TV News LIES

A federal judge has prohibited the justice department from searching electronic devices it seized from a Washington Post reporter, ruling that the court will search the devices for documents related to a national security investigation itself.

In his ruling, magistrate judge William Porter criticized the Trump administration for omitting relevant case law in its application for a search warrant to seize the devices in the first place, but acknowledged “the possibility that classified national security information may be among the seized material” complicated the matter.

On 14 January, the FBI raided the home of Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials. A self described “federal government whisperer”, Natanson has also reported on federal employees who were laid off by the Trump administration during Elon Musk’s Doge cuts – developing nearly 1,200 confidential sources from across 120 government agencies.

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A federal judge appointed by President Trump held the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in civil contempt for violating the court’s order when they transported a detainee to a Texas facility in January.

A federal judge appointed by President Trump held the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in civil contempt for violating the court’s order when they transported a detainee to a Texas facility in January.

In a Monday ruling, Minnesota District Court Judge Eric C. Tostrud required the federal government to compensate the detainee, identified only as “Fernando T.,” for his return flight to Minnesota.

Tostrud noted that Fernando, a Mexican citizen, was released from the Texas detainment facility in late January without his belongings and said federal officials “have not explained why they withheld Fernando’s belongings when they released him.”

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Pennsylvania Democrats are projected to win two special elections for state House, keeping their majority intact, according to Decision Desk HQ. 

Democrats Ana Tiburcio and Jennifer Mazzocco won their Tuesday elections to represent  Pennsylvania House Districts 22 in Lehigh County and 42 in Allegheny County, respectively.

The seats were vacated after former state Rep. Josh Siegel (D) was elected as Lehigh County executive and  ex-state Rep. Dan Miller (D) won a spot on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. 

Democrats were expected to keep both blue-leaning seats. But the party risked a tied 100-100 state House if they were to have come up short, which would have complicated Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) ability to pass his legislative priorities in the Keystone State.

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The United States has announced it will soon provide in-person passport services at an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

The US Embassy in Jerusalem said it would start providing the service for Efrat, located between the Palestinian towns of Bethlehem and Hebron, on February 27.

It will be the first time the US has “provided consular services to a settlement in the West Bank”, according to a US embassy spokesperson quoted by the Reuters news agency.

The embassy said it would plan similar on-site services in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, the illegal Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit near Bethlehem, and in cities within Israel, such ⁠as Haifa.

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Israeli settlers vandalized a mosque in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Monday, spray-painting offensive phrases and setting a fire, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Worshippers arriving for the day’s first prayers found the damage and a smoldering fire that spewed black smoke across the entrance of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in the town of Tell, near Nablus, and stained the ornate doorway.

“I was shocked when I opened the door,” said Munir Ramdan, who lives nearby. “The fire had been burning here in the area, the glass was broken here and the door was broken.”

Security camera footage showed two people walking toward the mosque carrying gasoline and a can of spray paint, and running away a few minutes later, Ramdan said.

The attackers spray-painted graffiti denigrating the Prophet Muhammad, as well as the words “revenge” and “price tag.” In “price tag” attacks, hard-line Israeli nationalists attack Palestinians and vandalize their property in response to Palestinian militant attacks or perceived efforts by Israeli authorities to limit settlement activity.

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The U.S. and Iran are headed to a new round of talks in Geneva aimed at averting a conflict this week—as the U.S. continues to surge military forces to the region in its largest military buildup since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Although talks are scheduled for Thursday, the prospects for a deal that would halt the U.S. drive to war remain fragile. The U.S. has demanded sweeping concessions, including the cessation of all nuclear enrichment on Iranian soil, the end of Iranian support for regional armed resistance movements, and strict limits on the Iranian ballistic missile program—the only meaningful deterrent that Iran was able to employ during its conflict with Israel last year.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, President Donald Trump wrote, “I am the one that makes the decision, I would rather have a Deal than not but, if we don’t make a Deal, it will be a very bad day for that Country and, very sadly, its people, because they are great and wonderful, and something like this should never have happened to them.”

An Iranian official told Drop Site that Tehran understands the erratic nature of the Trump administration, but believes the position its diplomats are outlining to U.S. negotiators represents an unprecedented effort by Iran aimed at preventing a regional war. The official said Iran is directly addressing U.S. concerns on the nuclear issue with concrete proposals, and asserting a willingness to expand talks to other issues once a deal to avert imminent conflict has been concluded.

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An explosion struck a police patrol car near Moscow’s Savelovsky Station Square around midnight on Tuesday morning, according to local authorities.

Russia’s interior ministry said one police officer was killed and two others injured after an unknown individual approached their vehicle, where an explosion ensued.

“Today, at approximately 12:05 a.m., an unknown individual approached traffic police officers from the North-Eastern District of Moscow’s Internal Affairs Directorate, who were patrolling in a service vehicle near Savelovsky Station Square,” the ministry said in a statement, as reported by Russia’s independent outlet Astra.

In a video shared by Astra showing the aftermath, the car’s windows were shattered, the trunk was open, and dents were visible on the doors. The vehicle, however, was not burned in the explosion.

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The Food and Drug Administration Monday unveiled the details of a new policy designed to make it easier and quicker for patients with very rare diseases to get cutting-edge treatments.

The new guidance would enable the agency to approve new treatments for rare diseases based on evidence for a "plausible mechanism" for how the treatment would work. The policy aims to speed the use of state-of-the-art technologies like gene-editing to create treatments tailored to individual patients suffering from diseases that are so rare that it would be difficult if not impossible to conduct a traditional study first.

"For decades families heard the same thing: There are not enough patients. The approval will take too long. You just have to wait for the science to catch up with your child, " Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a briefing announcing the proposed new policy. "That ends today. Individualized medicine is no longer theoretical."

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