TV News LIES

The Supreme Court on Thursday came to the rescue of Texas Republicans, allowing next year’s elections to be held under the state’s congressional redistricting plan favorable to the GOP and pushed by President Donald Trump despite a lower-court ruling that the map likely discriminates on the basis of race.

The justices acted on an emergency request from Texas for quick action because qualifying in the new districts already has begun, with primary elections in March.

The Supreme Court’s order puts the 2-1 ruling blocking the map on hold at least until after the high court issues a final decision in the case. Justice Samuel Alito had previously temporarily blocked the order while the full court considered the Texas appeal.

The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections.

The Texas congressional map enacted last summer at Trump’s urging was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats.

More...

Navy Adm. Frank Bradley, the commander who oversaw the Sept. 2 strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, denied that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered his subordinates to “kill everybody” aboard the vessel during briefings to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The denial follows a report from The Washington Post last week that the Pentagon chief gave a spoken directive to “kill everybody” ahead of the U.S. military’s Sept. 2 attack against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean, an operation where 11 “narco-terrorists” were killed.

Both Hegseth and the White House have denied that he gave such an order to Bradley, the commander of Joint Special Operations Command.

“Admiral Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, not to give no quarter or to kill them all. He was given an order that, of course, was written down in great detail, as our military always does,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters after the Thursday closed-door, classified briefing with Bradley and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chair, Gen. Dan Caine.

“The admiral confirmed that there had not been a ‘kill them all’ order, and that there was not an order to ‘grant no quarter,’” Himes said on Thursday.

Still, Himes said that he was “deeply” troubled by the Defense Department’s attack on Sept. 2, in which the U.S. military conducted four strikes, killing 11 and sinking the boat.

More...

After a nearly five-year investigation, a suspect has been arrested for allegedly planting pipe bombs in Washington ahead of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, federal authorities announced.

Attorney General Pam Bondi identified the suspect as Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia. She said he was charged with use of an explosive device and that more search warrants were still being executed on Dec. 4.

“There could be more charges to come,” Bondi told reporters. "There was no new tip. There was no new witness, just good diligent police work and prosecutorial work."

Officials noted the alleged pipe bomber was from Woodbridge, Virginia, a city roughly 25 miles from Washington. Bondi did not disclose Cole’s alleged motive, saying the investigation is ongoing.

On Don Trump Jr.’s podcast, Triggered, Patel repeatedly criticized the Biden administration's handling of the case.

Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said authorities focused on evidence they already had, rather than receiving new tips.

“You're not going to walk into our Capital city, put down two explosive devices and walk off in the sunset,” Bongino said. “Not going to happen. We were going to track this person to the end of the earth. There was no way he was getting away.”

More...

A federal judge late on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from making widespread immigration arrests in the nation’s capital without warrants or probable cause that the person would be an imminent flight risk.

The US district judge Beryl Howell in Washington granted a preliminary injunction sought by civil liberties and immigrants’ rights groups in a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security.

The lawsuit alleged that since Donald Trump declared an emergency in Washington in August, there has been a pattern of widespread, unlawful immigration arrests. Community members have reported living in fear of being stopped while driving or walking through their neighborhoods and many have avoided going to work, walking children to school or other daily activities in an attempt to avoid checkpoints and immigration enforcement agents.

Officers making civil immigration arrests generally have to have an administrative warrant. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, they may make arrests without a warrant only if they have probable cause to believe the person is in the US illegally and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained, according to Howell’s ruling.

More...

The Pentagon’s watchdog found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Yemen’s Houthi militants, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday.

Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the information. That person also said the report concluded that Hegseth violated Pentagon policy by using his personal device for official business and it recommended better training for all Pentagon officials.

The initial findings ramp up the pressure on the former Fox News Channel host after lawmakers had called for the independent inquiry into his use of the commercially available app. Lawmakers also just opened investigations into a news report that a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September killed survivors after Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody.”

Hegseth declined to sit for an interview with the Pentagon’s inspector general but provided a written statement, that person said. The defense secretary asserted that he was permitted to declassify information as he saw fit and only communicated details he thought would not endanger the mission.

More...

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday called for a complete end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – not just a pause in the fighting that has raged since February 2022 – ahead of US-Russia talks in Moscow centering on a peace plan aimed at ending Europe’s deadliest war since World War II.

Zelensk is seeking support from European allies, who fear the US plan – which is rumored to have been drafted in Mosclw – reads like a wishlist for Putin.

“Our common task is to end the war, not just to achieve a pause in hostilities. A dignified peace is needed. For this to truly happen, everyone must be on the side of peace,” he said at a joint press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin during his official visit to Ireland.

Earlier on Tuesday, following his arrival in Ireland, Zelensky received a detailed briefing on recent US-Ukraine negotiations in Miami, Florida, where Ukraine’s negotiators reported “significant progress” in revising the initial plan, but noted that challenging issues remain.

More...

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 70,000 people in over two years of war, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, as the death toll continues to climb despite the ongoing ceasefire.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed at least 70,100 people since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which equates to more than 3% of the 2.3 million people living in the enclave. A further 170,983 people have been wounded.

The World Health Organization has said that the numbers given by health officials in Gaza are reputable.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains in effect but has been tested by repeated outbreaks of violence, as Gaza’s residents face hunger, flooding and the onset of a bitter winter.

Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. The two brothers, ages 11 and 8, died when an Israeli drone struck close to a school sheltering displaced people in the town of Beni Suhaila, according to staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.

More...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Israel's president to grant him a pardon during his long-running corruption trial that's bitterly divided the country.

In a statement Sunday the prime minister's office said that Netanyahu had submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the Office of the President. The president's office called it an "extraordinary request," carrying with it "significant implications."

Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters. He has not yet been convicted of anything.

The request comes weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Israel to pardon Netanyahu.

In a videotaped statement, Netanyahu said the trial has divided the country and that a pardon would help restore national unity. He also said the requirement that he appear in court three times a week is a distraction that makes it difficult for him to lead the country.

Netanyahu's request consisted of two documents — a detailed letter signed by his lawyer and a letter signed by Netanyahu. They'll be sent to the justice ministry for opinions and will then be transferred to the Legal Advisor in the Office of the President, which will formulate additional opinions for the president.

More...