Country music response to Wallen racism shows Republicans how they failed on Greene


Kurt Bardella, Opinion columnist 
USA TODAY Opinion
Sat., February 6, 2021


At the same time House Republicans were trying to figure out what to do about QAnon Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the country music community was grappling with how to hold one of their biggest stars accountable for using the N-word. In the span of 24 hours, the country music genre became a mirror for the societal tensions our country has been trying to navigate.

Morgan Wallen was infamously caught on tape using an abhorrent racial slur. It was just four months after Wallen was mired in another controversy — when NBC's "Saturday Night Live" rescinded his invitation to perform because he violated COVID safety protocols. After embarking on an image rehabilitation tour, he was invited back and appeared on the show in December, even participating in a skit poking fun at the entire situation.

In January, Wallen opened up on ABC's "Good Morning America" about the struggles of being a single parent. It was a well-choregraphed public relations campaign to soften his bro-country, fraternity boy image. With the January release of his double-album, "Dangerous," Wallen was on top of the music world, smashing streaming records and cementing his place as country music’s next bona fide superstar.

Related: VIDEO 1:00 Morgan Wallen no longer eligible for Academy of Country Music Awards after using racial slur


Dropped within 24 hours

The backlash was swift and furious.

Grammy Awards-nominated country music artist Mickey Guyton, fresh off her performance on "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert of “Black Like Me” (it’s also Black History Month) tweeted, “The hate runs deep. … How many passes will you continue to give? Asking for a friend. No one deserves to be cancelled, but this is unacceptable. Promises to do better don’t mean sh*t.”

Superstar Maren Morris responded with a meme saying, “I just can’t,” and later commented on a separate thread to fellow artist Kelsea Ballerini that if a female artist had done this, “we’d be dropped, endorsements lost, social pariahs to music row.”

Morgan Wallen on Nov. 11, 2020, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Within 24 hours, Wallen’s music and videos had been dropped by country radio, streaming platforms and CMT. The Academy of Country Music announced that it “will halt Morgan Wallen’s potential involvement and eligibility for this year’s 56th Academy of Country Music Awards cycle.” Most consequentially, his label, Big Loud Records, announced it was suspending him “indefinitely.”

Unsurprisingly, Wallen's fans remain committed to him.

A cursory search of “Morgan Wallen” on Twitter, for instance, shows comments from fans declaring him their “still favorite” country music artist, pledges to not “cancel” him, etc. If you search “Morgan Wallen Trump,” the divisions within the country at large come to light as people compare Morgan Wallen defenders to those who support a certain twice-impeached private citizen who resides in Florida.

SOCIAL REVOLUTION IS INTERSECTIONAL IT IS PROLETARIAN

Something extraordinary was happening in country as the Wallen scandal exploded. TJ Osborne, one-half of the award-winning Brothers Osborne duo, in his first public reveal, told TIME that he was gay. That makes him the first male artist signed to a major record label in Nashville who is openly gay.

The response was as dramatic as what greeted Wallen, but in a completely opposite direction. Superstar Dierks Bentley tweeted, “Love this guy right here. Happy you are telling your story dude.”

Jimmie Allen, one of the format’s only black artists, tweeted, “TJ!!! I’m super proud of you dude. I love the person you are and your heart. Thankful for your courage.” Kacey Musgraves, one of the most successful and acclaimed female artists of this era, tweeted, “Overcome with joy. He’s one of my best friends and one of the bravest people I know.”

This is the Nashville that I’ve come to know and be a part of. One of inclusiveness, friendship, community and love. It wasn’t lost on me that TJ came out on the same day that Pete Buttigieg became the first openly gay Cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate, and was sworn in by the first black and female vice president.

Lessons from country's decisive action

And in one day, Nashville became a real-time lens for the rest of our country. How do you reconcile a community whose fastest-rising star uses the N-word, but also a community that genuinely supports an artist like TJ for coming out? How do you reconcile speaking up and speaking the truth, when a portion of the audience has been radicalized by the same forces that have upended our democracy? I think the answer begins with accountability and a baseline standard for what constitutes moral conduct.

I found myself thinking, what if House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and the rest of the GOP stood up to Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene the same way the country music community united to hold Morgan Wallen accountable? In one collective action, the community decided to drop his music, disqualify him from awards and suspend his record deal, even though the decision to do so is probably unpopular with the country music “base.”

But from this decisive and very public act of self-policing, country music has established a precedent for action against anyone who crosses the line. If it can happen to the guy who is literally at the top of the music charts, it can happen to anyone. No one is bigger than the community. And because it took action, country music is not at risk of being overrun by conspiracy theorists, racists and insurrectionists. It is able to hold on to the high-ground and continue this community's efforts to promote peace, equality, equity, unity, and acceptance.

The fact that country music is doing more to hold people accountable than the Republican Party illustrates how far off-course the GOP has gone.



Kurt Bardella, creator and publisher of the country music tipsheet the Morning Hangover and a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors, was the spokesperson and senior adviser for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Republicans from 2009-2013. Follow him on Twitter: @kurtbardella

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Morgan Wallen backlash spotlights shameful Republican failure on Greene

THAT OTHER QANON CONGRESSWOMAN; A FLAKE
A fluke or the future? Boebert shakes up Colorado district
Sat., February 6, 2021, 7:16 a.m.·5 min read




DENVER — Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, a stretch of ski resorts, national forest, ranches, coal towns and desert mesas the size of Pennsylvania, has long bred low-key politicians.

Its voters have skewed slightly to the right, prized practicality and for years rewarded representatives for accomplishments that fall below the national radar, such as the Hermosa Creek Watershed Act, a crowning achievement of former Republican Rep. Scott Tipton.

Until now.

