The Daily Signal - Mom Files Lawsuit After Teacher Tells Third Grader She Can’t Wear ‘Jesus Loves Me’ Mask

Mississippi mother Jennifer Booth was surprised when her 9-year-old daughter Lydia Booth came home from school and told her that she was not allowed to wear her “Jesus Loves Me” face mask anymore. 

Thinking her daughter’s teacher might simply have been having a bad day, Booth sent Lydia back to school with her mask. Again, the third grader was told she was not allowed to wear the mask at school. 

"The principal calls me and she's like, 'We're going to have to have Lydia swap her mask out,'" Booth recounts, adding that the principal said it was against school policy "to have religious symbols or gestures on her mask." But upon inspecting the school handbook with the principal, Booth says, the only policy the principal could point to referred to "drug culture, profanity, [and] obscenities."

Booth continued to contact leaders of the Simpson County School District asking for an explanation and was eventually sent the district’s COVID-19 policy. But after a little investigation, Booth discovered that the policy she received had been modified less than an hour before it was emailed to her to include language barring student’s from wearing masks expressing religious views. 

Booth has filed a lawsuit against the school district with Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organization. 

The mom says she chose to take legal action to protect her "kids, my grandkids, and everybody else's kids, because this year is the mask, next year is the T-shirt, eventually you can't say Jesus's name in school."

Booth and Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer Tyson Langhofer join "The Daily Signal Podcast" to tell this story and discuss why they are taking a stand for religious liberty in Mississippi. 

Also on today’s show, we read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about a father and son who used their knowledge of the sea to find and rescue a man overboard off the coast of North Carolina. 

Enjoy the show!


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Short Wave - Can We Predict Earthquakes? (Hint: No)

It's a listener questions episode! Chuck, Short Wave fan, asks, "What is the current state of earthquake prediction systems?"

For some answers, Emily Kwong chats with Wendy Bohon, a geologist and Senior Science Communication Specialist for the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS).

To look at real-time seismic data from hundreds of locations around the globe, check out the IRIS Station Monitor.

Have a question you want us to try answering? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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Lex Fridman Podcast - #204 – Cumrun Vafa: String Theory

Cumrun Vafa is a theoretical physicist at Harvard. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
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(00:00) – Introduction
(07:08) – Difference between math and physics
(09:51) – Evolution of quantum mechanics
(13:09) – Can mathematics lead humanity off track
(14:07) – Beauty in mathematics
(19:27) – Philosophers using symmetry
(25:20) – How can ancient geometry be used to understand reality
(28:32) – Key ideas in the history of physics
(31:26) – Einstein’s special relativity
(35:03) – Physicists building intuition
(43:01) – Best work by Einstein
(44:45) – Quantum mechanics
(54:47) – Quantum gravity
(57:02) – String theory
(1:13:11) – 10th Dimension
(1:19:48) – Skepticism regarding string theory
(1:30:53) – Key figures in string theory
(1:35:13) – String Theory’s Nobel Prize
(1:38:18) – Edward Witten
(1:46:56) – String Theory Landscape & Swamplands
(1:55:46) – Theories of everything
(2:10:12) – Advice for young people
(2:13:14) – Death

CoinDesk Podcast Network - BREAKDOWN: Using History as a Weapon – The Latest Political Attack on Stablecoins

The U.S. faces a choice between integrating proven stablecoins or outlawing them in favor of a monopolized CBDC.

This episode is sponsored by NYDIG.

On this week’s “Long Reads Sunday,” NLW reads Nic Carter’s recent essay “Why Central Bankers Invoke Free Banking to Attack Stablecoins.” 

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Everything Everywhere Daily - All About Uranium

Every element on the periodic table has a completely different story. They behave differently, they exist in different abundances, and humans have totally different uses for them. One of the most controversial elements, if that is in fact a thing, is uranium. Uranium can provide power, it can use destruction, and most people really don’t understand it. Learn more about uranium, the last of the natural elements, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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