Conservative Blogger
Sunday, February 15, 2026
Report: Trump, Netanyahu Plan to Press Iran to Cut Oil Sales to China
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed at a White House meeting on Wednesday that the U.S. would work to reduce Iran's oil exports to China, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials briefed on the issue. "We agreed that we will go full force with maximum pressure against
Iran, for example, regarding Iranian oil sales to China," Axios reported
on Saturday, quoting a senior U.S. official.
Asked about the report, China's foreign ministry said on Sunday that "normal cooperation between countries conducted within the framework of international law is reasonable and legitimate, and should be respected and protected." China accounts for more than 80% of Iran's oil exports. Any reduction in that trade would mean lower oil revenue for Iran. U.S. and Iranian diplomats held talks on Iran's nuclear program through Omani mediators last week in an effort to revive diplomacy, after the U.S. president positioned a naval flotilla in the region as the American military prepares for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran. The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of weeks-long operations against Iran if Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, signaling the potential for a broader conflict than in previous confrontations between the two countries. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the planning, said the preparations come as diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran continue. U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet Iranian officials Tuesday in Geneva, with Oman serving as mediator. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that while Trump prefers a negotiated agreement with Tehran, reaching one would be difficult. The Pentagon said Friday it is sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding thousands of troops along with fighter aircraft, guided-missile destroyers and other assets capable of conducting and defending against attacks. Speaking Friday after a military event at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Trump raised the possibility of political change in Iran, saying it “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.” He did not specify who he believed should lead the country. Trump has previously expressed skepticism about deploying ground troops to Iran, saying last year that “the last thing you want to do is ground forces.” The forces currently positioned in the region indicate options centered on air and naval operations. Asked about preparations for a potentially sustained campaign, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, “President Trump has all options on the table with regard to Iran.” “He listens to a variety of perspectives on any given issue, but makes the final decision based on what is best for our country and national security,” Kelly said. The Pentagon declined to comment. The United States deployed two aircraft carriers to the region last year when it carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. A June operation known as “Midnight Hammer” involved U.S. stealth bombers flying from the United States to strike nuclear facilities in Iran. Tehran responded with a limited retaliatory strike on a U.S. base in Qatar. The current planning is more complex, the officials said. In a sustained campaign, the United States could target Iranian state and security facilities in addition to nuclear infrastructure, one official said, declining to provide further details. Military analysts say such an operation would carry significant risks for U.S. forces, given Iran’s missile capabilities and the potential for retaliatory strikes that could expand into a broader regional conflict. One official said the United States expects Iran would respond, potentially leading to ongoing exchanges. The White House and Pentagon did not respond to questions about the risks of retaliation or a wider conflict. Trump has repeatedly threatened military action over Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. On Thursday, he said the alternative to a diplomatic solution would “be very traumatic.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has said it would target U.S. military bases in the region if Iran were attacked. The United States maintains bases in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Iran has said it is willing to discuss limits on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief but has ruled out negotiations over its missile program. On Saturday, Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi said U.S. military intervention could hasten political change in Iran and urged Washington not to prolong nuclear negotiations. Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, told Reuters he believes the Iranian government is weakening and that an attack could accelerate its collapse. |
Latino Voters Aren’t Moving in One Direction - That’s the 2026 Wildcard
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For years, Democrats treated Latino voters as a dependable margin in battleground states. Republicans argued they were making inroads, particularly with working-class Hispanic men, but the national picture rarely forced a serious strategic rethink. Heading into 2026, that picture looks less settled. One recent poll of the electorate describes it bluntly:
A wildcard does not mean a clean partisan shift. It means unpredictability. And unpredictability is difficult to model. The latest UnidosUS bipartisan survey of 3,000 registered Latino voters underscores why. This electorate is now the nation’s second-largest voting-age population, making its internal divisions especially consequential in close races. On party leadership and institutional trust, the numbers are striking:
At the same time, overall House ballot preference still shows Democrats ahead:
That margin is significant. But it is not static. Economic anxiety is shaping the landscape. The poll found:
Cost of living ranks as the top concern for 53 percent of Latino voters, followed by jobs and the broader economy at 36 percent. Housing and health care affordability remain high on the list. That kind of economic pressure creates cross-pressures rather than straight-line partisan movement. Civil liberties and immigration enforcement add another layer:
Those concerns do not fall neatly into a single ideological column. They cut across regions and demographics. The regional variation is particularly important:
In practical terms, Arizona cannot be modeled like Texas. Nevada does not mirror Florida. Border communities and suburban districts are responding to different pressures. Texas offers a recent example of that unevenness. In a state Senate race long considered safely Republican, Latino turnout patterns in competitive suburban communities altered expectations. As that contest was summarized:
Put all of this together, and the story is not realignment. It is fragmentation. Democrats maintain a clear advantage on the House ballot. Republicans have made targeted gains with certain subgroups. Economic dissatisfaction is high. Institutional trust is low. Regional divergence is widening. Read More: Dear White Liberals: Blacks and Hispanics Want No Part of Your Anti-ICE Protests Polling models rely on stable demographic behavior. When a voting bloc this large shows economic stress, institutional distrust, and regional divergence all at once, forecasting becomes more fragile. Pollsters have already struggled in recent cycles when late-breaking shifts among working-class and non-college voters were not fully captured. In midterms likely to hinge on one- or two-point margins, even modest shifts inside a fragmented Latino electorate could prove decisive. Not because it is moving in one direction. Because it is moving in several at the same time. |
Viral Video of Woman's Off the Rails Remarks to Deputy - Best Part Was the Sheriff's Response
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We've seen a lot of wild, anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) rants over the past several months from the left. You have to give credit to ICE agents for doing their jobs while having to put up with all of that right in their face, as well as having to deal with the demonizing from the Democrats and the media. But folks on the left often extend that same attitude to local police officers as well. Victoria Taft at our sister site, PJ Media, caught an exchange between a woman confronting a Thurston County (Washington) Sheriff's Office deputy about what he was doing parked outside of an elementary school in Thurston County. Her attitude is something else, as she claims that he's "scaring families." Warning for graphic language: "You should probably go do your job where your job lives," she asserted. He again explained to her that he was filling out an accident report and doing his job. That's when she really went over the edge.
Alrighty, now. I assume she's upset about ICE with the remarks about what people are going through "now," "fascism," and whether the deputy is "part of our community." That's wild; most people would welcome police by the school to protect it and keep kids safe. This is another example of how much cops have to put up with and how patient they have to be. At no point does he lose his composure, although he quickly turns away for a couple of seconds when she says "fascism." I wonder if he was laughing. He did all he could to show his "humanity" there by being as polite as he could, under the circumstances. The deputy reminded her that they were in front of a school, and that maybe she shouldn't be cursing in front of the school, which she acknowledged. It's hard to believe that anyone would act like that and then post it. That's part of the larger problem. She likely doesn't see why what she did would be wrong. She should be thanking him for being there to protect the kids and the school. But the best part was the reaction of the officer's boss, Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders, which was shared on Facebook once the video went viral.
The Sheriff also noted this woman was not a school employee, nor did anyone at the school endorse her statements. How great is that? We've seen some bad reactions from woke officials, so it's nice to see someone who gets it, backs up his man, and lays down a little truth in the matter. |
How Do They Come Up With So Many Stupid Democrats?
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You have to hand it to Democrats, no matter how many times you are certain they can’t do something – be more corrupt, act sleazier, hate the country more, be idiots – they find a way to exceed what anyone thought was possible. In a sick way, it’s an accomplishment – a perverse one, but an accomplishment nonetheless. It’s enough to make you wonder if there is some sort of performance enhancing drug that lowers the bar to the point that you’d need a shove not to clear it. The idea of a human being running a 3-minute mile was, for
decades, laughable…until Roger Bannister did it in 1954 – finishing in
an astonishing (for the time) 3 minutes 59.4 seconds on May 6th. Until
then, no one had done it, as the speculation was a human being simply
could not run fast enough for that long. In about 100 years of timing
running races, no one had ever done what was considered impossible. On
June 21 of the same year, the “impossible” record was broken by John
Landy. Since then, the record has been broken 17 more times, with
countless more runners besting 4 minutes regularly now. No one could do it…until someone did it, then everyone started doing it and have been doing it ever since, proving that nothing is beyond the reach of human beings if we really apply ourselves. Unfortunately, while that is true for the good things in life, it is also true for the bad, and the bad gets really bad when it comes to intelligence and members of the Democratic Party. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez flew to Munich, Germany, this week to participate a security conference where she and her fellow Democrats whine about their claim that the President is a fascist in the home of fascism, “genocide” in Gaza in the places where real genocidal plans were hatches, and climate change in person when they could have simply done a Zoom call and saved the “carbon footprint” of the flight. What’s the fun in that? You don’t get a “free” trip to a conference in Europe for you and your fiancé if you just video chat in your appearance. I’m not saying she brought her finance with her to Germany, but I do think it weird she’s been “engaged” for years, whatever the reason, when a secondary effect of that is her fiancé’s finances do not need to be included in her financial disclosure forms. With her fellow leftists having their net worth skyrocket to the multi-millions due to the “earnings” of their spouses and all the justified scrutiny that comes with that, I’m just saying that putting off a wedding for as long as possible, in my opinion, makes political sense. You gotta make hay while the Sun is shining, I guess, and certainly before the sunlight creeps into where all the money comes from…if that’s what is happening. (Just a guess…or one of them doesn’t really want to get married and that’s why they’ve been engaged