Two to read today

 Two to read today:

First, check on this extensive piece from Amanda Marcotte on Salon on the pushback the Moms for Liberty who took over the Pennridge School Board in Pennsylvania are getting. Pennridge is a bellweather for Pennsylvania, which is a bellweather for the country. 

Yes, the Pennridge school board was dominated by far-right members, one of whom had been present in Washington for Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally-turned-riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Yes, at least five of the nine board members were linked to Moms for Liberty, a right-wing "astroturf" organization that has orchestrated a national campaign to remake public education along arch-conservative and anti-intellectual lines. But Pennridge board meetings for months had been dominated by outraged parents speaking out against the Moms for Liberty incursion and the board majority's apparent agenda.

As always: it is not only Pennsylvania, so pay attention to local elections!

Second, it appears that Scholastic book fairs have been presuming there might be pushback on books and is allowing a check off to, Twitter has subsequently turned up, opt IN to so-called "diverse" books: 

Can confirm that they had to be opted into and the boxes of books were labeled “diverse” when they arrived.

— Aislinn (@itmeansdream) October 10, 2023

...with an APOLOGY IF YOU GET THEM ACCIDENTALLY!

I saw this in a FB group today. Scholastic book fairs is not only offering an easy & preemptive way to censor BIPIC, Queer, & other historically excluded voices out of their book fairs, they’re actually apologizing JUST IN CASE TGEY ACCIDENTALLY FAILED YO CENSOR FOR YOU https://t.co/vYnR8X9mS0 pic.twitter.com/fM38sxZ0zg

— Kelsey Bogan, MLIS (www.DontYouShushMe.com) (@kelseybogan) October 10, 2023