Although omicron causes less severe disease for most people, the highly contagious nature of this COVID-19 strain means more people are falling ill and dying.Omicron, the highly contagious coronavirus variant sweeping across the country, is driving the daily American death toll higher than during last fall’s delta wave, with deaths likely to keep rising for days or even weeks.
The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has been climbing since mid-November, reaching 2,267 on Thursday and surpassing a September peak of 2,100 when delta was the dominant variant.
Now omicron is estimated to account for nearly all the virus circulating in the nation. And even though it causes less severe disease for most people, the fact that it is more transmissible means more people are falling ill and dying.
“Omicron will push us over a million deaths,” said Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine. “That will cause a lot of soul searching. There will be a lot of discussion about what we could have done differently, how many of the deaths were preventable.”
Omicron symptoms are often milder, and some infected people show no symptoms, researchers agree. But like the flu, it can be deadly, especially for people who are older, have other health problems or who are unvaccinated.
“Importantly, ‘milder’ does not mean ‘mild,’” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said this week during a White House briefing.
Until recently, Chuck Culotta was a healthy middle-aged man who ran a power-washing business in Milford, Delaware. As the omicron wave was ravaging the Northeast, he felt the first symptoms before Christmas and tested positive on Christmas Day. He died less than a week later, on Dec. 31, nine days short of his 51st birthday.
He was unvaccinated, said his brother, Todd, because he had questions about the long-term effects of the vaccine.
“He just wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do — yet,” said Todd Culotta, who got his shots during the summer.
At one urban hospital in Kansas, 50 COVID-19 patients have died this month and more than 200 are being treated. University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, posted a video from its morgue showing bagged bodies in a refrigeration unit and a worker marking one white body bag with the word “COVID.”
“This is real,” said Ciara Wright, the hospital’s decedent affairs coordinator. “Our concerns are, ‘Are the funeral homes going to come fast enough?’ We do have access to a refrigerated truck. We don’t want to use it if we don’t have to.”
Dr. Katie Dennis, a pathologist who does autopsies for the health system, said the morgue has been at or above capacity almost every day in January, “which is definitely unusual.”
With more than 878,000 deaths, the United States has the largest COVID-19 toll of any nation.
During the coming week, almost every U.S. state will see a faster increase in deaths, although deaths have peaked in a few states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Maryland, Alaska and Georgia, according to the COVID-19 Forecast Hub.
New hospital admissions have started to fall for all age groups, according to CDC data, and a drop in deaths is expected to follow.
“In a pre-pandemic world, during some flu seasons, we see 10,000 or 15,000 deaths. We see that in the course of a week sometimes with COVID,” said Nicholas Reich, who aggregates coronavirus projections for the hub in collaboration with the CDC.
“The toll and the sadness and suffering is staggering and very humbling,” said Reich, a professor of biostatistics at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
In other developments:
— The White House said Friday that about 60 million households ordered 240 million home-test kits under a new government program to expand testing opportunities. The government also said it has shipped tens of millions of masks to convenient locations around the country, including deliveries Friday to community centers in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
— The national drugstore chain Walgreens is among pharmacies receiving the government-provided masks. The chain has started offering N95 masks for free at several stores, as long as supplies last. The company’s website lists locations in the Midwest for the initial wave of stores offering masks, but Walgreens said more stores will offer them soon.
— The leading organization for state and local public health officials has called on governments to stop conducting widespread contact tracing, saying it’s no longer necessary. The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials urged governments to focus contact tracing efforts on high-risk, vulnerable populations such as people in homeless shelters and nursing homes.
Month: January 2022
Fox Host: Kamala Harris Has “Typical Female Problems”
“I’m sorry to say this, but many people are saying this—I am not saying this, but many are saying—this sounds like a typical female problem. I’m not saying that! I’m saying this is what people are telling me!
“They say the first female vice president comes in there, and every single article is about her feelings.” – Fox News host Jesse Watters, speaking about Kamala Harris.
As you’ll see in the clip, his co-hosts Jeanine Pirro and Dana Perino tried in vain to shut him down.
One Million Moms Vs “Sin Glorifying” eHarmony
Via email from hate group leader Monica Cole:
The online dating site eharmony.com is advertising its services with a new gay pride commercial featuring the company’s continued theme, “Here for Real Love.”
It’s the site’s attempt to normalize and glorify the LGBTQ lifestyle by featuring a homosexual couple hugging, feeding each other, and wiping the other one’s mouth.
