Rev. Barber: We have to start teaching people that when we talk about politics, there is not an aspect of your life—from your birth to your death—that is not impacted.
When we look at the midterm elections, we have to start with the basics. We are electing every member of the United States House of Representatives and one-third of the United States Senate. In most places, we are electing their entire state general assemblies, and many are electing governors, attorney generals, and so forth. We are electing the very people who impact every aspect of our lives. These elections determine whether we will have people in office who want to ensure everyone has health care or who want to take health care away; whether we want people in office who will vote to make sure everyone is paid a living wage versus just giving more money to corporations; whether they will care about poor and low-wage voters and the resources for people to afford a basic life, or whether all they will care about is giving more wealth to the already wealthy. That is what’s on the line.
Rev. Dr. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign speaks at the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival Rally at the US Supreme Court on October 27, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Repairers Of The Breach)
What is at stake is whether or not you have a Congress that will demand that the President, whoever that President is, cannot just act unilaterally, but must get congressional approval for war; whether or not we have a budget; whether or not TSA agents are paid; whether or not government employees are paid; whether or not we have a Congress that will stand up and not just be a rubber stamp to what an authoritarian President wants to do or will just “go along to get along.”
We have to start teaching people that when we talk about politics, there is not an aspect of your life—from your birth to your death—that is not impacted. You’re not officially recognized without a birth certificate, which is the result of a political decision. You can’t guarantee your Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security without political decisions. Even as you die, people must understand that politics is not just about personality; it’s about people being put in place and the kinds of policies and vision they will enact.
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, is a Professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and Founding Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. He serves as President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign
Tuesday’s execution in Florida WILL NOT take place as scheduled but the warrant remains open until noon on April 7.
Our Twitter post: WHAT IF WE GOT IT WRONG? Florida’s own DNA expert says further DNA testing is warranted. #JamesDuckett’s 3/31 execution by #Florida is stayed BUT he may still be killed by April 7. He has always claimed innocence.
I really love how he talks about his job regarding his religion. How he is to be a light but not force people to live by his faith. It was how the man who saved me when I was 17 by sending me to an SDA church school summer program felt. He never sought to impose his faith on anyone, he tried only to show them how his faith helped him and let them decide if it was correct for them. Hugs
These hateful Christian bigots think any mention or media showing that LGBTQ+ people exist is pornography. It isn’t and makes a mockery of protecting kids from real porn. But they use these words and equate any mention or sign of LGBTQ+ with porn to make it seem as harmful and dangerous as showing hardcore rape porn to children. See the quote below. Their goal is again to wipe any mention of the LGBTQ+ from society and public view. They learned from Putin who used the same protect the children tactic. Think of this if this bill passes how do they justify the Bible in libraries and schools? But these people want a straight cis white male dominated society where they get to force their church doctrines on the public. However these same people scream parental rights or religous freedoom if you ask them to give others respect and equality. They want to oppress everyone else but any attempt to get them to give the same respect they demand for their ideas to others who have different beliefs is persecuting them. Hugs
On the full House floor, sponsor Rep. Doug Bankson called HB 1119 a “commonsense policy that answers a simple question: Should pornography be available to minors in our schools?”
‘Our focus right now is on making legislators aware of the bill’s constitutional problems.’
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is urging the Senate to kill a bill passed by the House that First Amendment advocates fear will increase book banning in Florida schools.
“Library book removals can raise serious First Amendment issues,” FIRE’s Public Advocacy Director Aaron Terr wrote in a letter last week to Senate President Ben Albritton. “The bill creates a powerful incentive for individuals to object to any book they dislike or consider inappropriate, knowing it will be immediately pulled from circulation for all readers.”
The House passed HB 1119 via a 84-28 vote following a partisan debate. An identical Senate bill (SB 1692) has not moved in the upper chamber since it was filed last month.
HB 1119 would block schools from considering the literary, artistic, political or scientific value of books if the material is deemed otherwise harmful for minors.
On the full House floor, sponsor Rep. Doug Bankson called HB 1119 a “commonsense policy that answers a simple question: Should pornography be available to minors in our schools?”
“The answer is an emphatic no,” he told lawmakers.
Bankson and other Republicans argued some inappropriate books still exist on the shelves because of a loophole from the application of the Miller Test, which is a Supreme Court decision dealing with adult material.
The Apopka Republican filed similar legislation last year that advanced in the House but died in the Senate.
FIRE argues that HB 1119 goes too far.
“To be clear, not every book is appropriate for every student,” the Philadelphia-based First Amendment advocacy nonprofit wrote in the letter.
