Despite their struggle with the gay issue the Boy Scouts have remained one of my favorite charities. I have given to them every year for decades. Yesterday they lost my support.
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Hitler never had the support of the majority in Germany prior to assuming dictatorial powers.
In case you havenāt figured it out yet, the Republicans are NEVER going to give up power in the US. They are a minority party in the US yet they have taken control of the majority of State governments, they control all three branches of the Federal government. They they are in the process of completely converting the judiciary in the US to right wing supporters. The military is strongly in their corner. Anyone who thinks that demographics is destiny is simply naive and doesnāt understand the depravity and desperation of those on the right.
Right wingers in the US understand that demographics, allowed to proceed along its current trajectory, would render them a permanent minority and politically impotent in what they consider to be ātheirā country. They realize that this is their last chance. So they are perverting democracy to retain control. Just watch as they fill all branches of government and every government agency with right wing supporters. They will suppress the vote. They will gerrymander. They will bury the political process in money.They will kick out any alien who might possibly end up voting as a Democrat if they were granted citizenship. They have undermined the integrity of any and all institutions that pose a potential threat to them (academia, the press, āscienceā, government). They WILL NOT give up power.
We are in the midst of a slow motion right wing coup in the US and virtually no one seems to understand this. It will not turn out well. For anyone.
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Their facebook page is filled with complaints as many were outraged. Some are saying they are pulling their kids out. My son was a scout and loved it but in MA the troops and councils are a bit more liberal than in other places. Although his being an atheist disqualified him from Eagle rank, reverent refers to being religious in scouteze,it would not get him kicked out here but other places in this country it probably would.
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How do you think they are going to hold onto power forever?
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I half expect that one of these days he will go into full meltdown mode, in public, and his supporters and sycophants will have to finally admit heās a lunatic.
Or maybe thatās just my fantasy.
But every time I canāt believe heāll get any worse, he gets worse.
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He could do it most any minute and then weād know. I wish heād break down and start sobbing - that would get their attention.
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If this nimrod canāt keep his shit together in front of the Boy Scouts, he aināt gonna make it another 3.5 years.
How long before he strokes out sputtering like a lunatic watching CNN?
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Chiang Kai-shek used the Chinese Boy Scouts as an arm of his New Life Movement (stripped-down Confucian fascism). Replay here.
THere is one thing I know from studying Chinese philosophy and art - we are exactly NOTHING like the Chinese.
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Some 15 years ago, we refused to let our son become a boy scout (too homophobic and militaristic for us) , even though he was desperate to join at the time. We got him a pocket knife instead. Years later he thanked us for keeping him away from BSA. I had been a Cub Scout and Boy Scout for a time as a child, but that was the 1950s. It had a militaristic flavor, but not political as far as I can remember.
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I canāt wait. This is gonna be SO YUUUGE:
"And when youāre an Eagle Scout, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything."
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It is impossible to imagine more fertile ground for bullying, misogyny and vulgarity than a large gathering of boy scouts.
edit - I forgot about Congress.
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I wonder how long it will be until Grabberās overseas sweat shops start providing brown shirts for the youthful masses.
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Indeed. Wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross and shouting in cadence.
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Exactly my thoughts, too, but I think it was even worse than that. The Scouts cheered Trump, stomped their feet, and acted exactly like they were Hitler Youth. Thatās the really dangerous takeaway, not Trumpās grose, profane speech, but the reaction of the scouts who sounded like Hitler Youth today, and Storm Troopers tomorrow.
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Not only did they ask him to speak, but they made him honorary president. Why?
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Yes, itās your fantasy. I wish he were ānutsā, but he is ānutsā like Hitler was ānutsā. Up until Trump, I always objected to anyone comparing any American politician to Hitler-- but now we have a comparison that exactly fits. And dangerously so, not just because it fits, but because the press and people in public life are afraid of telling this truth.
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Donāt fool yourself. Among Jews, we say that the pessimists wound up in New York. The optimists wound up in the ovens.
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When I was a scout in Oklahoma in the early 50ās, all troops were church sponsored. We had a Catholic school but no scout troop. The Catholic and Episcopal (and maybe Lutheran) kids just went with their friends. I was a Presbyterian but all my Irish Catholic relatives were with us. I remember a couple of Jewish friends in there, too. Catholics were still discriminated against then, but the parents were reasonable and the kids didnāt care about the arrangement.
Wonderful childhood! I imagine that everybody thought they were Scouts untilā¦ one day somebody said they were protestant.
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Youth can easily be persuaded to follow fascist tendencies, as 1938 Germany and Italy demonstrate.
What was more disconcerting were the adult Scout Leaders egging them on.
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