I'm Sarah Kanzir, the author of the bestsellers, the view from fly over country and hiding in plain sight, and of the upcoming book, They Knew, How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent,

available for Pre-Order Now.

I'm Andrea Chalupa, a journalist and filmmaker, and the writer and producer of the journalistic

thriller, Mr. Jones, about Stalin's genocide famine in Ukraine, a film the Kremlin doesn't want you to see,

so be sure to see it.

And this is Gaslit Nation, a podcast covering corruption in the United States and rising

autocracy around the world.

Welcome to our special spring series, Gaslit Nation presents Rising Up from the Ashes,

Cassandra's and other experts on rebuilding democracy.

Our bonus episodes, available to Patreon subscribers at the truth-teller level and higher,

feature our esteemed guests taking the Gaslit Nation self-care Q&A. So for fun ideas, sign up to hear that.

Joining at this level also gives you access to hundreds of bonus episodes on topics in the

news today. We'll be back with our regular episodes in July. If you're signed up anytime

between now and then at the Democracy Defender level or

higher on Patreon, you'll get special access to watch a live taping of Gaslit Nation over the

summer. More details to come.

This interview is recorded at the end of December 2021.

This morning, Texas schools are at the center of a national

fight over banned books, an NBC News investigation finding that at least a dozen Texas

districts have removed books about race, gender, and sexuality after a surge of parent

complaints. Why are we sexualizing our precious children? Since the fall, Irish Chang, a junior at Katie Independent School District, who identifies as queer, has washed books vanish from her school library.

What do you think these parents want?

...