Skyfall: Look out for blustery weather reports and television reporters wading through snow drifts. A Polar Vortex has swept down into the Northern states and across upper New England. It’s zero in Great Falls, MT; 3 in Duluth; 27 in Chicago; 23 in Saranac Lake, NY; and 5 in Caribou, ME.

So far today, 674 fights have been cancelled and more than 3,000 have been delayed.

Denial: In an interview with Fox News host Chris Wallace yesterday, President-elect Trump explained why he doesn’t take national security briefings. “I’m a smart person,” he said. “I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years — it could be eight years. … I don’t need that. … But I do say: If something should change, let us know.”

Trump dismisses CIA claims that Russian hackers tried to sway the election his way. He told Wallace he blames the Democrats. “I think the Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country,” Trump said.

His stance on that puts him at odds with both Democrats and Republicans who believe the CIA. Arizona Sen. John McCain said, “It’s clear the Russians interfered. Now, whether they intended to interfere to the degree that they were trying to elect a certain candidate, I think that’s a subject of further investigation.”

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton, a real hardliner, has gone so far as to say the hacking claim may be a “false flag,” a hoax perpetrated by the Obama Administration.

A NY Times editorial says that for Trump, “facts aren’t the point;trust us.   Like any autocrat, he wins his followers’ trust — let’s call it a blind trust — by lying so often and so brazenly that millions of people give up on trying to distinguish truth from falsehood.”

Two Chinas: Also in that Fox News interview, Trump said he might use the “One China” policy as leverage to rein in China’s behavior. We’re being hurt very badly by China with devaluation; with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don’t tax them; with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn’t be doing; and, frankly, with not helping us at all with North Korea.”

In making his overture to China in 1972, President Richard Nixon agreed to recognize only mainland China and not Taiwan, which China claims even though it operates as an independent country. Trump is threatening to break that agreement, which is very important to Chinese leaders.

Nation: The man who shot the popular former New Orleans Saints player Will Smith last April was convicted of manslaughter last night in New Orleans. Cardell Hayes, 29, killed Smith in what appeared to be a road rage incident. He claimed Smith was going to kill him, but now he faces up to 40 years in prison.

Smith was part of the team that lifted the spirits of the city winning the Super Bowl just months after the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Sports Page: The struggling NY Giants ended the Dallas Cowboys 11-game winning streak last night, 10-7. The Giants’ explosive Odell Beckham, Jr. caught a routine pass and evaded defenders for a 61-yard touchdown.

The Obit Page: We note the passing of a man who made a successful business out of the traveler’s nightmare; lost luggage. Doyle Owens, who died at age 85, started in the 1970s buying the unclaimed baggage of bus passengers and expanded to buying from the airlines. He opened up the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., which became a major retail attraction.

The airlines have vastly improved their performance with tracking bags, but they still lose them. About 5,000 new items a day end up in Owens’ store.

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