Today, on International Women’s Day, we’re publishing leftist organizer Louise Thompson Patterson’s 1936 essay on the plight of black domestic workers. Her prescription for fighting oppression in all its forms: an interracial working-class movement. https://t.co/6PYRI0y0EF

— Jacobin (@jacobin) March 8, 2023

“Knowing the world as I do, I can tell you without any equivocation that the No. 1 abuse of human rights on Earth, strangely not addressed quite often, is the abuse of women and girls.” – Jimmy Carterhttps://t.co/kzetzfOdXD@mygpb @karindianeryan #InternationalWomensDay

— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) March 8, 2023

Legislation aims to deter book bans at public libraries by withholding grants (state of iL)

Legislation aimed at discouraging public libraries from banning books has been introduced in the Democratic-controlled Illinois General Assembly amid largely partisan battles around the country over what books and school curricula are suitable for children.

The bill was initiated by Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who joined a nationwide Democratic chorus criticizing officials, mostly in red states, for trying to get libraries to remove books, often because of LGBTQ content.

Giannoulias, whose office also serves as the state librarian, downplayed the role partisanship plays in his proposal, saying that many librarians “I’m sure are Republicans.”

“I have no idea, nor do I care,” said Giannoulias, who once sat on the board of the Chicago Public Library. “We view this as protecting our libraries. They’re under assault the likes of which they have never seen. They are being thrown into the mix of a political battle, and we’re trying to give them cover by helping them, by codifying this into legislation.”

The legislation, which has the backing of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, would allow the secretary of state’s office to deny state grants to public libraries, including those in schools, that don’t adhere to the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, which holds, among other things, that “materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”

As an alternative, libraries could develop a written policy to “prohibit the practice of banning specific books or resources,” the bill states.

Some states controlled by Republicans have taken just the opposite approach. The Indiana Senate last week passed a measure that would make it easier for law enforcement to prosecute teachers if material deemed obscene ends up in possession of a minor. A similar measure was recently enacted in Missouri, leading educators to pull titles from school library shelves, according to published reports.

One opponent of the Illinois measure is State Rep. Dan Caulkins, a Decatur Republican who said the legislation takes away local control.

“Parents know best, school boards know best, library boards know best what their communities want and need,” said Caulkins, part of a far-right group of House Republicans informally known as the Eastern Bloc. “And for the state of Illinois again, here we go, the radical Democrats are pushing an agenda trying to force their woke ideology on more conservative parts of the state.”

The secretary of state’s office said libraries could only lose the grant funding if they pull books from their shelves due to “partisanship” or “discrimination.” Guidelines for what that means are still being developed. But the office would not interfere with a library’s selection process for books to include in its collection.

“If books are selected on a local level, we need to trust those librarians, respect the decisions they make and adhere to the guidelines that they already have in place,” Deputy Secretary of State Scott Burnham said in an email.

The measure is sponsored in the House by state Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, a Democrat of Naperville, who said book bans have been particularly discriminatory against groups of people who are already marginalized in American society.

“Whether they’re part of the LGBTQ community or their race or ethnicity, those are the books that are being targeted by right-wingers to be banned,” she said. “We absolutely want to be doing everything possible to stand up for the librarians and stand up for the students and children and all library patrons to be able to access the materials that they should be able to access in a public library.”

Cynthia Robinson, executive director of the Illinois Library Association, said that while most libraries likely already have a process in place to hear complaints about books on their shelves, the bill will ensure that libraries will be prepared to handle such challenges.

“That is something that we think will be positive out of this legislation. It will get libraries to be prepared beforehand,” said Robinson. “If you don’t have a policy, you don’t have a process. And if you have that in place, then everybody who is involved will know what to expect, what the steps are, as opposed to just making it up as you go or treating things differently.”

During fiscal year 2022, the secretary of state’s office under Jesse White awarded over $62 million for 1,631 grants to Illinois libraries, an office spokesman said. In the previous fiscal year, nearly $68 million in grants was awarded, up from just over $36 million in fiscal year 2020.

