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Llano County forced to put books back in library will now consider closing the library altogether

Pancho

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Gengs1

Gengs1 2583

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

It's not dumb. Scaring the shit out of mothers is the GOP strategy for getting their votes. It's a bloc they've been very poor at influencing unlike my fellow white males. They're finding their bait for the hook of hatred and fear.

In the past, this bouts of hysteria were at least founded in some errant moral/religious belief. The war on CRT, LGBTQ, and books that could make a child reflect on history are now just cynical moves to rustle the jimmies.

Absurd? Of coure it is, but these guerilla tactics in the school districts and public libraries are not to be laughed off. Reason will not prevail. When has it prevailed in the last ten years?

The enemies of the republic know what they're doing.

 

Edit to add that an article in New Yorker about this kind of activism finds that most of the agitators are not local. It's an oganized effort. 

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When the women in T-shirts first showed up, Welch had never heard of Moms for Liberty, and he didn’t recognize its members. The group’s leader, Robin Steenman, was in her early forties, with shoulder-length blond hair; in coloring and build, she resembled Marjorie Taylor Greene. Board of Education members struggled to understand why she’d inserted herself into a matter that didn’t concern her: Steenman had no children in the public schools.

Moms for Liberty members soon escalated the conflict, publicly asserting that Williamson County Schools had adopted Wit & Wisdom hurriedly, and in violation of state rules. The school board still wasn’t sure what Moms for Liberty was—who founded it, who funded it. 

...

In September, 2020—four months after the murder of George Floyd, two months before the Presidential election, and a month into Williamson County Schools’ use of Wit & Wisdom—Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show, on Fox News, and called critical race theory “an existential threat to the United States.” Rufo capitalized on the fact that, given C.R.T.’s academic provenance, few Americans had heard of the concept. He argued that liberal educators, under the bland banner of “diversity,” were manipulating students into thinking of America not as a vibrant champion of democracy but as a shameful embodiment of white supremacy. (As he framed things, there were no in-between positions.) Rufo later called C.R.T. “the perfect villain”—a term that “connotes hostile, academic, divisive, race-obsessed, poisonous, elitist, anti-American views.”

...

Last November, Glenn Youngkin, a candidate for the governorship of Virginia, won an upset victory after repeatedly warning that the “curriculum has gone haywire”—and promising to sign an executive order banning C.R.T. from schools. Jatia Wrighten, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University, told the Washington Post that Youngkin had “activated white women to vote in a very specific way that they feel like is protecting their children.”

...

On March 15, 2021, Rufo, in a tweet thread, overtly described a key element of the far right’s evolving strategy: “We have successfully frozen their brand—‘critical race theory’—into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions. We will eventually turn it toxic, as we put all of the various cultural insanities under that brand category.” He added, “The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.’ ”

That's enough. It's a New Yorker article so it goes on forever.

This right here, they will turn this up to a 11 in 24 during presidential election and Ron is running with it right now. 

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South Austin

South Austin 52154

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Posted (edited)
23 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

Llano, Fredricksburg, and Wimberley were all beautiful, wonderful places that have been ruined by stupid assholes.

Yep.

When my kids were little, we used to rent a riverside house right on the Llano about 8 miles west of town with another family every summer.  I thought it was a real possibility that I might decide to retire in the Llano area.  I knew back then that my political views likely did not align with the greater community.  But I also didn't see a bunch of Trump or Thin Blue Line flags flying all over the place, nor were they debating important issues such as whether to ban books from the local library or close them altogether.  Now I just don't think I could co-exist in the same town as that kind of collective stupidity.    

Edited by South Austin
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G650

G650 14111

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Today's Amazon order:

  • My Butt is So Noisy!; I Broke My Butt!; and I Need a New Butt! by Dawn McMillan
  • Larry the Farting Leprechaun; Gary the Goose and His Gas is on the Loose; Freddie the Farting Snowman; and Harvey the Heart Has Too Many Farts by Jane Bexley

I think my son actually has the Larry the Farting Leprechaun book. Or something similar.

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Pescado_Rojo

Pescado_Rojo 19331

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24 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Yep.

When my kids were little, we used to rent a riverside house right on the Llano about 8 miles west of town with another family every summer.  I thought it was a real possibility that I might decide to retire in the Llano area.  I knew back then that my political views likely did not align with the greater community.  But I also didn't see a bunch of Trump or Thin Blue Line flags flying all over the place, nor were they debating such important issues such as whether to ban books from the local library or close them altogether.  Now I just don't think I could co-exist in the same town as that kind of collective stupidity.    

I used to think the same, and have come to the same conclusion.

