Conservative Blogger
Sunday, June 21, 2026
Vance Meets Iranian Negotiators in Switzerland to Work on Details of Deal
Vice President JD Vance and senior Iranian officials arrived in Switzerland on Sunday to formally launch negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program and build out the fragile interim deal to end the war in Iran. The framework was signed last week, and now top U.S. and Iranian negotiators are in a 60-day sprint to reach an agreement on the technical details that hold massive implications for the world economy and global security. Yet only days after signing the agreement, it’s being stress-tested after fighting escalated in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah — and by the subsequent announcement by Iran’s military that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway that transits a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas. Vance first sat down for talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, who has served as a key intermediary between the United States and Iran throughout the conflict. “What’s up man! Good to see you,” Vance said as he warmly greeted Munir, who serves as his country's army chief. Mediators from Qatar were also on hand at the picturesque mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne on Sunday morning. Rafael Grossi, chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — met with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on the sidelines of the gathering. The agency had monitored the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated between the U.S. and Iran under the Obama administration. Trump in 2018 withdrew the U.S. from the agreement. Iran’s main focus during negotiations on Sunday will be the ongoing war between Israel and Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iran’s state news agency on Sunday. Iran is insisting that the deal’s implementation start with the part of the deal that calls for a cessation of all wars, including between Israel and Hezbollah. Baghaei said the U.S. “has been unable or unwilling” to hold Israel to the ceasefire. Iranian officials were to hold their own meetings with Pakistani and Qatari mediators before a planned four-way meeting including the U.S. negotiating team. Iran is cautiously approaching the negotiations given its previous experience with the U.S. negotiations on the nuclear issue, which twice in the past year have been interrupted by massive strikes against the country. “The implementation of any document is more important than its signing,” Baghaei said Sunday. But Iran’s president added that Iran will maintain its right to a nuclear program. “What is certain is that we will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday, according to Iran’s state media. Vance had originally been slated to be on the ground at the picturesque Bürgenstock resort near Lucerne on Friday, but his departure from the United States was delayed after fighting escalated in Lebanon and Iranian officials canceled plans to attend the talks. U.S. Central Command disputed Iran’s claim that it had once again shuttered the strait and said U.S. forces continued to monitor the situation to ensure traffic continues to flow through the waterway. Vance has said that millions of barrels of oil have moved through the strait in recent days. Vance departed the U.S. just after Iranian state TV said Iran’s negotiators had arrived in Switzerland. Tehran’s negotiators include parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, along with central bank and oil officials. The vice president by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, for Sunday's talks. Witkoff and Kushner were the ground in Switzerland ahead of Vance to begin sifting through the technical details of the nuclear talks. Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, arrived at Emmen Air Base outside Lucerne just before 6 a.m. local time, according to his office. While Vance said he planned to be in Switzerland for just “a day or two,” leaving much of the detailed negotiations to be spearheaded by Witkoff and Kushner, his role in the talks has heightened scrutiny of the vice president at a time when he’s actively considering a 2028 presidential campaign. Trump and Vance have come under searing criticism from parts of their own party for the deal, with Republican hard-liners unfavorably likening it to a nuclear agreement signed by the Obama administration that Trump and the GOP have insisted did nothing to actually terminate Iran’s nuclear program. The agreement signed by Trump and Iranian President Pezeshkian immediately allows Tehran to sell its oil freely and paves the way for Iran to tap into billions of dollars in assets that are currently frozen. It also calls for Iran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were targeted in U.S. strikes last summer. The agreement says commercial vessels can pass through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days without a charge, but does not preclude future fees imposed by Iran. Trump made his own threat on Saturday to levy U.S. tolls on the strait if there is no deal with Iran in 60 days, insisting in a social media post that the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.” The Trump administration has been working to reassure global markets that the Iran war has been merely a blip on oil prices, as Americans have complained the conflict resulted in hiking gasoline prices ahead of peak summer travel months. After the White House announced the deal a week ago, oil futures dropped almost 8% — and markets are expected to closely track the progress of talks when they open for trading on Sunday evening. Further complicating matters, neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a signatory to the deal between the U.S. and Iran, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep his forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt its attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in the initial days after the agreement between the U.S. and Iran killed 47 people in Lebanon, as well as four Israeli soldiers. |
