Last month’s headlines like The Hill’s “GOP election objectors rake in corporate cash” and Fortune’s “Almost a year after the Capitol insurrection, corporations have quietly ramped up donations to GOP election objectors” are grossly misrepresenting how much House GOP fundraising from business has recovered since the exodus in the wake of the Capitol riot, as a new analysis from Popular.info finds that donations to the 2020 election objectors in the House from the private sector were down by almost two thirds in 2021 compared to 2019, the previous off year.

Popular Info stuck to the House only, as the staggered six year Senate terms and the fact that only a relative handful objected to certifying the 2020 election would make a clear comparison too difficult. The then-freshman House members were also excluded. But of the 94 returning GOP House members who objected, Popular Info found they raked in $27,205,290 from corporate PACs from January 3rd to November 30th 2019, a number that declined to $11,052,925 raised from January 3rd to November 30th 2021. It should be zero, but losing 60% is not nothing either.

Hundreds of people have been stranded on Interstate 95 in Virginia after a multi-car pileup caused a backup Monday afternoon, and then a snowstorm dumped a foot of snow on the region, NBC News reports.  Among those caught in the standstill:  Democratic Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who has been stuck on the highway since 1:00 p.m. Monday.

I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday. 19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol. My office is in touch with @VaDOT to see how we can help other Virginians in this situation. Please stay safe everyone. pic.twitter.com/Sz1b1hZJZ5

— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) January 4, 2022

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll finds that 70% of Trump voters responded “The investigation is a witch hunt” when asked how to characterize it, while 25% said “The investigation is appropriate to find out what happened on January 6th.” When asked about the Capitol riot itself, 49% of Trump fans said it was a “political protest protected under the first amendment” while 34% said it was an “unfortunate event, but in the past, so no need to worry about it anymore”, and 8% said it was “an insurrection and a threat to democracy.”

Award-winning Washington journalist Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) has been named congressional correspondent for CBS News. In this role, MacFarlane will join the CBS News Washington bureau and report for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms.

MORE: https://t.co/Gn6sjIS9cL pic.twitter.com/9m5GO97Nf1

— CBS News PR (@CBSNewsPress) January 4, 2022

On Tuesday CBS News announced they’d signed the NBC Washington affiliate’s workaholic chronicler of the Capitol riot Scott MacFarlane to a national news job covering Congress. As hardcore MacFarlane stans, National Zero extends the warmest congratulations to Scott and looks forward to sourcing him dozens upon dozens upon dozens of more times in the coming year.

Anti-vax propagandists have attempted to turn the death of America’s beloved auntie Betty White into a martyr for their misinformation campaigns, Gizmodo reports. “Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today” says a fake qute attributed to White three days before he death.

Anti-vax Republican Orange County, California Deputy District Attorney Kelly Ernby has died after telling friends she was “very sick” with COVID-19, the Orange County Register reports. “She was obviously very passionate in her love for America and her love for the Republican party,” a friend said of the departed charter school lover and avowed enemy of socialism. “There’s nothing that matters more than our freedoms right now,” said Ernby at an anti-vax rally on December 4th, weeks before she was freed from her mortal coil. Ernby is survived by her dog, Nixon, and husband Axel.

Last month the House January 6th Select Committee issued a subpoena for the personal communications of Floridian husband and wife Oath Keepers Kelly and Connie Meggs, two of 19 defendants in a sprawling conspiracy case against the right wing MAGA ultra-nationalist group, Politico reports. On Monday the Meggs filed a lawsuit against Verizon and the Committee to block the subpoena of their phone records, using that same “no legitimate legislative purpose” and “we can’t get a fair trial in DC because libs would be on the jury” bullshit arguments every other Trump minion has tried. Kelly Meggs messaged other Oath Keepers during the riot, telling them he was searching for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, presumably to kill her, per court records. Kelly has been held in the DC lockup for nearly a year, while Connie has been out on supervised release.

Johns Hopkins University says there were a record 1,082,549 new cases of COVID-19 recorded in the United States on Monday, doubling the previous week’s record high, ABC News reports

Authorities in Boulder County, Colorado are investigating reports of a fire starting at a barn owned by racist Christian fundamentalist sect called the Twelve Tribes that spread and caused the conflagration that destroyed nearly a thousand homes and left two people missing, the New York Times reports. “We’re going to take our time and be methodical because the stakes are huge,” Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said, correctly assuming that people are going to be bloodthirsty for revenge for losing their homes and want some MAGA cult heads on pikes if they can be blamed.

The Twelve Tribes are described in a Southern Poverty Law Center report as having “a tangle of doctrine that teaches its followers that slavery was ‘a marvelous opportunity’ for black people, who are deemed by the Bible to be servants of whites, and that homosexuals deserve no less than death.” Naturally the MAGA trolls on The Hill were blaming “demrat eco terrorist[s]” for the fire Monday, as if they anticipated their fellow cultists being responsible.

A federal judge in California has rejected five separate attempts to have the charges against Nebraska Republican Congressman Jeff Fortenberry for lying to the FBI tossed, KETV reports.

The nation’s second largest school district, with 665,000 students and 26,000 teachers, announced Monday that all students, faculty and staff will have to provide proof of a negative coronavirus test before returning to classes next Monday, KTLA Los Angeles reports.

The policy from the Los Angeles Unified School District is independent of the individual’s vaccination status, so at least 700,000 people in the Los Angeles area must get tested in the next six days.  The school district is providing the tests for free at various school campuses around the city.

“Nancy Pelosi and Democrats were involved in the negligence that led to the disaster that happened a year ago on January 6th,” says Republican Indiana Congressman Jim Banks, as sexual assault misprisioner Jim Jordan grins stupidly.

