What Are You Reading This Weekend? PA Primary Election, Fitzpatrick Plays Politics with People’s Lives, YouTube Radicalizing Youth, CBSD Libraries in Crosshairs, Be an Ally, and More!
We are living in an Upside Down World ...
Did you vote? If you are reading this you probably didn’t vote for Christian Nationalist Doug Mastriano, whose brand of far-right politics is now mainstream in the Republican Party. He will face off against Democrat Josh Shapiro in the race for governor, an election that could decide whether abortion will remain legal, or women will be relegated to second class citizens and birthing vessels. Beacon reporter Jenny Stephens gives you the election recap.
Oh, and she won:
(Watch Beacon Editor-in-Chief Cyril Mychalejko & Raging Chicken Press Editor Kevin Mahoney Discuss Yesterday’s PA Primaries.)
The House passed a bill Wednesday to beef up the government’s fight against the growing threat of racially motivated domestic terrorism and hate crimes.
However, Pennsylvania 1st District Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick said no thanks to the legislation that could help prevent future Buffalo shooting massacres, and voted no. This was the 198th mass shooting in the United States – just this year.
His Democratic Party challenger Ashley Ehasz says he is “playing political games” with people’s lives.
One of the things that motivated the white supremacist domestic terrorist in Buffalo was the Great Replacement Theory. This and other racist beliefs are being packaged as educational material and marketed to young viewers on YouTube. To learn more read: How YouTube Is Promoting White Supremacy To Young Viewers: A Q&A With Shauna Siggelkow
In Central Bucks, Cyril Mychalejko’s column this week covers the right-wing politics and moral panic that are driving policy targeting libraries. A Central Bucks West High School librarian was brave enough to speak out at last night’s emergency policy meeting. She implored the board to abandon the policy proposal. “This policy as written will prevent librarians from adding many new and relevant books to our school libraries thereby restricting student access to the very materials our own professional staff recommends.”
The ACLU also calls it an “expressway to unconstitutional censorship.” This is just a stark reminder that local elections have consequences.
Barbara Simmons, Executive Director Emeritus of The Peace Center in Bucks County, penned a column about how to be an Ally to kids.
“If we want teachers to be Allies, they need to count on us to be an Ally to them,” she writes. “We need to have their backs as much as possible.”
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Finally, a few articles that I read this week from Beyond the Bubble:
RCMP’s toxic culture of sexualized violence requires external review
The question remains: will the federal government act urgently to ensure not another woman in Canada is violently raped or assaulted by the RCMP?
Chris Hayes on the Cost of Sanctions on Iraq
Sixteen years ago, the MSNBC host weighed the impact sanctions had on the lives of Iraqis. What lessons can we glean from this today?
https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-potential-devastating-blow-of-sanctions
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
How one Chadian migrant got in and out of jihad.
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-reluctant-fundamentalist-tubiana
Thanks for reading and please forward to friends and neighbors!