Trump used to slam China. Here's why he's now rolling out the red carpet for Xi. 1/2

ByThe Associated Press Sept 20, 2026Opens in new windo. Se

September 20, 2026 at 9:02AM EDT

WASHINGTON — When U.S. President Donald Trump first ran for office, he called out China as a menace to the U.S. economy, saying it had gutted America’s factories and eroded the middle class.That tough talk helped Trump get to the White House a decade ago, but since then, he increasingly speaks in glowing terms about Chinese President Xi Jinping, the geopolitical rival Trump will fete on Thursday with a state dinner.

He’s a great gentleman; we get along great,” Trump said this month. “We have a very good trading relationship and, you know, they’re a competitor and all of that, but we have a very good relationship with President Xi.”On issue after issue, the Republican president has given Xi a pass.Trump shrugged off reports that China had provided Iran with satellite imagery, saying, “I think he’s behaved reasonably well.” After accusing Beijing of accessing U.S. voter files back in 2020, Trump indicated he was hesitant to retaliate: “I think China is maybe a little bit different today than it was then.”Trump’s magnanimity comes as China and the United States are in a contest for global leadership, with some of America’s traditional allies rethinking their strategies. China has expanded its dominance in manufacturing and pushed into new technologies such as artificial intelligence and electric vehicles that create risks for the economies of the U.S., Germany, Italy, France, South Korea and Japan, among others.

Trump tried to confront China with tariffs, but that backfired

Unable to change Chinese behaviour, Trump has resorted to hospitality. He traveled to Beijing in May, and the two leaders could meet again two more times this year at international summits. Trump has readied a helipad on the White House South Lawn before Xi’s arrival and has lamented that his ballroom will not be ready to host the Chinese leader.Trump has insisted that the U.S. is comfortably ahead of China, but his efforts last year to confront China with a mounting set of tariffs backfired. China holds a relative monopoly on the rare earths used in electronics and deployed that to help force a trade armistice with Trump.

“Trump has dramatically shifted his approach to China because his initial attempt to use super-high tariffs and export restrictions was unsuccessful,” said Michael Kovrig, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group. “Xi and Trump got into a contest of leverage, and Xi came out on top.”Meanwhile, Trump has largely undermined the economic and national security alliances that could previously apply pressure on China, said Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat who was detained by China during Trump’s first term.Trump has mocked French President Emmanuel Macron in speeches. He has run hot and cold on NATO after several of its members did not fully support his choice to start a war with Iran. Trump has launched a potentially brutal trade fight with Canada, a longtime ally he has trolled as becoming the 51st American state.“He’s executing Xi’s wedge tactics for him, and along the way, helping Xi to tell a story about China as the more stable and responsible power,” Kovrig said. “It’s led to a wave of Western leaders visiting Beijing and seeking to stabilize and improve their relations with Xi so they can focus more on dealing with problems Trump is causing them.”

Trump’s relationship with Xi has led to some symbolic wins

Trump can point to some symbolic wins from having a pleasant relationship with Xi. While Xi met three times on the sidelines of international summits with Democratic President Joe Biden, Trump will have achieved a pair of reciprocal state visits in a sign that the leaders of the world’s two largest economies feel comfortable speaking to each other.The trade imbalance with China in goods has declined relative to the same period in 2025, according to Census Bureau figures, though the administration has noted that China appears to be routing more goods through other nations such as Vietnam to minimize the tariffs.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/trump-used-to-slam-china-heres-why-hes-now-rolling-out-the-red-carpet-for-xi/

>>25058272

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Trump’s continued tariffs on China have not curbed its manufacturing sector. China has found new markets and boxed out competition from other industrialized countries. China is exporting more of its goods to the rest of the world with a $1.2 trillion global trade surplus last year as its low-priced EVs undercut the auto sectors in Germany, Japan and South Korea.

It’s unclear whether Thursday’s visit will have a policy ‘deliverable’

Both China and the U.S. are using their trade truce to retrench. China is building up its military and AI capabilities despite limited access to advanced computer chips. The Trump administration has pursued partnerships to develop rare earths.Trump is also banking on America going full throttle on AI development despite voter resistance to data centers and recent alarming safety warnings from the leading AI companies. He said this week on social media that anyone slowing down AI development was helping China because the technology will be “the Greatest Economic Development Engine in History ­­— Bigger than Oil, Gold, Diamonds, or even the Internet.”But China has also been accused of having its AI companies train on U.S. models, a problem for Trump and the economy if AI is the key to global dominance.Still, Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters at the White House last week that it’s “unfair to just label China as a country” as being a “bad actor” on AI.Asked if Trump would bring up the issue with Xi, Blanche said, “Those two presidents have a great relationship. …

They get along, they make deals together.”Usually, state visits come with “deliverables” on policy or trade. It’s not yet clear what Thursday’s visit will bring, and it’s possible that the main deliverable will be the relationship itself, rather than clear and measurable goals, said Evan Medeiros, a professor at Georgetown University.That means the U.S. might not be positioning itself to compete against China as it should be, said Medeiros, a former National Security Council director on China for the Obama White House.“We have this idiosyncratic president who believes in personal relationships and just wants to get along with Xi Jinping for the optics of getting along with him,” Medeiros said.

