TV News LIES

A new National Park Service report backs Donald Trump’s proposed arch, despite what it says are adverse effects to the sightlines of a host of landmarks in Washington, including the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.

The report released on Friday says the 250ft-tall (76-meter) memorial arch is likely to disrupt the historical significance of dozens of sites near its planned location adjacent to the Arlington Memorial Bridge.

Many of Washington’s monuments, buildings and sites have been carefully planned over decades to reflect significant moments in the nation’s history and to evoke symbolism through sightlines that connect them to other sites. The arch will disturb the sightline between more Washington landmarks than anticipated, the report said.

But the Park Service report says “the same characteristics that make Memorial Circle sensitive from a preservation perspective are also the characteristics that make it the historically appropriate location for the undertaking”.

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The Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) came under fire online this week after being accused of "Islamising" its programmes.

On 24 August, White House correspondent and War Room co-host Natalie Winters shared a thread on X titled "The Islamisation of Girl Scouts Across America", featuring photos of badges including one labelled "Girl Scout of the Islamic Faith", alongside others tied to Islamic practices such as Ramadan and Hajj.

“Mosque-based programs operate in Sacramento, Naperville, Long Island, Virginia, Maryland, Brooklyn, San Diego, and more—embedding prayer, hijab rules, Ramadan, Islamic education and mosque outreach into Girl Scouting,” Winters wrote.

The Girl Scouts of the USA responded to the controversy, claiming it is not a religious organisation, does not incorporate religious teachings in its programmes and welcomes girls from every faith.

“Any other faith-based patches are developed by independent organisations, not Girl Scouts of the USA,” the organisation wrote on X.

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The Justice Department (DOJ) on Thursday defended renewed plans to inscribe President Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center, insisting it does not run afoul of previous court rulings that found the change was unlawful.  

A DOJ lawyer told U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper during a nearly two-hour hearing that the renowned performing arts center was in “structural and financial disarray” and the inscriptions only sought to recognize Trump’s role in helping restore it.

“We think it’s quite clear that there’s no renaming here,”Brantley Mayers said, claiming the Kennedy Center board’s decision does not violate a federal law that establishes the institution as a “living memorial” to former President John F. Kennedy Jr.

The hearing came in a challenge brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio board member who has been suing to halt the changes. The congresswoman was present in the courtroom.

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President Trump is escalating his ongoing dispute with Canada over tariffs with a new executive order renaming Lake Ontario, which sits between New York and Canada, to Lake America.

The order, which Trump signed Thursday, directs the federal government to rename the smallest of the great lakes "effective immediately." However, the order also outlines administrative steps that must occur first. He made a similar move last year renaming the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.

"We have a gulf, and we have a lake, now all we need is an ocean," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office signing.

He went to blame Canada for the renaming.

"We deal with a lot of people, and people oftentimes they'll ask me, 'Who's the worst to deal with on trade?' And I said, 'That's easy, Canada. They are the worst to trade, and they they feel entitled, and just we can't have that,'" Trump explained.

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A Florida grand jury has found that the administration of the governor, Ron DeSantis, “misappropriated” $10m in taxpayer money from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity with ties to DeSantis’s wife, before the money was reportedly “funneled” into “two political action committees”.

In the grand jury report, which remains sealed but was obtained and published by CBS News Miami on Wednesday, the grand jurors wrote that “we conclude that these funds were misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities” but said that they found “insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally”.

The grand jury report, dated 28 January 2026, states that in 2024, the Hope Florida Foundation received $10m from a Medicaid settlement between the state and Centene, a contractor for the government health insurance program for low-income Americans and children.

The report goes on to say that after the money was transferred to Hope Florida, it was “quickly funneled” from there into two political action committees, and that the money was then reportedly used to lobby against a ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana in Florida, and was sent to the Republican party of Florida.

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Former JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley told US lawmakers he repeatedly shared confidential and market-sensitive bank ⁠information with Jeffrey Epstein and ⁠was at one ​point named as a trustee of his estate, according to a transcript released by the House oversight committee on Wednesday.

These admissions come as lawmakers investigate the late convicted ⁠sex offender’s ties with political and business elites. Staley appeared before the committee in July as part of its investigation into Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Transcripts ⁠from the meeting were released on Wednesday.

In the closed-door, voluntary interview conducted on 24 July, Staley said he divulged to ​Epstein the bank’s communications with the Federal Reserve during the ‌2008 financial crisis, a figure of $44bn in private bank inflows over two weeks and details of pending deals. Staley also admitted to ‌sharing other confidential information about JPMorgan with Epstein, according to the transcript.

Lawmakers also questioned him about communications in which he discussed matters including his compensation, client relationships and developments related to his eventual move to Barclays.

Staley defended the exchanges, saying he believed he had the authority to share information when he considered it appropriate. He has maintained he had a close professional relationship with Epstein, but was unaware of his crimes.

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