June 20, 2026
Polls
Pew Research - About eight-in-ten U.S. Catholics (78%) have a favorable view of Pope Leo XIV, down slightly from last year, according to a survey conducted after a public clash between Leo and President Donald Trump. While 19% of Catholics say Leo has been too critical of the Trump administration, 51% say the president has been too critical of the pope.
Middle East
NBC News - Iran said Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, according to Iranian state media, citing ceasefire violations after Israel continued deadly strikes in southern Lebanon overnight.
Iran’s top joint military command said that the Strait of Hormuz, which was reopening as part of the U.S.-Iran deal signed this week, would remain closed for commercial vessels, the semiofficial Mehr news agency said.
It said the closure was the “first step” in response to what were described as breaches of commitments by the U.S. and Israel.
In a statement on X that did not acknowledge the apparent closure, U.S. Central Command said that 55 merchant ships transited on Saturday, “moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets.”
U.S. forces “remain present and vigilant to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, obeyed, and in full force and effect,” the statement said.
Early Saturday, Israeli strikes killed at least 16 people, including two children, according to Lebanese civil defense and media, one day after the U.S. said Israel and Hezbollah had implemented a fresh ceasefire at President Donald Trump’s request.
Israel hit a series of towns across Lebanon’s south early Saturday, Lebanese news agency NNA reported. An airstrike on the town of Arabsalim reportedly killed three people, the agency reported, and a drone strike on the town of Deir al-Zahrani reportedly killed one person. At least seven people remain trapped under the rubble, it said. Lebanon’s army said a soldier was killed between Kfar Rumman and Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.
Time - The reported contents of the agreement have drawn fire from multiple directions simultaneously. In Washington, Iran hawks have read it as a lopsided arrangement, more generous to Tehran than even the 2015 nuclear deal. In Israel, the agreement is seen across the political spectrum as a bad bargain struck by the U.S. while deliberately keeping the Israeli government outside the room and away from the text.
Inside Iran, skepticism about the agreement runs deeper than the rhetoric of the Stability Front, an ultra-hardline faction influential within parts of the state and society, and reflects a broader, pragmatic unease rooted in profound distrust of the U.S.—a feeling sharpened by the trauma of two American-Israeli wars against Iran within a year, both launched while negotiations were underway.
Alernet America - For years, the Republican Party had one unshakable foreign policy consensus: no deals with Iran...
Now Trump has signed his own memorandum of understanding with Tehran, and the backlash isn’t just coming from Democrats. The call is coming from inside the house.
The 14-point MOU, signed electronically on Sunday by Trump, JD Vance, and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, commits both sides to an immediate end to military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon. Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. pledged to terminate all sanctions against Iran.
The centerpiece drew the most fire: a commitment to develop a plan providing $300 billion for Iran’s reconstruction and economic development...
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana didn’t mince words. He called the MOU “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades” and said Ronald Reagan was rolling over in his grave. His core complaint was blunt: Iran’s nuclear ambitions weren’t curbed, and Tehran just learned that threatening a critical shipping lane works, creating every incentive to do it again.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, another Republican who lost a Trump-backed primary, pointed out that the $300 billion reconstruction figure is five times what Congress spends annually on American roads and bridges.
But it’s not just the exiled critics. Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he couldn’t imagine supporting $300 billion in funding for Iran. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said the deal falls short given what the conflict actually cost: 13 American service members killed and more than $100 billion spent on a war that lasted over 100 days.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the party’s top leader, told reporters he still hadn’t seen the final text and had “a bunch of things” he’d have questions about. Even Lindsey Graham, typically one of Trump’s most reliable defenders, offered only conditional support, saying the deal sounded good “if the Iranians will agree to it.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence broke with Trump publicly, arguing the U.S. should have demanded Iran dismantle its nuclear program, end its missile development, and cut ties with proxy forces. John Bolton, Trump’s own former national security adviser, called it a “big defeat for the United States” and said the whole negotiation was driven by fear of high gas prices.
