Today’s edition of quick hits:* Crossing a threshold: “President Obama granted commutations to another 79 federal drug offenders Tuesday, pushing the number of inmates he has granted clemency to past 1,000. Obama’s historic number of commutations was announced as administration officials are moving quickly to rule on all the pending clemency applications from inmates before the end of the year.”* I’d pay good money to listen in on one of these conversations: “President Barack Obama has spoken with President-elect Donald Trump at least once since their first-ever meeting in the Oval Office, the White House said Tuesday. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed during a press briefing that Obama and Trump had spoken ‘at least once’ since their Nov. 10 meeting.”* She’s a Republican, so I guess we’re not supposed to make a fuss about stories like this one out of Oklahoma: “Governor Mary Fallin has defended her use of personal email for state business as ‘more efficient.’ … [Fallin] met with President-elect Donald Trump Monday about job opportunities.”* An unexpected story: “Exxon Mobil, under fire over its past efforts to undercut climate science, is accusing the Rockefeller family of masterminding a conspiracy against it. Yes, that Rockefeller family.”* Cabinet news: “Education advocate and former D.C. school chancellor Michelle Rhee said on Tuesday that she is not pursuing a role in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.”* Everyone’s trying to be nice: “President-elect Donald Trump praised President Barack Obama during a meeting with New York Times reporters Tuesday…. ‘I didn’t know if I’d like him. I probably thought that maybe I wouldn’t, but I did. I really enjoyed him a lot,’ Trump said, according to Mike Grynbaum, another reporter who was present.”Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."