ceremonies are a tradition dating back to 1923 when president calvin coolidge lifted the first national tree, thank you so much for watching special report, i'm mike emanuel in washington, i'll be back here tomorrow night. good night. ♪ >> good evening and welcome to a special edition of tucker carlson tonight, tucker is out for what passes for the holiday these days, i'm mark steyn -- happy thanksgiving? chicago mayor lori lightfoot. >> you must cancel the normal things giving plans. particularly if they include guests who do not live in your immediate household. >> mark: isn't guests who do not live in your immediate household the whole idea of thanksgiving, over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go --

that is the best way to avoid the state police checkpoint onkp highway 37. as is traditional, president trump has pardoned a turkey at the white house, any chance of the governors of maine or michigan or new jersey pardoning their recalcitrant hairdressers or gym owners, those guys have to be stuffed and carved up as an example to any others among our rulers subjects minded to get a little restless. 400 years after the puritans set sail because they wished to hold open public religious services, open public religious services have been deemed nonessential. in the old country, you had to hold him in private houses but don't even think of doing that here -- if you shake off and make it back to the old homestead, what is the maximum numberke of persons for the freeborn americans allowed to have in his own home this thanksgiving?

in arkansas, colorado, connecticut, delaware, it's tens in kentucky, it's eight people from no more than two households, and california, he could have people from up the three households but you have to disperse after two hours, even if you're outdoors, it's like a parking meter but you can't keep coming back andor pumping it wih extra quarters. governor newsom and the grand thesofpublic health can linger r after chiefs but you have to chn that the butterball in the scram in oregon, the maximum number permitted in a private home in sixix persons, in new mexico fi, in rhode island you can socialize only with those who have already lived. the same kids you've been cooped up with since the two if you got deemed nonessential back in

march. cabin fever is coming early toy vermont. the centers for disease control which is proved incapable of controlling the disease and would rather control you instead because frankly it's a lot easier advises that you should take your own thanksgiving meal with you, take your own turkey, take your own stuff in take your own fixings, especially take your own cranberry sauce because that is a super-spreader. take your own disposable plates and utensils and be sure to throw them away immediately lest aunt mabel carelessly picked up her plastic spoon to stir up her pumpkin spice metamucil?ot if you live in a state that still permits you to dine with persons from another household, why not tickle their ribs from a socially responsible distance on the other side of the room with a thanksgiving themed mask --

here is emmy award-winning senior care facility manager andrew cuomo. >> we have a special mask for thanksgiving because you know where creative in new york, we are creative, we do things a wlittle differently. we have a special mask, don't be a turkey this thanksgiving! wear a mask! don't be a turkey. how good-looking is this mass? are you ready? look at that. >> mark: and they said vaudeville is dead, vaudeville isn't but everything else is. you have to give it to chairman xi, how many foreign adversaries could come up with a new virus that results in a pandemic of andrew cuomo sight gags -- all over the state there will be empty seats at the thanksgiving table for elderly new yorkers whose last t moments of life wee

filled with theiror lethal governors additional comedy. for christmas, governor cuomo may be ordered up turkey hazmat suit in the icu. oregon's kate brownn none knowst the governess to prioritize, and portland, the anarchists have had the run of the city all year and fortunately that frees up law enforcement to investigate whether grandma is dishing up the sprouts and butternut squash to an illegal seventh diner. >> i will be asking our oregon state police to work collaboratively with local to enforce the limits on social gatherings. they are class c misdemeanors and they can be enforced through a citation, a fine, or through an arrest. at this point in time, unfortunately, we have no other option. >> mark:k: america 2020,

thanksgiving is a class c misdemeanor. why not take it to the next level? governor cuomo says with a straight face that new york police chiefs that refuse toho enforce thanksgiving lockdowns are "dictators." if you are bored with turning in your neighbors for having a sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth guest, whygh not turn in your local police department for refusing to send around the thanksgiving s.w.a.t. team.en in vermont schools next week, the little boys and girls and the nonbinary muppets will be asked if they and their parents attended thanksgiving gatherings involving persons from other households -- did grandma come around? you've got to answer because nothing says thanksgiving like snitching on your mom and pop. need a drink? forget it. for the last three hours, pennsylvania has been a dry state. liquor stores have closed for thanksgiving. fortunately for pennsylvanians, it's easy to convert the xerox

