AyJayDee221 hours ago edited These aren’t conservatives – they’re theocratic fascist arsonists trying to burn the country down so they can rebuild it as a white Christian supremacist authoritarian regime.
Raising the debt ceiling is not a “concession” by Republicans — it's their constitutional duty.
Republicans are extorting the American people by threatening to crater the economy to extract unreasonable demands they'd never be able to get in the ordinary appropriations process. pic.twitter.com/XTi03tmPvA
It explicitly encourages local law officers such as the sheriff and county prosecutor to not enforce state and federal laws they deem unconstitutional.
Who wakes up and decides to call businesses that operate 2000 miles away and threaten them with violence? Well a very devout christian might do something like that. Tim McVeigh was a VERY DEVOUT christian.
It is also a second charge for obstruction. Then there is the report he was showing the documents to people not authorized to see them. Remember Jack Teixeira, the kid who was arrested a few weeks ago for posting documents online? Unauthorized retention and dissemination of classified material is what Jackie-boy is facing and if these media reports are accurate then Trump is going to be facing them soon as well.
“We need to go after Target in a very serious way.” This from the guy who has complained umpteen million times about how horrible cancel culture is. It turns out, like everything else, that was a lie. He just can’t stand when he (or the white christian nationalists) don’t have power in any aspect of life.
It is always, ALWAYS about power. Never about the children, never about god/jeebus/Christianity… it is ALWAYS about more power for them… and no rights for anyone else they deem as “other.” That is the only endgame for these people.
Imagine what the MEDIA would have to say if the LEFT were calling for ANY kind of violence! THIS, because it comes from the RIGHT, gets a PASS from the corporate sellout FRAUDS! (Electoral-Vote recently said Republicans inclined to speak out are afraid to speak out against Trump because they KNOW it will place their LIVES at risk, theirs and their children’s, that THAT is the purpose of the violent rhetoric, the stochastic terrorism, coming from Trump and his followers, to silence any criticism from Republicans who are alarmed by the FASCISM that has taken control of their party! WHERE are the MEDIA, the “Guardians of Democracy,” to call out and DENOUNCE this fascist rhetoric, these fascist tactics which are an ASSAULT on the democracy it is their journalistic DUTY to DEFEND from just such attacks?! They do NOTHING to call it out–they have instead infamously NORMALIZED it, something they NEVER would have done if ANY Democrat had EVER called for his opponents to be “taught a lesson”! Imagine if OBAMA had EVER adopted such an attitude! The media would have exploded in a RAGE and demanded his resignation! But such rhetoric from the right gets a PASS–they are in no way held accountable!)
WHERE is the DOJ? Where is GARLAND, that goddamned WEAKLING? What a pathetic FARCE!
Oh, the thing is, the Wingers have no problem using violence and threats of violence to get their ways. Since they do not have a majority on the social issues, that is one way they know to get what they want.
“I will not allow my kid to be corrupted by this trans agenda.” First, the only agenda I know of is that trans people want the right to live as a man or woman depending on their perceived gender identification. That has nothing to do with your children or you. And if you don’t want your children in Target, keep them home. Some people may want the merchandise they are selling, and it is none of your business whether Target sells it or not. You right wingers are just busybodies with too fucking much interest in stuff that is none of your damned business. (He reminds me of Gladys Kravitz.)
House Democrats offered amendments to bar proselytizing or attempts to convert students from one religion to another; to require chaplains to receive consent from the parents of school children; and to make schools provide chaplains from any faith or denomination requested by students. All of those amendments failed. Rep. Cole Hefner, who authored the House version of the bill, said in debates that local school boards will be allowed to set requirements for chaplains.
As I reported on Monday, the bill is the work of a Texas evangelist who falsely testified to the Texas House that the chaplains will not be “working to convert people to religion.” In fact, his organization has been open about their desire to proselytize to public school students.
Unlicensed religious chaplains could work mental health roles in Texas public schools under a bill the Legislature passed.
Critics fear the bill is an attempt at evangelizing kids and will worsen mental health through disproven counseling approaches. https://t.co/Bbup8Pv6Vt
When the Texas House was debating SB763, the bill that allows districts to replace counselors with chaplains, @DiegoBernalTX flat out asked Cole Hefner if a district could replace ALL counselors with chaplains. The answer was YES.#txlege#txedpic.twitter.com/NixV3KV18D
— Christopher Tackett @cjtackett@mastodon.social (@cjtackett) May 10, 2023
That jumped out at me too. So their long-standing argument that parents should have a voice in their children’s education has been bullshit all along? Got it.
