Superintendent Ryan Walters isn’t just talking about buying Bibles for schools.
Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications: Bibles must be the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material.
A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 Bibles, none fit the parameters.
But one Bible fits perfectly: Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement.
Mardel doesn’t carry the God Bless the U.S.A. Bible or another Bible that could meet the specifications, the We The People Bible, which was also endorsed by Donald Trump Jr. It sells for $90.
“The RFP on its face seems fair, but with additional scrutiny, we can see there are very few Bibles on the market that would meet these criteria, and all of them have been endorsed by former President Donald Trump,” Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Colleen McCarty said.
Any Republican hack can systematically violate the First Amendment. But how many can clear this much profit from the taxpayers? God Bless the USA indeed! Roy Moore was a piker.
There’s been something of a move away from Florida for a certain kind of retiree who wants to live in a nice place (what that ever had to do with Florida, I have no idea) but were scared of climate change. One area where they have moved is Asheville, which is a nice place, to be fair. But part of it was the idea that it was a “climate haven.” This I do not understand. First, there are no climate havens. It doesn’t work that way. The actions of humans–a species intelligent enough to transform the world but too stupid to manage those transformations–will come from all of us in some way no matter where we live. But second, this is Appalachia, a wet land of creeks in narrow valleys with steep slopes. Do you want what happens when it rains a lot on narrow valleys with steep slopes? The creeks rise. I mean, there’s a whole genre of folk songs about floods in Appalachia! So this entire framing is just complete nonsense. Unfortunately, a lot of people found out about this recently.
As Hurricane Helene ravaged the southeastern United States, Tampa General Hospital managed to ward off flooding using this AquaFence system. Unlike sandbags, these barrier wall systems are reusable, and can be stored flat.
The design is simple, but ingenious: The more water they're keeping out, the stronger the structure becomes. That's because each component is L-shaped, braced diagonally with steel struts, and designed to be used with the bottom of the L pointed towards the water. As floodwaters rise, they weigh down on the bottom of that L, anchoring each component in place. The upright of the L cannot collapse, because it is held fast by the high tensile strength of the steel braces.
< em="">
In this video released by the hospital, you can see how effective the 9-foot-tall barriers are: