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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday suspended Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen just hours after Bridgen tweeted COVID-19 vaccines were “the biggest crime against humanity since the holocaust,” while citing some quack conspiracy theorist cardiologist, Bloomberg reports.

American conservative Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was not similarly disciplined by Republican Party leadership when she tweeted that “Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s [sic] forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” in May of 2021. She was later promoted to chief puppet master to titular Speaker of The House Kevin McCarthy.

It is impressive, by Donald’s standards at least, that he accuses “Coco Chow,” a woman who served in his cabinet for nearly four years of being a Chinese Communist agent. Like, yeah the list of people he hired and/or nominated to government posts that he later turned on for being “disloyal” is too long to list. And he’s a fucking racist who would repeatedly write such a thing about a woman from Taiwan, not China. Nothing new there. But that he indirectly admits to having installed a supposed ChiCom fifth columnist to a key cabinet position, commanding a vast portfolio of vital economic infrastructure, and kept her there until she resigned after the Capitol riot is in a class of its own.

This isn’t defend Chao. Of course in reality she has to be a deeply corrupt sociopath if she’s married to Mitch McConnell, but that certainly was never a problem when she was serving in the Trump Administration. Hell that made her an asset. It was only when Donald realized McConnell never really cared for him and only used him to serve his own ends that Trump decided his wife’s ethnicity made her a “Chinese communist” without following through and realizing that would mean Trump had let a wolf into his henhouse. These attacks on Chao might be the Trumpiest thing ever in that respect.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday publicly called bullshit on Putin’s “chef” crony Yevgeny Prigozhin’s claim his Wagner Group mercenaries had taken a key town in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, with Kremlin officials saying fighting in Soledar was still ongoing and that a photo Prigozhin had posted Tuesday with his mercs was not actually taken in the town, the Daily Beast reports.

The Defense Ministry even went so far as to side with Kyiv on the status of Soledar, a salt-mining town considered a key gateway to the larger city of Bakhmut. Ukrainian officials said Wednesday the fighting there has been the “bloodiest” of the war so far. A Russian win on the ground in the region – part of territory “annexed” by Russia – would be their first real advance in Ukraine since early last summer, as Bakhmut has been held by Ukrainian troops since the Donetsk rebellion in 2014.

The FBI have posted a series of Facebook ads aimed at getting Chinese-language speakers to report if they suspect they’ve been the targets of transnational repression and harassment campaigns by the Xi regime, Axios reports. The ads, themselves written in Mandarin, have been running in the Philadelphia area ask anyone who’s been targeted by cyberstalking, physical or digital harassment, assault or extortion to contact the FBI’s Philly field office.

It’s not clear why the FBI targeted the Philadelphia area specifically, but it could be some sort of pilot program leading to a national campaign. “Many victims are not aware transnational repression is illegal. As a result, the FBI strives to educate communities about [transnational repression], the methods used, and how to report to the FBI,” the bureau said in a statement. ChiCom agents have been arrested with increasing frequency over the last few years in a number of incidents of targeted repression, with at least 19 Xi-loyal scumbags being hit with various federal charges in 2022.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a stop to all domestic departures until 9 AM EST on Wednesday as the nation’s air traffic control software suffered a massive crash, CNBC reports.

UPDATE 1/11/2023 8:51 AM EST: The FAA announced a lift on the grounding, tweeting “Normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the U.S. following an overnight outage to the Notice to Air Missions system that provides safety info to flight crews. The ground stop has been lifted. We continue to look into the cause of the initial problem.”

Arkansas Gov Sarah Huckabee Sanders had a productive-ish first day in office on Tuesday, issuing executive orders banning Critical Race Theory education from schools as if they were already teaching it in fucking Arkansas and banning the term “Latinx” from all state government documents, which we would be very shocked to learn it was actually used in them prior to her taking office.

The Pentagon formally rescinded its coronavirus vaccine mandate Tuesday, less than a month after Congress passed legislation calling for a cancelation of the requirement, Politico reports.  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin circulated a memo that allows for commanders to limit certain rotations for unvaccinated service members where a rapidly spreading virus could cripple readiness, which common sense would lead one to believe would be our entire national defense force, but no, it does not because Republicans.

The Pentagon reports that more than 99% of active duty members of the Air Force, Marines, Navy and Space Force are vaccinated, with 98% of the Army vaccinated.  About 7,800 soldiers were separated, voluntarily or involuntarily, from the military since the mandate was put in place in August 2021.  An unspecified number of service members were allowed to skip the vaccination due to medical issues or religious exemptions.

“Congresswoman, I’ve known you a long time,” kiss ass Trump advisor Sean Hannity puckers.  “Um, one of the things I’d like to see and I’m seeing is more diversity in the Republican Party.  To me, the Democratic Party is the Party of coastal elites.”