The district's newest representative, Republican Lauren Boebert, is an unabashed, social media-savvy loyalist of former President Donald Trump who, like her fellow first-term colleague GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, is stoking controversy with her far-right views and defiant actions. But unlike Greene, Boebert doesn't hail from an overwhelmingly GOP, safe district.

That makes Boebert a test case for whether even a slight partisan advantage will inevitably empower the most extreme elements of a party. The question strategists in Colorado and elsewhere in this divided country are asking is whether Boebert is a fluke — or the future.

“Are we so locked in, so partisan, that it overshadows everything, even in these close districts?” asked Floyd Ciruli, a veteran Colorado pollster. “Bringing out such controversial forces and taking out an incumbent were not dangerous, even in a district like that.”

Boebert, 34, who owns a gun-themed restaurant in the town of Rifle, began making waves immediately. In her first month in office, she filmed a video in which she purported to carry a pistol in defiance of the District of Columbia's anti-gun laws, argued for the right to bring firearms onto the House floor, voted to overturn President Joe Biden's election and tweeted about the whereabouts of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Jan. 6, leading to allegations — that she vehemently denies — that she was helping Trump loyalists who attacked the U.S. Capitol.

Her first taste of politics came as a response to polarization on the other side of the aisle. In 2019, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who was vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, vowed to ban assault weapons. He held an event in the Denver suburb of Aurora, near the site of the 2012 Aurora theatre massacre.

Boebert made a four-hour drive from her home in Rifle to confront O’Rourke over his statement that “hell, yes” he was taking AR-15s. “Hell, no, you’re not,” she said.

Cristy Fidura, 43, who with her husband, a former oil fields worker, owns a trucking company in the former steel city of Pueblo, never engaged in politics — until she saw that confrontation. She immediately became one of Boebert's first supporters.

“I could relate to her, just like President Trump. He's not a politician and she's not a politician, and running this country is a business,” Fidura said. “I feel so many people are convinced that government has to make decisions for them and I think that's sad, that's scary.”

Marla Reichert, the outgoing chair of the Pueblo County GOP, said voters in the district have long wanted someone who would vote for them in Washington and tell the Democrats “hell, no” to overreach.

Tipton, a five-term incumbent whom Boebert upset in last year's GOP primary, “voted the right way. People just felt he wasn't in there fighting the Democrats. He wasn't on Fox News, pushing back,” Reichert said.

In an interview, Boebert said the district's voters are eager for disruption. “My constituents are tired of the old go along to get along we often see in politicians," she said.

Boebert insists she and the rest of the first-term class of lawmakers are the future, even in districts like hers.

“It is the America First movement that you're seeing nationally and definitely in my district,” she said.

Josh Penry, a veteran Republican strategist who represented the area in the Colorado statehouse, is skeptical that Boebert’s style will stick.

“There are very real limits to that shtick in rural Colorado, which is why she only won with 51%,” Penry said. “When the sizzle wears off, there are big blocs of voters who will be totally up for grabs and will want to know that their congresswoman is trying to be part of the solution in between cable news show hits.”

Boebert defeated her Democratic opponent 51% to 45% in November. More Republicans than Democrats are registered voters, though the largest bloc is unaffiliated and the district is gaining retirees and refugees from urban areas who lean to the left.

Democrats are lining up potential challengers for 2022. Although the state Republican Party has embraced Boebert, some in the GOP whisper about a possible primary challenge.

The biggest threat may be redistricting. By 2022, a nonpartisan commission will have redrawn the boundaries of Boebert’s district, which could become more Democratic or more Republican with the inclusion of a few neighbouring communities.

Boebert's first bills as a congresswoman — opposing Biden’s mask-wearing mandate on federal property and withholding funds for rejoining the Paris climate accord and the World Health Organization — will go nowhere. But her decrying of Biden's pause on oil and gas drilling on federal lands, which comprise 55% of the district, has been embraced by voters who depend on the industry.

Republicans here have both praise and warnings for the congresswoman.

Scott McInnis, a former six-term Republican congressman from the district, said that high-voltage partisan warfare doesn’t get results for the region’s voters. “You have to have good communication with local communities so you can quickly facilitate what they need from the federal government, whether it be a cattle grazing permit or a ski permit,” he said.

Janet Rowland, a Mesa County commissioner who advised Boebert on her campaign, said Boebert must keep fighting the Biden administration’s efforts to suspend drilling on federal lands. She praised Boebert but said the new congresswoman needs to work with the Biden administration when she can — and oppose it when she must.

“Our residents are sick of the continued attacks on both sides,” Rowland said. “Biden won. He’s our president. Let’s move on.”

James Anderson And Nicholas Riccardi, The Associated Press

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's history of spreading bizarre conspiracy theories, from space lasers to Frazzledrip


Rachel E. Greenspan INSIDER
Fri., February 5, 2021

In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., sits in the House Chamber after they reconvened for arguments over the objection of certifying Arizona's Electoral College votes in November's election, at the Capitol in Washington 

Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File


The House voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, from committees.


Greene has espoused beliefs tied to the QAnon conspiracy theory.


Here's her history of supporting conspiracy theories online.


Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's election to Congress came after she spread conspiracy theories on social media for years.

The Georgia Republican, elected in November, has supported the QAnon conspiracy theory and associated falsehoods, claimed that mass shootings were "false flag" events, and made other outlandish allegations. In addition to espousing beliefs in these conspiracy theories, Greene showed support in 2018 and 2019 for the execution of Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, CNN reported. She has also said that Black people "are held slaves to the Democratic Party."

But former president Donald Trump sang Greene's praises ahead of her election while he was still in office, writing in an August tweet that she was a "future Republican Star" and "strong on everything."

