TV News LIES

The US military killed 14 people and left one survivor in more strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said on Monday, as the Trump administration continued to expand its campaign beyond the Caribbean.

The latest strikes mean the US has now attacked at least 13 vessels and brought the officially acknowledged death toll to 51 people since the campaign began at the start of September.

Hegseth did not provide geographic details beyond saying that the strikes took place in the eastern Pacific, in international waters. Last week, the administration started targeting boats on the western side of the Americas after initially focusing on boats off the coast of Venezuela.

The four boats were hit on Sunday in three strikes, Hegseth said in a social media post announcing the matter. His said the boats were “known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics”. He also acknowledged there was a survivor.

More...

The Republican-led US Senate has passed a measure that would terminate Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Brazilian imports, including coffee, beef and other products, in a rare bipartisan show of opposition to the president’s trade war.

The vote passed 52-48. The resolution was led by Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat of Virginia, and seeks to overturn the national emergency that Trump has declared to justify the levies.

“Tariffs are a tax on American consumers. Tariffs are a tax on American businesses. And they are a tax that is imposed by a single person: Donald J Trump,” Kaine said in a floor speech.

The US Senate has approved a bipartisan effort to stop Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from Brazil. In a rare show of working together, senators passed the measure on Tuesday night. But it is certain to stall in the US House – and if the measure were to reach the president’s desk, it would likely meet Trump’s veto.

More...

The Trump administration remains barred from deploying the national guard in Portland, Oregon, following a federal appeals court ruling.

The ninth circuit court of appeals agreed on Tuesday that it would rehear a case over the president’s authority with a broader court of 11 judges. The appeals court also vacated a ruling from a three-judge panel last week that sided with the Trump administration.

The order is the latest development in a long legal saga over whether Donald Trump has the authority and justification to deploy national guard forces in Portland. The Oregon city has had about 200 federalized guard members in limbo since late September when Trump attempted to mobilize in response to months of protests there.

The federal government has argued that federal officials working at the ICE facility in south Portland were under attack, while city and state officials argue that local officers have control of the situation.

In defiance of Trump’s characterization of Portland as “war ravaged”, locals have been sharing videos of the city’s lush hiking trails and thriving food scene, and drawing up plans for Emergency Naked Bike Ride against “the militarization of our city”.

More...

The Pentagon has pulled key protections for its civilian personnel, directing managers to move with “speed and conviction” to fire underperforming workers, according to a memo issued one day before the U.S. government shut down.

“Supervisors and human resources (HR) professionals are directed to act with speed and conviction to facilitate the separation from Federal service of employees performing unsuccessfully,” states a Sept. 30 memo signed by the Pentagon’s top personnel policy officer, Under Secretary of Defense Anthony Tata.

It also warns that managers will be held accountable if they don’t address “poor employee performance.”

The new guidelines, which became public Tuesday, have sparked fears that they could be used to push out anyone at the Pentagon who doesn’t agree with or toe the line on the Trump administration’s programs.

It’s unclear how many employees may have been fired since the memo took effect. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

More...

Israeli planes launched strikes in Gaza on Tuesday after Israel accused the militant group Hamas of violating a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory, the latest test of a fragile deal brokered earlier this month by U.S. President Donald Trump.

At least nine people were killed in the strikes, including four in Gaza City's Sabra neighborhood and five in a car targeted in Khan Younis, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes, the latest violence in a three-week-old ceasefire and which followed a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office saying he had ordered immediate "powerful attacks."The statement did not give a specific reason for the attacks but an Israeli military official said Hamas had violated the ceasefire by carrying out an attack against Israeli forces in an area of the enclave that is under Israeli control.

"This is yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire," the official said.

More...

lsrael will not allow Turkish troops to take part in an international force the United States has proposed to oversee the ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Israel’s top diplomat said Monday.

The 20-point deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month calls for a force to monitor the ceasefire but does not mention which countries would provide troops.

It says the U.S. would “work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilization Force” to deploy in Gaza. The force would train and provide support to “vetted Palestinian police forces” and will “consult with Jordan and Egypt, who have extensive experience in this field.”

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement is still being carried out, and focuses on the release of the remaining dead hostages in Gaza, in exchange for Palestinian bodies held by Israel.

Late Monday, the Israeli military said the remains of another hostage had been returned to Israel.

Since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the remains of 16 hostages have been returned to Israel. Another 12 bodies still need to be recovered in Gaza and handed over.

More...

An overnight Russian drone attack on Kyiv killed three people and wounded dozens, including seven children, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.

Moscow has intensified aerial attacks on Ukraine, including on its energy infrastructure as the war enters a fourth winter and as Kyiv's allies try to ratchet up pressure on Russian economy with new sanctions.

On Saturday night into Sunday, "three people were killed and 31 others were wounded in the Russian attack in Kyiv alone, including seven children," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address.

More...

Donald Trump has declined to definitively say he will not seek an unconstitutional third term as US president. “I would love to do it: I have my best numbers ever,” the 79-year-old told reporters on Air Force One during a trip to Asia. Pressed on whether he was not ruling out a third term, he said: “Am I not ruling it out? I mean, you’ll have to tell me.”

Why all the talk of Trump 2028?

While this has been an ongoing theme with the president, the Trump Organization is now selling $50 red caps that read “Trump 2028”, appearing to promote the president as a candidate in the next election. Trump relishes showing the caps to foreign leaders and earlier this month placed them in front of Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer during budget talks in the Oval Office. Jeffries told CNN: “It was the strangest thing ever.”

Meanwhile a thinktank called Third Term Project is “devoted to getting President Donald J Trump his rightful third term in office”. And in an interview last week with the Economist magazine, Maga guru Steve Bannon said: “Trump is going to be president in ’28, and people ought to just get accommodated with that. At the appropriate time, we’ll lay out what the plan is. But there is a plan.”

But what does the constitution say?

More...