Smoke from massive wildfires across the Western United States and Canada clouded the sky of New York City on Tuesday, turning the sun a bright red and creating a persistent haze of vaguely wood-smelling air, according to National Zero’s NYC bureau chief. The EPA air quality index for NYC was rated at 166 AQI, or “Unhealthy” at 7:19 PM EDT. “People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens: Avoid strenuous outdoor activities. Keep outdoor activities short. Consider moving physical activities indoors or rescheduling” said the meter’s advisory info.

The State Department reports that as many as 200 American assigned to embassies around the world have fell victim to the so-called “Havana Syndrome” first identified in people who worked at the US consulate in Cuba, NBC News reports.

The symptoms are believed to be caused by a directed energy beam pointed to US consulates and embassies that causes physical and neurological pain and discomfort.  Incidents have been reported from countries on every continent except Antarctica, and symptoms and after-effects can last hours, days or weeks.

Half of the people reporting the condition work for the CIA overseas.  One was a baby who resided with his parents at US government site in Kyrgyzstan, where multiple Americans have reported symptoms.  At least two dozen people at the consulate in Vienna, Austria have reported symptoms.

The Atlantic: “Conservatives are not necessarily vaccine-hesitant, to paraphrase John Stuart Mill, but most vaccine-hesitant Americans people are conservatives. Resistance to vaccines has been concentrated among Republican voters, and led by GOP politicians and various leading lights in conservative media. And that makes the past day or so one of the stranger stretches in recent pandemic politics. ‘Just like we’ve been saying, please take COVID seriously. Enough people have died. We don’t need any more deaths. Research like crazy. Talk to your doctor,’ Fox News’s Sean Hannity said last night. ‘It absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated.’ Hannity’s ‘just like we’ve been saying’ is doing a lot of work. He reportedly called the pandemic a ‘hoax’ early on, and his colleague Tucker Carlson continues to cast doubt on vaccines, including on yesterday’s program. But Hannity’s statement comes as several other major conservatives are speaking up too.”

“Why the shift is happening now, and so abruptly, is not clear. One possible factor is that, as CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported, ‘there have been regular, high-level conversations between the White House and Fox News regarding pandemic and vaccine coverage.’ Fox quickly denied the report. Another possibility is the emergence of a new COVID-19 surge, fueled by the Delta variant. Scalise, like some of the others, cited Delta as a reason to get vaccinated now. The more infectious strain has led to rising case numbers in the US, overloaded hospitals in some states with low vaccination rates, and reinstated lockdowns around the world. Fear about Delta is spreading around the US, and it was blamed for a swoon in the stock market yesterday. The Delta variant is also spreading particularly in red states, which lag more liberal areas in vaccine uptake. Yet widespread death and suffering among conservatives and Republican voters has not inspired such a unified response.”

The four person affiliated with the far-right nationalist group Oath Keepers has pleaded guilty to charges related to his role in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the US Capitol, Reuters reports.

Twenty-year-old Caleb Berry pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and obstructing an official proceeding.  Berry was one of the mob that participated in a “Ranger File,” a building breeching tactic in which a line of soldiers grabs ahold of the person in front of him in the line to maintain formation integrity.

They assaulted police guarding the building, “threw objects and sprayed chemicals towards the officers” and ultimately forced themselves into the building, said prosecutors.  Berry becomes the 19th person to plead guilty of charges related to the attack on the Capitol out of more than 535 people indicted.

“Jim Jordan, who was selected by McCarthy to serve on the Jan. 6 select committee, told me he’s willing to testify before panel about his conversations with Trump. ‘If they call me, I got nothing to hide.’ Jordan also suggested that Speaker Pelosi’s actions are of interest to him. There’s one question that needs to be answered, and that’s why wasn’t there proper security presence that day. And that’s a question only the speaker can answer'” reports CNN’s Manu Raju.

Asked by a CBS news reporter is she’s been vaccinated and if she agrees with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s assessment that the vaccine is safe and effective, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q-Georgia) helpfully points out, “Well, your first question is a violation of my HIPAA right.  You see, with HIPAA rights, we don’t have to reveal our medical records, and that also involves our vaccine records.”

A comment by pyroman_99 on the story regarding the Texas state senate deleting pretty-near everything but the sanitized history of White America from its Department of Education curriculum made me go down the rabbit hole of history to read the state’s Articles of Secession from 1861.

Glory be, it could be used, virtually word-for-word, on a current Fox News program to describe the various grievances conservatives and Donald Trump have.  Okay, maybe not “word-for-word.”  You really should change “slave-holding” to “conservative,” and replace “non-slave-holding” or “abolitionist” with Democrats, but you get the idea.

Texas was spilling over with grievances, according to the document, including echoes of the same things conservative politicians and commentators whine about today:  promoting voting rights, empowering poor populations, reporting Texas’s malfeasance through the free press, and refusing to protect Texas against “ruthless savages”–which in 1861 were Indians and Mexicans, but now it’s just Mexicans. 

