Oklahoma seeks to buy 55,000 Bibles – exactly like the ones Trump is hawking
State’s bid cites requirements that $60 Trump-endorsed God Bless the USA Bible appears to be tailor-made to meet
Oklahoma’s top education official is seeking to buy 55,000 Bibles for public schools and specifying that each copy contain the Declaration of Independence and US constitution, which are not commonly found in Bibles but are included in one endorsed by former president Donald Trump.
The request is part of Republican state superintendent Ryan Walters’ ongoing efforts to require Bibles in every classroom, which has been met with resistance by some of Oklahoma’s largest school districts.
Walters is seeking to spend $3m in state funds for Bibles that fit a certain criteria, including that the pages are supplemented with US historical materials. The Bibles must also be “bound in leather or leather-like material for durability”, according to state bidding documents posted this week.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/05/oklahoma-schools-trump-bibleOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
it doesn't matter how the books are printed or bound....
THIS is the problem:
The point is the requirements have been tailored so that they aren’t just buying bibles for schools (already bad), but their only option meeting the requirements will be the Trump one.
The grift that keeps on grifting
What a weird, sad, loser Ryan Walters is.
Man the United States really IS a shithole third world now.
The 3rd world country with a Gucci belt*
*knockoff Gucci belt from Temu
Okay not Christian but isn't this heresy?
At this point in history ... the only legimate way to be a Christian is to just say you're one. It's about the only criteria anyone goes by now.
It used to mean something a hundred years ago ... it doesn't mean much any more
As opposed to actually practicing being kind to your neighbor. Stuff like that.
Invading jerusalem, burning witches, stuff like that.
:-)
When in the entire hostory of Christianity was that ever the metric?
Amongst christians I think there's a general consensus that they're the good guys.
Right, that's how they rationalize the atrocities.
actually believing in the religion's stuff
You can't just say you are Jewish. The Jewish community well not accept that.
Used to be kinda like that
That highly depends on the Jewish community. There isn't just one.
Plenty of ultra-Orthodox Jews would say I'm not Jewish despite being born to two Jewish parents, having a Bar Mitzvah, etc. because I don't fit into their weird little mold.
On the other hand, at the temple my mom goes to, they wouldn't care who your parents are. If you say you're Jewish and go through the motions, they'll accept you as Jewish.
On top of that, there are Jews who would say I'm not a Jew because I'm an atheist and others, like myself, who consider it an ethnicity as well as a religion and argue that if those Jews are right, Larry David isn't Jewish either. Neither are Billy Crystal, William Shatner, Sarah Silverman, and so many other people that Jews often claim as their own.
I've been called an antisemite by Jews that support Israel when they find out I don't. That's how messed up it all is.
Not a US citizen either but isn't this a first amendment violation?
I’m an American ex Christian and yeah it’s definitely both
the source material is all created and editted by men under orders from the king of england at the time. inasmuch as it was a royal effort i suppose it could be considered heretical but not in an ecclesiastical sense
"Golden Calf? No you're the golden Calf"
Yes, in multiple ways... adding to the scriptures, promoting a man-made government, and the state government promoting a religion, which is barred by the first amendment.
I called it once they announced the bible thing lmao:
https://sh.itjust.works/comment/14286107
It's such a transparent grift I just can't.
Wait until you hear about the $100k concepts of a watch they're selling worldwide for cash OR bitcoin. It's basically tailor made to allow foreign agents to send money to trump anonymously.
I saw the ad but missed a piece about bitcoin. Probably because I was overwhelmed with their worse-than-parody looks and presentation.
The more you look into it the better it gets. It's basically a drop ship scam run out of a random office in Wyoming (? IIRC) where the only other registered business sells honey to treat erectile dysfunction.
And from what I've read by people who really know watches, they're pieces of shit too.
I mean, yeah, it's a drop ship front designed to be a money laundering pipe for foreign agents to send money to a Trump business. The product doesn't actually matter.
Oh yeah, I expected nothing else. I just think it's funny that watch collectors and experts took one look at them and said, "yeah, that's a piece of shit." They didn't even have to see the insides.
Say whaaaaaa
We are on the ride to hell, but goddamit they have amusing sights on the way.
Ha, nice.
He does know that Trump isn't going to pay him the kickback promised for this deal, right?
Well, he's Trump. He's like the anti-Lannister. A Trump never pays his debts.