“Again, FIRE recognizes that school districts have a responsibility to assess whether library materials are appropriate for students of different ages. But any such assessment must be carefully crafted to ensure that students are not broadly denied the opportunity to read age-appropriate works that speak to their particular interests.”
The bill wouldn’t allow school officials to take into account the full content of the book or if the work has serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors of any age since it doesn’t consider grade levels, FIRE said.
“These elements of the Miller test are critical to preventing censorship of literature, art, medical textbooks, history texts, and other speech that depicts or alludes to sex simply because someone finds them offensive,” FIRE said.
“In other words, older students’ access cannot be restricted based on what may be unsuitable for younger children. But HB 1119 disregards this commonsense principle. It requires districts to ‘discontinue use of the material’ if they determine it is ‘harmful to minors,’ without regard to age or grade level.”
Florida passed a 2023 law that allows people to challenge book titles they find offensive for young people in schools.
“Under the current statute, Florida school districts have removed hundreds of books from libraries, including titles that are by no stretch of the imagination ‘pornography’ and come nowhere close to the legal definition of obscenity,” FIRE said in the letter.
“The Florida Department of Education’s own report shows that during the last school year, literary classics and widely acclaimed modern works — including ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude,’ ‘A Clockwork Orange,’ ‘The Human Stain,’ ‘The Kite Runner,’ and ‘Life of Pi’ — were removed even from libraries serving students in grades 9-12. If enacted, HB 1119 will only accelerate this trend and further narrow the range of ideas on school library shelves.”
When asked by Florida Politics whether FIRE would sue if the Legislature passes the bill, the organization did not answer.
“Our focus right now is on making legislators aware of the bill’s constitutional problems,” FIRE spokesman Jack Whitten said. “That’s a decision that would require internal discussion and depend on various factors.”
Gabrielle Russon
Gabrielle Russon is an award-winning journalist based in Orlando. She covered the business of theme parks for the Orlando Sentinel. Her previous newspaper stops include the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Toledo Blade, Kalamazoo Gazette and Elkhart Truth as well as an internship covering the nation’s capital for the Chicago Tribune. For fun, she runs marathons. She gets her training from chasing a toddler around. Contact her at gabriellerusson@gmail.com or on Twitter @GabrielleRusson .
James Duckett is scheduled for execution in Florida on March 31, 2026 for his alleged 1987 murder of Teresa McAbee.
NOTE: As of 6pm ET on March 27, 2027, a *temporary* stay remains in place as the State seeks to reverse the stay rather than follow the advice of its own expert, who suggests that further DNA evaluation is warranted. Read the press release from FADP here. This stay may be revoked at any time. Please act as if the March 31 execution date will proceed.
Mr. Duckett has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. His attorneys argue that the case against him, built entirely on circumstantial evidence, has been undermined by recanted testimony, discredited forensic science, and the possibility of DNA testing that was never presented to the jury who sentenced him to death.
Duckett’s attorneys argue that modern forensic technology — capable of producing answers that were unattainable in the 1980s — now exists, yet the state is pressing forward with an irreversible punishment while key evidence remains inconclusively tested and thus, unresolved. (snip; more on the page, which is the petition page.)
In February 2026, a rumor spread that Bo French, a Republican candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas, wanted to deport Native Americans — people indigenous to the U.S. Several social media posts made the claim, including on Facebook, where one user said French had called for the deportation of “third world savages” including Native Americans.
Some posts linked to a Feb. 10, 2026, article in Texas Monthly, which included a line that read, “One of French’s favorite phrases is ‘third world savages’—which he has applied to Afghan asylum seekers, Muslims, and even Native Americans, who he also wants deported.” It is true that French called for the deportation of Native Americans. He did so in an Oct. 10, 2025, post on X.
Read the full article. French, who is allied with two far-right Christian nationalist fracking billionaire pastors, last appeared here in November 2024 when he declared that Democrats are “retarded unmanly homos.” He appeared here in September 2024 when he lost a court battle to ban early voting on college campuses.
A former instructor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday accused the agency of dramatically slashing training standards for new officers and lying to Congress about it as the Trump administration seeks to rapidly expand its mass deportation operation.
Ryan Schwank, who resigned from his job at an ICE academy in Georgia last week, told congressional Democrats at a hearing that the agency eliminated 240 hours of “vital classes” from a mandatory 580-hour training program, including instruction about the legal boundaries for the use of force, how to safely handle firearms, and the proper way to detain and arrest immigrants.