since 2022.) In Munich, this intellectual leader of the left was asked a simple question about whether or not the United States would come to the aid of Taiwan if China invaded, as they are desperate to do. This not-ready-for-prime-time-person responded with what could easily be described as an attempt to make Joe Biden look like a genius and Kamala Harris come off like a great orator. AOC answered, “Um...you know...I think that uh...this is...such a, ya know, I think that...this is a um...This is, of course, a, uh, a very longstanding, um, policy of the United States, uh, and, I think, what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point, and we want to make sure that we are moving in all our economic research and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise.” Can you believe Jeopardy hasn’t called yet? How does a political party produce someone so, um…articulate and special? How does a political party, that same political party, produce a series of “victims” of a child sex predator – who was a proud member of that same political party – who became entangled with that predator not when they were children, but when they were adults? Can’t they even stage a photo-op properly? They can’t, because they don’t mean any of it. Do you really think AOC likes this country or cares about Taiwan or anyone who isn’t obedient, for that matter? Does any part of you genuinely think there is a single Democrat in the House who cares at all about who Jeffrey Epstein abused? Democrats didn’t say a word about any of them for 4 years, now they can’t shut up about it. But only about the one man in the “files” who is only complained about by Epstein, as President Trump booted him from his life more than 20 years ago. Everyone else in there is a Democrat – all the people who stuck with him after his time under house arrest for soliciting sex from minors are Democrats. That’s not a coincidence, it’s a pattern. It’s who Democrats are. So, it’s not that the party produces idiots, although it certainly is a magnet for them, it’s that it attracts horrible people who are awful to the children, women, animals, plant life and everything else that is not them or could hinder their goosestepping march to power. It’s not the 3-minute mile, more like the 3-point IQ. It’s who Democrats are. |
Marco Rubio Stuns With Speech Defending Western Civilization
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio stunned the world in an amazing speech over the importance of the United States, Western Civilization, and the prevention of its decline while at the Munich Security Conference. The speech was met with mass support from conservatives online, as multiple clips with excerpts from it went viral on social media Saturday. For those concerned about whether or not Europe will prioritize their survival through the 21st century, it truly is a must-watch. pic.twitter.com/hM4UOgwdzy — Department of State (@StateDept) February 14, 2026 Rubio spoke at length about the necessity of being proud of the collective Western heritage, the mass migration crisis, and the Trump administration’s goal to defend “a great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history.”
The international crowd gave Rubio a standing ovation for the speech, despite claims from the Left that the Trump administration had lost Europe’s respect for demanding that they take ownership in their own success.
Rubio has widely been considered the top choice to be Vice President should JD Vance win the 2028 Republican nomination. |
DHS enters partial shutdown as Congress fails to agree on a funding bill before the weekend
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The federal government has entered a partial shutdown as Congress failed to reach an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Senate failed to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the proposed DHS appropriations bill before lawmakers left Washington, D.C., for a long weekend to observe Presidents’ Day on Monday, causing the department to enter a partial shutdown at midnight on Friday. Members of both chambers of Congress were also scheduled to attend the 62nd
annual Munich Security Conference, with several flying out at the end
of the day on Thursday. Both a full-year bill and a temporary, two-week
funding extension failed.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) gave Senators 24 hours’ notice to return to the capital if a deal was reached, while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) gave 48 hours.\ Republicans also pointed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats for blocking the GOP’s efforts to prevent another shutdown.
Thursday’s Senate vote was largely split along party lines in a 52-47 vote, with Senator John Fetterman (D-Penn.) being the only Democrat to back the bill with Republicans. Democrats have held off on agreeing to fund the DHS until their demands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reforms and oversight are met. Republicans have agreed to agents wearing body cameras, but resisted demands that they obtain judicial warrants before entering private property to apprehend suspects. Schumer accused the GOP of choosing “chaos.”
The scrutiny on ICE has been intensified for the past two months as “Operation Metro Surge” was carried out in Minnesota, with several thousand federal immigration personnel deployed to the state. Two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed in immigration enforcement-related shootings in January during anti-ICE demonstrations in Minneapolis. Border czar Tom Homan recently revealed that despite rowdy protests across the state, local law enforcement has been cooperating with federal forces, going against sanctuary policies to notify immigration officers when a suspect is to be released from prison. This has led to the end of the operation, with troops already being relocated. Critical immigration agencies like ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will continue operations due to existing funding from last year’s appropriations bill signed under President Donald Trump. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Secret Service are expected to experience some disruptions as a result of the funding lapse, however. FEMA workers are likely to be furloughed without pay, which officials warn could impede the agency’s ability to provide aid in natural disasters. TSA personnel, including airport security and baggage handlers, are set to continue working without pay over the weekend to avoid travel disruptions, such as delays and cancellations, similar to what the country saw during the 43-day full shutdown late last year — the longest in U.S. history.
