Officer-Involved Book Banning
February 28, 2024 11:43 AM Subscribe
Sheriff Robert Norris is speaking into his body camera. “Today’s date is April 20, approximately 7 a.m. Just want to document my visit to the Hayden Library. My attorney and I are just curious and would like to document this visit to see what kind of materials are on display here.” Norris, the sheriff of Kootenai County, Idaho, meets up outside the library with Marianna Cochran, the founder of CleanBooks4Kids, a “grassroots group of North Idaho citizens alarmed at the abundance of books sexualizing, grooming, and indoctrinating kids in our local libraries at taxpayer expense,” to search for the book Identical, which Norris says he had “seen an image [of] floating on social media.” [...]404media: Police Bodycam Shows Sheriff Hunting for 'Obscene' Books at Library
They walk into the library, and for the next 45 minutes search for “obscene” books in the Young Adult section while Norris’s camera is rolling in one of the most bizarre police body camera videos I’ve ever seen.
[Note: 404Media has a free registration wall but no paywall for this story, and the full video is available here regardless]
Related:
WS Standard: Revamped bill to remove ‘harmful materials’ from libraries heads to Idaho SenateResources: Unite Against Book Bans - PEN America - American Library Association
TNR: West Virginia GOP Passes Deranged Bill That Could Put Librarians in Jail
Forbes: Police Officer Searches Middle School Library After Complaint About ‘Concerning Illustrations’ In LGBTQ+ Book
WaPo: Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges
CNN: Moms for Liberty faces new challenges and growing pushback over its conservative education agenda
The Hill: Educators, students get creative in evading book bans
AL Reflector: What federal courts have said about local library book bans
NYT: Cast as Criminals, America’s Librarians Rally to Their Own Defense
Flashback to a post-9/11 Ad Council PSA: What if America Wasn't America?
UGH
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 11:54 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 11:54 AM on February 28 [2 favorites]
Fascists are always finding new ways to be simultaneously pathetic and horrifying.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 11:59 AM on February 28 [46 favorites]
posted by The Manwich Horror at 11:59 AM on February 28 [46 favorites]
I gotta level with all of you. I'm not going to watch and listen to a cop wander through a library for 45 minutes - that's not my kind of kink.
posted by Nanukthedog at 12:00 PM on February 28 [75 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 12:00 PM on February 28 [75 favorites]
I wish I could laugh at this, because what fascism and its bluenosed enablers need is to be laughed at, drowned out by the raucous guffawing of a huge mob of everybody who finds them ridiculous, pathetic and laughable. I wish I could laugh, because they deserve it.
I wish I could laugh.
posted by chavenet at 12:07 PM on February 28 [31 favorites]
I wish I could laugh.
posted by chavenet at 12:07 PM on February 28 [31 favorites]
These people absolutely do not have real jobs.
posted by Artw at 12:07 PM on February 28 [16 favorites]
posted by Artw at 12:07 PM on February 28 [16 favorites]
Sheriff Robert Norris is speaking into his body camera. “Today’s date is April 20, approximately 7 a.m.
you know what else is April 20?
That's right: Adolf Hitler's birthday.
I wish I could laugh.
posted by chavenet at 12:11 PM on February 28 [36 favorites]
you know what else is April 20?
That's right: Adolf Hitler's birthday.
I wish I could laugh.
posted by chavenet at 12:11 PM on February 28 [36 favorites]
When I was a kid, I was always surprised that the "Adult Videos" section of our public library had no porn at all.
posted by snofoam at 12:13 PM on February 28 [11 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 12:13 PM on February 28 [11 favorites]
"They can, at home, log online literally with three clicks and get any book from one of 28 libraries," Cochran says
Who's going to tell her what else you can access on the internet with literally three clicks?
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:19 PM on February 28 [55 favorites]
Who's going to tell her what else you can access on the internet with literally three clicks?
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:19 PM on February 28 [55 favorites]
I'm offended by the cock in Marianna Cochran's name.
posted by chavenet at 12:22 PM on February 28 [7 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 12:22 PM on February 28 [7 favorites]
Fascists are going to fascist.
Also, I happy that weed took off because it replaced everyone joking that my birthday is shared with Hitler.
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:22 PM on February 28 [17 favorites]
Also, I happy that weed took off because it replaced everyone joking that my birthday is shared with Hitler.
