Too cute!

 

I had to laugh out loud while watching this.

Good dogs!

Peter

Welcome to parenthood indeed!

 

I had to laugh out loud at this cartoon from Stephan Pastis.  Click the image to be taken to a larger version at the "Pearls Before Swine" Web page.

I've long since lost count of the number of parents who complained to me, as a pastor and chaplain, about their kids' seeming inability to communicate (or their lack of interest therein).  I had to explain to them that kids' minds are different from adults.  They're hyper-focused on the here and now, what they're doing and who (and with what) they're doing it.  Letting other people know about it, or remembering that they're supposed to be somewhere (or doing something) else, is outside their wheelhouse while they're preoccupied with something more intriguing (or naughty).

Oh, well.  I don't have kids of my own, but I'm told they turn out to be worth it in the end!

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #1,116

 

Today's award goes to the Hong Kong Education Bureau, which appears to have planted both its bureaucratic feet firmly in its institutional mouth.

It may be an innocent enough racquet sport, but Hong Kong's Education Bureau has unintentionally given badminton a whole new meaning.

In teaching materials it released last week, a module titled adolescents and intimate relationships for Secondary Year 3, suggested that teenagers who wanted to have sex with each other could "go out to play badminton together" instead.

The materials also include a form called "My Commitment" aimed at getting "young lovers" to attest that they would exercise "self-discipline, self-control, and resistance to pornography".

The new materials have raised eyebrows and attracted criticism for being "out of touch". But officials have defended the decision.

Meanwhile social media has been flooded with jokes centered around "playing badminton".

"FWB [Friends with benefits]?? Friends with badminton," read one comment on Instagram that had more than 1,000 likes.

"In English: Netflix and chill? In Cantonese, play badminton together?" read a Facebook post which was shared more than 500 times.

Even Olympics badminton player Tse Ying Suet could not resist a comment.

"Everyone is making an appointment to play badminton. Is everyone really into badminton?" she asked on Threads with a smirking face emoji.

. . .

Local lawmaker Doreen Kong said the documents showed that the education bureau did not understand young people. She specifically criticised the badminton suggestion as unrealistic.

"How could they borrow a badminton racket on the spot if it happens?" She asked.

There's more at the link.

I suppose the effort was well-intended, but it's reduced the local teenage population to giggles, innuendo and snarky comments.  Some of them are very funny indeed.  The whole affair has made quite a racket (you should pardon the expression).  I suppose it's inevitable that I read about this over the Net - the internet, that is, rather than the badminton net!  As for the use of shuttlecocks . . . the less said, the better!

Peter

A self-inflicted tragedy in Gaza

 

A report on Thursday claimed that children were being deliberately targeted - executed, in so many words - by Israeli snipers in Gaza.

Dr. Mark Perlmutter, an American surgeon with heavy catastrophe-zone experience, is among those stunned by the civilian devastation they've recently witnessed in Gaza, and especially by a high volume of what appear to be precision rifle-fire wounds on children -- including toddlers.

"All of the disasters I've seen, combined – 40 mission trips, 30 years, Ground Zero, earthquakes, all of that combined – doesn't equal the level of carnage that I saw against civilians in just my first week in Gaza," Dr. Mark Perlmutter, an orthopedic surgeon and vice president of the International College of Surgeons, told CBS's Sunday Morning.

. . .

Perlmutter, a Jew who grew up in New Jersey and who now lives in North Carolina, was also disturbed what what he attributed to precise rifle fire directed at children, some of whom were "shot twice." 

"I have two children that I have photographs of that were shot so perfectly in the chest, I couldn't put my stethoscope over their heart more accurately, and directly on the side of the head, in the same child. No toddler gets shot twice by mistake by the 'world's best sniper.' And they're dead-center shots."

His description of the phenomenon was confirmed to CBS News by more than 20 other doctors who'd recently visited Gaza. An American doctor had such a problem grasping what he was seeing that he double-checked using CT scans, saying he "didn't believe that this many children could be admitted to a single hospital with gunshot wounds to the head."

There's more at the link.

It should be noted that the gist of that article has been repeated in sources such as Common Dreams (an explicitly progressive-left outlet), Politico and Democracy Now!  I have no idea of the political views of Dr. Perlmutter, but I suspect the views of such outlets are clues.  I note, too, that neither he nor any of the others involved have spoken about Hamas atrocities on October 7, 2023, or at other times.  It seems a rather one-sided perspective.  That does not, of course, affect the very real disaster that has befallen the people, particularly the children, of Gaza, but it does - must - condition one's perspective on it.

It's tragic to read about that disaster, and even more tragic to see it in real life.  I speak from all too bitter personal experience, because in the terrorist wars in southern Africa during the 1970's and 1980's, children were cold-bloodedly and brutally used as couriers, cover, even as armed combatants, by the terrorist movements.  The kids were given no choice in the matter, and their parents had no option but to let them do so - or be killed themselves as "counter-revolutionary sell-outs".  In rural areas of Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), and to a certain extent in the Ovambo regions of South West Africa (today Namibia), it became common for terrorist gangs to kidnap whole schools full of kids and send them across the border to be trained as guerrillas/terrorists in their turn.  The security forces attempted to rescue them before they could be taken out of the country, but seldom succeeded - and when they did, many of the kids died or were wounded in the crossfire.