Seattle Newspaper Tries to Downplay Patriotism at World Cup, Is Served Huge Helping of Humble Pie Instead
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Seattle is — in parts, anyway — a beautiful city with lots to offer. The Space Needle is pretty cool, while the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum and Pike Place Market are worthy of a visit. Unfortunately, the city is also known as a hotbed of socialism and failed progressive policies, which is evidenced by their large homeless population, their lax approach to crime, and the exodus of major corporations sick of the slow-motion decline. As if to personify the gloomy outlook of so many depressed woke city dwellers, a column posted in the Seattle Times Thursday drew widespread mockery for its portrait of a divided population where many aren’t proud of the United States. This is as the nation prepares for its 250th birthday and as America hosts the so-far extremely successful FIFA World Cup. Many Europeans visiting for the games are discovering our country for the first time, and as RedState’s Nick Arama and others have been covering, they’ve been absolutely loving it. Dreary American leftists, not so much, according to the self-hating rag:
Oh, poor baby. Maybe you should move to Iraq or Somalia. I’m sure they run things much better over there. Although the paper did note that some fans were patriotic, the story was sprinkled with quotes like this one: “We used to be the good guys. Now we’re not.” But here comes the fun part — proud Americans showed up in the tens of thousands and cheered wildly as the U.S. defeated Australia and moved on to the next round. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Seattle Times: USA: Wow! USMNT Stuns the World Cup With Historic Victory Over the Aussies - Advancing to Next Round Now This Is Some World Cup Fun - and a Big 'Thank You' to America RedState’s Buzz Patterson took note: Sure seems like there’s plenty of people who aren’t ambivalent in the slightest, doesn’t it, Seattle Times? Have you ever seen anything like this involving soccer in the U.S.? I haven’t. Fox Sports hasn’t either: Poor, sad Seattle Times and miserable Emerald City socialists. All they wanted to see was people dumping on the country, and instead what they got served was a major dose of humiliation. For the anti-America crowd, it’s time to go back to your caves and work on your next ineffectual protest. In the meantime, normal people will keep rooting for the U.S. of A. as the USMNT makes its historic run. Let’s go! |
Newsom's Finances Don't Add Up—and Now He's Finally Promising Tax Returns
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After announcing that his family is under federal investigation, reportedly related to taxes and business income, a spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday that the office was "working to prepare" tax returns for tax years 2021 through 2025 "for transparency," adding that, "unlike Donald Trump, the Governor has nothing to hide." Upon his election as governor in 2018 Newsom promised to release his full tax returns each year, but has not held to that promise; in 2021 and 2022 he released tax returns for tax years 2017 through 2020 to comply with California law for gubernatorial candidates, but has not released even an overview since. PRIOR COVERAGE: Gavin Newsom Says He's Under Investigation by DOJ; Sources Say It's Related to His Wife's Taxes Still, Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos told the California Post in an email:
That's not even semi-accurate. They publicly disclose income ranges every year through Gavin's required Form 700 filing, but those are huge ranges. They have only released full tax returns for four tax years, 2017 through 2020, and only released those to the Secretary of State's website during his re-elect campaign in 2022. Even though the election wasn't until November, they were able to avoid releasing 2021 returns by filing for an extension. The returns were removed from the site shortly after the election, but RedState archived them; they can be viewed here. In 2017, when he announced his run for governor, he produced six years of returns for a select group of journalists to review in-person at the offices of his campaign consultants, but they weren't allowed to copy them. From that review, several outlets posted basic information from the tax returns, including total income, total taxes paid, amounts paid for household employees, and charitable giving. In 2018 Newsom's team followed the same procedure, with only basic information being reported to the masses. Knowing this, when Newsom allowed reporters to view his 2019 tax returns in May 2021, Politico brought blank IRS printouts to the office. They "copied the numbers and other key information by hand, along with detailed notes," and "then typed the data into each form or schedule on the IRS website to reproduce a portion of Newsom’s returns," noting, "the governor’s returns were several hundred pages long and complex, leaving journalists with little time to fully scrutinize every page." The tax returns are of particular interest in light of the purchase of a $9.1 million mansion in Marin County by an LLC formed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom in November 2024, a week after the organization received the unencumbered deed. Siebel Newsom (through the LLC) took out a $6.5 million mortgage a few months later, in February 2025. Payments for that mortgage, one of two residential mortgages the Newsoms have, total more than $500,000 annually. However, a review of reporting over the years, combined with our own review of Newsom's tax returns, reveals an average total income of approximately $1.4 million a year for tax years 2010-2020. In some of those years the couple sold significant assets. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported about the couple's 2010-2015 tax returns:
The big question is, how are the Newsoms affording this lifestyle based on what we know about their income and assets? Although the media make it seem that Newsom's wealthy enough to afford all of this based on his stake in Plumpjack, those assets are all in a blind trust and the dividends he received from 2010 through 2020 were relatively stable. And, the wine industry (more than 85% of Newsom's assets are in wine) hasn't done well since 2020, so it's difficult to imagine those dividends have substantially increased. Newsom's office didn't give any indication of when those returns would actually be released, or if they'd be original or amended returns. |
What Democrats Have Done to a Once-Great American City
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A picture of a near-empty downtown Los Angeles appeared on “X” recently with this caption under it: “Los Angeles has one of the deadest downtowns in the world, according to a new survey.” I’d like to know a little more about that survey and how the surveyors arrived at their conclusion, but there’s not much debate among patriotic Americans that most metropolitan areas of the country are currently in horrible condition. That doesn’t need “surveys” to prove. When one looks at the major metropolises in America in 2026, one sees so much tragedy and heartbreak. Once great, thriving cities that millions fled to for hope and opportunity—people (and businesses) now, if they can, are running from them as rapidly as they can get away. Why? What happened? Too much Judeo-Christian morality? I’d like to ask, which one of these great cities has had even one Republican mayor in the last 50 years? Very, very few of them, I suspect. This tragedy, in American big cities, has been caused, 100 percent, by the Democrat Party and its policies and politicians. Not just their policies, but the decadent lifestyle they encourage people to live can only lead to desecration and ruin. Why do people continue to vote for Democrats when they see the horrors they produce? Well, there are many reasons, I guess. Some do it out of tradition—”my family has always voted Democrat, so I do, too.” That’s super-intelligent reasoning, isn’t it? Some vote Democrat out of hate: “I will never vote for Donald Trump.” Others do it out of apathy; they just don’t really care too much about politics as long as their lives are moving along acceptably to them. Many do it out of ignorance—they simply don’t know (or care) what Democrats have done to these big cities. They may see a politician they like, and they believe anything he/she tells them, regardless of how big a lie it is. Ignorance, apathy, and frankly, stupidity, are all serious problems in any democracy. Of course, sadly, countless Black Americans populate the bigger cities now, “white flight” having occurred in most of them. So, many of these metropolitan areas have Black Democrat Party mayors. The horrors could hardly be worse. In 2024, 15,795 people were murdered in America. Of those victims, 6,753 were white, and 8,158 were Black. That was actually less than 2023, when 8,070 whites were murdered compared to 11,060 Blacks. This is amazing, considering that only 13 percent of the population of America is Black. Yet, they make up a majority of the people murdered. Somebody is failing them—and sometimes it is themselves. It must be said that many of these hideous inner-city problems, frankly, are the fault of the people living there. When 69-70 percent of Black babies are born out of wedlock, that is a recipe for crime, poverty, and maladjusted children—God intended for families to have both mothers and fathers for a reason. But where are the Democrat Party—and Black—political leaders who are urging black to quit fornicating and having babies out of wedlock, and for fathers to take responsibility for their offspring and raise them “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”? Well, Democrats can’t have that, can they? That plan is Judeo-Christian, and the Democrat Party would rather watch blacks suffer poverty, misery, and murder than submit to godly wisdom. And Black churches, which are supposed to be teaching the precepts of Jesus, have, rather, exalted the policies of the Democrat Party. Those “churches” have been virtually no help at all. Therefore, the evil that the Democrat Party is perpetuating will persist as long as Blacks and other inner-city dwellers (and massive numbers of Americans) ignore the only true answer to these horrifyingly tragic problems—live virtuous, responsible, godly lives. Why people can’t see that, I do not know. The Democrats don’t want to see it, or don’t want to admit it, because if people were virtuous, responsible, and godly, they wouldn’t need government. “If all men were angels, no government would be necessary,” James Madison said. But, of course, government power is all Democrats are interested in. So, the Democrat Party and its politicians, both white and Black, have a vested interest in making sure cities like Los Angeles remain decadent, and their downtowns remain dead—in more ways than one. And