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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
March 15, 2023
Republicans Pitch Cuts To Federal Food Benefits
The debt ceiling standoff will likely include a fight over “work requirements” for low-income households.
Arthur Delaney
Mar 14, 2023, 12:52 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — All year, Republicans have said they want President Joe Biden to agree to major spending cuts without saying what cuts they want.
In recent days, however, Republicans have signaled they want to cut federal programs that help low-income Americans buy food and go to the doctor.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would expand “work requirements” in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal policy often known as food stamps that helps more than 20 million households buy groceries.
The program already limits benefits for able-bodied adults without dependents who fail to work at least 20 hours per week, though there are a variety of exceptions and states often waive the requirement. Roughly 13% of households served by SNAP contained able-bodied childless adults under age 50, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Roughly a quarter of such households earned money from working.
Johnson’s proposal would reduce state discretion over eligibility rules and expand the definition of able-bodied adults without dependents to include people in their 50s and early 60s; the current cutoff is 49.
more...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-food-stamp-cuts_n_641094b4e4b0fef1524070e7
Republicans Pitch Cuts To Federal Food Benefits
Republicans Pitch Cuts To Federal Food Benefits
The debt ceiling standoff will likely include a fight over “work requirements” for low-income households.
Arthur Delaney
Mar 14, 2023, 12:52 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — All year, Republicans have said they want President Joe Biden to agree to major spending cuts without saying what cuts they want.
In recent days, however, Republicans have signaled they want to cut federal programs that help low-income Americans buy food and go to the doctor.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would expand “work requirements” in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal policy often known as food stamps that helps more than 20 million households buy groceries.
The program already limits benefits for able-bodied adults without dependents who fail to work at least 20 hours per week, though there are a variety of exceptions and states often waive the requirement. Roughly 13% of households served by SNAP contained able-bodied childless adults under age 50, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Roughly a quarter of such households earned money from working.
Johnson’s proposal would reduce state discretion over eligibility rules and expand the definition of able-bodied adults without dependents to include people in their 50s and early 60s; the current cutoff is 49.
more...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-food-stamp-cuts_n_641094b4e4b0fef1524070e7
March 15, 2023
Top Authors Speak Out, Slam Florida’s Book Bans As ‘Arbitrary’ And ‘Egregious’
Jodi Picoult and James Patterson, whose publications were on a list of books pulled from schools in the state, slammed the censorship and urged action.
By Nina Golgowski
Mar 14, 2023, 07:26 PM EDT
Bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and James Patterson have joined in on calling Florida’s book bans “troubling” and “truly egregious” after their own books — among dozens of others — were recently stripped from one county’s school libraries.
Patterson, whose “Maximum Ride” young adult novels were among a list of books recently axed in Martin County’s public schools, located north of West Palm Beach, called the censorship “arbitrary and borderline absurd” in a statement Monday.
“If you find this kind of mindless book banning troubling or confusing, send a polite note to [Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis],” he told his nearly 141,000 Twitter followers.
Picoult, who has authored 20 books on the list, also lashed out in an op-ed Monday that accused DeSantis’ ban of wrongly challenging children’s ability to think for themselves, develop empathy, and “help kids see the world in a different way.”
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with a parent deciding a certain book is not right for her child. There is a colossal problem with a parent deciding that, therefore, no child should be allowed to read that book,” she stated.
more...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jodi-picoult-james-patterson-oppose-florida-book-ban-desantis_n_64109993e4b0fef152407821
Top Authors Speak Out, Slam Florida's Book Bans As 'Arbitrary' And 'Egregious'
Top Authors Speak Out, Slam Florida’s Book Bans As ‘Arbitrary’ And ‘Egregious’
Jodi Picoult and James Patterson, whose publications were on a list of books pulled from schools in the state, slammed the censorship and urged action.
By Nina Golgowski
Mar 14, 2023, 07:26 PM EDT
Bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and James Patterson have joined in on calling Florida’s book bans “troubling” and “truly egregious” after their own books — among dozens of others — were recently stripped from one county’s school libraries.
