CNN HOST PAMELA BROWN: “You’re saying that the teaching of the Bible in the classroom is a must, that every teacher must accept that. The bible includes beheading, rape, and incest. Do you support teaching children about those topics?”
RYAN WALTERS: “I support teaching children our history accurately and what we’ve seen is the radical left and the teachers’ union have driven the bible out of schools.
“You can’t talk about our rights coming from God, as Thomas Jefferson referenced, you can’t talk about Abraham Lincoln talking about being on God’s side in what he does and that inspires him?
“You can’t talk about the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr., who routinely referenced examples from the bible, including from a “Letter from Birmingham Jail”?
“I’m doing the things I’m doing is because of the tenets taught to me by the bible, so it’s essential that our kids understand our history and we’re going to put it back in and the left is going to continue to try to censor our history. Well, we’re not gonna allow it here in Oklahoma.”
BROWN: “Okay, you didn’t answer my question. We’re going to get to the history and everything, and by the way, Thomas Jefferson, he advocated for freedom of religion, actually not the establishment of a religion for one, but are you okay with all teachings of the Bible? If you want to bring it back into the classroom, rape, incest, beheading. Is that acceptable to you?”
WALTERS: “Again, I’ll answer your question, you might not like to answer, but it is the answer. It is our history is referenced, the bible was referenced multiple times in American history. It had a profound influence on American history.
“It was the bestselling book in American history, to not teach that in the classroom is academic malpractice. Our kids have to understand our history and we’re not going to hide that from them.”
BROWN: “Okay, so will you allow teachers to teach all aspects of the Bible? How are teachers supposed to know what of the bible to teach and what of the Bible not to teach? It’s a simple question, given the fact that the bible includes, also, you know, pornographic material, something you’ve come out against and actually took a teaching certificate away from a teacher for giving access to students— pornographic material. That’s in the bible.”
WALTERS: “Yeah, let me be crystal clear. The bible is not on the same plane as Gender Queer and Flamer. These are pornography, the bible is a book that was referenced throughout American history.
“We have academic standards that tell our teachers that you are to talk about the bible in reference to the Mayflower Compact, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the Declaration of Independence, so these are all very clear.
“It’s very clear from primary sources that these individuals reference history— in our history, they referenced the bible. So look, when it’s historically accurate, we’re absolutely going to include that.
“I mean, think about how absurd it would be to teach about the Pilgrims if you don’t mention their intention for moving to the New World, it’s crucial and we’re not gonna allow the radical left to continue to push a false history on our kids that said that faith played no role, well, just read the history. It’s clearly there.”
The moment that the words “the radical left “comes out of someone’s mouth, I stop listening because I know that they can’t be taken seriously and engaging with them is pointless.
The Bible isn’t history, ours, or anyone else’s. We teach history, including the use of the Bible by historical personages by reading their primary documents. Teach the Mayflower Compact, teach the Declaration of Independence, teach the Letters from the Birmingham Jail, teach On Walden Pond, teach a wide variety of English literature that uses Biblical themes, none of which is teaching “from” the Bible, nor teaching the “full story” of the Bible.
Exactly, the Bible is a tribal scrap book from the bronze age. It contains, myths, legends from various traditions. laws, and strategically placed and conveniently discovered historical forgeries. In our 8th grade Ancient Semitic History class we began learning what the various sources from specific books and verses were. It included spending a lot of time with Gilgamesh and Enkidu before reading the Song of Solomon.
It was an inoculation against the fundamentalism prevalent in Utah.
I don’t think that’s what Ryan Walters has in mind for kids in Oklahoma
“I support teaching children our history accurately…”
Since you can’t really compare the Babble with anything peer reviewed or that can be otherwise corroborated factually, the implication here that using the Babble to teach history to children “accurately” is ludicrous.
Even his attempt to tie the Babble to early American history is pushing the envelope, by a LOT. The hubris alone of automatically implying that a mention of Gawd somehow means specifically the Gawd referred to in his Babble is breathtaking.
“I mean, think about how absurd it would be to teach about the Pilgrims if you don’t mention their intention for moving to the New World,”
Oh yes, go ahead and teach kids how they were religious bigots who thought the Dutch were corrupting their youth and so set sail to establish an intolerant theocracy (see how the puritans treated Quakers as just one example).
I don’t care if Biden is in a wheelchair and shakes like an out of balance washing machine on spin cycle or a tea cup Chihuahua, I will vote for him. The people he puts in positions, in departments, the judges he appoints are far too important to not vote for him. No do not switch him out now, too late, plus the people saying to do it admit they don’t all want the same person to replace him. Regardless of how old Biden is, tRump is a hateful tyrant con man crook. Hugs. Scottie
Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Former President Trump, if re-elected, plans to immediately test the boundaries of presidential and governing power, knowing the restraints of Congress and the courts are dramatically looser than during his first term, his advisers tell us.
