US strikes Houthi targets in Yemen, takes down drones over Red Sea

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-strikes-houthi-targets-in-yemen-takes-down-drones-over-red-sea/

The United States on Saturday said it struck targets in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, hours after a missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck and wounded people in the central Israel city of Tel Aviv.

The missile, which wounded 16 people, was the second such attack in two days.

Among the targets of US forces was a Houthi missile storage center and a “command-and-control facility,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

It said that it had conducted the strikes “to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden.

At least 200 children and women rescued from Lev Tahor Jewish sect

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/guatemalan-jewish-sect-lev-tahor-children-rescue-b2668298.html

Authorities in Guatemala rescued at least 160 children from a Jewish sect following allegations of abuse and human trafficking.

Police raided the premises of the sect called Lev Tahor in Oratorio city, 78km southeast of the capital Guatemala City, on Friday after receiving complaints of widespread abuse of children, including rape, human trafficking and forced marriage, prosecutors said.

They took at least 160 minors and 40 women into protective custody.

The operation in the Santa Rosa region involved around 480 police personnel, soldiers, prosecutors, and psychologists who also seized electronic devices and searched for evidence of child pornography.

Trump and Musk show how not to conduct the nation’s business

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/21/shutdown-deal-trump-musk-debt-limit/

Mr. Trump should not have spurred a last-minute frenzy to keep the government running during the holidays when a reasonable bipartisan compromise had already been reached. The negotiators’ job was made harder by the fact that Mr. Trump and Elon Musk, the president-elect’s confidant tasked with making the government more “efficient,” seemed to be at cross-purposes in their demands. Mr. Musk said the stopgap’s spending levels were “criminal” and called for shutting down the government until Mr. Trump’s inauguration, when Republicans would have more leverage to deny line items Democrats wanted. Chiming in later, Mr. Trump criticized some of the spending but also issued a very different demand: that Congress lift the debt limit or eliminate it entirely, which would have required Democratic buy-in, given the narrow majorities in Congress and some Republicans’ aversion to raising the fiscal ceiling.

Usurped by 'President Elon Musk': Is the world's richest man acting as Shadow President and dictating terms?

 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/usurped-by-president-elon-musk-is-the-worlds-richest-man-acting-as-shadow-president-and-dictating-terms-democrats-take-pot-shots-at-trump-as-shutdown-looms/articleshow/116481188.cms?from=mdr

The Democrats without any delay seized the opportunity to mock Donald Trump while suggesting that Elon Musk had effectively become the ‘Shadow President’, asserted Daily Beast. Eventually, two competing narratives emerged to explain the events, where, one suggested the confrontation was a deliberate strategic move which showcased the direct approach of the new administration while the another indicated Donald Trump was essentially ‘cornered’ by Elon Musk's vocal opposition.

Elon Musk Cries Conspiracy Over Claims He’s Usurped Trump’s Power

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-cries-conspiracy-over-claims-hes-usurped-trumps-power/

Trump hasn’t directly addressed growing claims that Musk is usurping his power, but his incoming press secretary Karoline Leavitt released a statement Thursday to remind the country who is really in charge.

“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view,” she said. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”

‘Co-president’ Elon Musk? Trump ally tests influence in spending fight

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/19/co-president-elon-musk-trump-ally-tests-influence-spending-fight/

Musk’s outsize role in sending the federal government careening toward a potential shutdown before Christmas has alarmed Democrats, academics and watchdog groups, while some Republicans said his intervention was uninformed.

Trump-Backed Spending Plan Goes Up in Flames After Republicans Revolt

 https://www.newsweek.com/mike-johnson-cr-spending-plan-fails-republicans-revolt-2003876

President-elect Donald Trump threw his support behind a revised government funding plan from House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday. But it wasn't enough to push the stopgap bill over the finish line.

The proposal failed to pass on Thursday evening when it didn't secure enough support from House Republicans.

Trump has realized how Joe Biden boxed him in on the debt ceiling

‘Welcome to the Elon Musk presidency’ where Trump is VP: Dem Rep. blasts GOP ‘chaos’

President Musk fueled backlash to spending plan with false and misleading claims

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/18/elon-musk-false-claims-cr-00195252

 A bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown collapsed Wednesday amid a sustained campaign against the package led by billionaire Elon Musk — one featuring a series of false and misleading statements.

Musk used his social network X to stir Republicans into a frenzy over the stopgap spending bill filed the night before by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was forced by his thin majority to negotiate with Democrats on a resolution that could pass in time to avert a government shutdown that would start 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

The billionaire falsely claimed that members of Congress would get a 40 percent pay raise as part of the package — something both Musk and the X account for his so-called Department of Government Efficiency got wrong.

Musk reposted a claim that the bill would provide $3 billion for a new NFL stadium in Washington. Not true: The bill transfers control of the site of the existing RFK Stadium to the D.C. local government for redevelopment, which could potentially include a stadium. No federal funds are changing hands as part of the transaction.

Government funding plan collapses as Trump makes new demands days before shutdown

 https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-congress-trump-elon-budget-house-republican-05481374b154949c3fe1270141a02918

The president-elect made an almost unrealistic proposal that combined some continuation of government funds along with a much more controversial provision to raise the nation’s debt limit — something his own party routinely rejects. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” they wrote.

Dems Troll ‘Vice President’ Trump as Musk Meddles With Government Funding Bill

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/dems-troll-vice-president-trump-as-musk-meddles-with-government-funding-bill/

Regarding the pair’s efforts to kill the spending bill that House Speaker Mike Johnson had painstakingly negotiated with Democratic leaders, New York Rep. Daniel Goldman told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, “It’s not Donald Trump asking for this. It’s very clearly President Elon Musk asking for this.”

“The fact that Donald Trump has been completely AWOL during these negotiations to the point where only after Elon Musk publicly tweets about his displeasure, about this budget deal,” he continued, “all of a sudden Donald Trump, chief of staff to Elon Musk, comes trotting in and blows up the deal.”

Senators Baffled as Trump, Musk Throw Last-Minute Wrench Into Spending Plan

 https://www.newsweek.com/senators-react-trump-musk-government-spending-bill-2003235

Trump's directive to tank the spending plan threw Congress into chaos and sent lawmakers back to the drawing board. They have until Friday—just days before Christmas—to pass the continuing resolution, or the government will shut down.

Making stories up about Rav Moshe

 Mesores Moshe, (vol. 4, p. 434): I asked Rabbi Feinstein whether the well known story that is told about him was correct. The claim is that he once drank by mistake some non cholov Yisroel milk in America. When he was informed of the mistake he went to the bathroom and forced himself to vomit out the milk. Rav Moshe looked at me like I was crazy and he said, "It never happened! Someone who had nothing to do made up this story." I told him that is what I had assumed because it was difficult to believe that he would be so strict in a matter which was essentially permitted. Furthermore what benefit would result from vomiting it out. The critical issue is to avoid the pleasure in drinking. I think he agreed with me.

It is interesting to see that Mordechai Tendler wrote this. However a number of years ago, after I had heard that the story was told at a Beis Yakov graduation by the principal. I personally asked him about the story. He replied that he had no personal knowledge about it but could not believe that Rav Moshe would do something so disgusting. He said it went against his nature