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Tennessee Passes Bill Allowing LGBT Students To Be Bullied In The Name Of ‘Religious Freedom’

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Religious conservatives are at it again. Tennessee governor Bill Haslam just received and will likely sign a bill that not only allows but actually helps organize anti-gay bullying in the name of “religious freedom.”

The Tennessee “Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act” allows students to use religion in any manner they choose, and mandates that their use of religion be protected.

At a basic level, a student could merely write “God” on a chemistry test as the answer to a question asking to where water comes from. A student could also stand in class and say their religion says that gay people are sinners and going to hell, and that speech would be legally protected. The bill states “a student may express beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions. A student would not be penalized or rewarded on account of the religious content of the student’s work.”

Creationists of course will love the bill.

But the more sinister part of the bill forces all students to be subjected to the religious beliefs of the popular kids.

LOOK: One Billion Of Your Tax Dollars Funds Anti-Science Religious Education Across The Nation

The ACLU warns that the bill, SB 1793/HB 1547, “crosses the line from protecting religious freedom into creating systematic imposition of some students’ personal religious viewpoints on other students.”

Tennessee’s “Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act” actually mandates that schools allow students the use of public school facilities — including the school’s public address system, classrooms and school assemblies — and makes schools “[p]rovide the forum in a manner that does not discriminate against a student’s voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint.”

An evangelical student, or example, could preach the gospel during a science class, or “witness” during English. Attacks on LGBT people and same-sex marriage are automatically protected under this bill, offering anti-gay students a state-sposored license to bully. And of course, a student could claim they worship Satan and subject their classmates to that “religious viewpoint” as well.

The bill, of course, likely violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, but that rarely stops conservative lawmakers on a religious mission.

“Should this pass, students with a range of religious beliefs, as well as non-believers, would likely routinely be required to listen to religious messages or participate in religious exercises that conflict with their own beliefs,” the ACLU warns. “Conversely, if a student of a minority religious faith (e.g., a Buddhist, a Wiccan, etc.) or a non-believer were to obtain a ‘position of honor,’ as defined under this bill, that student would be permitted to subject all classmates to prayer and proselytizing specific to his or her faith tradition in connection with school events. In both cases, parents would have no recourse to ensure that their children were not coerced into such religious exercise.”

Republican governor Bill Haslam hopefully will show moral courage and veto this bill. If he signs it, he’ll be forcing all Tennessee students to be subjected to the religious beliefs of their classmates, and forcing Tennessee into a costly battle in court.

But given that the Tennessee senate passed the bill yesterday on a 32-0 vote, and the House passed it 90-2, any veto Haslam considers likely will be overridden.

Tennessee is not alone. Oklahoma is in the process of passing its own “Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act,” and Texas, of course, already has one.

 

Image via Flickr.

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News

A Conservative Serves Up a Grassroots Fix for Trumpism

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12 hours ago

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November 17, 2025

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A conservative political operative turned commentator and journalist has a grassroots prescription for what she believes ails conservatism in the age of Trump — a “cure” for Trumpism.

Sarah Isgur worked on campaigns for Mitt Romney and Carly Fiorina, served as a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice, and is now an editor at The Dispatch, a conservative news site.

In an interview with The New York Times’ David Leonhardt, Isgur outlined some suggestions for everyday Americans who may identify as conservative — or who want to make changes.

READ MORE: Prominent Conservative Quits Heritage Over Tucker Defense as Trump Backs Carlson

Isgur “lays out her dream for a return to a small-government ethos and constrained presidential power,” which includes her belief that government can’t fix everything. She also believes there should be no independent federal agencies, like the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Federal Trade Commission, and Congress needs to take more control.

“It’s not that we’re always going to agree on everything,” Isgur added. “That’s never been the American way. My God, we’re connected by nothing — not race, not creed, not religion. This is what we do, though, is that we say we’re going to, first of all, have decisions made at the most local level so that the person making that decision is most responsive and most represents their own constituents.”

So, how does she think that happens?

Americans, she said, “have to look at what is tending to win these elections and the currents that we’re beating up against.”

When asked, “What advice would you give to people who are deeply dissatisfied with what our political system is delivering and want to do something that’s fundamentally patriotic, which is get involved?” Isgur offered a grassroots answer.

READ MORE: ‘Fight Back!’: Trump Demands GOP Keep the House ‘at All Costs’

“Stop reading political news,” she advised. “Put your phone down. Go talk to your neighbors, check out what they’re doing. Don’t talk about politics, just check on their health. How’s their mom? What are the kids up to? Do you have any cute kid videos to show me?”

She urged Americans to “be radically involved in your neighborhood and your community. And I really mean your smallest community — getting to know the other parents in your kids’ class.”

And, she said, “Vote in primaries.”

“Our elections are increasingly getting decided in primaries and that itself is bad. And the way to fix it is to vote in primaries.”

And register for the party that you want to influence, she suggested.

“I don’t understand people who refuse to register with the other party. It’s not a tattoo. You didn’t sign up for a new religion. Part of the problem is we think of politics as a religion. I’m just signing up in a primary to help pick who that candidate is going to be in the general election. That’s it. That’s the extent of what it means to register for a political party,” Isgur explained.

