West Point Grad Touts Communism, Colin Kaepernick

The United States Military Academy is now oddly linked to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the growing trend of National Football League players electing to take a knee during the singing of the national anthem. .The West Point connection surfaced this week after a recent graduate posted photos of himself to social media in which he expresses his apparent commitment to communism, under the handle @punkproletarian and the nickname "Commie Bebop," complete with the Twitter hashtag #VeteransForKaepernick. .West Point officials later condemned the actions of Second Lieutenant Spenser Rapone.."The U.S. Military Academy strives to develop leaders who internalize the academy's motto of Duty, Honor, Country, and who live the Army values," read a statement released Tuesday by West Point. "Second Lieutenant Rapone's actions in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army. ."As figures of public trust, members of the military must exhibit exemplary conduct, and are prohibited from engaging in certain expressions of political speech in uniform. Second Lieutenant Rapone's chain of command is aware of his actions and is looking into the matter. The academy is prepared to assist the officer's chain of command as required.".Rapone also posted a photo of himself unbuttoning his uniform to display a black T-shirt emblazoned with the image of the Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Guevara, whose murderous and genocidal leadership in the guerilla campaign to overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in favor of Fidel Castro's regime, also happens to be the darling of Kaepernick's. .Additional social media activity involving Rapone shows he has strongly supported the Antonio Gramsci tome Selections From the Prison Notebooks, a favorite book of Marxists, and wrote "you will be forever be changed, comrade," when another Twitter user announced she was about to begin reading the book. .Other re-tweeted posts include the following:.Rapone's father, Richard Rapone, the treasurer of Pennsylvania's Lawrence County, took to Facebook to "disavow" his son's views and theorized that Spenser Rapone's shift from someone who "personified patriotism in high school" occurred while he was serving overseas in Afghanistan. ."He applied to be a West Point cadet (during high school) and at that time he was not selected," Richard Rapone recalled. "He enlisted in the U.S. Army right out of high school. Later, he served as an Army Ranger and was deployed to Afghanistan on a special mission. He applied once again to West Point and was accepted.."It's my belief when he returned back from Afghanistan there was a notable difference in his political views. Spenser is my son and I love him dearly however I do not like nor condone his politics, his actions or behavior.".Former Democratic U.S. Representative Jason Altmire, who nominated Rapone to enroll at West Point, called Rapone's actions "abhorrent" during an interview with the Daily Caller. He said Rapone came off as an "outstanding, well-rounded student" when the two first met while Rapone was finishing up high school.."I have not been in touch with him in the years since the appointment, and I was shocked and extremely disappointed in the recent reports of his indefensible actions," said Altmire, a Democrat. "The behavior of 2nd Lieutenant Rapone is symbolic of a larger problem in our society — the epidemic of incivility in our public discourse.."While I strongly support the rights of American citizens to express their opinions, the actions of Second Lieutenant Rapone are abhorrent and appear to be in clear violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, in addition to being inconsistent with the values of the United States Military Academy. I have no doubt that the U.S. Army will take appropriate action.".Altmire served in Congress from 2007 until 2013..According to the Daily Caller, Rapone has also used his Twitter account to vow to "dance on John McCain's grave" and once accused Vice President Mike Pence of being a "medieval, cold-blooded killer," potentially earning himself a court-martial date.

West Point Grad Touts Communism, Colin Kaepernick

Related Stories