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Photo of Israeli forces operating in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday Nov 5, 2023, in an area from which many attempts to attack the Israeli forces through tunnel shafts and military compounds were detected.
Hard Numbers: Half of Hamas, Hunter Biden's new charges, SpaceX’s stratospheric valuation, George Santos talks for a price, China charges for “deception”
50: How effective has Israel been at killing Hamas fighters? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that the IDF has eliminated around 50% of Hamas’s mid-level battalion commanders after two months of fighting. Israel has so far failed to assassinate senior leaders like Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’ armed wing. According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, the overall death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 17,000.
9: Hunter Biden was charged on Thursday by a California grand jury with nine tax charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors that include failing to file and pay taxes, tax evasion, and filing false tax returns. This is in addition to the federal firearms charges the president’s son faces in Delaware, where he’s accused of breaking laws against drug users having guns.
400: George Santos may have been expelled from the US Congress, but a hustler’s gonna hustle. Blazing new trails post-politician life, he’s now offering pay-to-play personalized video messages to the world on the video-sharing website Cameo. For a mere $400, you too can have a personalized message from the disgraced ex-congressman. Sen. John Fetterman has already had Santos troll his scandal-plagued colleague from New Jersey. In just a few days, Santos’ earnings on the platform eclipsed his $174,000/year congressional salary. On the other hand, Cameo is a lot less risqué than that other pay-to-play video site Santos was accused of spending campaign donations on.
175,000,000,000: Elon Musk’s SpaceX is looking to sell shares at a price that values the company at a whopping $175 billion. That would rank the company above media juggernauts like Comcast and Disney, but still well behind the trillion-dollar club that includes Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon. Still, this is good news for Musk: The valuation of his other company, X (the artist formerly known as Twitter), has dropped to $19 billion, less than half the $44 billion he paid for it last year.
100,000: The popular Taiwanese rock band Mayday faces a 100,000 yuan (more than $14,000) fine for something that would cripple some of your favorite Western acts (be careful out there Ashlee Simpson). A viral video on Weibo accuses the band of lip-syncing at least five songs at a concert in China in November. A rarely enforced law in China actually bans artists from lip-syncing before paying audiences since it is “deceptive.”
U.S. Representative George Santos (R-NY) walks outside the Central Islip Federal Courthouse on the day of his hearing, in Central Islip, New York, U.S., October 27, 2023.
George Santos expelled from the House
(Updated Dec. 1) Mendacious NY Representative George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives on Friday, by a vote of 311 to 114, with two members voting “present.” Republicans had thus far been unwilling to risk their slim House majority to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) despite his purported lies about … pretty much everything, but an Ethics Committee report alleging extensive financial malfeasance did the trick.
The report found “substantial evidence” that Santos used campaign donations and credit card numbers stolen from donors to fund, among other expenses, luxury shopping trips, plastic surgery, casino vacations, and purchases on OnlyFans, a website where people sell sexually explicit photos and videos. He’s now facing 23 federal charges.
The House had never expelled a member in advance of a criminal conviction, and Santos survived two votes thanks to GOP members who felt keeping him in their thin majority was worth the embarrassment. But with the 2024 election approaching, Republicans worried that backing an alleged scammer wasn’t the best look, even if it means decreasing the GOP's narrow majority in the House.
“It’s especially pertinent for the New York Republicans who are trying to hold onto seats they won by slim margins in 2022,” said Eurasia Group analyst Noah Daponte-Smith. “They really don't want to be saddled with Santos and have been leading the expulsion push.”
Asked for comment after the vote, Santos said “to hell with this place” and then refused to answer further questions from reporters, claiming that he was no longer obliged as he was no longer a Congressperson.