Why it matters: It’s not just the Supreme Court ruling on Monday that presidents enjoy substantial legal immunity for actions in office. Trump would come to office with a Cabinet and staff pre-vetted for loyalty, and a fully compliant Republican coalition in Congress — devoid of critics in positions of real power.
That’s a big reason many Democrats worry President Biden is making one of the biggest gambles in U.S. history by staying in the race amid acute concerns about his age.
The big picture: Trump promises an unabashedly imperial presidency — one that would turn the Justice Department against critics, deport millions of people in the U.S. illegally, slap 10% tariffs on thousands of products, and fire perhaps tens of thousands of government staff deemed insufficiently loyal.
He’d stretch the powers of the presidency in ways not seen in our lifetime. He says this consistently and clearly — so it’s not conjecture.
You might like this or loathe this. But it’s coming, fast and furious, if he’s elected.
Thanks to Monday’s Supreme Court ruling, Trump could pursue his plans without fear of punishment or restraint.
What to watch: To hear Trump and his allies tell it, this is how early 2025 would unfold if he wins:
1. A re-elected Trump would quickly set up vast camps and deport millions of people in the U.S. illegally. He could invoke the Insurrection Act and use troops to lock down the southern border.
3. He’d centralize power over the Justice Department, historically an independent check on presidential power. He plans to nominate a trusted loyalist for attorney general, and has threatened to target and even imprison critics. He could demand the federal cases against him cease immediately.
4. Many of the Jan. 6 convictscould be pardoned — a promise Trump has made at campaign rallies, where he hails them as patriots, not criminals. Investigations of the Bidens would begin.
5. Trump says he’d slap 10% tariffs on most imported goods, igniting a possible trade war and risking short-term inflation. He argues this would give him leverage to create better trade terms to benefit consumers.
6. Conversation would intensify about when Justices Clarence Thomas, 76, and Sam Alito, 74, would retire.
Lists of potential successors are already drawn up.
President Biden said last month that “the next president is likely to have two new Supreme Court nominees.”
If Trump were to win and the two oldest justices retired, five of the nine justices would have been handpicked by Trump.
Top Democrats privately predict Republican majorities in the House and Senate if Biden loses.
Most of Trump’s most prominent critics — Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, et al. — will be gone. Even the few who remain, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), will be substantially less powerful.
Trump would be backed by an overwhelmingly Trump-friendly Senate and House — loaded with loyalists, top to bottom. Many were elected since his 2016 win, and many thanks to his endorsement.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) in the spin room after the CNN debate in Atlanta. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
What they’re saying: Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a top prospect as Trump’s VP, told us Trump would have more allies — and more loyal allies — in Congress this time.
“You have to ask yourself: How many true allies of the agenda existed in the United States Capitol in January 2017, and how many will exist in January of 2025?” Vance told us.
“You have a Republican Party that, in some ways, was divided against itself in January of 2017,” Vance added. “I think now it recognizes that Trump is effectively leader of the party. And you’ll see that in governing style and certainly in agenda,” with “much less infighting between Republicans, which will make us much more effective as a governing coalition.”
The freshman senator said that while Trump was “very much a newcomer to politics” when he ran the first time, he now “understands how to pull the levers of power much better, because he’s coming at this as a subject matter expert.”
The media would investigate, report, and illuminate all of it — but probably with less impact. A second Trump term would start with TV ratings in the tank, mainstream media shrinking, and public attention shattering into dozens of information ecosystems, many built around popular and often partisan celebrities.
So the ability to do more with fewer real restraints is real — and hard to change.
The bottom line: Think of Trump 2025 as a better prepared, much better organized, much more powerful version of Trump 2017 — minus Republican brakes and any mystery about immunity.
John Oliver discusses Donald Trump’s plans for a second term, why it could be much worse than his first term, and what Trump has in common with a hamster.
Talk of self entitled importance. By my dogs that love gravy you have to watch the videos. This woman is so over the top that if she was doing this to any other group it would have been thought an SNL skit. If she had been acting like this to black people, Hindus, or Muslims, no one would have accepted it. Sh was screaming in peoples faces and demanding their names. She is a total stranger acting as if she has some type of authority over other paying guests. If she had done that to me she sure wouldn’t have liked my reaction. Scottie wouldn’t have been so nice as the drag queens. The drag queens were guests of the hotel filming there and they got treated horribly by this woman. Yet she claims to be the victim. She went after them, she got in their faces not once but several times filming them, insulting them, accusing them of wanting to chop her son’s penis off. The hotel staff did try to stop her but acted like they were afraid of her or to get too forceful with her and she just went around them or ignored them. Then she continued her lecture and screed to the police when they were escorting her off the hotel grounds. She continued her triad and even accused one of the police officers of being a trans woman, she called the woman a man. She was an attention seeker and did not care who she hurt to get her fix of attention. And her X posts are full of lies and myths about trans people, including something she claimed at the hotel. She said that after sexual reassignment and I think she meant transitioning also, that suicides go way up. In fact studies have proven they decrease greatly after transitioning or having gender affirming medical care. But again facts mean nothing to these haters. Hugs. Scottie
UC Davis published a statement Tuesday about “offensive comments” made by employee Beth Bourne while she was on a family vacation in Hawaii.