There were many incidents where security forces were deliberately placed in a no-win situation by terrorists using kids as cover, or to take military equipment to fighters by concealing it in their schoolbags (for example, magazines of ammunition, hand grenades, or even a land-mine or two).  Some children were even used as soldiers, not in uniform, but carrying grenades or other lethal devices and throwing them at a patrol while walking with a group of their fellow kids.  When fire was returned, it wasn't just the guilty ones who died.

I described some years ago how a baby was used to camouflage a land-mine, positioned to catch a patrol.

I remember Gavin, who was a member of a patrol that found a baby, too young to walk, sitting in the middle of a dirt road in a township, crying. As the point man and a couple of others walked up to see why the baby was just sitting there, the terrorists waiting in ambush blew up the landmine they'd buried beneath her, killing the point man and savagely mutilating the other two soldiers. Bits of flesh and blood from the soldiers, and the baby, splattered all over Gavin . . . across his face . . . in his eyes, nose and mouth.

For years, Gavin would start awake in the small hours at night, a scream of horror on his lips. "They blew up a baby! A baby!" Gavin's wife eventually left him, because she couldn't handle the strain of living with his nightmares. Psychiatric treatment couldn't break the cycle; nor could alcohol, or drugs (legal and illegal). Gavin took his own life at last, too tormented by what he'd seen to endure any longer, in the small hours every night, the parade of images across his closed eyelids. He was a hero in my book . . . and I'll always remember him as such.

There was another case where a dead baby was literally hollowed out, presumably by its mother.  Its body cavity was filled with explosives, and then carried through a military checkpoint to conceal the ordnance.  It worked the first time . . . and the second . . . but by the third time, decomposition had set in, and a whiff of it came to the nostrils of one of the soldiers at the checkpoint.  He investigated, and uncovered the scheme.  (The mother claimed - possibly truthfully - that she'd been forced to cooperate with the terrorists;  therefore, no action was taken against her.  I had my doubts.)

I was present when a vehicle-mounted patrol was passing through a very volatile area.  A woman rushed out from behind a hut, with a baby strapped to her chest in the typical African manner.  She charged the lead vehicle, holding a Molotov cocktail in either hand, their fuses lit.  The soldiers on the vehicle had a very simple binary choice.  Shoot her - which meant snap-shooting, probably through the baby on her chest, because there was no time to take careful aim and avoid it - or be immolated when the gasoline bombs exploded inside the load bed of the patrol vehicle.  You can imagine their feelings . . . but they were left with no other options.  She, and her baby, died.  Whose fault was that baby's death?  Not the soldiers', I would argue.

Older kids, as noted earlier, were used as couriers, pack mules, and resupply trains, particularly where the presence of international journalists might be presumed to inhibit troops - who knew exactly what they were doing - from shooting at them.  It seldom worked.

US forces encountered precisely the same thing in Afghanistan and Iraq.  It's happening in Gaza, too.  We've all seen videos on YouTube and elsewhere of how Gaza kids are brainwashed and indoctrinated to seek martyrdom, to hate Jews, and to lash out at them whenever and wherever they can.  If you or I were an Israeli sniper or designated marksman in Gaza right now, and saw a baby being used as "live cover" by its mother in a critical situation, or an older kid making a run towards our troops or carrying supplies towards a known enemy strongpoint . . . I daresay we'd take the shot in a heartbeat, because if we didn't, our own troops would suffer the consequences.  That's the cold, hard, brutal reality of a terrorist war.  There are no morals.  There are no rules - except, "Survive!"  Allow me to assure you:  if you hesitate, you won't.

When you're dealing with a ruthless, homicidal movement like Hamas, which has openly stated that civilian casualties serve its purpose as propaganda, it's even worse.  I wish we could know precisely what side shot each of those children.  The answer might be very revealing.  We do know that for years, Hamas has routinely trained children at summer camps to be terrorists.  It has sent children to confront Israeli soldiers on patrol, throwing stones at them, in the hope that the soldiers will shoot back, thereby creating more propaganda about "Israeli atrocities" for dissemination.  Hamas wants child casualties.  It glories in them.

Yes, Israeli forces almost certainly are targeting kids who show themselves in suspicious circumstances.  I'm more saddened by that tragedy than words can say, but I'm not surprised by it.  I'm more surprised at how few kids in Gaza have been shot like that.  As a proportion of the population, I daresay it's minuscule.  I submit that speaks to the discipline and training of the Israeli troops involved (see, for example, the videos linked in the previous paragraph).  There may be a few renegade souls in Israeli uniform who are actively seeking to murder innocent kids in Gaza, but I think it's very unlikely.  I hope and pray I'm not wrong.

May God receive the souls of the children who die like that;  and may He visit condign punishment on those who force them into situations where that can happen to them.

