The Daily Beast:  “On March 15, four police cruisers pulled up to a modest brick house in the sleepy town of Cantonment, Florida, to arrest two accused hackers. The cops fanned out swat team-style around the home, stationing themselves at the front, back, and side doors. They pounded on windows and demanded the alleged cybercrooks show their faces, according to witnesses and court documents.

“Out came an unlikely pair: Laura Carroll, a petite 50-year-old elementary school vice principal and her 17-year-old daughter, Emily Grover, a popular local tennis star and “A” student at nearby Tate High School. Police cuffed the women and, at one point, Carroll begged them to let her put on a bra before hauling her away to jail, she said. The teen was taken to a juvenile detention center.

“Eight months later, they both face 16 years in prison—a punishment harsher than what some high-level ransomware attackers and corporate data thieves receive. But the pair stands accused of a more bizarre crime: hacking into a school computer system to rig a homecoming election in Grover’s favor. The alleged cheat for glory could have ended with a slap on the wrist if it weren’t for local parents’ fears, investigators’ ambitions and the pair’s own stubbornness, according to hundreds of pages of court documents and interviews with people involved. The duo has refused a no-jail plea agreement, and the case is now headed to trial as soon as January, their lawyer said.”

You know Corona and Delta and Lambda and Gamma, Zeta and Theta and Eta and Beta… But someday you’ll recall the deadliest COVID-19 protein-spike variant of them all. Read more at CNBC.

On Tuesday, Jovan Pulitzer, the MAGA election fraud conspiracy theorist famous for coming up with the widely-mocked “bamboo ballots” fairy tale in Arizona and whom Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger mocked as a “failed treasure hunter” in response to his testimony to that’s state senate over alleged fraud there in late 2020, accused Michigan GOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock and her husband Michigan Rep Matt Maddock of running a racket. Pulitzer alleged Republican candidates for the state legislature pay the Maddocks in exchange for a recommendation to Trump for an endorsement. It’s not entirely clear that he’s alleging actual criminal bribery or racketeering as opposed to a grossly unethical but otherwise technically legal campaign fund shakedown:

#Mighigan Hey Jon Rocha why are you not sharing you BOUGHT your endorsement in MI How it works for $30k to $50k MI politicians will tell President Trump YOU are the one to endorse! They FOOL President Trump and YOU pay them to do it. All coming out soon the GIG IS UP! @MIGOP pic.twitter.com/i6mNGfOwJH

— JovanHuttonPulitzer™ (@JovanHPulitzer) November 23, 2021

Then Meshawn Maddock got into it with Pulitzer:

“Boris Johnson’s proposed bridge or tunnel to Northern Ireland could cost over £300bn and should not be built, a government review has found. The prime minister had commissioned a study into the fixed link across the Irish Sea after arguing it would improve connections between different parts of the UK. Network Rail chairman Peter Hendy’s review found that that a bridge would cost an estimated £335 billion, while a tunnel would be around £209 billion. Sir Peter said the high price tag of either project ‘would be impossible to justify’ as ‘the benefits could not possibly outweigh the costs’. Either a bridge or tunnel would be the longest of their kind ever built” – The Independent.

We’ll leave it up to our readers to decide whether or not all of these protestors were actually genuinely there outside Fox HQ in NYC because they responded to the mustachioed pillow man’s call for hardcore MAGA justice to be wrought against the network, if some just hate Fox News because they’re normal and think Fox News sucks anyway, or if some were simply paid to do it.

“Does anybody really believe that longtime Con Man Bob Woodward, and his lightweight lapdog assistant Robert Costa, are implying in their book of fiction that I was planning to go to war with China, but that one of the dumber generals in the military called the Chinese to tell them that he will inform them if this action proceeds further. Milley may have called, but if so, he should be tried for treason. I never had even a thought of going to war with China, other than the war I was winning, which was on TRADE. To make up stories like this and to sell it to the public is disgraceful.”

“I watched that craggy smug face of Woodward as he ‘bullshits’ the public and said to myself, ‘I wonder if history will really believe this stuff?’ How do you get your reputation back? I was the only President in decades to not get us into a war – I got us out of wars! Our Country has been taken over by Scammers and Hoaxsters, and we have to take it back. Just like the Russia, Russia, Russia Scam has now been totally debunked and discredited as a FAKE Democrat/Crooked Hillary Plot, the ‘go to war with China’ story is even more ridiculous. It’s incredible that someone is even allowed to write this stuff. We no longer talk about greatness for our Country, everything is about political investigations, hoaxes, and scams. We will Make America Great Again” – Orange Degenerate.

Bloomberg: “More scientific data is needed about the new coronavirus variant that’s roiling global markets before the U.S. can determine whether to halt flights from southern African countries, Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser said Friday. ‘Obviously as soon as we find out more information, we’ll make a decision as quickly as we possibly can,’ Fauci said in an interview with CNN. ‘You always put these things on the table, but you don’t want to say you’re going to do it until you have some scientific reason to do it.’ There’s no evidence the new variant is present in the U.S., he said. Fears stemming from the new variant, first identified in South Africa, fueled a post-Thanksgiving selloff that spread across global markets as both the U.K. and the European Union moved to halt air travel from southern Africa.”

