* I’ve been scouring the internet all day trying to find just one person who called Eric Trump an elitist, but to no avail. So according to how the term has been defined lately, I’ll say it myself. See the title above. This puts all those so-called “liberal elitists” to shame in their elitism.

* Intelligence officials stonewalled in the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing today.

Two of the nation’s top intelligence officials refused to say Wednesday whether President Donald Trump asked them to intervene in or downplay the FBI’s ongoing Russia investigation, though they said they have never felt pressure to act inappropriately.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, NSA Director Mike Rogers and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats repeatedly stonewalled when asked about news reports that Trump asked each of them to downplay or refute the FBI’s probe, which is examining whether Trump’s associates colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

* I guess that this is how Trump makes big announcements these days:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/872419018799550464

* Apparently that announcement surprised some people.

A number of senior Trump officials learned of the president’s pick to lead the FBI the same way everyone else did: on Twitter.

President Donald Trump’s top communications staff, and much of his senior White House team, did not know the president was going to make the official announcement for nominating James Comey’s successor early Wednesday morning via a single tweet, according to multiple White House officials. Several observers noted Wednesday morning that Trump’s Christopher Wray announcement did not arrive with any fact sheet or official press release, as would be expected with news of this weight…

Also left in the dark were key members of Congress whose support could be vital to Wray’s confirmation—and to building goodwill in the face of intense scrutiny of every administration decision with respect to the agency investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein, respectively the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, learned of Wray’s expected nomination through Twitter. So too did House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

* The White House issued a statement about the terrorist attack in Iran, in which they blamed Iran.

* Finally, Barack Obama gave a speech in Montreal last night. If you’re looking for a dose of sanity right now, you might want to take a look at some of the things he said.

Obama got things going by saying, “The world is at an inflection point” and is “riven by old divisions and fresh hatreds.” He warned, “If we begin to question the progress we have made over decades and we violate our principles because of fear and uncertainty… we are inviting in people who say democracy doesn’t work, that restrictions on the press are necessary and that intolerance and tribalism and organizing ourselves along ethnic lines are the answer to today’s challenges.”…

He allowed that there are “flaws” in our democracy that “have to be addressed.” People who lead democratic governments “have to strive to set a good example at home… If our citizens’ expectations are not met… then they will try anything and they’ll turn to populist or nationalist or even authoritarian movements.”

The bottom line, Obama summed up, is that “democracy is hard and its progress does not always move in a straight line and its gains are often fragile if we as citizens are not tilling the soil and maintaining that democracy.”

He also seems to have had an interesting dinner conversation.

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