As a lifelong West Virginian, when you hear someone say “Hey did you hear that WV was in the national news” your gut instinct should be “Oh no goddamnit” or “Fuck, what now?” I’m not passing this off irresponsibly as folksy advice, I am very serious. It’s NEVER good news when WV makes the national news. The closest we get to good coverage is occasionally someone writes about pepperoni rolls or the color of the leaves in the fall. Those are the only exceptions. Trust me:
As book bans continue to sweep the United States, public librarians, educators, schools and museums could soon be exposed to criminal prosecution for showing children “obscene” material in West Virginia after state lawmakers advanced a controversial bill.
Known as HB 4654, the legislation overwhelmingly vaulted through the West Virginia House of Delegates on Friday and then made its way to the state senate. A delegate confirmed with Law&Crime on Tuesday that the bill is now being weighed by the West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee before it goes to the floor for a final vote.
***But in West Virginia, while supporters of the bill — it passed 85-12 in the House of Delegates — argued it was a simple law aimed at protecting children, its opponents say HB 4654 is an end run at state censorship and criminalizing speech.
Critics argue that part of their issue with the bill is that it is too vague.
During debates before passage last week, House Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty openly worried that librarians, for example, might not be aware when a book contains obscene material, let alone know whether that material was shown to a child.
“But because it was in the facility and it was sitting on a shelf, it could still be prosecuted,” Fluharty said. “What you are seeing is done in third-world countries and now it’s going to be a headline in West Virginia.”
Notably, an amendment that would have made an exemption for public health teachers who provide materials for sex education was shot down as well.
The WV House of Delegates is composed of 89 Republicans and 11 Democrats. So one lone Republican joined to vote against. Disappointed to report that my own Delegate, the 20 something Jimmy Willis who was elected in large part because he has an (R) after his name and because he had large Trump stickers on his pickemup truck and put out embarrassing videos calling Biden an idiot and the then Democratic House of Representatives a bunch of socialists (I can’t find them anymore on his candidate page on FB). It was not for his ideas. His one big idea was rural broadband, and I supposed he has been active in spending the money the “idiot” Joe Biden and the “socialist” House of Representatives appropriated for rural broadband.
I suppose I am not surprised. I grew up with his mom (in the event of my parent’s early demise I would be adopted by her aunt and uncle), and I spent a number of years boozing and hanging out with his dad while I was in the Volunteer Fire Department. His dad was a good guy who died young, and I liked him and he was generally just a typical 80’s and 90’s WV redneck back before rednecks became bootlickers and cop worshippers. Regardless, I can report his dad, like the son, had little use for books.
Miss Bianca
I used to say, “who’d be a teacher these days?”
Never thought I’d have to add, “who’d be a librarian these days?”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
One of the Oscar-nominated documentary shorts is “The ABC’s of Book Banning”. You can stream it thru various subscription sources (we saw it in the theater last weekend as part of an annual release of the nominated shorts).
This is from a screening two months ago and features the 100 year old lady who spoke in front of a whack job FL school board about them banning books and how her husband…who died fighting fascism in WW2 would weep at what they were attempting to do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH6uFbbG2dU
All of us should be like her from now until we turn 100, or croak.
cain
I expect that there will be a number of organizations who will sue on 1st amendment grounds.
Especially if “protecting children” is open to interpretation depending on random people. All these red states are looking to turn themselves into feudal kingdoms it seems.
But it won’t stop there if Republicans get all branches of govt.
cain
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
They’d probably arrest her in the name of protecting children.
It’s the flex that is coming out of transgender hate. They’ve decided that education and books are the enemy now.
Yet, sexual assault is just fine by old rich men and pastors.
Harrison Wesley
Too vague? The vagueness is integral; it’s what makes such laws self-enforcing.
Sister Golden Bear
On a related note, please call your federal legislators to tell them to vote against the Kids Online Safety Act — dangerous censorship bill that would empower state officials to target services and online content they don’t like. As in specifically enabling Red States to ban LBG-and-especially-T content.
The conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, wrote that the initial 2022 iteration of KOSA didn’t go far enough, as the bill didn’t explicitly list transgender health care as a harm.
Senator Marsha Blackburn, co-author of the bill, has argued that some education about racism and the civil rights movement overlaps with critical race theory, which she labels a “dangerous ideology” that can inflict “mental and emotional damage” upon children. She has also explicitly stated that the bill will be used to censor content involving the transgender community.
Details at the link.
Suzanne
Protecting children. Hilarious.
