Weekly Roundup: Back to (Destroy) School (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)

How does a racially fueled tragedy tie into the policies of a state governor? And what sinister patterns can we uncover when we trace the origins of the ‘lone gunman’ phenomenon? Brad and Dan investigate the chilling Jacksonville shootings, the disturbing racial motivations behind the crime, and the ways these events echo the policies of Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis. .

We then shift our focus to the Christian homeschooling movement, helmed by Michael Farris, and its possible impact on public education. Discover how a group of devout millionaires are bent on uprooting the education system, alleging that schools teaching about gender identity and race are unconstitutional.

Finally, we wade into the murky intersection of Christian and Hindu nationalism, and the ways Vivek Ramaswamy is transposing the latter onto the former.
Interview: 

https://www.straightwhiteamericanjesus.com/episodes/weekly-roundup-back-to-destroy-school/

Christian home-schooler Michael Farris made parental rights a GOP issue - The Washington Post

"Everyone should be aware of Michael Farris and his influence on the Christian right," said R.L. Stollar, a children's rights advocate who was home-schooled and has long warned of the conservative home-schooling movement's political goals. "To Farris's credit, he is really good at what he does. He is really good at taking these more extreme positions and presenting them as if they are something that would just be based on common sense."

Farris, 72, has a long track record of taking stands on the right. He argued in 2003 for the authority of states to criminalize gay sex, a position the Supreme Court rejected in the landmark case Lawrence v. Texas. He aided the legal effort to keep Trump in power by overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election and has urged what he calls a "Joshua Generation" of young home-schoolers to "engage wholeheartedly in the battle to take the land," expanding the political and cultural power of conservative Christians…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/29/michael-farris-homeschoolers-parents-rights-ziklag/

How Michael P. Farris Tried to Block 2020 Election Outcome - The New York Times

… Mr. Farris's involvement in the effort, which has not previously been reported, came as part of a broad push by religious conservatives to get Mr. Trump re-elected. Their role intensified after the pandemic hit in early 2020 and states began to loosen absentee ballot rules, which the religious conservatives feared would lead to a surge in participation by liberal voters...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/us/politics/religious-conservative-michael-farris-lawsuit-2020-election.html