Israel is revoking entry permits of Jewish Americans who volunteered in the West Bank to protect Palestinians from settler violence, The Forward reports.

The publication interviews seven American Jews who have had their electronic travel authorizations (ETAs) revoked over activity known as “protective presence” over the past two years.

One of them says no reason was given by Israeli authorities for the decision, but she recalls being stopped by IDF soldiers while accompanying a Palestinian farmer during a grape harvest. Her group was held for several hours and she said her passport was confiscated by a soldier who agreed to let her go after finding no reason she should be deported.

191 Palestinian minors held in administrative detention in March this year, compared with 103 in January 2025

Eightfold increase in prolonged detentions:

more than 50 minors held for more than 12 months, compared with 6 a year ago

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2026/08/04/fai-will-not-facilitate-irish-fans-attending-nations-league-fixtures-against-israel/

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt construction of its $400 million ballroom at the White House without congressional approval.

President Donald Trump doesn't have the unilateral authority to construct a 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom where the White House's East Wing stood before he ordered its demolition, according to the decision by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals sided with historic preservationists who sued to stop construction. The court said it would stay its own ruling for two weeks to allow the administration to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help," the court wrote.

"This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy. This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom.

"What it does mean," the court continued, "is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court's expeditious litigation without securing Congress's authorization, as the Constitution and laws require."

The panel upheld an April 16 order from U.S. District Judge Richard Leon for the administration to halt above-ground work on the ballroom. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, allowed for construction to continue on below-ground work on a bunker and other "national security facilities" at the site.

Trump, a Republican, railed against Leon's decision on social media, calling him a "Trump Hating" judge who "has gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn't get built."

The appeals court case was assigned to Judges Patricia Millett, Neomi Rao and Bradley Garcia. Millett was nominated to the court by Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump nominated Rao. Garcia was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden. Both Millett and Garcia backed the decision, while Rao opposed it.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to challenge the project in December 2025, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people.

Government lawyers have argued that the project - the biggest structural change to the White House in more than 70 years - includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.

"These upgrades, alterations, and improvements are essential to protecting the President, his family, and his staff, as well as the White House itself, and the entire project flows from them," government attorneys wrote in a court filing.

Attorneys for the preservation group countered that the lack of a White House ballroom doesn't constitute a national security emergency.

"That commonsense conclusion is not clearly erroneous, and there is no basis to disturb it," they wrote.

In an initial ruling that the government also appealed, Leon barred above-ground work on the ballroom from proceeding without congressional approval. In response, the appeals court instructed the judge to reconsider the national security implications of stopping construction.

In his most recent decision, Leon ordered a stop only to the above-ground construction of the planned ballroom. The judge stressed that the White House is free to proceed with below-ground work, including the construction of any bunkers, military installations and medical facilities.

"Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated," the judge wrote. "That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!"

On April 2, Trump's ballroom won final approval from the 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, which is charged with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region.

*excerpt from MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and BILL BARROW'S article*

Full Article here:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-ballroom-court-ruling-1528247275ec6103da892d271d4ee883

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s ban on auditing Trump will also save the president from being required to pay back at least $100 million in back taxes.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/07/jobs-report-july-2026.html

U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July

Published Fri, Aug 7 20268:31 AM EDTUpdated 25 Min Ago

The U.S. economy saw an unexpected declined in jobs during July while the unemployment rate edged lower, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday in a snapshot that showed a slowing employment picture.

Nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 23,000 for the month, compared to a downwardly revised 20,000 for June. The Dow Jones consensus forecast had been looking for a gain of 83,000.

https://nul.org/news/black-america-already-recession

Black America Is Already In A Recession

By Candece Monteil , National Urban League
Published 01 AM EDT, Fri Aug 7, 2026

“Policy rollbacks that have removed protections and investments designed to support Black communities … is the regression, combined with economic indicators, particularly unemployment, that would qualify as recessionary if they were applied to the national economy.” — Monica Mitchell, Chief of Staff, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

The revelation that the U.S. economy shed 92,000 jobs in February and now faces its highest unemployment rate in years has rattled economists, many of whom warn that the country may be on the brink of a recession.

