TV News LIES

Joseph Tirrell was reaching the end of a vacation on 11 July, and watching TV at home. He checked his email on his phone and saw a message from his employer, the Department of Justice. He thought it was strange that he was receiving email from the government on his personal account. Inside was a message that he was being fired from his job as the top ethics official at the department.

The notice, signed by Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, did not give a reason for his firing. It also misspelled his first name, addressing it to “Jospeh W Tirrell”. Tirrell called his bosses at the department, who at first seemed as surprised as he did, before eventually confirming that he had in fact been terminated.

At the start of the year, Tirrell knew that he might attract scrutiny from the incoming administration because he had signed off on special counsel Jack Smith receiving pro-bono legal services from a private law firm as he prepared to leave the government, something Tirrell said was clearly allowed under the department’s ethics rules. As the department’s top ethics official, he was responsible for overseeing ethics compliance across the agency and training the department’s top officers in their obligations. But as months passed and Tirrell remained in his job, he thought he was safe.

More...

In the bowels of the US Federal Reserve this summer, two of the world’s most powerful men, sporting glistening white hard hats, stood before reporters looking like students forced to work together on a group project.

Allies of Donald Trump had spent weeks trying to manufacture a scandal around ongoing renovations of the central bank’s Washington headquarters and its costs. Now here was the US president, on a rare visit, examining the project for himself.

“It looks like it’s about $3.1bn. It went up a little bit – or a lot,” Trump said, as Jerome Powell, the typically calm Fed chair, vigorously shook his head. “So the $2.7bn is now $3.1bn–”

“I’m not aware of that, Mr President,” Powell quickly interjected, as Trump pulled out a paper from his suit pocket as evidence. “I haven’t heard that from anybody at the Fed.”

The remarkable public encounter in late July was described as a “tussle”, “spar” and “feud” by news outlets and came to symbolize an extraordinary battle for control of the world’s largest economy.

Never before has a president been so publicly, and relentlessly, critical of the country’s top monetary policymaker. For decades, successive administrations have allowed the Fed, as the institution tasked with steering the US economy, to function independently, without political interference. No longer.

More...

It’s not quite a new year resolution, and it’s certainly not a prediction. Think of it instead as a hope or even a plea for the next 12 months. May the coming year see those leaders who have done so much damage to their own countries, and far beyond, at last be called to account. Let 2026 be a year of reckoning.

Start with the man whose reach is longest, by dint of the mighty power he wields. Such is the nature of the US electoral system that Donald Trump, who returned to power less than a year ago, will face the judgment of voters in 10 months’ time. His name will not be on the ballot but, make no mistake, the midterm elections of 3 November will deliver a verdict on the second Trump presidency.

A slew of congressional defeats for his party would be satisfying in itself, wounding that gargantuan ego of his, but it would also have practical significance. Few predict the Republicans losing control of the Senate, where Democrats would have to flip at least four seats to take charge – near-impossible given the geography of the 35 seats up for grabs in November. But, in normal circumstances, it should be the safest of political bets that the House of Representatives will no longer be in Republican hands a year from now.

Such a reverse would dispel the aura of indomitability that has enveloped Trump since he beat Kamala Harris, allowing him to bully and intimidate multiple US institutions, including much of its media, into ceding to him far more power than is rightfully his. It would render him a lame duck, incapable of passing new laws through a hostile chamber.

Above all, it would see Trump confronted at last with a body both eager and able to hold him to account: a Democratic House would have the appetite and the muscle for serious scrutiny. Armed with subpoena power, it could investigate everything from the cost of Trump’s tariffs for US taxpayers to the astonishingly brazen pattern of corruption and pocket-lining that has characterised this administration. And up its sleeve would be the constant threat of a third impeachment trial.

More...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Saturday condemned the Trump administration over the U.S. military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of its president, calling it an “act of war.”

“I was briefed this morning on the U.S. military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, as well as their planned imprisonment in federal custody here in New York City,” Mamdani wrote Saturday afternoon on X.

“Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law. This blatant pursuit of regime change doesn’t just affect those abroad, it directly impacts New Yorkers,” he continued.

The newly inaugurated mayor noted during a Saturday press conference in Brooklyn that “tens of thousands” of Venezuelans call New York City their home, promising that his administration will “issue relevant guidance” as it continues to monitor growing tensions between Venezuela and the U.S.

The Trump administration has accused Maduro of facilitating the flow of narcotics into the U.S. He’s denied any links to the drug trade, but now stands indicted by Trump’s Department of Justice on narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges.

More...

The Senate will vote next week on a bipartisan war powers resolution to block President Trump from continuing military action against Venezuela — a vote that takes on heightened importance after U.S. forces attacked the South American nation and arrested President Nicolás Maduro early Saturday.

The resolution to block the administration from engaging in further hostilities against Venezuela is privileged, which means Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) cannot stop it from coming to the floor.

The measure is sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

It needs only a simple majority to pass the Senate.

“It is long past time for Congress to reassert its critical constitutional role in matters of war, peace, diplomacy and trade,” Kaine said in a statement. “My bipartisan resolution stipulating that we should not be at war with Venezuela absent a clear congressional authorization will come up for a vote next week.

“We’ve entered the 250th year of American democracy and cannot allow it to devolve into the tyranny that our founders fought to escape,” the senator added.

Schiff warned that Trump’s action against Maduro risks plunging the region into “chaos.”

“Acting without Congressional approval or the buy-in of the public, Trump risks plunging a hemisphere into chaos and has broken his promise to end wars instead of starting them,” the California Democrat said in a statement.

More...

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan says the headlines about Gen Z’s fears about AI and the job market are real.

The bank recently hired 2,000 top grads from 200,000 applications, the executive said in an interview with CBS News‘ Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation. As companies cite AI for widespread layoffs, Moynihan acknowledges that many young people feel scared and uncertain about the future.

“My advice to those kids, if you ask them if they’re worried about, they say they’re worried about—these are kids that we hire, 200,000 applications, we hire 2000 people.” Moynihan added that “if you ask them if they’re scared, they say they are. And I understand that. But I say, harness it … It’ll be your world ahead of you,” Moynihan said.

“My advice to those kids, if you ask them if they’re worried about, they say they’re worried about—these are kids that we hire, 200,000 applications, we hire 2000 people.” Moynihan added that “if you ask them if they’re scared, they say they are. And I understand that. But I say, harness it … It’ll be your world ahead of you,” Moynihan said.

Moynihan said it’s too soon to say how AI will play out in the job market, but he hopes to use efficiencies created by the technology to invest in more growth.

Moynihan said it’s too soon to say how AI will play out in the job market, but he hopes to use efficiencies created by the technology to invest in more growth.

More...

The United States will “run” Venezuela following an overnight military operation where Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured and explosions rocked the country’s capital of Caracas, President Donald Trump said Saturday.

"We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," Trump said at a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. “It has to be judicious, because that's what we are all about.”

The president did not provide details of how the United States will run Venezuela, but said that his administration is determining who will be in charge of the country. He declined to endorse Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, to lead the country. He also did not provide a timeline for how long the U.S. will run the country, saying that it will be “a period of time” as they rebuild Venezuela’s infrastructure.

More...

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Israel to reverse a pending ban on 37 nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

In a statement on Friday, Guterres called the work of the groups “indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work”, according to spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. He added that the “suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire”.

Israel banned the humanitarian groups for failing to meet new registration rules requiring aid groups working in the occupied territory to provide “detailed information on their staff members, funding and operations”. It has pledged to enforce the ban starting March 1.

Experts have denounced the requirements as arbitrary and in violation of humanitarian principles. Aid groups have said that providing personal information about their Palestinian employees to Israel could put them at risk.

The targeted groups include several country chapters of Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym, MSF), the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the International Rescue Committee.

More...