They always come for the fighters. https://t.co/HD1Ts88DzG pic.twitter.com/qNaLToKPsC

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) September 9, 2021

“Attorney General Ken Paxton’s securities fraud case can be tried in his home county in North Texas, an appeals court affirmed Thursday when it denied the prosecution’s plea to reconsider the decision. The 1st Court of Appeals in Houston denied a motion by prosecutors to hold a hearing of the full nine-justice court to review the decision made by a three-justice panel of the court in May to move the case from Harris County back to Collin County, where Paxton lives. The order avoids further delays in the six-year-old criminal case against the sitting attorney general and returns the case to what is seen as a friendlier venue to the two-term Republican incumbent.”

“Justices Gordon Goodman and Amparo Guerra dissented to the court’s opinion and Justice April Farris did not participate. Goodman, who was part of the three-justice panel that sent the case back to Collin, had dissented in part to the original decision. Paxton’s defense lawyers touted the court’s decision and prodded prosecutors to move forward with the case. Paxton is accused of persuading investors to buy stock in a technology firm without disclosing he would be compensated for it. He was a member of the Texas House at the time. Paxton denies any wrongdoing and says the accusations are politically motivated” – Texas Tribune.

Greg Sargent, Washington Post: “Here’s a midterm message for you: Judging by the GOP’s continuing slide into extremist and destructive behavior in the face of a surging covid-19, electing more Republicans to positions of responsibility right now would likely mean more economic malaise, sickness, misery and death. This is what Democrats come very close to saying in a new memo about the 2022 elections that their House campaign arm is now distributing. The memo is an important marker: It suggests Democrats are finally leaning into prosecuting the case against Republicans for actively impairing the nation’s response to the covid-19 resurgence.”

“This cannot come soon enough. A confluence of new factors is making it obvious that Democrats need to take on this argument much more forcefully, not just for the good of the party, but for the good of the country. The memo from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee directly ties GOP extremism on covid to the health of the country – and, importantly, to our prospects for economic recovery and a return to normalcy. ‘House Republicans have lied about its impact’ and ‘dangerously rejected medical guidance to wear masks and social distance,’ the memo says, adding that ‘extremist Republicans’ have ‘even encouraged Americans to consume horse and cattle dewormer.’ House Republicans and GOP candidates have spread disinformation about the virus, have staged epic fake-outrage fests about mask mandates, have demagogued about vaccines in ridiculous, hallucinogenic and obscenely wretched ways, and have pushed the rankest of absurdities to undermine confidence in federal health officials. Critically, the memo notes that if our covid response falters, that will also stand in the way of ‘getting Americans back to work.’ And it’s true that the backsliding on covid is showing serious signs of harming the economic recovery.”

“I strongly endorse Republican House of Representatives Candidate Harriet Hageman from Wyoming who is running against warmonger and disloyal Republican, Liz Cheney. Harriet is a fourth-generation daughter of Wyoming, a very successful attorney, and has the support and respect of a truly great U .S. Senator, Wyoming’s own Cynthia Lummis. Harriet Hageman adores the Great State of Wyoming, is strong on Crime and Borders, powerfully supports the Second Amendment, loves our Military and our Vets, and will fight for Election Integrity and Energy Independence (which Biden has already given up). Unlike RINO Liz Cheney, Harriet is all in for America First. Harriet has my Complete and Total Endorsement in replacing the Democrats number one provider of sound bites, Liz Cheney. Make America Great Again!” proclaims the Immortal Orange One, Destroyer of nations, King of Titans, Prince of Pussy, Mispronouncer of Yosemite.

Democratic Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar announced Thursday that she was diagnosed with Stage 1A breast cancer in February and that the treatment she’s been undertaking seems to be working.

“In February of this year, doctors at Mayo Clinic found small white spots called calcifications during a routine mammogram,” Klobuchar wrote on Medium. “After this was discovered, I had a biopsy at Piper Breast Center in Minneapolis, and then learned that I had Stage 1A breast cancer.”

Klobuchar urged readers to undergo routine screenings and to perform self-checks to pick up signs of cancer early.  “So many Americans are still juggling their children on their laps and their laptops on their desks,” she wrote.  “They are constantly balancing their families, their jobs, and their health. It’s easy to put off health screenings, just like I did. But I hope my experience is a reminder for everyone of the value of routine health checkups, exams, and follow-through. I am so fortunate to have caught the cancer at an early enough stage and to not need chemotherapy or other extensive treatments, which unfortunately is not the case for so many others.”

“The Legislature’s Redistricting Committee on Wednesday fielded a proposal from its Republican members that would move a northern chunk of Douglas County out of its Omaha moorings and into eastern Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District. That dramatic move could alter the political landscape of Nebraska’s only swing congressional district, which handed an electoral vote to Democratic President Joe Biden last November and elected a Democratic congressman in 2014.”

“Under the redistricting plan authored by Republicans who serve in the nonpartisan Legislature, a portion of Douglas County would be moved into the congressional district represented by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Lincoln. Meanwhile, heavily Republican Saunders County, whose county seat is Wahoo, would be moved into the 2nd District. Bellevue and Offutt Air Force Base would also return to the 2nd District after being transferred into the 1st District 10 years ago. North Omaha, which is largely Black, would remain in the 2nd District along with South Omaha’s Latino population, both of which are heavily Democratic” – Lincoln Journal-Star.

Huffington Post: “In the fever swamps of Instagram, a network of right-wing meme accounts run by teenage boys and young men has erupted into an advertising powerhouse reaching millions. These memers – who regularly post far-right conspiracy theories, anti-vaccine propaganda and other incendiary clickbait – first caught the attention of obscure brands selling cheap MAGA merch, who started paying them to display ads to their rapidly growing conservative audiences. The money wasn’t great, as a few memers told HuffPost last summer, but it still felt like a big deal to watch their Instagram pages blossom into mini businesses. Little did they know, members of Donald Trump’s inner circle would soon come knocking.”

“Since the 2020 election, these meme moguls have quietly collected payments to run ads for the Trump campaign’s ‘Election Defense Fund’; former senior Trump aide Jason Miller’s new social media network, GETTR; Trump confidant Mike Lindell’s bedding company, MyPillow; and, as recently as a few weeks ago, the National Republican Senatorial Committee. In a few cases, the memers have included high-schoolers as young as 14. Some of these discreet ad deals were brokered directly between teens and former members of the Trump White House, communications obtained by HuffPost reveal. Most of the ads come in the form of memes with captions urging people to click customized links inserted into the memers’ Instagram bios, which lead to the promoted parties’ websites. The memers typically earn a small ‘conversion’ fee for each person who uses their link, doled out by third-party marketing agencies working with big-name clients. Given the massive reach of several of these pages, often boosted by Instagram’s powerful recommendation algorithms, this can quickly add up. For the recent GETTR ad campaign, memers earned $0.85 per conversion with a cap of 25,000 conversions – or $21,250.”

“President Biden will sign an executive order today requiring all federal workers to be vaccinated, with no option of being regularly tested instead” reports CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

“The White House is planning to withdraw David Chipman’s nomination to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives this week amid bipartisan pushback over his gun control advocacy, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. President Biden nominated Chipman, who worked at ATF for more than two decades before joining the gun control group led by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), in April as part of a larger effort to curb gun violence. The White House declined to comment. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about the nominee” – Washington Post.

Axios hypes up an alleged expose from Stephanie Grisham, the former Melania Trump chief of staff/Trump White House press secretary who never actually held a briefing, titled “I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in the Trump White House”, claiming a source told them “When I heard this, all I could think about was Stephanie surrounded by a lake of gasoline, striking a match with a grin on her face.” We look forward to publishing a few clips of the three to five worst episodes recounted in the book and then never talking about it again here on National Zero.

NBC News: “The Taliban will allow dozens of U.S. and other foreign citizens to leave Afghanistan on a flight to Qatar scheduled to take off from Kabul on Thursday, two sources familiar with the matter have told NBC News. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the two officials confirmed the development, saying a flight was expected to land in Doha on Thursday. The planned departure comes amid growing fears for those who have been left behind in Afghanistan as the Taliban tightens its grip on the country in the wake of the United States’ chaotic withdrawal.”

“The resurgence of Covid-19 is rapidly dominating Joe Biden’s administration, putting into question the future of his broader legislative agenda and increasingly steering Democrats into treacherous political territory. The president on Thursday is expected to lay out a detailed, six-point plan that’s aimed at staunching a loss in public confidence as the Delta variant sends hospitalizations, deaths and infection rates soaring. Democrats, anxious about the state of the presidency and the country, say Biden must use the moment to forcefully outline how he intends to combat this worsening stage of the pandemic. ‘Fundamentally, for our public health, for our economic health and for the president’s political health, getting Covid right is the single most important issue that they face in the immediate term,’ said Robert Gibbs, who served as a White House press secretary in the Obama administration. ‘We’re stepping into a different phase and the new administration has to meet the moment of that new phase. I think that begins in earnest with this speech.'”

“The speech comes just months after the president held a celebratory tentative return to normalcy, by first lifting mask mandates then holding a 4th of July barbeque on White House grounds. On Thursday, Biden’s remarks will be delivered against the backdrop of falling approval numbers, driven in part by his handling of the pandemic. A Gallup poll this week found that for the first time – either as a candidate or as president – more people disapproved of Biden’s communication on Covid than approved of it. It’s a reversal from early in his presidency, when Biden’s handling of Covid overall helped buoy his standing. The president had stayed above water until a few weeks ago. Today, roughly 44 percent of the public approves of the job he is doing, according to a FiveThirtyEight average of polls” – Politico.