*Sigh*

Peter

Fireworks

 

I come from a country (South Africa) where fireworks were never a big cultural "thing".  The 5th of November (Guy Fawkes Night) was celebrated as a sort of hangover from colonial days, but not in a big way.  Dad would buy a small box of mixed fireworks, and us kids would wave sparklers enthusiastically while Roman Candles and small rockets lit up the sky over the garden - but it wasn't that big a deal to us.  It was almost exclusively a family affair, with few or no public displays of fireworks.  We didn't spend the rest of the year breathlessly waiting for the next round of bangs, booms and zooms.

Thus, when I came to this country, I was taken aback by the enthusiasm shown by almost everyone, adults and kids alike, at the prospect of converting large sums of money into smoke and (particularly) noise.  I can do that on a shooting range and get some useful practice out of it, but just blowing paper, cardboard and powder into the sky?  It simply doesn't do much for me.  Last weekend, when the town we live in held its annual July 4th fireworks display a little early, I didn't even bother to go out and look.  I did some writing at my desk, comforted the cats (who were being driven frantic by the excessive noise) and endured as patiently as possible until it was over.  I know some (a lot?) of my friends here can't figure that out.  To them, this is a highlight of the civic year, and the more noise we make, the better.  Well, I'm glad they enjoy it.

Something I could never figure out was the seemingly immense number of small fireworks stalls and outlets along the sides of local roads.  Within a couple of miles radius of my home there are at least five, all operating seasonally for major celebrations like July 4th.  A couple of weeks before the day they'll open their doors, and close them again a week afterwards, reverting to their usual status of derelict old shipping containers and garden sheds, locked up until next time.  I wondered how on earth their owners could make a living off such haphazard businesses . . . until I read Mr. B's explanation.

One of the guys that hangs around the airport works for an FBO….and his side job is managing at a Fireworks Outlet.

He was telling us that their market research tells them that the average customer spends nearly 820 dollars for the Independence Day holiday….And their average customer is on welfare or other government assistance, has 4 children, and gets some form of housing subsidy. They nearly all live below the poverty line.

Yet, oddly, they have enough money for fireworks.

He also said that the year they gave out Covid subsidy checks was the best year ever for the business.

There's more at the link.

The average customer spends $820 for Independence Day celebrations?  I don't know if that's for food and drinks as well as fireworks, but even so, ye gods and little fishes!  Those fireworks are over and above the bigger displays put on by almost all cities, towns and villages all over the country.  Around this time of year, you could fly over rural northern Texas and think you were having a flashback to World War II, with every town in sight trying to shoot down everything passing overhead!

I'm sorry.  I must be holiday-spirit-deficient in some way, because the thought of that much money being blown sky-high at this time of year - when many, many people are finding it so hard to make ends meet - is just . . . weird.

Peter

Bladder hell?

 

Thank you all for your kind wishes as I recover from surgery.  Some of the comments about catheters, etc. reminded me of an incident with a friend that still makes me laugh whenever I think about it.

He had some sort of bladder problem that required him to be fitted with a catheter and a urine bag.  So far, so good . . . until the first morning after he returned home.  His twin daughters, aged about 5 or 6 at the time, came running into the bedroom and jumped on the bed to be with Mom and Dad - and one of them landed right on his (full) urine bag.

His comment:  "Have you ever tried to pee backwards?  It sheds a new and horrible light on the human condition!"

I had to sympathize, even while laughing my tochus off at his predicament!

Peter

Heh

 

From Foxes In Love.  Click the image to be taken to a larger version on the comic's Web page.

Why does this remind me of myself as a child?

Peter

Work smarter, not harder

 

From XKCD.  Click the image for a larger view, and click here to go to the cartoon's Web page.

If you aren't reading XKCD regularly, you're missing out on a great comic strip.  It's updated two to three times every week.  Highly recommended.

Peter

For your friends' toddlers (but not necessarily your own)...

 

... the perfect Christmas present - but only if you don't like his or her parents.

You even get a discount if you buy 2 or more!

I had to smile at some of the reviews.  For example:

This is for my 3 year old great grandson for Christmas. He is non verbal autism. Hopefully he will enjoy these. His parents might not but oh well I guess!!!

(Presumably with tongue in cheek) This little drum set is absolutely adorable. Perfect for the little musician in your life. Not too big, doesn't take up much space. Easy to assemble. Hours of fun!!!

The only potential fly in the ointment is that you can't be sure what the kid's parents will get you and/or your family next Christmas.  They say revenge is a dish best served cold . . .

Peter

A timely warning for gift-shopping

 

Those of us with children would do well to heed this warning.

Toys that “spy” on children are a rising, “frightening” threat, a new study from a consumer watchdog has warned.

The U.S. PIRG Education Fund noted that certain toys that record children’s voices, images, locations and other information pose a risk to children’s safety and privacy.

The organization also noted that an increasing number of toys are utilizing technological features — even when they do not appear to be doing so.

“It’s chilling to learn what some of these toys can do,” Teresa Murray, co-author of the “Trouble in Toyland 2023” report, said in a statement.

