🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
President Trump announced Friday that the United States has struck a sweeping, no-expiration military agreement with Denmark and Greenland, securing permanent U.S. basing, access and overflight rights on the Arctic island while barring China, Russia and other non-NATO countries from stationing troops there or investing in sensitive sectors like ports and undersea cables; Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “a huge win for the United States and the American people,” according to Fox News.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th, 2026
Before we get to today's news, here's what happened on this date in history. On September 19, 1796, a Philadelphia newspaper published George Washington's farewell address to the nation, in which he urged Americans to guard against the dangers of partisan factionalism and to value their shared national identity over regional loyalties — a speech still read aloud in the U.S. Senate every year.
A very different kind of milestone landed on this date in 1893, when New Zealand became the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in national elections, a reform that predated similar changes in the United States by more than a quarter-century.
⚖️ Dearborn Mayor Sued Over Ramadan Displays That Allegedly Snubbed Easter and Passover
A federal lawsuit filed this week accuses Dearborn, Michigan, Mayor Abdullah Hammoud of violating the Constitution's Establishment Clause by spending thousands of taxpayer dollars decorating the city for Ramadan while denying equal recognition to Christian and Jewish holidays.
Journalist Margot Cleveland and the American Freedom Law Center allege the city spent roughly $6,500 on Ramadan banners, crescent-moon streetlight decorations and police-department T-shirts.
FOIA records cited in the suit show $1,500 went to the banners and $5,000 to the crescent-moon displays, with the program expanded the year after residents first complained.
The suit alleges Hammoud told a Christian pastor “you are not welcome here” and vowed to “launch a parade” when the pastor left the city; Dearborn is more than 54% Middle Eastern or North African.
🛂 White House Pulls ICE Director Nominee After Senate Pushback
The White House withdrew its nomination of Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper and longtime friend of DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a post that hasn't had a Senate-confirmed director in more than a decade.
Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, signaled he wouldn't advance Schroyer without more information on federal agents involved in the Minneapolis shootings.
Critics pointed to Schroyer's lack of managerial experience and his close ties to Mullin as red flags even before the formal withdrawal.
ICE has been run by acting director David Venturella since the last Senate-confirmed chief left office in January 2017.
— Washington Examiner and RedState
🏛️ Johnson Sends House Home Early, Tables Massie's Hegseth Impeachment Push
House Speaker Mike Johnson closed the chamber a day ahead of its scheduled seven-week recess, effectively shelving Rep. Thomas Massie's push to impeach War Secretary Pete Hegseth until lawmakers return after the midterms.
Johnson dismissed the impeachment effort as “a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention,” adding that Hegseth “has done an extraordinary job.”
Republicans and Democrats alike criticized the early exit; Rep. Ralph Norman noted the House has now canceled 63 voting days this Congress, nine of them in September alone.
Unfinished business left on the table includes gas-tax relief and border-mandate codification, while Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had pushed to stay for Russia-sanctions and AI-regulation talks.
🔎 Lone Holdout in Lindsay Clancy Mistrial Was the Jury's Only Black Member
The single juror who refused to convict Lindsay Clancy of murdering her three children has been revealed as the only Black member of the otherwise all-white, 12-person panel, according to a fellow juror's new interview.
The jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of finding Clancy not criminally responsible, forcing Judge William Sullivan to declare a mistrial in the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan.
Juror Paula Devlin described the panel's racial makeup in a televised interview, drawing attention to the lone holdout's isolation during deliberations.
Clancy's case is expected to head to a retrial as her defense team weighs additional motions.
— Fox News
🔌 Cuba Suffers Its Seventh Nationwide Blackout of 2026
Cuba's electrical grid collapsed entirely on Friday, knocking out power, cellphone and internet service across the island in the communist nation's seventh total blackout of the year.
The U.S. Embassy in Havana confirmed the failure and urged Americans on the island, or planning to travel there, to “be aware and plan accordingly.”
Officials say the cause is still under investigation and gave no timeline for restoring power.
Cuba's grid has been buckling under fuel shortages, a U.S. oil blockade and aging infrastructure, with scheduled and unscheduled outages now a near-daily occurrence.
— Fox News