. good morning, everybody and happy thanksgiving. i'm yasmin vossoughian. thanks for spending some of your day with us. we want to start with the latest facts on this pandemic that has killed more than 261,000 americans. right now states and local communities are making big changes to stop the spread of

this virus. l.a. county shut down all dining at restaurants and bars for the next three weeks. pennsylvania banned alcohol sales in its bars and restaurants last night through this morning to try to keep people at home. then overnight the u.s. supreme court blocked new york state's ability to enforce limits on the number of people that can actually gather in religious institutions. nbc's gabe gutierrez is standing by in new york city. also nbc's morgan chesky is in arlington, texas. good morning to you both. happy thanksgiving as we start this 11:00 hour. gabe, i understand we're hearing from governor andrew cuomo about that supreme court ruling. what are we hearing so far? >> hi, yasmin. good morning. happy thanksgiving. within the last hour, governor andrew cuomo in a conference call with reporters called the scotus decision, quote, irrelevant from a practical standpoint, and the governor said that's because the churches

and synagogues in question are in brooklyn, and that area is no longer under those restrictions which the supreme court called harsher than secular businesses. yasmin, some background here. this was a 5-4 decision. it was an injunction that was issued late last night just before midnight. it essentially said that the state of new york could not enforce those capacity restrictions of 25 people in houses of worship. the lawsuit was brought by the roman catholic diocese of brooklyn as well as synagogues. the court said there had been no evidence that these houses of worship actually contributed to the spread of covid-19. the state argued, again, this was irrelevant because those restrictions had already dialed back. yasmin, this signifies a

judgment that judge amy coney barrett had on this decision. she joined the conservative colleagues on the court in this 5-4 decision. chief justice john roberts joined the more liberal justices of the court on this decision. in the end, yes, new york state cannot enforce those restrictions, although the governor, as i mentioned in the last hour, he said this is irrelevant and says it shows it's an opportunity for the court to show its politics more than anything else, yasmin. >> it's interesting because amidst this happening in new york and the supreme court ruling in this 5-4 decision, we also want to talk about texas. morgan, that's where you are. you're standing by at a church that is seeing a big part of its congregation testing positive there, seemingly like a super spreader initiative there. what can you tell us about it? >> reporter: yasmin, we know about 12% of the congregation here at family life center in

haltom city just outside of ft. worth is currently dealing with covid-19. really, this is all part of a second surge we're seeing in texas. part of that is that now we're in a thanksgiving holiday, not only are people dealing with the fact of covid-19, but they're also feeling that economic impact as well. we know this gentleman in this minivan behind me, he was in line to get that thanksgiving meal about 7:00 this morning. he's waited hours now just to make sure he has his meal covered today. the folks here at the church knew these people would be coming here. they've had to get a little creative in figuring out a way to kind of hand off that food in the midst of a pandemic. joining me right now, gay van zandt, staff member here at the church. gay, you've had to be incredibly creative incredibly quickly in order to pull all this off. how did you do it? >> well, we have really creative people who have a desire to serve. that desire just went into high gear. >> how are you managing kind of

a food handoff when you have a virus that clearly is a problem in the community? >> we made sure everybody working with us have tested knowingive. everybody is wearing gloves and masks, and we've even had to switch and use pre packaged food instead of our little ladies cooking pies. it hit our budget but we knew this was going to happen. two days ago we started getting what we needed to do to-go drive-through meals. >> how many people do you think you'll be able to serve today dealing with food insecurity and covid-19? >> we normally serve between 1,000 and 1,200, but we weren't sure because it's drive-through. instead of a sit-down meal, we plan to feed about 800 people today, but we think it will go a little longer. then our gresry truck will be coming and we'll serve we hope

at least 750 families today. >> families that come up today, what will they be driving away with? >> they'll get pre packaged -- the regular turkey meal with the dressing, home made dressing and the potatoes and green beans. they're going to get a big bag of groceries as well to take home. they're going to get a lot of love and happiness. >> lots of love and happiness. we could all use some of that, gay. thank you so much. >> reporter: this is a bit of a microcosm in texas, breaking covid-19 records almost 50e67 and every day it seems like. folks here, though, going to get a lot of love and happiness. god to see. back to you. >> i think we could all use a lot of love and happiness in the year 2020. gabe gutierrez, morgan chesky, thank you to you both. happy thanksgiving. president trump's thanksgiving day calendar including a teleconference with military members. it is otherwise quiet.

