Two Republican governors with a long history of clashing with Donald Trump are working with Democrats on a plan to hand migrant workers state-issued work permits instead of deportation notices, a direct challenge to the president's immigration crackdown that the four laid out on camera. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt joined Democratic Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland and Matt Meyer of Delaware for a joint interview with Bloomberg, describing a shared position that has far more in common with the Democratic Party and the labor lobby than with the Trump administration's approach to the border.
The vehicle for that position is the National Governors Association's Task Force on Immigration Policy, which Stitt built after noticing a pattern among his colleagues. "The reason I set this task force up is because I realized by talking to my colleagues that they're having the same issues," Stitt told Bloomberg reporter Christina Ruffini. "Let's actually have the governors issue workforce permits."
That last line
Following reports that US forces have "used up virtually all" of their precision, long-range missiles in futile attempts to first trigger an Iranian regime change and then to compel Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, now comes reporting that an angry President Trump confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in recent days, accusing the Pentagon of misleading him on critical munitions shortages that leave Trump increasingly powerless in the five-month-old fiasco of a war.
According to sources cited by the Washington Post, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to concern about retaliation, Trump's ire erupted alongside a cabinet meeting held Friday at Camp David. Trump expressed consternation that he'd been assured that the weapon shortage "had been fixed" when that is apparently far from true.
According to "multiple officials" who -- reading between the lines -- clearly seem to have had it with Fox News talking-head-suddenly-turned-Defense-secretary, Hegseth defended his own actions and tried
Authored by Rachel Roberts via The Epoch Times,
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Moderna's flu shot for over-50s, marking the first time the agency has licensed a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine for seasonal influenza.
The shot, known as mFlusiva, was given a traditional approval for adults aged 50 to 64, and an accelerated approval for the over-65s, the pharmaceutical giant said on Wednesday.
Moderna has agreed to run an additional study and submit further data on the over-65s in a bid to demonstrate the vaccine's benefit for that age group.
The approval was based on data from a late-stage trial involving more than 40,000 adults aged 50 and older, which found the shot was 26.5 percent more effective than a licensed standard-dose flu vaccine.
Moderna had to submit separate late-stage data showing the shot generated stronger antibody responses than Sanofi's high-dose flu vaccine in the over-65s after problems with the methodology in its phase 3 trial.
The vaccine uses mRNA technology,
The US suspended avocado inspections in Mexico's Michoacán state after the US Embassy cited a "threat against American interests." Because Michoacán is Mexico's largest avocado-producing region and a top supplier to the US market, any prolonged suspension risks disrupting imports and driving supermarket prices sharply higher.
Michoacán Gov. Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said on social media that the temporary halt to inspections was intended to safeguard workers following recent arrests linked to extortion, according to AP News.
Michoacán supplies about 75% to 80% of Mexico's avocados, while Mexico accounted for more than 80% of US avocado imports in 2025, valued at over $3 billion.
Supplies from Peru, California, and Mexico's Jalisco state could limit shortages and price increases if the suspension is brief, Rabobank analyst David Magana said.
Wholesale prices for first-quality Michoacán Hass avocados sold at Mexico City's Central de Abasto have nearly doubled in recent months, signaling tightening conditions in Mexico's domestic supply chain even before the latest inspection disruption.
"These alternative sources should help mitigate supply shortages and limit upward pressure on prices, particularly if the
By Bas van Geffen, Senior Macro Strategist at Rabobank
Brent prices held steady just below the $80-level, as Iran said it reached an agreement with Oman on a proposed shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz. That's not the Iran-US deal that Trump had been eyeing, but this agreement raises the prospect of more energy flows resuming through the critical waterway.
However, Iran has also said that the deal does not work until the US stops blocking traffic. We are yet to hear when the US lifts its blockade on Iranian ships – if Trump does not revert to threats of air strikes instead. The course of events once again underlines Iran's relatively strong negotiating position.
Days after the Japanese Ministry of Finance –and the US Treasury– intervened in FX markets to prop up the yen, the cabinet approved a plan to cut the sales tax on food for two years. On top of that, the government is planning handouts to lower-income households. High costs of living are weighing on PM Takaichi's popularity. So, she wants to lessen the price pressure on households, but these tax
Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,
New Mexico is suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) over unredacted Epstein files, accusing the federal agency of stonewalling the state's own investigation into alleged crimes at deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch.
The legal action, filed Aug. 5, intensifies a politically charged fight over the DOJ's Epstein files, which have been accumulating since investigations into Epstein began in the mid-2000s.
New Mexico reopened its investigation in February and is seeking access to files relating to who worked at and visited Epstein's Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, and may have participated in or witnessed crimes.
The DOJ said it has handed over some of the files but is prevented by law from releasing others due to privacy protections.
"The Epstein Files Transparency Act does not require, and the protective orders in place in the Southern District of New York do not permit, disclosure of victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures," a DOJ spokesperson told The Epoch Times of its reasons for opposing the lawsuit.
The
US distillate exports surged to a record last week as global supplies tightened. Disruptions across the Gulf area and various surrounding maritime chokepoints, as well as Ukrainian one-way attack drone strikes that have paralyzed portions of Russia's energy infrastructure, have been a major boon for US refiners and export terminals along the Gulf of America.
