Michael Beschloss
@BeschlossDC

Miz Lillian Carter showed off this T-shirt (“Jimmy Won!”) just after her son was elected as 39th President of the United States, 1976:

Elizer Darris has thought many times about how it must feel to hold one of the red “I VOTED” stickers Minnesota gives out at polling places.

He was sentenced to prison as a child, too young to have ever voted. He was released in 2016, but he has remained on probation ever since, in a state with exceptionally long probation terms. Minnesota strips people of their voting rights when they are convicted of a felony and only restores them upon completion of all parts of a sentence, which means that Darris still can’t vote.

That’s poised to change now. Minnesota’s legislature on Tuesday adopted House File 28, a bill termed Restore The Vote. It would grant ballot access to Minnesotans on parole or on probation, currently estimated to be roughly 50,000 people—though not to the more than 8,000 people in state prisons over a felony.

“That’s going to allow me to feel my humanity so much more,” Darris, who is now co-executive director of the Minnesota Freedom Fund, told Bolts. “Society has basically told me I’m locked away from having the most basic engagement with democracy. Well, now I will be engaged in the democratic experience.”

"All Boys Aren’t Blue," "And Tango Makes Three" and "When Aidan Became a Brother" are the latest book titles to join the growing list of banned books in Escambia County Public Schools.

In a special board meeting Monday night, all three books in question — which explored topics such as gender identity and same sex relationships — were voted for immediate removal. "All Boys Aren't Blue" was particularly scrutinized for detailing two sexual encounters and an instance of sexual assault. The titles will not be able to be challenged again for five years following the vote.

The nixed reads are among over 160 other titles that sit on the district’s challenged title list, many of which have stemmed from district high school teacher, Vicki Baggett, who presented a list of over 100 titles she wanted to be purged last year. In addition to the list of the challenged books, the district’s libraries are simultaneously under review. Media specialist Michelle White anticipates this will require checking over 100,000 titles.

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was the first book off the list to be removed, after the board voted 4-1 that the book was inappropriate for an optional 12th grade novel study last year.

“I believe in parental rights,” District 1 board member Kevin Adams said Monday. “Every one of our students gets a library card to the public library. I respect their right to go and get whatever books they want for their child, and I think that is what’s missing in here. It’s just not something that should be in the school district. We should be focusing on the education of these students."

Legal Defense Fund
@NAACP_LDF

Civil rights hero, the Honorable John Lewis, was born #OTD in 1940. LDF stood alongside him throughout his life as he fought to break barriers and forever changed the lives of Black people in America. https://naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-mourns-the-loss-of-congressman-john-lewis-legendary-and-beloved-civil-rights-icon/

Democracy Docket
@DemocracyDocket

NEW: U.S. Supreme Court dismisses a case arguing that Mississippi's congressional map is racially gerrymandered in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The Court is allowing the map to remain in place without ruling on the constitutionality of the districts.

democracydocket.com
U.S. Supreme Court Allows Mississippi’s Congressional Map To Remain in Place

Additionally, SCOTUS affirmed a lower court decision to void a previous order that required Mississippi to preclear its congressional map under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The decision confirms that MS is not bound by any preclearance requirements in redistricting.

Judd Legum
@JuddLegum

BREAKING

The school board in Escambia County, Florida just voted to BAN AND TANGO MAKES THREE, the true story of two male Penguins who lived in the Central Park Zoo

The pair build a nest together and raise an adopted child, Tango

There is no sexual content of any kind

2. The book was challenged by an English teacher in Escambia County, Vikki Baggett

Baggett said the book promoted the "LGBTQ agenda using penguins" and the purpose of the book is "indoctrination."

3. In an interview with Popular Information, Baggett said And Tango Makes Three exposes students to "alternate sexual ideologies" and contains "sexual innuendo" and K-3 students are "too young to even be concerned about sex."

popular.info
Meet the Florida English teacher trying to ban 150 books from school libraries

4. Baggett explained her objections to And Tango Makes Three in more detail: "I think what would happen is a second grader would read this book, and that idea would pop into the second grader's mind… that these are two people of the same sex that love each other."

