President Donald Trump’s sanctions on Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft are biting into Moscow’s ability to fund its war effort, according to a Treasury Department memo. The Initial Market Reaction report by the Office of Foreign Assets Control found that the sanctions that Trump placed on Russian energy last month are restricting the cash Moscow can dedicate to its war efforts. “President Trump has targeted Russia’s two largest oil companies in one of the most impactful Treasury actions to date. Russian oil is now selling at multi-year lows, starving Putin’s war machine. President Trump is the peace-and-prosperity President, and Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to end the senseless killing,” a Treasury spokesperson told The Daily Wire. The Office of Foreign Assets Control initial assessment of the tariffs found that they are having their intended effect by reducing oil revenues to Moscow by “lowering the price of Russian oil and therefore the country’s ability to fund its war effort against Ukraine,” according to a summary of the office’s assessment. “While there are multiple prices of Russian oil depending on grade and location, various grades are trading well below all other international prices. Moreover, several key Russian grades are selling at multi-year lows, widening their spreads to global benchmarks. This is testament to the fact that demand for Russian oil is plunging, driven by the efficacy of U.S. sanctions,” the summary found. The Treasury assessment also noted that some of Russia’s biggest customers, namely India and China, have cut back their purchases of Russian energy in the wake of the tariffs “Nearly a dozen major Indian and Chinese purchasers of Russian oil have announced intentions to pause their purchases of Russian December deliveries,” the Office of Foreign Assets Control found. The Treasury leveled the tariffs on the Russian oil giants on October 22. “Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the time. “Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war. We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”

Fitness influencer Jillian Michaels was amazed to discover that Jesus Christ was a real person whose existence was chronicled in texts beyond just the Bible. The conversation took place during an episode of Michaels’ podcast while she was speaking with world-class historian and Hoover Institution senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson was discussing the specific issues the Romans had with Jesus, which prompted her to admit that she was surprised to learn his existence was widely accepted as a historical fact.  “I thought we didn’t even know this guy… this is going to infuriate people and I’m so sorry and I stay out of it, but I thought we weren’t even really sure whether or not Jesus existed and the apostles wrote this stuff hundreds of years ago,” Michaels said.  Hoover explained, “We have Roman documents completely separate from religion, that he was a magnetic, he was a romantic, wonderful person to the people who knew him and he had staged a revolution and that presented a problem in this troublesome province.” The historian recounted how Pontius Pilate was a Roman official who was most interested in keeping peace in the region, so he pushed the blame for Jesus being put to death onto the Pharisees, using the justification that this move helped achieve that goal. Hanson also noted how Jesus’ teachings were the antithesis of what the Romans believed. “He’s got a new religion and unfortunately it’s turned the other cheek, brotherhood of man, blessed are the meek, blessed are the poor, that’s not Roman. We have a Roman military ethos that the strong inherit the earth and if an enemy offends you, you hit him twice. And this guy is preaching something very different,” the historian explained. “When anybody says that the Jews killed Jesus, it’s more like the Romans wanted a quiet province and they did not like Jesus and what he represented was anti-Roman…So they said basically, well, in Judaism, in Judea, the Jewish establishment, the religious establishment doesn’t like him any more than we do. So we can get rid of him and then say the Pharisees basically did it.” “This is so wild. I’m sorry. I know it’s not wild for people who know this information, but I genuinely thought, okay, the Jews had the Old Testament, the Torah, and then maybe there was this guy, Jesus,” Michaels said as she looked on in awe. “The apostles wrote stuff, but the first guy who wrote something was like 90 or so years later. We think maybe there’s some Dead Sea Scrolls kind of mentioned this guy, Jesus.” Michaels doesn’t talk much about religion publicly, but described herself as “not a religious person” and “agnostic” in 2024.

'What is this guy doing'

Narrowly avoided

The House has passed a bill to repeal a provision in the government shutdown-ending continuing resolution that allowed lawmakers surveilled by the federal government to seek damages. The House passed the bill to repeal the funding bill provision that would permit U.S. senators to sue the government for “$500,000 or the amount of actual damages” if the government has subpoenaed or seized their data without notification by a vote of 426 to 0. Two hundred and sixteen Republicans and 210 Democrats voted to strip the provision from the stopgap measure. Only 7 members did not vote on the provision—three Republicans and four Democrats. The bill was voted on under suspension of the rules, which means the provision needed the support of two thirds of the chamber to pass. The provision was inserted into the continuing resolution in response to recent revelations about the “Arctic Frost” investigation related to alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The investigation, a part of special counsel Jack Smith’s own case against President Donald Trump related to the Jan. 6, 2021 protests at the Capitol, ultimately led to eight Republican senators’ having their personal cell phones tolling data from Jan. 4 through Jan. 7, 2021 handed over to the FBI without their knowledge. Tolling data is information about who a call is between, the duration of the call, and general location data. The phone call’s content is not included in tolling data.  Violations that would allow lawmakers to sue under the continuing resolution provision include “the seeking, maintaining, or obtaining of a nondisclosure order or judicial sealing order to prevent notification of a Senator, a Senate office, or the Office of the SAA” or “Senate data was acquired, subpoenaed, searched, accessed, or disclosed pursuant to a search, seizure, or demand information without notice being provided as required under subsection.” The bill now heads to the Senate, where Republicans are divided on how they will respond to the House’s effort to change the provision. “We had a good conversation about that,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday upon emerging from a Senate GOP luncheon in which several senate Republicans reportedly voiced their opposition to putting the provision into the continuing resolution at the last moment. “There is a high level of interest in addressing the weaponization of the federal government,” Thune added. “We’ll see what the House does and then we’ll find out what our colleagues here in the Senate want to do.” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., previously expressed dismay about the inclusion of the provision. “I think that was way out of line. I don’t think that was a smart thing … and the House is going to reverse—we are going to repeal that, and I’m going to expect our colleagues in the Senate to do the same thing,” Johnson explained. Senators targeted by Arctic Frost have appeared split about pursuing legal action under the provision. “I do not want and I am not seeking damages for myself paid for with taxpayer dollars,” Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., stated in a comment previously reported by The Daily Signal. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he thought the provision was “a bad idea,” and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., expressed that he had “no plans” to sue. Others like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have expressed an interest in pursuing legal action for its deterrent effect. “It bothers the hell out of me and I’m going to sue, and I’m going to create opportunities for others to sue that weren’t in the Senate,” Graham explained to the press in Charleston. Meanwhile, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has considered suing without seeking monetary compensation if she gets a favorable judgement. “Senator Blackburn’s plan has always been to seek a declaratory judgment—not monetary damages—to prevent leftists from violating the constitutional rights of conservatives,” a Blackburn spokesperson explained to The Daily Signal. One legislative proposal that could be a substitute for the monetary claims provision that has been floated by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, would create stricter guidelines for nondisclosure orders. However, that bill does not rectify the surveillance of Republican senators that already occurred under the Biden administration. The post BREAKING: House Votes to Put Arctic Frost Lawsuit Provision on Ice appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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