Showing posts with label ALABuysLocalFlack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ALABuysLocalFlack. Show all posts

Friday, March 28, 2025

Librarians Collude with ALA to Violate Open Government Laws and Dox Citizens; Kelly LaRocca in St. Tammany Parish Library Is a Prime Example

Why might a strong privacy policy be needed in your library?  Librarians collude with American Library Association in Chicago, Illinois, to violate open government records. They even provide ALA with private information about their own citizens.  

In Louisiana, "award" winning St. Tammany Parish Library Director Kelly LaRocca is a prime example.  She began turning records over to ALA then likely followed ALA's direction to use personal emails to hide such submissions from open government laws.  She recently admitted publicly to providing information to ALA but claimed she no longer does.  I believe she still does, only she follows ALA advice to use personal emails.  She says she doesn't.  But the very entity that gave her an "award" trains librarians in how to hide information from the public—and I'm the investigative reporter who uncovered that and reported it.

And all this to hide that the people being doxxed are complaining about access by children to explicit material the whole world thinks is inappropriate for children, except ALA, its member librarians, and the members of the hundreds of local groups it creates, like St. Tammany Library Alliance.  The latter, for example, denied that Kelly LaRocca admitted to turning private information over to ALA, even after Ms. LaRocca admitted she did.

Documents turned over to ALA are then made available to other librarians who use the documents to mock parents in forums like a Facebook group called ALA Think Tank (since renamed Library Think Tank to hide the association with ALA, but it's still in the URL).  Worse, sometimes the documents are used to sue people who are then mocked in court papers for the contents of these confidential documents.

It's like a free gift to ALA.  They get free Freedom of Information Act request responses without even having to ask for the information in the first place.  Then they get to use the documents to feed to their friends to sue parents and teachers who submitted those documents so as to further intimidate other people who dare to ever challenge any inappropriate material for children in any library.

St. Tammany Parish Library Board of Control has put a stop to this waste of local services that only serves to arm an outside group against its own citizens and against children nationwide.  It did so at a public hearing where a resolution to stop sending information to ALA either publicly or privately was passed unanimously.

Hear the entire hearing here:
Here are links to specific points of interest, the first being where discussion of the privacy resolution begins:
  • "Resolution No. 25-003 Resolution to Amend Rules and Regulations of the St. Tammany Parish Library Board of Control Section 202 Regarding Privacy Policy (Branton)" https://vimeo.com/1069935835#t=78m08s
  • St. Tammany Parish Councilman David Cougle speaks: https://vimeo.com/1069935835#t=85m47s
    • He speaks about the specifics of the problem and the connection to ALA and its Unite Against Book Bans and EveryLibrary
    • He says the problem involves the concerns of parents with s3xually explicit materials were required to fill out a form (called a "Statement of Concern") that was ultimately turned over to ALA without notice to the parents
    • He says library director Kelly LaRocca wrote to ALA with confidential documents and ALA's "Office for Intellectual Freedom" wrote back saying the information would be stored in a "confidential" database
    • He points out multiple librarians were involved in the invasion of privacy
    • He says library employees discussed how book challenges were reported to both ALA and its subgroup EveryLibrary, a group also based in Illinois.
    • He discusses documents revealed by FOIA request, and those documents are shown below
    • He points out the violation of privacy may be ongoing because of ALA direction to use personal emails (pictured and linked below)
    • He points out the library employees were using taxpayer time and taxpayer resources to support a political campaign of ALA, including fundraising for ALA's "book ban" hoax organization called Unite Against Book Bans, and US Department of Education recently revealed it was all an ALA hoax 
    • He points out ALA did not request redactions of personal information
    • He pointed out an outside organization in Chicago was obtaining a free service for which local citizens would have to pay
    • He says these activities were a violation of the trust of parish residents and was an improper use of taxpayer funds and time
    • He says parish residents names could still be retained in ALA's "confidential" database
    • David Cougle speaks again here: https://vimeo.com/1069935835#t=130m14s
      • "There's a public records law that all of the people are supposed to follow and what was happening in this instance is somehow the ALA was skipping the line that the rest of us are obligated to follow"
      • "But for some reason the American Library Association was jumping in front of St. Tammany taxpayers and residents and getting it immediately, and that's what this needs to address and that can't happen anymore"



  • Devin McGee speaks: https://vimeo.com/1069935835#t=90m43s
    • He speaks in favor of the privacy resolution regarding PII and exposes just how harmful is ALA, including a man bullied by "loud, aggressive, well funded activists" who "swarm" people then threaten them. "Our reaction is their real action."
    • He says library director Kelly LaRocca lied to him that the library has nothing to to with ALA, yet public records says otherwise
    • He says the language of "book banning" is an intentional misuse of language to deceive
    • "The entire ALA organization is rotten from the root and steeped in leftist communism milieu control"
    • He says shelving books properly based on content is not "bans"
    • Here he is with his signs before the meeting started:



  • St. Tammany Parish Library Director Kelly LaRocca speaks: https://vimeo.com/1069935835#t=100m07s
    • ALA has an online form to fill out
    • "I did fill out the form which is why you have it in public records request"
    • "I was not using my personal email address"
    • "I don't have time for that"
    • "we have a spreadsheet on the website" - has the name but other information is redacted
    • As to the Statements of Concern about books (not about displays), "no, they were not reported to the ALA"—although that contradicts written evidence that library employees discussed how book challenges were reported to both ALA and its subgroup EveryLibrary, a group also based in Illinois
  • St. Tammany Parish Library Vice President of Library Board of Control Charles Branton speaks: https://vimeo.com/1069935835#t=112m55s
    • He drafted the privacy resolution and he now goes into detail on his support for the resolution
    • He points out how he has "a problem" with ALA requesting and getting private information while their stated goals are not in conformity with the people of the parish
  • Privacy Resolution read out in full: https://vimeo.com/1069935835#t=140m33s
Here is where ALA tells librarians to use private means to submit the private documents, emphasis in original:
  • Personal email address *
  • Please provide a personal email address to protect the confidentiality of our communications. We encourage you to review your state's FOIA or Open Records laws concerning your personal email account. ALA is committed to protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of our communications.


