CNN:  “Former President Donald Trump is accusing the House select committee investigating January 6 of being so aggressive in its pursuit of his White House records that it could permanently damage the presidency, according to a court filing from his legal team on Wednesday.

“Trump is appealing a lower court’s decision that his records should be turned over to the committee. The Biden administration and the US House are unified in opposing the former President’s efforts to keep the records secret, arguing that more than 700 pages including White House call logs and notes from his top advisers should be available to the probe.  A federal appeals court will hear oral arguments on November 30 in the historic case. ‘The Appellees’ clear disdain for President Trump is leading them to a course of action that will result in permanent damage to the institution of the presidency,’ lawyers for Trump wrote in their reply brief to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday.

“‘A current president cannot destroy the confidentiality of Executive Branch communications and the important reliance interests attached to that confidentiality for his own political advantage to the detriment of his predecessors and successors,’ they continued. The Biden administration declined to assert executive privilege over the records, and Trump argues that could mean that future presidents decide to flout confidentiality in the White House if their predecessors are from a different political party.”

The Daily Beast:  “After more than a year of delays, a team of attorneys will finally make a trip to Los Angeles next month to review highly guarded, never-before-seen outtakes of Celebrity Apprentice—seeking any evidence that the Trump family knew they were suckering people into investing in a scam. On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York City ordered that the movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer make the footage available at a secure location, potentially ending a long-running battle that’s still draped in secrecy.

“MGM won’t say what’s in the tapes or why it could be so damaging to make public. It’s not even clear why the movie studio is fighting so hard to keep unaired footage of Trump’s old show under wraps. And in court filings made last week, the Beverly Hills studio would only describe what’s in the tapes in a document that remains sealed from public view. But lawyers for these four scorned entrepreneurs, know what they’re looking for: anything that shows Donald Trump and his kids knew that they were duping would-be investors by leading them to ACN, a multi-level marketing company based in North Carolina.

“Trump and his kids—Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric—were the top recurring characters of The Apprentice, playing the role of business judges. During the show, the family featured ACN as a promising investment, even having celebrities compete to produce a commercial for the company’s supposedly high-tech new video chatting phone, the “Iris 5000.” In reality, the tech was a dud and the company was facing financial turmoil—but viewers weren’t told that. The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by four entrepreneurs who say they were suckered into joining ACN’s multi-level marketing scheme—and lost time and money doing it—as a result of the Trumps’ endorsements. Lynn Chadwick of Pennsylvania says she was duped into the program in 2013, while Catherine McKoy and Millard Williams of California started in 2014. Markus Frazier of Maryland says he signed up in 2016. None of them stuck around past year two.”

Senators Jon Tester, Mark Warner, Kyrsten Sinema, John Hickenlooper, and Mark Kelly have all privately signaled they won’t vote to confirm Biden’s comptroller of the currency nominee, Kazakhstan-born Cornell law professor Saule Omarova, Axios reports. Omarova was baselessly accused of being a communist by simple virtue of her birth and childhood in the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan by Grandmotherly GOP Senator John Kennedy last week.

Be #FDNYSmart on Thanksgiving and every day – NEVER leave cooking food unattended, and ALWAYS wear short or tight-fitting sleeves when you cook. See more tips for a safe holiday season at https://t.co/NpwdRdlElY pic.twitter.com/Gwott8E2uY

— FDNY (@FDNY) November 24, 2021

Obnoxious nanny state enforcers at New York City’s so-called “fire department” are attempting again to suck the fun out of patriotic family traditions with their needless finger-wagging about how to “safely” cook a Thanksgiving dinner. This same agency allowed 114 New Yorkers to die in fires in 2020. What’s the point of even having a fire department if people still die from burns and smoke inhalation anyway? At some point people are going to develop a natural immunity to fire, so why waste taxpayer resources on this failure? Why don’t we just have a bunch of dalmatians running around wearing little plastic fire helmets instead? That would be entertaining at least.

Also, fire codes aren’t in the constitution. They’re illegal mandates. Every major faith uses fire in its rituals, so there should be religious exemptions to fire safety mandates. Every New Yorker and every American has the right to enjoy fire. God gave it to us. Only Nazis want to take it away.