By promoting same sex relationships, eharmony wants to make it clear where they stand on this controversial topic instead of remaining neutral in the culture war.
There is concern about the way this advertisement is pushing the LGBTQ agenda, but an even greater concern is that the commercial is airing when children are likely watching television.
This eharmony ad brainwashes children and adults by desensitizing them and convincing them that homosexuality is natural, when in reality it is an unnatural love that is forbidden by Scripture just like love rooted in adultery is forbidden.
Homosexuality is immoral. Romans 1:26-27 makes this very clear. Therefore, One Million Moms will continue to stand up for biblical truth.
TAKE ACTION! Sign our petition to eharmony now! The company needs to hear from you. Supporting the homosexual agenda instead of remaining neutral in the cultural war is just bad business.
Man Dining With Palin Assaults News Photographer Who Asked “Are You Guys Concerned She Tested Positive?”
Upper East Site reports:
A half dozen NYPD officers were called to Elio’s restaurant on Second Avenue Wednesday night after a man dining with the former Alaska Governor on the Upper East Side roughed up a news photographer filming them dining outdoors.
“Are any of you guys concerned she tested positive for covid?” he asked. The moment the words came out of the Upper East Site photographer’s mouth, the man put his napkin down, stands up and takes a beeline for him— menacingly asking “are you looking for trouble” over and over.
The unidentified, large man dining with Palin grabbed the victim’s fingers with both hands, wrenching and twisting them down, slamming the camera to the concrete, the photographer told Upper East Site
The New York Daily News reports:
Ex-New York Ranger and ex-MSG analyst Ron Duguay got up from the table, approached the photographer, and said: “Are you looking for trouble?” Duguay then apparently knocked to the ground the device the photographer was using to shoot the video.
The photographer told the Daily News he spoke to police about the incident. Law enforcement sources confirmed late Thursday that officers responded to a verbal dispute at Elio’s that involved Palin, and that the situation was resolved.
Paramedics examined the photographer for a possible broken finger and he declined transport to the hospital. No charges have yet been filed.
Prominent Anti-Vax Loon: The Vaccine Turns You Into “Transhumanist Cyborgs” To Be Controlled By Magnets
“The stated goal is to depopulate the planet and the ones that are left, either make them chronically sick or turn them into transhumanist cyborgs that can be manipulated externally by 5G, by magnets, by all sorts of things.
“I got dragged through the mud by the mainstream media when I said that in May of last year in front of the House committee in Columbus. Well, guess what? It’s all true.
“The whole issue of quantum entanglement and what the shots do in terms of the frequencies and the electronic frequencies that come inside of your body and hook you up to the ‘Internet of Things,’ the quantum entanglement that happens immediately after you’re injected.
“You get hooked up to what they’re trying to develop. It’s called the hive mind, and they want all of us there as a node and as an electronic avatar that is an exact replica of us except it’s an electronic replica, it’s not our God given body that we were born with.
“And all of that will be running through the metaverse that they’re talking about. All of these things are real, Stew. All of them. And it’s happening right now.
“It’s not some science fiction thing happening out in the future; it’s happening right now in real time.” – Sherri Tenpenny, appearing on Stew Peters’ show. Peters has called for executing Fauci and other top health officials.
School officials remove student’s ‘Gay is OK’ rainbow artwork and liken it to the Nazi flag
https://www.rawstory.com/art-censorship/
The principal and vice-principal of an Athens, Georgia elementary school are under fire from both parents and faculty after they reportedly ordered an unnamed student’s artwork that includes the words “Gay is OK” to be removed from a collection of works hung on a classroom wall, with the vice-principal allegedly comparing it to the Nazi flag.
“It’s been brought to our attention that one local school’s administration at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary did not find the art to be ‘okay.’ A local teacher has had the art hanging in her classroom since October, as part of several different student art pieces. According to the teacher, one parent eventually complained to the principal,” Athens Pride reveals on its Facebook page, which has also been reported by multiple news outlets.
“The principal reportedly asked the teacher to move the art to a less offensive place– she stood in solidarity with the student and did not remove the piece,” the Athens Pride post continues. “We have been told she was then summoned to the principal and vice principal’s office, where the display of the rainbow and verbiage were likened to ‘displaying a swastika’ by the school’s vice principal.”
Local Georgia news outlet 11Alive reports parent and University of Georgia professor Jemelleh Coes says, “Nothing has been done and that is part of the problem and that is why we are finally at a place like this. Enough is enough.”
