Conservative Blogger
Saturday, April 25, 2026
US Hopes for Progress, but Iran Says Don't Count on Direct Talks
Iran's foreign minister arrived in Islamabad on Friday and U.S. envoys headed to the Pakistani capital in a bid to kickstart a new round of peace negotiations amid a fragile ceasefire. The White House said emissaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would engage in an "in-person conversation" with Iranian representatives. But, in a conflict where both sides have repeatedly spun their own divergent narratives, Iranian state media said that direct talks were not in the cards. Despite President Donald Trump's announcement on Thursday of a three-week ceasefire extension in Lebanon, Israeli strikes in the south of the country killed six people on Friday, the Lebanese health ministry said. While Trump expressed confidence at the prospect of a lasting peace in Lebanon, sealing a deal to end the wider Middle East war is a thornier proposition, even as urgency mounts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit for the world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG). White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Witkoff and Kushner would head to Pakistan on Saturday "to engage in talks...with representatives from the Iranian delegation." "The Iranians reached out, as the president called on them to do, and
asked for this in-person conversation," Leavitt said, adding that the
talks would "hopefully move the ball forward towards a deal."
Leavitt said Vice President JD Vance, who led a first round of negotiations in Islamabad two weeks ago that concluded without a deal, would not be joining for the time being, but was on "standby to fly to Pakistan if necessary." It remained unclear late Friday whether the Iranian side would meet directly with the U.S. envoys. though. Iranian state television said Araghchi has no plans to meet with the Americans and Islamabad would serve as a bridge to "convey" Iranian proposals to end the conflict. Pakistan's foreign ministry said Araghchi had arrived in Islamabad to discuss "ongoing efforts for regional peace and stability" with Pakistani officials, without directly referencing talks with Witkoff and Kushner. An Iranian spokesman said Araghchi would visit Oman and Russia after the Pakistan stop to discuss efforts to end the war launched against the Islamic Republic by Israel and the United States on Feb. 28. Several points of contention remain in the conflict. For one thing, Iran has been reluctant to commit to ending its nuclear development programs and turning over any supplies of enriched uranium. At the same time, Iran has said it won't agree to terms while the U.S. enforces a blockade against Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iranians have continued efforts to hinder vessel traffic carrying oil through the economically and strategically important waterway. - EU says opening Hormuz 'vital' - Since the last round of talks, efforts to bring the two sides back to the table have hit an impasse, with Iran refusing to participate as long as the U.S. naval blockade is in place. . Iran has imposed a de facto blockade of its own on the Strait of Hormuz, allowing only a trickle of ships to pass through the waterway and throwing global energy markets into turmoil as a result. Oil prices slid on Friday amid hopes that fresh peace talks would see an end to Tehran's disruption of trade through the strait. European Council President Antonio Costa said Friday that the strait "must immediately reopen without restrictions and without tolling." "This is vital for the entire world," Costa said. Major Wall Street indices closed at fresh records on Friday as markets cheered the latest batch of earnings reports and U.S. and Iranian officials headed to Pakistan. The United States continued meanwhile to build up its forces in the Middle East with the arrival of its third aircraft carrier in the region, the USS George H.W. Bush. - 'Destroyed' - Trump spoke in glowing terms on Thursday of peace prospects for Lebanon after meeting with Israeli and Lebanese envoys, voicing hope for a three-way meeting with the Lebanese and Israeli leaders. The two countries have been officially at war for decades and until last week had not met so directly since 1993. Mohammed Raad, the head of the Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, urged the Lebanese government to withdraw from direct talks with Israel and warned that a lasting peace deal of the kind sought by Trump "will in no way enjoy Lebanese national consensus." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to destroy the Iran-backed movement, said: "We have started a process to reach a historic peace between Israel and Lebanon, and it's clear to us that Hezbollah is trying to sabotage this." In south Lebanon's Tyre, Mohamad Ali Hijazi was searching a mountain of rubble for mementos of family members killed in an Israeli airstrike minutes before the ceasefire took hold. "I'm trying to find my mother's hairbrush...and a bottle of perfume that she loves," said Hijazi, 48 -- some of the last things he sent her from France, where he has long lived with his wife and two daughters. "My life has been destroyed. I haven't slept for five days," he told AFP, repeatedly fighting back tears. |
Plot Twist: NC Democrat Changes Parties, Strikes Back at Governor in Big Time Power Play
