Out of Control: As millions of Americans travel for Thanksgiving against the advice of disease experts, the US has added a stunning two million new cases of the coronavirus in two weeks.

  Yesterday alone, the country developed over 176,000 new cases and 2,269 patients died. It’s the largest number of deaths reported since May. Projections say the number of cases in November alone could hit 4.5 million, double the number of any previous month.

  Among the dead is Honestie Hodges, whose arrest and handcuffing by  police in Grand Rapids, Michigan when she was only 11 caused national outrage. She was 14 when she died of the virus.

 North Dakota has the country’s worst outbreak when adjusted for population. Almost one in 10 North Dakotans have tested positive for the virus since the outbreak began.

  North and South Dakota together had the world’s highest virus death rate for the week ending November 21^st. South Dakota still has no mask mandate and Gov. Kristi Noem has said,  “Let me tell you, my people are happy. They’re happy because they’re free.”

In Transition: President-elect Joe Biden formally announced some of his nominees for national security positions as the White House relented and agreed to start giving him daily presidential intelligence briefings.

  Biden made his introductions with an elbow in President Trump’s ribs saying, “It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it. Once again sit at the head of the table. Ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies. Ready to stand up for our values.”

  Praising his nominees, he never mentioned Trump, who’s still fighting to overturn Biden’s election.

  The President-elect said, “They embody my core beliefs that America is strongest when it works with its allies. Collectively, this team has secured some of the most defining national security and diplomatic achievements in recent memory, made possible through decades of experience working with our partners.” 

Song of Myself: The Dow Jones hit 30,000 for the first time in history yesterday and President Trump took credit for it, despite campaigning on a claim that the markets would crash if Joe Biden was elected President. 

  In a 60-second appearance before the press, Trump said, “I just want to congratulate all the people within the administration that worked so hard, and most importantly I want to congratulate the people of our country, because there are no people like you.”

  Trump congratulated himself even while millions of Americans are lined up at food banks to get something to eat. But in a separate appearance he said, “It’s the 48th time that we’ve set the record during the Trump administration and there’s never been anything like that.”

Pardon Him: As his term comes to an end, President Trump has been expected to start giving pardons to his criminal gang. First up might be retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in the Russia election-influencing investigation. 

  Flynn was fired in 2017 after serving only 24 days as national security adviser. But last spring Trump tweeted, “What happened to General Michael Flynn, a war hero, should never be allowed to happen to a citizen of the United States again!” 

  Trump practiced granting pardons yesterday at the annual pardoning of the White House Turkeys, this year, Corn and Cob. He said, “Corn, I hereby grant you a full pardon.”

  As the President departed a reporter shouted, “Any pardons before you leave office? Will you be issuing a pardon for yourself?”

  He didn’t answer.

The Bulletin Board: Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and wife of Prince Harry, revealed in a very personal essay in The NY Times that she had a miscarriage in July while holding her son. She wrote, “I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.” — A former North Korean gymnast is seeking asylum in the South after taking a leap of faith. He actually jumped over a 10-foot fence separating the two countries. — The baby owl found in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree after it had been brought to Manhattan was set free last night. The tree was shipped from Oneonta in upstate New York and the owl made the trip with it. 

Close Encounters: A team of people from the Utah Division of Wildlife was flying in a helicopter counting bighorn sheep when they spotted something that was certainly not a sheep, and not part of nature.

  They landed and found a three-sided stainless steel monolith, about 12 feet tall, planted in the rocky desert floor in the mouth of a slot canyon.

   So far, no one knows who or what installed the monolith. The helicopter pilot told a local television station, “We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears, then I guess the rest of us make a run for it.”

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