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Almost Every Dollar of School Vouchers in This Southern State Pays for Religious Education

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93 Cents of Every School Voucher Dollar in North Carolina Winds Up in the Coffers of Faith-Based Private Schools

Despite what many would call a clear and obvious violation of First Amendment principles of separation of church and state, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states can use the voucher system to help parents pay for private schools, and those schools can be faith-based. So, depending on where you live – at least 16 states plus the District of Columbia have school voucher programs – a portion your tax dollars are possibly going to Christian, Catholic, or Islamic faith private schools. And in those schools, most likely, children are being indoctrinated in misogynistic and homophobic beliefs, along with a denial of climate change and evolution.

In one of those 16+ states where lawmakers have embraced the school voucher public-to-private-religious-schools pipeline, 93 cents of every school voucher dollar goes to pay for educating young children in mostly Christian schools.

North Carolina has given parents $12 million this year in what they call “opportunity scholarships,” aka, school vouchers. Of that $12 million, more than $11 million, or 93 percent, has gone to pay for private religious schools, and just $800,000 has gone to private secular institutions, the Charlotte Observer reports.

“The government saves, the parents are happier, the children are being educated,” GOP state Rep. Paul Stam, one of North Carolina’s top anti-LGBT lawmakers, tells the Observer.

But opponents of school voucher programs rightly note those dollars that go to private schools could be used to improve what critics say are failing public schools, insufficient teacher salaries, crumbling infrastructure, and outdated or even nonexistant books and educational materials.

Each North Carolina student who qualifies is eligible for up to $4200 per year. The average price of a private school education in the Tar Heel State is more than twice that, $8800.

Also more than doubling is the amount North Carolina lawmakers are devoting to the school voucher program – which really is just a state-approved loophole to fund private, Christian education. Next year, parents will have access to a $25 million religious slush fund. Yes, $25 million of North Carolina taxpayers’ money will be poured into mostly Christian schools. The top recipient of school vouchers, Trinity Christian School, this year took in nearly a half-million dollars from “opportunity scholarships.”

“Religious schools may include worship, prayer and religious instruction as part of the school day,” the Observer reports.

Mark Helmer, a school principal at Covenant Day School and president of the Greater Charlotte Association of Christian Schools “said the bulk of school time is spent on academics – but those lessons may have religious themes, too,” according to the Observer.

“We really emphasize what we would call teaching from a Biblical world view,” Helmer said. For instance, he said, classes might discuss how the themes of a novel relate to the Bible or how God’s creation is reflected in the order of mathematics.

In Covenant’s science classes, lessons about the origin of Earth start with the premise “In the beginning God created …” then explore a range of interpretations, including evolution, said Head of School Mark Davis.

Not only are these private religious schools often teaching discrimination, and using tax dollars to do so, they are free to discriminate against LGBTQ youth and teens as well. They are only barred from discriminating against a student’s race or national origin.

 

Image by Michael 1952 via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: Raw Story

 

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Sean Duffy’s DC IndyCar Grand Prix Dream Is Stalling

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For the 250th anniversary celebration of America, President Donald Trump plans to turn the White House lawn into an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts spectacle. Now, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy wants to turn the area around the U.S. Capitol into an IndyCar Grand Prix race.

Secretary Duffy is pushing to host an IndyCar race on the National Mall in August as part of the America250 celebration, according to multiple sources familiar with the effort,” Punchbowl News reported.

Past actions show that President Trump doesn’t need congressional approval to transform the White House, but Secretary Duffy does need Congress to approve his drag race proposal.

“Congress needs to pass a bill for the race because there’s a ban on advertising on the Capitol grounds,” and “IndyCar vehicles are famously adorned with lots of ads,” Punchbowl explained.

Democrats oppose Duffy’s plan for multiple reasons.

READ MORE: ‘Good Chance’ Trump Will Be Electorally ‘Humiliated’ in November: Carville

There is concern about the impact the race cars would have on U.S. Capitol Police, and on area roads. But there are other concerns as well.

“Democrats feel as if Republicans haven’t been helpful to them. Why should Democrats assist Republicans with this if the GOP has refused to hang any plaque honoring the victims of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, one aide said to us.”

“Several Democrats told us that it seems absurd for Congress to OK an IndyCar race in D.C. when lawmakers won’t even extend health care subsidies for millions of Americans,” Punchbowl added.

A Transportation spokesperson told Punchbowl, “The Grand Prix is an unprecedented opportunity to celebrate our nation’s proud racing pedigree, showcase the beauty of the National Mall, and generate millions in critical tourism revenue for the Capital.”

Meanwhile, some critics also oppose the idea.

