Thought for the day

Rights aren't rights if someone can take them away. They're privileges. That's all we've ever had in this country, is a bill of temporary privileges.
-- George Carlin

Just so you know...

I'm a sextagenarian Marine vet. I'm also an anarchist. Not one of those pussy, black block pricks running around creating mayhem. A real anarchist. First, do no harm (except in self defense or the defense of others). Otherwise, do as you will with a view of helping others.

But I'm not posting this to school anyone on anarchism. If you're curious, don't be lazy. First, take the test at The Political Compass. And if you're not a fucking fascist head on over to the Marxist Internet Archive and school yourself. You may be surprised. I know I was! (There was a time that I thought I was a republican! I'm glad I fixed that!)

What I am stressing in this post is that I have very little patience for stupid! I have little to no filter on a good day. But when someone engages with me with stupid, I lose any filter at all. I WILL say shit that you don't want to hear.

I don't do religious fanatics, fascists, right wingers, alt right, anti maskers, anti-vaxxers, propagators of war, advocates of misinformation or their stooges, nor any other such nonsense. It's all stupid and I don't do stupid. I am antifascist, I AM antifa.

I don't have the time nor energy to be "diplomatic" while dealing with a moron. So, if I don't block your stupid ass first, please, by all means feel free to block me. I don't gauge my self worth by my follower count. And if blocking me isn't enough, feel free to pay me a visit in person. But I promise that you won't like the outcome.

Imagine who a grumpy old jarhead is, where they may have been, and what they may have done, and you might begin to get the picture. You will be outmatched.

You have been warned.

That being said, I do enjoy the healthy exchange of ideas (that aren't stupid). So, please don't let this warning repell you. Antifascist anarchists are not the same thing as antisocial.

So, please DO engage if you feel so inclined. And thank you for your time.

It's an Idiocracy

Christian Military Youth Parachurch Ministry Stalks Unaccompanied Children in Base BXs

First of all, what is a parachurch ministry? Parachurch ministries are organizations that work outside of any particular church affiliation and across denominations to evangelize. They often have a specific niche for their evangelism and proselytizing, and one of those niches for many parachurch organizations is the military. Why the military? Because military members move frequently from place to place all over the world. A military member who is “discipled” by a parachurch military ministry becomes, in their words, a “government-paid missionary” – a disciple who will make more disciples at their next duty station, and those disciples will make more disciples at their next duty stations, and so on, and so on. Dozens of these parachurch military ministries have been operating on our military bases for years, and some, like Campus Crusade for Christ’s military ministry and The Navigators have been around for decades. As one Campus Crusade for Christ director at the Air Force Academy put it in a promotional video, “My vision is to reach the world through the Air Force,” and that the cadets are “government-paid missionaries when they leave here.” Most parachurch military ministries target locations where young service members are in training – basic training, Advanced Individual Training (AIT), at the military service academies, etc. – preying on young service members when they are worn down from training and at their most vulnerable. They describe these training settings with terms like “a harvest field” and the service members in them as “ripe for the harvest.” Another target of the parachurch military ministries is the children of service members, with the biggest culprit being Military Community Youth Ministries (MCYM) and its Club Beyond program for military teens. While the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) gets many complaints about other parachurch military ministries, it’s MCYM’s Club Beyond that I want to focus on in this post. Club Beyond, based in the Fundamentalist Christian Vatican, a.k.a. Colorado Springs, Colorado, operates on numerous military installations both in the U.S. and overseas. Is “Vision” is to: “Let every military brat believe,” and it does that by “Pursuing relational inreach and outreach ministry with every military teen.” And one of its tactics is to approach unaccompanied minors on military bases, as this email recently received by MRFF explains:

From: (name withheld) Date: May 22, 2021 at 1:51:18 PM MDT To: info@militaryreligiousfreedom.org Subject: Seeking clarification on regulations about proselytizing on military property Hello, I am seeking clarity on religious proselytizing on military property. Twice today, evangelical Christian groups have approached military dependents (in the first instance, underage minors) on an air base overseas, and attempted to proselytize. In the first instance, adults and teens representing a Christian youth group, Club Beyond, approached teens shopping inside the BX and offered them donuts as an attempt to entice them to listen to a pitch to join this club. Then this evening, members of the pagan open circle group sponsored by the base chapel were approached by unidentified people attempting to convert them to Christianity. My understanding is that this is legally prohibited on military property, but I can't find specific civilian statutes or UCMJ law that spells it out, as it pertains to military dependents, civilians, and contractors. Would appreciate any guidance or specific clauses in statutes that apply to proselytizing on military property by non-military personnel. With much thanks and appreciation for all you do,  (name withheld)

