UNEXPECTEDLY: Berlin Christmas market attack suspect a refugee, security sources say.

The man suspected of deliberately ramming a large truck into a Christmas market in Berlin is a refugee from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, two German intelligence officials and a police official told CNN.

The sources said the suspect in Monday evening’s attack, which killed 12 people and injured dozens more, arrived in Passau, a city on Germany’s border with Austria, on December 31, 2015, after traveling through the Balkans.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a press conference on Tuesday saying it would be “especially disgusting” if the suspect turned out to have been given asylum in Germany.

Indeed.

UPDATE: Berlin police – “We have the wrong man”

Welt via Google Translate:

The allegations of the alleged perpetrator had been examined and considered to be correct. “We have the wrong man,” says the Berlin police. “And thus a new situation. For the real culprit is still armed at large and can cause new damage. “The capital’s preparedness police and the special forces were informed.

Earlier Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) had informed that the arrested suspect denies a complicity . According to him, he comes from Pakistan. He was submitted to Germany on 31 December 2015 and registered, said the minister. His asylum procedure has not yet been concluded after several attempts at a hearing have not taken place.

In the cab of the truck was found according to information of the news agency dpa blood-smeared clothes. In the case of the suspect who was later arrested at some distance from the crime scene, on the other hand, no clothing stained with blood was found, according to security circles.

According to de Maizière, “there is no longer any doubt that the terrible event last night was an attack.” The semitrailer was consciously controlled in the human population. “We are dealing with a brutal assassination attempt,” said the minister. An official confession of a terrorist group does not yet exist, but indirect assurances.

Did they simply arrest the wrong man, or was he acting as a decoy?

SENATOR DICK BLUMENTHAL: Do the ‘Unpredictable’ and Support Gun Control.

Heh. No.

ROGUE WON: 3 faithless electors vote for Colin Powell in Washington state.

Reports from Washington showed more faithless electors went against Clinton, continuing a trend seen in Maine, Minnesota and Colorado.

The votes were cast for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in Maine and Minnesota — both of which were thrown out — and it’s unknown whom the elector in Colorado chose. His vote was also thrown out.

The votes in Washington will not be thrown out, as that state does not require electors to vote from among the two top vote getters. That means Powell and Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American elder, will be among the candidates getting votes.

Democrats used to say Colin Powell lied to get us into war with Iraq, and now they’re voting for him over Hillary Clinton.

UPDATE: Heh.

“Look, it’s not ALL bad news for you. You finished ahead of me.” pic.twitter.com/QgeN1bNLtx

— jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) December 19, 2016

AND:

Insta-poll: Will Trump taunt Hillary on Twitter when she ends up losing more EVs than he does?

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) December 19, 2016

BERLIN: At least 9 dead after truck plows into crowded Christmas market in Berlin; attack believed.

ZURICH: Three wounded in shooting near Zurich Islamic center, target unclear.

And of course the murder of the Russian ambassador in Ankara earlier.

“HOW MANY HUSBANDS HAVE I HAD? YOU MEAN APART FROM MY OWN?” Zsa Zsa Gabor remembered in pictures and her own words.

I’M JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY: The Senate left town with 99 judicial vacancies, as well as the current Supreme Court opening.

There are also 38 judicial emergencies, according to the federal judiciary. Republicans had mulled confirming some judges if Hillary Clinton had won, GOP sources said before the election, but since Trump prevailed Republicans believed there was little reason to do any judicial confirmations in the lame duck. The Senate last voted on a judge on July 6, when Brian Martinotti was confirmed to a New Jersey district court.

The CRS data stretches back to 1987, and there is no modern equivalent to the slow-pace of judicial confirmations over the past two years. The second-fewest over that period was during the GOP-led Senate of 2005 and 2006, when just 51 of President George W. Bush’s judicial picks were confirmed.

