Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-right movement and father to current leader Marine Le Pen, died Tuesday at the age of 96, Reuters reports. Le Pen had launched the party now known as the National Rally in 1972 but had been excommunicated by his own daughter in 2015 for calling Nazi extermination camps a mere “detail” of World War II. A bit ironic considering in 1944 he had attempted to join a communist wing of the French Free Forces but was rejected for being too young.

The average IQ of a citizen of the Roman Empire likely declined by 2.5 to 3 points from 27 BC to 180 AD just from the presence of lead in the atmosphere alone, NBC News reports citing a new paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

The estimate was calculated based on the presence of lead particles extracted from an ice core sample in Greenland, concentrations that saw a dramatic increase in the level of the metal corresponding to a time when silver mining rapidly increased in the Iberian Peninsula with the lead a byproduct of smelting the silver to mint coinage. This was very far from the only source of lead poisoning for Romans however, as people were exposed via water pipes, cups, and wine vessels.

Meaning that 2.5 to 3 point drop was just what could be measured from the smelting and almost certainly lowballs the damage. “Their estimates are likely to be an underestimate,” said Canadian lead expert and public health professor Dr Bruce Lanphear after having read the study.

“Virtually nobody escaped. Human or industrial activities 2,000 years ago were already having continental-scale impacts on human health,” said Joe McConnell, one of the head authors of the paper and a climate scientist at the Reno-based Desert Research Institute. “Roman-era lead pollution is the earliest unambiguous example of human impacts on the environment.”

Research back in the 1980s suggested Roman elites steadily lost their shit because of lead in the wine they drank, accelerating the empire’s eventual collapse. “I’m quite convinced lead was one of the factors that contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire, but it was only one factor. It’s never just one thing,” said Lamphear. Nowhere in NBC’s article is any sort of “DURRR HERE’S A LESSON FROM HISTORY THAT’S RELEVANT CUZ AMERICA IS LIKE TEH ROMAN EMPIRE NOW.”

Convicted felon President-Elect Trump’s lawyers on Monday sent a letter to ponderous old US Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to block the release of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s two-part final report on the fat fuck’s crimes, as doing so would, in Politico’s words “illegally interfere with the presidential transition and be little more than a political attack,” and that “the decision about releasing Smith’s findings should be left to Trump’s administration.”

“Because Smith has proposed an unlawful course of action, you must countermand his plan and remove him promptly,” is the only direct quote from Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and John Lauro in Politico’s reporting on the final account of the fat fuck’s crime spree. The two were provided copies of the report on Friday, ahead of an obviously imminent public release (maybe) all of the evidence that would have been put in front of juries in the two aborted federal criminal trials.

Who knows how much influence Fox News propagandist Laura Ingraham truly holds with convicted felon President-Elect Trump – anyone who says they know is probably full of shit. One might however take a look at a series of segments on her show last January on the bipartisan border security bill that collapsed: If she wasn’t the first right wing ideologue to demand that Republicans sink it – and urge Trump to apply the same pressure – she was most definitely the loudest and probably did more than anyone other than Trump and Republicans in Congress to kill it off. Which is to say she knows what she’s doing when she yaps angrily in front of the camera nightly.

Does that mean she’s not eventually going to suck it up and pretend to enjoy it if and when Trump does open the door to “an explosion of foreign labor in the United States, just to keep costs low for big tech”? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t going to at least try to peel Trump away from Ketamine Brain’s open border H1-B plan, maybe make it feel like she’s protecting Donald from Elon’s malign influence. Ingraham’s a scumbag, but she’s not dumb. She may yet do some damage.

Posting it along with a video of one Greenlandic guy putting on a MAGA hat, convicted felon President-Elect Trump on Monday announced that his idiot son Don Jr “and various representatives, will be traveling there to visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights,” without offering any further details or the timing of the not-very-officially-diplomatic-sounding visit.

Industry news/resource site VPN Mentor reports their team “observed a significant surge in VPN usage across the state of Florida, with a staggering increase noted in the first hours of January 1st increasing consistently since the last minutes of 2024 and reaching its peak of 1150 percent only four hours after the HB3 law came into effect. Additionally, there was a noteworthy 51 percent spike in demand for VPN services in the state on December 19, 2024, the day after Aylo released their statement of geo-blocking Florida IP addresses to access their website.”

If you guessed this was about PornHub then congratulations because yes this is about PornHub self-banning from Florida before that age verification law came into effect on Wednesday.

A federal judge on Monday found alcoholic shitbrain Rudy Giuliani in contempt for discovery violations as former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shae Moss struggle to squeeze the loser former New York City mayor for everything he’s trying to hide from the $148 million defamation judgment he owes them over his 2020 election conspiracy lies, ABC News reports.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday acted like an adult and not only accepted her defeat but legally certified it in an act that will earn her zero credit from the MAGA shitbags enjoying that she had to do it. That she didn’t fuck around or even troll convicted felon President-Elect Trump is probably an indication she intends to preserve her political viability going into 2028. But if the incentive structure weren’t what it was for Democrats she probably could’ve gotten away with calling a mob of her fans to sack the Capitol and still win a clear victory in four years anyway.

“Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) asks hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts in South Texas to monitor for animals affected by New World Screwworm (NWS) after a recent detection in Mexico. This detection, found in a cow at an inspection checkpoint in the southern Mexico State of Chiapas, close to the border with Guatemala, follows the progressively northward movement of NWS through both South and Central Americas. As a protective measure, animal health officials ask those along the southern Texas border to monitor wildlife, livestock and pets for clinical signs of NWS and immediately report potential cases. New World screwworms are larvae or maggots of the NWS fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax), that cause a painful condition known as NWS myiasis.”

“NWS flies lay eggs in open wounds or orifices of live tissue such as nostrils, eyes or mouth. These eggs hatch into dangerous parasitic larvae, and the maggots burrow or screw into flesh with sharp mouth hooks. Wounds can become larger, and an infestation can often cause serious, deadly damage or death to the infected animal. NWS primarily infests livestock but can also affect humans and wildlife including deer and birds. Clinical signs of NWS myiasis may include: Irritated or depressed behavior, Loss of appetite, Head shaking, Smell of decaying flesh, Presence of fly larvae (maggots) in wounds, Isolation from other animals or people,” says a bulletin from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued last week to people who might otherwise be tempted ignore the smell of decaying flesh and/or the presence of maggots writhing in open wounds.

“When spending time outdoors (especially if traveling abroad to NWS-affected areas), be sure to clean and cover all wounds in addition to applying insect repellant to outdoor clothing to help avoid contact with NWS and other harmful insects,” the very gross bulletin recommended.

“Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State. The United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this, and resigned. If Canada merged with the US, there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!” posted convicted felon President-Elect Trump on Monday, celebrating the political demise of Justin Trudeau.

In a podcast interview with other journalist Kara Swisher, New York Times Trump beat reporter Maggie Haberman confirmed that, just as expected, convicted felon President-Elect Trump has been angered by all the lib taunts that ketamine-brained billionaire Elon Musk is actually in charge, the Daily Beast reports on the libs piercing the flabby orange skin of the demented old slob.

“It definitely bothers him,” said Haberman. “The ‘President Musk’ line was always going to be a way to get him. Trump’s not a wind-up toy, but there certainly are very specific things that can zotz him.”

“Zotz” is not in the standard Google Chrome spellcheck dictionary. In real words, Haberman predicted the doors of 1600 Pennsylvania may not be as open to the maniacal titan as Mar-a-Lago’s. “I don’t anticipate that Musk is going to have an office in the West Wing. I don’t even know that he will have a blue pass to wander around,” she said, with “blue pass” referring to an unlimited visitor pass. Haberman said that Musk’s money and willingness to threaten Republicans with primary challenges is going to buy him more time, but it’s getting rockier and rockier as Trump’s minions tire of having “Leon” around, not to mention he can “irritate” Donald himself. “It’s like watching shifting sands around Trump. It’s like this one’s up, this one’s down, but nobody’s ever totally out.”

PRESIDENT TRUMP: "I see it just came over that Biden has banned all oil and gas drilling across 625 million acres of U.S. coastal territory. It's ridiculous. I'll unban it immediately." pic.twitter.com/mGijm5N6v7

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 6, 2025

You will not be surprised to learn that convicted felon President-Elect Trump cannot, in fact, “unban it immediately,” as according to Axios, “Unlike executive orders that Trump could overturn with the stroke of a pen, Biden’s actions rely on an open-ended provision in the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. This law governs energy leasing activities for submerged lands under US control that are beyond three miles from shore. A provision in the act allows the president to permanently take parts of the Outer Continental Shelf off the table for leasing activities, without providing a means for another president to undo the action.” Meaning Biden effectively pardoned the areas from drilling.

Twitter clone BlueSky, which is fun but still isn’t quite up to par with “X” in terms of features, nonetheless eclipsed shithole Twitter clone Truth Social in November 2024 when measured by unique visitors, 5,352,000 for BlueSky to 4,250,000 for Truth Social, the Righting reports.

“Bluesky’s huge year-over-year growth is not surprising because the platform only opened registrations to the general public in February 2024,” said TheRighting’s Howard Polskin. “However Bluesky is already attracting more monthly unique visitors than Truth Social which launched to the public in February 2022 and has benefited greatly by Mr Trump’s constant use of his platform.”

So popular is BlueSky among the libs who left Twitter that MAGA trolls started opening accounts to get more friction and the Chicoms can’t figure out how to make their propaganda work there.

Reports of the demise of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s political demise were not premature as on Monday morning he will announce he’s quitting as leader of the Liberal Party in a press conference scheduled for 10:45 AM EDT, the CBC reports. Trudeau hanging it up will set off a several month search for a new chair, during which he’ll remain in the premiership.

“The story in the Washington Post, quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong. The Washington Post knows it’s wrong. It’s just another example of Fake News,” posted convicted felon President-Elect Trump.

The Post had reported on Monday that Trump’s minions were looking at modifying the plan to make the tariffs “universal” but limited to critical sectors like steel, iron, aluminum, copper, medical supplies, batteries, rare earth minerals, and solar panels while leaving consumer goods alone.