Here is where a Louisiana school librarian trains other librarians to use personal devices to hide information (about inappropriate books for children) from open government laws:



Here is that same librarian writing her parent-precluding policies into her book that's a best seller among librarians, such as to use the Signal app to hide things:



Louisiana Library Association training to hide things from open government laws is relevant to the St. Tammany library matter where the library director says they are no longer reporting to ALA.  Yet they are trained to use personal devices.  Does anyone think the pipeline to ALA has been cut off?  Nope, it's just gone underground, in my opinion.

By the way, ALA created the local library "alliance" called St. Tammany Library Alliance.  Because it acts for Chicago's ALA, it flat out lied about what Kelly LaRocca said, "In case you missed it, at last night’s library board meeting, the director officially stated for the record that no personal information of library patrons was shared with the American Library Association."  No, LaRocca said, "I did fill out the form which is why you have it in public records request" and she said she revealed at least names to ALA.  Also, documents prove information was turned over to ALA.



This is why privacy resolutions locking out ALA and all its tentacles are needed.  Essentially it protects citizens from harassment by ALA-created local groups and by ALA itself, its affiliates and partners.  

Librarians need to be clear they work for the citizens, not ALA, and if they are caught lying, it's sayōnara sister.



ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ADDED SAME DAY OF INITIAL PUBLICATION:

This page is being modified to remove the graphic in the upper right and replace it with a new one.  This action is taken in response to an official request to remove the graphic that I received on the same day of publication, and I'm responding on the same day:
Dear Mr. Kleinman:

Any use of the St. Tammany Parish Government logo on the “SafeLibraries” blog is a
violation of STPG’s official service mark.  The STPG logo is registered with the Louisiana
Secretary of State and it may not be used by third parties without STPG’s express consent.

Please remove the STPG logo from the SafeLibraries’ March 28, 2025, post, and any other
post displaying the logo at your earliest convenience.  Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
Here are graphics of the official request:




Well, isn't this interesting:


Who knew?  Seems to me that the parish government acted properly to police and protect its intellectual property.  So no complaints from me.  

If only the library acted properly as well to police and protect the privacy of its citizens, but they answer to a higher power: Chicago's ALA.  Just today, Texas school librarian Carolyn Foote, on a podcast called "School Librarians United," said, "But I also think the strategic behind-the-scenes work right now for, for all of us is so important to moving the issues we care about."  I'm certain Kelly LaRocca would agree with that 100%.


This is the second time I've been asked to remove material by Louisiana governments.  I always respond as soon as I can.  In the first instance I had to removed an entire transcript for which I paid money to obtain an accurate rendition.  See here:

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Location: 1112 W 21st Ave, Covington, LA 70433, USA

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

ALA Loses in Louisiana US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: Parr v Cougle

American Library Association has lost another case in the courts, this time in the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit:
Yes, ALA was not directly involved.  But the local group that sued or was supporting the plaintiffs was stood up by ALA, something I've proven and reported, and ALA created hundreds of local groups to sue in this fashion:
Here are choice quotes from the Parr v. Cougle case:
Their substantive-due-process claim is based upon alleged reputational injuries they suffered because of “false  charges” that “they are liberal, activist, members of a political conspiracy to s[*]xualize children.”  But Plaintiffs’ alleged injuries are insufficient to establish standing because (A) their speech-related injuries are not particularized and (B) their reputational injuries are neither fairly traceable to Defendants’ conduct nor redressable by a favorable decision. 
.... 
Plaintiffs attempt to draw a distinction, arguing that they suffered these injuries in their personal capacities, not as Board members.  But any distinction here is too faint to make a difference.  Indeed, the Article III question whether Plaintiffs have suffered a “particularized” injury necessarily precedes any First Amendment issue raised by Plaintiffs.  

....

At its core, this case is not about viewpoint discrimination, free speech, retaliation, or substantive due process.  Plaintiffs lost their Board positions and thereby lost the power to wield the levers of influence over St. Tammany’s libraries—and they want that control back.  But rather than pursue that aim through the political process, they have “dragged that fight into federal court by tricking it out in [constitutional] colors.”  Jones, 121 F.4th at 537 (citation and quotation marks omitted). 
Here's my take.  People who follow ALA advice and create a local group to say and do what ALA wants get burned in the end, so why expose yourselves to this?  ALA's biggest loss was United States v. American Library Association that allowed libraries to use Internet filtering software.  ALA sought to allow children unfettered access.  ALA lost $1.5M in that fruitless effort.  

ALA lost against me when it had some library employee sue me for defamation ten years ago and lost, twice.  She ultimately lost her beloved job at her library since they lost confidence in her, besides her homophobia that ALA funded and promoted.  ALA even helped fund raise for her.  Meanwhile, she was photographed vacationing in Florida with her family at a beach, so she clearly didn't need the funding.  See her vacationing here:

Now in this St. Tammany Library Alliance case they got told by the 5th Circuit:
Plaintiffs lost their Board positions and thereby lost the power to wield the levers of influence over St. Tammany's libraries—and they want that control back.  But rather than pursue that aim through the political process, they have "dragged that fight into federal court by tricking it out in [constitutional] colors."

That's brutal.

Don't let ALA convince you to file losing lawsuits that trick out minor cases in constitutional colors.

