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The New York Times reports Donald Trump will officially announce Steven Mnuchin's appointment to the post of Treasury Secretary as soon as Wednesday. Mnuchin as no government experience (though that's not terribly uncommon for Treasury Secretaries), but served as Trump's Campaign Finance Director.

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On Monday, Ohio State University student Abdul Razak Ali Artan, 18, plowed his car into a crowd of people. He exited the car and stabbed bystanders, injuring eleven people, before a cop shot and killed him. Authorities have not found a specific motive, but they have started an investigation into Artan's social media posts. It appears he considered American-born Anwar al-Awlaki a hero:
"America! Stop interfering with other countries, especially the Muslim Ummah. We are not weak. We are not weak, remember that," Abdul Razak Ali Artan reportedly wrote on Facebook, using the Arabic term for the world's Muslim community.

This all started last week when some students at Hampshire College took down an American flag on campus and burned it to protest the election of Trump. The school then decided that it would no longer fly the American flag at all. The news apparently got around and some veterans decided they didn't like what was happening and organized a sizable protest with a sea of American flags. This is pretty huge. I've been covering campus politics here for four years and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've seen veterans react to a college news story.

Tennessee emergency response officials are reporting that a wildfire has set 30 structures ablaze in Gatlinburg, including a 16-story hotel, and is at the edge of the famed Dollywood theme park.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency says 30 structures are on fire, including a 16-story hotel on Regan Drive and the Driftwood Apartments in Gatlinburg. The wildfire is also at the edge of the Dollywood property. Mandatory evacuations are in place for Mynatt Park, Park Vista and Ski Mountain in Gatlinburg. Evacuations have also been ordered for the north end of Pigeon Forge. There are no reports of fatalities from the fires, according to TEMA. There is one report of an evacuee suffering a burn injury.

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao for Transportation Secretary. Chao served as Labor Secretary under George W. Bush and deputy secretary of transportation under George H. W. Bush. She is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Chao met with Trump last week at Trump Tower where they discussed "labor and transportation issues with a particular focus on America’s long-term infrastructure needs, and reducing or eliminating burdensome regulations."

A member of Trump's transition team confirmed Monday night that the president-elect has selected Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) to serve as the Secretary of Heath and Human Services. Rep. Price has been the Chair of the House Budget Committee these last two years, working closely with Speaker Ryan o deficit reduction. An orthopedic surgeon, Rep. Price has been a vocal opponent of Obamacare for it's high costs and obstruction of quality patient care. Unlike many members of the Outrage Brigade, Rep. Price has solutions to the Obamacare problem. From the New York Times:

Early in this presidential election cycle, Mika Brzezinski was a big Elizabeth Warren booster, repeatedly urging the Massachusetts senator to throw her hat into the ring. So it was nothing short of stunning to see Brzezinski go on a blistering attack against Warren on today's Morning Joe. The segment began with a clip of Warren in essence declaring war on Republicans, claiming Dems had won more presidential and senatorial votes, and declaring that they didn't intend to "whimper, whine or grovel." Wondered Mika: "do you lead with anger? . . I am getting tired of this act." "There's an anger there that was shrill . . . unmeasured and almost unhinged. It's not going to work."

We have been covering the case of Rasmea Odeh since October 2014. Rasmea is the terrorist member of the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who was convicted in Israel in 1970 of the 1969 bombing of the SuperSol supermarket in Jerusalem that killed two Hebrew University students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. Rasmea also was convicted of the attempted bombing of the British Consulate. Rasmea was released in 1979 in a prisoner exchange for an Israeli soldier captured in Lebanon. Rasmea made her way to the U.S. in the mid-1990s, where she lied on her visa application in numerous ways, including by denying any prior convictions or imprisonment, and again in her 2003 naturalization application when she repeated the same false answers.

