Free Republic

The higher-ed policies of Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis have been a lightning rod for liberal rage for quite some time now, and the intensity has only heated up with DeSantis’s presidential campaign. First, Florida scuffled with the College Board, designer of Advanced Placement courses, over the content of a Critical Race Theory-intensive African-American Studies class. Next, the Sunshine State argued publicly with the organization over its AP Psychology offering, which, like all courses, must abide by the state’s Parental Rights in Education law. Yet the latest higher-ed news out of Florida may be the most significant of all. Effective...

Florida Democrats speaking out on censorship during National Banned Books Week. Party Chair Nikki Fried says Governor DeSantis is to blame for the fourteen-hundred books being removed from school libraries. Florida law requires schools be more transparent and give parents a chance to have input on selecting school library books. It also creates a process for school districts to ban books through a public hearing and vote by the school board.

Florida will now execute child rapists. Of course, the media says this is "controversial." From News 4 in Jacksonville: A number of new laws are now in effect, as of Sunday. Arguably the most controversial centers around changes to Florida's death penalty. Child rapists can now face execution for their crimes. The law specifically pertains to child victims under the age of 12. RAPING KIDS UNDER 12. That's what we're talking about here. Executing people who would violate children in such a horrific way is considered "controversial." Higher courts have already said imposing death sentences in these types of cases...

A full federal appeals court declined to take up Democrat groups’ challenge of Florida’s 2021 election integrity law on Thursday, marking a major win for Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP-controlled state legislature. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Thursday’s decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals “let stand an April ruling by a three-judge panel of the [court] that sided with the state on major issues in the case.” The 11th Circuit’s April decision effectively overturned a prior ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker — an Obama appointee — who baselessly claimed the law in question discriminated...

…Michael Seifert, CEO of the conservative “America-first” marketplace PublicSq., and financier Omeed Malik, whose company, Colombier Acquisition Corp., had just merged with Seifert’s. That morning, their combined company was going public for the first time. When the clock hit 9:30, and Seifert pressed the button to trigger the opening bell, a crowd of supporters burst into applause, then a booming and sustained chant of “USA.” At CNBC’s trading floor news desk, a visibly annoyed Jim Cramer paused on air to let the chants play out while his co-host covered his ears.All of it—the triumphant moment, the stadium chants, Cramer’s pained...

Carlos Campos came to Miami from Venezuela in 1979, before dictator Hugo Chávez’s socialist revolution brought about the unraveling of the oil-rich country. But it wasn’t until 2016 that Campos became actively engaged in US politics. Donald Trump’s “America First” message stirred something in him. Sitting down at a Cuban restaurant just minutes from the Trump National Doral golf resort — one of the former president’s major Miami-area properties aside from his Mar-a-Lago estate — Campos described how he came to the realization that his values aligned more closely with Republicans than Democrats. He attends Alpha & Omega, a Spanish-language...

The Biden administration comes after New College and its conservative reforms, alleging specious civil rights violations. Last week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into New College of Florida, where I serve as a trustee, regarding alleged “disability discrimination.” The investigation was prompted by a complaint by ACLU attorney Jennifer Granick, alleging that the college’s trustees and administrators violated civil rights law by removing “gender neutral” signage from bathrooms, defunding the DEI and gender studies programs, and “misgendering” the former DEI director and a former student, who use “ze/zir” and “they/them” pseudo-pronouns, respectively. According to...

A south Florida town has become the first in the state to formally declare itself an LGBTQ+ sanctuary city. In a Lake Worth Beach city commission meeting Tuesday, members voted unanimously in favor of the decision, according to a report from NBC affiliate WPTV. City council members and advocates cited concerns from the community – particularly from parents, educators and students – regarding recently enacted legislation aimed at LGBTQ+ people. The expanded Parental Rights in Education law, which took effect in June, further limits the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in Florida classrooms. The restrictions originally went up...

The co-founder of the parental rights group Moms for Liberty was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Florida Commission on Ethics Wednesday. Tina Descovich co-founded the nonprofit Moms for Liberty, which was founded in 2021 by parents and former school board members. The group has championed parental rights efforts including endeavors to crack down on sexually inappropriate books in schools. Descovich also was a former Brevard County school board member who was later selected to serve as the vice chairman and chairman. The former school board member also served as the 2018 president of The Florida Coalition of School...

