Vlad the Terrible: Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in computer hacking to influence the US election, according to a report by NBC News. The network cites national security sources saying Putin directed how materials hacked from Democratic computers were released to damage the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. NBC and other outlets report that it started as a vendetta against Clinton because she was critical of Russian elections and a leader in placing sanctions after the Russian takeover of Crimea.

How to fight back against Putin is a quandary. The government controls the news media and you can’t embarrass him. The Russians already know how corrupt he is.

Hacked: Already embarrassed by the September announcement that 500 million of its accounts were hacked in 2014, Yahoo announced that more than one billion of is user accounts were violated in 2013. The user information taken included names, phone numbers, dates of birth, encrypted passwords and security questions for resetting a password.

Yahoo security believes the company was the target of “state-sponsored” hackers.

The most amazing thing about this story is that Yahoo still has one billion active users.

First Daughter: The Trump family is planning to establish an “Office of the First Family” in the East Wing of the White House where Michelle Obama now has her office. Ivanka Trump is expected to play a primary role, possibly even overshadowing her stepmother, Melania, as the family hostess. Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, are expected to move to Washington while Melania, at least through the current school year, stays in New York.

Interested: The Federal Reserve raised its fundamental interest rate by a quarter point for only the second time since the beginning of the 2008 financial meltdown and recession. It’s an indication that the Fed has faith in the slowly-growing economy.

The rate moves to a range between 0.5 percent and 0.75 percent, still practically nothing. The Fed indicated plans to keep raising rates through next year and hit 2.1 percent by 2018.

Tech: The President-elect met yesterday with prominent executives from the tech industry including Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. Many had opposed Trump’s election. The CEO of Twitter, Trump’s primary instrument of national communication, wasn’t invited.

In his remarks while the press was still in the room, Trump said, “I want to add that I am here to help you folks do well. And you’re doing well right now and I’m very honored by the bounce. They’re all talking about the bounce. So right now everybody in this room has to like me, at least a little bit.”

Trump’s three children were in the room, despite his promise that he was going to separate the family business from his presidency.

Hit Man: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who is waging a bloody war against drug dealers and crime, claimed in a speech that he personally killed criminal suspects when he was mayor of Davao.

“In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys (police) that if I can do it why can’t you,” he said.

Under Duterte, as many as 6,000 suspected drug dealers and criminals have been gunned down, many of them by the police and vigilantes who’ve been cleared by the president to shoot on sight.

Bigger Chill: A wind chill advisory stretches all the way from North Dakota across the northern states up into Maine. It’s -18 in Bismarck, ND; -2 in Green Bay, Wisc.; 20 in Burlington, Vt.; 15 in Bangor, Me.

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