TV News LIES

The Washington National Opera announced Friday that it had decided to end its arrangement with the Kennedy Center in the nation’s capital, though it said it was hoping for an “amicable transition.”

“To ensure fiscal prudence and fulfill its obligations for a balanced budget, the WNO will reduce its spring season and relocate performances to new venues,” the Opera said in a statement.

It said the decision stemmed from the Center’s new business model, which “requires productions to be fully funded in advance — a requirement incompatible with opera operations.”

Kennedy Center spokesperst incompatible with opera operations.”on Roma Daravi told The New York Times, “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with the WNO due to a financially challenging relationship.

More...

A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration cannot block federal money for child care subsidies and other programs aimed at supporting needy children and their families from flowing to five Democratic-led states for now.

The states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York argued that a policy announced Tuesday to freeze funds for three grant programs is having an immediate impact on them and creating “operational chaos.” In court filings and a hearing earlier Friday, the states contended that the government did not have a legal reason for holding back the money from those states.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it was pausing the funding because it had “reason to believe” the states were granting benefits to people in the country illegally, though it did not provide evidence or explain why it was targeting those states and not others.

The programs are the Child Care and Development Fund, which subsidizes child care for children from low-income families; the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance and job training; and the Social Services Block Grant, a smaller fund that provides money for a variety of programs.

The five states say they receive a total of more than $10 billion a year from the programs.

More...

Donald Trump has said ‘I don’t need international law” and that his power is limited only by his “own morality”.

In a new interview with the New York Times, Trump said the only constraint to his power as president of the US is “my own morality, my own mind”.

“It’s the only thing that can stop me,” Trump said, adding: “I’m not looking to hurt people.” He went on to concede “I do” in regards to whether his administration needed to adhere to international law, but said: “It depends on what your definition of international law is.”

Trump, who spoke to the newspaper as his administration looks into “a range of options” in attempts to gain control of Greenland, also emphasized the importance of ownership.

“Ownership is very important,” Trump said, adding: “Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success. I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do with, you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”

More...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani got an early win on a signature policy proposal thanks to Gov. Kathy Hochul.

On Jan. 8, Hochul announced the city and state would partner on a plan to launch free universal childcare for 2-year-old children in New York City. Mamdani, a week into taking office, had centered no-cost childcare for New Yorkers in his winning campaign to address cost of living.

The two Democrats need each other — Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has to make good on sweeping proposals in the nation’s largest city, and Hochul, a moderate, needs to show receipts as she faces re-election in 2026. The childcare plan, part of Hochul's budget proposal, would need approval by the Legislature as part of the state's budget.

New York City already has universal preschool for 4-year-old children, and offers 3-K, or early childhood education for 3-year-old students.

Hochul and Mamdani are set to launch the free childcare program beginning at 2 years old within New York City. Hochul’s office said she is committed to fully funding the first two years of the expansion.

More...

A theater professor at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee who was fired in September for his “insensitive” social media post after Charlie Kirk’s assassination is back on the job and will receive a $500,000 settlement.

Darren Michael, an associate professor of acting and directing, had shared a Newsweek article on social media on Sept. 10 that quoted Kirk’s own words about gun violence after the right-wing activist was fatally shot.

“I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,” Kirk said at an event in 2023. “That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe.”

Michael did not caption the post with his own thoughts, but his social media activity gained the attention of Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who posted a screenshot of his post and professor page on X, asking the university, “What do you say?”

More...

The noted banjo player Béla Fleck has canceled three performances scheduled for next month with the National Symphony Orchestra, or NSO, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Fleck, who has won 18 Grammy Awards and often performs with symphonies around the country, is the latest artist to cancel engagements at the Kennedy Center amidst many administrative and curatorial changes at the Washington, D.C. arts complex.

In a post published to social media Tuesday evening, Fleck wrote: "I have withdrawn from my upcoming performance with the NSO at The Kennedy Center. Performing there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music. I look forward to playing with the NSO another time in the future when we can together share and celebrate art."

The National Symphony Orchestra did not respond to requests for a response to Fleck's decision to cancel. Tuesday evening, however, the center's president, Richard Grenell, wrote on X: "You just made it political and caved to the woke mob who wants you to perform for only Lefties. This mob pressuring you will never be happy until you only play for Democrats. The Trump Kennedy Center believes all people are welcome — Democrats and Republicans and people uninterested in politics. We want performers who aren't political — who simply love entertaining everyone regardless of who they voted for."

More...