The Colorado Supreme Court has issued a ruling siding with transgender patients who sued a hospital that stopped providing gender-affirming care due to fear of retaliation by the Trump administration. The May 18 opinion reversed a trial court’s denial of…
What I saw and heard in DC this weekend
Evangelicals flocked to Washington, D.C., over the weekend to attend the Trump administration’s “Rededicate 250” event on Sunday, which was billed as “rededicating” the country to being “one nation under God.” The night before Trump’s official event — funded by public money…
American historian debunks Rededicate 250 revisionism
“The United States of America was not founded as a Christian nation,” historian Heather Cox Richardson insisted in her May 17 “Letters from an American” column. The professor of history at Boston College used her Sunday writing to comment on…
Proposed Pell grant change misses the meaning of education
The Trump administration is proposing a new rule that would tie the availability of Pell grants and student loans to the earning potential of degree programs. This proposal is beyond terrible for a multitude of reasons. First, it ignores the actual…
Evangelicals will dominate at ‘Rededicate 250’ this weekend
A cast of Trump-supporting Christian nationalists will participate this Sunday in “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise and Thanksgiving” on the National Mall. The event is scheduled to take place at the exact time most American Christians are…
Christian schools endangered by new Trump rule
The Trump administration has proposed a new rule that could devastate Christian higher education by tying student loans to the earning potential of degree programs. The earnings metric would require recipients of undergraduate degrees to earn more in median income…
The guardrails preserving our democracy
I want to consider some good news today. The good news is that certain cultural, political and legal guardrails are holding against Donald Trump and his government right now. I am not suggesting our democracy is in the clear. I…
Trump counterterrorism strategy names ‘transgender ideologies’ as major threat
The Trump administration has warned that “radically pro-transgender” advocacy groups constitute a major terror threat as the Trump administration works to roll back actions of the Biden administration that it maintains “weaponized” the intelligence community.
Courts halt some of Trump’s vengeance against enemies
Donald Trump campaigned on vengeance and retribution for enemies. But as he weaponizes government to take vengeance on media outlets, nonprofits and Democratic officials, federal courts are calling his bluff. The Reformed Journal said Trump’s demagoguery and shamelessness “lowers resistance…
SPLC pleads not guilty to feds’ fraud charges
The Southern Poverty Law Center pleaded not guilty to 11 fraud-related charges and is tentatively set to face trial Oct. 5 in an Alabama federal court. SPLC Interim President Bryan Fair entered the plea May 7 to the indictment handed…
Trump administration calls transgender people national security threat
The Trump administration has labeled transgender people a national security threat on par with drug cartels and Islamic militant groups. A new “counterterrorism strategy” published by the White House states: “Our national (counter terrorism) activities will also prioritize the rapid…
What’s the status of ICE and ‘sensitive locations’? Confusing
A federal judge refused to block immigration actions near Minnesota schools while other courts consider Trump administration appeals to rulings in other lawsuits against raids at or near sensitive locations. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship alerted partner congregations this week that…