To begin the week, Samantha Dart, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs, told Bloomberg TV, "The situation in Russia is really one thing that worries us a lot."
Dart warned, "I'd say on the oil side, as I mentioned before, diesel, I think is the oil product that is most vulnerable right now, not just because you have your seasonal demand strength ahead just in the winter, but on the supply side. And to your point in the beginning, it's not just that you run war, it's what's happening to the Russian refineries as well. And Russia is usually a pretty big exporter of diesel. And now they have restricted it."
Last month, Goldman analyst Daan Struyven warned that "Diesel is at the epicenter of the supply squeeze."
As global supplies dwindle, US energy exporters on the Gulf
Less than a week after Colombian authorities blamed a Marxist-Leninist terrorist group for detonating a truck bomb outside police headquarters in the border city of Cúcuta, injuring 11 officers, security forces intercepted a bus carrying a massive bomb.
The local outlet Blu Radio reported that an intelligence operation by the National Police thwarted a "terrorist attack" when authorities intercepted a bus carrying 1,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate in Santander de Quilichao, about 30 miles from Cali.
President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, a Trump-backed conservative who has pledged to restore law and order and wage war against far-left terror groups, will be sworn in before foreign leaders and senior U.S. officials on Friday.
The report noted that the bus bomb was orchestrated by the far-left, Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to "attack" the military during inauguration celebrations.
The major Colombian news outlet continued:
According to preliminary information, the vehicle had been modified to be used as a bus bomb and, according to the investigation, its objective was to attack military and police installations in Cali during the events related to the inauguration of
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,
A federal judge on Aug. 5 allowed the Trump administration to end temporary protected status (TPS) for an estimated 350,000 Haitian nationals following a Supreme Court ruling.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ruled that a previous court order that "had stayed the effective date of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's Termination of the Designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status pending judicial review … is no longer in effect."
But Reyes also denied the government's request to halt discovery in the lawsuit that was filed over TPS in Haiti. She told the plaintiffs and the government to provide a new schedule in the order.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last year said that around 350,000 Haitian nationals were living in the United States when Noem, who left the administration earlier this year, issued an order ending TPS for the country.
Multiple courts paused enforcement of the order before the Supreme Court in June ruled that the Trump administration could go ahead with rescinding the rule.
Before the judge's Wednesday ruling at the U.S. District Court for the
Anthony Fauci has been held in contempt of Congress by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, after he repeatedly refused to answer lawmakers' questions about funding risky research to genetically manipulate bat coronavirus in Wuhan China, and his role in the ensuing lockdown quagmire that cratered the economy after he was put in charge of leading the COVID-19 response.
Oh, and they obtained a copy of his cell phone.
In an 8-5 vote brought by Committee Chairman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the contempt vote seeks to refer the case directly to the DOJ for prosecution - bypassing a full vote from the Senate.
"Seeking the truth is not a witch hunt," Paul said be fore the vote, per the WSJ. "Accountability is not vengeance. Accountability is what stands between the American people and a repeat of the mistakes and the very real consequences of the past."
The Committee's top Democrat, Sen. Gary Peters, called the investigation "one-sided from the beginning," claiming that "Information has been selectively released to support conclusions that the chairman reached years ago."
The minority keeps trying to hijack the Fauci hearings with the
Summary
- Explosions heard near Qeshm island - Iran says it struck 'hostile targets'.
- Iran parliament reviews draft Hormuz plan banning US- and Israel-linked vessels, oil rises
- Houthis intensify attacks on Saudi oil shipping in the Red Sea.
- Yemen fighting escalates amid reports of major casualties.
- Iran-Oman talks continue as US backs diplomatic solution, searches for offramp.
Iran Struck 'Hostile Targets' in Strait of Hormuz: Fars
After explosions were heard on Qeshm island, near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media is saying that Iranian forces attacked and struck 'hostile targets' - though the event still remains shrouded in mystery and few details were offered. The US side has also not confirmed anything, and this could also be the result of drone activity.
Iran remains defiant, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian having newly asserted in an interview,
Authored by Mark Gianniny via RealClearMarkets,
The next time a candidate promises that greater government control will make life safer, fairer and more secure, Americans should remember 2020. They should remember the closed schools, shuttered businesses, restricted churches, isolated families, arbitrary mandates and government checks intended to compensate people for livelihoods government had interrupted.
COVID was not socialism in the strict textbook sense. Government did not nationalize most businesses or formally abolish private property. But the pandemic gave Americans a revealing glimpse of the governing instinct behind socialism: Central authorities replaced millions of individual decisions with government orders, restricted private activity in the name of the collective good and made citizens dependent on public assistance to endure the restrictions government itself imposed.
During the frightening opening weeks, temporary precautions were understandable. We faced an unfamiliar virus, hospitals feared being overwhelmed and officials had limited information. Most Americans accepted extraordinary restrictions because they were told the measures were necessary and temporary.
The problem was how quickly temporary precautions became a system of control and how slowly government surrendered that control.
Officials decided who could work and which businesses