his headline making pardon on the eve of the holiday reverberating. it is a full pardon for former national security adviser mike flynn who twice pled guilty to lying the the fbi. that clemency has -- president-elect joe biden's thanksgiving message, carol lee is covering the white house for us. ali vitali is covering the biden transition from rehoboth beach, delaware. it's as if we're spending thanksgiving together, but not really. carol, i'll start with you on this one. so let's talk about pardon here. overnight the president announcing flynn's pardon in a tweet. what is the white house saying about this at this very moment and the decision that he came to here? >> this is a decision that has long been in the works, yasmin. this is something the president has talked about publicly, mused

about. there was a brief time where it looked like the president was going to allow the court system to run its course. michael flynn had been awaiting sentencing and the justice department came in and asked the judge to dismiss the case. that was still pending. but with the president losing re-election, they were running out of time. we saw the president step in yesterday and make this move. as you said, we're expecting more of this, more pardons from the president of potentially some of his allies, potentially some people who have been in his orbit for some time and it got caught up in the russia investigation, others who have sought clemency for serving sentences for non-violent drug offenses. that's something we've seen the president do. the president said he might consider pardoning someone like edward snowden. we know from our own reporting, privately mused about could he pardon himself. there's a tweet he retweeted

yesterday that caught some people's eye. one of his allies, matt gates of florida, congressman, says president trump should pardon flynn, the thanksgiving turkey and everyone from himself to his administration, to joe exotic if he has to. the president retweeting that, raising some eyebrows wondering if he might consider a pardon for himself which hasn't been done. if president trump were to be doing something like this, he would be pushing the boundaries of the system and testing where those boundaries are in terms of the pardon power. >> we'll get into a list of some of the folks that might be in the pipeline. not necessarily if joe exotic is on that list. you never know with this current president. ali, i want to go to you on this one. president-elect biden out with a thanksgiving video message today. how exactly is he spending his last holiday before being inaugurated as the next president of the united states?

>> reporter: he's spending a lot of time urging unit for americans in the face of a crisis on this virus that is only getting worse, yesterday giving a thanksgiving day address in which he stressed the need to do the things you know you need to do to mitigate the virus, social distancing, wear a mask. in the case of thanksgiving, scale back what your usual traditions might look like. in the case of joe biden, he said he typically goes to nantucket for a large family gathering. instead, this year they have paired that back and he and his wife, dr. jill biden, are here in rehoboth beach, delaware with their daughter and son-in-law. biden scaling back his thanksgiving like so many americans are. while carol is looking at the president's twitter, biden is also tweeting today, not in the same slapdash way that we're used to in the last four years. look what he's tweeting in the video message he sent out today. >> this year we're going to be staying in delaware with a small

group around our dinner table. i know this isn't the way many of us hoped we'd spend our holiday. we know a small act of staying home is a gift to our fellow americans. yes, it's a personal sacrifice that each of our families can make and should make to save somebody else's life. >> reporter: so biden making the case there that a scaled-back thanksgiving is something that you're doing as a matter of individual responsibility. he did mention in an address yesterday that the federal government does have a role to play, and certainly over the course of this transition, we have seen him consistently prioritize tackling the coronavirus pandemic. as his transition now is actually getting under way, being able to talk to people who are currently in these government agencies, we know he's moved the three co-chairs of his covid task force onto some of the landing teams, department of homeland security, department of defense, held and human services, says he can have the scientists and public held