“The problem is that this idiosyncratic approach is coming at precisely the time when we really need to be amping up all dimensions of our competition.”

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/trump-used-to-slam-china-heres-why-hes-now-rolling-out-the-red-carpet-for-xi/

Macron and Carney to Hold Talks on Strengthening Canada-France Ties

Breitbart London20 Sep 2026

PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney are set to meet Sunday todeepen economic and security ties on the remote North Atlantic archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

The meeting comes days after Carney embraced the prospect of Canada becoming the European Union´s first associate member, saying closer ties with the continent would ensure no country could control Canada’s markets or undermine its sovereignty.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, demands for economic concessions and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have pushed Ottawa to reduce its dependence on its neighbor and pursue deeper economic, security and political relationships with Europe.

“This is an important moment,” Macron said upon arriving Saturday in the French territory off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is home to about 5,800 people.

Talks “will allow us … to strengthen our bilateral economic ties and defense relationship,” Macron said.

Macron also said Sunday’s talks are part of broader effortsto help France secure oil and gas supplies as the war with Iran disrupts global energy marketsand raises fears of higher prices for fuel and other essentials.

“Canada is a country with significant resources of critical minerals and rare earths. It is also a major oil and natural gas producer,” Macron noted. “What we want to do is conclude agreements to secure more liquefied natural gas that can be shipped to Europe´s Atlantic coast.”

The leaders will discuss deepening the Canada-France partnership in strategic sectors, including aerospace, energy, critical minerals and advanced technologies such as quantum computing, satellites and supercomputing, Carney´s office said in a statement.

Sunday’s meeting also follows Trump’s announcement of a deal on Greenland that would expand the U.S. military presence there while keeping the island under Danish control.The agreement followed months of threats by Trump to seize the semiautonomous territory of a NATO ally.

Macron welcomed the agreement Saturday. “Danish sovereignty is being respected, international law is being respected,” he said. “Anything that helps ease tensions is a good thing.”

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2026/09/20/macron-and-carney-to-hold-talks-on-strengthening-canada-france-ties/

BREAKING: Trump says he's in 'deciding mode' on Iran

Chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reports on President Donald Trump's warning to Iran that they 'better behave' as tensions escalate.

5:12

https://youtu.be/waIw3Y0hzlc

NFL changes rules governing videoboard displays during kicks

Sep 19, 2026, 04:30 PM ET

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The NFL recently informed teams that the league has modified what can be shown on videoboards during field goal and extra point attempts, an alteration coming in the wake of a viral social media post from a former analytics coach.

The NFL has long required all videoboards and ribbon boards to display a static image no flashing images, blinking effects, moving text/images etc. or an All-22 view, such as the high-sideline or high-end-zone angle, during kicks.

What has now changed, according to a memo obtained by ESPN that was sent to all clubs Sept. 7, is that teams must use the same All-22 angle or static image for both kicking teams. The modification is designed to ensure competitive equity. Teams were warned that violations will result in discipline.

Ryan Paganetti, a former analytics coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders,posted on X that he had studied a decade of New England Patriots television broadcasts when Bill Belichick was head coach from 2000 to 2023.

Paganetti's Sept. 1 social media post said he discovered that when opposing kickers prepared for an attempt, the videoboard displayed a reverse All-22 view of the kick. The result was a second set of offset goalposts shown on the videoboard, creating an optical illusion for opposing kickers.

Paganetti added that of the 52 kicks he studied that were attempted by the Patriots, the reverse All-22 view of the kick was never shown on the videoboard. Paganetti's post on X had nearly 17 million views as of this weekend.

The Patriots were operating within the rules during that time, according to the NFL. Other teams with videoboards behind uprights were experimenting with various things that were also within the rules.

But now that the league is requiring clubs to use the same All-22 angle or static image for both kicking teams, that practice would no longer be allowed.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49979831/nfl-changes-rules-governing-video-board-displays-kicks

EU facing ‘worst energy crisis in history’ – Putin envoy

Kirill Dmitriev has accused Brussels of making “zero attempts” to analyze the underlying causes of the crunch, such as the phase out of Russian supplies, and “adjust course”

Published 20 Sep, 2026 12:58

Europe is facing “the worst energy crisis in history,” Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev has warned, describing the situation as a “self-made.” He has repeatedly blamed the EU’s decision to cut Russian energy imports as a key factor behind the crisis.

Dmitriev made the remarks after reports of worsening fuel shortages across the EU. Government data on Sunday showed that 15% of French gas stations were facing supply problems with at least one type of petrol or diesel.

German media also reported record fuel prices, with Super E10 gasoline reaching around €2.3 ($2.6) per liter and diesel averaging a record €2.45. Across the EU, petrol prices are 24% higher than a year ago, diesel is up 38%, and jet fuel costs more than double. Benchmark gas prices have surged 150% year-on-year to €81 per megawatt hour, with analysts warning they could reach €100.

