A newly-formed conservative group is launching a brazen plan to remake Michigan public schools — using aggressive legal action to effectively mandate the erasure of LGBTQ people. The effort, organized by the Great Schools Initiative (GSI), seeks to exploit a
The ideas was, is and always will be to turn the United States into a Christian theocracy. The scary thing is that these religious groups have figured out that the way to win their long game is to start at the grass roots level. As a Jewish person, this is pretty scary to me.
Thank you for alerting us to another instance of the religious right's war on public schools via the courts of law and public opinion. What organizations are defending our public education institutions so that they don't get overwhelmed, which is the point of the "lawfare" attack? If reasonable and responsible citizens, including parents know how to resist reactionary assaults, we can frustrate their efforts.
BTW, I expect that any big money behind this is trying to privilege private, religious schools with public funding -- and at the same time elect far right bigots to public office.
What happened to parents? If you don’t want your child to learn about sex ed, opt out. Public schools are public. It seems it’s the horrible right wing evangelical christians that give a bad name for Christ. And I’m sure if Jesus was walking the earth today, he’d be in tears.
I am saddened that the education my friends and I had is now corrupted. And my friends are carrying the torch for this nonsense.
2012 began the descent of our country. Even if trump isn’t nominated, the worse of the two evils (desantis) will slide into the presidency. As someone who actually took ap classes, desantis and his ilk will be the bane of our existence.
So — over the weekend, we were passive aggressively accused of being too tuned in to learning, reading, and sharing political news, history and events (like Judd's excellent Substack), and that we should shut our eyes, take a break, and ignore things. That — is not an ethical or a wise option, IMO. There must people who care enough to sacrifice their comfort/privilege to read, follow, share, seek solutions, and fight back with wisdom against the growing danger of intolerance, ignorance, and the using of LGBTQIA people for money and political power. ❤️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️❤️
Perhaps it’s time to make this war symmetrical with counter suits aimed at GSI, The Thomas Moore Society, Catholic churches that support GSI, and individuals interfering with public education.
OMG! I live in Chicago and have never heard of these miscreants, this Thomas More Society. More excellent reporting Judd and crew. I watched that execrable video and posted a comment on it too! More crackpots cracking pots to add to the din of crazy. Under the guise of all this noise and fury, sneaky MF's are making their moves. Have no doubt. In these days and times the grifters are thick on the ground and much of this noise and distraction is actually a successful sort of camouflage.
I would really love to know what they are afraid of! If you don’t want to be gay or trans or green or polka dotted don’t be, don’t have friends that are gay, trans or green or polka dotted. W. T. F. It seems like they have an issue with sex! Like woman can’t have an abortion but when a woman is raped the rapist can take the kid. The monsters who think this shit up are seriously ill. Privacy baby privacy. What anyone does in the privacy of their home should be PRIVATE.
I would be willing to bet money that, if you could dig into the shady money, you'd find Betsy DeVos in there. No doubt in my mind, since that witch didn't accomplish much with her sponsorship of far right wackos in the 2022 election cycle. She's been far too quiet lately and I'm betting this is why. Why do all the God-botherers feel the need to dictate to the rest of the world???
I live in Michigan and my community school board was taken over by radical zealots. I believe they will support such actions. What can folks do to push back? My youngest is graduating from high school this May so I’m essentially done with the public school system, but the public schools are the jewel of this community. My husband wants to just move and be done with the mess brewing but I hate that idea. Judd thank you for bringing this issue to light as I’ve not seen any coverage of this in local media
Can a church’s tax exemption status be challenged if they support political agendas? can they start being tied up defending themselves in court? Have they been doing this for too long with impunity?
FREEDOM FROM RELIGION ! This effort seems to be headed to the Supreme Court. Another first amendment case ? The “ religious right” is neither “religious” or “right” ! The radical religious conservatives behind this are being aided by political opportunists who will do or say anything to gain and maintain power. This is yet another example. If an individual has a religious belief why do they think it is ok to foist it on everyone else ? This constant barrage of hatred and fear mongering is elevating the anxiety level of society to a dangerous breakdown of all civility. Everyone probably has a family member or friend or neighbor who is effected by these various targets of convince. You all know this, I am sure. The world and the US are facing so many existential challenges and this is a distraction. I think the idea is to get people riled up about other people and not about real problems.
Thanks for exposing this. The coalition to respond to this heinous bigotry needs to grow and the best way to do that is to demonstrate how broad and deep the targeting reaches. I noticed women’s suffrage on your list of topics that would be forbidden should this campaign gain traction. Pointing out that women are a subset of the population can go a long way. We’re still fresh on the heels of Roe and the realization that nothing can be taken for granted. But let’s face it: we all default to our comfy bubbles whenever we have a chance. Many women are there. Once the potential impact becomes real, that will change.
Open season on anyone of color, LGBTQ, Women, progressives. These people want a totalitarian government benefitting whites and the wealthy and will toss out the rights of any who do not agree.
The ideas was, is and always will be to turn the United States into a Christian theocracy. The scary thing is that these religious groups have figured out that the way to win their long game is to start at the grass roots level. As a Jewish person, this is pretty scary to me.
