Silence of the Lambs: A string of officials who had been called to testify before House impeachment investigators this week is refusing to show up, while the whistleblower who started the whole Trump/Ukraine/Biden thing is offering to answer written questions from the Republicans so long as they don’t try to identify who he is.

  Seven officials including energy Secretary Rick Perry, who was deep into the Turkey thing, are expected to be no-shows.

  Others obeying the White House non-cooperation order are Robert Blair, a senior adviser to chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; John Eisenberg, deputy counsel to the president for national security affairs; Michael Ellis, Eisenberg’s deputy; and Brian McCormack, a director at the White House budget office.

  Trump tweeted this morning, “What I said on the phone call with the Ukrainian President is ‘perfectly’ stated. There is no reason to call witnesses to analyze my words and meaning. This is just another Democrat Hoax that I have had to live with from the day I got elected (and before!). Disgraceful!”

  The Washington Post reports according to current and former officials that “The president has asked for copies of witness statements so he can decide how to criticize them, complained that his lawyers are not doing enough to stop people from talking, and even encouraged members of Congress to question the credibility of people working in his own administration.”

  As of yesterday, 48.3 percent of Americans want to see Donald Trump impeached, according to the FiveThirtyEight blog. Those opposed are 44.1 percent.

Mind Management: Never one to inform himself before speaking, President Trump once again attacked California Gov. Gavin Newsom for how the state’s forests are managed to avoid wildfires. 

  The President tweeted, “@GavinNewsom has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him.”

  “Clean” the forest floors, like they are a statewide carpet. 

  Trump also threatened to withhold federal aid. He wrote, “Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states.”

  Well, first thing, there is no apostrophe in the plural of fire. And other states don’t have the dense brush they have in California that nature designed to burn. Californians are not blameless because they have built homes because they have built deep into the burn zones. But cleaning millions of acres of forest floor is an absurdity and so is an apostrophe in the plural of fire.

  This morning, the fires are mostly under control.

The Bulletin Board: The CEO of the McDonald’s hamburger chain was fired after having a romantic relationship with a subordinate against company policy, which is different from having a side of fries. — Airbnb announced that it is banning “party house” rentals after five people were shot and killed at a Halloween party near San Francisco. — Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle is declining to visit the White House with his team today. “There’s a lot of things, policies that I disagree with,” he said, “but at the end of the day, it has more to do with the divisive rhetoric and the enabling of conspiracy theories and widening the divide in this country.”

The Obit Page: Former Navy SEAL Rudy Boesch, the oldest cast member ever of the CBS television reality series “Survivor,” died after a long bout with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 91. Boesch appeared on two seasons of Survivor, including the 2000 opening of the long-running show when he was 72. 

  The surly, cantankerous, and blunt Boesch who wore a flat-top haircut was a fan favorite. “The hardest part is hanging around with all the young kids,” he once complained, adding, “I don’t even know what MTV means.”

  Popular as Boesch was, you don’t see older contestants on “Survivor” anymore.

Gridiron Blues: The Baltimore Ravens cracked New England’s undefeated season, beating the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady 37-20. The Baltimore defense had Brady stymied while the offense ran over New England. Brady said, “To get beat by 17 points, that’s not what we’re all about.” It is now.

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