Depends, how many GOP candidates are left?
The bill that was introduced didn’t define “Intelligent Design.” All you need to know about it, though, is that there’s no scientific support for the idea. It stands in direct opposition to evolution and is nothing more than a religious myth promoted by Christians as a way to push God into the classroom using a plausibly legal framework since Creationism wouldn’t make the cut.
(Even more bizarre? The bill added that clause to a part of the state code that currently says teachers can’t be forced to change a grade and that teachers should decide if a student can move on to the next grade level… which is to say they shoved this pro-Creationism bit in the first place they could find.)
This is nothing more than an attempt to destroy science classes by giving teachers leeway (and legal cover) to spread misinformation to students.
It did, however, undergo one change before it passed out of the committee on Tuesday: The phrase “intelligent design” was replaced with “scientific theories.” The latest version of the bill now says teachers can’t be prevented “from discussing or answering questions from students about scientific theories of how the universe and/or humanity came to exist.”
That… makes the entire bill meaningless.
Teachers can already talk about those theories in the classroom. What they can’t do is lie to students by responding with ideas that have no basis in science… like Intelligent Design or Creationism. If this revised bill passed, it would still be illegal to teach Intelligent Design as if it had any legitimacy among scientists.
To put it another way, if teaching “scientific theories” about the origins of our existence are permitted in the classroom, that would, by definition, exclude Intelligent Design and Creationism, which aren’t scientific.
Not that Republicans seemed to understand any of this.
“Why did Superintendent Walters appoint a social media influencer to the state’s Library Media Advisory Committee? What are her qualifications? Is she a librarian? No. Education background? No. Does she even live in Oklahoma?" said state Rep. Mickey Dollens, D-Oklahoma City. "No. Is she a right-wing extremist social media influencer responsible for perpetuating repeated bomb threats on Oklahoma public schools? Yes. We cannot overlook why Superintendent Walters made this controversial appointment."
Dollens said it was just last week, that news reports surfaced that showed Walters used taxpayer dollars to expense his travel to promote himself and attend media appearances, speaking engagements and a horror movie premiere, despite an order from the governor’s office banning public spending for most out-of-state travel.
Oh, you'll forge treaties with the country of texas. See, they got OIL! And without the US federal government to cut the states welfare cheque, it'll be a third world country. And what does the US do to third world countries, with oil?Not to mention that if a state ever secedes from the US, it's because we're letting them, and the only reason we would do that is if we hate them so much we want to be rid of them. In which case there probably won't ever be any treaties or trade agreements. They made their bed, they can die in it alone and unloved.