Video verified by the Washington Post shows shells used in an artillery strike in Gaza exploding with the telltale signs of white phosphorus, a chemical that can cause severe burns on people and can be devastating to a civilian population.  The use of the chemical is not banned by conventions of war and it is sometimes used to mark targets for additional artillery or air strikes.  The shells reportedly landed in the Gaza City port away from residential areas, but Human Rights Watch warned that using white phosphorus in densely populated Gaza City will inevitably lead to civilian casualties.

French cops have opened an investigation into a possible assassination attempt on fugitive former Russian television news anchor Marina Ovsyannikova – who skipped out of house arrest last October and fled to Paris after being hit with charges of sedition over her on-air protest of the murderous invasion of Ukraine in March of 2022 – suddenly fell ill after coming in contact with an unknown powdery substance on the door of her apartment on Thursday, CBS News reports.

Whatever happened it appears it wasn’t too bad, as Reporters Without Borders Secretary General Christophe Deloire said that Ovsyannikova was feeling better later on Thursday but remained under medical supervision as doctors try to figure out what the hell she came in contact with. Last week Ovsyannikova was sentenced in absentia to 8.5 years in the gulag for her thoughtcrimes.

Jake Sherman from Punchbowl News reports, and MSNBC confirms, Steve Scalise announced that he is taking himself out of the running for the Speakership in the House.  This confirms earlier reported–reported here–from NewsMax, which again comes through with a scoop on news from the conservative rumor mill.  (Step aside, Fox, as the favored outlet for insider leaks.)

While Scalise won the vote within the GOP Conference last week, he needed virtually every Republican to win in the vote of the full House, including Democrats.  As many as two dozen Republicans stated they would never support Scalise as Speaker.  Jim Jordan now becomes the presumptive favorite, but he has a number of “Never Jordan” opponents himself.  The circus continues.

With the Republican House Conference suddenly calling a meeting for 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday, the House remains without a permanent Speaker for the ninth day, an administrative and public relations disaster.  According to the Washington Post, Ohio Republican Max Miller is planning to bring a motion to the conference to grant Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry more powers to conduct the business of the House for up to two months.

Earlier in the day, some of Steve Scalise’s proxy promoted the idea that the “conference designee” for Speaker–based on his winning a vote over Jim Jordan–has been picking up supporters among the Jordan faithful, but at last tally, the unofficial count still had about a dozen Republicans standing firm against Scalise.

In a statement that starts off saying “There was no better friend or ally of Israel than President Donald J Trump. Under my leadership, the United States stood in complete solidarity with Israel,” and then just diverts into his own overrated “peace deals” and lies about the stolen election and Joe Biden, the fat bastard does absolutely nothing that comes anywhere close to what might reasonably be considered an “apology” or “damage control” or even an excuse for his ongoing meltdown over Israel and its dictator Benjamin Netanyahu after the country suffered a horrific terrorist attack and retaliatory strikes that left at least 1,200 Israelis and 1,300 Palestinians dead.

We’re not going to print the whole thing, but we can say that Trump did not really make it worse for himself, we guess. He definitely got pushed into doing this by his aides and then watered it down.

The Atlanta Humane Society on Thursday announced they had rescued more than 150 dogs and cats from some sick asshole’s property in southeast Georgia this week, Atlanta News First reports.

“There were many chihuahua mixes, medium breed dogs and cats living outside in pens in their own filth, roaming free inside a house and in kennels inside a carport,” said AHS in a statement, adding that the animals will be distributed to shelters and adoption agencies for re-homing.

National Zero will now return to covering death, violence, and malevolent political dysfunction after this brief good news update… Well it’s still bad news but it had a happy ending at least.

Republican Senator John Thune is happy to address Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto’s questions about Trump’s Israel meltdown by saying it’s a free country so Donald can say whatever he wants.

Sources tell Rolling Stone disgraced former President Trump now wants Israeli dictator Benjamin Netanyahu to be “impeached” for the intelligence failures that led to the horrific Hamas terrorist attack on civilians last weekend and also has been asking his minions if he should publicly call on Netanyahu to resign, something they warned him off of since the blood is still fresh.