The House voted to strip Greene of her committee assignments on Thursday evening.

When asked for comment regarding all of Greene's claims that are referenced in this article, a spokesperson told Insider, "Aren't you in the 'news' business? None of this is new."

Here's a list of false claims Greene has spread online.

The QAnon conspiracy theory

The QAnon conspiracy theorists hold signs during the protest at the State Capitol in Salem, Oregon, United States on May 2, 2020. John Rudoff/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Greene's apparent belief in QAnon, a baseless far-right conspiracy theory alleging Trump was fighting a "deep state" cabal of pedophiles, was widely reported ahead of her election to Congress. QAnon has been linked to several crimes and the movement played a huge role in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.

In a 2017 YouTube video, Greene called "Q," the anonymous figure whose cryptic messages on 8kun (formerly 8chan) lead the QAnon movement, a "patriot."

Greene said "Q" is "someone that very much loves his country, and he's on the same page as us, and he is very pro-Trump." The last message from "Q" came on December 8, and many people have suspected that Jim Watkins, the owner of 8kun, is "Q" himself, or at least associated with the figure.

Read More: The QAnon conspiracy theory and a stew of misinformation fueled the insurrection at the Capitol

"There's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it," Greene said in the video.

Many of the other conspiracy theories Greene has espoused are linked to the QAnon community.

The Pizzagate conspiracy theory 

THIS IS A REDO OF THE RIGHT WING EVANGELICAL

SATANIC PANIC OF THE 1980'S

Kori and Danielle Hayes at a Pizzagate demonstration, outside the White House in Washington, DC on March 25, 2017. 

Michael E. Miller/The Washington Post via Getty Images

CNN reported that in a 2017 blog post, Greene shared a link to a far-right website that suggested "Pizzagate," the 2016 conspiracy theory alleging that Clinton and aides ran a child-trafficking ring out of a DC pizza restaurant, was real.

"Shockingly, the website tells about information that was only whispered about and called conspiracy theories," Greene wrote, according to CNN.

"Pizzagate" was the precursor to QAnon, which originated in 2017.

Frazzledrip

Greene has expressed belief in the existence of "Frazzledrip," a fictitious video that conspiracy theorists claim shows Hillary Clinton and aide Huma Abedin sexually assault a child before slicing off her face and wearing it as a mask.

The vulgar conspiracy theory spread on YouTube in 2018, as the Washington Post reported. YouTube videos claiming that "Frazzledrip" existed were viewed millions of times that year, the Post found. "Frazzledrip" folklore remains popular in the QAnon community.

Greene made Facebook comments about "Frazzledrip," which were recently reported by left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters for America (MMFA), in May 2018.

Greene posted a picture of the mother of a slain New York Police Department detective, Miosotis Familia, and a commenter said that Familia had "watched a horrific video" allegedly seized from the laptop of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, Abedin's ex-husband. The commenter said that the video showed Abedin and Clinton "filleting" a child's face, according to screenshots obtained by MMFA.

Greene liked the comment, and replied, "Yes Familia." In a subsequent comment, she said, "Most people honestly don't know so much. The msm disinformation warfare has won for too long!"

Denials that 9/11 and mass shootings took place

A recently resurfaced video shows Marjorie Taylor Greene harassing Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg on Capitol Hill before she became a representative for Georgia. Twitter/@fred_guttenberg

Greene has baselessly questioned whether the deadly shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, actually took place.

In several 2018 Facebook comments, Greene agreed with other users that the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was a "false flag" event. MMFA reported the comments, which have since been deleted from Greene's Facebook page.

When another commenter in 2018 claimed that "none of the School shootings were real," the September 11, 2001, attacks were staged by the US government, and that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was staged, Greene agreed.

"That is all true," she said in a comment, according to screenshots reported by MMFA.

All of those claims are false and have been debunked.

A recently resurfaced video from earlier that year shows Greene accosting David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland shooting, who was 17 at the time, in Washington, DC. Hogg was in town to advocate for gun control at the Capitol. Greene followed the teen down the street, calling him a "coward," just weeks after the shooting at his high school killed 17 people.

In a Facebook post later that year, Greene claimed that Pelosi "tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that 'we need another school shooting' in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control."

Linda Beigel Schulman, the mother of one of the Parkland shooting victims, told MSNBC in an interview aired Sunday that she spoke to Greene on the phone, and the congresswoman admitted to believing that the shootings had actually taken place.

Schulman said Greene refused to join her on MSNBC to publicly make the admission. "For Congresswoman Greene, politics trumps truth, because lies and conspiracy theories are more important to her than honesty," Schulman said.

The conspiracy theory that space lasers controlled by a Jewish family caused wildfires

Perhaps the most shocking of all of Greene's conspiracy theories is the idea that lasers in space had caused the deadly Camp Fire in California in the fall of 2018. The Camp Fire was the deadliest wildfire in California's history.

QAnon believers and other conspiracy theorists popularized the space laser theory, and Greene posted about it on Facebook, MMFA found.

Greene said she believed the Rothschild investment bank was involved in the creation of the lasers. "Could that cause a fire? Hmmm, I don't know," she said of laser beams in space. "I hope not! That wouldn't look so good for PG&E, Rothschild Inc, Solaren or Jerry Brown who sure does seem fond of PG&E."

Rothschild is controlled by the Rothschild family, a wealthy Jewish family from Germany that has for centuries been the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Such claims play a huge role in QAnon, which is partly based on anti-Semitic tropes.

Read More: QAnon builds on centuries of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that put Jewish people at risk

The conspiracy theory that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been replaced by a body double

In February 2019, while Greene was a conservative commentator, she was a guest on a streaming show on a pro-Trump website, and a viewer called in to suggest that a recent public appearance of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was actually a body double. "I do not believe that was Ruth. I don't think so," Greene responded, MMFA first reported.