Patterson, whose “Maximum Ride” young adult novels were among a list of books recently axed in Martin County’s public schools, located north of West Palm Beach, called the censorship “arbitrary and borderline absurd” in a statement Monday.
“If you find this kind of mindless book banning troubling or confusing, send a polite note to [Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis],” he told his nearly 141,000 Twitter followers.
Picoult, who has authored 20 books on the list, also lashed out in an op-ed Monday that accused DeSantis’ ban of wrongly challenging children’s ability to think for themselves, develop empathy, and “help kids see the world in a different way.”
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with a parent deciding a certain book is not right for her child. There is a colossal problem with a parent deciding that, therefore, no child should be allowed to read that book,” she stated.
more...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jodi-picoult-james-patterson-oppose-florida-book-ban-desantis_n_64109993e4b0fef152407821
March 13, 2023
Kevin McCarthy's deal with the devil has worked out great—for Democrats
Barbara Morrill for Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Sunday March 12, 2023 · 3:00 PM EDT
Share this article
Kevin McCarthy had long dreamed of being speaker of the House, and in January he finally held the gavel in his hand. Granted, it took 15 humiliating votes (and a near fistfight), making secret deals with Freedom Caucus holdouts, and sucking up to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, not to mention handing over most of the power of the speakership to the most extreme elements of his party … but he did get a really nice chair. And the gavel.
So, what is the result of that very public self-abasement? A gift to Democrats that just keeps giving and giving. Let’s recap some highlights from the first two months with McCarthy at the helm.
Normally when grading a speaker’s leadership, one would start with legislative accomplishments. But we are talking about McCarthy here, so let’s instead begin with the hearings being held by the maniacs he handed plum committee assignments to.
For example, a vital oversight hearing to finally learn why a social media company kept Republicans from seeing pictures of Hunter Biden’s penis, prompting a group of former Twitter executives to be hauled in and accused of pedophilia, all while getting yelled at for having community moderation, not to mention being threatened with prison time for unspecified crimes. Sadly for Republicans, the most memorable moment was when we learned that Donald Trump was really mad about a celebrity being mean to him on Twitter, with this memorable exchange being officially entered into the Congressional Record:
A moment in congressional hearing history unmatched since Watergate, when Alexander Butterfield admitted that Richard Nixon had a recording system in the Oval Office.
Republicans promise that there are plenty more hearings coming down the pike. We can only hope.
More recently, perhaps upset that his House colleagues were grabbing all the headlines, McCarthy decided to step into the spotlight … by giving Tucker Carlson "exclusive" access to 41,000 hours of security footage from the Jan. 6 insurrection, never mind the security concerns. When Carlson aired cherry-picked clips and described the rioters as persecuted tourists, the blowback was immediate. And while McCarthy has tried to defend his decision in the name of “transparency,” the only thing he accomplished was putting the violent attack back into front-page news. And as an added bonus, his new best friend, Greene, is promising to lead a congressional delegation to a Washington, D.C., jail to visit Jan. 6 defendants to expose the “human rights abuses” being perpetuated against those poor, innocent victims. So well played, Mr. Speaker.
In all fairness to McCarthy, there have been legislative victories. Granted, they’ll never see the light of day in the Senate, but an A+ for effort. For example, right out of the gate the Republican-controlled House passed a bill to roll back $72 billion in funding from the IRS—a cut the Congressional Budget Office determined would cost more than $114 billion. They followed that up with the passage of the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act”—a bill so extreme that voters in Montana rejected a similar measure last November—as their first step toward the ultimate goal of a national abortion ban. Way to read the room. And coming soon are their plans to burn down the economy, burn down the planet, and if we’re really lucky, a vote to burn us all with a 23% national sales tax. Good times.
When the “red wave” never materialized in the 2022 midterms, McCarthy made a decision to relinquish whatever ethics and morals he had left, preferring to cave to the extremists in his party, all in pursuit of the speaker’s gavel. What he really handed over was a gift to Democrats.
As we approach the 2024 elections, attacks on abortion, human rights, the economy, and the planet (along with endless hearings for the airing of grievances) are the only accomplishments that McCarthy will be able to point to as “accomplishments.” And Democrats will be right there, pointing out those very same things.
