Some weeks are so loaded with news that we lose track of all the various implications and reactions. I suppose Ukrainians would appreciate top stories in American papers being about Russia bombing a shopping mall with a missile -- the very definition of a war crime and national terrorism.
But the January 6 committee hearings continue to be top of the fold, so to speak, along with primary elections and a giant baseball brawl and... well, the list goes on an on.
One of the Supreme Court decisions announced just a few days ago was Carson v. Makin, which seemed initially like a victory for private religious schools and their radical overseers. A 6-3 decision (and soon we will not need to see the actual votes anymore... that 6-3 is the new normal) held that the state had to provide funding for religious private schools as well as non-discriminatory private schools. The nation's CINOs howled in glee.
But the Maine legislature had already anticipated the court's extreme right wing swing and passed an amendment to the law in question that effectively creates an end run around the court.
From the Washington Post's commentary on this:
The revised law forbids discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, and it applies to every private school that chooses to accept public funds, without regard to religious affiliation.
The impact was significant: The two religious schools at issue in the Carson case, Bangor Christian Schools and Temple Academy, said that they would decline state funds if, as Maine’s new law requires, accepting such funds would require them to change how they operate or alter their “admissions standards” to admit L.G.B.T.Q. students.
What an elegant solution to the problem and such a clever argument against the CINO minority of America! The right wing parochial schools retain freedom of choice (nice irony) and must take ownership of their own choices (to discriminate against anyone they don't agree with). Private schools that follow state and federal laws are free to tap some of the state's education money for specific purposes.
Bottom line: Carson v Makin ends up being much ado about nothing, a Pyrrhic victory for the radical right that shines the spotlight on just how bigoted some private "Christian" schools really are.
My personal reaction to the entire tussle was to admire state legislators who not only favor doing the right thing and serving the public without discrimination but also with the smarts to find a terrific strategy to get the job done.
This makes me a small person, I suppose, but I love seeing the CINOs squirm.
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