Thanksgiving Aftertaste: The Chair Is Empty and the World Already Knows

While we stuffed ourselves with turkey and denial, everyone else saw the vacant seat and started making plans without us

Happy Turkey Day, everyone. Our last piece — Hegseth HUMILIATED by Astronaut Kelly & a mirror – total LOSER move, everybody’s talking about it! — just smashed past 5,000+ views and is still climbing fast. Link below if you somehow missed the carnage.

Now, with the leftovers getting cold, here’s what actually happened this week.

Domestic

• BlackRock and Vanguard own the entire Epstein machine — Ethan Faulkner’s explosive Part 5 just dropped the receipts most people will never read: Vanguard and BlackRock are the #1 and #2 shareholders of JPMorgan Chase (the bank that ran over $1 billion for Epstein and called him a “treasured customer”), Deutsche Bank (the one that took him post-conviction), and Apollo Global (where Leon Black paid Epstein $158 million for “tax advice”). The same Goldman/Lehman execs who covered Robert Maxwell’s 1980s pension fraud now sit on BlackRock’s Global Executive Committee. They own the banks, the clients, the personnel, the media that buried the vertical story under a partisan circus, and most of the politicians pretending to investigate it. This wasn’t a rogue pedophile ring — it was vertically integrated “complicity as a service” for the transnational financial elite.

• The Democratic Party has no real strategy — either because it lacks the skill to build one, or because it’s too corrupt to want one — While the same asset-management duopoly literally owns the banks that laundered the money, owns the clients who paid for the “services,” and owns the media that kept the public distracted with a left-vs-right puppet show, the official opposition offers nothing: no hearings, no subpoenas, no moral fire, no alternative power center. Just fundraising emails and silence. Incompetence or capture — the result is the same.

• Trump’s Thanksgiving meltdown was next-level unhinged — From Mar-a-Lago he raged about “radical left lunatics,” “stolen elections,” and “the fake news turkeys,” then threatened to prosecute late-night hosts again while using an offensive slur against Gov. Tim Walz over his supposed soft stance on Somali immigrants “ripping off” America. When reporters asked Walz for comment, he deadpanned: “Release the MRI results” — referencing Trump’s mysterious October scan at Walter Reed that he boasted was “perfect” but refused to detail. The clip went viral in minutes and the White House still hasn’t recovered.

• D.C. National Guard ambush now officially first-degree murder — Hours after 20-year-old Spc. Sarah Beckstrom died from her wounds, federal prosecutors upgraded charges against Afghan evacuee Rahmanullah Lakanwal to first-degree murder, plus three counts of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. The second soldier, 24-year-old Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, remains in critical condition. The premeditated attack on uniformed troops two blocks from the White House is now being treated as domestic terrorism; Trump is already using the upgraded charges to push for immediate resumption of Title 42–style expulsions and a full review of every Afghan parolee — while the Pentagon quietly admits the troops were unarmed because current D.C. deployment rules prohibit live rounds.

• ‘Nuremberg’ hits theaters just as America debates its own accountability reckoning — James Vanderbilt’s psychological thriller, starring Rami Malek as U.S. psychiatrist Douglas Kelley and Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring, opened nationwide on November 7 to packed houses and a 70% Rotten Tomatoes score — chronicling Kelley’s mind games with Nazi leaders to deem them fit for trial, exposing the banality of evil amid Holocaust horrors. With its TIFF premiere standing ovation and NPR calling out its “big questions on unexceptional evil,” the timing couldn’t be sharper: as Epstein files gather dust, Trump’s revenge cases flop, and the Rust machine hums unchecked, this WWII reminder of justice served feels like a not-so-subtle warning shot — will we hold our own war criminals to account, or let history’s ghosts haunt another generation?

• Republicans label “No Kings” protests a “domestic 9/11” to justify Treasury war on dissent — With peaceful, yellow-band, flag-waving Oct 18 rallies looming, Treasury nominee Scott Bessent told Charlie Kirk’s podcast the assassination attempt on Kirk was “a domestic 9/11” and Treasury is “compiling lists” of left-leaning nonprofits. He vowed to “operationalize” post-9/11 terrorist-financing tools (asset freezes, transaction surveillance) against U.S. citizens for “matching umbrellas and lasers.” Fact-checks: zero evidence of paid protesters or funding networks. Civil liberties groups warn this is the Patriot Act turned inward.

• Government “glitches” are the ultimate accountability firewall — IRS 2014 email “crash” (422 backup tapes wiped mid-probe), Secret Service Jan 6 text “migration wipe,” Pentagon’s 7th straight failed audit (2025: ~$4 trillion unaccounted). Pattern: when oversight gets close, evidence vanishes. Not accidents — engineered opacity. Crime becomes a business expense, and the public gets ghosts instead of scandals.