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Back in July, RedState reported on a bold move made by one Democrat state lawmaker in North Carolina that paved the way for a bill to become law that mandated better cooperation and coordination between state sheriffs and federal immigration enforcement agencies. Rep. Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg),
who represents House District 106 in the state legislature, gave her House Republican colleagues the one vote they needed to complete the override of Democrat Gov. Josh Stein's veto of the bill. It was that, and a blistering speech she gave explaining her vote, that paved the way for her party to turn against her, and Stein to very publicly endorse one of her primary challengers:
Her full speech, where she was interrupted by other Democrats at various points, can be read here. READ MORE: The Story Behind the No Good, Horrible, Very Bad Day North Carolina Democrats Had Several months later, Ms. Cunningham was punished for her views after an aggressive campaign against her by Democrats and their affiliated pro-illegal alien special interest groups, along with Stein, and she lost her March primary bid to Rev. Rodney Sadler, the challenger who was endorsed by Stein (two other House Democrats who also sometimes voted with Republicans on legislation and to override vetoes also lost their primary bids). Cunningham, who had already been on the warpath against the party that had betrayed her and the seven terms she served in the General Assembly, made them sweat in the aftermath of her primary loss, saying in early April, "let them be worried" about how she was going to vote in the legislative short session that would start some two weeks later. The short session started on Tuesday. And on Friday, Cunningham dropped a political bomb on the Democrat Party and Stein: She changed her party registration from Democrat to unaffiliated: In a statement issued after the news broke, Cunningham wrote that it was clear that her "values as a black woman no longer align with their agenda" and that she was moving forward "with absolute conviction." She also maintained her stance on illegal immigration, noting that "we have a moral obligation to place the needs of struggling Americans above all competing agendas," including any policies that divert resources away from American citizens and towards illegal aliens. “I have been a Democrat all my life, but I came to realize that I want to serve the people, not a party," she also wrote. "Being an independent thinker does not align with party politics, and I will never compromise the needs of my constituents to satisfy a political agenda." Cunningham hasn't shared who she will caucus with in the short session, but with several veto override attempts planned, including bills on permitless concealed carry, requiring state law enforcement officers to work with ICE, and further cracking down on DEI, Republicans have to be licking their chops at the possibility Cunningham will be emboldened enough to come to their rescue again to help out with an override. For those who might be wondering, her move will not enable her to run as an independent in the fall election: Rep. Cunningham's decision is reminiscent of state Rep. Tricia Cotham's switch to the Republican Party in April 2023 after years of also feeling like her party abandoned her. Cotham's switch gave the GOP-led House a veto-proof majority through the end of 2024 and enraged Democrats who have tried unsuccessfully to defeat her ever since. Unfortunately, the same didn't hold true for Cunningham, but with her announcement today, it's clear she's not simply going to go quietly into the night. Good for her. |
Zohran Mamdani's First Veto Shows You (Again) Exactly What Type of Guy He Is
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Zohran Mamdani issued his first veto as New York City mayor on Friday, and it revealed once more that he is no friend of the Jewish people or a fan of law and order. The democratic socialist has spent his approximately three and a half months in Gracie Mansion proving that he is governing exactly the way he told us he would: by endorsing extreme left policies, threatening punitive tax hikes, refocusing the government on “equity” (which is basically just legalized discrimination), and demonizing the wealthy — the very people who prop the Big Apple up. Now the man who refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” has vetoed a bipartisan measure meant to keep students safe during protests. What were some of the most violent and destructive demonstrations we’ve seen in NYC in recent years? You got it, the 2024 pro-Hamas, anti-Jewish conflagrations at Columbia University and on the city streets, as well as the January anti-ICE protests, to name but a few. Mamdani apparently wants to let rioters do whatever they want:
Yeah, especially if they’re violent anti-ICE or pro-Hamas demonstrators. MORE MAMDANI MADNESS: NIMBY 1, Mamdani 0: The Base That Cheered Him Now Sues Him Mamdani’s ‘Happy Tax Day’ Video Backfires Big Time Thanks to His Family’s Massive Uganda Compound Former Empire State Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom I usually criticize for his disastrous COVID response, alleged tendency to sexually harass staffers, and other foibles, was actually on point with his response: Cuomo:
Let’s face it, the Cuomo brand has taken plenty of hits in recent years, but it’s hard to argue his point on this one. Meanwhile, it’s impossible to claim that Mamdani duped voters or pulled a fast one — no, this is exactly how we told us he would govern. The sad part is that far too many New Yorkers either didn’t listen or didn’t care. IT'S NOT A SURPRISE: Ghosts of Former Soviet Union Leaders Grin As Mamdani's $30M NYC Communist Grocery Store Unveiled They can expect plenty more of the same. |
