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- CelebrityPeople
Kelly Ripa Says She 'Shut Down' Daughter Lola's Debit Card After She Ordered Too Much Postmates
Kelly Ripa Shut Down Daughter's Debit Card After Postmates Orders
196196 reactions - U.S.The Daily Beast
Supreme Court Poised to Overturn 38 State Constitutional Amendments on Church-State Separation
Religious conservatives asked the Supreme Court Wednesday to overturn 38 state constitutional amendments and require taxpayers to fund religious schools.You read that right. The case, Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue isn’t about whether a state may fund religious schools through a school choice, voucher, or similar program. It’s about whether it must.And the conservatives might just win.At issue in the case, probably the most significant church-state case on the 2019-20 docket, is Montana’s “no-aid” amendment to its state constitution, which was revised and passed in 1972. Like similar amendments in 37 other states, it prohibits “direct or indirect funding” for any “sectarian purpose.”In 2015, the state legislature passed a law that gave a tax credit of up to $150 for donations to a school scholarship program. But in 2018, the Montana Supreme Court struck down the program, saying it violated the 1972 constitutional provision.[JM1] That’s when a group of religious organizations upped the ante. They went to the Supreme Court, seeking not just to reinstate the program but to toss out the “no-aid” amendment entirely – and, as a consequence, invalidate 37 similar amendments across the country.That would open the floodgates to the funding of religious schools, especially since the plaintiffs argue that not funding them—previously the constitutional norm—is actually a form of discrimination.As in many of these cases, how Espinoza looks depends on how you frame it.For conservatives, this is discrimination. If I want to send my child to a secular private school, I can receive funding (or a voucher, or a scholarship, or whatever). But if I want to send her to a religious one, I can’t.Moreover, the religious groups accurately note, “no-aid” amendments were originally passed in a wave of anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant animus in the 1870s and 1880s. They’re sometimes called “Blaine Amendments,” after Rep. James Blaine, a leading Republican[JM2] of his day who proposed a federal constitutional amendment banning such funding. That effort failed, but numerous “Baby Blaine” amendments passed on the state level.Today, they may seem like liberal walls between church and state. But 150 years ago, they were motivated by anti-Italian, anti-Irish, and overall anti-Catholic prejudice. (Even the word “sectarian” as opposed to “religious” was code for Catholic.)For liberals, however, public funding of religious schools is blatantly unconstitutional.Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said on a press call prior to the case that “it’s a total and utter perversion of the Constitution… to mandate support for a particular religion.”The justices seemed divided at oral argument.Justice Stephen Breyer seemed concerned that if the plaintiffs win here, states would have to radically restructure how they fund education. After all, isn’t it discrimination to fund public, secular schools more than private religious ones?(Incidentally, RBG fans can take heart: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was as lively and combative as ever, and focused on whether the Court should even be hearing the state constitutional challenge in the first place.)But Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch suggested that ruling for the plaintiffs wouldn’t represent such a radical change. Even if the no-aid amendments are wiped out, states would still be free not to fund private education in general. It’s only when states choose to fund some private education that they must make funding available to both religious and secular institutions.Oddly, the practical result of that position isn’t very different from that of the Montana supreme court, which tossed out the program in toto. Except that the conservative justices’ position might well overturn 37 state constitutional amendments in the process.Chief Justice John Roberts, working on very few hours’ sleep after presiding at the impeachment trial of the president, said a bit less than usual, though he did crack two jokes. But if the case splits on ideological lines, Roberts will again find himself as the deciding vote.Which way will he go? Recent cases, including the 2017 case of Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, suggest he may favor the religious plaintiffs. In Trinity Lutheran, Roberts was able to win over Justices Elana Kagan and Breyer, and the Court voted 7-2 to uphold a program that made state money available to private schools – religious and secular – for playground renovations. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion narrowly, but his language still made clear that he views these cases as about discrimination against religious people, rather than public funding of religious organizations.The First Amendment, he wrote, allows a state “to extend that public benefit to all its citizens regardless of their religious belief.” And denying funds to the religiously-affiliated school “expressly discriminates against otherwise eligible recipients by disqualifying them from a public benefit solely because of their religious character.”That would suggest a ruling for Espinoza and the other religious plaintiffs here. If this case is about discrimination, the plaintiffs win.The trouble with this supposedly “moderate” result is that Montana’s program is actually more modest than many of the “school choice” programs promoted by, among others, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her family’s multi-million-dollar