“One year ago this month, the 2020 presidential election was called for Joe Biden, leaving most Democrats elated over the impending end of Donald Trump’s presidency. It hasn’t even been a full year since Democrats achieved what once seemed like an even more impossible dream: seizing trifecta control of the federal government via two victories in Senate runoffs.”

“But wow, has the sweet taste of victory curdled for the Donkey Party! For months now, it has been rare to read a story about the state of affairs in Washington that did not prominently feature the ‘Democrats in disarray’ trope; the party is said to be divided over the agenda of a president with steadily falling job-approval ratings, doomed to a midterm defeat that might also usher Trump back to the brink of power. From hot takes to data-driven assessments of hard cold electoral facts, everyone pretty much agrees the future for this recently triumphant party is dim, and fingers of blame are being pointed in every direction. There is one positive thought that Democrats can focus on as we head into this season of hope: This is far from the worst they’ve had it. For all their struggles, Democrats remain the oldest continuously operating political party in the country, dating back to the 1820s. As the comedian Henry Gibson sang in the bicentennial satire film Nashville: ‘We must be doing something right to last 200 years!'” – New York Magazine

ABC News: “Alabama’s capital city last month removed the Confederate president’s name from an avenue and renamed it after a lawyer known for his work during the civil rights movement. Now the state attorney general says the city must pay a fine or face a lawsuit for violating a state law protecting Confederate monuments and other longstanding memorials. Montgomery last month changed the name of Jeff Davis Avenue to Fred D. Gray Avenue. Gray, who grew up on that same street, represented Rosa Parks and others in cases that fought Deep South segregation practices and was dubbed by Martin Luther King Jr. as ‘the chief counsel for the protest movement.'”

“The Alabama attorney general’s office sent a Nov. 5 letter to Montgomery officials saying the city must pay a $25,000 fine by Dec. 8, ‘otherwise, the attorney general will file suit on behalf of the state.’ Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said changing the name was the right thing to do. ‘It was important that we show, not only our residents here, but people from afar that this is a new Montgomery,’ Reed, the city’s first Black mayor said in a telephone interview. It was Reed’s suggestion to rename the street after Gray. The Alabama Memorial Preservation Act forbids the removal or alteration of monuments and memorials – including a memorial street or memorial building – that have stood for more than 40 years. While the law does not specifically mention memorials to the Confederacy, lawmakers approved the measure in 2017 as some cities began taking down Confederate monuments. Violations carry a $25,000 fine.”

“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that a group of Russian and Ukrainians are planning to stage a coup d’etat in Ukraine next month, and are trying to enlist the help of the country’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov. Zelensky, speaking at a ‘press marathon’ for local and international media, said that audio recordings, obtained by Ukraine’s security services, caught plotters discussing their plans and mentioning Akhmetov’s name. Akhmetov was not involved in the actual coup plot, however, Zelensky said. ‘I believe [Akhmetov] is being dragged into the war against Ukraine,’ Zelensky said. ‘This will be a big mistake, because you cannot fight against your people.’ Zelensky said that the alleged coup was being planned for Dec. 1 or 2. He did not provide further details, however” – Washington Post.

Florida thankful for health, family and Ron DeSantis this Thanksgivinghttps://t.co/1ekYnbKeeT

— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 26, 2021

CNN:  “Thousands of people are raising money online for a Missouri man who served 43 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Kevin Strickland, 62, was exonerated Tuesday morning after serving decades at Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri. Strickland was convicted in 1979 of one count of capital murder and two counts of second-degree murder in a triple homicide.

“He received a 50-year life sentence without the possibility for parole for a crime that, over the years, he maintained he had not been involved in. Senior Judge James Welsh dismissed all criminal counts against Strickland. His release makes his confinement the longest wrongful imprisonment in Missouri history and one of the longest in the nation, according to The National Registry of Exonerations.

“The Midwest Innocence Project created a GoFundMe account to help Strickland restart his life, since he doesn’t qualify for help from the state of Missouri. In Missouri, only those exonerated through DNA testing are eligible for a $50 per day of post-conviction confinement, according to the Innocence Project. That was not the case for Strickland. As of Thursday evening, donations for Strickland had topped $1 million.”

Washington Post:  “Stephen K. Bannon, the former Trump White House adviser, has filed an opposition to the U.S. district court’s standard protective order for discovery, which prohibits either side from releasing documents or evidence publicly. Bannon, 67, pleaded not guilty last week to contempt-of-Congress charges, and his legal team previously argued that the case would be more complicated by agreeing to the prosecution’s protective order for discovery.

“’Members of the public should make their own independent judgment as to whether the U.S. Department of Justice is committed to a just result based upon all the facts,’ said a statement provided to The Washington Post on behalf of Bannon. ‘In the opposition filed today, Mr. Bannon asked the judge to follow the normal process and allow unfettered access to and use of the documents.’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda R. Vaughn has said that there are ‘less than 20 documents’ to be provided, but Bannon attorney Evan Corcoran told reporters that there was probably going to be a need for the defense to locate more documents and witnesses.

