TV News LIES

A watchdog organization has filed a new request for records pertaining to FBI Director Kash Patel, citing new reports of excessive alcohol use from the intelligence chief.

The request from the Democracy Forward Foundation (DFF) cites The Atlantic’s recent report, “The FBI Director is MIA.”

“If the Director of the FBI is a liability – the American people need to know,” DFF President and CEO Skye Perryman said in a press release on Tuesday.

“News reports, including from The Atlantic, suggest that his levels of drinking and absentee leadership are not just unacceptable, but also a threat to the integrity of one of the most important law enforcement agencies in the country,” Perryman continued. “If true, this is not a minor lapse in judgment or a personal issue to brush aside; this goes to whether the FBI is being led with the discipline, reliability, and seriousness the job demands.”

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Pundit Tucker Carlson is expressing regret for voicing support for President Trump.

Carlson, who has been a sharp critic of Trump’s war in Iran, said during a recent episode of his podcast and online show that prominent people on the right who backed Trump ahead of the 2024 election are “implicated” in what’s going on in the Middle East.

“So I do think it’s like a moment to wrestle with our own consciences. You know, we’ll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be,” he said. “And I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people and it was not intentional. That’s all I’ll say.”

The conservative commentator wondered out loud if it was “always the plan” to go to war with Iran, saying “you don’t want to be a conspiracy nut, but like, clearly, there were signs of low character, we knew that, but there are tons of people of low character who, like, outperform their character.”

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President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would extend the ceasefire with Iran until the country submitted a peace proposal and "discussions are concluded, one way or the other."

"We have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, calling Iran's government "seriously fractured" and saying the requests came from top Pakistani officials.

The president made the announcement as the chances for talks between the two sides were growing increasingly dim. Trump also confirmed he would continue the naval blockade of Iranian ports, a move that Iran's leaders have called "an act of war."

Vice President JD Vance was expected to leave for Islamabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday morning to lead a U.S. delegation in talks with Iran. But the trip was called off as U.S. officials await a plan from the Iranians. Tehran, meanwhile, expressed frustration with American leaders and said it hadn't decided whether it would send diplomats to Pakistan at all.

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Virginia voters approved a complete redrawing of their congressional districts to offset pushes by President Donald Trump to increase the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

The approved maps could transform Old Dominion's 11-member delegation from a 6-to-5 Democratic edge to an overwhelming 10-to-1 advantage.

However, if the margin of victory is less than one-half of 1%, then the defeated side has the right under Virginia election law to ask for a state-funded recount. Republicans could also launch legal challenges to preserve the old maps.

Virginia Democrats celebrated the victory as results rolled in indicating the final tally would be in their favor. L. Louise Lucas, the state's Senate president and a prominent advocate for redistricting, said "THANK YOU VIRGINIA" in a post on X accompanied by an expletive-laden video victory lap.

Both parties pumped millions of dollars and work hours into the campaign, particularly in the last week of the early voting season.

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Dozens of US military veterans, some with visible disabilities, were arrested on Monday during a protest against the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran. Approximately 60 veterans and family members gathered in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill, many wearing military fatigues. They unfurled banners reading “End the War on Iran” and “We Can’t Afford Another War” while standing stoically at attention.

The group held a flag-folding ceremony to honor American service members who have died in the conflict and those who might be killed if fighting resumes. Several protesters held red tulip flowers in memory of Iranians killed since the war began on Feb. 28.

Mike Prysner, executive director of the Center on Conscience and War (CCW), was among those arrested. Before his detention, he said: “This war is already deeply unpopular, and it is already a crisis for the Trump administration.” Prysner noted that more than 100 service members have already filed as conscientious objectors, adding: “If even more stand up, and some speak out, we have a real chance of deepening this crisis for Trump in a way that forces them to pull back from this war.” According to the center, roughly five dozen protesters were arrested by US Capitol Police for civil disobedience.

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10-day pause in hostilities in Lebanon began on Thursday last week. 

But since then, Israeli army commanders have told Haaretz that systematic destruction of civilian buildings in southern villages was continuing to take place. 

The commanders said civilian engineering tools had been brought into the area, including excavators, and were being operated by paid Israeli civilian contractors. 

Some of these contractors were receiving a daily wage, while others were paid based on the scope of work and the number of buildings they destroyed.

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The image of the female soldier smiling with ingredients spread across the table was shared on Sunday by Bint Jbeil News, a Lebanese publisher. 

The image was reportedly taken in Bint Jbeil, the town in the Nabatiye governorate of southern Lebanon. 

“Violation in its full ‘elegance’,” the publisher captioned the picture on Instagram. “When the killer and occupier cook in the kitchen of the land’s people.” 

Diana Moukalled, a Lebanese journalist and filmmaker, said the image was an insult “to people’s memory [and] dignity”.Here we're talking about a house that still has its greenery, still has the life of its family, but they alone are the forcibly absent ones,” she wrote on X. 

“They are forbidden from returning, while a soldier from the occupation army enters the place, picks the produce, cooks, and laughs as if the house has no owners.

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In recent months, European expressions of concern over the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have regularly hardened into outright condemnation. Last September, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed horror and outrage at aid restrictions that she said created a “man-made famine” in Gaza. Brussels has inveighed against settler violence and land grabs in the West Bank, which undermine the possibility of a viable Palestinian state. Responding to the bombing of Lebanon following the US-Israeli ceasefire with Iran, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said: “Israel’s right to self-defence does not justify this destruction.”

The angry words and exhortations have achieved nothing. Mr Netanyahu and his ministers have generally treated European critics with barely concealed contempt, presumably reassured by the fact that their chief allies in the White House tend to behave in exactly the same fashion. The EU is Israel’s biggest trading partner, and the academic benefits it confers through Israeli participation in the Horizon research programme are considerable. But internal disunity, and an overoptimistic faith in the power of persuasion, have led to a reluctance by the bloc to use those relationships as leverage.

Belatedly, there are indications that a change in approach may be coming. The recent election humiliation for Hungary’s outgoing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, was also a bad result for Mr Netanyahu, who lost an invaluable far-right ally. In February, Hungary was the only EU country to vote against the adoption of sanctions against violent settlers in the West Bank, blocking a measure requiring unanimity. Once Mr Orbán’s successor is in office, it is expected that the proposal will come back to the table.

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