Obviously there’s no impeachment in the Israeli system and Trump is a fucking idiot. If and when the evidence showing Netanyahu failed to heed credible warnings does surface he’ll be gone pretty quickly because his coalition partners will quit which will trigger snap elections. All of Trump’s anger at his former best buddy “Bibi” stems from Netanyahu publicly congratulating Joe Biden on winning the presidency almost immediately after the major networks called it for him in November 2020.

“Senator Menendez should not be a US Senator. He should have been gone long ago. It is time for every one of my colleagues in the Senate to join me in expelling Senator Menendez. We cannot have an alleged foreign agent in the United States Senate. This is not a close call,” says Dem Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman in a statement responding to the superseding indictment against DINO scumbag Bob Menendez, the second time in as many months Fetterman has done so publicly.

We cannot stress this enough, the vote is a win-win and it would be political malpractice not to do try it before Menendez can resign (which he probably won’t). At least 25 Senate Dems and zero Republicans have called on the asshole to quit – because that would mean they agree that a credibly accused felony criminal defendant has no business holding federal office. Forcing them to go on the record means either they do have to agree – and that it also applies to the disgraced former president a lot of them don’t even actually like – or they let a corrupt Dem off the hook. Do it now.

The New York City Police Department has ordered all officers – including plainclothes detectives and street cops – to be in uniform starting Friday following former Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal’s call for “Muslims head to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world,” the New York Post reports.

“All uniformed members of the service in every rank, will perform duty in the uniform of the day and be prepared for deployment,” the memo to cops reads, adding that all shift changes are frozen.

“The Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas. Starting Friday, October 13, the US government will arrange charter flights to assist US citizens and their immediate family members who have been unable to book commercial transit and seek a safe means of departing Israel. From these locations, individuals will be able to make their own onward travel arrangements to the destination of their choice. These initial transportation options will be augmented in the coming days. Senior State Department officials are actively working with airline carriers and international partners on how best to provide additional options to US citizens seeking to depart Israel or conduct onward travel to the United States. US citizens in need of assistance should complete the crisis intake form on travel.state.gov.”

“We continue to monitor the situation closely and evaluate the demand from US citizens for assistance in departing Israel on a real-time basis but expect these initial travel options to facilitate the safe departure of thousands of US citizens per week. The overall security situation, availability and reliability of commercial transportation, and US citizen demand will all influence the duration of this departure assistance. We will have more to share in the coming days and will provide updates to US citizens who have registered via our online form. We will continue to provide updates and assistance to US citizens as the situation evolves” – State Department press release.

“This Trophy was given to me by Deutsche Bank because they were so proud of the Loan they made. They had the best Lawyers, the smartest Loan Officers, and were thrilled to do business with ‘TRUMP.’ Interest was fully paid every month (no payment ever missed!), never received a default notice, and if Interest came due on a weekend, I paid it on a Friday. THE LOAN WAS PAID OFF FAR AHEAD OF SCHEDULE! Except for me, because of the Corrupt DOJ, FBI, and Racist New York State Attorney General, there were no Victims, there were only happy Bankers! But despite a PERFECT LOAN, I was sued by the Incompetent, Radical Left New York State AG, Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James, under a Statute that was never used for this before, and where I am not even entitled to a Jury.”

“A Liberal Democrat Judge, with all Trump Haters surrounding him, is going to make this very important decision. If I had a Jury, I would win easily, but regardless, this is a case that should never have been brought. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” writes fat former President Trump on Truth Social.

And yeah, he included the above pic of the actual “trophy.” We seem to remember back in the very earliest years of Trump’s reign over the GOP that “participation trophy” was a right wing meme mocking liberals for coddling losers and making everyone feel special. Kind of aged poorly considering this and certain other incidents of contrived, default accolades to the fat bastard.

In a new superseding indictment against DINO Senator Robert Menendez, his wife, and buddy Wael Hana, federal prosecutors on Thursday charged the three with conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government bribery scheme the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had happily accepted cash, a Mercedes, and gold bars to help further.

