What the government tells us isn’t what people actually see.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, 1984

Once again, the Democrats are touting the great economy, telling us that wage increases are now running at a greater rate than inflation.

Consumer prices up 3.1 percent from January 2023 to January 2024

February 22, 2024

Over the year ended January 2024, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 3.1 percent. Food prices rose 2.6 percent, while energy prices decreased 4.6 percent. Prices for all items less food and energy increased 3.9 percent from January 2023 to January 2024, compared with increases of 5.6 percent in the year ended January 2023 and 6.0 percent for the year ended January 2022.

3.1% is still higher than the Federal Reserve’s target of 2.0%, but not terrible, right. But, let’s do a bit of math. The January 2021 to January 2022 inflation rate for all items was 7.5%, from January 2022 to January 2023 it was 6.4%, and over the last year, it has been 3.1%.

$100 x 1.075 = $107.50, x 1.064 = $114.38, x 1.031 = $117.93.

Inflation is cumulative, and using the federal government’s own numbers, consumer prices for all items are 17.926% higher than they were when Joe Biden became President.

How about groceries, listed as “Food at home” by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up 20.97%. Energy? That’s up 31.70%, despite the 4.6% decrease from January 2023 to 2024.

Why do I separate out food and energy? The Bureau of Labor Statistics, along with other government agencies, do that, because they describe them as too volatile, and don’t give a clear enough picture. But, more importantly to me, food and energy are the things people buy most frequently, as we have to eat every day, and fuel our vehicles every week, if not more often. Those are the things where people actually see inflation most often.

What about wages? Over the same period of time, wages have increased 17.087%, slightly less than the overall inflation rate, but significantly less than the inflation rates for the two things people have to buy most frequently. Prices for appliances may have grown at a significantly lesser rate, but how often do people actually buy washing machines or refrigerators?

Shelter? With wages having increased 5.0% over the past year, rental and mortgage expenses have jumped 5.7%.

Heather Long first came to my attention when she was an economics reporter for CNN. She wrote, on September 16, 2016:

Problem: Most Americans don’t believe the unemployment rate is 5%

by Heather Long | September 6, 2016 | 3:18 PM EDT

Heather Long

Americans think the economy is in far worse shape than it is.The U.S. unemployment rate is only 4.9%, but 57% of Americans believe it’s a lot higher than that, according to a new survey by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

The general public has “extremely little factual knowledge” about the job market and labor force, Rutgers found.

It’s another example of how experts on Wall Street and in Washington see the economy differently than the regular Joe. Many of the nation’s top economic experts say that America is “near full employment.” The unemployment rate has actually been at or below 5% for almost a year — millions of people have found jobs in what is the best period of hiring since the late 1990s.

But regular people appear to have their doubts about how healthy America’s employment picture is. Nearly a third of those survey by Rutgers believe unemployment is actually at 9%, or higher.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has tapped into this confusion. He has repeatedly called the official unemployment rate a “joke” and a even “hoax.”

There’s more at the original.

I noted, at the time — in a post that is locked up, with so many others, in a file that’s stuck in my server somewhere when I got this site ‘fixed’ from some real technical problems — that what Americans believed, that unemployment was “actually at 9%, or higher,” was correct, if you looked at U-6 rather than the ‘official’ U-3 unemployment rate.

  • U-1: Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force
  • U-2: Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force
  • U-3: U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate)
  • U-4: Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers
  • U-5: Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other persons marginally attached to the labor force, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force
  • U-6: Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force.

NOTE: Persons marginally attached to the labor force are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not currently looking for work. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule.

The August, 2016 U-6 rate was 9.6%, which I said was right in line with American’s perception of it.

Now it’s March of 2024, and the Democrats keep telling us, just like they did in 2016, that the economy is just fine, thank you very much. But while the issue is different, inflation rather than unemployment, the effect is the same: what the government tells us is the case is not what people see as reality when they go to the grocery store, or fill up their gasoline tanks. I’m hoping that the outcome in November is the same, that the Democratic presidential nominee is returned to the status of private citizen.

Why don’t we take sex crimes against children seriously?

We have previously reported on how some media organizations deliberately conceal facts about the sexual abuse of minors, but at least noted that now-convicted former teacher and coach April Bradford at least got some/i> time behind bars, though 3½ years seems awfully light for having sexually abused two female students, including during the students’ middle school years, aged under 14-years-old.

