TV News LIES

Texas House Democrats announced on Sunday that they were leaving the state in a bid to stop Republicans from advancing House maps that would give the GOP five more pickup opportunities ahead of 2026. 

The Texas Democrats said they were denying Republicans a quorum, or the minimum number of lawmakers needed present in order to conduct legislative business, following a similar tactic they employed the last time the GOP pursued midcycle redistricting in 2003.

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said in a statement.

“Governor Abbott has turned the victims of a historic tragedy into political hostages in his submission to Donald Trump. He is using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal,” he continued. “Apathy is complicity, and we will not be complicit in the silencing of hard-working communities who have spent decades fighting for the power that Trump wants to steal.”

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A record number of Senate Democrats, more than half the caucus, voted in favor of two resolutions to block U.S. military sales to Israel on Wednesday night. 

While the resolutions ultimately failed, the vote demonstrated how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fractured historically bipartisan support in Congress over the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip in Israel’s war against Hamas.

The resolutions, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), failed in the face of all Republicans voting against the measure and 20 Democrats. 

Senators voted 27 in favor https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5429072-sanders-resolution-fails-israel-military/and 70 to defeat Sanders’ resolution (S.J.Res.34), which sought to block more than $675 million in weapons sales to Israel.

TVNL Comment:  AIPAC rules.

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A city councilman in Virginia was set on fire in what witnesses described as a vicious attack Wednesday morning.

Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler was airlifted to a local hospital following the attack, the Danville Police Department said, noting that the “full extent of his injuries” is not yet known.

Vogler, 38, was in the offices of Showcase Magazine when an attacker stormed in with a five-gallon container of flammable liquid, poured it over the councilman, chased him through the building, then set him on fire, publisher Andrew Brooks said in a video posted to social media, adding that Vogler identified the attacker by name when he saw him.

The councilman was “awake and talking” last he saw him, he continued.

Police identified Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, as the suspect in the attack. He’s been charged with attempted first degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding, and is being held without bond.

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After months weathering staffing cuts and disease outbreaks without an official leader, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally has a new director.

The Senate confirmed Susan Monarez, a health scientist and longtime civil servant, to run the public health agency. She is the first CDC director to be confirmed by the Senate under a law passed in 2023, and the first to serve in the role without a medical degree in more than 70 years. The vote was 51-47, along party lines.

Monarez takes over an agency in chaos, according to employees who have spoken to NPR. Thousands of workers have left in recent months and support for many programs has been cut. President Trump has proposed slashing CDC's funding for fiscal year 2026.

"We really need her in this role," says Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, who has known Monarez professionally for more than a decade. "She's a loyal, hardworking civil servant who leads with evidence and pragmatism, and has been dedicated to improving the health of Americans for the entirety of her career."

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Over two dozen Senate Democrats are demanding that the Trump administration lead an independent investigation into the killing of Palestinian American Sayfollah Musallet by Israeli settlers earlier this month, calling out the U.S. government’s historic failure to act on other Israeli killings of Americans like Shireen Abu Akleh and Ayșenur Ezgi Eygi.

In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, the lawmakers note that Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank has reached new heights amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The Trump administration has not only refused to condemn such violence, but has fueled it, empowering settler groups previously sanctioned by the Biden administration.

Since 2022, at least seven American citizens have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank, but the U.S. government has refused to investigate those deaths, instead deferring to Israel’s own shoddy probes into the killings.

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The House could vote on final passage of the Trump administration's rescission package, which claws back $9 billion in funds allocated for public media and foreign aid, as early as Thursday evening.

The Senate approved the measure in the small hours of Thursday morning. The House approved an earlier version last month, but must vote to adopt the Senate changes.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting stands to lose $1.1 billion meant to fund it through the next two years, while the bill also cuts $7.9 billion in other programs. CPB acts as a conduit for federal money to NPR, PBS and their member stations.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting stands to lose $1.1 billion meant to fund it through the next two years, while the bill also cuts $7.9 billion in other programs. CPB acts as a conduit for federal money to NPR, PBS and their member stations.

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