Pentagon leaders cancel drag show at a Nevada Air Force base

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

Pentagon leaders have stepped in to stop a drag show scheduled for Thursday at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, according to two defense officials and a U.S. official.

The show, which was in celebration of Pride Month, was approved by Air Force leaders, but Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told the Air Force it is not Defense Department policy to fund drag shows on bases and the show should be canceled or moved off base.

Drag shows and events on military bases have become a politically contentious issue in recent months, with conservative politicians and pundits arguing the military should not be spending taxpayer money on them.

At a House Armed Services Committee hearing on March 29, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., angrily questioned Austin and Milley about drag queen story hours on bases around the world, including in Montana, Nevada, Virginia and Germany. “Drag queen story hours is not something that the Department funds,” Austin told the committee.



Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/pentagon-leaders-cancel-drag-show-nevada-nellis-air-force-base-rcna87142

[RKP5637]

1. Well, we certainly would not want to offend the god fearing righteous MAGA crowd, the pillars

of saints.

[msongs]

2. meanwhile fox for nazis is shown on base 24/7

[DemocraticPatriot]

11. Since Faux has declared themselves to be "entertainment, NOT news",

just like a 'drag show' is 'entertainment, not news',

it would seem easier to rid military bases of that particular 'entertainment', as well



Of course, referring to FUX as "entertainment" rather than 'traitorous nazi propaganda' is being too nice about it...

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. Oh, this should be good ...

[TexasDem69]

4. I don't recall similar on-base shows when I was in Air Force

Including stations in Montana and California.

[DemocraticPatriot]

12. Meaning what ?

[Rebl2]

18. Maybe saying

no kind of entertainment should be on a base. Go off base for entertainment.

[TexasDem69]

21. Yep

I don’t recall any shows on-base.

[Rebl2]

22. Husband was

in AF in early 70’s and think Bob Hope was on a base somewhere over seas that husband was at the time. He didn’t care for B. Hope.

[niyad]

25. Thank you. Was going to mention him.

[pfitz59]

31. Bob Hope shows often included drag performances.

was a mainstay of comedy

[Hekate]

13. I think of them as a USO kind of thing. They were popular -- well, think of "South Pacific" ...

… with Luther Billis playing the role of Honey Bun in the comic Thanksgiving play inside the movie. Nurse Nellie Forbush played a sailor. As a stage play, “South Pacific” appeared in the drama clubs of countless high schools like mine in the 1960s, complete with interracial love and Luther Billis in a hula skirt with coconut bra.

In addition, there are WWII movies where men in war zones get a bit of relief by putting on their own girlie entertainment — all sanctioned by the brass.

[Hekate]

15. Here's one...

[GreenWave]

5. Drag queen story hours is not something that the Department funds," Austin told the committee.

But they do fund Blue angels and other decrepit flying machines with their Pentagon Propaganda Machine.

[orangecrush]

29. The Navy funds the Blue Angels

USAF is the Thunderbirds.

I like watching them.

[GreenWave]

30. And I liked reading the Pentagon Propaganda Machine.

[orangecrush]

32. Does the book explain

That the Navy and Air Force are two separate branches?





Here's a good book.

The NSA doesn't do air shows, though.

[Scalded Nun]

6. Military leadership has become so cowardly

Selling secrets to girlfriends, following the president to an outrageous stunt (with a bible no less) and backing down every time some asswipe treasonous piece of shit pretends to be offended. No speaking up on any wrongdoings/treasonous activities until they sell their book. They are simply disgusting.

Maybe if they offered to show off some sex-traffic trophy women/girls Gaetz would applaud. Might even get a few more $$ for their already-bloated budgets.

[keopeli]

7. If bases can choose to run Fox Snooze exclusively, then leadership can run drag shows.

[Chi67]

8. What BS!

Matt Gaetz is an asshole. Quit caving in to the facists!

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. Weird - During WWII, the Pentagon was opposed to fascists.

Now it kneels before them?

But before I get too angry at the Pentagon - egregious as this instance is - we do have to give thanks that the military higher-ups during Trump's term were patriots enough to keep him from totally fucking the country. And for the most part, I think our top brass knows what helps creates morale for troops and what is best for the country, even if they do have to give up their principals from time to time to keep Republicans happy, and thus keep the money flowing to the military.

[Initech]

20. Matt Gaetz was literally wasting time about bullshit conspiracy theories to Pentagon officials.

Fucking insane. And the GOP continues to swirl the drain on a daily basis. They can all get fucked.

[BidenRocks]

10. I will never forget Trixie

Lunch hour at the E club at NAS Dallas in Grand Prairie.
She could do a Kung Fu fighting better than any one.
The problem was the officers/pilots invaded OUR club.
The CO put an end to that.
50 years later but I still remember Trixie.

[BOSSHOG]

14. Thursday Nights at the Club

NAVSTA Philly in the mid 80s. I don’t remember her name but I’ll never forget her.

[msongs]

16. Lola perhaps? hmmm nt

[BOSSHOG]

17. I can see her face

I saw a lot of her but I can’t remember her name. Are we working on a country song here?

I can attest that entertainment on military bases has changed considerably in the past 40 years. It used to be partly driven by whatever offended the base commanders wife was forbidden, but now it’s more formalized. Back in the 90s a base skipper down south banned the wearing of uniforms in Hooters. (So we went naked.). Still working on that song. I thought that was a reasonable compromise.

And in The Whole social drama, it seemed counterintuitive to ban stuff on base. Young Sailors knew where to shop outside the gate leading to different kinds of trouble for base commanders. This is so much more fun than yakking about conservative death panels for people on social security. Lordy Incan drone on.

[Initech]

19. Oh fuck off already! This shit is getting old now.

[LoisB]

24. I agree.

[maxrandb]

23. They have obviously never been through a Navy Shellback initiation

There was so little sexually explicit material on my ships, you would have thought it was a church, or, maybe one of my CO's was right when he said; "if we got rid of all the smut magazines on this ship, I could gain 2 knots of speed"

[Shipwack]

26. This submariner is only going to say two words: "Halfway Night"

What happens on the boat stays on the boat.

(Alas, Miss Hunley, I hardly knew ye...)

On an unrelated note, it was fairly common for the enlisted club to have strippers as entertainment one or two days a week. I'm sure those have gone the way of the beer and cigarette vending machines in the barracks...

[Magoo48]

27. How can a drag show possibly be offensive where the day to day business is maintaining

a force of machines designed to create and support mass mayhem, destruction, and death?

Wtf kind of society do we live in?

[orangecrush]

28. I thought the Air Force

Was for smart people