New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, in Israel playing at being an international statesman when he can't even get the 7 train to run on weekends, heard a rocket and hid in a basement.

What is going on with Caroline Kennedy and her magical pony trip to the US Senate? Disarray!!

If Michael Bloomberg is so interested in trimming the city's budget, allow us to kindly suggest one way to save the city $250,008.00 in 2009: Fire Kevin Sheekey immediately. The pit bull deputy mayor, who championed Bloomberg's non-bid for the White House and then counseled his boss against running for a third term (advice his boss ignored, of course), is now on the hot seat for his aggressive efforts to get Caroline Kennedy named as Hillary Clinton's successor in the Senate. And yet his attempt to strong-arm the political establishment—like, say, instructing the head of a union to support Kennedy because she, too, is Irish—has only managed to do more damage than good. "Everything was backfiring," a source told the Post of Sheekey's efforts to corral support on Kennedy's behalf.

Bloomberg aide Kevin Sheekey is a late addition to our list of people who should be unemployed in 2009.

Caroline Kennedy now almost certainly won't be the new Praetor of New York! The overreaching Bloomberg aide pushing her has given up. Good news for her!

Obviously we live in a cruel and absurd universe of well-rewarded idiocy and undeserved second chances, but if we didn't, these are the ten people you'd meet in the nu-depression's breadlines.

Great news for anyone concerned that the upcoming race for City Hall would be a dull one. Michael Bloomberg has tapped Howard Wolfson to serve as the public face of his campaign, a move that should "bring a redoubled pugnaciousness to the mayor's re-election team." [City Room]

Prospective senator Caroline Kennedy is "close friends" (ahem) with Times honcho Arthur Sulzberger, and has maybe been feeding the paper scoops, but apparently some Times writers are now trying to publish damaging dirt. Awkward!

• Glamour's list of 2008's style dos and don'ts is now online. We'll leave it to you to guess where this outfit worn by Jodi Marsh landed. [Glamour]
• Marc Jacobs chats about his new Stephen Sprouse-inspired collection for Louis Vuitton. [SF]
• Carmen Marc Valvo has decided against staging a runway show at Fashion Week in February. [WSJ]
• Barack Obama has already picked out his tux for the inauguration, but a few designers share their sketches anyway. [WWD]
• Mayor Michael Bloomberg went holiday shopping on Saturday and picked up Diana Taylor a pair of $29.99 fleece gloves at Modell's Sporting Goods. Times are tough, clearly. [NYT]

For the second time in three months, Mayor Bloomberg has ordered city agencies to cut back on spending. Just how is the already-strapped city bureaucracy going to do that? Here's your answer (or one of them, at least): The MTA is planning to test out seat-less subway cars, so more people can crowd into trains after the agency cuts back on service. [NYT, WCBS]

Have you heard that William Thompson, New York City's comptroller, is running for mayor? Probably not, since the man he's going up against is slightly better known to the public (not to mention slightly better funded). But Thompson is clearly making headway with the city's most prominent celebrities and movers and shakers! His fundraiser last night attracted rapper Kurtis Blow! [NYDN]

♦ Today marks the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Here's a look at some of the city's former speakeasies. [NewYorkology]
♦ Noah Tepperberg says he plans to move ahead with his new lounge, despite not getting Community Board approval. [GS]
♦ Changing seasons: Park Avenue Winter has arrived. [Eater]
♦ Mayor Bloomberg usually treats reporters to a holiday meal at Gracie Mansion. This year it costs $45 and it's at Chinatown's Golden Unicorn. [P6]
♦ Tips on how to gain access to the "secret" bar below Little Branch. [DBTH]
♦ Anita Lo shows off the new interiors at Bar Q. [GS]
♦ Fans of Padma Lakshmi: She'll be at the Whole Foods Bowery tomorrow. [GS]

More trouble seems to be brewing for Steve Rattner, the mega-financier who runs Quadrangle Capital and the man responsible for managing Michael Bloomberg's vast fortune. Last week the firm announced plans to shut down a $500 million hedge fund focused on media investments after the value of the fund declined and investors started demanding their money back. Now comes word that Quadrangle's magazine holdings are in trouble. In 2007, Quadrangle paid $250 million for Alpha Media, the company that publishes Maxim and Blender, and lured Jann Wenner's former right-hand, Kent Brownridge, to run the company. Brownridge departed Alpha in August amid rumors the publishing company was in trouble. Today the Journal reports that the company really is in deep trouble, having fallen behind on its debt payments to Steve Feinberg's Cerberus Capital. Rattner may ultimately be forced to hand over Alpha to the company's creditors. But that's not the only disappointing news that has landed at Rattner's feet in recent weeks.

Georgina Bloomberg's family scrapbook [Page Six Mag]

According to a new poll, 59 percent of New Yorkers still believe Michael Bloomberg is doing an "excellent" or "good" job as mayor. That's down from 68 percent a month ago and is below 60 percent for the first time since August 2005. [City Room]

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to slash the city's budget will require cuts at all local agencies. It also means he's going to have to cut 23 people from his own staff if he expects to comply with his own order on "maximum allowable headcounts." If you work at City Hall and the mayor asks you to step out of the bullpen and into his glass conference room, well, don't say we didn't warn you! [NYP]

It looks like Michael Bloomberg has won the battle to redevelop Willets Point in Queens. The City Council will officially vote on the matter tomorrow, but key members of the Council announced earlier today that they'd reached an agreement on the outstanding issues that had thus far kept the plan in limbo. Which means by 2013 several thousand New Yorkers will get to watch the Mets play ball at Citi Field without getting off their living room couches. [NYO]

Mayor Bloomberg wants to discourage people from using plastic bags when they shop at grocery stores. So he's proposing a 6-cent tax on every bag, a fee that city officials argue could generate as much as $16 million a year. Just wait until the mayor goes food shopping for the first time in years to show off the reusable bags he's suggesting the public use. He won't believe how much milk costs these days! [NYT]

The list of election '08 losers is a long one: There's John McCain, of course, who will die angry and bitter, notwithstanding his rather gracious concession speech last night. Steve Schmidt, McCain's chief strategist, will probably have trouble finding a Little League team to advise, unless he manages to redeem himself somehow. From Republicans on the Hill to GOP strategists to snowmobile and hunting enthusiasts, plenty of people will feel the cold wind of electoral defeat for a long time to come. After the jump, a roundup of New York City's nine biggest losers.

Michael Bloomberg has revealed how he plans to slice $1.5 billion from the city's budget this year and next. Some 3,000 city employees are going to be losing their jobs, he's rescinding the 7 percent property tax cut, and he's also suspending those annual $400 property tax rebate checks. [NYT]