they’ve been able to tell the “Big Lie” long enough that they continue in power. They have convinced millions of Black people that the fault comes, not from Democrats or Black promiscuity, but from “white supremacy.” If there is an organization on this earth more evil than the Democrat Party, I do not know what it is. Even the Chinese Communist Party isn’t this revolting. Countless trillions of hard-working American taxpayers’ dollars have been poured into these cities over the last 50 years—and those cities have only grown worse and more barbaric. But what is the Democrat Party’s answer? “More money!” They’ll never get enough. Never. “The leech has two daughters—Give and Give!” (Proverbs 30:15). There is the Democrat Party. So, Los Angeles’s downtown will remain dead because the people of Los Angeles are going to elect another Democrat mayor who cares absolutely nothing about the people of her city. She only cares about stealing money from one group of people and giving it to those whose votes she hopes to buy. But beyond that, the city—like every major American metropolis—will remain a cesspool of crime, poverty, filth, corruption, decadence, and debauchery. It will be totally the fault of the Democrat Party. And the poor citizens will continue to suffer because of politicians’ selfish lust for power and their own lack of self-control. Well, those citizens get what they vote for; thus, ultimately, it is their own fault. “The government you elect is the government you deserve,” (Thomas Jefferson), but it’s still sad. |
Trump Just Slapped Down This Iranian Scheme for Strait of Hormuz
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President Donald Trump on Saturday affirmed that there will be no tolls in the Strait of Hormuz for the 60 days following the deal established between the U.S. and Iran to allow more time for negotiations. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote:
Trump’s announcement comes days after he signed a deal with the Iranian regime to curtail the fighting while reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had blocked since shortly after the war began in late February. It also calls for the cessation of fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah and requires the Iranian regime to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and halt its efforts to get nuclear weapons.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the regime is “not seeking to levy transit tolls; however, fees will be charged in exchange for the services that are provided,” according to The New York Times.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz restarted after the agreement was signed. But the flow of vessels is still below normal levels. Mine clearing teams are working to remove the hazards left during the war. However, there has been some uncertainty over whether the regime will still try to impose tolls despite what the agreement mandates. Meanwhile, oil prices have finally begun to drop now that the waterway is open again. The waterway carries about 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas, as well as other resources. But if Iran imposes fees on traffic through the region, it could slow any relief Americans might get at the gas pump. |
Former U.S. Olympian arrested in connection with alleged Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism
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A former Team USA Olympian has been arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after the completion of President Donald Trump’s renovation. David Hearn, 67, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property on Friday in Washington, D.C. The three-time Olympic canoeist was cycling near the monument when he said he stopped and noticed a piece of the pool’s new liner floating in the water. He told The Washington Post that he reached out and touched the piece before Park Police took him into custody.
The cyclist also denied touching the hose used by government workers, but acknowledged his bike might have. Trump had been renovating the reflecting pool, which he called “filthy dirty,” for weeks. A former real estate developer, he determined to seal the bottom with a compound used for swimming pools and paint it “American Flag Blue,” rather than remove all the stones at the bottom for an expensive and lengthy overhaul. Since the president revealed the new blue pool, workers have often been spotted trying to remove persistent green algae from its water. In a Truth Social Post on Friday, Trump acknowledged the hurdles facing the restoration efforts for the pool, which is part of a broader initiative by his administration to clean up and beautify the capital. He also said that the monument had been vandalized in the days after it was completed.
Trump referenced the recent vandalism of the National Mall, which was inscribed with the numbers “8647.” The message is viewed as a code for eliminating President Trump — “86” meaning to get rid of or cancel something, and Trump being the 47th president.
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$850 Million Obama Center: A Monument to Politics, Not History
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The Obama Presidential Center opened to the public on June 19, 2026, amid a fanfare Hollywood-style dedication that onlookers were asked to cheer for as if this were a civic triumph rather than a partisan monument. For hardworking Americans watching the taxpayer tab balloon, the spectacle felt more like an elite coronation than a humble library meant to preserve history. The Obamas’ staged arrival and celebrity greetings masked the very real questions about who benefits from this glossy new campus.