And, to show how devoted this ALA-created local group is to ALA goals, even in the face of a brutal loss, they lie about it, using language that could have come straight from ALA:
February 11, 2025

Joint statement of Anthony Parr, Rebeca Taylor, and Bill McHugh:

We are disappointed that the appeals court ordered our case dismissed on jurisdictional grounds and did not resolve the claims of legislative privilege raised by defendants.  Defendants asserted legislative privilege in this case to hide evidence that demonstrates the merits of plaintiff's case.  Plaintiffs lost their positions on the St. Tammany Parish Library Board because members of the Parish Council disfavored their views on certain library materials.

This outcome is a loss for libraries and the communities they serve.  Library board members must be allowed to perform their roles without fear of retaliation and discrimination for defending the public's right to read and access information.
You see, these people have completely lost the plot.  The Courts of Appeals spoke directly against what they are saying here, but they are so blinded by ALA-colored glasses that that can't see what they said is completely false.  Instead, they decry the loss of the "public's right to read and access information."  That has absolutely zero to do with this case.  The Court said, "At its core, this case is not about viewpoint discrimination, free speech, retaliation, or substantive due process."  "But rather than pursue that aim through the political process, they have 'dragged that fight into federal court by tricking it out in [constitutional] colors.'"

People, don't listen to ALA.  ALA gives bad advice.  ALA gives loser advice that leads to losing.  Groups ALA starts don't even see it because they completely believe the ALA propaganda hook, line, and sinker.

By the way, now that US Department of Education has exposed ALA's "book ban" hoax, these ALA-engendered cases are only going to become faster losers than they would have been initially.  My advice is to stay away from ALA's advice.  Your pocketbook and your brain will thank you.


NOTE ADDED 12 FEBRUARY 2025:

Others have written about this matter and the excuses of those pushing the ALA agenda:




In light of the total loss by the ALA astroturfers, it's interesting to look back at their claims and how media portrayed them essentially uncritically and with loaded language:



NOTE ADDED 28 MARCH 2025:

Graphic top right changed at government request.

—
URL of this page: 


Join World Library Association:

WorldLibraryAssociation.org
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Location: St Tammany Parish, LA, USA

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

The Prattville Putsch: ALA's Praxis of its Policies

American Library Association is putting its policies into play, aka praxis, in a putsch in Prattville that perfectly presents its policies.  I have previously proven how ALA astroturfs locals to act on ALA's behalf.  See, "ALA Details Bribes to Convince Governments to Sell Out Children."  Now I am going to show you the praxis of their policies to proactively push its way into Prattville in what is essentially a putsch or a secretly plotted and suddenly executed attempt to overthrow a government, in this case the Autauga-Prattville Library Board in Prattville, AL.

Basically, the library board changed policies to be more protective of children.  That right there set off alarm bells with the people who have worked for over half a century to s3xualize and indoctrinate children, namely, ALA from Chicago, IL.  The library director, who carries out those policies, refused to carry out the library board's new policies because he believed the Chicago ALA's policies were far superior to Prattville's policies.  So the library board fired the library director.  Librarians, trained in ALA ideology and methods of wielding collective power as ALA's president bragged, reacted by locking the library doors so the public could not access the library.  Some of those librarians were fired too.

ALA swung into action immediately to pressure the local community.  The next day it published, "Statement from the EveryLibrary Institute on the Firing of Autauga-Prattville Alabama Public Library Staff" (https://www.everylibraryinstitute.org/prattvillestatement).  Recall from above EveryLibrary is the American Library Association, only a separate entity was set up to give ALA the cover it needs to bring political pressure to bear on communities.  Notice ALA itself rarely makes a statement about what's going on since it's got its EveryLibrary doing the work.  The "statement from the EveryLibrary Institute" is one lie after the next, a constant feature of ALA/EveryLibrary publications.

Then come the demands:
EveryLibrary, along with Read Freely Alabama and the Prattville First Amendment Defense Group, urgently call on the Prattville City Council, Mayor, and the Autauga County Commission to:
  • Immediately rescind the firing of Library Director Andrew Foster and the four staff members.
  • End the discriminatory policies against LGBTQ+ citizens, ensuring the library remains accessible for all.
  • Adhere to the First Amendment and anti-discrimination laws, guaranteeing that the library can continue to serve as a true community institution.

EveryLibrary is ALA.  ALA wants Prattville to keep the ALA policies in place, and it's big and bullying is a regular feature, so it's making demands.

Read Freely Alabama is EveryLibrary which is ALA, and is named after the ALA trademark for "Free People Read Freely."  This group started making a bit of a paper trail when Alabama Governor Ivey and the state legislature started talking about divorcing from ALA, and when Prattville went off the rails and took its library board back.  Also, Read Freely Alabama is way too organized to be a normal, authentic grassroots group that just so happens to have a chapter in multiple areas where there's a library already formed.  And then you get into their "who we are" and it's mobilized just like anything else ALA does.  Someone is advising them, and it's probably library folk connected to the associations.  

This was a link to send comments by letter to an Alabama Public Library Service Board for what they are viewing as an attack on the right to read.  If you click the link, it mentions the Alabama Library Association is working WITH Read Freely Alabama.  Alabama Library Association wrote the talking points, and where do they get those from?  ALA most likely.  Read Freely Alabama prepared the fact sheet, but is using Alabama Library Association's amendments to the proposed rules.  Item 3 is the most significant one that ties to ALA.  As soon as Alabama made a move to cut the ALA ties, in walked EveryLibrary, and Read Freely Alabama was ALREADY in place and ready to mobilize.


