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* Prepare yourself for a lot of Florida…
After Florida adopted its Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking standards in 2020, the Department of Education distributed recommended reading lists it said included “top of the line literary works with world renowned titles.”
Authors on the high school list included William Shakespeare.
Three years later, some Florida school districts are shying away from Shakespeare, along with other classic and popular materials. They say they’re attempting to comply with new state law restricting books with and instruction about sexual content.
Hillsborough County became the latest to take this step, telling teachers they could assign excerpts of plays such as “Romeo and Juliet,” but not the full text.
* More from Florida…
To comply with state law, a major Florida school district has issued guidance that will bar transgender employees from sharing their preferred pronouns and force trans students and staff members to use group restrooms that follow their “biological sex at birth.”
Orange County Public Schools — the fourth-largest district in Florida, with about 209,000 students at 210 schools — released the new guidance for the 2023-24 academic year Monday. […]
As a result, transgender employees or contractors “may not provide a personal title or pronoun to students which does not correspond [to] the employee’s or contractor’s biological sex at birth,” the memo said.
The law also mandates that employees and contractors may not ask a student to provide his or her preferred personal title or pronoun, the memo said.
* Florida…
Large school districts across Florida are dropping plans to offer Advanced Placement Psychology, heeding a warning from state officials that the course’s discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity violates state law.
Eight of the 11 districts with the largest enrollments in the class are switching to alternate courses, and just one said it will stick with AP Psychology. Two others are still deciding, officials said.
The state of Florida has encouraged schools to teach the course without objectionable material about sexual orientation and gender identity. But the College Board, which runs AP, says these topics are central to the study of psychology and cannot simply be excised. Last week, the College Board said the course was “effectively banned” and advised districts not to offer it.
Further complicating the matter, a day later, Florida’s education chief told districts that his agency believes the schools can offer the course “in its entirety” but also said it should be “in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate.” The state has previously said teaching school-age students about sexual orientation and gender is inappropriate.
* Even more from the Sunshine state…
Civil rights groups asked a federal judge Tuesday to stop Florida officials from enforcing a section of a new state immigration law that criminalizes transporting someone who has entered the United States unlawfully. But the jurist denied the request immediately on a technicality.
The portion of the law known as Section 10 makes it unsafe for people to get to medical appointments, meet with family and go to work, the groups said in a motion that is part of a July lawsuit challenging the law.
“For many individual Plaintiffs, Section 10 interferes with their ability to go about their daily lives,” said the motion, which asks for a temporary injunction halting enforcement.
Almost immediately after it was filed, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman denied the request for a temporary injunction on a technicality, saying Gov. Ron DeSantis and other defendants who include prosecutors from across Florida hadn’t been properly given notice about the motion. The judge said the civil rights groups could file the request again.
* This is the last one from Florida today. I promise…
Of all the PragerU propaganda you've seen, this might be the worst.
Frederick Douglass takes a dig at BLM while praising the founding fathers as abolitionists and calling the Constitution a "glorious liberty document."
Florida is letting schools play this stuff. pic.twitter.com/WbS3CDBeNE
— David Heath (@davidhth) August 7, 2023
* Moving on to Nevada…
The long-simmering debate over school choice in Nevada will hit a pivotal moment Wednesday, when the state’s Interim Finance Committee decides whether to use unallocated federal money to replace dried-up funds for a private school scholarship program pushed by the Republican governor but rejected by legislative Democrats.
It’s a last-ditch effort by Gov. Joe Lombardo to pass a remnant of his landmark school choice priority in Nevada’s increasingly rare split-party government. Instead of expanding the program in both funding and eligibility, Lombardo now is looking to maintain the program at previous levels.
Lombardo originally wanted to expand eligibility and provide an additional $50 million for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2015, that allows businesses to receive tax credits on donations that go toward the private and religious school tuitions of mostly low-income students.
With that proposal dead, Lombardo is seeking $3.2 million in unallocated federal coronavirus relief funds to maintain existing scholarships that his office says will soon run out. Lombardo’s spokesperson Elizabeth Ray said nearly 800 students could be forced to switch schools without additional funding.
* Texas…
Newly uncovered records show Texas officials ignored warnings that installing anti-migrant buoys in the Rio Grande and concertina wire along the banks violated federal law and a U.S. treaty with Mexico.
On March 29, a Texas Highway Patrol captain even asked the International Boundary Commission that controls the Rio Grande to help with a permit the city of El Paso refused to grant, to put electricity in a command trailer.
The commission declined, reminding the captain that the trailer — under a bridge in the floodplain — was on federal property without authorization.
“The State of Texas, operating through various entities, including but not limited to, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) (and its contractors) does not have authorization for its presence on the federal property that is managed, owned, and/or controlled by the United States, International Boundary and Water Commission” or USIBWC, said the April 21 response.
* Here’s a closer look at those buoys…
Everyone needs to see what I saw in Eagle Pass today.
