State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is considering legal action against a Wisconsin-based group calling for his resignation, he said last week.
“To think they’re going to continue to bully teachers is outrageous,” Walters said, referring to the Freedom from Religion Foundation. “The options we’re looking at are very wide, very broad. Could be legal memos. Could be lawsuits.”
Walters and the FFRF took turns calling each other bullies after the organization complained to Prague Public Schools about Christian prayers being including in the elementary building’s daily activities. The district agreed to discontinue the prayers.
Parents in Prague are upset after finding out that their kids have been going to Bible studies at school, given Bibles, and have had a morning prayer over the intercom the past couple of weeks at Prague Elementary School. “There are kids who are either getting picked on or bullied because they don’t believe these things and aren’t choosing to be a part of these bible studies,” said one parent, who wanted to remain anonymous.
“From how I understand it is that the kids went to the Guidance Counselor and the Counselor helped organize it and get it going but the kids had to lead it, it’s a loophole in the law.” The anonymous parent has four kids who go to Prague Elementary and said one came home with two Bibles and told her she was headed to school to learn about God. She also said that every morning over the intercom there was a morning prayer because all of the kids “wanted to do it,” according to school staff.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters took to social media voicing his opinion on the Prague Public School District’s decision to stop daily prayer broadcasts.
“We’re going to continue to fight for religious liberty and religious freedom here in the state of Oklahoma,” said Walters. The fallout comes after News 4 talked to parents upset their children had been going to Bible study and prayer was being done over the intercom, both actions the Freedom from Religion Foundation says are unconstitutional.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation is calling for Walters to resign. The Prague School District released a statement stating its leadership “is dedicated to following the law and protecting the rights of every student to freely exercise his or her religion.”
Walters appeared here last month when he joined the Trump campaign to “stop the cancer of teachers unions.”
In August, Walters approved far-right PragerU’s climate change-denying, anti-LGBTQ, racist videos for use in Oklahoma public schools.
The FBI is currently investigating Walters’ department for misspending $1.7M in education funds on items such as “kitchen appliances, power tools, furniture, and entertainment.”
Walters has posted a ranting video in which he baselessly claimed that China is secretly funding Tulsa’s public schools. His claim was immediately denounced by Tulsa officials.
In June, Walters appeared here when he announced that Oklahoma’s public schools will soon have a mandatory daily prayer, the mandatory posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, and a mandatory high school course in “Western civilization.”
In July, Walters declared that Oklahoma public school students will be taught that the infamous 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was not inspired by racism.
Many expect Walters to run for governor when fellow Christian nationalist Gov. Kevin Stitt is term-limited out of office. He recently headlined at the Family Research Council’s annual far-right “Pray, Vote, Stand” summit.
In the video below, Walters rages that it’s “outrageous” for groups such as the FFRF to “weaponize lawsuits” against mandatory Christian indoctrination in public schools. Watch the clip.
OK Schools Chief says he will allow prayers to be read over loudspeakers in schools, and when the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional they “weaponized the govt against christianity. When they pulled prayer in schools in 1962, what we’ve seen is moral decay.” pic.twitter.com/DNy8yDnUlF
Oh I hated that stupid argument. The flip side of that was “Well, I’m straight, and I can’t just marry anyone that I want, and neither should you.” I would say that even my 8 year old niece understand marriage better than you.
They actually believe this country was based on christian religion, when the opposite is true, our forefathers wanted religion out of government completely.
The majority of those that stay have no other choices. They aren’t the brightest kids, they have been isolated all of their lives, they likely haven’t been educated even to the most minimal of standards but they can recite the bible. The mean ones are the smart ones that are groomed for leadership. They are taught that they a superior in every way, yet when they look upon what their elders say is their legacy they see a failing business model and must choose between the message of their faith and death by fire for their enemies; which would be us.
It was this way back in Pilgrim days. Mandatory. They’d come fetch you against your will if you failed to show up for your weekly brainwashing session.
It’s not his money at risk and it’ll get him elected governor. (This what Greg Abbott has done in Texas to try and get himself elected prez someday, I’m convinced of it.)
“We’re going to continue to fight for religious liberty and religious freedom here in the state of Oklahoma,” said Walters.
The freedom to coerce non-believers? To single out and stigmatise anyone who doesn’t go along with his denomination’s interpretation of whatever? I wonder if he keeps it up, will we see a drastic lowering of the grades of any student who doesn’t participate?
