In Transition: CBS News reports this morning that Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions is Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General. Sessions, who was once deemed too racist to be named a federal judge, is one of few high-profile Republicans who backed Trump’s run for president. The appointment of Sessions indicates Trump is setting up a hard-nosed, right wing administration.

Trump Tower in New York has been visited by a stream of knowns and semi-knowns being considered for cabinet positions. Several news outlets report that Trump has offered the job of National Security Advisor to retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who advised Trump during the campaign. Flynn has said that “Fear of Muslims is rational.” He was fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency before he retired from the Army.

The president-elect is expected to meet today with one-time presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who denounced Trump during the campaign and said, “Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud.” Romney might be up for Secretary of State.

The NY Times reports that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has asked lawyers to explore federal anti-nepotism laws to see whether he can join the new administration.

The paper says that the 35-year-old Kushner is looking for an opinion on whether he can work for the administration if he takes no salary and puts his businesses, including The New York Observer newspaper, into a blind trust. The move would almost certainly face a legal challenge.

Trump had his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader yesterday, sitting down with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The prime minister left after the meeting saying he has “great confidence” in Trump.

Exeunt: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper resigned Wednesday night, but said he would stay until the end of the Obama administration.

Drugged Nation: Nearly 21 million Americans abuse drugs and alcohol, according to a report from the Surgeon General. That’s one and a half times the number of people who have cancer.

The figures should have the shock value of the famous 1964 Surgeon General’s report on the health effects of tobacco and smoking, but probably it won’t. The public seems to have lost its ability to be shocked. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said, “These substance use disorders cost over $420 billion a year in the form of health care costs, lost economic productivity, and cost to the criminal justice system.”

More people use prescription opioids than tobacco, the report says. But the report lands between two White House administrations, one that is powerless, and a successor less inclined to government action.

Nation: A federal judge has ordered Brendan Dassey, who was featured in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer,” to be kept in jail, overruling a lower court judge’s decision to throw out Dassey’s conviction and order his release. The state of Wisconsin had appealed to keep Dassey locked up.

Permawar: Iraqi forces have discovered two mass graves near the city of Mosul containing about 250 bodies. They are believed to contain the remains of people executed by the Islamic State. In the same area earlier this month, a grave was found containing 100 decapitated bodies.

Under the Sea: The wrecks of three Dutch warships have rested at the bottom of the Java Sea since they were sunk by the Japanese in a fierce naval battle in 1942. Military wrecks, in particular, are considered to be sacred grave yards and the location of the ships in 70 meters of water was well-known, until now. The ships have disappeared, leaving only deep impressions on the ocean floor where they used to be.

Three British warships sunk in the same battle have also disappeared. The suspicion is that metal salvagers have scooped up the ships, which would be very difficult.

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