Jr.*

-Twitter was for years the gathering place for a community of clergy abuse survivors who taught me daily what true empathy, righteousness and love look like. I would not be the person I am today without them.

-Jerry Falwell’s belly button.

Oh — new reporting on Pope Leo from El Paso Matters, citing footage they have of yesterday's meeting.

Sounds like the pope was even *more* forceful in urging U.S. bishops to speak out about immigration than first reported.

I mean, that's…not subtle. elpasomatters.org/2025/10/08/e...

The Dallas area Palestinian Youth Movement reported yesterday that Ya'Kub Ira, an activist and martial arts instructor, was abducted by ICE despite Ira's legal status under DACA.

"This is the second unexpected arrest of someone with proximity to the Palestine movement in the past two weeks."

We spoke to Wesley Hunt about why he wants to oust Cornyn, whether he thinks he’s helping Paxton win, and what it would take to win Trump’s endorsement.

NEW: I spoke to clergy and faith leaders who've joined protests at the Chicago-area ICE facility.

Three say they've been shot with pepper balls, sometimes while praying.

All say ICE is also violating their religious freedom, and one is arguing it in court. religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Citing the “martyrdom” of Charlie Kirk, Texas AG Ken Paxton says his office is pursuing sweeping undercover investigations into “leftist” groups. “To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming."

Editor in chief, city editor, features editor

Now it’s a humiliation kink.

And I’m a lifelong Bulls fan.

“That’s cute.”

Well, yeah, we're suing ICE.

This wasn't really a hard decision. As little faith as we have in institutions, we recognize the value of drawing visible lines in the sand. We drew ours personally a while ago, but better late than never.

May every protester be freed and may this occupation end.

“Christian nationalism is dependent on whitewashing slavery, systemic racism, genocide and all else that contradicts the Christian virtues they claim America was built on. The war against CRT, DEI etc. is inextricable from the Christian nationalist project.”
👇🏼🚨🚨

They have. Their entire movement is based on the claim that the rest of us are misreading it.

To get a sense of where things stand: Here's an exchange from earlier this year, in which a Baptist minister was told by a Texas Senator that she didn't understand the Gospel because she cited Baptists' historic support for church-state separations as one reason to oppose the Ten Commandments bill.

And this isn't just a fight for classrooms: Christian nationalism is dependent on whitewashing slavery, systemic racism, genocide and all else that contradicts the Christian virtues they claim America was built on. The war against CRT, DEI etc. is inextricable from the Christian nationalist project.

Now, Barton will have a direct role in crafting curriculum for the entire state - which could impact what is or isnt in textbooks used by many other states.

He and his allies have long said they're creating in Texas a model for Christianizing America. Now, they're closer than ever before:

Meanwhile, the Texas Education Agency has approved new curriculum that teaches the Bible with K-12 lessons, despite expert testimony that the lessons completely misconstrue American history and whitewash racism, etc. Take, for example, the lessons on MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Barton's debunked work has been central to these pushes, Lawmakers now openly call church-state separation a myth, and argue that the Ten Commandments were the #1 inspiration for the US Constitution - which they say justifies forcing children to look at it in class each day.

The NSCA is led by a self-described "ex pirate" who claims God saved him from execution in a Mexican prison so that he could teach construction to the Contras and use school chaplains to convert kids. One of the Ed. Board members who appointed David Barton is also an NSCA board member.

In 2023, GOP lawmakers let districts replace counselors with untrained religious chaplains, overriding a proposed amendment that would've barred them evangelizing - despite the bill's biggest supporter, the National School Chaplains Assoc., being open about doing so.

Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers have been increasingly open about using schools to evangelize. This year Texas lawmakers passed new laws requiring the Ten Commandments in classes, allowing optional prayer time and requiring anti-communist curriculum that they argued was vital to stemming secular influence.

And each week of the 2025 session, conservative Christians held worship sessions in the Capitol. The group behind the gatherings, MyGodVotes, has been open about its Christian dominionist goals, and seeks to mobilize pastors and churches to influence state lawmakers.