John Bolton Wants To Pick A Fight! Wonkagenda for Thursday, December, 15, 2016

Raise your hand if you want to go to war!

Morning Wonkers! Here's some of the things we may be talking about today!

•  According to NBC, Vladimir Putin was personally pulling the puppet strings of the DNC hacks, possibly because he had a personal vendetta against Hillary Clinton. That kind of make sense when you consider Obama and Clinton called him out for being an ex-KGB man-baby who throws murder tantrums. Or maybe he was mad when he discovered that "reset" button was only a prop.

• Taking a page from the GOP playbook, Democrats are getting ready to stall, sue, and resist Republican and Trump policies now that the crooks and cranks from the fringes of politics are being pulled in and propped up.

•  It's not just Republicans who are scared Trump might give John Bolton a job. Democrats, Rex Tillerson, and even the Bush 43 neo-con crew are running up and down the halls of Trump Tower banging pots and pans.

• Donald Trump's D.C. hotel is beginning to look a lot more like a big, nasty albatross now that a D.C. Superior Court judge has ordered Donald Trump to be deposed as part of his own $10 million suit against chef José Andrés. Andrés felt Trump would be bad for his business, Trump felt that was unfair, and the judge says Emperor Hamburgler-Elect could have to park his ass in a chair for seven hours anddodgeanswer questions.

•  North Carolina's GOP wants to strip its new Democratic governor of power, because since when should he have the same powers as the Republican he beat?.

•  Defense contractors are nervous about a Trump administration as Trump has directly threatened to cut costs and criticized excessive spending. But if there's no one to make our robotic flying death machines, how will we ever participate in World War III? Harsh language and hair care products?

•  The Federal Reserve raised interest rates due to a strengthening economy, which has nothing to do with Obama's efforts to pump the brakes on a global finance industry intent on slamming into a wall eight years ago. It may also put a damper on Trump's fat foot if he tries to stomp on the fiscal gas pedal. 

•  Reince Preibus has assured the White House Press Corps not to get comfortable in their assigned seats because the Trump administration will make some changes to how the White House deals with the press corps, like canceling daily briefings, never holding press conferences, and stripping First Amendment rights from reporters. They're still kicking ideas around.

•  Donald Trump will pay anything to get A-list inaugural performers, including ambassadorships for agents, so if your neighbor's kid has a godawful garage band, or you have the number for Plastic Bertrand, give KaC a call!

•  Trump has announced Ronna Romney McDaniel as his choice to head the RNC , which is making some Trumpkins mad because he picked a Republican to head the Republican National Committee instead of another corporate tycoon or a conspiracy peddling sycophant.

•  Democratic Senators have sent a letter to Betsy DeVos about the $5.3 million in fines she owes the state of Ohio after she was found guilty of violating election laws. As a potential Education secretary, maybe she could teach us all how to lie and run grifts instead of paying off student loans!

• It looks like Mittens grew a spine during that dinner with Trump, seeing as how Mitt Romney refused to apologize for criticizing Donald Trump. 

•  Alex Jones is frantically removing #PizzaGate references from his website, which will prove useless because the more you try to whitewash the Internet the more you increase the Streisand Effect (no, you look it up). Just ask Beyonce.

•  Chinese ambassador Cui Tiankai stated that the U.S.-China relationship is not a "bargaining chip" during a meeting executives from U.S. companies, signalling that the Chinese really don't care what Trump thinks he can and can't do.

• Make sure you read this Vanity Fair review on the Trump Grill in Trump Tower. You have to like any review whose subhead speculates they've found the worst restaurant in America.

• And now for your morning Nice Time: mouse deer! OK, they're technically called "Chevrotain" (which is French for "little goat").