West Virginia is in the bottom tier of states for life expectancy at birth. i think they might be misidentifying the dangers!
Jay
O.T. But apparently, the photo the Prosecution used as “Hunter Biden’s Cocaine”, is just sawdust on a tablesaw.
lee
On a hilarious note: The GOP back defamation bill in Florida will destroy conservative media.
FYI that’s a FoxNews link.
Here’s hoping the FL Republicans are very very stupid.
Cheryl from Maryland
Many a time I’ve been to a zoo (many are members of the National Association of Museums) and seen animals doing what comes naturally. West Virginia, say goodbye to zoos.
mardam
Wasn’t Jimmy Willis the store clerk shot in My Cousin Vinny?
Just sayin’.
Adam Lang
And that’s the way it is, in West-Dear-God Virginny.
John S.
@Miss Bianca:
My wife! Although we had to get the fuck out of Florida 2 years ago because teachers get paid shit there and, well, everyone here knows what’s been going on in Florida.
Washington pays their teachers a hell of a lot better, their teacher unions have real bargaining power, and they are far more respected by the community.
But the kids still suck. 🙂
Jackie
@John S.:
Some things never change 😂
RaflW
As I said when I commented on this travesty a day or so ago, this WV bill is part and parcel of the right wing project to make the jobs around educating youth so unpalatable that decent people quit in droves, and ‘the system’ can produce uneducated dolts that are easier to frighten and control.
Lots of wonderful people feel the call to be teachers. And then the GOP shits on them for years, and many of them eventually just bail out. It’s so f’ing enraging.
RaflW
In somewhat better news, our niece is in a reddish-purple school district in Walworth Co., WI, and they had a book ban push by a few parents. A list of 440 books were submitted for review in the middle & high schools. The two principals did the reviews as required, and no books were banned.
Some were moved from the middle to high school library, and some were placed on reserve meaning the kids have to have permission. But the permission slip is quite easy for parents to navigate. And the best part is, the school dist. just implemented a new more rigorous book complaint process.
Now, five parents have to together file the complaint. And the complaint requires them all to have read each book and to cite with specificity the passage or passages that they see as problematic, and why. I’m sure some f’ing busybodies will think up ways to cheat on that, but the bar is now higher than just “I copypasta’d this list from LibsOfTransphobia and submitted it as if I cared”.
blindyone
So museums would be liable because of breasts and penises viewable in classical paintings and sculptures? Maybe parents will need to sign permission slips before the kids go in? Then they might expect a home wellness check from the DPSS.
Bill Hicks
John Cole, any chance you could start a voting guide for WV and in particular Brooke County/Bethany? I have asked the Stephen Smith campaign to do something like this, but they pushed back and said I should do it even though I indicated that I do not know how to find the info. One of the biggest problems I have faced since moving to Bethany over 20 years ago is trying to figure out who to vote for especially in local elections where they are “nonpartisan” and you don’t know if they are an evil republican (most likely) or not evil (highly unlikely). I only vote for positions that indicate the party affiliation or I can find info online that provides some info on the candidate. So I rarely get to vote in local elections. I moved here from Oregon where voting was amazing, vote by mail and you got a book with your ballot where everyone on the ballot was given a space to indicate why you should vote for them whether it was a partisan election or not. I felt informed and empowered to make good decisions. I have found it to be extremely difficult in WV to find any info on local elections. Perhaps a local paper has this info and I just have not found out about it. Anyway, you could really help your fellow progressive Brooke Countians if you could let us know what is going on with local elections or help advertise how to find out info on local elections in WV.
Suzanne
@blindyone: I got in a discussion with a former coworker who is super-socially conservative (back when I engaged in genuine discussions about important issues with people with whom I disagree) about Confederate monuments. I made the statement that the better ones could be preserved in museums. He said something like, “Why do you think that’s okay? Nobody goes to museums.”
So…. there’s nothing I can say to that.
Mr. Bemused Senior
They’re too crowded.
Anoniminous
About time children were protected from that filthy so-called “Holy Book”” Bible filled with murder, rape, incest, and genocide.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@Miss Bianca: 25 years of teaching for me. Wife, too. Unfortunately we have to tell our daughter to do what she wants other than become a teacher. Sigh.
Betty Cracker
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: The clip of that eloquent centenarian went viral here in FL when it happened, and I think I front-paged it. Dog love her!
DeSantis is now walking back some of the FL book-banning law’s provisions as fast as his kinky boots will travel in reverse. Like the WV legislation, it’s vague, which is a feature not a bug, imo — intimidation is the point.
