CNN: “French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for Covid-19, his office said Thursday. ‘The President of the Republic has been diagnosed positive for Covid-19 today,’ the statement from the Elysee Palace read. It said the president was diagnosed after he was tested ‘at the onset of the first symptoms.'”

Few times do the holiday cards mailed by an unpopular former president rate a word of discussion, but this is 2020 and the sitting (soon-to-be-ex) president is Donald Trump, whose popularity rates around that of toe fungus, so let’s go on.

So when George W. Bush sent out a holiday card–not a Christmas card–with an image of his painting of the Statue of Liberty, parsing its meaning is completely normal.  The painting, titled “Beacon of Hope,” is one of a new series celebrating America’s immigrant heritage, CNN reports.

The greeting on the inside:  “May the light of the holiday season shine bright in your heart now and throughout the New Year.”  Not a “Christmas” to be found.

The interior of the card also contains a Bible passage:  “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”  The verse is 2 Corinthians 3:17.

As a thank you to those who risked their lives during the coronavirus pandemic, the National Football League plans on inviting front line health care workers to the Super Bowl, which will be played February 7th in Tampa Bay, CBS Sports reports.

“We know that over the past year, these frontline workers have put their own lives at risk to the benefit of society and we owe them our ongoing gratitude,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to the president of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl Committee. ” … We hope that in some small way, this initiative will inspire our country and recognize these true American heroes as we look forward to a better and healthier year.”

“We are currently discussing with public health officials our desire to invite vaccinated health care workers to the Super Bowl as our guests,” Goodell said in his letter.  “Subject to their approval and in consultation with your team, we aim to do this in a safe and responsible way.”

The league has not made any decisions on how many people would be allowed in the stadium during the Super Bowl, even though the attendees would have to verify they received the coronavirus vaccine.

“Incoming acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen declined to say on Wednesday whether he would name special counsels to investigate President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud or the tax issues of President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter. Rosen, who is set to take over when William Barr steps down on Dec. 23, told Reuters in an interview at the Justice Department that he would continue ‘to do things on the merits and to do things on the basis of the law and the facts. That’s how I thought about it from the beginning and that’s how I’ll think about it through the end.'”

“During his expected few weeks in the top job, Rosen said ‘I think of it a little bit like a developer with a punch list. We’re going to try to finish the work we’re here to do.’ Rosen added: ‘Let’s continue on the course we’ve had.’ Rosen declined to say if he agreed with Barr’s assessment in a recent Associated Press interview that ‘we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election'” – Reuters.

Three weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday, the United States saw its deadliest day from the coronavirus, with exactly 3,400 fatalities being reported by the COVID Tracking Project.  According to the aggregator, the US also recorded more than 230,000 new cases, its second highest daily case count.

With the incubation period of the coronavirus typically around two weeks, the spike in fatalities and cases can likely be traced to gatherings during the Thanksgiving holiday, when many people ignored social isolation to travel to see friends and family.

Based on data from Worldometers, California recorded an astounding 61,500 confirmed cases, by far the highest amount recorded by one state in one day.  Texas exceeded 20,000 cases, and four other had more than 10,000.

California also registered more than 400 coronavirus deaths, with Texas and Pennsylvania topping 200.  Eight other states surpassed 100 deaths.

“Gail”? Are you fucking serious? Lol. Sounds like they named it after somebody’s aunt’s friend who chains Virginia Slims and tries to freshen her breath with Halls but it actually makes it worse when you mix them together. I guess “Helga” is next on their list. Losers.

The FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a joint statement Wednesday afternoon in which they stated that the Russian cyber intrusion into US government systems is “ongoing.”

The statement announces the formation of a Cyber Unified Coordination Group (UCG), designed to manage defensive and counterintrusion efforts between the organizations.

“Over the course of the past several days, the FBI, CISA, and ODNI have become aware of a significant and ongoing cybersecurity campaign. … [T]he FBI, CISA, and ODNI have formed a Cyber Unified Coordination Group (UCG) to coordinate a whole-of-government response to this significant cyber incident,” the statement reads.  “The UCG is intended to unify the individual efforts of these agencies as they focus on their separate responsibilities. This is a developing situation, and while we continue to work to understand the full extent of this campaign, we know this compromise has affected networks within the federal government.”

Lame duck president Donald Trump has yet to address the Russian attack, although he has repeatedly claimed that “no one is tougher on Russia than Trump.”  So far, the Russian hacking has breached systems in the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security and the Food and Drug Administration.

CNN: “The Electoral College’s affirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s win this week did not appear enough to shake Trump from his delusions of victory, but it is adding urgency to a push by several of his advisers to gently steer Trump toward reality. Several of his closest allies have urged him to move on from his efforts to contest the election and begin planning his post-White House political future – including a potential 2024 run. Yet even amid the intractable movement of the transition and the hurried lame-duck activity – some of which he is participating in himself – Trump is steadfastly refusing to acknowledge that he lost.”

“In his moments of deepest denial, Trump has told some advisers that he will refuse to leave the White House on Inauguration Day, only to be walked down from that ledge. The possibility has alarmed some aides, but few believe Trump will actually follow through. ‘He’s throwing a fucking temper tantrum,’ an adviser said. ‘He’s going to leave. He’s just lashing out.’ The White House declined to comment for this report.

Winter Storm Dominion* continued to pound New York with wonderland walking material at the rate of roughly an inch per hour Wednesday evening – with no sign of abating forecast until late Thursday morning. Surveying the weather on a trip to a local bodega to buy Juul pods, National Zero’s New York bureau chief spotted two specially equipped holiday alert vehicles headed southbound on Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn, commanding residents to get into the spirit of the season while blasting what was surmised to be Israeli EDM tracks, one of which is pictured above.