“The potential change reflects a recognition that Trump’s initial plans – which would have been immediately noticeable in the price of food imports and cheap consumer electronics – could prove politically unpopular and disruptive,” the article says and yeah, no shit it might’ve been smart to not do one of the things that will increase such pain when the whole reason he got elected was because low-info voters sick of paying higher prices didn’t get the memo that they’re going to pay even more.

Lucky for them that Trump lies all the time so he could just be lying again now in that post.

“By virtue of President Trump’s filing of appellate proceedings raising his claims of Presidential immunity, all proceedings in this Court are automatically stayed by operation of federal constitutional law. In the alternative, even if such a stay were discretionary, the Court should grant such a stay. The Court should vacate the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, and suspend all further deadlines in the case until President Trump’s immunity appeals are fully and finally resolved, which should result in a dismissal of this case, which should have never been brought in the first place. Further, President Trump respectfully requests that this Court notify the parties by Monday, January 6, 2025, at 2 pm, whether the Court intends to proceed with the sentencing hearing on January 10, 2025, which should not occur, notwithstanding President Trump’s interlocutory appeal on immunity, to allow sufficient time for President Trump to seek an emergency appellate review,” wrote convicted felon President-Elect Trump’s shitbag lawyers in a Monday notice of intent to appeal Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling upholding the guilty verdict.

By all means they should drag this out as long as possible so that Merchan can change his mind about not sentencing the fat fuck to incarceration in a state penitentiary in 2029.

Actress Denise Richards, who starred in Starship Troopers and Wild Things before she turned 30 and her agent stopped calling, on Friday told a podcaster that the Fox Corporation won’t pay for the damage incurred to her breast implants incurred during filming of an episode of the broadcast network’s military training-themed reality TV show Special Forces, Entertainment Weekly reports.

“No, I have to pay the price. I think I pretty much signed our life away doing that show. It’s dangerous!” Richards said in response to a question of whether the Murdoch media empire would pick up the tab for the ruptured implants. Richards said she was jumping off a bridge while filming on of the competition series’ stunts when the harness she was wearing caused one or both of her silicone implants to burst. “I still have to get them redone. I was supposed to a month ago but I couldn’t because we were filming. So yeah, no, I still have to get them redone,” said Richards.

Entertainment Weekly describes Richards’ opponents in Special Forces Season 3 “Stephen Baldwin, Kyla Pratt, Bachelorette alums Trista Sutter and Ali Fedotowsky, The Hills star Brody Jenner, the NFL’s Cam Newton, former Disney star Christy Carlson Romano, and more,” as an “all-star cast.”

Yes

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 6, 2025

From a Sunday morning Vandalia, Ohio Fire Department Facebook post: “In the early hours of the morning, crews were dispatched to the Metroparks by the train tracks on a cold emergency. Crews were told that the patient was traveling from Kentucky in one of the train cars, and the patient got stuck inside the train car and was suffering from cold exposure. Crews had to work for a period of time to extricate the patient from the train car. Patient was taken to a local hospital. This is one of those calls that goes to show, we have to be prepared for anything. Great job to the crews on working a complex call and providing top-tier service,” which obviously is a little on the vague side.

They almost made it sound like it was a passenger train where the guy had bought a ticket, fell asleep in his seat, and got locked in the car at the overnight rail yard by a careless conductor who didn’t bother to check if anyone was still on board. WHIO reports that was not at all the case as freight train company CSX told the TV station in a statement that they called the fire department after their crew spotted a “trespasser standing on top of a train,” at about 3:20 AM on Sunday.

Put together it all strongly suggests that a freight train hobo was not properly equipped for interstate overnight travel in January during a “Polar vortex” weather event and was shivering too hard to be able to climb up and out of what looks like an open-top “gondola”-type rail car typically used for transporting mineral ore. Sounds like a hobo rookie mistake and a nearly fatal one at that.

Last month in their reporting about the demise of national chain Party City, CNN had dropped a vague but tantalizing anecdote about an ominous sign that had foretold of the company’s collapse, writing their “product development team was recalled two weeks ago from its yearly trip with vendors and told to return home immediately, according to a former Party City corporate office employee.The team was told the company believed the trip posed a safety risk, because Party City had stopped paying its suppliers,” emphasis ours on the threats of violence not typically associated with the normal course of operations in corporate America, even in a bankrupt shitshow.

National Zero found that particular detail intriguing and now finally CNN has followed up and explained that the product development team were actually in China at the time and yeah, that’s probably legitimately a safety risk if they owed money. “This was disgraceful. Don’t know how else to say it,” an employee who had been on the China trip told CNN. “I just can’t sit back and say this is OK. It was scary. We left our families for this company, and you sent us there and you left us out to dry.” The article contains nothing explicit about the threats, just an example of a sternly worded email from a Chinese-based Halloween costume supplier from September 7th saying “We have provided you all your orders in due time. You will make your money as you got your costumes. 50 percent of payment is obviously not enough to recover even only raw materials payments.”

“One of our agents in China suggested we leave,” another employee on the trip said. “He said ‘I think you should leave the country and not stay another night. It doesn’t sound good. It’s risky.'”