The claim that Justice Ginsburg had previously died and was replaced by a body double was hugely popular in the QAnon community in the summer of 2019, as Travis View, the co-host host of the "QAnon Anonymous" podcast, has reported.

The false claim that Trump won the 2020 presidential election

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wears a "Trump Won" face mask as she arrives on the floor of the House to take her oath of office on opening day of the 117th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021 Erin Scott/Pool via APMore

Greene was one of numerous Republican lawmakers to deny the validity of President Joe Biden's election win, even wearing a "TRUMP WON" mask on the House floor on January 3.

She has repeatedly tweeted about her belief that Trump won the election and encouraged her constituents to hold onto that idea. In a December 23 tweet, she said, "The people re-elected Donald Trump. Now, it's time to #FightForTrump." She shared a petition supporting the Stop the Steal movement, which inspired the January 6 rally that led to the deadly Capitol riot.

Claims that Trump won the election sparked the frenzy that led to the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6. More than 200 people have already been arrested on charges related to the insurrection.

Read the original article on Insider

NUTTER T PARTY FOR Q

Critics say Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exaggerated her Capitol riot story. Here's what she said.

Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
Fri., February 5, 2021, 

WASHINGTON — After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told an at-times emotional story about fearing for her life the day of the Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot on the Capitol, conservatives were quick to accuse her of exaggerating and politicizing her account.

The New York Democrat told CBS News in an interview that the backlash is one reason she waited to share her experience in the first place.

"So many survivors fear being publicly doubted. But the fact of the matter is that the account is accurate," she said.

Ocasio-Cortez in an Instagram Live video on Monday described her experience that day as traumatic and disclosed she is a sexual assault survivor. She likened the rhetoric of those who want people to move on from the Jan. 6 riot "without accountability" to the tactics of abusers.

Freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who this week was stripped of her House committee assignments for her support of dangerous conspiracies and racist remarks, accused Ocasio-Cortez of having "faked her outrage with another hoax."

Here's a look at the criticisms and how they compare with what Ocasio-Cortez said:

What AOC said in her Capitol riot story

On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez detailed an encounter with a Capitol Police officer whom she initially feared was a rioter.

Near the time the mob was clashing with security outside the U.S. Capitol, she said, someone began banging on the doors of her office. Fearing that rioters had entered the building where her office is, she hid inside a bathroom within her inner office.

Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said she heard a man yelling, " 'Where is she?' And I just thought to myself, 'They got inside.'"

More: Democratic lawmakers join Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in sharing Capitol riot experiences

She said she saw a man wearing a black beanie through the door hinge and, as he continued to yell for her, "I thought I was going to die."

After emerging from her hiding spot, Ocasio-Cortez and her legislative director realized the man was actually a Capitol Police officer. He didn't identify himself as such and "was looking at me with a tremendous amount of anger and hostility," she said.

Told to leave the building but not given a specific destination, Ocasio-Cortez said she and her legislative director were searching for where to go and could hear rioters just outside.

She and her legislative director ended up barricading themselves in Rep. Katie Porter's office, where staff pushed furniture up against the doors. In case they needed to run outside, she and Porter rummaged through staffers' things to find workout clothes to wear to better blend into the crowd in case they needed to go outside.

She said she remained in Porter's office for several hours until the Capitol was secured.

#AOCLied and other things her critics are saying

Conservatives on social media have cast doubt on Ocasio-Cortez's account, saying she was not in the Capitol Building itself during the attack and that her office was too far away for her to have been scared for her life.

Social media posts with the hashtag #AOCLied and some Republican lawmakers said she was exaggerating and using the story to politicize the Capitol attack.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who was sworn in to Congress last month, said on Twitter that her office is near Ocasio-Cortez's and that rioters were not in the halls of their offices.

However, Ocasio-Cortez never said rioters were in the halls, only that she feared they might enter and that she initially feared the police officer she interacted with that day was a rioter.

How trauma works: Ocasio-Cortez is explaining something about trauma. Experts say we should listen.

In her account of the dramatic encounter with the officer, she described him as a man in a black beanie and did not say he was an officer until the end of the encounter. However, some early reports and social media posts that circulated before she got to that part of the story described the man as an insurrectionist.

Porter, whose office Ocasio-Cortez hid in after leaving her own, said Ocasio-Cortez was not exaggerating her fear.

"She came to my office building. I saw her. She asked if she could come into my office. I am here to tell you and everybody, she was terrified," Porter said on CNN.
Where was Ocasio-Cortez during the riot?

Ocasio-Cortez was clear in her Instagram post that she was not in the main Capitol Building, but rather was in the Cannon House Office Building, part of the Capitol complex connected to the Capitol Building by tunnels.

In her video, she described the uncertainty from that day, with members of Congress not receiving clear communication on safety measures or updates about the breach.

"As the Capitol complex was stormed and people were being killed, none of us knew in the moment what areas were compromised," Ocasio-Cortez later tweeted, pointing out that Mace had also said she barricaded herself inside her office out of fear.

After the officer told her to leave Cannon and head to another building, Ocasio-Cortez said she and her legislative director spent some time figuring out where they were supposed to go, eventually winding up in Porter's office.

About the lockdown and evacuation

Rioters breached the Capitol Building and occupied parts of it for several hours on Jan. 6, prompting the lockdown of the entire Capitol complex and evacuation of multiple buildings.

Rioters stormed in from multiple sides of the 1.5 million-square-foot complex through just a few of its 658 windows and 850 doorways minutes after the order to evacuate. Rioters crowded halls inside the Capitol Building and climbed over chairs. Some made it inside the Senate chambers, while others sat inside lawmakers' offices. A man wielding zip-tie handcuffs made it to the Senate floor.

