Chaplains Don't Belong in Public Schools

On Friday, September 1, one of the new laws taking effect in Texas, SB 763, authorizes public school districts to hire chaplains using funds allocated to improve school safety and security. There are several problems with this, no requirement for training in child psychology or development, no prohibition on proselytizing, and it is clearly unconstitutional.

Conservative Christian proponents of the bill claim without evidence the bringing religion into public schools will somehow reduce violence, drug use, and suicide in schools. I went to Catholic schools for 12 years with nuns and brothers as teachers and I can tell you from personal experience there was no lack of violence or drug use in Catholic schools. House Democrats offered amendments that would have required chaplains to have similar accreditation as chaplains who work in prisons or the U.S. military, to bar proselytizing or attempts to convert students from one religion to another; to require chaplains to receive consent from the parents of school children; and to make schools provide chaplains from any faith or denomination requested by students. All of those amendments failed.

In legislative hearings, the bills proponents like Rocky Malloy, assured lawmakers that chaplains were not interested in proselytizing. Malloy, a self-described former drug-smuggling pirate saved by divine intervention, founded and runs Mission Generation, the  group’s website says “Mission Generation has 20 years of experience bringing Jesus to the classrooms of public schools.”

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty opposed the bill and has organized efforts to urge school boards to keep chaplains out of public schools. In a letter to school boards signed by over 100 certified chaplains they state “As trained chaplains, we are not qualified for the duties envisioned by SB 763. We cooperate with mental health counselors – we do not compete with them. Further, professions which help children with sensitive matters, such as therapists and police investigators, typically require special training on how to interview and treat juveniles. Few chaplains have this expertise.”

I don’t know about you but when my daughter was in public school I’d have been quite upset if some Protestant or Evangelical chaplain had been proselytizing to her in the guise of counseling.

SB 763 is part of a broad push by conservative Christians to insert religion in public life claiming that separation of church and state is a false doctrine. Mind you these are the same folks who claim that if it isn’t specifically stated in the constitution that it isn’t constitutional when arguing that the Department of Commerce or Department of Education shouldn’t exist. Anyone who reads the constitution will see that there are only two mentions of religion. The first is in Article VI which says in part “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” The second is in the First Amendment stating “Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise.”

You have an opportunity to put a stop to this in your community. Find out when the school board meets and plan to attend at least long enough to participate in the citizens to be heard segment which is usually in the early part of the meeting. Tell them you want the board’s official policy to be that chaplains are not hired or accepted as volunteers.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - August 30, 2023

Injustice Clarence Thomas

Congressional Republicans like Monica de la Cruz and Speaker Kevin McCarthy are talking about impeaching President Biden as a way to deflect attention from all the indictments and very real corruption of the real estate con man who lost the popular vote twice and is once again the leading candidate for the Republican nomination. They’ve also now got their work cut out diverting the public’s eyes from the lengthening list of ethical and legal violations of several Republican members of the Supreme Court most especially Justices Clarence Thomas.

Research and reporting by ProPublica the nonprofit Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom that investigates abuses of power has provided an ever lengthening list of corrupt behavior by Thomas.

During his 32 years on the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas has enjoyed a lifestyle most Americans can only imagine which has been provided by a list ultra-wealthy corporate magnates and executives who have taken him on lavish vacations aboard their yachts, invited him to premium suites at sporting events and sent their private jets to pick him up. On more than one occasion, a 737 was sent just for him. The list of luxury is both longer and from a larger group than has been previously understood or reported. The broad range of leisure activities have been paid for by wealthy conservative benefactors who share the ideology that drives Thomas' judicial philosophy but didn’t have any connection to him until he gained his seat on the nation’s highest court.

Pro-Publica reports “At least 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter; a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, typically perched in the skybox; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast.”

None of the men who have provided the luxury travel - oil baron Paul Novelly, billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga, former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol, and Texas real estate tycoon Harlan Crow - appear to have met Thomas prior to him taking a seat on the Supreme Court. Crow is the only one whose name appears in Thomas’ financial disclosures, where justices are required by law to publicly report most gifts. The total value of the undisclosed trips they’ve given Thomas since he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1991, is difficult to measure. But it’s likely in the millions. All indications are that Thomas violated the law when he chose not to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts.

Maybe more important is that even if reported the breadth of free vacation travel is well outside of judicial norms according to seven current and former federal judges appointed by both parties and other experts. Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served for years on the judicial committee that reviews judges’ financial disclosures said “In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody, I think it’s unprecedented.”