Well, 3½ years is more than no prison time at all!

NJ teacher who had illicit sexual relationship with student avoids prison time after ex-pupils sent court letters of support

By David Propper | Monday, January 29, 2024 | 8:19 AM EST

A New Jersey teacher who had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student evaded prison time last week after her former students sent letters of support to the court ahead of her sentencing.

Unlike so many media organizations, the New York Post did not conceal that the sexual relationship was homosexual in nature. Grooming, anyone?

Ex-Fair Lawn High School graphics arts teacher Christine Knudsen was placed under lifetime parole supervision and forced to register as a sex offender, but won’t see a day behind bars if she doesn’t violate the terms of the sentencing, according to the Bergen Record.

She’s also reportedly prohibited from having any contact with her victim as part of a three-year suspended sentence tied to her illicit sexual relationship with the teenage student that lasted nearly a year in 2017.

The relationship was technically legal because the victim was the age of consent, but for the sentencing, the student was considered a child, the local newspaper reported.

Am I an [insert slang term for the anus here] for suggesting that any school district which hires a teacher with tattoos like that ought to be liable for that teacher’s crimes?

“Parents send their kids to school every day, trusting they will be safe in the care of their teachers,” Bergen County Judge Nina Remson said Wednesday, according to the outlet. “And there is a very strong need to deter not only Ms. Knudsen, but all citizens from violations of the law, especially in this nature involving a breach of trust between the teacher and the student.”

I would point out here that Miss Knudsen is listed in other sources — the Post did not include this — as being 46 years old, and when the abuse occurred in 2017, would have been 39 years-old. This isn’t some Romeo and Juliet type age difference, but Josh Kruger/Robert Davis level stuff.

Knudsen pleaded guilty in July to reckless endangerment after she was initially charged with sexual assault in 2021. She met the victim when the student joined the school’s drama club, which she advised, the Record reported.

The former educator’s lawyer in court last week blamed multiple troubles in her life, including substance abuse, for the inappropriate relationship.

“(S)ubstance abuse”? Is Miss Knudsen an alcoholic, or was she using stuff for which she could and should have been drug tested? Shouldn’t all teachers be subject to routine drug testing?

Knudsen, who taught for two decades, had a positive influence on her classes, according to letters of support from ex-students, Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Bollenbach said, though he pointed out the relationship with the victim violated the trust between educator and pupil.

He described the plea deal as “justice tempered with mercy.”

Yeah, uh huh, right. It certainly is not justice tempered with deterrence!

Of course, there probably is some deterrence there, because who would think that a 39-year-old male teacher who seduced a 17-year-old female student would just get probation?

The Los Angeles Times is on the road to failure If you give your potential customers less reason to buy your product, fewer people will buy your product!

As both of my long-time readers know, I love newspapers. I delivered the old Lexington Herald and Lexington Leader when I was in junior high and high school in Mt Sterling, Kentucky, I’ve read newspapers thoroughly, and, due to my seriously degraded hearing, I find it much easier to read the news than listen to it on television or radio.

Los Angeles County assistant district attorney Patrick Frey, who has been blogging as Patterico for a couple of decades now, has called the very liberally-oriented Los Angeles Times the Dog Trainer, as in the paper is fit only for getting your puppy to poop on it rather than the floor, and his site logo has a Los Angeles Dog Trainer newspaper declaring in its headline, “PATTERICO! Public Enemy #1”. He even had a category named Dog Trainer, though it hasn’t been added to since 2019. Maybe he got tired of reading it?

But this news saddens me:

L.A. Times to lay off at least 115 people in the newsroom

by Meg James | Tuesday, January 23, 2024 | 4:57 PM PST

The Los Angeles Times announced Tuesday that it was laying off at least 115 people — or more than 20% of the newsroom — in one of the largest workforce reductions in the history of the 142-year-old institution.

The move comes amid projections for another year of heavy losses for the newspaper.

The cuts were necessary because the paper could no longer lose $30 million to $40 million a year without making progress toward building higher readership that would bring in advertising and subscriptions to sustain the organization, said the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.

