CNN: “A Space Force lieutenant colonel has been removed from his command after appearing on a conservative podcast criticizing the United States military. Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier joined The Steve Gruber show to discuss his new book, ‘Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military,’ which alleges that Marxist ideologies are becoming widespread within the armed forces. He expounded on those concerns in the podcast. ‘Since taking command as a commander about 10 months ago, I saw what I consider fundamentally incompatible and competing narratives of what America was, is and should be,’ Lohmeier said. ‘That wasn’t just prolific in social media, or throughout the country during this past year, but it was spreading throughout the United States military. And I had recognized those narratives as being Marxist in nature.’ When pressed on what exactly he meant, Lohmeier decried the New York Times 1619 Project, a historical look at how slavery formed America’s institutions, as ‘anti-American.'”

“‘It teaches intensive teaching that I heard at my base – that at the time the country ratified the United States Constitution, it codified White supremacy as the law of the land,’ Lohmeier said. ‘If you want to disagree with that, then you start (being) labeled all manner of things including racist.’ Lohmeier did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. ‘Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Space Operations Command commander, relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, May 14, due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead,’ a Defense Department official told CNN. ‘This decision was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast. Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation (CDI) on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity.'”

BrandEating reports Saturday was “National Slider Day” at White Castle, and members of their Craver Nation loyalty program who showed up and asked were presumably given a free slider. Brand Eating reported this on Thursday, but National Zero staff did not see the article until Sunday, however we maintain it is in the public’s interest for us to report this development.

In an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union“, Michigan Republican Fred Upton said it was “totally bogus” for Republicans to downplay the events of January 6th. The statement came during a discussion of the creation of a “January 6th Commission” to study the attempted insurrection by Trump loyalists. Republicans were deeply concerned that the study of the Trump insurrection would have a Democratic majority, and Republicans wouldn’t be able to install Trump loyalists who would be able to derail the proceedings with yammerings of “What about Hunter Biden!” Less MAGA Republicans appear to be angling to try to throw the “small fish” Trump loyalists under the bus while thwarting any actions that may do serious damage to the Republican Party’s major political donors.

Daily Beast: “The world of UFO conspiracy theorists has been torn apart by dueling lawsuits, pitting a prominent UFO influencer against a conspiracy-minded streaming video company valued at more than $200 million over who has the right to discuss their experiences with a benevolent species of blue alien. The battle taking place in a federal courthouse in Colorado centers on Corey Goode, a UFO promoter and self-proclaimed deep-space traveler who consorts with benevolent aliens, and his former employer, Gaia, a publicly traded streaming platform whose videos blend yoga instruction with stories about ‘deep state’ villains and benevolent aliens. After leaving his Gaia show in 2018, Goode engaged in a long-running feud with the company.”

“In March 2020, Goode sued Gaia, alleging that the company had engaged in an elaborate conspiracy against him. On Monday, Gaia filed a countersuit, accusing Goode of defamation and concocting various schemes to sabotage the company. Attorneys for Goode and Gaia declined to comment. Much of the lawsuit centers on who has the right to talk about a bird-like species of alien called ‘Blue Avians,’ as well as a covert space agency that are, in Goode’s telling, both supposed to be real things. That’s because Goode doesn’t just talk about aliens – he claims to have met them. In his telling, Goode was hired as an ’empath’ when he was 6 years old to join a group called the ‘Secret Space Program’ on a 20-year contract dubbed ’20 and Back,’ in which he met friendly Blue Avians. Indeed, Goode claims that he has a close connection with the aliens, saying on his website he’s a member of the ‘Blue Avian soul group’ brought to Earth to ‘help with planetary ascension.'”

“The Republican who now leads the Arizona county elections department targeted by a GOP audit of the 2020 election results is slamming former President Donald Trump and others in his party for their continued falsehoods about how the election was run. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Saturday called a Trump statement accusing the county of deleting an elections database ‘unhinged’ and called on other Republicans to stop the unfounded accusations. ‘We can’t indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country,’ Richer tweeted. Richer became recorder in January, after defeating the Democratic incumbent.”

“The former president’s statement came as Republican Senate President Karen Fann has demanded the Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors come to the Senate to answer questions raised by the private auditors she has hired. The Senate took possession of 2.1 million ballots and election equipment last month for what was supposed to be a three-week hand recount of the presidential race won by Democratic President Joe Biden. Instead, the auditors have moved as a snail’s pace and had to shut down Thursday after counting about 500,000 ballots. They plan to resume counting in a week, after high school graduation ceremonies planned for the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, which they rented for the recount. Trump’s statement said, in part, that ‘the entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED! This is illegal and the Arizona State Senate, who is leading the Forensic Audit, is up in arms.’ Richer and the board say that statement is just plain wrong. In recent days, both he and the board have begun aggressively pushing back at what they see as continuing falsehoods from Republicans who question Trump’s loss. ‘Enough with the defamation. Enough with the unfounded allegations,’ Richer tweeted Thursday. ‘I came to this office to competently, fairly, and lawfully administer the duties of the office. Not to be accused by own party of shredding ballots and deleting files for an election I didn’t run. Enough'” – AP.