officials in the room for some of these conversations on potentially how you would disseminate the coronavirus vaccine in the early part of next year, as well as mitigation tactics they're trying to get in place, ahead of taking office in general air. all this paints a picture of a transition team that is prioritizing dealing with this virus, especially as we head into a holiday season where americans are understandably going to want to see their family, want to do those traditions they're doing burks in many cases, spending it the way we are, through screens and doing it safely. >> maybe one day we can all be together, have a cocktail and celebrate the next holiday. >> yes, please. >> that would be great. that would be the big question for the biden administration and priority number one, ali, how to disseminate that vaccine after january 20th with so many americans wanting to move on from this pandemic. carol lee, ali vitali, thank you both. appreciate it. and happy thanksgiving to you

and your families. mike madrid is co-founder of the lincoln project. mike, i know it's a holiday, tough to make time during a holiday, but we appreciate you joining us on this. first let's talk about the pardon as i was just talking with carol lee about. i don't think a lot of people were surprised by the mike flynn pardon because of the way the president had been talking about mike flynn. he did, in fact, fire mike flynn himself. i remember a tweet coming out at the time and he said i had to fire mike flynn because he lied to the fbi and lied to the vice president. but then he went on to say, although it shouldn't matter because this is all a hoax. i'm paraphrasesing there. that's essentially what the tweet said. talk to me about the pardon last night, your reaction to it, and the fact the president does fail to mention that, in fact, he fired mike flynn himself.

>> mike flynn also acknowledged lying to the fbi under oath. he's clearly guilty of significant crimes against this country. the president has stood by him with the one exception you mentioned when he embarrassed the vice president by having the vice president go out and lie for him. i don't think he had a choice politically. here is a broader point that concerns us specifically at the lincoln project. we learned over the course of the past four years that there are a lot of weaknesses in the constitutional protections that are allowed to the executive, the executive role. i think we'll probably be involved in working to seal up some of those loopholes, this being a particularly big and egregious one. this isn't the last pardon we'll see from this president from people who have either admitted guilt or clearly committed crimes against this country. while it's not shocking -- i don't think this president shocks us much anymore, it's clearly disappointing and leaves room for reform on things like pardons, emollients clause,

nepotism, something that people would never think a president of such low character would engage in, but here we find ourselves. >> i feel like this has been at the forefront of the trump administration for four years or so, identifying all these loopholes, as you say, in the constitution, but adding an amendment to the constitution, closing these loopholes, even considering this transition process and the fact that so much of what we believe to be the right thing to do is really based on tradition, not necessarily on law. that, however, is an uphill battle, closing these loopholes that the president has identified for us over the last four years. how do you expect to do that? >> i actually don't know that it's going to be that difficult when you consider you'll have a democrat in the office of a presidency, finding state legislatures to move forward on these reforms may not be that difficult. i could be wrong, but it's still a fight worth fighting and an issue to try to resolve because we have found that this the a loophole in the protections of our constitutional measures that

protect against an authoritarian power, an abuse of power by the executive. i really genuinely don't believe that we can't get something done with republican legislatures and democratic legislatures now that donald trump is gone. we'll have to wait and see. i think you'll see us talking about that quite a bit in the coming months. >> carol mentioned this tweet from florida republican matt gaetz. it said president trump should pardon flynn, a thanksgiving turkey and everyone from himself to his administration to joe exotic if they has to. the left has a blood lust that will only be quenched if they come for those who fought with donald trump. do you think congressman gaetz stands in the minority here? >> well, i sure hope so, but i don't think so. i think, unfortunately, this is probably the wider sentiment. we saw the lincoln project's

origin story began before the impeachment trial when republican senators voted to say they didn't want to see evidence or have a fair trial. at this moment in time, we believe the republican party exists as the largest existential threat to our democratic institutions. it's why we'll continue our fight against what we call trump itch, exactly what congressman gaetz is proposing, violating our norms, undermining the institutions of our government and basically desecrating the american experiment. we'll continue the fight and bring it to congressman gaetz and anybody else who proposes these ideas. >> happy thanksgiving. room raider needs to weigh in on your red walls. i'm liking it. coming up, there's one coronavirus test that can help keep kids in school. the low-cost, non-invasive option being used in the uk. we'll head live to london for a closer look at that.

also, as families are getting ready to sick down for thanksgiving dinner, there are still questions you may have about how to keep everybody safe. we have our doctors standing by to answer all the questions you have. first, one doctor who needed a lung transplant after contracting the virus tells us what he's thankful for this holiday. >> i thank the people, especially in emergency department nurses and the icu nurses. the plan is for me to be here for one year and hopefully i'll get back to my normal self before that. she's confident, protected, her strength respected. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away.

