At first, the manner by which the purging of anything so threatening as to even sound like it encourages people to be polite and welcoming to others, especially those from disparate backgrounds or beliefs – basically DEI in a nutshell, it’s almost comedic. But the depth of the “purge” – or putsch if you prefer it in the original German, along with the extreme rush, is impossible to ignore. So is the hate. Ultimately, the Trump movement really gets down to shared hatred of others deemed as threatening, little more than people who are different or disagree. And that really comes through when an anti-DEI bot or program goes through the Pentagon’s database in search of everything sounding tolerant and in doing so removes one of the most iconic names in history. Look, it happens. It sounded so gay.
If you thought that Florida was serious about “don’t say gay,” wait until you see what the Defense Department is ready to do.
EXCLUSIVE: The @AP has obtained and tonight published a database of the file names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal –because the pictures highlight contributions by women or minorities, or celebrate heritage — or “DEI.” A team of us went through and saved screenshots of images we could still access — many are already gone. And it’s just a fraction of what’s being targeted for removal as @SecDef Hegseth targets diversity, equity, and inclusion in the ranks.
Shudder. “Many are already gone,” coupled with “And it’s still just a fraction of what’s being targeted.” One of the scariest aspects of the opening of Trump Administration 2.0 is their inexplicable need for speed. It is not like he will be removed from office any time soon, not like the GOP doesn’t have full control of Congress and the Court. It is not like they won’t have time to make the cuts they want to make. It sure appears as though they prefer to make their “cuts” quickly and behind closed doors, knowing – KNOWING – that the majority of the public would be outraged.
Is there any other reason to go so fast as to require every reference to “Gay” out of the military database? All of them? How many of us wouldn’t have pointed out that there was a point in time when the word simply meant “happy”? Much more importantly, who – from any group – wouldn’t at least acknowledge that perhaps there are references to gay Americans that we absolutely do want addressed, even apart from the “horrors” of anything promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion – such dangerous words.
It is worth pausing momentarily and considering just how many topics lend themselves to a similar conclusion – whereby the speed with which the administration believes it must move leads to just terrible, or at least terribly embarrassing, mistakes. And these are only the historical references. What happens when all the “Steve and Katherine Gay” types get removed from Social Security, or Medicare? It probably won’t happen in that exact way. But when urgency overrides due caution, stuff like this will happen. Can anyone persuade them to slow down or explain the rush? Regardless, some examples from reactions on “X”:
The image of “Enola Gay” bomber was removed because it has the word “gay” in it according to the AP https://t.co/bTEbWSb4hV pic.twitter.com/iKe0EVMI7d
— 🌸 Digi Gal (@DigitalGal_) March 7, 2025
1990s culture wars: We’re cancelling the Enola Gay exhibit bc veterans and historians can’t agree whether we should celebrate its role in ending WWII or critically assess the decision to use nuclear weapons2020s culture wars: We’re cancelling the Enola Gay bc “gay” is a no-no word
— Nicole Hemmer (@pastpunditry.bsky.social) 2025-03-07T03:32:39.568Z
The Musk minions have determined that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima is “woke” because the plane was named the ENOLA GAY.
— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) 2025-03-07T11:58:59.560Z
is your enola even gay, bro
— Electric Chimp (@electricchimp.bsky.social) 2025-03-07T03:54:41.752Z
We don’t know what was lost. Perhaps we don’t even want to know what may have already been deleted. We can think of this is perhaps helpful, a lesson as to what can go wrong when in such a rush – so that the next mistake of this magnitude, at this pace, doesn’t impact references to the living.
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on twitter-X at @JasonMiciak, and follow now on Bluesky.
