23 Aug 2022

Judge Matthew McFarland, photo credit: The Tennessee Star

On 27 July, US District Judge Matthew McFarland entered a preliminary injunction prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates and punishments for failing to take them by members of the Air Force who requested religious exemptions from the vaccine mandates.

A couple of weeks earlier, he issued a temporary restraining order and directed both sides in the case to submit their arguments for or against a longer-lasting preliminary injunction. Both sides complied. The judge was not swayed by the filing submitted by Biden Administration lawyers.

Under the new court order, the Air Force, Space Force and Air National Guard cannot take disciplinary action or attempt to separate members who have requested a religious exemption on or after Sept. 1, 2021, and who were found by a chaplain to have a “sincerely held religious belief.”

The Air Force is the second service to receive such an injunction; the Navy’s was issued in the spring. The injunctions are valid until the cases are fully resolved in the courts. Army and Coast Guard members are still at risk.

A Call To Action

Thank you for expressing interest in STARRS. We encourage you to take an active role in our mission, to include educating your elected representatives at the local, state and national levels, and expressing your concerns. We also encourage you to educate your fellow citizens by speaking at gatherings, writing editorials for local papers, talking to school boards and encouraging others to join you and STARRS.

STARRS is a predominantly volunteer organization, but we have financial obligations to maintain webpages, subscribe to software, pay travel costs associated with presentations, legal expenses supporting service members fighting adverse actions associated with woke/progressive ideology, and other related matters. Your donations make all this possible and are greatly appreciated!

STARRS is actively working with the Heritage Foundation on an initiative to combat the spread of woke/Marxist ideology in the Defense Department and to ensure proper accountability of senior military leaders and civilian appointees.

Over the course of the past two years STARRS has filed a significant number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with our military service academies and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The aim of STARRS’ effort is to ensure that the Defense Department honors its legal obligation to answer FOIA requests within 20 business days. Heritage FOIA’s attorney is now involved.  

The pattern for STARRS FOIA requests relates to claims of systemic racism, ideological indoctrination (critical race theory), discriminatory practices, and illegal and coercive vaccine mandates.

STARRS is in preliminary discussions with Judicial Watch, who also has taken an interest in potentially litigating some, or all, of STARRS’ FOIA requests.

Highlights:

• 30 total requests 21 total requests still remain open or unanswered
•       - 22 filed with the USAFA alone (7 closed; 15 requests remain open)
• Overdue timelines range from 1 to 24 months
• West Point closed one of their three requests without any response or explanation for no response
• The Naval Academy closed one of their two requests with a partial response

Volunteers Needed!

STARRS is a predominantly volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to serving and standing up for patriotic Americans. To be as professional, efficient and effective as possible, we are always in need of new volunteers. Everyone is welcome to offer assistance and we are looking for skilled patriots to fill many roles.

Boots on the Ground Perspectives

on Woke Distractions to the Mission

With respect to the recent Joint Base Langley Eustis (JBLE), Breaking Barriers Alliance DE&I Summer Festival, one retired Air Force three star wrote:

“In all the articles written about gay pride, drag queen celebrations, LGTBQ festivals and the like, I never hear the alternative position presented--that such celebrations go against the religious beliefs of many, thus they are NOT a unifying factor for our military where "unity" should be its greatest strength. I wish military leadership would realize that ‘throwing this in the face’ of Christian and other religious Americans who love our country is anything but ‘inclusion’ as so many have told us how divisive it is. It helps accomplish two of Marxism's goals: eliminate/eradicate/replace religion from the American conscience and create discord/divide.”

USAFA Parent to a STARRS member, Mon 8 Aug 2022: “Now, classes didn’t start today on schedule. They may take away Thanksgiving to make up the lost days. [They’re] blaming it on a computer.”

On Fri 5 Aug, USAFA sent several 3rd class cadets (Class of 2025) an e-mail welcoming them to the incoming class of 2026 (Editor’s note: USAFA notices of admissions are sent prior to the summer the incoming class arrives):

From: USAFA Admissions No Reply

Date: August 5, 2022 at 10:54:26 AM EDT

To: XXXXXXX

Subject: Welcome to the USAFA

Dear XXXX

Congratulations on your acceptance of an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. You have made a wise decision and a bright future awaits.

Please monitor your portal for additional information and requirements that you will need to complete to in-process to the Academy in June. We expect to have the “Appointee Kit” up and running on or about the 15th of April. Please complete the requirements and meet the deadlines that will be specified in your Appointee Kit.

Again, congratulations! We are excited to have you as a member of the Class of 2026.

XXXX X XXXXX

Chief, Selections Division

Directorate of Admissions

USAF Academy

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley meets with Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov in Bern, Switzerland, Dec. 18, 2019

It’s been a full year since the Biden Administration, supported by his civilian and military defense advisors, sent a message to our enemies that the United States can be defeated.

The US military appears to have been exercising no introspection on how the disaster in Afghanistan on August 2021 came to pass. The United States Military Academy’s Dean of Cadets told graduates that West Point’s leadership sees no need to have cadets analyze Afghanistan’s strategic failure. The US Army Chief of Staff’s Reading List has been updated in the past year to include books on social justice and internet misinformation, but it has not been updated with additions to strategically analyze the failure of US generals and politicians in Afghanistan.

