We’ve already written about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s needlessly expensive rant at the nation’s military brass. But one detail has slipped past most observers—the racism behind his new prohibition on shaving profiles.

A shaving profile is a waiver letting a service member skip clean-shaving rules and grow a beard. The Department of Defense recently announced the end of permanent beard waivers, only allowing the exemption for a year.

But on Tuesday, Hegseth made his feelings clear. “No more beardos," he said. "The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done."

There are only two reasons for it: religious exemption or medical necessity. Several religions require beards, including Islam and Sikhism, and many Orthodox Jews also wear beards because of tradition and Biblical

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