America

In a move that is certain to infuriate those who see Trump as nothing more than a puppet of the Kremlin, moments ago NBC reported that Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil and late entrant into the SecState race after his first meeting with the president elect this past Tuesday at the Trump Tower, has been picked by Trump to serve as his next Secretary of State.

JUST IN: Trump to name Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, sources say https://t.co/kthwSkGc0j pic.twitter.com/vZmWztv0qn

Submitted by Glenn Greenwald via The Intercept,

In our initial take on the WaPo report of a "secret" CIA assessment, according to which Russia, without a shred of evidence,  helped Trump win the election (it remains unclear just how Putin "hacked" several hundred thousands Rust Belt workers into believing Hillary Clinton would offshore their jobs), we summarized in five point how this was nothing short of a "soft coup" attempt by leaders of the US Intel community and Obama administration to influence the Electoral College vote. To wit:

Overnight the media propaganda wars escalated after the late Friday release of an article by the Washington Post (which last week admitted to using unverified, or fake, news in an attempt to smear other so-called "fake news" sites) according to which a secret CIA assessment found that Russia sought to tip last month’s U.S. presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor, a conclusion presented without any actual evidence, and which drew an extraordinary, and angry rebuke from the president-elect’s camp.

A California University has banned the use of the phrase “illegal immigrant” due to its offensive tone to potential illegal immigrants.  Professor Alicia Chavez at the University of Southern California (USC) told her students that they would be banned from using the words “illegal immigrant” in their final exams.