The freedom to sabotage a kid’s entire future because they / their parents don’t follow your dogma?
And in today’s Washington Post, there is a hearing in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether parents may “opt-out” of lessons for their children if the lessons are in any way related to LBGT issues.
So you know where this is going — parents have the right to exempt their kids from anything about LBGT issues, but have no right to exempt them from christian religious training.
You want prayer? Go to church. School is for education, not indoctrination. Every American has the right to go to church and pray. Every child has the right to education without superstition.
Isn’t it amazing how “religious zealots” squall like a baby when their ability to force their religious ideas upon others gets challenged!!! Walters is a perfect poster boy for the riddance in government of religious rethuglicans.
You know, I stand behind people believing what they want in this nation, but what is wrong with these Christians who can’t keep it to themselves? Why do they have to keep pushing their beliefs onto everyone else? They’re exhausting. Do what you want at home but this is a free country, NOT a Christian nation.
“Bully”? It is actually bullying to force kids to bow to your God, especially when there are probably non-Christians among the student body who should never be forced to worship someone they don’t believe in.
Republicans know they are unpopular with the majority, they know their policies they push for are not wanted by the majority. They are a minority that wants to rule, to force everyone to live as they dictate. So since they can not get the majority of votes, they try to stop others from voting. Yes how much love do they have for democracy if they only want their side to be able to vote? Also again it is fundmentlist Christians driving this, saying it is what god wants them to do blocking other people from their right o vote. One lady brag she alone filed over 500 challenges. And who pays for the time that state officals have to spend checking, the mail to the people regestered to vote, and all the rest? You and I , the tax payers. Hugs. Scottie
BY MICHAEL KAPLAN, SHEENA SAMU, MAJOR GARRETT
/ CBS NEWS
Voters eligible to cast ballots are already being swept up in a grassroots effort to purge the nation’s registration rolls ahead of the 2024 presidential election, a CBS News investigation has found.
Fueled by doubts about the 2020 election, an army of conservative activists is poring over state voter lists, looking for registration errors that can be used to file what are known as voter challenges — questioning the registrations of thousands of Americans.
The undertaking, which includes the involvement of a lawyer tied to former President Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, tends to affect minority or younger voters who may be statistically more likely to vote Democrat, according to local election officials.
“It’s young voters, it’s people of color, and it’s people that are unhoused,” said Karli Swift, chair of the election board in DeKalb County, Georgia. “Those are generally the types of people that end up in voter challenges.”
One of those hit with challenges was James McWhorter, who received a letter at the barbershop he manages in the middle of October from DeKalb County informing him that someone had challenged his voter status. The challenger, a woman named Gail Lee, argued McWhorter improperly registered to vote at a commercial address and snapped photos of his barbershop, which is located inside an Atlanta-area Kroger supermarket, as evidence.
“I didn’t know Gail Lee from a can of paint,” McWhorter told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett.
De Kalb County voter and barbershop owner James McWhorter talks with Major Garrett.CBS NEWS
Since the two had never met, there was no way for Lee to know that McWhorter had registered to vote at the shop’s address in 2008 because he was homeless at the time. A veteran of the Gulf War, he was still trying to get back on his feet after years of struggling with PTSD and alcoholism.
“My friends, my family never knew I was displaced, never knew I was homeless,” McWhorter said, adding he would return to the barbershop after it closed and sleep in his chair and wash his clothes at a24-hour laundromat nearby.
Nevertheless, the letter made it clear that McWhorter’s voter registration could be canceled if he didn’t take action.
“I had to put on my glasses just to make sure it said what it was saying,” said McWhorter, who is no longer homeless but has kept a mailing address for two decades at the shop he now manages. “I was taken aback. I really was. Why would someone challenge my vote?”
McWhorter, 55, is among the latest group of Georgia citizens targeted by an effort to purge the nation’s voter rolls ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Georgia became ground zero for the movement after Republicans in the state pushed through a law in 2021 allowing citizens to file an unlimited number of challenges against fellow voters within their own county. In the two years since the law passed, a CBS News investigation found more than 80,000 challenges have been filed against Georgia voters — many of them by a loose network of about a dozen conservative activists.
The movement is not limited to Georgia. CBS News obtained video and transcripts from 11 separate sessions this year in which activists are seen strategizing how best to deploy voter challenges across the country.
For example, public records reveal a local Republican Party activist in Virginia who attended a March strategy session, then filed a slate of 43 voter challenges in August, ahead of the November election. Activists have also recently filed challenges in Washington state and Michigan, where a public records request revealed a GOP official conducted a “field investigation,” going to dozens of homes to check if voters were registered to the correct address.