They Can’t Even Flip Burgers
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The New York Times tried to write a sympathy piece for the USAID class. It accidentally wrote an indictment. The villain of the story was supposed to be DOGE, the great orange-bad-men-with-spreadsheets monster that came into Washington and started cutting through the federal fat farm. The victims were supposed to be the noble public servants, contractors, grant managers, NGO executives, and democracy-development professionals who suddenly found themselves outside the taxpayer-funded cocoon. Then the Times gave away the whole game: one former senior vice president at a USAID-funded nonprofit had been making roughly $272,000 a year, and after the gravy train jumped the tracks, she was interviewing for a $19-an-hour job at a spice store. Normal Americans did not read that and reach for a tissue. They read it and asked the only question that matters: what in God’s name were we paying for? That is what the coastal press still does not understand. A quarter-million-dollar salary means something in the real country. It means working years of double shifts. It means a house is paid off. It means college tuition. It means a small business surviving another year. It means a mechanic, a nurse, a trucker, a cop, a farmer, or a welder would have to grind for years to see what one USAID-world executive was pulling down annually from a system most Americans cannot even see, let alone audit. Then we are supposed to cry because the private economy looked at that résumé and said, "the best we can do is 19 bucks an hour." No. That is not a human-interest story. That is a flashing red light. The entire Times frame is backward. DOGE was treated like the marauding villain because it dared to question the sacred bureaucracy. How dare anyone cut government jobs? How dare anyone interrupt the NGO pipeline? How dare anyone ask whether these programs actually work? How dare anyone touch the soft, padded, credentialed ecosystem where public money flows into nonprofit offices, consultant contracts, administrative salaries, stakeholder meetings, and reports about reports. The Times wants Americans to see cruelty. What Americans see is confirmation. Because if one person in one USAID-funded corner of the NGO complex can make almost $300,000 a year and then struggle to command $19 an hour in the open market, how many more are there? How many vice presidents of capacity-building? How many directors of strategic partnerships? How many senior advisers to initiatives nobody can define? How many people have been living inside the government-funded aquarium, swimming in circles, collecting elite salaries, and calling it service? 😂 That is the real story. DOGE barely got started. It did not gut the federal blob. It nicked it. It scraped a little paint off the hull. It cut some fat, and the permanent class screamed as if the republic itself had been stabbed. But when you pull one thread and a $272,000 NGO salary falls out, the American people are entitled to wonder what the whole sweater looks like. Washington is full of these hidden economies. They are not always federal employees in the narrow sense. Many sit one layer out, then two layers out, then three layers out: nonprofits, contractors, subcontractors, pass-through organizations, technical-assistance providers, fiscal sponsors, foundations, and professional managerial shops that exist because government money exists. They are close enough to the state to live off it, but far enough away to make accountability foggy. When the money is flowing, they are experts. When the money stops, they are victims. Meanwhile, the country is drowning in debt. Americans are being told that every basic function of life must cost more. Groceries cost more. Insurance costs more. Housing costs more. Cars cost more. Interest costs more. The national debt is screaming toward $40 trillion, and the same people who lecture the public about sacrifice want tears for the executive class of the foreign-aid machine. What planet are these people living on? The real economy is not gentle. It has never been gentle to the people who pay for Washington’s fantasies. During COVID-19, when the political class shut the world down over a cough and wiped out livelihoods by decree, where were the grand New York Times sob stories for the men in the energy industry who lost their jobs overnight? Where was the national mourning for the welders, roughnecks, truckers, pipeline workers, and small-town families watching an entire way of life get strangled by people working safely from laptops? Those men were told to adapt, retrain, take the hit, and stop complaining. Meanwhile, Sheryl Cowan, the Times’ new heroine of bureaucratic martyrdom, was likely still pulling down her elite NGO salary from the comfort of her house. But when the protected class loses access to the taxpayer pipeline, suddenly every lost desk job is a national emergency. That double standard is the rot. The people who build, fix, deliver, protect, farm, wire, weld, drive, clean, cook, and carry this country are expected to survive reality. The bureaucratic class expects reality to be subsidized. The Times accidentally showed the country the difference between