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librarypunk is a leftist library worker podcast.
Episodes
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
This week we’re talking about everyone’s favorite “grassroots” organization, Moms for Liberty. Justin is breaking out the cork board to show you where it’s all coming from. We also share our controversial takes on the Wikipedia redesign.
Readings
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230117220154/https://www.momsforliberty.org/news/moms-for-liberty-partners-with-brave-books-to-donate-thousands-of-books-to-schools/
- https://bookriot.com/moms-for-libraries/
- About the launch of Moms for Libraries.
- Among the titles in Brave Books’s catalog are Elephants Are Not Birds, Little Lives Matter, and More Than Spots and Stripes — 100,000 copies of this anti-critical race theory book were given away on Martin Luther King Day this year. It’s clear what the “values” in said books are.
- https://newrepublic.com/article/169946/moms-for-libraries-public-schools
- Moms for Libraries prompts supporters to purchase copies of books from a handful of small conservative publishers it’s chosen, such as Heroes of Liberty, which released a book in December valorizing Elon Musk.
- Also mentions Brave Books
- https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/10/moms-against-libraries/
- “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” mentioned in this article.
- https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2022/07/09/just-who-is-behind-moms-for-liberty-column/
- Funding sources for Moms for Liberty unclear.
- Moms for Liberty incorporated as an Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(4) organization, a form that lends itself to dark money political shenanigans.
- Moms for Liberty has formed three federal and one state political action committees, one of which is a SuperPAC able to accept unlimited donations
- Moms for Liberty’s press is being handled by Calvary Strategies whose CEO is a former campaign manager and chief of staff to Sen. (then-Gov.) Rick Scott
- Two of Moms for Liberty’s National Summit sponsors, the Leadership Institute and Heritage Foundation are critical members of the Council for National Policy
- https://www.wishtv.com/news/local-news/christian-childrens-author-kirk-cameron-alleges-racial-religious-discrimination-by-indypl/
- Kirk Cameron demanding official partnership with the library as a program.
- Contrary to Cameron’s statement, Brave Books had rented a room for an event. And indeed, the Indianapolis event went ahead as planned in the rented room. Afterward, Brave Books celebrated by castigating other libraries, posting on Twitter, “No longer will Christians be silent,” and Fox News hosted Cameron, during which he threatened legal action against the library anyway, a victory lap over nothing
- https://www.mediamatters.org/critical-race-theory/unmasking-moms-liberty
- https://www.the74million.org/article/exclusive-moms-for-liberty-pays-21k-to-co-owned-by-founding-members-husband/
- Moms for Liberty, one of the fastest-growing and most recognized conservative parent advocacy groups in the nation, paid $21,357 to a company owned by the husband of one of its founding members, campaign finance records show.
- https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/10/anti-lgbtq-activists-will-train-floridas-public-school-librarians-books-ban/
- “In Brevard County alone, it ignored the five submissions made by the bipartisan local school board, including the nomination of a former elementary school assistant principal, the director of Eastern Florida State College’s tutoring centers, and the administrator of a local scholarship fund,” the aforementioned publication wrote.
- Instead, the department chose a self-nominated individual named Michelle Beavers. Beavers heads the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a right-wing group that gained notoriety during the pandemic for attending and protesting school board meetings to oppose mask mandates and LGBTQ inclusivity in schools.
- She herself advocated for Brevard County schools to ban the coming-of-age graphic novel This One Summer over its mention of lesbians and its crude teenage humor. She also supports revoking county school policies allowing parents to individually block their children’s access to library materials — Beavers prefers statewide bans on titles instead.
- “These books violate the law, it’s a felony. So why would you try and still defend there [sic] existence by letting parents opt out?” she wrote to the Brevard County schools superintendent.
- Who is Moms for Liberty?
- Moms for Liberty has county-specific chapters across the country that target local school board meetings, school board members, administrators, and teachers. The group advocates to strip districts of protective COVID-19 measures and modify classroom curriculum to exclude the teaching of “critical race theory” (CRT) and sex education, all in the name of “parental rights.”
- Origin in Florida, connected to mainstream Florida Republican politicians
- Promoting anti-trans pseudoscience: “rapid-onset gender dysphoria.” From a paper in PLoS that was retracted, based on interviews with parents of transgender minors sourced from anti-trans sites.
- Major players
- Moms for Liberty
- https://www.momsforliberty.org/about/
- Tiffany Justice
- Tina Descovich
- Marie Rogerson
- Bridget Ziegler (not listed on the page anymore)
- But there was a third founder, Bridget Ziegler. She is still a school committee member and her husband, Christian Ziegler, is vice chairman of the Florida Republican Party and the owner of a political marketing firm.
- Christian Ziegler owns Microtargeted Media, which Moms for Liberty spent $21,357 according to campaign finance disclosure
- Connections and funding (from Tampa Bay Times article)
- Where does funding come from
- Clearly a Koch funded and fundamentalist funded org.
- Claim to run on tshirt sales (laughable, ask anyone who sells tshirt merch)
- Yet perhaps they’ve heard of the Council for National Policy. Two of Moms for Liberty’s National Summit sponsors, the Leadership Institute and Heritage Foundation are critical members of the Council for National Policy, a secretive network of right wing billionaires and Christian fundamentalist leaders that underwrites and coordinates right wing politics.
- Parents Defending Education is Koch-connected. The Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) claims credit for the havoc wreaked by anti-Critical Race Theory legislation. The Council for National Policy’s Leadership Institute commenced its own program to take over school boards. The Council for National Policy-connected Turning Point USA initiated a School Board Watch List for reporting “woke” school boards.