In 2012 the ex and I were building a new house. The old one sold faster than we expected and our kids weren't in school yet, so we moved out to her parents place in Llano county for a few months. I was working from home even back then and needed high speed internet, so I rented a little office right off the square in downtown Llano for $100/Month. Within a couple weeks, the Llano "movers and shakers" (my nickname for them) all stopped by to say hi and eventually started inviting me to join them for lunch. These guys were all friends of my FIL, who was born and raised in Llano and moved back to take over the family ranch when he retired. A couple country lawyers, the town insurance agent, pharmacist, the Edward Jones guy, etc. The couple times I went to lunch with them I was the youngest guy in the group by 20 years...and I was in my 40s at the time. They spent a lot of time trying to talk me into moving there full time, because like most small Texas towns they were shrinking. The only thing keeping Llano county and Llano ISD going is Kingsland and Horseshoe Bay. There was very little talk of politics with those guys. Mostly small town gossip, the price of cattle, if the football team was gonna be any good...stuff like that. These days on a drive through Llano county, you'll see tons of Trump flags, Blue Lives matter flags, and over the past couple years I've started seeing more confederate battle flags flapping on ranch flag poles around there. It's been very disappointing. 

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76414

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42 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

I used to think the same, and have come to the same conclusion.

In 2012 the ex and I were building a new house. The old one sold faster than we expected and our kids weren't in school yet, so we moved out to her parents place in Llano county for a few months. I was working from home even back then and needed high speed internet, so I rented a little office right off the square in downtown Llano for $100/Month. Within a couple weeks, the Llano "movers and shakers" (my nickname for them) all stopped by to say hi and eventually started inviting me to join them for lunch. These guys were all friends of my FIL, who was born and raised in Llano and moved back to take over the family ranch when he retired. A couple country lawyers, the town insurance agent, pharmacist, the Edward Jones guy, etc. The couple times I went to lunch with them I was the youngest guy in the group by 20 years...and I was in my 40s at the time. They spent a lot of time trying to talk me into moving there full time, because like most small Texas towns they were shrinking. The only thing keeping Llano county and Llano ISD going is Kingsland and Horseshoe Bay. There was very little talk of politics with those guys. Mostly small town gossip, the price of cattle, if the football team was gonna be any good...stuff like that. These days on a drive through Llano county, you'll see tons of Trump flags, Blue Lives matter flags, and over the past couple years I've started seeing more confederate battle flags flapping on ranch flag poles around there. It's been very disappointing. 


a small group of like minded people could swing local elections 

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19449

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41 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

I used to think the same, and have come to the same conclusion.

In 2012 the ex and I were building a new house. The old one sold faster than we expected and our kids weren't in school yet, so we moved out to her parents place in Llano county for a few months. I was working from home even back then and needed high speed internet, so I rented a little office right off the square in downtown Llano for $100/Month. Within a couple weeks, the Llano "movers and shakers" (my nickname for them) all stopped by to say hi and eventually started inviting me to join them for lunch. These guys were all friends of my FIL, who was born and raised in Llano and moved back to take over the family ranch when he retired. A couple country lawyers, the town insurance agent, pharmacist, the Edward Jones guy, etc. The couple times I went to lunch with them I was the youngest guy in the group by 20 years...and I was in my 40s at the time. They spent a lot of time trying to talk me into moving there full time, because like most small Texas towns they were shrinking. The only thing keeping Llano county and Llano ISD going is Kingsland and Horseshoe Bay. There was very little talk of politics with those guys. Mostly small town gossip, the price of cattle, if the football team was gonna be any good...stuff like that. These days on a drive through Llano county, you'll see tons of Trump flags, Blue Lives matter flags, and over the past couple years I've started seeing more confederate battle flags flapping on ranch flag poles around there. It's been very disappointing. 

I forget sometimes how hard people will connect to a regime in the wake of a dying existence.  Lost in the prosperity of Austin, it frequently escapes me that a lot of Texas is financially and politically and civically dying.  And if someone can convince them that they can stay there in their comfort zone and vilify/blame somebody else, they will exhale and be content.  I am embarrassed to admit, for all of my patting myself on the back for thinking I was smart-it took to my mid 40’s to see my prize mistake.  How beyond evil fucking easy it is to herd the stupid.  
 

I coulda been a cult leader.  A kick ass cult leader.  First thing I’m gonna need is a driver.  

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texasdago

texasdago 7553

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This book (soon to be banned for being "uncomfortable") https://www.amazon.com/Big-Wonderful-Thing-History-Texas/dp/0292759517 and this book (soon to be banned for being "uncomfortable") https://www.amazon.com/Big-Rich-Greatest-Texas-Fortunes/dp/0143116827 have excellent chapters detailing how these whack jobs have been in Texas forever. 