Clothing stuck on razor wire where families got trapped. Chainsaw devices in the middle of buoys. Land seized from US citizens.
Operation Lone Star is barbaric — and @GovAbbott is making border communities collateral damage. pic.twitter.com/PzKyZGWfds
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 8, 2023
* Indiana…
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana says it filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of a citizen journalist from South Bend, claiming Indiana’s new 25-foot “encroachment” law violated his constitutional right to observe and record the police.
The new law, which went into effect on July 1, prohibits a person from knowingly or intentionally approaching within 25 feet of a police officer after the officer has ordered them to stop. According to our sister station WTHR, it is classified as a Class C misdemeanor.
The ACLU of Indiana says the plaintiff, Donald Nicodemus, is a citizen journalist who lives in South Bend and monitors the activity of public-safety personnel — primarily the South Bend Police Department. Nicodemus regularly posts videos to his YouTube channel “Freedom 2 Film,” which has more than 24,500 subscribers as of Tuesday afternoon. […]
“The unbridled discretion given to law enforcement officers by the new 25-foot law allows for, and invites content and viewpoint-based discrimination,” said Ken Falk, legal director at the ACLU of Indiana, in a press release sent to 16 News Now. “This gives police officers unchecked authority to prohibit citizens from approaching within 25 feet of the officers to observe their actions, even if the actions of the citizens are not and will not interfere with the police.”
* Idaho…
Six university professors and two teachers’ unions are suing Idaho over a law that they say violates their First Amendment rights by criminalizing teaching and classroom discussion about pro-abortion viewpoints.
The 2021 No Public Funds for Abortion Act prohibits state contracts or transactions with abortion providers and also bans public employees from promoting abortion, counseling in favor of abortion or referring someone to abortion services. Public employees who violate the law can be charged with misuse of public funds, a felony, and be fired, fined and ordered to pay back the funds they are accused of misusing.
The law is “simultaneously sweeping and unclear” and places a “strait jacket upon the intellectual leaders” of Idaho’s public universities, the educators, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, wrote in the lawsuit.
The case was brought by five University of Idaho professors who teach philosophy, political science, American literature and journalism, as well as a Boise State University professor of social work. Other plaintiffs include the Idaho Federation of Teachers, which represents faculty at UI, BSU and Idaho State University, and the University of Idaho Faculty Federation.
posted by Isabel Miller
Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:10 pm
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With the current Supreme Court, I was beginning to wonder whether all the Florida stuff is encroaching on 1st Amendment issues…people not allowed to say their pronouns? Or ask? Good to see Idaho profs starting to test that.
Comment by Jibba Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:21 pm
Anti-slavery movements in England predate 1776, Mr. Prager. If you can’t even get that right …
Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:33 pm
Cruelty and barbarity is the point of MAGA GOP migrant policies. Their vilification and lies about immigration is intended to ensure buy in to that cruelty.
Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:37 pm
In the early 60 in Carbondale a collage Shakespeare text of Hamlet included the following.
“Hamlet.
My excellent good friends! How dost thou, Guildenstern? Ah,
Rosencrantz! Good lads, how do ye both?
Ros.
As the indifferent children of the earth.
Guil.
Happy in that we are not over-happy;
On fortune’s cap we are not the very button.
Hamlet.
Nor the soles of her shoe?”
Ros.
Neither, my lord.”
Shakespeare’s next several lines did not appear in the textbook causing an irate Professor point that out, recite the lines and discuss what he thought of people who would censor Shakespeare. As a result I have always remember those lines. Censorship does not work well.
Comment by Bigtwich Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:45 pm
How is “biological sex at birth” determined? Most babies aren’t genetically tested at birth. And babies with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome look like girls. Is it also Florida law each newborn gets tested?
Comment by Betty Draper’s cigarette Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:46 pm
DeSantos…she’s not presidential material. Hope I used the right pronoun in there!
Comment by Jerry Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:49 pm
“Chainsaw devices in the middle of buoys.” What? Did I read that right?
Comment by Betty Draper’s cigarette Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:51 pm
Shakespeare is sexual? What about the Bible?
Comment by Jerry Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:54 pm
Looks like government regulated speech in Idaho. The ACLU is the most conservative organization in the country.
Comment by Jerry Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:05 pm
Missed this from Florida as Governor DeSantis removed another woke State Attorney for the 9th Circuit. From this morning’s presser:
“Monique Worrell’s administration of criminal justice in the Ninth Circuit has been clearly and fundamentally derelict so as to constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence.”
The grounds for the suspension are as follows:
1) Practices or policies to avoid minimum mandatory sentences for gun crimes.
2) Practices or policies to avoid minimum mandatory sentences for drug trafficking offenses.
3) Practices or policies allowing juveniles to avoid serious charges and incarceration altogether.
4) Practices or policies to avoid valid and applicable sentencing enhancements.
5) Practices or policies limiting charges for child pornography.
6) Practices or policies seeking the withholding of adjudication in situations not permitted under Florida law.