Kevin McCarthy's deal with the devil has worked out great--for Democrats
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/12/2157033/-Kevin-McCarthy-s-deal-with-the-devil-has-worked-out-great-for-DemocratsKevin McCarthy's deal with the devil has worked out great—for Democrats
Barbara Morrill for Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Sunday March 12, 2023 · 3:00 PM EDT
Share this article
Kevin McCarthy had long dreamed of being speaker of the House, and in January he finally held the gavel in his hand. Granted, it took 15 humiliating votes (and a near fistfight), making secret deals with Freedom Caucus holdouts, and sucking up to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, not to mention handing over most of the power of the speakership to the most extreme elements of his party … but he did get a really nice chair. And the gavel.
So, what is the result of that very public self-abasement? A gift to Democrats that just keeps giving and giving. Let’s recap some highlights from the first two months with McCarthy at the helm.
Normally when grading a speaker’s leadership, one would start with legislative accomplishments. But we are talking about McCarthy here, so let’s instead begin with the hearings being held by the maniacs he handed plum committee assignments to.
For example, a vital oversight hearing to finally learn why a social media company kept Republicans from seeing pictures of Hunter Biden’s penis, prompting a group of former Twitter executives to be hauled in and accused of pedophilia, all while getting yelled at for having community moderation, not to mention being threatened with prison time for unspecified crimes. Sadly for Republicans, the most memorable moment was when we learned that Donald Trump was really mad about a celebrity being mean to him on Twitter, with this memorable exchange being officially entered into the Congressional Record:
NAVAROLI: Would you like me to give the direct quote?
FROST: Yeah.
NAVAROLI: Please excuse my language. This is a direct quote, but Chrissy Teigen referred to Donald Trump as a “pussy ass bitch.”
FROST: Yeah.
NAVAROLI: Please excuse my language. This is a direct quote, but Chrissy Teigen referred to Donald Trump as a “pussy ass bitch.”
A moment in congressional hearing history unmatched since Watergate, when Alexander Butterfield admitted that Richard Nixon had a recording system in the Oval Office.
Republicans promise that there are plenty more hearings coming down the pike. We can only hope.
More recently, perhaps upset that his House colleagues were grabbing all the headlines, McCarthy decided to step into the spotlight … by giving Tucker Carlson "exclusive" access to 41,000 hours of security footage from the Jan. 6 insurrection, never mind the security concerns. When Carlson aired cherry-picked clips and described the rioters as persecuted tourists, the blowback was immediate. And while McCarthy has tried to defend his decision in the name of “transparency,” the only thing he accomplished was putting the violent attack back into front-page news. And as an added bonus, his new best friend, Greene, is promising to lead a congressional delegation to a Washington, D.C., jail to visit Jan. 6 defendants to expose the “human rights abuses” being perpetuated against those poor, innocent victims. So well played, Mr. Speaker.
In all fairness to McCarthy, there have been legislative victories. Granted, they’ll never see the light of day in the Senate, but an A+ for effort. For example, right out of the gate the Republican-controlled House passed a bill to roll back $72 billion in funding from the IRS—a cut the Congressional Budget Office determined would cost more than $114 billion. They followed that up with the passage of the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act”—a bill so extreme that voters in Montana rejected a similar measure last November—as their first step toward the ultimate goal of a national abortion ban. Way to read the room. And coming soon are their plans to burn down the economy, burn down the planet, and if we’re really lucky, a vote to burn us all with a 23% national sales tax. Good times.
When the “red wave” never materialized in the 2022 midterms, McCarthy made a decision to relinquish whatever ethics and morals he had left, preferring to cave to the extremists in his party, all in pursuit of the speaker’s gavel. What he really handed over was a gift to Democrats.
As we approach the 2024 elections, attacks on abortion, human rights, the economy, and the planet (along with endless hearings for the airing of grievances) are the only accomplishments that McCarthy will be able to point to as “accomplishments.” And Democrats will be right there, pointing out those very same things.
March 13, 2023
Trump's Song With Jan. 6 Prison Choir Rockets to Top of iTunes Chart
This creeps me out. 