International

• Garry Kasparov just delivered NATO’s eulogy at the Halifax International Security Forum — On November 21 in a room full of champagne and cowardice, he unloaded: “I’m getting desperate… NATO is four letters. It doesn’t exist… Ukraine is fighting the ONLY war NATO was ever built to fight — alone — while you debate letting them in… If you force Ukraine into Trump’s real-estate deal, Putin restores the empire and you’re next. But you are not willing to fight.” The nervous laughter afterward wasn’t disrespect — it was recognition.

• Saab’s Gripen jets could trip up Russia’s arms export and shove it toward financial collapse — RUSI’s Jack Watling says Sweden is one of NATO’s key players to exploit this: Russian arms exports have cratered 64% (SIPRI data), thanks to Ukraine swallowing their production and bans from European arms fairs — but they’re still hawking 850 products at Dubai Airshow. Gripen sales to emerging markets (or even Ukraine) could steal those deals and push Moscow closer to crisis.

• Orbán’s Moscow visit locks in Russian oil for Hungary — The Hungarian PM met Putin this week, got praised for his “balanced” Ukraine stance, and secured continued cheap Druzhba crude and gas for 2025-2026 — fresh off a Trump-granted U.S. sanctions exemption. Lowest prices in Europe, per Orbán, while the rest of the EU begs him to diversify.

• Former NATO commander warns direct Russia-NATO war is inevitable — and Trump’s under Putin’s thumb — Sir Richard Shirreff says airspace incursions, drones, cyber, and disinfo show Moscow ramping pressure; forcing Ukraine to fold would destroy it as a sovereign state. Only a clear military defeat stops Putin — but with Trump bending to Kremlin demands, Europe’s resolve is crumbling.

• Leaked call: U.S. scrapped Tomahawk deliveries to Ukraine after Putin’s backchannel nudge — Trump envoy Steve Witkoff tipped Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov to have Putin call Trump, congratulate him on Gaza “peace,” and warn that Tomahawks would “torch” U.S.-Russia ties. Putin called, Trump folded the next day — handing Kyiv’s deep-strike capability to Moscow on a silver platter.

• Copenhagen’s laughter was literal — and it made headlines across Europe — At a closed-door NATO briefing in Brussels on November 19, the senior U.S. envoy spent twenty minutes explaining why Washington could no longer guarantee rapid reinforcement to the Baltic states “in the current political environment.” When he finished, the Danish deputy permanent representative burst out laughing, followed by half the room. Politiken ran the headline “USA kan ikke længere garantere noget — og vi griner, fordi det er det eneste, vi har tilbage” (“The U.S. can no longer guarantee anything — and we laugh because it’s all we have left”). The clip leaked, went viral on Scandinavian TV, and became the symbol of alliance despair.

• Tokyo has quietly rewritten every bilateral security agreement with the U.S. — After Trump’s November 14 phone call with Xi Jinping in which he called Taiwan “a real-estate problem we’ll solve later,” Japan’s National Security Secretariat sent an urgent diplomatic note demanding that ALL existing defense commitments be converted into written, time-bound, congressionally-ratified annexes with sunset clauses no longer than four years. Foreign Minister Iwaya said publicly: “We are no longer in the verbal-assurance business.” Translation: Japan is hedging against Trump unpredictability — in plain sight.

• Baltic states have already started “Plan B” — moving gold, ammo, and command posts westward — Estonian PM Kallas confirmed on November 25 that 40 % of the country’s gold reserves have been physically relocated to vaults in Frankfurt and Zurich “for continuity of government purposes.” Latvia and Lithuania quietly shifted brigade-level munitions stocks and alternate HQs deeper into Poland and Germany. Meanwhile, the Canadian-led battlegroup in Latvia still needs 47 separate approvals to return fire. Baltic ministers no longer hide that they are planning for the day Article 5 is just a museum plaque.

• Congressional delegation touches down in Qatar — but where’s the AIPAC outcry? — A bipartisan U.S. House delegation, led by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA, Ranking Member of Armed Services), arrived in Doha on Nov. 28 for high-level talks, meeting Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani earlier today to discuss Gaza mediation, U.S.-Qatar strategic ties, and Al Udeid Air Base operations (home to 10,000+ U.S. troops). Every Israel trip sparks “Netanyahu owns Congress” howls and AIPAC scrutiny — yet Qatar’s $1.6B annual lobbying machine (via Ballard Partners and others) flies under the radar, despite Doha’s Hamas HQ and $30M+ in annual aid to Gaza. Double standard? Or just oil, gas, and bases talking louder than boycotts?

