Trump signs new Russia sanctions bill

Moscow has warned that the measure could complicate Ukraine peace efforts and drive US fuel prices higher

Published 19 Sep, 2026 09:03 |

US President Donald Trump has signed sweeping legislation expanding the sanctions on Russia and authorizing tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian energy. Moscow warned that additional sanctions would complicate efforts to settle the Ukraine conflict and could further destabilize the energy markets.

In a statement on Friday, the White House announced that Trump approved the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, after the Senate passed it 86-11 in August and the House passed it 262-159 on Wednesday.

The legislation targets senior Russian officials, banks, defense and energy entities, as well as what Western countries refer to as Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ of ships. It also empowers Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil and natural gas.

The text, however, does not explicitly name major Russian energy buyers such as China or India, and the tariff rate can be set below the 100% ceiling.

The measure was initially proposed by late Republican Senator and Russia hawk Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal in April 2025. The original proposal threatened 500% tariffs on countries that buy Russian energy, but after more than a year of negotiations with the White House, the figure was cut to 100%.

The bill also grants Trump broad waiver powers, allowing him to suspend sanctions according to national interests and giving his administration wide leeway in setting tariff rates – one of the key points of negotiations between the White House and lawmakers, as some feared that the legislation would give Trump too much power.

The Trump administration recently eased sanctions on Russian oil. During the Iran war, the administration issued temporary exemptions allowing the sale and delivery of Russian oil already at sea to alleviate pressure on the energy markets.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on Thursday thatthe “unfriendly” move “would definitely complicate efforts to find a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.”

The Russian Embassy in Washington argued that blocking Russian energy trade while Middle Eastern supplies are disrupted could prove costly for the US, calling it an “invitation to ever-higher prices at the pump.” It also warned that simultaneously escalating tensions with Moscow and Beijing would be a geopolitical lose-lose situation and would “only play into the hands of Euro-Atlantic warmongers.”

https://www.rt.com/news/645984-trump-signs-new-russia-sanctions/

Ethan Pritchard was shot in the head, then 'a miracle' happened

Pic. Andrea AdelsonSep 16, 2026,1/5

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – There is still a bullet in Ethan Pritchard's head.

Seventy-one shots were fired at his Dodge Charger last August and 70 missed. The one that hit him was fired from close range as he put his car in reverse to protect his aunt and his 3-year-old niece in the back seat.

Pritchard says he believes he glimpsed the next life while he was in a coma for 30 days. He recalls a vision he had of his late mother, late aunt and Jesus. He remembers running toward them, but as he got closer, they got farther away. Pritchard can still hear his mother saying, "It's not your time." Then he opened his eyes.

These days, he tries not to think too much about why this all happened. He knows that if he dwells on all the small things that could have spared him that day, it will do no good. He was in a dark place when he was thinking that way, right after he woke up from his coma, when he couldn't move or talk or do anything but blink. So now, he keeps his mind on the future. He thinks about playing football again at Florida State.

"Maybe it happened for a reason," Pritchard says. "What I'm doing now – it's going to be something for the world to watch." Pic

SOMETIMES, FOR JUST a split second, Pritchard forgets the bullet is there. He thinks about what life was like before, on the morning of Aug. 31, 2025. Florida State had completed its usual Sunday practice, and Pritchard had impressed the coaching staff – making plays all over the field.

The previous day, Florida State had beaten Alabama 31-17 to open the 2025 season, a victory that sent fans storming onto the field and the team into a raucous celebration that lasted into the night. Pritchard had suited up but did not play, a true freshman waiting his turn.

For his family, the day meant triumph beyond the scoreboard. Ethan was born in Tallahassee and his parents, Earl and Andrea, both grew up in Havana, about 30 minutes away. Andrea attended Florida State and had big dreams for her son. On Christmas Day in 2008, Earl heard a loud thump while Andrea was taking a shower. He found her unresponsive, the shower still running. She had died of a brain aneurysm at the age of 30. Ethan was just 18 months old. As Ethan grew up, he set his sights on playing at Florida State, hoping to carry forward her legacy.

After Andrea died, Earl sent Ethan to live with his two sisters in Sanford, Florida, near Orlando, while he figured out how to start over. He joined them six months later. Ethan grew attached to his aunts, who became mother figures to him. They delighted in watching him grow from an independent little boy who never let anyone carry his backpack into one of the best football players in Central Florida.

