Saturday, June 20, 2026
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This week was Steve Hayward’s turn for TWIP, but this afternoon I got an email from him, saying that he was “in the middle of the north Pacific Ocean not far from the Kamchatka peninsula right now, sailing east to Vancouver from Tokyo, in a raging gale with high seas (I love it!), but am having trouble logging in to Power Line to post.” To the best of my knowledge Steve is still among the living. He followed up that missive by sending me some memes and headlines via email, to which I have added more. So this is a collaborative WIP.
The White House has compiled a secret “blacklist” of prominent MAGA influencers who have been accused of taking money to post social media content aimed at shifting the discourse on important political issues or offering access to President Donald Trump, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.
The White House is now monitoring signs that influencers may have been paid off by domestic or foreign lobbies to target the president and his supporters, according to the Daily Mail. The outlet named MAGA influencers C.J. Pearson, Rob Smith, Arynne Wexler, Emily Wilson and Ryan Fournier, co-founder of Students for Trump, as among the alleged offenders. “I just have utter contempt for them, there’s
As he prepared to sign his “memorandum of understanding” with the Islamic dictatorship of Iran, President Trump again insisted that his deal was much different than that of his predecessor, President Barack Obama.
He’s right — it’s probably worse.
Obama’s treaty did not prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, it simply punted the issue down the road in exchange for cash.
Trump’s agreement has the same vague promises, the same payouts, but with the added twist that Iran can and will take the world hostage by shutting the Strait of Hormuz at will.
On Friday, just days after the signing of the MOU, Iran moved to close the Strait,
Two political dynasties flamed out in Maine’s ranked-choice gubernatorial primaries earlier this month.
Republican Jonathan Bush, the nephew of former President George H. W. Bush and a cousin of former President George W. Bush, was eliminated from contention following the sixth round of tabulation.
On the Democratic side, Angus King III, the son of Sen. Angus King (D-Maine), was eliminated following the first round.
Democrat Hannah Pingree — the former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and the daughter of Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) — and Republican Bobby Charles will compete this fall to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, the Maine Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Friday.
The Trump White House is lashing out at some of its most reliable allies as a bitter civil war erupts on the right over the administration’s controversial Iran agreement.
Conservative commentator Batya Ungar-Sargon became the latest target Friday after she blasted the deal as an “utter humiliation” for the US and accused Vice President JD Vance of unfairly attacking Israel while defending Tehran.
Within hours the official White House rapid-response account on X unloaded on the conservative pundit in a pair of scathing posts.
“The only humiliation here is Batya desperately begging for an additional brain cell because her failing TV show—
Ex-hospital CEO accused of funneling $14M
for lavish lifestyle, son’s $109K Beverly
Hills baptism replies
for lavish lifestyle, son’s $109K Beverly
Hills baptism replies
A former hospital executive siphoned at least $14 million from a health system and used company money to bankroll a lavish lifestyle that included a $109,000 Beverly Hills baptism celebration for his son, according to a bombshell lawsuit.
Michael Sarian, the ousted founder and former CEO of Healthcare Systems of America, was accused of diverting millions of dollars from hospitals in Florida and other states into personal accounts, family trusts and other unauthorized uses while the facilities struggled to pay bills and maintain operations.
The lawsuit, which was first reported by the Miami Herald, alleges Sarian treated company accounts as his personal piggy bank,
Virginia’s Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger has chosen and LGBT activist who has fought against protections for girls’ bathrooms to sit on a state board that directly influences related policies.
During the election, Spanberger regularly dodged questions on this issue when asked by reporters. No we know why.
Her decision to appoint this person to this role just shows that Democrats have not changed at all. They are not budging on this issue and will go right back to where they were before the 2024 election the instant they retake power.