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:22 PM on February 28 [17 favorites]
No disrespect to my religious friends, but it really feels like if God were real in the manner that was explained to me growing up in churches in the South, this would be a time of maximum smiting.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:25 PM on February 28 [25 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:25 PM on February 28 [25 favorites]
Just want to derail for a moment and note that Rhaomi has been on an absolute Hall-of-Fame level run, with terrific posts every few days for this entire month (and even back into January, and probably longer).
I haven't been able to read every single one, let alone every single internal link, but I have read most of them and it's just been amazing. Thanks!
posted by martin q blank at 12:25 PM on February 28 [43 favorites]
I haven't been able to read every single one, let alone every single internal link, but I have read most of them and it's just been amazing. Thanks!
posted by martin q blank at 12:25 PM on February 28 [43 favorites]
snofoam, when I was a kid I thought adult mobile home parks were full of nudists :D
posted by Dirk at 12:32 PM on February 28 [9 favorites]
posted by Dirk at 12:32 PM on February 28 [9 favorites]
The Kootenai County, Idaho Sherriff's Department moto:
To Protect and Serve To Repress and Silence
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 12:35 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 12:35 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
Banality of evil, right there.
posted by Artw at 12:36 PM on February 28 [14 favorites]
posted by Artw at 12:36 PM on February 28 [14 favorites]
Before Idaho, Norris spent 30 years with the Los Angeles sheriff's department, where he was accused of being a member of the white-supremacist "deputy-sheriff gang" the Lynwood Vikings.
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:38 PM on February 28 [51 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:38 PM on February 28 [51 favorites]
It reminds me of this Ask A Manager from last year where a librarian was asking for advice dealing with people filming them at work looking for "evidence".
Unpleasant stuff.
posted by Lorc at 12:45 PM on February 28 [11 favorites]
Unpleasant stuff.
posted by Lorc at 12:45 PM on February 28 [11 favorites]
I appreciate that, martin! And it's silly, but probably the biggest reason for posting more is the recent change from 24 hours between posts to 11. There was something about that old inconvenient waiting period that was a mental block, like you had to save posts for something really worthwhile or plan out posting times to maintain a consistent streak. I've only taken advantage of it a few times, but lowering the limit really loosened things up and made it easier to make a decent post about new stuff whenever it catches the eye. So thanks again to loup and frimble for making that happen!
posted by Rhaomi at 12:47 PM on February 28 [36 favorites]
posted by Rhaomi at 12:47 PM on February 28 [36 favorites]
At this point just the word “grassroots” makes me bristle
posted by gottabefunky at 12:47 PM on February 28 [9 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 12:47 PM on February 28 [9 favorites]
white-supremacist "deputy-sheriff gang"
The argument can be made that's a single circle venn diagram right thurr. I have a crisp benjamin sitting here waiting for someone to find a cop who moved from anywhere to Idaho who isn't directly involved with white supremacist groups.
Not to demising these specific accusations, but this is very widespread, to the level that the FBI was sounding alarms about it back as far as 2006 or something?
posted by furnace.heart at 12:49 PM on February 28 [10 favorites]
The argument can be made that's a single circle venn diagram right thurr. I have a crisp benjamin sitting here waiting for someone to find a cop who moved from anywhere to Idaho who isn't directly involved with white supremacist groups.
Not to demising these specific accusations, but this is very widespread, to the level that the FBI was sounding alarms about it back as far as 2006 or something?
posted by furnace.heart at 12:49 PM on February 28 [10 favorites]
Before Idaho, Norris spent 30 years with the Los Angeles sheriff's department, where he was accused of being a member of the white-supremacist "deputy-sheriff gang" the Lynwood Vikings.
It’s well known that these guys love to “retire” to Idaho, right?
posted by atoxyl at 12:55 PM on February 28 [8 favorites]
It’s well known that these guys love to “retire” to Idaho, right?
posted by atoxyl at 12:55 PM on February 28 [8 favorites]
At this point just the word “grassroots” makes me bristle
Sometimes the grassroots are fertilized with bullshit.
posted by clawsoon at 12:56 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
Sometimes the grassroots are fertilized with bullshit.
posted by clawsoon at 12:56 PM on February 28 [2 favorites]
Before Idaho, Norris spent 30 years with the Los Angeles sheriff's department
You know what other SoCal cop retired to Idaho?
(Lots and lots of them have, it's a whole thing, but I was thinking of Mark Fuhrman.)
posted by box at 1:11 PM on February 28 [6 favorites]
You know what other SoCal cop retired to Idaho?