“There are ongoing complaints about this current administration has been discriminatory against women, being discriminatory against LGBTQ people, being discriminatory against English language learners or emerging bilinguals, emerging multilingual and Spanish speakers. So we have seen a pattern of inequity at our school and we have been asking for support at this point for years,” Coes added.
A current teacher who wished to speak anonymously said in a statement to 11Alive: “On behalf of a majority of the staff at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School, we are disheartened that these words and actions have happened in our school building during this time. This does not represent why we chose this profession, and it does not represent the feelings, beliefs, values, and attributes our amazing school family has within these four walls. We are disheartened that there has been no action taken by CCSD or our building administration to rectify the divide that has been caused. We will continue to seek resolution and promote a community of love, acceptance, and tolerance within our building and community.”
Athens Pride on Facebook sums up the current situation: “The truth is, our children are watching and they are listening.”
FL Sheriff Conducts Grindr Drug Sting, Over 60 Arrested
Tampa’s ABC News affiliate reports:
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said its undercover detectives have been using dating apps to track down a number of people suspected of buying and selling drugs in the area.
A 6-month undercover sting, called “Swipe Left for Meth,” yielded more than 60 arrests, the agency said. Detectives also obtained warrants for eight people.
The investigation began in July 2021 after PCSO was tipped off that people were openly selling drugs on the well-known dating app Grindr. Further investigation revealed drug sales were also happening on the dating apps Scruff, and Taimi, although Grindr was the app with more drug sales.
Read the full article.
In 2020, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd [photo] was appointed to a federal juvenile delinquency prevention council by Trump.
While his office is technically nonpartisan, Judd regularly wades into local politics to endorse right wingers.
Judd has served as president of the Florida Sheriffs Association and was among the 88% of Florida sheriffs who endorsed DeSantis last week.
In October 2020, he made headlines for telling Trump that he’d never have to wear a mask in Polk County. Trump had tested positive for COVID hours earlier that day.
Last week cutouts of Grady and Trump were displayed on a busy Polk County road next to a “Let’s Go Brandon” sign. Judd reportedly found the display hilarious.
Breyer Retires
President Joe Biden gets a Supreme Court pick and there’s very little Republicans can do to stop it. Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring and he’s picked the right time to do it because by this time next year, Republicans may control the Senate again, and despite there being two years left in President Biden’s term, yeah.
Even though it would be unprecedented for a Senate majority to refuse to hold hearings and a vote for a SCOTUS nomination for two years, Mitch McConnell and his ilk of sleazy Republicans have established a precedent of being lying thieving snakes. My apologies to snakes.
Donald Trump got three Supreme Court picks. He shouldn’t have gotten one. This is a man who shouldn’t be allowed to make his own choices from Shoney’s Big Boy menu, but he gets three picks for lifetime Supreme Court appointments. That’s just not right. Why should Vladimir Putin…
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Daily cartoon / meme roundup: What is we made it easier to live in the US like other advanced countries do for their public?
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Scottie’s world today
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5.7 according to the WH chart. I should post that here. And I did
If you think a Democrat is wrong for something but the same something done by a Republican is okay to you it is not the policy that bothers you. You are just tribal and hate the others not in your group simply because they are not in your group. That doesn’t work for running a country and shows how immature the person is.
There is far too much tribalism and emotionalism when having a discussion about many subjects these days. The idea that adults can not have civil discussions even when they are passionate and disagree with each other is a sad testament on the people in this country. People have forgotten that the goal is sharing information and hoping that information brings others to your view. A discussion is not to force the other person to agree with you against their will. Insulting or threats don’t add anything valuable to a conversation. Trolling shows how childish you are, not how informed or correct about a subject.
Are these two Gorsuch and Barrett? Or is the guy the I love beer Kavanaugh? Mitch McConnell is warning … warning Biden to to not but a lefty on the court, not to listen to the progressive wing, even though he pushed three every extreme right members on the court. The misleading right wing is pushing the narrative that if Biden appoints someone who cares about how the law effect people vs how it is now favoring business interest that the court will be destroyed. More fear tactics on the right.
and shouldn’t happen anyway.
Citizens United helped create this.
The chickenshit Republican whiners.
Attn Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema
Granted the person is retiring, but even Republicans admit they are cheating.
Curriculum is about preparing minds to think and reason, it’s not about parental control and subordination. Banning books is small-minded.
