How a far-right, Christian cellphone company 'took over' four Texas school boards

[Eugene]

Source: NBC News

How a far-right, Christian cellphone company ‘took over’ four Texas school boards

Patriot Mobile markets itself as “America’s only Christian conservative wireless provider.” Now the Trump-aligned company is on a mission to win control of Texas school boards.

Aug. 25, 2022, 8:00 AM EDT
By Mike Hixenbaugh

DALLAS — A little more than a year after former Trump adviser Steve Bannon declared that conservatives needed to win seats on local school boards to “save the nation,” he used his conspiracy theory-fueled TV program to spotlight Patriot Mobile, a Texas-based cellphone company that had answered his call to action.

“The school boards are the key that picks the lock,” Bannon said during an interview with Patriot Mobile’s president, Glenn Story, from the floor of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in Dallas on Aug. 6. “Tell us about what you did.”

Story turned to the camera and said, “We went out and found 11 candidates last cycle and we supported them, and we won every seat. We took over four school boards.”

“Eleven seats on school boards, took over four!” Bannon shouted as a crowd of CPAC attendees erupted in applause.

It was a moment of celebration for an upstart company whose leaders say they are on a mission from God to restore conservative Christian values at all levels of government — especially in public schools. To carry out that calling, the Grapevine-based company this year created a political action committee, Patriot Mobile Action, and gave it more than $600,000 to spend on nonpartisan school board races in the Fort Worth suburbs.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/-christian-cell-company-patriot-mobile-took-four-texas-school-boards-rcna44583

[Demovictory9]

1. Patriot Mobile has also aligned itself in recent years with political and religious leaders who prom

Patriot Mobile has also aligned itself in recent years with political and religious leaders who promote a once-fringe strand of Christian theology that experts say has grown more popular on the right in recent years. Dominionism, sometimes referred to as the Seven Mountains Mandate, is the belief that Christians are called on to dominate the seven key “mountains” of American life, including business, media, government and education.

[Demovictory9]

2. so Ted Cruz's father is a nut too/

In a recent Patriot Mobile sermon, Cruz — the father of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas — dismissed the concept of separation of church and state as a myth, arguing that America’s founders meant that ideal as a “one-way wall” preventing the government from interfering with the church, not preventing the church from influencing the government.

He then called on people who “are rooted in the righteousness of the word of God” to run for public office.

“If those people are not running for office, if they are not even voting, then what’s left?” Cruz said. “The wicked electing the wicked.”

[Initech]

7. I wish we could give these dipshits their own city-state to ruin.

And leave the rest of us who want to live in America and not a fascist totalitarian authoritarian hell hole alone.

[Demovictory9]

3. "If you can get in and teach the right side of history, and social studies and civics lessons about

“If you can get in and teach the right side of history, and social studies and civics lessons about what America is, you can win the next generation and save America for Christ.”

[lindysalsagal]

4. they're organized, funded, and completely serious. Religion is the enemy. No more being nice.

Religion is the enemy of democracy, as they're wielding it.

[Initech]

6. And they are getting increasingly hostile and more violent.

They are a threat to be taken very seriously.

[tanyev]

5. Remember the good old days when all they wanted was the right to homeschool

their kids to keep them away from the “corrupting” influence of public schools?

They are never, ever satisfied.

[Initech]

8. This is scary. We cannot let these thugs take control of education.

If we do, we are truly fucked as a society. We need to stop them at all costs. Fuck these violent fascist lunatics.

[dalton99a]

9. And people give all their personal cellphone info to these assholes

[Initech]

10. I feel like that company is long overdue to be hacked / doxxed.

It's probably teeming with investigators and trolls though.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. Cellphone companies have more info about a person than the IRS does.

A jihadist cellphone company on a "mission from God" is scary.

[dalton99a]

12. +1. What Information Does Your Service Provider Collect And Store

https://consumercal.org/about-cfc/cfc-education-foundation/what-information-does-your-service-provider-collect-and-store/

What Information Does Your Service Provider Collect And Store?

Service providers (like AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile) collect data but are not forthcoming in detailing exactly what data they collect, the reasons they collect it, and their data retention policies. At the very least, smartphone service providers collect the following:

Incoming and outgoing calls: the phone numbers you call, the numbers that you receive calls from, and the duration of the call;
Incoming and outgoing text messages: the phone numbers you send texts to and receive texts from;
How often you check your e-mail or access the Internet;
Your location.

In addition to the data collected by your smartphone service provider, you should also be aware of the possible privacy issues surrounding the collection or disclosures of:

Any photos or video you take on your phone;
Details about the text messages and e-mails you send and receive, including the content;
Who is calling you, who you are calling, and details about the phone call such as when it was placed and how long it lasted;
The contacts you have stored in your phone;
Passwords;
Financial data;
What you store in your phone’s calendar;
Your location, age, and gender.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. We need a federal law (it's in the works) that gives us legal ownership of our own data.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. K&R