ESPN:  “The Minnesota Vikings and the Minnetrista Police Department are dealing with an ongoing situation involving defensive end Everson Griffen, who has refused to come out of his residence after making a series of disturbing posts on Instagram earlier Wednesday morning claiming that someone was in his home trying to kill him. The Minnetrista Public Safety Department said in a news release that Griffen called 911 after 3 a.m. Wednesday from his residence. He said someone was inside his home and requested assistance from authorities. Griffen also told the 911 dispatcher that he fired a weapon but that no one was injured.

“According to the news release, law enforcement and Vikings team psychologists have been in communication with Griffen since approximately 7 a.m. but Griffen has refused to come out of his residence. Police said they could not find an intruder at Griffen’s residence. Early Wednesday morning, Griffen made several Instagram posts, all of which have been deleted, including a video that showed the defensive end inside his home with a pistol, which he said belongs to him.

“‘I’m in my house. N—– trying to pop me,’ Griffen said in the video. ‘I’ve still got clips left. This is my gun, .45 Wilson Combat, registered to me. I bought all my bullets around town. Dalvin Cook helped me purchase this gun. It all belongs to me, and they are registered to me. I know exactly where I bought them. I’ve got the card I have them on. I have everything.'”

The Guardian:  “Children and parents forcibly separated at the US-Mexican border under Donald Trump’s policy of ‘zero tolerance’ are showing signs of severe psychological trauma and mental health disorders that have endured even after they were reunited, a new study has found. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) have released the first qualitative analysis to be carried out on the mental health effects of Trump’s highly contentious policy of enforced family separation which provoked outrage and condemnation around the world.

“Between 2017 and 2018, the US government under Trump’s direction separated more than 5,000 children – the youngest just four months old – from their parents as an act of deterrence to other would-be asylum seekers fleeing violence and persecution in Central America. As of September, 1,677 children had yet to be reunited with their parents, including 381 children whose status and whereabouts were unknown. In its groundbreaking new study, PHR brought together trained clinical experts including psychologists, psychiatrists and pediatricians to delve into the medical and legal documents of 31 of the children and parents subjected to family separation. The study group comprised asylum seekers from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and included 19 parents and 12 children of whom the youngest was six at the time they were wrenched from their families.

“The clinicians diagnosed all the individuals contained in the study group with at least one mental health condition arising from the suffering they faced fleeing their countries of origin combined with the devastating trauma of being torn apart from their families by US border agents. The most common conditions were post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety.”

UPDATE:  At approximately 3:30 p.m. ET Friday, Facebook blocked access to the event posting.

ORIGINAL STORY:  After Spotsylvania County, Virginia school board members openly suggested burning books during a school board meeting earlier this month, someone in Fredericksburg, decided to take the thought a step further and set up a good ol’ fashioned book burning for mid-December.

“Start having your children check out library books from there schools now! (Ones you do NOT want in our schools),” the invitation reads. “At the school board meeting we will have a fire pit in the parking lot. And will burn every last one of them you bring. Yes, at the end of the year, we will have to pay for them. But this year no one will be able to check them out. Feel free to bring marshmallows and a stick.”

UPDATE 1:55 p.m.:  The final verdicts:

Travis McMichael, the son:  guilty of one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count false imprisonment, one count criminal attempt to commit a felony.

Gregory McMichael, the father:  guilty of four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count false imprisonment, one count criminal attempt to commit a felony.  Not guilty of one count of malice murder.

William R. “Roddie” Bryan:  guilty of three counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count false imprisonment, one count criminal attempt to commit a felony.  Not guilty of one count of malice murder, one count of felony murder and one count of aggravated assault.

Screenshot via NBC Washington’s Scott MacFarlane.

CNBC:  “The ranks of those submitting jobless claims tumbled to their lowest level in more than 52 years last week, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. New filings totaled 199,000, a number not seen since Nov. 15, 1969, when claims totaled 197,000. The report easily beat Dow Jones estimates of 260,000 and was well below the previous week’s 270,000.

“The Labor Department did not indicate any special factors that caused the stunning fall, which could provide an important signal about a jobs market that has been struggling to come back since the Covid-19 shock in March 2020. The decline appeared at least in part to be due to seasonal adjustments. Unadjusted claims totaled 258,622, which actually was an increase of 7.6% from the previous week.

“In other economic reports Wednesday morning, second-quarter GDP growth was revised up slightly to 2.1%, though that was below estimates for 2.2%. Also, durable goods orders declined 0.5%, worse than expectations of a 0.2% gain.”

