Good morning! As you know if you read my work regularly, I don’t like painting all members of a large group with the same brush. When you do, you wind up with widespread beliefs like “All Dems are socialists” or “All Repubs are war mongers.” So, as much as I disagree with the actions of many of today’s Republicans, I try not to say things like “today’s Republicans are only interested in using their power to hurt people.”
But damn – they sure do make that hard sometimes.
A bunch of Republican attorney generals, including our own, are suing the USDA over the school lunch program. And what are they suing about? Letting LGBTQ children get free lunches if they qualify.
As you’ll see when I post the story later, these AGs don’t couch it like that. They say the USDA overstepped its authority when it issued guidance that LGBTQ children are included in the groups that states can’t discriminate against in any program that receives federal funding. And of course, the free/reduced school lunch program is one of those programs.
But here’s my question: Why would any attorney general disagree with this guidance? It’s like if the USDA said “you can’t use this money to commit fraud” and someone sued over that. What, you WANT to commit fraud?
So there are only two reasons these Republican AGs are suing over this:
- They want to win points with their supporters by standing up for “states’ rights.”
- Or, they actually WANT the right to discriminate against LGBTQ children.
“Oh yeah, those evil gay children – no way THEY should be allowed to each alongside OUR children. They have to eat in the BACK of the lunchroom.”
Using LGBTQ children as a political punching bag makes me sick. Using poor people as a political punching bag makes me sick. Same for Blacks, and immigrants, and women.
So as much as I try to give everyone, including all politicians, the benefit of the doubt, I also have to remember the words of Maya Angelou:
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
Miscellanea
- I started to do a News & Notes yesterday, but there just weren’t enough news items that weren’t all over the news to make it work. News & Notes is supposed to be a collection of “things you might have missed,” and yesterday the Kentucky news was pretty much all about the floods.
- I’m going to Hopkinsville! More on this in a story I’m posting later today, but I am doing a “Commonwealth Conversation” with state senator Whitney Westerfield on August 11th at the Christian County Middle School. It’s an experiment – two persons from opposite sides of the political fence discussing issues of the day in front of an audience. May work, may not – we shall see.
- If you’re in the Louisville area, save the date – my wife and I are hosting a fund-raiser for KY House Dems on September 19th. Details to come.
All for today. Thanks, as always, for reading – and for supporting the work.
Bruce
Today’s Don’t-Miss Stories
Bruce Maples
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15 Jun 2022
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The Daily Take is a newsletter containing observations and thoughts of publisher Bruce Maples, and is only available to Partners of Forward Kentucky. It is available via email, and is also available on the web site to logged-in Partners. The email version is sent to Partner members who have opted-in to receiving it via the Newsletters section of their profile.
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