Texas Republicans Set to Force Kids to Study Bible in Schools

Texas is poised to make the Bible required reading for five million public school students.

The Texas State Board of Education is expected to vote Friday to approve legislation to scrap teaching about “World Cultures” and make Bible stories and verses a permanent part of the K-12 curriculum—a blatant violation of the separation between church and state.

Critics of the measure argue that the changes risk alienating children from other religious or nonreligious backgrounds and infringe on the ability of parents to guide their children’s moral and religious education, CNN reported.

If the proposed reading list is approved, primary school-aged students would be taught stories like Noah’s Ark, David and Goliath, and Daniel in the Lion’s Den. Middle school students would study the Shepherd Psalm from the Book of Psalms, as well as the religious writings of poets like Langston Hughes and Robert Frost. High schoolers would read from the second chapter of Genesis, detailing the creation of Adam and Eve—a story that exists across multiple religions but in vastly different forms.

Students would be able to opt out of these lessons, but as the texts would be made a part of the official curriculum, that could potentially affect their grades.

The proposed curriculum would only allow the use of verses from specific Bible translations, including the King James Bible, which is not embraced by the Roman Catholic Church but is widely used by Protestant and Evangelical churches, according to CNN.

In 2023, Texas became the first state to allow the hiring of chaplains in schools, and the next year the state offered extra money to public schools willing to provide optional Bible instruction. Last year, Texas became the largest of a slew of red states to require public schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

These newest proposed changes come as President Donald Trump’s administration takes up the guise of “Christian nationalism”—while practicing policies that aren’t very Christian or particularly nationalist.

The Supreme Court’s Thursday decision to allow President Trump to end Temporary Protected Status protections for Haitian immigrants in the U.S. is being celebrated across the Trump administration, despite continued violence plaguing Haiti.

White House adviser Stephen Miller was asked by a reporter shortly after the ruling if the administration considers “Haiti a safe country.” His answer didn’t address any concerns.

“For Haitians? Absolutely,” Miller said, failing to say whether he thought the country was safe in general. “Haitians live in Haiti. It’s not of our position that Haitians should leave Haiti. It’d be crazy for us to say that Haitians couldn’t live in Haiti. It’s their country.”

When Fox News asked James Percival, general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, on Friday morning if Haitians losing their TPS status would get a grace period before having to leave the U.S., Percival echoed Miller’s callousness.

“President Trump has been trying to end these programs for nine years, so these people have been on notice for nine years that this day is coming. So what we would say now is that it’s closing time, which means you don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here. The good news is it’s not too late to get a $2,600 check and a free flight home,” Percival said.

Haiti’s security situation is very unstable. The FAA has barred U.S. flights from landing in the capital, Port-au-Prince, until at least September, citing risks from armed groups. In 2024, three commercial jets were hit by gunfire in the country. Armed gangs control the country, with no president in power or election scheduled.

Haiti’s national soccer team even had to play their World Cup qualification matches outside of the country in Curaçao because gangs had taken over the national football stadium in Port-au-Prince. Haiti still made it to the World Cup, even hanging with powerhouse Morocco for three-quarters of their third match before succumbing 4-2 and being eliminated from the tournament.

But despite the security situation in Haiti, the Trump administration doesn’t think Haitians deserve asylum in the U.S., and thinks that Haitian Americans without citizenship or permanent residency can just pick up and go even if they’ve built lives or started families.

“People are running away from their homes,” said Don Deedson Louicius, a striker for the Haitian national team and professional player for FC Dallas in the U.S., to ESPN in November. He grew up near the Toussaint Louverture Airport in Port-au-Prince and still has family there.

“They can’t live well, and all the places are closed because of the gangs, and violence is crazy.”

A South Dakota Republican state senator has been hit with two felony charges for falsifying party nomination forms, reports the South Dakota Searchlight.

Tom Pischke, 44, allegedly submitted 16 forged forms to try to put candidates on the ballot for county party leadership, unbeknownst to the candidates themselves.

The fake forms were caught by Minnehaha County auditor Leah Anderson, who noticed that the address for one of the nominees didn’t match the one on their voter registration. She then noticed that all 16 forms had similar handwriting, and the signatures didn’t match other documents the candidates had signed.

Pischke initially denied forging the forms, but turned himself in after footage showed his car dropping off papers at the post office, and his DNA was found on the envelopes, reports the South Dakota Searchlight.

Pischke represents a deep-red district near Sioux Falls, and ran unopposed in his Republican primary, according to the AP.

Korry Petterson, the chair of the Minnehaha County Republican Party, said that he believes Pischke’s meddling was likely an attempt to interfere with his more centrist agenda and push the party to the right.

He told the South Dakota Searchlight that he wants prosecutors to push for a severe punishment for Pischke if the allegations are proven, and that he hopes the Republican Party as a whole will take this as a warning.

“If anything, I think it will help people realize that the extremism has got to stop,” Petterson said.

President Donald Trump has made it clear he doesn’t care about high prices—even at his own Great American State Fair.

Attendees at the first day of the president’s festival were disappointed to discover that what few food options were actually open were far from cheap.

USA Today reported that the only food stall open on Thursday sold turkey legs for $23—almost twice the price of the same offering from a Disney theme park. The stall also offered smashburgers and giant Western sausage sandwiches for $20, and lemonade for a whopping $9.

Online, people were particularly outraged by the price of a stuffed pretzel roll—which ranged from $12.48 to $24.96.

One attendee wasn’t impressed by the offerings at the Express Hibachi stand, which offered pizzas and salads for $13 to $14, boneless wings for $15, and rice bowls for $16.

“Do you see a single corndog? No! It’s a tragedy. It’s an affront to American culture,” joked political commentator Alex Cascio.

D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson also expressed her disappointment in the fair’s offerings. “Not a funnel cake, corn dog, bucket lemonade, or fried Snickers in sight. The only ride is the Ferris Wheel,” Henderson wrote on X. “It’s not that kind of state fair, y’all.”

A Republican congressman went on a racist tirade Thursday at a conservative town hall on Capitol Hill.

Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the U.S. House majority whip, went on an anti-immigrant rant, complaining that “Minnesotans are so afraid that you’re gonna call us a racist, you’re gonna call us an Islamophobe.”

“I am done being careful, even the least bit. And I don’t really care where you come from, but if you come to this great country, you have to understand you’re coming here to be an American,” Emmer said to applause from the audience at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s event.

“We celebrate everyone’s culture. We’re happy with that—as long as you are an American. Celebrate your culture, I don’t care, Italian, Polish—you know, Somali, OK? But they don’t assimilate. And if they don’t assimilate, then they should go the hell back to where they came from,” Emmer continued, to more applause from the right-wing crowd.

Emmer’s jab at the Somali community carries weight, considering he’s third in the party’s House leadership. He’s definitely not telling Italian and Polish immigrants who don’t assimilate to “go the hell back to where they came from.” Somali Americans in Minnesota number about 108,000, and almost half of them were born outside of the U.S. The majority of them have citizenship or legal residency.

President Trump has targeted the community in the past year, accusing them of committing fraud when receiving government assistance and amplifying false smears from a right-wing influencer. Emmer seems to be following his lead. The House whip’s comments came the same day as the Supreme Court ruled that the president could end Temporary Protected Status for Syrian and Haitian refugees. Trump’s efforts to ethnically cleanse the U.S. have taken over the Republican Party.