Oh, the HORROR!

/

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

The dust-up about his pocket stuffer comes three days after he made headlines for a tattoo scripted in Arabic on his arm.

The tattoo spells out the word 'kafir', which in the Quran means 'disbeliever' or 'infidel'.

The article’s by Not the Bee’s Joel Abbott, so well worth reading and enjouing

Abbott: “Wait, wait, wait ... you're telling me that a guy who served in Iraq and Afghanistan has a super popular tattoo among U.S. Armed Forces who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“You're saying thousands upon thousands of our boys are controversial for proudly wearing the insults leveled at them by Islamic terrorists??”

Muslims immediately decried the tattoo as a sign of disrespect and bigotry.

That's right, the people who snidely call us infidels are the real victims here! 😂

But the worst of all?

Hegseth is a Christian (GASP!) who has tattoos to remind him that he is a Christian warrior who is bound by the faith, tradition, and history of Christian warriors.

Hegseth's 'kafir' seems to be the latest addition among at least a dozen tattoos he has said symbolize his American patriotism and Christian faith.

The words 'Deus Vult' right above it on his right inner arm is widely seen as a symbol of Christian nationalism.

Abbott:

"Deus Vult" is an ancient Christian saying in Latin that means "God wills it," in the same way that hundreds of millions of Muslims say "if God wills it" in Arabic (inshallah) every single day. The Latin motto refers to the Lord's Prayer ("Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven").

But you're supposed to think it's bad because Christians first used the motto in 1096 when they were trying to stop the mostly peaceful Muslim armies from raping and pillaging further into the Byzantine Empire.

FWIW: This caught my eye: apparently, the cleansing of the Pentagon is incomplete, and there are still Obamaites to be flushed out:

'The guy can't show up to a simple ceremony without p*****g off half the people in the building,' one Pentagon insider told the Daily Mail. 'This isn't tone deafness. This is outright aggression in terms of optics.'

Who's gonna tell her?

/

“Who, me? You want me?” (Well, no)

“A third option remains, that she will forego a political career entirely and remain a paid speaker and inspirational figure for activists”

Hahahahaha!

Kamala Harris triggered further speculation over the weekend that she is not running for governor of California and has higher political ambitions.

Rumors started circulating after she delivered a lackluster three-minute virtual address to the Democratic state political convention that was politely received by the audience.

In a steady, monotone voice, she spoke about the Trump administration's recent actions against universities and praised activists efforts to fight the president's agenda.

'While this administration in Washington tries to divide us, we hear know that we are stronger when we stand together,' she said, a flashback to her 2024 campaign slogan.

Harris' failure to appear at the convention and her video address suggested she was not interested in running for governor of California, and instead pursuing a return to presidential politics. 

The Democratic primary for the race is scheduled for June 2, 2026, with the general election scheduled for November.

Harris has always been popular in California, easily beating Democratic challengers in her race for Attorney General and her race for Senator of California.

Her 2020 race for president, however, failed spectacularly as she ended her campaign before the Iowa caucuses and the California primary.

Since her loss, Harris has vowed to 'stay in the fight' and organized some of her trusted aides into the organization Pioneer49, while she explores her political future.

California Democratic activists are frustrated by the lack of signals from Harris, as they are impatient to move forward with a clear candidate. 

If Harris runs for governor, she will likely forego another run for president in 2028, which Democratic strategists in Washington, DC fully expect her to explore.

She continues to delay any decisions about running for governor or diving into presidential politics again, telling advisors she will made a decision in late-summer. 

A third option remains, that she will forego a political career entirely and remain a paid speaker and inspirational figure for activists with the option of publishing a book of her memoirs.  

In the meantime, Harris continues to take the stage to protest the Trump administration and rally activists. 

Last week, she appeared at an event in Australia where she shared a bizarre story about her mother and spiraled into word salads when asked to speak about the importance of humility. 

This has historically been the fate of bidding war "winners" – maybe the market is returning to normal

/

Mentioned here when it hit the market May 13th at $2.360, 14 Revere Road, NoPo, has dropped its price to $2.195. The owners paid $1.850 million for it in July ‘22 in a bidding war that began at $1.595. Even after sale transaction costs that will be incurred when it sells, the owners are still ahead of the game, but the breakeven point is drawing closer.

Nazi alert! Oh, when will it end, WHEN WILL IT END??!!!

/

First Musk, and then this weekend …

Booker slammed [by some, but not by the flying monkeys] for alleged 'Nazi salute' to Cali Dems just months after Musk was dragged for same gesture

Booker traveled to the Los Angeles area on Saturday, where he addressed the California Democratic Party's convention, calling on supporters to "stand up" to President Donald Trump and repeating a handful of messages he delivered during his marathon 25-hour speech on the Senate floor in March railing against Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency, and the Trump administration for its alleged attacks on "Americans' safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy."