Read Freely Alabama was also used to promote an ALA/EveryLibrary campaign effort to influence legislative efforts to keep their progressive library board members in place.  It looks like they use these efforts so regularly it either has a typo on the opt-in, or it's also asking out-of-staters to stay informed on those efforts too.  ALA librarians wouldn't stuff these campaigns with fake constituent letters, would they?  GASP?!😱  I know.  Shocked.  See: "SEND AN EMAIL: Say NO to SB10 in Alabama" (https://action.everylibrary.org/sb10)


There's another post that links to an ALA/EveryLibrary post that mentions Read Freely Alabama, PEN America, and the National Coalition on Censorship.  They are petitioning the people to appeal to the board to reverse their decision on book buying.  "Reverse Anti-LGBTQ+ Book Buying Policy in Prattville" (https://www.everylibrary.org/prattville_statement_feb24)

Then now, they just have EveryLibrary running the GoFundMe to raise funds directly for their fired library staff.  Why would they be doing that at all?  ALA/EveryLibrary is awfully busy to be in the business of fired employee donations.  Doesn't that seem odd?



Then there's this that makes the ALA/EveryLibrary/Read Freely Alabama connection super clear, from Kelly Jensen at Book Riot who calls parents "christofascists" and who works directly with ALA/EveryLibrary: "Editor’s Note: EveryLibrary is working with Read Freely Alabama to support the library.  You can sign the petition or donate to help cover staff living costs during this time of uncertainty."

But parent-hating Kelly does sum things up nicely, in that here is the policy the Library Board of Trustees passed that the American Library Association opposes, since the new policies turn The Chicago Way on its head and restore local control:

Among the new policies in the recent guide, which was not developed nor approved by the director are that:
  • Children under the age of 18 shall receive library cards that are especially designated for minors.  These cards will not permit the checkout of material with content containing, but not limited to, obscenity, sexual conduct, sexual intercourse, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender discordance.  Age-appropriate materials concerning biology, human anatomy, or religion are exempt from this rule.
  • The library shall not purchase or otherwise acquire any material advertised for consumers ages 17 and under which contain content including, but not limited to, obscenity, sexual conduct, sexual intercourse, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender discordance.  Age-appropriate materials concerning biology, human anatomy, or religion are exempt from this rule.
  • Library staff shall affix a red warning label prominently on the binding of any book or other material in the library’s collection containing content including, but not limited to, obscenity, sexual conduct, sexual intercourse, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender discordance and advertised for consumers 18 and older.  Materials concerning biology, human anatomy, or religion are exempt from this rule.
  • The Library Board of Trustees reserves the right to exercise discretion over all library material, including but not limited to books, movies, artwork, displays, and programming.
  • Removes the requirement that patrons read an entire work before lodging a formal challenge.

Prattsville First Amendment Defense is another local group.  It is EveryLibrary which is ALA.  They have web sites on fightforthefirst.org and fundlibraries.org which are EveryLibrary which is ALA.  

In summary, ALA, ALA, and ALA is demanding ALA policies be followed instead of common sense, community standards, and the law that requires the library board run the library, not Chicago's ALA.  

So these various supposedly local groups are actually ALA groups, including more not in the ALA/EveryLibrary demand letter: 
  • "STOP Book Bans at Autauga-Prattville Public Library!" (https://www.fightforthefirst.org/petitions/stop-book-bans-at-autauga-prattville-public-library)
  • "Stand with the Autauga-Prattville Public Library" (https://www.fightforthefirst.org/petitions/stand-with-the-library)
  • "Read Freely Alabama" (https://www.fundlibraries.org/read-freely-alabama)
  • "Prattville First Amendment Defense Group" (https://www.fightforthefirst.org/groups/example-prattville-first-amendment-defense-group)
  • "Protect Prattville Library Staff and Patrons" (https://www.gofundme.com/f/protect-prattville-library-staff-and-patrons)
  • "SEND A MESSAGE: Amend the Rules to Keep Alabama Reading Freely!" (https://action.everylibrary.org/alabamareadfreely) This is about where the libraries have to get approval to spend money with the ALA, as pictured above.  Read Freely Alabama says they wrote the form letter, though.  Where there is a state library association, the ALA is not far behind.  ALA/EveryLibrary has a 1,000 letter goal by 4/29/2024, and they only accept letters.
So we have four locals groups in support of the fired employees and opposed to what the library board has done to protect children from harm, and every single one of them is created by, funded by, and maintained by ALA from Chicago, IL.


This proposed bill gives local municipalities the explicit power to fire and replace any library board member.  This power is not currently prohibited at a state level, but it is not explicitly stated either.  The bill also removes staggered terms for library board members, which would put them in line with the elected officials in the municipalities over them.  Republicans are also seeking to amend an anti-obscenity law in order to incarcerate dissenting librarians.

Hear from Dr. James Lindsay how what ALA is doing is praxis, or putting policies into action, to commit a putsch in Prattville, in an attempt to overthrow the library board members or its policies (https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx7K1Po5rtcmpKo1eGdq02A6ZIviyaYrgF?feature=shared):


Hear from the Fired Librarian on how ALA will say and do anything to force its way (https://youtu.be/x5R1Jbp8rMU):


So that's what we have in Prattville.  A library board acting on behalf of the community, and ALA directly pushing The Chicago Way, even to the point of funding four local groups to appear local to try to force the board to do what ALA itself cannot, except if ALA can fool the library board and the community generally, and that's the main purpose for the four local groups and EveryLibrary and the demands they make.

And is Read Freely Alabama admitting to tax fraud or negative tax implications?  Hmmm, two GoFundMes were set up, so they rolled the one Read Freely Alabama started into the ALA/EveryLibrary one.  Not a chance this isn't astroturfed by ALA:



Look at the graphic top right from Read Freely Alabama and linking to ALA/EveryLibrary.  It says, "Don't Politicize Alabama Libraries!"  Well isn't that the biggest piece of projection you've ever seen?

Notice what someone on X named @EV_Trapper says (in response to That Librarian Amanda Jones supporting the library workers fired by the library board) and he does a really good job of encapsulating the situation, like "The Director messed up by not following what the Board told her to do," while @libraries4win illustrates the excuse making, like "The director refused to break the law by discriminating against a protected class, LGBTQ+ people" when that is not what was ordered by the board:

@EV_Trapper
I disagree Amanda, but hear me out. 