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I should be appalled! I am! But, I’m also ROTHFLMAO!! 🤣🤣
For those who don’t know, Col. Paul Tibbets commanded the squadron that was formed to train crews to drop nuclear bombs on Japan. Had Japan not surrendered the U.S. would have kept dropping them. What Japan didn’t know after those first two were dropped was that it would be a while before the bombings continued as we didn’t have enough fissable material for a third (and more) bombs ready. However six initial missions were planned. Another Army Air Corps Col. was initially slated to drop the first bomb and reportedly he was pissed when Tibbets, who had travelled to Tinian to oversee the initial missions decided as CO he should be the first. And deal with the infamy that came with it. Both before and since Hiroshima there was much debate on whether to do it, and Tibbets was well-aware that there would be both praise and criticism of both dropping the bomb(s) and the person in command of the plane(s) doing the dropping.
Tibbets took command of the mission and the aircraft on Aug. 5, and promptly named it Enola Gay after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets who he credited with being strong, admirable person who instilled the values in him that led him to success in his life. The next day the first bomb was dropped.
Much of it was declassified in 1989 (as I recall that was the year) but prior to his death in 1980 there were a few cryptic comments from my dad when I was gently (I was in college by then and felt it important as a lover of history to know more) asking generalites about the war. He’d been badly wounded in the skies over Europe on a bombing mission and was lucky to survive. It took multiple surgeries to physically heal him and he worked hard to hide the scars on his torso for the rest of his life. (Even from himself – he kept his t-shirt on even when taking a bath and had a clean, dry one for as soon as he stood up in the tub and dried off his upper body – where he couldn’t see a reflection in the mirror!)
He could have been honorably discharged given his wounds and most people would have been. Instead he was kept in the service and the family got a letter saying he was headed somewhere out west. AND that he wouldn’t be able to say where he was or what he’d be doing. AND that they shouldn’t ask – all correspondence would be read by “higher ups.” Granny had also said he told them not to tell anyone in town about it. Just that he was still on active duty and healthy again and awaiting some new assignment.
It was from him that I learned that the bombs were armed AFTER the aircraft were well on their way to the targets and it took some engineering know-how. It was from him I learned that six initial missions were laid out and six crews had been trained by Tibbets and assigned to them. And the number four came up. Long after he died from these clues and others once so much was declassified it hit me my father had apparently been part of the 393rd and if it had come to it would have been on a mission to drop an atomic bomb. I’d already known how haunted he was over receiving a medal for an important mission that took out a heavily defended German facility but also killed a huge number of civilians. It’s why he tossed his medals and citations. But he was more haunted than I had ever realized.
He wasn’t much of a father while I was growing up although had he lived (he died of lung cancer in 1980) I think we’d gotten to a point of having a good father/son relationship in my adulthood. Why is a long story. But ten years after his death I came to forgive his faults as a father for so many of my younger years. That too is a long story.
But the story of the Enola Gay is for better or worse (people still differ and always will) a turning point in both our own and world history. That some dipshit like Hegseth and his boss Trump would try to erase it from the history books because Tibbets named the B-29 he flew after his mom is ridiculous and pathic. What’s next. Forcing all women to only work in admin jobs in the office? RE-segregating the armed forces and non-white males only being allowed to be cooks and stewards?
I don’t think she’s the type to do so but the next time little Petey finds himself in front of the Senate armed services committee and gets mouthy with Senator Duckworth what she should do is remove both her prosthetic legs and set them on the dais in front of her. And ask Hegseth what HE left on the battlefield!
Why the rush, you ask? To a fledgling dictatorship, speed is “shock and awe.” Destroy rules and norms as quickly as possible, before an effective resistance can coalesce. We’re somewhat lucky in that Trump and most of his Cabinet appear to be monumentally incompetent. But we now know that the Republican party is fully behind the effort to destroy democracy and establish an oligarchy. So we’ll be in this battle long after Trump is gone.
We said they were incompetent the first time around.
In case you haven’t notice, the fuckers are back!!!
How is that incompetent?
When my father was in the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s and still living on his own, he decided one day to go through old family photographs and any one he didn’t recognize the faces (quite a few at that time already), he fed into a paper shredder. We still don’t know what memories were lost before my sister was able to stop him.
Winning elections is one thing. That requires either competence at winning elections, ot money, or both. In this case they had money.
Governing is son=mething else. They have never been competent at that.