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NBC Sports
08-04-2025
- Politics
- NBC Sports
World Series champion Dodgers visit the White House
WASHINGTON — Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers visited the White House after winning the World Series last season. Ohtani was praised for becoming baseball's first 50 home run-50 stolen base player, Betts for his play, and Japanese pitcher Yoshi Yamamoto and NL Championship Series MVP Tommy Edman were singled out. Betts, the star outfielder at the time for the 2018 champion Boston Red Sox, did not make that team's trip to the White House the next year. Betts was on the Dodgers when they won the World Series in 2020 and attended the celebration the following year. The 32-year-old Betts is the lone Black player on the Dodgers who returned from last season's World Series team. 'Nobody else in this clubhouse has to go through a decision like this except me,' Betts said of his decision. 'That's what makes it tough. But it is what it is. I'm not trying to make this political by any means at all. All it is is just me being with my team to celebrate something. It's a privilege to get an invitation like this. I just want to be there with them.' Manager Dave Roberts had called the invitation a huge honor that each World Series champion gets to experience. Roberts said deciding to go to the White House was not a formal conversation he and players had. The trip came after a Department of Defense webpage describing Brooklyn Dodgers great and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson's military service was restored after it had come down. That development came after pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were taken down — which the Pentagon said was a mistake — amid the department's effort to remove content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups. Neither Robinson nor any other previous Dodgers greats were mentioned at the ceremony. Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter and pitcher Clayton Kershaw gave brief remarks at the White House. The White House also said recently the NFL's Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles accepted their invitation for April 28.
Boston Globe
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Mookie Betts, Dodgers visit White House as 2024 World Series champions
Trump praised Betts for his play — and took a dig at the Red Sox for Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up A star at the time for the 2018 champion Red Sox, Betts did not make that team's trip to the White House the next year during Trump's first term. Betts was on the Dodgers when they won the World Series in 2020 and attended the celebration the following year under President Joe Biden. Related : Advertisement The 32-year-old Betts is the lone Black player on the Dodgers who returned from last season's World Series team. 'Nobody else in this clubhouse has to go through a decision like this except me,' Betts said over the weekend of his decision. 'That's what makes it tough. But it is what it is. I'm not trying to make this political by any means at all. All it is is just me being with my team to celebrate something. It's a privilege to get an invitation like this. I just want to be there with them.' Advertisement Manager Dave Roberts had called the invitation a huge honor that each World Series champion gets to experience. Roberts said deciding to go to the White House was not a formal conversation he and players had. The trip came almost a month after a Department of Defense webpage describing Brooklyn Dodgers great and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson's military service was That development came after pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were taken down — which the Pentagon said was a mistake — amid the department's effort to remove content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers 'DEI.' Neither Robinson nor any other previous Dodgers greats were mentioned at the ceremony. The NHL's reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers became the first team to visit Trump in his second term when they were honored in early February. The White House also said recently the NFL's Super Bowl champion Eagles accepted their invitation for April 28.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Admin Blames Removal of Black and Latino Veteran Content on AI
Following the removal of an article honoring Jackie Robinson's military service in World War II, Black Medal of Honor recipient Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers, and numerous other pages highlighting contributions by women and minority groups, a spokesperson for the Pentagon blamed the use of artificial intelligence for the accidental takedowns. 'We enforced an aggressive timeline for our DOD services and agencies to comb through a vast array of content, while ensuring that our force remains ready and lethal,' said Sean Parnell, U.S. Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, when discussing President Donald Trump's administration's efforts to eliminate all content it considers DEI from federal agencies. Parnell admitted that, 'Every now and then, because of the realities of AI tools and other software, some important content was incorrectly pulled offline to be reviewed.' 