The past few days have been somewhat boring as I stayed off the snow covered streets — my concern is other drivers because I know my driving abilities, but too many others don't understand driving to conditions.  I finally went out late Sunday afternoon only to have a man tell me I'd never get out of the parking slot, let alone the lot.  He watched as I backed out and was amazed.  Silly man didn't like a woman showing him how it's done no doubt.  Today was a beautiful  day, clear skies and lots of sunshine.  Temperatures are low with day's high -2 C (28 F).  Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same with  overnight plunging to -10 C (14 F). Ah, retirement!

Short Takes

CBC — For Angela Keizer, there's more than one Santa Claus — and they all wear steel-toed boots.

Last month the Dartmouth, N.S., woman was running out of options, out of money and fearing her family would soon be without a home.

Attempts to rebuild after a house fire came to a halt after problems with Keizer's contractor, but the unexpected generosity of strangers from as far away as Ontario has put the project back on track.

"Three weeks ago … I thought I was going to have to walk away," Keizer said Tuesday.  …

"I was always a trusting person before, and then when this disaster happened, that died. But there's so many people that have restored that faith. There's a lot of good people out there."

I could start off my comment with how these contractors are helping Keizer so that they get free advertising and more contracting jobs etc, and in so doing, wouldn't I be the "Grinch who stole Christmas"!  But that's not me.  This is a "feel good" story that has no other meaning than to celebrate that people can be compassionate and love their neighbours no matter how far away they live.

TIME — For nearly 17 months on the campaign trail, Trump did what no American politician had attempted in a generation, with defiant flair. Instead of painting a bright vision for a unified future, he magnified the divisions of the present, inspiring new levels of anger and fear within his country. Whatever you think of the man, this much is undeniable: he uncovered an opportunity others didn’t believe existed, the last, greatest deal for a 21st century salesman. The national press, the late-night comics, the elected leaders, the donors, the corporate chiefs and a sitting President who prematurely dropped his mic—they all believed he was just taking the country for a ride.

Now it’s difficult to count all the ways Trump remade the game: the huckster came off more real than the scripted political pros. The cable-news addict made pollsters look like chumps. The fabulist out-shouted journalists fighting to separate fact from falsehood. The demagogue won more Latino and black votes than the 2012 Republican nominee.

I was astonished that Trump was made Time's Person of the Year, but then I remembered the criteria.  As Jim Kelly, a Chief Editor of Time, put it in 2001: "Well, the classic definition of TIME's Person of the Year is the person who most affected the events of the year, for better or for worse. I think what has happened over the years is that the Man of the Year title, Person of the Year title, has become non-honorific. It was never meant to be solely that."  To no one's surprise, Trump sees it only as an honourific.  But then, narcissist that he is, that is the only way he is capable of seeing it.  There is no doubt that Trump has had an immense affect on the politics of the US, but unfortunately, IMO, it is all negative.  He is a demogogue, a narcissist, a liar, he is mendacious and arrogant.  He is not fit to be POTUS.  BTW, I heard Drumpf at a rally comment on being Time's Person of the Year, he called out "It should be Man of the Year.  What do you think ladies?"  Is there any doubt he is a misogynist!

Washington Post — The simmering distrust between Donald Trump and U.S. intelligence agencies escalated into open antagonism Saturday after the president-elect mocked a CIA report that Russian operatives had intervened in the U.S. presidential election to help him win.

The growing tensions set up a potential showdown between Trump and the nation’s top intelligence officials during what some of those officials describe as the most complex threat environment in decades.

The Washington Post reported Friday that the Central Intelligence Agency had determined that Russia had intervened in the presidential election not just to make mischief but to boost Trump’s chances.

Trump’s reaction will probably deepen an existing rift between Trump and the agencies and raised questions about how the government’s 16 spying agencies will function in his administration on matters such as counterterrorism and cyberwarfare. On Friday, members of Trump’s transition team dismissed the CIA’s assessments about Iraq’s stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.

“Given his proclivity for revenge combined with his notorious thin skin, this threatens to result in a lasting relationship of distrust and ill will between the president and the intelligence community,” said Paul Pillar, former deputy director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center.

President-elect Donald Trump as well as Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Dec. 11 reacted to the CIA’s assessment that Russia intervened to help Trump win the election.

The CIA's report into Russian activities related to the US election was leaked to the public last Friday, although top congressional leaders had seen it behind closed doors in September.  Trump is still denying the report as the work of the Democrats.  He says there is no evidence.  He puts no stock in the advice of the intelligence community, a community that historically has credence with conservatives.  He's smarter than them . . . just ask him!  It is going to be a long four years if the Electoral College doesn't do it's constitutional duty.

CBC — We went looking for them as part of a report on the proliferation of extreme-right, xenophobic and anti-Semitic groups in Hungary, clothing themselves as nationalist defenders of the land. It didn't go well.

The bikers' leader, Imre Meszaros, demands the right to veto the work of journalists who interview him, even presents them with a legal document to sign right off the bat.

We didn't agree, but met with him at his apartment in a well-to-do suburb of the Hungarian capital in the hopes of changing his mind.

Meszaros was soon raising his voice, pointing fingers in our faces and railing about the fickle media.

After a brief off-the-record chat, we ended the conversation and said goodbye. But not before Meszaros stepped into the elevator with us to warn there would be "consequences" if the conversation was reported anywhere.

It wasn't a threat, he said, just "information," and he has friends in Canada, the Hells Angels.

I told him I know a threat when I hear one, and the non-interview was over.

Later he emailed our translator, making the same threat. Intimidation of the media is a hallmark of the extreme right in Hungary.

We have Hungary reverting to its fascist past when it worked in league with the Nazis to eliminate Jews and Roma.  How many times will we ignore this resurgence of fascism before we take action as a global community?

Politico — On a presidential debate stage five years ago, Rick Perry blanked on the Energy Department's name when trying to include it in a list of agencies he promised to abolish — memorably concluding with "oops."

Now Donald Trump has chosen the former Texas governor to lead the sprawling department, which oversees the security of the nation's nuclear weapons and has played major roles in President Barack Obama's climate agenda and nuclear deal with Iran. Three sources close to the transition confirmed the choice Tuesday.

Conservatives had favored the former Texas governor for the job, viewing him as someone with management experience who would be willing to question the agency’s status quo. They believe Perry might bring serious reform to the agency because he isn't wedded to energy programs, such as DOE's fossil and efficiency offices, that conservatives have criticized as unnecessary, market-distorting schemes.

There is only one thing to say to Drumpf's announcement — OOPS!!!!

My Universe — They can get along.  Why can't humans?

"Momma" PeppaPeppa's kittens