Pentagon calls Netflix's hit gay Marines show Boots 'woke garbage'; Out, October 16, 2025

Mey Rude, Out ; Pentagon calls Netflix's hit gay Marines show Boots 'woke garbage'

[Kip Currier: As the head of the Department of Defense-cum-War, Pete Hegseth's statements, reported in this article and other news stories, are disrespectful to the thousands of LGBT service members who have selflessly served and sacrificed for their country.

All people are entitled to dignity and respect. The divisiveness of Hegseth and others who denounce people and groups must not be normalized.

Thank you to all military service members, living and deceased, who have given so much for democracy, our nation, and the world.]

[Excerpt]

"Netflix's new show Boots is topping the streamers' viewing charts, but the U.S. military isn't as enthusiastic about the show as fans are.

The Pentagon now says in a statement that it does not endorse the new show, which stars Miles Heizeras a closeted young man who joins the Marines in a time when it was forbidden for gay recruits to serve.

"Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, the U.S. military is getting back to restoring the warrior ethos. Our standards across the board are elite, uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn't care if you're a man, a woman, gay, or straight," a statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson to Entertainment Weekly says.

In the statement, Wilson says that officials "will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children."

Netflix has yet to respond.

Since becoming Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth has made several moves to erase LGBTQ+ people from the military. In June, he announced that a Navy ship named for gay rights leader Harvey Milk would be renamed. Hegseth also supports Trump's Executive Order 14183, which mandates the discharge of all trans service members and prevents new trans troops from enlisting."

‘Andor’ Is Not the Resistance You’re Looking For; The New York Times, April 22, 2025

 Gita Jackson, The New York Times ; ‘Andor’ Is Not the Resistance You’re Looking For

"“Star Wars” has always been political. When the main thrust of the narrative is about rebels rising up against empire, that’s simply hard to avoid. “Andor,” a Disney+ streaming series that premiered in 2022, wears its politics openly: The show is about the brutal sacrifices people make, or are forced to make, in resistance to authoritarianism. As the new season begins streaming on Tuesday, it seems especially prescient...

In the struggle against authoritarianism in real life, many of us are like that, moved to action even before we know what we truly believe. If nothing else, “Andor” visualizes a simple truth that I try to remember when the news is grim: There are more of us than there are of them."

We Are Not Being Asked to Run Into Cannon Fire. We Just Need to Speak Up.; The New York Times, May 26, 2025

Drew Gilpin Faust, The New York Times; We Are Not Being Asked to Run Into Cannon Fire. We Just Need to Speak Up

"This debt and this duty should be at the forefront of our minds this Memorial Day. We must honor these men, their bravery, their sacrifice, and especially their purposes. We are being asked not to charge into a hail of Minié balls and artillery fire but only to speak up and to stand up in the face of foundational threats to the principles for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. We have been entrusted with their legacy. Can we trust ourselves to uphold it?"

The Selfishness of Novak Djokovic; The Atlantic, January 15, 2022

Jemele Hill, The Atlantic; The Selfishness of Novak Djokovic

"Sacrificing is what caring communities do—and it’s something Djokovic knows nothing about. As the top player in men’s tennis, Djokovic has a responsibility to be a good ambassador for his sport. But that, like Australia’s COVID rules, is just another requirement that he’s failed to meet."

My family sacrificed to fight covid. Many Americans didn’t. Now my mom is dead.; The Washington Post, April 2, 2021

Jackie Munn, The Washington Post; My family sacrificed to fight covid. Many Americans didn’t. Now my mom is dead.

"And while part of me wants to wallow in my anger and grief, I know my mother wouldn’t want that for me. Instead, she would want me to take action. So now I volunteer as a vaccinator, helping to keep willing Americans and their families from suffering her fate — and ours.

When I give members of my community in Arlington, Va., their coronavirus vaccines, almost all of them thank me for my service. I want to cry, upset that it’s too late for my mother. Instead, I try to smile and thank each person getting vaccinated for doing their part. It’s what my mother would have wanted."

How Stan Lee Helped Bring Humanity to Superheroes; Comic Book Resources, November 13, 2018

Brian Cronin, Comic Book Resources; How Stan Lee Helped Bring Humanity to Superheroes

"Spider-Man's introduction in Amazing Fantasy #15 achieved two notable goals. One, it took the idea of Reed Richards' cosmic ray screw-up leading to the creation of the Fantastic Four to a whole other level, as now Peter Parker's selfishness almost directly led to the death of his beloved Uncle Ben, giving Spider-Man a painful reminder why he has to be a superhero and two, it took a teen hero and had him not as a sidekick or a younger version of an older hero, but as THE hero."

Macron rebukes nationalism as Trump observes Armistice Day; CNN, November 11, 2018

Kevin Liptak, CNN; Macron rebukes nationalism as Trump observes Armistice Day

"In his address, French President Emmanuel Macron -- who has emerged as Europe's most vocal sentry against a global tide of nationalism -- repeated his warnings.

"Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism," he said through a translator. "Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying our interests first, who cares about the others, we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great and what is essential: its moral values."

 

"I know there are old demons which are coming back to the surface. They are ready to wreak chaos and death," he said. "History sometimes threatens to take its sinister course once again.""