What to Know About the Fatal Stabbing of O’Shae Sibley

On Saturday night at a gas station in Brooklyn, N.Y., a group of friends were dancing to a Beyoncé song when another group of men, who witnesses say used homophobic slurs, told them to stop. Surveillance footage shows one of the friends, O’Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old gay man who was a professional dancer, confronting the men. An argument began. Within minutes, police say, one of the men stabbed Sibley.

New York Police are investigating the fatal stabbing as a potential hate crime; Mayor Eric Adams referred to the incident as one on Monday.

Otis Pena, a close friend of Sibley’s, says he tried to stop the bleeding by pressing on the wound but Sibley was pronounced dead after being taken to Maimonides Medical Center. “They murdered him because he was gay, because he stood up for his friends,” Pena said in a video posted to Facebook hours after the stabbing.

LGBTQ advocates highlighted that the fatal stabbing comes amid a string of violent incidents. “O’Shae Sibley’s shocking murder follows a disturbing rise in violence and harassment against LGBTQ people across the U.S. This cannot continue. No one should have to fear for their safety just for being themselves,” said GLAAD director of local news Darian Aaron. “O’Shae Sibley had the audacity to live without the restraints of patriarchy and toxic masculinity, embracing freedom and joy. He should still be alive to celebrate all that made him great and inspired others to live their truth.”

Here’s what to know about the case. 

What happened to O’Shae Sibley?

Sibley stopped at a Mobil gas station in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn with his friends on Saturday around 11 p.m. E.T.

He was vogueing—a form of dance that is rooted in Harlem’s queer ballroom scene in the 1980s—to Beyoncé​​’s Renaissance before the heated argument began. The album, which critics have described as “a love letter to the Black queer roots of dance music,” has taken on a special meaning for the queer community.

Police received a call around 11:15 p.m. about a stabbing. Upon arriving, they found Sibley with a “stab wound to the torso,” according to a statement that police emailed to TIME. “There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing,” the police said in the statement.

Video obtained by the ABC 7 Eyewitness News showed some members of the victim’s group walking up to the other men before a tense conversation; after a few minutes, only the victim and suspect are seen speaking to each other. The victim walks away but the two groups then start arguing again, before the stabbing takes place.

NBC News has reported that law enforcement sources have identified the suspect as a 17-year-old who remains at large.

Summy Ullah, an employee of the store next to the gas station, told Gothamist that Sibley and his friends were approached by a group of men who said the dancing offended their Muslim faith. “These people were like ‘we’re Muslim, I don’t want you dancing,’” Ullah told Gothamist, adding that Sibley and his friends were “not trying to fight.”

“We have our own life. We can do whatever we want, you know. We’re dancing, that’s our life,” Ullah said the victim’s group told the men harassing them, according to the Daily News.

Read more: Pete Buttigieg on LGBTQ Rights: ‘I Don’t Think Anything Is Safe’

A hate-crime investigation

The NYPD confirmed to TIME that the stabbing is being investigated as a “possible biased incident.” Local leaders have publicly condemned the tragedy, speaking out against the homophobia that has cut people’s lives short. “We have an incident like we saw over the weekend where this young man was experiencing a hate crime. We will find this person. It shakes our confidence,” said New York City Mayor Adams during a Monday press conference.

O’Shae Sibley's life and beautiful spirit were cut short by homophobia. Bigotry can never take root in our city. Being a New Yorker means knowing and loving people of all backgrounds.

We'll bring justice for O'Shae's family and loved ones. His dancing joy will live on.…

— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) August 1, 2023

Sibley’s passing comes at a time of heightened fear for many within the LGBTQ community. A March 2023 report by the Marshall Project found that group-targeting incidents aimed at LGBTQ people were the category of hate crime that saw the second-greatest increase from 2020 to 2021, while gay men were the third most-targeted group overall. Meanwhile, the ACLU has tracked nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced throughout the 2023 legislative session. This trend has garnered federal attention, prompting President Joe Biden to announce a LGBTQI+ Community Safety Partnership on June 8 to better protect queer individuals in response to increased violence and hate against “individuals and community spaces.”