5. Vicki Baggett's former and current students tell Popular Information that Baggett openly promoted racist and homophobic beliefs in class.

popular.info
Florida English teacher pushing book bans is openly racist and homophobic, students allege

6. According to three former students, Baggett told a 10th-grade student that her sister, who had a girlfriend, was "faking being a lesbian for attention."

Baggett allegedly said that "nobody's born that way."

7. After that article I heard directly from the student allegedly targeted by Baggett. She says that Baggett made similar comments to her directly.

"She told me I was gay because I hadn't found the right man"

And she reported another disturbing incident.

8. A 2019 letter from a parent to the high school principal says that Baggett "has expressed her utter distaste for homosexuals to her students."

9. According to the parent, Baggett "stated she thinks homosexuals are DUMB/STUPID for wearing the rainbow and pink colors because, according to Mrs. Baggett, that is the way that Hitler marked homosexual males"

10. According to the parent, the school principal responded by dismissing their concerns and saying that Baggett was "a good person"

Video of the board explaining its decision to ban And Tango Makes Three:

“The fascination is still on those two male penguins…so I’ll be voting to remove the book from our libraries.”

https://twitter.com/FLFreedomRead/status/1627861880495652867

Michael Beschloss
@BeschlossDC

White House pool photograph of President Biden and Jake Sullivan (NSC) on train from Kyiv to Poland:

A Miami woman serving part of her federal prison sentence on house arrest didn’t have any choice when the man assigned to monitor her for the Federal Bureau of Prisons wanted sexual favors. As court documents stated, she was under Benito Montes de Oca Cruz’s “custodial, supervisory and disciplinary authority.”

So, she submitted to Cruz’s wishes. But, she also told law enforcement what happened and provided evidence. When law enforcement went to the video and DNA she brought them, Cruz was exposed.

Cruz pleaded guilty in Miami federal court to one count of abusive sexual contact. He’s scheduled to be sentenced April 14.

Five people were shot, including a young girl, near a parade in New Orleans on Sunday during the lead-up to Mardi Gras.

The shooting, along the route of the traditional Krewe of Bacchus parade, injured the girl, a woman and three men, including one who was later pronounced dead, according to the New Orleans Police Department. The other four victims were in stable condition, police said Monday.

A barrage of bullets erupted during the run-up to the city’s raucous Mardi Gras celebration traditionally held before the annual Tuesday celebration. The parade was scheduled to start Sunday shortly after 5 p.m. CT.

As of Monday morning, the fatality victim's identity had not been released by police.

JACKSON, Miss. — The freeze of early 2021 wasn’t the origin of the water system collapse in Jackson, Miss. But the winter storm introduced the country to Jackson’s aging and improperly maintained pipes and water plants, which failed and left residents without clean water for more than a month.

The crisis surged back in the summer of 2022, leaving residents without clean water for two months and drawing comparisons to the lead-poisoning scandal in Flint, Mich., another banner example of America’s ruinous infrastructure systems. Here, as in Flint, the federal government stepped in: In November, the Department of Justice appointed a federal manager to take control of the beleaguered utility, and less than a month later, Congress approved $600 million exclusively for the city’s water system.

But the rescue effort is already running up against the realities of local politics, reflecting historic tensions between Jackson and the rest of the state. For decades, state and city leaders have clashed over who should control local spending, services and infrastructure. Now, both the federal manager and the city’s mayor are warning that state politicians are attempting to take over Jackson’s water system, along with hundreds of millions in federal funds meant for repairing it.

At the heart of the feud is Senate Bill 2889, introduced in mid-January by a lawmaker who says his only goal is to ensure the Mississippi capital’s water system is restored.

The legislation would create a new regional water-authority board to oversee the system’s water, sewer and drainage systems. The governor and lieutenant governor would appoint a majority of the board. Over the years, state leaders including the current governor, Tate Reeves, have expressed skepticism about whether Jackson is capable of managing its own affairs. Federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, have also questioned the city’s management of its water and wastewater systems.