TV News LIES

Former CNN host Don Lemon reacted to criticism Tuesday after being put “on notice” by the Department of Justice civil rights chief over his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a church in Minnesota.

“Whatever they do, let them do it, but in the end, I’m telling you, I don’t think that they’ve realized that people are fed up with this,” Lemon, now an independent journalist, said in an interview with podcaster Jennifer Welch. ”That’s why you see so many people out in the streets. That’s why those protesters went into the church.”

Protesters disrupted a Sunday morning service at Cities Church in St. Paul, and alleged the church’s pastor, David Easterwood, was the same David Easterwood who is a top ICE official in the state, CNN reported. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN that it “will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers,” pressed about the pastor’s connection with ICE. It was not immediately clear if Easterwood was at the service when the protest took place.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced Sunday night that the DOJ will pursue charges against the protesters. She also called Lemon’s coverage of the protest “pseudo journalism” and said he was “on notice.”

More...

U.S. military forces boarded and took control of a seventh oil tanker connected with Venezuela on Tuesday as the Trump administration continues its efforts to take control of the South American country’s oil.

U.S. Southern Command said in a social media post that U.S. forces apprehended the Motor Vessel Sagitta “without incident” and that the tanker was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s “established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

The military command did not say whether the U.S. Coast Guard took control of the tanker as has been the case in prior seizures. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions for more details.

More...
The Sagitta is a Liberian-flagged tanker and its registration says it is owned and managed by a company in Hong Kong. The ship last transmitted its location more than two months ago when exiting the Baltic Sea in northern Europe.

President Trump on Tuesday warned Iran that continued assassination threats made by leaders in Tehran would be met with the country getting “blown up.”

“Well, they shouldn’t be doing it but I’ve left notification,” Trump told NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich on “Katie Pavlich Tonight.” “Anything ever happens, we’re going to blow the whole — the whole country’s going to get blown up.”

Biden-era Intelligence officials briefed Trump about the alleged threats against him during his presidential campaign in 2024. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland said the plot was retaliation for the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani by the U.S. in 2020, during Trump’s first administration.

Despite being briefed by his administration, Trump on Tuesday said President Biden “should have said something” on the matter, adding that presidents should defend each other on such matters.

“But I have very firm instructions,” Trump continued. “Anything happens they’re going to wipe them off the face of this earth.”

More...

Virginia voters gave Democrats another special election win on Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ, adding to a string of recent victories for the party in the Old Dominion.

Democrat Garrett McGuire will replace state Del. Mark Sickles (D), who has been tapped to be Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s secretary of finance, in the 17th House District.

The Tuesday contests are part of a series of special elections prompted as Spanberger, who was elected governor last year and inaugurated over the weekend, called on several state lawmakers to join her administration.

Democrats have the majority in the House of Delegates, where state lawmakers moved forward quickly this month with constitutional amendments on abortion access, mid-decade redistricting and other major issues.

Democrats were expected to win in the district, which went to former Vice President Kamala Harris by 43 points in 2024.

More...

The Israeli military has launched a “large-scale” operation in Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, deploying hundreds of soldiers and heavy machinery in a move that has paralysed the city’s southern districts.

In a joint statement issued on Monday, the Israeli army and the internal security service, Shin Bet, confirmed the offensive, stating it aims to “thwart terror infrastructure” and confiscate weapons in the Jebel Johar area.

Reporting from the scene, Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent Montaser Nassar described a state of total lockdown.

“We are in the so-called southern region of Hebron, which has been under a curfew since dawn,” Nassar said. “There is an intensive deployment of occupation forces … including bulldozers and tracked armoured vehicles.”

“We witnessed tracked armoured vehicles … the last time we saw these in Hebron was during the second Intifada during [Israeli] Operation Defensive Shield,” he said, noting the significance of the heavy equipment.

While the army cited “counterterrorism goals”, Nassar observed soldiers installing new metal barriers, warning of a long-term tightening of control.

“They brought in iron gates a short while ago, and this is the dangerous part,” Nassar said. “It seems that what is happening on the ground is a prelude to dividing the already divided.”

Video footage verified by local sources showed Israeli forces closing the Tariq bin Ziyad roundabout with cement blocks and earth mounds. Palestinian news agency Wafa reported at least seven arrests.

More...

“I never lost hope, and I never will,” said Nael Barghouti, a 68-year-old Palestinian from the occupied West Bank who spent more than four decades in Israeli captivity. It has been a year since Barghouti won his freedom through a prisoner exchange deal signed between Hamas and Israel in January 2025.

As a condition of his release, Barghouti had to agree to go into exile and was deported to Egypt a month later. “I have been optimistic from the very first day I began my struggle,” he said. “In prison, I was optimistic that I would be frehttps://www.dropsitenews.com/p/nael-barghouti-palestinian-prisoners-liberation-palestine-israel-united-statese one day. And, even if I were to die in prison, I would remain content, because those who come after me will continue the path, because they are convinced that we are in the right.”

According to the most recent and reliable statistics, there are approximately 9,300 Palestinians currently held in Israeli captivity. Nearly half of these have not been charged or brought to trial. Additionally, there are an unknown number of Palestinians held in military camps run by the Israeli army.

At least 87 Palestinians have been killed inside Israeli prisons since October 7, 2023, including several documented cases of death by torture, abuse, or intentional neglect. “Without any prior warning, a prisoner is detained with no charge—a 15 year old [boy], or a woman. Malicious arrest—arrest simply to send a lesson to entire generations. They are received with beatings, bone‑breaking, and the spread of infectious diseases,” Barghouti told Drop Site.

More...

At a meeting in Seoul on Monday, leaders from Italy and South Korea agreed to cooperate on the defense industry, marking a new collaboration between two strong allies of Ukraine who are, coincidentally, prohibited by their respective constitutions from directly sending Kyiv all the military help for which it might ask.

At his office in Seoul, President Lee Jae Myung hosted Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the two agreed to expand cooperation in artificial intelligence, space and the defense industry, citing concerns about “global challenges.”

It was the first visit by an Italian leader to South Korea in almost two decades, AFP noted.

Lee said the two countries would “further expand the horizons of cooperation into advanced industries such as artificial intelligence, space, and aviation.

“In addition, we will pursue complementary cooperation in the defense industry based on each side’s strengths,” he said. Lee also vowed to “work closely together to contribute to global peace” and “safeguard the universal value of peace, extending our efforts ... to the wider world.”

More...

New documents show the crew on board the United States' newest aircraft carrier are growing increasingly frustrated by design flaws that lead to regular failures in the ship's toilet system.

The USS Gerald R. Ford has been deployed for seven months since it left Norfolk in June. The carrier is currently at the center of the Trump administration's flotilla of Navy ships in the Caribbean. Since the raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the carrier continues to work with the Coast Guard as the U.S. interdicts oil tankers tied to Venezuela.

On board the carrier, the crew is battling a toilet system that the General Accountability Office reported in 2020 was undersized and poorly designed. The system continues to fail during deployment, forcing the crew of 4,600 sailors to live with a system that randomly breaks down during their months at sea.

NPR has obtained documents that include a series of emails that detail the ship's effort to grapple with the breakdowns. Problems with the Vacuum Collection, Holding and Transfer (VCHT) system increased in 2025. The vacuum system was adopted in part from the cruise ship industry. It uses less water, but the system used by USS Ford is more complex. Breakdowns have been reported since the $13 billion carrier first deployed in 2023.

More...