Saying that he would assure the destruction of the United States if he’s threatened, Donald Trump’s lover Kim Jong Un said his North Korean forces would “thoroughly annihilate” the forces of both the US–which spells “us,” by the way; I’m the second person to notice that, apparently–and its South Korean allies if provoked, ABC News reports.

Foreign policy analysts believe two things are likely pushing Kim’s increasingly aggressive weapons testing and international posturing.  First, the US and South Korea are planning additional joint military exercises, so Kim’s saber-rattling.  But the second is more strategic:  Kim is escalating tensions with the US and its allies in the belief that if Trump gets reelected he’ll be able to get more concessions from him in return for photo ops.

Despite the best efforts of Republicans and the National Rifle Association, homicides in the United States dropped an amazing 13% in 2023, with roughly 2,000 fewer deaths according to preliminary data, ABC News reports. St Louis, New Orleans, Baltimore, Atlanta and Portland saw homicide rates drop by at least 20% each, with New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Charlotte recording reductions of at least 11%.

Philadelphia saw a 25% decrease after setting a record high in 2021, and Detroit saw its lowest homicide rate since the 1960s.  With American GDP rising 5.2% in the third quarter, a plummeting murder rate will give Jim Jordan–he who frequently posts about mass murders in other cities without proposing any solutions–less to tweet about.  Guns still account for roughly three-quarters of all homicide weapons.

The vileness of Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott knows no bounds:  to avoid fines and potential confiscation of buses transporting migrants from Texas to cities like New York in his bid to “own the libs,” Abbott has approved buses to drop off their passengers at various places in New Jersey, short of their claimed destination, ABC News reports.

The mayor of Secaucus, New Jersey said police on Saturday started to get migrants being dropped off at the city’s transportation hub located nine miles away from the designated location established by the city government.  Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli said buses are attempting to exploit a “loophole” in new policies in New York City that would lead to buses being confiscated or bus companies being barred from operating in the city if they drop off migrants in various locations.

Abbott continues his campaign to exploit human suffering by bussing migrants around the country using taxpayer money to try to share the load of migrants coming into the country.  The state of New York is already home to more than four million migrants, but Abbott has dropped off more than 100,000 people at various places around the city.  Since Abbott started the performance art in August 2022, Abbott has shipped his human cargo all over the US, including 620 buses to Chicago.

The Pentagon ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to return to the United States after extending its deployment to patrol the eastern Mediterranean Sea in support of Israel after the October 7th Hamas attack, Politico reports.  The carrier strike group included the cruiser Normandy, and the destroyers Ramage, Carney, Roosevelt and Thomas Hudner; some of those ships in the group have transited the Suez Canal to thwart Houthi missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping coming from Yemen.

It is unclear if any of those ships will stay in the region in support of that mission or to support the replacement US Navy group being sent to the region, which will led by the amphibious assault ship the USS Bataan along with its support ships, Mesa Verde and Carter Hall.

Fat former President Trump seemed a little more scared than usual on Monday, writing on Truth Social: “The Failing New York Times: ‘Prosecutors Ask Appeals Court to Reject Donald Trump’s Immunity Claims. The filing by special counsel, (Deranged) Jack Smith, was the latest in a fight over WHETHER FORMER PRESIDENTS CAN BE HELD CRIMINALLY LIABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS IN OFFICE.’ First of all, I did nothing wrong, and while it should not even matter, I was not campaigning – The 2020 Election was LONG OVER. What I was doing is bringing to light the fact that the Election was, without question, Rigged and Stolen. As President, and Commander-in-Chief, it was my duty to do so! If I did not do this, I would have been in violation of my Oath of Office…”

“We cannot let our Elections ever be CORRUPTED again. Many Democrats challenged 2016, and nothing was done to them. Biden had me Indicted! They spied on my Campaign, started the Fake Russia,Russia,Russia Hoax, Lied to Congress, Abused FISA, Stuffed Ballot Boxes, Misused 51 Intelligence Agents, Illegal FBI/Twitter Files, Facebook Lock Boxes, Never Got State Legislatures to approve Election Changes, Harassed Election Observers, and much more…” Trump continued.

