Today at the Supreme Court: Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer and Missouri DNR Question: Can states exclude churches from receiving aid for secular stuff like playgrounds, or does that violate the Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clauses? Answer: Oh, shit. The Religious Right is about to start using tax money to teach kids about Jesus riding a dinosaur.
When churches pay taxes, I'd be fine with it. My question is if the money builds a playground with tax dollars, and they put up a fence to keep pesky neighbors of a different religion out, How is this even good? This is nothing if not the American Taliban.
And I would like funding for my church 'Bitch-Slap Ministries' (tm). "Sometimes the only way to save the soulless heathens is a good old fashioned Bitch Slap of Truth!"
From what I've read, there is a similar study regarding football helmets. Before plastic helmets and face masks, the risk of damage to the head was important, players wanted to protect their heads, there was more of a respect for injuries and they were more cautious, but when helmets came in, tackling by leading with the head became more than more popular, and injuries began to mount.
When I was writing sports, I experienced this second-hand, when a player on a team I covered quite often injured himself by leading with his head. He broke his neck and was placed in a coma, the doctors hoping it would help him recover, but after eight days, he passed at the age of 17.
Opening up for more vouchers, because the public schools will get even less funding, and falling ever more behind. This has been their goal all along, defund public schools by funneling all the money to parochial ones.
Weeel, no experienced appellate lawyer would predict the outcome of a case from the way oral argument goes, really. Unless you get laughed at. Or yelled at. Then, maybe.
Missouri is strange. I lived in an apartment in Kansas City. Once I received a tax declaration form in which I had to list how many barrow hogs, chickens, and geldings were kept on my property. Thankfully, I was not taxed for my cat.
I live in Missouri (I appreciate your condolences, thanks) and if this passes I'm going to start a campaign urging all 8 of the Mosques near me to install playgrounds and apply for Missouri Scrap Tire grants.
The North Carolina Supreme Court did some amazing legal gymnastics to allow taxpayer funds to go for school vouchers. Often contradicting themselves in their decision. The state constitution says that tax funds have to be spent on public education. The court actually disagreed with that finding two different ways, that any education was a public benefit, therefore even non public schools were essentially a public service, and the constitutional requirements were just a suggestion, not a mandate.
They also overruled the finding that the voucher program had essentially no performance requirements. While admitting that public schools had to show adequate performance, they reversed course and said these were not public schools, and therefore did not have to show achievement. If the legislature intended for them to show kids were actually learning, they would have put it in the law. And who are we to judge the legislature anyway? I mean, we are just the top state court, not God. This kind of overrules the whole basis the Court cited for the legislation, the legislature claimed vouchers were the answer to poor kids failing in public schools. Which to anyone except an astute Republican legal mind says the voucher schools need to be accountable for educational progress.
On one other little gem concerning the ability for these schools, almost all church related, to allow discrimination due to religion, the Court had a little more trouble. So they just said the plaintiffs did not have standing to contest that part, so it was not an issue for the courts to decide.
This is what we have to look forward to under Gorsuch rulings.
Drublic Jr. is a bass player...with fingers. He doesn't have much time for gaming. As to the other....I don't ask.
I was taught that missing socks went to live with Jesus....so no.
All we had was a cardboard box in middle of road!
The short answer: No. The long answer: Nope.
Schools supported by the Church of Satan will be the next to apply for funds. Conservative heads explode in 3...2...1...
I'm not worried. As soon as a Mosque school requests money for an Ishmael-go-round for their playground the case will be back in court.
When churches pay taxes, I'd be fine with it. My question is if the money builds a playground with tax dollars, and they put up a fence to keep pesky neighbors of a different religion out, How is this even good? This is nothing if not the American Taliban.
And I would like funding for my church 'Bitch-Slap Ministries' (tm). "Sometimes the only way to save the soulless heathens is a good old fashioned Bitch Slap of Truth!"
So Gorsuch isn't even pretending he cares about this "separation of church and state" thing now, is he?
From what I've read, there is a similar study regarding football helmets. Before plastic helmets and face masks, the risk of damage to the head was important, players wanted to protect their heads, there was more of a respect for injuries and they were more cautious, but when helmets came in, tackling by leading with the head became more than more popular, and injuries began to mount.
When I was writing sports, I experienced this second-hand, when a player on a team I covered quite often injured himself by leading with his head. He broke his neck and was placed in a coma, the doctors hoping it would help him recover, but after eight days, he passed at the age of 17.
Opening up for more vouchers, because the public schools will get even less funding, and falling ever more behind. This has been their goal all along, defund public schools by funneling all the money to parochial ones.
Weeel, no experienced appellate lawyer would predict the outcome of a case from the way oral argument goes, really. Unless you get laughed at. Or yelled at. Then, maybe.
I feel you, in a totally straight way. In California we had asphalt. In New Mexico we had hard, alkaline ground and goatheads.
Missouri is strange. I lived in an apartment in Kansas City. Once I received a tax declaration form in which I had to list how many barrow hogs, chickens, and geldings were kept on my property. Thankfully, I was not taxed for my cat.
I live in Missouri (I appreciate your condolences, thanks) and if this passes I'm going to start a campaign urging all 8 of the Mosques near me to install playgrounds and apply for Missouri Scrap Tire grants.
The North Carolina Supreme Court did some amazing legal gymnastics to allow taxpayer funds to go for school vouchers. Often contradicting themselves in their decision. The state constitution says that tax funds have to be spent on public education. The court actually disagreed with that finding two different ways, that any education was a public benefit, therefore even non public schools were essentially a public service, and the constitutional requirements were just a suggestion, not a mandate.
They also overruled the finding that the voucher program had essentially no performance requirements. While admitting that public schools had to show adequate performance, they reversed course and said these were not public schools, and therefore did not have to show achievement. If the legislature intended for them to show kids were actually learning, they would have put it in the law. And who are we to judge the legislature anyway? I mean, we are just the top state court, not God. This kind of overrules the whole basis the Court cited for the legislation, the legislature claimed vouchers were the answer to poor kids failing in public schools. Which to anyone except an astute Republican legal mind says the voucher schools need to be accountable for educational progress.
On one other little gem concerning the ability for these schools, almost all church related, to allow discrimination due to religion, the Court had a little more trouble. So they just said the plaintiffs did not have standing to contest that part, so it was not an issue for the courts to decide.
This is what we have to look forward to under Gorsuch rulings.