SHADOW GOVERNMENT: Spurred by his whisperer the Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, President-elect Donald Trump told the House leadership to kill the spending bill that would keep the government running into the month of March.

  Musk posted on his Twitter/X that “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” and  “Kill the Bill.”

  That sent a ripple through House Republicans and spurred Trump to order them to abandon their support for the spending bill that had been supported by both parties, steering the government to a potential shutdown at midnight tomorrow. Trump is not yet president and Musk is not elected to anything, but they are controlling the Congress.

  The bill started out simple but blew up into a 1,547-page document that would provide $100 billion in disaster aid, a $6,600 raise for members of Congress, new health care policies, and full funding for rebuilding the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. There’s even money for a stadium for the Washington Commanders football team. 

  Trump denounced the bill as being full of “DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS.” Because some members of his own party won’t vote for any spending bill, Speaker Mike Johnson had to compromise with the Democrats to win enough votes to pass the bill.

  Speaking on Fox News yesterday morning, Johnson said, “We’ve got to get this done because here’s the key: By doing this, we are clearing the decks, and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the America First agenda.”

OPEN THE GAETZ: The House Ethics Committee voted to release its investigative report on former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz before the end of this Congress. The Ethics committee since 2021 has been investigating reports of Gaetz engaging in sexual misconduct, using drugs, using campaign money for personal expenses, accepting gifts against House rules, and more.

  The committee even investigated complaints that Gaetz used to share inappropriate images with other members on the House floor.

  The decision to release the report is an about-face for the committee and unusual because Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress or up for a job in the new administration. But it’s possible that so many members of Congress revile him that they want to squash him like a cockroach.

  Gaetz resigned from the House after Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general then backed out when it became clear that the Senate would not confirm him. He has since taken a job to appear on the One America News Network.

 Gaetz actually admitted unsavory behavior in a statement yesterday saying, “It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”

THE FRENCH PARADOX: A 72-year-old French man who admitted drugging his wife for years and allowing other men to rape her was convicted yesterday and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Fifty other men … 50 of them … also were convicted of raping Dominique Pelicot’s now ex-wife.

  Gisèle Pelicot, his wife of 50 years, became a feminist hero in France for waiving anonymity as the victim and insisting that the trial be public.

  Pelicot has admitted to crushing sleeping pills into his wife’s food and drink, rendering her unconscious before he and other men raped her. He took thousands of video clips and photos of the encounters, which police used to track down the other men. 

  French news media labeled the 50 other defendants “Monsieur Tout-le-monde,” or Mr. Every Man for their variety of appearances and professions, short, tall, bearded, bald, truck drivers, carpenters, a prison guard, a nurse, an IT expert and a local journalist.

  Pelicot himself was described as otherwise an attentive grandfather, father, and husband who had been in love with his wife since they met at 19.

ECON 101: The Federal Reserve cut the basic interest rate by another quarter point yesterday while projecting only two more cuts next years because inflation is inching back upwards. That sent stocks sliding with the S&P 500 dropping 178 points and the Dow Jones, 1,123.

  There’s still plenty of money in the markets, though. Stocks are up by 20 percent for the year.

SPILLED MILK: The Centers for Disease Control announced the first case of severe bird flu in a resident of Louisiana as concerns grow about outbreaks in nature spreading to humans. 

  The person in Louisiana caught the disease from exposure to sick and dead birds in a back yard. It’s a different strain from what’s been spreading in dairy herds, which caused California Gov. Gavin to declare a state of emergency. More than 300 dairy herds have tested positive in California in the last 30 days.

  So far there seems to be no spread from humans to humans, but authorities fear the virus could mutate allowing that to happen.

THE SPIN RACK: The Supreme Court agreed to decide on the constitutionality of the federal law that requires banning TikTok or its sale by the App’s Chinese owners. — After five years, the so-called “murder hornet” is said to have been eradicated from the northwest corner of Washington State. The northern giant hornet, which is about an inch and a half long, wipes out bee hives, ripping the heads off the bees. The feel of its sting on human skin has been described as being like “red-hot thumbtacks.” 

BELOW THE FOLD: Residents in the area of Pickens, South Carolina have been reporting in recent days that their homes have been robbed by what appeared to have been a large furry creature wearing a Santa hat and jacket. Yeah, right.

  Then the police encountered a man in a full Grinch outfit in the act of stealing packages from under a Christmas tree inside a home. Police bodycam video showed the brief pursuit before the Grinch was cuffed.

  “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch …”

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