But the vagueness can be creatively exploited in ways that hurt Repubs. Maybe the WV law can be too.
Another Scott
Speaking of teaching… Phys.org:
My gut tells me this is correct.
Cheers,
Scott.
p.a.
The basic way stop these idiotic ideas in their tracks is to get someone (someone brave) to get the bible banned for its content using the law.
ETA: comment 21 beat me to it.
wjca
The ability of these folks to shoot themselves in the foot is truly awesome.
p.a.
@blindyone: The Catholic Church was censoring its own religious art within a couple generations of its production.
WaterGirl
@Jay: For real? Do you have a link?
I hope their sheer incompetence saves us! (in addition to our hard work!)
Frankensteinbeck
@RaflW:
I really don’t think it’s that. That’s too top-down. This is a bottom-up movement driven by evangelicals who want their children to be kept away from the Other and never learn that alternatives to their bigotry exist. Wealthier whites like it because it helps ensure their children are part of an elite class and the filthy rabble and colored people are kept away.
wjca
To be followed, almost instantly, by an amendment saying that “nothing in this law shall be applied to the Holy Bible” (applying it to other religions’ scriptures is still entirely OK, of course).
Old School
@WaterGirl:
Here’s one:
Ken
“Our entire business model is based on defamation! That, and claiming it’s just ‘analysis and commentary’ when we’re dragged into court over false statements!”
lee
@p.a.: One state with book bans (Ohio?) actually had some school districts ban The Bible. Folks started reading some of the more colorful parts in meetings.
waspuppet
@Old School: Gosh, golden-brown dust on (checks notes) A BAND SAW. What are the odds?
I’m originally from Rhode Island, and it’s the same: “WTF did we make the national news for? This is not good.”
One time this dynamic took an only-in-Rhode-Island turn: In 2014, after I’d moved to DC, I looked up at CNN and said, “WTF is Larry doing on CNN? This is not good.”
Ken
Always easy to spot them, by the humans standing six deep around the enclosure.
I remember once at the St. Louis Zoo, seeing a crowd around the giant tortoise yard when I entered, and again when I left a few hours later. It was the same two tortoises, but I have no idea if they’d taken a break…
Baud
Stupid. We’ll just use third parties not covered by the law to expose kids to obscene materials.
Baud
@Cheryl from Maryland:
You and me, baby, ain’t nothin’ but mammals
So let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel
(Do it again now)
You and me, baby, ain’t nothin’ but mammals
So let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel
(Gettin’ horny now)
Frankensteinbeck
@wjca:
Generally not necessary. Any conservative Christian judge takes for granted that the Bible does not and cannot count as obscenity. It’s an extreme example of “I know it when I see it” or as Colbert calls it, “truthiness”.
blindyone
@Suzanne: Yeah. Like Roe, these court and legislative decisions can sprawl in a multitude of ways. Most of us figured that the overturning of Roe could affect women regarding birth control, not just abortion. I’m thinking that women young enough to become pregnant, eventually could be prevented from entering into occupations dangerous to a potential fetus.
Baud
@Old School:
Haha.
Jay
@WaterGirl:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/21/hunter-biden-sawdust-cocaine-photo
I forget where I saw it, but one of the various sites has a copy of the photo, and yes, it’s yellow sawdust on a table saw top, lined up in 3 lines, with extra “sawdust cocaine” by the sawblade.
sab
As an old Ohioan I remember when we mocked West Virginia. Half my classmates had West Virginia native grandparents. Now we are just like them except they have better scenery (except we still have a great lake.
ETA At least we aren’t Alabama yet.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@lee:
Please proceed, GOP!
Baud
@sab:
I think Tennessee has a copyright on that state motto.
blindyone
@p.a.: Ok, thanks. I did not know that. I was baptized and raised Catholic but have been very much a “lapsed” Catholic since the age of eighteen.
Baud
Via reddit
cain
@blindyone: Like child rearing? I hear that is pretty dangerous too if you’re pregnant. Gosh who knows what those other kids are gonna do. ::sarcasm::
cain
@Baud: lol – probably a lot of cross over music lovers from the other genres.
Seanly
I thought this was going to be because WV is a party to the case before the SCOTUS about EPA and downwind monitoring.
“it is too vague”
That is a feature, not a bug. The theocrats and authoritarians (aka Republicans) want an uneducated, ill (see the anti-EPA case), and beaten-down workforce to shut up & do as they’re told while the R’s can sell or grift everything that isn’t nailed down.
sab
So in Alabama can you now seriously tie up probate by parking some embryos in a fertility clinic to compete with your siblings’ already born children?
