Pete Hegseth is preparing to cut the U.S. military’s ties with the organization formerly known as The Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts of America was officially chartered by Congress in 1916 for one purpose:

That the purpose of this corporation shall be to promote, through organization and co-operation with other agencies, the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them in scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism, courage, self- reliance and kindred virtues.

While that official charter did not necessarily make the Boy Scouts of America an official part of the U.S. government, it has given them many perks over the years.

Like for example, the law that gives The Boy Scouts of America access to military bases, their facilities, and the use of their vehicles at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense.

NPR reports that those perks are coming to an end under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is planning for the military to sever all ties with Scouting America, saying the group once known as the Boy Scouts is no longer a meritocracy and has become an organization designed to ‘attack boy-friendly spaces,' according to documents reviewed by NPR.

Hegseth criticizes Scouting for being ‘genderless' and for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

‘The organization once endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt no longer supports the future of American boys.'

NPR is pretty sure Hegseth lacks the legal authority to do this because these are laws passed by Congress.

However, the law says the support comes at the discretion of the Secretary, and the law also says that the support should go to "The Boy Scouts of America," an organization that doesn't exist anymore.

The Boy Scouts of America officially changed their name to Scouting America this year, and it isn't the same organization that received the congressional charter in 1916; it's not even the same organization referred to in the law allowing military resources to be used in its meetings.

I was so disappointed in how this demise came about. The Boy Scouts had value.

I didn't know much about the Girl Scouts, someone who had been a Girl Scout told me they were jealous because the boys seemed to do all the fun things, but...I always thought they should have done those same activities for girls, if they wanted that.

But I guess that wasn't the point all along. I believe now it was all about co-opting the Boy Scouts and destroying them.

I used to support the Girl Scouts until I saw this:

Back in 2013, I saw an article about a guy named Josh Shackley who was a national spokesman for the Girl Scouts. It was an article at Breitbart that tipped me off:

Who is GSA Spokesman Josh Shackley, and what is he doing with the Girl Scouts?

Here is an excerpt:
"So, who is Josh Ackley? The press, moms, and the girls may know Josh Ackley in his day job but probably don’t know what he does off-hours. He is the lead singer of a band called The Dead Betties.

The Dead Betties were part of a movement called “homo-punk,” sometimes “homocore,” that Wikipedia describes as “an offshoot of punk… distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically society’s disapproval of the gay, bi-sexual, lesbian and transgender communities.” The Dead Betties are profiled in the book Homocore: The Loud and Raucous Rise of Queer Rock.

Girl Scout moms and girls will know none of this. They will also not know that The Dead Betties put out a campy video that received MTV play in the mid-00s called “Hellevator,” where a sneering Ackley watches over a woman being stalked and then strangled on an elevator in an abandoned building.

A Dead Bettie video called “George’s Mr.s Right” (sic) shows a naked man–perhaps Ackley, though the subject’s faced is obscured–covered in newspapers, writhing on the ground, touching his genitals, feigning masturbation, intercut with brief footage of a scantily-clad woman. Later, the man is in the shower washing blood off his legs with dollar bills. We don’t see the woman again.

Josh Ackley joined the Girl Scouts in 2008 in the office of external communications in the Girl Scout headquarters in New York City. In that capacity, he speaks to the national media. Go to the Girl Scout media page and the only person you are directed to is Josh Ackley. Ackley is quoted in numerous national stories about the Girl Scouts.

A year after he started with the Girl Scouts, he became the primary blogger on the Girl Scout website. The blog is written specifically for the girls to get advice and keep up on Girl Scout news.

And then there is Josh Ackley, sent out to quell the anger of concerned moms. Controversy erupted in 2011 over a girls-only panel hosted by the Girl Scouts at the UN Commission on the Status of Women where one mom claims to have found a stack of Planned Parenthood brochures in the room when the panel ended. The Girl Scouts have steadfastly denied knowing the brochures were there, but the ensuing controversy further fueled what has become a cottage industry of moms angry at what they see as the troublesome drift of the Girl Scouts. The controversy has also contributed to the declining fortunes of the Girl Scouts, who have lost substantial numbers of members and cookie sales in recent years.

When a group of St. Louis mothers, concerned about the UN panel, demanded a meeting, along with his now-departed boss Michelle Tompkins, it was Ackley who was sent by the Girl Scouts to quell the uprising..."

IIRC, the big deal apart from this (which was nauseating enough) was that the GSA said he wasn't affiliated with them. So I looked (at the time) at the web pages and took screenshots: I used Google to check the page, and this is what I found:

Strange. But, when I checked the cached version from three days ago...

I had heard of this radicalization of the Girl Scouts some time ago, but this ices it. How about this new person they put in, Stewart Goodbody? That had to be a joke, right?

Add to that the official Girl Scouts embrace of Planned Parenthood. Get them while they are young.

Sigh. Most people I am sure are completely unaware of this, and nearly all liberals and a percentage of people who call themselves Republicans would not see any problem with this.

And I see that as a major problem.

Do you mean the dispossessed former Boy Scouts, or the new "Scouting" organizations should affiliate with Canadian Scouting?

I cannot imagine that Canadian Scouting has survived in its "old forms", and would have thought Canadian Scouting would be more in line with the new "Scouting" in the states.

Here are images from an International "Scouting Jamboree" in Korea back in 2023 that kind of make me think that:

(Pink tents dominate...)

Stuffed animals? Anyone bringing a stuffed animal to any scouting event would have been roundly ridiculed when I was in Scouts)

(I completely dislike this heart symbol formed with the hands when I see men do it. It seems feminized. I don't mind that women do it. I am just suspicious of any male I see doing it.)

(This is "Boy Scouts" now. Face painting and glitter on the faces.)

I suspect there are many women who would get defensive at my descriptions and characterize me as a misogynist. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I just feel that the teen years for boys are a time where boys have to navigate it and begin the process of learning how to be a man, and how to fit into a rapidly approaching work career and society in general.

And I think that process is quite different for boys than it is for girls.

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