“Europe finally understands it is facing the worst energy crisis in history,” Dmitriev wrote in a series of posts on X on Saturday, calling it “a self-made crisis with zero attempts to analyze root causes and adjust course.”

The bloc this year has faced mounting supply pressures from the US-Israeli war on Iran, which disrupted the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil and LNG.

Combined with Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and Saudi energy infrastructure, the disruptions pushed crude benchmarks up around 50%, with prices hovering above $100 per barrel and driving fuel and gas costs higher. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week said the EU had spent more than €90 billion extra on fossil fuel imports since the war began. Much of the additional expense was passed on to households. Brussels also previously acknowledged that industrial gas and electricity prices remain two to four times higher than those of major trading partners.

The Middle East conflict, however, has further pressured energy markets already strained by Europe’s sharp reduction in Russian supplies following sanctions imposed after the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Before then, Russia supplied around 45% of EU gas imports and 27% of crude oil. By 2025, its share had fallen to 12% of gas imports and around 2% of crude.

Even sanctions supporters, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron,have linked Europe’s energy challenges to the loss of cheap Russian supplies. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned earlier this month that the EU cannot remain competitive while energy costs stay prohibitively high.

Meanwhile, the EU is entering the heating season with its lowest gas storage levels in 15 years. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), underground facilities were just 69.3% as of Saturday, below the 85% average for this time of the year over the last five years, prompting warnings of heightened price volatility and higher energy bills this winter.

Despite the dire situation, von der Leyen reaffirmed in her State of the Union address this week that the EU will continue with its REPowerEU plan to permanently end reliance on Russian energy, with Russian LNG set to leave the EU market completely by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas by autumn 2027.

Moscow has long criticized Western energy sanctions as illegal and counterproductive, arguing they have redirected Russian exports while forcing Europe toward more expensive supplies. Russia has offered to help fill oil shortages caused by the Middle East conflict and resume energy deliveries but says it has received no response. Earlier this year, Dmitriev said the EU would “inevitably beg” for Russian gas as energy prices continue rising.

https://www.rt.com/news/646004-eu-worst-energy-crisis-dmitriev/

Russia downs 1,600 Ukrainian drones in ‘unprecedented’ attack during elections – Moscow mayor

Two civilians have been killed and six injured, with hundreds of UAVs intercepted near the capital

Published 20 Sep, 2026 04:31 | Updated

Two civilians were killed and several others, including two children, were injured in Moscow Region during a powerful Ukrainian drone raid that was aimed at derailing Russia’s parliamentary elections, local officials said.

In a statement on Sunday, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyaninsaid more than 1,600 UAVs were repelled since the previous day, adding that 450 UAVs were intercepted on approaches to the capital.

“The unprecedented attack was clearly planned to disrupt the elections. The enemy failed,” he said.

Several drones reached the premises of the Moscow Oil Refinery, where one unidentified facility was damaged, and one struck a residential building, according to Sobyanin, who said there were no fatalities in the capital.

The consequences of the raid, however, were much more destructive in the suburbs. Earlier in the day, Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov reported damage in the Ramenskoye District, southeast of Moscow, where a 44-year-old woman was killed and five others, including two children, were injured when a drone hit an apartment building in the village of Sofyino.

In the nearby city of Ramenskoye, around 400 people, including 70 children, were evacuated from a 21-story apartment block after falling drone debris sparked a fire on the roof, with 20 vehicles also damaged.

Another person was killed in the Orekhovo-Zuyevo District, where a private home was destroyed and caught fire during the attack. The victim was an elderly man who was inside the building, according to the governor.

Elsewhere in Moscow Region, a warehouse complex caught fire in Sofyino, and a drone struck an apartment building in Kotelniki, setting apartments on three floors ablaze. The authorities are still determining whether anyone was injured.

Private homes were also damaged in Kolomna and Yegoryevsk, while fires broke out at apartment buildings in the Leninsky District, Lyubertsy, and Lytkarino. A residential building and an industrial facility were damaged in Istra, with no casualties reported.

The massive raid struck Moscow and the surrounding region just hours before polling stations were due to open for the final day of Russia’s three-day parliamentary elections. Despite the attack, all 1,443 polling stations in Moscow opened on time, Moscow Election Commission Deputy Chairman Dmitry Reut told TASS.

Moscow has accused Kiev of undermining diplomatic efforts while publicly calling for renewed negotiations. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Ukrainian leadership is “talking about peace” while doing everything to prevent peace and negotiations.

Earlier this month, Putin ordered large-scale retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in response to attacks inside Russia.Moscow has condemned the strikes on civilians as acts of terrorism, while maintaining that Russian forces only target military and defense-related facilities.

(https://www.rt.com/russia/646001-two-russian-civilians-killed-ukrainian-drone-strike/

(I’ve never understood why so few people are killed in these attacks.)

The Mormon church is expanding its real-estate empire across the United States: ‘They’re opportunists in a very calculated way’

In the United States, the Latter-day Saints have built a vast portfolio of long-term property investments, operating in many ways like a sovereign wealth fund1/3

Just 20 minutes from Denver International Airport, plans are under way for an ambitious project on a stretch of empty land larger than Manhattan’s Central Park.

