If normal Americans think the Biden administration reached peak madness when it hired a man who thinks he’s a woman as the No. 2 health official, or a bald non-binary sadist to help run the nation’s nuclear-waste program, they have another thing coming.
The latest from Woke Central is a memorandum from a factotum in the Veterans Administration that ordered VA facilities to remove one of the most famous photographs from World War II: The sailor who kissed the nurse in Times Square on Victory Over Japan Day in 1945.
Veteran Secretary Denis McDonough kiboshed the unauthorized order from RimaAnn O. Nelson, assistant undersecretary for health for operations. Nelson strangely thought it depicted a sexual assault.
How long Madame Nelson will remain in her job after pulling such an amazingly tone-deaf stunt is unclear. But if the administration doesn’t make her walk the plank, Americans will have yet more evidence that the Biden administration will leave no stone unturned in its mission to alienate every normal human being in the country.
In normal times, Nelson’s memo would be unbelievable. But these are not normal times.
“This memorandum requests the removal of the ‘V-J Day in Times Square’ photograph from all Veterans Health Administration facilities in alignment with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ commitment to maintaining a safe, respectful, and trauma-informed environment,” Nelson began:
This action is promoted by the recognition that the photograph, which depicts a non-consensual act, is inconsistent with the VA’s no-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and assault.
In explaining the background of the photo, Nelson wrote that ”it depicts a U.S. Navy Sailor kissing a woman dressed in white, a dental assistant, in Times Square, New York City, on the day Japan’s surrender in World War II was announced, marking the war‘s end.”
Though the photo decorated VA facilities, “perspectives on historical events and their representations evolve,” Nelson continued:
Recent discussions have highlighted concerns about the non-consensual nature of the kiss, prompting debates on consent and the appropriateness of celebrating such images in today’s environment, especially within institutions, such as VHA facilities, which are committed to upholding standards of creating a safe and respectful environment.
Nelson didn’t elaborate on who was involved in those “recent discussions,” which means they probably involved Nelson and a few crazy cat ladies.
Anyway, Nelson explained that the Justice Department’s “current definition of sexual assault includes any non-consensual sexual act or any act where the victim cannot consent.”
Thus, because Navy man George Mendonsa swept nurse Greta Friedman into his arms for the Big Osculation, the picture had to go.
Removal would be in keeping with the VA’s effort “to foster a more trauma-informed environment that promotes the psychological safety of our employees and the Veterans we serve.”
Left unsaid was whether Friedman agreed with Nelson’s take on the photo.
Not So Fast
Once Nelson’s memorandum went viral on X thanks to accounts such as End Wokeness, an obviously embarrassed McDonough deep-sixed it.
“Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities — and we will keep it in VA facilities,” he wrote.
Yet unclear is why Nelson thought she had the authority to hand down such an order.
And so X users demanded to know whether McDonough approved it.
“If the memo is fake, why not just say that?” End Wokeness wrote. “If the memo is real, will you fire RimaAnn O. Nelson for signing onto it?”
“If that is the case, please address this memo by RimaAnn Nelson, including any repercussions to her for sending it out,” Jenn Cheng wrote.
“We are going to need more than an X post from you sir,” another wrote.
The Club For Growth’s Andrew Follett put it this way:
This clearly is a lie…
And you’re apparently just upset your underling who signed the document banning it got caught!
“Department officials echoed in a separate statement that ‘VA will NOT be banning this photo from VA facilities,’” Military Times reported:
Officials said the memo should not have been sent out and was formally rescinded on Tuesday. They did not provide details of whether senior leaders were consulted on the matter ahead of Nelson’s memo.
What Friedman Said
“It wasn’t my choice to be kissed,” she said during an interview with the Library of Congress. But she didn’t claim Mendonsa — who later said “I had a few drinks” — assaulted her.
“The guy just came over and kissed or grabbed,” she continued:
I was grabbed by a sailor and it wasn’t that much of a kiss, it was more of a jubilant act that he didn’t have to go back, I found out later, he was so happy that he did not have to go back to the Pacific where they already had been through the war. And the reason he grabbed someone dressed like a nurse was that he just felt very grateful to nurses who took care of the wounded.…
It wasn’t a romantic event. It was just an event of thank-God-the war-is-over kind of thing.
Wikipedia reported that Friedman “maintained the acquaintance and accompanied George and Rita Mendonsa to civic events and anniversary commemorations of V-J Day.”
Only in the 2010s, Wikipedia explains, with woke madness well on its way to retrofitting history into a new narrative, did the moment go from one of celebratory joy to one of “sexual assault.”
Friedman died in 2016; Mendonsa died in 2019.
