#radical GOP

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 3, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

Wow.

Today, House Republicans made history by being the first to throw out their own Speaker of the House, while the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination made history by being the first candidate to be gagged by a judge after threatening one of the judge’s law clerks by posting a lie about her on social media. 

Ever since Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made a deal with the extremists in his conference to win the speakership after Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January 2023, he has catered to those extremists in an apparent bid to hold on to his position. From the first, he gave them key positions on committees, permitted them to introduce extreme measures and load up bills with poison pills that meant the bills could never make it through Congress, and recently to open impeachment hearings against President Joe Biden.

But the extremists have continued to bully him, especially since they opposed a deal he cut with Biden before McCarthy would agree to raise the debt ceiling, threatening to make the United States default on its debt for the first time in U.S. history. When their refusal to pass either appropriations bills or a continuing resolution to buy more time to pass those bills meant the U.S. was hours away from a government shutdown, McCarthy finally had to rely on the Democrats for help passing a continuing resolution on Saturday. 

A shutdown would have hurt the country and, in so doing, would have benefited former president Trump, to whom the extremists are loyal. Led by Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, they were vocal about their anger at McCarthy’s pivot to the Democrats to keep the government open, 

Yesterday, Gaetz challenged McCarthy’s leadership, apparently with the expectation that the Democrats would step in to save McCarthy’s job, although it is traditionally the majority party that determines its leader. According to Paul Kane of the Washington Post, McCarthy did reach out to Democrats for votes to support his speakership. But Democrats pointed to McCarthy’s constant caving to the MAGA Republicans—as recently as Sunday, McCarthy blamed the threat of a shutdown on the Democrats—and were clear the problem was the Republicans’ alone. 

“It is now the responsibility of the [Republican] members to end the House Republican Civil War. Given their unwillingness to break from MAGA extremism in an authentic and comprehensive manner, House Democratic leadership will vote yes on the pending Republican Motion to Vacate the Chair,” minority leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote to the Democratic caucus.

And so, when the House considered blocking Gaetz’s motion to vacate the chair, the measure failed by a vote of 208 to 218. Eleven Republicans voted against blocking it. And then, on the voting over the measure itself, 216 members voted to remove McCarthy while 210 voted to keep him in the speaker’s chair. Eight Republicans abandoned their party to toss him aside, making him the first speaker ever removed from office. 

The result was a surprise to many Republicans, and there is no apparent plan for moving forward. House Rules Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK), who released a statement supporting McCarthy, called the outcome “simply a vote for chaos.”

Speakers provide a list of people to become temporary speakers in case of emergency, so the gavel has passed to Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who has power only to recess, adjourn, and hold votes for a new speaker. McCarthy says he will not run for speaker again. The House has recessed for the rest of the week, putting off a new speaker fight. 

Until then, Republicans seem to be turning their fury at their own debacle on the Democrats, blaming them for not stepping in to fix the Republicans’ mess. One of McHenry’s first official acts was to order former speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to vacate her private Capitol office by tomorrow, announcing that he was having the room rekeyed. Pelosi was not even there for today’s votes; she is in California for the memorial services for the late Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). 

McHenry’s action is unlikely to make the Democrats more eager to work with the Republicans; Pelosi noted that this “sharp departure from tradition” seemed a surprising first move “[w]ith all the important decisions that the new Republican Leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting….” Pelosi might have been sharp, but she is not wrong. The continuing resolution to fund the government runs out shortly before Thanksgiving, and funding for Ukraine has an even shorter time frame than that. The House cannot do business without a speaker, and each day this chaos continues is a victory for the extremists who are eager to stop a government that does anything other than what they want from functioning, even as it highlights the Republicans’ inability to govern. 

Phew. But that was not the end of the day’s news.

Jose Pagliery of The Daily Beast, who is watching the New York trial of Trump, his two older sons, two of his associates, and the Trump Organization, wrote that New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur F. Engoron said today that he had warned Trump’s lawyer that Trump must not continue his attacks on the justice system. Rather than heed the warning, Trump today went after Engoron’s own law clerk, posting a lie about her with a photo on social media. “Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances,” Engoron said. 