Since Chief Justice John Robert’s can’t be bothered to take action of Thomas’ ethics and Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy isn’t about to impeach Thomas we’ll have to wait for Democrats to return to majority in the House. Sadly even that is unlikely to actually accomplish much as it takes 60 Senators to convict and its doubtful Democrats will gain such a majority in 2024.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - August 16, 2023

Bidenomics and You

You might think that the more than 13 million jobs created under President Biden are just recovering the jobs lost in the pandemic, but even if you exclude the 10 million jobs that got us back to pre-pandemic level, job growth since then has been about twice as fast as pre-pandemic job growth under Trump.

Something often overlooked is the incredibly low unemployment rate during this recovery for veterans. Nationally veteran unemployment hit a record low of 2.2%, and has been under 3.5% for 19 straight months, the longest such stretch on record. Workers without a high school diploma and workers with a high school degree who did not attend college are also seeing extremely low unemployment rates. Adjusted for age, a larger share of our population, 16 or older, was working at a job last month than anytime in the last 45 years, or probably ever. Unemployment in 24 states is at or below 3%, a new record. Texas is not among them, we're at just over 4%.

Private business investment in facilities and equipment accelerated, contributing 1 percentage point to second quarter growth. Private construction of facilities alone, such as factories, contributed about 0.4 percentage point, this category’s largest growth contribution since 1981.

The recovery under President Biden has been significantly stronger than Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected when he first took office. In 2023, the CBO says there will be more than 3 million more individuals employed than they projected when Biden took office. The latest data shows we’re on track to have the first, second, and third best years for new business applications on record, all under President Biden.

It’s not just government agencies making these claims, Morgan Stanley has revised its economic projections upward. Here’s why, infrastructure spending is surging and manufacturing is booming. Both of those forces, manufacturing and infrastructure, are the key parts of President Biden’s economic agenda, which the media is beginning to call Bidenomics.

There’s been a shift in economic arguments that have gone on for many years to one that says investing directly in American workers and American families, via the expanded Child Tax Credit, was the right thing to do in bad economic times. Then in 2021 and 2022, as we moved from relief to recovery, the administration pushed Build Back Better which was not just a slogan, but an actual idea premised on a better way to manage the economy, the Biden team made an affirmative decision to invest in America directly, including over a trillion dollars in infrastructure. And even more cutting-edge was their decision to build safer, stronger supply chains: bringing jobs back home through laws that would build everything from semiconductors to wind and solar to cars and batteries, mostly here at home.

This is Keynesian economics all over again; that’s the Depression era policy that President Roosevelt used to start the country on the road to recovery.

The experience of the past 2.5 yrs shows that we have the tools to avoid painful spells of unemployment and to keep workers empowered with a strong job market. President Biden has been focused on using these tools, and American workers and the American economy have reaped the benefits.

In short Biden’s and the Democrats he leads have been incredibly good for workers in this country and all indications are it will only get better while he’s in office.

NDAA and the Republican Agenda

Congressional Republicans claim that diversity training in the U.S. military is somehow a threat to our national security and have amended the National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit such training. One of the amendments proponents, Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), said the quiet part out loud while advocating for his amendment saying it had “nothing to do” with “whether colored people, or Black people, or anybody can serve.” Needless to say such bigoted language caused quite a stir in particular among black members of Congress. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) commented: “You can’t make this up. This is who these people are, and who they’ve always been.”

Republican amendments restricting the funding of abortion services, diversity initiatives and gender-affirming care were approved Thursday. The House voted 221-213 to prohibit the secretary of Defense from covering expenses relating to abortion services, with our congressman Rep. Henry Cuellar the lone Democrat voting for the amendment.

Quite a few GOP members of the House tried to restrict the Biden administration from providing military hardware and supplies to Ukraine while it struggles to defend itself against the illegal invasion by Vladimir Putin’s Russian troops. I’m amazed that the party that claims to be all about national security and supporters of the troops has so many members who are unwilling to help a friend to stand up to a bully. Fortunately that amendment was roundly defeated.

If that’s not enough, Christian nationalist Rep. Mike Turner introduced an amendment making it illegal for members of the military to even communicate with Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The MRFF advocates for service members who have been penalized for not participating in religious services even when they are of some other faith, among other inappropriate religiously oriented activities of their commanding officers. That amendment was buried amongst a bunch of other last minute detail and was passed without a fuss because no one noticed.

Now the NDAA goes on to the Senate which is controlled by the Democrats where at least some of these ridiculous amendments are dead on arrival. Nevertheless there will be a fight during reconciliation of the two versions of the bill that is required for final passage.

On the Senate side Tommy Tuberville, former Auburn University football coach and now U.S. Senator from Alabama, continues to hold up promotions of more than 260 one-, two- and three- star generals and admirals. Tuberville’s holds also delay the confirmation of the Pentagon’s top leaders, who make up the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including the chairman. Right now the U.S. Marine Corps is without a confirmed leader for the first time in a century. The current Joint Chiefs chairman, Army Gen. Mark Milley, is required by law to step down at the end of September, while the current Army chief will leave his post in early August. Tuberville’s tif is over the same abortion related policy that the amendment to the NDAA seeks to prohibit. Tuberville’s pettiness is forcing less experienced leaders into top jobs and raising concerns at the Pentagon about military readiness.

The fact that no one in the Senate’s Republican caucus has put pressure on Tuberville to withdraw his hold tells you all you need to know about how they really feel about military readiness.

I’m a little more disgusted with Republican leaders and the people who vote for them every day.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 19, 2023

Hypocrisy Thy Name is Republican

 The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines hypocrisy this way: "a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not, behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel; especially, the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion." Today's Republican Party and most of its elected officials and candidates seem to embody hypocrisy, let me count the ways.

While claiming to support parental choice as an excuse to provide public tax dollars to private for profit schools the Gov. Abbott and the Texas legislature also banned parents from providing gender affirming medical care to their children. The parents most likely to send their children to private schools either already do or are in the upper income range and likely vote Republican.

The Texas legislature passed another book ban measure that Gov. Abbott signed all in the name of protecting children while the state cut Medicaid for thousands of Texas children preventing the most vulnerable from accessing healthcare. The standards set in the Texas book ban bill are so vague, they are likely to snag books that are not inappropriate, and materials dealing with LGBTQ+ subject matter are more likely to be targeted for bans. Texas has the highest percentage of children in poverty, without medical insurance, and unsure they’ll have enough to eat on any given day.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick got all lathered up over children attending drag shows with their parents; remember these are the same people with their hair on fire about parental choice. The legislature started out with a bill to ban children at drag shows then caught wind of the fact that they might have trouble in court so they went with more general language that is so vague it may even ban padded bras on female performers. The public and children have been exposed to performers in drag since before I was born, in fact in 1959 the movie “Some Like it Hot” appeared in theaters starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon in drag. The movie was a box office success and won 6 Academy Awards. Then there’s Bugs Bunny in drag in at least 40 cartoons and you can’t tell me that’s not aimed at children.

While claiming that the Voting Rights Act was a burdensome over-reach preventing states from holding elections without federal interference Gov. Abbott and the Texas legislature banned cities from enforcing health and safety laws to insure that outdoor construction workers get adequate water and rest breaks in 100+ degree summer heat. In fact the bill bans cities from regulating anything that the legislature doesn’t give them explicit permission to regulate. You might notice that is exactly the opposite of the way the U.S. constitution is phrased as it says the federal government can only regulate what is specified therein while the states can address anything else. Texas has violated the letter and spirit of the Voting Rights Act for at least the last 3 redistricting cycles or more than 20 years, gerrymandering districts to protect their overwhelming majority in the legislature when based on statewide voting results the majority should be much thinner.

This list is far from exhaustive but it’s all I have the patience for as just reviewing this batch made me angry. Remember this when it is time to vote in 2024.

Trump Indictment Charges No Comparison

 When the topic of the latest indictment of Donald Trump comes up you’ll no doubt here various defenses, excuses, and what-aboutism, don’t accept any of their weak arguments. The indictment makes very clear with quotes from the evidence heard by the grand jury that the crimes Trump is charged with are serious and involved others in a conspiracy. The indictment includes 34 felony charges against Trump for which the penalties range from 5-20 years in prison and fines of up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Trump engaged in entirely different behavior than Joe Biden and Mike Pence with regard to classified documents they had in their possession after their terms were up. After Biden and Pence became aware they were in possession of classified documents they immediately contacted the relevant federal agencies and arranged for their return. Trump always knew he had classified documents and there is clear evidence that on several occasions he showed it off to people with no security clearance at all. Trump then attempted to retain possession of the documents claiming he didn’t have them, then that he had de-classified the documents and they belonged to him, then returned some claiming that was all he had, while he conspired with an aide to hide some of them when the FBI informed him they were coming to look for themselves.

While any president can de-classify some types of documents there is a process for that which Trump didn’t follow therefore the documents were never legally de-classified. In addition not all documents can be de-classified by executive action including one of the documents Trump held onto and referred to in the indictment as document #19 from the Department of Energy which is labeled as “Undated document concerning nuclear weaponry of the United States”. Such documents typically include information about the US nuclear weapons stockpile quantities, nuclear weapons safety and storage, nuclear weapon yields, and locations of US nuclear weapons.

The indictment includes a transcript of an audio recording of a meeting on July 2021 at Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey in which Trump shows a writer, a publisher, and two of his staff members a document that he says a senior military official whose name is redacted, but believed to be Gen. Mark Milley, gave him discussing a possible attack on a country the name of which is also redacted, thought by most reporters to be Iran, and proceeds to tell them “This is secret information. Look at this.”  Later Trump says “See as president I could have declassified it.” After laughs and a response by as staff member Trump says “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.” The recording makes clear that Trump knew that documents in his possession were still classified and therefore not to be shared.

The indictment includes photos of the boxes containing classified documents that were found stored in various locations within the Mar-a-Lago Club including a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, Trump's bedroom, and a storage room. The ballroom, bathroom and shower, were not secured locations and easily accessible to the public, in fact an events were held in the ballroom while the boxes were stored there. The office space is the business center where Trump employees and others routinely visited.

You can read the entire indictment for yourself, it’s only 49 pages double spaced and many pages are only half full or have photos taking up much of the page so it’s a quick and fascinating read.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 14, 2023

Texas Lege Failures 2023

The regular session of the Texas legislature is over and has left the citizens with important work undone. Instead of focusing on improving our state by raising teacher pay and adequately funding public education too much time and energy was spent on making life more difficult for very small number of teens who see themselves differently than most. Texas classrooms have too many students per class and often too many classes to teach while they are underpaid. Consider that many of teachers with 20 years of experience earn less than most new college graduates.

Gov. Abbott signed SB 16 last Saturday which prohibits procedures and treatments for gender transitioning and gender reassignment, including puberty blockers that delay the onset of puberty. These treatments are used with their parents support when teens recognize that are not the gender they were assigned at birth. All evidence indicates that such treatments have positive psychological effects for these young people. Unfortunately Republicans have made this small group of kids a symbol of the culture war and gleefully inflict their narrow-minded views on them.

While I’m fairly confident that the increase in the legislature’s budget was warranted it sure doesn’t look good when they failed to address low teacher pay. You can largely blame Lt. Governor Dan Patrick for holding teacher pay raises hostage by tying them to private school vouchers which rural Republicans have repeatedly shown they won’t support.

Even though the state is being sued due to the over-broad language of the previous session’s anti-abortion legislation which forced several women into life and health danger when they had mis-carriages there was no effort to make adjustments. Instead, all we got was denial that there was even a problem.

Of course, there was plenty of time for the legislature to strip cities of their ability to regulate a broad range of environmental, labor and health and safety concerns such as the right to enforce rest breaks for construction workers in the summer heat, run no-kill animal shelters and to maintain local water quality.

Once again our legislature failed to expand Medicaid even though nearly 12% of Texas children are uninsured and rural hospitals continue to close, forcing many Texans to drive for hours to seek necessary medical care. A study commissioned by the Texas Medical Association found that in 2016, the cost of lower lifetime earnings and worse health for uninsured Texans was $57 billion. The price tag for hospitals and physicians who provide unsubsidized and uncompensated care was $3.5 billion. 7 years later and those costs have only gone up. Republican orthodoxy preventing the expansion of Medicaid available through the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) continues to cause suffering and economic loss in Texas.

There was one small but significant of Medicaid though, soon the Texas mothers who give birth while qualified for Medicaid will be covered for 12 months after birth instead of 2 months as has been the case.

On the slightly positive side, teachers who retired in the last 3 years will get a 2% cost of living increase in their monthly checks, assuming Gov. Abbott signs SB 10 and the public votes to approve the constitutional amendment in the November 7 election. Older retirees will get either 4% or 6% increases depending on when they retired.

Now it’s on the special sessions that will likely be called to address some of the outstanding issues that Dan Patrick caused to be delayed past sine die due to his demands for private school vouchers and other unpopular legislation.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - June 7, 2023