Brett Pransky

Pennsylvania is producing less than half as many teachers as it was a decade ago.

As the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas was unfolding, as the numbers were growing and no one knew for certain just how many children, teachers, and school personnel were injured or dead, community leaders responded in very different ways.

While the dispute amounts to a disagreement over technicalities, it is also an example of GOP voter suppression strategies coming home to roost. The attempts to disqualify mail-in ballots, seen as a way to suppress democratic votes, are now backfiring on the party that created them.

Among the “no” votes was Pennsylvania Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, but what makes his vote remarkable is that he is also a co-sponsor of the bill. He put his name on it, and then he voted it down.

And in Pennsylvania, the attacks have taken on an equally ugly tone, with dark-money funded parent groups driving a campaign of book banning and attacks on local school boards, and that money is scoring some victories.

On Sunday, a number of pictures began circulating on Twitter along with the claim that Republican Senate Candidate Kathy Barnette marched to the Capitol on January 6th alongside members of a prominent right-wing hate group, the Proud Boys. After further investigation, NBC News verified these claims, adding that some of the Proud Boys she marched…

As his swing district prepares for Donald Trump’s next grievance-fueled campaign for President, Fitzpatrick looks as if  he will try to get elected to a fourth term in Congress by once again walking the path of least resistance and doing just enough not to get noticed.

While the GOP, both in Pennsylvania and across the nation, has a long history of flirting with violent extremists and conspiracy theories, there is now significant evidence that those extreme ideologies are becoming mainstream on the American right.