Elon Musk, Speaker Of The House?

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In Today’s Brief

• ICE: Deportation surge

• Putin: Trump claim

• Cuomo: Defamation lawsuit

• Dow Jones: Slide ends

• Bluey: Disney plans

... and more

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Top Tips

1) Chaos effect

Elon Musk does not have a formal government job. At least two prominent Republicans wants to give him a rather improbable one.

• The news: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul floated Musk as a potential Speaker of the House yesterday, a day after the world's richest man played a prominent role in the stunning collapse of a government funding bill backed by current Speaker Mike Johnson. Controversial Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene then echoed the suggestion.

• Key context: There is no constitutional requirement for the Speaker of the House to be an elected member of the chamber. The House can vote anyone into the position by a simple majority and the Speaker traditionally does not cast votes. There has never been a non-member Speaker. Musk, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Africa, would not be eligible to be in the line of presidential succession.

• In the meantime: A partial government shutdown appears likely after Musk tanked the initial bipartisan bill. A second version that included President-elect Donald Trump's demand for a debt ceiling increase failed yesterday, leading to uncertainty ahead of tonight's deadline.

• Big picture: Johnson's long-term viability as Speaker is now very much in question and Musk may be the sort of unifying candidate the warring factions of the Republican Party could get behind. But at what point does the Tesla CEO's growing presence — and the mayhem he sparks — wear on Trump?

2) Sordid scandal

A firestorm that checks all the boxes -- government corruption, murder and sex -- has engulfed Peru.

• The news: Prosecutors have uncovered an alleged prostitution ring inside the South American nation's legislature. Lawmakers are accused of using the ring to trade sex for votes.

• The genesis: A woman who worked as a lawyer inside Peru's Congress was assassinated when hitmen fired over 40 rounds into a taxi carrying her in Lima, the capital city. The murders sparked a probe into the woman's boss, which unearthed claims he hired young women to sleep with politicians in a quid-pro-quo.

• Big picture: The scandal is the latest escalation of Peru's political chaos. President Dina Boluarte has a 3% approval rating and is under investigation for corruption. The congress is also very unpopular with citizens and the country is plagued by violence and other crimes.

3) Play ball

The College Football Playoff kicks off this weekend.

• Expanded field: This will be the first season with 12 teams in the tournament. This weekend will see the first four on-campus playoff games ever at the sport's top level; the remainder of the bracket will be contested at neutral sites. Four of the 12 teams received first-round byes; the other eight play this weekend.

• The schedule: Notre Dame and Indiana open the CFP tonight in South Bend; snow is possible. Clemson-Texas, Penn State-SMU and Ohio State-Tennessee will be played on Saturday. The winners of those games will play Georgia, Arizona State, Boise State and Oregon, respectively, in the quarterfinal round on New Year's Eve and Day.

• Other notes: Georgia is expected to be without starting quarterback Carson Beck for the entire tournament. The quarterfinal and semifinal round games will be played in the New Year's Six bowl games with a standalone national title game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

Quick Tips

U.S. News

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported over 271K undocumented immigrants this year. The total is a 10-year high and surpasses the high 267K deported under the first Trump administration in 2019 (More)

• An event celebrating Los Angeles' top restaurants sparked a norovirus outbreak. At least 80 people got sick after eating raw oysters at the Los Angeles Times-sponsored conference earlier this month (More)

• One of Virginia's biggest high schools has shut down due to a rash of fights. Alexandria City High School started winter break two days early after a series of conflicts led to two student arrests and injuries to students and teachers (More)

World News

• Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed he is ready for talks to end the Ukraine war. The Kremlin will not accept a temporary ceasefire, but Putin said he is open to compromise and prepared to sit down with President-elect Trump at any time (More)

• A top U.S. diplomat will reportedly visit Syria in the coming days, making the first State Department trip to the country in years following Bashar al-Assad's overthrow. The Pentagon said there are 1.1K more U.S. troops in the nation than previously disclosed (More | More)

• President Joe Biden will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican next month. He will be in Rome on Jan. 9-12 for what is expected to be his final foreign trip in office; the president will also sit down with Italian leaders (More)

Political News

• Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed a defamation lawsuit against an ex-aide who accused him of sexual harassment. He resigned in 2021 after a probe determined he sexually harassed at least 11 women; Cuomo is reportedly considering a run for mayor in New York City (More)

• A Georgia appeals court booted Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from President-elect Trump's state election interference case. Proceedings have stalled over her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor in the case; the charges remain likely to be dismissed (More)

• Trump is reportedly cooling on a desire to fire Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown may have won the president-elect over during a conversation at last week's Army-Navy Game, according to NBC News (More)

Business & Markets

• Major indexes closed mixed yesterday. The Dow Jones ended its 10-day losing skid by eking out a modest gain (Dow +0.04%, Nasdaq -0.10%, S&P 500 -0.09%).

• Amazon said worker walkouts at seven U.S. facilities would not disrupt operations. The Teamsters Union members are striking over new contracts; the labor group also organized protests by employees of the e-commerce giant at other facilities yesterday (More)

• The Federal Reserve cannot hold bitcoin. Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank is not interested in owning the cryptocurrency amid speculation the incoming Trump administration may look to start a government stockpile (More)

Entertainment & Sports

• Disneyland and Disney World will add attractions involving the Bluey animated series. The entertainment giant has expanded its partnership with BBC Studios, which distributes the popular Australian children's show (More)

• Former slugger Sammy Sosa indirectly admitted to using steroids during his playing career. He released a statement apologizing for "mistakes" after reconciling with the Chicago Cubs, his former team (More)

• Reigning champion Liverpool will face Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup semifinal round. Arsenal and Newcastle are the other semifinal pairing for the annual tournament of England's top-4 professional soccer leagues (More)

Quick Hitters

• Feel Good: Lego launched a program five years ago to donate used bricks to underprivileged communities through non-profit groups. Over 485K kids have benefited since the operation began.

• Be Safe: Frito-Lay has recalled some bags of its Lay's Classic potato chips. The products may contain milk allergens; the impacted products appear confined to the Pacific Northwest.

• Go Deep: Most people associate building snowmen with winter fun. But the pastime actually dates back to social unrest in the 16th century.

• Old School: A bakery in Indiana may still use a Commodore 64 computer for inventory. Talk about retro.

• Life Hack: A man crowdsourced over 20M people on Reddit for their best tips. Here is what he compiled.

Watch This

The trailer for the upcoming Superman reboot is out. The film will hit theaters on July 11.

Links

• Guilty pleas in the $100M New Jersey deli stock scheme 🥪

• Justin Trudeau is going down swinging 🇨🇦

• Lawsuits over the 'Hawk Tuah' meme coin have begun 🪙

• An 11-minute staredown at a boxing weigh-in 🥊

• Big Lots is going out of business 📉

• Rituals are key to family connections 🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒

• The FDA has new rules for labeling healthy foods 🥗

• You can make a lot of money playing pickleball 🏓

• Neil Cavuto is leaving Fox News 📺

• Building gingerbread versions of famous landmarks 🏰

Looking Ahead …

Ski resorts around the world are preparing for a time when climate change may force them to hit snow-less slopes.

Question of the Day — Friday Trivia

Yesterday’s results:

Should filmmakers need permits to shoot at national parks?

• Yes (65%)

• Depends on the size of the film and how much disturbance it will cause (27%)

• No (8%)