Lara Trump, the woman whose decision-making is so poor that she actually decided that having sex with Eric Trump would be a good idea, made an appearance on Hannity last Thursday to claim that rising Turkey prices are part of a secret liberal plot to destroy Holidays and keep American families from gathering. Amid a head-spinning display of right-wing paranoia and stupidity, Trump delivered this tirade:

“They have told us from the beginning that they want to fundamentally transform America. Well, how do you that? You have to change America from the inside-out. You have to take away our traditions. So it might seem a little funny and a little ridiculous. ‘Oh, don’t have a turkey, then people won’t come over.’ Last year, remember, they didn’t want us to get together, so I guess we’re lucky they’re letting us have Thanksgiving this year. At really, the core of this, they want to divide Americans up. They don’t want us to have any common ground. They don’t want us to have any shared traditions like Thanksgiving.”

First off let me say that Darrell Brooks, the driver who allegedly ran over six people who were marching in a parade in Waukesha Wisconsin is a criminal. He has an extensive criminal record and if it is proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he was driving the SUV that plowed through parade marchers in multiple video clips then deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. Nothing included in this editorial should be considered a defense of Brook’s alleged actions. What this article does intend to address is the problem of prosecutors bowing to public pressure to over-charge defendants, and how that can create a situation where individuals are found “not guilty”, because their actions, though heinous, don’t fit the standard of the crimes being charged.

“Brooks, 39, is charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide and is expected to face a sixth count after an 8-year-old boy died Tuesday. Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper has also said additional charges are likely,” reports Politico.

David Frum lays it all on the table for wieners like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi in their self-serving crusade to use the Steele Dossier’s collapse to attempt to debunk the entirety of the theory of Trump’s corrupt connections to the Russian government: “The Steele dossier undertook to answer the question ‘What the hell is going on with Trump and Russia?’ The Senate Intelligence Committee found that the FBI investigation gave the Steele dossier ‘unjustified credence.’ But the disintegration of the dossier’s answers has not silenced the power of its question.”

“It was to silence that question that the outgoing Trump administration appointed a special counsel of its own to investigate its investigators. John Durham has now issued three indictments, all for lying to the FBI about various aspects of the Steele dossier. None of these indictments vindicate Trump’s claims in any way. It remains fact that Russian hackers and spies helped his campaign. It remains fact that the Trump campaign welcomed the help. It remains fact that Trump’s campaign chairman sought to share proprietary campaign information with a person who the Senate report identified as a ‘Russian intelligence officer.’ It remains fact that Trump hoped to score a huge payday in Russia even as he ran for president. It remains fact that Trump and those around him lied, and lied, and lied again about their connections to Russia. Outright pro-Trump people remain deeply invested in those lies. But Trump’s media effort has often relied heavily on people who are not pro-him, but anti-anti-him. And the secret to successful anti-anti-Trumping has always been to fasten onto side issues and ‘whatabouts.'”

“Some Chinese state-run companies are restricting employees’ use of Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s popular domestic messaging app, citing security concerns, according to people familiar with the matter. This week, managers at at least nine state-run companies, including some of the nation’s largest, such as China Mobile Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp. and China National Petroleum Corp., told employees that any chat groups set up for work purposes on Weixin – Tencent’s dominant messaging app in China – could contain sensitive information and should be shut down and deleted, the people said. They also ordered employees to be cautious about using Weixin, which is the domestic sister app of WeChat, for work-related communications, some of the people said. These state firms haven’t publicly disclosed any security concerns over Weixin. The move comes as Beijing intensifies scrutiny into internet giants including Tencent, China’s most valuable company, as well as Tencent’s data-collection practices” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Most of the time we prefer to let this “irony is dead but [insert authoritarians like the Chicoms, Russia, American right wing politicians, etc] keep killing it anyway” trope speak for itself but man, this one is exceptionally impressive as far as such instances go. Not every day does a government that embeds malware in apps publicly tell its employees to stop using that malware.