I'm sure the descendants of the protesters who slapped Ladybird Johnson's gloves out of her hands are taking pictures in fields of bluebonnets outside of Llano today...

Bruce Alger, controversial Dallas congressman in '50s and '60s , dies at 96

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89452

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https://www.kxan.com/llano-county/llano-county-to-discuss-future-of-public-library-in-special-meeting/

Quote

“The library will remain open. We will try this in the courts, not through social media or through news media,” Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham said.

The decision came after hearing more than half an hour of public comment, in which those who wanted to keep and close the facility testified.

Quote

Suzette Baker, a former librarian for the Kingsland branch library, which is in the Llano County Library System, said she was fired after not removing certain books. She tells KXAN the library should be a place people can go and read whatever they like.

Those wanting it closed....

Quote

”Personally I don’t really want the library system to be closed, but if that is the only way that we can keep smut and stuff out of our children’s hands then close the library,” said Ervin Light who was in attendance at Thursday’s meeting.

Quote

”These materials cannot be in that library it has destroyed my family,” said a woman who was testifying for the libraries to close.

"it has destroyed my family"

Old Men Laughing GIF by ABC Network

Odds that the woman's family probably has access to, oh, I don't know, the world's entire collection of internet porn on their smartphones or tablets?

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19449

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It's never about the printed word.  It's never about the author.  It's never even about the subject matter. 

The whole effort is to keep other people from realizing there is a whole other world out there, and you're jealous they have the bravery to see it.  

Everything happening in Texas right now is the last gasp of a dying way of life.  And we're gonna put our foot on the gas.

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UpperWestside

UpperWestside 6136

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1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

It's never about the printed word.  It's never about the author.  It's never even about the subject matter. 

The whole effort is to keep other people from realizing there is a whole other world out there, and you're jealous they have the bravery to see it.  

Everything happening in Texas right now is the last gasp of a dying way of life.  And we're gonna put our foot on the gas.

This is kind of the essence of stuff like this. The hateful aspect to it sets it apart. Life will go on whether these folks want it to or not. I haven’t been to Llano since I played a junior high football game there in 7th grade. I’m okay never going back.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54007

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4 hours ago, YGIFS said:

The whole effort is to keep other people from realizing there is a whole other world out there, and you're jealous they have the bravery to see it.  

My daughter graduated from Wimberley HS in 2016, and she says that almost everyone she grew up with falls into 2 categories:

1) Went off to college

2) Stayed in Wimberley, didn't go to college, got married already, maybe kids already, and have turned into huge shitheads.

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bolverk

bolverk 29410

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1 minute ago, Beau Vine said:

My daughter graduated from Wimberley HS in 2016, and she says that almost everyone she grew up with falls into 2 categories:

1) Went off to college

2) Stayed in Wimberley, didn't go to college, got married already, maybe kids already, and have turned into huge shitheads.

That's an eternal truth for anyone who grew up in a small town. It certainly applies to my knowledge of the people I graduated from high school with back in 1989.

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Pescado_Rojo

Pescado_Rojo 19331

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29 minutes ago, bolverk said:

That's an eternal truth for anyone who grew up in a small town. It certainly applies to my knowledge of the people I graduated from high school with back in 1989.

Same here and I graduated in '88. I would add that the "rich kids" that stayed home or went to college and came home are doing just fine. They either took over family businesses, or started their own trading on the family name and network.

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nbmishoid

nbmishoid 941

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15 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Same here and I graduated in '88. I would add that the "rich kids" that stayed home or went to college and came home are doing just fine. They either took over family businesses, or started their own trading on the family name and network.

So, the rich/ silver spoon kids that had it handed to them… did not lean shit head?

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76414

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3 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

My daughter graduated from Wimberley HS in 2016, and she says that almost everyone she grew up with falls into 2 categories:

1) Went off to college

2) Stayed in Wimberley, didn't go to college, got married already, maybe kids already, and have turned into huge shitheads.


every small Texas town 

 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54007

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Posted (edited)

I guess I didn't realize that because when I was a kid I was surrounded by smart kids, so I didn't really notice the category 2s, and then none of those shitheads came to our 20-year reunion.  They had an unofficial reunion for the shitheads who never escaped Denton the weekend before.  

Edited by Beau Vine
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bolverk

bolverk 29410

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33 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

I guess I didn't realize that because when I was a kid I was surrounded by smart kids, so I didn't really notice the category 2s, and then none of those shitheads came to our 20-year reunion.  They had an unofficial reunion for the shitheads who never escaped Denton the weekend before.  