Capitol riots: How police failures let a violent insurrection into the Capitol

Some of Ocasio-Cortez's critics say she was not in danger in the building where her office is located, but Ocasio-Cortez pointed out on Twitter that the attack was not only centralized in the Capitol dome and that there was reason for alarm throughout the Capitol complex.

"People were trying to rush and infiltrate our office buildings - that’s why we had to get evacuated in the first place," she tweeted.



Pipe bombs were also discovered at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees, located within a few blocks of the Capitol. However, it is not clear whether they were placed as part of riots.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How #AOCLied compares to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Capitol riot story

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Tlaib and Rep. Bush share traumatic stories from Capitol riots

SUNDAY SERMON; DUH OH
Why Joe Biden's faith-based 'equity' agenda is getting pushback from religious conservatives

Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY
Fri., February 5, 2021

WASHINGTON – As President Joe Biden tells it, the nuns who taught the future president based their religious instruction on the Gospel of Matthew: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

That tenet was echoed during his first days in office, when Biden signed orders to ensure fair treatment for marginalized groups on housing and other issues.

“We’re all God’s children,” Biden said. “We should treat each other as we would like to be treated ourselves.”

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden meets with members of the community at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis., Thursday.

Another of his earliest actions strengthened anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people. On Thursday, Biden was expected to sign a memorandum to protect the rights of LGBTQ people worldwide, including providing protections to gay and lesbian refugees and asylum seekers.

But what to Biden is an “advancing equity” agenda grounded in his deep Catholic faith appears to some Christian conservatives as attacks on their own intensely held beliefs that will unravel the “religious freedom” protections championed by the Trump administration. Those protections treated religious beliefs as paramount, even if they conflicted with another person’s rights – to an abortion, to marry a person of the same sex, or to be transgender.

“It absolutely is a direct conflict with Trump’s approach,” said history professor John Fea, author of “Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump.”
Stark contrast to Trump White House

Biden, only the second Catholic president, has brought to the White House a different approach to faith, both personally and through policy.

Unlike Trump, Biden regularly attends church. His Catholicism has played as large a role in his life as his outsized family Bible did at his inauguration. Biden wears his son’s rosary beads, made the sign of the cross when paying his respects to fallen Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick Tuesday, and quotes Bible passages.

“The contrast couldn’t be starker,” said John Carr, co-director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. “We’re going from one of the least overtly religious presidents in modern times to one of the most overtly religious presidents in recent history.”

President-elect Joe Biden walks from St. Joseph on the Brandywine, a Roman Catholic Church, after attending Mass in Wilmington, Del.

The difference is already clear in policy.

Trump was a hero to the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of nuns running homes for the elderly, which challenged the federal requirement that insurance plans cover birth control. At Trump’s renominating convention, a nun from the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary questioned Biden’s religion and called Trump the “most pro-life president.”

Biden is praised by Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention about caring for all of God’s creations. She’s thrilled by Biden’s efforts to expand health care coverage, address racism and reverse Trump’s anti-immigration actions.

“One of the ways that he's living out his faith is by centering the issues of equity at the heart of his administration, which I find super-exciting,” she said. “It’s never happened before.”

Joe Biden carried the family Bible for his inauguration at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 20.

Advancing the 'common good'

Biden has not yet announced a faith-based adviser or created a faith outreach office. But he has declared that “advancing equity has to be everyone’s job.”

Biden’s focus on “the common good” is a central concept of the centuries-old Catholic social tradition, Massimo Faggioli wrote in the new book “Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States.”

In remarks to the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Biden said his faith provides hope and solace, clarity and purpose.

“It shows the way forward, as one nation in a common purpose, to respect one another, to care for one another, to leave no one behind,” he said.

National Prayer Breakfast: Biden urges a turn to faith at event notable for absence of Trump

But Biden's emphasis on social justice issues over social policy flashpoints like abortion mirrors an ongoing struggle in the Catholic Church between Pope Francis, with his pastoral approach, and the church’s more conservative wing. (A photo of Biden with Francis was among the personal photos arrayed behind Biden when, sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, he took steps last week to expand health insurance access and to allow federally funded family planning groups to provide or refer patients for abortion services.)

“We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care – including reproductive health care – regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status,” Biden said in a joint statement with Vice President Kamala Harris last month recognizing the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that affirmed the right to an abortion.

Far from creating a more equitable society, Christian conservatives say, Biden’s actions are reverse discrimination – particularly his first-day move to ensure workplace and other protections for people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“With a stroke of a pen, President Joe Biden has turned 50-year-old civil rights legislation on its head, hollowing out protections for people of faith,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in a statement.

Trump's strongest supporters

White evangelical Protestants were Trump’s strongest supporters, according to the Pew Research Center. That’s despite Trump having been one of the least religious to ever run for the presidency.

But Trump promised on the 2016 campaign trail that the “first priority of my administration will be to preserve and protect our religious liberty.” Religious freedom became a signature issue of both his domestic and foreign policy.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden bows his head in prayer as he visits Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Del., on June 1, 2020.

Recent cultural and demographic changes have made evangelicals feel not only that the idea of America as a Christian nation is under siege but that their own liberty is being threatened, said Fea, who teaches history at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pa.

“Trump provided the kind of fighter, the strong man, to protect their interests,” he said.

The feeling of both loss and victimization is reflected in Pew Research Center surveys. In a 2019 poll, a majority of adults who identify with or lean toward the GOP said that religion is losing influence in American life and that this is a “bad thing.” A 2020 survey suggests that Republicans who have experienced some form of harassment online are more likely than Democrats to say they believe their religion was a reason.