- Where does funding come from
- Michelle Beavers, nominated herself and appointed by DeSantis
- https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/10/anti-lgbtq-activists-will-train-floridas-public-school-librarians-books-ban/
- “In Brevard County alone, it ignored the five submissions made by the bipartisan local school board, including the nomination of a former elementary school assistant principal, the director of Eastern Florida State College’s tutoring centers, and the administrator of a local scholarship fund,” the aforementioned publication wrote.
- Instead, the department chose a self-nominated individual named Michelle Beavers. Beavers heads the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a right-wing group that gained notoriety during the pandemic for attending and protesting school board meetings to oppose mask mandates and LGBTQ inclusivity in schools.
- She herself advocated for Brevard County schools to ban the coming-of-age graphic novel This One Summer over its mention of lesbians and its crude teenage humor. She also supports revoking county school policies allowing parents to individually block their children’s access to library materials — Beavers prefers statewide bans on titles instead.
- “These books violate the law, it’s a felony. So why would you try and still defend there [sic] existence by letting parents opt out?” she wrote to the Brevard County schools superintendent.
- https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/10/anti-lgbtq-activists-will-train-floridas-public-school-librarians-books-ban/
- Mamas for DeSantis (promoted by Moms for Liberty) run by DeSantis’s wife.
- The workgroup also included Jamie Merchant, a member of Mamas for DeSantis. The group’s goals include training parents to oppose CRT, gender ideology (the existence of trans people), and “social emotional learning” while also training candidates to take over local school boards.
- The astroturfed group has received financing from two anti-LGBTQ conservative groups, the Heritage Foundation and Turning Point USA, Politico reported. It has been promoted by Moms for Liberty. On Mamas for DeSantis’ summer reading list, the group included a book called Crimes of the Educators, which called on citizens to end the American public school system.
- Moms for Liberty
- Who is Moms for Liberty?
- Moms for Liberty’s press is being handled by Calvary Strategies whose CEO is a former campaign manager and chief of staff to Sen. (then-Gov.) Rick Scott
- Moms for Libraries
- Catherine Rahimian, who founded the Orange County California chapter of Moms for Liberty
- Board member of the Gavel Project, “an Anti-Woke non-profit” which has sued schools to block masking and vaccine policies
- Heroes of Liberty - Publisher they partner with that has a book about Elon Musk
- And to help you, Heroes of Liberty are offering 15% off all of their products. Just use coupon code: MOMS4LIBERTY
- Catherine Rahimian, who founded the Orange County California chapter of Moms for Liberty
- Moms for Libraries
- From Press Release: BRAVE Books is offering a 10% off promo code “MOMSFORLIBERTY” on any purchase with another 10% kept in a donation fund to help the Moms for Liberty Foundation purchase more books for schools in the future.
- Brave Books
- Staff https://bravebooks.us/pages/about-us
- Trent Talbot
- Zach Bell
- Lina Sawaqedy
- Savannah Morello
- Eric Presley
- Steve Ingalls
- Hannah Carlson
- Kirk Cameron book came through them.
- News cycle was orchestrated. Program is called Brave Books Story Hour https://bravebooks.us/pages/bb-story-hour
- Other authors (Who’s Who of grifters and ghouls). Looks like they’re specifically chosen for name recognition. This whole operation is planned to be a culture war instrument. Figured it was just someone’s husband’s grift.
- Elizabeth Johnston (homeschool activist)
- Ashley St. Clair (TPUSA anti-trans person until photographed with nazis)
- Jack Posobiec (alt-right grifter)
- Dan Crenshaw (TX Republican representative, eyepatch guy)
- Dana Loesch (NRA spokesperson)
- Graham Allen (Podcaster, TPUSA guy)
- Missy Robertson (Duck Dynasty guy’s wife)
- Trent Talbot (Brave Books President)
- Mike Waltz (Florida Republican, soldier, replaced DeSantis’s seat)
- Robby Starbuck (gusano grifter)
- Bethany Hamilton (motivational speaker who got arm bit off by a shark)
- Gen. Michael Flynn (Trump cabinet member)
- Dinesh and Debbie D’Souza
- Sheriff Mark Lamb (Border security grifter)
- Staff https://bravebooks.us/pages/about-us
- Brave Books
- Moms for Libraries
- Methods of outreach
- Facebook group
- Based in CA but basically synonymous and used interchangeably with Moms for Liberty, as a program of theirs rather than a separate organization.
- Closely tied to Brave Books. People buy books from them to have them donated to teachers and students directly. Sales money goes back to Moms for Libraries to fund more donations (allegedly).
- Donating directly to students rather than libraries.
- Agenda as self-described
- Focus on restrictions on “public school libraries” (very deliberate phrasing, always includes the public part). Probably to conflate school libraries with public libraries so they can censor those as well in the name of school aged children.
- Tend to avoid talking about public libraries when on the defensive. (“If N.C. statutes require parental consent for sex education, why are we freely allowing sexually explicit materials in our public school libraries and classrooms?”)
- Probably also use Public School to differentiate from Charter Schools, home schooling
- Pushes for early literacy and funding of libraries (for the moment)
- Mixture of ideology. Wedging into liberal support until it shifts. TERF behavior.
- Focus on transparency language (identical to Gov. DeSantis anti DEI order).
- Focus on restrictions on “public school libraries” (very deliberate phrasing, always includes the public part). Probably to conflate school libraries with public libraries so they can censor those as well in the name of school aged children.
- Methods of outreach
- Most local chapter members believe these are legitimate grassroots organizations. May not have lasting power when the people funding it lose interest.
- Fights over school boards are nothing new, the homeschooling movement has been infiltrating public school boards for decades.
- Will also attempt to divert funds to charter schools. Moms for DeSantis explicitly against public education by promoting Crimes of the Educators.
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