“He’s swearing a lot about it,” one close Trump adviser told Zeteo. Another Trump administration official said: “[R]ight now, he’s definitely madder at the Israelis than the Iranians.”
The sources who’ve spoken to Trump over the past several days say Israel’s “continued attacks in Lebanon and Israeli leaders’ efforts to pressure the Americans into abandoning the memorandum of understanding with Iran have, in fact, further driven Trump in the opposite direction,” according to Zeteo, adding that “the president keeps venting to advisers how angry he is at Netanyahu and other political and media figures – in the U.S. and in Israel – for transparently trying to drag him back into war, or for suggesting that Trump is surrendering to Iran.”
But Trump is surrendering wholly to Iran, according to critics on both the Republican and Democratic side of the political spectrum.
Americans down on data centers
Time - Recent polls have strongly reflected many Americans’ dislike of data centers. A Gallup poll from May found that 71% of Americans would oppose a data center in their area. Voters have sent early warning shots that they are willing to choose their local leaders based on the issue. In the small town of Festus, Missouri, residents ousted half their city council after those members approved a $6 billion data center development.
.Activists are trying to capitalize on the threat of the election to strong-arm politicians into supporting anti-data center measures. In Arizona, following intense lobbying from both sides, Governor Katie Hobbs just signed a state budget that includes a three-year moratorium on data centers receiving tax breaks. The measure represents a major victory for a raucous anti-data center movement across the state, which had previously included protests in Chandler and Ahwatukee.
Writing
Monica Heisey - i have never felt very comfortable with the stance, held by some writers, that writing as an undertaking is both very difficult and emotionally intolerable. While I understand there is plenty about being alone with your thoughts, sharing your ideas in public, and attempting to take something from inside your mind and bring it into the physical realm that is uncomfortable, it is not difficult like digging a ditch. it is not intolerable like having your heart broken, or even like having a sunburn. when people say things like “writing is torture,” i often think, if you really feel this way, why not do something else?
I encountered this line of thinking so frequently in the early days of my career that it occasionally caused me to doubt myself. I loved writing. I couldn’t believe I got to do it for a living, and found it, often, actively fun. Did this mean I was doing it wrong, somehow? Was there a more arduous and therefore more correct method that would lead me to create stronger work? If suffering for one’s art provided no special benefit, why were writers I admired constantly tweeting or appearing on panels to say their working life was hellish and exhausting?
Introuducing law to the Trump regime
Thom Hartmann - The head of the Justice Department cannot bring himself to tell a federal judge the truth in writing. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — formerly Trump’s personal criminal-defense lawyer — is refusing to commit on paper to Judge Leonie Brinkema that Trump’s “Anti-Weaponization” slush fund is actually dead, preferring the slippery passive-voice dodge that it’s merely “not moving forward.” Analyst Scott MacFarlane summed up the lawyering on MS NOW as “all kinds of sus”: language built to leave wiggle room. Now even Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (who, unlike our Acting AG, manages to keep his story straight from one sentence to the next) says he’s got a slush-fund problem with Blanche heading into the confirmation fight. A man who treats candor as strictly optional is exactly the man you’d want running the Department of Justice if your actual goal was to weaponize it and use it against American democracy.
MS NOW - The department’s statements about serious penalties regarding Blanche’s testimony are somewhat misleading. One potential penalty is a criminal statute that punishes false statements made to Congress. That statute can only be enforced by the DOJ itself.
The other penalties the DOJ mentions in the filing are rules governing lawyers’ conduct in federal courts, which do not extend to criminal contempt or contemplate much beyond monetary sanctions.
The declaration — which was supposed to be signed under penalty of perjury by both Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — was expected to come in response to a deadline set by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who had requested written confirmation by Friday that the administration was not moving forward with the fund.