But don't call it terrorism – that might stir up Islamophobia. "How do we know that the victims weren't insurance executives, or Tesla owners?"

/

Targeted Terror Attack' in Boulder — “motive unclear” (to the usual people)

An Egyptian national who came into the country two years ago and overstayed his visa has been charged in the gruesome terror attack that left six people injured in Boulder, Colo., Saturday, authorities said.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, was arrested at the scene, after he allegedly set his victims on fire as they peacefully rallied on behalf of Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza. Soliman was heard yelling "Free Palestine" and other anti-Israel slogans during the attack on victims ranging in age from 67 to 88.

Juliette Kayyem, one of the network’s national security analysts, came under fire after challenging FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino when they declared Sunday’s violence at a pro-Israel rally in Boulder a “targeted terror attack.”

“It makes law enforcement look disorganized and it makes the FBI look so juvenile, like why are you getting ahead of the police chief who says ‘I don’t know what this is,'” Kayyem said on air late Sunday in the wake of the incident.

“We’re going to take a step back, not be responsive to tweets by two heads of the FBI who don’t have a long history in law enforcement,” she continued.

“And we will wait and hope it isn’t what we all worry it is — and if it is, then there’ll be an investigation.”

Kayyem, a former Department of Homeland Security official under President Barack Obama and current Harvard professor, added that if the probe found the violence was spurred by terrorism, she’d be the first to say it’s a “hate crime.”

“But until we do, we all need to, to not follow the FBI’s tweets,” she said.

“Former Obama Homeland Security officer and current Harvard professor” says it all.

Here’s Mr. Mohamed “allegedly” in action, motive unclear:

Fortunately, Boulder’s police chief is the right man for the right city to handle this. From his official biography:

It could be an interesting week

/

New IAEA Report Details Secret Nuclear Work by Iran as Western Powers Mull Declaration

Donald Trump's efforts to reach an agreement with Iran on ending its nuclear program just got a lot more complicated. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a "comprehensive" report on Iran's nuclear program requested by the agency's 35-member board. The report confirmed that Iran had been carrying out clandestine nuclear activity at three sites long suspected of conducting weapons research. It also concluded that Iran had vastly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), spinning up 50% more as of May 17 than they had previously reported. That translates into the capability to construct up to nine nuclear bombs.

The IAEA report said that Iran is now “the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such material."  The IAEA added that this was of "serious concern."

The U.S. has held five meetings with Qatari diplomats who are serving as intermediaries between the U.S. and Iran, aiming to avoid direct talks. Little substantive progress has been made. The two sides appear to be hopelessly deadlocked on the key issue of whether Iran should have a nuclear enrichment program at all. Iran sees U.S. insistence that  Iran give up enrichment as a non-starter since it believes its nuclear program is now part of its national identity.

It's hard to see how Trump can continue negotiations after the IAEA report. The Western nations are preparing a resolution that would find Iran in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran will likely withdraw from the NPT, which means that the minimal cooperation it has been providing to the IAEA will likely come to an end.

Last week, Israel was prepared to strike Iran's nuclear facilities but backed off when the U.S. requested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold off to give U.S. negotiators a chance to strike a deal with Tehran.

Now, the IAEA report makes that a moot issue.

….

When Iran first began to enrich uranium, they were using homegrown centrifuges. These machines spin at fantastically high rates of speed, creating centrifugal force, which enables the separation of uranium-235 from uranium-238. U-235 is the primary substance used to create a nuclear bomb.

These IR-1 centrifuges took weeks to separate enough U235 to enrich uranium to the 3% needed to run a nuclear reactor. It would take months to spin up the uranium to bomb-grade.

In 2015, Barack Obama had an opportunity to halt Iran's nuclear program in its tracks by refusing to allow Tehran to improve the efficiency of its centrifuges. Iran refused, and in his eagerness for an ephemeral foreign policy win, Obama agreed to allow the upgrades. 

Today, Iran uses highly advanced IR-6 centrifuges that can easily spin up uranium to 60%. There are no commercial uses for 60% enriched uranium, although it can sometimes be used in research. Those same centrifuges can spin up that 60% enriched uranium to the 90% needed for a nuclear bomb in a matter of days. 

Iran has passed the nuclear threshold. Israel is prepared to strike, probably using American "bunker-busting" bombs and American mission support. Nuclear talks with Tehran are a bust, and Iran has never been weaker.

It would appear that Trump is out of options and that if we're going to deliver a blow to Iran's nuclear program, which they will spend years recovering from, the time is now.

I’m not sure I agree with the author’s seeming enthusiasm for this development, but it does seem likely that Israel, who has always taken the position that a nuclear-armed Iran would not be tolerated, is ready to go. And from what I’ve read, Sunni nations like Saudi Arabia may scream and yell for public consumption, but will be not-so-secretly-delighted if Israel acts; they have no more wish to see a nuclear arsenal in a Shia country run by madmen than Israel does.