“Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday criticized the ‘failure’ to prevent the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan and suggested that Georgia was ready to take in some refugees following the repressive Taliban regime’s swift takeover of the country. Kemp said in a statement that ‘it is vitally important to keep those who partnered with American armed forces over the last 20 years safe from harm.’ ‘Joe Biden has broken his word to the nation, the Afghans and the world, but we as Americans cannot break our word to those who lent aid to us in our mission to defend freedom and bring justice to those who attacked our country on September 11,’ he said.”

“He joins a growing number of bipartisan governors who are receptive to taking in refugees from Afghanistan after Biden’s pullout of U.S. troops triggered the collapse of the Afghan central government to insurgent Taliban forces. Republican governors in Maryland, Massachusetts, Utah and South Carolina have expressed willingness to accept refugees, as have a number of Democratic leaders. And top GOP contenders in Georgia races have also called for the state to take in allies who are now seeking safe passage to the U.S.” – Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

After sweeping through the country, the Taliban’s primary spokesman has said the conservative fundamentalist religious regime will respect the rights of women in Afghanistan, even though it notoriously punished women who demonstrated independence during its last reign, the Associated Press reports.

In an apparent attempt to mollify fears of Afghans and international observers, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said that the theocratic rulers will honor women’s rights within the framework of Islamic law.  He did not explain what that meant nor did he detail what behaviors will be deemed acceptable.

Mujahid also said that the Taliban would not seek revenge on Afghans who worked with American soldiers and contractors or those who were part of the previous government, offering amnesty to them.  He claimed “nobody will go to their doors to ask why they helped.”

“Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Tuesday that he and his husband, Chasten, have become parents. ‘For some time, Chasten and I have wanted to grow our family. We’re overjoyed to share that we’ve become parents!’ the former presidential candidate wrote on Twitter. ‘The process isn’t done yet and we’re thankful for the love, support, and respect for our privacy that has been offered to us. We can’t wait to share more soon'” NBC News reports.

“Buttigieg and his husband, an author and former teacher, have been married since 2018. The couple put their South Bend, Indiana, home on the market earlier this year, and, according to The Washington Post, they now live in a one-bedroom apartment in Washington’s Capitol Hill neighborhood with their dogs. Buttigieg, who served as mayor of South Bend from 2012 to 2019, made history earlier this year as the first openly gay Cabinet member to be confirmed by the Senate. Last year, after narrowly winning the Iowa caucuses, he became the first gay presidential candidate to win a primary contest. At 39, Buttigieg is also the youngest person to lead the Department of Transportation.”

Extremist right wing pastor Rick Wiles, founder of TruNews.com, seems to be done with Mike Lindell after the “former” crackhead accused his site of being a puppet of Media Matters. Why? Who knows. Lindell has been losing his shit at an accelerated pace since the much-heralded “Cyber Symposium” failed to present literally anything remotely resembling evidence the 2020 election was hacked and stolen by China. How this ends for Lindell will be entertaining.

Speaking of the CyberSymposium, which we embedded here on National Zero via that shitty right wing YouTube knockoff Rumble, you may notice that the video above is also from Rumble – via our new National Zero channel – and not YouTube as is usual. Jack’s channel recently earned a lifetime ban from YouTube for posting a video of a brawl at an anti-vax rally, erasing the clips placed in literally hundreds of National Zero articles by algorithmic decision. Now, the above clip per se is almost certainly not going to be in violation of YouTube’s policies given that it’s an internecine pissing contest between these two scumbags, but we thought we should road test Rumble anyway for when we do need to post risky, propagandistic content for reporting use here.

Not lost on us is the irony that a center-left news site needs to resort to using a right wing “free speech” video platform to report on the MAGA bullshit we’re constantly accused of propagating by the mainstream video platform. We love YouTube, but fuck them for forcing this.

After 7 days of Twitter jail, I just have to say @GettrOfficial is GREAT!

Terrorist like the Taliban don’t have an account.

GETTR doesn’t send me emails about violating German law.

And I have freedom of speech, absolutely love it!

GETTR is very American! 🇺🇸#MTG4America pic.twitter.com/IU8R3TlFZE

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) August 17, 2021

“Rachel Maddow, host of a show on MSNBC, ran a segment stating that OAN employee Kristen Rouz worked for OAN, but was ‘also being paid by the Russian government to produce government-funded pro-Putin propaganda for a Russian government funded propaganda outfit called Sputnik.’ Herring sued Maddow and related entities for defamation. Maddow filed a motion to strike the complaint pursuant to California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which the district court granted.”