And herein is the problem. Unlike Jeff Bezos, the multi, multi, multi billionaire founder of Amazon.com, with an estimated net worth of $180.0 billion, who bought and rescued The Washington Post for $250 million, Dr Soon-Shiong has a guesstimated net worth of a mere $5.4 billion. Mr Bezos, who is now demanding that the Post find a way to break even, could easily absorb the losses the Post has been experiencing — assuming that his new girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, doesn’t want a new mansion or yacht — but perhaps Dr Soon-Shiong doesn’t believe that he can.

It’s great when multi-billionaires buy a newspaper, as long as they don’t turn it into their personal toys, and are willing to accept the inevitable, that it’s going to keep losing money. If I had Mr Bezos’ money, I’d buy The Philadelphia Inquirer, and rescue it, make some changes to make it more even handed, but otherwise leave it alone, and accept the inevitable losses.

Perhaps I’m just projecting, but my thought is that calling a one-day strike to protest anticipated layoffs is a good way to put yourself on that layoff list, but hey, the Times employees are free people, and can do what they want. Some are now very free people! The chairman of the Times guild unit, Brian Contreras, is one of those newly freed people.

Among the editors included in the cuts were Washington bureau chief Kimbriell Kelly, deputy Washington bureau chief Nick Baumann, business editor Jeff Bercovici, books editor Boris Kachka and music editor Craig Marks. The Washington bureau and the photography and sports departments saw dramatic cuts, including several award-winning photographers. The video unit was hollowed out.

The Los Angeles Times is listed by Wikipedia as one of the five “newspapers of record” in the United States, which makes this news sadder still. But things like this are going to happen as newspapers respond to increased costs by lowering quality. The Times found out:

Soon-Shiong said he became increasingly dismayed by the lack of progress in readership and other decisions, such as last summer’s elimination of the print edition’s sports listings and box scores, which infuriated readers, leading to thousands of subscription cancellations.

“I was very upset when I learned, after the fact, that we took away sports scores,” Soon-Shiong said.

Really? Did he then reverse that decision?

Also see: Charlotte Klein in Vanity Fair,People Are Disgus-ted’: Why Washington Post Staff Walked Out

The Los Angeles Times is going to go broke, because Dr Soon-Shiong is doing the same thing again, writ larger. A reduction of “more than 20% of the newsroom” has to mean a cut in the quantity and quality of the newspaper’s journalism, unless someone wishes to contend that those 115 people being given their pink slips contributed nothing to the quality of the product. If elimination of the print edition’s sports listings and box scores — something I would point out to Executive Editor Richard Green that the Lexington Herald-Leader, which is heavily dependent upon University of Kentucky sports fans has also done — cost the newspaper “thousands of subscription cancellations,” how many more will subscriptions will be lost with 115 journalists laid off, which follows 70 getting canned last summer because the paper just isn’t worth that much to them?

Newspapers are, in the end, 18th century technology, updated with better presses and color photos, but still printed on paper with news that’s already old when it gets to readers. We have previously noted the decision of the Inquirer to sell its own $299.5 million printing plant for just $37 million, laying off 500 people, and the Herald-Leader’s similar action, outsourcing printing from downtown Lexington to outside of Louisville, which makes the newspaper an hour older when delivered to readers, because the printing plant is a hour up Interstate 64.

The Times’ original stated:

Drastic changes were needed, (Dr Soon-Shiong) said, including installing new leaders who would focus on strengthening the outlet’s journalism to become indispensable to more readers.

Yet Tuesday’s actions are making the newspaper less “indispensable” to more readers. If you give potential customers less reason to buy your product, fewer people will buy your product. And that’s just what today’s newspapers are doing.

Trudy Rubin wants Israel to lose in Gaza

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Trudy Rubin describes herself, in her Inky bio, as “writ(ing) the Worldview column that tries to make sense of the world’s chaos and conflicts as they affect Americans at home,” but she has made it abundantly clear that she does not understand the world’s chaos and conflicts. She has been an endless shill for continuing American aid to Ukraine, in good neocon fashion, and that’s seven columns on the subject, just since mid-August, and I could have linked more, but believe that I have made the point. She understands that Hamas are wholly evil, but just doesn’t get it about the ‘Palestinians.’ Continue reading

California Legislature Passes More Gun Restrictions On Law Abiding Citizens

Funny how none of these measures passed by hardcore Democrats ever restricts their own security, nor goes after actual criminals

Concealed carry gun rules passed by California Democrats. Gavin Newsom is ready to make it law

California Democrats passed new rules Tuesday restricting who can carry loaded weapons in public, successfully reviving a failed attempt to strengthen the state’s concealed carry gun laws.