Sibley’s passing marks the fifth time a queer individual has been killed in the past few weeks, GLAAD reports. Other victims include 18-year-old transgender Jacob Williamson, who was killed in South Carolina after meeting with a stranger he met online on June 30, and 24-year-old Akira Ross, who was shot at a gas station in front of her partner after the gunman yelled homophobic slurs, according to a police affidavit.

Read more: Column—Queer People Must Use History as a Guide to Fight Hate

Reactions to the tragedy

GLAAD highlighted that Sibley’s killing follows a “disturbing rise in violence and harassment against LGBTQ people across the U.S.” in a statement. “This cannot continue. No one should have to fear for their safety just for being themselves.”

Sibley’s aunt Tondra told the New York Times that “all he wanted to do was dance.” As a young child, he loved “jerking” to Missy Elliot before going on to learn professional ballet. He moved from Philadelphia to pursue more opportunities, she said.

Neighbor Beckenbaur Hamilton told NBC News that he had warned Sibley to be careful. “There’s no progress…we live here in a community where we have to pretend to be somebody else,” Hamilton said.

The dance studio where Sibley was a student posted a statement mourning his death on social media. The Ailey Extension described him as a “cherished and devoted” student with “incredible energy.” 

“We are shocked and heartbroken that O’Shae’s life has been taken by senseless violence and extend our sincere condolences to his family and loved ones,” the statement read.

Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a state senator in New York who is gay, tweeted that “gay joy is not a crime. Hate-fueled attacks are.”

Beyoncé offered her condolences, too—posting on her website, “rest in power O’Shae Sibley.”

source https://time.com/6300545/oshae-sibley-stabbing-gas-station/

Why Ukraine’s Civilian Volunteers Are the Unsung Heroes of the War

We traveled east from Kyiv in a three-vehicle convoy. Two were bound for delivery to Ukrainian forces just behind the fiercely contested frontline in Donetsk, the third was our ride home. A faded-yellow delivery van led the way, followed by a vaguely tactical-green Nissan pickup truck, and then us in a surplus Latvian police car in the rear. As a U.S. Army veteran, these vehicles seemed more fit for a junkyard than a battlefield. But thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a supply chain ill-prepared to handle the destruction of Europe’s bloodiest combat since World War II, these vehicles are soon to be war horses. And the cavalry delivering them aren’t combat trained soldiers, they’re three of many Ukrainian civilians doing whatever it takes to help defend their home.

Ukraine has defied expectations against an adversary with far greater resources and manpower. Political leaders and analysts frequently tout advanced Western-supplied weapons as the key to Ukraine’s success in defending against Russian aggression. Military aid packages are undoubtedly vital—just ask any Kyiv resident depending on Patriot air defense systems to survive nightly air strikes. But a visit near the frontline in Bakhmut reveals a harsh reality: soldiers rely on civilian volunteers to meet their most urgent survival needs.

Read More: The Spirit of Ukraine and TIME’s 2022 Person of the Year

It’s a point that many Ukrainians emphasize, not least of them Maryan Zablotsky, a lawmaker who later told me that military commanders estimate that 60% of their material support early in the war came from volunteers.

“Volunteers provide and fundraise for stuff that governments can’t provide: [commercial] drones, used cars, heating, most tactical medication and related training,” Zablotsky said. The lawmaker emphasized that “initially nearly all personal [body]armor was provided by volunteers,” and that nearly all non-armored vehicles and drones continue to come from volunteers.

Some 500 days into the war, the Russian war-machine remains relentless, despite massive losses. Ukraine has lost a great deal of equipment early into its “slow” and “bloody” counteroffensive, which has recently escalated. Ukraine’s survival hinges not only on state security assistance, but on civil society’s capacity to fill critical logistical gaps.