Nobody at the Library should be making any of these decisions for the public, nobody is an elected representative that can legislate.  I also think it's unfair to force Librarians or the workers to make these decisions. 

The Director messed up by not following what the Board told her to do.  The Library workers though should never work in another library or public anything ever again, I can't think of anything more selfish.  I use the library every week & to think that they would stoop so low to lock the library & prevent it's use by people who have nothing to do with their issue is outrageous.
9:19 AM · Mar 17, 2024

@libraries4win
(1) The library board wrote a policy without director input.  They can do that, but it's not advisable, as the director is aware of any legal pitfalls.  They ignored him, but lied and said he signed onto the policy.  (2) The director refused to break the law by discriminating...
2:44 PM · Mar 17, 2024

@libraries4win
...against a protected class, LGBTQ+ people.  (3) While the staff can't make the decision to close (and it was their decision), can you imagine them trying to carry on after the unjust dismissal of their director?  I'd give them grace on that one, as did the people who applauded.
3:01 PM · Mar 17, 2024

@EV_Trapper
The Director is not responsible for being aware of "legal pitfalls".  This is what lawyers are for.  Again, the Director has a mistaken belief that they understand the law, or that they are the the upholders of all things legal.  That portion is not on the Director or the staff & never should be. 

There are obvious exceptions here, but no Library staff anywhere should ever inject themselves into the center of this.  Raise concerns, write down things that make you uncomfortable because of x,y or z, but dont try to assume the role of a Representative or Senator. 

Just put the shoe on the other foot.  If the library Director could solely make all the decisions on this issue, what might a hardcore Republican do?  This is the slippery slope that must be avoided or else we will go into a never ending peril of book bans by both sides.  My personal opinion is that this issue rests solely on the people or their elected representatives.  Its the only way to do it that prevents an unworkable situation.  We govern by majority, not minority & while we do what we can for the minority the feelings & wants of the majority must be respected.
3:18 PM · Mar 17, 2024

What is happening in the Prattville community now is a direct result of community organizing and the wielding of power planned by ALA and based in Chicago, Illinois.  Solidarity!



Just to make this all super crystal, Emily Drabinski @edrabinski, President of ALA, retweeted a post by American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) @ABFEBooksellers detailing Angie Hayden of Read Freely Alabama @readfreelyAL and linking to "Free Expression Friday: Read Freely Alabama (Angie Hayden)" https://bookweb.org/news/free-expression-friday-read-freely-alabama-angie-hayden-1630390.  Therein appear multiple incidents of the direct connection to American Library Association resources, hyperlinks in original, both on or made with ALA resources, and even the statement that the "assistance fund" is "created by EveryLibrary Institute NFP," which is a de facto ALA resource as explained above: 

If you are a Prattville or Autauga resident, we urge you to voice concerns and frustration through this online “Save our Library” petition [https://action.everylibrary.org/save_prattville_protect_staff?fbclid=IwAR383g_KHWcYM-InOk1bT8x9o4jy15mk678viP7NaRV6aeJNdG_r9Wy8FLk]. If you would like to join us in supporting all these amazing individuals, you can donate to an assistance fund [https://www.gofundme.com/f/protect-prattville-library-staff-and-patrons] created by EveryLibrary Institute NFP.’
Angie Hayden herself chimes in to add the icing on the cake, stating Read Freely Alabama is fundraising using another ALA-sourced website, fundlibraries.org:  "We are also fundraising": https://www.fundlibraries.org/read-freely-alabama.  

And she calls that "our little grassroots effort."  There are three websites right there all directly tied to the American Library Association but she's got a "little grassroots effort."  It's a 100% complete deception.  

And she refers to the parents seeking to have local law apply in the library instead of The Chicago Way as "extremists," the very same word used by ALA itself: "But this library issue is something that spans all political beliefs, all faith backgrounds, except for the extremists."  And now you know why the ALA President retweeted that ABFE post with the multiple ALA resources backing Read Freely Alabama's "little grassroots effort."

When local groups created by ALA are called out for being Chicago-sourced astroturf, they deny it then mock me for saying so, as @TXFreedomRead has just done on X with a ton of laughing emojis, with none other than ALA's EveryLibrary and their benefactor piling on, calling me a willful idiot for standing in opposition to ALA deceptively pushing its way into communities and thereby onto children nationwide—so I'm clearly over the target:


Meanwhile the ALA's astroturfed organization in Texas explicitly thanks ALA's EveryLibrary that's "proud to support the Texas Freedom to Read Project," even says it "can't happen without support from friends like @EveryLibrary."  Exactly.  Bingo:



Even author Ellen Hopkins @EllenHopkinsLit piled on to mock me as crazy for saying @TXFreedomRead was created/supported by ALA:


These are the games played by "local" groups astroturfed by ALA.  Read Freely Alabama is one such group with its "little grassroots effort" claim.  It's just a local version of ALA, right down to the ALA resources needed, and it "can't happen without support from friends like @EveryLibrary."

The library board and the local government should stick together and don't let The Chicago Way win.  That's the Prattville Putsch: ALA's Praxis of its Policies.  Don't let local citizens be drowned out by multiple ALA paid and astroturfed players, one even named after an ALA trademark, who have zero interest in the community's children but are trained to nearly instantly stand up opposition to common sense, community standards, and the law.  Don't let ALA's Prattville Putsch be successful.

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Location: 254 Doster St, Prattville, AL 36067, USA

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

ALA Details Bribes to Convince Governments to Sell Out Children

In all my decades of writing about the American Library Association, I've never before seen ALA detail the bribes used in local communities to convince local officials or legislators to sell out their own interests to those of ALA in Chicago, IL.  Chicago is such a paragon of a city—not—that ALA has to bribe locals into getting their own governments to implement The Chicago Way instead of applying common sense, community standards, and the law.  