“We would like healthcare, affordable groceries and housing please,” wrote health care activist Melanie D’Arrigo.

“This is a fun notion, but doing an Indycar race through residential areas in a big city is, well, costly,” observed researcher Matt Stoller.

Tré Easton, a vice president at Searchlight Institute, commented, “expensive bread and s — — circuses.”

READ MORE: Trump ‘Miscalculated’ and It ‘Backfired’: Columnist Explains What Led to Trump ‘Failing’

 

Image via Shutterstock

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‘Good Chance’ Trump Will Be Electorally ‘Humiliated’ in November: Carville

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Democratic strategist and pundit James Carville, responding to the international outcry and condemnation over President Donald Trump’s failed efforts to acquire Greenland, predicted that he will likely lose big in the November midterm elections.

“I think the world wants to return, with the United States as being part of the world,” Carville said on his podcast. “And I think the way that that happens is Trump has to be humiliated.”

“He has to be electorally humiliated, and I think there’s a good, good chance that’s gonna happen this November in our elections,” he said. “It’s not enough that he just walk away, and the Democrats take over the presidency.”

There has to be “a well laid plan and strategy to utterly humiliate him, to the point that everybody around the world says, ‘This m — —, or no one like this m — —, is gonna ever come back and lead the United States,'” Carville declared.

READ MORE: Trump ‘Miscalculated’ and It ‘Backfired’: Columnist Explains What Led to Trump ‘Failing’

“I think that’s the possibility, and I think if that happens, I think we can renormalize the world a lot faster than most.”

“And he’s completely crazy,” Carville also remarked. “He’s going downhill.”

According to the New York Post, Trump will be campaigning during the midterm elections as if he were on the ballot.

“President Trump will treat the November midterm election like a presidential campaign, his senior leadership team tells The Post — traveling like he’s on the ballot, flooding key races with cash and hammering home how his policies will help Americans with affordability,” the Post reported.

Susie Wiles, Trump’s White House Chief of Staff and his former campaign co-chair, told The Post, “He’s going to campaign like it’s 2024.”

READ MORE: Trump Unleashes Wild Ego-Fueled Social Media Grievance Storm After Davos Defeat

Image via Reuters

 

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Trump ‘Miscalculated’ and It ‘Backfired’: Columnist Explains What Led to Trump ‘Failing’

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President Donald Trump “miscalculated” his level of support — especially on the issues that won him re-election in 2024, and it has “backfired,” according to an opinion columnist.

In “Why Trump is failing,” Steven Roberts in the Columbia Missourian writes: “Trump has called 2025 ‘the greatest first year’ of any president, but a majority of Americans strongly disagree.”

“To hardcore MAGA loyalists, the president can do no wrong. But rabid Red Hats account for only about 35% of Americans,” observes Roberts.

He identifies where the president is losing support: “since Trump received almost 50% of the popular vote, that means about 15% of his backers were not true believers, and they are the ones who are slipping away.”

Roberts identifies why.

“The single biggest reason Trump won a second term was economic discontent with the Biden administration, and it’s the single biggest reason so many voters are now disillusioned,” he says, pointing to a CNN poll that, he writes, finds “55% say Trump’s policies have actually made things worse and almost two-thirds say he has not done enough to reduce their cost of living.”

But Roberts offers more.

READ MORE: Trump Unleashes Wild Ego-Fueled Social Media Grievance Storm After Davos Defeat

He explains that Americans supported Trump’s policies on immigration when it was about immigrants at the border.

“They were ‘others’: easy to demonize and dehumanize. They had no voice and no identity, and Trump and his media managers could control what voters knew and felt about them.”

But, he continues, “Trump miscalculated, and his show backfired,” because his targets are no longer “faceless hordes but real people with jobs and families, friends and neighbors.”

The came the shooting of a Minneapolis mother of three, Renee Good.

“The administration tried to brand her as a domestic terrorist who had caused her own demise by driving at the agent. But the videos — seen by more than 80% of Americans — told a different story,” he writes. “Good simply did not look like a terrorist. Plus, independent news organizations analyzed the cellphone footage and concluded that it ‘contradicted’ the official line.”

Trump “lost control of the narrative, and public opinion turned against him.”

The president’s other miscalculation: his stance on the affordability issue, an issue that arguably got him re-elected.

With just 36 percent of Americans saying Trump has the right priorities, Roberts surmises that is simply his “loyal MAGA base.”

And he warns that if this trend continues, voters at the polls in November will “take it out on his party.”

READ MORE: These 19 Democrats May Already Be Jockeying for a Presidential Run: Report

 

Image via Reuters 

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