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. welcome back everybody. many families are getting ready to share thanksgiving meals around the country, but officials warn a simple family meal, if big enough, could be a super spreader event and could lead to a skyrocketing number of covid cases after the holidays. we're getting a lot of questions from many of you, our viewers, about this virus. with that i want to bring in a senior scholar at johns hopkins center for health security, also dr. shoshana ungerleider from california pacific medical center. we'll try to answer as many questions as we can. we have your folks for a little bit. we'll take our time through this thing. thank you for joining us on this holiday and happy thanksgiving. dr. adalja, we're getting

questions about transmitting the virus after supposed immunity. one viewer is asking us this. if someone had and recovered from covid-19, can they still transmit the virus to others if they come into contact with a new infection? you've got a lot of people talking about this, being immune, shall i say, after recovery. it seems likely that they could still spread the virus, right, doctor? >> it all depends. what we know is that reinfection is very rare. there's only been a handful of reinfections after maybe 20 million, 40 million cases that have occurred all over the world. i think that tells you that's not what the virus normally does. when you talk about other coronaviruses though, after about a year or so, reinfection does occur. i would say in the early time after you've been infected, it's probably unlikely that you can become contagious again or be reinfected. after several months to a year, it likely is the case that you

can spread it to others, though you may not get sick. we have to do the sud difficults and learn a lot more about this virus to be able to give people any public health guidance on this. you should still take those same precautions if you've been infected and recovered. we don't know everything now. i think we'll only know that in several months. >> we learn something new every day with this virus. dr. ungerleider, members of the elderly community, they have been isolated during this pandemic. another viewer is asking this, my husband and i plan to have my 88-year-old mom eat with us. she lives independently and is recovering from a case of pneumonia. she was hospitalized for one week and released several weeks ago. my husband and i would wear masks while not eating and would socially distance our seats for dinner. dr. ungerleider? >> what we know about this virus is it spreads most easily when people are indoors with low

ventilation without masks on. when people are eating a meal, of course, you cannot wear as mack. given your mom is older and recently been very ill, she is at higher risk for serious ill opinions are death from covid-19. my advice, unfortunately, would be to cancel your plans to visit with her this year and stick to a face time or zoom conversation. if you feel you absolutely must see her in person, do it outside at a distance with masks on. >> it is a tough decision to make. as dr. fauci has said, we have to hold out for the next couple months. dr. adalja, this viewer says i just read an article that it's possible to get covid are wearing a mask and other people around you are wearing masks. it has something to do with how microscopic the virus is. is there any scientific evidence to suggest this is true? >> masks are a major component of how we protect ourselves and protect others from getting

infected with this virus. it's true they're not ironclad. some has to do with how well we wear masks, how well home made masks are actually constructed. the fact is that some people get infected despite the mask because there are going to be some small particles that pass through the mask and it's not something that happens as frequently as the larger droplets. it is something you have to remember, that when you wear a mask, it should be part of a laird approach to preventing yourself from getting infected or transmitting this virus. you still need to think about social distancing and washing your hands and trying to avoid crowded and congregated places when i don't viyou have a mask. it's not a free life to go about your life as if the pandemic is not occurring. >> all right, doctors, you're sticking with us. thank you for that. we have many more questions ahead. also after the break, the cutting-edge test that could help schools stay open. we'll take you to london to see exactly how that works.