The bribery is becoming so widespread I suppose ALA feels there's no further need to hide it, so now it's essentially advertising it.  With a Marxist fist, no less.

The details are provided by a crypto ALA organization called EveryLibrary.  It is structured as a separate organization from ALA but it most certainly is not, as I detail here directly from an ALA source:

The American Library Association as a separate 501c3 cannot provide direct support to the new 501c4, and the governance will be by definition not under any control by ALA. We want to make sure that ALA members with a comprehensive understanding of ALA's s mission and advocacy goals are involved in EveryLibrary mission development, governance and ongoing work, and that the activities of the new 501c4 complement the work of the ALA Office for Library Advocacy, Chapter Relations Office and Development Office (in the area of fund raising for advocacy and public awareness).

Kleinman, Dan. “Library Boards Trained to Lie by ALA; Banned Books Wedge Issue Adopted by White House.” SafeLibraries®, June 21, 2023. https://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2023/06/library-boards-trained-to-lie-by-ala.html.

Just to illustrate how deeply tied together are these two supposedly separate organizations, ALA and EveryLibrary, here is FOIA evidence that librarians who defy their own administrations to report things directly to organizations seeking to maximize exposure of children to inappropriate material will report them to ALA/EveryLibrary: "Have we reported our challenges to ala or everylibrary?  Just curious."  "Yes," is the response.  This is from St. Tammany Parish Library in Louisiana:


So ALA (via its EveryLibrary organization) details the bribes used in local communities in a series of EveryLibrary posts on X.  Note the use of the Marxist fist for this "fund raising for advocacy and public awareness," pictured top right.

Here is the text of those posts followed by graphics:

Nearly 100 communities have launched campaigns against book bans on http://fightforthefirst.org

Over 70,000 Americans have signed their petitions

They've rallied thousands of Americans into action

They've won in communities across the country

Launch your campaign today!

We'll support your campaign against book bans with:  

1)  Up to $1k in funding 

2) Pro-bono consulting 

3) Digital tools like http://fundlibraries.org

4) Media attention 

5) Training and resources for the skills and knowledge that you need to win.  

And more!



And here's EveryLibrary saying something similar almost a year ago, only without spelling it out, other than "email and organize":


Well will you look at that.  The EveryLibrary 990 for 2023 states it CREATED and funded 18 LOCAL library ALLIANCES, spending $1611 on average for each one, so I guess the "alliance" ALA "created" is with ALA against the "locals":
  • $28,999 - "Created and supported 18 local library Alliances to conduct public education and outreach about the First Amendment in Libraries, along with research into book bans."
And ALA got directly involved in political matters, only through its EveryLibrary crypto subgroup so as not to upset the IRS apple cart, this time averaging $5200 per library:
  • $52,000 - "Provided direct support to 10 public library ballot measure campaigns through financial contributions consulting, and advising."
And just to sink the hook with ALA propaganda, ALA via EveryLibrary spent a chuck of change writing false documentation:
  • $12,479 - "Wrote, published, and syndicated numerous public education and informational articles about libraries, librarians, and current events."
Sounds like a boondoggle to me.  A whistleblower sent me EveryLibrary documentation and it is false line by line and exactly the same message as ALA, as I detail here:


What a coincidence, the 990 Schedule B list of contributors is, "RESTRICTED," emphasis in original.  What a coincidence.  Ditto for total contributions.  The free speech people are suddenly silent.

One group, "Citizens for Patmos Library," let alone that it should be called "Chicago for Patmos Library," got a whopping $25,000, per the EveryLibrary 990, Schedule I:
  • $25,000 - "To fund the work of Citizens for Patmos Library in supporting the Patmos Public Library levy on the November 8, 2022 ballot.  The Citizens for Patmos Library is a registered local ballot committee dedicated to passing the November 8, 2022 levy election for the Patmos Library.  Michigan Registration ID - 96365"
Look at this, especially people in Wyoming and New Jersey:
  • "Other Programs included grants to sponsor regional library conferences, revenue from supporting a Wyoming Statewide Campaign and consulting on a candidate questionnaire for New Jersey Association of School Librarians, program expenses for staff time allocated to various smaller programs."
Various odds and sods from the EveryLibrary 990, Schedule O, showing the infrastructure brought to bear on local communities by the local entities created, funded, and supported by the ALA:
  • "Payment to Megan O'Conner for internship stipend $500, payments to Tiffany Wilson for social media management $1,650, payments to Megan Blair for services as the Policy and Advocacy Strategist $11,800, Payments to Martha McGehee for Editorial and social media Management $23,832, payment to Charity Lounsbery for internship stipend $500, payments to Century Plant for article writing $1,000, payment to Megan Mullen for article writing $1,100, Payments to Joyce Johnson for database cleanup $5,651, payment to William Engquist for article writing $100, payments to Tasslyn Magnusson for services as a policy specialist in censorship issues $10,948, payments to Paula Younger for article writing $840, payment to Joseph Wimberly for services as Digital Coordinator $1,120, payment to Harry Brake for article writing $200, payment to Chloe Santiago for Capstone Project stipend $500, payments to Sophie Brookover for Campaign Training Standardization $5,000, payments to Kosi Harris for media relations $11,250, payment to Kevin Moore for article writing $1,600"
I have seen ALA bribe communities before, $1000 here (Wisconsin), $5000 there (Texas), I've just never seen it so out in the open before.  

Here's the Wisconsin example, uncovered only during a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and never revealed by ALA or the library or the local acolyte.  In my opinion it's a bribe since money changed hands to sway governmental decisions and the public was never informed.  Only luck and a little bragging uncovered the truth.  It says, in an email from a local acolyte to a public library that was defending ALA policy regarding children's exposure to inappropriate material, "We got good news on Friday that West Bend Parents for Free Speech received a grant of $1,000 for our expenses from the Freedom to Read Foundation," and the FTRF is another part of ALA:


"I sent an email to Kristin yesterday asking her to track down my $30 check (room deposit) and put it towards the summer reading program fund.  I also put a post our website forum asking people to donate (funds or prizes) for the program."  