Brinkema indicated she would likely dismiss the pending legal challenge to the fund if the administration submitted the cancellation in writing. If the DOJ did not submit a declaration, Brinkema indicated she would move forward with the legal challenge.
Brinkema’s request came at the end of a hearing in Virginia last week, when she indefinitely extended her block on the DOJ’s proposed compensation fund for individuals who believe they were the victims of unfair prosecution by the federal government. Trump’s DOJ established the fund as part of a settlement agreement stemming from the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over a leak of his tax returns. The taxpayer-funded pot of money would establish a “lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization” to “seek redress,” according to Blanche.
But the fund quickly became a political liability. Opposition from Republicans on Capitol Hill forced the administration’s retreat. “We’re not moving forward with the fund — period,” Blanche announced at a congressional hearing on June 2.
That public statement did little to persuade opponents of the fund to back off legal challenges. The coalition that brought the Virginia case pressed on, arguing that Blanche’s verbal assurances were not legally binding.
A separate watchdog group that brought a lawsuit in Washington, D.C., made similar arguments, pointing to Trump’s public defense of the fund even after Blanche’s comments. The judge overseeing that case, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, was not swayed enough to deny a preliminary bid to block the fund, and found that the case appeared to be moot, given the DOJ’s statements denying it would come to pass. But Leon issued a stern warning to the administration: “Don’t play possum with this court.”
At last week’s hearing in Virginia, Brinkema expressed similar misgivings about Trump’s comments and Blanche’s reluctance to put a pledge not to create the fund in writing. These misgivings will likely continue to bubble now that the DOJ has declined to submit the declaration and the litigation will likely continue.
Obama tells the Democrats how to become alive again
Greg Sargent, New Republic - The forty-fourth president delivered an emotional speech at the Obama Presidential Center’s opening ceremony on Thursday. It offered a blistering indictment of the forty-fifth and forty-seventh president, all without mentioning the words “Donald Trump,” while offering his own ambitious rendering of the American story.
Yet in so doing, the speech also sent an implicit message to Democrats: Defeating Trumpism, MAGA, and the right-wing nationalist vision of America that animates them requires something more than small-bore politics and slogans about “affordability.” It requires a bigger and better story, a positive and aspirational vision, a full-throated declaration of what we liberals think the United States is—and should be—instead.
Obama has long been a spokesperson for the idea of creedal nationalism, which holds that American identity is defined by our founding ideals, versus a nationalism rooted in heritage or ethnicity or race. And so, Obama declared that the “story of America at its best” rests on “shared values that make democracy possible.” They include:
a belief in the intrinsic dignity and worth of all people and that no one is above the law or beneath its protection, a belief in checks and balances in our government … a belief that our military and law enforcement owe allegiance not to any president or political party, but to the people and our Constitution.
Let’s be blunt: It’s a defining fact of this moment that Trump and his movement simply do not accept any of those things. And it’s important that Obama used this moment to say so. Obama also lionized “the peaceful transfer of power” and called for a reaffirmation of “character, honesty, integrity” and “a sense of duty and honor” in public life.
June 19, 2026
Polls
Newsweek - President Donald Trump's standing in Pennsylvania has deteriorated sharply, according to a new statewide poll, with approval falling 10 points in just three months in a battleground state that helped return him to the White House. The June Franklin & Marshall College survey found only 29 percent of voters rate Trump's performance positively, down from 39 percent in March, as concerns about inflation and personal finances continue to weigh on voters.
Weather
Congressional Insider - A so-called “weak” first storm of the season is lining up to dump life-threatening floodwaters on the Gulf Coast while many communities are still battling high prices and aging flood defenses. Tropical Storm Arthur, the first Atlantic storm of 2026, is set to unleash dangerous flooding from Texas to the Florida Panhandle.
National Hurricane Center forecasters warn of 5–10 inches of rain, with isolated pockets near 20 inches across the Gulf states.