Engoron ordered Trump to delete the post, and the former president did so. Engoron forbade “all parties from posting, emailing, or speaking publicly about any members of my staff” and warned there would be “serious sanctions” for those who did so. 

The New York case strikes close to Trump’s identity as a successful businessman by showing that he lied about the actual value of his properties, and by dissolving a number of his businesses by canceling their licenses. Adding to Trump’s troubles today is that he fell off Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, a status that in the past he has cared deeply about.

In the midst of the Republican chaos, the Biden administration announced that the manufacturers of all the ten drugs selected for negotiation with Medicare to lower prices have agreed to participate in the program, although they are pursuing lawsuits to stop it. Several of the pharmaceutical companies have complained of being “essentially forced” to sign on; one says it is participating “under protest” but feels it has no choice given the penalties their products would bear if they are unwilling to negotiate prices. 

According to the White House, the ten drugs selected for negotiation accounted for a total of $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs for an estimated 9 million Medicare enrollees in 2022. The negotiations were authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed without any Republican votes.

The Department of Justice announced eight indictments against China-based companies and their employees for crimes relating to street fentanyl and methamphetamine production, distribution of synthetic opioids, and sales resulting from precursor chemicals used to make street fentanyl. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) administrator Anne Milgram noted that the supply chain that brings street fentanyl to the U.S. starts in China, from which chemical companies ship fentanyl precursors and analogues into our country and into Mexico, where the chemicals “are used to make fentanyl and make it especially deadly.” Milgram promised that the “DEA will not stop until we defeat this threat.” 

Finally, while the Republicans were making history on the House side of the U.S. Capitol, the Democrats were making history on the Senate side. Vice President Kamala Harris swore into office Senator Laphonza Butler to complete the term of Senator Dianne Feinstein, which ends next year. Before her nomination, Butler was the president of EMILYs List, a political action committee dedicated to electing Democratic female candidates who back reproductive rights to office, and has advised a number of high-profile political campaigns, including that of Harris in 2020.  

Butler is the first Black lesbian in the Senate. She and her wife, Nenike, have a daughter.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#letters From an american #heather cox richardson #Kevin McCarthy #USHouse of Representatives #corrupt GOP #radical GOP #governance #TFG #gag order

[socialjusticeinamerica]

I’ve told you this before but I’ll repeat it. George “Dubya” Bush began the practice of paying Evangelical pastors to preach against Democrats and in favor of Republicans.

After coming out of rehab for coke addiction “Dubya” became a born again evangelical. As dumb as he is he quickly realized that southern and rural evangelicals were poorly educated and completely uniformed bible thumpers that could easily be bought off and used as a political propaganda props.

“Dubya”, who had deserted the Texas Air National Guard and had many scrapes with the law, had his record expunged by his father who had been director of the CIA. Papa Bush helped Nixon open China to Republikkkan corporations and then as VP assisted Reagan in his war on the American middle class and poor. When “wimpy” dad ran for President, Jr fell in with evil brain bug Karl Rove who put the coke addict in charge of buying evangelical clergy. A fairly easy task because evangelical churches are independent, for profit businesses with no hierarchy to answer to like the mainstream Protestants churches or the Catholics. The effort brought in so many new Republican recruits that it continues to this day.

During the Obama years the Justice Department investigated and revoked the non-profit status of evangelical and Baptist churches that were preaching Republican culture war bullshit. This infuriated them and was largely responsible for the massive backlash against Obama and the Dems. Although this was highly underreported it was a very sore point for the GOP thieves. Even today most Dems think the overreaction by Republicans to Obama was purely racism (and let’s face it they are racist bastards) when in fact it was partly that Barry Obama had cut deeply into their lucrative propaganda/fundraising in the south and rural areas. Although it’s not entirely clear that Obama led this effort to undermine the fascist GOP it shook them to the core. They need the pastors to tell the MAGAts how to vote and who to donate to.

