Jim Banks and J.D. Vance–two MAGA Republicans–have introduced a new bill, “The College Admissions Accountability Act.” It would create “a dedicated office for investigating race discrimination in college admissions.” A rightwing publication calls it “the most dramatic effort yet to enforce the Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action.”
Wow…just wow.
As described in glowing terms by the Washington Free Beacon (the rightwing publication), the Act
would establish a special inspector general within the Education Department—separate from the Office of Civil Rights—to probe potential violations of the colorblind standard set forth in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ruled that race-conscious admissions programs violate the 14th Amendment. The bill would also bar schools that flout the decision from receiving any form of federal aid…
The bill would create a new mechanism for applicants and university employees to file discrimination claims against admissions departments. Those claims would be investigated by the special inspector general—nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate—who could then recommend enforcement actions, including the revocation of federal funds, to the secretary of education and attorney general.
The office would also submit quarterly reports to Congress on the allegations it has received and what corrective steps have been taken. That means the secretary of education and attorney general, while theoretically free to ignore the office’s recommendations, would face public pressure to lay down the law.
Universities, meanwhile, would be at constant risk of humiliation if they adopt the sort of race-based policies that have become de rigueur throughout higher education. Though focused on admissions, the bill also covers “financial aid determinations” and “academic programs,” empowering the inspector general to go after scholarships, fellowships, and research programs that exclude non-minorities.
“The federal government has given the universities free rein to discriminate against white and Asian students,” Christopher Rufo, the conservative activist behind numerous state laws banning critical race theory, said of the bill. “Senator Vance’s proposed legislation will put a stop to this.”
Rufo, you will recall, is Ron DeSantis’ go-to guy on education…
The questions just ask themselves…like, where were these proud opponents of racial discrimination when it was Black kids who were being discriminated against? (Answer: Nowhere to be found.) And what happened to those intrepid conservative warriors who were battling big government and regulatory over-reach? (Answer: It doesn’t count as over-reach if government is imposing policies that benefit White Christian guys.)
I note from the above description of the bill that these Paladins of Non-discrimination are also working hard to ensure that those greedy Black kids who somehow manage to get admitted don’t get any “extra” consideration when it comes to financial assistance.
Given Banks hostility to LGBTQ Americans, I’m only surprised that he didn’t manage to work some homophobia into his new appreciation for having government oversight and “accountability.” (Of course, I haven’t read the entire bill…)
When the Supreme Court handed down its decision on affirmative action, the Congressional Black Caucus warned that ending the consideration of race in admissions policies in higher education would have far-reaching, negative consequences. Even that Caucus, however, could not have foreseen the way White Supremicists have rushed to bully and threaten universities in order to ensure that Black applicants receive absolutely no “special” consideration. (And clearly, from the language of Banks’ bill, White guys hostile to Black kids will be the ones who get to decide what “special” consideration looks like.)
When I read the language of this bill, it prompted a twinge of nostalgia for the dear departed days of the “dog whistle.” MAGA Republicans like Banks have substituted a bugle for that whistle.
Ohio is responsible for J.D. Vance (about whom Mitt Romney recently wrote, “I don’t know that I can disrespect someone more than JD Vance”), but voters in a Hoosier Congressional district are the ones who inflicted Jim Banks on the country. Now Banks wants to take his fetid brand of MAGA fundamentalism to the U.S. Senate. WE CANNOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN.
As Brian Howey wrote when Banks was supporting Jim Jordan for speaker, “Indiana has a history of Senate lions; Banks is a House hyena.”
We have a chance to get rid of Banks in 2024. Democrat Marc Carmichael is the antithesis of Jim Banks; he would be a Senator Hoosiers could be proud of. He actually wants to be a Senator for ALL Indiana citizens.
Go to his website. Volunteer. Send him money. Tell your friends.
Help him defeat the hyena.