. . .

... technological toys are becoming an increasing security risk to children, as some have been caught improperly collecting and storing data — and even being hacked.

The growing threat of AI has also infiltrated the toy industry as this advanced, still experimental technology is being integrated into products advertised for children as young as 3 years old.

The agency advises shoppers to research the products on a child’s wish list “before buying a toy with a microphone, a camera, a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection or any ability to collect information about young children.”

The report comes after the Federal Trade Commission accused Amazon of violating federal children’s privacy laws through its Alexa service by keeping the voice recordings of children, horror stories of hackers speaking to children through their baby monitors and an 11-year-old girl was kidnapped by a man she met through the online gaming platform Roblox.

There's more at the link.

I'm rather glad I grew up in an era where "smart" toys were unheard of.  In fact, the only "smart" around was the "smarting" we felt after our parents whaled the tar out of us for stepping out of line!  It was a different world then . . . if my parents punished us today as they did then, they'd be in jail for child abuse, even though nothing could have been further from their minds.  They'd both been brought up in the "roaring Twenties" and Great Depression-era Britain, in which period children were very strictly disciplined if need be;  and they brought us up in the same way.  I daresay some of my readers can recall similar habits from their parents.

I'm glad I'm not a child today.  When I look at all the "wokeness" seeking to corrupt them, over and above all the normal perils of childhood, it's a pretty nasty environment.  Parents have their work cut out for them to keep their children's heads above water, so to speak.

Peter

Pretty much

 

Found on MeWe.  Click the image for a larger view.

That gets it said.

I suggest posting that picture in the teachers' lounge of every kindergarten and elementary school in the country.  Next to it, I'd like to see reward posters offering a bounty on those "teachers" who insist on corrupting our youth in that way.

Works for me . . . how about you?

Peter

When the State decides it, not you, "owns" your children

 

Last week I published an article titled "You can no longer entrust your children to the state".  In it, I highlighted how warped and deviant sexual mores and practices were being effectively imposed on families and children by State educational and health care authorities.

The latest development in this nightmare comes from Massachusetts.

In June 2023, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) unveiled the draft of its new “Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Curriculum Framework” document ... Note that this is officially just “guidelines” for schools. But don’t be fooled. The clear intent down the line is for the legislature to mandate these guidelines.

. . .

The idea of “trauma-sensitive” and “safe and supportive” schools reveals the education establishment’s attitude that schools are equally, if not more, concerned about a child’s safety and emotional support than parents. (And, that the home may not be a safe place.)

The new “equity” emphasis relates to pushing ideas on supposed discrimination (re: race, ethnicity, economic status, and LGBTQ+ identities).

. . .

Throughout the document, sexual orientation and gender identity are treated as valid and legitimate “identifications” which cannot be disputed or challenged in any way. (No alternative moral or scientific perspective is mentioned.) Likewise, systemic discrimination and inequities are presented as fact.

Students will be given resources for support in pursuing LGBT identities, STD testing and treatment, birth control, or abortion, and instructed in how to get help from others if their parents are not in agreement.

Other topics to be addressed in the classroom include rape, sexual consent, sex trafficking, sexual abuse, trauma, domestic violence, dating violence, illicit drugs, community standards, and public and school policy.

There's more at the link, including many examples of such policies and their implications.

In all seriousness, if you take your children's upbringing seriously;  if you want them to adhere to the moral and ethical standards and norms that a traditional (particularly a Christian) upbringing espouses;  if you don't want them exposed to the moral filth that permeates modern society;   then you cannot risk exposing them to the cultural environment being deliberately created and promoted in many State school systems.  The report above refers to Massachusetts specifically, but similar policies are being proposed and implemented in many other states as well.  (To name just one example, see what's happening in Maryland right now.)  The education departments in many states have been infiltrated and overwhelmed by those with ulterior motives and radical progressive agendas, and they're targeting our children.  Even private schools, such as those run by churches, are often forced to follow (or willingly adopt) state curricula including such subjects.  They can no longer be blindly trusted.

It's reached the point where I'm recommending to friends and those who reach out to me for advice that they should not put their children into state-run schools, or those that use a state-approved curriculum, without first checking and double-checking that the curriculum doesn't include this moral trash.  If it does, don't send your kids there!  Home-schooling is fortunately still an option for most Americans, and it's fast becoming the only one where you have a say in what your kids are taught and how they are raised.

I'm aware of a number of families that are banding together to homeschool their children as a group, hiring a trusted teacher (paying partly in cash, partly in kind) to oversee their learning, sharing the burden of supervising them at a central location each day, and planning joint extra-curricular activities.  They see it as defending their kids - and I can't disagree.  I only wish more families were following their example.

Peter

You can no longer entrust your children to the state

 

Two reports caught my eye over the past few days.  First, from Germany:

Several daycare centers in Germany are reportedly considering or have already implemented "sexual exploration rooms" where children can engage in sexual games and discover what they find pleasurable.

When asked for comment by the German newspaper Die Welt, the North Rhine-Westphalia children's ministry, headed by Green Josephine Paul, said the "sexual behavior by children" could not be "prevented" and said they had no intention of contacting the daycare centers.

Die Welt reported that one daycare in Kerpen offers children the "freedom to try out childish sexuality." The daycare also said that sexual self-pleasure on its property is of "great importance," insisting that "masturbation is normal."

. . .

Parents voiced concerns about the "exploration rooms" in June when the news outlet BILD published an email from an Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO) daycare center in the Hanover region of Germany ... "My daughter is five years old. I don't want boys groping her. I have another child in another daycare center [where] there is no such thing [as an exploration room]," one father told BILD.

There's more at the link.

Next, from Divemedic:

I got a call from my sister. Her 14 year old daughter, my niece, is being sexually harassed at school. There are a couple of boys who are being very descriptive in what they want to do to her. She told them that what they were doing is sexual harassment, but the boys responded with “You women are just too sensitive.”

Two weeks ago, she emailed the school counselor. Who did nothing. It has continued to happen.

So yesterday, she went to the counselor’s office and complained. The counselor said that there is nothing she can do but move my niece to a different class.

I told my niece that this is unacceptable. She is the victim and shouldn’t have to move, plus this won’t stop the boy from simply seeing her somewhere else and continuing the behavior. I told her that the way forward is to go to the principal (or have her mother do it) and ask that administrator if he is going to take action. Point out to him that he is required by law to take disciplinary action against the boy, and if he doesn’t, she will contact the county school board’s title IX officer and make it an official complaint. Trust me, it won’t go that far.

My niece doesn’t want to do that because she is afraid that, if the boys get in trouble, they are going to bring a gun to school and shoot her.

This is what the left is doing to young women- they have them so afraid of the almost nonexistent threat from school shootings that are black swan events, that these young girls are being sexually harassed and afraid enough that they are having to take it.

Again, more at the link.

These come on top of earlier reports that a Virginia school district is refusing to follow the Governor's (conservative/traditional) guidelines on how transgender issues should be handled, and California is "investigating" school districts that don't follow (extremely liberal/progressive) State guidelines on transgender kids.

Folks, we can no longer trust any educational entity in the country to recognize parental rights over children, and to rein in progressive efforts to brainwash our kids into their warped, twisted way of thought (and life).  Some will object that the report from Germany, above, doesn't apply in the USA:  but it does.  Go read the "fact sheet" from the National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth, and see for yourself.  Those guidelines are being used by school districts all over this country.  It's only a matter of time until formal "classrooms" for such behavior are established here, too.

It's not just education, either.  Almost every state department and/or institution is being weaponized to be "politically correct", to be "woke" when it comes to dealing with families, parents and children.  The traditional family is being demonized as the source of problems, rather than the solution to them.

It's becoming more and more clear that we need to keep our kids out of any and all state institutions (including schools) that treat them as commodities to be exploited and brainwashed.  I think home-schooling is probably the only way forward for any family wanting to preserve traditional values.

Peter

They taught their kids properly back then

 

A friend sent me a link to an article titled "Return of the One Room Schoolhouse".  I found it very interesting, particularly because it gave examples of eighth grade final examinations from 1895.  I doubt most of our modern schoolchildren could pass them - in fact, I think most of us adults would have a hard time with them too!

Here, for example, is the Geography exam.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

4. Describe the mountains of N.A.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.

All that in one hour?  I'd be very hard pressed to answer that many questions, concisely enough, in that time limit.

Click over to the article to look at the examinations for English, arithmetic and other subjects.  They're interesting and thought-provoking.  Why are modern children taught so much less factually, and so much more about irrelevant, touchy-feely subjects that will do nothing to help them as adults?

Peter

Spongebob - perhaps not so innocent as he seems?

 

I was surprised to read Vox Day's comments about rumors that the Spongebob Squarepants children's TV character may have pedophile influences in his background.  It looks like the address on Spongebob's driver's license is located on Little Saint James Island in the American Virgin Islands - the island formerly owned by the infamous sexual predator, Jeffrey Epstein.

I highly recommend clicking over to Vox's blog post and reading it for yourself, then verifying it via Google Maps.  It checks out - at least, it did for me, five minutes ago.

Vox advises:

At this point, all children’s shows need to be considered intrinsically suspect. Just as all media “fact-checks” need to be considered inherently false.

True dat.

Peter

True dat

 

Gab user Rich Shappard posts this image:

Based on many years' experience as a pastor and chaplain, allow me to assure you, that's very, very true.

I'd guesstimate that of the sexual predators and child molesters I encountered in prison, well over half - perhaps as many as four-fifths - had been molested or abused as children themselves.  It permanently warped and twisted them, so they were never able to break free of those early bonds of evil that had been laid upon them.  It's all very well to say that free will is involved, that they could always have refused to follow such inclinations by strength of will . . . but sadly, it's not that easy.  Such psychological damage can and does cripple many people, making it impossible for them to turn away from what has been done to them.  Many people don't realize this.