Today the evangelical fake Christians of the old Confederacy are the backbone of the MAGA cult and they have been groomed to accept Trump as a “mercenary” for their bastardization of religion. They are willing to overlook his embodiment of the seven deadly sins because he pushes their agenda, not because he believes in it but because he needs their money and votes. It’s a match made in the bowels of Fox News Hell. They’re aware he’s the biggest sinner in the country but he’s their last best chance to set up a Christo-fascist state. Something that wasn’t even on their radar until the Bush dynasty, Karl Rove, and the RNC came knocking on their doors. They think they’re driving the car but they’re just the limo drivers for the oligarchs and their GOP puppets.

It should be noted that there are some cracks in the armor as many college age evangelicals have been speaking up against the tidal wave of cruelty and evil coming from Trump and the GOP. Somebody must have introduced them to the New Testament and Socialist Jesus. For the most part however the old guard televangelist figureheads have been silencing dissent. The young on both sides, while very vocal, haven’t exactly turned out in the massive numbers we keep hoping for.

Republicans still rely on a coalition of evangelical bible thumpers, far-right Nazis, southern/rural gun nuts, the wealthy, and Deep South Americanized Hispanics. The Dems are still largely a coalition of adult African-Americans, Northeast/West coast progressives, the over educated, urban dwellers, and union members (except for police unions). Thanks for reading and following.

#gop radicalization of evangelicals #republican assholes #evangelical assholes #George HW Bush #George Dubya Bush #Karl Rove #fuck the gop #christo fascists

[lilithism1848]

#communism #socialism #anti capitalism #anarchy #leftism #white women tears #white women evolving #right wing extremism #gop #2024 election #terfblr #terfism #terfenadine #terfsafe #twitter x #radical feminists do interact #gender critical #radical feminism #radblr #sex not gender #hindutva #hindublr #hinduphobia #indian politics #casteism #bharat

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

In a keynote speech to a gathering of Christian nationalist lawmakers Tuesday night, House Speaker Mike Johnson compared himself to Moses, leading the GOP conference — and America — through the parted waters of the Red Sea.

Johnson addressed the National Association of Christian Lawmakers at the group’s award gala at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Perhaps unaware that the event was being recorded for the NACL Facebook page, Johnson told the crowd: “I’ll tell you a secret, since media is not here.” (“Thank you for not allowing the media in,” Johnson added, alleging that journalists have been taking his comments “out of context” with “great joy for the last few weeks.”)

Johnson then revealed that — in the lead up to the “tumult” of Kevin McCarthy losing his gavel and the chaotic GOP process of selecting new Speaker — he had been speaking directly to God. “Look, I’m a Southern Baptist, I don’t wanna get too spooky on you,” he said, provoking some laughter from the attendees. “But, you know, the Lord speaks to your heart.”

The message he received from God, Johnson said, was to prepare for a “Red Sea moment” — both for the Republican conference “and in the country at large.” Johnson said found the directive confusing but he continued to seek the counsel of God.

“The Lord began to wake me up, through this three-week process, in the middle of night to speak to me,” Johnson insisted. “Now at the time,” he continued, “I assumed the Lord is going to choose a new Moses.” But because of his own lesser rank among the GOP’s leadership, Johnson said, he believed the heavenly message to be: “You’re gonna allow me to be Aaron to Moses,” citing the role of the Old Testament prophet’s brother and biblical sidekick.

But then Johnson watched as candidate after candidate failed to generate the necessary Republican support to win the Speakership. “Ultimately 13 people ran for the post. And the Lord kept telling me to, ‘Wait, wait, wait,’” Johnson recalled. “So I waited, I waited. And then at the end … the Lord said, ‘Now step forward.’” Johnson regaled the audience with his surprise to be tapped as the Moses figure: “Me?” Johnson said. “I’m supposed to be Aaron.” But that was not the message, Johnson insisted, recalling: “‘No,’ the Lord said, ‘Step forward.’”

Johnson’s speech to the National Association of Christian Lawmakers — a group that seeks to enact its anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ “biblical worldview” into law — is just the latest evidence that the politician who is now second in line for the presidency views himself as on a divine mission. Rolling Stone previously reported on Johnson’s exhortations to save a “depraved” America from God’s wrath and vengeance.