The Texas family finds Oregon welcoming — but urges vigilance
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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — When Karen’s daughter was 3, she knew how she felt. She didn’t know the word “trans” but she knew how she felt. She felt like a girl.
“I just shot that down real quick,” Karen told KOIN 6 News. “‘You’re not a girl, you’re a boy. You don’t have to worry. You don’t have to be a girl to like girl things.’”
But the feeling didn’t ever go away.
“I just saw her disappearing into herself and she came to me in the kitchen again. She was 6 years old and she said, ‘Mom, I’m a girl.’ And I repeated the same thing, ‘You don’t have to be a girl to like girl things.’ She went, ‘I know. But I’m a girl who likes girl things.’ And she just held my gaze,” Karen said. “I knew. And I knew she meant it and I didn’t understand but it was my job to find out because I’m her mom.”
Karen’s love for her child turned into advocacy — in Texas, where she, her husband and children lived.
Karen is the mother of an 11-year-old trans girl who moved her family from Texas to Oregon, May 2023 (KOIN)
In 2021, Karen joined other people rallying at the state capital in Austin against a slate of bills targeting health care for transgender children, like puberty blockers, or even seeking therapy from a behavioral health provider.
The bills and the attacks were relentless. The attacks focused on their health care, tried to go after providers of care that has been deemed best-practice medical care by literally every major medical association. After advocates and some push back from the business community, many of the bills did not pass that session.
Then in 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott — facing primary challenges to his reelection — ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate providing gender-affirming care as child abuse. He also ordered the parents who provided it to their children to be investigated.
“I would always say, ‘Well, I’m going to stay here and fight until they try and take my kids away.’ And I would say it as, like a, well, you know, that’s never going to happen. But then it did,” Karen said.
“We were advised to leave before we couldn’t leave.”
Karen is the mother of an 11-year-old trans girl who moved her family from Texas to Oregon, May 2023 (KOIN)
Her lawyers said her public advocacy made her a target. She remembers the children of family friends were approached at school by Protective Services agents. She had to train both her children about what to do if that happened to them.
“We had to talk about, ‘Here is the little card that you will carry around with you in your pocket and in your backpack. And if CPS shows up at your school you show them the card that says, ‘I don’t consent to talk to you. This is my lawyer’s information.”
The tipping point to move
A year ago Karen feared not only for her daughter’s safety but the affect the politics in Texas was having on her.
Her daughter was having panic attacks. One day in the car, the stress became clear when Karen asked her daughter if she wanted to record a statement for a rally in front of the Texas governor’s mansion.
“She was very quiet and she was sitting behind me,” Karen said. “Then, I just heard her little 10-year-old voice ask, ‘Am I going to die?’”
“It seems to come from out of nowhere except, no, that kind of question must be on her mind constantly hearing about all of this hate, all of these lies about her. So I pulled over and I asked, ‘Why would you say that? Of course you’re not going to die.’
“She looked at me and said, ‘Because everybody hates me here.’ And I just knew I can’t ask her to grow up in a place like this.”
Karen is the mother of an 11-year-old trans girl who moved her family from Texas to Oregon, May 2023 (KOIN)
The order by Gov. Abbot to investigate families of trans kids was struck down by a court last summer around the same time Karen and her family fled their native Texas.
Her husband’s employer saw the stress the political battle was having on their family and helped accommodate their move to Portland.
It was immediately a reset for Karen’s daughter.
“When we got into Oregon we went downtown. Then there’s this massive Pride festival and I thought it was really cool,” she said. “I felt like I’m in the right place. This is where I live now and I don’t plan on moving ever again.”
Karen sees a freedom in her daughter she didn’t see when they lived in Texas, a freedom from worry, freedom of thought — and freedom to be a kid again.
“I remember before she first started school (in Oregon, I asked) ‘Are you going to tell them that you’re trans?’ And she went, ‘Probably. It’s safe, right?’ I went, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ She just feels so supported.”
Her daughter said she was really nervous at her new school. “But I knew there was another trans kid in my class because when I visited, everyone told me this other person was trans just so I could know. And I was, like, cool. Then I felt more safe. Then I adjusted to my school more because everyone was so nice and so friendly. And it was so beautiful and I spent most of the time playing.”
Playing at school, like an 11-year-old should.