foundations.Montana, after all, only offered a $150 tax credit for donors to an overall pool of money. (Indeed, it seems designed to gradually push the boundaries of constitutional law.) What about states that would grant a dollar-for-dollar tax credit up to the total amount of a private school tuition?For example, full-price tuition at one of the Montana religious schools in the case runs between $6,900 and $8,700. That’s far more than most people pay in state taxes. So if Montana’s more modest program is reinstated and the no-aid amendments are struck down, other, less modest programs could easily be put into place. The result could be a massive shift in revenue from state coffers to the bank accounts of religious schools.That would, of course, please DeVos and other religious conservatives, but it would also starve public education.Moreover, while the Blaine Amendment was indeed motivated by discriminatory animus, Montana’s own “no-aid” amendment was passed in 1972 when the constitution as a whole was rewritten. In its filings with the Supreme Court, the state quoted several participants from those debates; they denied that any anti-religious animus was at play, and, on the contrary, noted that many religious leaders wanted the amendment in order to keep government out of religious schools’ business.That revised constitution passed 80-17.Finally, religious conservatives’ argument in Espinoza flies in the face of conservatives’ usual promotion of federalism and states’ rights. When states seek to restrict voting access, allow discrimination against LGBT people, or ban abortion, “states’ rights” is a right-wing rallying cry. But now, when 37 states prohibit taxpayer dollars from flowing to religious institutions, suddenly it’s not that important.In a way, the Espinoza case is an apt reflection of how religious conservatives (including many extremists) have benefited from their support of Trump. Most eyes are focused on Chief Justice Roberts’s other job of the moment, with its high drama and political machinations. But while Trump’s antics deservedly get the spotlight, just out of view are a group of well-funded religious conservatives who are totally remaking church and state in America. They most likely scored another victory today.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
- PoliticsReuters
As Trump trial starts, Pelosi's star rises with opening of one-woman theatrical show
"The Adult in the Room," which started to take shape about a year ago, was "fast-tracked" to keep pace with the events leading to the president's impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, playwright Bill McMahon told WBBM radio. McMahon's play primarily tells the story of Pelosi, a Democrat who is now serving her 17th term representing a California congressional district.
- BusinessAssociated Press
Air bag woes force Honda, Toyota to recall 6M vehicles
Two different air bag glitches have forced Toyota and Honda to recall over 6 million vehicles worldwide, and both problems present different dangers to motorists. The Toyota recall affects about 3.4 million vehicles globally and is being done because the air bags may not inflate in a crash. The cars have air bag control computers made by ZF-TRW that are vulnerable to electrical interference and may not signal the bags to inflate.
- BusinessBloomberg
Guggenheim Says Market a ‘Ponzi Scheme’ That Must Collapse
(Bloomberg) -- Sign up here to receive the Davos Diary, a special daily newsletter that will run from Jan. 20-24.Scott Minerd has a message for his fellows at Davos who are applauding rallying markets: Things aren’t as good as they seem.The Guggenheim Partners investment chief likened the inflation of asset prices caused by the loose money policies of central banks to a “ponzi scheme” that eventually must collapse.“We will reach a tipping point when investors will awake to the rising tide of defaults and downgrades,” he wrote in a letter from the World Economic Forum meeting. “The timing is hard to predict, but this reminds me a lot of the lead-up to the 2001 and 2002 recession.”Minerd’s warning to clients came before U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to a delegation in Davos, where he faulted the U.S. Federal Reserve for trying to raise interest rates and said the central bank took too long to lower them. The European Central Bank will on Thursday decide about the direction of interest rates as officials weigh the extent of an economic slowdown.Minerd cited rising defaults despite a rally in riskier assets, and reiterated a warning that BBB-rated bonds risk further downgrades. He said that type of debt is at a greater risk of deterioration than it was in 2007.Anne Walsh, Guggenheim’s fixed-income chief, said in an interview that 15% of the U.S. economy is already in recession. She said the Federal Reserve’s efforts to pump liquidity into markets has created “zombie companies” that may see an outflow of capital as the utility of that money continues to diminish, she said.The longer that this market runs, the harder the fall will be when it ends, she said.“Patience will lead to bigger opportunities for disciplined investors who don’t wander off into exotic asset classes or chase current returns,” Minerd wrote in the letter.(Updates with quotes in the final paragraph and context in paragraph four.)To contact the reporters on this story: Ross Larsen in Rome at rlarsen2@bloomberg.net;Sonali Basak in New York at sbasak7@bloomberg.net;Sridhar Natarajan in New York at snatarajan15@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam at sbhaktavatsa@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen, Stefania BianchiFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- WorldYahoo News UK
Coronavirus: Government updates advice over fears deadly disease may spread to UK
At least 17 people have so far died after contracting the disease.