That's why I've said all along that there is no cure for pedophilia, and no cure for similar sexual predators.  It's simply not possible.  There are only three possibilities in my experience:

1. For those with the strength of will to do so, they have to stay away from vulnerable people so that they don't put themselves in temptation's path.  This is, of course, not always possible, so there are times that only their own strength of will will help.  If they have it, great.  If they don't . . . not so much.
2. Those who can marry happily, and find a partner that will accept them and their psychological burdens and work with them to help them adjust, may find the peace of mind needed to overcome their past.  That doesn't often happen, and it takes a very special kind of partner.  Sadly, it's been my experience that "damaged" people (i.e. the victims of pedophilia, etc.) often find each other and form partnerships where their mutual damage translates into mutual predation upon others.
3. Those who don't fall into either group above are often beyond worldly help.  Even psychologists and psychiatrists, although they can explain their conduct to them and help them to understand it, can't provide the inner motivation to make them want to change.  We pastors and chaplains face a similar problem;  we can talk about Divine grace until we're blue in the face, but unless the person is willing to make a serious, life-changing commitment to seek and use that grace, our words won't get them anywhere.  For such people, all too often, the only "treatment" possible is incarceration, to keep them away from their potential victims;  and even that isn't a perfect solution, because sooner or later they're going to be released from prison, and many of them won't be able to stop themselves reverting to pattern.

It's a tragic situation for their victims, and in some ways equally tragic for the perpetrators.

It's facile to say "just shoot them".  There are, and will be, too many others to take their place.  We can't kill our way out of this problem.  It takes parents who are actively involved in raising their children, who establish bonds of trust with them and encourage them to tell them about any encounters with this sort of thing, who can help them avoid the worst of the problem.  Today, we do our kids a disservice if we don't educate them about the risks involved, and what to do about them.

We can also make sure that they aren't exposed to "grooming" behavior (including "drag queen story hours" at libraries, "woke" schools and education authorities that actively encourage deviant behavior, and other such threats).  Yes, that means we have to get involved.  Yes, that means we may have to abandon more attractive and interesting uses of our time in order to protect our kids by our involvement.  That's what parenting - proper parenting - is all about.

Peter

It runs in the extended family...

 

What chance do any of the kids and teenagers in this family have, when their not-so-much-older "elders" are setting examples like this?  Why are we surprised when entire families turn out to be antisocial criminal discards?

The Charles County Police Department said officers patrolling in Waldorf, Maryland, at about 1 p.m. on May 16 saw two Hyundai vehicles in front of a business. A computer check revealed they were reported stolen.

When the officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, the drivers of the two vehicles sped off.

At the same time, a dispatcher took a 911 call about a group of suspects that entered a business and stole merchandise before fleeing in two vehicles that matched the cars the officers were attempting to stop.

The suspects got out of the vehicles at a Park and Ride lot and attempted to hide, though the officers were ultimately able to apprehend them without any further incident.

From the two vehicles, police arrested 18-year-old Deshaun Deamonte Whitaker and 21-year-old Vincent Lee Alston, both of Washington, D.C., who were both charged with theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and rogue and vagabond.

Whitaker was released on $2,000 bond and Alston was held without bond in the Charles County Detention Center.

Four juveniles were also arrested and charged with theft and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Police said a female guardian was set to pick up the four juveniles, but the guardian and two other females arrived in what appeared to be another stolen vehicle, which left after the three women were dropped off at the police station.

Officers located the vehicle on a nearby street, which reportedly had a broken back window and steering column damage. When the officer ordered everyone out of the vehicle, the driver fled, nearly hitting one of the officers.

All the occupants got out of the vehicle after the driver drove a short distance, and it was determined the vehicle was stolen from another jurisdiction.

Anthony Matthew Stewart, 19, of Washington, D.C., was driving the vehicle and arrested after a brief chase on foot. He was charged with first- and second-degree assault, unauthorized use of a vehicle and providing a false name to police. Stewart also reportedly had active warrants for his arrest.

Also in the vehicle were three juveniles who were apprehended. One of the juveniles, a 16-year-old boy, had active arrest warrants, and a 13-year-old girl was reported missing from another county. All three juveniles were charged with theft and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

The three women who picked up the four juveniles earlier that day – Carlisa Monnae Blackeney, 18, of Washington, D.C., and Mahkiyh McQuinn-Woodly, 18, of Hagerstown, Maryland – were charged with theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, providing a false name, and rogue and vagabond.

There's more at the link.

If I'd begun to behave like that - heck, if I'd even begun to think about behaving like that - my parents would have straightened me up good and proper.  There'd have been no nonsense about it, including a thorough beating and even handing me over to the police if necessary.

Here's an example.  Shortly after I began to notice that girls were different from boys, my father called me into his study and told me, "Son, I notice you're making eyes at the girls these days.  I just want you to know that if you ever make any of them pregnant, I'll pay their medical bills."

I was startled, and said something inane like, "Gee, Dad, that's nice of you - but why?"

His answer shook me back on my heels.  "Well, you won't be able to take responsibility for them, because by then I will have killed you."