“The panel first addressed Herring’s argument that the district court should have considered five pieces of proffered evidence outside of the pleadings in determining whether to grant Maddow’s motion to strike. Because the motion to strike mounted a legal challenge, not a factual challenge, to Herring’s complaint, the panel held that Herring’s reliance on evidence outside of its complaint in defending against the anti-SLAPP motion was improper and inconsistent with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Turning to the merits, the panel held that Maddow’s statement was well within the bounds of what qualified asProtected speech under the First Amendment. The challenged statement was an obvious exaggeration/cushioned within an undisputed news story. The statement could not reasonably be understood to imply an assertion. Finally, the panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the complaint without leave to amend because Herring never asked to amend, and if it had, amendment would have been futile” – Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling in Herring Networks v Maddow.

The Associated Press reports that Tim Tebow, the white NFL player who really invented kneeling before that Black NFL player made it controversial, has played his final NFL preseason game after being cut as fourth string tight end by the Jacksonville Jaguars. The zero catch performance on Saturday night’s preseason opener, which also happened to be on Tebow’s 34th birthday, caps the end to a storied career of one decent season with the Broncos, then whatever the fuck that was supposed to be on the Jets, and then the Patriots, then the Eagles, before five years in the New York Mets’ farm system just barely not getting called up on several occasions.

Tebow’s signature “Tebowing”, a Christian-themed kneeling gesture performed on field as an act of prostration before God, was lauded by white, Christian NFL fans nationwide as a celebration of the power of pro-Jesus Caucasians over American culture and politics. Then when that more talented half-Black kid started kneeling too, doing so during the National Anthem in protest of police brutality and the overall effects of systemic racism inflicted upon African Americans, kneeling wasn’t so cool anymore. In fact, it was downright infuriating to millions of white NFL fans nationwide, having their weekly entertainment of seeing mostly Black men beating the absolute shit out of each other – and getting paid basically peanuts compared to what their teams’ owners make for it – being violated by such increasingly vocal assertions of Black political power.

To them, Tim Tebow is an icon of a simpler time, back when they could just slap the 22 year old Buffalo Wild Wings waitress’s ass when she walks away from the table after giving them club soda to clean the honey garlic sauce stains off their priceless Aaron Hernandez or Ron Mexico jerseys, and go back to watching themselves lose $1,800 because the fucking Cowboys didn’t cover the spread, and – oh fuck and the mortgage payment is overdue too – without seeing all that Black Lives Matter shit on the 38 TV screens within view. Back when America was great.

As for Tebow himself, who knows what’s next? As one of the few prominent Conservative Christians out there with an actual track record of real humanitarian work we’d hate to see him throw away an opportunity to build another hospital for the poor in the southern Philippines by running for Congress or something. Would especially hate to keep reporting on him losing GOP primaries again and again for the next ten years until he gives up and tries out for the Mets one more time.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, the exiled Taliban co-founder whom experts believe will be named the next president of Afghanistan, stepped foot in Afghanistan Tuesday for the first time in a decade after his troops rapidly gained control of the country, the Washington Post reports.

Baradar landed in Kandahar Tuesday afternoon (local time) after spending years in Qatar as the Taliban’s international diplomat.  He had spent more than eight years in a Pakistani jail, but was released in 2018 at the request of the Trump Administration, which wanted to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban.

In February 2020, the Trump Administration signed an agreement with Baradar stating that the US would withdrawal all troops from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021 in exchange for promises that the Taliban would not attack American targets in the country.  The Biden Administration pushed back that date to August 31st.

André Jacque, a conservative 40-year-old Wisconsin state senator who made a lengthy maskless speech less than a week ago in a packed committee hearing about critical race theory, has been hospitalized with pneumonia after testing positive for the coronavirus, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

A vocal opponent of mask and vaccine mandates, Jacque frequently railed against the “China virus” and has dismissed public health experts’ guidance on ways to curb the spread of the coronavirus, voting against provisions that would allow the governor to order people to wear masks or require proof of vaccination at public venues.

Last Wednesday, Jacque participated in a seven-hour senate committee hearing about the current conservative hot button topic, critical race theory.  The hearing featured testimony from more than 60 witnesses, and the maskless Jacque frequently made lengthy statements during the hearing.

NBC News: “A rapidly expanding wildfire in northern California prompted mandatory evacuation orders for residents living in El Dorado County Monday. The Caldor Fire was ignited Saturday evening in the Omo Ranch area, about 60 miles east of Sacramento, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s El Dorado division. More than 240 firefighters were deployed to contain the fire, which has since grown to more than 2,200 acres and was zero percent contained Monday.”

“‘Night firefighting and challenging terrain made accessing the fire difficult,’ the El Dorado Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. ‘The fire burned very actively throughout the night.’ Authorities placed evacuation orders within a 1.5-mile radius of the Caldor Fire. Those directives were upgraded from evacuation warnings to orders for residents in Leoni Meadows and Big Mountain areas Monday.”

“As top Republicans rally against the reintroduction of masking protocols to combat the Delta variant of the coronavirus, one prominent name has stayed largely on the sidelines. Former President Donald Trump has ventured relatively gingerly into the new masking debates. Of the hundreds of statements he has issued through his Save America PAC, just six have mentioned the words ‘mask’ or ‘masks.’ Of those six, just two could be described as a volley against the push by government officials to get individuals to mask up again or to institute mask mandates in places of business or schools. One came this past week as Trump fundraised off of former President Barack Obama’s birthday, where guests were pictured outside without masks on.”