Point A:  … Hannity says unironically in a room full of white people, i.e., the House Republican caucus.  Seriously, if you want to talk about diversity in the Party, how about starting with diversity at the party?  And second, 40% of Americans live in a county with a coastline, Sean.  And 80% live within 100 miles of a coastline.  So those “coastal elites” are the vast majority of Americans, ya idiot.

A federal judge on the top court in Brazil signed arrest warrants for two men who commanded security operations at the central plaza in Brasília after witnesses said security personnel appeared to stand down as the mob of anti-government rightwing supporters of Florida Man Jair Bolsonaro descended, the Washington Post reports.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the arrests of Anderson Torres, the public security chief for the federal district of Brasília who was also the federal Justice Minister before he was fired by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Sunday, and Col. Fábio Augusto, commander of military police in the district.

Witnesses said security officers at the three federal buildings–housing the nation’s presidential offices, federal legislature and Brazil’s top court–backed away from positions as the crowd approached, apparently in a move coordinated with the protesters to let them occupy the buildings.  The president’s communications director said it appeared some officers were related to people in the protest.  “They’re not going to go after their own relatives,” she said.

Former Republican North Carolina Congressman and boy angry at bark Madison Cawthorn was so immature and angry about losing the primary on his first re-election campaign, he rolled out of DC shortly after the May vote leaving constituents hoping for help from the Congressman abandoned without assistance.

According to a Charlotte Observer editorial, scores of cases were left unattended, and Cawthorn’s staff did not transfer the case files to his successor, Republican Chuck Edwards, to try to pick up the pieces.  Edwards is so befuddled by Cawthorn’s actions he’s publicly asking constituents who had requested help from Cawthorn’s office to assume Edwards’ team has nothing on the case and to contact their representative’s office again.

“That’s what you get, however, when you elect unserious candidates who care more about lip service than leadership and legislating,” the editorial board says.  “Cawthorn may have gotten what he wanted — attention — but North Carolinians got little in return.”

Police at London’s Heathrow Airport have seized a shipment of uranium that apparently originated in Pakistan and came in via a passenger flight from Oman late last month, The Sun reports. The shipment was destined for Iranian nationals in Britain, fueling fears the assholes were trying to build a dirty bomb. No arrests have been made yet, but cops sought to reassure the public they’re on it.

“We can confirm officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were contacted by Border Force colleagues at Heathrow after a very small amount of contaminated material was identified after routine screening within a package incoming to the UK on December 29. The material has been identified as being contaminated with uranium,” said the London Metropolitan Police in a statement.

“I want to reassure the public that the amount of contaminated material was extremely small and has been assessed by experts as posing no threat to the public. Although our investigation remains ongoing, from our inquiries so far, it does not appear to be linked to any direct threat. As the public would expect, however, we will continue to follow up on all available lines of enquiry to ensure this is definitely the case,” said Met Counterterrorism Chief Richard Smith.

Republicans enjoy producing performance art.  Typically expensive performance art.  Typically expensive performance art that costs taxpayers a whole lot of money.  And like good Republican governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has stuck taxpayers with a $200 million bill for his anti-migrant installation piece:  miles of empty shipping containers placed in a line–gaps and all– some miles from the southern border.

The Arizona Republic reports that Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs will use money from the state’s $300 million Border Security Fund to dismantle and dispose of the empty containers.  The costs to dismantle and transport the containers will ultimately cost more than the “construction” of the faulty makeshift barrier:  in the Cochise National Forest, Ducey paid about $95 million to assemble the containers miles from the border and at least $105 million to take down.

Disgraced far right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and unwelcome guest in the United States on Tuesday told CNN Brazil he’s likely headed back home sooner rather than later as pressure grows on the Biden Administration to toss him out, the Associated Press reports.

“I came to spend some time away with my family but these weren’t calm days. First, there was this sad episode in Brazil and then my hospitalization,” Bolsonaro said, adding that he’s moving up his departure from his originally planned late January exit. Bolsonaro left for Florida ahead of the expiration of his term, spending New Year’s Eve with fellow deposed former dictator Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on the A-1 visa afforded to all sitting heads of state. Sunday’s attack on the capital city of Brasilia by Bolsonaro’s fans fueled calls for the Biden Administration to revoke the scumbag’s no longer current visa status and toss him out, apparently leading to the preemptive move.

Worried about Trump fanboys what-about-ing their Orange Messiah’s theft of classified documents with Biden’s similar but apparently far milder fuckup? Think the obvious differences in the respective situations aren’t distinct enough to overcome their bad faith? Show them yours is worse.

Ask them why Trump let Biden get away with “stealing” classified documents from the White House for four years. After all, it was Trump who was in charge of federal law enforcement and to them he’s a living god, an omniscient super-being who plays 12-dimensional chess while his enemies are playing Candy Land, and as such should have known then-former Vice President “Sleepy Joe” had absconded with top secret documents in 2017. Trump didn’t do anything about it for four years. He had every opportunity to send MAGA-loyal federal law enforcement into that think tank building and rip it apart just like “Biden” did to Mar-a-Lago. Which would mean Trump either got outsmarted by Biden or he let him off the hook, neither of which is a good look for their Orange Allah.