He wasn't joking.  That man had come through years of combat in World War II, and hadn't forgotten a thing he'd learned.  Neither had his fellow veterans, whom I knew would be more than willing to help him carry out his threat if necessary.  Talk about a "straighten up and fly right" warning!  (I did.)

I daresay the kids in the above report never had that.  It's almost certainly too late to save them from a life of crime and increasing desperation - barring divine intervention, that is.  They were probably never raised right (almost certainly didn't have a strong nuclear family at all to teach them right from wrong), and it's too late to reverse that process now.  They've gone feral.  I wonder how many previous encounters with law enforcement each of them had?  I daresay the list would be quite long, if it weren't politically incorrect to draw it up in the first place.

These are the critters inhabiting our cities these days.  You don't want to live among them, unless you really want to experience Heinlein's "crazy years".  (I don't, but I suspect we won't have much choice, because our society has let this sort of trash go on too long.  Absent some very serious, wholesale, ruthlessly enforced house- and neighborhood-cleaning, it's probably too late to stop the rot by now.)  If you haven't already left big cities, it's high time you began the process.

Peter

This is sick and evil beyond belief - but it's happening right now, all over the place

 

There's an article by Tayler Hansen titled "The 'All Ages' Drag Show Epidemic Plaguing America".  It documents - complete with video recordings - what's actually going on in these so-called "Drag Queen Story Hours" being presented at local libraries, churches and other venues.

I was horrified to read it, not because I was unaware of how bad things were getting, but at how widespread the infection has become in our society.  An example:

Within 5 minutes of sitting down with my bingo card and pamphlet detailing the [First Christian Church's] “values” I was approached by who I labeled “church worker #2”. (A total creep) He sat next to me and immediately asked my name and how I identify. He began talking about how much pride the church places in what they call the “trans” or “transparency” closet. At this point I knew something even weirder than Drag Queen Bingo was taking place and I leaned into the conversation. He offered to give me a tour after I showed interest and had already made multiple sexual remarks about my appearance. He seemed very fidgety and sporadic as if he were on an amphetamine of some kind.

He began to lead me to the back where a confined room was located, where he would take multiple children throughout the event without adult supervision. Once I entered the room, worker #1 explained that this closet was for children to come and select “gender affirming” clothing. They were offering chest binders, underwear, bras, jewelry, and other clothing. He explained how they even have whole foods bags so children can bring their “gender affirming” clothes and binders home without raising suspicion of their parents. Definitely not a “transparent” closet as they said it was. Throughout this entire process, church worker #2 was struggling to open a package of donuts while acting like an addict.

This is - at least nominally - a church.  A Christian church.  Anything less in conformity with the Gospel of Christ is almost impossible to imagine . . . but they're doing it.  I somehow doubt they bother to read the salient portions of those Gospels in that church, particularly Luke 17:1-2.  Perhaps someone should leave a pile of millstones outside their front door as a reminder.

(Nor is that church alone.  Witness the current brouhaha over a Catholic church in New York that proclaimed - on the altar - "God is Trans".  I understand the display was not approved by the local Bishop, but the very fact that the parish pastor could permit and/or tolerate such an exhibit is - literally - heretical.  In the light of the ongoing fallout from the Catholic Church's problems with child sexual abuse by some of its pastors, it's even worse.)

Also noteworthy is that many parents of the kids who are dragged along to such events are themselves mentally deranged.  I've seen this as a pastor many times.  A parent persuades him/herself that their child is oriented in this, or that, or the other way, because it makes them - the parent - look good to their social circle.  Therefore, they effectively force their child into that way of behavior, despite the damage they're undoubtedly doing to them.  Another example from the article:

I remember sitting there at the bar alongside Aldo Buttazoni in complete disbelief in what we were witnessing. In the moment I couldn’t fathom that this gay bar with sexual signs and scantily dressed men posing as women were about dance for little children with easily malleable minds. The environment was that of a strip club or a burlesque show. Looking around I was in complete disbelief watching parents, who are supposed to protect their children from perversion, were hooting and hollering in anticipation for men to dance sexually for their children.

As the show started, a young child was sitting next to me at the bar top, he looked miserable and out of place. He was playing with a rubiks cube and Nintendo throughout the entire performance. The bartender began talking to him as he was serving alcoholic beverages over the child’s head. That’s when I overheard a conversation that was truly horrifying and depicted the days events perfectly.

Bartender: Are you gay?

Child: No, I’m not gay.

Mother: *Interrupting* No he is gay, don’t let him lie to you, he is.

The Child, visibly uncomfortable by the bartenders comment and his mothers correction, bowed his head towards the ground like a puppy that was just scolded. The child didn’t say another word for the remainder of the show, and instead resumed playing on his Nintendo with his head hidden away.

Again, millstones come to mind.

I'm not going to embed more here, but I am going to recommend as strongly as I know how that you click over to the article and read it in full for yourself.  When you've done so, pass it on to your family and friends, and keep the link handy for future use.

Our kids are being targeted by the forces of evil.  There's no other way to put it.  The way one deals with evil is to drag it out into the light, so that it can be clearly seen and understood for what it is;  and, when that's been done, one deals with the evildoers as firmly and as permanently as possible, so that they no longer have any opportunity for future evil.