By June 30, the end of fiscal year 2023, the secretary of state’s office estimates that it will have awarded more than 1,400 grants totaling close to $56 million.

If the measure becomes law, enforcement could be an issue. Giannoulias said his office performs regular audits of how its grant funding is used, although there are limited resources to monitor libraries.

“We’ll establish a more formal audit process if we need to,” Giannoulias said. “But for now, we do feel pretty confident about the audit process and the administrative rules.”

In 2021, nationally, there were 681 attempts at book bans involving more than 1,600 books, the most since the Chicago-based American Library Association began tracking the statistic about two decades ago, according to the secretary of state’s office, citing the association’s figure.

While research has shown that most book banning in recent years has occurred in states that lean Republican, like Florida, Texas and Tennessee, there were 67 attempts to ban books in Illinois in 2022, up from 41 the year before, according to the association’s data cited by Giannoulias’ office.

Examples of books being challenged:

“Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe is held as a selection of banned and challenged books are seen during Banned Books Week 2022, at the Lincoln Belmont branch of the Chicago Public Library on Sept. 22, 2022.

According to a report from PEN America, a New York-based literary advocacy group, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe was the most frequently banned book nationwide, prohibited at 41 U.S. schools districts from July 2021 through June 2022, for its illustrations of sex acts in a nonfiction story about the author dealing with gender identity and relationships with family and friends.

In June of last year, the high school board in Downers Grove, which falls within Stava-Murray’s district, unanimously voted to keep “Gender Queer” in its libraries even after a group of parents and some members of the far-right Proud Boys group raised concerns over the book.

In west suburban Riverside, some people earlier this year unsuccessfully tried to get the book banned from the local library. But there was strong support for keeping the book available.

“I don’t believe there’s any reason to ban a book‚” said Courtney Greve Hack, a trustee for the Riverside Public Library. “I don’t believe in censorship, period. And I think that most people who are involved in libraries, whether they’re a staff member or an elected trustee, feel the same way.”

All told, the PEN report stated, local officials around the country banned more than 2,500 books by more than 1,200 authors, 290 illustrators and 18 translators from July 2021 through June 2022. These bans happened in 138 school districts in 32 states, according to the report.

While Illinois wasn’t close to being among the states with the most book bans, according to the report, Giannoulias said he’s heard from librarians “who have never felt so threatened and under attack.”

“As the state’s librarian, my job is to ensure that Illinois residents have access to reading and learning material at their local libraries,” he said.

source: chicago tribune

In very conservative down state counties, they won’t care about losing grants. They want to win the culture war.

‘Denied dignified treatment as equal human beings’: 5 sue over Texas abortion ban

Five women have filed suit in Travis County district court, saying they were denied abortions despite having dangerous or unviable pregnancies. The lawsuit claims that under the state’s new abortion ban the women and “millions” of others who could face similar situations have been “denied dignified treatment as equal human beings.”

Texas’ abortion ban allows for exceptions only when there is “substantial” risk to a mother, or if a fetus has a fatal diagnosis. But given the state’s stiff penalties for anyone who violates the ban — they face potential prison sentences of up to 99 years, tens of thousands in fines and the loss of their medical licenses — many doctors and hospitals have been fearful of intervening even when there is a clear danger.

The lawsuit appears to be the first time pregnant women themselves have taken legal action against the prohibitions enacted by Texas and at least 12 other states since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

The plaintiffs are not trying to overturn the Texas ban or others like it, but instead clarify when exactly physicians can provide abortions during dangerous or unviable pregnancies.

France Sees Largest Protest Yet Against Pension Reform https://t.co/ykSgUFLzMf pic.twitter.com/6ylP7VQp9U

— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) March 8, 2023

Fired UPS driver awarded $5.45 million in whistleblower retaliation suit

A former UPS truck driver was awarded $5.45 million in his whistleblower retaliation suit alleging he was wrongfully fired from his job as a truck driver with the delivery service in 2017 after more than 30 years of service.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for only a matter of hours on Monday before finding in favor of Richard Galvan, who is now in his mid-50s. The panel did not make an additional finding that would have allowed its members to award punitive damages.

