They're not sure if they want a class war or a race war this week, they just know they have to hate someone to keep their base engaged.
The best system of government: quantum democracy. Everybody votes on how they want things to work, the next day everyone wakes up in the reality where their side won.Can we just send them to their chosen reality now so they will leave the rest of us alone?!
A Texas state lawmaker is asking schools statewide to tell him whether they currently hold any of around 850 books on a list he has compiled, explaining that he is targeting materials that "might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex."
The inquiry by state Rep. Matt Krause, a Republican, quickly set off alarm among the books' authors and the state teachers association. The unusual request, which was first reported by the Texas Tribune, also triggered confusion in school districts over how to comply with such a wide-ranging query.
Krause sent a letter on Monday to the Texas Education Agency and superintendents of school districts around the state, asking each official to confirm whether their schools possess any books on his list, along with a detailed accounting of where they are and how much money was spent on them.
The lawmaker did not explain what the next steps might be, but his request mentioned several recent pushes to remove books from libraries and classrooms if they center on issues from transgender identity to critical race theory. He gave the officials until Nov. 12 to reply.
Books on Krause's list include titles such as The Great American Whatever, a young adult novel by Tim Federle, and "Pink is a Girl Color" ... and other silly things people say, a children's picture book by Stacy and Erik Drageset.
Nonfiction books are also on the list, from How Prevalent Is Racism in Society?, by Peggy J. Parks, to the Amnesty International title We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures.
The inquiry is a "disturbing and political overreach into the classroom" — and it might be illegal, said Ovidia Molina, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association.
"Nothing in state law ... gives a legislator the authority to conduct this type of witch hunt," Molina said in a statement. She added, "This is an obvious attack on diversity and an attempt to score political points at the expense of our children's education."
Some of the books on Krause's list explain puberty and reproduction. Others discuss pregnancy and abortion, either from a textbook standpoint or through fiction. At least 11 of the books focus on the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. John Irving's The Cider House Rules, whose main characters include a doctor who performs abortions, is also on the list.
Many of the books discuss race. The list includes An African American and Latinx History of the United States, a well-reviewed title by University of Florida historian Paul Ortiz that seeks to add nuance and accuracy to long-accepted histories of America.
The list also includes Mikki Kendall's Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot — prompting a reply from Kendall.
"I am in great company," Kendall wrote of being on Krause's list. She shares space with two books by Ta-Nehisi Coates; others include William Styron's The Confessions of Nat Turner.
A Texas state lawmaker is asking schools statewide to tell him whether they currently hold any of around 850 books on a list he has compiled, explaining that he is targeting materials that "might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex."
Firstly, speaking from a purely professional standpoint, as someone who works with data all day, that list is a travesty. Sentence case all over, author names alternating format, inconsistent spacing, badly formatted, riddled with errors