In the realm of Fox, it’s not the Republicans who encouraged the domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol who should be investigated; it’s the people who were attacked.  Because they were probably “asking for it.”

Verizon and AT&T have agreed to delay the deployment of a new 5G system for two weeks, giving the carriers and regulators time to review concerns that the new technology will interfere with aircraft flight systems, Reuters reports.

The White House, regulatory agencies, aviation officials, airlines and union officials who were concerned about the impact of the introduction of C-Band wireless spectrum usage, which may impact the operation of electronic instruments, like radio altimeters.  Aviation officials warned that flights could be rerouted to minimize contact with the new systems; airlines and unions warned on social media that flight delays and cancellations would be the fault of Verizon and AT&T.

The decision to delay was lauded by the Federal Aviation Administration: “We look forward to using the additional time and space to reduce flight disruptions associated with this 5G deployment.”  The discussions between the carriers and federal officials reportedly revolve around minimizing the risks of the new system on flight electronics, not eliminating it.

From left to right: Registered Republican Jonathon Morgan Mauldin, 27, arrested Friday after illegally parking his SUV at a shopping center with a loaded AR-15 and over an eighth of weed inside. Registered Dem Allan David Martinelli, 81, crashed his golf cart into another on Friday after having “two drinks of scotch”, booked on DUI. Registered Republican Patricia Loren Shaw, 75, arrested Thursday on charges of burglary, theft, and criminal mischief for poking holes in her neighbor’s screen door with a blue ballpoint pen. Jessie Charles Webb, 32, no Florida voter registration, but a “web” tattoo on his shoulder, arrested Saturday on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment for slashing his girlfriend’s hand with a knife. Registered Republican John Paul Toupin, 79, arrested Friday for drunkenly crashing his golf cart into three others. Toupin is also listed as an “active” voter in Michigan as well, so as a part-time Villager he should be presumed guilty of double voting until proven innocent.

Krystal Tini, an unvaxxed actress with credits like Hot Girl in the TV movie “The HOA”; Harry’s Girl in the rightly-overlooked 2013, um, thriller (?) “Dead Man Down’; and Debra in the straight-to-video 2012 movie “Jersey Shore Shark Attack” went on Stew Peters’ podcast to claim that simply being around people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus makes her bleed… down there.

Yes, she’s claiming that being around vaccinated people makes her menstrual flow kick in.  And she says it lasts about a week.  And it happens about every fourth week.  But it’s definitely because of the coronavirus vaccine.  It’s not anything else.  And she hasn’t gone to a doctor to be treated because she knows what they’d say.  She’s done her own research.

But they don’t think “formulating strategy to attract white suburban women” is pandering.

— Dr.Darrell Scott (@PastorDScott) January 3, 2022

Dr Darrell Scott, pastor at the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and a member of Trump’s 2016 transition team, seems to be dimly aware of the fact that the Republican Party is very much happy with having a white supremacist as one of its top stars. Highlights of Scott’s day on Twitter include him saying “All White Conservatives AREN’T Racists. Some are. I’ve never bit my tongue” and “Lemme make sure I have it right…When I condemn and criticize Black Democrats, Black causes, Black Holidays, and Black leaders…I’m a ‘Free Thinker’. When I criticize the Right, or defend Black Holidays, causes, etc. It’s ‘What happened to you? You’re one of them’. Okay. Got it!” in response to the MAGA replies to his tweets. Not sure whether or not we should feel bad for him.

The two eldest Trump children refused to comply with subpoenas from the New York State Attorney General, ABC News reports, even though they don’t have any applicable privilege claims relating to their alleged manipulation of property values.

Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump Kushner will appeal the issuance of the subpoenas by New York AG Letitia James, who is leading an in-depth investigation into how the Trump Organization and the Trumps directed the valuations of their properties to be low-balled for tax reporting or inflated to attract investors.

“As her investigation into financial dealing of the Trump Organization continues, Attorney General James is seeking interviews under oath of Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump,” a spokesperson for the AG’s office said. “Despite numerous attempts to delay our investigation by the Trump Organization, we are confident that our questions will be answered and the truth will be uncovered because no one is above the law.”

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty on four of twelve counts against her in a federal fraud trial centered on her blood testing scam, the Wall Street Journal reports. The jury returned a guilty verdict on a count of conspiracy to defraud investors, and wire fraud against three individual investors. The jury hung on three counts of wire fraud against other individual investors, and acquitted Holmes of four other charges related to defrauding patients using the fake Theranos tech. One other charge was dropped in November due to prosecutorial error.

Holmes personally conned Betsy DeVos, Rupert Murdoch, and the Walton family of Walmart fame into giving her hundreds of millions of dollars in her scam. As such, National Zero’s official editorial position is in support of leniency for this rogue anti-hero for ripping off worse criminals.

None of these RNC fundraising emails actually offer people a chance to join Trump’s vaporware social network and the “FOUNDING MEMBER SUPPORTER” is meaningless bullshit. Also ignore the fact that a social media app is supposed to be a self-sustaining business funded by advertisers.

More than 13% of the staff at the Capitol, including members of Congress, have currently tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a letter written to members of Congress and their staffs by the attending physician of the U.S. Congress, the Washington Post reports.

The attending physician, Brian P. Monahan, urged Congress to implement policies to cut down on the spread of the virus, including holding meetings remotely and having as much staff as possible work from home.  Monahan also recommended upgrading the masking requirements in the Capitol to mandate use of KN95 or N95 facemasks, excluding cloth masks.

“The daily case rates will increase even more substantially in the coming weeks,” Monahan wrote. “These cases represent both a rising rate of ‘breakthrough infections’ among mostly previously vaccinated individuals and several unvaccinated individuals.”