French President Emmanuel Macron pulled the ambassador to the United States on Friday, CNN reports, signaling an escalation of a diplomatic row that began when the Aussies fucked off-a-roo on a deal to develop a new class of submarine in partnership with the French and instead asked the United States for help. Why exactly America is to blame for simply saying yes to the Aussies is unclear but the French are pissed they aren’t in on building some cool new toys.

An advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration overwhelming voted against recommending coronavirus vaccine booster shots for adults 16 years old and older, citing concerns about the safety of the booster in younger people, NBC News reports.

The ruling puts the FDA determination in a direct path of White House recommendations that adults get the booster as a way of strengthening people’s resistance to new coronavirus variants as the highly-volatile winter season, when infections are expected to spike, approaches.

The issue seems to revolve around the amount of available information about the safety of a booster shot in people younger than 19 years old, a similar concern for some of the panel members when the vaccines were first approved.  Those concerns were abated as more clinical data became available.  The panel will discuss and vote upon recommendations for others to receive boosters later in Friday afternoon’s session.

A US drone attack on a Kabul neighbor in the wake of 13 American soldiers being killed by a suicide bomber killed ten civilians, including women and seven children according to the Pentagon, the Associated Press reports.

Saying “the strike was a tragic mistake,” Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, acknowledged what multiple news outlets had been reporting:  that the August 29th attack killed an aid worker and neighbors who were trying to flee Kabul, not a high-level ISIS operative responsible for planning the group’s operations.

“I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike,” McKenzie said. “Moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K, or a direct threat to U.S. forces.”

AP: “North Carolina judges struck down the state’s latest photo voter identification law on Friday, agreeing with minority voters that Republicans rammed through rules tainted by racial bias as a way to remain in power. Two of the three trial judges declared the December 2018 law is unconstitutional, even though it was designed to implement a photo voter ID mandate added to the North Carolina Constitution in a referendum just weeks earlier. They said the law intentionally discriminates against Black voters, violating their equal protections. The law ‘was motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters,’ Superior Court Judges Michael O’Foghludha and Vince Rozier wrote in their 100-page majority opinion.”

“‘Other, less restrictive voter ID laws would have sufficed to achieve the legitimate nonracial purposes of implementing the constitutional amendment requiring voter ID, deterring fraud, or enhancing voter confidence.’ The majority decision, which followed a three-week trial in April, is now likely headed to a state appeals court, which had previously blocked the law’s enforcement last year while the case was heard. The law remains unenforceable with this ruling. With a similar lawsuit in federal court set to go to trial this January and another state court lawsuit now on appeal, it’s looking more unlikely that a voter ID mandate for in-person and absentee balloting will happen in the 2022 elections.”

Hung up on those last few letters? Check out CNN’s article for the answer!

In an undated clip from the Howard Stern radio show, Georgia Republican candidate for Senate Herschel Walker discusses the six times (at minimum) he played Russian roulette while he was alone because he “loves competition.”

Please don’t be stupid and try this.  If you even have an ideation of trying this, call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255.

Donald Trump sent a letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger requesting the decertification of the state’s November 2020 election results because of “claims of voter fraud and voter irregularities.”

Trump claims to have a list of “43,000 Absentee Ballot Votes Counted [sic] in DeKalb County that violated the Chain of Custody rules,” which Trump claims should be negated.  Biden won Georgia by about 12,000 votes, and set the stage for the state to elect two Democrats to the US Senate.

“People do not understand why you and Governor Brian Kemp adamantly refuse to acknowledge the now proven facts, and fight so hard that the election truth not be told,” Trump wrote despite the fact that multiple recounts have happened around the state and found no large scale fraud.  “You and Governor Kemp are doing a tremendous disservice to the Great [sic] State of Georgia, and to our Nation [sic] which is systemically being destroyed by an illegitimate president and his administration.”

The Oregon Medical Board revoked the medical license of Steven Arthur LaTulippe, a Salem, Oregon-area doctor who refused to following state health department guidelines requiring patients to wear masks, The Oregonian reports.