machine you use to print the mail in ballots into a still for a bootleg hooch, the governor says the blues band is necessary. >> it turns out that the biggest day for drinking is the wednesday before thanksgiving. and when people get together in that situation, it leads to an increase in the exchange of the fluids that leads to increaseas infection. >> mark: i'm really not sure he needed to ban the blues, because dr. fauci has already signed off on casual sex hookups and for most pennsylvanians, the most effective disinfectant to the exchange of the fluids is hearing governor wolf talk about the exchange of the fluids. after that t sound bite, i don't plan on exchanging any fluids this side of groundhog day.

governor grisham has ordered a close to grocery stores, drink is not essential and food is not essential, if you are not essential, clearly the sustenance required to keep you alive is likewise nonessential. anthony fauci says has a responsible thanksgiving, don't cook the turkey, just prop them up on the sofa and have a quiet night in, just the two of you watching a socially distant zoom box on netflix -- is that jeffrey toobin? stick a fork in me, i'm done. fox los angeles, in the greathe land of california tonight where local restaurants have been ordered to end outdoorst servic. >> as you said tonight, l.a. county set to begin restricting outdoor dining at

almost all of the 31,000 restaurants here in the county. as a matter of fact, l.a. county is going to be the only county in the entire state of california restricting this, only allowinghe take out and tht is causing a massive backlash and a lot of frustration for business owners saying this is going to be the final death blow to them to kill their businesses because they can't go into this kind of enclosure again after they did this in march. the decision was made by the l.a. county of public health, they put a tweet out over the weekend alerting everybody to this and there has been such backlash because they admitted yesterday, they don'tuc have any data, they don't have any science tying outdoor dining to this recent surge of cases. they were repeatedly pressed about this yesterday at the l.a. county board of supervisors meeting and they said we don't have our own data, we are going off of a cdc study. the problem with that cdc study is it was done over the summer, it involved ten other states and it included indoor dining which has been banned in l.a. county for the past several months since the start of the pandemic.

one of the county supervisors was very frustrated with that, saying are you kidding me? we are eight months in and we don't have our own data on contact tracing with outdoor dining -- she feels this is punitive, this is going to kill business owners and one more thing, this decision was made by public health director dr. barbara for rare, she is not a medical doctor. she got her phd in social welfare and she is unelected. a lot of critics out there say she is not qualified to make this kind of decision. >> mark: social welfare, there is a real science behind this thing. as tucker mentioned yesterday, what is fascinating about this is government buildings have been spreading more coronavirus than restaurants. 15 days the flatten the curve has turned into 15 months to flatten small business, there's a lot we still don't know about all of this but unfortunately thanks to tech oligarchs, we can't even have an open and

honest debate about who knows least about this stuff. youtube has censored doctors who doubted the efficacy of shutdowo orders, facebook and twitter sensor content that contradict the world health organization, even though there physicians have changed all the time, the latest example comes from amazon which censored alex berenson's book, unreported truths about covid-19 last night. alex berenson joins us, they reversed it but you are basically in theev position whee you have to monitor amazon 24/7 to see whether a couple of hours gone by and they have decided to kill your book all over again. >> this is actually the second time, the second separate book that they tried to censor and it headed back down. i'm very fortunate because i have people like tucker who will stand up for me are people like elon musk will stand up for me

but big tech censorship of opposing views on covid is a huge problem. my book is about masks and obviously i would like everyone to read it and understand how weak the science in favor of mask mandates really is but this isn't about masks and it isn't about covid, it's about whether or not as a society where going to allow people who have views that are outside with the mainstream media want you to believe 2% of views. that's true in old media and social media, it's becoming harder and harder to have honest conversations. i was a reporter for -- >> mark: let me ask you about that. this is the fascinating thing, there are touchy issues such as race or transgender issues but this is even worse in a sense, because they are saying on something that shouldn't be politicized, should be left or right or liberal or