Keep saying Marc Carmichael over and over. And Destiny Wells, and Jennifer McCormick. Some of my friends are not even aware that there is a Democrat running for any of these offices.
At the same time some of my friends who are not exactly MAGA but lean that way are so disheartened by the dysfunction in government that they are likely to not vote at all, which helps to give a narrow path to some progress for D’s, if the Indiana Dems can get out the vote.
A pipe dream, but I need hope to get through the next year.
Trumpism sure gave the ALL CLEAR signal to all the haters. It is now ok for them to come out from under their rocks and be loud and proud. We must defeat these bastards.
I awoke from a nightmare this morning that included a dystopia from a second Trump presidency. Now this essay… I think these guys and disoriented women are setting this up. They EXPECT Trump to get reelected. They EXPECT that if the votes don’t go their way there will be a coup and violent attempt to overthrow the government.
When somebody like Liz Cheney publishes a book calling out this possibility, it must be possible. No longer are the Mike Johnsons of our country just mindless crackpots. These bastards fully intend to create the second coming of Nazi-ism.
In my nightmare, nobody stepped up to “solve” the issue of a second Trump presidency. Will anyone do that?
Sorry for your dream, Vernon, but it may become a reality. As James points out, the informed voter is few and far between, especially in Indiana. The Pathway to Trump is becoming ever more clear with the disconnect of our reality vs. the Legacy Media negativism. “People may not even vote” is a vote for Trump and bad news for the down-ticket runners.
A second Trump presidency will be like dropping a cherry on top of the sundae for the whining we get from Legacy Media. They’re just begging for it, and all the power it gives his cronies like Banks and Jordan. They’ll finally have something to write about that people will read. The Biden crime wave will be enough to keep voters home…
Bastardly assholes like Banks, Vance and their ilk are exactly who will finally push our country into a revolution. When all of the ignorant devoted Fox and Newsmax viewers finally realize they voted against their own freedoms I predict they will be on the front lines of the revolution.
A judge just ruled that John Rust can run for the Senate on the Republican ticket so I intend to vote on the Republican ticket in the Primary. If enough of us do this Banks could be defeated and kicked out of DC.
What patmcc wrote!
James Todd, to your point that the Democratic candidates at almost all levels, are almost invisible, isn’t lost on me. I’ve come to realize that for Republicans in a Red states and at the presidential level, what’s going on is a one sided partisan dog fight. With the advent of the hard core MAGA Republicans, and a partisan primary system, the only way to win, is to race to the bottom in the primaries. When you’re courting the alternate reality population of the MAGA right, the only fight that matters is the primary.
In Indiana and at the Presidential level, I don’t think there is much of a fight on the Democratic side and the primaries make little difference.
In some ways this will work out well, because once were past the primaries and the hard right candidates have to make their case to win more moderate voters, there is going to be plenty of media showing the more extreme positions these candidates took to win in the primary. At the same time, a years worth of campaigning might be gaining some name recognition, but if most voters are like me, I’ve been completely tuning out ads for an election that is half a year away.
Nancy, I applaud Rust for challenging contradictory laws that basically denied him freedom of speech, but Rust is owner of Rose Acres Farms and his company was just fined several million dollars for fixing prices on eggs. We don’t need another corrupt business man in office.
What?… “Biden crime wave…”?? Todd, whatever are you talking about?
Do you mean the blood flowing in the streets from literal daily mass shootings, encouraged by increasingly lax gun regulations? Are you saying that BIDEN is making those guns available to anyone with an unmoored petty grievance??
Or might you be referring to the wave of financial misdeeds led by the wealthiest 1% that further enrich them while further driving down the middle and working classes? BIDEN is at fault for that, too, you say…?
Or the wave of people at our borders, coming here trying to escape from violence and environmental degradation in Africa, Asia & Latin America? BIDEN is supposedly the one causing those global root problems, you say?
Is it BIDEN who is out to demonize our LGBTQ+ fellow citizens… Is that the “crime” of which you speak, namely being a discriminated minority group member?
