book bans

Mychal Threets has always been proud to be a library kid. The Fairfield, California native was homeschooled by his mother and spent so much time in the Solano County Library that he genuinely can’t remember the first time he walked through its doors. But he does say that most of his core memories happen between those walls, like the time he brought his cat in for a pet parade.  “I was an unusually arrogant little library child,” Threets, 33, tells Rolling Stone, laughing. “I was so happy to bring my cat and show…

As Republicans nationwide continue to sound the alarm about how children are supposedly being indoctrinated and “groomed” into adopting LGBTQ identities at school, West Virginia legislators are pushing a new kind of crackdown on books deemed “obscene.” The idea is as simple as it is chilling: make librarians and teachers criminally liable for allowing kids to access such material. House Bill 4654, introduced by Republican Delegate Brandon Steele, passed in the West Virginia House of Delegates on Friday by a vote of…

1 The White House is considering a policy push to restrict cryptoA series of new reports are warning of its financial risks, especially those posed by stablecoins. (WP $)+ It wants to set standards to reduce energy usage to reduce emissions. (CoinDesk)+ Elsewhere, the US dollar is going from strength to strength. (Economist $) 2 A new x-ray method for detecting explosives could also identify tumorsA deep learning algorithm was able to find explosives hidden inside a hairdryer. (MIT Technology Review)3 How contraceptive…