This article is a good start to that process.

Peter

"For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind"

 

That headline comes from the Bible:  Hosea 8:7.  I can't think of a more appropriate application for it than those behind the so-called "Drag Queen Christmas" show for children.  I can only assess it in Biblical and Christian terms, because if I didn't - if I didn't have that moral restraint to control my actions - I'd be vitriolic, and less than measured in my response.

I'm not going to publish details or pictures here, because they're sickening.  You'll find a very informative Twitter thread, complete with pictures, here:  for a more convenient read, including the pictures, see the Threadreader combined thread here.  WARNING:  Neither link is safe for work, or for family viewing, and they will offend viewers with any sense of traditional morality at all.  View at your own risk.

(I found it noteworthy that the "host" of the show is affiliated with Disney+ and Nickelodeon.  So much for those corporations and their "family values" . . .)

I presume that the readers of this blog have too much sense, and are sufficiently ethical and honorable in their behavior, to ever expose their kids to this sort of moral meltdown.  However, tragically, the same can't be said for many others in our demented society.  An ancient idiom warns us that "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad".  If our society not only permits, not only tolerates, but actually encourages this filth, then I can only suspect we have an awful lot of gods trying to make us as insane as possible.  From where else could such madness come?

If I knew that anyone associated in any way with this endeavor were living anywhere near my home, I'd mobilize as many people as possible in my neighborhood to drive them out.  I could not tolerate such evil in close proximity to those I hold dear.  How can anyone in his or her right mind tolerate such public displays - and displayers - of evil anywhere near them?

I can only urge you, dear readers, to find out whether this abomination is coming to any venue near you.  If it is, boycott the performance, raise outrage against the venue allowing it to be performed, contact local churches and urge them to mobilize their members against it - in other words, do anything and everything possible to disrupt it.  Filth like this stains everything and everyone it touches, morally for certain, and possibly physically as well (in terms of crime rates and other real-world consequences).  You certainly don't want it corrupting local children!

As for those promoting it, and performing in it, and defending it?

Matthew 18:5-6 - "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me;  but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."

Luke 17:1-2 - And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin."

I don't think Jesus was joking.

Hebrews 10:31 - "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

I'm pretty sure those concerned will learn that the hard way, sooner or later.

Peter

The sobering reality of child trafficking

 

Larry Lambert writes:

DRSZ teaches in the humanities and one of his interests has been alien smuggling. On the order of 12 years ago, DRSZ reached out to me and asked me if I had something that he could write a paper on. Something that he could publish and present to other academics at conferences. I asked if it had to deal with snakeheads and Asians and he said that it didn’t.

I explained how the system worked in Tijuana at the time. Mexican traffickers traveled throughout Central America and Mexico buying children from families who had many children and could not afford to feed or house them. The going rate was US$20-35 in local currency. The traffickers posed as priests and nuns and promised to take the youngsters (pre-teen) to a better place. SZ was intrigued. Could he meet the smugglers and the slaves? Of course. He could even buy a child at the going rate then which was US$75-150 in Tijuana.

I knew/still know the MEXGOV official who oversees this so we went to TJ and met G. G is his name and also stands for Gordo. G took DRSZ to the building where the children were housed. Once purchased they had a no-return policy. Snuff the child or do whatever but they didn’t want them back when you were done with them. SZ met the alien smugglers and the slaves. The smugglers had people among them dressed in police uniforms to convince the children that going to the police for help was a bad idea.

There's more at the link.  Go read the whole thing.

Larry's not exaggerating at all.  I saw the beginning of one of the child smuggling pipelines in Africa, where "excess" children are sold by their parents, or stolen from refugee camps where their parents can't always keep track of them.  If they're pretty, they'll end up as sex slaves;  if they're not, they'll end up as regular slaves, worked to death to extract minerals or labor in dangerous factories.  There are regular markets in the Middle East and north Africa where those in the know can gather to examine the "merchandise" and bid on it.  From there, the children are smuggled into First World nations where they're sold or rented out to the highest bidder.

Many of the illegal aliens coming across our southern border are accompanied by children, because they get better treatment that way from the authorities here.  Relatively few of those children are related to those with whom they're found.  Furthermore, when "relatives" in the USA claim them, there's seldom any DNA testing done to ensure that they are, indeed related.  Commonly, they're not.  The children are simply being moved along the pipeline to where their "owners" can make the most money out of them.  Nobody in authority seems to care about that, or have the time to verify that the children are OK.

Most terrifying of all is that many of these children will be used for sexual abuse.  Nobody knows them;  nobody wants them - so when the abusers have done with them, they can be "disappeared" without anybody in authority knowing they even existed.  The bodies can be hidden in many ways and places, or even used to make more money.  (I read of one investigation into the ingredients of a popular brand of dog food in another country.  You don't want to know what they discovered.  It never made the headlines.)

I regard child kidnappers or sellers in the same light as child abusers.  Prison is far, far too good for them.

Peter