Ethan's dad was his everything. Earl went to every game, took him on every recruiting visit, got him whatever he needed so he could play Division I football. When Ethan committed to Florida State in 2023, it felt as if he were with family. Even through a down year for the program in 2024, Ethan never wavered in his commitment to be a Seminole.

Earl was at the opener against Alabama, sitting to the right of the band along with a few other family members, and vividly remembers him running out of the tunnel.

"To see him in that first game, everything he worked for, it was one of the best feelings in the world. Like he won the lottery," Earl Pritchard says. "Just to see him out there dancing, enjoying the crowd, enjoying the win, celebrating with the boys, knowing it's going to go further after that."

In Havana, the rest of the family had a watch party. Zealene Lawrence, an aunt who helped raise Ethan, said there were between 50 to 60 people at her daughter's house wearing Pritchard jerseys as they watched for him on the sideline.

They planned a big barbeque at Pritchard's uncle's house in Havana the next day to celebrate. After the football team dinner, Ethan told Florida State head coach Mike Norvell he was going to see his family. He left Tallahassee in his silver 2023 Dodge Charger to make a drive he had made hundreds of times in his life, north about 18 miles on U.S. 27.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49949855/ethan-pritchard-florida-state-shooting

>>25054442

2/5

As he passed the Havana Heights apartment complex, three blocks from his uncle's house, multiple gunmen mistook his car for a different 2023 Dodge Charger they had been targeting and waited for it to come back.

Pic

THE PARTY AT his uncle's house was in full swing when Ethan arrived, complete with a DJ, food, games and inflatable water slides for the kids. As soon as Ethan pulled up, his family ran out to greet him, taking pictures, hugging him and congratulating him on the game.

"I was feeling good," Ethan said. "We just came off a good win. Just a joyful, joyful moment."

At around 9 p.m., Ethan was getting ready to leave. His aunt and 3-year-old niece wanted to leave, too, so he offered them a ride home, about two miles away. As they pulled up to a four-way stop in front of the Havana Heights apartments, Ethan turned to his aunt and asked, "Should I go straight or left?" Either route would get them home. His aunt told him to turn left so she could check on her sister's house on the next corner.

As he started his left turn, Ethan saw somebody jump in front of the car.

"My first thing I thought of was my auntie and my niece," Pritchard says.

He remembers his aunt screaming, "Go! Go! Go!"

"A barrage of bullets just started hitting the windshield," Lawrence recalls. "I wasn't looking because I was talking to my granddaughter in the backseat. She was like, 'Look at the fireworks.' As I turned to look, the glass went, shattering the windshield. By that time, Ethan was already hit."

Ethan had put the car in reverse to try to get away from the bullets.

"I can still hear them screaming," Ethan says. "I can hear my little niece in the back, she's crying. You ever been stuck and you were aware of what's going on but you can't do nothing? I wasn't in pain. I just went black, like slowly, slowly, slowly."

The gunmen kept shooting as Ethan slumped over onto Lawrence's shoulder, blood spilling everywhere. As he lost consciousness, his foot hit the gas and they sped backward. The bullets kept coming. The car hit a shed and was impaled by a wooden beam. The gunfire finally stopped. Lawrence blacked out briefly. The cries of her grandchild, unharmed in the back seat, brought her back. Lawrence screamed Ethan's name, but he did not respond.

She held him close and kept telling him, "I got you."

Months later, after he regained his ability to speak, Ethan called his aunt. He needed to know one thing.

"Tell me," he said. "Did I save y'all?"

Lawrence, recounting the conversation through tears, told him, "Yes. You saved us, and I thank you for saving us."

"I just wanted you to know that I did my best for you," he said.

Lawrence did her best, too. After the car hit the shed, she picked up her phone.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49949855/ethan-pritchard-florida-state-shooting

>>25054443

3/5

A few blocks away at his uncle's house, someone shouted, "Turn the music down! There's a shooting! Don't you hear the gunshots?"

Lawrence called Earl to tell him Ethan had been shot. He jumped into his car and, within a minute, was at the intersection. The gunmen had already left. There were no streetlights in the area, and because Ethan's car had slammed into the shed, Earl could not easily find them. He pulled up his sister's location on his phone and finally saw the car.

