NOW THEY WORRY? – AT 10:44 A.M. ET:  There is sudden anguish in the Democratic Party over Russian hacking.  The pain.  The agony.  The fear of national destruction!  But haven't we been here before?  From ace defense reporter Rowan Scarborough, at the Washington Times:

Foreign governments have launched numerous cyberattacks on the U.S. government and sensitive industrial sites, but Republicans say President Obama has not responded in a forceful way to years of Russian hacking.

A more assertive response might have headed off the type of hacking Russia is accused of launching during the presidential election, they say.

Russia, whose supposed cyberoffensive now is generating a Democratic Party movement that would delegitimize the incoming presidency of Donald Trump, has hacked Pentagon systems. In 2014 it penetrated computer networks at the White House and the State Department. Neither the White House nor the mainstream media reacted with any great alarm.

In one of the most extensive hacks on America, Chinese hackers invaded the massive files of the Office of Personnel Management and stole personnel data and security background checks of millions of federal workers.

In other examples, the Federal Reserve, which sets monetary policy and oversees the banking industry, detected more than 50 cyberbreaches between 2011 and 2015, and some were called espionage, Reuters reported in June, citing federal records. The IRS also has acknowledged that taxpayer files have been stolen by hackers.

Mr. Obama’s record on defeating hackers has come into focus during the transition as he orders a sweeping probe of Russia’s alleged hack on the president’s own Democratic Party.

COMMENT:  It's all about Barack.  Nothing much else matters.  The sudden Dem concern about Moscow's hacking is awkward and hypocritical, but the meanstreamers will give it a pass. 

It is a matter of concern, though, as is Russia's overall bad behavior.  Outrage over Putin is part of the foreign-policy tradition, a good one, of the Republican Party.  And so it is entirely reasonable that we should be appropriately wary of the nomination of Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state.  His friendship with Vladimir will be examined as part of the confirmation process.

December 14,  2016