LaTulippe instructed patients to remove their masks while waiting in his office.  He refused to have his staff screen patients for signs of coronavirus, instead relying on a visual inspection by a receptionist at the front desk to identify patients who may be sick.  In office visits, LaTulippe told patients that masks were ineffective against the coronavirus and he claimed that wearing a mask could cause carbon dioxide poisoning, a debunked claim frequently made by pandemic deniers.

In other action, the board found LaTuippe improperly prescribed excess dosages of opioid medications to at least eight patients when doctors reviewing the cases found the highly-addictive medication unwarranted. 

“As Donald Trump returns to Georgia later this month, criminal investigators in the state have been quietly conducting interviews, collecting documents and working to build a line of communication with congressional investigators as they aim to build a case against the former President for his alleged attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis kicked off her investigation with a splash earlier this year, when she fired off a round of letters to Georgia officials asking them to preserve documents related to Trump just a month after she took office” CNN reports.

A Texas woman, her daughter and a friend were arrested in New York City Thursday night after they assaulted a hostess at the popular Carmine’s Restaurant on the Upper West Side after the hostess asked to see proof that the women has been vaccinated for coronavirus, WABC-7 New York reports.

The 24-year-old hostess suffered minor injuries with cuts and bruises and refused medical attention.  The three women–a 44-year-old, her 21-year-old daughter and another 49-year-old woman–had tried to enter the restaurant when the hostess stopped them and asked to see proof of vaccination, as has been the law in New York City since August 17th.  The women are scheduled for a court appearance on October 4h on charges of misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief.

“Our goal is to serve our customers great food, offer excellent service and hospitality while keeping our employees and customers safe as we comply with the government mandated COVID-19 protocols,” said a spokesperson from Carmine’s Italian Restaurant. “It’s a shocking and tragic situation when one of our valued employees is assaulted for doing their job – as required by city policies – and trying to make a living. Our focus right now is caring for our employee and the rest of our restaurant family. We are a family-style restaurant, and this is the absolute last experience any of our employees should ever endure and any customers witness.”

AL.com: “A married Alabama couple known for their reselling videos on YouTube under the name ‘Alabama Pickers’ have both died of COVID. Dusty and Tristan Graham lived in Huntsville, where they would often post videos about various tips and tricks to reselling vintage items like clothes and home decor. They sold on eBay under the username, bama4348. Dusty died Thursday, almost three weeks after his wife did, according to the GoFundMe page set up by one of their children.”

“‘Unfortunately, Dusty and Tristan have both passed away,’ Windsor Graham posted on the page. ‘Thank you all for your kind words and helping us during this difficult time. We will be using the money to pay for funeral expenses.’ One of the last videos the married couple posted on their now deleted YouTube channel was about how they wouldn’t get the vaccine. It was later reposted on Vaxx Mann’s channel, which is connected to a website titled SORRYANTIVAXXER.COM, dedicated to sharing stories of people who have gotten COVID and died, or came close to dying after sharing their anti-vax beliefs. ‘I’ve got my own passport. It’s called the ‘Bill of Rights,’’ Dusty said in the video around the 41:30 mark. ‘I think this will be all behind us in a couple of years.'”

New Hampshire’s iconic “Old Man of The Mountains” a natural rock formation resembling the profile of a male face, which collapsed in 2003, per a report in the Berlin Sun, is featured in the campaign logo of Republican New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a review of Sununu’s website revealed to National Zero staff on Friday. The exact reasoning for the Old Man’s depiction in the logo is unclear, as had the rocky cliff still existed in the present day it would have been symbolic of strength and sturdiness. However, as we said, the face collapsed in 2003, and in 2021 it symbolizes the end result of the entropic decay that is the inevitable end to that within all of creation, be it of biological or geological provenance. So maybe Sununu should just switch to using the state flag.

Read more at Loomer’s Telegram Channel.

“The top U.S. military officer said Friday that calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the final stormy months of Donald Trump’s presidency were ‘perfectly within the duties and responsibilities’ of his job. In his first public comments on the conversations, Gen. Mark Milley such said calls are ‘routine’ and were done ‘to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability.’ The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke to The Associated Press and another reporter traveling with him to Europe. Milley has been at the center of a firestorm amid reports he made two calls to Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army to assure him that the US was not going to suddenly go to war with or attack China” reports the Associated Press.