price and value. The government price was nearly $300,000. The market value, at least in this case, looked a lot closer to $19 an hour –– a quarter-million-dollar gap. That gap is the hidden tax on every American family. That gap is the premium we pay so a credentialed class can lecture us about how terrible our own country is and why we need to send billions of dollars to fund queer theatre in Nepal. Competence matters. Results matter. Value matters. If someone is truly worth that kind of money, the private sector takes notice. If the only place that salary exists is inside a government-funded grant universe, then the salary was obviously not measuring competence. It was really measuring proximity. Proximity to federal money. Proximity to the right institutions. Proximity to the right vocabulary. Proximity to the people who’ve spent decades turning public spending into private comfort. So yes, the cuts were justified. More scrutiny is needed. Every agency, grant pipeline, NGO pass-through, and contractor ecosystem should be examined with the cold patience of an auditor and the suspicion of a taxpayer who has been lied to for too long. The question should be simple: what did America receive for the money? Not what was promised in some glossy annual report. What was delivered? The country cannot afford a ruling-administrative class that collapses the moment the subsidy disappears. Americans are tired of funding people who look down on them, lecture them, and then demand pity when their artificial economy gets clipped. We are tens of trillions of dollars in debt. The party is over. The fake prestige economy is dead. The Times wanted us to mourn the fired USAID class. Instead, it reminded us why they needed to be fired. |
No Way: Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick Who Resigned Before Getting Expelled Is Running for Re-election 😲
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Former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), who resigned from Congress before she was officially expelled, is doing something so shameless, so typical of D.C., and, I hate to admit it, something quite funny: she’s running for re-election to her old seat. It creates another headache for Democrats, as Sheila was engulfed in a scandal, where she reportedly stole millions in relief aid from FEMA. It was a lengthy investigation by the House Ethics Committee, and it became clear she was done when the most vocal left-wingers on the Hill were calling for her removal
The one thing about this game—it’s never boring. Well, unless Joe Biden is president, then it’s like watching paint dry, since that man was half-dead. |
Trump extends Jones Act waiver to August to lower fuel prices
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The Trump administration announced that a waiver of the Jones Act will be extended for another 90 days to lower fuel prices and to make it easier to ship oil, fuel, and fertilizer around the nation amid the conflict in Iran, which is in its second month. The waiver, initially set to expire on May 17th, will allow foreign vessels to move goods through U.S. ports until mid-August.
Rogers shared how the waiver, since it took effect on March 18th, has enabled more supply to be received through U.S. ports on X.
Driven by fuel costs and the strategic closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the administration took action to stabilize the energy market. At the time of this decision, the global energy landscape was under significant strain, with Brent crude trading at $105 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reaching $95, while the national average for gasoline hit the $4 per gallon mark. To alleviate these pressures, the president issued a temporary waiver of the 1920 Jones Act, a federal statute that normally mandates all goods transported between domestic ports be carried on vessels that are U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-flagged. This targeted exemption applies to a broad range of energy-related commodities, including crude oil, coal, natural gas, refined petroleum products, and fertilizers. Government records indicate that the waiver, originally enacted in March, has already facilitated the domestic transport of diverse cargoes such as renewable diesel, ammonia, ethanol, and gasoline to key states including California, Florida, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. Recognizing the continued volatility of the market, a White House official confirmed that the Trump administration is extending this waiver three weeks ahead of its scheduled expiration. This proactive extension is designed to provide the maritime industry with the necessary lead time to secure sufficient vessel capacity, ensuring that critical energy derivatives continue to reach their destinations without further logistical bottlenecks. |
SPLC Indicted: DOJ Uncovers Massive Fraud Scheme in Alabama
The Department of Justice stunned the political establishment this week when a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama returned an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, accusing the group of scheming to conceal how donor funds were used. The charges allege the SPLC set up sham accounts and engaged in a pattern of deception that, if proven, would redefine how the left’s favorite watchdog is viewed by the public. This is not a garden-variety scandal; it is a direct assault on trust between donors and supposedly principled nonprofits.
