GUARDSMEN DOWN: Two members of the West Virginia National Guard are in critical condition after what is being considered a “targeted shooting” blocks from the White House yesterday.

  The gunman, who was also wounded, is in custody and is believed to have acted alone.  President Trump said in a social media post that he “will pay a very steep price.” The suspect has been identified as an Afghan man who had worked with the US military in his home country and was in the process of trying to become an American citizen.

  Jeffrey Carroll, the executive assistant chief of the DC Metropolitan Police Department, said that the suspect came around a corner, raised his gun and fired at the soldiers.

  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quickly announced the deployment of 500 more Guardsmen to Washington, which is already being patrolled by 2,000 troops.

TOWERING INFERNO: At least 55 people are dead and as many as 270 missing in a raging fire that consumed several towers of a high rise apartment complex in Hong Kong. Authorities said they were receiving phone calls from people in upper floors who could not be reached through the flames.

  The towers are in a dense complex known as Wang Fuk Court that includes about 2,000 apartments and is home to as many as 5,000 people. The buildings had been under renovation and were encased in bamboo scaffolding, which is common in Hong Kong. 

  Investigators did not immediately know the cause of the fire that started yesterday afternoon or whether the bamboo contributed to the spread and severity of the blaze.  Three construction officials were arrested and accused of negligence.

CASE CLOSED: President Trump has skated on the last of the criminal charges against him. The Georgia prosecutor who took over the election meddling indictment against Trump and others has abandoned the case, saying it would be impossible to prosecute.

  Peter Skandalakis wrote that, “Given the complexity of the legal issues at hand — ranging from constitutional questions and the Supremacy Clause to immunity, jurisdiction, venue, speedy-trial concerns, and access to federal records — and even assuming each of these issues were resolved in the State’s favor, bringing this case before a jury in 2029, 2030, or even 2031 would be nothing short of a remarkable feat.” 

  Skandalakis had been assigned the job of finding a prosecutor after Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, was removed from the case for improper conduct. Skandalakis couldn’t find anyone else to take the case so he took it himself, and decided to shut it down.

OLD AND IN THE WAY: President Trump posted a furious rambling message in his Truth Social account following a NY Times story that said he’s getting slower and more tired as he advances toward age 80.

  The Times report said, “Mr. Trump has fewer public events on his schedule and is traveling domestically much less than he did by this point during his first year in office, in 2017, although he is taking more foreign trips.” The story says, “He also keeps a shorter public schedule than he used to. Most of his public appearances fall between noon and 5 p.m., on average.” And that “when he is in public, occasionally, his battery shows signs of wear.” 

  Trump responded that, “The Creeps at the Failing New York Times are at it again,” and that he won the election by a landslide, ended wars, sent the sto ck market to new highs …yadda yadda.  He said, “The writer of the story, Katie Rogers, who is assigned to write only bad things about me, is a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out.”

  Trump claimed, “There will be a day when I run low on Energy, it happens to everyone, but with a PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST (“That was aced”) JUST RECENTLY TAKEN, it certainly is not now!”

THE REGIME: 

— A leaked transcript of White House envoy Steve Witkoff’s conversation with a senior Russian reveals how desperately Trump and his administration want to claim credit for ending the Ukraine war, even if it’s on favorable terms to Russia.

  Witkoff butters up the Russian, Yuri Yuskakov, then tells him how to suck up to Trump: “I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen.”

  While Russia invaded, and continues to bomb Ukraine, Witkoff said, “Let me tell you what I told the President. I told the president that you – that the Russian Federation has always wanted a peace deal.”

— As President Trump tries to force his beliefs on the world, things like renewable energy is useless, the administration is trying to impose its beliefs about immigration as well. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered American diplomats in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to press those governments to restrict most immigration and file reports if the governments appear to be overly supportive of immigrants.

— A federal judge in Denver has ordered federal immigration officers to stop making arrests in Colorado without a warrant, unless the person poses a flight risk. That leaves holes that ICE agents will drive the SUVs right through.

— Federal agents have been arresting foreign born spouses when they appear for green card interviews. The NY Times tells the story of one man whose wife was holding their 4-month-old baby when she was detained. Agents claim that the detainees have overstayed their visas. 

BELOW THE FOLD: It’s Thanksgiving … have a good one. We’ll be taking the day off unless something huge happens.

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