CIA v. The Donald
The CIA says the evidence that Russians interfered in the election on behalf of Donald Trump has become overwhelming. Donald Trump says he doesn’t believe it, saying it’s “ridiculous” and tweeting that the CIA is the same bunch of bumblers that got it wrong on Iraq all those years ago (or was it Bush/Cheney who got it wrong?). So, where does that leave us now? Via the New York Times.
Republican, and the living is easy
The Economist asks the essential question on the CIA allegation: Why do Republicans seem not to be at all alarmed? Has party really become that important in America?
Should we worry?
E.J. Dionne: Trump, Tillerson and Putin: Any reason to be concerned? Via the Washington Post.
Don’t mess with Rex
ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson’s principal credential for the job of secretary of state is apparently that Exxon is well known for running its own foreign policy, independent of the U.S. government, and firmly devoted to the interests of its shareholders. Via the New Yorker.
Know-it-all
This is where the Trump feud with the intelligence agencies would inevitably lead: Trump says he doesn’t need daily briefings. In the end, after all, they’re just a lot of words. Via Politico.
Gaslighting
So maybe you didn’t expect to hear here from TeenVogue — it’s definitely a Wiretap first — but here’s as good an analysis as any on how Donald Trump is gaslighting America.
Winning the war
Could Trump finally win the “war on terror” by making it a war on radical Islam? Via Bloomberg.
Bankers love it…
Here’s something no one saw coming: How Wall Street welcomes one of its own in the presidency and the market goes boom. And economic confidence is along for the ride. Via the New York Times.
Scientists, not so much
Scientists, meanwhile, don’t see a Trump administration in quite the same way. Via the New Yorker.
All souls can see it
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son? Oh, what did you see, my darling young one? I saw Patti Smith collecting Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize in Stockholm and sing “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” I saw her mess up the second verse and still get called transcendent. Via the New Yorker.
Photo credit: Jean-Baptiste Bellet, Creative Commons, Flickr