I’m afraid you’ve got your bifocals on backwards this morning. Biden and the Democraric caucus are out to change all those situations for the better, but the voters haven’t given them the majority that they need to get the job done.
Let’s be more careful with our subtle insults, shall we?
My only question of this is: How does the actions you describe “. . . promote the general Welfare . . .” as called for in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States?
And this is important because as I’ve said before, the Preamble IS the Constitution. The rest is just the mechanics.
Why should the likes of Banks and Vance put the quietus on their plots and plans to end our democracy and install a dictator as head of state, a state which would thereafter dispense with such democratic mechanics as self-government, representative government marked by voting etc.? Why? Trump has managed to normalize conduct that in its day would have resulted in trips to the noose (see Major Andre). Today such minor political blips as 1/6 not only have been normalized but we have a Benedict Arnold in our midst who is running for president and who openly informs us that he intends to be a dictator from day one!
Dictatorship and our Constitution and the rule of law which undergirds our democracy cannot coexist, and that is THE issue come the fall of ’24, since Republicans have zero interest in governing and are fixated on the acquisition and use of power and have somehow sold such objectives to millions of blinded Americans via poor me psychology. Paradoxically, should the MAGAS succeed in the fall of ’24, the blinded will have grounds for such poor me thinking with the advent of a non-benevolent dictator marked by, inter alia, the demise of representative government, the Constitution, tri-partite government etc.
So what to do? Achtung! Vote. Get involved. Contribute to those who are running to end us of the Trumps, Banks(s) and Vances of this world. When? NOW!
I thought the thread title alluded to the end of the false premise used by Judeo-nazis to develop a two state solution.
Biden condones genocide. Genocide Joe has to go.
It’s a good thing for Vance that so few of his constituents read his book. If they had, they would know of his disdain for them.
Still no evidence of any corruption or criminal conduct, much less support for genocide, of all things, on the part of Joe Biden.
Indeed, “wow…just wow!” The hypocrisy (re Republicans’ positions on federal government regulation and interference) and the inconsistency (only caring about “discrimination” when they perceive white kids being disadvantaged) are sadly no surprise. Equally of no surprise is the total lack of understanding or caring about how diversity (of all kinds) enriches all students’ education and serves our democracy (something else that Banks and Vance and DeSantis’ appointees in Florida care little about). Having previously served as President of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, I mourn the destruction of the mission of one of our members (New College of Florida) that has occurred through the Republicans’ pursuit of an “anti-Woke” agenda. If the MAGA right has its way, this will sadly be the future of all higher education—which will merit neither of the terms—“higher” and “education.”
Evidence is being planted in the minds of faithful believers as to the need for dictatorial powers to defend the homeland, white America, the South, and the Midwest, where empty lands outpopulate humans, from the onslaught of darker skin heathens.
Is the need here less than the similar need by Israel, by Russia, by North Korea? The Middle East during the Crusades?
Let’s not disparage the hyena which is a skillful hunter and which has a matriarchal, tight social structure. They frequently clean-up messes lions leave behind.
And, as a bumper sticker I saw recently said, “Be thankful women only want equality and not revenge.” You can add minorities and LGBTQ to that sentiment.
And I know nothing about Indiana politics, but here in SC our legislative gang just decided to divest from all things Disney-related because of their “woke” ideology! Oy vey!!
Happy Hanukah!!
Black applicants (especially athletes) would “receive absolutely no “special” consideration.” Interesting.
The Biden administration supports genocide.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-vetoes-un-resolution-backed-by-many-nations-demanding-an-immediate-cease-fire-in-gaza
Let’s be honest. American liberals/Democrats couldn’t care about people of non-Caucasian skin color. The support for Ukraine vs the support for the civilians of Gaza bears this out.
Minorities in America are not stupid. They know very well any supposed support for them by Democrats is merely performative.