Conservative activist Gail Lee is interviewed by Major Garrett.CBS NEWS
In an interview, Lee said she’s filed about 500 challenges and says her work is a non-partisan effort to highlight and correct errors in the voter roll. She said she believes those inaccuracies may present an opportunity for fraud, enabling someone to cast a ballot who isn’t legally able to vote.
CBS News’ analysis found across Georgia at least 12,000 challenges – about 15%– have been upheld and resulted in the removal of voters from the rolls, but local election officials say the challenges identify administrative errors and technical violations, not evidence of fraud.
“I think that unfortunately many members of our community have taken misinformation to heart and they truly believe there is fraud in the system, which is just not true,” Swift said, adding the issues the challenges are identifying shouldn’t deprive someone of their right to vote.
Swift said her staff has spent hundreds of hours dealing with challenges she says are meritless. In Georgia, counties are required to attempt to contact challenged voters in advance of an administration hearing that will determine whether they are removed from the rolls.
File: Karli Swift, chair of the election board in DeKalb County, Georgia.
Despite the tens of thousands of challenges across Georgia, it’s rare for someone who is challenged to actually appear at the hearing to defend his or her registration. CBS News attended a recent hearing in Forsyth County where none of the 236 voters who had their registrations challenged showed up.
The Republican-leaning election board voted to uphold 135 of the challenges, canceling the registrations of individuals who are likely unaware they’re being struck from the rolls. On Election Day, removed voters may still cast a provisional ballot, and these votes would only count if the removed voters prove their eligibility to the county within three days.
“Trying to put your foot on someone else’s neck”
McWhorter said he did not realize the letter gave him the option of resolving his voter status over email, and believed he needed to attend his hearing. Last month, he arrived at the county election office ready to defend his right to vote and found himself face to face with Lee.
“For you to challenge me, you have that right as a citizen of DeKalb County, but I served [in the military] to give you that right,” McWhorter told Lee. “I paid taxes here for 20 years, even though I was homeless.”
After the hearing, McWhorter updated his address, but said he believed Lee had been trying to disenfranchise him.
“It was hurtful that she would do something like that,” McWhorter said. “You’re trying to put your foot on someone else’s neck.”
Responding to that claim, Lee said the challenge to McWhorter’s registration was “not exactly a heavy foot,” since all he had to do was contact the election office to update his address.
Asked whether she could see how Black voters like McWhorter might feel threatened by her work, Lee, who is white, denied race played a role.
“I would think they would want their vote protected too, because someone who doesn’t belong on the rolls would take away their vote,” she said.
While McWhorter acknowledged Lee is exercising her right under the law, he believes her motives were malicious.
“What God wants me to do”
Lee said she decided to become more politically active after former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, a race she still believes Trump won. Convinced that rigged voting machines and bloated voter rolls helped deliver Mr. Biden the presidency — though officials found no such evidence — she attended an election integrity conference in Atlanta last year.
According to Lee, a nonprofit called the Conservative Partnership Institute participated in the conference. The group’s staffers include former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, who spoke at the conference’s luncheon, and GOP lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who aided Trump’s effort to overturn the election in Georgia. (Trump, Meadows and more than a dozen others are now facing criminal charges for their efforts.The former president, his White House chief of staff and most of the other co-defendants have pleaded not guilty, though four have reached plea deals.)
Eager to find a way to volunteer, Lee says she began filing challenges after a chance encounter during a bathroom break at the conference with a woman who was doing similar work in another Atlanta-area county.
“The woman who spoke from Gwinnett was there …and I said, ‘I’m interested in the voter rolls,'” Lee said. “She emailed me back a list of people in DeKalb County, and I began investigating the addresses.”
Now Lee is one of scores of volunteers who scours the rolls, looking for voters registered at P.O. boxes, those who appear in the rolls multiple times, or those who list birthdays so old that the voter may be deceased. She then compiles a dossier on each challenged voter and sends it to the county election board.
“I believe it’s what God wants me to do,” Lee said. “He knows what’s right and what’s wrong and there’s things that need to be fixed in the voter rolls.”
These are all tasks that are already handled by Georgia election officials, said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican whose office is charged with maintaining the state’s voter rolls.
Raffensperger told CBS News the assumption that the system is riddled with fraud is not valid. He said his office, unlike citizen challengers, typically has access to driver’s license and Social Security data that is more up to date.