The six months since Biden and Harris’s inauguration have been interesting, to say the least. There’s certainly a lot frustration on the left with what many of us may see as certain things being overpromised and underdelivered by Biden and the Dems. But it pales in comparison to the non-stop freakout the right wing have had on certain cultural issues and conspiracy theories – some based in reality but blown way out of proportion and others just completely fucking made up.

National Zero was there covering these stories as they came to us on the interwebs, and they may not be fully appreciated until they’re collected together in one place. You may vaguely recall Fox News-MAGA freakouts over Mr Potato Head and Doctor Seuss, but what about the John Kerry’s “crimes” or the Great Chick-Fil-A sauce shortage of 2021? The mental bandwidth necessary to stay on top of this bullshit is beyond reach for most humans, but luckily we’re here for a trip down dissociative memory lane. Please note the scope of this retrospective is mostly limited to cultural issues and fabricated controversies adjacent to the larger stories of politics and the still-ongoing Coronavirus pandemic between January 20th and July 20th, 2021 that eventually became dead ends for MAGA World. So just for a quick example we won’t be touching on stories like the fake Arizona audit or Critical Race Theory, as those unfortunately are still live wires in the vast, hateful universe of right wing propaganda media. We’ve also included a handful of center-left cultural outrages to serve as a contrast in volumes and actual gravity of the offenses.

January 2021

Trump melting down over Fauci, regrets not firing him: report

QAnon asshole Greene complains that the media never reported on her nice, Bible-themed Facebook posts, just the bad ones

Fox News personality says Fauci caused coronavirus outbreak in network’s ongoing attempt to undermine his credibility

In what would lead to the settlement of scores of lawsuits, the companies involved in the manufacture and distribution of opioids in the United States over the past two decades would pay $26 billion, which would largely go to programs to fight drug addiction and treat drug abuse.

According to the Associated Press, manufacturer Johnson & Johnson would be barred from making any opioid medication for a decade.  Pharmaceutical distribution companies Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson are also part of the settlement.

The settlement would resolve cases brought by local, state and federal government agencies, but it would not clear the docket of other cases aimed at other parts of the corporate opioid manufacturing and distribution pipeline. 

Tom Barrack, a close friend of Donald Trump who led the Trump inaugural celebration committee that’s also under investigation, has been indicted for illegally lobbying for a foreign government, the Washington Post reports.

The indictment by the Eastern District of New York charges Barrack with illegally representing the government of United Arab Emirates.  Barrack was arrested at his residence in California.

Barrack and two associates are charged with acting as agents of the UAE from April 2016 and April 2018, working to promote Emirati interests with government organizations and lobbying groups.  It is not specified what government officials Barrack approached.

A new education bill focused on history and social studies put forth by Republican members of the Texas state senate strips language from the legislation that would require lessons on the legacy and work of civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez and Susan B. Anthony.

The senate bill also removes a requirement that curriculum include “the history of white supremacy, including but not limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong.”  Those lessons were included in a version of the bill going through the Texas state house.

However, the legislation from both chambers includes language that seems to be targeted at blocking elements of Critical Race Theory, which is not actually talked in elementary or high schools in the United States.  It also bars any lessons based leading to “an understanding of the 1619 Project,” which detailed the history of slavery in the United States. 

“A special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration was arrested Tuesday and accused of trespassing with a firearm on the Capitol grounds Jan. 6 and then lying about his actions to other federal law enforcement officials. Mark Ibrahim of Orange County, Calif., is not accused of entering the Capitol building. But prosecutors say he entered the restricted grounds around the building shortly after barricades were torn down by the mob and then repeatedly showed off his badge and gun to other protesters. He then falsely claimed he was there to help the FBI, prosecutors say. He made his first appearance in court Tuesday afternoon” – Washington Post.

As of 12:01 p.m. ET Tuesday, United States taxpayers are no longer paying for Secret Service protection details for Donald Trump Jr.; Ivanka and Jared Kushner; Ewic Twump and his harlot Lara; and Tiffany Trump.  Tuesday marks six months since President Joe Biden took office, and ends the six month extension for Secret Service protection details his predecessor gave his children and other high-ranking members of his Administration.

Former vice president Mike Pence and his wife Mother also lose their Secret Service protection at noon.  The VP’s protection is always extended to six months after he leaves office.

Trump also extended protection to former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, former chief of staff Mark Meadows and former national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien for six months, ending today. 

After Republican Kentucky Senator (and real-life Muppet Beaker cosplayer) Rand Paul implied that director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci lied to Congress in testimony about “gain of function” research at the Wuhan lab–at one point, with Paul apparently referring to “manimals,” which Paul states was funded by the NIH under a grant approved by Fauci, Fauci went off on Paul.

“Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly” Fauci snapped, “and I want to say that officially. You do not know what you’re talking about.”

Now THIS was the glorious SPORTS ILLUSTRATED that people actually Liked. (Not the virtue signaling woke stuff of To-Day) pic.twitter.com/ZavwitpXVE

— Greg Kelly (@gregkellyusa) July 20, 2021

Cape Cod Times: “Linda Zuern, remembered as a staunch conservative, well-respected educator and friend to many in the town of Bourne, died on Friday due to complications of COVID-19. ‘This is one exceptional lady that touched so many lives, so many lives,’ said Mimi Frank, her good friend from Woods Hole. Zuern, 70, died at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston on Friday of severe complications caused by COVID-19, according to family members and friends. Zuern was brought from Cape Cod by MedFlight to the hospital in early June and had been in a coma on a ventilator until her death. She was not vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a close friend and one of her neighbors… On the political side, she was the president of the Chapter 9 Massachusetts Republican Assembly and was the vice president of the Bourne Republican Town Committee.”

“‘She was a strong woman who believed in speaking the truth and defending our freedoms in America,’ said Deborah Dugan, the Republican State Committeewoman who was at the bedside of Zuern when she died. ‘I would describe her to people as a little woman but a mighty warrior.’ Zuern was one of the first members of the United Cape Patriots, a local grassroots conservative group that frequently held Trump support standouts on the Bourne rotary, along with other rallies. She was often seen holding a Trump support poster as motorists drove by honking in support or against, said Adam Lange who founded the group in 2017. Lange was one of four people who protested last week in opposition to the state VaxBus program – which distributes COVID-19 vaccines – when it arrived in Provincetown.”

American social media company Twitter banned me for 12 hrs, censoring me, & violating my freedom of speech.

You know who else silences, censors, and bans people they don’t like and want heard.

Communist China 🇨🇳

Communism is not good @Twitter

Save America Stop Communism!

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) July 20, 2021

“Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes on Tuesday joined the crowded Democratic field for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, vying to become the first African American from Wisconsin to serve in the Senate. Barnes, 34, is the first Black lieutenant governor in Wisconsin history. He is giving up a chance to run for a second term in 2022 as Gov. Tony Evers’ running mate. Instead, Barnes becomes the seventh Democrat to enter the race, with an eighth expected to get in soon. Barnes released a campaign video Tuesday morning ahead of a planned event in Milwaukee, his hometown.”

“‘I’m running for the United States Senate because when things get tough, we shouldn’t lower our expectations,’ Barnes said in a statement. ‘Instead of changing our dreams, we need to change the game. Hard-working Wisconsin families deserve every opportunity, but politicians like Senator Ron Johnson aren’t delivering.’ Johnson has not said yet whether he will seek a third term, but through June he had raised more money than any of the Democratic candidates at that point. Barnes brings some name recognition to the Democratic field that includes other current office holders, political newcomers, a doctor and an executive with the Milwaukee Bucks” – ABC News.

New York Times: “A towering cloud of hot air, smoke and moisture that reached airliner heights and spawned lightning. Wind-driven fronts of flame that have stampeded across the landscape, often leapfrogging firebreaks. Even, possibly, a rare fire tornado. The Bootleg Fire in Southern Oregon, spurred by months of drought and last month’s blistering heat wave, is the largest wildfire so far this year in the United States, having already burned more than 340,000 acres, or 530 square miles, of forest and grasslands. And at a time when climate change is causing wildfires to be larger and more intense, it’s also one of the most extreme, so big and hot that it’s affecting winds and otherwise disrupting the atmosphere. ‘The fire is so large and generating so much energy and extreme heat that it’s changing the weather,’ said Marcus Kauffman, a spokesman for the state forestry department. ‘Normally the weather predicts what the fire will do. In this case, the fire is predicting what the weather will do.'”

“The Bootleg Fire has been burning for two weeks, and for most of that time it’s exhibited one or more forms of extreme fire behavior, leading to rapid changes in winds and other conditions that have caused flames to spread rapidly in the forest canopy, ignited whole stands of trees at once, and blown embers long distances, rapidly igniting spot fires elsewhere. ‘It’s kind of an extreme, dangerous situation,’ said Chuck Redman, a forecaster with the National Weather Service who has been at the fire command headquarters providing forecasts. Fires so extreme that they generate their own weather confound firefighting efforts. The intensity and extreme heat can force wind to go around them, create clouds and sometimes even generate so-called fire tornadoes – swirling vortexes of heat, smoke and high wind. The catastrophic Carr Fire near Redding, Calif., in July 2018 was one of those fires, burning through 130,000 acres, destroying more than 1,600 structures and leading to the deaths of at least eight people, some of which were attributed to a fire tornado with winds as high as 140 miles per hour that was captured on video.”