Earl's heart dropped. He could see his son through the windshield, covered with blood, laid out, unconscious. But he had no way to get to him. Because of the way the car hit the shed, the doors were pinned shut. Earl and two family members got on top of the hood and frantically started kicking at the windshield to break it. He then got on top of the car to try to break the pole that had impaled the car while yelling for Ethan.

Finally, the paramedics arrived. They got Ethan out of the car and removed his clothes as they checked for injuries. His breathing was labored, so they immediately intubated him to open his airway and to buy some time before they arrived at the hospital. Earl begged to ride in the ambulance with his son, but the paramedics told him that was not allowed.

Earl, overcome with anger, desperately banged on the doors of the ambulance to let him in. When the paramedics refused, he had to get into his car and make the 30-minute drive to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, praying the entire way.

"Don't let my son die."

NORVELL HAD JUST arrived home when he got a phone call from Corey Fuller, the team's director of football relations.

"Coach," he said. "A player got shot."

Before Norvell could ask who, Earl Pritchard was calling on the other line.

"It's not good," Earl said.

Norvell and several Florida State staff members got to the hospital before Earl. When he saw Earl come in, he wrapped him in a hug. Norvell and the Florida State contingent huddled together with the Pritchard family, awaiting news from doctors in the emergency room.

"We could actually see shards of bone and bullet that had entered his skull at that time on our CT scan," said Dr. G. Patton Pennington, a trauma surgeon at TMH who was on Ethan's care team. "It was in a very difficult place. There was no need to go take it out. It's one of those things [where] you can cause more damage trying to take it out."

Rather than take the bullet out, doctors induced a coma and placed a bolt in Ethan's head to monitor the pressure in his brain. All they could do was wait to see how he responded.

"In my experience of doing this, he had a grim prognosis," Pennington said. "I couldn't guarantee that Ethan was going to do well over the next 12 to 24 hours. I wasn't sure if he was going to make it out of the hospital."

Earl was able to see his son after they placed the bolt in his head, tubes and wires crisscrossing his body, a ventilator breathing for him. He looked at his boy in disbelief. Earl and Ethan were inseparable. Best friends. Always together. After Andrea died, he vowed to do everything in his power to keep Ethan safe, to keep him on the right path. How could a bullet have found him anyway?

"A feeling that you don't wish on nobody," Earl said of looking at his son. "Having to be there and see it? Indescribable. Seeing him lying there helpless. You're supposed to help your kids, but nothing you can do. I prayed more than I ever prayed in my life."

Norvell held Ethan's hand, his eyes welling with tears.

"You see him breathing, but I just watched him play," Norvell said. "Now he's sitting there in a hospital ICU, fighting. That was a lot."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49949855/ethan-pritchard-florida-state-shooting

>>25054446

4/5

Earl never left Ethan's side, sleeping next to him in the hospital room, while his family and Florida State staff and players crowded the waiting room, hoping for good news. Norvell came as often as he could, and when he was unable to, he called Earl multiple times a day for updates.

When Earl needed a break, he would retreat into his car and yell. He felt anger more than sadness. He couldn't eat. He barely slept.

After about four days, Ethan started to develop pneumonia in his lungs. Dr. Ruby Williams, a pulmonologist on Ethan's care team, said it was not uncommon for someone intubated with a brain injury to develop lung issues. The gunshot wound to the head no longer posed the greatest threat to his survival. She described his lungs as "nearly whited out" on X-ray images.

"Whited out means that there is material in the actual lung tissue that is preventing the lungs from working to get oxygen into the blood and pulling carbon dioxide out," Williams said. "When we saw this happening, it was devastating. At that point, he was at high risk for death from his respiratory failure."

She put his chances of survival at less than 10%.

Doctors had one last tool to use. They put Ethan on a form of life support called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), in which blood is pumped outside the body to a machine that removes the carbon dioxide and then returns oxygen-rich blood. At that point, Pennington said Ethan was "hour to hour."

"His lungs were very dire," Pennington said. "TMH had pulled everything out of the box they had to treat somebody."

ECMO is not a long-term solution. Doctors tried to wean him off of the life support to see whether he could handle breathing on his own, but within minutes his vitals dropped. It went this way for weeks, with no sign of improvement.