Thank you for alerting us to another instance of the religious right's war on public schools via the courts of law and public opinion. What organizations are defending our public education institutions so that they don't get overwhelmed, which is the point of the "lawfare" attack? If reasonable and responsible citizens, including parents know how to resist reactionary assaults, we can frustrate their efforts.
BTW, I expect that any big money behind this is trying to privilege private, religious schools with public funding -- and at the same time elect far right bigots to public office.
Soon another crackpot group will distribute opt-out forms to excuse students from science classes.
What happened to parents? If you don’t want your child to learn about sex ed, opt out. Public schools are public. It seems it’s the horrible right wing evangelical christians that give a bad name for Christ. And I’m sure if Jesus was walking the earth today, he’d be in tears.
I am saddened that the education my friends and I had is now corrupted. And my friends are carrying the torch for this nonsense.
2012 began the descent of our country. Even if trump isn’t nominated, the worse of the two evils (desantis) will slide into the presidency. As someone who actually took ap classes, desantis and his ilk will be the bane of our existence.
So — over the weekend, we were passive aggressively accused of being too tuned in to learning, reading, and sharing political news, history and events (like Judd's excellent Substack), and that we should shut our eyes, take a break, and ignore things. That — is not an ethical or a wise option, IMO. There must people who care enough to sacrifice their comfort/privilege to read, follow, share, seek solutions, and fight back with wisdom against the growing danger of intolerance, ignorance, and the using of LGBTQIA people for money and political power. ❤️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️❤️
Perhaps it’s time to make this war symmetrical with counter suits aimed at GSI, The Thomas Moore Society, Catholic churches that support GSI, and individuals interfering with public education.
OMG! I live in Chicago and have never heard of these miscreants, this Thomas More Society. More excellent reporting Judd and crew. I watched that execrable video and posted a comment on it too! More crackpots cracking pots to add to the din of crazy. Under the guise of all this noise and fury, sneaky MF's are making their moves. Have no doubt. In these days and times the grifters are thick on the ground and much of this noise and distraction is actually a successful sort of camouflage.
I would really love to know what they are afraid of! If you don’t want to be gay or trans or green or polka dotted don’t be, don’t have friends that are gay, trans or green or polka dotted. W. T. F. It seems like they have an issue with sex! Like woman can’t have an abortion but when a woman is raped the rapist can take the kid. The monsters who think this shit up are seriously ill. Privacy baby privacy. What anyone does in the privacy of their home should be PRIVATE.
I would be willing to bet money that, if you could dig into the shady money, you'd find Betsy DeVos in there. No doubt in my mind, since that witch didn't accomplish much with her sponsorship of far right wackos in the 2022 election cycle. She's been far too quiet lately and I'm betting this is why. Why do all the God-botherers feel the need to dictate to the rest of the world???
I wish these conservatives who think you can lie your way to a better world would look at the Chinese Cultural Revolution, or Cambodia under Pol Pot.
I live in Michigan and my community school board was taken over by radical zealots. I believe they will support such actions. What can folks do to push back? My youngest is graduating from high school this May so I’m essentially done with the public school system, but the public schools are the jewel of this community. My husband wants to just move and be done with the mess brewing but I hate that idea. Judd thank you for bringing this issue to light as I’ve not seen any coverage of this in local media
Can a church’s tax exemption status be challenged if they support political agendas? can they start being tied up defending themselves in court? Have they been doing this for too long with impunity?
FREEDOM FROM RELIGION ! This effort seems to be headed to the Supreme Court. Another first amendment case ? The “ religious right” is neither “religious” or “right” ! The radical religious conservatives behind this are being aided by political opportunists who will do or say anything to gain and maintain power. This is yet another example. If an individual has a religious belief why do they think it is ok to foist it on everyone else ? This constant barrage of hatred and fear mongering is elevating the anxiety level of society to a dangerous breakdown of all civility. Everyone probably has a family member or friend or neighbor who is effected by these various targets of convince. You all know this, I am sure. The world and the US are facing so many existential challenges and this is a distraction. I think the idea is to get people riled up about other people and not about real problems.
If any mention of a non-heterosexual relationship is sex ed, then any mention of a heterosexual relationship is also sex ed.
Thanks for exposing this. The coalition to respond to this heinous bigotry needs to grow and the best way to do that is to demonstrate how broad and deep the targeting reaches. I noticed women’s suffrage on your list of topics that would be forbidden should this campaign gain traction. Pointing out that women are a subset of the population can go a long way. We’re still fresh on the heels of Roe and the realization that nothing can be taken for granted. But let’s face it: we all default to our comfy bubbles whenever we have a chance. Many women are there. Once the potential impact becomes real, that will change.
Open season on anyone of color, LGBTQ, Women, progressives. These people want a totalitarian government benefitting whites and the wealthy and will toss out the rights of any who do not agree.
74 million people voted for Trump in 2020. Ie.
There are a lot of people who believe this stuff.
The struggle to remain a Democracy is very real.