Jeffrey Fleishman | (TNS) Los Angeles Times The national furor in recent years around banning books on race and gender in public schools is intensifying as President-elect Donald Trump threatens to shut down the Department of Education, emboldening conservatives to end “wokeness” in classrooms. Battles over books in school libraries have become emblematic of the country’s larger culture wars over race, historical revisionism and gender identity. A new report by PEN America found book bans increased by nearly 200% during the 2023-24 school year, including titles on sexuality, substance abuse, depression and other issues students face in an age of accelerating technologies, climate change, toxic politics and fears about the future. Book censorship has shaken and divided school boards, pitted parents against parents, and led to threats against teachers and librarians . It is part of an agenda driven by conservative parental rights groups and politicians who promote charter schools and voucher systems that could weaken public education. The issue goes to the heart not only of what students are taught but how federal and state education policies will affect the nation’s politics after one of the most consequential elections in its history. “It’s not just about taking a book off a shelf,” said Tasslyn Magnusson, an author and teacher from Wisconsin who tracks book censorship across the U.S. “It’s about power and who controls public education. It’s about what kind of America we were and are. We’re trying to define what family is and what America means. That comes down to the stories we tell.” She said she feared Trump’s return to the White House would further incite those calling for book bans: “I don’t have lots of hope. It could get a lot worse.” Over the last year, PEN counted more than 10,000 book bans nationwide that targeted 4,231 unique titles. Most were books dealing with gender, sexuality, race and LGBTQ+ storylines. The most banned title was Jodi Picoult’s “Nineteen Minutes,” about a school shooting that included a short description of date rape. Florida and Iowa — both of which have strict regulations on what students can read — accounted for more than 8,200 bans in the 2023-24 school year. “This crisis is tragic for young people hungry to understand the world they live in and see their identities and experiences reflected in books,” Kasey Meehan, director of PEN’s Freedom to Read Program, said in a statement. “What students can read in schools provides the foundation for their lives.” Trump’s calls to close the Department of Education would need congressional approval, which appears unlikely. Although public schools are largely funded and governed by state and local institutions, the department helps pay to educate students with disabilities, provides about $18 billion in grants for K-12 schools in poor communities and oversees a civil rights branch to protect students from discrimination. But Trump’s election has inspired conservative parental groups, including Moms For Liberty and Parents Defending Education, to strengthen efforts to limit what they see as a liberal conspiracy to indoctrinate children with books and teachings that are perverse, amoral and pornographic. Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, has criticized schools that she says spend too much time on diversity and inclusion when only about one-third of U.S. children are reading at grade level: “We’re talking about public school libraries and content for kids,” Justice told NewsNation after Trump’s victory. “I think it’s very clear that there are certain things that are appropriate for kids, certain things that are appropriate for adults. We’re just getting back to commonsense America.” Trump’s threat to deny federal funding to schools that acknowledge transgender identities could affect curricula and the kinds of books school libraries stock. During his rally at Madison Square Garden in October, Trump — who has has accused schools of promoting sex change operations — said his administration would get “transgender insanity the hell out of our schools.” Vice President-elect JD Vance has accused Democrats of wanting to “put sexually explicit books in toddlers’ libraries.” Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, told Newsmax that she was excited about Trump’s calls to remake education and “clean up a lot of the mess” he has inherited from the Biden administration. Trump “has centered parental rights back in his platform, which is incredible. He has prioritized knowledge and skill, not identity politics,” she said. “American children deserve better, and it is time for change.” In nominating Linda McMahon to be his secretary of Education, Trump appears to be pushing for more conservative parental control over what is taught and read in classrooms. A former professional wrestling executive, McMahon chairs the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-connected organization that has criticized schools for teaching “racially divisive” theories, notably about slavery and a perspective about the nation’s founding it views as anti-American. “Today’s contentious debates over using classrooms for political activism rather than teaching a complete and accurate account of American history have reinvigorated calls for greater parental and citizen involvement in the curriculum approval process,” the institute’s website says. Culturally divisive issues, including race and LGBTQ+ themes, cost school districts an estimated $3.2 billion during the 2023-24 school year, according to a recent study called “The Costs of Conflict.” The survey — published by the Institute for Democracy, Education and Access at UCLA — found that battles over books and teaching about sexuality and other topics led to increased expenses for legal fees, replacing administrators and teachers who quit, and security, including off-duty plainclothes police officers. “Are we really going to spend our tax dollars on these kinds of things?” asked Magnusson. “After Trump was elected, I saw a bunch of middle-class white ladies like me who were saying, ‘This isn’t America.’ But maybe it is America.” One school superintendent in a Western state told the study’s researchers that his staff was often consumed with correcting misinformation and fulfilling public record requests mainly from hard-line parental rights activists attempting to exploit cultural war issues to discredit the district. “Our staff are spending enormous amounts of time just doing stupid stuff,” the superintendent said. “The fiscal costs to the district are enormous, but [so are] the cultural costs of not standing up to the extremists. If someone doesn’t, then the students and employees lose. ... It’s the worst it’s ever been.” The survey found that 29% of 467 school superintendents interviewed reported that teachers and other staff quit their profession or left their districts “due to culturally divisive conflict.” Censoring books in school libraries grew out of opposition to COVID-19 restrictions. A number of conservative parental groups, including Moms for Liberty, which invited Trump to speak at its national convention in August, turned their attention to lobbying against “liberal indoctrination.” Their protests against what they criticized as progressive teaching on sexuality and race were focused on increasing conservative parental control over a public education system that was struggling at teaching children reading and math. That strategy has led to a national, right-wing effort that is “redefining government power to restrict access to information in our schools,” said Stephana Ferrell, co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project. “This movement to protect the innocence of our children believes if children never read it in a book they won’t have to know about it and can go on to lead harmonious lives. But books teach us cautionary tales. They instruct us. You can’t protect innocence through ignorance.” School districts across the country have removed “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George Johnson, which are about gender identity and include graphic depictions of sex, along with titles by renowned writers such as Toni Morrison, Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Maya Angelou and Flannery O’Connor. Related Articles National Politics | Trump promised mass deportations. Educators worry fear will keep immigrants’ kids from school. National Politics | Trump team says Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal brokered by Biden is actually Trump’s win National Politics | How Trump’s bet on voters electing him managed to silence some of his legal woes National Politics | After delay, Trump signs agreement with Biden White House to begin formal transition handoff National Politics | Rudy Giuliani in a courtroom outburst accuses judge in assets case of being unfair, drawing a rebuke Surveys show that most Americans do not favor censorship. The Florida Freedom to Read Project and similar organizations around the country have called for thorough public reviews of challenged books to prevent one scene or passage from being taken out of context. Moderate and liberal parents groups over the last two years have also become more active in school board politics. They have supported school board candidates who have defeated those backed by Moms for Liberty in Texas, Florida and other states. “People say the pendulum will swing back,” said Ferrell. But, she said, conservatives want to “stop the pendulum from swinging back.” Picoult is accustomed to conservatives attempting to censor her. Her books have been banned in schools in more than 30 states. Published in 2007, “Nineteen Minutes” explores the lives of characters, including a girl who was raped, in a town leading up to a school shooting and its aftermath. “Having the most banned book in the country is not a badge of honor. It’s a call for alarm,” said Picoult, whose books have sold more than 40 million copies. “My book, and the 10,000 others that have been pulled off school library shelves this year, give kids a tool to deal with an increasingly divided and difficult world. These book banners aren’t helping children. They are harming them.” ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. 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Pep Guardiola sure 75 per cent of Premier League clubs want Man City relegatedMarkets continue to hit new highs. As a result, dividend stocks are becoming increasingly attractive. When markets are at risk, there is no better way to reduce volatility and risk than to invest heavily in dividend stocks. This is because dividend payments regularly put money back in investors’ pockets, effectively recouping the investment little by little. So, if you want to lock in a solid dividend, here are three stocks to buy now. Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp : A 9.5% dividend yield The income of ( ) is entirely dependent on the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) – Canada’s largest iron ore producer. IOC owns mining leases and licenses covering 18,200 hectares of land near Labrador City, from which Labrador Iron Ore Royalty collects a 7% royalty. Today, the stock is yielding a very generous 9.5%. After years of strong iron ore prices and premiums, we are now seeing the opposite dynamic. In fact, the price of iron ore is significantly lower than in 2021, having fallen by approximately 50% since then. The fall has been driven by weakening steel demand in China as well as strong growth in iron ore supply. As a result of this, Labrador Iron Ore’s dividend was reduced. We are clearly of the iron ore market. Economic weakness and concerns for the future will continue to negatively affect the market in the short term. So now the question is whether Labrador Iron Ore’s dividend is safe. In the last 10 years, the company has easily paid its regular dividend plus special dividends when the business was doing well. In the first nine months of 2024, net income increased 6.1% to $143.1 million and adjusted cash flow increased 11% to $145.8 million. IOC has a strong position in its industry, with a strong quality product that commands a premium. Also, iron ore is used primarily in the production of steel, which is essential to industrial economies. It is for these reasons that we can view Labrador’s dividend as reliable. Freehold Royalties: Yielding 7.7% As another royalty company, ( ) also has a favourable position in that it’s also sheltered from rising costs. Freehold is currently yielding a very generous 7.7%. In the last three years, Freehold’s annual dividend has increased 500% to $0.36 per share. The dividend is paid monthly, and in fact, Freehold has been paying a dividend for two decades. The price of oil remains high, at approximately $70, and this bodes well for Freehold’s financial position. In fact, while revenue is being hit as oil prices are creeping lower, $70 is still a very profitable oil price. The company is easily covering its dividend payments, with a payout ratio of 73% in its latest quarter (Q3/2024). Telus stock: 7.4% Canada’s unique telecommunications giant, . ( ), is currently yielding 7.4%. It’s a dividend that’s been growing rapidly and that is easily covered by cash flows. Although the payout ratio is 150%, Telus stock’s dividend represents only 40% of cash flow. Since 2019, Telus has grown its annual revenue by 37% to more than $20 billion in 2023. This growth has also been accompanied by a healthy 38% dividend growth rate since 2019. In its latest quarter (Q3/24), Telus posted a 9.6% increase in its operating cash flow and a 12% increase in its adjusted earnings per share (EPS). This strong result was driven by the company’s drive to lower costs as well as a steady rise in revenue, reflecting strong demand. As a result of the strong quarter, Telus stock’s dividend increased by another 7%. It’s 38% higher than five years ago and 29% higher than three years ago. The dividend is backed by a and steady growth.
China's AIMA brand electric motorbike is now in BangladeshOn November 21, De La Soul ’s surviving members, Kelvin “Posdnous” Mercer and Vincent “DJ Maseo” Mason, shocked fans by denouncing Marcus J. Moore’s new biography, High and Rising: A Book About De La Soul across their social media accounts. “We’ve been receiving congratulatory messages about a book titled ‘High & Rising,’” read the posts. “However, we want to make it absolutely clear: this is an unauthorized book, and we are not connected to it in any way.” The post went on to say, “If you choose to support this book, that’s your right. We just want it to be clear that we do not and we are exploring all of our legal options.” De La Soul insinuates they were blindsided by High and Rising’s publication on November 19. But in the book, which Harper Collins imprint Dey St. promotes as “the first-ever book about the trio,” Moore writes that he interviewed several onetime De La collaborators like the Jungle Brothers and DJ Premier but “the group didn’t participate.” ( High and Rising may be the first major biography about the group. But a critical biography published by J-Card Press, De La Soul by Dave Heaton, preceded it in July.) Throughout High and Rising ’s 200-plus pages, Moore not only writes about the Long Island trio’s history from a critical and cultural perspective, but also weaves in personal reminiscences of fandom, from hearing “Potholes in My Lawn” as an eight-year-old to interviewing the group in 2016. Moore finds solace in their music as he mourns the death of his mother, and closes with a heartfelt open letter to Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicouer, who died on February 12, 2023 . Moore has contributed to Rolling Stone , among many other publications. In 2020, RS listed his first book The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America as one of the best music books of the year . He’s currently an adjunct professor at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Harper Collins responded, “Marcus J. Moore prefers not to give more life to the De La Soul reaction to the book, etc., and thus will take a pass on this interview.” In a Forbes profile, he discussed High and Rising ’s unique mix of musical