Louisiana Obliterates Separation of Church and State With Wild New Law

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed a law Wednesday mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, in a startlingly clear demonstration of the blurring lines between church and state.

According to the legislation, the commandments displays would be paid for through donations, not through state funds. The law also authorizes classrooms to put up the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance—but it does not require those documents to be displayed.

The law describes the Ten Commandments not as the religious edict that they plainly are, but as “foundational documents of our state and national government.”

If that’s truly the case, then where is Louisiana’s law requiring the United States Constitution—with its Establishment Clause prohibiting the state from instituting legislation “respecting an establishment of religion”—to be hung in “large, easily readable font”?

In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that a similar law in Kentucky was unconstitutional, because posting the commandments had a blatantly religious purpose, not a secular one. Now, it’s unlikely that the current Supreme Court would rule similarly.

Violations of this particular section of the U.S. Constitution have become only too easy since the Supreme Court decision Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the case of the coach who was dismissed for holding massive public prayers at school, only to quit as soon as he got his job back. The court’s ruling that Joe Kennedy’s prayers did not violate the First Amendment is also to thank for a spate of Satanic clubs across the country, which are now permitted to operate under the same guidance.

The House Ethics Committee’s investigation of Representative Matt Gaetz, ABC News reports, has a new development: a witness has come forward saying that the Florida congressman paid her for sex.

The committee has interviewed at least six women who were witnesses in the Justice Department’s 2020 sex trafficking investigation of Gaetz, sources told the news outlet. These women allegedly attended parties Gaetz attended, paid for by Gaetz’s former friend Joel Greenberg.

Investigators reportedly asked these women, some of whom are cooperating and others of whom have been subpoenaed, about Venmo payments allegedly from Gaetz and whether those were for sex. One woman told the committee that she did in fact receive a payment in exchange for sex, while other witnesses said they were paid to attend parties where Gaetz was present that included drugs and sex, according to ABC News.

Gaetz has denounced the expanded investigation, calling it “frivolous” and “Soviet-esque.” The previous DOJ investigation didn’t result in any charges against Gaetz, although Greenberg is serving an 11-year sentence in federal prison for multiple charges, including sex trafficking a minor and introducing the minor to other “adult men.”

Gaetz posted on X yesterday that the House Ethics Committee was “doing this to avoid the obvious fact that every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration.” He also blamed former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, hinting that McCarthy was attempting some payback over Gaetz’s efforts to oust the California Republican from the speakership.

At the time, Gaetz claimed that he was opposing McCarthy over the latter’s work with Democrats, but leaked private communications between Gaetz and a close friend later revealed that he took action against McCarthy for refusing to stop the House probe into Gaetz’s alleged sexual misconduct.

In addition to the latest revelations, the probe has revealed that Gaetz would show videos of his sexual conquests to other staffers and members of Congress on Capitol Hill, and bragged about using erectile dysfunction medicine–energy cocktails to “go all night.”

If the bosses at Boeing intended for CEO Dave Calhoun’s performance during a Senate hearing to smooth over the company’s abject turmoil, they were woefully mistaken.

Calhoun was forced Tuesday to answer on the record whether the embattled aerospace company had retaliated against any of the more than a dozen whistleblowers who have raised concerns over the safety standards and ethics of the company, and he gave the answer many already suspected to be true.

“I know it happens,” said Calhoun, adding that the company had taken action against those who had retaliated.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, who asked Calhoun the question, also read testimony from the late John Barnett, a Boeing whistleblower who was found dead in his vehicle from what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In his opening remarks, Blumenthal said that Barnett had “committed suicide under the immense pressure the company put on him for raising safety claims.”

Barnett, who brought up concerns about missing parts, was apparently called by one of his supervisors 19 times in one day, and was told, “I’m going to push you until you break.”

Blumenthal recounted Barnett’s testimony in which he said one of his coworkers was physically assaulted for raising concerns about safety. The senator asked whether Calhoun had followed up on this report, and the CEO said he didn’t know.

Calhoun was also absolutely decimated by a surprisingly strong line of questioning from the blatantly opportunist Senator Josh Hawley, who demanded that he should resign. But after the hearing ended, Calhoun’s humiliation was still far from over.

Nadia Milleron, whose daughter was killed in a 2019 Boeing crash, tore into Calhoun Tuesday night during an interview on CNN for his opening apology to the family members of people who died in two 737 Max crashes. “I apologize to the grief we have caused,” he’d said, turning to face the family members present in the Senate chamber. “I want you to know we are totally committed to work focused on safety.”

Milleron wasn’t so convinced. “It wasn’t a real apology. What he was doing is he doesn’t want us to know the details of how it happened,” she told CNN’s Abby Phillip.

