Doctor who infamously praised Trump's 'extraordinary physical strength and stamina' passes away at 73
January 14, 2021, 8:56 AM ET
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'Unconstitutional' religious charter school immediately hit by legal challenges in Oklahoma
June 06, 2023
Within minutes of a state charter school board in Oklahoma approving a plan on Monday to open what would be the first religious charter school in the United States, advocates for the nation's bedrock laws separating church and state announced plans to file a legal challenge against the proposal.
Allowing the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and Diocese of Tulsa to open a taxpayer-funded virtual charter school in which religious education would be a key part of the curriculum would mark "a sea change for American democracy," said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Going against the advice of its own legal counsel and disregarding extensive testimony and legal analysis from Americans United regarding why the creation of the school would violate the U.S. Constitution, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to allow the religious groups to open St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.
The school would be entirely government-funded, but like other charter schools—which have been criticized by public education advocates—it would be independently managed, in this case by the Catholic archdiocese and diocese.
"It's hard to think of a clearer violation of the religious freedom of Oklahoma taxpayers and public-school families than the state establishing the nation's first religious public charter school," said Laser. "No public school family should fear that their child will be required by charter schools to take theology classes or be expelled for failing to conform to religious doctrines. And the government should never force anyone to fund religious education."
"In a country built on the principle of separation of church and state, public schools must never be allowed to become Sunday schools," she added.
The ACLU said it would join Americans United in challenging the plan.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt applauded the decision of the board—which is made up of his appointees—but state Attorney General Gentner Drummond, also a Republican, said it was "extremely disappointing that board members violated their oath in order to fund religious schools with our tax dollars."
The U.S. Supreme Court has handed down two rulings in recent years signaling that its right-wing majority could rule in favor of the religious charter school if a case reaches the high court. Last year the court ruled 6-3 that the state of Maine was not permitted to exclude religious schools from a state tuition program, and in 2020 it ruled 5-4 that states must allow private schools to participate in state scholarships.
"Not long ago, this would have been [dead on arrival]" at the Supreme Court, said Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman. "But they're banking on the Supreme Court to break down the wall between church and state."
The Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition called the board's decision "a loss for American values, the rule of law, and our Oklahoma Constitution."
"Three unelected voices in the state of Oklahoma have put the separation of church and state in peril for the entire nation," said the group. "Oklahoma's public schools are among the lowest funded in the nation. We cannot afford to divert dollars to unconstitutional religious schools. Public education dollars must be protected for accountable public schools that welcome and serve all students."
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Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian singer whose soft, beguiling voice made "The Girl from Ipanema" a worldwide sensation in the 1960s and provided a huge boost to the budding bossa nova genre, has died at age 83, her family said.
"I come bearing the sad news that my grandmother became a star today and is next to my grandfather Joao Gilberto," Sofia Gilberto wrote on social media early Tuesday.
The singer died at home in Philadelphia, in the United States, where she had lived since the 1960s, according to Brazilian news site G1.
Gilberto was born in Salvador, capital of Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, in 1940 and was married to Joao Gilberto, a pioneer of the bossa nova genre who died in 2019.
Astrud Gilberto recorded 19 albums in her career, but she had little professional music experience when she turned "The Girl from Ipanema" -- the now-classic song by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes -- into a global smash singing the English verses alongside American saxophonist Stan Getz and her guitar-playing then-husband.
The version made Astrud Gilberto the first Brazilian to be nominated for a Grammy -- which she won, for song of the year, in 1965.
'Queen of bossa nova'
The silky-smooth song changed Gilberto's life, turning it upside down both personally and professionally.
As she told the story, she owed her popularity to an off-the-cuff suggestion by Joao Gilberto while they were recording it in New York to try singing in English.
"That song is going to make you famous," Getz told her in the studio.
It was apparently not just her music that wowed the saxophonist -- and vice versa.
She ended up leaving her husband for Getz and moving to the United States permanently.
But that turbulent period in her life produced some of the best-loved recordings of all time, including the live album of the three friends' concert at New York's Carnegie Hall in October 1964.
Aged just 24 at the time, Gilberto suffered from stage fright, which she overcame by taking theater classes at the Stella Adler acting academy.
The coy young brunette wowed audiences with her satin voice, which she took on tour with Getz. She earned the nickname "The Queen of Bossa Nova," bringing the syncopated, relaxed Brazilian musical style to the world.
She remained in the US after separating from Getz, continuing her career with hits such as "Fly Me to the Moon" (1972) and "Far Away" (1977), and turning to songwriting with the albums "Astrud Gilberto Now" and "That Girl from Ipanema."
After a career touring the world, she retired from the stage in 2001. She was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame the following year.
In 2008, she was awarded a Latin Grammy for lifetime achievement.
'Incomparable swing'
The music world mourned the passing of one of its iconic voices.
"Farewell Astrud Gilberto," English rocker Tim Burgess, frontman for alternative rock band the Charlatans, wrote on Twitter, alongside a black-and-white video of a shy-looking Gilberto performing "Girl from Ipanema" in a vintage 60s beehive.
"Her contribution to bring Brazilian music to the world was immeasurable. Her incomparable swing and good taste will remain with me always," American musician Mark Lambert wrote on Instagram.
It was the latest loss for Brazilian music lovers, after rock icon Rita Lee died last month at age 75 and popular music legend Gal Costa, a leading figure in the "Tropicalia" movement, died in November at 77.
Bebel Gilberto, Joao Gilberto's daughter and a singer-songwriter herself, called Astrid her "eternal Muse."
"(May) you sing with birds and angels," she wrote on Instagram.
© 2023 AFP
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Oregon AG announces probe of Fox Corp. board for broadcasting 'false claims' about 2020 election
June 06, 2023
Fox News' willingness to promote the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump has cost the right-wing cable news outlet a lot of time and money.
In April, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787,500 to settle a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit. And Fox News is still facing a separate $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion competitor Smartmatic.
On Monday, June 5, Democratic Oregon Ellen Rosenblum announced that she was conducting an investigation of Fox Corp.'s board of directors — which, she alleges, may have failed to live up to its obligations when it promoted the Big Lie. The Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, according to the Associated Press, owns over 250,000 shares of Fox stock.
Rosenblum is conducting the investigation with Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read, a fellow Democrat.
Rosenblum announced, "Treasurer Read and I believe that Fox's board of directors breached its fiduciary duties by allowing Fox News to broadcast false claims that Dominion and Smartmatic rigged the 2020 presidential election. We hope to hold the board accountable and protect the long-term value of Oregon's investment in Fox Corp."
Oregon's state attorney general has a track record when it comes to pushing back against MAGA election lies.
In December 2020, 12 Republicans serving in the Oregon State Legislature sent Rosenblum a letter asking her to join far-right Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit — which urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the election results in four states that President Joe Biden won: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.
But Rosenblum did the exact opposite. Instead of joining Paxton in Texas v. Pennsylvania, she expressed her total contempt for his lawsuit — which the High Court rejected.
On December 11, 2021, Rosenblum tweeted, "Today I joined 22 AGs in filing a brief opposing Texas' last-minute attempt to have the U.S. Supreme Court take the election from the American people. Texas has no business interfering in other states' elections! The sooner the Court rejects this latest outrage, the better."
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