We would like to think that, over the last year or so our track record with making calls or feeling the “vibes” of how a storyline, election, court case, etc is going to go is… alright. It would take a long time to do a tally but just anecdotally our skepticism that Jim Jordan would be elected Speaker while the mainstream media treated it like a done deal was right on the mark. We nailed it when we predicted that disgraced former President Trump would not show up in court in person in Atlanta in August because he didn’t want to be seen under the control of a judge on live television. Same story with the GOP primary debates. We knew the fat bastard wouldn’t show up for the same reason.

The only two currently living politicians disqualified for insurrection under the 14th Amendment.

Then there were some things that we didn’t get right. Our expectation that Ron DeSantis would actually prove a formidable challenge to Trump in the GOP primary (though Trump would most likely ultimately prevail) was not even remotely correct. At all. We definitely underestimated the House GOP’s willingness to formalize the Biden impeachment inquiry with a vote and, although we’re still skeptical they’ll pull the trigger, it’s certainly more likely to happen now than it had been. Our February 14th, 2023 headline “Nimrata Haley officially launches ten month presidential campaign” became officially wrong on December 14th, though we did hedge a bit in the text of that article.

Then there’s the Trump 14th Amendment efforts that, holy shit did we whiff in September when we wrote in the first “Disqualification Nation” that the push would most likely go nowhere.

Yes, it’s a clickbait headline, but it’s parallel to more situations than most similar headlines seen at National Zero:  Saying the law would do “severe and unprecedented harm to the core character of the State of Israel as a democratic country,” the right-wing dominated Israeli Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to weaken the Court’s power to check executive office power, the Associated Press reports.

Pushed through the Israeli parliament in July, the new law would have limited courts’ ability to use “reasonableness” as a benchmark to overrule decisions by government ministers.  When the Knesset passed the law, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in protest, wary that the law would give Netanyahu virtually unlimited power because it stripped significant potential oversight from the courts.  The protests also included IDF reservists refusing to report for duty or if they did report, refusing to work.

The 8-7 decision by Israel’s Supreme Court–the first in Israel’s history in which a full 15-member panel ruled–puts the law and Netanyahu’s future in Israel at risk.  Netanyahu had attempted to manipulate Israel’s court system to amass political power as he faced corruption charges that also include members of his family.  In typical conservative fashion, Netanyahu’s Likud party decried the decision claiming that the Supreme Court’s decision would divide the country while it’s at war with Hamas and therefore, anything Netanyahu does should be legal because… patriotism.

Biden is guilty of one of the greatest crimes in American history. The suffering, poverty & death unleashed by his border insurrection is incalculable.

And yet…faced with an existential emergency, Republicans in Congress cannot summon anything close to what the moment requires. https://t.co/T1P6sy7RNe

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) January 1, 2024

Isn’t this just so plucky and clever how Baby Goebbels here uses “insurrection” to describe a situation that was already kind of a stretch to call an “invasion” when he and his white nationalist buddies did that? It’s almost like Miller thinks that if he attaches to the word – which Encyclopedia Brittanica defines as, emphasis added, “an organized and usually violent act of revolt or rebellion against an established government or governing authority of a nation-state or other political entity by a group of its citizens or subjects” – to a mass of impoverished migrants seeking entry into the United States that he can make it stick to Joe Biden. And then somehow he’ll get MAGA judges in a bunch of states to disqualify Biden from the ballot under the 14th Amendment because he’s “inciting” this “insurrection.” That is just adorable what this bald little critter cooked up here.

Officials with Japan’s national meteorological agency on Monday downgraded the “major tsunami warning” issued for Ishikawa Prefecture to just a “tsunami warning” after a powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit the Ishikawa Prefecture on the main island’s west coast, NHK reports.

The downgraded tsunami danger – and the national nuclear authority saying there’s currently no danger of another reactor exploding and fucking shit up like after the 9.1 magnitude 2011 Tōhoku quake – are about the only good news as emergency officials report widespread fires and building collapses after Monday’s quake struck the region 180 miles northwest of Tokyo about 7 hours ago.

“It’s radical feminism and leftists open hostility towards men that have driven young men away. AI is just giving them somewhere to go” – The current top comment the Breitbart article “AI Girlfriends Present Threat of Further Isolating Young Men from Real Human Connections,” posted Friday.

Happy New Year!  We’re hours away from entering 2024, when we can be expected to be bombarded with campaign ads, Russian trolls and talking points, not to mention the possible end of the American democratic experiment.  But that’s not tonight, so party on, dudes!  (Apologies, Bill and Ted.) Let’s take a look back at some of the events from the last year that will shape the next.