*Like The Weather Channel did of its own initiative for no reason whatsoever, National Zero will now be assigning non-canonical names to winter storms going forward. In the interest of making things even more confusing and pointless, National Zero’s winter storm names will be different than those of The Weather Channel – and much cooler sounding too.

The Pentagon calculated that should President-elect Joe Biden cancel the construction of lame duck president Donald Trump’s border wall on his first day in office, the United States would save $2.6 billion, the Washington Post reports.  Biden pledged that he would halt construction of the wall.

Biden transition team members met with US Army Corps of Engineers commanders and discussed the status of the construction project.  Neither party would release the topics reviewed during the meeting.

According to records reviewed by the Post, the US government would be on the hook for $700 million in existing costs and cancelation fees if the project were canceled January 20th.  Since Trump took office, the project has constructed only 15 miles of new wall, as of the end of October.  About 350 miles of existing fencing was upgraded or replaced.

Republican South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson, most famous for yelling “You lie!” during a State of the Union address by President Barack Obama, announced from the floor of the House that he has tested positive for coronavirus, WIS NBC-10 News reports.

Wilson was one of 126 Republican House members who signed on to the Texas lawsuit filed with the Supreme Court to overturn election results in four states.  SCOTUS rejected the case.

The Federal Reserve announced that it would make no change in interest rates, as it lowered the expected losses in the US GDP for 2020 to -2.4%, a slight improvement from the -3.7% previously prediction, Politico reports.

With increased distribution of the coronavirus vaccine, the Fed anticipates the first half of 2021 to continue to feel detrimentally impact of the pandemic, with most businesses and communities reopening by mid-year.

The forecast was also bolstered by a promising rumors about a second round of coronavirus relief for businesses, families and the unemployed. 

CNN: “President-elect Joe Biden is expected to get his first Covid-19 vaccination early next week, CNN has learned, and plans to get his shot in public. ‘I don’t want to get ahead of the line, but I want to make sure we demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take,’ Biden told reporters Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware. ‘When I do it, I’ll do it publicly, so you can all witness my getting it done,’ the President-elect said. People familiar with the plans say Biden is likely to get his shot next week. The delay has not been borne out of hesitation, aides say, but rather logistics of administering the shot in a public setting.”

Tyson Foods has fired seven from an Iowa pork processing plant after supervisors created a winner-take-all betting pool about the number of employees at the plant who would contract the coronavirus, NBC News reports.

The betting came to attention after a wrongful death suit was filed against the company, where 1,000 to 2,800 employees became infected with the virus.

“We value our people and expect everyone on the team, especially our leaders, to operate with integrity and care in everything we do,” said Dean Banks, Tyson Foods President and CEO, said in a statement on Wednesday. “The behaviors exhibited by these individuals do not represent the Tyson core values, which is why we took immediate and appropriate action to get to the truth.”

The People’s Republic of China has stolen pieces of the moon using a lunar probe and successfully landed the robotic thief in the Inner Mongolia region of the country, Reuters reports. The mission represents just another in a long series of transgressions by the Chinese Communist Party against The United States of America, the sole and rightful owners of the natural satellite.

Having conquered the moon in 1969 when agents of the US Government planted the flag there in the name of galactic conquest, all rocks, sand, alien artifacts, and meteorites that impacted on the surface of the lunar body belong to the citizens of our nation and not China. National Zero will closely monitor all developments in the coming international legal battle to repatriate the estimated 4 lbs of lunar material stolen by the commies.

“Vice President Mike Pence plans to receive his coronavirus vaccine shot on camera Friday morning at the White House to build ‘vaccine confidence’ among the American people, according to an administration official with direct knowledge of the plans. Details are still being worked out, but Pence wants the TV networks to carry the moment live in the morning, the source said, to maximize the audience for the vaccination” – Axios.

If you have a spare million dollars lying around, you can have the honor of pushing the button to implode one of Trump’s bankrupt casinos in Atlantic City, NJ.com reports. The Trump Plaza, one of three casinos outgoing president Donald Trump owned in Atlantic City, is slated for demolition on January 29th, just nine days after Trump’s presidency gets destroyed.  Trump casino businesses went bankrupt for the first time in 2004 and again in 2009 and then again in 2014. The implosion is being used as a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, with the $1 million asking price all going to the charity, unlike funds donated to the Trump Foundation.

Major League Baseball, the governing organization of professional baseball leagues and records, has reclassified the Negro Leagues as a “major league,” meaning that the statistics and records of the players and teams will be added to their major league totals, the Associated Press reports.

The ruling recognizes the level of competition Negro Leagues players faced, equating it to the whites-only leagues.  The Negro Leagues existed from 1920 to 1948 when Major League Baseball enforced segregation.  Jackie Robinson became the first Black player in the major leagues, joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Some players like Willie Mays and Satchel Paige played in both the Negro Leagues and the Major Leagues during their career.  This ruling means their MLB records will include the stats like hits, runs, strikeouts and wins in their MLB career totals. 

Nearly a foot of snow is forecast for the New York City area as Winter Storm Dominion* heads toward the East Coast on Wednesday, meaning December will look like it does on TV for maybe the tenth time in the past few decades – and the twelve foot tall inflatable snowman that the MAGA family around the block from my parents’ house on Long Island might look less stupid sitting on a lawn of snow instead of muddy, half-dead grass. National Zero will continue to update readers on this marshmallow world in the winter.

*Like The Weather Channel did of its own initiative for no reason whatsoever, National Zero will now be assigning names to winter storms. In the interest of making things even more confusing and pointless, National Zero’s winter storm names will be different than those of The Weather Channel.