By a 3-to-2 margin, with voter turnout about half that of the November midterm elections, Oklahomans rejected a ballot proposal to legalize cannabis, KOCO ABC-5 in Oklahoma City reports.  Despite a snarky projection by this outlet that Oklahoma was going to draw cannabis tourists from neighboring Texas, the state will remain in a dust bowl, not a kush bowl.

There’s a lot going on at Fox nowadays, and none of it’s good.  Like a rabid dog, Fox digs in on its lies that have been decried by leaders of both sides of the political aisle.  Despite the release of damning communications and testimony showing Fox executives and on-air personalities spent months knowingly lying to their viewers about the integrity of the 2020 election, Fox hostess and woman repeatedly admitted “I have no reason to believe that” when asked under oath about allegations of election fraud Laura Ingraham interviews a lawyer for detained accused domestic terrorists who, he claims, were being given tours of the Capitol by police officers.

Probably better for Donald to just pretend it wasn’t reported on Tuesday that Tucker Carlson said he hates Trump “passionately” on January 4th, 2021, according to another Dominion filing.

Never again let Fox claim they have non-partisan anchors:  In the latest trove of documents released in Dominion Voting System’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the Rupert Murdoch-owned propaganda network, an email from one of Fox’s claimed “straight news” anchors–or is it “straight” news anchor?  I never can tell when it comes to Baiers–Bret Baier tried to get Fox to overturn its correct early call of Arizona to Democrat Joe Biden, as reported here earlier:

“I know You guys are feeling the pressure. But this situation is getting uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable,” Baier wrote on November. 5th, 2020, to three Fox executives. “I keep on having to defend this on air. And ask questions about it. And it seems we are holding on for pride (I know the confidence you say you had and the numbers — but it’s at least within the realm of possible that he closes the gap now). And It’s hurting us. The sooner we pull it — even if it gives us major egg. And we put it back in his column. The better we are. In my opinion.”

Continuing with the Saudi tradition of sawing up living things as part of doing business, a crew of landscapers preparing the Gallery Club in Marana, Arizona ahead of a March 17-19 LIV Golf event butchered at least two protected Saguaro cactuses last month, the Arizona Republic reports.

The Arizona Department of Agriculture this week opened an investigation into the LIV-contracted landscaping company and the golf course for removing the cactuses without permission. The parties face up to $5,000 in fines for the murder, reportedly done to make way for hospitality tents.

Course General Manager and man whose last name will make everyone sing a few bars of the same horse race song (and we all hate ourselves for it) Jeremy Duda said the club believed the crew were moving the plants, not cutting them down. “That’s what we were told, and they ended up chopping them down without our permission,” Duda said in a sincere belief people would believe him.

This is the start of the downfall of Tucker Carlson:  as Republicans lambast his revisionist history of the Republican-led January 6th domestic terrorist attack on Congress, Tucker Carlson starts telling his infantile audience that they shouldn’t listen to anyone else but him; that politicians like Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis, and Mitt Romney–or “Mitt Romney!” as Tucker intones–are the unreasonable ones, the ones saying the domestic terrorists who attacked the Capitol weren’t “sightseers,” as Carlson said.

Reservists in Israel’s military are staging what’s effectively a work slowdown in protest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative policies that critics decry as an attempt to undermine the nation’s democracy, as well as in protest of rampage Jewish settlers conducted through a Palestinian town last week, the Times of Israel reports.

In the latest, highest-profile action, ninety percent of a F-16 fighter squadron, the IAF’s 69th Squadron, said they would not train during a recent scheduled call-up.  They join other reservists who show up to their assigned stations for their service time but refuse to actively participate in training exercises or classes.  Other military units have also reported smaller-scale actions by reservists, most of who state opposition to Netanyahu’s plan to remove a significant amount of power for the nation’s judiciary, a move many see as retaliation:  Netanyahu pleaded guilty to two corruption charges in January 2022.

Five women and two doctors filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas saying the state’s new snitching law that encourages people to bring frivolous lawsuits against women seeking an abortion and the medical providers who perform them endangers patients’ lives, NPR reports.

“[The women] have been denied necessary and potentially life-saving obstetrical care because medical professionals throughout the state fear liability under Texas’s abortion bans,” the plaintiffs assert, outlining that doctors are being intimidated against providing a legal, life-saving medical procedure because they fear getting a slew of lawsuits from uninterested parties who are encouraged by potentially getting $10,000 each in a civil suit promoted by the law, which doesn’t punish anyone who files frivolous lawsuits under the law.

The lawsuit points out that the law, known as SB 8, does not clarify under what circumstances abortion is necessary and therefore, protected under the law.  But conservatives in Texas didn’t enter a provision of the law shielding abortion providers who perform life-saving abortions, allowing a provider to get sued out of business for saving a woman’s life because conservatives are shitty, spiteful politicians. 