“We have objective voter rolls,” said Raffensperger. “They’re clean, they’re accurate. We’re doing voter list maintenance every month.”
“They’re registering homeless folks there”
One of the people driving the push for grassroots activists to scrub voter rolls is a medical entrepreneur named John “Rick” Richards, who promotes a new software product that he described as a “Betty Crocker cookbook approach” that would expedite the challenge process.
Richards helped organize online video demonstrations throughout the spring and summer to train activists, including Lee, who attended one in June. In all, hundreds of volunteers nationwide have listened to how they could soon use the software, called EagleAI NETwork, to scan publicly available databases to identify “irregularities” with voter registrations and flag them to county officials.
The existence of EagleAI was first reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. In company pitch documents CBS News obtained through a public records request, Richards billed the product as “Voter Integrity Software” that will “enable citizens to audit, validate and offer suggestions to improve the integrity of their state’s voter roster.”
Richards declined an interview, but in a statement said EagleAI “only presents data” to county officials who ultimately decide whether to remove voters, and that its users are “volunteering to provide assistance to county election officials.” On Friday, Columbia County, outside of Augusta, Georgia, which is heavily Republican, became the first local government in the country to adopt the software to help maintain its voter rolls.
Some of the Eagle AI video sessions, including the one Lee attended, were hosted by Mitchell, who, since the 2020 election has been leading a growing network of conservative activists that claims to be investigating theories and uncovering what they believe is proof of fraud in the administration of U.S. elections. Dozens of investigations into the 2020 election have failed to turn up any evidence of fraud, including in Georgia where three recounts confirmed Trump’s loss.
Mitchell also declined an interview, but in a series of emails refuted the characterization that those in her organization are “election deniers,” She described them as “patriots … who woke up after 2020 and realized what had happened to their election systems and are doing their best to work hard to remedy various aspects of the problems.”
The video sessions obtained by CBS News raise questions about who exactly the software and its users are targeting. In one session in March, Richards demonstrated how the software can accelerate a mass challenge against homeless voters registering at a church.
“It’s a Presbyterian church,” Richards explained in the video, which was provided to CBS News by the progressive watchdog group Documented and independently verified. “They have an outreach mission. They’re registering homeless folks there. Of course, nobody knows whether they’re actually voting or not. So that’s an issue.”
Richards told the audience of volunteers that it might normally take a long time to file a challenge report on 2,224 people. But not with his software, he said.
“All I gotta do is hit that button right there and it brings them all up,” he said. “And I hit this button right here, and it creates all those challenge forms at one time.”
Challenged over typos
CBS News found other instances of challenges that led eligible voters to have their right to vote questioned. Two days after he left the hospital following surgery for colon cancer, Christopher Ramsey received a letter from Fulton County alerting him his voter registration had been challenged due to a typo in his address, which Ramsey had previously tried to correct. Despite a compromised immune system and a warning from his doctor, Ramsey drove 30 miles to the county’s election board office and waited hours to defend his right to vote.
“I felt firmly that I have my right to vote, and I was going to defend it,” Ramsey, a former kindergarten teacher, told CBS News.
Ramsey said he was one of 4,000 voters challenged that day, but only a few dozen showed up to defend themselves.
“This made me lose confidence in their system,” said Ramsey, who first shared his story with ProPublica. “What about all the people who couldn’t show up for themselves?”
Lakendra Graham was also challenged for registering at an invalid address. Graham’s address changed in 2019, after Atlanta renamed a number of streets that previously honored the Confederacy. Ms. Graham had lived on Confederate Court, before the city changed it to Trestletree Court.
“It was on the news that the street names changed, so that’s something small you could have looked at to see I’m still there,” said Graham at a Fulton County hearing last March. “Nothing’s changed, my information hasn’t changed.”
This past June, Courtney Scott had to wait more than four hours to testify before the board of elections after she was challenged over a clerical error in her street name. Scott lives on Azalee Hester Wharton Way NW, but the voter roll her challenger found was missing “Hester” in the address.
“I couldn’t believe I could lose my voting rights that easily,” Scott told CBS News. “If I was charged with anything, the burden of proof should be on them, but the burden was on me, by a letter, to be able to vote.”
A federal court in Georgia is currently hearing a lawsuit over the legality of mass voter challenges and whether the practice amounts to voter intimidation, and Raffenperger said he’s looking to the outcome for guidance.