AP: “The wind ripped chunks off the hospital’s roof and the entire building rumbled. One nurse said the cement pounding into the walls sounded like the loudest bowling alley she could imagine. Another felt like she was inside a meteor shower. One of the most powerful hurricanes in the nation’s history was barreling into south Louisiana. Fifty miles (80 kilometers) southwest of New Orleans, the staff at Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center in Houma was already weary from a year and a half of caring for patients with COVID-19. Now water was pouring from the ceiling tiles. A giant metal beam tore off the building and thumped into a glass door like a battering ram.”

“The medical staff prepared to keep patients on ventilators alive by hand if the worst were to happen. Hurricane Ida was colliding with the country’s out-of-control pandemic. Hospitals facing a Category 4 storm typically either evacuate or discharge as many patients as possible. But this time, amid the community’s fourth, brutal surge of COVID, many of Chabert Medical Center’s patients were too sick to be sent home. And hospitals that lay outside the hurricane’s most destructive path were too full of COVID patients to absorb any more. So here they stayed – nurses, doctors, paramedics – exhausted from battling one catastrophe, watching through the windows as a second one tore into town with 150 mph winds. ‘The mental stress on our employees is much worse now than it’s ever been,’ said Richard Zuschlag, the owner of Acadian Ambulance, the state’s largest emergency medical outfit. ‘COVID set us up for that. And the hurricane is the icing on the cake.'”

Prepping for a group of Trump supporters who have shown violent tendencies in the past, federal law enforcement will re-erect the chain link fence that was constructed around the Capitol following the January 6th domestic terrorist attack–this time, for pro-Trump protesters rallying on September 18th to support the scores of defendants jailed for charges related to attacking the Capitol January 6th.

The Associated Press reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at her weekly press conference, “We intend to have the integrity of the Capitol be intact.”

The rally for the so-called “J6” defendants is being arranged by former Donald Trump campaign staffer Matt Braynard to protest the treatment of people held without bail until their trials for their actions during the January 6th terrorist attacks.  While no specific unusual complaints have been filed by those jailed, Braynard has raised more than $600,000 through crowd funding to protest their treatment. 

In a bit of performance art which will surely endear him further to his cult, Donald Trump told Greg Gutfeld in a room barely big enough to hold their pair of overinflated egos, that when he spoke to the Taliban leader he had released from prison, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, grunted.

“So I told you about Abdul,” Trump tells the overly giggly Gutfeld.  “And when I first spoke to him on the phone, I said, ‘Nice to speak to you by phone, Abdul,’ and he goes, ‘RRRRarrhl,'” to which the Gutfeld crew breaks out in laughter.  “Y’know, they’re ferocious people,” Trump continues.  “You know, you go to Broadway shows, they fight.  They like to fight.  They’ve been fighting for about a thousand years.”

“I hate Broadway,” the ever-so-helpful Gutfeld interjects.

I guess Trump & Robert E. Lee both know how it feels to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of pro-democracy forces in Pennsylvania. https://t.co/wjSIQAdaih

— Conor Lamb (@ConorLambPA) September 8, 2021

“As directed by the Court’s August 25, 2021 Opinion and Order, ECF No. 172, counsel for Defendants Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (the State Defendants) submit detailed billing statements regarding the fees incurred in defending this action. The State Defendants propose that they be awarded $21,964.75 in attorneys’ fees based on the affidavits submitted by Assistant Attorney General Heather S. Meingast and Assistant Attorney General Erik A. Grill (attached hereto as Exhibits A and B)” – Notice from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Jocelyn Benson on legal fees award after Lin Wood, Sidney Powell, and assorted other mental patients were sanctioned by a federal judge in the Eastern District of Michigan for their failed Stop the Steal lawsuits from December 2020.

Amidst the rubble of 9/11, a Callery pear tree was discovered to still remain standing and indeed, as devastated as it was, it was alive.

It was rehabilitated & restored by the @NYCParks and it was planted and remains at this day at the @Sept11Memorial. pic.twitter.com/Kr0RuHsxE4

— Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (@SecMayorkas) September 8, 2021

Miami-Dade county prosecutors have charged three people with stealing the identity of five deceased victims of the Surfside condominium and two surviving victims, making tens of thousands of dollars in purchases, CNN reports.

Ninety-eight people died in the collapse of the 13-story residential complex on June 24th.  The building was completely demolished, leaving 136 families homeless.  The first victim reported that the credit cards for her recently deceased sister had contact information changed online; she reported the July 9th, two weeks after the tower collapse.

“Cyber grave robbers did move very quickly after the collapse to grab what they could from deceased victims while families and friends were in absolute emotional turmoil,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said.