Millions of Americans are under tropical storm warnings and flood watches as already-strained local systems prepare for more federal involvement.
For Gulf Coast families, Arthur is another reminder that personal readiness and strong local control matter more than distant bureaucracies.
California gay law
Headline USA - In California, being a gay business owner comes with some special perks, including a preferred shot at utilities contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. There’s just one catch: you have to prove your homosexuality.
The program, highlighted by City Journal’s Christopher Rufo on June 16, operates from the California Public Utilities Commission. The agency oversees private utility companies and urges them to increase diversity. According to Rufo, the diversity program dates back to several previous governors, but Newsom expanded its scope in 2019.
The CPUC, on the orders of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, effectively directed companies to allocate 1.5% of procurement to LGBT-owned firms in 2024. In practice, the companies spent $633 million on LGBT firms that year alone. business owners must submit evidence intended to prove they qualify for the LGBT program. Among the required materials are letters from friends, on company letterhead, who can “vouch/attest to LGBT status.”
Paperwork states that individuals who misrepresent or falsify information in documentation could face penalties, including up to one year in state prison and a $5,000 fine.
American families
NY Times - The sheer logistical and financial madness of raising children in America is now officially a matter of political concern. The mayors of New York and San Francisco, two cities in which large families have become practically an endangered species, have pledged major efforts to make child care free. Last November, New Mexico became the first state in the country to cover child care for all its residents. High-profile Democratic strategists like David Plouffe are encouraging the party to adopt universal child care as an official part of its platform in 2028....
The challenge and cost of caring for children is hardly new for the American family. Since the 1970s, when women began an astonishing three-decade surge into the workplace, individual households have been reinventing the configurations of work and family. Without public assistance, parenting has become increasingly privatized — an expensive, stressful endeavor that many households manage alone. Half a century into this shift, the American family is buckling under the weight. In 2024, the U.S. surgeon general declared parental stress a public health crisis.
The numbers tell an alarming story: In one survey, 48 percent of parents said that most days their stress is completely overwhelming, compared with 26 percent of other adults, a gap that has grown over the last decade. Another poll found that seven in 10 Americans say that raising children is unaffordable, an increase of 20 percent points over the last decade. Indeed, the cost of child care has more than tripled since 1990, far outpacing the rise in wages. To be a parent in America is to race constantly in vain against the clock. In a recent survey of parents of young children under 6, nearly three in four said they wished they had more quality time with their children. Instead, many are working, too crunched financially to contemplate having more hours to enjoy family life.
Middle East
The Guardian - Talks due to take place today between the US and Iran to implement a peace deal were abruptly cancelled. The White House said the US still looked forward to “beginning technical talks as soon as possible”. Hezbollah-linked media reported Tehran was delaying sending its delegation due to Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.
The talks had been set to begin in the Swiss village of Obbürgen two days after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that opened a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme, while reopening the strait of Hormuz. The centre of the strait is blocked with about 80 mines that will need clearing for normal shipping to resume, the independent tanker owner trade body has said.
What is happening in Lebanon? Hezbollah targeted Israeli forces near Nabatieh with several salvoes of rocket fire after Israeli shelling. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes, killing at least 18 people and injuring 33. Iran has said Israel’s attacks on Lebanon must end as part of any peace deal.
NPR - Vice President Vance is postponing his trip to Switzerland, where he was set to negotiate terms of a peace agreement with Iran. This week, President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum, which offers benefits to Iran but is only a first step toward a comprehensive deal. Yesterday, the U.S. Central Command announced that U.S. forces lifted their blockade on ships entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas. This action is one of the conditions of a ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, as both countries enter the next phase of negotiations over the next 60 days. Read the full text of Trump's preliminary U.S.-Iran agreement to end the war here.