Karen feels relief in Oregon. She’s finally able to testify on legislation she supports. But during testimony in Salem earlier this spring she heard similar false arguments made here that she heard in Texas.
Just this year there have been more bills targeting the existence of transgender children introduced than the last 8 years combined, according to TransLegislation.com.
She hopes Oregonians remain vigilant in protecting equal rights for transgender people.
The craziest Qanon fundamentalist Christian conservative ideologists have figured out that public schools teaching facts keep them from taking over. So they are going after the schools. That we have known for a few years. They have this idea that they can indoctrinate kids into myths, misinformation, and hateful ideas and the kids will continue that way all their lives, letting the crazies run the country as a dictatorship unquestioned. Here is an example. This person is going to be forcing the batshittery she spouts on public school kids whose parents do not have the time or energy to school their kids against her lies. She wouldn’t even let her children go to public school, she homeschooled them. Yet she will now have a say in what other parents kids learn. The US better wake up, public schools have been under attack in the US for generations with defunding and Christians trying to force their religion back into schools as factual learning material. Now the most fundamentalist crazies are taking over to finish destroying what is left of public schools. But notice this stuff is not taught in the wealthy elite private schools. Hugs
Last week, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) announced that he had appointed Laurie Cardoza-Moore to serve on the Tennessee Standards Recommendation Committee to oversee “Social Studies materials being reviewed for use in classrooms statewide.” Cardoza-Moore, known for holding extremist views and promoting conspiracy theories, has called “U.S. history textbooks” currently used in classrooms the “greatest national security threat to the United States.”
With her new appointment, Cardoza-Moore will have the power to “submit final recommendations for [Social Studies] standards to the State Board.” In a statement about her new position, Cardoza-Moore said, “[t]he materials we will be reviewing can only accomplish the mission of educating good American citizens if our Tennessee textbooks are devoid of left-aligned historic revisionism and the toxic material found in the antisemitic Critical Race Theory; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Social-Emotional Learning and Ethnic Studies.”
Cardoza-Moore homeschooled her five children and has criticized the existing public school curriculum for exposing children to “anti-Semitic, anti-American, anti-Judeo-Christian content in our public schools.” In a radio interview on the Tennessee Star Report, Cardoza-Moore said, “[i]t’s ruining our children’s lives. Our children are depressed and unless we as parents… stand up and speak up and take back control of our children’s education, we are going to lose this country.”
In 2021, Cardoza-Moore was also appointed by Sexton to the Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission, which is in charge of “recommend[ing] an official list of textbooks and instructional materials for approval of the State Board of Education.”
Sexton appointed Cardoza-Moore to important positions shaping state educational standards despite her repeated embrace of conspiracy theories. Over the years, Cardoza-Moore has promoted claims that 9/11 was an “inside job,” that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and that January 6 insurrectionists were actually “Antifa.” In 2011, Cardoza-Moore claimed that former President Barack Obama was causing “horrific tornadoes” because he made a speech that discussed the plight of Palestinians. Asked if she still held these views, Cardoza-Moore did not respond.
Cardoza-Moore has few academic credentials, which she has attempted to bolster by padding her resume. She refers to herself as “Laurie Cardoza-Moore, ThD.” But her “doctorate” is “an honorary doctorate degree in theology from the Latin University of Theology,” an unaccredited diploma mill. According to Chalkbeat Tennessee, the only degree Cardoza-Moore holds is “an associate degree from the KD Conservatory College of Film and Dramatic Arts in Dallas.” It’s unclear how this qualifies her to set standards for millions of Tennessee students. Sexton did not respond to a request for comment.
Cardoza-Moore and 9/11 conspiracy theories
Cardoza-Moore is the founder and president of the nonprofit Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), a Christian Zionist organization that claims to fight the “global war against antisemitism.” The group, which was once classified a hate group, has been a profitable endeavor for Cardoza-Moore. In 2019, she paid herself $145,000, paid her husband’s business $85,000, claimed $50,000 in occupancy expenses for her home, and spent $23,000 on meals and entertainment, among other things. The organization is also rated as a “two-star charity” on Charity Navigator, indicating that the organization “needs improvement.”
In March 2021, during a Tennessee State Senate hearing for Cardoza-Moore’s appointment to the Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission, Democratic Chair Raumesh Akbari asked Cardoza-Moore about PJTN’s statements questioning basic facts about the September 11 terrorist attacks.
