TV News LIES

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed to convince President Donald Trump of his nation's need for long-range Tomahawk missiles during a Friday afternoon meeting.

Zelensky met with Trump at the White House for the third time this year amid speculation that Ukraine might receive some of the missiles that would enable it to strike Moscow and Russian energy infrastructure.

Trump declined to provide Ukraine with the long-range missiles to prevent an escalation of the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Zelensky told media after the meeting ended.

The 2.5-hour meeting "was tough" and involved Trump making "several strong statements" and briefing Zelensky about a 2.5-hour phone conversation between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, Axios reported.

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Lately, on any given day, you'll find Leann Villaluz knocking on doors around Kansas City to get people to sign a petition that would let voters decide the fate of the state's new congressional map.

"There's a sense of resentment, even to regular voters who aren't as involved," Villaluz says. "We have to pick up the slack for representatives who have been elected to do their simple duty and carry out the will of the voters. Instead, they think that we don't know what's best for ourselves."

Missouri is the second state in the country, alongside Texas, to gerrymander its congressional map after President Donald Trump set off a nationwide redistricting battle in July to try to maintain control of the U.S. House in the 2026 midterms.

Multiple other states, including North Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Ohio and Kansas could soon follow. California is trying to counter the Republican effort by redistricting in favor of Democrats, if voters pass a constitutional amendment next month.

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Most of the effects of the ongoing government shutdown are far-removed from the halls of Congress.

But the situation facing one group of federal employees who are working without pay is difficult for lawmakers to overlook: The Capitol Police officers who protect them every day.

The officers missed their first full paycheck Oct. 10th.

"They're asked to be everything to everybody," said Terry Gainer, a former Capitol Police chief. "You need to be ready at the drop of a hat to take very aggressive enforcement action, but you also have to be a person who will welcome visitors and be a tour guide."

Gesturing toward two officers guarding the ornate Senate Reception Room, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., says she feels for the force's more than 2,000 officers and that Democrats are to blame for the impasse.

Gainer says the job is tougher than ever, as public officials face growing threats and violence.

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A Vermont state lawmaker has resigned over racist and antisemitic chat messages that circulated within the Young Republican political group, another substantial consequence in a scandal that on Friday saw the New York state Young Republicans’ charter revoked.

State senator Samuel Douglass, the only elected official known to have taken part in the leaked group chat exposed by Politico, resigned Friday over his participation.

In a statement posted online, the 26-year-old Douglass said he was “deeply sorry for the offense” caused by his comments. He added that his decision to step down, effective Monday, “will upset many, and delight others, but in this political climate I must keep my family safe”.

Douglass had been under pressure from Vermont governor Phil Scott and state senate minority leader Scott Beck to step aside since Politico obtained and published the chats online.

In one exchange, Douglass replied to a message about a “very obese Indian woman” by saying: “She just didn’t bathe often.” In another, Douglass was said to have described how a Jewish person may have made a procedural error. His wife, Brianna Douglass, also on the chat, responded with an antisemitic remark, Politico reported.

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The Trump administration is moving to send the two survivors of Thursday’s strike in the Caribbean overseas rather than seek long-term military detention for them, four US officials and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

The source, who like the US officials spoke on condition of anonymity, said the survivors were being sent to Colombia and Ecuador.

The US military staged a helicopter rescue for the survivors on Thursday after the strike on their semi-submersible vessel, suspected of trafficking illegal narcotics. The strike killed the other two crew members on board, sources told Reuters on Friday.

The US military flew the survivors to an American navy warship in the Caribbean, where they were detained until at least Friday evening. It was not clear if they had already been flown off the ship as of Saturday morning.

The US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expected the survivors to eventually be sent to their home countries.

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US Customs and Border Protection implemented a rule this week that will require airlines to disregard “X” sex markers on passports and input an “M” or “F” marker instead, sending those people with an “X” marker into panic.

“X” markers became available to US passport holders in 2022, in an effort to allow people with gender identities other than male and female to obtain more accurate travel documents.

Now, the new CBP rule has many people on social media and beyond worried that they will no longer be allowed to fly internationally.

“It’s a little bit too soon to say how this is going to practically work out,” said Andy Izenson, senior legal director at the Chosen Family Law Center.

Passports with “X” markers should still be considered valid travel documents; the US district court of Massachusetts issued an order in June ensuring that they would remain valid after the Trump administration attempted to ban them under executive order 14168, titled Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.

While the courts have continued to prevent the Trump administration from outright banning a third gender marker, this week’s rule can still serve to make the lives of trans and non-binary people more difficult, Izenson says.

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A new study released Friday says President Trump’s immigration enforcement policies will decrease the country’s workforce by 15 million people over the next decade.

“The Trump administration’s policies on illegal and legal immigration would reduce the projected number of workers in the United States by 6.8 million by 2028 and by 15.7 million by 2035 and lower the annual rate of economic growth by almost one-third, harming U.S. living standards,” the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) wrote in its analysis of deportation efforts led by the White House.

“The reductions in legal immigration include suspending and reducing refugee admissions, the travel ban enacted in 2025, ending Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole programs, prohibiting international students from working on Optional Practical Training and STEM OPT after completing coursework and other changes, such as an expected public charge rule, to restrict legal immigration,” researchers wrote. 

“The analysis does not include the likely significant economic impact of restricting U.S. companies’ access to high-skilled foreign nationals through regulatory and administrative action, which could affect productivity growth,” they added.

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A major southern California highway was shut down for a U.S. Marine Corps demonstration on Oct. 18. The event pitted California Gov. Gavin Newsom against the federal government yet again.

Interstate 5 shut down from Harbor Drive to Basilone Road, a stretch of the main artery over 15 miles, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time, according to the California Highway Patrol. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attended the event at Camp Pendleton, commemorating the Marines' 250th anniversary.

The news comes after days of back-and-forth between Gov. Gavin Newsom, federal officials and the Marines over whether the demonstration would require any roads to close.

Standing atop a seven-ton military truck with his wife, Vance watched the largest Marine exercise in a decade on Oct. 18, featuring F-18 and F-35 flyovers, parachute landings, Navy Seals swimming ashore, offshore destroyers and amphibious ships, simulated village explosions, and MH-60 helicopters dropping additional Seals over the water.

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