During my trip east, I rode with members of Free Spirit, a charity group of lawyers and marketers that communicates with soldiers at the frontline, identifies units’ immediate needs, and delivers whatever they can procure. They’ve provided over 400 vehicles, 75 communications devices like Starlink receivers and satellite phones, 13 tons of batteries and generators, 60 portable power stations, a handful of reconnaissance drones, and over 100 tons of basic necessities like food, cots, mattresses, and clothing.

But there are countless organizations that share this mission, based everywhere from Kyiv to the U.S. They supply lifesaving, nonlethal aid with a speed that government aid cannot match. Oleksandr, an officer in the 97th Separate Battalion who asked that his full name not be printed because of safety concerns, told me that an “absence of bureaucracy” is what makes civilian volunteers so nimble. “When the state buys [equipment], it will take months. Volunteers can deliver it in a week. Such mobility helps to save many lives of our fighters,” he said.

Oleskandr described a recent battle in Bakhmut. A squad of Ukrainians, facing likely death under overwhelming Russian fire, flew a commercial drone sourced from civilian volunteers out of desperation. The enemy fled, falsely thinking the drone was armed, allowing all 12 Ukrainians to retreat to safety.

Without civilian support, Alex Cherniavskyi, the Free Spirit co-founder who led our convoy, thinks many units would lose twice as many lives. Zablotsky, the lawmaker, said that may be an underestimate. “I think without the support of volunteers, both civilian and military deaths would have been at least three times higher.”

Few of our frontline aid recipients are career soldiers. Among them were a coal miner, a proud new grandparent, the spouse of an MP, a cobbler who recounted Russian soldiers raiding his family home, and a pregnant deputy commander. Mykyta Lepeshov, a combat medic who worked as a copywriter and engineer before the war, bluntly told me they’d be “doomed” without civilian volunteers. He said that 50% of wounded soldiers today are saved by medics using equipment donated by civilian volunteers.

While many forms of aid are needed, the unseemly vehicles we used to travel east are a priority. Within earshot of artillery fire are countless sedans, pickups, and SUVs with hastily spraypainted green-camouflaged exteriors, driven by soldiers. Over 60,000 vehicles have been imported into Ukraine to meet military and humanitarian needs, many sourced by organizations like Free Spirit. Most donated vehicles are unarmored, and highly vulnerable to enemy fire.

During our trip to the frontline, one of the soldiers we assisted briefly took the wheel of that old Latvian police car. At first, I found his driving reckless, but I later realized it’s muscle memory. He was driving aggressively at 90 miles per hour on roads designed for speeds less than half that, swerving when needed to avoid craters. Racing to avoid artillery shelling in these rust-and-bullet-ridden vehicles is how he survives.

Most Americans support continued military aid to Ukraine. By delivering vehicles and other equipment directly to the frontline, local NGOs play a vital role in plugging the holes in the slow and often unwieldy fulfillment process of government aid packages. These organizations rely on grassroots funding; supporting them can have an immediate, lifesaving impact.

On the return trip to Kyiv, we punctured a tire. A spare would’ve taken up valuable space for aid, so we were stuck. Within mere minutes, two good samaritans pulled over and replaced our tire with their spare. Understanding what we were doing on the frontline, they refused payment. We shared breakfast together instead. This vehicle was soon delivered to a firefighting brigade, those passersby just two more members of the volunteer-led supply chain, whose impact must not be overlooked.

source https://time.com/6300653/why-ukraine-civilian-volunteers-matter/

NATO Nations Beef Up Security After Wagner Fighters Arrive in Belarus

WARSAW, Poland — NATO allies located along the alliance’s eastern front are growing increasingly worried about the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus, where some have been deployed since a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June.

Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia—members of NATO and the European Union which border Belarus—had already been on alert since large numbers of migrants and refugees began arriving at their borders from Belarus two years ago. They have accused Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russia, of opening the migration route in an act of “hybrid warfare” aimed at creating instability in the West.

Now concerns have grown further since the Wagner troops began arriving in Belarus after their short-lived mutiny in Russia.

Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said on the weekend that some 100 Wagner fighters in Belarus had approached the border with Poland, specifically a strategically sensitive area known as the Suwalki Gap.

“Now the situation becomes even more dangerous,” Morawiecki told reporters. “This is certainly a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.”

Read More: COLUMN: What Led to Wagner’s Mutiny in Russia

An incident Tuesday added further to the concerns, with two Belarusian helicopters entering Polish air space at low altitude while carrying out exercises.

Poland’s Ministry of Defense reported that incident to NATO, which said Wednesday that it is monitoring the situation.

“NATO is closely tracking the situation along its eastern borders, including yesterday’s incident where two Belarussian military helicopters briefly crossed into Polish airspace at low altitude,” a NATO official said on customary condition of anonymity. “We are in close contact with the Polish authorities on this matter, and we will continue to do what is necessary to ensure all Alliance territory remains secure.”

Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia say they have been deploying more troops and equipment to their borders.

Guntis Pujats, head of Latvia’s State Border Guard, told Latvian media Wednesday that security risks in the immediate vicinity of the Belarus border have been high since Minsk started using migrants as a tool of “hybrid warfare” but have grown with the arrival of the Wagner group. He said border guards have started training a special task force in response.

Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda said this week that it would be tempting for the Wagner group to use its presence near the Lithuanian border “for various provocations.”

“So I think the threat is serious,” Nauseda said during a visit Monday to a site on the border with Belarus where seven Lithuanian officers were murdered by Soviet paratroopers 32 years ago.

Others have suggested that one shouldn’t overestimate the capabilities of the armed group.

Laurynas Kasciunas, chairman of the Seimas National Security and Defense Committee, told reporters that Wagner mercenaries in Belarus with their current combat power do not pose a conventional military threat. Whether they pose a great threat in the future, he said, “will depend on further scenarios, how they are armed and their orders.”

In Poland, some critics of the government believe that it is overstating the threat in order to present itself as tough on security ahead of parliamentary elections this fall. Opposition leader Donald Tusk accused the ruling party of using Wagner to stoke fear ahead of the elections, something the party has denied.

Some Poles also faulted the authorities for refusing to initially acknowledge that the Belarusian helicopters had entered Poland’s airspace on Tuesday. At first, the military insisted that the Belarusian aircraft had not entered Poland. But after local residents posted photos on social media of aircraft with Belarusian insignia several kilometers from the border inside Poland, the Defense Ministry put out a statement saying it was true.

Read More: Russia’s Notorious Wagner Group Is Being Disbanded. Here’s What That Means for Ukraine

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said earlier this week the United States views the Wagner group—whose forces have fought in Ukraine and also operated in Africa—as a threat.

“We have seen their malign efforts on the continent of Africa. So we certainly worry that this group, at the behest of the Russian government—because they do not work independently of the Russian government—is a threat to all of us,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Monday. “And we have to ensure that the message is clear that any attacks by the Wagner Group will be seen as an attack by the Russian government.”

—Lorne Cook in Brussels, Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Finland, and Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, contributed reporting.

source https://time.com/6300678/nato-security-belarus-wagner/

What to Know About Jonathan Majors’ Domestic Violence Trial

The trial for Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence case is set to begin on Aug. 3, with the 33-year-old actor facing up to a year in jail if he is convicted on misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment.

Majors was initially arrested in March and charged with misdemeanor assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault, harassment, and strangulation following an alleged domestic dispute with his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. The strangulation charge was later dropped, and Majors has pleaded not guilty to the other four charges.

Majors’ star was on the rise ahead of his arrest, with breakout turns in the HBO series Lovecraft Country, Marvel’s Loki TV show and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania movie, and the Michael B. Jordan-directed blockbuster Creed III swiftly turning him into a household name.

In the wake of the charges, Majors’ management company, Entertainment 360, and PR firm, The Lede Company, both dropped the actor as a client, according to Deadline. In April, Variety reported that additional people had come forward alleging abuse by Majors and were cooperating with the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

“Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone,” said his attorney Priya Chaudhry in a statement released in April. “We have provided irrefutable evidence to the District Attorney that the charges are false. We are confident that he will be fully exonerated.”

