XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.trump   
   From: super70s@super70s.invalid   
      
   Pentagon Pete Goes After a Rite of Passage for Young Boys   
   By Vic Verbalaitis   
   The Daily Beast   
   Tue, February 3, 2026 at 3:17 PM CST   
      
   In his perpetual assault against "DEI," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth   
   is now targeting one of America's premier institutions for developing   
   young men -- Scouting America.   
      
   Formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, Scouting America has   
   reentered Hegseth's crosshairs after he, as a host on Fox and Friends   
   Weekend, had previously railed on the organization's 2024 rebranding   
   and inclusivity efforts.   
      
   Now, as the boss of his so-called "Department of War," Hegseth issued   
   an ultimatum to the American institution, which has long maintained a   
   mutually beneficial partnership with the U.S. military, requiring their   
   cooperation in "terminating radical DEI preferencing in federal   
   contracting."   
      
   "Over the past several months, the Department of War has been reviewing   
   its relationship with Scouting America -- formerly known as the Boy   
   Scouts of America," Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a   
   statement shared to X. "A great organization, that has -- in many ways   
   -- lost its way."   
      
   Parnell's statement referenced President Donald Trump's executive order   
   from Jan. 21, 2025, that called for "restoring merit-based opportunity"   
   and said that "all affiliations must meet the standard."   
      
   "For more than a decade now, Scouting America's leadership has made   
   decisions that run counter to the values of this administration and   
   this Department of War, including an embrace of DEI and other social   
   justice, gender-fluid ideological stances," the statement continued.   
   "This is unacceptable."   
      
   Parnell then posed an apparent threat to withdraw the organization's   
   federal funding if they don't fall in line, including a hint to   
   Scouting America's upcoming National Jamboree -- a quadrennial camping   
   excursion that incorporates active-duty military personnel for support.   
      
   The statement concluded by saying they were "near a final agreement,"   
   but that Scouting America was "on the clock, and we are watching."   
      
   No stranger to hijacking symbols of youth, as evidenced by his   
   AI-generated abomination of children's book character Franklin the   
   Turtle to promote his extrajudicial boat strikes in the Caribbean last   
   year, Hegseth's disdain for the staple of American boys is nothing new.   
      
   After the Scouting America rebrand in 2024, Hegseth, 45, said that "Boy   
   Scouts has been cratering itself for quite some time" and blamed their   
   inclusivity push on "the left."   
      
   "[Democrats] didn't want to improve it," he said about the organization   
   on Fox and Friends Weekend in May 2024. "They wanted to destroy it, or   
   dilute it into something that stood for nothing."   
      
   Despite his obsession with the Boy Scouts, Hegseth has never been a   
   member of the organization.   
      
   The organization's president and CEO, Roger A. Krone, had said at the   
   time that the new name did not reflect a change in their "mission," and   
   that it was a "very important evolution" to "ensure everyone feels   
   welcome in Scouting."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)