So you're telling us you grew up in a suburbanish city in the Metroplex that likely had a solid professional and professorial class, and you're comparing that to growing up in a typical small Texas town.

image.png.87a03cc239b92e3b86339922a17d391e.png

My graduating HS class was about 225, but that was after 75-100 kids had dropped out. Pretty sure that's more of the norm (or was) for back in the day.

How many did you graduate with?

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CooterBrown

CooterBrown 17914

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I had 120 in my class in south Texas. No idea how many graduated because they let anyone walk at graduation if you committed to going to summer school to finish up. The guy next to me was one and he got a blank piece of paper on stage. Our valedictorian didn’t go to college. She got married a few weeks later and started pumping out kids. Maybe a dozen went to college with 3 of us going to Texas. No fucking idea what anyone else did. I’d guess most went to the oil field or started building fence for a living.

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formermav43

formermav43 4599

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2 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

I guess I didn't realize that because when I was a kid I was surrounded by smart kids, so I didn't really notice the category 2s, and then none of those shitheads came to our 20-year reunion.  They had an unofficial reunion for the shitheads who never escaped Denton the weekend before.  

I didn’t know anyone actually went to high school reunions.

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89452

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1 minute ago, formermav43 said:

I didn’t know anyone actually went to high school reunions.

Went to my 10th on a whim (was in town and friends that came into town for it dragged me along).  Kids from Sugar Land are gonna Sugar Land so it was a lot of aggy, a decent number of UT grads, a few Rice, UH, Tech, etc., and several that never bothered going to college.  Not as many had kids as I would have expected, but that may have been a suburbs thing (from Facebook, it appears many had them in their 30s) or the ones that had kids didn't care to attend the reunion.

Skipped my 20th, and it doesn't look like there will be a 30th, and instead people just seem to be setting up get-togethers through Facebook.

I kind of almost regret skipping my 20th, because with a general high school reunion, you see a lot more folks and that might be more interesting to see how people you didn't have much to do with turned out (yeah, I'll say it, did they age well).

The get-togethers through Facebook, while it's your closest friends that you already see every now and then or talk to a lot on various platforms, it's just a bunch of you getting together instead of twos and threes, and the nice thing about those is you're usually pulling in multiple graduating classes.

My gut says high school reunions are probably dead though, because none of our younger friends or relatives seem to be having them.

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South Austin

South Austin 52154

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Posted

Went to my 20th in Camp Lejeune, NC. It was awesome, but we had a super tight class and most of our fathers were off in Desert Storm our junior years. Everybody’s dad was a Marine, so there wasn’t that much of a disparity in class or income, not even between officer and enlisted kids. I’m sort of sad because I wonder if I’ll see any of them again. We’re scattered all over the country and few are in NC. 

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19449

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I just got back in touch with an old classmate.  We actually went to Kinder together, and eventually through high school.  Weren't very close but I saw that her father died recently...he was the man who tried and convicted John Wayne Gacy, the serial kid killer klown.  I reached out with condolences and She's now an attorney in Chicago as well.  Anyway, was reminded that our 30th reunion is a year from now outside Chicago.  I remember somebody reached out to me to help plan the 10 year, I just deleted it and pretended I never got the message.  But damn if that doesn't seem like two weeks ago.  And now we're talking about 30 year.  I doubt I'd make the trip unless I make it coincides with taking the kids to see Grandma.  Never been to one, doubt I'll ever go to one.  Not that I'm too cool for school, I just don't care.  And I suppose they think of me as often as I think of them.  

csb, about a year ago I ran into a guy from my high school (different class) at a kid's birthday party.  He runs a chain of CBD shops here in Austin.  We are the only two from our high school here, and then last week a friend from same school contacted me.  He's in Umphrey's McGee (the band).  They'll be in town next week and he informed me that another classmate of ours is moving here because his son has some special needs and there's a private school that's apparently well suited for him.  So out of a high school of nearly 5,000 students, they'll be three of us in Austin.  sorry for clogging up the highways.  

To bring it back to libraries.  Our primary school librarian was Mrs. Brondstetter.  I can still picture her face and red framed eyeglasses.  I can still hear her "shush" sound with her finger over her lips.  She helped teach me to read, taught me the Dewey Decimal System, how to do encyclopedic research, let me read books above my grade level with suspicious content, I can see her hand roll the check-out stamp on the inside cover of this baseball book I musta checked out a dozen times.  She opened up a whole other world to thousands of kids.  And we're all the better for it.  And there are/were hundreds of thousands of librarians just like her keeping the light.  Sometimes in the dead of Winter, hours before the sun rose, my mom would drop me off early at the library to read when I my age was single-digit.  And Mrs. Brondstetter was there, drinking coffee from a styrofoam cup, to greet me with a smile and a book.  And the wind never blew so cold again.  

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