in water due to health concerns.
At the same time, a number of dental and public health experts are pushing back, saying that fluoride has massive benefits for oral health – and that negative health outcomes only occur from ingesting incredibly high levels of fluoride, which are not typically found in drinking water.

ALL ABOUT DOSAGE
Fluoride was first studied in 1901 and showed positive effects for dental health, including making teeth more resistant to decay and cavities. It occurs naturally in water and is now commonly added to toothpastes and mouthwash.

By 1980, 50% of Americans were drinking water with fluoride in it. Now, that’s jumped to nearly two-thirds of the US population who drink tap water. The standard is 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.
- At that recommended level, the CDC says communities saw a quarter fewer dental cavities than before fluoride was added to water.
But, at levels higher than 1.5 milligrams per liter (double the recommended dose), studies have shown negative impacts on brain development, including leading to lower IQ in kids.

A LOOK AT OTHER COUNTRIES
Most of Europe has stopped adding fluoride to water, out of precaution. At the same time, the World Health Organization notes that Europe had the highest prevalence of major oral disease cases in adults across all six WHO regions worldwide in 2019.

Reminder: Europe tends to regulate things that have the potential to harm humans; while the US takes a more risk-based approach, looking at factors like strength and length of exposure to assess harm.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Illegal border crossings on track to reach new Biden-era low (CBS)

📌 Child care cost as much as rent for many families at inflation's peak, new data shows (NBC)

📌 Couple charged for allegedly stealing $1 million from Lululemon in convoluted retail theft scheme (CNN)

📌 Harris is telling her advisers and allies to keep her political options open (POLITICO)

📌 Judge delays resentencing hearing for Menendez brothers (PBS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Kushner, Ivanka Trump mourn murdered Rabbi, donate $1M to UAE Jewish community (J POST)

📌 Russia reportedly captures a Briton fighting for Ukraine as Russian troops advance (USA TODAY)

📌 DHL cargo plane crashes and skids into a house in Lithuania, killing a Spanish crew member (AP)

📌 Egyptian authorities say 16 people missing after tourist boat sinks in Red Sea (CNN)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Macy's says an employee hid as much as $154 million in expenses (NPR)

📌 Microsoft’s massive Outlook and Teams outage has gone on for hours (CNN)

📌 Eggs are getting scarcer and pricier ahead of the holidays (CBS)

📌 Wall Street launches new ways to bet on bitcoin (NBC)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Drake claims Universal Music and Spotify ‘artificially inflated’ Kendrick Lamar’s numbers for ‘not like us’ diss track (VARIETY)

📌 Alec Baldwin won’t watch his film, ‘Rust,’ after he fatally shot Halyna Hutchins: My wife Hilaria has been ‘very traumatized from this’ (NY POST)

📌 Elton John 'floored' after losing eyesight in right eye: 'I can't see anything' (USA TODAY)

📌 Tom Sandoval to shutter LA bar Schwartz & Sandy’s after two years (THE WRAP)

🗓 ON THIS DAY: NOVEMBER 26

1917: The National Hockey League was founded in Montreal and featured four Canadian teams. The Boston Bruins, the first American team, was added in 1924.
1942: ‘Casablanca’ premiered at the Hollywood Theatre in New York City.
1989: MTV's acoustic showcase ‘Unplugged’ premiered.
2000: Florida’s Secretary of State cuts off a recount and certifies George W. Bush’s win over Al Gore in the state’s presidential race by 537 votes out of the 5,825,043 cast.