The famine in Afghanistan continues to get worse as the Taliban government flounders in their relations with foreign nations. Government workers in Afghanistan have gone months without having their salaries paid, and a run on Afghan banks has left many unable to feed their families. The United Nations is asking countries to provide up to $5 Billion in aid to help feed the Afghan people.

The United States has donated $782 Million in aid to Afghanistan since October of 2021. That aid has been strictly limited to basic shelter, food items and medical supplies, and is channeled through the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

This week the Federal Elections Commission unanimously voted to dismiss a complaint from a right wing “think tank” alleging that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar had used campaign funds to pay for an affair she had with a Dem consultant she eventually married, the Daily Beat reports. “If Ilhan for Congress reimbursed Mynett’s LLC for travel so that Rep. Omar would have the benefit of Mynett’s romantic companionship, the expenses must be considered personal in nature,” said the National Legal and Policy Center’s bitchy 2019 complaint, one which was surely greeted with “LOL OMAR IS SO SCREWED” from the MAGA trolls when it was first filed. Like her fellow “Squad” member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Black Muslim liberal congresswoman’s private life has been an obsession of sexually frustrated right wingers since she was first elected. The MAGA scumbags continue to claim falsely that Omar married her brother to secure a green card, despite Omar becoming a naturalized US citizen in 2000, two years prior to her first marriage in 2002.

In an interview with Business Insider, House Rep Jamie Raskin, D-Md, reported that some rioters called Nancy Pelosi’s office,  “asking whether there was a lost and found because they forgot their phone there, or they left their purse or what have you.”

“The officers quickly got on the phone and said, yeah, just give us your name, your address, your social, you know, and we’ll tie up those loose ends,” Raskin said.

The World Health Organization has recommended two new drugs for treating Covid19. The first drug, Baricitinib, was originally developed to treat rheumatoid arthritis and works by blocking the production of inflammatory compounds in lung tissues. The other drug, Sotrovimab is a monoclonal antibody cocktail. Two other drugs, ruxolitinib and tofacitinib, are currently under review, and the WHO has recommended against their use without further study. The WHO does not recommend purchasing drugs from veterinary supply stores on the recommendation of right-wing conspiracy theorists, nor do they recommend shoving a mag-light up your ass, or taking powerful laxatives so you can try to “shit your Covid out” (although the last remedy is recommended by some NationalZero contributors because although it may not be effective, it is still hilarious).

Former New York Times health reporter Donald McNeil ran the numbers and figures that if, on average since May, 1,800 Americans have died of COVID-19 and at a small-c conservative estimate 75% of those are unvaccinated Trump voters, then he’s losing at least 1,300 voters a day. Drilling down into 2020 swing states Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Wisconsin, McNeil estimates that Trump is losing 103 voters each day between the four states that he lost by a combined 76,514 votes in 2020. McNeil speculates Trump minions told him to push for booster shots – even in spite of being booed twice by his fans in person over the extra shots and vaccines in general – knowing that his would-be 2024 voter base is shrinking at an alarmingly rapid pace.

* And yes, we’re aware of why Donald McNeil isn’t with the New York Times anymore. The story sounds way more like him being an insensitive asshole than an outright racist – and even the reporting seems to focus more on the internal staff blowback than the incident itself. But sometimes heads have to roll, especially when those heads don’t apologize sincerely the first time. Either way, the relative ignominy of the author doesn’t make this analysis any less valid.

Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai erupted Saturday, sending waves crashing into Nukuʻalofa and prompting security forces to evacuate King ʻAhoʻeitu Tupou VI from his seaside palace, the Associated Press reports. “Can literally hear the volcano eruption, sounds pretty violent. Raining ash and tiny pebbles, darkness blanketing the sky,” Dr. Faka’iloatonga Taumoefolau posted on Twitter as the undersea volcano erupted 40 miles north of the capitol. Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai is widely regarded in volcanological circles as a failure that, despite its potential, has not created any lasting impact on neighboring islands nor formed any sustained island itself.

• Domestic terrorists, insurrectists, seditionists:  call the January 6th participants what you will, but don’t call them rioters.  Their intent was to undermine the Constitution, and they should be labeled accordingly. 
• The currently popular excuse for the insurrectionists making the rounds on conservative platforms is:  “They couldn’t be seditionists, look how they acted.  Did they try to install a new government?  Noooooo.  They were just mad citizens.  They got into the Capitol and then didn’t know what to do.”  It’s an interesting argument:  these boneheaded Trump fans were too dumb to commit sedition!  It won’t work, but it’ll be fun to see them try it, and interesting to see which MAGAt takes to Fox to say, “We ain’t dumb.  We’re smert.  Reel smert.”
• I increasingly believe that the GOP reluctance to turn over texts and communications to the J6 Committee is due to not only their culpability for encouraging the domestic terrorists, but also for a mess of other malfeasance in their lives that would be exposed if anyone else saw the messages:  marital infidelities, financial crimes and corruption.  For example, imagine Jim Jordan, cowering in a corner as the mob approaches, texting his lover a final “I’m about to die, so I wanted to say I love you, Steve.  Yours forever, Jimmie” text.
  Read More ▶ “Random thoughts Friday, Volume LII”

“So you’re tellin’ me that everyone’s gonna go along with it ’cause Supreme Court,” Tucker Carlson said, apparently amazed who the Satanist he invited onto his show knows the Constitution significantly better than he does (which isn’t really saying much).  The issue at hand–can a Satanist church sponsor a club at the local school, which it can–is a First Amendment right, but having an anti-black or anti-gay club is not, as Tucker suggests, because those clubs are exclusionary based on protected classes.