Senate Bill 2, authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, will update the concealed carry licensing process, add new age restrictions, impose strict storage mandates and limit where permit holders can carry in public. After a vote of 28-8 in the state Senate on Tuesday, the legislation is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for his signature.

“I think the impact is going to be significant,” Portantino told The Sacramento Bee just after the Senate floor vote. “Having a gun is a responsibility and what we’re doing is defining who should have that responsibility and who shouldn’t.”

In a statement released Monday, Newsom commended the legislature for its support and said that there was a reason why people were “less likely to die from bullets in California.”

“We’re using every tool we can to make our streets and neighborhoods safer from gun violence,” he added in the statement.

Yet, it’s rarely those who lawfully own a firearm, and virtually never for anyone with concealed carry permit, to be involved in crime. It’s usually those who illegally possess, but, Democrats do not care, this is about making it harder for law abiding citizens.

Once signed by Newsom, SB 2 requires those who want to carry firearms in public to be 21 or older and have at least 16 hours of training. It will also prohibit permit holders from carrying their guns into a wide array of settings such as schools, courts, government buildings, prisons, hospitals, airports and bars.

This law is pretty damned big for a state law, and isn’t just about guns, but, bb guns, paint guns, short knives, personal gas protection, and more, and has so much information that it will make it tough for anyone to know what is and isn’t against the law. It also gives the California DOJ the power to determine the fees for licenses, rather than setting them in the bill. And it really ramps up the criminal violations. It’s all to make sure law abiding citizens are too scared/unsure to carry their legally purchased firearm.

Gun rights groups are prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the bill the same day that Newsom signs it into law, according to Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California.

“We know what we have to do and we’re ready to do it,” Paredes said in an interview. “Ultimately, this bill will never see the light of day as a statute in the state of California.”

The bill is supposedly attempting to comply with the Supreme Court ruling last year but it will simply make it harder.

NY Times Says Ukraine Aid Benefits GOP Districts, So It’s A Shame Many Republicans Are Against It

How long do they expect this war to last?

As Ukraine Aid Benefits Their Districts, Some House Republicans Oppose It

By early next year, this city best known for being the rodeo capital of Texas is on track to become a centerpiece of the U.S. effort to increase artillery production vital to the war in Ukraine.

A hulking new plant going up next to a highway exchange not far from downtown Mesquite promises to nearly double current U.S. output, replenishing stockpiles and preparing more ammunition to beat back the Russian invasion.

For a city in the midst of engineering an economic renaissance, the General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems factory is a major boon. It is expected to employ at least 125 people; bring business opportunities to local suppliers, retailers and restaurants; and, city officials hope, potentially help turn the area into an industrial hotbed of well-paying jobs.

None of that appears to have persuaded Rep. Lance Gooden, the Republican whose district will house the new plant, to support continuing U.S. aid to Ukraine. Over the summer, he joined dozens of his GOP House colleagues in calling for an end to American support for Ukraine’s fight, voting for measures to strip $300 million in security assistance for the war-torn country from next year’s defense budget and prohibit Congress from approving any more funds for the conflict.

His opposition and that of many others in his party has imperiled President Joe Biden’s request for $24 billion in additional funding for the war, threatening to derail an emergency spending bill that lawmakers in both parties are working to push through Congress this month.

The war started on February 24, 2022, and we’re fast approaching the 2nd year, with little change all around. Ukraine’s spring offensive didn’t end up doing a whole lot, and Biden wants to continue showering Ukraine with billions, holding aid to Maui hostage. But, consider what the NY Times is saying: that artillery plant won’t go into operation till next year. At that point, it will take time to start production of the shells and shipping them. How freaking long is this war supposed to go on? How long will the U.S. be funding and supplying Ukraine?