“We live in a time when the freedom of religion is under assault,” then-Vice President Mike Pence told Liberty University graduates in 2019. During the Trump administration, Pence’s strong faith-based views on abortion and homosexuality made him a target of Democratic criticism, including from those seeking the party's 2020 presidential nomination. Biden had to backtrack after being lambasted by progressives and LGBTQ activists for calling Pence a decent guy.

"There is nothing decent about being anti-LGBTQ rights, and that includes the Vice President," Biden tweeted.

Then-candidate Joe Biden bows his head in prayer at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis.

Biden’s own positions on gay marriage and abortion evolved over the years. After voting to block federal recognition of same-sex marriages 16 years earlier, he backed legalizing gay marriage in 2012 – jumping out ahead of President Barack Obama in his announcement.

Biden has become a strong supporter of Roe v. Wade and, in 2019, reversed his support for a longstanding provision that bans federal funding for most abortions.

Rabbi Hara Person, head of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, said she’s encouraged that Biden is not imposing his faith-based opposition to abortion on others.

“Religious liberty means not only freedom to practice our faith as we see fit, but it’s also freedom from having the religious views of others imposed on us,” she said. “That was something that was really missing these last four years.”

Carr, of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, said he backed Biden, in spite of Biden’s “going along with the extremism of the Democratic Party on abortion.”

“I think character matters, competence matters and treating people with respect matters,” Carr said. “Lifting up the poor and vulnerable matters, and Trump failed those tests for me.”

But Carr is waiting to see what Biden will prioritize.

“Is it going to be overcoming COVID, bringing us together, caring for creation? Or is it going to be sort of a culture war?” he asked. “I think what Biden campaigned on, and who he is, is pursuing justice in unity – not a culture war agenda.”

Carr, who in a former role with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops helped develop their documents on political responsibilities of Catholics, recently organized a discussion of how Biden’s Catholicism affects his presidency and the role its playing in the divide within the church.

The split was highlighted when Pope Francis’ congratulatory message to Biden on Inauguration Day emphasized “respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable, and those who have no voice.”

Issuing his own statement, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warned that Biden “has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender."

"Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences," wrote Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez.

Biden’s presidency could contribute to “the difficult realignment of American Catholicism with Pope Francis’s vision – a process resisted by `culture war’ bishops since the time of Francis’s election, but also interrupted by Trump,” Faggioli wrote in his book on Biden and Catholicism. “The mere possibility of such a realignment will being a lot of attention to this particular Catholic moment.”

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden attends a Sunday 

service at Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, S.C., on July 7, 2019.

More broadly, there’s a stark divide along religious lines on whether people see the United States as having an essential culture and values that immigrants take on or whether it’s a nation made up of many cultures and values that change as new people arrive, according to Daniel Cox, director of the Survey Center on American Life.

White Christians – including white evangelical Protestants and white mainline Catholics – believe the U.S. has a central culture, surveys show. The majority of everyone else believe culture and values adjust, Cox said.

“That’s a fundamentally different conception of the country and where it ought to be headed,” Cox said.

Biden will have to take that into account as he tries to weave together the disparate groups that make up his coalition and fulfill a central campaign promise – one that’s also rooted in his faith – of bringing the country together.

“I think,” Cox said, “that’s really going to be challenge.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Biden's Catholic faith is shaping his social equity agenda

Kulturkampf

Trump’s controversial diversity training order is dead – or is it? Colleges are still feeling its effects.

Chris Quintana, USA TODAY

Sat., February 6, 2021, 

An overturned executive order from President Trump focused on banning some forms of diversity training is still sparking debate on college campuses.

Many universities scrambled to comply with the controversial order last year, which would have prevented the federal government and its contractors from offering diversity training that Trump had called divisive. Biden has since overturned the order, but it had already tapped into a live vein of distrust among right-leaning voters who fear colleges are not teaching their students, but rather indoctrinating them.

Look no further than the University of Iowa and its college of dentistry. Back in October, the college emailed everyone in the department condemning the order. But one student disagreed with the university's criticism – and did so by replying all to the email.

"By condemning executive order 13950, does the [College of Dentistry] support using federal funds to promote trainings that include race/sex stereotyping and/or race/sex scapegoating," student Michael Brase wrote.

What followed was a messy debate full of denials and accusations of racism that unfollowed one email at a time.

An excerpt of the email sent by administrators in the college of dentistry at the University of Iowa to everyone in the department. The email sent off a flurry of discussion in the college over race and diversity training.More

An excerpt of the response sent by Michael Brase to the University of Iowa's college of Dentistry tied to President Trump's executive order on diversity training. The email set off a flurry of discussion around race and diversity training.More

The result?

The conservative student recently testified in front of Iowa lawmakers. And the Republicans in the committee praised his willingness to stand up to brain-washing while bashing the university. At the same time, other students, especially those of color, in the program are more vexed than ever. They recently led a protest that, among other things, is pushing the department to require more diversity training. (They also want to revise the email policies so it's harder to reply all.)

"We are protesting for a culture change," said Megha Puranam, one of the student protesters, "and to hold the University of Iowa and College of Dentistry accountable for the diversity values that they claim to champion."

This debate is not new. A Pew Research Center survey in 2019 found that nearly 60% of right or right-leaning voters thought colleges have a "negative effect" on the country. And a 2018 survey showed nearly 80% of right-leaning voters said professors bringing their, "political and social views into the classroom," was a prime factor in what was wrong with college.

Those in higher education, though, fear Trump’s order and antagonism toward colleges more broadly may serve as a guidepost for state or local lawmakers looking to influence their local universities. And students at these institutions fear the attack on diversity training may translate to more overt racism.