“Bannon’s legal team argued that the government offered little reason the documents should be withheld from public view, adding that many of the documents that would be restricted by the proposed protective order in this case are already public. ‘The Government offered no reason why it wanted to limit Mr. Bannon’s attorneys in their use of the documents to prepare a defense,’ Bannon’s statement said.”

Disgraced military officer Michael Flynn has turned Hollywood producer with his new film, “Capitol Punishment,” detailing how the January 6th attack on the Capitol by domestic terrorists was actually “a foreign attack with domestic support” organized by BLM and antifa.  Make sure to show it to your drunk uncle to finish off your family dinner.

NBC News:  “Airports are busy again, and air travel is inching closer to pre-pandemic levels. Driven by pre-Thanksgiving travel, 2.3 million people passed through airport screenings Wednesday in what the Transportation Security Administration said was its busiest day since travel plummeted to coronavirus lows in April 2020.

“That is more than double the 1.1 million people who went through TSA checkpoints a year earlier on the day before Thanksgiving, according to a TSA database. It’s also 12 percent below the number of travelers screened on the equivalent day in 2019, when TSA checkpoint workers saw 2.6 million people a few months before the pandemic.

“The day before Thanksgiving is typically among the busiest travel days of the year, along with the days after the holiday as people return home. The TSA has hired 6,000 new officers this year and has enough staff to deal with the increase in passenger volumes, Lorie Dankers, a TSA spokesperson, told Reuters.”

At a fundraiser over the Thanksgiving break, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (Q-Colo.) made a joke to the crowd about a true (or not) story when she insinuated to a Capitol Police officer that Democratic Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar wasn’t a danger because she wasn’t carrying a backpack.  Then she boast that she calls Omar the “jihad squad.”

As this video is circling the interwebs, calls for Congress to censure Boebert and remove her from committee assignments grows.

BBC: “Riot police in Turkey have fired tear gas at protesters calling for an end to violence against women. Thousands marched to Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Thursday demanding action against gender-based attacks.

“It comes just months after the country withdrew from an international treaty aimed at protecting women. The protest fell on the international day for the elimination of violence against women. Other marches took place around the world. At Taksim Square, police scuffled with protesters as they urged them to disperse from the area.

“Many demonstrators were pictured holding banners while others called for the government to resign over its withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention in June. Some in the party of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had argued that the agreement was inconsistent with Turkey’s conservative values. Mr Erdogan said Turkey would use local laws to protect women.”

Associated Press:  “At least 52 people have died from a Siberian coal mine fire that resulted from a gas leak, Russia’s TASS news agency reported Thursday. There were approximately 285 people in the Listvyazhnaya mine in Belovo, Siberia, when a fire erupted Thursday, filling the mine with smoke, the Associated Press reports. Most were evacuated, but dozens became trapped underground in a remote section of the mine.

“The rescue operation was suspended due to high levels of methane and carbon monoxide, according to the Interfax news agency. The death toll includes six rescue workers. The Russian Investigative Committee in the Kemerovo region said it will conduct a criminal probe into potential violations of industrial safety requirements on dangerous production sites.

“Prosecutors believe a methane explosion is the cause of the fire, which then filled a ventilation shaft, Reuters reports, citing state television. The director of the Listvyazhnaya mine and two senior managers were arrested on suspicion of violating industrial safety rules, according to Reuters and the AP.”

Associated Press:  “A new coronavirus variant has been detected in South Africa that scientists say is a concern because of its high number of mutations and rapid spread among young people in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province, Health Minister Joe Phaahla announced Thursday. The coronavirus evolves as it spreads and many new variants, including those with worrying mutations, often just die out. Scientists monitor for possible changes that could be more transmissible or deadly, but sorting out whether new variants will have a public health impact can take time.

“South Africa has seen a dramatic rise in new infections, Phaahla said at an online press briefing. ‘Over the last four or five days, there has been more of an exponential rise,’ he said, adding that the new variant appears to be driving the spike in cases. Scientists in South Africa are working to determine what percentage of the new cases have been caused by the new variant. Currently identified as B.1.1.529, the new variant has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong in travelers from South Africa, he said.

“‘The WHO’s technical working group is to meet Friday to assess the new variant and may decide whether or not to give it a name from the Greek alphabet. The new variant has a “constellation” of new mutations,’ said Tulio de Oliveira, from the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa, who has tracked the spread of the delta variant in the country. The ‘very high number of mutations is a concern for predicted immune evasion and transmissibility,’ said de Oliveira.”

Now that we’re in the sixth year of the Trumpian era of American politics, the old “how to argue with your MAGA uncle on Thanksgiving” article is becoming has become a well-worn tradition every November for pretty much every news site on the internet. They all contain pretty much the same boring, anodyne advice on being patient and asking them questions about why they believe this or that sort of bullshit story and trying not to make them feel threatened and so on and so forth.

We’re not doing that here at National Zero, because in our expert opinion, you’re not going to convert any of these idiots back to accepting reality for what is discernible to rational, educated minds. Instead, have fun with it, and see how long it takes for them to snap with these exciting, innovative tips on how to make these heated exchanges entertaining at least.