“The other came on July 27, when Trump declared, ‘We won’t go back. We won’t mask our children,’ after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new indoor masking guidance. Trump’s relatively muted approach to the masking debates may be owed to his other obsessions – predominantly, spreading the false idea that the 2020 election was rigged. But it still stands in contrast to a number of top Republican elected officials” – Politico.

Detroit Free Press: “The father of a seven-year-old girl was charged with allowing his daughter to operate a vehicle without a license after the mother was injured Sunday afternoon on Dragon Drive in Kinderhook Township near Coldwater. Branch County Sheriff Office deputies were called to the dirt road just before 3 p.m. for an injury crash involving a golf cart. The cart with mother, father and three children were headed north toward Copeland Road with the girl driving.”

“She made an extreme left turn and tipped the golf cart over. It threw everyone out. The mother, Heather Wheaton, 33, was thrown to the ground suffering a broken arm and other injuries. Lakeland Fire Medical First Responders arrived to tend to the injured.”

“A man from Forty Fort said he used ‘poor judgement’ and regrets using his deceased mother’s name on an application for an absentee ballot for the 2020 presidential election. Robert Richard Lynn, 68, of Center Street, pleaded guilty to a third-degree misdeanor charge of violations relating to absentee or mail-in ballots during a court proceeding before Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough on Monday. Prosecutors earlier had withdrawn two felony counts of forgery and interference with an election against Lynn. Lynn was charged Oct. 21 by county detectives after the county Board of Elections Office ‘flagged’ an absentee ballot application in the name of Marie Pl Hannigan on Sept. 4. The application listed Hannigan’s date of birth, an address on Center Street in Forty Fort, and the reason for the absentee ballot, ‘visiting great grand kids Oct. 24-Nov. 10,’ according to the criminal complaint. A signature line listed Hannigan’s name.”

“A database used for voter information listed Hannigan died in 2015, and her voter information was changed to deceased on Aug. 21, 2015. Hannigan last voted on Nov. 4, 2014, and had her address listed as Crestview Drive in Dallas, the complaint says. Lynn admitted, according to the complaint, he used a typewriter to complete the absentee ballot application and signed his deceased mother’s name. After Lynn was charged, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman tweeted, ‘My dude in Forty Fort, PA who tried to have his dead mom vote for Trump,’ in response to an appeal from Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Patrick, a Republican, reportedly offered to pay up to $1 million from his campaign funds as a reward for people who come forward to report voter fraud in connection with the 2020 presidential election” – Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader.

“Strategists I’ve spoken w/ tell me strong census numbers in NYC could help Dems purge as many as five of the eight GOP seats in the state” says Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman, adding “Dems would gerrymander the current 19D-8R map (left) into as brutal as a 23D-3R rout (right).”

Wall Street Journal: “New Zealand placed its largest city, Auckland, into lockdown for seven days following the first case of Covid-19 in the community since February. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said officials are assuming the new Covid-19 case is the more contagious Delta variant of the virus, given its global spread. Genetic sequencing that would confirm or disprove that assumption will be available Wednesday. ‘Going hard and early has worked for us before,’ Ms. Ardern told a press conference. ‘While we know that Delta is a more dangerous enemy to combat, the same actions that overcame the virus last year can be applied to beat it again.'”

Public health officials are expected to recommend in the next few days that all people–regardless of age, pre-existing conditions or risk factors–should get a booster shot for the coronavirus vaccine eight months after they become fully vaccinated, the Associated Press reports.

The increasing spread of the delta variant, as well as the rise of other further variants, prompted federal officials for ways to increase the effectiveness of the vaccine.  Data show that while vaccinated people may get infected with the coronavirus, the vaccinated have far lower likelihoods of having a severe case of COVID-19 and of dying of the disease.

“There is a concern that the vaccine may start to wane in its effectiveness,” the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins said. “And delta is a nasty one for us to try to deal with. The combination of those two means we may need boosters, maybe beginning first with health care providers, as well as people in nursing homes, and then gradually moving forward” with others

Video taken at Kabul amusement park, posted by local Reuters correspondent Hamid Shalizi.

“U.S. experts are expected to recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after they received their second dose of the shot, to ensure lasting protection against the coronavirus as the delta variant spreads across the country. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. An announcement was expected as soon as this week, with doses beginning to be administered widely once the Food and Drug Administration formally approves vaccines. That action is expected for the Pfizer shot in the coming weeks. U.S. health officials recommended boosters last week for some with weakened immune systems” – AP.

“If history is any guide, and it’s always a guide, we will see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country, and over the next decade, that number may swell to the millions. So first we invade, and then we are invaded” is Tucker Carlson’s bitchy rant Monday night.