Club Beyond’s mission to reach “every military teen” obviously means they are pursuing both Christian and non-Christian teens. They split this reaching into what they term “inreach” and “outreach.” “Inreach” is going after the kids who are already Christians; “outreach” is going after the “un-churched.” As the job description for a Club Beyond community director puts it:

“As the community director you will be responsible for and lead: Community outreach to ‘un-churched’ teens; "Inreach" to Christian teens”

And a current job listing for a Club Beyond area director / staff associate at West Point lists under job responsibilities:

“… assist with developing community outreach to "unchurched" teens, discipleship to Christian teens …”

So there is no question that this parachurch military youth ministry isn’t just a club for kids who are already Christian. They are actively and admittedly pursuing children who are not Christians and, as the above email to MRFF describes, approaching these children when their parents or other adults are not present. And this is being allowed by base chaplains and commanders, without whose permission a parachurch ministry cannot operate on a military base. But Club Beyond gets even more disturbing when you look at their ministry’s method, which is called “incarnational ministry.” So, what is incarnational ministry? I found a detailed explanation on a Christian website that answers theological questions (emphasis added):

“A working definition of incarnational ministry is ‘the immersion of one’s self into a local culture and ‘becoming Jesus’ to that culture.’ Incarnational ministry seeks to dispense with ministry “from a distance” and embrace ministry ‘up close and personal’—the love of God and the gospel of Christ are “incarnated” or embodied by the person ministering. Just as the Son of God took on human flesh and came into our world, we should adopt the culture to which we are ministering and ‘become Jesus’ within it.”

The site goes on to explain the “inherent danger” of incarnational ministry (emphasis added):

“There is an inherent danger when personal relationships are elevated to a higher level of ministerial value than preaching the gospel. True believers follow Jesus Christ, not other believers. True believers follow God-breathed Scripture, not the teachings or lives of men (2 Timothy 3:16). The gospel message is hindered when it is associated with the human messenger instead of the Person of Jesus Christ. …”

Gee, what could go wrong with practicing incarnational ministry with impressionable children. Many full-grown adults have been sucked into cult-like worship of religious leaders who used this tactic. We’re talking about kids here!  As for these incarnated people approaching unaccompanied minors in base BXs, I’d like to see what would happen if members of that base’s pagan open circle group began approaching those kids to join their group. I have a feeling that someone would put a stop to that ASAP!

Leftist teacher, political novice, is Peru’s president-elect

LIMA, Peru (AP) — A teacher in one of the poorest communities in the Andes who had never held office is now Peru’s president-elect after officials in the South American country declared him the winner of a runoff election held last month.

Leftist Pedro Castillo catapulted from unknown to president-elect with the support of the country’s poor and rural citizens, many of whom identify with the struggles the teacher has faced. Castillo was officially declared winner Monday after the country’s electoral count became the longest in 40 years as his opponents fought the results.

Castillo received 44,000 more votes than right-wing politician Keiko Fujimori in the June 6 runoff. This is the third presidential election defeat for the daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori.

“Let’s not put the obstacles to move this country forward,” Castillo asked his opponent in his first remarks in front of hundreds of followers in Lima.

Wielding a pencil the size of a cane, symbol of his Peru Libre party, Castillo popularized the phrase “No more poor in a rich country.” The economy of Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, has been crushed by the coronavirus pandemic, increasing the poverty level to almost one-third of the population and eliminating the gains of a decade.

The shortfalls of Peru’s public health services have contributed to the country’s poor pandemic outcomes, leaving it with the highest global per capita death rate. Castillo has promised to use the revenues from the mining sector to improve public services, including education and health, whose inadequacies were highlighted by the pandemic.

“Those who do not have a car should have at least one bicycle,” Castillo, 51, told The Associated Press in mid-April at his adobe house in Anguía, Peru’s third poorest district.

Since surprising Peruvians and observers by advancing to the presidential runoff election, Castillo has softened his first proposals on nationalizing multinational mining and natural gas companies. Instead, his campaign has said he is considering raising taxes on profits due to high copper prices, which exceed $10,000 per ton.

Historians say he is the first peasant to become president of Peru, where until now, Indigenous people almost always have received the worst of the deficient public services even though the nation boasted of being the economic star of Latin America in the first two decades of the century.

“There are no cases of a person unrelated to the professional, military or economic elites who reaches the presidency,” Cecilia Méndez, a Peruvian historian and professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara, told a radio station.

Hundreds of Peruvians from various regions camped out for more than a month in front of the Electoral Tribunal in Lima, Peru’s capital, to await Castillo’s proclamation. Many do not belong to Castillo’s party, but they trust the professor because “he will not be like the other politicians who have not kept their promises and do not defend the poor,” said Maruja Inquilla, an environmental activist who arrived from a town near Titicaca, the mythical lake of the Incas.

Castillo’s meteoric rise from unknown to president elect has divided the Andean nation deeply.

Author Mario Vargas Llosa, a holder of a Nobel Prize for literature, has said Castillo “represents the disappearance of democracy and freedom in Peru.” Meanwhile, retired soldiers sent a letter to the commander of the armed forces asking him not to respect Castillo’s victory.

Fujimori, who ran with the support of the business elites, said Monday that she will accept Castillo’s victory, after accusing him for a month of electoral fraud without offering any evidence. The accusation delayed his appointment as president-elect as she asked electoral authorities to annul thousands of votes, many in Indigenous and poor communities in the Andes.

The United States, European Union and 14 electoral missions determined that the voting was fair. The U.S. called the election a “model of democracy” for the region.

Steven Levitsky, a political scientist at Harvard University, told a radio station that Castillo is arriving to the presidency “very weak,” and in some sense in a “very similar” position to Salvador Allende when he came to power in Chile in 1970 and to Joao Goulart, who became president of Brazil in 1962.

“He has almost the entire establishment of Lima against him,” said Levitsky, an expert on Latin American politics.

He added that if Castillo tried to change the constitution of Peru — enacted in 1993 during the tenure of Alberto Fujimori — “without building a consensus, (without) alliances with center games, it would be very dangerous because it would be a justification for a coup.”

The president-elect worked as an elementary school teacher for the last 25 years in his native San Luis de Puna, a remote village in Cajamarca, a northern region. He campaigned wearing rubber sandals and a wide-brimmed hat, like the peasants in his community, where 40% of children are chronically malnourished.

In 2017, he led the largest teacher strike in 30 years in search of better pay and, although he did not achieve substantial improvements, he sat down to talk with Cabinet ministers, legislators and bureaucrats.

Over the past two decades, Peruvians have seen that the previous political experience and university degrees of their five former presidents did not help fight corruption. All former Peruvian presidents who governed since 1985 have been ensnared in corruption allegations, some imprisoned or arrested in their mansions. One died by suicide before police could take him into custody. The South American country cycled through three presidents last November.

Castillo recalled that the first turn in his life occurred one night as a child when his teacher persuaded his father to allow him to finish his primary education at a school two hours from home. It happened while both adults chewed coca leaves, an Andean custom to reduce fatigue.

“He suffered a lot in his childhood,” his wife, teacher Lilia Paredes, told AP while doing dishes at home. The couple has two children.

He got used to long walks. He would arrive at the classroom with his peasant sandals, with a woolen saddlebag on his shoulder, a notebook and his lunch, which consisted of sweet potatoes or tamales that cooled with the hours.

Castillo said his life was marked by the work he did as a child with his eight siblings, but also by the memory of the treatment that his illiterate parents received from the owner of the land where they lived. He cried when he remembered that if the rent was not paid, the landowner kept the best crops.

“You kept looking at what you had sown, you clutched your stomach, and I will not forget that, I will not forgive it either,” he said.

They're already laying the propaganda ground work so when they need to remove a socialist government from power. ~ cuber