“I think that we’ll have to take a look at what the remedy will be from the court system,” said Raffensperger, adding that he did not believe the practice disenfranchises voters in Georgia. “It’s never been easier to vote. We are, we believe, the model for what election integrity and election accessibility should look like throughout the entire country.”
Since having his vote challenged, McWhorter said he has decided to be more politically active. The master barber said that will start with a simple message for his customers: “Go vote.”
These people want the right to adopt LGBTQIA kids, then force them to be straight cis kids. This is not about finding homes for these kids, or they would support same-sex couples and single people fostering kids, especially LGBTQIA kids who would enjoy being in a home with people like themselves. Nope, this is about trying to change the kids, to put them through conversion therapy, or find other ways to stop their development as the person who they are. How can these people be so backwards and regressive in 2023? Again as I said before, if they want to live in the past, OK. Just don’t demand everyone live that way also. Be like the Amish or Mennonites. Oh and did you all hear about the republican GOP leader and his wife who was the co-founder of Mom’s for Liberty? Seems the very people attacking gay kids and insisting on straight cis family values were having three ways with another woman. Yes, the co-founder of the group trying to erase gay people from society was having lesbian sex and her husband who pushed the idea of one man / one woman marriage only sex was into 3 way sex with two women. Hugs
Quote from the article, again ask your self why these highly religious anti-LGBTQIA people are demanding the right to foster kids who are LGBTQIA!
But the attorneys general do not believe this is enough. Their letter argues the proposal violates freedom of religion because those unwilling to support LGBTQ foster children “would be excluded from providing care to as many as one-third of foster children ages 12-21.”
Missouri’s child welfare agency already offers guidance to foster care providers asking them to use a child’s ‘preferred name and pronouns’ and provide ‘physically and emotionally safe and supportive care and resources regardless of one’s personal attitudes and beliefs’
A qualifying foster parent under the proposed federal rule would need to be educated on the needs of the child’s sexuality or gender identity and, if the child wishes, “facilitate the child’s access to age-appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being” (photo illustration by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder).
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey this week joined with 18 other states to oppose a proposed federal rule that aims to protect LGBTQ youth in foster care and provide them with necessary services.
The attorneys general argue in a letter to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services that the proposed rule — which requires states to provide safe and appropriate placements with providers who are appropriately trained about the child’s sexual orientation or gender identity — amounts to religion-based discrimination and violates freedom of speech.
“As a foster parent myself,” Bailey said in a news release Tuesday, “I am deeply invested in protecting children and putting their best interests first.”
“Biden’s proposed rule does exactly the opposite by enacting policies meant to exclude people with deeply held religious beliefs from being foster parents.”
The rule is part of a package of federal proposals on foster care and is an extension of the Biden administration’s broader push to protect LGBTQ kids in foster care.
“Because of family rejection and abuse,” the Biden administration said in a September press release, LGBTQ children are “overrepresented in foster care where they face poor outcomes, including mistreatment and discrimination because of who they are.”
State agencies would be required under the rule to provide safe and appropriate foster care placements for those who are “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex,” along with children who are “non-binary or have non-conforming gender identity or expression.”
A qualifying foster parent would need to be educated on the needs of the child’s sexuality or gender identity and, if the child wishes, “facilitate the child’s access to age-appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being.”
An example of a safe and appropriate placement is one where a provider is “expected to utilize the child’s identified pronouns, chosen name, and allow the child to dress in an age-appropriate manner,” according to the proposal, “that the child believes reflects their self-identified gender identity and expression.”
The attorneys general characterize that as “forcing an individual to use another’s preferred pronouns by government fiat,” in violation of the First Amendment.
Robert Fischer, director of communications for Missouri LGBTQ advocacy organization PROMO, said the freedom of religion “doesn’t give any person the right to impose those beliefs on others, particularly to discriminate.”
“Any state official who claims to put ‘children’s interests first’ and in the same breath is willing to risk their well-being and opportunity to thrive in the name of religion — I think that speaks for itself,” Fischer told The Independent.
The rule prohibits retaliation against children who identify as LGBTQ or are perceived as LGBTQ.
Public agencies would need to notify children about the option to request foster homes identified as “safe and appropriate” and tell them how to report concerns about their placement.
Agencies would also have to go through extra steps before placing transgender, intersex and gender non-conforming children in group care settings that are divided by sex.
The “majority” of states, according to the proposed rule, would have to “expand their efforts” to recruit and identify providers who could meet the needs of LGBTQ children.