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-jan-6-prison-choirs-song-justice-for-all-bumps-miley-cyrus-from-top-of-itunes-charts?ref=home
Trump’s Song With Jan. 6 Prison Choir Rockets to Top of iTunes Chart
JUSTICE FOR ALL
AJ McDougall
Breaking News Reporter
Published Mar. 12, 2023 7:05PM ET
Reuters
“Justice for All,” a musical collaboration between former President Donald Trump and the so-called J6 Prison Choir, reached the coveted No. 1 spot on the iTunes song chart on Saturday. The single’s eight-day climb sees it take over from Miley Cyrus, whose song “Flowers” previously held the top position on the chart. But the ascendance of “Justice for All” up its ranks doesn’t necessarily herald an appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, according to Variety, which pointed out that the iTunes sales chart tracks paid downloads, which constitute “a minuscule fraction” of the music industry as a whole. The track sees the choir, a group of D.C. inmates imprisoned for their alleged roles in the Capitol insurrection, singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” interlaid with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
March 12, 2023
https://politicalwire.com/2023/03/12/fox-news-may-face-sky-high-damages/
Fox News May Face Sky High Damages
March 12, 2023 at 6:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Fox News May Face Sky High Damages
https://politicalwire.com/2023/03/12/fox-news-may-face-sky-high-damages/
Fox News May Face Sky High Damages
March 12, 2023 at 6:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
Katie Phang: “I spent almost 25 years as a trial lawyer before I became the host of the Katie Phang Show. Whether it was a criminal or civil case, the facts and the evidence are what mattered the most. And my currency as a trial lawyer? The truth. Sure, as a lawyer, you perfect the art of the spin. But at the end of the day, and no matter how hard you try to make it look nicer or sound better, it’s the truth that will either bring victory or a crushing defeat.”
“In the Dominion versus Fox News defamation case, Fox is now trapped in an ever-worsening spiral of lies of its own creation. Time and time again, Fox allegedly trafficked in lies and falsehoods. And the result just might be a financial death penalty for the network…”
“Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in lost profits and reputational harm. But it’s also seeking punitive damages, which are not capped under New York state law and could also be in the billions of dollars.”
“In the Dominion versus Fox News defamation case, Fox is now trapped in an ever-worsening spiral of lies of its own creation. Time and time again, Fox allegedly trafficked in lies and falsehoods. And the result just might be a financial death penalty for the network…”
“Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in lost profits and reputational harm. But it’s also seeking punitive damages, which are not capped under New York state law and could also be in the billions of dollars.”
March 12, 2023
5,000-Mile Wide Clump of Seaweed in Atlantic Ocean is Visible from Outer Space
ALGAE ATTACK
Katie Hawkinson
Published Mar. 11, 2023 5:29PM ET
5,000-Mile Wide Clump of Seaweed in Atlantic Ocean is Visible from Outer Space
https://www.thedailybeast.com/5000-mile-wide-clump-of-sargassum-seaweed-in-atlantic-ocean-is-visible-from-outer-space5,000-Mile Wide Clump of Seaweed in Atlantic Ocean is Visible from Outer Space
ALGAE ATTACK
Katie Hawkinson
Published Mar. 11, 2023 5:29PM ET
A gigantic block of brown sargassum seaweed, twice the width of the United States, is currently floating between the Gulf of Mexico and the shore of Western Africa. The 5,000-mile wide tangle is so massive it can even be seen from space, NBC News reports. While sargassum is not an uncommon sight, a mass this large is highly unusual, experts told NBC. Ocean currents are pushing the seaweed west, causing experts to worry it will wash up in clumps across Gulf beaches as well as choke coral and diminish water quality as it begins to rot. “It can really threaten critical infrastructure,” Brian Barnes, an assistant research professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science, told NBC.
March 11, 2023
There's a Wire Above Manhattan That You've Probably Never Noticed
Well I'll be... The things I learn.
There’s a Wire Above Manhattan That You’ve Probably Never Noticed
It’s 18 miles long.