In June, Rolling Stone published a lengthy story citing over two dozen sources who claimed that Majors has a history of abusive behavior in both his personal and professional life, dating back a decade to his time at Yale’s David Geffen School of Drama. “It was pervasively known that he was [a good actor], and that he also would terrorize the people that he had dated,” one unnamed source told the magazine.

Dustin Pusch, another of Majors’ attorneys, “vehemently” denied all allegations put forward in Rolling Stone‘s report in a statement to the publication, specifically denouncing claims that Majors had abused two women he dated—one physically, and both emotionally.

“These allegations are based entirely on hearsay because neither of the romantic partners referenced were willing to engage with Rolling Stone for the article—demonstrating their outright falsity,” Pusch said.

Here’s what to know about Jonathan Majors’ forthcoming trial.

What is Jonathan Majors on trial for?

Majors was arrested on March 25 in New York City when police responded to a 911 call in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. At the time, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson said in a statement that a 30-year-old woman, the then-unnamed Jabbari, had “sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to an area hospital in stable condition.”

In May, prosecutors filed an updated account of the incident in which Jabbari alleged that Majors violently grabbed her finger, twisted her arm behind her back, and struck her on the face with an open hand, cutting her ear. She also claimed that Majors pushed her into a car, causing her to fall backward. Jabbari was granted a full temporary order of protection against Majors in April that remains in place.

How has Majors’ legal team responded?

Majors’ attorneys have gone on the offensive in response to the charges, claiming that Jabbari’s accusations are false and that it was she who assaulted Majors during the altercation rather than the other way around.

On June 21, Majors filed his own domestic violence complaint in which he alleged that a “drunk and hysterical” Jabbari scratched, slapped, and grabbed at his face, causing pain and bleeding, according to Insider. Majors’ team has also suggested that “racial bias” has played a role in the district attorney’s investigation and that Majors is the victim of a “witch hunt.”

In late June, the NYPD reportedly issued and then canceled an “incident card,” or “I-card”—an electronic document that notifies officers that a particular person is “wanted” by police, at least for questioning—for Jabbari. A lawyer for Jabbari told the New York Times that she had done nothing to warrant arrest and that “Out of respect for the criminal process and the prosecuting attorneys who will make decisions based on the evidence, we do not intend to respond to rumors.” A police spokesman told the newspaper only that the investigation into the incident was continuing and that no additional arrests had been made.

Majors appeared briefly in person in New York criminal court on June 20 for a hearing where Judge Rachel S. Pauley set his trial date for Aug. 3.

source https://time.com/6299719/jonathan-majors-trial-assault-harassment/

Ukraine is Preparing For Russia to Sabotage Europe’s Biggest Nuclear Plant

As Ukraine makes slow gains along the southern front in its war against Russia, the government in Kyiv has begun preparing for Russian forces to sabotage the nuclear power plant they occupied at the start of the invasion, the country’s energy minister told TIME in an interview.

The nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, sits on the front lines in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, less than 100 miles from a cluster of villages Ukraine has managed to claw back from Russian control in recent weeks. If Ukraine succeeds in retaking the plant and driving the Russians away from the region, “I do not believe that they would leave the station operational,” said Minister German Galushchenko. “They could do a lot of damage, so much damage that it would be very difficult for us to operate the station.”

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Since early June, all six of the plant’s nuclear reactors have been placed into a cold shutdown, suspending the production of electricity and reducing the risk of an accident that could release large amounts of radiation. The plant’s engineers took that precaution soon after the rupture of a nearby dam caused catastrophic flooding and threatened the supply of water needed to cool the reactors. Russian forces were in control of the dam at the time, and mounting evidence suggests they blew it up, according to an investigation by the New York Times.