'We want to be very, very clear, history is not DEI when content is either mistakenly removed or if it's maliciously removed, we continue to work quickly to restore it,' he added, while also portraying former President Joe Biden's administrations efforts to address minority underrepresentation as a 'zealous and destructive commitment to DEI' that 'divided our nation.' Since his return to the White House, Trump has issued multiple executive orders aimed at purging the government of anything related to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, while his administration has steadfastly worked to wipe government websites and social media accounts of DEI references. The sudden removal of pages featuring venerated veterans such as Robinson and Rogers prompted backlash from those calling the purge a disrespectful erasure of history. 'This pattern of racial cleansing from the Department of Defense's historical record is not just disturbing — it is dangerous,' wrote author Michael Embrich in a commentary for Rolling Stone. 'It will lead to morale and recruitment problems, compounding the broader crisis of an all-out demagogic assault on the contributions of historic military figures.' While the pages were later restored, details about the department's removal process were not given at the time. Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Pentagon to purge its digital footprint of all content that promotes diversity, including months that celebrate cultural awareness. Hegseth also fired several top military leaders he deemed overly focused on diversity and equity in the ranks. More from Rolling Stone Accused Tesla Arsonists Face Up to 20 Years in Prison for 'Domestic Terrorism' Trump Signs Executive Order to 'Eliminate' Education Department MAGA Republican Resigns After Being Charged With Soliciting Sex From a Minor Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Pentagon's DEI crackdown isn't just deleting history — it also seems to slight veterans
The Pentagon removed Jackie Robinson's military service story from its website, sparking outrage. The deletion is part of a broader effort to eliminate DEI content from official online platforms. The Defense Department defended the webpage removals, citing the "DEI" framing of the articles. An online article about baseball icon Jackie Robinson's military service was taken down this week as part of the Defense Department's DEI-dragnet altering and erasing military history. But it wasn't just the Dodgers Hall of Famer who got swept up in the Pentagon's widespread online DEI purge. Many of the web pages, including the tribute to Robinson, had the word "DEI" added to the website's address, an alteration that many took as an official suggestion that these recognitions were largely or solely because of the person's race or gender. This "DEI" labeling of years of old press releases and images, some dating from Trump's first administration, extended to the recently fired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, trailblazing women and racially segregated units like the Tuskegee Airmen, Business Insider found. This adds to the list of articles that have received this treatment, including the highest-ranking Black Medal of Honor recipient, whose web address was briefly changed to include "deimedal." The Pentagon doubled down on its decision to remove the content, claiming the articles had "DEI" framing, some of which originally appeared during cultural commemorations like Black History Month. Some pages, like Robinson's, were later restored after an uproar. The removals demonstrate the extent of the department's commitment to complying with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's directive to eliminate materials and practices it deems to be DEI. The Defense Department declined to questions about why the DEI label was added to some web pages in addition to deleting its content or who had done so. 'Digital content refresh' on DEI In late February, Hegseth ordered a "digital content refresh across all DoD public platforms," targeting material related to "critical race theory, gender ideology, and preferential treatment or quotas based upon sex, race or ethnicity, or other DEI-related matters," per a memorandum of the mandate. In the weeks since the mandate was issued, error messages began to appear on webpages depicting diversity events at military bases and stories advocating for women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ+ troops. Though the March 5 deadline for the onerous online purge has long passed, content continues to be removed from military-run websites, including profiles of biographies highlighting historic military leaders and units that existed long before diversity was a recognized organizational initiative. Among the deletions was an article spotlighting Black soldiers throughout US history, from Revolutionary War spy James Armistead Lafayette to the legendary segregated World War I combat unit known as the Harlem Hellfighters, one of numerous alterations spotted by the news site Axios. Published during Black History Month in 2017, the article recognized the "brave soldiers who broke barriers, saved lives, and paved the way for today's force." The DEI labeling and deletions affected many other trailblazers and warfighters. An article about a Puerto Rican unit that served in World War II and Vietnam had one article's address changed to read, "deiinfantryman." The original DoD publicity arose from the regiment's recognition decades later, in 2016, with the Congressional Gold Medal. Similarly, an article about retired Brig. Gen. Allison Hickey, an Air Force pilot who graduated in the first US Air Force Academy class with women, was labeled "dei" and its photos and text removed. Removing and reversing Alongside the now-restored story about Robinson's service in the US Army during World War II, a profile about Army Maj. Gen. Charles C. Rogers, the highest-ranking Black servicemember to receive the Medal of Honor, was temporarily taken down. The story, part of a series honoring Medal of Honor recipients, largely focused on Rogers' decorated military career in the Army. The article briefly mentioned how he championed sex and race equality during his time in the Army and his status as the highest-ranking Black Medal of Honor recipient to this day. The story returned to the Pentagon's website following criticism of the removal last week. The Defense Department said in a statement that the story was taken down during an "auto removal process" but failed to detail why the article was targeted in the first place. Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot said in a statement that the department will correct the "rare cases that content is removed — either deliberately or by mistake — that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive." "Now you're hurting recruiting, and you're also branding the greatest military in the world, the US military, a haven for white supremacists," said Brandon Friedman, a former US Army combat veteran who spotted that Rogers' Medal of Honor tribute had been labeled DEI. "Pulling Jackie Robinson off the website, have these people lost their minds?" Erasing history Other historical content remained noticeably absent from the Defense Department's website. The DoD removed a story about the service of Marine Corps Pfc. Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian who "achieved immortal fame" as one of the six Marines in the iconic WWII photo raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, The Washington Post reported. The tribute was written in 2021 in honor of National Native American Heritage Month, which the article described as a time to "reflect on the contributions and sacrifices Native Americans have made to the United States, not just in the military but in all walks of life." Articles about the Navajo Code Talkers, the famed US Marine unit who were instrumental in decoding secret messages during World War II, were also labeled under the "DEI" umbrella and have since disappeared from some military websites, Axios reported. An article about prominent Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers, a US Navy veteran, was also removed from the US Naval History and Heritage Command. However, another webpage about the active-duty US Navy dry cargo ship named after him remains online. When asked why Evers' biography was taken down, an NHHC representative told Business Insider that the command was assessing and revising each page on its website per Hegseth's DEI directive. A spokesperson for the Navy Office of Information was unable to provide answers to BI's questions by Thursday morning about the criteria that resulted in the page's removal. DoD defends deletions Despite the swift backlash for the online takedowns, the Defense Department defended the decision to remove the content due to its "DEI" framing. "Everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee airmen, the Marine at Iwo Jima, and so many others — we salute them for their strong and, in many cases, heroic service to our education, full stop," Ullyot said. He added: "We do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex." Nonetheless, wholly deleting the content from the Pentagon's site appears to undermine the department's stated goal of "recognizing their patriotism and dedication to the warfighting mission like every other American who has worn the uniform," as Ullyot said in the statement. Transparency Some have speculated that DoD could have used an algorithm to review thousands of old articles, images, and public records for DEI-related keywords. The DoD did not say how it chose to delete these articles and alter their web addresses; the full number of altered addresses remains unknown. The DEI label was also applied to the combat veteran President Donald Trump recently fired: Gen. CQ Brown, who had been the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A web article about his trailblazing career was deleted, and the URL was altered to read "deiblack-history-month." Despite Hegseth's vision to create "the most transparent Department of Defense in history," it remains unclear what guidelines DoD officials are following when flagging online content as DEI-related — both internally and externally. "I guess I'll just stop taking photos of and sharing the stories of women and Black soldiers," an Army public affairs official told in late February. "Not sure how else to interpret this." Staff writer Kelsey Baker contributed to this report. Read the original article on Business Insider
Boston Globe
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Defense Department webpage on Jackie Robinson's military service suddenly missing amid DEI purge
Advertisement The page included an anecdote about Robinson refusing to move to the back of an Army bus in 1944, prompting the driver to call military police. Robinson was court martialed but acquitted. Thousands of pages honoring contributions by women and minority groups have been taken down in efforts to delete material promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended the practice at a briefing Monday. A Defense Department webpage honoring Black Medal of Honor recipient Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers was taken down last week but was back online by Monday night.
