![Sweden's famous 'Yule Goat' set on fire ... again](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/211221022620-sweden-yule-goat-1217-super-tease.jpg)
Sweden's famous 'Yule Goat' set on fire ... again
CNN
A giant straw Yule goat in the Swedish town of Gavle, 200 miles northwest of Stockholm, was set ablaze on December 17 for the first time in five years, reviving a long-running tradition of locals illegally attempting to torch it and authorities scrambling to stop them.
A giant straw Yule goat in the Swedish town of Gavle, 200 miles northwest of Stockholm, was set ablaze on December 17 for the first time in five years, reviving a long-running tradition of locals illegally attempting to torch it and authorities scrambling to stop them.
Police said they had arrested a man in his 40s who witnesses claimed had been acting suspiciously before the blaze in the early hours of the day.
The Gavle Yule Goat, or julbocken in Swedish, is a 42-foot-high statue made of wood and straw erected every year before Christmas, has become famous nationwide since one was first installed on a town square in 1966 as a marketing ploy. It was burned down on New Year's Eve that year.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250216092711.jpg)
Amid Democrats’ shock and bickering over how much to respond to President Donald Trump is a deeper question rippling through leaders across the Capitol and across the country: How much should they rely on the same institutional and procedural maneuvers they used during the first Trump term, and how much are they willing to wield their own wrecking balls?
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250215102651.jpg)
In less than a month in office the Trump administration has simultaneously dismantled foreign aid programs that support fragile democracies abroad and put on leave federal workers who protect US elections at home in a move that current and former officials say abandons decades of American commitments to democracy.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250215092938.jpg)
Sen. Mitch McConnell was a generational force for the Republican Party — using procedural tactics and political will to stymie much of former President Barack Obama’s agenda, hand President Donald Trump key first-term political victories and deliver a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court majority. Now he’s the odd man out.