It reflects how the “America First” mentality popularized by former President Donald Trump has spread and intensified among Republicans, prompting increasing numbers of lawmakers — including some whose constituents benefit directly from continued U.S. aid to Ukraine — to refuse to keep supporting it. And it is one major driver of the spending showdowns to come this fall as lawmakers toil to reach agreement on both the routine annual spending bills and an extra package of aid for crises at home and abroad.

Of course there’s some Trump Derangement Syndrome included. This is not about “America First”, it’s about not spending money we don’t have on a war that has little consequences to the U.S. when our own people need that money.

“We’re proud that they’re made in Ohio’s 4th District,” Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican whose district includes the Lima Army Tank Plant, said of the Abrams tanks, “but our constituents have great concerns about seemingly unlimited taxpayer money being used to fund the war in Ukraine, especially when Americans are struggling at home with rising inflation and places like East Palestine and Maui continue to be ignored by the Biden administration.”

There are lots of Democrats and Independents who are wondering why we’re funding Ukraine, with much of the money going to pay the lawmakers and rich folks in Ukraine. They’re wondering when this will end. And wondering why our citizens are suffering.

Good Grief: Biden Gives Iran $6 Billion Of Frozen Funds On 9/11 For Five Prisoners

Of all the days to take care of avowed enemies, a government, and many of the people, who chant “death to America” and actually mean it. A country attempting to get nuclear weapons, which would destabilize the Middle East, and could cause Israel, and even Saudi Arabia, to strike first

President Joe Biden Bows to Iran on 9/11: Pays $6 Billion for Five Prisoners

The Biden administration has reportedly approved a deal with Iran to pay the rogue regime $6 billion in exchange for five detained American citizens.

The deal, according to the Associated Press (AP), entailed the Biden administration issuing a blanket waiver for international banks to transfer $6 billion in frozen Iranian money from South Korea to Qatar without U.S. sanctions. The money would then be held in Qatar’s central bank for Iran to use, reportedly for the purchase of humanitarian goods.

In addition, the Biden administration agreed to release five Iranian citizens held in the U.S.

According to the AP, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the deal late last week, but Congress was not notified of the deal until Monday, which was also 9/11, the 22nd anniversary of the U.S. suffering terrorist attacks by Islamic fundamentalists.

The deal appears to go against the U.S. policy of not paying countries to release American prisoners so as not to incentivize the behavior.

This will very much help the unhinged terrorists running Iran. Good job, Joe! Though, of course, Credentialed Media outlets like the Washington Post can only lightly chide Biden despite

The deal marks a major breakthrough for the longtime adversaries who remain at loggerheads over a range of issues, including the rapid expansion of Tehran’s nuclear program, its ongoing military support for Russia and Iran’s harsh crackdown on dissent. Though it remains unclear when the two sides could complete the prisoner transfer, Monday’s announcement comes as President Biden and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi each prepare to travel to New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly next week.

In other words, this is a huge win for Iran, and the WP would be lambasting Trump if he did this. It’s not like Iranian proxies have directly threatened the US recently or something.

Meanwhile, as Biden gave a little, barely coherent speech in Alaska (because AF1 typically stops in Alaska to refuel, so, Biden stepped out for a brief appearance, so he didn’t have to do anything when he got back to DC)

(Fox News) President Biden claimed Monday, without evidence, that he stood at Ground Zero in New York City viewing the damage from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks just one day later, despite records showing he was in Washington, D.C. that day.

“Ground Zero in New York — I remember standing there the next day and looking at the building. I felt like I was looking through the gates of Hell, it looked so devastating because the way you could — from where you could stand,” Biden said during his speech at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska marking the devastating acts of terrorism 22 years ago.

However, according to C-SPAN coverage of U.S. Senate proceedings on September 12, 2001, Biden was in Washington, D.C. and gave a speech on the floor of the Senate. Records show the Senate met in the morning, and a classified briefing was held for all senators that afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Typical Biden lying. Oh, and AF1 landed at the aforementioned AF base, which is the norm, so, he didn’t really have to travel far.

Who had a WWIII watch including Iran on the bingo card?

GOP Squishes Start Coming Out Of Woodwork Over Impeaching Biden

Republicans can only afford to lose a few for any vote on impeachment, including a vote to start impeachment. How many squishes are out there?