A new community, dubbed “Tributary,” is set to feature homes for more than 12,000 people, shops, parks, a school and a fire station. A parkway connected to the area will offer direct access to the airport, providing a pivotal connection for Denver’s adjacent suburbs.

Tributary’s developer, Property Reserve, is relatively unknown to many of the locals. But the name behind it is much more recognizable: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has owned the land for decades.

“They’re very excited to get started,” said Amy Wiles, a city council member in Aurora, home to the 960-acre (388-hectare) site. “It’s really the truly greatest opportunity our city has.”

The Colorado project is just a small slice of a sprawling real estate empire that the LDS church, widely known as the Mormon Church, has assembled over the past century. Through a web of subsidiaries, it has accumulated billions of dollars of properties from farms and ranches to apartments and hotels, becoming one of America’s largest — and least transparent — landowners.

Behind those holdings is a highly sophisticated investment operation more akin to a sovereign wealth fund than a religious institution, according to brokers and investors who have worked with the church. They describe a savvy organization that makes acquisitions with the intent to own property for generations, while also increasingly putting money into higher-return investments.

Long known for its farmland and temple sites, the church is starting to get more involved in housing and master-planned communities. That’s thrusting the church into the politics of building, with projects drawing debates over everything from water and infrastructure to environmental preservation and local control.

The church says all of its real estate holdings — an array of properties used for religious, historical preservation and investment purposes — are intended to support its mission of living and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Due to the population growth of cities, some legacy land holdings of the church are in the path of growth and better suited for residential and commercial development than farming,” said Tyler Buswell, global head of development for Property Reserve, the church’s real estate investment arm. The commercial real estate portfolio, meanwhile, has grown “purposefully to provide durable cash flow to fund the church’s mission,” he said in a statement.

The Salt Lake City-based church discloses little about its financial holdings, even to the nearly 18 million members who are expected to tithe 10% of their income. A Bloomberg News review of property records compiled by real estate data provider Reonomy shows that the Mormon church owns at least 2.4 million acres across the U.S. — an area almost twice the size of Delaware — with an assessed value in excess of $20 billion.

The real number is almost certainly much higher: The estimation doesn’t include holdings in nondisclosure states like Texas, which aren’t required to record sales prices publicly, or investments made through outside real estate funds and partnerships.

Opacity

The church declined to comment on the size of its portfolio. “They’re consistently active,” said Bernard Uechtritz, who owns Icon Global, a Dallas-based real estate brokerage that has worked with the church on ranch deals. “They’re opportunists in a good way, in a very calculated way.”

Some of the church’s growth centers on building temples: It has 221 globally, with 164 under construction or planned, according to its website. But it also has accelerated investing in revenue-producing properties through Property Reserve, which is led by Ashley Powell, a veteran real estate executive with a background at firms including Deutsche Bank AG and Bentall Kennedy, now known as BGO. Transactions at Property Reserve and a related affiliate have almost doubled since his 2017 arrival compared with the prior 10 years, Reonomy data show.

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-09-21/the-mormon-church-is-expanding-its-real-estate-empire-across-the-united-states-theyre-opportunists-in-a-very-calculated-way.html

>>25058541

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The church’s deals reflect both opportunity and a willingness to pay up. As hotels struggled during the pandemic, it snapped up a Residence Inn in Maui.

In 2021, its agricultural investment division outbid an investment firm tied to Bill Gates for a bankrupt portfolio of Washington farmland for almost $210 million. In April, Property Reserve acquired a Boca Raton apartment complex in one of South Florida’s priciest multifamily real estate transactions this year, according to data compiled by MSCI Inc.

The Mormons’ most consequential projects, however, may be development on a scale that can reshape entire regions. Along with Colorado’s Tributary, the church is planning a community across 4,000 acres of land it’s been acquiring since the 1980s in west Phoenix. Earlier this year, Property Reserve purchased almost 3,000 acres southwest of Austin, gaining development rights for thousands of homes. In central Florida, it’s developing a sprawling area called Sunbridge on a tract almost as large as San Francisco.

That project is so substantial that Florida created a special district, dubbed the Sunbridge Stewardship District, with an independent local government — usually first appointed by the landowners — designed to oversee funding of major infrastructure and development. These districts can issue tax-exempt bonds for financing.

The Mormon church is increasingly visible in American culture, from influencers with millions of followers to TV shows such as The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Behind that growing profile is an institution that has quietly accumulated enormous and varied wealth. Ensign Peak Advisors, the church’s nonprofit investment manager, reported more than $60 billion in publicly traded securities in its portfolio as of the end of June, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission 13F filing. That’s just a peek into its holdings, as such filings are limited to certain asset types.

That wealth has come under scrutiny. In 2023, the church and Ensign agreed to pay $5 million to settle SEC charges that it used shell companies to obscure holdings and avoid disclosure requirements. The church didn’t admit or deny the allegations, saying it regretted “mistakes made.” A former Ensign investment manager said in a 60 Minutes interview that year that “it was really a clandestine hedge fund” that misled members. The church called the claims “unfounded allegations by a former employee who has a different view on how the church should manage its resources.”

