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PBC News & Comment: Trump Transition is In Disarray

Trump’s mercurial personality and temperament are reflected in defections and personnel shuffles in just the first week since the election…–Ben Carson shows wisdom, declines a gig, as Mike Rogers exits and Elliot Cohen warns others to “stay away”

–corporate media start to focus on the massive conflicts of interest presented by Trump’s business interests

–Obama’s expanded precedents, especially regarding drone strikes, will pass unchecked to the unpredictable Trump

–at Shadowproof, Kevin Gosztola critiques the Obama legacy and the expanded powers available to Trump

–Gosztola’s takedown of Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald is a delicious read

–on farewell world tour, Obama stops in Athens, cradle of democracy, to warn of the rise of a “crude sort of nationalism”

–a reminder of one of Obama’s failures: Egyptian court overturns death sentence of former president Morsi, who was ruthlessly discarded by the US

–CIA and US military face possible indictment for war crimes at International Criminal Court

–combat resumes in northern Syria, with Turkey joining Russia and Syria in bombing raids

–UN special envoy for Syria warns that a full victory for Assad would trigger Sunni terrorist attacks

–as Mosul operations continue, Daesh distracts with suicide attacks in Falluja and Karbala

–emboldened by Trump victory, pipeline operator sues Corps of Engineers to force approval of pipeline route at Standing Rock

–Google and Facebook promise to crack down on fake news posts

–in oped, Zeynep Tufekci uses Facebook’s own research to debate Zuckerberg comments on fake news posts

PBS Newshour anchor Gwen Ifill dies of cancer at age 61

–my journalist friend Richard Rapaport is remembered in the S.F. Chronicle