I was off the grid traveling much of the day, so I didn't follow in live time the apparent terror incident at Ohio State University where a Somali legal immigrant rammed his car into pedestrians on the sidewalk, then attacked with what is variously described as a butcher knife or machete. As in many such incidents, initial reports were confused and inaccurate. As Mary detailed in her live coverage, the story started as a shooter on the loose, until the facts sorted themselves out in the media. Here is the latest from NBC News, Suspect Identified in Ohio State Attack as Abdul Razak Ali Artan:

Back in September when the travelling press corps asked Hillary Clinton who her favourite world leader was, she was quick to name German Chancellor Angela Merkel as her top choice -- for good reasons. As Clinton was praising Mekrel, the German government was busy syphoning millions to the Clintons. Between July and September 2016, unwitting German taxpayers gave as much as $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, Germany newspaper Die Welt reveals. Die Welt asked if Chancellor Merkel was trying to influence the outcome of U.S. presidential election. According to a newly surfaced donor list, the Clinton charity received around $5 million from Germany's Ministry for Environment. Ministry's spokesperson said that they had “very positive experience” with the Clinton Foundation and the millions of dollars diverted to the Clintons were going to planting trees in countries like India, Mexico, and Vietnam.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest has announced that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will not attend the funeral for Cuba's oppressive murderous dictator Fidel Castro, who died this weekend:
In an effort to halt a series of questions about the potential attendance of various individual government officials, Earnest would confirm only that the president and vice president would not travel to Cuba for the funeral service. He pointedly refused to rule out that Secretary of State John Kerry would attend, but would not confirm his attendance, either.

Failed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is making more headlines now than during the election cycle. Earlier today, Stein requested a recount in over 100 Pennsylvania precincts. Politico reports:
Legal papers filed in Commonwealth Court by a lawyer for Stein’s campaign contend the Nov. 8 election was “illegal” and the results inaccurate based on research suggesting there might have been irregularities with electronic voting machines, among other evidence. ... "The Stein recount effort is mobilizing concerned voters across Pennsylvania to request recounts in their precincts," Stein campaign manager David Cobb said in a statement. "Additionally, the campaign filed a legal petition in state court today on behalf of 100 Pennsylvania voters to protect their right to substantively contest the election in Pennsylvania beyond the recounts being filed by voters at the precinct level. This petition will allow the campaign to pursue a full statewide recount in Pennsylvania if precinct-level recounts uncover any irregularities or tampering.”

Oh how the tables have turned! Only a few weeks ago we talked about vulnerable Republicans, but the election put the GOP in charge of Washington, D.C., leaving the Democrats scrambling for ways to remain relevant. According to The Hill, some of those Democrat politicians who face reelection in 2018 have expressed a willingness "to work with President-elect Donald Trump and Republican colleagues."

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel found Dylan Roof competent to stand trial for the murder of nine black people at a church in Charleston, S.C., last summer. Today, the judge has decided that Roof can represent himself in his trial:
Roof made the last-minute request as jury selection was set to begin this morning. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel cautioned Roof against serving as his own attorney, noting his defense team's considerable legal expertise, but ultimately granted the request. He noted that Roof has a constitutional right to represent himself.

Media outlets & Ohio State reported an active shooter on campus, but it turns out the suspect mainly used a knife and a car. NBC has released the name of the attacker: Those transported to the hospital had stab wounds:
Ohio State Police Chief Craig Stone said the attacker purposely drove over a curb and into pedestrians. "This was done on purpose," he said. Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs said police were looking into whether it was a terrorist attack.
One official said the man "was a 'legal permanent resident.'"

Some prankster recently changed the name of Trump Tower on Google Maps to Dump Tower. Was it a hack, or could someone on the inside at Google have done it? In any case, it's been fixed. PIX News reported:
Google fixes NYC Trump Tower name after changed to ‘Dump Tower’ on Google Maps Google has fixed Trump Tower's name after an unknown person changed the midtown building's label on Google Maps for several hours on Saturday.