“Simply because the federal government has changed positions doesn’t mean state governments are going to follow suit,” said Peter Lake, a law professor at Stetson University that studies higher education law. “The executive order was more than just an executive order. It was a rallying cry.”

And it’s not just in Iowa. In Georgia, a state Republican lawmaker asked the University system of Georgia to catalog which of its professors were teaching courses about white privilege. That lawmaker, Rep. Emory Dunahoo, said his questions came from his constituents. Professors though are already worried about what they see as overreach from the state government.

Trump's repeated attempts to mold campus politics

This is not the first time, however, Trump’s actions would attempt to influence free speech in the American higher education system. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had the Department of Justice regularly get involved in free speech disputes on college campuses.

Trump also signed an executive order in 2019 that sought to “promote free and open debate on college and university campuses.” He threatened to withhold billions in research funding for those that failed to comply, but little was said about it beyond its unveiling. And the order wasn’t clear in how it extended beyond the first amendment.

The Trump administration's focus on race also manifested in college admissions. The Department of Justice had sued Yale, alleging the university of discrimination against Asian and white applicants. That case was dismissed this week though as part of the Biden's administration.

But the executive order on diversity training was more pointed. It would have restricted training that, “inculcates in its employees any form of race or sex stereotyping or any form of race or sex scapegoating,” and it applied to the federal government and its contractors or grantees. Universities weren’t directly mentioned, but they do rely on such forms of federal funding and many tried to comply with the order.

“It's more oriented towards viewpoints and content of speech and ideas,” Lake said. “To be that specific is fairly unprecedented.”

The Trump order homed in on critical race theory, or the idea that racism is interwoven into American society and gives some groups of people advantages over others. Supporters of the executive order will say they don’t have an issue with diversity broadly, but they’re against critical race theory.

The order caused many universities to scramble in attempting to comply with the order. John A. Logan College in Illinois even canceled a talk by a Hispanic author in an effort to comply. The University of Iowa was one of the institutions that responded quickly to the order, and suspended its diversity training briefly.

President Joe Biden: Here are all the executive orders Biden has signed so far
What happened in Iowa?

"We encourage people to think and reflect on our history, culture, science, and other matters," read the email signed by members of the college's faculty. "The Executive order undermines fundamental university values and practices."

Brase, a second-year dental student, recalled reading that message and feeling frustrated, he said, that administrators had lent their name and university position to condemning Trump's executive order.

Brase told USA TODAY he is not against diversity training, but that he specifically has an issue with critical race theory. As for responding to what was essentially a listserv, Brase said he wanted his words heard by all given the college's message had gone out to everyone.

Michael Brase, a student at the University of Iowa's college of dentistry, recently lodged a complaint against the university. He claims the institution impugned his free speech rights after he responded to a mass email condemning President Trump's now defunct order on diversity training.

Among other points, Brase wrote in his response that he wanted to know if by condemning the executive order, did the college support using federal money to promote scapegoating?

More replies followed. One faculty member, Steven Kelly, wrote he was frustrated that the college appeared to be blaming all of America's problems on, "white males or the police." And another, Nancy Slach, wrote she was a "conservative Christian," and that she rejected the idea that America is an, "irredeemably racist and sexist country," while saying she could not support Black Lives Matter.

One person even pleaded for the reply-alls to stop, which initially ended the discussion.

Brase said eventually the college in November summoned him to a disciplinary hearing in connection to the emails for "unprofessional" behavior tied to using a "public platform after you were offered other means to continue the conversation." Among the potential outcomes, administrators said Brase might face probation, a recommendation that he be dismissed, or that no action at all would be taken.

It was then that Brase elevated the issue and contacted his Republican lawmakers. Days later, the college had canceled the disciplinary hearing. Its dean, David Johnsen, wrote in a message to Brase they had been wrong in how they handled the issue and that everyone's voice deserved to be heard.

As for Brase? He has a wider audience than ever. He recently spoke in front of an oversight committee where Republican lawmakers lauded his efforts.

"The actual context of that executive order isn't what is still in play here," Brase said. "This whole situation has highlighted what happens when you disagree with official statements the administration has put out."

Many of Brase's peers, though, also feel like he still doesn't understand the issues. And rather than feeling welcomed at the college, they say they feel more excluded than ever. To that end, a group of dentistry students recently held a protest pushing the college for a change in its culture.

Medical school applications surge: COVID-19 inspires Black and Latino students to become doctors

Puranam had even replied to Brase's original email.

"Michael, it seems like you missed the point of the seminar or maybe you have yet to attend it," Puranam wrote. "I am excited for you to take time to understand the core values of [Diversity, equity and inclusion] training while acknowledging your own biases, (the idea that DEI training is to turn a group of people into scapegoats.)"

AJ Foley, a dentistry student, said that as a Black man it was especially difficult to see his professors condemning the Black Lives Matter movement.

What's more, he said he had a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that one student would takeover an entire email thread to make a point rather than going to a professor or administrators directly.

Foley said he is one of only four students in his class who are Black, and that he had been asking himself, "Is this place really a place for me?"

The University of Iowa, for its part, said that improving the climate on campus requires a "community-wide effort," and a university spokeswoman mentioned its diversity, equity and inclusion plan as an example of its efforts.

"The University of Iowa is committed to fostering an equitable and inclusive environment for everyone in the university community, as well as one where ideas and perspectives can be freely expressed and discussed," the statement read.

University of Iowa dental students, from left, AJ Foley, Megha Puranam, Jasmine Butler, and Shannon Oslad, hold signs and chant during a protest organized by Action UIowa Task Force to, "Put DEI in DDS," Friday, Jan. 29, 2021, outside the College of Dentistry on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, Iowa.

Just asking questions? Or controlling the classroom?

