## Elon Musk Wants to Pay for His Tax Cuts With Your Social Security and Medicare

Authored by rollingstone.com

GOP lawmakers immediately lined up against the original short-term government funding bill released this week after Musk voiced his opposition.

And they’re putting unelected and unaccountable oligarchs — Musk and Ramaswamy — in charge of deciding how much pain Americans will have to tolerate so that the rich can get richer.

Contrary to Musk and Ramaswamy’s claims that DOGE will put money back in taxpayers’ pockets, nothing laid out in DOGE’s scattershot plans shows any serious understanding of improving efficacy and efficiency.

And now, Musk and Ramaswamy are being given free reign to decide what programs they can cut to fund their own tax cuts, all while Musk himself benefits from billions in government subsidies.

Here’s the good news: Like the commissions of Christmas past, Musk and Ramaswamy are setting themselves up for failure.

Working families don’t need a pair of ultra-rich tech bros to tell us where their priorities lie.

Let’s just make sure they don’t leave dangerous products, higher prices, and smaller paychecks in their wake. »

### Ukraine’s First All-Robot Assault Force Just Won Its First Battle

Authored by forbes.com

A Ukrainian national guard brigade just orchestrated an all-robot combined-arms operation, mixing crawling and flying drones for an assault on Russian positions in Kharkiv Oblast in northern Russia.

It was an impressive technological feat—and a worrying sign of weakness on the part of overstretched Ukrainian forces.

Unmanned ground vehicles in particular suffer profound limitations, and still can’t fully replace human infantry. »

### Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent ‘friendly fire’ incident, US military says

Authored by apnews.com

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said.

On Dec. 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn’t specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. »

### Oklahoma executes man who killed 10-year-old girl during cannibalistic fantasy

Authored by cbsnews.com

Kevin Ray Underwood was sentenced to die for the killing of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin in 2006 as part of a cannibalistic fantasy.

Underwood, a former grocery store worker, turned 45 on the day he was executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

"I can't imagine the heartache the family of that precious girl is living with every single day," Connie Underwood said. »

### Tencent directors step down from Epic Games' board after US Justice Department "expressed concerns"

Authored by gamesindustry.biz

Two Tencent directors have left Epic Games' board of directors after the US Justice Department "expressed concerns" about their positions.

The law states that directors and officers should not serve simultaneously on the boards of competing companies, such as Epic and Riot.

Consequently, Tencent has amended its shareholder agreement with Epic to "relinquish its unilateral right to appoint directors or observers" on the latter's board given it owns a minority stake in Epic whilst also being the parent company of Epic competitor, Riot Games. »

## In pictures

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