DirecTV has dropped One America News Network from its channel lineup, Bloomberg reports. The satellite TV provider has informed the batshit far right propaganda outlet’s owner Herring Networks it plans not to renew its current carriage agreement when it expires. DirecTV is owned by AT&T, the telecom behemoth that was instrumental to OAN’s founding, per a Reuters report in October.

The fat bastard of Mar-a-Lago released a statement Friday in response to a Politico report that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey is still thinking about a Senate run. “Rumors are that Doug Ducey, the weak RINO Governor from Arizona, is being pushed by Old Crow Mitch McConnell to run for the U.S. Senate. He will never have my endorsement or the support of MAGA Nation!” said Trump.

Can only imagine what it must’ve been like at the White House with Trump at that moment on November 30th, 2020, watching Ducey silence the phone and put it down before continuing to certify Biden’s win in the state. Did he wait to hear “Hey it’s Doug, leave a message after the beep” or did he just throw his iPhone at Lindsey Graham’s face in a blind rage right away? Did Doug Ducey realize he was never going to be in the Orange One’s good graces ever again, or did it take a lot of Trump’s wailing to sink in? It doesn’t mean Ducey won’t get the GOP nomination if he runs, in fact he’s probably in a good spot because the MAGA scumbag vote would be split among his rivals. But that’d be damn tough to take on Dem incumbent Mark Kelly in the general election with Trump against him. Trump would probably even “jokingly” endorse Kelly over Ducey out of pure spite.

The White House believes Russia is preparing to use a fake or provoked attack along the Ukrainian border to justify send tens of thousands of the troops amassed along the border into Ukraine, the Associated Press reports.

During her afternoon briefing Friday, press secretary Jen Psaki said intelligence analysts have identified a social media campaign being deployed by the Russians to lay the groundwork for a claim of being attacked, and framing Ukraine as aggressor.

“We are concerned that the Russian government is preparing for an invasion in Ukraine that may result in widespread human rights violations and war crimes should diplomacy fail to meet their objectives,” Psaki said.  Intelligence estimates put the window for invasion at mid-January to early February.

RELEASE: Sen. Cruz Introduces Bill Protect The Right To Vote Regardless Of Vaccination Status
https://t.co/zxk7Vdn7zG

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) January 14, 2022

Fox News reptile Lara Logan hasn’t had an appearance on camera in the weeks since her comments comparing Dr Anthony Fauci to notorious Nazi war criminal Dr Josef Mengele caused the network a lot of headaches, the Daily Beast reports. Logan herself doesn’t even know if she’s been fired from her job hosting Lara Logan Has No Agenda on the premium “Fox Nation” streaming app, saying “I don’t really know,” if she still works there on a podcast episode this week.

National Zero’s Faccuweather™ Center has determined a cold pressure system, dubbed Winter Storm Sedition*, is moving in a non-westerly direction toward New York City that could wallop the area with precipitation that could fall as rain or other types of precipitation. It all depends on the pressure jet from the Maple country and the really big water place with sharks in it that’s next to New York City. Meteorologists, those lying assholes who don’t actually know anything about asteroids, say it could be a big one. They also said that windshield temperatures could be extra low on Saturday morning, meaning New Yorkers will have something to talk about to fill moments of silence that arise when placed in forced proximity with strangers, like in an elevator.

*National Zero’s name for this winter storm. The douchebags at The Weather Channel are calling it “Izzy”, but this isn’t recognized by any other entity. So we’re calling it “Sedition”, since it’s now okay for news outlets to unilaterally name winter storms whatever they want.

Israeli Former Guy Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, kicked out of the Prime Ministership last year after decades of on-and-off rule in the Middle Eastern apartheid state, is reportedly negotiating a plea deal on long-dragged out corruption charges with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, a condition of which is permanent self-exile from politics, Axios reports. The deal poses a danger for the current Israeli government however, because Netanyahu remains as an “Opposition Leader” which is a formal role given to the leader of the largest opposition party not within the current governing coalition – and none of this shit makes sense but then again we have the Electoral College – his removal would trigger a snap election. The talks with Mandelbilt have a real “take or leave it” urgency for Netanyahu, as Mandelbilt’s term ends on the 31st and Bibi may not get a better deal or even be offered any deal at all from the next attorney general.

Boris Johnson’s “Partygate” shitshow is taking public disgust with the dumpy, uncombed idiot Prime Minister to unprecedented new heights as an Independent/Savanta poll shows 70 percent of respondents want him to resign immediately. That is a level of national unity almost unheard of in the United States, except for policy proposals like single payer health care, universal child care, higher corporate taxes, and tuition-free community college that Republicans oppose.

Former Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller is speaking to the House January 6th Select Committee via video conference on Friday, CNN’s Zachary Cohen reports.

The Ohio state Supreme Court has struck down the Republican-drawn House district map in a 4-3 decision, sending it back to the legislature, the Columbus Dispatch reports. “When the dealer stacks the deck in advance, the house usually wins. That perhaps explains how a party that generally musters no more than 55% of the statewide popular vote is positioned to reliably win anywhere from 75 percent to 80% of the seats in the Ohio congressional delegation. By any rational measure, that skewed result just does not add up,” Dem Justice Michael Donnelly wrote in the majority opinion. “Not unexpected, but huge setback for GOP. Dems have potential to net 2-3 more seats out of a revised map,” says the Cook Report’s Dave Wasserman.

New York Rep. John Katko – one of the ten Republicans to vote to impeach Trump after the Capitol riot – won’t be seeking reelection in 2022, the New York Times’s Catie Edmondson reports.

It was a LARP rebellion, a cosplay insurrection. At Capitol riot, Oath Keepers marched around in sorta-military gear, sent Signal messages to one another. Then they left. If they intended to overthrow the US government, they didn't really act like it. https://t.co/XrI9vOF6v6

— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 14, 2022