According to the indictment, the counts include multiple allegations of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering, and prosecutors say the SPLC funneled more than $3 million to informants tied to extremist organizations over years-long operations. The DOJ’s charging documents and the press rollout made clear this was a financially sophisticated effort to hide transfers and mask the true recipients of donor dollars. For conservatives who have long accused the SPLC of running a political grift, the financial specifics in the indictment are damning on their face.
Conservative voices on Newsmax and elsewhere have seized on the indictment as vindication of long-held suspicions that the SPLC’s reputation was a cover for politicized fundraising and influence-peddling. Guests on Rob Schmitt Tonight called the case “explosive” and argued it shows a pattern of mislabeling and laundering that targeted patriotic organizations under the guise of “anti-hate” work. Plenty of Americans who have watched the SPLC mislabel conservative groups for years see this as the long-overdue reckoning their leaders promised.
That said, establishment media and some former federal prosecutors are already sounding cautious notes about the legal viability of the indictment, warning the government will have to thread difficult legal needles to prove material deception and criminal intent. Legal skepticism doesn’t erase the political facts on display: donors were allegedly misled, payments were allegedly concealed, and the public deserves a full airing of those facts in a court of law. Whether the case survives intense scrutiny or not, the political and moral questions about transparency and accountability for activist nonprofits are now unavoidably front and center.
Patriotic conservatives should not be satisfied with mere sound bites or selective press releases; we need more than rhetoric — we need oversight. Congress and state attorneys general must examine tax-exempt privileges, demand real transparency from organizations that spend heavily on political influence, and ensure that donors who gave in good faith aren’t being bilked to bankroll the very extremism these groups claim to oppose. This is about protecting civic institutions from weaponized nonprofits that operate in the shadows while telling a different story to the public.
If the left built an industry on disinformation and donor deception, then responsible Americans must insist on real consequences and reforms. The indictment is a moment for conservatives to press for accountability, push for stronger disclosure laws, and remind voters that no organization — no matter how loudly it preaches virtue — is above the law. The SPLC case could be a turning point; if conservatives seize it, we can turn outrage into lasting reforms that protect donors, communities, and the rule of law.
Journalist Blows Whistle on H-1B Visa Misuse Over Food Truck
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Texas journalist Sara Gonzales stepped into a controversy that should concern every American who cares about rule of law, publicly confronting what she says is an H-1B visa misuse tied to a Dallas–Fort Worth food truck. Gonzales has been airing video evidence and follow-up reporting that allege the worker was operating a business while on a visa sponsored for specialized employment, and the clips have sparked a national debate about enforcement and accountability. The individual at the center of the storm has been identified as Naveen Tummala,
associated with the Golconda Express food truck, and Gonzales’ footage claims the venture was being run in ways inconsistent with H-1B restrictions. Reports say the business was operating across multiple locations in the area and that some registration details raised red flags for investigators and citizens who flagged the tip. When confronted on camera, Tummala pushed back, insisting he understands his H-1B obligations and denying wrongdoing — a response that has done little to calm the controversy because the underlying questions about what counts as “working” for visa-holders remain murky. The viral nature of the encounter has forced the practical legal questions into public view, and Americans rightly want clarity when immigration rules appear to be bent. Immigration lawyers say the law is complicated: beneficiaries can sometimes own businesses but are restricted from unauthorized employment outside the sponsoring job, which creates gray areas that bad actors can exploit or that paperwork can unintentionally obscure. That ambiguity is exactly why watchdog reporting matters — it exposes possible gaps between the letter of the law and what’s happening on the ground, and it pressures agencies to act rather than shrug. This episode also sits inside a wider pattern of influencers and citizen journalists turning sunlight on potential visa abuses, drawing both support and criticism as the country debates immigration priorities and labor protection for American workers. The trend proves one thing: when official systems are slow or politicized, ordinary Americans and independent reporters will step in to demand answers and to protect livelihoods. Patriots should be thankful for reporters willing to ask uncomfortable questions and follow inconvenient truths, because unchecked visa misuse chips away at jobs and wages that belong to hardworking Americans. Washington’s answer can’t be hand-wringing; it must be stronger oversight, faster investigations, and clear consequences where rules are violated, combined with sensible reform that puts American workers first. If officials won’t do their duty, voters must insist they do — and support journalists who expose what the regulatory bureaucracy ignores. |
Friday, April 24, 2026
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