(Lots and lots of them have, it's a whole thing, but I was thinking of Mark Fuhrman.)
posted by box at 1:11 PM on February 28 [6 favorites]
🤡🐷
posted by nikoniko at 1:12 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
posted by nikoniko at 1:12 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
Last year, more than 150 bills in 35 states aimed to restrict access to library materials, and to punish library workers who do not comply.
35 states, JFC. This sickness is spreading to Canada too.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:25 PM on February 28 [5 favorites]
35 states, JFC. This sickness is spreading to Canada too.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:25 PM on February 28 [5 favorites]
It is squirm inducing to see a grown adult receiving a briefing on what he is liable to see and how it all works before entering a library, literally the most accessible public space in his town. It seems clear to me that this officer has spent very, very little time in an actual library. And that seems to be a rather significant crux of the problem.
posted by salishsea at 1:30 PM on February 28 [19 favorites]
posted by salishsea at 1:30 PM on February 28 [19 favorites]
In just this one clip, you'll get to hear such hits as ...
"If you have one of these cards ... you can check out AANNNYTHING in here"...
"They can log on with three clicks and get any book from TWENTY EIGHT libraries. It doesn't matter if you can't drive"...
...and 140 other amazing reasons to love the library, by a woman who hates the library.
posted by voiceofreason at 1:31 PM on February 28 [53 favorites]
"If you have one of these cards ... you can check out AANNNYTHING in here"...
"They can log on with three clicks and get any book from TWENTY EIGHT libraries. It doesn't matter if you can't drive"...
...and 140 other amazing reasons to love the library, by a woman who hates the library.
posted by voiceofreason at 1:31 PM on February 28 [53 favorites]
Yeah Idaho is where you white flight when Orange County is getting to woke or whatever. Eagle Idaho (7 hours south) is the zip code where the most money from Calpers goes outside of California.
posted by Uncle at 1:40 PM on February 28 [8 favorites]
posted by Uncle at 1:40 PM on February 28 [8 favorites]
I'm really sorry to ask this, because I probably know the answer, and there have already been jokes in the thread. But what is it about libraries and books specifically that trigger this fear and hatred? There is so much more available online, both what they are afraid of in terms of validating and affirming writing about sexuality, gender expression, and body positivity, but also what they SHOULD be afraid of- the real groomers/sexual predators sliding into DMs, videos and images of sexual violence and rape Actual pornography which shouldn't be viewed by minors!
Somehow they trust Tiktok and Meta/Facebook/Insta more than the county library system? But there's no logical answer. The answer is that the library is free and helps people in need. It helps everyone else at the same time, and they hate real communities.
posted by kittensofthenight at 1:44 PM on February 28 [17 favorites]
Somehow they trust Tiktok and Meta/Facebook/Insta more than the county library system? But there's no logical answer. The answer is that the library is free and helps people in need. It helps everyone else at the same time, and they hate real communities.
posted by kittensofthenight at 1:44 PM on February 28 [17 favorites]
Yeah I think all the clues as to why Nazi ideology hates libraries are there: libraries represent freedom to explore and ab open and honest approach to experience the world, Nazis can only tolerate their own world view and must enforce it through violence.
posted by Artw at 1:59 PM on February 28 [12 favorites]
posted by Artw at 1:59 PM on February 28 [12 favorites]
But what is it about libraries and books specifically that trigger this fear and hatred?
Well, you can't go to the internet. If you try to go to Meta headquarters, they have, like security guards. You can't terrorize and bluff your way in to hassle Mark Zuckerberg. At the library they have to let you in and most of the staff are pretty mild-mannered and approachable, plus many of them are women, and the far right hates women - even the women hate women.
And of course, you can't film yourself going to the internet, but you can film an outrage video of a visit to the library, and if you're lucky the librarian will be Black or visibly queer and that will get your audience worked up into a froth.
The mistake you make is thinking that most of these people are mostly worried - this isn't about fear, it's about entertainment and also smashing anyone who isn't a conservative white straight cis man. If they were worried, they'd be at least equally worried about all the rapist pastors and youth leaders that they love so much, and worried about, like, Dad's sleazy cousin who is always dating teenagers and Mom's reckless sister with all the unsecured guns everywhere.
Also, they hate that libraries are basically free. You can be homeless and use the library. You can be a kid. You don't need to pay for an internet connection or ask someone for permission.
And also the whole point of children is that they are property - so if Mom and Dad think that it's cool to let them hang out with the sketchy youth pastor alone late at night, or as long as Mom and Dad think it's fine to, eg, sell sleazy photos of their little girls in "gymnastics" gear to internet pedophiles, that's cool - the point of the kids is that they are subject to the parents' authority, not that the kids should have their needs met. If a kid can go the library and just...pick their own books, well, property shouldn't get to choose what it reads.