Well it’s a cult, so I doubt any kickback was promised.
Misappropriating funds to buy religious texts for a public school while insisting that the text includes the constitution that makes it misappropriation in the first place is some next level bullshit
...and doing it with requirements that funnel state education funds to a political candidate is just...chef's kiss
I know I shouldn't be but I'm just kind of astonished.
I get that some states are predominantly red voters, but how many people must be involved in this process, and among them not a single person with a shred of integrity. I'm a lefty, but I'd like to think that if I was in a position to have any input into a process like this, I'm pretty sure I would be screaming blue bloody murder, even if the money was going to my own preferred party.
It's just so embarrassingly obviously corrupt. I would be genuinely ashamed to be involved, even if my involvement was simply not saying anything.
The problem is that you are not involved. Most normal honest people want nothing to do with politics, so we are run by corrupt pieces of shit.
The shipments of the Koran and Torah are on the way too, right?
And the Satanic Bible of course. And Nietzsche for the atheist philosophers, prose and poetic eddas for us heathens, some text or another for Wicca, and a Latin edition of Ars Goetia... right? No? Then I smell religious favoritism worthy of the supreme court.
I heard it has a copy of the constitution/bill of rights in it, missing amendments 11 - 17, because a lot of those prevent his coup, and allow for his prosecution.
Those morons probably get the Ten Commandments and the Amendments confused if they're missing that many.
It's not that they cut any in particular, they just only included the Bill of Rights, which isn't uncommon when pairing them with the Constitution. Not defending them, still a grift going on here, but that particular detail isn't as nefarious as some people want to think. At least, not on its own.
It’s definitely a bad way to handle the constitution though. Not saying it’s not common, but the repeal of the 18th amendment is just as much a part of the constitution as the right to bear arms and the duties of the legislature
Seems like it's time to publish an annotated Bible that meets the criteria and costs much less than Trump's bible.
Skeptic’s Annotated Bible
Spread the word!
They thought of that and don't allow any other commentary in the book, otherwise I could see a great opportunity for the satanic temple to get into book publishing.
Hmm, going to need to review the bidding documents, but I'm sure we can find an opportunity to make him regret being so specific.
Edit: After reading the bidding documents, there's a number of opportunities for malicious compliance. They don't specify a size, a language, or anything more than the contents. So it might be tempting to make one that's floormat sized or printed in a font that fits on a single page of water-soluble paper bound in leatherette.
But I think the better thing would just be to print the books as requested. Make a KJV Bible with the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and whatever other bullshit they asked for, get it printed exactly to spec, and do it for a fraction of the cost of the Trump bible. It won't coat $55 to produce them, and then Oklahoma won't be able to justify spending a premium to buy from Trump.
Then donate all of the money to actual education programs.
Yeah, undercutting in price is probably the best approach. If they still pick Trump's book there's probably legal options.
Exactly. We know this is transparent corruption, but they're going to get away with it because it's a garbage state nobody cares about. But it's still America.
Every single word of this is horribly disappointing. Even words like ‘the’ and ‘an’ are ashamed to be associated with this story. Jesus wept.
What a waste of money.
Thank god no kids are getting fed at school with that money!
-Republicans, presumably
55k would make one helluva beautiful bonfire
Still can after the fact too
This comes out to $55/book. Outrageous!
Quick, someone run a Kickstarter for leatherette bound "Bibles" that meet the criteria and unfold into a doormat
Got less than 2 weeks to fill the RFP. He made it a narrow window.
I love the article, it involves the highest to the lowest levels and touches on religious hypocrisy, corruption, ass kissing. Basically every defining aspect of the republican way of life plays a role in such a tiny little story.
I really would rather my taxes not go to dipshit Donald or geriatric Joe. There are roads that need fixing and libraries that need funding.
$60 for a Bible? $60? I mean I knew it was a scam but that's like a triple scam.
All the weird shit aside this is exactly the problem with school funding in our country. It's usually not this blatantly obvious and corrupt but this happens all the time. So many schools spend millions of dollars on teaching resources another nonsense that's just direct handouts for political purposes. Every year teachers and Librarians are just inundated with garbage that the district spend obscene amounts of money on that nobody needs or wants. It's all dirty politics.
I’m so glad I don’t live in that shithole
Doesnt seem like news to me. Neither truly new/interesting or impactful. 3 m$ is less than a Cent per person.
$3 million from a state with a population of 4 million