Earl Pritchard recalls one doctor asking him whether he had considered the possibility of taking Ethan off of life support after days with no progress. Pennington and Williams were not there for that conversation. Lawrence said Earl grew irate, and needed to be calmed down.

"I don't want to hear that. That's when it got bad for me," Earl Pritchard said. "Give him whatever it is. You're not going to give up on my kid like that."

Finally, after nearly three weeks on ECMO, there was a breakthrough. Ethan started to show improvement, little by little. Thirty days after he arrived at the hospital, he opened his eyes.

Earl, sitting by his side, cried tears of joy.

Even though Ethan could not speak, he wanted to ask the doctors whether he would be able to make a full recovery. They gave him a board with the alphabet, and he pointed at letters with his eyes to spell out his question.

"They told me straight up, it's going to be on you," Ethan says. "However much work you put in, that's what it's going to be. From that day forward, that's all I needed to hear. I know what I'm capable of. I know what I'm willing to do. So, if it's on me, I know I'm going to be good."

Thirty-nine days after he was shot, on Oct. 9, 2025, Ethan was released from the hospital. He had lost 60 pounds from his 225-pound linebacker frame. He still could only open and close his eyes, and had limited movement on his left side. But he knew in time he would be able to do more. In his mind, he'd already beaten death. Making his body strong again? That would be the easy part. He told himself he would walk again.

He told himself he would play football again.

Norvell, Florida State players and staff and the Pritchard family, were there to greet him as he was wheeled out the front entrance and into a waiting ambulance to transport him to a rehab facility in Jacksonville.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49949855/ethan-pritchard-florida-state-shooting

>>25054448

4/5

It was the first time doctors at TMH had successfully treated a patient with both a brain injury and lung failure.

"It is once in a lifetime that somebody with his devastating injuries survives this," Williams said.

ON AUG. 29, minutes before the Florida State season opener against New Mexico State, Pritchard stands with Norvell in the back of the end zone, a black cane in his left hand, getting ready to walk onto the field. That bullet should have killed him. Instead, he found his way back to everything that was taken from him. He thinks about the green grass beneath him, the way he felt 364 days earlier, the last time he stood here on his own two feet.

Norvell puts his arm around one of Ethan's shoulders and shakes his hand.

"You did it," Norvell says. "I'm so proud of you buddy. Let's go."

"Let's do it," Ethan says.

Three men are awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges in his shooting. Their next case management hearing is set for Oct. 1. Police have said the shooting was a case of mistaken identity, and Pritchard was in the "wrong place at the wrong time." The suspects were looking for a Dodge Charger in the same color that was associated with a drive-by shooting at the same apartment complex six days earlier.

Earl takes out his phone and finds a photo of Ethan's car. He says he is grateful the gunmen did not know how to fire a gun properly, because if they did, Ethan would have taken more than one bullet. "If you look at that car, you would think it was worse. You wouldn't think nobody survived it," he says.

Asked what he wants to happen to the men who did this to him, Ethan says, "Nothing. I just leave it in God's hands. He's got the last say."

Ethan has regained nearly all his motor functions, a recovery his doctors call "miraculous." While at Brooks Rehabilitation in Jacksonville, he had to relearn how to do everything – from feeding and cleaning himself, to holding a pencil, writing, talking and simply standing. After nearly two months, he was discharged and continued his recovery at home with physical therapists and outpatient rehab in Sanford.

"It was horrific, to say the least. But Ethan? Ethan came out still as pure gold," Lawrence said.

Ethan was able to take online classes at Florida State in the spring and moved back to Tallahassee, to an apartment with stairs – a way to challenge himself to get better. Over months working with staff at Brooks, his own trainers and Jerry Latimer, director of rehab at Florida State, Ethan was able to move from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane.

On his 19th birthday in June, he left his walker aside and took a few steps without it. That same day, his grandmother gave him a ring that belonged to his mother. He put it on a necklace he wears with a boxing gloves charm, his daily reminders to keep fighting.

He has recovered all of his upper body strength and is back up to 202 pounds. He can push sleds on the practice field, but the one part of his body that he cannot fully control is his right leg. He wears a brace around his calf that extends to his foot to allow him to walk. He does so with a limp.