“This is exactly why people believe in conspiracies.”  Amazingly, that’s a quote from the latest document dump of Fox communications in the Dominion $1.6 billion defamation suit alleging Fox executives and personalities knew they were broadcasting lies about the company.  The speaker of the quote?  None other than the host proclaims that his is “the program that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity smugness and group think,” Tucker Carlson.

“Maybe Sean and Laura went too far,” Murdoch emailed a network executive.  Murdoch’s communications continued to demonstrate that he doubted the election fraud claims his hosts were making, asking if the network “unarguabl[y]” had to support the election fraud claim.

The Washington Post is sifting through the documents and posting some juicy bits, which National Zero will update here as they’re posted on various media.

Scandal-ridden Fox is at it again:  The Daily Beast caught Fox host and undeclared Trump advisor Sean Hannity editing an interview he had with former president and golf course salesman Donald Trump to remove a critical aspect of Trump’s declared solution to the Russian invasion of Ukraine:  he’d simply allow Russia to keep the land it occupies and call it a day.

After ranting Putin never took land while he was president, Trump said in a radio interview on Hannity’s afternoon radio program Monday, “That’s without even negotiating a deal. I could have negotiated. At worst, I could’ve made a deal to take over something, there are certain areas that are Russian-speaking areas, frankly, but you could’ve worked a deal.”

However, during his propaganda hour on Fox later that night, Hannity edited the audio he played to leave out about 30 seconds of audio in which Trump explained that he would let Putin keep the Ukrainian territory Russia illegally annexed.  Trump goes from saying, “I could have negotiated” to ranting about China. 

A Missouri law that would fine law enforcement officers up to $50,000 if they dare enforce federal weapons laws is unconstitutional because it violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, a federal district judge ruled, the Associated Press reports.

U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes said in his ruling, “At best, this statute causes confusion among state law enforcement officials who are deputized for federal task force operations, and at worst, is unconstitutional on its face.”  The law would have levied fines against officers who enforced federal laws that do not have state equivalents.

Gun fetishist Andrew Bailey, Missouri’s Republican Attorney General, said he would appeal the ruling, claiming that the GOP-led legislation was necessary to counter federal overreach to confiscate guns, even though there is no federal proposal to do such things for anyone other than those people, like the McCloskeys, who recklessly brandish guns.

Maybe Norfolk Southern should just keep its operations south of Norfolk…  An engineer for Norfolk Southern was struck by a dump truck as his train transited through a steel mill in Ohio, which has suddenly become the hot bed for rail tragedies that are obviously all Pete Buttigieg’s fault.

According to NBC News, 46-year-old Louis Schuster was outside the train Tuesday morning as it made its way through a Cleveland-Cliffs rolled steel factory when a dump truck filled with limestone struck the left side of the first car in the train.  It’s unclear exactly how Schuster was killed–if he was between the car and the dump truck, if the train car was pushed off the track onto/into him, or some other circumstance–but the impact resulted in Schuster’s death.

Norfolk Southern has been particularly hazardous in Republican-run Ohio during the last three weeks, including a massive chemical spill and burn-off in East Palestine and a derailment Saturday afternoon in Springfield.

Known to have no discernable spine, which even for a chelonian is unusual, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came out with a definitive statement calling Tucker Carlson’s claims–framed about highly edited footage from 44,000 hours of security camera footage from the January 6th Republican-led domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol–complete and utter bullshit.

With regard to the, ah, presentation on Fox News last night, I want to associate myself entirely with the opinion of the Chief of the Capitol Police about what happened on January 6th.

While we all know McConnell will wilt away from his dismissal of Carlson’s conspiracy theories and fabrications the moment he’s confronted by an angry Carlson fan, the declaration won’t make it to Fox’s airways because of the network’s new motto:  “We distort. You fall in line.”

Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-in-drag who originated the unhinged screaming from the gallery during a presidential address, Republican South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson takes to the House floor to drone on about a number of things, including how wonderful Tucker Carlson is for “exposing the truth” about January 6th, with a hardy endorsement from Glenn Beck.  The transcription below is verbatim; don’t blame the messenger for the Palinesque word salad. 

How long is it going to take for Ron DeSantis fanboys to face the music and admit their little Maoist authoritarian hero wears heels? Can they own up to the fact that a man unremittingly hostile to other biological males who wear heels either just to have fun, to perform for an audience, or as part of their identity, does so too? Will they stand tall amid this very real affront to masculinity?

Because there’s no way around this. DeSantis wears heels that boost his height by around 2 or 3 inches. You can see them clearly in multiple photos. It’s not like Trump who – in part due to his ubiquity – attacks on his unfailing daily application of orange makeup are pointless within the GOP primary universe. This is a serious liability for Ronnie Meatballs even before fat Donald starts tormenting him about it – which he will. How is a DeSantis fanboy supposed to boast about how domineering and masculine the Florida governor is when a lib troll can just remind them that the Florida governor wears heels just like a “groomer” drag queen? That’s humiliating to a right winger.