“Law enforcement is a deadly serious biz. It is not a place for shortcuts,” Schwank said. “Deficient training can and will get people killed. … ICE is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure that 12,000 officers can faithfully uphold the Constitution and perform their jobs.”
Ryan Schwank, a former ICE academy instructor, testified in front of Congress today about constitutional violations.“At the academy, we took out the class that tells the officers that they have an oath to the Constitution.”
Former ICE agent: My first day training new cadets, I received secretive orders to teach them to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a warrant. I watched ICE cut classes that teach our legal system, firearms training, use of force, lawful arrests, and the limits of officers' authority
Former ICE trainer Ryan Schwank is telling Congress that agents are being trained to ignore the Constitution. "I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution when I joined ICE. I followed it when I resigned. The legally required training program at the ICE academy is deficient, defective, and broken."
Director Lyons looked me in the eyes and said ICE was receiving proper training.Now a whistleblower says officials are lying about how much training new recruits actually get.They’re cutting corners and covering up. We need real answers and accountability. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-whi…
A newly introduced bill at the Colorado State Capitol would allow LGBTQ individuals to sue for damages caused by so-called conversion therapy, or therapy aimed at changing the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person.
The practice was banned in Colorado in 2019, and the American Medical Association – among other medical and mental health organizations – has said it is ineffective and can lead to depression, anxiety, and other psychological injuries.
DENVER, CO – JANUARY 14: Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie in front of the House Gallery starts the 2026 legislative session at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, Colorado on January 14, 2026.RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Sponsors of HB26-1322 say many of those harmed by the therapy don’t come forward for years. Their bill would eliminate the statute of limitations in cases involving conversion therapy.
Individuals could sue their therapists, facilities that hired the therapists, and anyone who knew or should have known about the therapy and didn’t take reasonable steps to stop it.
Plaintiffs could recover economic and punitive damages if they could prove that the therapy was a substantial factor in their psychological injuries.
The bill is sponsored by State Representatives Alex Valdez and Karen McCormick in the House and State Senators Lisa Cutter and Kyle Mullica in the Senate.
The House Judiciary Committee will hear the bill this Wednesday.
Donald Trump has complained that a “stupid” lawsuit forced him to reveal plans to build a top-secret military base underneath his White House ballroom.
The 79-year-old president was defending his $400 million vanity project while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, after a New York Times article over the weekend exposed the shoddy nature of its construction and design.
While holding comically large placards detailing how the completed ballroom might look, Trump also gave updates on what is being built beneath the area where the White House East Wing once stood.
“The military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed,” he said.
“The ballroom essentially becomes a shed [shield] for what’s being built under the military, including from drones, and including from any other thing,” Trump added. “The glass, or the windows, you see the big windows, the glass is extremely thick. It’s high-grade bulletproof glass, so all of the windows are bulletproof.”
The ballroom is being funded thanks to donations from Donald Trump’s billionaire friends.Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The lawsuit Trump referenced was filed in December 2025 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is asking a federal judge to halt construction of the ballroom until it undergoes multiple independent reviews, passes environmental assessments, and receives approval from Congress.
A federal judge said he will rule by the end of March on whether to issue an injunction stopping construction of the project pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
Trump also lashed out at the lawsuit for forcing the administration to reveal its plans to build an underground military bunker beneath the ballroom in a typically unhinged Truth Social post in January.
“It is being done with the design, consent, and approval of the highest levels of the United States Military and Secret Service. The mere bringing of this ridiculous lawsuit has already, unfortunately, exposed this heretofore top secret fact,” Trump wrote.
An underground bomb shelter beneath the old East Wing, built during World War II, was demolished in October to make way for Trump’s ballroom.
A rendition of how the ballroom might look when it is eventually completed.White House
The vanity project is being built as tens of millions of Americans suffer through a cost-of-living crisis exacerbated by Trump’s war on Iran.
On Sunday, the Times reported that multiple experts also condemned the proposed design of the mammoth building, noting that it includes a staircase that doesn’t lead anywhere, columns that will block the view of its windows, and the 90,000-square-foot ballroom that is “unnecessarily” large.
Donald Trump updated reporters about his vanity project before discussing the war on Iran.Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at the report and accused it of being written by “three random people who have ‘studied fine arts’ and ‘long written about urban planning.’”
“President Trump and his lead architect have built world-class buildings around the world, and they are ensuring the People’s House finally has a beautiful ballroom that’s been needed for decades—at no expense to the taxpayer,” Leavitt posted on X.
Gabrielle RussonFebruary 23, 2026
‘Our focus right now is on making legislators aware of the bill’s constitutional problems.’
Scottie's Playtime 