“The numbers speak for themselves. The Republican-led Senate worked the fewest days in session since the 1950s, took the longest summer recess in modern era and confirmed the fewest judges and nominees in recent history. Those aren’t records to be proud of,” said Kristen Orthman, a spokeswoman for outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

But Republicans argued that as majority leader, Reid goosed the numbers from 2013 to 2014, confirming 132 lifetime judges after changing the Senate rules to allow their confirmation by a majority vote. Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, said the judges that Reid confirmed after losing the Senate in 2014 would have been confirmed during this Congress — thereby skewing the statistics significantly. He also said Democrats blocked some nominations that vulnerable GOP incumbents were seeking to confirm this year.

If Democrats don’t already rue Reid’s tenure as Majority Leader, they soon will.

BREAKING NEWS: US Embassy ‘security incident’ after Russian ambassador shooting in Ankara.

The US state department for travel has advised all US citizens near the area to avoid it until further notice.

Officials have described the closure as being due to an “ongoing security incident”.

That’s all anyone seems to be willing to say at this hour.

QUESTIONS NO ONE IS ASKING: Is Yoga an Example of Cultural Appropriation?

P.S. It’s not what you might think, and very much worth a read.

THE WAR ON PLEASURE (CON’T.): Senator Schumer Wants E-Cigarettes Recalled.

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire and that seems to be the case — again and again — for many popular e-cigarettes that have injured dozens of people,” Schumer said. “With any other product, serious action would have been taken and e-cigarettes should be no exception. Despite the explosions, no recalls have been issued. It’s radio silence from both the industry and the feds, so that’s why I’m sounding the alarm.

Schumer’s press conference follows a report on vaping released by the Surgeon General designed to whip the public into hysterics. The report focuses on the commonly available drug, nicotine, claiming it is a danger to teenagers and children. Nicotine, whether delivered in a patch, lozenge, gum or vaping device, is highly regulated. One difference between the e-cigarette industry and its chief competitor, the Big Pharma companies who make other nicotine replacement therapy, is the amount of money donated to politicians. E-cigs are also not taxed at the same level as tobacco products, thus depriving government of that taxpayer cash windfall.

It always comes down to money and power with these people.

CAPITAL CONTROLS: Companies Face Delays Getting Cash Out of China. “New regulations aimed at slowing the yuan’s decline create confusion for multinationals.”

As of late November, firms that want to exchange yuan into dollars in China now need approval for any transaction greater than $5 million. They also face tighter limits on amounts they can transfer in and out of bank accounts in China to affiliates in other countries, in a practice known as “cross-border sweeping.”

“We hear a lot questions from corporates about whether they will be able to repatriate their money in the future,” said Alexander Tietze, managing director at Acon Actienbank AG, a German bank that advises companies on Chinese investments. He expects foreign investments in China to slow, and cautioned that foreign takeovers or plans for new joint ventures could fail because of the controls.

With the Chinese economy struggling, multinationals have fewer opportunities to reinvest there, which makes it more difficult for them to do much with money trapped in China.

A weak yuan threatens China with a balance-of-payments crisis and a severe currency contraction. But tightening currency controls does nothing good for the country’s business climate — or the strength of the yuan.

OUR SEMIRETIRED OUTGOING PRESIDENT SUDDENLY GETS AMBITIOUS: Obama, I want to develop ‘whole new generation of talent’

President Obama said in an interview broadcast Monday that he wants to build up the Democratic Party by helping to develop a “whole new generation of talent” after he leaves the White House.

“There are such incredible young people who not only worked on my campaign, but I’ve seen in advocacy groups,” the president told NPR.

Obama said he’s seen young people speak out on issues such as climate change, criminal justice reform and a livable wage, adding that he wants to make sure he uses “whatever resources, credibility, spotlight that I can bring to help them rise up.”

That’s something both he and first lady Michelle Obama can do well, he added.

May Obama prove as successful at party-building out of office as he has been while in office.

Mostly though Obama’s move looks like an end-run around the Clinton-controlled DNC.

BYRON YORK: Intel report won’t end Russia hacking fight.

After years of what some Republicans view as administration obfuscation, manipulation and slow-walking on intelligence ranging from Benghazi to U.S. Central Command assessments of the Islamic State to the papers of Osama bin Laden, distrust of the Intelligence Community is so high in some GOP quarters on Capitol Hill that unless the IC delivers a document of uncharacteristic openness and transparency, the debate over Russia’s activities and intentions will continue well into the presidency of Donald Trump.