Homeland Security Clocks Anti-Ice NJ Dems
Mad That DHS Denied Access to Delaney
Hall With Reality replies
Mad That DHS Denied Access to Delaney
Hall With Reality replies
You know the sensation - the annoying feeling of continually having to swat away swarms of gnats that insist on circling your summer BBQ fixin's. It serves as an especially apt metaphor for Democrats and anti-ICE leftists (but I repeat myself) ahead of Father's Day cookouts this weekend. Things have been heating up at Newark, New Jersey's Delaney Hall detention facility in clashes between ICE agents and the protesters. RedState's Nick Arama wrote about violent disturbances that stretched across two nights in late May:
Republicans are largely skeptical that President Trump’s deal with Iran will deliver a geopolitical win, but they are bullish about its impact on the midterms, with gas prices already dropping.
One national Republican operative described feeling “relief” after the agreement, pointing to positive reactions from markets. Oil prices have fallen to their lowest point since the war began at the end of February following the announcement of the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran this week. Brent Crude, the international oil benchmark, sat at $79.53 per barrel on Thursday, while West Texas Industrial, the U.S. benchmark, was at $76.55.
The cackhanded pursuit of Net Zero by Ed Miliband and his predecessors has left Britain having to pay France and other countries to take excess power off our hands for a significant portion of the year. The Telegraph has more.
It’s the Ed Miliband paradox: why does Britain have among the highest power prices in Europe when we have so much electricity that suppliers have to pay customers to use it?
It was a question repeated across the energy industry last week after power prices briefly turned negative, meaning customers and countries abroad were paid to use surplus electricity generated in Britain rather than having to pay for it.
Thursday morning, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels, announcing a six-month review of American force posture and funding relating to NATO as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to build “NATO 3.0.”
In 2026, the U.S. is forced by geopolitical necessity to prioritize deterring China, a monumental effort that will require a shift in resources and a change in force posture, with the U.S. moving forces and funding into the Pacific.
The chief medical examiner for New York City reportedly determined the death of Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) executive Kendal Ascher was related to a cosmetic procedure.
His death was due to acute respiratory failure because of pulmonary embolism linked to foreign material following cosmetic filler injections, the New York Post reported, citing the city medical examiner’s statement Tuesday. (snip) His husband, William Howe, attempted to assist, but Ascher tragically died in his arms.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as a leader and a candidate forged his reputation disapproving of Donald J. Trump, but his own approval rating in his state has now dipped below that of the president whom he has consistently targeted.
The former vice presidential candidate continues to lose support over revelations of the massive fraud scandal that was underway during his watch, Fox News Digital reported.
It’s heartening to see foreign soccer fans, especially the Europeans, marvel at their U.S. discoveries. They’ve been awed by Buc-ee’s, Waffle House, and Bass Pro Shops, the best examples of Americana. But what we’re seeing also makes us wonder how long America will still be America.
“Soccer fans like Freddy from Germany are embracing U.S. culture as they crisscross the country — and going viral,” says Danielle Shapiro of the Manhattan Institute.
“Thousands of Europeans are seeing more of America this summer than many New York Times staffers ever will,” tweets Jimmy G.
Germans and Scots are singing “American Pie” while the English sing “Sweet Caroline” at a … Texas rodeo.
A federal judge on Thursday said she’ll only consider parts of challenges to President Trump’s executive order that seeks to restrict mail-in voting, ruling the plaintiffs need to wait before raising concerns about elections beyond this year.
A group of voter education nonprofits and Democratic-led states separately sued the Trump administration in April in an attempt to block the executive order, which also requires states to verify that only U.S. citizens are registered. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani denied the administration’s bid to dismiss the claims entirely, allowing challenges pertaining to the November midterms to go forward.
As Americans gather to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our founding, we should pause to appreciate how difficult it was to get 13 rebellious colonies to agree on anything—let alone on founding a nation.