Long before it built a global investment empire, however, the church was accumulating land. Nearly two centuries ago, founder Joseph Smith envisioned communities built around temples and agriculture. After followers eventually settled in Utah, property ownership became intertwined with the church’s emphasis on self-sufficiency and preparing for the future.

The church experienced financial strains in its early history. In the 1960s, it selected Nathan Eldon Tanner, a successful businessman, to join the leadership. Tanner helped systematize the church’s overall real estate strategy, viewing property as a way to build long-term capital reserves, said Matthew Bowman, chair of Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University.

Today, those real estate holdings are operated out of Utah, part of a centralized structure that distinguishes the Mormon church from other religious institutions. Catholic properties in the US, for instance, are generally controlled by individual dioceses, religious orders or parishes rather than the Vatican.

The Mormon church also differs in its leadership. Rather than a lifelong career in the clergy, members of its top ranks have professional backgrounds, Bowman said. Some have Harvard University MBAs and prior careers in business and finance.

A network of companies

The church holds its real estate across multiple entities. Farmland Reserve invests in agricultural properties such as farms, orchards and ranches, which also serve as important anchors for the church’s other businesses. Its holdings include Deseret Ranch, a Florida property it has owned since 1950. It now encompasses some 295,000 acres across three counties, according to its website, with tens of thousands of cattle and agricultural products including citrus, timber and sod. Another affiliate, Hawaii Reserves, manages more than 6,000 acres of land and properties in the state.

Property Reserve oversees a portfolio that includes offices, apartments and hotels, its website shows. Under Powell, it has expanded into Europe and Asia deals as well. Land Reserve, a for-profit, taxable entity that’s focused on master-planned building communities, is part of Property Reserve.

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-09-21/the-mormon-church-is-expanding-its-real-estate-empire-across-the-united-states-theyre-opportunists-in-a-very-calculated-way.html

>>25058542

3/3

Reonomy’s data indicates the church’s biggest holdings are in its home state of Utah,with more than 3,600 properties and land holdings. It makes up roughly 22% of the entire known portfolio, followed by Florida and California at 9% and 7%, respectively. The data doesn’t include real estate investments made through separately managed accounts or outside funds.

The church also has exposure to property through the Deseret Mutual Master Retirement Plan, a pension plan funded by church-affiliated entities. As of 2024, that entity had investments of more than $574 million in real estate funds, according to public filings.

Real estate executives describe the institution as a prudent, smart player that invests with a view spanning 50 to 100 years. Its dealmakers often bid in cash and are known for closing quickly, according to brokers.

“If they have the money and appetite, they’ll be the best buyer and they’ll pay the most,” said John Huguenard, a senior managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s industrial practice. “They’re willing to pay a premium for long-term ownership, it’s significant enough. The biggest thing is there’s no contingency for financing. They’ll pay all cash.”

They have also sought to enshrine their religious principles in contracts. In the U.K., the church wanted to add clauses into all of the leases in an office building it bought that would prohibit tenants from subletting the space involved in selling alcohol or coffee, in accordance with the faith’s restrictions on members consuming the drinks, said a person close to the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private discussions.

While many of the church’s projects are still in early phases, Florida’s Sunbridge development offers insight into just how consequential and complicated some of these deals can be.

The church partnered with Tavistock Development Co. more than a decade ago to transform some 27,000 acres of former Deseret ranchland into a master-planned community over several decades. The vision calls for more than 36,000 homes alongside commercial development. More than 1,400 residences are already completed.

The church had much bigger ambitions in the area, planning a long-term development for far more residents. To do so, it proposed annexing more than 52,000 acres of Deseret Ranch property into the city of Orlando. It was halted in 2024, facing wide pushback from residents and Orange County elected officials.

Sunbridge’s scale has required infrastructure investments including roads and utility systems expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Clint Beaty, senior vice president of operations for Tavistock, said the developers spent two years working on a long-term conservation plan before construction, studying native plants, soil composition and water use. The development now uses AI to monitor household water consumption.

Critics argue the project’s broader footprint illustrates the costs of accommodating that growth. A proposed toll road, for instance, would run through a conservation area called Split Oak Forest.

“That’s not urban planning,” said Nicole Wilson, an Orange County commissioner. “That is just sprawl by every definition.”

In west central Florida, residents are girding for the prospect of a large master-planned community in a region that already has one of the state’s fastest-growing populations. Governor Ron DeSantis in June signed legislation designating a tract of mostly church-owned land in Hillsborough County. That raised alarms that potential new housing will further strain resources in the Tampa Bay area.

“It was like a bomb that has gone off in our neighborhood,” said Cori Campbell, a resident in Sundance, a rural equestrian community that’s near the district. She said her property was recently reclassified from a minimal to a high-risk flood hazard area, and she fears additional development will only make it worse, along with affecting traffic and wildlife.

By contrast, others — such as Sarah Wile, a city council member in Aurora — are optimistic about commercial development that would make the neighborhood more vibrant: retail shops, offices and a much-needed grocery store. The church’s investment, she says, “represents the ability for the area to be more self-sustainable and to have what we need to continue the growth, because the growth is not stopping.”