Meanwhile in Georgia, a Republican lawmaker had a simple request framed around themes that would have been home in Trump's executive order.

Specifically, that lawmaker, Rep. Emory Dunahoo, had written to the University System of Georgia requesting to know if any faculty were, "teaching students who identify as white, male, heterosexual, or Christian are intrinsically privileged and oppressive, which is defined as 'malicious or unjust' and 'wrong.'"

Dunahoo, had told The Gainesville Times in January he sent his request to the college based on concerns from his constituents.

Professors in the Georgia higher education system, though, saw Dunahoo's request as an overreach by the government into their classrooms. Matthew Boedy, a professor of rhetoric at the University of North Georgia, said the questions do echo the themes in Trump's executive order.

And he is fearful that Dunahoo's comments may led to professors being singled out. He added someone can disagree with the critical race theory ideas that inform diversity trainings but to be, "labeled un-American because of what one teaches is the key to the frustration and fear of a lot of faculty."

He said he hopes the university administration will explain why professors need to teach about concepts including racism or white privilege in an academic setting. And Boedy added, government oversight is necessary, but, "when it comes to curriculum and the freedom to pursue research and profess certain values as an expert in a field – none of that should mean one has to be a target."

Some states have proposed legislation to ban such teaching. In Arkansas, a Republican lawmaker Mark Lowery introduced a bill that would cut funding to institutions that, "isolate, students based on race, gender, political affiliation, social classes, or other distinctions within programs of instruction." The bill's sponsor told The Arkansas Democrat, he was specifically against, "critical race theory."

Students of color at Iowa say the whole incident shows how they're treated differently. Foley believes he would have been disciplined if he had sent, "insensitive and unprofessional comments" to the entire college.

"That was the most frustrating part about it to me," he said. "I couldn't even put it into words."

Biden should insist that the 'lawmakers' make the law

David Schoenbrod, Opinion contributor
Sat., February 6, 2021

At a gala last month celebrating its 50th anniversary and its membership of three million, the Natural Resources Defense Council listed some of its major environmental protection accomplishments. The first listed was pushing Washington to ban lead additives to gasoline. As the staff attorney who headed this campaign, I felt proud. Yet, I also felt sad because our courtroom victories sped the ban far less than Congress had delayed it by faking responsibility. The resulting deaths and brain damage illustrate why President Biden should insist Congress force itself to vote on major regulations.

When drafting the Clean Air Act in 1970, Congress knew that cars starting with the 1975 models must not use leaded gasoline because it would ruin the equipment needed to comply with limits on other pollutants. The tough choice was whether to cut the lead in the gas burnt by pre-1975 cars, 100 million of which would still be on the road in 1975. In opposition, gasoline refiners and lead additive makers argued that cuts would increase motorists’ costs and were unnecessary to protect health. Instead of deciding, Congress required the Environment Protection Agency to “protect health” by 1976. That way, the legislators got credit for protecting health but shifted responsibility to the EPA for any costs or the failure to protect health.

History of Congress ducking on responsibility

The agency recognized the health harm but hesitated to act, as I testified in a hearing in 1974 before a junior senator named Joe Biden. He urged me to condemn the leaders of EPA. I refused, believing that President Nixon and Congress members had privately used their power over the agency to prevent it from protecting health. I asked Senator Biden to investigate. He claimed to lack authority but promised to ask other senators to do so. They didn’t and not surprisingly: legislators didn’t want to undercut the credit they got for protecting health. We now know that the White House and legislators of both parties pressured the agency to leave the lead in.

Our courtroom victories did prompt the EPA under Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter to modestly cut the lead per gallon in the gas used by the old cars — but it did not act decisively until the mid-1980s. By then, the large refiners had changed sides. They urged the Reagan administration to ban leaded gasoline because, with few pre-1975 cars still on the road, selling both leaded and unleaded gas had become unprofitable.

President Joe Biden on Feb. 3, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

If Congress could not have ducked responsibility in 1970, it would have cut the lead in the gas used by the pre-1975 cars significantly, and lead emissions would have dropped much faster. This I show in an open letter to President Biden. Based on EPA health data, the delay in getting the lead out resulted in about as many American deaths as in the Vietnam War, and left some hundred thousand children so permanently brain-damaged their IQs dropped below 70.

Michael Mann: Why Biden's actions are good news from front lines of the climate change war

Congress often ducks the hard choices, which is why the rules on immigration, healthcare, the environment, and much more change radically when a president of a different party gets elected. So, we suffer from an erratic law. Moreover, to mask their failure to make hard choices, legislators write detailed statutes designed to maximize their credit and minimize their blame rather than benefit their constituents.
Voters want Congress to be involved in approving regulations

A recent poll shows that 82% of voters want Congress to vote on the regulations agencies write. Thus, many lawmakers in Congress say they want to do so. Yet, as Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the ranking Republican on the House Rules Committee stated at a recent hearing, “I have a lot of colleagues on both sides [of the aisle] that like to rail against the administrative state, but they certainly wouldn't want to have to vote on all those rules and regulations, because they are high risk votes.”

To serve the public that elected him, President Biden should, as my letter urges, insist that Congress enact a statute that forces votes on major regulations and the president to sign off on them personally. Justice Breyer has shown how Congress could create a fast-track legislative process to promptly force its members to vote on agency actions despite gridlock and filibusters. The statute could set a future date to take effect to show that its purpose is to empower voters to hold elected officials accountable rather than disempower a particular president. That way, both legislators and the president would have to take personal responsibility for decisions on major regulations.

David Schoenbrod is a professor at New York Law School, a senior fellow with the Niskanen Center, and author of "DC Confidential: Inside the Five Tricks of Washington."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden needs to insists that lawmakers actually make laws