Do you see how ALA, libraries, and certain local citizens collude with each other to convince people to choose The Chicago Way over any wishes of local citizenry?  "Kristin," by the way, left her librarian job to join ALA to use her experience in pushing The Chicago Way and training others to do the same.  What a small world.  She has since left ALA. 

Here's the $5,000 Texas example (hyperlinks in original, archived if needed, emphasis in original):
Grants 
The FTRF Board authorized a $5,000 grant to HP Kids – a group of concerned parents and community members in Highland Park, Texas, who have been advocating against censorship efforts in the public school system.  See more about the group on their Facebook page.  ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has been working to support the community members’ efforts in a number of ways, including writing a letter to the school board opposing a move to use ALA’s annual list of Top Ten most frequently challenged books as a guide to restricting books, and providing advice and logistical support.

You know, if ALA is bribing local acolytes with money to affect local political issues, shouldn't the public be able to obtain Freedom of Information Act requests from ALA, FTRF, EveryLibrary even if they aren't government bodies?  It's Sunshine Week, so I'm asking.  Anyone know?  All this money is being spent to sway public law.  Isn't the public entitled to see this?

Nowadays the method of bribery (but not the bribes themselves) is out in the open, and its detailed.  Money.  Consulting.  Online fundraising tools.  Media attention.  Training and resources "that you need to win."  And by "win," ALA means the community loses.  All free.  

It's all a fake facade, all astroturf.  "Nearly 100 communities have launched campaigns against book bans."  Click on the links in the ALA/EveryLibrary tweets to see if your own community has been corrupted with ALA bribery.  Mine has.

I've written about this astroturfing before.  See:


Here's more on ALA astroturfing, from "Report to Council and Executive Board," by Keith Michael Fiels, Executive Director of ALA, December 11, 2014, page 1 (hyperlinks omitted):
Pro-Privacy Library Letters Let Loose on Congress 
As the “lame duck” Congress opened in mid-November, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid surprised his colleagues by immediately maneuvering procedurally to bring the ALA-backed USA FREEDOM Act to the Senate floor for debate and, it was hoped, an “up or down” vote.  The Office of Government Relations immediately crafted and emailed an alert to more than 110,000 librarians and library supporters linked to ALA’s Legislative Action Center from where pre-drafted letters of support to individual recipients’ Members of Congress in both chambers could quickly and easily be sent.  The email alert was “clicked” open by more than 13% of all recipients, 2,000 of whom generated a total of 7,000 letters to Congress virtually overnight.  While Senator Reid’s attempt to move USA FREEDOM failed to garner the necessary 60 votes, the campaign showed the capacity of library supporters to respond quickly to legislative opportunities. 
So if you are a school board member or a county or parish board member or a state legislator or governor and a local group supports keeping school children exposed to educationally unsuitable and pervasively vulgar material that violates common sense, community standards, and the law, there's a very good chance that local group is just ALA itself astroturfing.  It's as if ALA flew in from Chicago and told you what to do, only they got local acolytes to do the talking, yelling, bullying, and especially the community organizing.

Such groups and their threats of lawsuits (I've been in three) and demands for acceptance of The Chicago Way (they lost and one is still ongoing) can be safely ignored just as equally as if ALA's own leadership from Chicago, Illinois, strolled into your community and demanded you follow their Chicago Way "Library Bill of Rights" that makes it age discrimination to keep anything from anyone, especially children, because that's what ALA has wanted for over 50 years.

Now that you know the above, you can easily tell local groups astroturfing for ALA and taking bribes to sell out children to take their Marxist fist-funded phoniness and, well, you can just ignore them as easily as you can ignore the Chicago Way from ALA.


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Location: Chicago, IL, USA

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Library WiFi Ended by P-rn Fine in West Bend Community Memorial Library; Acceptable Use Policies are Absolute Failures


Boots & Sabers exposes
p-rn/fines shut down
WiFi at WBCML.
A library has shut its WiFi service as a result of downloaded p-rn and copyrighted material and the federal fine that resulted.  Remarkably, this is the West Bend Community Memorial Library, West Bend, WI, [WBCML] that vigorously defended p-rnography in the past and opposed using Internet filtering, choosing instead to follow the guidance of the American Library Association [ALA].

This is the very ALA that effectively controls a third of American libraries, according to the author of the Children's Internet Protection Act.  This is the same ALA that made personal appearances in West Bend to sway the public.  This is the same ALA that made factually false statements to emotionally shape people into refusing to use legal means to protect community members.  The University of Wisconsin-Madison joined in that propaganda effort.  This is the same ALA that attacked everyone who sought to apply legal means to control p-rn in the WBCML or who sought to assist them, like myself.  This is the same ALA that quietly, without public statement, granted $1,000.00 to one community member to sway the events that occurred in that community; that's called astroturfing.

At least one community member recognized the problem and stood up to try to do something about it.  As a result of her work the local government refused to reappoint a number of library trustees.  The board president herself was removed as well.

That said, the ALA propaganda was effective on the library board as constituted at the time, so the community remained exposed to harm it would have been legal to control.  And here we are today, with p-rnography flowing over the library's WiFi system so much that the federal government fined the library:

Remarkable, especially given this WBCML library's history of defending its anything-goes policy:

Due to illegal downloads and fines,
the West Bend Library is eliminating wireless access
to all laptops and mobile devices.
When a practical solution can be implemented
we will resume wireless service.
Our other 13 internet stations are still available for use with your library card [sic]

Source:  "No Wireless," by Unnamed, West Bend Community Memorial Library, 28 August 2012.