It hasn’t started well. Earlier this month, House Republicans were mystified by news reports of disagreement between intelligence agencies over some aspects of Russian hacking, including the Russians’ alleged motivation. On Dec. 12, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper saying, in effect: Why didn’t you tell us? Why do we have to learn about this in the media?

Nunes demanded the DNI brief the Intel Committee on the Russia situation no later than Dec. 16.

It didn’t happen. First, DNI flatly refused Nunes’ request. And then, included in an announcement that it would not brief the Electoral College, the DNI also announced it would offer no more briefings to lawmakers until after the Obama-ordered report is finished next year.

Heads should roll.

NOT GOOD: Russian ambassador to Turkey fatally shot in Ankara.

Andrie Karlov was shot multiple times while making a speech at the opening of the exhibition “Russia in the eyes of Turks.” The shooter shouted Islamic slogans, Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News said. Turkish broadcaster NTV broadcaster said three other people were wounded in the attack.

“An unknown person opened fire during a public event in Ankara. As a result, the Russian ambassador to Turkey received a gunshot wound,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

The ministry later announced that Karlov had died. Photographs from the scene show a man lying on the ground while an man dressed in a suit, gun drawn, stands over him. NTV said police fatally shot the gunman.

The WSJ reports that the gunman “shouted something about Aleppo” during the attack.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Liberal fact-checkers are not the way to ensure a more informed public.

That’s certainly the case with PolitiFact, which pretends to be even-handed but has its own biases. In 2008 PolitiFact helped bless ObamaCare with a “true” rating for candidate Barack Obama’s claim that “if you like your health-care plan, you can keep it.” In 2009 the website demoted the remark to “half true,” adding the non-insight that ObamaCare would “surely change the current health system.” By 2013, as Americans lost their insurance, PolitiFact changed its judgment and called Mr. Obama’s line the “lie of the year.”

Tendentious PolitiFact ratings are a classic genre of bad journalism. When Texas libertarian Ron Paul said the U.S. federal income-tax rate was zero until 1913, PolitiFact called that “half true.” (We would have called that true.) Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb later said the same thing and notched a mark of “mostly true,” and maybe he earned extra points for being a Democrat.

Behind this is the conceit that political debates could be settled if ideologues (Republicans) would only accept what the liberal consensus defines as “facts,” as if worldview or interpretation are irrelevant. Facebook has long insisted that it is neutral about content, and earlier this year it denied reports that the platform censored conservative news. That’s looking less credible.

The company also says it will only target the “worst of the worst” fake news, which you would think a sophisticated algorithm could identify without an assist from PolitiFact. In any case, the standard is subjective and no one knows which employees will make that call.

All that’s needed to combat “fake news” is transparency and honesty. Facebook lacks the former and the press lacks the latter.

Getting those two into bed together isn’t going to produce any viable offspring.

BILL CLINTON: Comey Ruined Hillary’s Shot at the Presidency.

So devious of Comey to put that unsecured email server in Hillary’s bathroom.

BUT OF COURSE: ‘Students of color’ conference at University of California reportedly dissolves into a fight over who is most oppressed.

FAKE NEWS? ‘4 or 5’ Trump supporters allegedly attacked ‘about 20’ Black Lives Matter protesters.

Keegan Stephan, a verified Twitter user and JD student in New York City, claims that some of his friends were allegedly attacked by Trump supporters after the Decolonize This Place protest in New York City Saturday night.

According to the Facebook post Stephan shared, “…about 20 of us walked down the block chanting & laughing, 4 or 5 Trump supporters confronted us & assaulted us yelling, ‘Blue Lives Matter’ ‘Get out of my country’ call us ‘faggots’ & ‘commies as they wailed on us…”

No video, no police report — but it does fit the narrative.

SENATOR MIKE LEE: Let’s Make American Energy Great Again.

The incoming Congress and new administration give us the best opportunity in recent memory to put Washington—especially federal energy policy—back on the side of hardworking Americans.

This will require a dual-track approach that simultaneously reins in our hyperactive federal bureaucracy and takes positive steps to return regulatory authority to the states.