Johnson told the NACL crowd that his “core conviction” that “God wants us to seek Him for the path through the roiling sea.” The Speaker then underscored his pessimism about the state of the nation, asserting that America is facing the “greatest collection of challenges since maybe World War II, maybe the Civil War.”

America, Johnson insisted, is “engaged in a battle between worldviews” and “a great struggle for the future of the Republic.” The specifics of that struggle remained unspoken. But the NACL mission, according to materials promoting the gala, includes: “abolishing abortion”; restoring “traditional marriage between one man and one woman”; and “exposing the ungodly effort to undermine our culture by Leftists,”. Johnson added that he believed far-right Christians will prevail: “We should not be daunted. In the face of these challenges. Our hope is in the Lord, our hope, and our trust is in God.”

At the gala, Johnson was awarded with NACL’s “American Patriot Award for Christian Honor and Courage.” It was bestowed to recognize what the group’s leader, former Arkansas state Rep. Jason Rappert, described as Johnson’s “statesmanship, bold Christian leadership, and faithful service to our Lord Jesus Christ.”

#us politics #news #republicans #conservatives #alt right #conservative christians #gop #rep. Mike Johnson #National Association of Christian Lawmakers #rolling stone magazine #moses #old testament #anti abortion #Republican homophobia #2023 #radical Christianity

[nando161mando]

#terfs #terfism #terfblr #terf #trans exclusionary radical feminist #trans exclusionists #fuck swerfs #no swerfs #swerfs dni #swerfs #anti swerf #swerf #radfems #radfem #bigots #republican hypocrisy #liberal hypocrisy #hypocrite #gop hypocrisy #western hypocrisy #nazisploitation #sacha baron cohen accuses tiktok of ‘biggest antisemitism movement since the nazis’ #nazis #nazigate #nazi #neofascism #ausgov #politas #auspol #tasgov

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

#pro life #entitlements #us politics #religions #organized religion #jesus christ #Republicans #conservatives #gop #evangelicalism #evangelical christianity #radical christianity #simping for capitalism #libertarians #deregulation #eye for an eye #anti immigration #memes #shitpost

[queerism1969]

#gop hypocrisy #gop #republican party #2022 midterm elections #democrat #midterms #donald trump #gun violence #intersectional feminism #radical feminism #liberal feminism #feminism #patriarchy #male violence #intersectionality #incels

[tomorrowusa]

From @GeorgeTakei – our favorite helmsman.  

Those control freak fundamentalist Christians and their GOP enablers (we’re lookin’ at you Ron DeSatanAss) preach freedom but are fanatically committed to imposing their 17th century lifestyle on the whole population.

Yeah, even the 18th century with The Enlightenment is too “woke” for the extremists who would love to bring back the witch trials and religious wars of the 1600s.

As we move the clocks ahead by one hour this weekend, the radical religious extremists want to turn them back about 400 years.

Just askin’: Are you registered to vote at your current address?

I Will Vote

#george takei #freedom #fundamentalist christians #radical extremists #17th century #the far right #don't say black #don't say gay #lgbtq+ #lgbtq+ rights #abortion #dobbs v. jackson women's health organization #roe v. wade #the sanctity of reproductive freedom #ron desantis #the gop #election 2024 #register and vote #star trek

[contemplatingoutlander]

Trump's latest attack INSTANTLY BACKFIRES | Midas Touch | Nov. 24, 2023

Trump's latest attack attempts to frame Democrats as "radical," but in reality its just highlighting his own extremism. Anthony Davis reports.

Anthony Davis discusses how Trump and Republicans are attempting to deflect from their own "radicalization" by painting Democrats as being "radical" for supporting policies that are common in every developed democracy in the world.

Davis shows how Trump and the MAGA Republican party are in fact the only major "radical" political party in the U.S. Davis also suggests they are so "radical," Republicans now have a fascist political agenda.

#trump #gop #radicalism #meidas touch #anthony davis #gop fascism #youtube #Youtube

[connoratwood8]

Period. This fascist assault on women must be DEFEATED and the whole rotten system which produced these dark ages Christian fascists must be OVERTHROWN.

Take to the streets NOW with RiseUp4AbortionRights.org!