Night is a 1960 memoir by Elie Wiesel based on his Holocaust experiences with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945, toward the end of the Second World War in Europe.
White people think they are the victims of racism. Then ban people from talking about how racism works in America.
Washington media is broken. Two examples.
Biden is held to a totally different set of standards than Trump/traitors.
Lock them up.
Modern day trolls
Tucker Carlson is yet another conservative pawn for Putin.
We are dealing with emotional and intellectual three year-olds. #WearAMask
“Just do what they say” and “follow the rules” are bad faith suggestions from conservatives.
Yes smart people understand the professionals have evaluated the data that shows the vaccines effective and safe which makes it good public policy to get vaccinated. People who have no higher education claiming they did their own research really are not smart enough to know how silly that is, so are not ready for higher education.
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Misleading right wing media cartoons / memes
The Senate advises and consents. It did neither. Obama should have put him on and dared it turn him down. It’s been done before; in fact, Washington put a nominated chief justice on the Court, and then the Senate turned him down. Eisenhower didn’t wait to put Earl Warren on the Court. The Senate later approved him. If the Senate won’t have a hearing, then it consented.
tRump was an asset for Putin either willingly or just easily manipulated because he wanted to do big money business in Moscow. tRump openly took Putin’s word over the evidence of Russia’s interference in 2016 election and continuing attempts to destabilize the US in social media. These are facts and are demonstrable. At every turn tRump tried to ingratiate himself with Putin. For example when both California and Siberia were having wild fires tRump denied federal assistance to California and offered the US help to Putin fighting the fires in Siberia. Again a fact. Also at the start of the pandemic tRump authorized a shipment of PPE to Russia when supplies were short in the US. So he either was an asset willingly or just easy for Putin to control, but none of that can be said of Biden. Biden has not take Putin’s side over US intelligence or other cabinet level departments. Biden has not granted Putin favors to gain a favor back. Even while Tucker Carlson advocates abandoning Ukraine to please Putin Biden has stood defending the fledgling democracy. So the cartoon is correct about the old puppet, but wrong that there is a new one in Biden.
It is a fact different presidents have promised to name the first … what ever to the SCOTUS. They do the same with cabinet nominations. In fact candidate Ronald Reagan promised to appoint a woman to the SCOTUS if he won, and he did so. Nothing new and nothing shocking. It is just the right wants to make it an issue. The demographic make up of the courts do not match the demographics of the country.
As of August 2019, 80% of federal judges were white, while just 10% were Black and 6.6% Hispanic. Moreover, as of 2015, nearly 83% of all federal law clerks were white — an extension of the fact that most law schools are also severely lacking in racial diversity. And despite efforts at many of those top universities to admit more law students of color, in 2019, only 12.7% of law students were Hispanic and just 7.8% were Black. Trying to fix that equality by appointing a black women is not racist it is a good start to making the court look like the people of the country they serve.
A photo id to prick up a child? Well yes, and be on the approved list for safety sake. The number of child abductions in the US is higher by far than the number of proven cases of voter fraud. And nobody ever died because a vote was fraudulently cast in their name. If the person registered to vote, THEY ALREADY SHOWED THEIR ID, and they will need to sign the ballot, which will be matched to the signature on file.
Votes are NOT CONTAGEOUS! Right wing idiocy, on the other hand, is more contagious than pink eye, as demonstrated by Al.
You already registered to vote, and provided credentials to do so, and voter fraud is so minuscule to be almost nonexistent. Passing around diseases in school happens to a much greater degree.
“At the federal level, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires a voter ID for all new voters in federal elections who registered by mail and who did not provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number that was matched against government records.1 Though state laws requiring some sort of identification at voting polls go back to 1950, no state required a voter to produce a government-issued photo ID as a condition for voting before the 2006 elections.” – Wikipedia (Coincidentally 2006 election Democrats won both houses)
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And some for fun
Conservative group trying to ban 16 books from Polk Schools, calling them pornographic
Polk County Public Schools Regional Assistant Superintendent John Hill and several of his colleagues spent Tuesday morning going to area middle and high schools to gather 16 books out of media centers after County Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative political group, complained to Superintendent Frederick Heid that the novels, graphic novels, autobiographies, and sex education books contain pornographic material harmful to children.
Heid sent an email Monday evening to middle and high school principals and media center librarians, stating that a “stakeholder group” is alleging that the books may be in violation of Florida Statute 847.012, which deals with distributing obscene or harmful materials to children.