Following Tuesday and Wednesday’s failed attempts to actually bring a lawsuit to the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 election, it does not currently appear that MyPillow assclown Mike Lindell is actually doing a full 96 hour Thanksgiving weekend livestream as was promised. As of 6:37 AM EST on Thursday the “Lindell TV” page on FrankSpeech.com is simply playing pre-recorded material while the livestream on right wing YouTube knockoff Rumble purported to be “Patriot News Outlet | Mike Lindell’s, Thanks-A-Thon Live” seems to simply be the same 30 second segment of some asshole telling Lindell about his “team of forensic scientists” about votes being flipped in Michigan looping endlessly. If any National Zero reader has evidence that Lindell really is still streaming at this time please let us know in the comments.

“A local government in China is resurrecting coal coupons – a relic of Mao Zedong’s planned economy days – to ensure its citizens have access to heating fuel as they brace for a bitter winter. Shuozhou, located in the heart of coal country in Shanxi province, has distributed coupons to 47,000 families to help them purchase the heating fuel, the official China Youth Daily reported on Wednesday. Each coupon is good for two tons of subsidized coal, enough for each household to last through the winter and early spring” – Bloomberg.

Associated Press:  “Thieves rushed into a Southern California Nordstrom store the night before Thanksgiving and ran off with pricey goods in the latest of a string of organized retail thefts.

“Five people, one wearing an orange wig, entered the open store shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Westfield Topanga Mall in the Canoga Park area of Los Angeles, took seven or eight expensive purses and fled in a car, police said. A security guard was sprayed with some kind of chemical by the thieves and was treated at the scene, police said. Police cars and ambulances converged on the mall but there were no immediate arrests.

“Multiple police cruisers, as well as fire trucks and ambulances, were seen parked outside the Nordstrom store at the popular shopping complex in Canoga Park. At least a dozen shoppers appeared to be standing outside. In recent weeks, gangs of crooks, some armed with hammers and crowbars, have smashed their way into closed high-end stores and made off with tens of thousands of dollars in goods, authorities said.”

Los Angeles Times:  “The Los Angeles Fire Department is investigating an incident in which a firefighter ‘responded inappropriately’ after being handed a letter to comply with the city’s vaccine mandate, a department spokeswoman said Wednesday. The LAFD member responded to receiving the non-compliance letter by dropping his pants and wiping his buttocks with the letter, leaving fecal matter on the document, before dropping it to the ground, according to the Stentorians of Los Angeles City, a group representing African American firefighters.

“The alleged incident underscores the deep resistance among some within the Fire Department over the city’s mandate that employees be vaccinated. LAFD spokeswoman Cheryl Getuiza said the alleged incident occurred on Nov. 18. ‘The department is aware of the seriousness of the allegations and took immediate action upon learning of this incident,’ she said, declining to comment on the details.

“Getuiza said the firefighter is on paid administrative leave and ‘will face the consequences of any inappropriate acts.’ She did not elaborate on specifically what prompted the leave. An LAFD captain and a chief officer witnessed the incident, the Stentorians said in a statement sent to the Board of Fire Commissioners and city leaders. It took place at Fire Station 69 in Pacific Palisades, the group said.”

“I think we’re going to see, and I call it a controlled depression, but some type of… y’know… y’know… just a manipulation, or a, a… a financial collapse…”–host and person who now owes millions of dollars to people he defamed Alex Jones interrupts with “[mumbled] crash”–“yeah, so that’s a, that’s a, that’s a separate thing, so, so we’re gonna have some type of controlled depression,” disgraced former flag officer wearing a repurposed couch cushion Mike Flynn declares.  “I mean, we’re already at six percent inflation.  For us to go to ten percent, I don’t think these people have any problem.  We’re gonna get there.  So that’s Number One.  I think Number Two, we’re gonna see an uptick in, in, uh, in other aspects of the COVID, okay, so there is, we got the various variants.  It might be another form of the SARS that’s imposed on the international system, right?  And the internationalists, ’cause their little plan with COVID didn’t work because too many people.  Y’know, the world of the dig–what I call the digital warriors or the, ah, the, the citizen journalists that are out there, they are fighting for the truth so the truth has been exposed about the COVID tyranny that we are facing.  Potentially another type of virus that’s imposed on the public, and I, I hope that’s not the case, but I’ve seen some indications that some of the statements from some of these global elites type of people.”