The whole point of this is to find someone they hate who is vulnerable and scare them, and then have plausible deniability if someone calls in a bomb threat - that's exciting, but of course it's also illegal, so they don't want to say, gee, it would be fun to threaten to blow the place up but they also hope that someone will do it.
posted by Frowner at 1:59 PM on February 28 [56 favorites]
Well, you can't go to the internet. If you try to go to Meta headquarters, they have, like security guards. You can't terrorize and bluff your way in to hassle Mark Zuckerberg. At the library they have to let you in and most of the staff are pretty mild-mannered and approachable, plus many of them are women, and the far right hates women - even the women hate women.
And of course, you can't film yourself going to the internet, but you can film an outrage video of a visit to the library, and if you're lucky the librarian will be Black or visibly queer and that will get your audience worked up into a froth.
The mistake you make is thinking that most of these people are mostly worried - this isn't about fear, it's about entertainment and also smashing anyone who isn't a conservative white straight cis man. If they were worried, they'd be at least equally worried about all the rapist pastors and youth leaders that they love so much, and worried about, like, Dad's sleazy cousin who is always dating teenagers and Mom's reckless sister with all the unsecured guns everywhere.
Also, they hate that libraries are basically free. You can be homeless and use the library. You can be a kid. You don't need to pay for an internet connection or ask someone for permission.
And also the whole point of children is that they are property - so if Mom and Dad think that it's cool to let them hang out with the sketchy youth pastor alone late at night, or as long as Mom and Dad think it's fine to, eg, sell sleazy photos of their little girls in "gymnastics" gear to internet pedophiles, that's cool - the point of the kids is that they are subject to the parents' authority, not that the kids should have their needs met. If a kid can go the library and just...pick their own books, well, property shouldn't get to choose what it reads.
The whole point of this is to find someone they hate who is vulnerable and scare them, and then have plausible deniability if someone calls in a bomb threat - that's exciting, but of course it's also illegal, so they don't want to say, gee, it would be fun to threaten to blow the place up but they also hope that someone will do it.
posted by Frowner at 1:59 PM on February 28 [56 favorites]
Also, library funding can be CUT -- companies are out of reach. “Glenn, Glenn, Glenn: The library isn’t free. It’s paid for with tax money. Free public libraries are the result of the Progressive movement to communally share books!”
Norris was apparently volunteering with the Kootenai County Search and Rescue team (VSAR) from mid-2017.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:06 PM on February 28 [8 favorites]
Norris was apparently volunteering with the Kootenai County Search and Rescue team (VSAR) from mid-2017.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:06 PM on February 28 [8 favorites]
I thought the song "Adult Education" was about sex ed.
Also - this guy having previously been tied to white supremacist group and then moving to Idaho sounds about white.
posted by symbioid at 2:09 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
Also - this guy having previously been tied to white supremacist group and then moving to Idaho sounds about white.
posted by symbioid at 2:09 PM on February 28 [1 favorite]
I guarantee you he is the most expensive thing to the taxpayer in that room, by ab order of magnitude.
posted by Artw at 2:11 PM on February 28 [29 favorites]
posted by Artw at 2:11 PM on February 28 [29 favorites]
My parents were actually extremely strict about what I was allowed to read and watch. They kept a close eye on what I checked out of the library and did sometimes take things away, usually things they felt had too much S-E-X in them but sometimes just things they felt were morally and intellectually unsuited to young people. I think the last time my mother took a book away I was in my late teens.
But take a book away from the library, and remove it from circulation among consenting adults? They would never! It is perfectly possible to be quite strict at home and still believe in civil society, despite today's conservatives.
posted by Frowner at 2:14 PM on February 28 [15 favorites]
But take a book away from the library, and remove it from circulation among consenting adults? They would never! It is perfectly possible to be quite strict at home and still believe in civil society, despite today's conservatives.
posted by Frowner at 2:14 PM on February 28 [15 favorites]
Also, they hate that libraries are basically free. You can be homeless and use the library. You can be a kid. You don't need to pay for an internet connection or ask someone for permission.
