(September 6, 2025 at 10:01 am)Fireball Wrote: The Onion can't even top this.

Quote:Tom Hanks award ceremony at West Point abruptly canceled

Hanks, 69, was scheduled to receive the Sylvanus Thayer Award on Sept. 25. The honor is given annually to an “outstanding citizen” whose service and achievements reflect West Point’s ideals of “Duty, Honor, Country.” Past recipients have included presidents, cabinet secretaries and diplomats.

In an email to faculty on Friday, Sept. 5, retired Army Col. Mark Bieger, president and chief executive of the West Point Association of Graduates, announced that the event “will not be held as originally scheduled.”

The reversal comes as West Point faces political pressure during President Donald Trump’s second term. The administration has moved to reshape military academies, rolling back diversity initiatives and reinstating Confederate symbols — including a 20-foot portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee recently returned to the school’s library.

Hanks’ decades-long support for veterans had initially earned praise from West Point. He helped champion the World War II Memorial in Washington, produced military-themed films such as “Saving Private Ryan” and “Band of Brothers,” and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2016.

But Hanks’ public support for President Biden, along with his recurring portrayal of a MAGA supporter on “Saturday Night Live,” has drawn criticism from Trump allies.

“It is the perfect example of someone being good for the military but not perfectly aligned with current partisan priorities,” Jason Dempsey, a West Point graduate and Army veteran, told the Post.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainmen...034774.php

Quote:Only Congress can change department names, so the title is ceremonial until it is codified into law. Mr. Trump had ordered the federal government to recognize it as a “secondary” name, in addition to having “secretary of war” serve as a “secondary title” to secretary of defense.

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Mr. Trump’s order directs the federal government to recognize the new name and title in “official correspondence, public communications, ceremonial contexts and nonstatutory documents within the executive branch.”

Quote:US Open broadcasters have been asked not to show any negative crowd reactions to Donald Trump at Sunday’s men’s final.

The president is expected to attend the match between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in New York, with security at Flushing Meadows being heightened in preparation.

Trump used to be a regular visitor to the US Open but has not been to the tournament since 2015, a year before he was elected president for the first time, when he was booed by spectators.

An email sent to broadcasters by organisers reveals that the 79-year-old will be shown on screen during the singing of the national anthem ahead of the match.

The message adds: “We ask all broadcasters to refrain from showing any disruptions or reactions in response to the president’s attendance in any capacity.”