[The necessary disclaimer:  Yes, there are many other stories this year not covered here like the Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war, the ongoing war in Ukraine, flip-flopping Nikki Haley whitewashing the cause of the Civil War, the Maui wildfires, the mess of gun violence in the United States, King Charles’s coronation, Robert Menendez being indicted and the disclosure of classified documents on Discord by a member of the US military.   But it’s New Year’s Eve, so let’s take a lighter look at things.]

There really was no bigger story in 2023–both in terms of news coverage and in regards to historical significance–than the various Trump criminal indictments.  Two federal criminal indictments joined one from Fulton County and another from Manhattan to make Trump not just the first former president to face felony charges, but he set that mark with the federal, state and local hat trick.  Add civil suits for financial fraud in New York, for defaming E. Jean Carroll after raping her, and the class action suit for the ACN multi-level marketing scam, and you can see why Trump’s Frequent Litigant Card is maxed out.  But it’s just the beginning.

In the traditional “Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary,” Supreme Court Chief Justice John adroitly side-stepped the issue of ongoing ethics questions on the High Court and eroding public confidence in its rulings, opting instead to concentrate on technological advances the Court made in 2023, the Washington Post reports.

Besides not mentioning the enlarging Clarence Thomas “gifts-from-‘friends'” scandal that benefited the Justice and his insurrectionist wife to the tune of millions of dollars since he’s been on the bench, Roberts also opted to not mention Alito’s acceptance of travel from “friends.”  He did, however, tout the potential for artificial intelligence, apparently because that’s more important than restoring public approval of the Court’s actions.

The 83-year-old Queen of Denmark surprised Danes by announcing during her traditional New Year’s Eve address that she was stepping down from the throne after more than half a century, turning the crown over to her son, Crown Prince Frederik, the Washington Post reports.

Denmark’s monarch, Queen Margrethe II, citing her advancing age and health problems, said she would step down on January 14th, the 52nd anniversary of her ascension to the throne in 1972 following the death of her father, King Frederik IX.  More than 40 countries still have some type of monarchy, with the plurality being part of the old British Commonwealth headed by King Charles III.  Most remaining monarchies are constitutional monarchies where the royal has no, limited, or ceremonial power.

Bring it on.

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) October 2, 2023

A flurry of Sunday morning posts on disgraced former President Trump’s Truth Social feed that were obviously in response to a trio of younger female former aides who worked for his failed administration sitting for an anti-Trump interview with ABC News’s Jonathan Karl revealed, simply by omission, that one of the three is probably a witness for the prosecution in the fat bastard’s upcoming trial on conspiracy charges stemming from his failed post-2020 election coup attempt.

As of this writing, it’s been 49 minutes since the last post in a string of those showing former Trump White House Communications Director and current “The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin and former Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews tweeting various praises for the Orange God Emperor, all dated prior to his failed January 2021 coup attempt or, in Griffin’s case, downplaying it in the immediate aftermath and criticizing Dems for refusing “outright to have serious conversations about voter fraud in this country.” The usual “counter-punching” bullshit from Team Trump.

There were no similar posts concerning Cassidy Hutchinson, the third former staffer who sat for the damning pre-taped interview airing Sunday, indicating that Hutchinson – famous for her “ketchup incident” testimony to the House January 6th Select Committee – is probably a witness for the prosecution in Trump’s upcoming trial, as the gag order imposed on Donald by Judge Tanya Chutkan and recently mostly upheld after his appeal to the DC Circuit expressly prohibits him “from making public statements that ‘target’ the parties, counsel and their staffs, court personnel, and ‘any reasonably foreseeable witness or the substance of their testimony.'” Put together with the fact that the fat bastard wasn’t afraid to trash Hutchinson back when she first testified publicly in 2022 makes it very likely he and his minions know they can’t go there with her now.

“The fact that he feels that he needs to lean into being a dictator alone shows that he is a weak and feeble man who has no sense of character and integrity and has no sense of leadership,” Hutchinson told Karl in the interview and damn that part really has to drive him fucking nuts.

US CENTCOM statement: “On Dec 31 at 6:30 am (Sanaa time) the container ship MAERSK HANGZHOU issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats. The small boats, originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, fired crew served and small arms weapons at the MAERSK HANGZHOU, getting to within 20 meters of the vessel, and attempted to board the vessel. A contract embarked security team on the MAERSK HANZGHOU returned fire. US helicopters from the USS EISENHOWER and GRAVELY responded to the distress call and in the process of issuing verbal calls to the small boats, the small boats fired upon the U.S. helicopters with crew served weapons and small arms. The US Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense, sinking three of the four small boats, and killing the crews. The fourth boat fled the area. There was no damage to US personnel or equipment.”