Mental Floss
Jay Serafino
It's hard to imagine that anything literally hanging from utility poles across Manhattan could be considered "hidden," but throughout the borough, about 18 miles of translucent wire stretches around the skyline, and most people have likely never noticed. It's called an eruv (plural eruvin), and its existence is thanks to the Jewish Sabbath.
On the Sabbath, which is viewed as a day of rest, observant Jewish people aren't allowed to carry anything—books, groceries, even children—in public places (doing so is considered "work"
. The eruv encircles much of Manhattan, acting as a symbolic boundary that turns the very public streets of the city into a private space, much like one's own home. This allows people to freely communicate and socialize on the Sabbath—and carry whatever they please—without having to worry about breaking Jewish law.
Along with everything else in New York City, the eruv isn't cheap. It costs a group of Orthodox synagogues $100,000 a year to maintain the wires, which are inspected by a rabbi every Thursday before dawn to confirm they are all still attached. While wires do occasionally fall, the overall eruv has survived events such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Hurricane Sandy. When eruv wires do break, it can cause enough of a stir to make news. Most notably, in 2011 a wire broke near the United Nations building, which caused a problem when repair crews couldn't get past security to fix it. The issue was eventually resolved, but not before a good deal of panic set in.
Manhattan has had an eruv in one form or another since the early 20th century, but the present-day incarnation began on the Upper West Side in 1994. It has since expanded from 126th Street to Houston Street, and its exact locations can now be viewed on Google Maps (and an intermittently updated Twitter feed). The city does have some rules in place regarding the eruv: The wires can only be a quarter-inch thick, and they must be hung at least 15 feet off the ground.
more...
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/there-s-a-wire-above-manhattan-that-you-ve-probably-never-noticed?utm_source=pocket-newtab
March 11, 2023
What Are We Protecting Children from by Banning Books?
Reading the titles that have been challenged and removed from public-school libraries across the country.
By Katy Waldman
March 10, 2023
snip//
Book bans, spearheaded by politicians and advocacy groups such as Moms for Liberty, have been proliferating over the past few years. A PEN America paper, published last September, records 2,532 instances of book banning in thirty-two states between July, 2021, and June, 2022. The challenges are spread throughout the country but cluster in Texas and Florida. Their targets are diverse, running the gamut from earnestly dorky teen love stories and picture books about penguins to Pulitzer-winning works of fiction. Some are adult potboilers that have found their way onto school-library shelves: three out of twenty-one books reportedly recently whacked in Madison County, Virginia, were written by Stephen King, and two were written by Anne Rice. Other bannees—including “Strega Nona,” a charming folktale about a pot that won’t stop cooking noodles—are presumably vectors of witchcraft. Still others, if you squint, could fall under the category of “pornography,” which is outlawed by DeSantis’s H.B. 1467. (“Tricks,” by Ellen Hopkins, is an introduction to grimy realism, replete with drug use and blow jobs.) Yet a whiff of pretext surrounds more than a few of the cries of obscenity. “Lawn Boy,” a semi-autobiographical work by the writer Jonathan Evison, was flagged for pedophilia yet portrays a twentysomething recalling a sexual experience he had as a fourth grader with another fourth grader.
The most frequently banned class of books are those intended for “young adult” readers—between the ages of twelve and eighteen. It makes a certain amount of sense that Y.A.—an awkward, gawky genre, as hard to delineate as adolescence itself—is the target of the majority of bans. Some Y.A. novels are essentially adult novels with the ages changed; some seem intended for much younger children; a lot of them fall somewhere in the middle. PEN’s list includes pitch-black and intense books that take up mental illness, addiction, cruelty, or social ostracization. (“The Truth About Alice,” by Jennifer Mathieu, considers slut shaming; “Speak,” by Laurie Halse Anderson, posits mutism as a trauma response to rape.) And a number of the banned titles—“13 Reasons Why,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “We Are the Ants”—address suicide. But many more of the prohibitions seem to cohere around a specific political vision. According to the PEN report, forty-one per cent of the banned books featured L.G.B.T.Q.+ themes, protagonists, or prominent secondary characters; the next-largest category of non grata texts has “protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color.” Other problem subjects include “race and racism,” “rights,” and “religious minorities.”
snip//
But a glance at the list of most frequently banned books makes clear that “mature content” is a fig leaf: what parents and advocacy groups are challenging in these books is difference itself. In their vision of childhood—a green, sweet-smelling land invented by Victorians and untouched by violence, or discrimination, or death—white, straight, and cisgender characters are G-rated. All other characters, meanwhile, come with warning labels. When childhood is racialized, cisgendered, and de-queered, insisting on “age-appropriate material” becomes a way to instill doctrine and foreclose options for some readers, and to evict other readers from childhood entirely.
