TV News LIES

U.S. intelligence agencies sounded the alarm on Ukraine’s dwindling battlefield prospects against Russia in an annual report released Tuesday.

The 2025 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community — released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in conjunction with top officials’ testimony at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing — warns that Moscow has “seized the upper hand” in the war over the past year and “is on a path to accrue greater leverage” to force favorable terms in its negotiations with Ukraine and the West.

Intelligence agencies see continued Russian military resilience despite heavy battlefield losses — replenishing personnel and ratcheting up its industrial capacity.

“Even though Russian President [Vladimir] Putin will be unable to achieve the total victory he envisioned when initiating the large-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia retains momentum as a grinding war of attrition plays to Russia’s military advantages,” the report states. “This grinding war of attrition will lead to a gradual but steady erosion of Kyiv’s position on the battlefield, regardless of any U.S. or allied attempts to impose new and greater costs on Moscow.”

More...

 

 

The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. It will have little meaning if multibillion-dollar corporations can sue peaceful protesters out of existence for their speech. Yet, that’s exactly what was decided in a small courtroom in Morton county, North Dakota.

Energy Transfer – a Dallas-based fossil fuel company that is responsible for the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) – sued two Greenpeace entities in the US (Greenpeace Inc and Greenpeace Fund), and Greenpeace International. Energy Transfer was awarded more than $660m in a highly watched, month-long case. Greenpeace will appeal the verdict.

The company sued Greenpeace entities simply for peacefully supporting the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access pipeline back in 2016-2017. At issue in the North Dakota case are nine statements made by Greenpeace that are alleged to be defamatory. All of the statements at issue are legitimate expressions under the first amendment, and none of the statements in question were original to Greenpeace.

More...

 

The University of Southern California announced an immediate hiring freeze for all staff positions, “with very few critical exceptions” in a letter to faculty and staff on Tuesday.

The letter, from USC’s president, Carol Folt, and provost, Andrew Guzman, said the hiring freeze was one of nine steps to cut the school’s operating budget amid deep uncertainty about federal funding – given sweeping cuts to scientific research, the reorganization of student loans, and an education department investigation accusing the university of failing to protect Jewish students during protests over Israel’s destruction of Gaza following the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.

Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, said on Tuesday he takes “full responsibility” for the group chat of senior administration officials that inadvertently included a journalist and leaked highly sensitive information about planned airstrikes in Yemen.

Waltz’s comments came one day after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic, revealed that he was added to a group on Signal, a private messaging app, that included vice-president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, secretary of state Marco Rubio and other high-profile figures discussing “operational details” of planned attacks on the Houthis in Yemen.

Goldberg’s account in the Atlantic suggested Waltz had mistakenly invited him to the chat. The prominent journalist remained in the group undetected as the president’s cabinet members discussed policy and coordinated a wave of bombings, an extraordinary breach that critics said put national security at risk.

More...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that looks to force sweeping changes on how elections are conducted across the nation including establishing new voter identification requirements to prove U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections.

The order, which is expected to face legal challenges by voting rights groups, comes as Trump continues to push baseless claims of voter fraud to argue the 2020 election was stolen from him despite his victory in the 2024 election.

Non-U.S. citizens are already not allowed to vote in federal elections. But under the order, the national mail voter registration form will require that applicants provide either a U.S. passport, a REAL ID driver's license or state-issued card compliant with REAL standards, or a "valid Federal or State government-issued photo identification."

More...

Facing pressure from his right flank to take on judges who have ruled against President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Tuesday floated the possibility of Congress eliminating some federal courts.

It’s the latest attack from Republicans on the federal judiciary, as courts have blocked a series of actions taken by the Trump administration. In addition to funding threats, Trump and his conservative allies have called for the impeachment of certain federal judges who have ruled against him, most notably U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who attempted to halt Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants.

Unions representing Columbia University professors, faculty and staff have sued the Trump administration for cutting $400 million in university funding, arguing the White House has violated the First Amendment while halting critical public health research.

President Donald Trump and other administration officials targeted Columbia, in New York City, because students there last spring and summer occupied buildings and common areas to protest Israel's retaliatory attacks on Gaza. The protests quickly spread nationally, and Trump officials have also been targeting student leaders.

Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede criticized an upcoming trip to the Danish territory by Usha Vance, wife of Vice President JD Vance, and other senior U.S. officials as a "provocation" and "highly aggressive."

The second lady was expected to travel to Greenland on Thursday alongside Mike Waltz, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. The White House said she would watch the island's national dogsled race and "celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity."