Obama pardons turkey on eve of US Thanksgiving

But in China, a translation mix-up saw the second turkey’s name rendered not as the one-syllable “Abe” but with two characters pronounced “ah-bay”, the same as those used in the name of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

On Thursday, the two young ladies were all smiles as they listened to their father, U.S. President Barack Obama, pardon another turkey named Abe.

And so have some presidential candidates.

President Barack Obama reassured the nation about security on the eve of Thanksgiving.

With Sasha and Malia by his side, President Obama started off his speech by saying that he couldn’t believe that he was about to carry out his seventh Turkey Pardon, to which he quickly followed up with, “Time flies, even if turkeys don’t”. Not because they actually think that this is something I should be doing.

“As you get older, you appreciate when your kids just indulge you like this, so I’m very grateful”, POTUS said of his daughters.

Though previous presidents held receiving ceremonies, it was not until 1989, at a Rose Garden signing of the Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, that President George H.W. Bush announced that the special guest would receive a “pardon”.

There was another wrinkle to the pardoning ceremony when Mr Obama reportedly did not refer to the National Turkey Federation’s executive committee chairman by his full name: Dr Jihad Douglas, using instead only “Dr Douglas”.

On Wednesday, the Obama family visited homeless vets in Washington and served Thanksgiving meals, something the President admits is a reminder of the importance of what our veterans have done for us in serving our country. Marian Robinson ladled out the Mac & Cheese. FLOTUS, unsurprisingly, handled veggies. The whole family wore rubber globes while they served the food.

The White House pool heard the President say to one man, “Thank you, sir”.

Obama also directed his national security team to continue to intensify ongoing efforts to degrade and destroy ISIS, which he said would continue to require coordination and cooperation among a wide range of global partners.