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welcome back everybody. right now there are at least three vaccines on the path to getting approval from the fda for distribution. many of these vaccines have not been tested on kids.

it could mean children will have to wait even longer for immunization as schools are struggling to stay open across this country. so researchers in the uk, they're pushing new programs to at least increase testing for all ages. nbc news correspondent willem marx is joining us from london. good to see you on this thanksgiving. happy thanksgiving to you and your family, my friend. talk us through these new testing techniques that could change the game for a lot of schools. >> reporter: yasmin, here in the uk the government has committed tens of billions of dollars to what it calls a moon front testing strategy with lots of different strands to that. in a small number of schools they've been using saliva rather than nasal swabs. for the young kids it's -- they've successfully confirmed

there is sars cov 2 inside those sample, almost as specific as some of the pcr tests. what that allows schools to do is check their entire population of students, faculty, staff are indeed clear of the virus. that has given a huge amount of confidence to parents. now, this does exist in a very similar form in the united states. i spoke to one of the people driving the technology there on your side of the atlantic who has a company called miramis labs in brooklyn, new york. she decided quite a while back to start looking at this. i asked her specifically back in march -- her kids, two young children, were sent home from school. i asked her why she decided to pursue this particular technology -- >> the sample collection of a nasal swab seemed to be the bottleneck of getting tested. for nasal swabs you needed a trained person to actually train that person. it's quite an invasive

procedure. the nasal swabs at that moment in time were in supply shortage. lastly, the trained person has to be fully dressed in ppe which also was in short supply and put themself at risk. these were the things we really tried to get around. >> reporter: yasmin, i've been talking to lab directors across the u.s. over the last week or so, a lot of them facing real difficulties sourcing material for testing. what's so great about the technology that prem has developed, you don't have to test each individual person one at a time. also you can test an entire classroom of kids in a pool, a batch of samples. if one of those children has the virus, you can drill down into that sample and identify who it is so they can be removed from the population. but this allows them to test dozens, sometimes hundreds of samples at once and that's speeding things up and reducing the overall cost. coming at just $15 per student

per week. >> this really actually could be a huge game-changer for schools across this country and across the world. willem marx, such an important story, thank you. i want to turn back to the doctors, dr. amesh ajalda and dr. ungerleider. could you quickly weigh in on the report we just heard from willem about the saliva testing. do you know how effective this really is? it could be huge for so many kids that are so uncobble getting these nasal swabs? >> from all the data i've seen on saliva testing, i think it will be something we see and hear more of. when we talk about these home tests we want americans to have, i think this is the way to go so there's great promise in controlling this pandemic. >> we'll be watching that. dr. functioner lighter, let me bring you some questions from our viewers, families wanting to celebrate holidays, today is

thanksgiving. after all they've been apart for so long because of this pandemic. this is a viewer asking this. my daughter and husband have worked at home since march. they go out for groceries and carryout. i've been home as well. since halloween we have quarantined except for needed outings. can we get together for thanksgiving? dr. ungerleider, what's your advice here? >> gosh, i'm quite concerned. just because people have been quarantining does not mean that when they actually go to travel to see other people that they will not be exposed to the virus. what we are seeing is that increasing numbers of cases are coming from family members and loved ones getting together in small groups indoors. we really want to advise against this this year. the cdc recommended against it, and if you absolutely need to see one another, best to do it, as i mentioned, outdoors,

wearing masks and limit your time seeing one another. >> all right. let's talk about vaccines here as we're on the wait for vaccines to get this fda approval, a lot of viewers have questions about the vaccines. will people with covid antibodies need to be vaccinated? if so, is there safety concerns about receiving the vaccine if you already have antibodies. >> there have been some theoretical concerns that pre-existing antibodies might have an issue with the vaccine. i think they'll have to study that in more detail. right now from a public health perspective, that's probably not going to be a major factor in who gets the vaccine and who doesn't. i think no matter what your antibody status is, if you're in the priority group, you should get if vaccine when it's approved. >> i have one more question, dr. ungerleider. for those folks that have

conditions such as lupus, for instance, or heart conditions comorbidities, is it going to be safe for them to get this vaccine? >> absolutely. people with underlying chronic medical problems are at higher risk of hospitalization and death from covid-19. so they absolutely should be vaccinated as soon as a safe vaccine is available. >> all right. thank you to you both. happy thanksgiving once again. good to see you. keep sending your questions. tweet them to us with #msnbcanswers or send us an email to talk@msnbc.com. up next, to politics. if you live in georgia, they're hard to escape this thanksgiving. what's behind a justice department inquiry into well-timed stock trades by senator david perdue. we'll be right back. and let the grill monitor your food.

