Author: Robert Jones

Facebook Tweet Email Link The Trump administration issued a memo this week declaring that federal agencies will allow workers to promote their religious beliefs to colleagues, display religious items and pray at work. According to the guidance, a federal worker “may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should re-think his religious beliefs.” But there is one caveat: “provided that such efforts are not harassing in nature.” Here’s what else you need to know to get up to speed and on with your day. Heavy storms that developed on Thursday afternoon and…

Ghislaine Maxwell is unlikely to spill her full Jeffrey Epstein secrets to Congress but losing her Supreme Court appeal in the future could prove pivotal, a lawyer told Newsweek.Maxwell was subpoenaed last week to testify before the House committee on oversight and government but her lawyer said she would need to be given immunity first.Speculation has been rife for years that Maxwell, former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, knows his deepest darkest secrets, including those relating to his rich and powerful friends. Donald Trump and Melania Trump pose with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach, Florida,…

MASERU, Lesotho (AP) — The deafening roar of hundreds of sewing machines has gone silent. Spools of thread in every color are covered in dust. The warehouse is dark and empty.In the tiny African nation of Lesotho, clothing manufacturer Tzicc’s business has dried up in the face of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. A few months ago, work was steady. The factory’s 1,300 employees have made and exported sportswear to American stores, including JCPenney, Walmart and Costco. But when Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners in April, Lesotho found itself topping the…

Facebook Tweet Email Link In just six months, President Donald Trump has remade global trade and upended a century of precedent. Trump on Thursday announced higher tariffs — again — on just about every country in the world. Even as some countries’ tariff rates came in lower than they had feared, practically all goods coming in to the United States face a significantly higher tax than when Trump took office in January. The new trade regime will put in place the highest tariffs America has imposed since 1933, during the Smoot-Hawley era — a tariff bill that contributed to the…

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that construction will begin in September on a 90,000‑square‑foot ballroom to replace the current East Wing.President Donald Trump has long argued the executive mansion lacks adequate space for major state functions and says the new venue will seat up to 650 guests.The East Wing, which houses several offices including those of the first lady, will be relocated during the project. Leavitt said Trump and other donors have pledged about $200 million to fund the construction. She did not name any of the other donors.A statement from the Trump administration stated, “The White…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration’s polarizing vaccine chief is leaving the agency after a brief tenure that drew the ire of biotech executives, patient groups and conservative allies of President Donald Trump.Dr. Vinay Prasad “did not want to be a distraction” and was stepping down from his role as the FDA’s top vaccine regulator “to spend more time with his family,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement late Tuesday.Two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that Prasad was ousted following several recent controversies. They spoke on…

President Donald Trump has signed and sent out letters to the heads of 17 pharmaceutical companies urging them to take several steps over the next 60 days to bring down drug prices for Americans.Why It MattersThe pharmaceutical industry is under increased pressure resulting from recent data showing that Americans pay more than three times what other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries pay for brand-name pharmaceuticals, even after accounting for U.S.-specific discounts.The United States, which comprises less than 5 percent of the world’s population, is responsible for roughly 75 percent of global pharmaceutical profits, according to a press…

MIAMI (AP) — A legal challenge to a hastily-built immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades was filed in the wrong venue, government attorneys argued Wednesday in the first of two hearings over the legality of “Alligator Alcatraz” in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups.Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Florida’s southern district is the wrong venue for the federal lawsuit by environmental groups since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the state’s middle district, government attorneys argued during Wednesday’s hearing in federal court in Miami.“Everything is happening outside the southern…

Facebook Tweet Email Link The US job market seems to have chugged along for the first half of this year — but the risk is rising that employment growth is running out of steam. The July jobs report, due for release at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday, is expected to show a net gain of 115,000 jobs, which would mark a considerable downshift from June’s 147,000 jobs. The unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 4.2% from 4.1%, according to FactSet consensus estimates. Through June, the US has added between 102,000 and 158,000 jobs per month, Bureau of Labor Statistics…

Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday defended the Supreme Court’s practice of not fully explaining certain decisions that have allowed the Trump administration to advance its policies.Speaking at the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, Kavanaugh said there can be “danger” in issuing written opinions too early in a case, particularly when the court is only weighing a party’s likelihood of success rather than the merits of the case itself.Writing at that stage, he said, risks creating a “lock-in effect.””There can be a risk in writing the opinion of lock-in effect, of making a snap judgment and putting it…