conservative, they are saying it's simply not allowed to offef any view of its different from the world health organization or centers for disease control, both of whom have been wrong about everything. >> it's much worse than that, if you read the booklet, you will w see with the w.h.o. says about mask wearing and healthy populations. they are very lukewarm on mask wearing and healthy populations. you haven't heard that because no one is allowed to talk about it. what i do in this booklet as i quote from scientific studies who have been published in thet best journals mostly before march because the science wasn't soal politicized but also since march and i can't get that out despite thee fact that i provide all the sourcing, all i want is a fair chance to present my views to an audience that needs to hear them and that's not just

on fox but obviously fox is right now the only place i can get a fair hearing, it's disturbing to me. >> mark: keep fighting, amazon's behavior is quite disgraceful especially considering over the last eight months as every alternative to amazon has been closed down, the company has taken over the entire planet it's disgraceful. >> they've made so much money. >> i know, they are richer than anyone and every other businesses close down, thank y thank you. president obama has attacked religious hispanics who voted for trump, he's come a long way that hope and change, that's coming up next in our special addition of "tucker carlson tonight." other news tonight, a major update on a proposed mine that would destroy one of the most beautiful natural landscapes in america, tucker played his part in winning that one, straight ahead.

♪ >> mark: welcome back >> mark: welcome back to a thanksgiving eve addition of "tucker carlson tonight," president trump today at pardonr

his former national security advisor michael flynn, fox news senior correspondent rick leventhal has all the details. >> he was a decorated war hero with an astonishing fall from grace, the shortest serving national security advisor and history but today his slate is clean, the president told the world on twitter, writing this my great honor to announce michael general flynn has been granted a full pardon,on congratulations to general flynn and his wonderful family, i know you will now have a truly fantastic thanksgiving. he's a retired army general who helped shape america's counterterrorism strategy but his tenure as president trumps national security advisor was remarkably short, just 22 days after trump took office, flynn resigned. after it was revealed he misled president mike pence about his communications with the russian ambassador to the u.s. he pled guilty to a single felony count of willfully and knowingly making false

statements to the fbi. in january of this year, he moved to withdraw that plea and in may, the doj announced it intended to drop all charges. the case was still on hold when the president issued his pardon today and the last hour, general flynn tweeted god bless family. the doj official told fox they would've preferred to see the matter in court but this was obviously an appropriate use of the president's pardon power. >> mark: i i would've liked to have seen him acquitted in court because that dirty, rotten, stinking federal justice system really stitched him up from top to toe. joe biden plans to staff his administration with corporate lobbyists and establishment swamp creatures, he's quite open aboutyi it. biden isn't pledging to keep

lobbyists out of his administration, the incoming administration allegedly is widely seen as a return to the pretrump status quote and the media are absolutely giddy about ithe. >> they are deeply experienced, they are humble and they are lifelong public servants. >> what a contrast with the current president's cabinet of dear leaders. >> the democrats feel like this is the avengers, like they are being rescued from this craziness and now here are the superheroes to come and save us all. >> a i can see the restoration f morale and veteran diplomats and focus on diplomacy, not just for public relations but real diplomacy working around the world. >> i was an emotional at one point and i thought to myself i feel like we have all been in a really bad relationship and the next person who calls you back, it's the

greatest man you've ever dated and your whole life. it's be when i'm not sure how dumb a life you have to lead to see those guys as superheroes although john kerry does like to wear the hugging spandex as he's wind surfing off nantucket, as g stiff as a wind turbine but generating even less power. other than that, the only comic book guy tony blinken resembles is swamp thing. sean davis is cofounder of "the federalist" who joins us now. i can't really take a joe biden cabinet seriously because the president actually won a couple victories in pennsylvania and nevada today to keep at least some things in play until january, but basically, if you were the american media, wouldn't you at least try to hold the tongue bath until late january?

>> apparently not, they just couldn't wait and i think we are going to be treated to another four years with the media goes and alternates between the tongue bathhe and the eight year long nap. i think the problem is they don't view themselves or their jobs as providing facts or cover to reporters, they view their. jobs as cheerleading for left-wing democrats like biden. they don't even try to hide it anymore, it used to be back in the days of tom brokaw or dan rather until he fell apart, they would pretend to be objective they would do a little to kind of hide it and that's completely gone now. they think they are beyondin reproach, they are so arrogant and confident in their powernd that they don't even have to hide their complete partisan left-wing bias anymore. >> mark: is it arrogance and power? is it that they are just into some submissive bondage and domination thing because if you actually think these third rate