From the Executive order:
- Monique Worrell is hereby suspended from the public office that she now holds, to wit: State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit…
- Andrew A. Bain is hereby appointed… to the position of State Attorney.
Signed Ron DeSantis, Governor
Comment by John Lopez Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:07 pm
The florida video is, all at the same time, bizarre, historically inaccurate, revolting, and depressing.
Making some assumptions here but I have a few gop slogans for the 2024 election cycle:
“Sure, but our indoctrination has VIDEOS.”
“The GOP, we aren’t commis, but we are totalitarian dictators.”
“GOP, the new thought police.”
“Florida, where freedom goes to die and so do your grandparents.”
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:09 pm
So you can teach the propaganda or PraegerU but you can’t teach Shakespeare in Florida. How anybody can take the education system in Florida seriously anymore is beyond me. The degree to which they’ve turned education into a joke is amazing.
Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:10 pm
Florida should just go all the way and ban SpongeBob, Three Stooges, just about every sitcom, pop song, etc. Everything that has “grooming,” which is so much. How many times did the Stooges dress in drag? Just live in utter terror.
Florida, a wonderful state, has become a backward joke and is reportedly losing business and residents because of it. They want Illinois to be like Florida? lol
Comment by Grandson of Man Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:11 pm
“What about the Bible?”
What about it?
People are still going to be making snarky comments like this long after Dominionist Theocracy is firmly established.
I’m not sure people understand the full import of what is happening in the US.
Spoiler. The bible will not only be allowed. It will be a required textbook. You will only read from it what you are told to read, and you will only learn from it what you are told to learn.
Just like it *always* has been in a Theocracy.
None of this is new. It’s just new here.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:11 pm
If citizens can’t closely observe police in the course of their duties…then they become
Secret Police…beware.
Without citizen observers recording with their cameras…who would know the name of George Floyd?
Comment by Dotnonymous x Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:20 pm
I don’t see anything wrong with the Prager Video. The reaction is just the typical hyperventilating
Comment by James Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:25 pm
“Cuckoo” Richard M Daley
Comment by Jerry Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:26 pm
==I don’t see anything wrong with the Prager Video==
Um, the fact that it’s a Praeger video is the problem. PraegerU shouldn’t be used in any way, shape or form in classrooms.
Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:27 pm
Who knew that slavery was actually a cleverly disguised “shop class”. Thanks Prayger!
Comment by Jerry Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:40 pm
Florida’s new slogans, The Dumb Down State, The MakeSure We Don’t Let The Sun Shine On It State, The We’re Afraid, We’re Very Afraid State. Sad.
Comment by Sir Reel Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 1:47 pm
=I don’t see anything wrong with the Prager Video.=
Is that an intentionally ignorant statement or are you just that dumb? Do you have even a basic understanding of history?
Most of the video dialogue is complete fiction and made up. For starters.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 2:04 pm
=== don’t see anything wrong with the Prager Video. The reaction is just the typical hyperventilating
For one thing, there is a perfectly good primary source (key to historical analysis) from Frederick Douglass that offers his views very clearly. The video is inaccurate and ridiculous:
https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/frederick-douglass-what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july-1852
Comment by ArchPundit Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 2:37 pm
Please oh please oh please post a picture of Oscar to counteract this nonsense. I do not know how these people can live with themselves.
Comment by notsosure Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 2:41 pm
===The bible will not only be allowed. It will be a required textbook.===
Which version? King James (red letter edition?), Douay-Rheims, or Greek? While we’re asking questions, which version of the 10 Commandments? The most Protestants / Charlton Heston 10 Commandments movie version, or the Catholic / some Lutheran version?
Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 2:44 pm
It’s hard for me to accept that some of my countrymen cheer for the despicable barbed buoys of the Rio Grande.
The indiscriminate maiming of human beings…so wildly barbaric.
Comment by AlfondoGonz Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 2:47 pm
“Which version?”
Whichever one is dictated to you. Likely different in different parts of the country to best fit with the local norms. Again, just like how it has always been done under theocracy.
Just like in the middle ages when the ‘invioable rules’ for Lent were changed based on the local dietary availability in the respective regions under control.
Genesis 1:28
is the same in all of them.
Dominionists don’t care about your snark. They just care about the power.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 3:17 pm
=Censorship does not work well.=
Neither do dictatorships.
The tighter you squeeze, the more people resist. That is just overthrowing dictators 101. But I doubt Mr. Ivy League Desantis read many books.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 3:20 pm
I’m going to make a single contrarian comment. Do we really want AG’s and state’s attorneys saying “I don’t like this law, so I won’t enforce it”? How does that work with gun control laws in the Eastern Bloc? I wish the locals wouldn’t put such a target on their backs, do a couple token prosecutions, justify not doing more with “prosecutorial discretion” rather than “I hate this MAGA law.”
Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 4:41 pm
As long as those in power are tossing their weight around nonchalantly maybe the Feds should do the same. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Election law violations, civil rights violations, immigration violations. Start fighting back. Enough is enough
Comment by Stormsw7706 Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 5:10 pm