Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants you to think that a weak job market is a good thing.<\/p>\n
CNBC\u2019s Sara Eisen asked Bessent to comment on recent signs that the job market was cracking. Bessent downplayed the \u201cnoisy\u201d numbers suggesting the job market was not stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe jobs that we\u2019re seeing are going to Americans,\u201d Bessent. \u201cAfter the deportations that we\u2019ve seen during the President Trump administration and the closing of the border, that\u2019s like this unfettered migration, we don\u2019t need to produce as many jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bessent on the latest bad jobs report: "After the deportations that we've seen and the closing of the border, we don't need to produce as many jobs" pic.twitter.com\/kStWCiXAz5<\/p>\n
In July, the U.S. labor market shed 23,000 jobs, a worrying sign when paired with high gas prices and tariff-based inflation. Notably, women accounted for 100 percent of that decline, losing 32,000 jobs while men gained 9,000. The report also revised down job growth numbers from the previous two months.<\/p>\n
For several months, the Trump administration has been pushing Americans to lower their expectations for job growth to reflect a labor market that doesn\u2019t rely on undocumented immigrants. Americans don\u2019t need jobs, apparently! It\u2019s a strange spin for the simple fact that the president\u2019s sweeping deportations are hurting the economy.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Trump administration claims that more than 2 million immigrants have left the country since Trump reentered office\u2014something that couldn\u2019t possibly be true.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration\u2019s plan to allow oil and gas extraction near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico is drawing concerns from UNESCO, the United Nations\u2019s heritage organization.<\/p>\n
The Guardian reports that the organization is alarmed that the administration is getting rid of a buffer zone around the park, which is a world heritage site. \u201cThe world heritage committee has consistently considered extractive activities to be incompatible with world heritage status,\u201d a UNESCO spokesperson told the paper.<\/p>\n
The committee has also \u201cemphasized that projects proposed outside world heritage properties should not adversely affect their outstanding universal value\u2014which are the features of the site that justify its inscription, and should be subject to appropriate impact assessments before decisions are taken,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n
The federal Bureau of Land Management has proposed getting rid of a 10-mile buffer zone protecting the area from any industrial activity, whether that\u2019s uranium mining or fossil fuel drilling. Tribal leaders, environmental groups, and archaeologists have all warned that the site could be irreparably damaged from such activity. In a 12-day public comment period earlier this year, the government received close to 100,000 comments mostly opposed to ending the buffer zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis park offers an incredible transportive experience where you essentially go back in time 1,000 years to experience what the ancient Pueblo people saw,\u201d Maude Dinan, New Mexico program manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, told The Guardian. \u201cThe buffer zone is incredibly important and removing it would completely change this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The New Mexico park is one of 27 world heritage sites in the U.S., ranging from national parks like Yosemite and Yellowstone to landmarks like the Statue of Liberty. The lone American site on UNESCO\u2019s list of heritage sites whose preservation is in danger is Everglades National Park in Florida, thanks to nearby development and pollution. Chaco and other sites where the administration has pushed for development, mining, and drilling, such as Big Bend National Park, could soon join that list.<\/p>\n
Senate Democrats are initiating a probe into whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth placed one of his own supporters inside the independent military newspaper Stars and Stripes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur offices have been informed that the Department of Defense assigned an active-duty Public Affairs officer to serve as a \u2018deputy\u2019 to Stars and Stripes Publisher Max Lederer, reportedly without consultation with Mr. Lederer,\u201d Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and Jeanne Shaheen wrote in a Thursday letter to Hegseth. \u201cOn August 18, Mr. Lederer announced that he will retire after more than three decades at Stars and Stripes \u2026 citing fundamental differences between his understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes and the Department\u2019s plans for the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n