Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) on Tuesday defended the findings in the Trump administration’s probe of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, which concluded that he did not keep a “client list.” He also praised Attorney General Pam Bondi for her handling of the case. “I think Pam Bondi has done a great, great job,"... ... Read full Story
David Schoen, a former attorney for the late Jeffrey Epstein, said Tuesday that President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi were not withholding a so-called client list for the disgraced financier. Schoen, who helped secure Epstein’s 2008 plea deal on state prostitution charges, argued that the public’s push for the release of names is based... ... Read full Story
The Trump administration is moving full-steam ahead with plans to gut the Education Department after getting a green light from the Supreme Court. Conservatives are in celebration mode after the high court said the administration can lay off half of the department's workforce, arguing the move is long overdue and echoing President Trump's calls to... ... Read full Story
Senior officials eliminate 3,000 positions in the biggest State Department reorganization since the Cold War, citing waste while critics warn of damage to U.S. diplomacy. ... Read full Story
President Trump’s approach to setting tariff rates is causing anxiety in the business community, with the trickling flow of letters to trade partners exacerbating concerns over hits to the economy. The president has sent two dozen letters to countries, with rates set between 20 percent and 50 percent to be imposed Aug. 1, while also leaving the door open to negotiations to lower... ... Read full Story
New York democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani visits Washington after his primary win, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez organizing breakfast, while Republicans frame him as the face of Democrats. ... Read full Story
President Trump’s fight against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has taken on a new dimension, with an overhaul of the central bank’s headquarters at the center of a growing White House pressure campaign. Top White House officials have zeroed in on a $2.5 billion renovation of the Federal Reserve’s Washington, D.C., offices. Powell has asked... ... Read full Story
Internal polling suggests that there's a window for Democrats to use the controversy over the so-called "Epstein list" — and more than a dozen strategists, elected officials and aides are urging them to take it. ... Read full Story
Hunter Biden said in a new interview that Democrats lost the November election to President Trump because they weren’t loyal to his father, former President Biden. “You know what, we are going to fight amongst ourselves for the next three years until there's a nominee. And then with the nominee, we better as hell get... ... Read full Story
The EEOC will allow some complaints by transgender workers to proceed, a change from earlier guidance that indefinitely halted cases filed on behalf of transgender workers. ... Read full Story
New immigration reform bill would provide work authorization for immigrants in US before 2021, require E-Verify for employers, and strengthen border security without taxpayer funding. ... Read full Story
Republican nominees competed in Arizona's special primary election for the 7th congressional district seat previously held by the late Democrat Rep. Raúl Grijalva. ... Read full Story
Former Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva defeated four candidates, including social media influencer Deja Foxx, in the Democratic primary for her late father's congressional seat. ... Read full Story
New York Democrats face conflict over socialist mayoral nominee Zorhan Mamdani, as Republicans capitalize on divisions to gain advantage in crucial House races. ... Read full Story
President Trump’s disapproval rating hit its highest level since the start of his second term in office, according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll. The survey, conducted over the weekend, shows 55 percent disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job, compared to 41 percent who approve. The most recent poll marks a slight shift... ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 16, 2025 is:
abject \AB-jekt\ adjective
Abject usually describes things that are extremely bad or severe. It can also describe something that feels or shows shame, or someone lacking courage or strength.
// Happily, their attempts to derail the project ended in abject failure.
// The defendants were contrite, offering abject apologies for their roles in the scandal that cost so many their life savings.
// The author chose to cast all but the hero of the book as abject cowards.
“This moment ... points toward the book’s core: a question of how to distinguish tenderness from frugality. Is ‘Homework’ about a child who took a remarkably frictionless path, aided by a nation that had invested in civic institutions, from monetary hardship to the ivory tower? Merely technically. Is it a story of how members of a family, protected by a social safety net from abject desperation, developed different ideas about how to relate to material circumstance? We’re getting there.” — Daniel Felsenthal, The Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2025
Did you know?
We’re sorry to say you must cast your eyes down to fully understand abject: in Middle English the word described those lowly ones who are rejected and cast out. By the 15th century, it was applied as it still is today to anything that has sunk to, or exists in, a low state or condition; in modern use it often comes before the words poverty, misery, and failure. Applied to words like surrender and apology, it connotes hopelessness and humility. The word’s Latin source is the verb abicere, meaning “to throw away, throw down, overcome, or abandon.” Like reject, its ultimate root is the Latin verb jacere, meaning “to throw.” Subject is also from jacere, and we’ll leave you with that word as a way to change the subject.