Surfers from around the world are flying into California to catch massive waves, some estimated to be 70 feet tall, smashing into the West Coast, the BBC reports.  A massive rogue wave struck Ventura on Thursday, causing about a dozen serious injuries as it swept people off their feet.  Beachfront hotels, shops and homes sustained damage.  A video posted to Surfer.com shows surfers catching waves at Platform Esther, an oil refinery rig one mile off the coast in Orange County, with waves that far out rising nearly to the bottom platform of the refinery. The waves are primarily driven by the El Niño weather system with the help of a waning moon.  (Video from KABC 7 in San Francisco.)

The planned induction of traitorous former Trump National Security Advisor and friend of Vlad Mike Flynn into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame has put on indefinite leave after multiple members of the board resigned in protest and the organization received massive public pushback, Newsweek reports.

Though one board member had publicly announced his resignation after Flynn was named to the Hall, at least four others apparently resigned privately.  In a letter obtained by the Providence Journal, board members Bea Lanzi, a former state senator, and lawyer John Tarantino wrote: “There is an overall right and wrong in the universe, and what has happened here, in our view, and according to our moral compasses, and consciences, compels us to resign.”

The former three-star Army general found success selling his access to foreign contacts:  dining at the RT anniversary celebration with Vladimir Putin, selling technology to Saudi Arabia, and planning the kidnapping of a Turkish dissident in the US. He then served as Trump’s national security advisor for two Scaramuccis before being forced out for lying to national security investigators about his contacts with Russia.  Flynn pleaded guilty, and then changed his plea un-guilty, to making false statements to the FBI; after Attorney General Bill Barr assigned a hand-picked Trump appointee to review the case, the Department of Justice dropped all charges.  Flynn later accepted a pardon from Trump.

Democratic Senators Tim Kaine (Virginia) and Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) voiced objections to the Biden Administration’s decision to sell $147 million in armaments in a move that skirted around typically normal Congressional oversight, the Washington Post reports.

“Just as Congress has a crucial role to play in all matters of war and peace, Congress should have full visibility over the weapons we transfer to any other nation,” Kaine said in a statement. “Unnecessarily bypassing Congress means keeping the American people in the dark. We need a public explanation of the rationale behind this decision—the second such decision this month.”

Both Kaine and Van Hollen noted that Congress has developed accelerated approval processes for arms sales to Israel, who went to war with Hamas after the terrorist group attacked civilians in an October 7th attack.  The State Department said the sale of artillery shells and related material was in line with previous transactions that had been approved by Congress.

The Florida State Seminoles got fucking destroyed by the Georgia Bulldogs to the tune of 63 to 3 in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Saturday, ESPN reports on an utter embarrassment of a game.

As you’re probably aware, we’re not a sportsball news site. In fact not too long ago we were very emphatic about our disinterest in NCAA football. We do however very much enjoy it when Republicans look like complete assholes and that’s exactly what happened in this game after heels-wearing Governor Ron DeSantis, white collar Skeletor-like Senator Rick Scott, creepy jittery Attorney General Ashley Moody, and fat former President Trump all freaked out when the Seminoles were left out of the final four NCAA football playoff despite having gone 13-0 during the regular season.

“My Office is launching an investigation to examine if the Committee was involved in any anticompetitive conduct. As it stands, the Committee’s decision reeks of partiality, so we are demanding answers – not only for FSU, but for all schools, teams and fans of college football,” said Moody in a statement earlier this month. DeSantis threatened to sue them – after the Orange God Emperor posted “Really bad lobbying effort… Lets blame DeSanctimonious!!!” on Truth Social. “I appreciate your response on Friday, December 15, to my letter dated Monday, December 4, regarding the unprecedented exclusion of the 13-0, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Champion Florida State University (FSU) Seminoles from the College Football Playoff (CFP). Unfortunately, your response failed to answer all 10 of the questions I posed in my initial letter,” Scott wrote to NCAA playoffs committee director Bill Hancock on the 18th, still fuming over the “snub.”

Hancock should just print out a copy of that ESPN box score and send it to Scott. That’s his answer.