The destruction of that dam, in the occupied town of Nova Kakhovka, dimmed hopes among Ukrainian authorities that Russia might leave the nuclear power plant unscathed, Galushchenko said. After traveling to parts of Ukraine that have been liberated from Russian occupation, “I can tell you that when they leave, when they run from there, they mine almost everything in the energy infrastructure,” said the energy minister. “You cannot imagine the level of this mining. It’s millions, millions of mines, even in small villages.”

Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, warned in early July that Russian forces had placed “objects resembling explosives” on the roofs of several buildings at the plant. Citing Ukrainian intelligence agencies, he suggested the Russians could be trying to “simulate an attack on the plant.” Two days later, satellite imagery of the facility showed that white objects had recently appeared on the roof. Independent experts said it was not possible to identify the white objects in the photos without a full onsite inspection.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for endangering the nuclear facility through military operations aimed at ending the Russian occupation. For nearly a year, officials from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, have been allowed to visit the occupied plant and conduct limited inspections under the watch of Russian military forces. The U.N. inspectors have repeatedly observed mines around the plant, most recently in July, when the agency reported seeing “directional anti-personnel mines on the periphery” of the facility. Rafael Grossi, the general director of the IAEA, said in a statement at the time that the presence of explosives is ”inconsistent” with the agency’s safety standards. But the detonation of the mines, he added, “should not affect” the security systems designed to prevent a nuclear incident.

Even if such explosions do not result in the release of radiation, Galushchenko said they could render the plant inoperable for years to come. “If they explode the roof,” he said, “it would create huge problems for us in restarting the operation” of the plant once it is liberated. Ukraine is therefore preparing alternative sources of energy production. During a trip with Zelensky to the European Union in July, Galushchenko and other officials pursued a deal for Ukraine to purchase two Russian-made nuclear reactors from Bulgaria, an E.U. member.

The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that the deal was nearing completion, with an estimated price tag of around $650 million. Asked about the deal, Galushchenko told TIME that financing could come from a mix of sources, including U.S. and European aid to Ukraine and loans from foreign banks. But the purchase of the reactors from Bulgaria would not be a quick fix, he warned. Once they are delivered to Ukraine, it would take engineers at least two years to install the reactors and bring them into operation at another one of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, in the region of Khmelnitsky.

As for the nuclear facility now under occupation, fixing the damage Ukraine expects from Russian sabotage could take far longer than that, he said.

source https://time.com/6300397/ukraine-fears-russia-sabotage-nuclear-plant-zaporizhzhia/

How Oklahoma Became Ground Zero in the War Over Church-State Separation

While Florida makes headlines for its “war on woke” in public schools, in the war against church-state separation, Oklahoma is the frontline. And on Monday, July 31st, return shots were fired. A group of 10 plaintiffs including clergy, public school parents, and public education advocates filed a lawsuit against state officials and organizations for approving St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School as the nation’s first publicly-funded religious charter school.

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The central concern in the case of St. Isidore is that taxpayer dollars would go to fund a school that is overtly sectarian with religious education as a goal. In its charter school application, St. Isidore plans to “provide Christ-centered Catholic formation” and will function “as a genuine instrument of the church” as a place of “evangelization.” They would also divert funds away from Oklahoma public schools, already ranking near the bottom of the country in education spending.

St. Isidore is just one example of the way Oklahoma education officials and organizations are challenging the very idea of church-state separation. Shortly after his re-election in November 2022, Governor Kevin Stitt prayed on the Capitol steps, claiming every inch of Oklahoma for Jesus, asking God the Father that he would “have his way” with the education system.

Also winning office last November, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters has actively cultivated a brand as a culture warrior, regularly posting video selfies from his car, as well as appearing on Fox News and evangelical talk shows like Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, almost always on the theme of “woke indoctrination,” teachers unions, the Biden administration, and the importance of America’s Christian heritage.

Read More: Christian Nationalism’s Growing Popularity

During his short tenure thus far, Walters has endorsed recommendations to hang the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom, require that students be given a full minute before school for prayer or silent reflection, to teach the Bible, and to train all history teachers in Oklahoma public schools using curriculum from Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian private school in Michigan.

