TV News LIES

A new initiative named the Anti-Zionist America Political Action Committee (Azapac) released an unprecedented video ad on Monday calling for donations and volunteers to help it build momentum and counter pro-Israeli lobbying groups in the US. 

The project, which kicked off earlier this year, is spearheaded by former New York University professor and author Michael Rectenwald, a self-described Libertarian, and has amassed more than 22,000 followers on X.

"Our government acts like the servant of another country. That other country is, of course, the State of Israel," Rectenwald says in the ad, overlaid with images of the Israeli flag outside several offices of members of the US Congress.

"That's not policy. That's a national disgrace," he adds. "Their strings are pulled by donors loyal to the modern nation-state of Israel. This isn't an alliance. It's extortion."

As Rectenwald details the US contribution to Israel of $33bn since 7 October 2023, the ad shows images of Palestinians in body bags.

More...

Ukraine said its forces struck a Russian warship capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles during overnight attacks targeting military infrastructure deep inside Russian-controlled territory and along the front line.

The Ukrainian General Staff said on May 7 that Ukrainian Defense Forces had hit a Project 22800 Karakurt small missile ship near the Russian naval base in Kaspiysk.

According to the military, the vessel has the capability to launch Kalibr cruise missiles, which Russia has repeatedly used in attacks on Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure throughout the war.

“The extent of the damage is being clarified,” the General Staff said.

Ukraine also said it struck a Russian command post in Sosnivka in the occupied Luhansk region and a drone command center near Yasne in the Donetsk region.

More...

 

The meaning of the term “ceasefire” should be self‑evident. Yet Israel’s strikes have killed scores of people in Lebanon since it agreed a truce with Hezbollah under pressure from the US, with the two sides trading fire. There was a strike on Beirut on Wednesday. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government would be delighted to resume war with Iran. But it is wary of Donald Trump’s wrath as he seeks an exit from the conflict.

In Gaza, the Israeli military has killed more than 800 people since the truce there was declared in October, striking almost every day. This, too, is not a true ceasefire but a de-escalation, however necessary. Lethal Israeli attacks on an engineer and drivers transporting water have intensified the water crisis that is fuelling the spread of infectious diseases; Médecins Sans Frontières has called the weaponisation of water supplies a campaign of collective punishment.

Never mind the estimated $70bn cost of reconstruction; homes are still being flattened. Families in tents face a rat infestation. Essential medicines are unavailable. Hospitals and schools lie in ruins. An analysis of the war’s impact on education described children feeling “like the living dead”.

Israel agreed to end attacks, massively increase the aid allowed into the territory and withdraw its forces to within a “yellow line” – still accounting for 53% of the territory. Yet strikes have continued, aid flows yo-yo and essential items are blocked on the claim that they are “dual use”.

The military has expanded its zone of control substantially – and the unmarked surrounding area in which Palestinians are considered legitimate targets. Israel’s Army Radio has said that military leaders are pushing to resume the war.

More...

Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature passed redistricting maps on Thursday, eliminating the state’s one Democratic, Black-majority congressional district a week after the US supreme court effectively gutted a major section of the Voting Rights Act.

The move cracks Tennessee’s ninth congressional district, which covers Memphis, into three pieces, each of which contains almost exactly a third of the city’s Black voters. The new maps mean that all nine of Tennessee’s congressional districts are Republican-leaning.

The district had closely occupied the south-west corner of the state. Now three districts snake out from Memphis’ dense center, with two crossing the Tennessee River to reach Nashville’s suburbs 200 miles away.

“If Republican policies are so great, why are we changing the lines to rig elections?” asked Vincent Dixie, a state representative from Nashville, during debate on Thursday, pleading for Republicans to refrain. “Where is your humanity in this?”

More...

A federal judge in North Carolina conditionally agreed to cancel former FBI Director James Comey’s upcoming court appearance on charges of threatening President Trump at his request and with the government’s support.

Comey asked to call off the hearing because he already made an initial appearance in Alexandria, Va., last week over the allegations. He said that federal criminal procedure rules provide “for an initial appearance in the singular.”

U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said she would cancel the initial appearance if Comey files a waiver for the hearing in the district by Friday. She said the hearing would proceed as scheduled if no waiver is filed.

In Comey’s initial request, his attorneys said he would be willing to execute any necessary waiver “to give the Court additional comfort if the Court so desires.”

More...

The Pentagon said the U.S. military launched "self-defense strikes" on Iranian targets Thursday after "unprovoked" attacks from the Islamic republic on U.S. Navy vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

No U.S. assets were struck by Iranian attacks, but U.S. forces hit Iranian military facilities behind the attacks, U.S. Central Command, the arm of the U.S. military overseeing operations in the Middle East, said in a statement. The agency added it does not want to see an "escalation" of the fighting. 

"U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces," the statement said. "CENTCOM does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces."

Iranian state media reported the U.S. struck Iranian ports on Qeshm Island and the city of Bandar Abbas. The two sites are located near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says they launched attacks on U.S. Navy assets after American forces tried to seize an Iranian oil tanker. U.S. forces on Wednesday struck an Iranian oil tanker, disabling the vessel.

The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for information. The apparent resumption of hostilities comes as President Donald Trump says progress is being made in negotiations as Tehran reviews a U.S. framework for peace talks.

More...

 

The U.S. Court of International Trade’s 2-1 decision leaves the temporary tariffs in place for all other importers while any appeal by the Trump administration plays out. They are expected to expire in July.

The court ruled that Trump’s imposition of the tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 was misguided. One of the judges said it was premature to grant victory to the plaintiffs.

While the ruling applies to a set of levies due to expire in about two months, it marks another major setback for Trump’s global tariff ambitions and comes a week before he is due to discuss trade tensions with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

It sets the stage for another protracted legal battle over billions of dollars’ worth of tariff refunds three months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping global tariffs imposed under a national emergencies law.

More...

Anunciata Schwebel could only watch in horror on FaceTime while her friend and tenant slunk into a bathtub to take cover from one of several tornadoes that slammed into Mississippi just after sunset Wednesday.

Her friend screamed that the windows were breaking. Schwebel could see on her screen the devastation to the cluster of cottages she owned in the town of Purvis — walls and roofs ripped away, her tenants huddled in their bathrooms.

“We could see a line of people sitting in their tubs,” Schwebel said Thursday. “We thought people were dead.”

Yet, for a second time in less than a month, a big burst of tornadoes caused no deaths. Authorities estimated that 500 homes were damaged across five counties Wednesday and said at least 17 people were injured. The powerful storms spawned at least three tornadoes across the bottom half of Mississippi that could be seen on weather radar, meteorologists said, possibly more.

More...