44 Comments

Thanks for following these horrific developments Judd. I am currently reading the 1619 project, and as an African American some nights I can only read a few pages at a time, learning more about the brutal history of our country. Of course they don’t want people/children to read it, because they are still using legislation, dirty tricks and intimidation to suppress votes and worse !!!! BTW aren’t we (DEMS) supposed to be the “SNOWFLAKES?”

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America's attempts to erase its history of violence and prejudice against minority groups never ceases and never ceases to amaze. It's sad when people (myself included) have to be taught by HBO shows that events like the Tulsa Race Massacre actually occurred.

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Not to mention how we Americans of all races care not a fig for our Indigenous peoples.

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I don’t have any children or grandchildren of school age, nor will I ever, but the stupidity of this type of legislation makes my blood boil. To start with, I don’t want my tax dollars going to private schools, which don’t have to adhere to the same criteria that public schools are required to, such as accepting every student who applies. The earth is not 6,000 years old, nor did humans live with dinosaurs, nor is it flat. Legislation should not be enacted to allow parents to sue teachers who teach facts that the parents don’t like. Real history, no matter if it paints us in a less than a proud light, civics, & logic need to be required for graduation. TFG became president because ignorance abounds. We need to correct that for our survival as a nation.

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Yes, Thank you, Judd. But remember, the GOP will say ANYTHING to engage their base, to rile them up, to stoke their hatred and emotions. This is just another stinking GOP attempt to keep old white man power.

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Well said. And to divide non parent pro choice activists (like me) from parent activists with limited time to fight every battle.

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According to these laws, it would be illegal for a teacher to say that the institution of slavery in the US was racist.

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I will never vote for a republican for the rest of my life. These policies are embarrassing and I can't believe this is America in 2022. We need to elect young democrats everywhere we possibly can. Time to phase out these far right lunatics who want to go back in time and see the white master race reign supreme...I am so disgusted by republicans efforts on a daily basis, I keep waiting for the bottom to drop out but it just keeps getting lower and lower. When does it end?Every day it's a new low. Thank you for your work, Judd.

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"Free speech for me but not for thee"

That's the Republican mantra now.

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I intend to do my digging when chance allows but, Judd, do you know of anyone challenging these bills? Are there any legal groups, watchdogs, Dems or constitutional lawyers or someone working to stop these blatant attacks on the Constitution?

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Freedom From Religion Foundation has many lawsuits going where state church separation is violated in schools, city offices, county offices, state government and federal government. We need far more but our laws seem to make it difficult and costly to pursue.

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From their website. "Roger Williams' Providence settlement founded in 1636 expressly guaranteed religious freedom. However, the Pilgrims originally were a tolerant people, when they founded Plymouth in 1620. By 1691, the Pilgrims had adopted the theocratic, intolerant Calvinism of the Puritans, who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1628. The Puritans came to this land expressly to establish a bible commonwealth, and banished "heretics" and dissenters. In Virginia, heresy was a capital offense punishable by death by burning. Quakers were particularly persecuted. People who were not orthodox Christians were not legally protected, could be denied civil rights and jailed. The founders of the new nation of the United States of America, conversant with extreme religious intolerance and violence in the several colonies, were determined to put an end to it. That is why they established state/church separation."

This is why it is important to preserve history and the freedom to discuss it. Removing that ability provides them the opportunity to rewrite it. Free speech is at the center as Judd made clear but extends to all other constitutional rights, if one is able to be stricken then none are safe. And with a mostly conservative judicial system that reality is closer to being in place faster and easier than the founding fathers could have ever feared. Nothing is perfect and everything needs to be able to adapt. Clearly the same old rules are no longer safe from abuse. It is time to update our democracy to protect ourselves from a group of tyrants that continue to evolve while strangling the the rules and regulations designed to protect us from people like them.

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So many times in history, we have been warned of religious overreach, wealthy overreach and tyranny by majorities. The founders did an amazing job addressing these worries. You are so correct, Caleb. It is the most worrisome when these people try to re-write history as it is happening.

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They would be the minority right? Which is the problem, a minority of voters are controlling the country. 2 million people are represented by ~45 senators across multiple states. That number doesn’t come near the population of California which is represented by 2. This is theft of democracy.

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We most definitely need far more groups involved. And there may be but I haven’t had time to look in detail yet - my first glance isn’t finding much, but I can’t believe all of this is going on at constitutional levels and no one is jumping in there to tangle with these fools.

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You can bet SPLC will defend its own teaching tools. Send em some money if you’ve got it. If not, it’ll probably be small groups of concerned citizens (and mostly Moms) just as Margaret Mead said long ago.

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With these laws, teaching basic history such as the 3/5s clause, poll taxes, or the Holocaust will require so many gymnastics school districts will either get sued and this will be tested in the courts, or huge swaths of American and World history, literature, philosophy, social studies, etc won't be able to be taught in any meaningful way. Either the First Amendment wins, or we will all lose. I am hopeful that any reasonable court will strike these laws down, but my imagination has been lacking the past several years.

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This is the conservative version of throwing a tantrum, because they know they are wrong and have no other recourse. We must keep up the fight against this nonsense and put them in a corner until they can learn to behave.

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For those who support the "new" Republican proposed policies, be careful of what you wish. You just might get it. Laws like the one proposed by gov. desantis could be used against those that display treasonous symbols, use bigoted language, or other means of expressing their whiteness.

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Yep. Should that one Missouri bill pass, I'm expecting the first complaints to come out of northern St. Louis, Ferguson, or Florissant.

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Exactly! For this reason alone, many of these sloppily worded initiatives should die in committee.

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Why are we stuck with a government that allows religion to dictate policy when the constitution clearly prohibits it. Are they allowed to say what is true in public while the law itself lies? How is this a democracy? This sounds like an inside job and Republicans need to be legally removed from power since this is a clear violation of the constitution. I have no idea how to do any of that. It's just my take away from the past 35 years of being an American, staunch supporter of democracy over capitalism and a veteran with multiple deployments. I didn't volunteer to be murdered in another country for these traitors to destroy our democracy. I will sign any petition requesting they be removed.

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Factual accurate, well written, and valuable.

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As a white male, I have to point out that all these bills do is paint the alleged "master race" as whiny-assed titty babies freaking out because they assume their children can't handle the truth of U.S. history. The kids ALREADY KNOW! They aren't blind, they aren't stupid, and they're rolling their eyes at us behind our backs.

It ain't the kids who can't handle the truth.

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Cancel culture, fascist style. Remember this: whatever they accuse of, it's always something they're either doing or plan to do themselves. They give away their plans far in advance. They project incessantly because they can't help it. Pay attention.

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founding

Feel free to add in the flurry of similar bills being decided here in New Hampshire

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