“Descriptions of the calls made last October and in January were first aired in excerpts from the forthcoming book ‘Peril’ by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The book says Milley told Li that he would warn Li in the event of an attack. Milley on Friday offered only a brief defense of his calls, saying he plans a deeper discussion about the matter for Congress when he testifies at a hearing later in September. ‘I think it’s best that I reserve my comments on the record until I do that in front of the lawmakers who have the lawful responsibility to oversee the U.S. military,’ Milley said.”

“The retirement of Trump-impeachment-supporting Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), in part over fears for the safety of his young family, is a deeply ominous sign for our politics. It might be a Trump era cliché to say that ‘this is not normal’ but a 36-year-old congressman in his second term doesn’t just retire. That is the start of one’s career, not the finish. Moreover, a 36-year-old Republican congressman sure as shit doesn’t retire because he is scared Republican voters might hurt his family. That is not normal. At all. It is a flashing siren about just how dangerous the Republican party has become. Unlike fellow Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, Gonzalez was not willing to go along with the phony election-certification charade. He eventually became one of ten Republican House members to vote for Trump’s impeachment over the actions that led to the January 6 insurrection. The backlash from that vote is what led to the harassment and eventually tonight’s resignation.”

“It resulted in a primary from Max Miller, a douchey trust-fund baby who worked for Trump and allegedly assaulted his girlfriend and colleague, Stephanie Grisham. Unlike Gonzalez, Miller was no athletic hero. He had no record of accomplishment, though he does have a rap sheet. He had no coherent policy critique of Gonzalez. The primary was to be solely a referendum over whether voters of the district wanted their representative to be a Trump toady even if it means overthrowing American democracy. Gonzalez’s primary race – not Liz Cheney’s or Adam Kinzinger’s – would have been the prime test of whether the Republican party was a cult in thrall to a wannabe authoritarian or a conservative political party. The answer was so clear that Gonzalez didn’t even wait around to find out. He barely made it out of the starter’s gate” – The Bulwark.

AP: “An app created by allies of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny disappeared from Apple and Google stores on Friday as polls opened across Russia for three days of voting in a parliamentary election. It comes as Russian authorities seek to suppress the use of Smart Voting, a project designed by Navalny to promote candidates that are most likely to defeat those backed by the Kremlin. This weekend’s election is widely seen as an important part of President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to cement his grip on power ahead of the 2014 presidential election, for which control of the parliament is key. Apple and Google have come under pressure in recent weeks, with Russian officials urging them to remove the app, which features Smart Voting, saying failure to do so will be interpreted as interference in the election and threatening them with fines.”

“Last week, Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. ambassador John Sullivan over the situation. On Thursday, representatives of Apple and Google were invited to a meeting in the upper house of Russia’s parliament, the Federation Council. The commission said in a statement after the meeting that Apple agreed to cooperate with the Russian authorities. Apple and Google have not responded to a request for comment.”

The Minnesota State Supreme Court struck down a lower court’s rulings and will allow a ballot measure to appear on ballots in the city of Minneapolis that would take significant steps to rebuilt the way the Minneapolis Police Department is organized, operated and overseen, NPR reports.

Sparked by the “Defund the Police” movement that took center stage last summer, the Minneapolis measure would remove a provision in the city’s charter that a Police Department must be formed and funded.  Instead, the measure would allow the city leaders to reform and re-envision police operations to be handled by teams of police officers, social workers and health care professionals.

The goal is for public safety officers to take a fresh look at fulfilling their duties to the city’s residents without relying on armed officers to being the primary contact on most calls.

Oh wow — you went there. https://t.co/T5WBcZFqk9

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 17, 2021

“Calling former President Donald J. Trump ‘a cancer for the country,’ Representative Anthony Gonzalez, Republican of Ohio, said in an interview on Thursday that he would not run for re-election in 2022, ceding his seat after just two terms in Congress rather than compete against a Trump-backed primary opponent. Mr. Gonzalez is the first, but perhaps not the last, of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to retire rather than face ferocious primaries next year in a party still in thrall to the former president” – New York Times.