Friday Politics Roundup | Debt ceiling; DeSantis announces; IN abortion doctor disciplined; Stewart Rhodes gets 18 years; Ricki Chaiken gives Hilldale timeline; Bucks GOP fraudsters

As the U.S. inches closer to defaulting on its debts, reporting suggests the Biden administration and House Republicans are closer to a deal. The Biden people seem to be looking for ways to soften the blow of their cave.

Ron DeSantis officially announced that he’s running for president on Twitter. Well, sort of. The planned announcement through a Twitter live audio broadcast went horribly awry as Elon Musk once again demonstrated how he’s wreaked havoc on the platform. But, maybe it’s just par for the course for DeSantis. Bring in the autocratic clowns. 

Indiana medical board reprimands the doctor who spoke publicly about providing abortion services to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio. The case was one of the first such stories to emerge in wake of the overturning of Roe v Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. Ohio banned abortion after a heartbeat could be detected. That’s about 6 week. 

Steward Rhodes, founder of the right-wing extremist group the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in jail for his role orchestrating the January 6th violent attack on the nation’s Capitol. 

Climate scientists are bailing on Twitter after Elon Musk took over the platform, reporting a growing hostile environment, increasing levels of racism and sexism, and bots pushing climate misinformation. 

Texas approves a bill that will allow public schools to replace counselors with uncertified chaplains. 

A Mom for Liberty is working to have Amanda Gorman’s poem, “The Hill We Climb,” banned from schools on the grounds that it is “not educational” and contains “hate messages.” Gorman read her poem at Biden’s inaugural. 

And on the flip-side of the book-banning fight, The Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights has released findings saying that a Georgia school district's removal from libraries books with Black and LGBTQ content may have violated students’ civil rights. 

In new reporting by Aly Shaw in LilttleSis, we learn that the lobbying arm of Big Oil, the American Petroleum Institute, has spent nearly $1.8 million in Pennsylvania to push its interests. Aly will be coming on Out d’Coup LIVE on June 12 to talk about her piece. 

A Bucks County judge issued an injunction against Republican operatives who were distributing fake sample ballots for Region 2 of the Palisades School District during the primaries.

Pennridge School Board member Ricki Chaiken turned to a Facebook parents group to issue a lengthy, paragraph challenged screed defending the Board’s shift toward extremism and discrimination. In it, she makes it clear that fellow board member, Jordan Blomgren, had been talking with Hillsdale College’s Jordan Adams well before Adams started his for-profit consultancy, Vermillion Education. 

Perkasie Farmers Market opens on June 3rd! Woot!

Pennridge Democrats are hosting a fundraising Trivia Night on Thursday, June 8 at Free Will Brewing. Check out their FB event page for details.

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