GOP rep says House shouldn’t ‘repeat mistakes’ of Trump impeachment with Biden

Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) said Sunday the House should not “repeat the mistakes” of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) impeachment inquiry into former President Trump when weighing the same for President Biden.

“We don’t want to repeat the mistakes we think that Nancy Pelosi made by prematurely moving to impeachment during the Trump administration,” Hill said in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has suggested the House could hold a vote to launch an impeachment inquiry as soon as this month, despite hesitation from some GOP moderates.

House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who is leading a congressional investigation into Biden’s family and business dealings, said last week he believes there are enough votes in the House to open an impeachment inquiry.

Hill said he does not believe Comer nor House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have “even remotely completed” the investigations into the Biden family’s foreign business dealings.

“I don’t believe they’ve even remotely completed their work on the kind of detailed investigations and quality work that Speaker McCarthy is expecting both those committees to produce before someone goes to, you know, an impeachment activity,” the Arkansas representative said.

How much more does he want? Here’s just part of Greg Stuebe’s submitted article of impeachment

ARTICLE 1: ABUSE OF POWER: BRIBERY, HOBBS ACT EXTORTION, & HONEST SERVICES FRAUD
Robert Hunter Biden (Hunter Biden) and James Biden sold access to then Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. (Joe Biden) while he was in office from 2009 to 2017 and sold promised access to a future Biden Presidential Administration while he was out of office from 2017 to 2021. Hunter and James appear to have promised official actions by Joe Biden in return for payments and business opportunities from foreign and domestic business partners. Joe Biden assisted by making appearances, phone calls, meeting with the “business partners,” and knowingly allowing his family members to promise access to him and actions by him in furtherance of these schemes. Hunter Biden threatened business partners that official actions could be taken against them if they did not meet terms or make payments. In at least one instance, Hunter implied that Joe Biden was aware of these threats and willing to assist in enforcing the threats, potentially through official actions. Hunter Biden attempted to enrich himself and the Biden family by threatening official actions from his father, who he claims was willing to assist in the scheme.

That should be enough for Hill, right? How about Obstruction of Justice, Fraud, and financial involvement with drugs and prostitution? How about his horrendous Afghanistan debacle, while he was off at Camp David relaxing? Violating the 1st Amendment Rights of citizen by telling social media companies to censor citizens? Making deals with Iran with zero statutory authority? Forcing people to wear masks and take the COVID “vaccine”? Leaving the border wide open? Is that not enough for the squishes?

Back when the Dems were going after, and then impeaching Trump twice for nothing burgers, they were told that what’s good for the good is good for the gander, and to expect retaliation. However, there are too many sqishes who just do not want to play politics.

California General Assembly Sends Anti-Inappropriate Book Ban Bill To Governor

Does this mean that the other books banned by school districts in California, like To Kill A Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice And Men, The Cay and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry will now be taught/available in the libraries? Probably not. This is all about protecting highly sexualized and white people hating books from being removed from schools despite being completely inappropriate for the children’s age

California Legislature sends Newsom his ‘anti-book ban’ bill

California Democrats on Thursday passed legislation that would fine school districts for rejecting textbooks or school library books for discriminatory reasons — a bill backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that he is expected to sign.

Assembly Bill 1078, carried by Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Perris), this year became the administration’s central legislative response to conservative school boards’ embrace of the education culture wars. Newsom aides worked to craft the latest version of the legislation in response to a GOP-backed school board in Temecula that gained notoriety with state Democrats for blocking social studies textbooks over their inclusion of gay rights icon Harvey Milk.

“California is the true freedom state: a place where families — not political fanatics — have the freedom to decide what’s right for them,” Newsom said in a statement after the bill cleared its final legislative hurdle Thursday. “All students deserve the freedom to read and learn about the truth, the world, and themselves.”

Not mentioned is that most of the books being challenged are so sexualized that school boards won’t even let parents read from them at meetings?

There is such a thing as age appropriate, and most of these books are being kept out of schools from the classroom to the library for young kids, much like these same young kids shouldn’t be going to PG-13, R, and X rated movies. They can’t if it’s R or above. Yet, the material in those books is often X rated. And other books tell white kids how horrible and racist they are for what adults did long, long ago. Why are Democrats so hot to force this stuff on children?