Author: potus

Jamieson Greer, President Trump’s nominee to be the next U.S. trade representative, defended the president’s plan to impose tariffs on all imported products and told senators he would work to restructure international trading relationships during his confirmation hearing on Thursday.Mr. Greer, a trade lawyer and former Trump administration official, told the Senate Finance Committee that he believed the United States “should be a country of producers” as well as consumers, and that he would work to open international markets for U.S. farmers and try to “reverse” the deindustrialization of the nation.Mr. Greer said Mr. Trump’s idea of imposing a universal…

U.S. President Donald Trump during the annual National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 6, 2025.Kevin Lamarque | ReutersThe Trump administration on Thursday ordered all federal departments and agencies by March 7 to submit lists of employees who received less than “fully successful” job performance ratings over the past three years.The order from the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management said “OPM is developing new performance metrics for evaluating the federal workforce,” and requires agencies to identify any barriers to making “meaningful distinctions” between employees’ job performance relative to one another.The memo also orders…

Minnesota lawmakers settled on a bipartisan power-sharing agreement in the state House, ending a weekslong political stalemate in one of the most closely divided legislative bodies in the country.Under the drafted agreement, Republicans will control the speakership in the House, where the party currently holds a one-seat advantage. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party secured assurances that Republicans wouldn’t block one of their members from being seated and would share power if the chamber returns, as expected, to a tie after a special election next month.For the last three weeks, the Minnesota House has been unable to conduct any business, after Democrats denied…

A federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration’s radical changes to how the National Institutes of Health pays for biomedical research, putting on hold a plan to slash research funding paid out by the federal government. Twenty-two state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Monday against the plan, which would limit how it pays out universities and research institutes for “indirect costs.” The lawsuit, which lists both the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services as defendants, said the effect of the indirect rate changes announced Friday would be “immediate and devastating.” NIH announced Friday that it…

In West Virginia, a nonprofit mental health program for teenage girls is turning to a private donor to help cover its expenses. Three Virginia health clinics have shut their doors. And a network of health centers in rural Mississippi is facing a deficit of $500,000 and may have to scale back services. Across the country, health clinics and nonprofit organizations largely serving rural and low-income patients have found themselves unable to access previously allocated federal funds, as a short-lived government funding freeze has continued to disrupt daily operations for a range of programs. The disruption appears to stem from a vaguely worded, two-page…

We interrupt this program for a special bulletin.In a major government shake-up, Palmerston, the cat who left the British Foreign Office in 2020, will come out of retirement and take up a new posting working with the governor of Bermuda.Palmerston stepped down from the Foreign Office in 2020. At the time of his retirement, he was said to have been looking forward to a more low-key lifestyle. Although there was talk of him writing his memoirs, he instead spent his time climbing trees. But the lure of service to crown and country seems to have been too strong.“I’ve just started…

A common theme of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term and his three runs for the White House has been hostility toward the so-called “expert class.” This enmity seemed particularly severe when it came to the agglomeration of analysts, officials, journalists, and academics that comprise the U.S. foreign-policy establishment. In 2017, instead of turning to a high-profile diplomat or official to manage his Middle East policy, Trump appointed his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner had some success, helping negotiate the Abraham Accords. But like every peace processor before him, he failed to get a deal between Israelis and Palestinians. And so,…

The US president’s controversial proposals are garnering global attention.United States President Donald Trump has made headlines since his return to the White House. He appears to relish any opportunity to upstage, outrage and, perhaps most importantly, control the media narrative. Whether it’s suggesting Canada become America’s 51st state, planning to rename the Gulf of Mexico, or threatening a military takeover of Greenland, Trump is dominating international news. But the White House has had to walk back many of his statements, with staff scrambling for answers to a flood of inquiries. So, can Trump’s administration sustain the breakneck speed at which…

(The Center Square) – Republicans in the Michigan House have proposed legislation which would change the zoning laws for clean energy projects.While they argue it returns control to local municipalities, clean energy advocacy groups have come out against the changes.Newly-introduced House Bills 4027-28 amends previous legislation, which laid out a new statewide clean energy standard, requiring 80% clean energy by 2035 and 100% by 2040. House Bill 4027 removes the requirement that zoning ordinances be subject to that standard.House Bill 4028 amends a measure passed in 2023 which shifted control of the certification of certain wind and solar energy facilities and…

El presidente Trump sorprendió al mundo cuando declaró que Estados Unidos iba a “adueñarse” de Gaza y trasladar a los palestinos del lugar para construir “la Riviera de Medio Oriente”. Por poco realista y extraño que pueda parecer, Trump estaba señalando un serio desafío: el futuro de Gaza como un lugar seguro, pacífico e incluso próspero.Gérard Araud, un antiguo embajador francés en Washington, planteó el dilema con claridad. “La propuesta de Trump para Gaza es recibida con incredulidad, oposición y sarcasmo, pero como hace a menudo, a su manera brutal y torpe, plantea una cuestión real: ¿Qué hacer cuando dos…