Yesterday was a trying day. My computer did not update properly and gave me intermittent problems all day. My Internet connection was flaky, because of the ice storm. The HSP with PP’s servers was acting up intermittently. Nameless taught me that 467 is too many slideshows for one article. 😉 I lost an article, and by that time I was completely exhausted. I’m trying to do better today.’
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:51 (average 5:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From The New Yorker: Calling his action “long overdue,” President Barack Obama on Friday signed an executive order requiring that the President of the United States be a federal taxpayer.
The order, which makes a non-taxpayer ineligible to serve as President, goes into effect immediately.
“Since the President has such a large say in how federal taxes are spent, it only makes sense that he or she contribute to those taxes, too,” he said, noting that everyone who has served as President has been a taxpayer.
The President urged people “not to read too much into the timing” of his executive order. “It just seemed like the right thing to do,” he said.
Dang, Andy! I wish he would!
From NY Times: Rex W. Tillerson, the president and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has emerged as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s top choice to become secretary of state, according to a person with direct knowledge of the search process.
The news is the latest turn in what has become the most extended drama of Mr. Trump’s transition effort, with a rotating cast of seeming front-runners to become America’s top diplomat. Choosing Mr. Tillerson would add to a long list of wealthy businesspeople in high-ranking Trump administration posts.
As Exxon’s top official, Mr. Tillerson has extensive experience working with foreign leaders. Some of his foreign relationships, especially those with Russia, could come under particular scrutiny during a Senate confirmation hearing.
It better come under scrutiny!! Tillerson is Putin’s pick for State. Tillerson recently negotiated joint ventures with Russia’s state owned oil company to drill baby drill in both the Arctic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
From Daily Kos: There has been continuing discussion in the Kos Community on the role of the FBI in tipping the election to Trump. www.dailykos.com/… . I had previously written that the FBI intervention, ( defined as Comey’s letters, FBI anti-Clinton leaks, and other anti-Clinton FBI actions) was decisive in the election. www.dailykos.com/… Decisive means the FBI intervention changed what looked in late October like a modest Clinton victory (according to CNN Exit Polls) and a Democratic Senate majority into a split decision for Trump and a Republican Senate majority. Obviously, there were many other reasons why Clinton was only slightly ahead at the end of October.
The belief that the FBI election intervention was decisive now seems like old news ( many have come to the same conclusion including Paul Krugman and Markos "kos" Moulitsas in his legendary post-election screed and others). My FBI analysis is different. I don’t believe Comey was the only problem. I believe what happened was a deep partisan intervention in the election by a significant portion of the Agency. Further, while Comey’s removal might be called for it would not necessarily prevent partisan FBI electioneering from happening again and would in the short term impede a more thorough investigation.
When Crawford Caligula was defeated in 2008, bringing the Fourth Reich to an end, I warned that Republican "moles" were "burrowing in" to key positions in government agencies. That is temporary political appointees were being moved to permanent "nonpartisan" career jobs, based on political reliability, not qualifications. This was particularly true in the DOJ, CIA and FBI. I warned about this at the time. Those articles were lost, when we moved the site to WordPress, but I repeated my warning December 2010 that we most expose and eradicate them. Is it time for an "I told you so"?
Cartoon:
At midnight last night, Alex Jones posted a special message on his Facebook page about “Pizzagate,” the 