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CNN Hosts Fall Apart as Scott Jennings Demands Facts on Voter ID Debate
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Last week’s CNN segment made plain what Americans who value common sense have known for years: the mainstream media would rather scream than debate. When Scott Jennings calmly pressed CNN panelists on the SAVE Act — asking them to plainly explain how proof of citizenship would “disenfranchise” anyone — the hosts devolved into ad hominem and hand-waving instead of facts. Jennings ran circles around the
panel by pointing out simple truths most journalists ignore, including
polling that shows broad public support for voter ID and the basic
premise that only citizens should be allowed to vote. He repeatedly
demanded specifics from critics who kept repeating emotional slogans
instead of answering the straightforward question: how does requiring ID
silence lawful voters? The left’s predictable response — slapping the “Jim Crow 2.0” label on any effort to secure elections — is dishonest fearmongering meant to keep people dependent on partisan narratives. Groups like the Brennan Center will count and dramatize missing documents, but they gloss over the practical reality that states already verify identity for countless civic functions and provide ways to obtain or replace records. Meanwhile, Republicans in the House moved to restore basic confidence in federal elections with legislation backed by President Trump and supported by a majority of Americans who want to know voters are citizens. The Save Act debate is not about exclusion; it’s about trust and verification in an era where confidence in elections is dangerously low. Of course, the Democrat playbook includes desperate procedural tricks: attaching or detaching provisions, parading supposed outrage, and using cable news to amplify the outrage machine. Even as the House debated the SAVE Act, funding bills were pushed through without the provision attached, proving how messy and political the process has become while opponents shout “disenfranchisement” and offer no workable alternative. Hardworking Americans deserve better than cable anchors who prefer performance to substance and elected officials who hide behind hyperbole. Scott Jennings did what conservative patriots must keep doing: force the conversation back to facts, common sense, and the principle that elections should be for citizens alone. If you care about the future of our republic, call your senator and tell them to defend election integrity instead of bowing to media hysteria. |
Trump's EPA Reverses Costly Climate Rules, Restores Economic Liberty
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On February 12, 2026, President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin delivered what the agency called the single largest deregulatory action in American history by eliminating the 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding that underpinned years of costly federal mandates. This decisive move restores the principle that sweeping economic policy should be made by elected representatives, not unaccountable bureaucrats, and it represents a long-overdue rejection of climate alarmism turned into regulatory fiat. By formally revoking the endangerment finding,
the administration has undone the legal basis for vehicle greenhouse gas
standards that drove the last two presidential administrations’ push
toward aggressive mandates and compliance regimes. Conservatives have
argued for years that these rules were thinly disguised economic
coercion, and rolling them back returns common-sense to environmental
policy without pretending the market must be shackled to a political
agenda. The EPA didn’t stop there — it also scrapped off-cycle credits that incentivized annoying and costly vehicle features such as automatic engine start-stop systems that frustrated drivers while delivering marginal benefits. For hardworking Americans who just want reliable, affordable transportation, removing these one-size-fits-all mandates is a welcome relief from Washington’s hobbyhorse tinkering with every product Americans rely on. Predictably, the coastal elites and environmental litigators are shrieking about doom and legal challenges, insisting that public health and the planet are being sacrificed for corporate profits. That’s the usual script: when common-sense rules return, opponents cry catastrophe to preserve regulatory power — and they’ll almost certainly take this fight to the courts rather than accept democratic accountability. Meanwhile, the Trump EPA is selling this as real relief for American families and manufacturers, claiming the action will save consumers trillions by removing hidden compliance costs and freeing automakers to prioritize affordability and choice. Whether you drive a work truck or buy groceries delivered by American truckers, rolling back burdensome regs can lower prices and boost domestic production — exactly the pro-growth, pro-worker agenda conservatives champion. This was never about denying science; it was about restoring honest government and stopping Washington from weaponizing every technical finding into a tax on the American family. Patriots who believe in personal liberty, economic opportunity, and common-sense regulation should applaud leaders who choose the people over perpetual rule by unelected administrators. |
Saturday, February 14, 2026
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How many times do we need to say this? If you’re here illegally and get caught, you’re going back. It’s the la...
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The problem with the courts is the same as the problem with many of our other institutions. Called the Skins...
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CNN’s Scott Jennings once again took liberals to the cleaners on the Abrego Garcia case, the ‘Maryland man...