Will the community finally jettison the harm done by the ALA?  Maybe the WiFi fine will provide some motivation.  I call upon the library to publicize the letter advising the WBCML of the federal fine.


"Acceptable Use" Policies are Absolute Failures

By the way, this matter illustrates once again the absolute failure of library "acceptable use" policies.  WBCML had a "Wireless Internet Access" policy: "Users are expected to comply with the Library Acceptable Internet Use Policy."  Did that work?  No, and that's why the library got fined.  You see, the ALA advises libraries to use acceptable use policies and not Internet filters.  Given the ALA's heavy involvement in this community and quiet grants, perhaps the ALA should pay the fine.

"The Library is not responsible for the content of websites or email accessed through the Library network."  Given the federal fines, that statement is patently false.  As are many of the library's other policy statements.

If your library is relying on policies instead of filters to control illegal activity, your community may be next up for a federal fine.  You don't have to sit back and let that happen.  Contact me or Safe Schools, Safe Libraries Project if you would like assistance in restoring local control to your public library.


NOTE ADDED 30 AUGUST 2012:

Two additions of note.  First, a comment on the Boots & Sabers blog from one of the library's trustees in response to the blog and quoting another comment.  Second, an email to a radio personality from the person who raised the alarm many years ago.

Comment by WBCML Board of Trustee Member Matt Stevens:

According to the Daily News, it is a p-rno production company claiming $200 x 2 for because someone downloaded two copyrighted p-rnos.  Also claiming there could be more to pay for legal expenses, etc.  I hope the library ignores this - I suspect the p-rno company is used to getting their payments because the downloader doesn’t want anyone to know it.  Kind of like a form of legal blackmail.  Anyway, the library should just blow it off & see what happens.
We are paying the fine per recommendation of the city attorney.  My understanding is that charter verified the download took place.  The addition of the webfilter is two-fold.  Stop most users from doing anything illegal, and give us logging capabilities so we can verify something took place should this come up again (and depending on the filter, possibly give us the ability to identify the offender).
Article also notes that Library Board member Matt Stevens will donate his services to help set up the web device that will reduce the chances of this happening, so that this outage of access will not be unnecessarily longer than it needs to be.  A big shout-out for that!
Thank you.  The library is important to me, which is why I'm on the board in the first place.  I think the library could find volunteers for other various needs as I know there are many who care about the library too.

In addition, we also were able to almost 0 balance our budget last night thanks to the fantastic work of Sue and her staff.  They worked hard, came up with ideas, and we approved a plan that will balance the FY2013 budget save maybe a few thousand dollars, which will come out of the reserve fund.  That's far better than the $60,000+ deficit we started with.  I'm guessing another article in the daily news this week will cover the details, but we were able to make the adjustments without cutting services or eliminating any positions.  We did increase the late fees slightly, the copy fees slightly, etc as well, but the fees are all still very low and in-line with other libraries in the area.

Posted by Matt Stevens on August 30, 2012 at 0821 hrs


Comment by Ginny Maziarka of West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries:

They're at it again.  The West Bend Library has been busted for illegal p-rn downloads on their WiFi.

This is exactly what West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries predicted, and fought against.  Why did we lose?  Because bully outsiders, people who don't live in our community and by our community standards, came to West Bend and shouted down the local parents and taxpayers to get their way.  People like the wealthy, uber-liberal American Library Association, Wisconsin Library Association, Office of Informational Freedom and, of course, the biggest crybaby bully of them all, the ACLU.

Now we have perverts using our taxpayer-funded WiFi to download p-rn in West Bend.  Nice.  Guess what?  They're looking at it on the hardwired taxpayer-funded computers, too.  How do we know?  Because we filed an ORR three years ago and have copies of police reports and complaints.  No surprise here, though.  This is the now the standard, the norm, instead of a rare occurrence.  These stories are in the paper all the time across the nation because goons like the ACLU and the ALA insist that folks like us shouldn't get to say what we will and will not pay for, and put up with, in our local communities in the glorified name of censorship.

Three years ago the citizens of West Bend said NO.

We asked for filters on the computers in our library - the library board said "no."

We asked for gay kiddie p-rn to be removed from the young adult section of the library - the library board said "no."  To this day we still have the same young adult librarian, Kristin Pekoll, pushing the same garbage onto our shelves.

I've included an article (with the link) below for you that was written by Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries, a national organization that exposes the American Library Association for what it is - a p-rn-pushing, liberal,  immoral, George Soros buddy of an institution that intimidates and censors small-town folks.

The West Bend Library now has a new board headed by Chris Jenkins, a supposed conservative in the area.  Wonder if he'll take the initiative to push the board towards investigating what goes on at the hard-wired computers?  Wonder if he'll take another look at the crap that's being shoved down our kids' throats in the Young Adult section.  Better yet, wonder if he'll size up Kristin Pekoll and take note that she wants nothing more than to indoctrinate our kids with gay p-rn through the back door of our (cough, cough) "family-friendly" library.  I wonder....

West Bend is better than this, and it is a sad reflection on the morals and values of the folks who live here.  But don't let it be said that we didn't try.  We did.  But they came, they bullied, and they won.

Ginny Maziarka
West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries

LINK TO SAFELIBRARIES ARTICLE:  http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2012/08/LibraryWifiEnded.html

Article in entirety below:
....



NOTE ADDED 31 AUGUST 2012:

In a big win for the community and a restoration of local control after the ALA debacle three years ago, the library will now install web filters:
The filter is to stop "illegal" downloads.  I see no mention of legally stopping legal p-rn.  Could this be a problem waiting to happen, or will the library legally block legal p-rn as well?  For those who did not know, the following may be useful:


NOTE ADDED 29 MARCH 2023:

Text updated to add a hyphen into the p word to bypass the censors.
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Location: West Bend, WI, USA
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