According to Akbari, when reviewing a textbook passage, PJTN “suggest[ed] removing” a sentence stating that “members of al-Qaeda carried out” the September 11 attacks. PJTN cited a “plethora of evidence” for the suggested removal, stating, “This is a highly contested (per [A]rchitects and [E]ngineers for 9/11 Truth, and demolition experts) argument.” Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth was a group that falsely claimed that 9/11 was an “inside job” because they believed the impact of the planes into the World Trade Center towers could not have resulted in their collapse. According to Akbari, “the quote was pulled ‘directly from a review that [Cardoza-Moore] made.”
In response, Cardoza-Moore attempted to distance herself from the controversy. “I need to see the quote in the context that you’re pulling it [from],” Cardoza-Moore said. “Is that a Powerpoint presentation that I put together? Because I would never say that al-Qaeda didn’t participate.”
Cardoza-Moore and January 6 conspiracy theories
Cardoza-Moore also pushed false claims about the 2020 election and conspiracy theories about the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021. On December 9, 2020, Cardoza-Moore tweeted, “Calling on all citizens of the USA. Please contact your State Attorney General and let them know that as a citizen of your state, you want them to join the State of TX in the lawsuit filed against GA, WI, MI and PA for the fraudulent way their elections were held.”
On December 17, 2020, Cardoza-Moore responded to a tweet from former President Donald Trump claiming that there were “[t]remendous problems being found with voting machines.” Cardoza-Moore tweeted, “[w]hy aren’t these people being arrested? If the lawless get away with this, our Republic is lost! You’re a Churchill President Trump, PLEASE EXECUTE JUSTICE!” There is no evidence that any widespread voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election.
According to the Memphis Flyer, Cardoza-Moore also encouraged people to travel to D.C. on January 6, 2021, posting, “I’ll see you in DC on 1/6.” In a now-deleted post from December 28, 2020, Cardoza-Moore said, “Will you join me in DC to defend our Constitutional Republic? This is it! If we can’t defend our Constitutional Republic, we WILL LOSE IT! Make arrangements now!”
Cardoza-Moore continued to push conspiracy theories after the insurrection occurred at the Capitol on January 6, claiming that it was actually “Antifa” and not Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol. “Antifa stormed the Capitol! It wasn’t led by Trump Patriots,” Cardoza-Moore tweeted on January 7, 2021.
Cardoza-Moore defends plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan
In spring 2020, Cardoza-Moore celebrated on social media as armed protesters stormed Michigan’s capitol to demonstrate against the state’s COVID-19 response. “ARE WE WATCHING THE BEGINNING OF A REVOLUTION IN AMERICA!” Cardoza-Moore wrote.
Later that year, when news broke that right-wing extremists were planning to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D), Cardoza-Moore also expressed support for the kidnapping plot.
“Am I missing something here? Didn’t the Founders address removing a tyrant from office in the Constitution?” Cardoza-Moore wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post. “Michiganders, it’s time to step up and defend your Constitutional rights!”
Cardoza-Moore and anti-Muslim bigotry
Cardoza-Moore is also notorious for spewing anti-Muslim rhetoric. She first came to public attention in 2010 when she led opposition to the construction of a Tennessee mosque and argued that the mosque was a “terrorist training camp.” That year, she also falsely claimed that 30% of Muslims are terrorists while speaking at a rally against the Islamic Center in New York City. She would go on to repeat this baseless claim on The Daily Show.
Aside from this, Cardoza-Moore has also spread rumors that Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
In 2021, during her confirmation hearing, Cardoza-Moore stood by her anti-mosque comments and falsely alleged that there were “absolutely” terrorists in the group. Despite this, she told Chalkbeat in 2022 that she’s not anti-Muslim.
Cardoza-Moore and racial discrimination
Endorsed by the right-wing parents group Moms for Liberty, Cardoza-Moore has also frequently accused schools of indoctrinating students—despite the fact that all five of her children were homeschooled.
Cardoza-Moore is also a staunch opponent of Critical Race Theory, calling it “anti-semitic.” She believes lawmakers should eliminate “socialist propaganda” from education and is against virtually any curriculum that makes mention of race or inequity.
During her hearing in 2021, she “declined to answer questions about her beliefs around teaching students about the nation’s history of colonialism and slavery.” At the time, she said this was because she was only reviewing math textbooks, “therefore her thoughts on history and social studies were not relevant,” the Tennessean reports. With Cardoza-Moore’s new appointment, however, she will be tasked with reviewing social studies standards.