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-09-21/the-mormon-church-is-expanding-its-real-estate-empire-across-the-united-states-theyre-opportunists-in-a-very-calculated-way.html

Creepy!!

Trump set to host Xi for historic state visit amid trade, AI, Iran tensions

Story by Sarah Roderick-Fitch • 7h

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump is set to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House this week.

Xi’s state visit to Washington, D.C. follows Trump’s visit to China in May, where the president’s visit was met with a backdrop of Chinese pageantry. Trump is expected to return the favor by hosting a state dinner.

While the two world superpowers are locked in a race for dominance in artificial intelligence, among other things, the two leaders maintain mutual respect.

In the past, Trump has praised Xi as a “great leader,” while underscoring the relationship between the two countries.

During the May meeting, Trump highlighted trade as his top priority, accompanied by more than a dozen top U.S. business leaders. Multiple reports indicate influential U.S. business and tech leaders are clamoring for an invitation to the highly anticipated state dinner.

Trade will likely be a top issue leading up to the meeting, with a U.S. trade deficit with China of $202.1 billion in 2025, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. China is the third-largest trade partner with the U.S.

The debate over AI will likely take center stage during the meeting, as the Trump administration seeks to accelerate the technology's adoption, citing concerns that China could dominate the industry.

Despite the positive relationship between the two leaders, the Trump administration has made allegations against China over its involvement in U.S. elections, claiming China interfered with the 2020 election, with the president describing it as the “largest compromise of election data in history,” adding that it led to “China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files.”

Trump has also warned against China’s involvement in aiding Iran with weapons and intelligence against American forces in the region. Up until the full U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, China was Iran’s largest exporter of oil.

In addition, manyRepublicans, including within the Trump administration, have raised alarms over thousands of Chinese citizens exploiting birthright citizenship through birthright tourism.

During the meeting in May, Taiwan was a top issue for China, as the communist country doesn’t recognize Taiwan as an independent country, causing tension, while the U.S. recognizes and supports Taiwan’s independence.

The U.S. continues to sell weapons to Taiwan in defense of China, with the Trump administration having approved an $11 billion arms sale to Taiwan last year.

Before the two leaders are set to meet, Trump is expected to travel to New York to participate in the United Nations’ General Assembly week, with the president set to address the gathering Tuesday.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/trump-set-to-host-xi-for-historic-state-visit-amid-trade-ai-iran-tensions/ar-AA2cCyuv

In the end, Ole Miss got its revenge on Lane Kiffin in the most satisfying way possible

Ross Dellenger.1/2

Senior College Football Reporter

Sun, Sep 20, 2026 at 1:28 AM EDT

OXFORD, Miss. — On Wednesday night here, in this college town's famous entertainment district, the Square, Ole Miss fans filled the historic Lyric Theater for a special occasion.

A roast of Lane Kiffin.

Participants threw darts at cardboard cutouts of his effigy, unveiled a less-than-flattering bust of the coach and, from a mic'd podium, ridiculed the man who fled this place in a blaze of ever-loving glory for rival LSU.

Three days later, the football-playing Rebels roasted Lane.

Whose offensive line backpedaled all night in a trench beatdown?

Lane Kiffin's.

Whose defensive secondary failed to cover receivers in a collapse?

Lane Kiffin's.

Whose offense didn't score until the final two minutes of the first half?

Lane Kiffin's.

Whose team fell behind 24-7, stormed back with a third-quarter rally and then lost against the very school he left nine months ago?

Kiffin's.

Amid a hate-charged, booze-fueled sea of the angriest dang Southern folk you'd ever see, the party who was rejected in this star-crossed relationship, the one left in pieces, the lover abandoned at the altar, the Ole Miss Rebels, exacted their revenge on the one who got (flew) away.

In the most satisfying roast imaginable, the final joke landed with quite the punchline:

Ole Miss 32, Lane 24.

For the Oxford crowd, for those madder'n hell, as they might say here, for those angrier than heck, ticked off, p'ed off and just plain unhappy, this one felt good.

You need only to watch and listen to a rocking Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. As LSU's final play failed on fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line, as quarterback Sam Leavitt's pass whistled into the arms of an Ole Miss defensive back, fireworks exploded overhead, "Dancing Queen" played over the speakers and beer flung into the air.

The stadium — at max capacity, no inch spared, no seat empty — remained almost completely full for more than a half-hour after the clock hit zeroes. As LSU players left the turf, the stadium operator provided some Louisiana exit music: "Callin' Baton Rouge" and "Neck."

The crowd here released into the muggy Mississippi air nine months of buried anger. Wearing his trademark white visor and long-sleeve shirt, in his khaki slacks and flanked by a half-dozen Louisiana highway patrol officers, Kiffin exited the stage of this dramatic motion picture.

"Get the f*** off our field!" a fan screamed his way.

"Go home!" belted another.

Payback's a you know what.

This was restitution of the best kind.

A retaliation for the ages.

The man who broke hearts here had his heart broken.