Missouri guidelines
Laws and policies for protecting LGBTQ youth in foster care — relating to kids’ rights, supports, placement considerations, caregiver qualifications and definitions — currently vary by state.
According to a federal report published in January, which reviewed states’ laws and policies, Missouri does not have laws or policies explicitly addressing any of those five categories.
Most states — 39 states and Washington, D.C. — have “explicit protections from harassment or discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression,” according to a federal report, as of January. Missouri is not one of them.
Twenty-two states and D.C. as of January, require agencies to provide tailored services and supports to LGBTQ youth, and eight states and D.C. offer case management and facilitate access to “gender-affirming medical, mental health and social services.”
Children’s Division, the agency within the Missouri Department of Social Services that oversees foster care, offers guidance on their website for providers and child welfare staff in “supporting LGBTQ youth in foster care,” but still does not appear to have official policy on the issue.
A spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Social Services did not respond to a request for comment.
Those guidelines include using the child’s “preferred name and pronouns,” along with establishing a supportive environment and providing “physically and emotionally safe and supportive care and resources regardless of one’s personal attitudes and beliefs.”
The Department of Social Services is part of the administration of Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, and the guidelines were in place the entire time Bailey was serving as Parson’s general counsel — the second highest ranking job in the governor’s office.
Asked whether he raised any objections to the guidelines during his tenure with Parson, Bailey’s spokesperson said he “had no involvement in crafting [the Department of Social Services’] ‘best practices’ as general counsel.”
AG arguments
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks Jan. 20 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
The 19 attorneys general contend the federal rule would “remove faith-based providers from the foster care system” because of their “religious beliefs on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
They cite Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled a public agency couldn’t force private, religious foster agencies to allow same-sex foster parents.
The proposed rule itself also acknowledges the Supreme Court case and alleges that by not requiring religious foster-care providers to welcome LGBTQ children, it is complying with the court’s precedent.
But the attorneys general do not believe this is enough. Their letter argues the proposal violates freedom of religion because those unwilling to support LGBTQ foster children “would be excluded from providing care to as many as one-third of foster children ages 12-21.”
“In addition to discriminating against religion, the proposed rule will harm children by limiting the number of available foster homes, harm families by risking kinship placements, and harm states by increasing costs and decreasing care options,” the letter says.
The rule would “discourage individuals and organizations of faith from joining or continuing in foster care,” the attorneys general argue, and “reduce family setting options.” Without faith-based foster parents, the attorneys general say, children would be more likely to be placed in congregate settings.
They also say the rule could disqualify family members who volunteer as placement, or kinship care, if the family member does not agree to support the child’s sexuality or gender identity with age-appropriate resources, as the rule entails.
Last night was the big debate between Govs. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Gavin Newsom (D-CA). We’d like to give you a link so that if you missed it, and would like to watch, you could do so. However, at Fox, the news is a business and not a public service, and this was (technically) a regular episode of Hannity. So, if you want to watch it, you have to pay for Fox’s streaming service. Sorry. That said, here’s a pretty good 3-minute rundown of the highlights.
We watched it, of course, because that’s part of our responsibilities. And we’re going to give you our assessment by focusing on the four entities that were (or, in one case, were not) a part of the debate:
Newsom: Newsom may have been going into hostile territory, but he almost certainly had the easier task, which was to establish himself as a credible candidate of national stature. And he managed to achieve his goal.
Newsom would love, love, love to be butter-smooth, like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan, but he’s not that. It’s probably not a coincidence that all three of those men were either college professors or actors; two jobs that force you to learn how to read and respond to an audience. Newsom is also not a passionate, fire-breathing true believer, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); not that the Governor is shooting for that.
No, Newsom is a wonky debater, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). That’s not an insult; Warren was a champion debater who was good enough at it to earn a college scholarship. Being like Warren means that Newsom had strong command of facts and statistics, that we was well-prepared for DeSantis’ lines of attack and was generally able to parry them, that he generally was capable of thinking on his feet and adapting when needed, and that he got off the occasional bon mot. Certainly the line of the night (which was undoubtedly pre-written) was when Newsom looked at DeSantis and said that “[what] we have in common is that neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.”
DeSantis: DeSantis, meanwhile, had de facto home field advantage, but he had the harder task, namely to try to change the trajectory of the 2024 GOP primaries. The Governor did not come within a country mile of doing that.
