Week of July 10th

[byjove]

How's everyone in the NE corridor doing today? The rainfall has been near biblical. DC seems to have escaped the worst of it.

[kbw]

We were under flood watches yesterday and got almost no rain. My SILs mom lives by West Point and that area got hit hard.

[elle]

We didn't get rain until yesterday evening and then more through the night and this morning, though it's been on the lighter side. Thunderstorms are predicted for today but so far not a whole bunch of water thankfully. Swim lessons did get canceled of course but I'm okay with that, it gave me an easier morning.

[mrsweasley]

I hope everyone in the NE stays safe with the rains!

I got 17 signatures in a little over an hour at the local bowling alley that is doing a big raffle tonight. The pot is over a million so people were out there at 8am for the upm drawing! Only a few stupid questions, but I'm over the minimum number of signatures now so everything else is just icing on the cake 🎉

I am not confident about winning, some of my neighbors stopped waving at me after I put a progress pride flag magnet on my car 😒, but at least maybe I can shake things up and let someone out there know they're seen and valued

[enchanted]

Stay safe, NE friends.

[enchanted]

I saw that the scumbag doctor who was abusing gymnasts was in an altercation with another prisoner and was stabbed several times. I thought for sure, given the nature of his crimes and the attitudes of most prisoners towards those kinds of crimes, he would have been heavily protected/isolated.

[clucky]

Anyone up to writing their representatives? 
The Promising Pathways Act (more info & prefilled letter in the link) will help those suffering incurable diseases a fast track to drugs without the standard FDA approval which can take months or years, which most of those don’t have. 

[dc2london]

Jul 10, 2023 16:59:18 GMT -6 clucky said:

Anyone up to writing their representatives? 
The Promising Pathways Act (more info & prefilled letter in the link) will help those suffering incurable diseases a fast track to drugs without the standard FDA approval which can take months or years, which most of those don’t have. 

Done and shared with family/friends

[dc2london]

LOLOLOLOLLL

The "missing" Hunter Biden "whistleblower" is missing bc he skipped bail under federal indictment

[dc2london]

Absolute A+ stupidity. The CCP, the GOP's biggest boogeyman, and Iran, their second biggest boogeyman, and their biiiiiiig whistle-blower who had all the deets and was totes trustworthy, was illegally working for both!!

[enchanted]

Erdogan backs Sweden's joining NATO.

www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/turkey-sweden-nato-bid/

[elle]

[cnf]

No rain by me, but less than an hour east, a town I used to cover when I worked in public health, had massive flash flooding. Tons of homes with a foot plus of water in their basements that have never had issues before. Just devastating. I'm sorry to everyone experiencing the flooding and rain.

[mrsweasley]

Welp, this is...something

I'm crafting a response about how she doesn't mention specific titles so I can't speak to that but stop trying to restrict everyone else's kids. We all have the right to make our own choices for our kids, etc

[oreobitsy]

mrsweasley I think that’s a good response. School librarians tend to follow professional standards and guidelines when making collection decisions. I’d imagine the school’s purchaser has used professional resources when selecting materials for the school’s collection. Without knowing titles, it’s difficult to make a comment because there are a lot of variables for the material in question.

Our district has a policy in place that aligns with our strict state standards (UT), both for curriculum and library collection. I’d double-check your district to see how well they cover their butts in events of challenges. Some of your response might be guided by the district’s procedure.

[mrsweasley]

Jul 11, 2023 20:30:22 GMT -6 oreobitsy said:

mrsweasley I think that’s a good response. School librarians tend to follow professional standards and guidelines when making collection decisions. I’d imagine the school’s purchaser has used professional resources when selecting materials for the school’s collection. Without knowing titles, it’s difficult to make a comment because there are a lot of variables for the material in question.

Our district has a policy in place that aligns with our strict state standards (UT), both for curriculum and library collection. I’d double-check your district to see how well they cover their butts in events of challenges. Some of your response might be guided by the district’s procedure.

That's a good tip about our district's specific policies, thanks. I do know there were a few book challenges recently and one book was removed.

Someone else replied and she posted a quote from a specific book about self harm. I swear I've seen the first part if her comment verbatim before, I have a feeling it's mostly a copy/paste job with a personal part at the end

ETA: a quick Google tells me SHE was the one that challenged the books recently 🙃

[oreobitsy]

Ugh. I guarantee that person hasn’t really read the material in question. That’s so frustrating.

Book banning and their attempts are my hill. I sit on a couple committees for our public spaces and know it is not if, but when. It’s so infuriating to see time spent towards planning how to combat challenges when intellectual freedom is a concept all citizens should embrace.

[mrsweasley]

Jul 11, 2023 22:26:53 GMT -6 oreobitsy said:

Ugh. I guarantee that person hasn’t really read the material in question. That’s so frustrating.

Book banning and their attempts are my hill. I sit on a couple committees for our public spaces and know it is not if, but when. It’s so infuriating to see time spent towards planning how to combat challenges when intellectual freedom is a concept all citizens should embrace.

