“What we saw here was someone saying the quiet part out loud. The goal is to sexualize children — to provide minors with sexually explicit material … and then hide this content from the parents.” What organization is Utah Senator Mike Lee talking about? A adult entertainment company? A group of escaped child predators? Lauren Boebert at a family musical? No, Lee is attacking the controversial organization known as the American Library Association. This gives new meaning to owning the libs. And it isn’t just a one-off political attack. This is a movement. “Over the summer, state libraries in Montana, Missouri and Texas announced that they were severing ties with the ALA, imperiling their libraries’ access to funding and training. The Texas decision was taken after state Rep. Brian Harrison (R) wrote to library leaders saying that ‘the ALA works against parents by fighting to keep p-rnographic materials in public libraries.’ Conservative legislators in at least nine additional states are urging their state libraries to follow suit and disaffiliate.” WaPo (Gift Article): Red states quit nation’s oldest library group amid culture war over books. Beatles vs Stones is a culture war. This is a cult war.

+ “The students wrote in emails that the book — and accompanying videos that Wood, 47, played about systemic racism — made them ashamed to be White, violating a South Carolina proviso that forbids teachers from making students ‘feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress’ on account of their race. Reading Coates’s book felt like ‘reading hate propaganda towards white people,’ one student wrote.” WaPo (Gift Article): Mary Wood’s school reprimanded her for teaching a book by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Now she hopes her bond with students can survive South Carolina’s politics.