TV News LIES

The fourth time (yes, the fourth) was the charm for House Republicans when the lower chamber of Congress on a bipartisan basis voted to renew a controversial spying law, not without plenty of hiccups along the way.

The House approved reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, by a vote of 273-147, on Friday, with most of the bill’s dissenters coming from the body’s civil-liberty minded ultraconservative and progressive factions.

The law’s strongest advocates come from the intelligence committee, who say FISA's warrantless surveillance provisions are essential to protecting national security.

The final product wasn’t enough to completely satisfy most of the conservative hardliners that have long been a thorn in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s side. But they ultimately settled on a change to the program’s regular expiration date to two years from five years. They did that with the hope of enacting significant reforms later down the line should Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024 and be positioned through his administration to shape the contours of the next version of legislation.

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In Trump's latest failed bid, he pointed to a private survey indicating that 93% of residents in Manhattan have seen media related to at least one of the criminal investigations he faces. Trump also said a recent documentary about adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who received the hush money payment, jeopardized his ability to get a fair trial.

Daniels' "ongoing publicity tour relating to the documentary has included egregious efforts to prejudice the jury pool while seeking to enrich herself," Trump's legal team argued in a court filing.

However, Merchan said Friday that the proper way to assuage Trump's concerns about pre-trial publicity is to have a thorough and thoughtful jury selection process.

"Indeed, this remedy is supported by the results of Defendant's own Survey which indicates that 70% of New Yorkers could 'definitely or probably' be fair and impartial," Merchan wrote in his decision.

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Robert MacNeil, formerly the anchor of the evening news program now known as "PBS NewsHour," has died at 93.

MacNeil died of natural causes at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, his daughter, Alison MacNeil, told NPR. "PBS NewsHour" shared the news of MacNeil's death on social media on Friday.

"A lifelong lover of language, literature and the arts, MacNeil’s trade was using words. Combined with his reporter’s knack for being where the action was, he harnessed that passion to cover some of the biggest stories of his time, while his refusal to sensationalize the news sprung from respect for viewers," PBS NewsHour posted on X.

The Montreal, Canada-born journalist "was on the ground in Dallas when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He interviewed Martin Luther King Jr., Ayatollah Khomeini, and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. But he had his biggest breakthrough with the 1973 gavel-to-gavel primetime coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings," the statement said.

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The Palestinian militant group Hamas has indicated it does not have 40 captives who are still alive who meet the “humanitarian” criteria for a proposed hostages-for-prisoners ceasefire agreement with Israel.

A senior Israeli official confirmed claims made at the weekend by Hamas during talks in Cairo that it does not have 40 hostages in Gaza who meet the exchange criteria.

Ceasefire talks have focused on a US-backed proposal of a phased exchange of hostages and prisoners. In the first instance women, children, and elderly or sick people – including five female Israeli soldiers – would be exchanged for an estimated 900 Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel, alongside a six-week ceasefire in Gaza.

TVNL ComDoes Netyahu really believe that his 2,000 pound bombs simply missed the hostages?  Look under the rubble.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson is negotiating with the White House as he prepares for the treacherous task of advancing wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel through the House, a top House Republican said Thursday.