swamp creatures are superheroes flying through the sky, you're in a pretty pathetic position. >> i don't think anyone is going to argue that these things g aren't anything but delusional, if you look at jake sullivan, the sky was patient zero in the russian collusion hoax, he said as of 2018 i don't have any problems with the steele dossi steele dossier. you see people who are the architects, the failure across the middle east behind the arab spring, behind the disaster in libya and they apparently looked at the world that trump has put together now, peace between israel and arabs, that's bad, we need to get back to the age we had previously created where they are always at war with one another. >> mark: trump is the first president in a generation who hasn't said we need boots on the ground in who gives a stan a thousand miles away and now we are going back to everything

people voted against. >> we are returning to the forever war is, the wars that don't even have a victory plan let alone an exit strategy and it's shocking to see the arrogance of this washington crowd, washington, the only city where you can fail time and time again and keep getting promoted and they look back at the record and we definitely deserve to be in power again, pay no attention to all the countries we screwed up in the thousands of american service men and women's we ruined. >> mark: they did it to libya, they can do it to you. happy thanksgiving. the city of seattle voted to slash funds for its police department, take a guess on how that's going to go. also civil rights icon bob woodson thinks america is on a dangerous path -- that's coming up next on this thanksgiving special edition of "tucker carlson tonight."

>> that doesn't count as a mask

>> mark: welcome back >> mark: welcome back to this special edition of "tucker carlson tonight," seattle city council voted to slash the police department budget as they were debating the proposal, two people were stabbed in separate attacks nearby. the city has lost 150 officers this year and many of those resignations came after antigovernment activists created their own autonomous nation in the capitol hill neighborhood. jason rantz is a radio host was been covering the situation for us, when they talk about reimagining the police, they always say if you send some big agguy around with a gun, you're going to escalate the situation and they prefer to think if you call 911, you might send over a social worker. the lady who died last night who actually worked with people who are in crisis at the bottom of society is exactly the kind of

person they want to replace armed policeman with. > it was a caseworker who was working with someone who was formally homeless living in this apartment complex.se apparently he was dealing with some kind of mental issue, he walked into this apartment complex armed with a hunting knife, he stabbed her to death -- when police showed up, she had a hunting knife sticking out of her back, she was dead.he this was happening as this council was debating how much more they were going to cut the seattle police department's budget for 2021 -- they finally settled on 18%. this at a time when we have the lowest number of deployable police officers in the city of seattle since 1990. we have seen as a result a surge in crimes and not just low level petty crimes which is on the increase, but we are talking about homicides. we're talking about stabbings. one of the stabbings the other day was just some guy walking in

downtown seattle get stabbed in the neck, w thankfully he is gog to be okay but that guy who stabbed him in the neck a prolific offender. we've got bad guys, criminals walking around who aren't getting punished and we don't have enough police officers to keep this city safe. >> mark: why would you be a policeman in 2020 in these democrat cities? >> i don't know why you would want to be a cop here and that's part of the issue, right now the seattle police department isno sitting on a hundred applications for officers to go into nearby agencies.io they are going into bellevue, going out in the pierce county because they don't want to work here where it's become a sport to attackhe police officers, not just the activists on the street, but the council members who are in positions of power routinely go after these police officers. it's untenable to be a police officer in the city of seattle right now.

>> mark: that's the best way of putting it, thank you for that and happy thanksgiving. seattle isn't the only place where crime is surging, here's a look at how things are going in the nation's biggest city. >> we are seeing improvement in every passing month, we've got a lot to do. >> ; the mayor's comment and understatement, the nypd said there has been a troubling spike in shootings. just take a look at the numbers, as of yesterday there have been more than 1300 shootings in the city so far this year compared to 699 during the same time period last year. the mayor saying the pandemic is partly responsible. >> mark: it's also the general lawlessness like the random stabbings and a sucker punches that jason was just referencing. new york's leaders must be shocked that crime is rising

after they cut the police department by $1 billion and entirely eliminated the plain clothes unit. in minneapolis which is also moved to slash the policenn department, shootings are up more than 100% this year, take a look. >> just this week, the minneapolis police chief described the surge in crime is unprecedented. >> as an average citizen, my biggest concern is this. i don't like what i see out there right now. sirens morning, noon, night, carjackings, gunshots et cetera. >> mark: carjackings, gunshots, bob woodson's founder and president of the woodson center, it's a great privilege to have him. when you eliminate the police, it's the lawless elements, it's the underworld, if the gangs anh criminals who take over, is it that? >> absolutely. low income black communities are suffering most because of thisus