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, the country’s first ever female leader, resigned only 8 hours after being sworn in due to the Green Party leaving her governing coalition on Wednesday, the AP reports, confirming the Green Party ruins everything, even if the Swedish one has nothing to do with Ralph Nader and Jill Stein. The resignation is not a totally done deal however, as Andersson still has a chance to assemble a new coalition and can retake office upon a deal being reached.

Variety:  “The U.S. touring production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ has suspended James D. Beeks from its ensemble after the musical theater performer was arrested on charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Beeks, whose stage name is James T. Justis, portrayed Judas in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

“When not crossing the boards, Beeks was also apparently an affiliate of the Oath Keepers, the far-right anti-government militia organization that participated in the Jan. 6 riots. Beeks paid dues to the group in December 2020. According to a statement from the ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ producers, Beeks is ‘…suspended from the company indefinitely pending the outcome of the hearing. The production is giving its full cooperation to the authorities while the investigation is ongoing.’ Beeks is also a Michael Jackson impersonator with Broadway credits that include ‘Kinky Boots,’ ‘Aida,’ and ‘Ragtime.’

“Beeks was arrested in Milwaukee this week, where ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ was performing. According to his arrest warrant, Beeks participated in the attack on the Capitol while wearing a ‘BAD’ world tour jacket. He also carried a homemade shield and was part of a group of rioters who tried to breach the Senate chamber, according to the FBI’s criminal complaint. Law enforcement was able to establish that Beeks was in the D.C. area on Jan. 6 because he used his ATM card in Northern Virginia and in a parking lot in Washington. In addition, authorities linked social media posts featuring Beeks in the BAD jacket with surveillance photos of a rioter wearing the same coat.”

After the Washington Post reported Monday that the RNC is still paying Trump’s legal bills for his personal corruption shit in New York State that have nothing to do with politics or his time as president, CNN follows up with a Wednesday report detailing how “some RNC members and donors accused the party of running afoul of its own neutrality rules and misplacing its priorities. Some of these same officials who spoke to CNN also questioned why the party would foot the legal bills of a self-professed billionaire who was sitting on a $102 million war chest as recently as July and has previously used his various political committees to cover legal costs.”

“‘This is not normal. Nothing about this is normal, especially since he’s not only a former President but a billionaire,’ said a former top RNC official. ‘What does any of this have to do with assisting Republicans in 2022 or preparing for the 2024 primary?’ the official added. Another former RNC official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said ‘Trump helps them raise boatloads of money but he’s also likely to be a candidate for president and it’s only going to become more difficult for them to keep a distance,’ the official said, while also questioning why the RNC is ‘having to pay for this when you have these super PACs taking in unlimited money for Trump.’ A third RNC official described the relationship between Trump and the national party as ‘a hostage situation,’ claiming that Trump could devastate the GOP if he decided to leave the party or encouraged his supporters to stop contributing to it at any point, including if the RNC no longer agrees to cover portions of his legal bills. ‘They can’t disentangle themselves from him because they need him,'”

“The Unselect Committee issued a subpoena to Bernie Kerik, an American Patriot and great former Police Commissioner of New York City, for its Jan. 6th Witch Hunt, but didn’t realize what they were demanding is a massive trove of evidence of Voter Fraud. According to Bernie’s lawyer, these documents show significant indicators of fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election Scam, but have remained hidden from the public. It is exactly what the Unselect Committee should be interested in – if this was a real investigation. Bernie wants to comply with the subpoena with a public hearing, and asked me to waive attorney-client privilege so Bernie can testify and provide documents, which I grant him. The Unselect Committee will not like what they asked for!” says the Orange Pharaoh in a statement that almost sounds like Mike Lindell wrote it.

“A federal court order late Tuesday may be a worrisome sign for former President Donald Trump in his effort to assert executive privilege over documents sought by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia notified lawyers for Trump, the House committee and the National Archives that they should be prepared to address whether the court even has the legal authority to hear the dispute. Oral arguments are scheduled for Nov. 30” NBC News reports.

“Late Tuesday, the appeals court ordered the lawyers in the case to be prepared to address the jurisdiction issue. The fact that the court is wondering about its own authority to take up the case is telling: Courts are typically protective of their jurisdictions. The court raised the question on its own, meaning it was not suggested by the lawyers in the case. It asked: ‘Does the provision in the Presidential Records Act providing that the Archivist’s ‘determination whether access to a Presidential record … shall be restricted … shall not be subject to judicial review, except as provided in this section’ … implicate this court’s or the district court’s jurisdiction in this case?'”