Stitt and Walters know their base. When I analyzed data from Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, I found nearly two-thirds of Republicans in Oklahoma’s region of the country believe public school teachers should be allowed to lead students in Christian prayers. That same percentage believes cities and towns should be able to place religious symbols on public property (like, say, the Ten Commandments in schools). Playing up the Christian nationalism in Oklahoma is just smart politics. And it may score points in their respective political careers in a party where Trump’s odds to be the Republican nominee again are growing.

But the stakes in the St. Isidore case are certainly larger than one charter school. They’re even larger than Oklahoma. “We’re bringing today’s lawsuit to protect the religious freedom of Oklahoma public school families and taxpayers, and to stop Christian Nationalists from taking over our public schools across the nation.” explained Rachel Laser, President and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. In their online announcement for the lawsuit, Americans United warned “soon states like this will appear around the country.”

Confronting Oklahoma education officials, in other words, holds the line. The political dominance of Christian nationalist Republicans in Oklahoma has emboldened them to further challenge conventions of church-state separation in the name of “school choice” and “religious freedom.” To the degree they are successful in funding overtly sectarian charter schools like St. Isidor, other Republican-dominated states will almost certainly follow suit.

But Oklahoma is unique among states where governors and other high-ranking officials are making names for themselves as culture-warriors. Florida and Texas, for example, are growing economic powerhouses where Americans are migrating in droves. They’re also at least somewhat politically in play. The anti-woke, Christian nationalist rhetoric of Ron DeSantis or Greg Abbott is about mobilizing their base to fight off political opponents at home.

Oklahoma is different. Here Republicans have dominated most offices, including the governorship and superintendent position for years. And there’s no sign of change. That is where we find the point of all the culture-warring for Oklahoma officials. The state is being left behind. Oklahoma is not a destination for mass migration like its southern neighbor. Nor is it a place where wealth and opportunity are booming. It ranks near the bottom in public education. And Republicans have no one else to scapegoat.

Leaders like Walters and Stitt know they must distract their supporters from Republican failures. And you do that by inventing opponents, creating controversy, and claiming cultural victories. On Monday afternoon, for example, Walters characterized the lawsuit as “religious persecution” and himself as a warrior for “religious freedom,” claiming it was “time to end atheism as the state sponsored religion.”

Though I’ve studied Christian nationalism professionally for the last decade, Oklahoma, my current home, is teaching me something new. So often, “Christian nation” rhetoric is a response to the very real experience of feeling like your culture is changing, your grip on political power slipping away. As an ideology, Christian nationalism reassures historically dominant groups that they have moral high ground, because outsiders and infidels are trying to destroy God’s blessings to the nation.

But that kind of rhetoric can also be a side show, a grift, targeting people for whom there is virtually no threat of cultural change or loss of political power. That’s Oklahoma Christian nationalism—a grift to build a politician’s personal brand and distract from party failures. That doesn’t make their actual policies less important or less harmful; but it does reveal their origins.

Like all political grifts, those who suffer are the constituents who get used like pawns, in this case, Oklahoma’s children and families. As an Oklahoma resident with three children in public schools, and a spouse who is a public school teacher, that fact enrages me. To the extent these sorts of maneuvers are exported to other states, it should enrage you as well.

source https://time.com/6300200/how-oklahoma-became-ground-zero-in-the-war-over-church-state-separation/

Love Island UK Season 10 Ends With an Unexpected Pair of Winners

After laughing and crying through 57 episodes of the British hit reality show Love Island UK, we’ve made it to the end: On Monday, islanders Jess Harding and Sammy Root were announced the winners of the show’s 10th season, taking home a £50,000 prize.

“What is going on?,” said Root, 22, on the finale right after his win, seeming just as shocked as the public for his win. “I’m over the moon!”

