TV News LIES

It was, on occasion, used by presidents to rehearse important speeches such as the State of the Union address; and at other times, as a spot for visitors to dump their hats, bags and coats. But for more than 80 years, the White House movie theater was mostly a place where the first family and their guests went for entertainment.

Demolition began this week of the White House Family Theater — along with the rest of the White House's East Wing where the snug, shoe-box-shaped auditorium was located — to make way for a new $300 million ballroom. It marks the end of an era in American movie theater history.

Since its conversion from a cloakroom by Franklin Roosevelt in 1942, the private, 40-ish-seat theater has screened everything from newsreels and documentaries to westerns and musicals. It has been through several facelifts, most recently ditching cream and red floral curtains, and beige walls and seating for all-round "movie-palace red" ornamented with goldSince its conversion from a cloakroom by Franklin Roosevelt in 1942, the private, 40-ish-seat theater has screened everything from newsreels and documentaries to westerns and musicals. It has been through several facelifts, most recently ditching cream and red floral curtains, and beige walls and seating for all-round "movie-palace red" ornamented with gold molding and dark wood trim following a renovation overseen by first lady Laura Bush in 2004. molding and dark wood trim following a renovation overseen by first lady Laura Bush in 2004.

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Thousands of Starbucks workers are gearing up to vote on whether to go on strike next week. 

The strike authorization vote is set to begin Friday and will remain open for several days, with Starbucks Workers United expected to share results after voting ends. Employees represented by the union have staged two national strikes over the last year, most recently in May to protest Starbucks' new dress code. Thousands of workers also walked off the job in December 2024.

As the voting gets underway, the union is also planning a series of rallies and pickets over the weekend outside Starbucks stores in dozens of U.S. cities.

Starbucks Workers United originated in Buffalo, New York, in 2021 and now represents 12,000 workers in approximately 550 Starbucks cafes across the country.

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Meta will lay off roughly 600 employees within its artificial intelligence unit as the company looks to reduce layers and operate more nimbly, a spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday.

The company announced the cuts in a memo from its chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, who was hired in June as part of Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI. Workers across Meta’s AI infrastructure units, Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research unit (FAIR) and other product-related positions will be impacted.

However, the cuts did not impact employees within TBD Labs, which includes many of the top-tier AI hires brought into the social media company this summer, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. Those employees, overseen by Wang, were spared by the layoffs,underscoring Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s bet on his expensive hires versus the legacy employees, the people said.

Within Meta, the AI unit was considered to be bloated, with teams like FAIR and more product-oriented groups often vying for computing resources, the people said. When the company’s new hires joined the company to create Superintelligence Labs, it inherited the oversized Meta AI unit, they said. The layoffs are an attempt by Meta to continue trim the department and further cement Wang’s role in steering the company’s AI strategy.

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Israel, having banned the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees from sending aid and staff to Gaza, is now taking unprecedented steps to de-register major nongovernmental aid groups for ideological reasons, according to several officials of humanitarian organizations.

They say the new rules threaten the ability of some of the biggest international nongovernmental organizations — known as INGOs — to send in aid or staff to both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"INGOs are in limbo — most who have submitted have either been not accepted or rejected," an official with an aid organization that is aware of the situation said of the application process required for nongovernmental aid organizations  operating in Gaza and the West Bank. The official spoke on the condition that NPR not name their employer and not give their name because they are not authorized to speak publicly.

The ceasefire agreement in the Gaza war brokered this month by President Trump committed Israel to a surge in aid into Gaza, where food security experts declared famine in parts of the territory. But Israel continues to severely restrict crossings open for aid shipments and who can send aid through them. Of seven Israeli border crossings with Gaza, only two are currently open. Of those that are open, the U.N. and nongovernmental aid groups say many requests to enter Gaza are routinely rejected, without explanation.

TVNL Comment:  Where in hell is the outrage from the rest of the world?  People hailed Donald Trump as a hero for brokering a cease fire.  This is a violation of the so-called 'peace plan'.  THIS IS A WAR CRIME that has been waged since early March.  It is illegal to use starvation as a weapon.  So, where in hell is the outrage?

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Silver-lined clouds hung over the Yup’ik village of Kwigillingok the Thursday before a weekend storm was forecast to pass through.

Dan Winkelman was at the community health clinic for a ground-breaking ceremony, a commemoration of the facility’s much needed expansion. The renovation – part of a $100m effort by the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) – was an example of the non-profit matching its money to its mission: to represent “the healthiest people” in south-western Alaska.

For the YKHC, this translated into about 30,000 Indigenous Alaskans belonging to 58 federally recognized tribes in the region. As president and CEO, Winkelman started that October weekend on a high note.

“I met with the council. I met with the community. We had a nice groundbreaking,” he said. “And then this storm happened.”

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A police officer and another motorist are dead after they were struck by a vehicle following a multi-car crash on a San Diego highway late Monday night.

Authorities said the first crash happened shortly before 10:30 p.m. when a vehicle hit another one and overturned in the eastbound lanes of I-8. A third vehicle then struck the overturned vehicle.

La Mesa police said Officer Lauren Craven was driving back from the San Diego Central Jail when she saw the crash and stopped to help. Craven eventually exited her vehicle.

California Highway Patrol Captain Reggie Williams said that a fourth vehicle then struck Craven and the driver of the overturned vehicle, killing both.

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President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are no longer meeting in Budapest as previously planned, casting doubt over Trump's latest attempt to secure a ceasefire to stop Russia's fighting in Ukraine.

A White House official confirmed the summit is off, telling USA TODAY that a "productive call" between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the meeting unnecessary. The official said Trump and Putin have no plans to meet in the immediate future.

Putin has rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire and refused to entertain concessions as part of a peace deal with Ukraine. Moscow continues to demand that Ukraine cede territory in any agreement to end the war.

Trump, following an Oct. 16 phone call with Putin, announced plans for a meeting in Budapest to work on an agreement to end the war. The choice of Budapest for talks was controversial. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban is one of the few leaders in the European Union to maintain close relations with Russia.

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Chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky has died at 29, the Charlotte Chess Center announced on Monday, Oct. 20.

In a statement shared to social media on behalf of the Naroditsky family, the center called the former World Junior Champion's death "unexpected."

"Daniel was a talented chess player, commentator, and educator, and a cherished member of the chess community, admired and respected by fans and players around the world," it said. "He was also a loving son and brother, and a loyal friend to many."

The Naroditsky family shares the sad news of Daniel’s unexpected passing. Daniel was a talented chess player, educator, and beloved member of the chess community. We ask for privacy as the family grieves.

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