Did you guys know that I was a Knight at Medieval Times? It was highly demanding work, very physical, But I was AWESOME at it. My record was 83 and 3. It was like professional wrestling except different outfits and we had SWORDS. Sometimes it was “too intense” for the kids pic.twitter.com/HGscwU8Iu3

— Greg Kelly (@gregkellyusa) May 15, 2021

Newsday: “Rep. Lee Zeldin, the front-runner to be the Republican nominee for New York governor, acknowledged in a Newsday interview last week that Joe Biden won the presidency and said he won’t call the election ‘illegitimate,’ even though he sought to overturn it. Zeldin edged away from former President Donald Trump in the interview in the Capitol Wednesday just hours after he voted to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from the House Republican leadership for her repeated denunciations of Trump’s election claims. Political consultants in both parties warn that Zeldin’s staunch support for Trump and his outspoken defense of him during the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, two impeachment trials and the bid to overturn the presidential election potentially loom as a liability in the 2022 general election.”

“And despite a testy exchange in March with two Politico reporters in which he said ‘yes’ when asked if Democrat Biden won the election, some consultants said they were still not sure exactly where he stands on that question. Asked by Newsday if the 2020 election was fair, Zeldin gave a nuanced answer. ‘So, you had tens of millions of people that came out and voted for each of the candidates. Their votes were counted. They’re counted once, and you ended up with an outcome,’ Zeldin said. ‘And that’s how President Trump, uh… President Biden became the president, was by winning the November 2020 election.’ Asked who is right – Cheney who defended the election’s legitimacy and called Trump a ‘liar’ for denying it, or Trump who has undermined the election’s legitimacy by calling it a ‘fraud,’ – Zeldin said, ‘I believe that there are opinions that both have expressed that I would not subscribe to.’ Pressed further on whether he thought the election was legitimate, Zeldin focused on the damaging impact of calling an election illegitimate. He defended his own support for Trump’s efforts to undercut Biden’s election. ‘Anybody who wants to describe the 2020 election as being perfect, and free of error – I actually have never seen any federal election ever that actually meets those standards,’ said Zeldin, who pointed to ballots being thrown out in his own election as an example.”

https://youtu.be/n5hzf6XZ_Vs

Fox News host (and woman who doesn’t need to recork the wine bottle because the straw reaches the bottom) Jeanine Pirro ask, “Do you think we’re all stupid?”

Former Dallas County prosecutor Richard E. Jackson lost his license to practice law in Texas after a state Bar Association tribunal determined that in two separate but related cases in 2000, he intentional withheld exculpatory evidence that would have cleared the defendants, the Washington Post reports.

In each of the two cases, Jackson did not turn over to the defense teams information that no eye witnesses to the murder of a church pastor identified either of the men, nor that the two men didn’t match the descriptions provided by witnesses.  Jackson also did not inform the court, the defense or the jury that he had secured testimony of jailhouse informants by making deals with them to reduce sentences or provide other benefits.

Defendants Dennis Allen and Stanley Mozee were found guilty of the murder and each sentenced to life in prison.  It was only after the case was re-investigated by the Innocence Project that Jackson’s malfeasance was discovered.

https://youtu.be/TK6RAzeKUU0

South Carolina Republican Senator (and person with a long-term lease on a fainting couch) Lindsey Graham declared, “I miss President Trump” and implied that the violence in Gaza right now would not be happening if Donald Trump were still in charge.

Graham did not comment on the self-proclaimed Middle East peace agreement Trump touted while he was in office, or the park in Jerusalem named after Jared Kushner for brokering peace deals.

UPDATE on “The Tiger”:
We are happy to report that the missing tiger seen in a Houston neighborhood last week has been found and appears to be unharmed.

The 🐅 has safely arrived @BARC_Houston where a media briefing will be held about 9 p.m. at BARC at 2700 Evella. #hounews pic.twitter.com/yNLF0bPsbb

— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 16, 2021

The head of the Alaska Republican Party announced his resignation abruptly Friday to take a position with Liberty University, the Virginia school embroiled in scandal after questionable personal and business dealings of its former president, Jerry Falwell, Jr.