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welcome back. if you live in georgia, it might be tough not to talk about politics, the real or virtual thanksgiving table. everyone's attention is on the two senate runoff rations that will play out next month. it's especially hard with headlines like this from "the new york times," "to being trades by senator perdue said to have prompted justice department inquiry." nbc's julia jester is following it all in atlanta. good to see you this morning. happy thanksgiving to you. let's talk about jon ossoff and raphael warnock appearing at this food distribution event where you are. what do they have to say and are we expecting to see the republican candidates? >> reporter: hi, we are here in atlanta as drk candidates jon ossoff and raphael warnock are at this drive-through event, delivering food to families in

need. here in tlaents, georgia, you can't avoid it at the dinner table. as families struggle to put food on the table. as you mentioned, the big news is senator david perdue's stock trade. he is under fire after he was accused of profiting off of his stock sales at the start of the pandemic. i spoke with candidate jon ossoff who said that today is not a day for politics, but he noted that this is partly due to the fact that politicians have failed americans, failed georgians. that's why they're out here today helping folks out. politics and the pandemic are really permeating thanksgiving here in georgia. back to you. >> we'll be following that race really closely in georgia as this thing progresses.

julia jester, thanks so much for us in atlanta. happy thanksgiving to you. up next, as many as 50 million americans are struggling with food insecurity this thanksgiving. we'll take you to one of the wealthiest counties in this country with needs for help. a woman who had a lung transplant after contracting covid gives thanks to the people who helped save her life. >> covid destroyed my lungs, and i was able to receive two new lungs in a transplant. i'm grateful to the family of my donor for allowing me to have their loved one's organs. without them, i would be dead. ♪ spread a little love today ♪ spread a little love my-y way ♪

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and when you get a big deal... ♪ ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. welcome back. all over this country we have seen scenes like these, long lines of people who need food for their families. in orange county, one of the wealthiest counties in this country, officials are seeing the second highest unemployment rate behind las vegas. nbc's megan fitzgerald is live in anaheim, california. good to see you this morning. thanks so much for joining us on this. it's troubling to see across this line food lines everywhere,

unemployment sky high amidst this pandemic. a lot of folks have newly found themselves in this position, never having to have asked for food before, but needing help now. what are you hearing this morning, megan? >> reporter: yasmin, that's about right. what stands out to me in speaking with these officials organizing this distribution site is this idea that there were families making six figures before the pandemic happened. now they find themselves trying to find out if they're going to feed their families or pay their mortgage. what they're telling us is there's an unpress debited need here. i want to show you what's happening. the cars right now are starting to come in. you can see the long line of cars. this is going to be a sight we'll be seeing for several hours here because they're expecting some 7,000 cars to roll through here at the honda center here in anaheim, in orange county. you'll follow the trail here. they'll pull up where the volunteers will be putting several boxes of food into the

trunk of cars. obviously, of course, social distancing, trying to make sure they're not making contact with the people that are pulling up here. now, to give you an idea of what's being distributed, they'll be getting three boxes here. first they'll get going to get thanksgiving dinner. you've got your rolls here, the turkey, of course the mashed potatoes and vegetables, gravy is in here. then they'll be getting a box of produce where you see fresh produce from farmers, celery, onions, apples in here. lastly they'll be taking home a box of nonperishable items, you've got canned goods, oats and rice. all told, 75 pounds of food that will be going into the vehicles as they pull through here and then continue on. we had an opportunity to speak with a recipient of this food distribution. take a listen to what she had to say. >> but now being on my own, just being in this situation that i