Our forefathers, our ancestors and some among us have died for our Freedom.

Please do not give that freedom away.

No job is worth giving up our freedom, our right to privacy and our God given liberties. #DoNotComply https://t.co/P10taEsy5X

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 24, 2021

AP: “Determined to reclaim Thanksgiving traditions that were put on pause last year by the pandemic, millions of Americans will be loading up their cars or piling onto planes to gather again with friends and family. The number of air travelers this week is expected to approach or even exceed pre-pandemic levels, and auto club AAA predicts that 48.3 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home over the holiday period, an increase of nearly 4 million over last year despite sharply higher gasoline prices. Many feel emboldened by the fact that nearly 200 million Americans are now fully vaccinated. But it also means brushing aside concerns about a resurgent virus at a time when the U.S. is now averaging nearly 100,000 new infections a day and hospitals in Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado and Arizona are seeing alarming increases in patients.”

“The seven-day daily average of new reported cases up nearly 30% in the last two weeks through Tuesday, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says unvaccinated people should not travel, although it is unclear whether that recommendation is having any effect. More than 2.2 million travelers streamed through airport checkpoints last Friday, the busiest day since the pandemic devastated travel early last year. From Friday through Monday, the number of people flying in the U.S. was more than double the same days last year and only 8% lower than the same days in 2019.”

“JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said he regrets making a quip that his bank is likely to outlast China’s Communist Party. ‘I regret and should not have made that comment,’ Dimon said in a statement from the bank Wednesday. ‘I was trying to emphasize the strength and longevity of our company.’ Dimon made the remarks while speaking Tuesday at a panel discussion at the Boston College Chief Executives Club, where he touched on his company’s commitment to China in wide-ranging comments. ‘We hope to be there for a long time,’ Dimon said of China on Tuesday. He relayed a ‘joke’ he made during a recent visit to Hong Kong: ‘The Communist Party is celebrating its 100th year. So is JPMorgan. And I’ll make you a bet we last longer'” – Bloomberg

White Nationalist asshole and Anti-Semite Nick Fuentes has sued the Biden Administration (and Louis DeJoy for some reason) alleging constitutional blah blah blah over his being allegedly placed on a federal “No Fly List”, a measure usually reserved for actual violent terrorists.

As Daily Kos described it in April when Fuentes first publicly claimed that he was legally banned from boarding a commercial flight: “It’s not clear at all that Fuentes, general of the so-called ‘Groyper Army,’ is even on a federal no-fly list. It’s far more likely that he has been banned by certain airlines from flying with them for his bad behavior onboard – he was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight for refusing to put his mask over his nose and then telling the attendant, ‘Fuck you’ – or for his widely broadcast rants ‘joking’ about mass murdering people at a flight attendant school as well as waiting for them and killing them in the airport parking lot.”

“Domestic propagandists and state TV pundits are promoting the idea of an inevitable confrontation with the West as Russia’s military posture grows increasingly hostile, causing major concern for its nearest neighbors and NATO. Ukraine remains the crown jewel for the Kremlin and the Russian public is being primed for the intended absorption of more territories under the umbrella of the Russian Federation, while NATO is being accused of fomenting the potential escalation. ‘World War III is knocking at our door,’ warned one top propagandist.”

“Whether or not the Kremlin is planning to speed up its creeping assault against Ukraine’s Donbas region in the near future is a mystery even to the most knowledgeable experts with close access to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nonetheless, they eagerly fulfill the Russian leader’s express intent to keep NATO – and the West in general – in a state of hypervigilance. Ukraine’s non-affiliation with NATO remains at the top of the Kremlin’s long wish list, with Putin demanding ‘serious long-term guarantees that ensure Russia’s security’ in the region. The real issue is not that NATO presents an acute threat to the Kremlin, but rather that its involvement stands in the way of Russia swallowing additional Ukrainian territories. Putin’s objectives with respect to subverting Ukraine remain the same, with two different paths to getting there: by securing Ukraine’s submission and undermining its sovereignty through unwarranted concessions from the West, or by escalating Russia’s military aggression” – Daily Beast.