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Baud:
Right wing tears in their right wing beer.
Baud
@sab:
Haha. They’ll do it too.
Eyeroller
@RaflW: Although I don’t doubt that ignorance is a desirable outcome, in the minds of the book-banners, I think a lot of them genuinely want LGBTQ+whatever “erased,” as Sister Golden Bear puts it. They can’t tolerate even thinking about LGBTQ people and believe that children will turn gay or some such nonsense if they even become aware of LGBTQ existence. (Similar to their notion that if you don’t tell teenagers anything about sex, they won’t do it.) Most of the culture warriors are white and they also can’t tolerate the idea that anybody might suggest that whites are not the best humans who exist, who would never be racist, and just suggesting whites have done bad, racist things means that you are a bigger racist, how dare you.
blindyone
@Suzanne: Sorry. I may have “sprawled” myself in my reply to your comment. 😆 I have been a reliable Democratic vote since my first vote for McGovern. I thought Roe was settled. I guess old as I am, I am naive sometimes. Anyway most of the people I know visit museums occasionally and appreciate them.
WaterGirl
@Old School: Two things. First, thank you.
Second. mistakenly claimed. Utter bullshit.
Ksmiami
@wjca: I would have used the name of another appendage, but yeah. Turns out Putin’s useful idiots are more idiot than useful
blindyone
@cain: Exactly. The precious might/could-produce-a-child-someday wombs may need to be protected from the rough and tumble toddlers they popped out a couple of years ago. The whole discussion goes sideways in a minute. It’s ridiculous.
wjca
I think you (or sab) messed up the punctuation. It’s supposed to be
At least we aren’t Alabama. Yet. (But we’re working hard to rise to the challenge. … If only Alabama would quit moving the goal posts!)
wjca
Happy to accept your friendly amendment. (At the risk of being sexist: “Give themselves a head start for a future sex change operation.”)
scav
And then, imagine the necessary protections these frozen sovereign precitizens must require! What if a storage technician makes an off-color joke in their presence! Refers to the obscene biological necessities of conception anywhere near their innocent proto-ears! What legal consequences overhang the so-called loving parents that choose one frozen incarnation over another! Should states with more frozen citizens get more representatives in Congress?
wjca
That could be awkward, if all the IVF clinics have relocated to blue states. Oops
evodevo
@sab:
Could very well be…Repubs aren’t known for considering the possible effects of their knee-jerk culture wars legislatin’
sab
@evodevo: We need to expand publically on the possibilities. Expensive estate planning out the window. Ditto too other property rights. Kay’s turf (possibly.)
Bill Arnold
@lee:
If anyone needs such a passage, Ezekiel 23 is useful. E.g. Ezekiel 23:20.
misterpuff
@Jay: Of course, it isn’t cocaine, its that yeller fentanyl…..
Bill Arnold
If anyone needs a particularly racy passage in the Bible for public mucking with such a law, Ezekiel 23 is useful. E.g. Ezekiel 23:20.
I recommend the CEB (Common English Bible) version.
wvng
They are going whole hog imposing their personal beliefs on the whole state during this session. I was part of a group rom Hardy County that went down to try to get them to back off, or at least amend, a bill (SB 171) that basically removes county authority to regulate and pass ordinances on rural land. Hardy County is one of the few counties in WV that has zoning. It is based on a comprehensive plan that is very supportive of agriculture, but also supports other interests. Clearly this was not good enough for the Farm Bureau, which has worked with the legislature to create a web of rules, definitions, and laws that basically make every acre of rural land agricultural and not subject to limitations on use from the County. Add in that they have made the definition of agricultural use so broad that it can be almost anything, including industrial activities.
As John noted, it is never good when WV is in the news. Last year we had national news stories about citizens fighting against a methyl bromide log fumigation facility located near residences on agriculturally zoned land. We won, last year, in part because of zoning. Going forward, they can put the damn thing on any land they own. So, yay
Another proposed bill removed the concept of spousal rape from the criminal code.
LiminalOwl
@Bill Arnold: When my first husband and I were choosing scriptural passages for our wedding, we asked a close (non-religious, Jewish) if he would be one of the readers. He said sure, as long as it was from the Old Testament. We suggested chapter 5 of the Song of Songs; he read it then, and declined. (We agreed to choose a different passage.)
LiminalOwl
@LiminalOwl: Missed the chance to edit. Song of Songs, 5:1-6.
BellyCat
Meaning: Any field with men also in it. //