According to the Anchorage Daily Times, Glenn Clary had told local media that he would be moving to Virginia, but he did not give a timeframe or a job he would be taking.  He sent an email to the Republican State Central Committee last week saying that he would assume the role of vice president of strategic partnerships and alliances at Liberty University, a job that will entail him lobbying state and federal agencies and legislators.

A pastor at Anchorage Baptist Temple, Clary will join the person who held that position prior to him, Jerry Prevo, at Liberty.  Prevo was tapped by the Liberty Board of Trustees to take over from Falwell after the board ousted Falwell for inappropriate personal behavior and self-dealing.

Two Black half brothers, both intellectually disabled, were awarded a combined $75 million for being imprisoned for 30 years after they were wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in 1983, the Associated Press reported.

Henry McCollum and Leon Brown received $31 million in compensatory damages, one million each for each year spent in prison, and $13 million in punitive damages.  The pair, who were 19 and 15 at the time of the murder, had been sentenced to death upon their conviction which, their attorneys argued, was based on exonerating evidence suppressed by law enforcement.

The pair were released from prison in 2014 when DNA evidence cleared them and indicated another man, already a convicted murderer, committed the crime.

“Touchscreens are notoriously difficult to type on. Since we can’t feel the keys, we rely on the sense of sight to move our fingers to the right places and check for errors, a combination of efforts we can’t pull off at the same time. To really understand how people type on touchscreens, researchers at Aalto University and the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI) have created the first artificial intelligence model that predicts how people move their eyes and fingers while typing,” reports ScienceDaily.

Domino’s, the number one pizza chain in America when measured by total dollar value of sales is offering pizzas at 49% off. “The discount is available now and will run until May 23. It can only be applied to menu-price pizzas, which means it cannot be used in conjunction with other discounts or promotions. Eligible orders must be made online and use Domino’s Carside Delivery service” introduced by the company last year, and between 4 pm and 9 pm only, reports eatthis.com.

“A week before the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, top leaders of the Proud Boys convened a video chat to discuss the organization’s plans for Washington that day. And Zach Rehl, president of the group’s Philadelphia chapter, took a leading role in guiding that conversation, federal prosecutors now say.” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that: “They’d leave their traditional black-and-gold polo shirts at home, equip themselves with encrypted radios, and focus their attentions on riling up “normies” — or unaffiliated supporters of President Donald Trump — they could hide behind.”

Recently Trump sychophant Kevin McCarthy (GQP – CA) tried to claim that current President Joe Biden “doesn’t have the same energy as Trump“, and boasted that Trump “barely sleeps”. This kind of rhetoric is based upon traditional Protestant notions that you should be up and working as much as you can, and that laziness is sign of weak moral character. There’s a major problem with the GOP rhetoric though. For someone Donald Trump’s age, an inability to sleep is associated with the onset of dementia and is also a symptom that typically appears in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

A number of prominent Republicans who were listed as scheduled speakers were no-shows at the Ohio Political Summit where embattled Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz was scheduled to give the final address, NBC News political reporter Henry Gomez tweeted.

A few hundred people attended the meeting, which was supposed to have speeches by GOP media darlings like Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, former GOP Senate candidate Jim Renacci and author of “Hillbilly Elegy” JD Vance.  None of them appeared for their speaking times.

“I’m being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors,” Gaetz told the crowd, downplaying the accusations that he paid underage girls for sex.  “Yet, Congress has reinstituted a process that legalizes the corrupt act of exchanging money for favors, through earmarks.”

BuzzFeed: “Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt was kicked off a commission established to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre on Friday, just one week after he signed a bill banning the teaching of some issues surrounding race and racism in public schools. After signing HB 1775 on May 7, Stitt defended his decision, arguing, ‘Not one cent of taxpayer money should be used to define and divide young Oklahomans about their race or sex.'”

“But critics argue the new law is meant to squash the teaching of critical aspects of the country’s racial history, including the historical impact of racism on people of color. Members of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission had urged Stitt to veto the bill. One member subsequently quit in protest after the governor signed the bill into law. In a statement, the commission confirmed that it had agreed through consensus ‘to part ways with Governor Stitt.’ The emailed statement did not outline a reason for the decision.”

“The commission, formed in 2016, set out to spearhead projects to educate, commemorate, and address the impacts of the 1921 massacre that destroyed Tulsa’s Greenwood District, a Black community known at the time as the US’s ‘Black Wall Street.’ Mobs of white residents attacked the community and destroyed blocks of the neighborhood. Although dozens of people were believed to have been killed in the violent attack, a state commission estimated the number of casualties may have been as high as 300.”