“From at least in or about January 2018 through at least in or about June 2022, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, ROBERT MENENDEZ, NADINE MENENDEZ, a/k/a ‘Nadine Arslanian,’ and WAEL HANA, a/k/a ‘Will Hana,’ the defendants, and others known and unknown, willfully and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together and with each other to have a public official, to wit, ROBERT MENENDEZ, act as an agent of a foreign principal, to wit, the Government of Egypt and Egyptian officials, required to register under FARA, Title 22, US Code, Sections 611-621, in violation of Title 18, US Code, Section 219,” prosecutors wrote.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise will drop out of the House Speakership race after falling far too short of the 217 votes needed in the GOP caucus to win in a full floor vote, Newsmax reports.

And yes, it’s Newsmax, but on Wednesday they broke that Scalise had defeated Jim Jordan more than a half hour before the other guys did, so we feel in this specific instance – especially one with no obvious political motive for them to lie like they did about Dominion and Smartmatic – they’re probably reporting correctly, straight from sources inside the House Republican conference.

Our nation’s support for Israel is resolute and unwavering.

And the right time to praise the terrorists who seek to destroy them is never. https://t.co/5UbfHZ9iPv

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 12, 2023

Responding to disgraced former President Trump’s Wednesday night meltdown in which he called Hezbollah “very smart” and ripped Israeli dictator Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Netanyahu Regime Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi on Thursday told Channel 13 that it’s “shameful that a man like that, a former US president, abets propaganda and disseminates things that wound the spirit of Israel’s fighters and its citizens,” the the Times of Israel reports.

“We don’t have to bother with him and the nonsense he spouts,” Karhi said. When asked if Trump’s demented ranting made it clear that he can’t be relied on in the future, Karhi replied “Obviously.”

Kind of a far cry from when Karhi tweeted “Thank you President Trump for acknowledging Israel’s Prime Minister’s tremendous achievements. The Israeli public salutes you 🇮🇱🇺🇸” back in July of 2019.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo on Thursday morning told a group of House Dems the $6 billion in funds – conditionally unfrozen as ransom last month for five American prisoners – that still remain under his department’s control in a Qatari bank account are not “going anywhere anytime soon,” Punchbowl’s Andrew Desiderio reports while adding it “amid bipartisan backlash after Hamas attacks on Israel.” Desiderio did not elaborate further but it could mean the Treasury is going to announce a refreeze of the cash – available only for purchases of food and medical supplies from approved third parties, which haven’t actually happened yet – the MAGA circlejerkers have been insisting is “fungible” in that it freed up other funds for Tehran to support Hamas and Hezbollah.

UPDATE 10/12/2023 11:57 AM EDT: The Washington Post reports that the US and Qatar have agreed to block Iran from access to the $6 billion in cash which, again, remains untouched.

“In Judaism there is an obligation of ‘Hakarat Hatov’ – saying thank you to those who perform good deeds. While I have been, and remain, deeply critical of the Biden Administration, the moral, tactical, diplomatic and military support that it has provided Israel over the past few days has been exceptional. As one living in Jerusalem with children who are Israeli citizens, I am deeply grateful. I pray that American support continues in the difficult days ahead,” tweeted former Trump Administration Ambassador to Israel David M Friedman on Thursday morning. We would’ve embedded on the page it but for some stupid reason it was cut off with ellipses due to its length.

This guy served the full four years of Trump’s failed presidency as his main envoy to Israel and just two days ago pushed the MAGA company line that Biden has been “empowering Iran,” and that they’ve “become a much richer country under the Biden administration’s watch. And that money has been used to help finance Hamas.” Just a hunch but Friedman probably shouldn’t count on getting his old job back if the Orange Ayatollah returns to power, even with that “deeply critical” caveat.

The RNC is planning to recruit and train thousands upon thousands of “poll watchers” to ask lots of annoying questions, make shit up about “suspicious” voters, file false reports to police, and all sorts of other stupid shit at polling places in battleground states on election day 2024, Axios reports.

Election losing expert RNC Chair Ronna Not-Romney McDaniel said the effort to “mobilize” her party’s 15 planned state “election integrity directors” is necessary to “hold Democrats accountable for bad laws that make voting less secure” whatever that’s supposed to mean. Sounds like she wants there to be disruptions and violence at voting sites so they can cry “irregularities” afterward.