Get organized for revolution! www.revcom.us

#keep abortion legal #abortion #abortion rights #women’s rights #women’s liberation #fuck scotus #supreme court #roe v wade #roe vs. wade #patriarchy #fuck the patriarchy #fuck the gop #communism #leftist #socialism #radfem #radical feminism #feminist theory #pro choice

[rachelbethhines]

Looks like I pissed off some Terfs by calling them Nazis.

Good.

Keep calling them Nazis. Because that's precisely what transphobes are.

#terfs #Nazis #gop #Republicans #politics #radical feminist theory

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Democrats stand united as McCarthy is ousted.

October 4, 2023

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

Kevin McCarthy was removed as Speaker of the House on a motion to vacate the chair—a first in our nation’s history. The unprecedented nature of the vote speaks to McCarthy’s unique unfitness, lack of moral character, and ever-present mendacity, as well as to the collapse of the Republican Party. The small margin by which McCarthy lost—eight votes—conceals the deeper division revealed by the defection of 90 Republicans on Saturday’s continuing resolution to fund the government.

          McCarthy proved his unique unfitness to serve as Speaker when he made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump's ring on January 28, 2021—three weeks after Trump incited the assault on the Capitol.

          McCarthy proved his lack of moral character when he voted to oust Liz Cheney from his Republican leadership team for standing up to Trump's treason.

          McCarthy proved his venality when he promised to remove Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee to gain votes for the Speakership.

          McCarthy proved his untrustworthiness when he empowered a GOP representative to negotiate terms for a joint commission to investigate the events of January 6. When the GOP representative got everything Republicans wanted, McCarthy walked away from the agreement, forcing Democrats to form a special committee without Republicans (except for Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger).

          McCarthy proved his lack of integrity when he granted Tucker Carlson exclusive access to surveillance tapes from inside the Capitol on January 6.  

McCarthy proved his duplicity when he said that a vote was necessary to open an impeachment inquiry and then opened an impeachment inquiry of President Biden without an authorizing vote.

          McCarthy proved his mendacity when he lied to the American people and President Biden about his commitment to funding levels in the 2023-24 budget when making a deal to raise the debt ceiling in May.

          Ultimately, McCarthy lost the Speakership because he had lied to everyone—friend and foe alike. No one trusted him. He will forever be a “double asterisk” in the history books—a speaker who was elected after fifteen contentious rounds of voting and the first speaker in our nation’s history to be removed on a motion to vacate. McCarthy deserves the humiliation and opprobrium attached to the inglorious end of his ignominious political career.

          But the House Republican caucus also lost on Tuesday. It does not have a governable majority. (It never did.) Despite ridding itself of McCarthy, the House GOP remains hostage to the extremist elements in the caucus, a fact that bodes ill for any effort to pass a budget or keep the government open— let alone pass legislation to advance the interests of the American people.

          The “Party of No” has entered a permanent Twilight Zone in which its sole reason for existence is opposition, its only unifying principle is grievance, and its lone tactic is chaos.

          It does not matter who Republicans elect as Speaker; the next Speaker will be controlled by eight Republicans who managed to oust McCarthy. Until Republicans acknowledge they do not have a functional majority and must reach out to Democrats to create a governing coalition, every Republican Speaker will be a temporary occupant of the office.

          Republicans will go through the motions of electing a speaker capable of governing their caucus. They will fail. In the meantime, Democrats maintained unity and discipline throughout the chaotic tenure of Kevin McCarthy. That is a hopeful sign for future Democratic control of Congress. The most important lesson of McCarthy’s loss on Tuesday is that the only path forward is through the Democratic Party. Tell a friend!

Coda.

          When the motion to vacate passed, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry was appointed as acting Speaker under protocols relating to “continuation of government” in the event of a disaster.

          Rep. McHenry will likely occupy the “acting” role for ten days (or less) and has little authority other than ensuring the election of the next speaker. But Rep. McHenry’s first act was to order Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi to vacate her private “hideaway” office in the Capitol by Wednesday (a day when Pelosi will be at memorial services for the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. See Politico, McHenry ordered Pelosi to leave her Capitol hideaway office by Wednesday.

