At a U.S. military academy conference on “character and leadership,” one might expect to hear from individuals imparting wisdom and inspiration from their heroic military actions in the face of battle or its aftermath: Medal of Honor recipients, POW survivors, amputees who continue to serve with dignity and valor. Nah, that’s so “old school.” Heroism now, according to the canons of political correctness, is defined by Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner, Ellen DeGeneres, and homosexual activist/figure skater Adam Rippon. They have the “courage” to “be themselves” and defiantly proclaim their valorous individuality.
Despite the fact that the American people spoke in November 2016 and elected Donald Trump, much of the federal bureaucracy still acts as though Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton sits in the Oval Office. Thus, the United States Air Force Academy is continuing the Obama transgender transformation agenda. The headliners at the Academy’s recent 25th National Character and Leadership Symposium were: Air Force Staff Sgt. Logan Ireland and his “wife,” Laila, who had served as a male soldier in the U.S. Army before his/her transgender transition; Cornel West, a celebrity Marxist philosopher, LGBT activist, propagandist for Communist China’s genocidal dictator Mao Zedong, and Harvard professor of African-American Studies; and Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the aging sexologist and media darling who endorses virtually every form of sexual deviancy, as long as it’s done “lovingly.”
“Designed to ‘Stretch Thinking’”
The USAFA’s two-day symposium (February 22-23), according to an article by the Academy’s public affairs office, was “designed to ‘stretch thinking’” of the Air Force cadets. In his opening address to the symposium audience, Academy Superintendent Lt. General Jay Silveria said the event would feature “an impressive array of speakers from an amazingly diverse array of backgrounds.”
“The Air Force Academy’s appreciation for diversity and its willingness to respectfully address controversy make the school stronger,” according to Silveria. “Some of their stories will inspire and encourage you, others will shock or sadden you, some might anger you and some will make you uncomfortable,” he said. “Each of these reactions are important to our experience here and to our development as leaders.”
The theme of the symposium was “Ethics and Respect for Human Dignity,” a topic Silveria called “timely and pertinent.” “It’s one that allows for some healthy introspection as individuals and as organizations, no matter where you’re coming from,” he said. The annual event, noted the USAFA public affairs office, gives Academy cadets, staff, and visiting students and faculty from universities across the United States, a chance to attend presentations and participate in group discussions.
“We’re having conversations here and now that weren’t being had, or some even considered here or anywhere else, back when I was a cadet,” Siveria said. “I think that’s truly amazing and something that needs to happen more across our country.” “It’s a unique group of leaders who truly challenge the norm,” said Cadet 1st Class Ethan Young, cadet in charge of NCLS. “We encourage you to stretch your thinking.”
General Silveria demonstrated the results of his “stretched” thinking last year when a video of his angry rant to the entire Academy regarding a supposed “hate crime” went viral on the Internet. As it turned out, the general had irresponsibly jumped the gun, refusing to wait until the official investigation had been completed. The investigation found, contrary to the media hype and the general’s rant, that the racist graffiti scrawled outside the dorm rooms of some black cadets had been written by one of the black “victims.” The unnamed cadet who perpetrated the hoax admitted to committing the misdeed and left the Academy.
General Silveria might have demonstrated true character and leadership to the cadets by acknowledging his error and apologizing for besmirching the entire body of cadets by falsely imputing racism when there was no evidence to support the charge. The general became an instant media celebrity, heralded as a courageous and noble adversary to the reputed intolerance and bigotry of President Trump. Thanks to the general’s rant, the Fake News media ran with the Fake News story day after day, exploiting it as proof of their claim that “Trumpism” is synonymous with racism. To make matters worse, Silveria (and other Air Force officials, presumably) delayed informing the public and the media about the cadet’s admission for two weeks, allowing the injustice of the accusation, and the racial tensions it was fanning, to continue and build. Going still further, Silveria and the Air Force have refused to release the official investigation report. As we reported on March 2, the 174-page investigation report was only released recently, and only as the result of a months-long Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Deep State: U.S. Military Channels Subversive Agenda of New York Times and Harvard
Please pardon our digression above; let’s return to National Character and Leadership Symposium. “The Logans,” as they were described in a USAFA press release, are “a military husband and wife” who “shared their experiences as a transgender couple with cadets and faculty.” “The Logans” are also the stars of a 2015 New York Times documentary, “Transgender, at War and in Love.” The Times, of course, has been a leading force in spreading the gospel of pansexuality, and particularly advancing the “rights” of LGBTQIASS “victims” (etc., etc. — yes, there are now dozens of sexual identity categories) who, we are told repeatedly, must receive special protective status to address perceived societal wrongs and prejudices.
On February 23, as the USAFA symposium was underway, the Times editorial board issued an editorial entitled, “Trump’s Chance to do Right by Transgender Troops.” The Times’ editorial collective castigated President Trump because his attempt to ban transgender individuals from the military “has added immeasurably to the suffering of transgender people just yearning to be treated as human beings.”
An official USAFA video of the symposium’s “Understanding Transgender Service Members-NCLS 2018” session reveals the alarming extent to which the Obama administration’s transgender legacy remains deeply imbedded in the Department of Defense (DOD). Beginning with the introductions, which pay homage to the transgender activist professors at the Academy, the program is a stunning eye-opener regarding the level of subversive LGBTQ political correctness that has achieved the status of official dogma at the Academy. (The article continues below the video.)
