Politics

Earlier today President Obama commuted the sentences of another 153 federal prisoners bringing his total to 1,176, more than the previous 11 presidents combined.  The president also pardoned another 78 individuals, bringing his total pardons over the course of his eight years in office to 148.  Combined, these 231 acts of clemency sets a record for the most ever granted by a president in a single day in history. 

Behold, the Clinton archipelago...

h/t @JohnCardillo

While there was a lot of buzz about faithless Republican electors dumping Trump, it turns out that more Democratic electors dumped Clinton.

Specifically, two Republican Texas electors voted for candidates other than Trump:  one voted for John Kasich and one voted for Ron Paul.

But four Democratic electors voted for candidates other than Hillary Clinton:

Only eight of 12 Democratic electors in Washington cast their votes for Democrat Hillary Clinton, who won the state in November.

 

In a new book due to hit shelves later this month, John Nixon, a former CIA officer who was responsible for interrogating Saddam Hussein after he was captured in 2003, admits being convinced by the fallen dictator that he was best suited to rule Iraq.  Per an excerpt published in Time Magazine, Nixon recalls an encounter with Hussein in which he warned that America would fail in Iraq because "you do not know the language, the history, and you do not understand the Arab mind."

After a violent trifecta of a day, in which terrorist attacks left at least 9 dead and 50 injured in Germany after a truck plowed through a crowded Christmas market (see "Truck Ploughs Into Berlin Market Killing Nine, Over 50 Injured; US Condemns 'What Appears To Be A Terrorist Attack'"); three more people hurt in a shooting at an Islamic Center in Zurich, Switzerland; and the Russian Ambassador to Turkey murdered on live television (see "Russian Ambassador In Turkey Murdered In Terrorist Attack By Shooter Screaming "Allahu Akbar" - Live Feed"), president-elect Trump dares