          Although the reason for Rep. McHenry’s communication is unclear, it appears that he wants to claim Nancy Pelosi’s office for himself. Per Politico, the email to Nancy Pelosi said:

“Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed,” wrote a top aide on the Republican-controlled House Administration Committee. The room was being reassigned by the acting speaker “for speaker office use,” the email said.

          Rep. McHenry’s insulting first act is an inauspicious start to the post-McCarthy interregnum. Let’s hope that someone tells Rep. McHenry that evicting Nancy Pelosi from her private office while she is attending a funeral is a bad look.

#Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter #Robert B. Hubbell #McCarthy #Speaker Mccarthy #motion to vacate #Patrick McHenry #House Republicans #Corrupt GOP #radical GOP

[idroolinmysleep]

Total control of a political system can make the victors not more magnanimous, but more frustrated, not least because they learn that total control still doesn’t deliver what they think it should.

Is Tennessee a Democracy?

#Tennessee #Republicans #GOP #conservatives #radicalization #polarization #politics #democracy

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

In kindergarten classrooms across Texas, 5-year-olds coming to school for the first time could soon be greeted by picture books, colorful blocks and the words, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”

As those children grow up in the state’s public schools, they could get dedicated time in the day to read the Bible or pray. And if they are going through a hard time, they could turn to a chaplain — rather than a licensed school counselor — for help on campus.

Lawmakers are working to inject Christianity into the state’s public schools through a slate of bills under consideration in the Texas Legislature.

What critics see as an assault on the separation of church and state, supporters argue is a step forward for religious liberty after a major Supreme Court decision last year.

The religious bills are backed by powerful figures both inside and outside the Capitol building and are arriving as Republicans double-down on what is seen as a winning issue to energize their base: accusing public schools of indoctrinating students with a “woke” agenda.

But despite outcries of indoctrination, opponents of the bills warn that they place a premium on promoting a religious viewpoint to children.

“This is certainly moving towards a preferred faith in Texas, which is something that is deeply concerning,” said Joshua Houston, advocacy director for the interfaith group Texas Impact.

On Tuesday, the House gave final approval to a bill that would allow chaplains without state certification to work inside schools.

Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, said the plan is about giving school districts “every tool that we can in the toolbox” to combat mental health problems and other crises. He conceded that districts could eventually replace all counselors with chaplains, and rejected Democrats’ amendments to require parental consent and that schools provide a representative of any denomination if requested by a student, teacher or parent.

Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat, attempted to bar schools from using public funds to pay the chaplains.

“We should not use public monies to compensate religious services,” Wu said.

The amendment failed on a largely party-line vote, with Hefner saying it “just completely messes up the purpose of the bill.”

The tension on display Monday echoed earlier legislative hearings on the larger slate of religious bills.

Some believers argue that putting God into schools could make campuses safer from violence, as well as reflect foundational values. Opponents retort that kids who aren’t Christian could feel alienated in public classrooms.

Republican Rep. Brad Buckley, who chairs the public education committee, signed onto both a bill to require classrooms to hang posters of the Ten Commandments and one that would allow schools to hire chaplains.

When asked whether putting the Ten Commandments in classrooms would infringe on students who don’t practice Christianity, Buckley said the bill doesn’t call for instruction.

The legislation requires posters that are at least 20 inches high and 16 inches wide to be displayed in every classroom that declare “I AM the LORD thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me” and include the other commandments.

When asked how a teacher should respond if a student asks about their meaning, Buckley said it’s “a great time for a teacher to contact a child’s parent.”

“I don’t think this bill contemplates any instruction on that,” he said.

It also dovetails with Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s school-choice priority. The two Republicans are throwing their political weight behind a plan to funnel public dollars into families’ private school tuition — including at religious schools.

Abbott is using exclusively Christian campuses as rally spots. He’s visited at least a dozen schools across Texas, including Denton Calvary Academy in March.

WHY NOW?

Republican legislators behind the bills say they see an opening after the recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion that sided with a high school football coach who prayed on the field after games. Advocates say the opinion sets out a constitutional test that relies on history and tradition, and they are eager to test the proposed Texas laws before the court’s conservative majority.