Because the bullet affected the part of his brain that controls motor function, there is no way to know whether his right leg will completely heal. But Latimer keeps focusing on strength, balance and mobility exercises to see if they can reestablish the neuromuscular connections to that part of his body.

"This is a condition where there is no protocol," Latimer said. "You keep going back to the well and working on the basics and the strength and the movement and the function, and you wait to see what you get."

For now, walking on that field again is enough.

As the public-address announcer says, "Leading your Seminoles out on the field today, linebacker No. 35 Ethan Pritchard!" he raises his cane in the air and walks without using it, to loud cheers and a standing ovation.

Earl watches from the stands, as proud as he was a year earlier, when his son ran onto the field in full pads. He says he feels as if he won the lottery all over again.

For Ethan, walking on the field was just one step. His long-term goal has not changed. He wants to play football again. If he is able to fully use his right leg again, Pennington said there is no medical reason to stop him.

"There's going to be nothing to hold Ethan back, and I think he's proved that by how resilient he's been," Pennington said. "He beat the odds. He's better than anybody I've ever seen that suffered this kind of injury.

"Honestly, it's a miracle."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49949855/ethan-pritchard-florida-state-shooting

FUNDING FRAUD: DOJ hunts down BILLIONS

Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak analyzes the DOJ fraud crackdown on billions of dollars in suspected pandemic relief funds. The federal government moves to reclaim taxpayer money from nationwide schemes.

5:47

https://youtu.be/NY8JboGycxU

CNN, Politico and MS NOW denied White House access after Trump announces ban

Reporters for the outlets were turned away Saturday morning after Trump announced that they had been banned.

Sept. 19, 2026,1/2

Journalists from MS NOW, CNN and Politico were denied access to the White House grounds Saturday, a day after President Donald Trump said on social media that he had banned the news outlets over what he called their “constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS.”

“The White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars,” MS NOW said in a statement posted on X.

“MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalists in our democracy,” it added. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press.

MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner said her White House badge did not work when she arrived Saturday morning.

“The officer asked me to hand over my badge,” she said on air. “He said that it was disabled. I asked why I was not able to get inside. He said it was above him.”

An MS NOW photographer was also denied access, Gardner said, while one of the network’s producers was allowed onto the White House grounds. It was not immediately clear why their access differed.

CNN White House reporter Betsy Klein was also turned away when she attempted to enter the grounds.

Klein spent about a minute inside the security kiosk before emerging without her credential, which she said had been confiscated.

CNN confirmed Saturday that its journalists were denied access.

“We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do our reporting without hinderance or interference from the government and this ban is an illegal assault on this fundamental right,” the outlet said in a statement posted on X.

“We will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account, and we will continue to report on the actions and processes of this administration without fear or favor,” the statement added.

Politico’s Cheyenne Haslett was denied access to the grounds. She was inside the security kiosk briefly before exiting.

Politico Playbook reported in its newsletter shortly afterward the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Jonathan Greenberger, sent a newsroomwide email about the denial, adding Haslett had her pass confiscated by the Secret Service.

“We stand by her and all reporters here covering the White House. As we said yesterday, we will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights,” Greenberger said.

The White House declined to comment further Saturday, referring NBC News to Trump’s previous comments.

In a Truth Social post Friday afternoon, Trump said media outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States.”

Trump also warned “other outlets” would “follow” but did not specify which ones.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/ms-now-journalists-denied-access-white-house-trump-announced-ban-rcna598677

>>25054624

2/2

“CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting,” the network said Friday.

Politico Press, the publication’s communications team, said in a post on X Friday that Trump’s claims that Politico “received government subsidies are false and have been thoroughly debunked.”

“POLITICO will continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones. We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them,” the post said.

Responding to a reporter in the Oval Office shortly after announcing the ban, Trump said the new policy was the result of “cumulative stories over the last few years.” He did not specify a particular news report, and a White House spokesperson referred NBC News to the president’s spoken comments.

The move has drawn broad criticism.

During a Friday speaking engagement at Colgate University from which NBC News obtained audio, former President Barack Obama said: “I’m trying to think what would have happened if I had said, ‘You know what? Fox News, you’re out of here.’ It’s unimaginable.”

He added that if a certain pocket of the country agrees with the proposed restriction, “we have not developed the kind of understanding of what democracy requires,” saying people have to get to work to shore up that understanding.