STARRS Spotlight

In 2003, Dr. Ron Scott, PhD, Colonel (USAF, Retired), USAFA ’73, completed

a 30-year Air Force career as a combat-experienced pilot, strategic war planner at the Pentagon, and command assignments in Europe, Asia and Southwest Asia. Following military service, Dr. Scott earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public Administration from Arizona State University. He was recruited as a principal scientist with Applied Research Associates, Inc., a technical think tank, where he developed conceptual architectures to thwart terrorism. He then joined academia as a professor, teaching courses on ethics, public administration, and research methods. He served on dissertation committees, resulting in the award of 60 doctorates.

When asked why he co-founded STARRS, he stated, “I discovered alarming evidence that America is being swarmed by anti-American ideology. While there are variations, Marxism is the fundamental organizing principle. Counting my time at USAFA, I spent 34 years in the uniform of our armed forces and was educated and trained to fight this pernicious ideology. It has now manifested in the form of racism (exemplified in the form of diversity, inclusion, and equity officers in the government, academia and corporations) and radicalism (as demonstrated by the destructive BLM and Antifa riots across America in 2020). Thus, we are dedicated to educating the public on the stark contrast between: 1) the American ideal (inspired by the Declaration of Independence and codified in our Constitution) that spawned the most prosperous nation in history; and 2) the destructive Marxist ideology bent on destroying that American ideal, and that Marxist ideology has led to millions of deaths throughout the 20th Century.”

Featured Articles

Falcon Football and the Air Force Academy’s Honor Code

Dr. Scott Sturman, M.D. USAFA Class of 1972, examines the tension between loyalties to the Honor Code and the Air Force Academy’s football team. There is a growing disconnect between the football program and other cadets who feel that football players are excused from large portions of military training, and are allowed to participate in behavior that is unrepresentative of the ideals promoted by the Academy. While Falcon football is the marquee intercollegiate sport at the Air Force Academy, since the 1960s the football team has been implicated in several scandals, ranging from Honor Code violations, sexual violence against other cadets, cocaine abuse, and social media reprisals against female cadets. There is a place for both football and the Honor Code at the AFA, but the latter must prevail.

The Vaccine Mandate Puts National Security at Risk

The Pentagon’s rigid COVID policy may lead to the discharge of 1,000 guardsmen in Florida alone.

Naval Academy Accused of Teaching CRT,

Sued For Records



On July 26th, Judicial Watch announced that it had "filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense for records related to the United States Naval Academy implementing Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the training of naval recruits.” The DoD and USNA both declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek.

Our Educational Mission in Action

Episodes 13 & 14 - The Intellectuals:  

DePaul University Professor, Dr. Jason Hill

“Intellectuals” host Dr. Ron Scott speaks with Dr. Jason D. Hill, PhD., DePaul University Philosophy Professor, one of the foremost academic authorities on Critical Race Theory. He is an author and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Some of Dr. Hill’s works include What Do White Americans Owe Black People? Racial Justice in the Age of Post-Oppression (Emancipation Books, 2021) and We Have Overcome: An Immigrant’s Letter to the American People (Bombardier Books, 2018). Hill is currently writing another book, Man Haters: the Left’s Vicious Campaign to Emasculate Men and Boys, which will be published next year.

and two faculty leaders in April 2020 claiming breach of contract, defamation and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.

Evidence of Indoctrination and Radicalism in the Military

Air Force Hosts Drag Show at Kid-Friendly ‘Diversity, Inclusion’ Festival on Base

Joint Base Langley Eustis (JBLE) held its "Breaking Barriers Alliance DE&I Summer Festival,” on July 30th, encouraging families with children to attend. The event included guest, Joshua Kelley, aka “Harpy Daniels – The Navy Drag Queen,” (pictured inset).  Kelley, a U.S. Navy Petty Officer, performed a “drag” show at the festival. 

Colonel Gregory Beaulieu, Commander of the 633d Air Base Wing, authorized the use of military resources for the event. Event planners advertised there would be “bouncy houses and face painting for the children.” 

A JBLE employee who received an invite to the event told the media that the drag show was “infuriating.” “It’s burlesque, it’s hyper-sexualized, it’s not something appropriate for children,” said the individual, who requested anonymity

Our Study: Critical Race Theories Have “Established a Beachhead at the Military Service Academies”

All five federal service academies now have some form of critical race, anti-racism or related curricula demonizing the United States as systemically racist and evil

CRT, Wokism & Radicalism

in the Community

My Road to Cancellation

Stanford business school educator and successful CEO and entrepreneur Joel Peterson says that due to woke cancel culture, America will not survive the rewriting of its history, the violation of its Constitution and the abandonment of its guaranteed freedoms.

Pro-Choice AG Fired Veteran and Mom for Making Choice He Doesn’t Like

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson fired a mother and veteran for choosing not to get the COVID vaccine. Haylie Bergstrom worked as a legal assistant in Ferguson’s office for nearly two years, a job she took after serving in the US Air Force. She was finishing school with the goal of being promoted to a paralegal. The AG proudly proclaims he is “pro-choice," but when Bergstrom made private medical decisions involving the vaccine, the AG felt it’s no longer a decision that should be made between this woman and her doctor.

File Photo:  Haylie Bergstrom