TV News LIES

The Kennedy Center was ordered this week to pay thousands of dollars to an artist who pulled out of his annual performance when the center was renamed after President Donald Trump.

A judge ruled Monday that musician Chuck Redd was owed more than $250,000 by the center to cover attorney fees and other costs. Redd, who has performed at the center’s annual Christmas Eve jazz show for nearly two decades, canceled his scheduled appearance last December in protest of the center’s name change.

Lawyers for Redd wrote in a statement Tuesday that they found the judgment “appropriate as no citizen should have to spend time and money fending off baseless and politically motivated lawsuits filed by the Trump Administration.”

The Kennedy Center plans to appeal the ruling.

The center previously attempted to sue Redd earlier this year for violating his contract, but the suit was dismissed in June.

Richard Grenell, the center’s former president, wrote in a letter to Redd “that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt,” despite the artist not having a signed contract

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Tennessee primary voters picked a pair of Memphis-area lawmakers to square off in a dramatically reconfigured US House seat central to Donald Trump’s plan to try to hold on to a slim Republican majority in the midterm congressional elections.

Republicans chose state senator Brent Taylor, who was endorsed by Trump, to be their nominee in the revamped 9th congressional district. Democrats picked state representative Justin Pearson, who gained national prominence three years ago when he was expelled from the Tennessee House for protesting in support of gun control measures.

The previously compact Memphis-based district had a majority Black population, but it was cracked apart by Republican officials this year following a US supreme court ruling that weakened federal Voting Rights Act protection for minorities. Republicans hope the redistricting, which is part of a broader national plan pushed by Trump, could give them a clean sweep of all nine of Tennessee’s seats

The new ninth district stretches about 200 miles (320km) east from Memphis across rural areas before reaching north toward Nashville. It previously favored Democrats but now tilts Republican, with 71% of voters new to the district, according to an Associated Press estimate. Some Memphis voters have raised concerns that their representation has been diminished.

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Stephanie Grisham, the White House communications director during President Trump’s first term, filed a restraining order against Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) on Monday, amid allegations that Miller abused his ex-wife.

Grisham’s counsel, Mark S. Zaid, announced on social platform X that they filed for a temporary restraining order against Miller as part of an ongoing lawsuit.

The case began with an op-ed Grisham wrote in 2021 in the Washington Post that described an abusive relationship with an unnamed man. Miller filed a defamation suit against her shortly after the article was published, but the case was eventually dropped as both parties signed a nondisclosure agreement to not publicly disparage one another.

Grisham filed her new lawsuit after Miller said in a June interview with Spectrum News that any allegations should be taken seriously and it “should be noted” that an allegation against him “came out on the same day as somebody’s book launch and the other part.”

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A US federal judge this week ruled in favour of a prominent Palestinian-American academic and activist in a decision that deemed the search and seizure of his phones by customs officers to be illegal.

Osama Abu Irshaid, the executive director of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), had his phones taken from him and searched at Washington Dulles International Airport on two occasions in 2024, upon his return from trips to the Middle East. 

On Wednesday, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia determined that Abu Irshaid was indeed entitled to his Fourth Amendment claim, because "the evidence marshaled by Defendants... does not rise to the level of reasonable suspicion" of ongoing criminal activity, the decision read. 

The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires that warrants be issued by a judge based on probable cause.

"Not only is this a victory for Dr Abu Irshaid, but a victory for the pro-Palestine movement overall. For decades, allies who support Palestinian human rights have been systematically targeted by the US government for daring to speak out against Apartheid Israel," AMP said in a statement following the ruling.

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New York writer E. Jean Carroll is finally getting paid more than three years after a federal civil jury held President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming her, allegations Trump continues to deny.

Trump fought that request, arguing that he is asking the Supreme Court for a rehearing, so his fight isn't over.

After Carroll was awarded a larger, $83.3 million judgment against Trump in a separate case that is still under appeal, she publicly discussed giving the money away to causes Trump dislikes. Trump's legal team noted those statements in his court filing, saying his funds "likely will not be recoverable" if the Supreme Court changes its mind.

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At the Nato summit just ended, Trump lashed out at other Nato members, saying he was “very disappointed with Nato” and asking: “Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and they’re not there for us?” He reiterated his desire to take over Greenland, blasted European energy and immigration policies, insulted Spain, and worried allies by declaring that the fighting between Kyiv and Moscow “doesn’t affect us”.

Yet throughout the proceedings, Trump was treated by other Nato powers with as much courtesy and respect as any US president has ever received from Nato – perhaps more. “It was a great meeting, there was a lot of love in that room, a lot of unity,” Trump said when it was over.

What happened? It’s important to understand the source of Trump’s power.

His power doesn’t come from his being president of the most powerful nation in the world. In fact, his arbitrary tariffs, absurd war in Iran, and outright abduction of Nicolás Maduro have reduced the US’s standing in much of the world.

Nor does his power come from his Maga base, which is now having second thoughts about supporting someone who got the US involved in another Middle Eastern war, caused prices to rise, and whose administration still refuses to release the complete Epstein files.

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