Disney amended its federal lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to focus solely on its First Amendment claim that the governor politically retaliated against the company. Disney last week had asked to drop its other claims in the case because they are being actively pursued in a separate state-level lawsuit in Florida. It’s the latest wrinkle stemming from Disney’s battle with DeSantis that began when the company publicly denounced the controversial classroom bill dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics. ... The revision, which nixes four claims Disney had previously presented in the case, shrinks the company’s federal civil complaint to...

The Florida Department of Education has approved screening videos that deny the Earth’s changing climate to schoolchildren in the state, according to the Guardian. Animations from Prager University Foundation, a conservative group that pushes untruths about sustainable energy and the warming of the planet, will now be a part of the public school curriculum in Florida. What’s happening? On the organization’s website, Prager University Foundation states it is “not an accredited university, nor do we claim to be.” In fact, it is a media platform and advocacy group that was founded by right-wing radio host Dennis Prager. It has produced...

Walt Disney has just posted a staggering loss as subscriptions for the company’s streaming service have plummeted. In the second quarter of this year, Disney suffered a $460 million loss. The company is raising the prices of its streaming services Disney+ and Hulu by as much as 27 percent. The price hike comes after a series of “woke” film remakes bombed at the box office. Visits to Walt Disney World in Florida have also fallen considerably amid the company’s war with Gov. Ron DeSantis. Customers with Disney+ will see their monthly costs for the ad-free service rise by 27 percent,...

More than 100 people attended the nearly two-hour town hall for a passionate and heartfelt discussion.... ....A spokesperson for Florida's education commissioner says the standards are in-depth and comprehensive. But critics say the standards are suppressing the bad parts of Black history and overstating the good parts, pointing out an update that requires teachers to talk about the skills African Americans gained while enslaved that could have led to their personal benefit. "For us to be sitting here in 2023 and trying to say that there was a benefit to slavery is appalling,” said the president of the United Teachers...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the suspension of State Attorney Monique Worrell from the ninth Judicial Circuit with Attorney General Ashley Moody and members of Florida’s law enforcement. “We had a duty to act – to protect the public from this dereliction of duty,” the governor said.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday morning that he has suspended Monique Worrell, State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, for dereliction of duty and incompetence. DeSantis said that Worrell, who was backed by a group tied to Democrat billionaire George Soros, has allowed murderers, other violent offenders, and dangerous drug traffickers to receive extremely reduced sentences and escape the full consequences of their criminal conduct. The policies and practices mentioned in the executive order that led to her suspension include Avoiding Minimum Mandatory Sentences for Gun Crimes, Avoiding Minimum Mandatory Sentences for Drug Trafficking Offenses, Allowing Juvenile...

Under Ron DeSantis’s leadership, Florida has attained the enviable status of the state that liberals most like to hate, and to denigrate irrationally. Thus it is no surprise to see this headline: Pro-woke professors leave Florida universities in protest.

Florida has “effectively” banned AP Psychology from being taught in schools, according to a statement from the College Board. The Florida Department of Education instructed superintendents that “teaching foundational content on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal under state law,” according to the statement.

The new district board overseeing Disney World in Florida has eliminated its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, including a DEI board. In February, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation creating the new board and abolishing its predecessor, which was tightly linked with the primary business it regulated— Disney World. The act was part of Mr. DeSantis's war with Disney after its leaders came out against his Parental Rights in Education bill last year, one dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by detractors. Since the district's 1967 creation, Disney had enjoyed a unique self-governing status, putting it outside Florida county or...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Diversity, equity and inclusion programs were abolished Tuesday from Walt Disney World’s governing district, now controlled by appointees of Gov. Ron DeSantis, in an echo of the Florida governor’s agenda which has championed curtailing such programs in higher education and elsewhere. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District said in a statement that its diversity, equity and inclusion committee would be eliminated, as would any job duties connected to it. Also axed were initiatives left over from when the district was controlled by Disney supporters, which awarded contracts based on goals of achieving racial or gender parity. (snip)...

The Florida Board of Education became the first state education agency to approve the use of PragerU’s conservative curriculum in public schools, the organization confirmed to The Capitolist on Friday. PragerU, a nonprofit organization, produces video, magazine, and book resources as an alternative to what they perceive as the dominant left-wing ideology prevalent in culture, media, and education. The group’s stated mission is to “provide a free alternative to the prevailing left-wing narratives in schools,” according to its website. According to the group, the current education system “prioritizes pushing radical activism over imparting factual knowledge, leading to concerns about students’...