The recent wave of bans comes as many Republicans, in their opposition to gun control, climate science, food stamps, public education, and other social services, work assiduously to render the lives of American children as unchildlike as possible. A number of grownups apparently feel emboldened to spend their lives playing peekaboo with reality. Their kids may not have that luxury. ?
What Are We Protecting Children from by Banning Books?
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-are-we-protecting-children-from-by-banning-booksWhat Are We Protecting Children from by Banning Books?
Reading the titles that have been challenged and removed from public-school libraries across the country.
By Katy Waldman
March 10, 2023
snip//
Book bans, spearheaded by politicians and advocacy groups such as Moms for Liberty, have been proliferating over the past few years. A PEN America paper, published last September, records 2,532 instances of book banning in thirty-two states between July, 2021, and June, 2022. The challenges are spread throughout the country but cluster in Texas and Florida. Their targets are diverse, running the gamut from earnestly dorky teen love stories and picture books about penguins to Pulitzer-winning works of fiction. Some are adult potboilers that have found their way onto school-library shelves: three out of twenty-one books reportedly recently whacked in Madison County, Virginia, were written by Stephen King, and two were written by Anne Rice. Other bannees—including “Strega Nona,” a charming folktale about a pot that won’t stop cooking noodles—are presumably vectors of witchcraft. Still others, if you squint, could fall under the category of “pornography,” which is outlawed by DeSantis’s H.B. 1467. (“Tricks,” by Ellen Hopkins, is an introduction to grimy realism, replete with drug use and blow jobs.) Yet a whiff of pretext surrounds more than a few of the cries of obscenity. “Lawn Boy,” a semi-autobiographical work by the writer Jonathan Evison, was flagged for pedophilia yet portrays a twentysomething recalling a sexual experience he had as a fourth grader with another fourth grader.
The most frequently banned class of books are those intended for “young adult” readers—between the ages of twelve and eighteen. It makes a certain amount of sense that Y.A.—an awkward, gawky genre, as hard to delineate as adolescence itself—is the target of the majority of bans. Some Y.A. novels are essentially adult novels with the ages changed; some seem intended for much younger children; a lot of them fall somewhere in the middle. PEN’s list includes pitch-black and intense books that take up mental illness, addiction, cruelty, or social ostracization. (“The Truth About Alice,” by Jennifer Mathieu, considers slut shaming; “Speak,” by Laurie Halse Anderson, posits mutism as a trauma response to rape.) And a number of the banned titles—“13 Reasons Why,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “We Are the Ants”—address suicide. But many more of the prohibitions seem to cohere around a specific political vision. According to the PEN report, forty-one per cent of the banned books featured L.G.B.T.Q.+ themes, protagonists, or prominent secondary characters; the next-largest category of non grata texts has “protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color.” Other problem subjects include “race and racism,” “rights,” and “religious minorities.”
snip//
But a glance at the list of most frequently banned books makes clear that “mature content” is a fig leaf: what parents and advocacy groups are challenging in these books is difference itself. In their vision of childhood—a green, sweet-smelling land invented by Victorians and untouched by violence, or discrimination, or death—white, straight, and cisgender characters are G-rated. All other characters, meanwhile, come with warning labels. When childhood is racialized, cisgendered, and de-queered, insisting on “age-appropriate material” becomes a way to instill doctrine and foreclose options for some readers, and to evict other readers from childhood entirely.
The recent wave of bans comes as many Republicans, in their opposition to gun control, climate science, food stamps, public education, and other social services, work assiduously to render the lives of American children as unchildlike as possible. A number of grownups apparently feel emboldened to spend their lives playing peekaboo with reality. Their kids may not have that luxury. ?