To start, DeSantis showed once again that he has exactly one facial expression, which is “grimace.” And he has one tone of voice, which is nasal/whiny. No matter what he says, whether it’s pro-Democratic or pro-Republican, it’s going to be kind of a turn off because he is kind of a turn off.
Beyond that, however, DeSantis’ remarks and responses had three themes: California sucks, Democrats suck and Joe Biden sucks. If you can explain how any of those three messages help explain why you should vote for DeSantis instead of Donald Trump, then you are cleverer than we are.
It is also the case that DeSantis seems to live in a fantasy world (but definitely not in Fantasyland, where he’s not welcome). Most obviously, his version of California is that it is a dystopian hellscape. This comports with Republican talking points, but not with reality. At various points, DeSantis claimed that California has made it legal for unhomed people to defecate on the sidewalk (he even held up a map of defecation hotspots in San Francisco) and to light their own encampments on fire, that it takes twice as long to shop in California because everything is under lock and key to prevent theft, and that women in the state can never wear jewelry in public because they are certain to be mugged. The Governor shared similar fantastical ideas about Democrats and about Biden.
This is not to say that everything that came out of DeSantis’ mouth was a lie or an exaggeration, or that some of his ideas about California don’t have SOME basis in reality. For example, (Z), who walks around Los Angeles a lot, has seen human feces on the sidewalk… twice. At his local drug store, the razors, baby formula, cigarettes and liquor are under lock and key… while 95% of the inventory is not. And he knows a couple of women who turned their wedding rings around while in downtown. On the other hand, he’s been to Florida, and he’s seen most of these things there, too.
Maybe there are people out there who accept everything DeSantis says uncritically. Probably there are. But anyone watching with even a sliver of an open mind surely has to be left with the impression that he’s as truth-challenged as Trump is, while being considerably less effective at selling his lies and exaggerations.
Hannity: Hannity made clear that he should never, ever, ever be allowed to moderate a real debate, even if it’s candidates for assistant dogcatcher of East Cupcake. The first problem is that despite the fact that it was his show, and his studio, with microphones ostensibly controlled by his staff, he had absolutely no ability to enforce discipline. The candidates constantly talked over each other. Not only was Hannity unable to control it, but he eventually became petulant and whiny, at one point complaining that “I’m not a potted plant here!”
The second problem is that a disproportionate number of Hannity’s questions were, to be blunt, stupid. For example, he asked the two governors to “grade” Joe Biden, while not allowing them to explain their choice of grade. Surprise, surprise; DeSantis gave Biden an “F” and Newsom gave an “A.” What on earth was the point of that exercise? What could possibly be learned from that? And there were a lot of questions of that sort, that basically boiled down to: “Please give me your talking point on [Subject X].”
And the third problem is that Hannity started the debate by promising to be a neutral arbiter, but then spent the entire debate putting his thumb (and the rest of his hand, and arm) on the scale for DeSantis. To take one example, Hannity’s staff had a pre-prepared graphic that revealed that since 2019, California has had 19 mass shootings that killed 4 or more people while Florida has had 9 such shootings. This was part of the discussion of gun-control laws (California) or lack thereof (Florida), and was meant to help DeSantis make his point that gun-control laws don’t work.
We are not experts on gun-violence statistics, but we suspect some cherry picking here. At very least, with such a small number of qualifying incidents per year, there has to be some amount of random variation here, which means that 4 years is too small a sample size. Also, the population of California is 39.24 million, while the population of Florida is 21.78 million, which means California has 180.1% of the population that Florida does. Meanwhile, 19 is 211% of 9. So, it would seem the primary difference between California and Florida when it comes to the total number of mass shootings is… California has way more people. And there were at least a dozen things like that, where Hannity and his team had chosen statistics or had made infographics clearly designed to prop up DeSantis.
The Audience: One of Newsom’s requirements for attending the debate was “no audience,” and he got what he wanted. And wow, even with the two governors yelling over each other on a constant basis, the absence of an audience was still noticeable and a vast, vast improvement. Debates are not a football game, and the viewing audience does not need to be told what to think or feel by a bunch of howling yahoos.
Who knows if this is a one-off, or if it will establish some sort of tradition? We tend to suspect that DeSantis will not be eager to repeat the experiment, once someone tells him that he did himself absolutely no good when it comes to the 2024 presidential race, but that’s just a guess. (Z)
Florida governor—and failing 2024 presidential candidate—Ron DeSantis sold his Party’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law as a way to protect children in elementary schools from LGBTQ+ “sexualization.” Then it was expanded through grade 12. Now, a Republican proposed legislation to expand it to the workplace. These efforts to restrict LGBTQ+ rights are never really about the children, and it’s time Americans wake up and realize that.
