The new deal with Iran looks like the old deals. They won’t give in. Meanwhile, we have Mark Levin and Lindsey Graham telling President Trump to bomb, bomb, bomb. General Keane has been on TV calling for ground troops to take Kharg Island. Iran wants to get Democrats elected in November and will continue to delay. According to Reuters, this is what it amounts to: Tehran’s latest peace proposal to the United States involves ending hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon, the exit of U.S. forces from areas close to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by the U.S.-Israeli war, state media reported on Tuesday. In Tehran’s first comments on the proposal, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran also sought the lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen funds and an end to the U.S. marine blockade on the country, according to IRNA news agency. The terms as described in the Iranian reports appeared little changed from Iran’s previous offer, which U.S. President Donald Trump rejected last week as “garbage”. Masoud Pezeshkian, the fake”moderate negotiator, responded to Trump’s remarks yesterday defiantly: Iran does not intend to “surrender” as it enters into diplomatic dialogue with the Unietd States, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a Twitter/X post on Monday. “Dialogue does not mean surrender,” Pezeshkian said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran enters into dialogue with dignity, authority, and the preservation of the nation’s rights, and under no circumstances will it retreat from the legal rights of the people and the country.” This comes as a response to US President Donald Trump, who said on Monday he had paused a planned attack against Iran after Tehran sent a peace proposal to Washington, and that there was now a “very good chance” of reaching a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program. The post Iran’s New Deal Looks Like the Old Deal, and With a Defiant Response appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

The full force of the British government rushed to condemn the San Diego mosque shooting and comfort the country’s Muslim community despite repeated silence on antisemitic and anti-Christian attacks in the United States and on their own streets. On Monday, two teenagers, ages 17 and 18, killed three adults — including a security guard — at the Islamic Center of San Diego in the Clairemont neighborhood. No motive has been provided, but investigators are reportedly reviewing “possible anti-Islamic writings” found in the car with the dead suspects, according to NBC News. The shooting sparked condemnation in the United States and across the pond in the U.K.  “I condemn the deadly attack on a mosque in San Diego. My thoughts are with those affected. I know many Muslims in the U.K. will be shaken by this, worried about their safety when going about their lives and attending mosque, and what it says about the times we’re living in,” embattled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer posted on social media. “I understand those fears. Violence like this does not happen in a vacuum. It grows in an environment where division and anti-Muslim hostility are normalized. That is intolerable. We must all come together against it,” he added.  I condemn the deadly attack on a mosque in San Diego. My thoughts are with those affected. I know many Muslims in the UK will be shaken by this, worried about their safety when going about their lives and attending mosque, and what it says about the times we’re living in. I… — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 19, 2026 Britain’s Metropolitan Police joined the chorus, releasing a statement aimed at reassuring the nation’s Muslim community. “While the details of the incident continue to emerge, it is clear that this attack will cause deep concern and distress within Muslim communities across the United Kingdom and over the world,” the police department said. “It is an awful reality that Muslim communities continue to face heightened levels of threat. We know this attack will not only bring profound sadness but also significant concern about safety among Muslim Londoners.”  San Diego Islamic Center Attack Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist: “Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those who have been killed or injured in the terrible attack at the Islamic Center in San Diego, and with the emergency services who responded.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s credentialing process for the press has devolved into a license for lunacy. On Monday, a trio of unhinged, bloodthirsty sycophants of accused assassin Luigi Mangione turned a Manhattan courthouse’s steps into a stage for vile, radical-Left theater. Self-proclaimed “Mangionistas” Abril Rios, Ashley Rojas, and Lena Weissbrot — a woman who performs under a vulgar stage name — proudly flaunted official city press passes while launching into stomach-turning diatribes celebrating political violence. Armed with taxpayer-sanctioned credentials, the women launched into sickening, unvarnished attacks against the victim. “F*ck Brian Thompson,” Rojas spat, wearing a city press pass. “That’s all I want to say. F*ck Brian Thompson. F*ck his mom,” she added, as The New York Post reported. Weissbrot, clad in a garish striped outfit, targeted Thompson’s grieving family, chillingly declaring: “His children are better off without him. They need to learn to not be like their dad. And enjoy the blood money, kids.” Weissbrot went on to minimize the cold-blooded assassination by comparing the executive to a terrorist mastermind: “He’s responsible for more deaths than Osama bin Laden. … It’s not like we don’t understand heroic violence, or, like, when violence is good.” What you're about to watch is two members of the "press" credentialed by Mayor Mamdani, openly endorsing the heinous and evil assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Ashley Rojas and Lena Weissbrot are their names, and they deserve to be famous: Rojas: "I'm saying… pic.twitter.com/ub69hrtbqg — Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) May 18, 2026 Outside the courthouse, Rios aimed her vitriol at the president of the United