Galvan was hired at UPS in October 1986 and throughout his employment was a member of Teamsters Local 396 in Covina, serving as union steward starting in 2000, the suit stated. Galvan was fired in January 2017 and was a big-rig driver at the time, according to his complaint.

Galvan alleged UPS cut back his hours and discriminated against him because of an injury and due to his age. He maintained that younger workers with less seniority were taking some of his shifts as of August 2016 and that when he filed a grievance, the discrimination increased.

Galvan also maintained he was assaulted by a co-worker with a known history of violence while the plaintiff was participating in workers’ rights activism in an employee parking lot. The assailant was never disciplined, according to the suit filed in April 2018.

In their court papers, UPS attorneys denied Galvan was subjected to retaliation.

“Indeed, the evidence shows that Galvan raised hundreds of concerns throughout his 30-plus years of employment with UPS and was never subjected to any forms of retaliation for making such complaints,” the UPS lawyers argued in their court papers.

Galvan was fired because he was found to have “engaged in proven dishonesty” after an internal investigation and the decision was upheld by a neutral arbitrator in a union grievance hearing where several witnesses testified, including the plaintiff, according to the UPS attorneys’ court papers.

UPS did not authorize the co-worker’s alleged attack on Galvan, the UPS lawyers further state in their court papers.

We're in a new era of labor.

Teamsters President @TeamsterSOB refuses to take disrespect from Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin in front of the Senate today.

Because unions are ready to fight back. via @People4Bernie pic.twitter.com/CYE1SHSbZ7

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) March 8, 2023

HELP Committee hearing.

Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, are demanding answers from Walgreens on abortion pills.

Six Democratic senators, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), wrote to Walgreens late Tuesday requesting answers on whether and where the company will dispense abortion pills.

The letter, first shared with POLITICO, references POLITICO’s report that the nation’s second-biggest pharmacy chain will not sell the pills in any of the 20-plus states where Republican attorneys general have threatened them with legal action, including some states with no bans on the pills currently in effect.

“The law is clear that medication abortion is legal in Kansas, Iowa, Montana, and Alaska — all states where it appeared that Walgreens, in response to saber-rattling from anti-abortion extremists — would not be providing it,” the senators wrote. “The refusal to dispense a medication that is legal and safe to patients in need would be a betrayal of your customers, and your commitment “to champion the health and well-being of every community in America.”

The other senators who signed:

• Mazie Hirono (Hawaii)
• Tina Smith (Minn.)
• Richard Blumenthal (Conn.)
• Bob Menendez (N.J.)
• Cory Booker (N.J.)

Asks: The senators are asking the company to disclose by March 14 the list of states where they will seek certification to dispense the medication, whether they changed their decision in the wake of POLITICO’s report, and whether the company’s medical advisors or board of directors influenced the policy.

Context: While other Democratic senators have written to Walgreens in recent days to express disapproval about the company’s plans, this is the first letter to demand information on whether and where they will dispense the pills.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NEW: Uvalde District Attorney Fights Release of Public Records Against Wishes of Most Families https://t.co/vkEDeogZZh @ujohnnyg @LChurchilll

— Charles Ornstein (@charlesornstein) March 8, 2023

Haven’t heard this song since I saw Bonnie in 2016.

Delaware Marijuana Sales Bill Heads To Floor After House Approves Complementary Legalization Measure: The House Appropriations Committee cleared the cannabis regulations legislation from Rep. Ed Osienski (D). https://t.co/ppwvPn0Qtz

— Marijuana Moment (@MarijuanaMoment) March 8, 2023

"We view a little bit of inflation as always good in our business." – Kroger CEO.
Inflation is driven by corporate greed and they barely even try to hide it. https://t.co/ESk594aXFH

— Our Revolution (@OurRevolution) March 8, 2023

I have a feeling Biden won’t do anything, but we’ll see.