“We think it is ripe, the opportunity is there,” former state Rep. Matt Krause told the Senate education committee last month. “We think there could be a restoration of faith in America.”

A few other states have made similar pushes, including a 2021 North Dakota law that allows the posting of Ten Commandments in classrooms alongside other historical texts.

Caroline Mala Corbin, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law, said the Texas bill requiring their display is the most problematic legally. The high court already found such a move unconstitutional, when in 1980 it held that a Kentucky law requiring the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classrooms was “plainly religious in nature.”

Corbin also pointed out that there is not a single version of the Ten Commandments, and that by choosing to display one, lawmakers are endorsing a specific religious denomination over others. Similarly, Corbin said in a country as diverse as the U.S., it is likely impossible to provide chaplains that cater to children of every faith, and therefore schools would be endorsing particular religions.

“The core principle of the Establishment Clause is that the government should not be favoring some religions over others and it does this to protect religious minorities,” said Corbin, whose research focuses on the First Amendment’s speech and religion clauses.

Shifts in local and statewide education positions could also be playing a role.

At the local level, school board elections are infused with highly partisan issues and big-money groups have attempted to “take over” some districts to make them more conservative.

The bill to bring chaplains on campus, as well as the one to allow for Bible reading and prayer time during school, contain an unusual provision: School boards would have to vote on whether to approve such a plan within six months of the legislation passing.

This could place political pressure on trustees to decide on a high-profile, touchy subject. The vote would likely come before the next set of school board races.

The State Board of Education also became more conservative after the last election cycle. Republicans flipped a seat and candidates further to the right replaced more moderate ones.

CHAPLAIN SUPPORT

Among the new State Board of Education members is Julie Pickren, a former trustee from the Houston area who was in Washington during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Pickren also sits on the board of the National School Chaplain Association, according to its website. The group has been pushing lawmakers to pass what they've labeled the "Chaplain's Funding Bill." She did not return a request for comment.

"We are very close to putting God and prayer in public schools through chaplains," the group wrote to its supporters in an email blast earlier this month about the Texas bill, along with a request for donations.

The organization was central in the House debate Monday. Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, referenced the group as he attempted to make amendments to the bill to include additional guardrails, including an unsuccessful one to require parental consent before a child visited with the chaplain.

The association's website gives insight into the goals of the movement.

“The scale of transformation and spiritual renewal resulting from the school chaplain program might be best described as revival,” the website reads. “Millions of young people and adults in their lives are being won to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and discipled in the name of Jesus. Discipleship involves training to win and disciple others.”

The legislation would allow a public school to employ a chaplain to fulfill a broad range of roles on campus and would not require the person to earn state certification.

Texas faces a shortage of qualified mental health professionals to work in schools. The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250 students to every one counselor. In Texas, it was 392-to-1, according to 2021 data.

Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, asked whether it’s possible under the legislation that campuses could replace all of their counselors and social workers with chaplains.

“I trust our schools to make the right decisions in those areas. I don’t think they would do that,” Hefner said.

Houston, from the Texas interfaith group, said: “The question that lawmakers ought to ask themselves is just the basic golden rule, If it was a Muslim chaplain and a Christian child, what would you want the standards for the program to be?”

#us politics #news #texas #the dallas morning news #2023 #republicans #conservatives #gop #gop policy #gop platform #radical christianity #conservative christianity #separation of church and state #religious indoctrination #Texas Legislature #chaplains #ten commandments #Joshua Houston #Texas Impact #Cole Hefner #Gene Wu #Brad Buckley #Gov. Greg Abbott #Dan Patrick #Establishment Clause #first amendment #1st amendment #Texas Board of Education #National School Chaplain Association #Chaplain's Funding Bill

[brianshares]

#us politics #politics #fascism #theocracy #illiberalism #authoritarianism #neoliberalism #capitalism #communism #radical right #new right #reactionary #gop #republican party #christian nationalism #my posts

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

#us politics #memes #shitpost #republican jesus #radical christianity #jesus christ #republicans #conservatives #gop #christianity #christians #conservatives be like #republicans be like #bigots be like #gun violence #gun control #gun rights #mass shooters #mass shootings #school shootings #conservative christianity