March 11, 2023
Ron DeSantis is just getting started with his rightwing agenda. That should worry us all
Margaret Sullivan
It’s appalling to see the media lavish DeSantis with so much fawning coverage. Especially after all he has done
Fri 10 Mar 2023 06.10 EST
Last modified on Fri 10 Mar 2023 07.24 EST
snip//
Let’s review some of what has happened on his watch with the help of a rubber-stamp Republican state legislature.
The Parental Rights in Education Act, better known as “don’t say gay”, prevents teachers from talking about gender identity and sexual orientation in some elementary-school grades.
The so-called Stop Woke Act restricts how race is discussed in Florida’s schools, colleges and even private workplaces.
Another law pulled a slew of books from public school libraries while they are reviewed for their supposed suitability. (There are no limits to the craziness: after one parent’s complaint, many high schools yanked The Bluest Eye, the literary masterpiece by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.)
There’s more, including on the healthcare front. Florida’s medical boards now bar transgender youth from gender-affirming medical care such as hormone therapy. State law bans most abortions beyond 15-weeks gestation; a new bill would tighten that to only six weeks.
more...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/10/ron-desantis-florida-governor-media-coverage-rightwing-agenda
Ron DeSantis is just getting started with his rightwing agenda. That should worry us all
Ron DeSantis is just getting started with his rightwing agenda. That should worry us all
Margaret Sullivan
It’s appalling to see the media lavish DeSantis with so much fawning coverage. Especially after all he has done
Fri 10 Mar 2023 06.10 EST
Last modified on Fri 10 Mar 2023 07.24 EST
snip//
Let’s review some of what has happened on his watch with the help of a rubber-stamp Republican state legislature.
The Parental Rights in Education Act, better known as “don’t say gay”, prevents teachers from talking about gender identity and sexual orientation in some elementary-school grades.
The so-called Stop Woke Act restricts how race is discussed in Florida’s schools, colleges and even private workplaces.
Another law pulled a slew of books from public school libraries while they are reviewed for their supposed suitability. (There are no limits to the craziness: after one parent’s complaint, many high schools yanked The Bluest Eye, the literary masterpiece by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.)
There’s more, including on the healthcare front. Florida’s medical boards now bar transgender youth from gender-affirming medical care such as hormone therapy. State law bans most abortions beyond 15-weeks gestation; a new bill would tighten that to only six weeks.
more...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/10/ron-desantis-florida-governor-media-coverage-rightwing-agenda
March 10, 2023
Florida County Bans Jodi Picoult Novel, Citing DeSantis Directive
FLORIDA-HEIT 451
Victor Swezey
Intern
Published Mar. 10, 2023 12:02PM ET
Florida County Bans Jodi Picoult Novel, Citing DeSantis Directive
https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-county-bans-jodi-picoults-the-storyteller-citing-desantis-directive?ref=homeFlorida County Bans Jodi Picoult Novel, Citing DeSantis Directive
FLORIDA-HEIT 451
Victor Swezey
Intern
Published Mar. 10, 2023 12:02PM ET
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared war on books, and the battle over kids’ freedom to read is under way at schools across the state. What’s on the chopping block—or bonfire—this time? For southeast Florida’s Martin County, it’s The Storyteller, a novel about the unlikely relationship between the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and an aging S.S. officer, as well as nearly 20 other books by bestselling author Jodi Picoult. “Banning ‘The Storyteller’ is shocking, as it is about the Holocaust and has never been banned before,” Picoult said in an email to The Washington Post, calling book bans a “breach of freedom of speech and freedom of information.” According to Picoult, most of her books have nary a kiss in them but do include “gay characters, and issues like racism, disability, abortion rights, gun control, and other topics that might make a kid think differently from their parents.” In their justification for the bans, officials from the heavily Republican county cite a mind-bogglingly vague directive from the Florida Department of Education that tells educators to ban any book they wouldn’t feel “comfortable reading aloud.”
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Gender: FemaleHometown: NY
Home country: US
Current location: Florida
Member since: Mon Sep 6, 2004, 09:54 PM
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