White House Correspondents’ Association President Jacqui Heinrich described the move as a constitutional violation.

“The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference,” Heinrich said in a statement. “That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of the questions its journalists ask.”

“The WHCA stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MS NOW, and Politico who are being singled out for doing their jobs,” she added.

New York Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander also pushed back on the move.

“The courts have twice found that the Trump administration violated the Constitution by suspending reporters’ White House press passes,” Stadtlander said. “The Times stands in support of the news organizations being unfairly targeted by the president.”

The ban is the latest in Trump’s ongoing efforts to punish news organizations and broadcasters for their coverage. Shortly after taking office, Trump banned The Associated Press from the Oval Office, Air Force One and some events after it declined to acknowledge his effort to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The AP filed suit, and the case is ongoing.

Trump has also sued outlets including the BBC, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal claiming defamation. The suits against the Timesand the Journal were dismissed but have since been refiled. The BBC has filed to get Trump’s suit against it tossed.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/ms-now-journalists-denied-access-white-house-trump-announced-ban-rcna598677

China Leverages Pressure on Iran to Stop Strikes on Saudi Oil Fields 1/2

September 19, 2026 | sundance |

Ahead of Chariman Xi’s visit to Washington DC for a state visit on September 24th and 25th, Reuters is reporting that China has asked Iran to halt all strikes on Saudi Arabia oil fields.

The request from China carries a self-interest as China’s oil dependencies have become problematic since the Strait of Hormuz became a point of economic friction between Iran and U.S. military forces. The Saudi East/West pipeline was also hit by Iranian backed Houthi rebels from Yemen, creating even more energy turmoil.

Additionally, Beijing is the most exposed to the recent congressional sanctions applied toward countries that retain trade relations with Russia.

Both President Trump and Chairman Xi have a vested interest in seeing an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. However, with EU-NATO still provoking expanded conflict the dynamic has become one of middle-powers (Canada, U.K, EU) against significant energy powers China, USA and Saudi Arabia.

Another way to look at it is the coalition of Green Energy nations -vs- Low Cost energy nations.

The U.K, Canada and Europe have been supporting attacks against gasoline and diesel fuel refineries in Russia. This approach appears to contain a political motivation to drive up gas/diesel prices in the USA as part of an anti-Trump election strategy. The state visit by Chairman Xi comes at a critical time in the global energy dynamic.

• HOUSTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Friday after China, acting on a request from Saudi Arabia, asked Iran to limit attacks by Houthi rebels on Saudi oil infrastructure that have threatened a second oil export route in the Middle East.

• […] State-run Saudi Aramco has told at least two European refining customers they will receive no crude oil next month following an attack on Saudi Arabia’s key pipeline to the Red Sea, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

• Three pumping stations serving the East-West Pipeline in Saudi Arabia were damaged in an attack last week — one more than assessed previously — with a repair timeline unclear, according to satellite imagery and three industry sources.

• Saudi Arabia is seeking to restore about half the capacity of the East-West oil pipeline within days, though sources interviewed by Reuters have given varying estimates of how long it will take to reopen the pipeline and return crude flows to normal.

• “The key question is whether physical flows can normalise and what the timeline could be. If we see a sustained improvement in Hormuz traffic, some of the geopolitical premium can unwind further,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, head of market insights at Phillip ⁠Nova. (read more)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/09/19/china-leverages-pressure-on-iran-to-stop-strikes-on-saudi-oil-fields/#more-287156

>>25054793

2/2

Obviously, the visit by Chairman Xi will include significant discussions on the topic of energy and AI.

Tech CEOs attending President Trump’s state dinner for Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping next week now includes: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Michael Dell, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Jane Fraser and Tim Cook according to White House officials.

President Trump is expected to welcome Chairman Xi at the airport upon arrival. This is an expression of great respect by President Trump toward the relationship he carries with Xi Jinping.

• Sept. 23: Trump greets Xi & his wife Peng Liyuan on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews.

• Sept. 24: White House arrival ceremony, a military review in the Rose Garden, a bilateral meeting and a State Dinner in the East Room.

• Sept. 25: Private tea at the White House followed by a tour of the National Archives to view founding documents for America’s 250th anniversary.