These kind of questions have definitely made me question whether school board is the right choice or if I should trying to engage in the committees that make the recommendations

I can't find the district policy, but I'm going to reach out to the board member that has been helping me a bit. The article I found about the removal request said the district has a "reconsideration committee" and their recommendation was parents/guardians have the ability to block the books from being checked out by their child, and they follow the American Library Assoc Guiding Principles. The article also said she was "notified of the books by Make Schools Safe Again", so I doubt anything short of exactly what she wants to hear will placate her

[athn64]

Jul 11, 2023 22:39:30 GMT -6 mrsweasley said:

Jul 11, 2023 22:26:53 GMT -6 oreobitsy said:

Ugh. I guarantee that person hasn’t really read the material in question. That’s so frustrating.

Book banning and their attempts are my hill. I sit on a couple committees for our public spaces and know it is not if, but when. It’s so infuriating to see time spent towards planning how to combat challenges when intellectual freedom is a concept all citizens should embrace.

These kind of questions have definitely made me question whether school board is the right choice or if I should trying to engage in the committees that make the recommendations

I can't find the district policy, but I'm going to reach out to the board member that has been helping me a bit. The article I found about the removal request said the district has a "reconsideration committee" and their recommendation was parents/guardians have the ability to block the books from being checked out by their child, and they follow the American Library Assoc Guiding Principles. The article also said she was "notified of the books by Make Schools Safe Again", so I doubt anything short of exactly what she wants to hear will placate her

So she doesn't even really know that the library has those books or that they contain what she thinks they do. Wonderful.

This makes me so glad that Pritzker signed an anti-book ban law in IL recently.

[coffeecake]

Jul 11, 2023 22:39:30 GMT -6 mrsweasley said:

Jul 11, 2023 22:26:53 GMT -6 oreobitsy said:

Ugh. I guarantee that person hasn’t really read the material in question. That’s so frustrating.

Book banning and their attempts are my hill. I sit on a couple committees for our public spaces and know it is not if, but when. It’s so infuriating to see time spent towards planning how to combat challenges when intellectual freedom is a concept all citizens should embrace.

These kind of questions have definitely made me question whether school board is the right choice or if I should trying to engage in the committees that make the recommendations

I can't find the district policy, but I'm going to reach out to the board member that has been helping me a bit. The article I found about the removal request said the district has a "reconsideration committee" and their recommendation was parents/guardians have the ability to block the books from being checked out by their child, and they follow the American Library Assoc Guiding Principles. The article also said she was "notified of the books by Make Schools Safe Again", so I doubt anything short of exactly what she wants to hear will placate her

I would look into your district’s policy. Our district’s librarians can block specific titles from being checked out if a parent requests it. To me, that should solve the issue. Except those in favor of book bans rarely have any actual titles and/or are willing to put in the time to see if any of the books they’re afraid of are actually in the school library.

[elle]

[elle]

[byjove]

Jul 12, 2023 9:24:41 GMT -6 elle said:

I read this story in bed this AM and thought it was wild!! 

[ldubhawksfan]

Jul 12, 2023 8:55:00 GMT -6 elle said:

😡

I’ve been more vocal recently when people ask if I would ever move back. I say Iowa is not the state I grew up in. My kids will have a worst education and less rights and I cannot willingly move there for them.

[dc2london]

I'm so sorry to everyone dealing with extreme weather

[cnf]

The book This Book Is Gay, which was the center of the threats made to my kid's school and caused two emergency evacuations, passed review when it was challenged. There were hundreds of community members who put in to be one of the seven who sit on the reconsideration committee. They had to make it a random lottery draw. My town is notoriously red, but the super of my kid's school is very pro LGBTQ+. I'm shocked it was deemed able to remain in the high school library.

I'm so sorry for all the bullshit that is going on. mrsweasley I applaud you for seeking election to your school board. I really hope you are able to get on the board and make some changes for the better. The kids need adults like you in their corner.

[jaygee]

Jul 12, 2023 10:00:53 GMT -6 byjove said:

Jul 12, 2023 9:24:41 GMT -6 elle said:

I read this story in bed this AM and thought it was wild!! 

They showed the video on our local news last night and I was cheering the sea otter.

I mean, those animals can get aggressive so I get why they have to handle it. But…I like the otter’s moxy.

[byjove]

[mrsweasley]

Completely predictable but unhinged response 😬

I think I am going to make a comment about trying to avoid confusion since this was a post about coming out to meet last week then turn off commenting

Posting passages on FB is especially perplexing because there could absolutely be children in this group or that could find it via a parent's phone

[trueblue]

Jul 12, 2023 12:41:23 GMT -6 mrsweasley said:

Completely predictable but unhinged response 😬

I think I am going to make a comment about trying to avoid confusion since this was a post about coming out to meet last week then turn off commenting

Posting passages on FB is especially perplexing because there could absolutely be children in this group or that could find it via a parent's phone

I would be sitting on my hands not to reply “later? Like after you had time to google and then cut & paste the excerpts that you think are offensive? Or later? I need to read the book and then tell everyone why I am offended? Either way I can’t wait. Popping popcorn now.”