outrage. about ten years ago, i wrote about cincinnati when a police officer shot a young man who turned, thought they had a gun in his hand, the civil rights leader came in and boycott of the city which resulted in the police being less aggressive in enforcing the laws. the murder rate went up 800% in low income black neighborhoods, none of the civil rights leaders or the local leaders live in those neighborhoods had to suffer the consequence of their assault on the police. 82% of blacks polled do not support the defunding of police. >> mark: but why did that 82%

insist in voting for the party -- these cities are basically one party states where the democrats -- for 19 years why did the 82% who don't want to become a police keep voting for the anti-police par party? >> you are seeing a change in that even in this last election, and the 2018 election,ra governor of florida ran against a former mayor of tampa, gillam. he had obama and oprah winfrey campaigning for him, he won by 32,000 votes because they voted issues not race, voted against obama, against oprah, and you're seeing the same pattern. in stockton just yesterday, chairman lincoln, the republican

won against the democratic incumbent to won by 70% four years ago. you are seeing low income black americans are a sleeping giant a and they are beginning to wake up. >> mark: that's true, i hope they don't take too long. there are times when the alarm clock goes and you need to leap out to bed and if the sleeping giant takes too long to rouse himself, these cities are going to be. >> they are more aware of at the 90 andnd we are doing everything we can to help. >> mark: i appreciate that, happy thanksgiving to you and yours, have a greatat holiday. joe biden is planning a blanket amnesty that would grant a pathway to citizenship to millions of foreign nationals living in america illegally and why wouldn't't he? that's millions of new voters for his party. this special edition of "tucker carlson tonight" continues next.

♪ ♪ >> mark: welcome back to a

special edition of "tucker carlson tonight," president trump performed better-than-expected with hispanic-americans and drastically outperformed past republicans in both south florida and texas. naturally, that outraged president obama who lashed out at those hispanics on a show called the breakfast club this morning. >> there are a lot of evangelical hispanics who -- the fact that trump says racist things about mexicans or puts detainees -- undocumented workers in cages -- they think that is less important than the fact that he supports their views on gay marriage or abortion. >> mark: it's almost like het thinks of those hispanics the same way he thought about all of those bitter cleaners, clinging to guns, clinging to pro-life

policies -- maybe obama is not the great unifier that he thinks he is. democrats have spent the last year talking about packing the courts, packing the senate by adding strange new states, mythical islands arising in the pacific and now joe biden is making clear he wants to pack our elections. if you think this one was dodgy, he's got plans to add millions of new voters very conveniently and we'll all the democrats. >> some of it is going to depend on the kind of cooperation i can or can't get from the united states congress but i've made a commitment in the first 100 days, i will send an immigration bill to the united states senate with a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people in america. >> mark: they've been saying 11 million illegal immigrants for more than a decade now, i would bet it's a lot closer to

30 million, but the truth is no one actually knows how many foreign nationals are living here illegally. for all you know, i might be one of them. newly elected republican congresswoman who will represent staten island and parts of ndsouthern brooklyn in the house of representatives, nicole, congratulations. why is this such a priority for the democrats? >> thank you for having me and i have to tell you that it is disheartening that this is his focus, it's not providing relief to the millions of americans that are struggling right now during this pandemic, it's not ensuring that we help those small businesses that are hangingns on by a thread due to government restrictions and mandated shutdowns. it's not how are we going to get this vaccine to distribute to our front-line workers, it is

actually a policy that would help the citizens of other countries, not americans. it's very sad that he wants to dismantle the policies put in place by president trump that have been effective in stemming the tide of illegal immigration. he wants to stop deportations, he wants to make sure we have open borders, he does not want to continue the construction of the wall, he doesn't want to continue at the state in mexico policy as individuals wait for their court dates.el i believe he's going to get a fight for the republicans in congress who are very much pleased with the progress made under president trump and don't want to unravel that. >> mark: you make an excellent point, president trump is really the first president in a couple of generations to talk about immigration as a matter of public policy from the point of view of people already here,