• A tarmac welcome from a U.S. president is extremely rare. In 1959, for example, President Eisenhower greeted Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at Andrews Air Force Base when the Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union were high.

During the state banquet on Thursday, U.S tech leader Tim Cook will meet China’s new tech leader (from Xiaomi). U.S and China innovators will also meet, like OpenAI on the U.S side and BYD autos on the China side.

Last Thursday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone. The discussion would be to ensure that both Trump and Xi were on the same page for meetings between U.S and China business leaders.

It has also been reported that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng are meeting this weekend in New York, likely to discuss the finance sector, and collaborative energy sector deals for Trump and Xi to announce.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/09/19/china-leverages-pressure-on-iran-to-stop-strikes-on-saudi-oil-fields/#more-287156

CNN, Politico and MS NOW denied White House access after Trump announces ban 1/2

Reporters for the outlets were turned away Saturday morning after Trump announced that they had been banned.

Sept. 19, 2026, 9:12 AM EDT / Updated Sept. 19, 2026, 10:28 AM EDT

Journalists from MS NOW, CNN and Politico were denied access to the White House grounds Saturday, a day after President Donald Trump said on social media that he had banned the news outlets over what he called their “constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS.”

“The White House belongs to the American people and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars,” MS NOW said in a statement posted on X.

“MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalists in our democracy,” it added. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press.

MS NOW reporter Akayla Gardner said her White House badge did not work when she arrived Saturday morning.

“The officer asked me to hand over my badge,” she said on air. “He said that it was disabled. I asked why I was not able to get inside. He said it was above him.”

An MS NOW photographer was also denied access, Gardner said, while one of the network’s producers was allowed onto the White House grounds. It was not immediately clear why their access differed.

CNN White House reporter Betsy Klein was also turned away when she attempted to enter the grounds.

Klein spent about a minute inside the security kiosk before emerging without her credential, which she said had been confiscated.

CNN confirmed Saturday that its journalists were denied access.

“We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do our reporting without hinderance or interference from the government and this ban is an illegal assault on this fundamental right,” the outlet said in a statement posted on X.

“We will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account, and we will continue to report on the actions and processes of this administration without fear or favor,” the statement added.

Politico’s Cheyenne Haslett was denied access to the grounds. She was inside the security kiosk briefly before exiting.

Politico Playbook reported in its newsletter shortly afterward the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Jonathan Greenberger, sent a newsroomwide email about the denial, adding Haslett had her pass confiscated by the Secret Service.

“We stand by her and all reporters here covering the White House. As we said yesterday, we will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights,” Greenberger said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/ms-now-journalists-denied-access-white-house-trump-announced-ban-rcna598677

>>25054837

2/2. KEK

The White House declined to comment further Saturday, referring NBC News to Trump’s previous comments.

In a Truth Social post Friday afternoon, Trump said media outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States.”

Trump also warned “other outlets” would “follow” but did not specify which ones.

“CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting,” the network said Friday.

Politico Press, the publication’s communications team, said in a post on X Friday that Trump’s claims that Politico “received government subsidies are false and have been thoroughly debunked.”

“POLITICO will continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones. We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them,” the post said.

Responding to a reporter in the Oval Office shortly after announcing the ban, Trump said the new policy was the result of “cumulative stories over the last few years.” He did not specify a particular news report, and a White House spokesperson referred NBC News to the president’s spoken comments.

The move has drawn broad criticism.

During a Friday speaking engagement at Colgate University from which NBC News obtained audio, former President Barack Obama said: “I’m trying to think what would have happened if I had said, ‘You know what? Fox News, you’re out of here.’ It’s unimaginable.”

He added that if a certain pocket of the country agrees with the proposed restriction, “we have not developed the kind of understanding of what democracy requires,” saying people have to get to work to shore up that understanding.

White House Correspondents’ Association President Jacqui Heinrich described the move as a constitutional violation.

“The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference,” Heinrich said in a statement. “That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of the questions its journalists ask.”

“The WHCA stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MS NOW, and Politico who are being singled out for doing their jobs,” she added.

New York Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander also pushed back on the move.

“The courts have twice found that the Trump administration violated the Constitution by suspending reporters’ White House press passes,” Stadtlander said. “The Times stands in support of the news organizations being unfairly targeted by the president.”