Well here is one outlet I can sue for defamation. This will be fun. I’m an incredibly honest, clean guy – unlike Hunter, no drugs, healthy lifestyle, not the “burner phone” type… Tweet saved… @palmerreport https://t.co/ua5Wu1cyQO

— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) November 25, 2021

“Everything costs more now,” Ewic Trump’s wife and wannabe Senator Lara Trump declares.  “It’s not just the turkey.  And to piggyback of, ah, something that Monica just said there.  She was spot on.  They have told us from the beginning that they want to fundamentally transform America.  Well, how do you do that?  You have to change America from the inside out.  You have to take away our traditions, so it might seem a little funny and a little ridiculous.  ‘Oh, don’t have a turkey,’ then people won’t want to come over. Well, remember last year when they didn’t even want us to get together, so I guess we’re lucky they’re letting us have Thanksgiving this year.”

“Huh ho, that’s true,” Pete Hegseth helpfully chimes in.

ABC News:  “In the wake of a UFO report last summer, the Pentagon has announced the formation of a new group that will investigate reports of UFOs close to sensitive military areas. The new Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group will specifically look at reports of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) near U.S. military facilities. UAP is the military term to describe what is known as UFOs or Unexplained Flying Objects.

“‘Incursions by any airborne object into our SUA (Special Use Airspace) pose safety of flight and operations security concerns, and may pose national security challenges,’ said a Pentagon press release using the term that includes restricted military airspace, military operations areas, firing ranges and places restricted for national security and other uses. In a memo outlining the group’s formation, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks wrote that unidentified aerial phenomena in special-use areas ‘represents a safety of flight risk to aircrews and raises potential national security concerns.’

“The new group will synchronize the Pentagon’s efforts with other federal agencies ‘to detect, identify and attribute objects of interest in Special Use Airspace (SUA), and to assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security.’ It will be overseen by the under secretary of defense for intelligence, who will head an executive council including the director of the Joint Staff and senior officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

“Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has vowed to track down rioters who attempted to storm parliament, as the Pacific island nation’s capital Honiara remained under lockdown Thursday following the unrest. Hundreds of people demanding Sogavare’s resignation marched on parliament Thursday, burning down a thatched hut near the legislature before moving on Honiara’s Chinatown, torching a police station and looting shops before police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Sogavare ordered an immediate curfew across Honiara, describing the unrest as a ‘sad and unfortunate event aimed at bringing a democratically elected government down.'”

“‘The 36-hour lockdown will allow law enforcement agencies to fully investigate the perpetrators of the events today and to prevent further lawless destruction of property,’ he said in a statement released late Wednesday. The violence reportedly involved a group of protesters who travelled to Honiara this week from the neighbouring island of Malaita” – France 24.

“Brooks, he actually has information out there that shows he has animosity and racial hate for whites,” former MTV Road Rules contestant Sean Duffy says as a brainless disgraced unpaid contributor to The Hill nods dutifully.  “He actually was condemning Adolf Hitler because he went after Jews.”

Washington Post:  “At least 27 migrants died while trying to cross the English Channel from France to Britain on Wednesday, making it one of the deadliest incidents on a dangerous route. French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in a news conference that 31 bodies had been recovered, including five women and a small girl, while two people survived. But his ministry told French media outlets later that the number of dead had been revised to 27. One person was thought to be unaccounted for when a search-and-rescue operation involving ships and helicopters was called off late Wednesday night.

“’Today is a [day of] great national mourning for France, and for Europe, and humanity,’ Darmanin said. Both French and British officials focused the blame on human traffickers, though migrant crossings are also a point of contention in the post-Brexit tussle between Paris and London. Four suspects who might be connected to the incident had been apprehended, Darmanin said.

“The Organization for Migration said Wednesday’s drowning amounted to the largest known loss of life in the Channel since the U.N.-affiliated group started recording data in 2014. At least 15 more people have died at other points in 2021, as attempts to cross have increased.”