READ MORE: Trump to Rub Elbows With McDonald’s Owners in Push to Promote ‘Affordability’

 

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Prominent Conservative Quits Heritage Over Tucker Defense as Trump Backs Carlson

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14 hours ago

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November 17, 2025

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The Heritage Foundation, billed as the “intellectual backbone” of the conservative movement, has just lost one of the nation’s most prominent conservatives: Princeton Professor Robert P. George. His departure came after the organization’s president, Kevin Roberts, publicly called Tucker Carlson a “close friend” of Heritage — even after the former Fox News host gave a platform to far-right extremist leader Nick Fuentes. The split lands at the same moment President Donald Trump extended support to Carlson, despite Carlson’s interview with Fuentes, who is widely seen as promoting Christian nationalism, white supremacy, racism, antisemitism, misogyny, and Islamophobia.

Professor George is a legal scholar who served as the chairman of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which opposes same-sex marriage. He was once described as the “this country’s most influential conservative Christian thinker.”

“I have resigned from the board of the Heritage Foundation,” George wrote at the National Review on Monday. “I could not remain without a full retraction of the video released by Kevin Roberts, speaking for and in the name of Heritage, on October 30. Although Kevin publicly apologized for some of what he said in the video, he could not offer a full retraction of its content. So, we reached an impasse.”

READ MORE: ‘Fight Back!’: Trump Demands GOP Keep the House ‘at All Costs’

George urged Heritage to uphold “the moral principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the civic principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.”

“I pray that Heritage’s research and advocacy will be guided by the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or anything else, as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, is ‘created equal’ and ‘endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.'”

Earlier this month, Professor George, also in the National Review, wrote about his opposition to President Roberts’ statement that Heritage has “no enemies to the right.”

The conservative movement, he wrote, “simply cannot include or accommodate white supremacists or racists of any type, antisemites, eugenicists, or others whose ideologies are incompatible with belief in the inherent and equal dignity of all. As a conservative, I say that there is no place for such people in our movement.”

On Sunday, President Donald Trump was asked about Tucker Carlson’s “friendly” interview with “antisemite” Nick Fuentes.

READ MORE: Trump Aims Treason Allegation at His Former FBI Director in New Online Attack

“What role do you think Tucker Carlson should play in the Republican Party in the conservative movement going forward?” a reporter asked the president.

“Well, I found him to be good,” Trump said of Carlson. “I mean, he said good things about me over the years. And he’s, I think he’s good.”

“We’ve had some good interviews. I did an interview with him. We had 300 million hits. You know that,” Trump added.

The president added, “you can’t tell them who to interview. I mean, if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes — I don’t know much about him — but if he wants to do it, get the word out, let him — you know, people have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide.”

The Washington Post on Monday described Trump’s remarks as “defending” Carlson.

SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah said Trump’s call to “get the word out” was “deeply, deeply troubling.”

“When leaders are asked about antisemitism,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Monday wrote, “there’s only one responsible answer: denounce it. President Trump’s refusal to condemn Nick Fuentes — an avowed antisemite — or to call out Tucker Carlson for amplifying him is unacceptable and dangerous.”

READ MORE: Trump to Rub Elbows With McDonald’s Owners in Push to Promote ‘Affordability’

 

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‘Fight Back!’: Trump Demands GOP Keep the House ‘at All Costs’

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17 hours ago

on

November 17, 2025

By

As President Donald Trump faces potential pushback from House Republicans over his stance on the Epstein files, he has reversed course and urged members to vote for their release. But now the president is pushing back — hard — against further defections from his agenda and is demanding that Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives “at all costs.”

In a sharply-worded post on his Truth Social website, President Trump demanded that states support his call for a rare mid-decade redistricting plan, his tool to try to pick up more GOP-held seats in the House.

Recently, Indiana Republicans acknowledged that they did not have the votes to support redistricting, leading Trump to unleash a threat on Monday.

READ MORE: Trump Aims Treason Allegation at His Former FBI Director in New Online Attack

“I will be strongly endorsing against any State Senator or House member from the Great State of Indiana that votes against the Republican Party, and our Nation, by not allowing for Redistricting for Congressional seats in the United States House of Representatives as every other State in our Nation is doing,” Trump alleged. “Republican or Democrat.”

Not all states have decided to redistrict.

“Democrats are trying to steal our seats everywhere,” the president charged, “and we’re not going to let this happen! This all began with the Rigged Census. We must keep the Majority at all costs. Republicans must fight back!”

READ MORE: Trump to Rub Elbows With McDonald’s Owners in Push to Promote ‘Affordability’

The president did not detail specifically what some of those costs might entail. Trump was president in 2020 when the census was conducted.

Trump did speak with Indiana Republican Governor Mike Braun on Monday morning, the governor noted.

“I remain committed to standing with him on the critical issue of passing fair maps in Indiana to ensure the MAGA agenda is successful in Congress,” Braun wrote.

The redistricting push started when Trump urged Texas to redistrict, which he suggested would add five GOP seats for Republicans. California soon undertook plans to do the same, possibly diminishing or neutralizing any potential GOP pickups. But some election and polling experts have said that Hispanic voters are rapidly moving away from the GOP, which could backfire on Republicans in states like Texas.

READ MORE: Democrat Warns How Trump Could Engineer a Path to Stay in Power After 2028

 

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