TRANSITION TROUBLE: CBS News reports that Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, will be short of enough Senate votes to win confirmation.  The network says this morning that Trump might replace Hegseth with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, …

POST PARDON DEPRESSION:  Republican politicians and some Democrats are outraged by President Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter even while President-elect Donald Trump and some of his political appointees have vowed to seek revenge against Trump’s legal and political enemies. …

PARDON HIM: President Biden went back on his word yesterday and pardoned his son Hunter, issuing a blanket pardon for all the federal crimes his son did or may have committed going back to 2014.   Hunter Biden faced possible prison time …

IN TRANSITION: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had dinner last night in Florida with Donald Trump to discuss the president-elect’s threat of imposing tariffs on his country’s exports to the US. Trump has threatened Canada, Mexico, and China with steep tariffs …

CEASE FIRE: As Israeli forces kept up ferocious bombing in Lebanon yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government agreed to a cease-fire to suspend fighting against Hezbollah militants for 60 days and possibly longer if both sides hold fire.   The …

BIG THREAT: Still nearly two months from taking office, Trump yesterday on social media said he plans on his first day in office to impose steep tariffs on goods imported from China, Mexico, and Canada.    Trump said tariffs would be 25 percent …

IN TRANSITION:  President-elect Donald Trump is spurning the formal transition process allowing him to keep secret the names of the wealthy people and companies paying for his transition into a second term.   Trump has yet to enter an agreement with the General Services …

CONFIRMATION BIAS: Vice President-elect JD Vance spent yesterday squiring former Rep. Matt Gaetz around Capitol Hill, lobbying senators to approve Gaetz’s appointment as Attorney General despite testimony against him about drug use, paid sex, and sex with a 17-year-old.    The NY Times …

REGIME CHANGE: Donald Trump with a casual re-posting of someone else’s social media message confirmed that he plans to declare a national emergency and use the military to execute his plan for mass deportations of illegal immigrants.   About 4 am yesterday …

THE LOYALISTS: Bring the vapors. Donald Trump has named anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be  his Secretary of Health and Human Services.   Trump said last night at a black tie event at Mar-a-Lago that Kennedy will do “unbelievable …