Gigi Sohn, nominated by President Joe Biden to be a commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission, has withdrawn her nomination after 16 months of stonewalling by nihilist Republican Senators and “unrelenting, dishonest and cruel attacks” by industry lobbyists who opposed her nomination.

“It is a sad day for our country and our democracy when dominant industries, with assistance from unlimited dark money, get to choose their regulators,” Sohn said in a statement shared exclusively with The Washington Post. “And with the help of their friends in the Senate, the powerful cable and media companies have done just that.”

Republican Bryan Slaton, he who boasted of being “America First” in his elections to the Texas Legislature, isn’t so much anymore.  He introduced a bill that will allow a referendum in the state to leave the United States–something that the Supreme Court ruled on in Texas v. White in 1869.  Spoiler alert:  it can’t.  (Have these people never read a history boo–…  Oh, right.  Nevermind.). The secessionist posted on Twitter:

Today, I filed HB 3596, which is commonly known as the “Texas Independence Referendum Act,” or TEXIT If passed, it will place a referendum on the ballot during the next general election, allowing the people of Texas to vote on whether or not the State should investigate the possibility of Texas independence, and present potential plans to the Legislature. The Texas Constitution is clear that all political power resides in the people. After decades of continuous abuse of our rights and liberties by the federal government, it is time to let the people of Texas make their voices heard. On this 187th anniversary of the fall of the Alamo I’m proud to file this bill to let the people of Texas vote on the future of our State. Texas was born out of a desire for liberty and self-governance, and that desire continues to burn in the hearts of all Texans.

Keen-eyed NatZero readers will recognize Slaton from his previous appearance in our realm:  when he suggested parents, coaches, players, fans and virtually anyone could challenge the gender of an opposing youth team’s player, who would then have to submit chromosome test results to “prove” their gender.  … ’cause the Alamo.

This has to be the final straw for millions of patriotic Americans sick of the woke bullshit taking away their favorite brands. Shut up libs, it doesn’t matter if regular Reese’s are still available at every store. This is just the first step toward the day when the company announces all their peanut butter cups have been replaced by these socialist lab-grown frankenfood abominations.

Feels like nothing is safe from libs anymore. They ruined M&Ms, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s, Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl books, Sesame Street, LEGOs, Mr Potato Head, being able to say the N-word without consequences, and now goddamned Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups! Voting for Trump is the only way to react to this even though it will actually do nothing to prevent private entities from making product, marketing, and HR decisions that MAGA voters perceive as existential threats.

National Zero will resume our regular coverage now that we’ve poked the amygdalae of our MAGA readers gently with this elucidation of their ongoing misery. We hope they enjoyed this article.

“Last night an opinion program aired commentary that was filled with offensive and misleading conclusions about the January 6 attack. The opinion program never reached out to the Department to provide accurate context. One false allegation is that our officers helped the rioters and acted as ‘tour guides.’ This is outrageous and false. The Department stands by the officers in the video that was shown last night. I don’t have to remind you how outnumbered our officers were on January 6. Those officers did their best to use de-escalation tactics to try to talk to rioters into getting each other to leave the building. The program conveniently cherry-picked from the calmer moments of our 41,000 hours of video. The commentary fails to provide context about the chaos and violence that happened before or during these less tense moments.”

“Finally, the most disturbing accusation from last night was that our late friend and colleague Brian Sicknick’s death had nothing to do with his heroic actions on January 6. The Department maintains, as anyone with common sense would, that had Officer Sicknick not fought valiantly for hours on the day he was violently assaulted, Officer Sicknick would not have died the next day. As some people select from 41,000 hours of video clips that seemingly support the narrative they want to push, those of you who were here on January 6, those of you who were in the fight, those of you who ensured that no Member of Congress was hurt, whose of you who contributed to the effort to allow the country’s Legislative process to continue know firsthand what actually happened. You fought like hell on January 6 and risked your lives to protect the Constitution and everything this country stands for. You, along with our law enforcement partners, saved every Member of Congress and their staff. TV commentary will not record the truth for our history books. The justice system will. The truth and justice are on our side,” says USCP Chief Tom Manger in an internal memo to officers.

A new nuclear power reactor in Georgia completed its initial fission tests, becoming the first new commercial nuclear power generator in seven years operating in the United States, the Associated Press reports.

The third reactor at the Plant Vogtle, run by Southern Co. Power, was licensed in 2009.  The plant was scheduled to go online in 2016, but construction problems, including a key pipe in the cooling system unexpectedly shaking when the system was originally fired up in January.  Having addressed the cooling system problem, operators will slowly ramp up power production over the next two months as crews test systems.

Unit 3 will start generating power for distribution to customers as early as May.   Unit 4 is scheduled to be running sometime between November and March 2024.  When operating, the two new reactors will generate a net 1,117 MWe each.