Bourne, the local chapter president for parents rights group Moms for Liberty, posted a video of herself confronting a group of drag queens who were filming a video at the hotel Bourne was staying in, the Alohilani Resort in Waikiki, on Sunday.
“We reject all manifestations of discrimination, including those based on gender and gender expression,” the university’s statement said. The video shows Bourne verbally accosting the people dressed in drag, including drag queen Marina Del Rey.
In the video, Bourne took aim at the drag queens as she accused the hotel of failing to provide a safe environment for her son.
“I’m sorry, but this is—I paid to be a customer at a hotel where I thought you believed that women were real. That because you put on makeup, because you’re wearing high heels, because you have a Barbie outfit on, that you don’t think this is degrading? This is misogyny,” Bourne said addressing the drag queens.
She added, addressing a hotel representative: “If you give me back my money right now, I will leave the hotel, but I’m not going to have my children come down from the 30th floor and see what’s happening here.” According to Bourne’s X bio, she claims without evidence that “1/22 kids is trans” at UC Davis, adding that her views are “mine, not my employer.”
“This type of behavior is unacceptable,” Hawaii Democratic Governor Josh Green said in a statement Monday. “It is not aloha and we will not tolerate it from anyone.”
As the videos continued to garner views, social media users began tagging UC Davis, Bourne’s employer, demanding she be fired. Bourne works at the university’s Institute for Transportation Studies.
“I’m used to my colleagues thinking I’m a terrible person,” Bourne told The Bee in an April story about Bourne and her estranged trans child. The university said that Bourne’s comments “are protected by the First Amendment,” but that the school condemns them nonetheless.
Videos of the incident together have nearly ten million views at this writing. I encourage you to watch both of activist Tizzy Ent’s clips in full.
Moms for Liberty chair & UCDavis employee Beth Bourne decides to harass drag queens at a Honolulu resort. I'm sure she will play the victims after the backlash begins. pic.twitter.com/kne5Put4Pf
Wanna see a whole lot of words that say nothing? She has a first amendment right to say things and not face government oppression for that; that DOES NOT grant her the right to employment if her beliefs are in direct opposition to her employer & their customers, in this case the… https://t.co/hSsPR6x43y
Me: How would a child know if they were transgender?
Cop: They just know. They just know.
While being detained by the @honolulupolice, I had a chance to talk to the officers about my concerns around drag, children, and the tran$ medical industry.
Hey @ucdavis this hateful harpy Beth Bourne says "views are my own" yet lists you in her profile & tweets. So is this something you condone, especially as Moms for Liberty is identified as an antigovernment extremist group?https://t.co/gaYwjPq8RH
I am not okay with children being exposed to drag queens. Several other Alohilani hotel guests told me they also found it offensive so I spoke up to the manager yesterday.
I think I’ll call it the JK syndrome: If people call you out on awful behaviour towards others, don’t reflect, double-down and make it your entire personality.
She was engaged in full-on, me me me, selfish Karening.
The world is full of people who are different from each other. It really says something about this women that she basically threw a tantrum because some drag queens were busy just existing in the same space.
In a tweet defending Donald Trump’s plan to deport 20 million migrants, Roy said he wants to deport “white progressive Democrats – with a special bonus for rich ones with an Ivy League degree.”
Congressman Chip Roy speaks during a House Judiciary Committee field hearing.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican whose district includes a swath of North San Antonio, called for the “cleansing” of progressives in a rant posted Friday on social media platform X.
The GOP congressman, who’s made inflammatory comments part of his political brand, fired off the tweet in a defense of Trump’s plans to deport some 20 million migrants if elected president. Some on social media have said Trump’s plan amounts to ethnic cleansing.
“Tell you what – I do want to ‘ethnic cleanse’ by deporting white progressive Democrats – with a special bonus for rich ones with an Ivy League degree,” Roy tweeted. “I really do not like ‘those people.'”
Tell you what – I do want to “ethnic cleanse” by deporting white progressive Democrats – with a special bonus for rich ones with an Ivy League degree. I really do not like “those people.” https://t.co/oFiUd1uS31
For what it’s worth, Roy earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Not exactly Ivy League, but pretty prestigious schools just the same.