Afterward, he acknowledged it, too. As LSU's team buses arrived at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium two hours before kickoff, Kiffin felt unexpected emotions, he said. Not hate, anger or fear. But gratitude for his six seasons at this place.

As he entered the stadium, he waved to Rebels fans hurling insults his way.

"Sometimes you can't predict your emotions," he said afterward from a small interview room within this venue's bowels. "Sometimes I don't act like it, but I'm human, too."

Kiffin lauded an atmosphere that he'd never seen before in Oxford, a stadium full an hour ahead of kickoff, a crowd so loud that his team committed a host of costly pre-snap penalties — none more significant than a false start on second-and-goal on the game's final drive.

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/article/in-the-end-ole-miss-got-its-revenge-on-lane-kiffin-in-the-most-satisfying-way-possible-052836153.html

>>25058642

2/2

Amid an emotional news conference, much of it spent praising the atmosphere and his former underling, Ole Miss coach Pete Golding, Kiffin, long critical of the fickle fans here, couldn't resist the smallest of jabs over their rambunctious behavior Saturday night.

"I guess I had to leave to get them to do that," Kiffin said.

On the field, the Ole Miss team was even louder.

The Rebels won despite missing running back Kewan Lacy for the entire second half. They won despite blowing that 17-point lead (LSU, at one point, scored 17 consecutive points to tie the game). They won despite such a high-pressure affair.

They won, mostly, because of Trinidad Chambliss, who carved through his old coach's defense like a hot switchblade through Mississippi butter: 363 passing yards, 33 completions, three total touchdowns. In what served as the game-winner, he dashed for 14 yards down the LSU sideline, whistling directly by the man who signed him 18 months ago out of the Division II level, who helped turn him into a star, who, as it turns out, assisted in him gaining his additional year of eligibility.

Chambliss makes "Houdini plays," says Kiffin. He's the most difficult player in America to defend, he added. Some of the on-the-run, perfectly accurate, crowd-pleasing plays are inexplicable.

"Best player in college football," the coach said. "I think he gets more dangerous when [Lacy] is out. Now he has the ball on every snap."

They couldn't catch Trinidad.

They failed to corral him.

He skipped across the turf here, whistled passes to a group of wideouts who made equally impressive catches as nine receivers caught at least one pass.

"The game was on us and we didn't come … it's frustrating," an emotional Whit Weeks, LSU's star linebacker, said afterward. "I wanted to win this one more than any of them. And we didn't."

"This one stings. It felt like a game that got away," Kiffin said.

For instance, on that final drive — a 14-play, 68-yard march that consumed, basically, the last five minutes of the game — LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, all night running for his dear life, missed open receivers at least twice on the team's final four downs from inside the 11-yard line.

In a stat emblematic of the performance, he had more rushing attempts (17) than completed passes (16).

"Their players made plays," Kiffin said.

Perhaps, in December or maybe even January, these two will find one another again — Ole Miss and Lane. Maybe they are destined for a second showdown, a sequel to a blockbuster. The conference championship game or a playoff quarterfinal?

We can all dream. Who wouldn't want to see the second act?

The first top-10 matchup in this storied rivalry since the 1960s delivered a box-office hit. Droves of fans lined up at the stadium gates hours before kickoff, most of them having marched down the hill from the school's famous Grove tailgating spot, sticky and sweaty on this hotter'n hell Mississippi night.

They wore their "F*** Kiffin" shirts and their "Go to Hell, LSU" buttons. They drank, they ate. They screamed, they yelled.

And, in the end, they exacted some finality of justice, a retribution never seen in these parts in many moons.

The Ole Miss Rebels roasted Lane Kiffin.

(https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/article/in-the-end-ole-miss-got-its-revenge-on-lane-kiffin-in-the-most-satisfying-way-possible-052836153.html

Trump returns to White House as State Department issues security alerts for Middle East

BY SARAH DAVIS 09/19/26 09:28 PM ET

President Trump cut his weekend trip to Camp David short a day early, returning to Washington, D.C., on Saturday evening.

The president touched down at the Ellipse just before 8 p.m., according to a White House pool report. The White House’s official social media account shared a video clip of Trump departing Marine One.

The White House did not immediately respond to comment about why the president made an early return. Trump was originally scheduled to depart Camp David on Sunday.

The president’s return to D.C. follows a new security alert issued by the State Department on Saturday. The department advised Americans located in the Middle East to “exercise heightened vigilance” and prepare for potential travel disruptions amid new attacks from the Iranian-backed Houthis on Saudi Arabia.

“This military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly,” the department’s advisory said. “Americans outside the Middle East should seriously reconsider travel to and through the region. Those who do travel to or from the region should monitor information about airport and airline operations.”

Saudi Arabia confirmed Saturday that the Yemen-based Houthi rebel group attempted to attack its capital with a ballistic missile, The Associated Press reported.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the group attacked with a “large number of ballistic and cruise missiles” and drones to target the kingdom’s capital city, Riyadh, and the facilities of Saudi oil company Aramco in Yanbu.