Too many Americans today believe that our political differences have become so intractable and our discourse so toxic that our very democracy is at risk. What they fail to realize is that our political differences have always seemed insurmountable, and our democracy was never easy. The story of the birth of our nation 250 years ago is a story of disagreements, debates, compromises, and moral courage. It’s a story of a group of rebellious Englishmen who—
In January 1984, Robert Wharton and an accomplice forced their way into a Philadelphia home at knifepoint, then spent hours torturing, strangling, and drowning Bradley and Ferne Hart. On the way out, they turned off the heat. The couple's seven-month-old daughter was left alone in the dead of winter. She was found three days later, dehydrated and barely breathing. Wharton confessed. A jury sentenced him to death. Forty years later, a top official in the Philadelphia District Attorney's office tried to get him off death row and lied to a federal judge to do it. Now she's paying for it. Nancy Winkelman, former supervisor of Soros-
The alleged mastermind behind the foiled terrorist plot to attack the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House Sunday, is an illegal immigrant from Mexico, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed Thursday.
Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31, was arrested by the FBI on Sunday in the small town of Western, Nebraska, and ICE subsequently lodged a detainer against him.
DHS said Alvarez failed to leave the country when his B2 tourist visa expired in 2001 and he was subsequently “granted DACA by the Obama administration.”
“This illegal alien should NEVER have been allowed in our country—
The Los Angeles City Council is facing criticism from a Republican Party leader after deciding to move forward with a Nov. 3 ballot initiative to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
The council voted Thursday to put the measure on the general election ballot.
“Yesterday's vote by the LA City Council, a body that cannot keep its streets clean of filth, save the lives of broken drug-addicted souls in encampments, fight fires or stop crime, is an affront to all Americans,” Roxanne Hoge, Los Angeles County Republican Party chair, told The Center Square, answering questions by email.
Zohran Mamdani made clear Democrats won’t be moderating anytime soon, urging the party to push further left at a New York City rally titled “Our Year, Our Team, ”alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, as they campaigned for a slate of democratic socialist candidates. “For far too long, our party has seen its job as managing decline instead of delivering material change for working people,” Mamdani said. “It has seen its job as explaining why we cannot instead of showing how we can, and that old way of thinking will lose on Tuesday. And frankly, it will lose in South Carolina and New Hampshire. It will fall short of 270 electoral votes
Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte reportedly arrived early for his new role and requested a full list of the office’s roughly 1,800 employees to evaluate potential firings.
President Donald Trump has directed Pulte to shrink the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), describing the agency as “unnecessary and/or too big” and urging further staff reductions after previous cuts under former DNI Tulsi Gabbard, per The Wall Street Journal.
Pulte assumed the acting DNI post on June 19, 2026, succeeding Gabbard, who resigned last month, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. He will continue serving as director of
The Justice Department is indicating it will intervene in a lawsuit filed in New York by Catholic nuns after the state forced them to house biological men with women. (snip) The New York law requires long-term care facilities to provide rooms to transgender residents based on their “gender identity” rather than their biological sex, and forces facility staff to use preferred pronouns and names.
Catholic teaching says that biological sex is God-given and cannot be changed, and doing so is a form of lying. The nuns who run Rosary Hill Home place patients in single-sex rooms based on their biological sex
For years, a South Florida nursing school operator sold a simple proposition: Skip the schooling, buy the diploma, become a nurse. Nearly 3,000 people took her up on it. On Monday, the scheme caught up with her. Carleen Noreus, 52, of Plantation, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering following a two-week trial in Fort Lauderdale. She had taken her chances before a jury rather than accepting a plea deal, changing her mind mid-trial, a decision prosecutors say will factor in her favor at sentencing.
Conservatives by temperament only reluctantly admit that anything, anywhere, has ever improved. But this most certainly has.
In short, the Vietnam War veterans who returned home to neglect or abuse from liberals have received their just due.
On Thursday at the White House, President Donald Trump provided literal physical support to 88-year-old Retired Marine Maj. James Capers while bestowing upon the patient, patriotic, and impossible-to-kill Capers a Congressional Medal of Honor he ought to have received decades ago.