Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters requires the Bible be taught in schools
“The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone. Without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation which is why OK educational standards provide for its instruction. This is not merely an educational directive but a crucial step in ensuring our students grasp the core values and historical context of our country”
“I know this bc I work w/ ~1k chief #executives a year, running a school for them, which I started 35 yrs ago, & I speak w/ #business leaders almost every day. Our surveys show that 60 to 70% of them are registered #Republicans.
The reality is that the top #corporate leaders working today, like many #Americans, aren’t entirely comfortable w/either #Trump or #POTUS#Biden. But they largely like — or at least can tolerate — one of them. They truly fear the other.
The #AntiAbortion movement may have won the battle 2 yrs ago w/ #Dobbs, but they’re losing the war—& turning an entire generation away from their cause.
For many #Americans, the overturning of #RoeVWade …marked the…culmination of a 50-yr crusade. Nothing about it was secret: Getting rid of #abortion was the focus of a large network of #conservative activists, a central theme in #GOP platforms & campaigns, a litmus test for judges at nearly every level, & one of the decisive issues that bonded social #conservatives to #Trump.
According to #Biden administration officials, there have been discussions about potentially negotiating a "unilateral deal" with Hamas to release five Israelis holding American citizenship detained in Gaza if current cease-fire talks involving Israel fail.
These negotiations would not involve Israel and would be conducted through Qatari interlocutors, similar to current talks.
The officials, all briefed on the discussions, did not know what the United States might offer Hamas in exchange for the release of the #Americans. However, they suggested that Hamas might be incentivized to pursue a unilateral deal with #Washington to strain U.S.-Israel relations further and exert additional domestic political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu.
@flexghost I saw clips of this rally. Really, it's incredibly sad how far the #us has fallen due to #trump. This nation has become the #punchline on the #international stage. It will take us generations to recover from this, provided he does not win #reelection.
The stakes are high and even with all this realtime #insanity unfolding at his rallies, his supporters still see him as the bringer of the #gospel of the #honest#truth.
Many #Americans do not understand the difference between #abortion pills, which end a pregnancy, & emergency #contraception, which prevents it. Nearly ¾ of Americans incorrectly think that emergency contraceptive pills can end a pregnancy in its early stages, according to a 2023 poll by KFF, a nonprofit focused on national #health issues.
Antiabortion groups are stepping in to fill that knowledge gap w/ #disinformation.
@flexghost I am finding it more and more difficult to believe the media and these "polls." They make it seem like #trump is ahead but is that what people really want? He lost considerably in 2020. Since then it's only been bad news for him. Yes, this country is divided but is it as divided as it's made out to be? Yes, the #Trumpkins are a dedicated bunch but they aren't the majority.
The #gop is on an anti-abortion and anti-lgtbqia rampage right now, but is that what #americans really want? Recall two years ago when Kansas voters vehemently rejected an amendment ban abortion. Kansas is not a blue state by any stretch of the imagination.
There really does seem to be a major disconnect between what the media reports and what Americans are really thinking. I strongly suspect that's intentional.
"There is a mini cottage industry of punditry that is forever on the lookout for the merest hint of disrespect toward #conservative voters, particularly #rural & working-class #white ones. But the fact that the #GOP nominee for president approvingly posted a video that declares a large ideological subgroup of #Americans “done” & “gone” if he is elected... appears to have garnered almost no headlines." https://newrepublic.com/article/181973/trump-media-attacks-media-dangerous-turn
@rbreich I learned back in the day when trying to reason with recalcitrant, argumentative clients, "Don't confuse me with facts, I got my mind made up" which reflected HL Mencken's aphorism, "...there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong." #Americans want neat and simple answers so as to not tax their simple minds. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/07/17/solution/
from #WashingtonPost
Business titans privately urged #NYC mayor to use police on #Columbia protesters, chats show
A #WhatsApp chat started by some wealthy #Americans after the Oct. 7 #Hamas attack reveals their focus on Mayor #EricAdams and their work to shape #USA opinion of the #Gaza war.
‘ #Irish cliche bingo’: critics pan Obamas’ #Netflix comedy drama #Bodkin"
...
“Yet another entry in the worst genre ever – the Irish rural picaresque where booze flows, nuns scowl,” said the Irish Times. “A deeply annoying show that thinks it is critiquing cliches about #Ireland when actively adding to the stockpile. Let’s ignore it and hope it goes away ... the show had recreated #FatherTed without the jokes or self-awareness, it said. “If the locals in Bodkin are gradually revealed to be putting on a sly act in front of the naive #American, the series nonetheless plumbs the depths of diddly dee twaddle.”
#Virginia school board restores #Confederate leaders’ names to 2 #schools
The change comes 4 years after the schools had removed the names during the national racial reckoning sparked by #GeorgeFloyd’s killing.
#Freedom, #justice, #equality, and #opportunity are #values the majority of #Americans can agree on. The #GOP as it is incarnated now so narrows the scope of applicability as to make their positions utter falsehoods for large groups of people. The majority can see through their #lies, but adherents see #mendacity as the cost of doing business. But at least they believe what they profess and the means to get there. #Democrats on the other hand, are facing a crisis of #legitimacy. The #contradictions between #democratic values and #foreign_policy have been laid bare. #Israel/Gaza, the #TikTok ban, and the heavy-handed #police response to campus #demonstrations have shown that democratic values will be tossed aside the moment they conflict with #policy goals and manufactured #consensus. It's not that people don't #believe in the values Democrats profess; it's that people don't believe that Democrats believe in these values.
@rbreich#rfk_jr spouts BS that comports nicely with #Americans lacking critical thinking skills. To quote my favorite racist misogynist H.L. Mencken, "There Is Always a Well-Known Solution to Every Human Problem—Neat, Plausible, and Wrong" #Americans just want simple answers that doesn't require too much thought.
AP-NORC poll shows Americans still agree on most core American values
Despite the country’s deep political polarization, most Americans share many core beliefs about what it means to be an American, according to a new poll.
The results, which included perspectives on a number of different freedoms and rights, have only small variances between Republicans and Democrats except on the right to bear arms, which Republicans are more likely to see as core to the nation’s identity.
The overall findings are striking because they come at a time of extreme partisanship when political agreements seem rare and concerns are heightened over the potential for violence during a volatile presidential election year.
The accts signal a potential tactical shift in how #China aims to #influence American #politics, w/more of a willingness to target specific candidates & parties, including Biden.
…researchers linked the new activity to a long-running network of accts connected w/ #China’s govt known as #Spamouflage. Several of the accts…previously posted pro-Beijing content in Mandarin— only to recently resurface under the guise of #Americans writing in English.
In a separate proj, the Foundation for #Defense of #Democracies …ID’ed 170 fake pgs & accts on #Facebook that have also pushed anti-American msgs, incl’g pointed attacks on #Biden.
they clearly see Biden as a threat, not [#Trump]
The #UnitedStates federal government updated how it classifies people by #race & #ethnicity for the 1st time in over a quarter-century, aiming to better capture an increasingly #diverse country & give policymakers a fuller view of the #Americans their work impacts.