If libraries didn't already exist, and someone tried to create them today, these people would be screaming about how they're a communist plot to undermine bookstores and poison the minds of the youth. So it's not surprising that they hate that they actually do exist and do, kinda, represent the exact opposite ideals of those they themselves espouse.
posted by asnider at 2:27 PM on February 28 [34 favorites]
If libraries didn't already exist, and someone tried to create them today, these people would be screaming about how they're a communist plot to undermine bookstores and poison the minds of the youth. So it's not surprising that they hate that they actually do exist and do, kinda, represent the exact opposite ideals of those they themselves espouse.
posted by asnider at 2:27 PM on February 28 [34 favorites]
This is just horrifying and an absolute abuse of power. Any person has the right to go into a library and review what books are available and, no doubt, there are processes to request that books be removed by the library for whatever reason. But to go into a library in uniform, using taxpayer-funded resources (at least the body cam, probably a vehicle and possibly doing this on taxpayer-paid time) is absolutely unacceptable.
I guess if a member of the public had lodged a complaint that the library was making available books that were prohibited by law, there may be some excuse. As has been pointed out here, the role of a police officer is to ensure the law is upheld, so an investigation into such an allegation would be within their powers, albeit distasteful and ridiculous. But that's not what this is - it's a witch-hunt looking for books that are *waves hands vaguely* bad for kids. Or something.
What a sad place we have found ourselves in :-(
posted by dg at 5:47 PM on February 28 [6 favorites]
I guess if a member of the public had lodged a complaint that the library was making available books that were prohibited by law, there may be some excuse. As has been pointed out here, the role of a police officer is to ensure the law is upheld, so an investigation into such an allegation would be within their powers, albeit distasteful and ridiculous. But that's not what this is - it's a witch-hunt looking for books that are *waves hands vaguely* bad for kids. Or something.
What a sad place we have found ourselves in :-(
posted by dg at 5:47 PM on February 28 [6 favorites]
Before I show myself out....
And of course, you can't film yourself going to the internet, but you can film an outrage video of a visit to the library...
You could, though it would be in rather poor taste, to film your self doing the opposite of going to the internet. (think Near/Far Sesame Street opposites here folks...)
And that is my cue to show myself out.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:33 PM on February 28 [4 favorites]
And of course, you can't film yourself going to the internet, but you can film an outrage video of a visit to the library...
You could, though it would be in rather poor taste, to film your self doing the opposite of going to the internet. (think Near/Far Sesame Street opposites here folks...)
And that is my cue to show myself out.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:33 PM on February 28 [4 favorites]
MY TURN: Obscene materials in libraries, by Marianna Cochran, Guest Opinion (Coeur d'Alene/Post Falls Press, Feb. 10, 2023) On Jan. 27, the Coeur d'Alene Press published an article about the Jan. 25 Coeur d'Alene Public Library board meeting where I and other citizens gave public comment about incendiary kids’ books — not just passively included in the collection — but being put forward to them.
A significant portion of my comments were omitted, however. [...]
After completing my comments, the board chair announced that I don’t reside in Coeur d’Alene. More dismissal. Never mind that I’m a member and taxpayer of the Community Library Network, which has a reciprocal relationship with the Coeur d'Alene library. As a library devotee, I relish the convenience and amenities of the beautiful Coeur d'Alene library. But, I’ve been astonished over the last 16 months while researching thousands of books and discovering the abundance of corrosive books located locally for kids.
[The Press helpfully appended, "Marianna Cochran is a Rathdrum resident."]
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:34 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
A significant portion of my comments were omitted, however. [...]
After completing my comments, the board chair announced that I don’t reside in Coeur d’Alene. More dismissal. Never mind that I’m a member and taxpayer of the Community Library Network, which has a reciprocal relationship with the Coeur d'Alene library. As a library devotee, I relish the convenience and amenities of the beautiful Coeur d'Alene library. But, I’ve been astonished over the last 16 months while researching thousands of books and discovering the abundance of corrosive books located locally for kids.
[The Press helpfully appended, "Marianna Cochran is a Rathdrum resident."]
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:34 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
Coeur d'Alene/Post Falls Press article, Feb. 23, 2023: Coeur d’Alene Public Library trustees were both criticized and praised Wednesday for having a variety of books available to children.[...]
As of Wednesday, the Clean Books 4 Kids online petition had 620 signatures.
The petition states the library featured books with LGBTQ+ themes for Kid's Book Club "without alerting parents of the controversial material." Books it listed included "The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise" by Dan Geimenhart, "When You Trap a Tiger" by Tae Keller and "The War That Saved My Life" by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.
Marianna Cochran of Rathdrum told the board “change is coming for you.”
She cited the names of several conservatives who were elected to state and local posts in November.
"Voters are rejecting the status quo and you are part of that status quo," Cochran said.
She said the library offers children's books that sexualize minors, feminize boys and promote gender change.