Vance is the face of these negotiations, which means that if the U.S. does not achieve its objectives, he might bear a lot of the blame, NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben says. There were early signs of that this week when members of the right pinned their dissatisfaction with the deal on Vance. Kurtzleben adds that the vice president is not a seasoned diplomat, and it is hard to overstate how big a job negotiating this deal will be. Vance's past anti-interventionist positions may lend him some credibility in this role, and he's an aggressive messenger for the administration, Kurtzleben says. Sending the vice president to the negotiations also signals to Iran how significant this deal is to the U.S. Kurtzleben notes it is important to remember that this agreement is not the end of the war, but the start of what might be a challenging process toward that goal.
The Guardian - Reuters has issued an alert saying Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire starting today at 4pm local time, according to a senior US official. The news agency reported the following: “Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire,” the official said on background, adding that negotiators for the US and Qataris worked out the deal with help from Iran.
Trump Regime
Patriotwise - The Trump administration is moving major Education Department duties out of Washington, and critics say the fight is now about power, not just paperwork. Education Department says six new agreements will break up its federal bureaucracy and return education to the states.
Reporting says the plan shifts day-to-day management of several programs to the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Interior, and State.Officials say the move will affect roughly $31 billion in spending across K-12 and postsecondary offices.[1][5]
Legal and policy groups say Congress would still need to act to eliminate the department or move core duties for good.
National Memo - Federal workers for the U.S. Department of the Interior are being directed to wear pins promoting the president’s public-private partnership created to celebrate America’s 250th birthday — instead of the congressionally mandated group that was created to organize the events.
According to Mother Jones, National Park Service employees have been ordered to wear the pins, under threat of “professional reprimands.”
“When I asked if I would receive any disciplinary action if I chose not to wear the pin, I was told, ‘Yes,’” one person told Mother Jones. “I chose not to continue the conversation after that.”
Mother Jones reports that the “establishment of Freedom 250 has allowed Trump to more easily plan events that double as campaign rallies, to privately raise funds from corporations seeking influence with the administration, and to avoid disclosing exactly how much all this is costing US taxpayers.”
Health
NPR - The Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine advisory
committee voted unanimously yesterday to recommend Moderna's new mRNA
influenza vaccine for adults 50 and over. This was the first
time it reviewed a new vaccine application since 2023.
ICE
NY Times - The idea was meant to supercharge President Trump’s mass deportation plan.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement would purchase more than a dozen empty warehouses across the United States to massively expand its capacity to detain people deemed to be in the country illegally, which in turn would spike deportations. A year into Mr. Trump’s term, it had bought 11 facilities at a cost of $1 billion.
But in a major turnabout, the agency is planning to offload seven warehouses purchased for more than $700 million by either giving them to other federal agencies or selling them outright, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.
The decision to sharply scale back the warehouse plan is a rejection of a signature initiative under the previous homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, who pushed the boundaries of what the government can do to aggressively round up potential deportees. The new secretary, Markwayne Mullin, who had privately expressed skepticism about the plan, has said publicly that he wants the agency to be quieter about how it carries out immigration enforcement.
“From Day 1, D.H.S. has remained singularly focused on removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the United States and is always evaluating the best methods to do so,” the Homeland Security Department said in a statement for this article. “These heinous criminals, once arrested, should be removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense. D.H.S. is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”
The Intercept - Five months. That’s how long The Intercept has been demanding that ICE hand over evidence of its own violence — including the killing of Renee Nicole Good. We just filed our last appeal. Our next step is taking the government to court. ICE is legally required to release these records under the Freedom of Information Act. It’s refusing. The only conclusion is that the agency is embarrassed by what its agents did.
Donald Trump
The Hill - President Trump insisted there are “no limits” to his power when asked in a new interview about his takeaways from the Iran war. The president was pressed by Axios’s Marc Caputo during an interview about whether he learned there are bounds to his power during the Middle East conflict.
“I haven’t learned that lesson yet,” he replied. “I know there are, but there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily.”