We can—and should—start the process of repealing the most harmful and costly federal regulations right away. For President-elect Donald Trump, this means undoing many of his predecessor’s executive orders, like the moratorium on coal leasing.

And on Capitol Hill, we can get to work immediately after the new Congress is sworn in, by using the Congressional Review Act to rescind the laundry list of regulations the Obama administration issued in the past several months.

Or as John Galt put it, “Get the hell out of my way!”

BREXIT BLUES: An orderly separation from the EU should not be taken for granted.

Gideon Rachman:

If there was great goodwill on both sides, the negotiations could doubtless be accelerated. But that is where the politics come into it. There is already plenty of simmering ill will on both sides of the Channel. The British are hoping that, when the talks actually begin, things will calm down. In reality, it is more likely that the opposite will happen. The negotiating process will reveal the immense gap between the operating assumptions of the two sides. As a result, mutual acrimony will quickly increase — and talks could break down irretrievably.

The flashpoint is likely to be the EU’s estimate of Britain’s financial liabilities following Brexit, covering everything from money already pledged to the union’s budget to the pensions of retired bureaucrats. The estimates in Brussels are that the UK will be facing a bill of €50bn-€60bn.

That figure is likely to be greeted with outrage in the UK. The initial reaction will be to treat the EU’s financial demands as a bad joke or a clumsy attempt at blackmail. But the European Commission, which is running the negotiations, is highly legalistic and will be able to justify its figure. It will not yield easily.

What happens to the EU’s debts if the whole thing comes apart?

RACE RELATIONS: White Nationalists Target Montana Jews in Name of Alt-Right Richard Spencer.

FACT-CHECK: There’s more propaganda than news coming out of Aleppo this week.

It has just become more dangerous to be a foreign correspondent reporting on the civil war in Syria. This is because the jihadis holding power in east Aleppo were able to exclude Western journalists, who would be abducted and very likely killed if they went there, and replace them as news sources with highly partisan “local activists” who cannot escape being under jihadi control.

The foreign media has allowed – through naivety or self-interest – people who could only operate with the permission of al-Qaeda-type groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham to dominate the news agenda.

The precedent set in Aleppo means that participants in any future conflict will have an interest in deterring foreign journalists who might report objectively. By kidnapping and killing them, it is easy to create a vacuum of information that is in great demand and will, in future, be supplied by informants sympathetic to or at the mercy of the very same people (in this case the jihadi rulers of east Aleppo) who have kept out the foreign journalists. Killing or abducting the latter turns out to have been a smart move by the jihadis because it enabled them to establish substantial control of news reaching the outside world. This is bad news for any independent journalist entering their territory and threatening their monopoly of information.

You might also have noticed that jihadi propaganda films are much better than they used to be. al Qaeda’s stuff looked like it was put together on the cheap, sloppily edited together out of old VHS tapes. ISIS propaganda looks like it came straight out of Hollywood.

I’ve often wondered where ISIS got the skills and the money for such efforts.

AND SO THE ERA OF HOPE AND CHANGE DRAWS TO A CLOSE: Deaths from synthetic opioids up 72%, CDC says.

PEACEFUL TRANSITION: Pennsylvania Electors Getting Police Protection For Monday’s Vote.

One elector, Ash Khare, said he and each of the 19 others have been assigned a plainclothes state police trooper for protection.

“I’m a big boy,” said Khare, an India-born engineer and a longtime Republican from Warren County, who estimates he receives 3,000 to 5,000 emails, letters, and phone calls a day from as far away as France, Germany, and Australia. “But this is stupid. Nobody is standing up and telling these people, ‘Enough, knock it off.’ ”

It’s going to be a long four years — at least — of battling Democrats’ uncivil behavior.

ROADX: Elon Musk Got Sick Of Traffic And Decided To Build Underground Tunnels For It.

YOU WENT FULL SALON. MAN, NEVER GO FULL SALON. The dirty deplorables: Who’s who on Donald Trump’s team and how they’ll destroy the environment.

Bonus: Salon Celebrates Christmas With TV’s Top 10 Abortions Of 2016.