If it wasn’t clear from the headline, this essay explores sexually explicit themes, and includes images that may not be fit for workplace viewing. Alexandra Vasti’s research anchors the first part of the piece, before passing the perspective to Raisa Rexer.
In the latest front in the culture war over school curricula, the House of Representatives is set to vote Friday on a bill that would give a congressional stamp of approval to the lesson plans of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a group closely linked to fervently hawkish corners of the foreign policy blob.
I supposed the court had no choice, but I’m always a little wary when the Fifth Circuit decides to take another look at some litigation, especially when it involves certain amendments like the First. Or the Fourth.
But what’s disappointing about her recent Maga makeover is that she’s abandoned a lot of the positive portions of the Sanders agenda she once espoused, policies designed to help working people: higher wages, better health care, and stronger unions (she got a 100 per cent voting score as a congressperson from the AFL-CIO). Instead, she now dismisses all aspects of Bidenomics as “fascism” and plays up the culture wars.
Texas is in a close race with Florida for the title of “Most Unconstitutional Laws Enacted.” Florida’s legislators will probably end up taking this title because they seem crazier/more productive than their counterparts in Texas.
Escambia County school officials told the Pensacola News Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the more than 1,600 books are not banned and are being pulled from shelves temporarily while under review.
The books “have not been banned or removed from the school district; rather, they have simply been pulled for further review to ensure compliance with the new legislation,” Escambia County Public Schools spokesperson Cody Strother told the News Journal.
In an effort to comply with the law, the school district removed eight encyclopedias and five dictionaries from library shelves, according to PEN America, which is suing the school district for removing 10 books on race and LGBTQ issues last year. The group argues those book bans violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech.
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.
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.”
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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