Just meeting them on their level will frustrate the shit out of the MAGA trolls enough, but you can twist the knife further by bringing up a real political implication of the question: If Trump had actually known Biden had “stolen” classified documents then there would’ve been no need to go through the elaborate and insane plan to get Ukraine to open a fake investigation into Joe and Hunter. And the public would’ve been way more receptive to that, even more so than with Hillary’s stupid emails. Trump could’ve knocked off Joe Biden – without getting impeached – and faced Bernie Sanders in 2020 like he wanted to, likely winning easily against a socialist liberal Jew.

Put it like that and that’s going to rip the fanboys apart on the inside, especially now if it’s Trump vs Biden again in 2024. Make this Trump’s failure as president to troll, then tell them what could have been to make it even more heartbreaking for them. Make them regret this news cycle.

The GOP-led House on Tuesday voted along party lines 221 to 211 to establish the Jim Jordan-chaired “Select Subcommittee on Weaponization” to investigate the DOJ, NBC’s Sahil Kapur reports.

Suffolk County, New York Police on Tuesday arrested a 34 year-old man wanted in connection to two major jewelry thefts at Walmart locations on Long Island, 1010 WINS reports in an article that somehow seems to repeat the same error again and again. It says the man, Jonathan Sunderland, managed to steal $16,000 worth of Walmart jewelry at the Islandia, New York location on September 26, and then again take $25,000 worth of the jewelry from the Centereach, New York location on November 6th without explaining how the fuck anyone could carry at least 10 or 15 tons of jewelry out of a Walmart on their own without arousing suspicion from staff or other customers.

Or maybe it’s a typo and it was $160 and $250 worth of jewelry. That’s still a lot, but it’s manageable for a person to carry. But not only do they make the same error twice, they add it up with a more realistic $3,000 electronics theft from another location to arrive at $44,000 in value.

Something’s not on the level here. Arresting a guy for stealing $41,000 worth of jewelry from Walmart is like arresting him for stealing a billion dollars in cash from an ATM. It’s just not actually there to take. And even if our skepticism is misplaced and Walmart at some point in the last few years did start carrying jewelry that’s like okay, maybe if you didn’t know it was from Walmart it would be alright, so what? Is a jury still going to buy it, even if they clearly see the guy on video shoving the pieces into his backpack? Fuck no. Prosecutors should just stick to the $3,000 worth of electronics, feel lucky he stole enough of that shit to nail him on a felony.

A New York judge on Tuesday sentenced Trump Organization CFO Allen Weaselberg to five months in jail for tax fraud in the “fringe benefits” case, the Daily Beast’s Jose Pagliery reports. Weaselberg will do his time at New York City’s brutal and hellish Rikers Island jail complex in Queens.

Non-Correction: The current version of this article and headline misspelled Allen Weisselberg’s last name as ‘Weaselberg.’ National Zero does not regret the error and will not be correcting it.

But rain loosens a boulder, this joke’s getting older, and I’m getting older too. Anyway, the floods in California are producing massive landslides like the one above captured by the state’s Highway Patrol outside of Fresno on Monday. Parts of the state have received more than a foot and a half of rain in the last few days, with more in the forecast, the New York Times reports.

Among the documents with classification markings found in an office used by then-former Vice President Joe Biden in Washington, DC were intel briefing memos dated from the years 2013 to 2016 concerning the UK, Ukraine, and Iran, CNN reports. The materials were found in a box – also containing some personal documents such as details of Beau Biden’s funeral arrangements – by a lawyer who was closing out the office in November. The lawyer then contacted NARA and then began turning over additional boxes out an abundance of caution, a source told CNN.

So again, Biden or someone working for him fucked up and took these documents from the White House or the Naval Observatory residence in 2017, either not knowing they were classified or mistakenly believing they were declassified. Either way, instead of shredding them they promptly contacted the proper agency to report it and then Merrick Garland directed the Trump-appointed US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois to investigate further.

Fed up with pesky voters having a direct say in how they’re governed with state constitutional and statutory ballot measures, Republicans in the Missouri state House and Senate have brought up a number of bills to make it harder for them by increasing the number of petition signatures required for measures to make it on the ballot, to require that the signatures be distributed evenly by the state’s congressional districts – giving hardcore MAGA rural regions an effective veto over blue and progressive-aimed petitions, and raising the threshold for whatever measures that do make it to the ballot to pass from 50 percent to 60 percent, Marc Elias’s Democracy Docket reports.

The catch is that all of these changes, should they pass the legislature, need to be approved by voters themselves on the next ballot. No shortage of irony there, of course, but the Republicans in Missouri are nervous after voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana by a solid-enough 53.1 to 46.9 percent margin last year and even more so as pro-choicers are eyeing a 2024 abortion referendum after the crushing victory for abortion rights in neighboring Kansas in August. They’re right to be worried about what happens when people directly decide such matters themselves.