what does it do for people already in the country, for american citizens. doesn't that go double at a time from the pandemic -- one small businesses have been clobbered. illegal american citizens look to their government to do something for them, the prioritizing of this is even more bizarre. it's a naked attempt to enforce a new electorate. >> is the daughter of immigrants, i can tell you i have a deep appreciation for the aspirations of those who want to come to this country. what the biden camp wants to do is basically allow those to come to this country illegally and broken our laws to go ahead of the line and that is wrong. i can tell you is someone who represents new york in the state assembly currently, the cost of free college here, free health care, providing free

attorneys, drivers licenses, it has an impact and it's not the time to take on additional burdens. >> mark: you're absolutely right, if you go through the trouble of doing it by the book and filling in the paperwork, you get these kind of special treatment from prominent democrats. if nicole, thanks very much for that and have a terrific thanksgiving.ha we got a major update on the pebble mine project, a proposed pit minebb that could destroy oe of the most pristine parts of alaska. a special "tucker carlson tonight" continues after the break.

6 be one welcome back to a special edition "tucker carlson tonight" purity pebble mine in the remote part of alaska that could have contaminated the world's largest

salmon fishery, bass pro shops founder johnny morris came on the show to talk about the project in august.bo conservation should be an igniter of everybody so this mine proposed and really the heart of the largest spawning grounds in the world and one of the most pristine areas, watersheds, really in the world. over 50 million salmon have spohn they are this year and approximately half of all of the wild salmon harvested for the world comes from this region. >> that is beautiful part of the world. we are joined by brian, owner of the alaska sportsmen's lodge whose existence was actually threatened by the project. brian, was this victory a surprise to you? >> hi, mark, thank you for having us on the show. sit was a little bit of a

surprise but we knew if b we got to people that a scientist that could make the decisions and army corps of engineers listen to the science that we would prevail. the army corps of engineers did a great job of taking what was before them, looking and seeing, destroying 3,000 acres of wetlands, 180 miles of salmon parents dreams and put a big hole and the headwater of the fishery is not good for the echo system. so they came up with a decision today, a record-breaking decision that said this plan would cause significant aggregation to the echo system. therefore, we applaud the decision. the one the chief executive of the company, it is a canadian company. he played it rather badly because he was caught on tape basically bragging he had squared the local politiciansba and he needed to get this thing passed. do you think it is actually more

to do with the ineptitude? i don't want to make them sound like dominion voting system of salmon doing to salmon d what voting machines due to votes, but do you think basically the canadian company bundled how they do this? >> they certainly help y themselves with telling the truth which we knew all along the smaller plan they had put forth the army corps of engineers was just a guide to get their permit and they were planning on expanding and doing huge degradation to the echo system and habitat of perfectly functioning fisheries. and so we knew all along that is what they wanted to do. they certainly did not help themselves as alaska senators took a look at this. obviously they took umbrage with it and came out strong in support after they sulked the army corps of engineers and the science came out with the right

place for this kind of industrial activity. >> mark: well, it is the most beautiful salmon if you are looking for alternative to thanksgiving. i have to ask you, who is that little budding savvy fishermen behind you? >> this is my daughter, dakota. she is here with me today because dakota and all kids and all future generations was a huge motivating factor behind my drive for the past 16 years and all of ours. the people of crystal bay. it's been a huge, collaborative efforts. we have been working to make sure the system stays intact. and the corporation come everybody work toward. dakota has been a big motivating factor, and a big angler that likes to catch fish. >> mark: congratulations on that and happy thanksgiving to dakota. that is about it for this edition of "tucker carlson tonight." to an sworn enemy, pomposity,

and a terrific thanksgiving. most holidays and all of youap e in the best of hands. trey gowdy is here. he can carve up a turkey like he used toe carve up witnesses on congressional committees. it is all yours. happy thanksgiving. >> trey: welcome to this special edition of "hannity," i'm trey gowdy in for sean. and we begin with a fox news alert, president trump has announced a pardon of former national security advisor michael flynn. a long and tumultuous legal saga and as you may recall, the fbi went after michael flynn in a way that even jim comey admitted they would not pursue someone in president obama's white house. his case was about to be closed. and they decided to interview him anyway. no lawyer for michael