The ban is the latest in Trump’s ongoing efforts to punish news organizations and broadcasters for their coverage. Shortly after taking office, Trump banned The Associated Press from the Oval Office, Air Force One and some events after it declined to acknowledge his effort to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The AP filed suit, and the case is ongoing.

Trump has also sued outlets including the BBC, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal claiming defamation. The suits against the Timesand the Journal were dismissed but have since been refiled. The BBC has filed to get Trump’s suit against it tossed.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/ms-now-journalists-denied-access-white-house-trump-announced-ban-rcna598677

The Vigilant Fox 🦊

@VigilantFox

Even Jessica Tarlov, the lone liberal on "The Five," is noticing something wrong with her party.

And it's fascinating to watch.

The Republicans she works with at Fox News are MORE accepting of her than her own side is.

She used to think the left "eating their own" was an exaggeration, "a bit like lore" from social media clips. Then she sat in a room with a thousand progressives at Crooked Con and discovered it's a REAL thing.

Remember these poll numbers from COVID? Rasmussen, January 2022:

• 59% of Democrats supported confining the unvaccinated to their homes.

• 48% supported fines or PRISON for questioning the vaccines online.

• 29% supported taking children away from unvaccinated parents.

Their worldview is simple: if your views differ from mine, you're morally depraved and should be punished.

This is the party of "you can't see my kids until you take a vaccine" and "You voted for Trump, I want nothing to do with you."

Republicans think Democrats are stupid or misinformed. But they would never disown a child or a parent over politics.

That's the difference between disagreement and excommunication.

https://x.com/VigilantFox/status/2101148248832397485

Red Eagle Politics

@RedEaglePatriot.1/2

You sat out the Midterms to "teach Republicans a lesson". They didn't learn anything.

The year is now 2031, the 2030 Midterms just concluded and the GOP flipped three Senate seats! Here's the problem…Democrats won the Senate in 2026. They abolished the filibuster, as there was no Sinema or Manchin to protect it this time, and blocked all of Trump's judges. Then, in 2028, they rode a sluggish economy back to the White House.

President Ocasio-Cortez made it a point to instantly pack the Supreme Court to 17 justices, overturning Roe v. Wade, gutting the First and Second Amendments, and more.

There was also another border surge of 10-20 million illegal aliens. Legal immigration has been doubled under the Immigration Act of 2027, a comprehensive expansion of the 1990 Act. The US became majority nonwhite under the 2030 census.

Then, as the Senate was deemed "racist" and "rooted in White Supremacy", they decided to vote on adding states to the Union as "reparations for nonwhite non-representation". This gave 2 seats each to American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC (but NOT evil white supremacist Northern Mariana Islands, because they vote Republican). They also split up California into three states, citing "efficiency" reasons they refused to explain.

They also passed a "gerrymandering ban", which led to "independent commissions" creating inexplicably gerrymandered maps that included 3 blue seats in Kentucky, and 4 in Missouri. Not to mention only a single red seat in Illinois.

The Senate rushed through single payer healthcare, which caused a massive tax hike in exchange for subpar DMV-run healthcare that leads to shortages and wait times.

Then, they passed through a blanket amnesty for 60+ million illegal aliens and other foreign visaholders. While they still cannot legally vote until 2036, they will make up 25% of the electorate when they do.

https://x.com/RedEaglePatriot/status/2099313595427221514

>>25054883

2/2

Despite all that, much of the 'retard right' continues to call President Ocasio-Cortez "the most America First President in history" because she cut all foreign aid to Israel and arrested Benjamin Netanyahu (who is now cellmates with former President Donald Trump in Riker's Island). While patriots are routinely censored once again, these grifters are not for some reason.

Even if Republicans manage to win the 2032 presidential election in most key swing states, as some polls have them doing, it is unclear if they will be able to win it by enough to overcome the additional states in the electoral college. But even if they do, it is unclear at this point if a GOP victory would be certified. JD Vance has already been arrested, and Marco Rubio has been deported to Cuba for hate speech (the only deportation of her term since ICE was abolished in early 2027), leading many to speculate who the next man up in the GOP would be.

Guys, don't let this happen, because it will. Get the fuck out and vote.

https://x.com/RedEaglePatriot/status/2099313595427221514