TV News LIES

Ticket sales at the Kennedy Center have continued to plummet following Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington DC’s premier performing arts venue, with the prestigious Stuttgart Ballet expected to dance next month to houses less than 20% full.

Audiences are “voting with their feet to skip out” on shows that would once have been packed, in protest at the US president inserting himself into the center’s management and operations as its new chairman, amid discussions around the notion of renaming it after Trump, according to an analysis by the Washingtonian magazine.

The outlet said the Stuttgart Ballet’s series at the Kennedy complex’s Opera House in October is only “between 4 and 19%” full based on reservations so far, and BodyTraffic, a Los Angeles troupe booked for two performances in the smaller Eisenhower Theatre at the end of the month, is only booked so far at 12% capacity.

“Big yikes,” one current Kennedy Center staffer told the outlet, having been granted anonymity to speak for fear of retaliation by its new leadership team of Trump-installed loyalists and acolytes.

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Donald Trump’s plan to deploy national guard troops and federal immigration agents to Chicago is already having an impact on the city’s Mexican community.

Organizers have canceled several local events tied to Mexican Independence Day, which occurs on 16 September.

People of Mexican descent constitute about 21% of the city’s population, according to census data, and hold annual events around the holiday that attract thousands of people.

But Trump recently inaccurately described Chicago as “the most dangerous city in the world” and said: “We’re going in.”

The administration plans to send 230 agents, most of whom work for Customs and Border Protection, to Chicago from Los Angeles as part of an increased effort to make immigration arrests, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

At least three events connected to the holiday have been canceled or postponed. Organizers decided to cancel El Grito Chicago, an event that drew 24,000 people last year, and was scheduled for 13-14 September.

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In Forrest Gump, the title character, played by Tom Hanks, receives the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Lyndon B Johnson.

In real life, it appears Hanks will no longer receive another military honor.

The alumni association of the US Military Academy, or West Point, announced in May that it would award Hanks, a two-time Oscar winner, with its 2025 Sylvanus Thayer award, which is given to an “outstanding citizen of the United States whose service and accomplishments in the national interest exemplify personal devotion to the ideals expressed in West Point’s motto: ‘Duty, Honor, Country’”.

Now, the West Point Association of Graduates has canceled the ceremony to honor the actor just weeks before it was to take place, the Washington Post reported.

In an email to faculty, retired Col Mark Bieger stated that the decision would allow the academy to “continue its focus on its core mission of preparing cadets to lead, fight and win as officers in the world’s most lethal force, the United States Army”.

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Ozden Bennett’s first reaction after learning of her younger sister’s killing was disbelief. Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi had traveled to the occupied West Bank just three days earlier to volunteer with Palestinian communities facing violence at the hands of Israeli soldiers and settlers.

But the shock and grief quickly gave way to dread – “that nothing would come of it, that she would have just died under that olive tree and that was it”, Bennett said this week, before the anniversary of Eygi’s death.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/06/aysenur-ezgi-eygi-west-bank

Eygi, a 26-year-old American Turkish woman, was shot in the head on 6 September 2024 by an Israeli sniper. She had been attending a protest against settlement expansion near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Eygi’s family feared that securing justice would be an uphill battle. Indeed, one year later, nobody has been held accountable. An Israeli military investigation concluded within days of the incident that it was “highly likely” Eygi had been hit “indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her” but rather at others whom it alleged were throwing rocks. (A Washington Post investigation found that Eygi was shot half an hour after any clashes between protesters and soldiers, and that she was standing 200 yards from the soldiers.)

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zden Bennett’s first reaction after learning of her younger sister’s killing was disbelief. Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi had traveled to the occupied West Bank just three days earlier to volunteer with Palestinian communities facing violence at the hands of Israeli soldiers and settlers.

But the shock and grief quickly gave way to dread – “that nothing would come of it, that she would have just died under that olive tree and that was it”, Bennett said this week, before the anniversary of Eygi’s death.

Vice President JD Vance threw his full support behind President Donald Trump’s deadly military strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean this week, saying that he did not even care if people call it a war crime.

“Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” Vance wrote Saturday on X.

Political commentator Brian Krassenstein responded to say that “killing the citizens of another nation who are civilians without any due process is called a war crime.” Various experts on international law and the laws of war have also said the strike could be considered a war crime.

“I don’t give a shit what you call it,” the vice president replied.

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A federal appeals court on Friday ruled against President Trump’s effort to cut billions of dollars of foreign aid that was previously approved by Congress through “pocket rescissions.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, refused to block a lower court ruling from earlier this week that said the administration must release the preapproved funding and ruled the effort to withhold it was likely illegal.

The three-judge panel did not elaborate on their ruling, writing that “appellants have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending appeal.” 

Justices Cornelia Pillard and Florence Pan — appointed by former Presidents Obama and Biden, respectively — supported the lower court decision while Judge Justin Walker, an appointee of Trump, dissented.

The ruling came two days after U.S. District Judge Amir Ali that condemned the administration’s unwillingness to spend the funds appropriated by law.

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The National Hurricane Center is tracking systems in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on Saturday, Sept. 6.

Hurricane Kiko is holding its own in the Central Pacific Ocean, but a tropical wave moving westward across the Atlantic Ocean continues to look less and less impressive.

Hurricane Kiko – maintaining sustained winds of 140-mph – is expected to begin weakening over the weekend but could still retain hurricane strength on Sept. 8 as it approaches waters to the north of the Hawaiian Islands, the National Hurricane Center said.

The state of Hawaii issued an emergency declaration on Sept. 5, an administrative action government agencies often take before tropical storms, hurricanes and other impending weather disasters. Such declarations pave the way for emergency measures and resources that allow officials to respond quickly during emergencies.

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Israel's military says it has taken control of almost half of Gaza City as it prepares for a large-scale ground offensive to fully occupy its densely populated urban center.

Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a press briefing the military now has "operational control" of 40% of Gaza City and will continue to expand and intensify the offensive in the coming days. The military called around 60,000 reservists back to war to support the expansive operation, which Israel says is aimed at returning hostages and dismantling Hamas rule.

Last week, the military declared all of Gaza City a "dangerous combat zone" and is striking at high-rise buildings in the city's central and western neighborhoods. These areas, including its western shoreline, have been crowded for months with displaced people and tents.

Already, entire neighborhoods on the outskirts of Gaza City have been leveled by Israeli strikes and thousands of Palestinian families displaced. In the past three weeks, Gaza's civil defense, or first responders, say Israel has destroyed some 1,500 homes in the Zaytoun and Sabra neighborhoods of eastern Gaza City. That destruction can be seen in satellite images, as well.

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