She said the board can dismiss their concerns, but “our voices extend far beyond this room.”
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:43 PM on February 28
As of Wednesday, the Clean Books 4 Kids online petition had 620 signatures.
The petition states the library featured books with LGBTQ+ themes for Kid's Book Club "without alerting parents of the controversial material." Books it listed included "The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise" by Dan Geimenhart, "When You Trap a Tiger" by Tae Keller and "The War That Saved My Life" by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.
Marianna Cochran of Rathdrum told the board “change is coming for you.”
She cited the names of several conservatives who were elected to state and local posts in November.
"Voters are rejecting the status quo and you are part of that status quo," Cochran said.
She said the library offers children's books that sexualize minors, feminize boys and promote gender change.
She said the board can dismiss their concerns, but “our voices extend far beyond this room.”
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:43 PM on February 28
corrosive, that's good. cor-RO-sive. You can roll it around on your tongue and then spit it at whoever you're looking to demonize.
I'd rate it up there with de-GEN-e-rate.
We're fucked.
posted by tigrrrlily at 7:59 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
I'd rate it up there with de-GEN-e-rate.
We're fucked.
posted by tigrrrlily at 7:59 PM on February 28 [3 favorites]
what is it about libraries and books specifically that trigger this fear and hatred?
Well! Looks like we got ourselves a reader!
posted by flabdablet at 5:18 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]
Well! Looks like we got ourselves a reader!
posted by flabdablet at 5:18 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]
Yeah I think all the clues as to why Nazi ideology hates libraries are there: libraries represent freedom to explore and ab open and honest approach to experience the world, Nazis can only tolerate their own world view and must enforce it through violence.
"Libraries represent freedom" should be the mantra against these creeps. For too long the far right has co-opted the word "freedom" to push a fascist agenda.
posted by Gelatin at 6:34 AM on February 29 [13 favorites]
"Libraries represent freedom" should be the mantra against these creeps. For too long the far right has co-opted the word "freedom" to push a fascist agenda.
posted by Gelatin at 6:34 AM on February 29 [13 favorites]
Quoted from Iris Gambol's quote:
posted by It is regrettable that at 9:20 AM on February 29 [4 favorites]
"Voters are rejecting the status quo and you are part of that status quo," Cochran said.It's got to be the most inadvertently optimistic part of this hateful nonsense, the idea that the bigoted authoritarianism that is being empowered is contra the status quo.
posted by It is regrettable that at 9:20 AM on February 29 [4 favorites]
Voters are absolutely terrible at noticing this shit is happening and getting ahead if it, but once they notice they frequently get quite mad. Value of that may vary according to how much lock out has occured.
posted by Artw at 10:09 AM on February 29 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 10:09 AM on February 29 [3 favorites]
Can we start a GoFundMe to support a librarian who starts wandering around the sherriff's office looking for abuses of power to document?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:32 AM on February 29 [16 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:32 AM on February 29 [16 favorites]
Ha.
I guess sheriff is an elected office so someone could run against him on a platform of not being a useless waste of public resources, who knows how that would play though. And how many people would run for that office that wouldn’t be similarly a worthless fascist?
I assume that as with most law enforcement there is basically no civilian oversight.
posted by Artw at 10:41 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]
I guess sheriff is an elected office so someone could run against him on a platform of not being a useless waste of public resources, who knows how that would play though. And how many people would run for that office that wouldn’t be similarly a worthless fascist?
I assume that as with most law enforcement there is basically no civilian oversight.
posted by Artw at 10:41 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]
He didn't check out all the books he left the library with, and he returned them late, and defaced.
To be fair though, based on his complaint (description? ad campaign?) of the features of a library, I think he just learned about them.
posted by shenkerism at 11:43 AM on February 29 [4 favorites]
To be fair though, based on his complaint (description? ad campaign?) of the features of a library, I think he just learned about them.
posted by shenkerism at 11:43 AM on February 29 [4 favorites]
Donate to the Community Library Network here
posted by shenkerism at 11:59 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]
posted by shenkerism at 11:59 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]
To facilitate law enforcement throughout the county, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris cross-deputizes police officers from other jurisdictions and swears in some special deputies who don’t have backgrounds in law enforcement. -"Sheriff's office relies on hundreds of special deputies," CDApress.com, Nov. 19, 2023
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:27 PM on February 29 [2 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:27 PM on February 29 [2 favorites]
As I've noted on several previous library and book censorship threads, these fights are occurring all over the place, including, I am sorry to say, in the small island community in Southeast Alaska where I reside.