Please notice what reason they gave for not protecting LGBTQIA kids from abuse, bullying, and not getting equal treatment. It violates their religious freedom to be kind and treat those kids fairly. Yes, read the article. I am so sick of these people trying to force their religion on everyone. Yet they claim to be removing LGBTQIA from society and the public to protect children. But they demand the right to abuse LGBTQIA kids? All this rule does is prevent gay kids from being placed with fundamentalist religious people that feel entitled to force these kids in to conversion therapy, which has been proven to be harmful and dangerous. Hugs. Scottie
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey this week joined with 18 other states to oppose a proposed federal rule that aims to protect LGBTQ youth in foster care and provide them with necessary services.
The attorneys general argue in a letter to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services that the proposed rule — which requires states to provide safe and appropriate placements with providers who are appropriately trained about the child’s sexual orientation or gender identity — amounts to religion-based discrimination and violates freedom of speech.
“As a foster parent myself,” Bailey said in a news release Tuesday, “I am deeply invested in protecting children and putting their best interests first. Biden’s proposed rule does exactly the opposite by enacting policies meant to exclude people with deeply held religious beliefs from being foster parents.”
Read the full article. Missouri’s state child care agency already provides pro-LGBTQ guidance to prospective foster parents.
But… who else will they push to suicide? How else will they guarantee to calm their god’s vengeful spirit and avert natural disasters if not through human sacrifice!? /s
He needs to complete that sentence: enacting policies meant to exclude people with deeply held religious beliefs from being foster parentsto LGBT children they’d shame and torture.
I join you in that hate. It is constantly bandied about, but never defined, tested or challenged in court.
Kim Davis waved her “sincerely held” card, yet never had to prove it. She was an adulteress, divorced and changed her religion. Doesn’t sound too sincere to me.
Because religion in general, and Christianity in fucking particular, enjoy undue and unbridled entitlement and privilege and special rights i9n this fucked up country.
Because they are a powerful voting block and are pandered to by one part.
“In God We Trust” is the official motto of the United States as well as the motto of the U.S. state of Florida. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, replacing E pluribus unum, which had been the de facto motto since the initial design of the Great Seal of the United States
I wouldn’t mind if they tried to play deeply religious kids with foster parents who would support their religious activities. That seems fair. So why don’t they want the same for lgbt kids. Oh right. Their “right” to be bigots means inflicting their bullshit on everyone, even if it drives them to suicide.
There would be very few children in the foster care system if *heterosexual* parents didn't abuse and abandon their children by the tens of thousands every year. https://t.co/mWvMWaLxs7
Notice it just requires them to be “trained” on LBGTQ+ issues, not even believe or support them. But I guess that’s a bridge too far for these fuckers.
“which requires states to provide safe and appropriate placements with providers who are appropriately trained about the child’s sexual orientation or gender identity”
School vouchers are all the Republican rage right now, particularly in my home state of TN. This is why that’s bad. Tour/book: http://www.traecrowder.com
Hi, this is a wonderful display of a normal 19 year old who is autistic. She is open about it, how it affects her daily life, how her celebrity which she is not using for her own benefit, and how she copes she mentions she really doesn’t like what she feels she has to do and often retreats to an environment that soothes her emotion distress. One of the things she mentions is her love of beans, and eating one bean at a time, as it helps her deal. The interview was grand. Here is a 19 year old who could have been using her status to make millions as an influencer yet proudly admits she will use her large platform to introduce other people who have expertise or experience in fighting the climate emergency, and then she steps aside, giving them the entire stage to say what needs to be said.
She is engaging, dare I say cute, without being called out as a sexist pig? She laughed at the host, who was not trying to be funny because that was how it struck her. I loved how she totally was not like other guests, she was herself.
If I don’t clip this right and you want to hear her talk about her autism and how it affects her and her activism, please go through the video. Oh one thing before where I start with her interview, they have kids on, and the kids love her. To the point where the host tries to ask one of the kids if he knew who he was or wanted to talk to him and the kid was like, no, I want to talk to her. What an ego busting moment. Hugs, best wishes, loves. Scottie
Oh notice one thing, she says she doesn’t need to make money from the books and activism, because she is in what we call college or university and her country pays her not only to be there but enough to live. Her living costs are paid because she is a student. Think about that next time an argument about student loans comes up and how great the US is. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 