A List that Does not Match the Truth

The United States is rife with paradoxes and this is one of them. On January 11, 2021, a few days away from ceasing to be president of the powerful nation -reluctantly and not without trying with his fanatics to reverse the electoral process won by Joseph Biden-, Donald Trump took a low blow and put the name of Cuba in a counterfactual list of countries sponsoring terrorism (SSOT). The incongruity lies not only in the fact that it is without a grain of truth, it is that in fact Cuba and the United States have in place a bilateral cooperation agreement on counterterrorism.

A List that Does not Match the Truth

ACLU Wisconsin files records requests for banned books across school districts

ACLU Wisconsin files records requests for banned books across school districts

Menomonee Falls School District banned 33 titles. The same day the ACLU made its open records requests, Elkhorn Area School District received a request from a parent challenging 444 books, prompting the temporary removal and review of those titles.

Related:

ACLU of Wisconsin Files Open Record Requests with Six School Districts That Recently Banned Books

The letter to the school districts accompanying the requests notes that removing books from school libraries threatens the First Amendment rights of students and their families. The Supreme Court held over 40 years ago that “local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books.”

The largely forgotten book ban case that went up to the Supreme Court

Pressley Bill Would Classify Discriminatory Book Bans as Civil Rights Violations

The bill would also require public and school libraries to have a diverse book collection.

Pressley Bill Would Classify Discriminatory Book Bans as Civil Rights Violations

Parents should be able to have a say in their children’s education (although, they shouldn’t be astroturfed). The thing is, these articles are selective in revealing the money behind some of these groups. I’ve included links to a few, of the financials/partnerships, below the cut. I wasn’t able to find information on a couple of them, though. Another thing, PEN has ties to the CIA and the Congress for Cultural Freedom.

Related:

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House Passes Bill That States ‘Anti-Zionism is Antisemitism’

Ms. Cat

The House on Tuesday passed a resolution that says “anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” the chamber’s latest piece of legislation conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

House Passes Bill That States ‘Anti-Zionism is Antisemitism’

Related:

H.Res.894 – Strongly condemning and denouncing the drastic rise of antisemitism in the United States and around the world.

Whereas the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism is widely accepted and serves as a critical tool to help individuals comprehend and identify the various manifestations of antisemitism;

Whereas, since the massacre of innocent Israelis by Hamas, an Iran-backed terrorist organization, on October 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault in the United States have spiked 388 percent over the same period last year, according to reports from the Anti-Defamation League‘s (ADL) Center on Extremism;

‘Labor’ camps, next?!

Railroads Have Invested Heavily in Congress. They Need Their Payoff in the Senate.

A showdown over a looming railroad strike heads to the Senate floor this week, after a group of progressive Democrats, led by Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., pushed to modify a tentative agreement to include seven days of sick leave. The expanded agreement passed the House 220-206 on Wednesday, and the fight now moves to the Senate, where it remains unclear if there is enough Republican support to overcome a filibuster and send the agreement to President Joe Biden’s desk.

Railroads Have Invested Heavily in Congress. They Need Their Payoff in the Senate.

Related:

Why America’s Railroads Refuse to Give Their Workers Paid Leave

The answer, in short, is “P.S.R.” — or precision-scheduled railroading