history and autobiography, explaining , “Ultimately, we only get one crack at this thing (life) and I didn’t want to present a book that was overly cryptic for no reason. Who wants an overly scholarly De La Soul book? Those guys were fun.” Representatives for De La Soul could not be reached for comment. Editor’s picks The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time De La Soul’s unexpected broadside against High and Rising drew plenty of online condemnation. “As critics and journalists, we are accustomed to seeing our work criticized and questioned. To see artists (or their estates) attempt to equate unauthorized with libel is fucked up...but it’s also incredibly dangerous,” wrote longtime music journalist Gerrick Kennedy on Twitter/X . Tensions between journalists and rappers have often flared since hip-hop came of age in the late Eighties, when the mainstream media’s frequent distortions of the genre inspired righteous pushback like Public Enemy’s “Don’t Believe the Hype.” In the Nineties, critical magazine reviews and articles led to threats of violence or worse. Old heads of a certain age still gossip about when Masta Killa of Wu-Tang Clan sucker-punched Cheo H. Coker over a 1994 article in The Source . (Decades later, Masta Killa denied the incident took place.) Such conflicts seem rooted in misunderstanding, leading rap artists – many of whom rose out of impoverished circumstances – fearful over whether adverse publicity can damage their livelihood to (wrongly) lash out. Those old-school confrontations echo in the way A Tribe Called Quest denounced actor-director Michael Rapaport’s 2011 documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest for including heartbreaking fights between Q-Tip and the late Phife Dawg; and how Lil Wayne tried to sue Adam Bhala Lough over the 2009 cult doc The Carter , ostensibly over its raw scenes of substance abuse. But recent years have marked a subtle shift from self-righteous battles over reputation to less principled conflicts over branding control, like when Kanye West disowned his participation in Coodie & Chike’s 2022 documentary Jeen-Yuhs because he was denied final cut. This reflects an environment in which celebrities demand production credit and veto power over any content they’re involved in , journalistic integrity be damned. Related Content Mac Miller Estate to Drop Unreleased 2014 Album 'Balloonerism' Cher, Dave Matthews, Ozzy Osbourne Turn Back Time at Epic Rock Hall of Fame Ceremony Dave Chappelle Shares Heartfelt Story for A Tribe Called Quest Rock Hall Induction A Tribe Called Quest Honor Phife Dawg During Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction: 'Wish You Were Here' In the hip-hop literary world, the closest precedent to De La Soul’s complaint against Moore’s High and Rising may be Paul Cantor’s 2022 book Most Dope: The Extraordinary Life of Mac Miller . Even before it was finished, the late rapper’s mother, Karen Meyers, warned on Instagram in 2019, “To artists, management & friends: there is a writer doing a Mac Miller biography... We are not participating and prefer you don’t either if you personally knew Malcolm.” Then, when Most Dope was made available for pre-order in May 2021, Myers directed fans to ignore it in favor of a biography authorized by Mac Miller’s estate, Donna-Claire Chesman’s The Book of Mac . “[Cantor] chose to proceed against our polite insistence that he not do disservice to Malcolm’s legacy through writing a book without legitimate primary sources,” she wrote in a separate post. The negative publicity Mac Miller’s estate generated around Most Dope turned Cantor into a target of the beloved rapper’s fanbase. “They sent me death threats, called me names, and accused me of all sorts of things... Trolls bombarded sites like Goodreads, Barnes and Noble and Google Books, leaving one-star reviews and comments disparaging me and my book – despite having never read a single word of it,” Cantor later wrote . “How did writing a simple biography turn into something so toxic? The whole situation drove me into a crushing depression.” So far, De La Soul’s social media post hasn’t generated a similarly venomous overreaction: High and Rising currently enjoys a 4.03 rating on Goodreads . However, it betrays similar illusions that books are just another form of intellectual property that an artist should benefit from. “For years, you’ve stood with us in our fight for ownership of our catalog,” writes the group, referring to their years-long struggle over streaming rights. “Our story will be told in our words, in our way, with the style you’ve come to know and love. Until then, we encourage you to indulge in the authentic D.A.I.S.Y. Age by supporting projects backed by us.” They then hint at a spring 2025 release date for “that authentic ‘De La’.” But Moore isn’t denying De La Soul due profits from intellectual property. He’s commenting with loving criticism on a musical ensemble whose words, images, and creativity impacted generations of lives, including his own. Writers should be allowed to observe, critique, and analyze the world around them, regardless of the intellectual merit of their conclusions. A veiled threat of a lawsuit against High and Rising runs not only contrary to U.S. fair use copyright laws, but also threatens to diminish the spirit of communal joy and moral responsibility that De La Soul has so wonderfully conveyed through their art.