Alternet - With the United States' 2026 midterms only four and one-half months away, many GOP strategists are sounding the alarm about President Donald Trump's weak approval ratings. And Trump's ceasefire deal with Iran is frustrating hawks in the Republican Party, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) — who declared that "Ronald Reagan is rolling over in his grave." But Trump, according to the Wall Street Journal, has a message for worried Republicans: "I'm the president, and you're not." Journalists Brian Schwartz, Natalie Andrews and Alexander Ward, in the Journal, report that Trump used those words with GOP allies who "offered him strategic advice."
June 18, 2026
Weather
National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch for areas including Cumberland County through 7:00pm on June 18thA Tornado Watch means tornadoes are possible in and near the watch area. From NWS: “Review and discuss your emergency plans, take inventory of your supplies and check your safe room. Be ready to act quickly if a warning is issued or you suspect a tornado is approaching. Acting early helps to save lives! Watches are issued by the Storm Prediction Center for counties where tornadoes may occur. The watch area is typically large, covering numerous counties or even states.” |
Polls
NPR - Trump's approval ratings continue to fall to record lows, particularly over his handling of the economy, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. Only one-third of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy, which is three points lower than the worst ratings former President Joe Biden received during his term. Just 36% of respondents approve of Trump's overall job performance, while 59% disapprove, marking the widest gap he has faced in either of his terms in office.
Beer
Bloomberg - Beer sales the world over are fizzing out, except for Guinness, that is. Demand for the 269-year-old Irish stout has become so strong that owner Diageo has opened a new brewery in its country of birth, and another is on the way....
- These are sobering times for alcohol companies, which for years counted on steady demand as drinking remained woven into social life and consumer culture. But health concerns and tighter wallets are prompting people to drink less.
- Not so Guinness, which continues to grow. So much so that it’s even triggered periodic shortages, forcing some pubs to ration supplies.
Gas prices fall below $4.00 again
Headline USA - U.S. gas prices fell below $4 a gallon on average Thursday. It is the first time since March that the average cost for a regular gallon has been that low. Prices fell overnight after President Donald Trump signed an agreement with Iran that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country.
Gas prices are at $3.999 on average in the U.S., according to motor club AAA.
But fluctuations in gas prices remain across the country. In California, gas prices are averaging $5.64 per gallon, while in South Carolina it’s $3.58 per gallon.
Middle East
The Guardian - Donald Trump has signed a 14-point agreement with Iran, claiming it delivered a “major win” for the US – even as it made significant political and financial concessions to Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and prevent a “worldwide depression”.
In extraordinary remarks, Trump went from threatening Iran with a new wave of attacks to suggesting the country had basic rights to enrich uranium for civilian use, that he would not pressure Tehran to abandon its ballistic missiles programme and the US was “going to have to give back” billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets.
In this analysis piece, Andrew Roth notes how the US entered the war with maximalist goals but exits it with a pragmatic decision to end conflict despite the political cost. Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.”
How have US Republicans reacted to the deal? Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally, appeared to soften his view of the deal after a “very lengthy and productive” conversation with the the US special envoy Steve Witkoff. But his fellow senator Ted Cruz, who has backed the war, said: “History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal.” And Senator Bill Cassidy declared: “Reagan is rolling over in his grave.”
But the agreement’s text, read aloud Wednesday by a senior U.S. official on a call with reporters, provides a preview of the precarious path ahead for U.S. and Iranian negotiators, who have only two months after the MOU’s signing to secure a final deal to forever end Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The MOU, as laid out to reporters, reveals some significant wins for Iran that are likely to raise eyebrows in the U.S., especially among members of Congress, including U.S. support for a $300 billion reconstruction fund and no restrictions on Iran’s missile program.
The focus of the MOU is on economic measures, from ensuring the free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to providing Iran with economic incentives for good behavior. Only two of the document’s 14 points mention the country’s nuclear program at all, with the rest revealing concessions the U.S. made to the country that President Donald Trump said have been “largely demolished.” Read the full article here.