For a bit more than the past two years, supporters of the library and freedom of thought have been fighting off efforts by a local group of censors and those who would ally with them to advance their own issues. In 2022, after their efforts to have books removed from the local library collection were considered and then respectfully rejected by the library staff and library advisory board, censorship advocates retaliated by collecting signatures to put a referendum on the ballot to revoke a local tax levy that provides approximately 40% of the library's funding. It was eventually defeated, but not before a bitter campaign from the pro-censorship side advising voters to "Protect the Children" by de-funding the library.
The "defund the library" tactic seems to have been defeated soundly enough that it has not returned since 2022, but efforts to remove individual books continue - every couple of months it seems I find myself showing up to give public commentary at some local government meeting to speak in favor of letting the professionals on the library staff make appropriate curation decisions, rather than the most easily-offended religious conservatives in the community, and if I'm sick of all this I can only imagine how the librarians feel.
Except I don't really have to imagine. One of the biggest local events of our yearly art calendar is the Ketchikan Wearable Art Show and a group of library staff who are friends have been in the habit of putting together pieces in their own time every year and participating in the show. Most years their costumes are art pieces constructed out of salvaged library discard materials but when this year's show took place earlier this month, they diverged from their traditionally apolitical themes to appear in "handmaid" style costumes featuring anti-censorship embellishments.
One of the chief censorship advocates (who has also managed during this campaign to get herself appointed to the Library Advisory Board) has interpreted this as an attack against her person and has written and published a letter beseeching intervention from State of Alaska Attorney General in response to her claims of persecution by local officials. (n.b. for those who click through to her actual letter from the news article I have linked - the name of the piece entered in the show is mis-cited in the complainant's letter to the A.G., because of course she couldn't recognize when she mangled the Latin phrase selected by the librarians..)
I'm so very tired of this crap and most especially the endless enthusiastic energy the nutcases have for doing the wrong thing.
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:58 PM on February 29 [15 favorites]
For a bit more than the past two years, supporters of the library and freedom of thought have been fighting off efforts by a local group of censors and those who would ally with them to advance their own issues. In 2022, after their efforts to have books removed from the local library collection were considered and then respectfully rejected by the library staff and library advisory board, censorship advocates retaliated by collecting signatures to put a referendum on the ballot to revoke a local tax levy that provides approximately 40% of the library's funding. It was eventually defeated, but not before a bitter campaign from the pro-censorship side advising voters to "Protect the Children" by de-funding the library.
The "defund the library" tactic seems to have been defeated soundly enough that it has not returned since 2022, but efforts to remove individual books continue - every couple of months it seems I find myself showing up to give public commentary at some local government meeting to speak in favor of letting the professionals on the library staff make appropriate curation decisions, rather than the most easily-offended religious conservatives in the community, and if I'm sick of all this I can only imagine how the librarians feel.
Except I don't really have to imagine. One of the biggest local events of our yearly art calendar is the Ketchikan Wearable Art Show and a group of library staff who are friends have been in the habit of putting together pieces in their own time every year and participating in the show. Most years their costumes are art pieces constructed out of salvaged library discard materials but when this year's show took place earlier this month, they diverged from their traditionally apolitical themes to appear in "handmaid" style costumes featuring anti-censorship embellishments.
One of the chief censorship advocates (who has also managed during this campaign to get herself appointed to the Library Advisory Board) has interpreted this as an attack against her person and has written and published a letter beseeching intervention from State of Alaska Attorney General in response to her claims of persecution by local officials. (n.b. for those who click through to her actual letter from the news article I have linked - the name of the piece entered in the show is mis-cited in the complainant's letter to the A.G., because of course she couldn't recognize when she mangled the Latin phrase selected by the librarians..)
I'm so very tired of this crap and most especially the endless enthusiastic energy the nutcases have for doing the wrong thing.
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:58 PM on February 29 [15 favorites]
I continue to find that my cynicism, distrust of my fellow Americans, and general level of misanthropy is far too low. I like to imagine that I'm a savy with it person who has shaken off the delusions of unity and decency and acknowledged how truly awful most people are.
And yet I keep being surprised at the newest depths to which they will plunge.
In a way this feels like the early days of the Trump presiency when you could tell he and the others were testing the boundaries. Can we do this? Will we be stopped from doing this? And with each time they weren't stopped they kept getting bolder and more extreme.
In a decent world that sheriff would not just be voted out next election but there'd be truly mass protests in his community and efforts to get a special election to oust him immediately.
