TV News LIES

In a social media post, the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, just announced “Operation Southern Spear”, a new military mission apparently signaling that the war on drugs could soon be an actual war.

“President Trump ordered action — and the Department of War is delivering. Today, I’m announcing Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR. Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and [US Southern Command],” Hegseth wrote on X.

This mission, he added, “defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it.”

He offered no other details, as strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and a massing of forces in the region have prompted widespread speculation that US military strikes on Venezuela are imminent.

The US Southern Command (Southcom) is the US military’s combatant command that encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean.

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Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was hospitalized on Thursday after suffering facial injuries from a fall during a walk near his home in Western Pennsylvania.

According to a Fetterman spokesperson, the Pennsylvania Democrat was transported to a Pittsburgh hospital “out of an abundance of caution.”

“During an early morning walk, Senator Fetterman sustained a fall near his home in Braddock,” the spokesperson said.

“Upon evaluation, it was established he had a ventricular fibrillation flare-up that led to Senator Fetterman feeling light-headed, falling to the ground and hitting his face with minor injuries,” the spokesperson added. “He is doing well and receiving routine observation at the hospital. He has opted to stay so doctors can fine-tune his medication regimen.”

The spokesperson also noted that Fetterman made a self-deprecating joke about his face following the fall.

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Israel's president on Wednesday condemned what he called a “shocking and serious” attack by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, calling for an end to a growing wave of settler violence in the occupied territory.

President Isaac Herzog's comments added a powerful voice to what has been muted criticism by top Israeli officials of the settler violence. Herzog's position, while largely ceremonial, is meant to serve as a moral compass and unifying force for the country.

Herzog said the violence committed by a “handful” of perpetrators “crosses a red line," adding in a social media post that “all state authorities must act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon and to strengthen the IDF fighters and security forces who protect us day and night."

His remarks came after dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf in the West Bank on Tuesday, setting fire to vehicles and other property before clashing with Israeli soldiers.

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Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., a longtime civil rights leader and former U.S. presidential candidate, has been hospitalized, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition announced Nov. 12.

Jackson, 84, was admitted to a hospital on Nov. 12 and is under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. The civil rights organization said Jackson has been managing the rare neurodegenerative disease for more than a decade. 

"The family appreciates all prayers at this time," the organization said in a news release.

Jackson was initially diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which he announced in a letter to his supporters in 2017, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. But his diagnosis was confirmed to be progressive supranuclear palsy last April.

Jackson had previously been hospitalized in August 2021 after testing positive for COVID-19 and again in November 2021 after falling and hitting his head at Howard University, Reuters reported at the time.

The civil rights leader, who emerged from the Civil Rights Movement to fight for causes ranging from gender equality to economic and social justice, stepped down as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 2023. The organization had evolved from Operation PUSH, which Jackson founded in 1971.

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A court in the Netherlands has ruled imprisoned Palestinian journalist Mustafa Ayyash can be extradited to Austria, after he fled the country earlier this year, claiming Austrian authorities raided his home and abused his pregnant wife.

Ayyash, the founder of the news site Gaza Now, escaped to Austria after he lost relatives during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. He had been living in Austria since 2016, but says he was forced to flee to the Netherlands after Austrian authorities raided his house and physically abused his pregnant wife.

“He was actually in Gaza when the house of his family was bombed, and they think, his relatives believe, that he was actually targeted as a journalist for doing his job,” Al Jazeera’s Step Vassen reported from Amsterdam following the Dutch court’s ruling. “Many of his family members passed away.”

Austria has accused Ayyash of financing Hamas after Gaza Now asked for donations for humanitarian efforts in Gaza. United States and United Kingdom authorities also sanctioned Gaza Now in 2024 over its fundraising efforts, accusing the media site of “having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Hamas.”

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Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he received a letter from President Trump on Wednesday asking him to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial in three separate corruption cases.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the ongoing court cases, with no ruling yet delivered, and his supporters have dismissed the trials as politically motivated.

In a speech to the Israeli parliament in October, Mr. Trump urged Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, telling the gathered lawmakers: "By the way, that was not in the speech, as you probably know! But I happen to like this gentleman right over here [Netanyahu], and it just seems to make so much sense."

"This morning, President Isaac Herzog received the attached letter from U.S. President Donald Trump, calling on him to consider granting a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," Herzog's office said in a statement, adding that the president could not initiate a pardon based on the American leader's request alone.

In his letter, Mr. Trump said he was writing to Herzog at a "historic time, as we have, together, just secured peace that has been sought for at least 3,000 years."

"I hereby call on you to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been a formidable and decisive War Time Prime Minister," it added. "While I absolutely respect the independence of the Israeli Justice System ... I believe that this 'case' against Bibi ... is political, unjustified prosecution."  

Netanyahu has long been known by the nickname Bibi.

Mr. Trump also framed his request for Netanyahu's pardon as something his Israeli counterpart deserved for working with the White House to reach the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, saying: "Now that we have achieved these unprecedented successes, and are keeping Hamas in check, it is time to let Bibi unite Israel by pardoning him, and ending that lawfare once and for all."

He and his wife Sara are accused in one case of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods including cigars, jewelry and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors. He is also accused of attempting to negotiate more favorable coverage from two Israeli media outlets in two other cases.

TVNL Comment:  Birds of a feather should be imprisoned together.

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Ukrainian soldiers are fighting tense battles in the country’s east where Russian forces have exploited dense fog on the frontline to expand their efforts to capture more territory.

Top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said the Russian army overran three settlements in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and Ukrainian units are locked in “grueling battles” to repel the thrust.

Dense fog and weather conditions have allowed Russian troops to infiltrate Ukrainian positions in Zaporizhzhia.

The fiercest battles are still in the besieged Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, he said.

This comes as Ukrainian forces pulled back from several positions in the southern Zaporizhzhia region amid heavy fighting and adverse weather.

Russia is taking advantage of the weather to advance in small groups, moving on foot or motorcycles, with the adverse weather preventing Ukrainian forces from deploying drones against them.

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In a penny-pinching move, the U.S. Mint has produced its last one-cent coin.

The final penny was minted in Philadelphia Wednesday, 232 years after the first penny rolled off the production line. The government decided to stop making new pennies because each one costs nearly 4 cents to produce. The move is expected to save about $56 million a year.

If you have a jar of pennies on your dresser, or a few stuck in your couch cushions, don't worry. They're still perfectly legal for making payments. But of the more than $1 billion worth of pennies in circulation, most never circulate. And it was costing the government a lot of money to keep making more of them.

Some restaurants and retailers are already struggling with a shortage of pennies. The phase-out may require businesses to round prices up or down to the nearest nickel, although the growing popularity of non-cash payments makes that less of a headache. Fewer than one in five payments are made with cash, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Canada, New Zealand and Australia have also eliminated their one-cent coins.

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