The unidentified officer making the introductions, for instance, introduces a front-row attendee as “Colonel retired Meyers,” whom he describes as a “45-year transgender veteran of the United States Government” who now serves as an instructor in the Academy’s physics department. “Most of us know Col. Meyers, in our day-to-day life as Mark, but ‘Marcy’ came to visit us today,” the introducer announced. Colonel “Mark/Marcy” Meyers, wearing a bright floral blouse and large, dangle earrings, stood and waved to the audience.
Then there was Professor Cornel West, who seems to lead an especially charmed existence. He is one of the most radical peripatetic communist propagandists in the nation. If there is a violent protest by Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, Antifa, or the Revolutionary Communist Party, there’s a good chance that Prof. West is there pouring gasoline (figuratively) on the fires. All the while, he is proclaiming that he is a “Jesus-loving black man” committed to “non-violence” and “peaceful dialog.” This cheap rhetoric is allowed to stand as proof of his peaceful intent, regardless of his actions that show otherwise.
We reported last year, in Liberal Media: Cheerleaders for “Antifa” Communist Thugs:
Cornel West, the perpetual protester, is regularly given generous free national publicity on radio, TV, and in print. As we have reported many times in the past, Professor West, who has enjoyed honored posts at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Paris, and other left-leaning universities, is the most famous “public intellectual” fronting for the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), the hardcore Maoists that have been fomenting riots and violent confrontations for decades. RCP founder Robert Avakian, a former comrade of Bill Ayers in the violent Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), is an ardent disciple of Mao Tse-tung, and his RCP glorifies Communist China’s Cultural Revolution and Mao’s mass-murdering thugs, the Red Guards. Many of the most violent Antifa incidents have featured masked Antifa demonstrators and their supporters (such as Professor West) marching behind banners and holding signs printed by the RCP and emblazoned with the RCP website, www.revcom.us.
Unfortunately, the media and academia have conferred a sort of immunity from criticism on Prof. West. He is provided generous media coverage without ever having to explain his longstanding endorsements of, and support for, the Revolutionary Communist Party, the most fervent apologists for Maoist genocide in China and the imitators of Mao’s murderous Red Guards here in America.
He is also a frequent speaker at both tax-supported and private colleges and universities, despite the fact that the Maosist Reds he champions are the most notorious advocates of thought control and the most tyrannical repressors of free speech in world history. In addition to his promotion of Maoist-Marxist revolution, Prof. West is lionized for helping sway black Christian pastors into acceptance of “LGBT rights” as a crucial part of the civil rights movement. West added the LGBT cause to his revolutionary Cultural Marxism oeuvre more than two decades ago. In a 1996 interview with the Harvard Educational Review, West placed “heterosexism within the context of capitalism, establishing connections to other forms of oppression.” He has been developing these anti-heterosexism/anti-capitalist theses ever since. This obviously qualified him as an “expert” to speak to the Air Force cadets, right?
Tragically, besides receiving the imprimatur of the Air Force Academy, Prof. West’s appearance was given added dignity by the presence of Dr. Robert George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Prof. George, a distinguished jurist and noted conservative, sat on stage with “Brother Cornel” and lent his prestige to the false image of West as a reasonable and honorable fellow academic with whom he may have significant differences of opinion, but who is, nevertheless, committed to freedom of thought and discussion. Sadly, Prof. George must be willfully blind to be so completely unaware of Prof. West’s long and emphatic record to the contrary.
Dr. Ruth Westheimer was a logical featured speaker to a program aimed at normalizing psychological confusion and sexual perversion. The 90-year-old sexologist rose to global fame in the 1980s as the advocate of all things sexual. With her radio and television shows, frequent appearances on popular television programs, and dozens of media-promoted best-selling books, the blunt-talking “Gradma of Sex” has been a major force in the pornification of America and the world.
In his important article Deep State Bureaucracy vs. Trump, America, Constitution, The New American’s Alex Newman detailed the formidable task ahead facing not only President Donald Trump, but all freedom-loving Americans, concerning the herculean effort to “drain the swamp.” As the USAFA symposium plainly shows, there are still many swamp creatures carrying out revolutionary schemes to corrupt, undermine, and subvert our society at every level. Unless rooted out, they will succeed. Candidate Trump promised to drain the swamp, and he has already succeeded in evicting some of the most notorious swamp dwellers. Every American should be righteously angered at these continuous attacks on Christian morality and decency by officials of our government. And we should be doing all within our power to encourage President Trump to stay on task in this effort until the swamp is truly drained.
Photo of cadets at U.S. Air Force Academy: U.S. Air Force photo/Liz Copan
Related articles:
Air Force Academy Releases Report on Hate Crime Hoax: Media Goes AWOL
“Transgenders” Now Free to Join U.S. Military
Mugged by Reality: Male Gawker in Disneyland Ladies Restroom Ogles With Impunity
“Trans” Man Wins Women’s Weightlifting Competition
Trump Rescinds Transgender Bathroom and Locker-room Rules
The Transgender Con: Rending Bodies and Twisting Minds
School District: Shh, Don’t Tell Parents a (“Transgender”) Boy Is Bunking With Their Daughter