In the real world he will doubtless be re-elected by a huge margin because most of the people in his district are evil and support his agenda.
What path forward can possibly exist?
posted by sotonohito at 6:46 AM on March 1 [5 favorites]
And yet I keep being surprised at the newest depths to which they will plunge.
In a way this feels like the early days of the Trump presiency when you could tell he and the others were testing the boundaries. Can we do this? Will we be stopped from doing this? And with each time they weren't stopped they kept getting bolder and more extreme.
In a decent world that sheriff would not just be voted out next election but there'd be truly mass protests in his community and efforts to get a special election to oust him immediately.
In the real world he will doubtless be re-elected by a huge margin because most of the people in his district are evil and support his agenda.
What path forward can possibly exist?
posted by sotonohito at 6:46 AM on March 1 [5 favorites]
Norris is seeking re-election this year. Dan Wilson Announces Candidacy for Kootenai County Sheriff 2024 In Race Against Norris. Wilson is a law-enforcement veteran ("12 years as a commissioned, reserve police officer from 2011 to 2023 in the greater Spokane area") with a familiar list of priorities; opener: "The current Sheriff lacks a strong stance on policies and fails to take proactive measures..." There's an invitation on his website to join his email posse.
For the May primary, the candidate filing window opens March 4, 2024 and closes March 15.
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:09 AM on March 1 [3 favorites]
For the May primary, the candidate filing window opens March 4, 2024 and closes March 15.
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:09 AM on March 1 [3 favorites]
Wow, his opponent is somehow EVEN WORSE!
Which tells us all we need to know about the voting population of Kootenai County.
posted by sotonohito at 7:40 AM on March 1 [5 favorites]
Which tells us all we need to know about the voting population of Kootenai County.
posted by sotonohito at 7:40 AM on March 1 [5 favorites]
Erm, Wilson would enact a "citizen's posse" [not to be confused with Norris's current "all-volunteer citizens force"?] : In Wilson’s scenario, a citizen’s posse would help secure the county, assisting deputies, but not doing law enforcement duties and would not be given a badge or a firearm. “The reserve posse is gonna serve in a variety of capacities. So it can be everything from, if we have a problem with our infrastructure, with water or sewer, we’re gonna have engineers that come in,” explained Wilson. “If we ever get into an event where we have a massive man-made disaster, at that point rules change and then we will adapt at that time … at this moment I don’t have all the logistics that I am ready to share.”
Wilson believes all states will be greatly affected by the influx of illegal military-aged males and says the citizen’s posse must be ready for such a time.
[The list of candidates who have filed will be posted once filing begins.]
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:45 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]
Wilson believes all states will be greatly affected by the influx of illegal military-aged males and says the citizen’s posse must be ready for such a time.
[The list of candidates who have filed will be posted once filing begins.]
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:45 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]
And yet I keep being surprised at the newest depths to which they will plunge.
Georgia Senate passes bill banning taxpayer, private funds for American Library Association
The ALA is a hotbed of Marxist lesbianism incompatible with Georgia's conservative values, apparently.
posted by flabdablet at 10:26 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]
Georgia Senate passes bill banning taxpayer, private funds for American Library Association
The ALA is a hotbed of Marxist lesbianism incompatible with Georgia's conservative values, apparently.
posted by flabdablet at 10:26 PM on March 1 [3 favorites]
The Alabama Public Library Service has officially voted to not renew its membership with the American Library Association (WSFA, Jan. 2024). NPR, covering the Georgia news: About eight other states, including Montana, Missouri, Texas and South Carolina, have also made moves to disassociate from the ALA. Some local libraries have opted out themselves [...] The push against the ALA has been gaining steam ever since the group's president, Emily Drabinski, celebrated her election to a one-year term as ALA president with a now-deleted social media post expressing excitement that the group would be led by someone like her, "a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world."
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:59 PM on March 2 [1 favorite]
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:59 PM on March 2 [1 favorite]
LOL, you can't just tell people you're a Marxist and/or a lesbian, and hold any kind of public-facing position. This is America. I'm assuming she'll quietly step down in a couple weeks.
edit: OK that was a knee-jerk reaction before I looked up the actual timeline of things. Sorry about that.
posted by tigrrrlily at 2:00 PM on March 2
edit: OK that was a knee-jerk reaction before I looked up the actual timeline of things. Sorry about that.
posted by tigrrrlily at 2:00 PM on March 2
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Irony meter: Beep! Beep! Beep!
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 11:49 AM on February 28 [42 favorites]