never could have expected, i never thought i would need to do something like that, go to a food bank. i didn't even know there were resources. >> reporter: unimaginable for a lot of folks, never thinking they would find themselves in this position. i want to give you some idea of the numbers here info. in 2019, organizers tell us they distributed 29 million pounds of food. right now that number is hovering around 42 million pounds of food. if you take the time period between july and september of last year, they're telling us in that same time period this year, it's more than double, and they're seeing a 113% increase in the amount of people that need food. but the good news here, in orange county they're making sure that anybody who needs a thanksgiving dinner will have it tonight, yasmin. >> it is so incredible to know that these resources exist for these people that need it right now. that is amazing. but it is also so incredibly sad to see that so many people are in need in this country right

now. the wealthiest country in the world, amidst this pandemic. megan fitzgerald, thank you so much, from anaheim, california. i want to bring in james martin, a jesuit priest. father james, great to see you, happy holidays and happy thanksgiving to you and yours. you see a story like megan's, you see this food bank, thousands of americans lining up across the country from new york to california, everywhere in the middle as well, in need, in need during this holiday season. how do you find light in all of this when so many folks are sitting across from the thanksgiving table, looking at an empty chair, having experienced so much loss in this last year and having still so much need? >> i think it's important, as you say, not to diminish the loss and to say we're living in an unprecedentedly sad time.

there's lots of suffering going on. at the same time, you ask the question of where do you find god, where do you see moments of grace. in people's generosity. that story you just showed is the result of people's generosity. i think for the religious person, what we see is we see sieve signs of god's compassion, the way that god's compassion works is by moving our hearts to be compassiona compassionate. it's people who are giving, it's health care workers, it's even people staying home for thanksgiving to protect other people and their families. we see signs of god's love in the acts of love that people express. >> what are some tangible things that we can do? because what i've seen over and over, when i do stories like this i get folks tweeting me saying, what can folks like me do? i was talking to my husband last night about what folks can do to help. >> that's a great question, we

want to help. to be blunt, you can give money to charities who are helping the poor and people struggling. if you can't afford it, and everyone can do this, reach out to people who are lonely today, text someone who is lonely, give a phone call to someone who is shut in, that's something truly everybody appreciates on the receiving end. >> you shared a thanksgiving prayer in the time of covid in " "america" magazine this week and you write about being grateful. how are you learning to be grateful and what message do you have for others in this holiday season? >> to not diminish the suffering, to be honest with god about your situation but also to look for signs of god's grace and blessing in the midst of all of this. i mentioned health care workers, people reaching out to you that are trying to help you, and to remember that god is accompanying us through these situations and that we can see signs of god's love even in the

midst of the darkness. >> father james, one last question for you. there's folks that are asking themselves "why me" today. what do you say to them? >> that's sort of the mystery of suffering, as we say. it doesn't have a satisfactory answer. i think the only thing we can look at is the perspective of the christians, certainly, it's knowing that jesus suffered himself and that god became human and lived in a time of pandemic and illness. and so for the christian i can say when you're praying to jesus, you're praying to someone who understands you not only because he's divine and understands all things but because he's human and experienced these kind of things. so to remember that god is with you in these situations i think is helpful. >> i think no matter who you are, listening to you this morning, they have something to take away from that. father james martin, thank you so much for joining us this morning and happy thanksgiving. california congressman ted

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to get a $500 prepaid card when you upgrade. switch today. happy thanksgiving, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. new coronavirus infections rose by 183,000 in just the last 24 hours. overwhelmed hospitals are bracing for more patients and now new restrictions are taking effect across this country.

but the supreme court just took one restriction off the table in new york. in a 5-4 vote, the court ruled the state cannot restrict attendance at religious institutions like churches and synagogues. meanwhile, in washington, could more pardons be on the way now that president trump has granted full clemency to michael flynn? it's prompting new speculation about a wave of other possible choices. flynn pled guilty to lying to the fbi. while that's playing out this morning, president-elect joe biden is offering a message of gratitude and also reminding americans to keep safe as coronavirus cases surge in almost every state in america. i want to start with the president and president-elect. nbc's carol lee is in washington, ali vitali is in rehoboth beach, delaware, where the bidens are spending the holiday, also joined by