Cardoza-Moore also doesn’t believe that systemic racism exists. In an email sent this month, she criticizes the incoming Tennessee education commissioner and writes, “To suggest that Americans are racist in 2023 because of our history is outrageous!”
“We, the majority of our society, have overcome that ideology. We elected a Black president; we have a Black Supreme Court Justice; we have Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Jewish leaders and on and on and on… Are there pockets of hate, racism, and antisemitism? Absolutely! Is it systemic? Absolutely not!”
According to Cardoza-Moore, acknowledging the country’s “systemic racism and social and financial inequity” is the “nightmare facing Tennessee.”
The Jesuits used to say ‘give me a child of seven and I will give you the man.’ They don’t any more, probably because a priest using the words ‘give me a child of seven’ will prompt any responsible parent to call child protection before the rest of the sentence is out of his mouth.
WHERE are the good people standing up to this bull shit. All this crazy isn’t happening in a vacuum. We are at a tipping point and it is getting tooooo risky for comfort. These nut jobs are evil. This fuck head is right out of central casting as an officer in the SS. My morning cup of madness is running over.
Everyday I get more and more ashamed of being an American. We put absolutely lunatics into office and think nothing of it. We have an entire party that is dedicated to turning the United States into a fascist theocracy. I honestly never thought I would see the day this would happen.
Never underestimate the damage even just one highly motivated individual can do. In fact, there’s a portion of the evangelical movement that dwells in a space believing in the power of positive thinking, and making a difference by being an influence on others.
That maybe doesn’t sound so bad, until you witness the reality of where it leads when paired with a religious agenda. It ends up manifesting with the sort of people who believe they must be an active force for spreading Christianity in the workplace. I once quit a job where the new personnel director was exactly such a person, and insisted on leading people in prayer before meetings.
I’m not talking about some small business. It was at the headquarters for a large business covering the midwestern United States, with sister companies covering other regions of the USA, and all of them just one piece of a much, much bigger international business.
A transgender high school student in Mississippi missed her graduation ceremony after a federal judge denied her request to wear a dress and heels. The student, who has not been identified, had been planning to wear a dress and heels under her graduation gown in accordance with the school’s dress code for female students. However, the school’s principal told her that she would not be allowed to wear the dress and heels, citing the school’s dress code policy.
The student’s family filed a lawsuit against the school, arguing that the dress code policy was discriminatory. However, a federal judge denied the family’s request for an injunction, allowing the school to enforce its dress code policy. As a result, the student missed her graduation ceremony.
The student’s case has drawn attention to the issue of transgender rights in schools. Transgender students are often subjected to discrimination in schools, including being denied the right to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity. The student’s case is a reminder that transgender students still face significant challenges in schools, and that more needs to be done to protect their rights.
It ALWAYS starts out with the Trojan Horse of protecting the young children, before quickly expanding to including all teens/minors, and then the banishing of LGBTQ adults from sight…”for the sake of the children,” and not for the bigoted adults hiding behind them.
bans the “instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade
Question 1. Are you married? Question 2. How do you explain that to an 18 year old without alluding to the fact that you’re a man and the person to which you are married is not?
Question 3. Why is that an exception to your rule?
This is about absolute power and control. Abortion bans/contraception bans Book bans Attacks on LGBTQ+
Can you tell the difference between Republicans/Conservatives and Muslims/ISIS and Sharia Law? pic.twitter.com/9MgNgF0AR2
— Fight4Justice Fight4Equality! AbortionIsARIGHT! (@fight4women) May 17, 2023
All 3 members of the Republican freshman class of 2020 who lectured us the loudest about family values and marriage didn’t have their marriages survive a second term. pic.twitter.com/Zel6uyB6Ut
I’ve been dubious of the word “fascism” being thrown around. But it’s the right word. After reading How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley, I am convinced that DeSantis is in fact a fascist.
“What normalization does is transform the morally extraordinary into the ordinary. It makes us able to tolerate what was once intolerable by making it seem as if this is the way things have always been.”
CNN’s Elle Reeve spoke with Darcy Schoening, the Moms for Liberty chapter chair in El Paso, Colorado. Reeve asked Schoening if she thinks there is a high-level, coordinated effort to make more children become gay or transition, and she said yes. Reeve asked who she thinks is behind that effort. Schoening said, “Teachers’ unions and our president, and a lot of funding sources.” Reeve followed up, “Why would they want more kids to be gay and trans?”
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