States, saying, “I mean, why do we protect the Second Amendment so much — is it to allow people to shoot up schools, or is it to protect our democracy? Why can the president say we will hunt you and kill you in an official White House memo? Why is that allowed? But when we say the president should be held accountable and I want to see him hanging in the town square by his balls, that’s wrong? I’m sorry. Two can play at that game. Trump, I’m coming for you, baby.” Weissbrot similarly called for the execution of “traitors,” adding, “I can’t exactly say I’m anti-death penalty, because if this were my regime,” then made a gesture indicating cutting her throat before saying “Brian Thompson.” “Stop being a f*cking soy cuck and grow some f*cking balls,” she continued. “I have been waiting for someone like this mysterious hero to appear.” Lost in this grotesque carnival is the nightmarish reality of the tragedy. On December 4, 2024, Thompson, a father of two, was subjected to a cold-blooded, meticulously planned execution. According to the DOJ, Mangione used fake identification, conducted reconnaissance, and ambushed Thompson from behind on a Midtown street, firing several rounds from a suppressed 9mm pistol. Mangione’s notebook callously detailed taking out “the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” according to authorities. City Hall spokeswoman Dora Pekec told The New York Post that the administration was now reconsidering how it handles doling out press passes.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has pulled out all the stops to get rid of Thomas Massie. The president and his team have waged war on the Kentucky congressman for his disloyalty to Trump on a plethora of issues — the war in Iran, the Epstein files, the One Big Beautiful Bill, and more. From Truth Social posts to actively campaigning for Massie’s opponent on the ground, Trump has sent the same scathing message, over and over again: Massie is a “total disaster as a congressman, and frankly, a human being,” and the people of Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District need to vote him out. Today, Kentuckians will decide between Massie and his opponent, Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and farmer. A Massie win would be a crushing defeat for Team Trump and their allies. A Massie loss would be a triumphant victory for the president — and a signal to the rest of the Republican party that they must fall in line, or else. “Republicans are in lockstep with President Trump — the ultimate turnout driver — and making major investments to win,” RNC spokeswoman Emma Hall told The Daily Wire. “Democrats are out of money, running toxic far-left candidates, and stuck defending a historically unpopular agenda.” Massie hasn’t had a serious opponent since he first won his seat in 2012. Yet in the days leading up to the election, some polls find Massie’s challenger ahead. Gallrein is a fifth-generation farmer, a 68-year-old veteran with four Bronze Stars from his time serving in the United States military. His campaign rhetoric is laced with military jargon, and he often references his work on the farm at home. And he has Trump on his side. “Feel good,” a person close to Gallrein shared with the Daily Wire on Tuesday morning. “It’s a close race, but we believe Ed Gallrein is on the right side of it.” Massie is banking on voters sticking with his anti-establishment platform, arguing that he is determined to stand by his principles and refuses to merely blow with Trumpian winds. “I’m not a go-along-to-get-along congressman,” he told The New York Times. “And that has endeared me to a lot of the constituents who are part of this coalition that put us in the White House.” On the other hand, Team Trump is aggressively emphasizing that Trump has repeatedly won Kentucky — “won big SIX TIMES,” as the president puts it — and Massie is no longer aligned with Trump. They’re banking on the massive power of The Trump Endorsement, and on Kentuckians siding with the president. And with a massive win in Indiana following the savaging of Republican senators who resisted Trump’s redistricting efforts, Team Trump is also feeling good. “I don’t see how anybody can reasonably claim to be a member of a political party in good standing when you make it your business to try to derail the main agenda items of that party, which is exactly what Thomas Massie has done,” said Tim Murtaugh, former communications director to Donald Trump and a senior campaign adviser to Gallrein. He’s also “stuck his finger in the eye” of Donald Trump and his White House, Murtaugh noted, and it is Donald Trump who “represents this party.” “He’s a president who carried this district over Kamala Harris by 36 points in 2024, and Thomas Massie decides that he’s bigger than that margin? I don’t think so. This is very much Donald Trump’s Republican party, not Thomas Massie’s.” Trump himself went to Kentucky to campaign against Massie in March, calling the Kentucky congressman a “disaster for our party,” and warning the crowd: “Get rid of this loser. This guy is bad.” Trump then brought Massie’s challenger, Ed Gallrein, on stage and praised him for his loyalty to both the country and to Trump himself. “As you folks know, you deserve an authentic, true Republican conservative that stands shoulder to shoulder with our president and the Republican party and against the Democrats who are trying to destroy our nation,” Gallrein told the crowd, adding: “Mr. President, I will stand with you and the party to put America first and Kentucky always.” In recent days, the president has also promoted claims from podcaster Laura Loomer describing an alleged ex-girlfriend of Massie’s named Cynthia West, whom Loomer says was pressured by Massie to “perform sexual acts” she was uncomfortable with. Trump has also criticized Massie for remarrying so quickly after his wife of 31 years passed away (the 55-year-old congressman remarried 16 months later to 36-year-old Carolyn Grace Moffa). As Trump launches onslaught after onslaught on Massie from Truth Social, he’s also deployed top White House operatives James Blair and Chris LaCivita to oust Massie. Speaking to the Financial Times, Blair said he knows Massie will lose “because I know the numbers.” Voters, he promised, “disagree with [Massie’s] choice to consistently side with the Democrats in voting against every Republican priority.” Gotta another one coming Tuesday …. pic.twitter.com/7rYnJj3xnj — Chris LaCivita (@ChrisLaCivita) May 17, 2026 LaCivita, known for his sharp tongue and unabashed attacks on political opponents, is leading the MAGA KY political action committee backing Gallrein, alongside Trump adviser and pollster Tony Fabrizio. LaCivita is also ruthless on social media in his criticisms of Massie — on Monday, for example, he posted about scandalous rumors regarding Massie and his genitalia, setting off the congressional security alarms. On Sunday, he posted a satirical video of Trump hitting Bill Cassidy in the head with a golf ball immediately after the ousted senator says, “I voted to convict Trump.” “Gotta another one coming Tuesday,” promised LaCivita. A Republican will retain the seat no matter what, one Republican strategist close to the race shared. “I can’t really say for certain what’s going to happen, but Kentucky is a ruby red seat. We’re obviously feeling very confident about retaining that.” “In Indiana, five Indiana state senators lost to the president’s endorsed candidate,” that strategist pointed out, noting that no one should be underestimating the “strengths of the president’s endorsement,” or “how popular the president is in these races.” “All of these candidates that we’re seeing are running on his record, they are running on his agenda, and the things that he’s been able to deliver.” Trump’s endorsement is certainly clear, but White House support for Gallrein goes far beyond that. Astonishing amounts of cash are flowing into the race. The Gallrein campaign and other outside groups have spent over $14 million on his bid to defeat Massie. About $9 million of that is from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other pro-Israel groups, according to POLITICO. Even more pro-Israel groups have dumped cash into the Trump-aligned PAC, MAGA KY, POLITICO reports, which has gained $1 million from Paul Singer, $250,000 from hedge fund manager John Paulson, and $750,000 from Preserve America PAC, a PAC tied to Miriam Adelson. Just one day ahead of the highly anticipated election, the campaign played another key card: the Secretary of War himself. Pete Hegseth made his way down to Kentucky to rally with Gallrein (in his personal capacity, the War Department said in a statement), drawing on their similarities as veterans and hitting at Massie for failing to back Trump. “At some point, constant obstruction is not leadership, it’s just commentary,” Hegseth told the cheering crowd. “It’s obstruction. Too often, Massie acts like his job is to stand apart from the movement that Trump leads instead of strengthening it.” And in an election-eve message, posted to social media by top Trump ally Alex Bruesewitz, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller sent a final admonishment. Attention @RepThomasMassie and Kentucky-4, the GREAT @StephenM has a message for you. Massie needs to go! pic.twitter.com/7v3V0Yoite — Alex Bruesewitz

Five Australians and one New Zealander are being repatriated from a cruise ship after exposure to Andes virus, a rare rodent-borne illness that has killed three people. The passengers will quarantine at a facility near RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia for three weeks, with additional monitoring to follow. Despite immediate comparisons to COVID’s Ruby Princess disaster in 2020, health experts confirm Andes virus poses no pandemic threat.What Makes Andes Different From COVIDAndes virus spreads through contact with infected rodent droppings, urine, or saliva. Unlike SARS-CoV-2, which spread rapidly through the air before people showed symptoms, Andes virus requires prolonged close contact in poorly ventilated spaces with symptomatic individuals. Each COVID patient infected roughly two or more others on average. Andes virus can spread person-to-person, making it unique among hantaviruses, but only under specific conditions like households or crowded indoor settings such as the MV Hondius cruise ship. Timeline And Testing ProtocolEuropean health authorities reported nine cases linked to the cruise as of May 11, including seven confirmed and two probable infections. Exposed passengers must monitor for symptoms up to 42 days after last contact, though this reflects the maximum incubation period, not how long people remain infectious. Australian authorities set an initial three-week quarantine with further monitoring arrangements pending. Melbourne’s Doherty Institute will conduct PCR testing to detect viral genetic material and antibody testing through serology. Early negative tests don’t guarantee safety if the virus is still incubating.Symptoms Range From Mild To Life-ThreateningInitial symptoms mirror common illnesses: fever, headache, muscle aches, nausea, and fatigue. Some patients develop hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a serious condition causing severe breathing difficulty. The long incubation period distinguishes Andes from COVID, which typically showed symptoms within days. The World Health Organization emphasizes Andes virus lacks characteristics needed to become another pandemic. Unlike COVID’s efficient airborne transmission among asymptomatic carriers, Andes requires a perfect storm of crowded spaces, poor ventilation, and symptomatic patients together over extended periods. Why Authorities Remain Cautious But Not AlarmedHealth officials respond carefully to any virus outbreak, particularly after COVID’s devastating spread from the Ruby Princess, where 575 passengers and crew carried the disease into Sydney communities in March 2020. However, Andes virus has only produced contained outbreaks throughout its history. The difference in transmission potential explains why SARS-CoV-2 caused a global pandemic while Andes remains limited to specific exposure events. Authorities balance appropriate precautions with public education to prevent unnecessary panic while protecting communities from potential spread.SourcesTheconversation: Hantavirus is very different to COVID. Here’s why the ‘Andes virus’ won’t cause the next pandemic

'I don't give a flying fuck he died'