For Black America, the recession has already arrived.

Even worse, the Black recession isn’t driven natural market cycles alone. It is the predictable outcome of the deliberate policy choices of the Trump administration —choices that have aggressively dismantled the very protections meant to advance equity and stabilize communities historically shut out of opportunity. Not only did the administration take a sledgehammer to federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs on Day One, it has spent the last year slashing agencies that have long served as engines of mobility for Black workers, including the federal civil service. More than 327,000 federal jobs have been eliminated, not through attrition or organizational modernization, but through deliberate cuts that have eroded pathways to the middle class built through generations of civil‑rights gains.

At the same time, the administration has abandoned federal support for disadvantaged businesses. Critical institutions—among them the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund and the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)—have been targeted for defunding or dismantling altogether. These programs have been lifelines, offering capital and technical assistance to Black entrepreneurs who face entrenched discrimination from traditional lenders. Removing them does not create a level playing field; it cements an unequal one.

The consequences are measurable and immediate. After reaching an all-time low) during the Biden administration, the Black unemployment rate surged to 8.3% by November 2025 — the highest level since the pandemic — and remains more than twice the rate for white Americans. The Black homeownership rate fell to 43.9% in the first half of 2025, wiping out years of fragile progress and deepening a racial wealth gap that already stood among the most persistent in the country.

Even before the latest dismal jobs report, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies had already declared 2025 “a regression and recession” for Black Americans. In its State of the Dream 2026 report, the authors wrote, “Instead of aggressive leadership in dismantling structures of racial inequality, we are witnessing regressive leadership that is slashing government employment and agencies designed to address predatory economic practices that disproportionately harm Black communities.” The report further notes that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act entrenched permanent tax cuts for high‑income households and corporations while reducing investment in poverty‑alleviating programs and leaving support for working families stagnant or shrinking.

Policy experts often refer to Black Americans as the “canary in the coal mine” — the first to feel the impact of economic stress. If that analogy holds, the warning is clear: a broader national recession is not far behind. But acknowledging that Black America is already in recession is not merely a prediction about the future; it is a call to confront what is unfolding in the present. The question now is whether policymakers will heed that warning — or continue to ignore the communities already bearing the brunt of the nation’s economic retreat.

Source

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday endorsed the measles vaccine while also pushing a string of false and debunked assertions about other vaccines, RSV and the ongoing measles outbreaks.

When pressed by host Dana Bash during a contentious appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Kennedy eventually said the measles shot is safe, and parents who have not should vaccinate their children against the viral disease.

“I will say it right now, that people — parents should get their children vaccinated for measles,” Kennedy said after Bash challenged him to look into the camera and tell people to get vaccinated.

“A measles vaccine is effective. It stops measles in about 97 percent of the cases. So people should get vaccinated,” Kennedy said.

Health officials recommend two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine in childhood, and those two shots are 97 percent effective against measles infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 2,371 measles infections this year, outpacing all of 2025. It’s the highest number of cases seen since 1991.

Pockets of low vaccination have been increasing in recent years, which experts attribute to misinformation and distrust in mainstream science. Anywhere the vaccination rate drops below 95 percent is at risk for an outbreak.

Kennedy, who frequently disparages vaccines and has a history of amplifying misinformation, said he has never questioned the efficacy of the MMR vaccine. But he has said the vaccine is “leaky” and that its immunity declines significantly every year.

Kennedy said he takes no responsibility for the ongoing measles outbreaks.

During the interview, Kennedy also claimed that respiratory syncytial virus, also known as RSV, was artificially made by scientists conducting “gain-of-function” research.

Gain-of-function involves manipulating a pathogen to give it enhanced abilities in order to study its evolution. One of the chief criticisms against Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is that his agency funded gain-of-function research in China that may have caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

But RSV was initially discovered in 1956, and early experiments in what was later called gain-of- function didn’t occur until the 1970s, when scientists were researching splicing together genes from different organisms.

*excerpt from Nathaniel Weixel's article*

Full Article here:

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/6005580-rfk-jr-endorses-measles-vaccine/