“While it is not the role of my office to approve/evaluate instructional or resource materials at that level, I do have an obligation to review any allegation that a crime is being or has been committed,” Heid wrote in the email. “It is also my obligation to provide safeguards to protect our employees. The district will be taking the following steps to ensure that we address this issue honestly, fairly, and transparently.”
PCPS spokesman Jason Geary said in an email that the books have been placed “in quarantine” and will not be available for checkout at this time.
“It is important to note that these 16 books have NOT been censored or banned at this time,” Geary said. “They have been removed so a thorough, thoughtful review of their content can take place.”
Geary said the district is following a longstanding protocol when a book is challenged by a parent or community member.
“The process requires the establishment of a review committee consisting of district curriculum staff, literacy/ELA staff, media specialists, parents, and community members,” Geary said. “This process is traditionally done at the individual school level. However, copies of some of the named titles are currently housed in multiple secondary school media centers, so this review will be conducted at the district level. It is important to note that these books will not be available during this period of review.”
Geary said that committee members must read each book in its entirety, and he did not have a timeline of when a final decision would be made.
Among the books in question:
• “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley is a sex education book that uses cartoons to portray people having sex, including straight, gay and lesbian men and women.
• “Two Boys Kissing” by David Levithan depicts the ghosts of gay men, some of whom died of AIDS, watching relationships develop between current-day gay teens and the reactions of their parents.
• “I am Jazz” by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings is an illustrated book about a transgender girl.
Books under fire
Books County Citizens Defending Freedom want banned from Polk County Public Schools:
“Two Boys Kissing” by David Levithan
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer
“Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher
“The Vincent Boys” by Abbi Glines
“It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley
“Real Live Boyfriends” by E. Lockhart
“I am Jazz” by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
“Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult
“More Happy Than Not” by Adam Silvera
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
“Almost Perfect” by Brian Katcher
‘The books speak for themselves’
CCDF Executive Director Hannah Petersen sent an email to Heid on Nov. 1 to say CCDF had gotten calls and messages pertaining to 30 books in Polk County Public Schools’ libraries.
“I decided to obtain a list of these books from the PCSB and what schools they’re currently in,” Petersen said. “I also did a lot of research to make sure the complaints were valid. I was physical (sic) nauseous after my research and knew you would want to be made aware. I only got through about 27 or so.”
Jimmy Nelson, a leader of the local chapter of CCDF, said members of the group had read all 16 books listed in their complaint. He declined to say whether he personally has.
Nelson said their group held a meeting with Heid in the last two or three weeks to discuss the content of the books, but had not suggested to the superintendent that they would file a lawsuit if the books were not removed. There is no lawsuit on file with the Polk County Clerk of Courts.
When asked how these 16 books were chosen, Nelson declined to comment. When asked to detail what in each book they objected to, he again declined, saying he didn’t trust the reporter.
“It’s pretty evident. The books speak for themselves,” Nelson said. “Anybody who’s aware and takes the time to see what’s available to our kids can see what’s in there.”
When discussing the fact that Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” depicts the brutal rape of a boy by a teenaged boy, Nelson was asked if all books containing rape should be banned.
“I’m not going to go into that with you,” Nelson said. He became irritated when it was pointed out that the Bible and William Shakespeare plays contain rape, incest and adultery, and asked if he wanted the Bible or Shakespeare removed, too.
“It makes no difference to the story,” Nelson said. “You want to paint it in that light. You want to twist things.”
When asked where the line was between what was acceptable and what was not, Nelson said, “I don’t know where I can necessarily define that for you. When you know something’s wrong, you know it’s wrong. … No one has suggested banning Shakespeare. Our issues with these books are clear — Shakespeare’s not on the list.”
CCDF recently complained to the Polk County School Board about its reproductive health curriculum, including that the anus is listed in a diagram and a vocabulary sheet describing the reproductive system. In addition, they complained that parents were not listed as the first people students should contact to talk to about sex, pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease issues. The district has now listed parents as a first point of contact for children.
The group also held a large demonstration prior to a School Board meeting in 2021 to protest the district’s mask mandate for students during the pandemic. The School Board eventually removed the mandate from its student dress code, although they have the ability to reinstate a mandate as an emergency measure.
The County Citizens Defending Freedom website states that it is an organization that empowers and equips American citizens to defend their freedoms and liberties at the local level.