“Gov. Ron DeSantis may need help from his number one adversary: President Joe Biden. A federal court ruling late Monday night scuttled a $2.5 billion dollar gambling deal DeSantis negotiated with the Seminole Tribe of Florida earlier this year. The ruling could halt sports betting in the nation’s third largest state amid questions over what can be done to salvage the endeavor. The fate of the deal could depend on whether the U.S. Department of Interior, which was responsible for approving the compact, decides to appeal the decision by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, an appointee of former President Donald Trump. The tribe tried to intervene in the ongoing legal challenge but the judge turned down their request, although lawyers for the tribe on Tuesday evening appealed that decision as well as the entire ruling. Right now the department isn’t commenting. DeSantis himself did not know about the decision until asked about it by a reporter at an early morning press conference in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. But it puts the governor – who routinely rails against Biden over vaccine mandates, cruise ships and immigration – in a very awkward spot” – Politico.

Associated Press:  “Attorney General Merrick Garland directed U.S. attorneys across the country to swiftly prioritize prosecution of federal crimes that happen on commercial flights as federal officials face a historic number of investigations into passenger behavior. Garland’s memo, issued Wednesday, emphasizes that the Justice Department is committed to aggressively prosecuting violent passengers who assault crew members or endanger the safety of other passengers. Federal law prohibits interfering with a flight crew, including assaulting, intimidating or threatening crew members.

“In a statement, Garland said such passengers do more than harm employees. ‘They prevent the performance of critical duties that help ensure safe air travel. Similarly, when passengers commit violent acts against other passengers in the close confines of a commercial aircraft, the conduct endangers everyone aboard,’ he said.

“The memo also notes that dozens of incidents have been reported to the FBI by the Federal Aviation Administration — it investigates some flight disturbances and can issue civil fines to disruptive passengers — as part of an ‘information-sharing protocol’ between the two agencies.  The FAA said earlier this month that it had launched 950 investigations into passenger behavior on flights this year. That is the highest total since the agency started keeping track in 1995. In the five years from 2016 through 2020, the agency averaged 136 investigations a year.”

Reuters:  “U.S. consumer spending increased more than expected in October as households bought motor vehicles and a range of other goods, showing no signs yet of holding back because of high inflation, and boosting the economic outlook early in the fourth quarter.

“The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, jumped 1.3% last month after rising 0.6% in September. Spending was partially boosted by higher prices as demand continues to outpace supply.  Economists polled by Reuters had forecast consumer spending advancing 1.0%. Global economies’ simultaneous recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by trillions of dollars in relief money from governments, has strained supply chains, unleashing inflation.

“President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that the United States would release 50 million barrels of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help cool oil prices, in coordination with China, India, South Korea, Japan and Britain. Consumer spending is accelerating after slowing sharply in the third quarter as COVID-19 infections driven by the Delta variant flared up and shortages of goods became more widespread. Fears of empty shelves and paying even more for scarce goods have encouraged Americans to start their holiday shopping early.”

WPIX New York 11:  “An off-duty Newark police officer was arrested and faces several charges after he allegedly fatally struck a Bergen County nurse, put the victim into his car then returned to the scene with the body in New Jersey earlier this month, authorities said. Louis Sanitago faces several charges, including vehicular homicide for striking a pedestrian on the Garden State Parkway, leaving the scene, then coming back and putting the victim in the car before returning to the scene with the dead body, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday.

“The preliminary investigation determined that around 3 a.m. on Nov. 1, the 25-year-old was traveling north on the Garden State Parkway near exit 151 when he drove onto the right shoulder of the parkway, striking 29-year-old Damian Dymka, a nurse. Neither Santiago nor his passenger, 25-year-old Albert Guzman, called 911 or rendered aid, according to officials. However, they returned to the scene several times before Santiago allegedly loaded Dymka’s body into the vehicle and removed him from the scene, authorities said.

“Santiago then took the body to his Bloomfield home where he, Guzman and Louis’ mother — Annette Santiago, 53 — allegedly discussed what to do with the body. Louis Santiago eventually went back to the scene, authorities said.  His father, a lieutenant with the Newark Police Department, later called 911 and reported his son was in an accident, the prosecutor’s office said. When state police arrived, the victim was found dead in the back seat of the car, according to authorities.