Roy’s comment came in response to a tweet by Will Stancil, an attorney and research fellow at the Institute of Metropolitan Opportunity in Minneapolis. In his tweet, Stancil railed against Trump’s deportation plan.
“Deporting 20 million people is absoluletly ethnic cleansing,” Stancil wrote. “That’s litteraly the population of New York State, or half the Midwest. It’s 6% of the whole population! Someone from every classroom, workplace, or street. It’s small children, working mothers, whole families.”
Although academics have debated the meaning ethnic cleansing, it generally refers to the forced removal of a specific ethnic group or minority. Perhaps surprisingly, it isn’t recognized as an independent crime under international law, according to the United Nations.
Ethnic cleaning isn’t the same as genocide, which refers to the extermination of a specific ethnic group and is a violation of international law.
Either way, a call for “ethnic cleansing” by a sitting U.S. Congressman — even if made in jest — ignited angry responses on X.
“Disgusting racist! Shame on you!” user @DavidSmuts tweeted in response to Roy.
“Being this bitter all the time isn’t healthy, Congressman,” chimed in user @isaiahmartin.
Even so, some agreed with Roy’s remark.
“We’re with you brother,” user @ chrischownyk commented. “It’s time to take back our constitutional republic.”
It’s not the first time Roy — a firebrand who once served as U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s chief of staff — has made outrageous statements on social media or in front of a microphone.
Last month, during an outburst on the House Floor, Roy warned that the Biden White House’s migration policies will lead to “Sharia Law” soon being “forced upon the American people.” And during Passover in 2020, Roy compared COVID stay-at-home orders to “Nazi Germany” during an appearance on a conservative talk show.
This is incredible the video. I got it from Ten Bears who often posts grand stuff. I wish I could add the link here but I will lose all I am typing so I will have to add it later. But really does anyone who comes to my blog not know Ten Bears and his site? Any way what I want to highlight is the admission the Heritage guy makes at about 4:58 where he openly admits the reason they want to destroy the civil servant part of the government and put all government employees under the whim of the president … presumably the republican president is because … 95% of the civil servants donate to political parties and 80% of them donate to democrats. The guy panics when he realizes what he said on a not right wing show and tries to cover it up, but the truth is they want to destroy the civil working system that keeps the government running for the public is because the majority donate to democrats. How openly dictatorship the republicans have become. Hugs. Scottie
This is another example of Christian love. Seriously this is what the LGBTQ+ face in the attempt to turn the US into a Christian theocracy. How is he different from the Taliban? How does he differ from the Iranian moral vice police? Is this really the world you want to live under? Where your friends, maybe your child is being singled out for death because they were born gay and don’t fit the leader’s idea of what is good for god? My god this is what passes for statesmanship, for leadership, for civil discourse in the republican party. Think how far we have fallen to even think this rhetoric is acceptable in public. I don’t like what you are doing so I think it is OK to kill you. One last thought, why is a pride flag or rainbow sticker on the door or wall of a classroom indoctrination but the Christian religious symbols / ten commandments are not? WTF. Hugs. Scottie
“Our nation is at a crossroads. Our enemies are operating in plain sight. Evil is on the march and they’re not even trying to hide it. Satanic forces are taking over our schools, preying on our children with transgender surgeries and Drag Queen Story Hours.
“South Carolina is being invaded by terrorists and drug cartels. Our enemies in China are waging economic warfare against every American, making it impossible to afford to live here, to buy groceries, gas, or even pay the light bill.
“And traitor Joe Biden’s far-left Department of Defense is working to destroy our military from within.
“D.C. is taking our tax dollars and using it to fund the takeover. Let me say that again: American taxpayers are paying for the destruction of their own nation.
“Look at Iran and Afghanistan. We must hold responsible those elected officials who take our hard-earned dollars to use them to do battle against us.
“It is treason, plain and simple.” – South Carolina pastor Mark Burns, in a final ad before tomorrow’s GOP primary runoff, the winner of which will surely become a US House member.
In 2022, Burns, who has been endorsed by Trump, laid out his plan for executing LGBTQs for “grooming” during an appearance on the show hosted by Holocaust denier Stew Peters.
MAGA pastor Mark Burns released an ad before his GOP runoff election in S.C. tomorrow and it's predictably bonkers: "Any country that would spy on Christian church attendance is just one step away from all-out gun confiscation and totalitarian communism." https://t.co/ngj36AMc0Apic.twitter.com/JAe5q9qVtt
“D.C. is taking our tax dollars and using it to fund the takeover. ….”
Sure Jan.
South Carolina receives $4.51 back from the government for every $1 residents pay in federal tax, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Census Bureau, USAspending.gov and Bureau of Labor Statistics
Scottie's Playtime 