This attempted attack marks the Houthis first targeting of Riyadh since renewed fighting between Saudi Arabia and the militant group during the ongoing Iran war.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6100118-trump-returns-camp-david-early/amp/

Manifest Destiny Is Born Again Among Young Conservatives On Social Media 9/29/26 1/2

Canada? Ours. Greenland? Ours. Mexico? Ours. The World? Ours.Or at least that’s what one conservative trend on a rapidly growing media platform is suggesting.

Instagram Reels is rapidly becoming a focal point for politics in both conservative and liberal circles, pushing ideas further than X ever did, with visual pomp and circumstance. Hundreds of posts with thousands of likes have begun circulating on the platform calling the United States an “empire,” even comparing America’s power to that of the Roman Empire.

“Perhaps, still invade Canada. Think about it. Why not? We have the manpower. We have the arms. It’s our Manifest Destiny,” one video on the platform claims.

The idea of the U.S. military preparing to fight Canada is not entirely new. During the interwar period, American planners developed War Plan Red, a contingency plan approved in 1930 for a hypothetical war with the British Empire that envisioned U.S. forces invading Canada, seizing key ports and transportation hubs and preventing Britain from using Canadian territory as a base for attacks on the United States, according to the National Archives.

The memes are landing at a peculiar moment in American foreign policy, when jokes about annexation, conquest and an American empire have increasingly borrowed from actual events.

Trump has repeatedly argued that Canada should become the 51st state, telling Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office in May 2025 that he still believed in the idea before responding “never say never” when Carney insisted his country was not for sale, Reuters reported.

Relations remain strained more than a year later, with Ottawa looking to deepen economic and defense ties with Europe amid an escalating trade dispute with Washington.

Although many posts among conservatives on social media are critical of President Donald Trump’s decision-making in the Iran War, some take a humorous angle while quoting Trump’s bombastic rhetoric about American military might.

“Iran knows that. And they’ve been put on notice: if you fuck around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are going to do things to you that have never been done before,” Trump said during a Oct. 9, 2020 interview with Rush Limbaugh on The Rush Limbaugh Show.

The most dramatic backdrop is Iran, where the United States has been fighting since Trump ordered Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28. The conflict has stretched into a seventh month, with Iran striking American forces and disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz while U.S. forces have continued hitting Iranian targets.

https://dailycaller.com/2026/09/20/the-american-empire-is-rising-according-to-young-conservatives-on-social-media/

>>25058736

2/2

Trump took the imperial comparisons a step furtherSept. 13 when he floated keeping an American presence in Iran and benefiting from its oil after the war, explicitly comparing the possibility to Washington’s arrangement in Venezuela,Reuters reported.

“The American Empire, For Americans,” One video on the platform says while playing the audio from Trump’s statement.

Greenland has moved even closer to the language of territorial acquisition. Trump reiterated at the NATO summit in July that the strategically located Arctic island should be under U.S. control rather than Denmark’s, while Greenlandic and Danish leaders have repeatedly rejected the idea, according to Reuters.

Denmark has since sent conscripts to Greenland and poured additional resources into Arctic defense, while U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials continue negotiations aimed at resolving the dispute, Reuters reported.

“Rome never fell. It just changed flags,” another post states while showcasing multiple videos of U.S. military flyovers at sporting events, along with other patriotic imagery such as the Grand Canyon, SpaceX launches and the Empire State Building.

In Venezuela, American power moved well beyond rhetoric.

U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during Operation Absolute Resolve on Jan. 3, after which Trump said the United States was “going to run the country” until Washington could oversee a “safe, proper, and judicious transition,” according to the White Houseand a video of Trump’s remarks published by the Department of War.

The trope comparing the United States to the Roman Empire has not been short-lived on the platform.

“Red, White and Eternal. The New Rome,” a description on one of the posts states. “Rome was not merely a city. It was an order. Law before chaos. Duty before comfort. Citizenship tied to responsibility. Power justified by structure … The United States inherited that mantle in a different age. Not through marble and legions, but through constitution, industry, and reach. In less than 250 years, America achieved what Rome took centuries to build … The New Rome does not wear a crown. It carries responsibility.”

“I wish the Romans could see this,” one post says while displaying a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber flyover at a football game, echoing the motifs seen in the gladitorial arenas of Ancient Rome. “Where Caesar claimed power, America gave it to the people. Where empires rose and fell, the United States still stands, blessed by the grace of Christ.”

The idea of “manifest destiny,” the concept that it is the United States’ God-given right to conquer all of North America, is a recurring theme amongst these videos, or reels as they are commonly called.

If there is only one takeaway from this trend, it is that young conservatives are rapidly growing to be even more patriotic and authoritarian. Moreover, they are not afraid to showcase their ideas on social media.

“America is an empire,” conservative influencer Tony Vanderhoef argues on video. “An empire is a dominant power that enforces global order. It secures trade routes. It sets financial rules. It projects military power. And it shapes who governs where. For better or for worse… That’s the United States … The real question isn’t whether America is an empire. The real question is: Can it sustain one?”

https://dailycaller.com/2026/09/20/the-american-empire-is-rising-according-to-young-conservatives-on-social-media/