YCRT! Rant
And here we go, just four days into the new regime:
Click to read the entire press release
So how's the battle against book-banning going lately? The pinheads we've warned you about, fought against, taken to court, subverted with work-arounds, subjected to public ridicule and shame — the torch & pitchfork book-burning mob — are suddenly the boss of us.
What first stands out to me is the wildly inappropriate slamming of a former president in the title of this official Department of Education policy statement. It carries on into the text (click on the image to read the whole thing), which may as well be a Sean Hannity show transcript. Imagine every agency of the federal government acting as a propaganda arm of the executive branch, spewing MAGA and alt-right talking points. Well, it's happening. Right in front of you.
But how about the book-banning? What does this policy statement actually say? Basically, that the Department of Education will no longer mediate in local school board decisions to restrict access to books from public school classrooms and libraries, turning the entire issue over to local control, along with a heavy dose of the usual bullshit boilerplate employed by book-banners.
If past actions of Republican Congresses are any indication, within a month or two the Party of Local Control and States' Rights will have implemented a top-down book-banning policy on public education in the United States. Every elementary, middle, and high school will ban "age-inappropriate materials" from classrooms and libraries, and you can bet publicly-funded state colleges and universities will be next, along with public libraries.
If it is within their power to force the Idaho model on the remaining 49 states, do you think for a second they'll hesitate?
Those annual lists of banned books published by the American Library Association? They're going to be more important than ever. Because we're not going to knuckle under to this shit. In the eternal battle between the Stupids and the Smarts, my money — despite the evidence of the recent election — is still on the Smarts.
