TV News LIES

Later this month, on the holiday of Purim, Jewish people will dress in silly costumes, eat triangular pastries, and listen to an ancient story about attempted genocide. What we notice, and don’t notice, about that story says a lot about what we notice, and don’t notice, in Israel and Palestine.

The tale comes from the book of Esther. It begins with a dissolute Persian king. He hosts a banquet, gets drunk, orders his queen to “display her beauty” to the revelers, and, when she refuses, banishes her from the throne. As her replacement he chooses Esther, a beautiful young maiden who, unbeknownst to him, is a Jew. Then he makes a calamitous personnel decision: he selects Haman, a pathological Jew-hater, to be his right-hand man. The stage is now set for an epic clash.

Haman persuades the king to sign an edict exterminating the Jews. Esther’s uncle, Mordechai, hears the news and sends word that she must save her people. Although protesting puts her own life at risk, Esther appeals to the king and, through a series of daring maneuvers, turns him against Haman. Haman is hanged. Mordechai takes his job. Good triumphs over evil.

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Former central banker Mark Carney won the race to become leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister, official results showed on Sunday.

Carney will take over at a tumultuous time in Canada, which is in the midst of a trade war with longtime ally the United States and must hold a general election soon. Carney, 59, defeated former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland who came in second place in a contest in which just over 150,000 party members voted.

Trudeau announced in January that he would step down after more than nine years in power as his approval rating plummeted, forcing the ruling Liberal Party to run a quick contest to replace him.

Carney, a political novice, argued that he was best placed to revive the party and to oversee trade negotiations with President Donald Trump, who is threatening additional tariffs that could cripple Canada's export-dependent economy.

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When 21-year-old Jefferson arrived in the U.S. in December, a case manager from a resettlement agency met him at the airport and took him straight to an apartment. Within a month, the manager also helped him land a job operating a machine that packs lettuce.

Jefferson's new life in America was taking shape. Then suddenly, in late January, his case manager disappeared.

"I was left alone, with no one to provide guidance in this new country," he says, speaking in Spanish because he doesn't yet know much English.

It turned out the case manager had been let go — and their work phone shut down — after the Trump administration froze refugee resettlement.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has banned reading “general news” websites at work, The Hill has learned.

“Social Security employees should be focused on mission-critical work and serving the American people,” a Social Security spokesperson said in a statement emailed to The Hill on Thursday.

“Therefore, we implemented additional restrictions to the categories of websites prohibited from government-furnished equipment, including online shopping, general news, and sports. Employees may request an exception if they have a business need for job-specific duties,” the spokesperson continued.

NBC News and The Washington Post both reported previously that there was an SSA email discussing employee website bans including for “general news,” which was confirmed by the statement for the agency.

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SpaceX launched its huge Starship rocket on the program's eighth test flight Thursday, but a malfunction of some sort triggered multiple upper stage engine shutdowns and the vehicle failed to reach its planned sub-orbital altitude, breaking apart in a spectacular shower of debris.

It was the second failure in a row for a Starship upper stage, a vehicle critical to NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon in the next few years.

"During Starship's ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost. Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses," SpaceX said in a statement.

"We will review the data from today's flight test to better understand root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today's flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship's reliability."

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A bill that would have required women seeking medication abortions to get ultrasounds has been vetoed by Wyoming’s Republican governor, who questioned whether it was reasonable and necessary especially for victims of rape and incest.

“Mandating this intimate, personally invasive, and often medically unnecessary procedure goes too far,” Mark Gordon wrote in a letter explaining his veto late on Monday.

Groups working to maintain abortion access in Wyoming – the first state to attempt to explicitly outlaw medication abortions – praised the veto even though Gordon over the past three years has signed into law several bills seeking to ban the procedure.

“It’s important that women are able to access this healthcare without undue and unnecessary burden,” Christine Lichtenfels, executive director of the abortion access advocate Chelsea’s Fund, said on Tuesday.

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In the filing, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office Detective Roy Arndt says the couple were found in different rooms in their sprawling Santa Fe home, where the two-time Oscar winner, 95, retreated to for a lowkey life after leaving Hollywood.

Authorities found the actor was in a mudroom near his cane, appearing to have fallen, while wife Arakawa, 64, was found in an open bathroom near a space heater, according to the warrant.

An open prescription bottle and pills were scattered on the nearby countertop, the warrant says. A deputy observed Arakawa with "body decomposition, bloating in her face" and mummification of her hands and feet.

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