“By streamlining and simplifying activism, we support and champion American citizens who want to stand up for their independence,” the website states. A map of local chapters shows there are active organizations in Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Orange and Polk counties, along with Nueces County, Texas. Half a dozen other “future” chapters are shown in Florida and another dozen in Texas.
Book complaints nationwide
While complaints about and bans on books are nothing new, multiple school districts have dealt with attempts to ban books recently.
According to Newsweek magazine, the Granbury, Texas, Independent School District passed a “book review” order that would allow board members to ban books from district schools without public comment. Granbury, Texas, is a town of roughly 11,000 people southwest of Fort Worth.
The article states that the Texas House General Investigating Committee and the Texas Education Agency have been directed by Gov. Greg Abbott to review all books in the district’s schools to prevent children from viewing “pornography or other inappropriate content.”
The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported Tuesday that the Wentzville, Missouri, School Board voted 4-3 to remove Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” from the district’s high school libraries. At least one board member said she was protecting children against obscenity.
Morrison won the Nobel Prize for literature and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, two of the top literary prizes in the world.
Terry Coney, president of the Lakeland branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he has a meeting with Heid scheduled for next week to discuss the issue. He called Morrison’s books classics.
“I believe students should have the opportunity to experience classic literature,” Coney said. “That’s why they’re called classics. They have passed the test of time.”
“The Bluest Eye” is about a black girl who thinks she is ugly because she is not white and wants blue eyes. It includes passages about incest and child rape and is on the American Library Association’s annual list of most commonly banned books.
It is one of the two Morrison novels the CCDF is trying to ban, along with “Beloved.”
In November, the American Library Association said there has been “a dramatic uptick in book challenges and outright removal” from libraries of books that focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and agender issues, along with books by Black authors or that document the Black experience or the experiences of other persons of color.
“Falsely claiming that these works are subversive, immoral, or worse, these groups induce elected and non-elected officials to abandon constitutional principles, ignore the rule of law, and disregard individual rights to promote government censorship of library collections,” ALA officials stated in a release. “Some of these groups even resort to intimidation and threats to achieve their ends, targeting the safety and livelihoods of library workers, educators, and board members who have dedicated themselves to public service, to informing our communities, and educating our youth. ALA strongly condemns these acts of censorship and intimidation. We are committed to defending the constitutional rights of all individuals, of all ages, to use the resources and services of libraries. We champion and defend the freedom to speak, the freedom to publish, and the freedom to read, as promised by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.”
The Lakeland Ledger reports:
Polk County Public Schools Regional Assistant Superintendent John Hill and several of his colleagues spent Tuesday morning going to area middle and high schools to gather 16 books out of media centers after County Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative political group, complained to Superintendent Frederick Heid that the novels, graphic novels, autobiographies, and sex education books contain pornographic material harmful to children.
CCDF Executive Director Hannah Petersen sent an email to Heid on Nov. 1 to say CCDF had gotten calls and messages pertaining to 30 books in Polk County Public Schools’ libraries. “I decided to obtain a list of these books from the PCSB and what schools they’re currently in,” Petersen said. “I also did a lot of research to make sure the complaints were valid. I was physical (sic) nauseous after my research and knew you would want to be made aware. I only got through about 27 or so.”
Read the full article. There’s much more.
One of the removed books, The Kite Runner, depicts the rape of a boy by another teenaged boy. When asks if all books depicting rape should be removed, such as the bible and works by Shakespeare, a spokesperson for the group (Jimmy Nelson, seen in the video below) accused the reporter of wanting to “twist things.” Watch the clip.
Scottie's Playtime 
Republicans in Congress and their enablers at Fox News actually want to see Putin invade Ukraine for a myriad of reasons. Tucker Carlson has openly stated that he favors Putin over Biden. The invasion will put Biden in a tough spot, which Republicans hope will make Biden look weak. This is all part of their scheme to retake the majority in Congress and bring trump back to power.
Republicans are all giddy about the conflict. The stock market has taken huge hits because of these tensions and likely invasion. Again, Republicans hope that a sinking stock market will make Biden look weak. It is driving them nuts that in just the first year of Biden as President, we now have the lowest employment rate in decades, the fastest growing GDP in decades, and all-time highs in the stock market. But oh no, Republicans will not stand for this. They will not stand for America to succeed, and certainly not with Joe Biden as President.
And I want to know if the Republican members of Congress who serve on the Intelligence Committee have made stock trades after they received their briefings. Maybe that’s why they all opposed Elizabeth Warren’s proposed bill to prevent insider traitors in Congress from engaging in insider trading.