• Trump’s secret call with Maduro signals Venezuela thaw — migration deal in the works? — Last week, President-elect Trump held a 45-minute phone call with Nicolás Maduro, the first direct contact since 2019, amid Venezuela’s disputed July election where opposition’s Edmundo González claimed victory but Maduro clung to power via Supreme Court ruling. Sources say Trump urged Maduro to accept the results and release political prisoners; Maduro countered by offering to curb migration flows to the U.S. border in exchange for eased sanctions and non-recognition of González. No immediate breakthroughs, but Trump told allies it was “productive” — raising eyebrows over potential U.S. pivot from “maximum pressure” to deal-making, especially with 7.7 million Venezuelan migrants straining U.S. resources. Regime change or realpolitik reset?

Ukraine

• Ukraine should be in NATO — right now, today, no more debate — Every day we delay is another day Putin believes the West is bluffing. Ukraine has already paid the membership fee in blood; they’ve held the line that NATO was supposed to hold. Letting them in ends the war on terms favorable to freedom and sends the clearest possible message to Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran. Anything less is moral cowardice dressed up as “strategic ambiguity.”

• The Trump administration is quietly signaling it will accept Crimea as Russian territory — Senior officials and Trump himself have repeatedly floated “realistic” deals that permanently cede Crimea and parts of Donbas in exchange for a ceasefire and reconstruction contracts — with the U.S. offering “de jure” recognition of Russian control over Crimea and “de facto” acceptance of occupied territories. Translation: Russia keeps everything it stole, Ukraine gets demilitarized, and American corporations get the rebuilding profits. That’s not peace — that’s capitulation with a side of grift.

• Ukraine’s land not for sale — but internal scandals threaten the fight for unity — Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s ex-president who built the NABU anti-corruption bureau during his 2014-2019 term, told Sky News this week that “Ukraine’s land is not for sale for any price” amid Trump’s 28-point peace plan demanding territorial concessions — a red line echoed by Zelenskyy’s chief negotiator Andriy Yermak, who insists no land will be ceded despite the “enormous pressure.” But as Putin tells Orbán he’s “still happy to meet Trump” to push maximalist demands, Kyiv’s hit with its own crisis: a $100M energy extortion scandal implicating Zelensky aides (Yermak denies involvement but faces resignation calls), leading to the dismissal of energy and justice ministers. Poroshenko warned: “Only internal unity can save our nation... and international unity too” — a grim reminder that corruption probes at home could fracture the front lines abroad just as the U.S. deadline looms.

• Russian fingerprints on Ukraine’s corruption chaos: Derkach’s treason ties resurface — As Yermak’s raid unfolds, spotlights return to Andrii Derkach, ex-Ukrainian MP charged with high treason in 2023 for funneling $567K+ from Russia’s GRU to fund disinfo ops against U.S./EU ties (via networks with Oleksandr Dubinsky and Kostyantyn Kulyk). Son of KGB chief Leonid Derkach, he fled post-2022 invasion (citizenship stripped by Zelensky), and now serves as a senator in Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast (appointed Sept. 2024). NABU links him to Energoatom’s 2000s leadership and the scandal’s laundering (kickbacks to Moscow via his family’s Kyiv office). Echoes 2019 impeachment: Derkach fed Burisma dirt to Giuliani/Trump allies. Kremlin hybrid op to decapitate Zelensky’s circle and force regime change?

• Congressional delegation touches down in Qatar — but where’s the AIPAC outcry? — A bipartisan U.S. House delegation, led by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA, Ranking Member of Armed Services), arrived in Doha on Nov. 28 for high-level talks, meeting Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani earlier today to discuss Gaza mediation, U.S.-Qatar strategic ties, and Al Udeid Air Base operations (home to 10,000+ U.S. troops). Every Israel trip sparks “Netanyahu owns Congress” howls and AIPAC scrutiny — yet Qatar’s $1.6B annual lobbying machine (via Ballard Partners and others) flies under the radar, despite Doha’s Hamas HQ and $30M+ in annual aid to Gaza. Double standard? Or just oil, gas, and bases talking louder than boycotts?

Abroad, partners are adapting to a Washington that may not be home at the wheel. Copenhagen’s laughter was not cruelty; it was a warning: we see. Tokyo’s new written demands are not rudeness; they are survival. The Baltics aren’t waiting for permission slips anymore.

At home, the distance between propaganda and policy has collapsed into a sound bite: “My people tell me different.”
The tapes aren’t subtle, and the stakes aren’t abstract.

The chair at the center of American government cannot be empty.
If it is, the shadow that fills it decides who belongs, who leaves, and who the law is really for.

Enjoy the leftovers.
The bill is coming — and it won’t be paid in turkey.