XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.homosexuality   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   From: ac@alt.net   
      
   Last month, the Department of the Navy officially renamed the USNS Harvey   
   Milk—a much-needed course correction that finally put an end to the   
   disgraceful decision to honor a known sexual predator.   
      
   “This is not about political activists, unlike the previous   
   administration. Instead, we’re renaming the ship after a United States   
   Navy Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, as it should be,” Defense   
   Secretary Pete Hegseth explained. “People wanna be proud of the ship   
   they’re sailing in, and so we’re renaming it after a chief, a Navy   
   chief.”   
      
   The Navy has renamed the ship the USNS Oscar V. Peterson in honor of Chief   
   Watertender Oscar Peterson, who heroically saved the USS Neosho during the   
   Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942. Despite being gravely wounded in a   
   Japanese attack that killed or injured his entire repair team, Peterson   
   managed to shut the bulkhead stop valves himself, helping keep the ship   
   afloat.   
      
   Democrats were, of course, outraged at the move, and debate over the   
   decision followed suit, so much so that even Snopes decided to look into   
   the allegations that Harvey Milk was a sexual predator — a fact we’ve been   
   pointing out at PJ Media for years now.   
      
   Snopes sets the scene with the usual cautious language, doing somersaults   
   to distance Milk from the worst allegations, but it can’t quite wriggle   
   away from the facts that stared it right in the face. The core issue is   
   unavoidably straightforward: Harvey Milk, gay rights icon and media-   
   anointed hero, was a thirty-something man who engaged in sexual   
   relationships with teenage boys — minors by any standard.   
      
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   This isn’t some wild right-wing conspiracy; it’s a documented fact, even   
   in sources that are sympathetic to Harvey Milk. Snopes itself reluctantly   
   acknowledged, “The most widely reported allegations stem from an account   
   in a Milk biography that described a sexual relationship between Milk and   
   a 16-year-old.” The outlet even admitted to an “inappropriate”   
   relationship with a runaway of unspecified age.   
      
   Snopes has a tell: when the facts are indisputable, cue the excuses. So,   
   rather than confront the implications, it immediately pivoted to hair-   
   splitting over age of consent laws and whether the relationship   
   technically qualifies as pedophilia — an obvious attempt to downplay what   
   it had already conceded. For example, there’s an entire paragraph in   
   Snopes’ fact check that seriously appears to suggest that, because the   
   child was older than 14, what Milk did wasn’t so bad.   
      
   According to Snopes, even though the age of consent in California is 18,   
   “the law of the state makes a distinction between the age of consent and   
   sexual crimes committed against children younger than 14 years old.”   
      
   In sum, while it is possible Milk's relationship with Galen McKinley may   
   have violated the laws of consent in the state of New York in 1964, it   
   does not appear that modern psychological standards would deem him a   
   pedophile. We will update this report when we can determine what the age   
   of consent was in the state at the time the relationship took place.   
      
   Let’s not lose the plot. Thirty-somethings — regardless of orientation,   
   cause, or reputation — seeking out vulnerable teens for sexual   
   relationships paints one picture, and one picture only. Yet, Snopes   
   attempts to defend Milk by essentially saying that, technically, he wasn’t   
   a pedophile because he preyed upon post-pubescent minors.   
      
   Snopes’ handling of Harvey Milk’s predatory behavior is a textbook example   
   of partisan spin. While Snopes aggressively fact-checks conservatives over   
   trivial missteps, it twists itself in knots to downplay credible, well-   
   documented accusations against a left-wing icon. Despite its attempts to   
   soften the truth with legal technicalities and vague context, even Snopes   
   admits Milk had inappropriate relationships with underage boys. In trying   
   to shield his legacy, it ends up confirming the very behavior it hopes to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)