080 - Moms for Liberty/Moms for Libraries

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-schoolsMoms 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 childre