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What an incredible journey it’s been for Jess and Sammy – your #LoveIsland Series 10 winners! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/saFdWaSt4y

— Love Island (@LoveIsland) July 31, 2023

An overwhelming amount of Love Island fans were shocked by the couple’s victory, as many thought Whitney Adebayo and Lochan Nowacki, who placed second, were favored to win after gaining the public’s vote for “favorite couple” a week prior to the finale.

The comment section of Love Island’s official social media accounts are being inundated with thousands of disappointed fans vocalizing their speculation that the votes were “rigged” or that elements of “racism” could have involved in the public’s vote, as Adebayo and Nowachi are BIPOC islanders and Adebayo would have been Love Island UK‘s first Black winner.

Season 2’s Molly Mae, arguably the most successful star to come out of the Love Island franchise, even vocalized her disagreement on a social media comment writing, “What? Whitney completely deserved this!’

Love Island has since released the vote breakdown via a Threads post revealing it was a nearly 8% vote difference for first and second place.

Harding and Root, who became a couple during filming, have had a tumultuous journey in the villa, making their win a surprise to viewers. Harding was part of the season’s original cast, and found a romantic connection with Root on day 4, when he entered as a “bombshell,” a new cast member thrown into the mix specifically to shake things up.

Over the eight weeks of the show, the pair went through several ups and downs. In week 3, after they had a series of arguments in front of their fellow castmates, the villa voted Harding and Root as least compatible couple, causing a twist that would separate the pair for the following weeks. Harding tried to get to know other romantic contenders, but remained intent on reconnecting with Root, who in the meantime, controversially pursued connections with at least four other women who entered the villa later. After some more arguments and an ultimatum from Harding, the couple came back together for a less rocky journey—and snagged the crown.

Ultimate fan favorite Adebayo, who came in as an early bombshell on Day 3, has been a fan favorite since first entering and being coupled with French islander Mehdi Edno. In Week 4, Edno was eliminated from the show, and Adebayo coupled up with Nowacki. They’ve been together since meeting during the show’s midseason ‘Casa Amor’ twist. The two have left the island with an “exclusive” label (a Love Island term that signals a relationship may be on the horizon).

The feisty couple Tyrique Hyde and Ella Thomas came in third place, while the mostly consistent couple Molly Marsh and Zachariah Noble ended up in fourth.

A dating show that started in 2015, Love Island has become a cultural phenomenon that offers its viewers an abundance of content: six episodes air each week, and each are accompanied with a daily Love Island: The Morning After podcast, weekly ‘Unseen Bits,’ and live Aftersun episodes. The show has become so widely received that other countries like the U.S., France and Australia have started their own versions.

Season 10 was packed with entertainment—from a diverse cast of dozens of islanders to unpredictable twists including season 2 bombshell Kady McDermott returning seven years later for the new season and prompting one of the Marsh to be dumped in one of the most sudden moves in Love Island history (Marsh, of course, would eventually return in another plot twist and place third). Then there was the one islander Mitchel Taylor who managed to make it nearly a month in the villa without a romantic connection, and all the way to finale week despite his Big Brother-like game playing that gave him the title “Messy Mitch” amongst his fellow island mates.

“I think that the islanders have given us more drama than ever,” says the show’s host Maya Jama, who despite her role, requests that production not share spoilers so that her reactions are genuine. “They wore their hearts on their sleeves and they were just very unpredictable as a result. You can’t ask for more than that from Love Island contestants.” As for islander Taylor, Jama says he “could be one of the messiest islanders ever.”

The reception to Harding and Root has been a mixed bag. “Never watching this stupid show again,” wrote one upset Twitter user, getting over 20,000 likes within minutes of the winner announcement. “Tell me Maya made a mistake announcing the winners,” wrote another, getting 8,000 likes in the same time frame.

never watching this stupid show again #loveisland pic.twitter.com/2oL2jBmPSW

— 🌙🕊️ seeing TWICE (@leighanneunwoo) July 31, 2023

“I feel like Twitter has come alive with their reactions and has become such a big part of Love Island,” says Jama of the fan response.

source https://time.com/6300208/love-island-jess-sammy-win-season-10/