Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Grateful and Thankful 🦃

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NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight's 9 p.m. ET show, delivered straight to your inbox.

Grateful and Thankful 🦃

Thanksgiving message🦃: Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, and it's my favorite holiday.

🙏🏼Much like we are the first people to believe that our rights come from God, we are the first country to take a day and give thanks.
✨Thanks not to the government or a king but to a higher power.
🧡And a day to spend with those you love simply because you love them.

🥧"Grateful and thankful." I learned that saying from my good friend and mentor, Thom Sehnert, proprietor at the Smokehouse Market and Annie Gunn's. They have the best pies, meats and specialty foods in America.

🎁His son Liam now runs much of the store and their excellent shipping and gifting department — you won't be disappointed.
🙏🏼Mr. Sehnert plays a huge role in my life — and is prominently featured in "Born Lucky."
- ‼️Thom's truisms:
  - 🎤It's hard to beat a man who won't quit
  - 🎤Take direction well and criticism better
  - 🎤Eye appeal is buy appeal
  - 🎤There are more, but I don't want to ruin his upcoming book, "As the Tavern Turns."

Thom Shenert officiated Rachel's and my wedding in June.

Photo credit: Lacie Hansen

🙏🏼 Every day, I am grateful and thankful to Rachel for being the most amazing wife and partner.
🙏🏼 Every day, I am grateful to my parents and sister for their unconditional and long-suffering love.

👶🏼This is our first holiday with my sister's son (and parents' first grandson), Holt.

🙏🏼 Every day, I am grateful and thankful to Rachel for being the most amazing wife and partner.

🙏🏼 Every day, I am grateful to my parents and sister for their unconditional and long-suffering love.

👶🏼This is our first holiday with my sister's son (and parents' first grandson), Holt.

🙏🏼 Every day, I am grateful and thankful to you, my readers and viewers, for your trust and time.

Wish🫵🏼: May you have a meaningful Thanksgiving holiday surrounded by the people you love.

Topics🗣️: May it be filled with passionate debate about football, cranberry sauce (I like cranberry sauce with limes) and the rules to your family's favorite card game.
- 🤷🏼‍♂️BUT — if politics must come up.
  - 📺Please tell your family why you trust NewsNation.
  - 📺Why you welcome us into your home every night
  - 📝When they marvel at your insight and analysis of political issues, invite them to subscribe to "War Notes."
  - 🫵🏼Viewers like you are why NewsNation is the fastest-growing cable network in America
- 📕One last thing – tell them about "Born Lucky" — it's 25% off on Amazon now through Monday and makes a GREAT holiday gift for any parent.

Turkey Talk💰: Even if you don't explicitly talk about politics this weekend, it's impossible not to talk about prices — and how expensive everything is.

Look back🔙: We've been telling you since September 2022, America now has an aristocracy.
- ☠️The idea of an American middle class is dead.
- Here is the proof📰: "My Life Is a Lie," writes Michael Green
- 💸The investment manager lays out how the needed income in America to feel "comfortable" is far more than the income of most Americans.
  - 📊Using conservative, national average data:
    - 🏫Child care: $32,773
    - 🏠Housing: $23,267
    - 🥗Food: $14,717
    - 🚙Transportation: $14,828
    - 🏥Health care: $10,567
    - ‼️Other essentials: $21,857
    - 💰Required net income: $118,009
    - 💵Add federal, state, and FICA taxes of roughly $18,500, and you arrive at a required gross income of $136,500.
Watch tonight📺: Green joins our show to show how government subsidies and handouts effectively make moving up in America too expensive for many middle-class families.

Peace vs. Pause ☮️

🎶Country music explains many things in life — Lee Ann Womack once sang about a particularly bad breakup, "I am a little past Little Rock but a long way from over you."

🤷🏼‍♂️You might say the same thing about the Ukraine peace deal —
- 🤦🏼‍♂️We are a little past pleasantries but a long way from peace.
☮️Peace requires both sides genuinely wanting it or the will of a stronger power to enforce it — neither appears to exist right now.
- Understatement of the year👀: Today, the administration says there are a few things to work out.
  - 📰Minor details remain, but will Russia accept?

Thankfully🙏🏼: The reported plan to force Ukrainian surrender is over.

What now👀: Much like the Russian deal was a nonstarter, for Ukraine, there is every reason to believe a proposal acceptable to Ukraine will be unacceptable to President Putin.

Why🤷🏼‍♂️: Putin doesn't want "peace"; at most, he wants a "pause."

‼️We know that because there was a peace deal before the February 2022 invasion.
- 🤦🏼‍♂️Since 2014, when I was in Ukraine for the first Russian invasion, Putin has broken three or four ceasefire peace deals.

👀The important question isn't if there "is a deal" or who agrees to what; it is whether there is a piece of paper that both Russia and Ukraine would agree to.

Late breaking🚨: Axios lays out the minefield ahead.

Between the lines‼️: Russian actions and statements both show the continued arrogance of a country uninterested in peace.

Failing Our Kids 🧑‍🧒‍🧒

📰"Schools Are Accommodating Student Anxiety — and Making It Worse," headlines a new study

Bottom line😶: By removing everyday adversity for kids, we have created a generation unable to face discomfort, much less adversity.

‼️Duh! The last 15 years, we've slowly erased any and all meritocracy.

‼️Make accommodations for every child.
‼️Take away every standard.
‼️Tell every child they also need medication for their challenges.

Look back🔙: In the past week, both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times published deep-dive articles about the mental health crisis plaguing America's youth.

🤦🏼‍♂️Both acknowledged the two things that should make it better, schools and the medical community, but are largely making it worse.

Watch tonight📺: Dr. Ben Lovett, Ph.D. and author of the groundbreaking study.

WATCH ON BALANCE WEEKNIGHTS AT 9P/8C

Every night during On Balance, Leland Vittert asks "why?" about the most pressing matters of the day, with an intellectual, balanced and sometimes irreverent take on the news.

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