Make no mistake: this was an $850 million project built more like a private resort than a sober, archival institution, and its architects openly intended it to be a beacon of personality and politics rather than a traditional presidential library. The center breaks with the old model—prioritizing amphitheaters, boutiques, and curated narratives over the impartial preservation of records—and that should alarm anyone who cares about honest history. When civic leaders swap museums for monuments to themselves, taxpayers end up financing the PR for a political brand. Worse, this is not even an official National Archives library in the traditional sense; Barack Obama chose to keep his presidential records largely in digital form and outside the direct stewardship of federal archivists. That decision hands the narrative to a private foundation and raises real concerns about public access and transparency for scholars and citizens alike. A “museum” that controls its own narrative is not the same as a public archive committed to preserving every document, warts and all. And while the ribbon was cut, the financial housekeeping looks shaky: the center’s endowment reportedly sits far below its stated safety-net target, and subcontractors on the project say they are owed millions for work done. That kind of mismanagement and underfunding should be a red flag to every local taxpayer and official who was promised lasting community benefit. If big-name projects leave small contractors in the lurch, ordinary Americans rightly ask whether political vanity projects are worth the cost. The opening read like a Hollywood premiere — stage lights, musicians, and hand-picked guests — and every living former president attended except one, a fact that was not lost on political observers. The center’s star power only underscores what conservatives have long argued: this is politics wrapped in spectacle, designed to burnish a particular legacy rather than foster unbiased civic education. When public spaces become backdrops for celebrity and faction, real civic life suffers. Critics have even attacked the design as overblown and tone-deaf, with some calling the near-windowless tower ominous and out of touch with the democratic ideals it purports to celebrate. Mockery has followed in other forms — including manipulated images pushed by political opponents — but the underlying point remains: expensive, fortress-like architecture does not equal humility or service to ordinary people. If our public architecture isn’t transparent, literally and figuratively, then we have only ourselves to blame. Patriots should want a truth-first approach to presidential history, not a curated shrine that doubles as a branding exercise for a political dynasty. Local residents deserved full accountability on costs, contracts, and community impact before the first guest walked in, and taxpayers deserve audits and answers now. If conservatives care about fiscal responsibility, civic honesty, and protecting public spaces from partisan capture, this opening should spur serious oversight — not applause. |
Baseball's Double Standard: Faith Under Fire in MLB's Pride Night Controversy
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On June 12, 2026, during the San Francisco Giants’ officially sanctioned Pride Night, three Giants pitchers — Landen Roupp, J.T. Brubaker, and Ryan Walker — each wrote brief Bible references on the rainbow-themed caps they wore, while reliever Sam Hentges chose not to wear the Pride cap at all. Major League Baseball responded by issuing routine verbal warnings under its uniform regulations, saying the admonition was non-disciplinary and related to writing on team gear rather than the content of the messages. The league’s explanation rings hollow to many Americans who see a pattern of selective enforcement when faith meets corporate ideology. This episode perfectly exposes the moral double standard rotting the institutions our children are supposed to admire: MLB loudly markets rainbow nights and other political spectacles but quietly police public displays of faith. Ordinary, hardworking players who try to quietly live out their convictions are treated like disobedient children, while the league’s elites roll out virtue-signaling campaigns that fill corporate balance sheets. If our national pastime is going to bend the knee to every fashionable creed, then it can hardly pretend to care about fairness. We should applaud the Department of Justice for stepping in to ensure American players aren’t railroaded for their religious beliefs; the Civil Rights Division under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has opened an inquiry into whether the league’s warnings crossed the line into unlawful discrimination. This is not a partisan stunt — it is the rule of law being applied when powerful organizations start treating faith as a disfavored viewpoint. Patriots who love both faith and freedom ought to want a neutral umpire here, not woke managers calling safe or out based on ideology. Republican lawmakers have rightly demanded answers and accountability. Senator Josh Hawley and other conservative leaders have sounded the alarm, pressing MLB leadership for explanations and warning that selective tolerance is still discrimination if it targets Christians. When elected officials have to prod institutions to remember basic civil liberties, you know the rot has spread past mere corporate PR and into cultural coercion. The people who built this country did not sacrifice their blood and treasure so entertainment conglomerates could pick which creeds get a seat at the table. Major League Baseball points to its written uniform rules — a long-standing provision that forbids players from writing on apparel or equipment — as justification for the warning, but spectators are right to ask whether those rules are applied evenly. The rule book exists, yet baseball has a history of accommodating or promoting ideological messages on the field, while calling out spontaneous expressions of faith as violations when convenient. If rules are going to be enforced, they must be enforced impartially; otherwise what we have is not order but censorship masquerading as discipline. This fight is about more than a little ink on a cap — it’s about whether Americans can still freely express their faith without being shamed on a national stage. The players involved did not seek headlines; they tried to honor convictions in a quiet, personal way and were nonetheless publicly reprimanded. Conservatives should stand firm: protecting religious liberty is not special pleading, it is defending the basic rights that make pluralism possible in the first place. If MLB thinks it can keep cashing checks from fans while telling believers to keep their faith at home, it is sorely mistaken. Fans, sponsors, and state authorities are watching, and the DOJ’s involvement makes clear the consequences of discriminatory practices — intentional or not. Now is the time for Americans of conscience to demand that baseball stop picking winners and losers in matters of conscience and return to being a unifying force for the country, not another arena for ideological witch hunts. |
Saturday, June 20, 2026
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