Milleron recounted making eye contact with Calhoun as he gave his apology. “He looked at me in the eye and he said, ‘I am sorry,’ and I said, ‘You are sorry? Are you sorry for the bombs Boeing produced that kill innocent kids in Rafah? Are you sorry for that, too?’”

Boeing helped to develop Israel’s missile defense system, and has continued to arm the Israeli Defense Forces as it wages its brutal military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 37,000 people, including thousands of young children.

“Like how can he sleep?” MIlleron asked rhetorically. “This person is a psychopath. We can not have people running these companies that do not care about human life. We have to have responsible people running these companies.”

Two hotly contested seats in Virginia’s primary on Tuesday are providing insight into how much influence Donald Trump and pro-Israel lobbying groups have over our elections.

The once-mighty Trump endorsement continues to deteriorate: Trump-endorsed election denialist Senator John McGuire’s race to oust incumbent Republican representative Bob Good remains too close to call as of Wednesday when vote tallying paused for the Juneteenth state and federal holiday. McGuire led by just 327 votes—0.52 percent—over Good. In response to the razor-thin margins, Good took to social media to sprinkle a touch of election denialism of his own, asking for “full transparency from the officials involved” in counting and certifying votes, as if that wasn’t already how the election certification process is run.

Good has courted controversy both with his efforts to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and with his early endorsement of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s failed presidential campaign. Good has struggled to maintain his MAGA bona fides by demonstrating his undying love for Trump, who he’s described as “the best president of my lifetime.” Good made an appearance in New York City outside the courthouse to support Trump in his ill-fated hush-money trial. His appearance there sparked a brutal response from Trump who declared he’s “BAD FOR VIRGINIA, AND BAD FOR THE USA” before giving McGuire his “Complete and Total Endorsement.” Despite efforts from Trumpworld to bolster McGuire, the infighting has largely left Virginia voters confused.

Further complicating Virginia’s primaries this week, pro-Israel lobbying groups continue to dump enormous resources into Democratic races across the country, despite data consistently showing that voters are primarily concerned about the economy, not with Israel. In New York, the lobbying effort has made a primary between incumbent Representative Jamaal Bowman and MAGA-funded Westchester County Executive George Latimer the most expensive House primary in U.S. political history.

Early showings from other primaries have suggested efforts from the pro-Israel lobby are largely paying off—except in Virginia’s 10th congressional district. In the crowded race with a dozen candidates, pro-Israel lobbying group Democratic Majority for Israel PAC reportedly backed Eileen Filler-Corn to replace Representative Jennifer Wexton, who is retiring. On Tuesday, Filler-Corn landed in an abysmal fourth place, picking up just 9.3 percent of the votes.

The winner of that race, Virginia senator Suhas Subramanyam, received more than 30 percent of the vote. DMFI doesn’t seem too unhappy with the result, however, praising Subramanyam’s “commitment to Democratic values and his support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship,” and describing him as a “proud pro-Israel candidate.”

“Democrats in [Virginia’s 10th congressional district] have proven once again that being pro-Israel is not just wise policy, but also winning politics,” the group wrote.

How all this infighting will factor into the general election remains to be seen. The main message from Virginia’s primaries, both Democrat and Republican, seems to be that the 2024 election season has definitely activated chaos mode.

After being among more than 1,400 people charged over the January 6, 2021 insurrection and storming of the Capitol, Charles Hand III attempted to return to the scene of the crime by being elected to Congress. Unfortunately for him, he lost a Republican primary runoff for a House seat Tuesday.

Hand, who goes by Chuck, lost the Georgia 2nd congressional district race to former Trump administration official Wayne Johnson. In November, Johnson will face Democratic Representative Sanford Bishop, who has held the seat since 1993.

Hand previously received 32 percent of the initial primary election on May 21, proceeding to the runoff with Johnson, who received 44.6 percent of the vote. Under Georgia law, political candidates must receive more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff election.

Almost two weeks ago, Hand walked out of a debate after one of his opponents in the initial primary, Michael Nixon, mentioned that Hand’s wife, Mandy Robinson-Hand, had a criminal history of oxycodone possession and was Hand’s co-defendant in their Capitol riot case.

Hand admitted to breaking off “a piece of metal fencing” and placing “it in his back pants pocket” in his January 6 case, and was sentenced to 20 days in prison. Prosecutors wrote in his sentencing memo that after participating in the riot, he told his wife ”Like I said it was a perfect time to be a part of history!” He also encouraged his wife to not turn herself in and to “deny, deny, deny.”

Hand was one of many January 6 participants running for office in 2024. One of them, Derrick Evans, served three months in prison and ran for the Republican nomination in West Virginia’s 1st congressional district, only to lose in May.