In extraordinary remarks, Trump went from threatening Iran with a new wave of attacks to suggesting the country had basic rights to enrich uranium for civilian use, that he would not pressure Tehran to abandon its ballistic missiles programme and the US was “going to have to give back” billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets.
In this analysis piece, Andrew Roth notes how the US entered the war with maximalist goals but exits it with a pragmatic decision to end conflict despite the political cost. Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.”
How have US Republicans reacted to the deal? Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally, appeared to soften his view of the deal after a “very lengthy and productive” conversation with the the US special envoy Steve Witkoff. But his fellow senator Ted Cruz, who has backed the war, said: “History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal.” And Senator Bill Cassidy declared: “Reagan is rolling over in his grave.”
Julia Jester, MS NOW - The memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran — named the Islamabad MOU for the mediator’s host country — is vaguely written and intentionally so, given its clear purpose as a negotiation agenda catering to each side’s domestic audience.
But the agreement’s text, read aloud Wednesday by a senior U.S. official on a call with reporters, provides a preview of the precarious path ahead for U.S. and Iranian negotiators, who have only two months after the MOU’s signing to secure a final deal to forever end Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The MOU, as laid out to reporters, reveals some significant wins for Iran that are likely to raise eyebrows in the U.S., especially among members of Congress, including U.S. support for a $300 billion reconstruction fund and no restrictions on Iran’s missile program.
The focus of the MOU is on economic measures, from ensuring the free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to providing Iran with economic incentives for good behavior. Only two of the document’s 14 points mention the country’s nuclear program at all, with the rest revealing concessions the U.S. made to the country that President Donald Trump said have been “largely demolished.” Read the full article here.
Trump regime
Alternet America - The Trump administration is threatening to cut federal unemployment support to all 50 states for the first time in history. Ohio Republicans let a bill ending child marriage die before summer recess. The Justice Department has joined a lawsuit to kill the nation’s first reparations program for Black residents in a Chicago suburb. And the administration is paying energy companies another $2.6 billion to abandon offshore wind.
Corporate media is running cover. The FCC chair is making sure they know what happens if they don’t. And independent outlets are being bought out one by one. This is the news they don’t want you reading.
Supremes narrow gun control law
NY Times - The Supreme Court on Thursday narrowed a federal gun control measure, siding with a marijuana user who had challenged a provision that had banned drug users from owning or possessing guns.
The justices ruled that the government’s use of the law was overbroad, sweeping together recreational drug users with people addicted to drugs who posed a danger to public safety.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote the decision. All of the justices agreed with the outcome, although several wrote separately to explain their decision-making.
“We appreciate that drugs and guns can sometimes make for a dangerous mix,” Justice Gorsuch wrote. However, he wrote, the justices rejected the government’s “expansive theory” in the case and found that a historical analogy the government advanced to laws barring habitual drunkards from owning guns “fails under every measure it asks us to consider.”
House members flailing in primaries for higher office
The Hill - House members who opted to run for higher office rather than seek reelection have had a poor track record this year and could end up with a higher rate of primary losses than in recent years. Those losses have come despite members having the perks of a national profile and network, suggesting that congressional experience may be of little value to voters.
June 17, 2026
Americans to be hit with record-high electricity bills this summer
Independent - Americans are facing record-high costs to cool their homes this summer as electricity prices climb and temperatures soar.
The average U.S. household will likely spend about $792 on electricity between June and September, up 10.5 percent from the same period last year, when it cost $717, according to new analysis from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.
Since 2020, the average summer cooling costs have increased nearly 40 percent due to rising electricity prices and increasingly hot temperatures. Even adjusting for inflation, cooling costs are projected to be about 7 percent higher than they were six years ago.
American households will likely see little relief this summer. Forecasters are predicting record-smashing heat for 2026, meaning more electricity will be used to maintain comfortable and safe indoor conditions.
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