Florida School District bans dictionaries and encyclopedias under Florida law

 

As if Florida could not get any stupider, it once again sinks to a new low.  Florida school district of Escambia County, the westernmost county in the panhandle, has removed dictionaries, encyclopedias, and thesauruses from its libraries, concerned that making these books available to students would violate Florida law HB 1069. The law, signed by Ron DeRacist in May 2023, demands the removal of any library book that "depicts or describes sexual content".

They banned dictionaries! 

Dictionaries are some of more than 2800 books banned in Escambia County. Other titles that have been banned include To Kill a Mockingbird, Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, and Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.

The school district used a checklist to determine which titles to ban. Escambia County provided a copy of the checklist to the Florida Freedom to Read Project. See below:

Note that there is no requirement to actually READ the book. Just look it up on social media and believe what others are telling you to believe.

Read the full article here:

https://popular.info/p/florida-school-district-removes-dictionaries

Celebrating Black History Month: Alphonso Lofton, first African-American Florida Highway Patrol trooper

Alphonso Lofton was the first African-American trooper in the Florida Highway Patrol. He joined the patrol in 1970 after witnessing an FHP trooper investigating a hit-and-run accident.  After graduating from the academy, he was assigned to Field Operations in Miami's Troop E, and in 1973, he was promoted to Traffic Homicide Investigator.  He became a recruiter in 1981 to encourage more African-Americans into the FHP. 

He received the Martin Luther King Brotherhood Award.  He passed away in 1984 at 39 from multiple sclerosis.

In 2019, he was inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Officers' Hall of Fame.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Lola Sanchez, Confederate Spy

Lola Sanchez, born in 1844 in Armstrong, Florida, and her two sisters became spies for the Confederate Army during the Civil War.  Their father had been falsely accused being a Confederate spy and imprisoned by the Union Army.  Officers from the Union Army occupied the Sanchez residence.  

On May 21, 1864, Lola overhead the officers planning a raid on the Confederate forces.  After telling her sisters what she heard, she decided to notify Captain John Jackson Dickison, a commander of Confederate force 2nd Florida Cavalry in Camp Davis, only a mile and a half from their home.  Lola's sisters covered for her in her absence that night.  

Lola met with Capt. Dickison and told him what she heard.  She returned home, having been gone for only an hour and a half.

Capt. Dickison set a trap and waited for the arrival of a Union transport and gunboat. On May 22, they ambushed the Union forces when they arrived.  The confrontation became known as the Battle of Horse Landing.

Lola and her sisters continued spying for the Confederate army throughout the Civil War.  

 

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Matthew Lopez, first Latino playwright to win Tony for Best Play

Matthew Lopez, born March 24, 1977 in Panama City, Florida, is the first Latino to win a Tony Award for Best Play.  At the 74th Tony Awards held September 26, 2021 he took home the award for his play The Inheritance, which was nominated for 11 Tonys and won 4 of them.

Lopez was inspired by the E. M. Forster novel Howard's End for his play, which has also won an Olivier Award among many others for best play.

Celebrating Asian-American Heritage Month: Stephanie Murphy, first Vietnamese-American woman elected to Congress

Stephanie Murphy, born September 16, 1978 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is the first Vietnamese-American woman to be elected to the US House of Representatives.

She was elected to the US House of Representatives for Florida's 7th congressional district, which includes Seminole County and northern Orange County, in 2016.  She was sworn into office January 3, 2017. 

Space Shuttle astronaut William Lenoir born 1939

William Lenoir, born March 14, 1939 in Miami, Florida, went into space aboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-5), considered to be the first operational shuttle mission, as mission specialist in November 1982.  He was scheduled to perform an EVA with fellow astronaut  Joseph Allen, but he succumbed to motion sickness.  Then a malfunctioning oxygen regulator caused the spacewalk to be cancelled.

He spent 5 days in space.

Lenoir passed away in August 2010 from head injuries from a bicycle accident.

Disney World opens 1971

Disney World, now the Magic Kingdom, opened its gates October 1, 1971 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida near Orlando.  Today the area includes Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.  Epcot opened October 1, 1982.

It was the most visited vacation resort in the world in 2018, but in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and the parks had to close for a time.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut and US Senator Bill Nelson!

Bill Nelson, born September 29, 1942 in Miami, Florida, went into space aboard Columbia (STS-61-C) as payload specialist in January 1986.   He was in space for over 6 days.  He was a member of the US House of Representatives from January 1979 to January 1991.  He was a United States Senator from January 2001 to January 2019.

Merritt Butrick, Star Trek actor, born 1959

Actor Merritt Butrick, born September 3, 1959 in Gainesville, Florida, who played Dr. David Marcus, Captain Kirk's son in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, left us too early.  He appeared in Star Trek II and Star Trek III: Search for Spock. 

He appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Symbiosis. Unfortunately, he passed away in March 1989 from AIDS.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Richard Richards!

Richard Richards, born August 24, 1946 in Key West, Florida, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first flight was aboard Columbia (STS-28) as pilot in August 1989.  The mission was dedicated to the Department of Defense.

His second flight was aboard Discovery (STS-41) as commander in October 1990.  The primary mission was the deployment of the Ulysses probe.

His third flight was aboard Columbia (STS-50) as commander in June-July 1992.  It was the first time the US Microgravity Laboratory was taken into orbit.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-64) as commander in September 1994.  The mission saw the first untethered EVA in ten years.

Celebrating Pride Month: Richard A. Heyman, first openly gay mayor of Key West

Richard A. Heyman was the first openly gay mayor of Key West, Florida, and one of the first openly gay public officials in the United States.  He served Key West from 1983-1985 and 1987-1989.  Under his administration, he made it illegal for Key West employers to fire staff who had HIV/AIDS.

He passed away of AIDS-related pneumonia in September 1994.

Celebrating Black History Month: James R Ford, first African-American mayor of a U.S. capitol city

James R. Ford, born December 1, 1925 in Tallahassee, Florida, is the first black mayor of Tallahassee and the first black mayor of a U.S. capitol city. He was elected in 1972 and then re-elected in 1976 and 1982.

After leaving office, he served fourteen years as Tallahassee city commissioner, during which he helped establish the Minority Business Department.

He passed away in October 2017.

Celebrating Black History month: Josiah Walls, first African-American Congressman from Florida

Josiah Thomas Walls, was born into slavery December 30, 1842 near Winchester, Virginia.  He was forced to join the Confederate army during the Civil War.  He was captured by the Union Army in 1862 and voluntarily joined the United States Colored Troops in 1863, rising to the rank of corporal.  He was discharged in Florida and settled in Alachua County, Florida, near Gainsville.

Walls was elected to the Florida House of Representatives from Alachua in December 1868 and took office in January.  He won the 1870 general election to serve in the 42nd Congress but was unseated after election "irregularities".

He was elected in the 1872 election and won. He established a national education fund and aid for Seminole War veterans.

He was re-elected in 1874 but a former Confederate colonel, contested the results of the elction and Walls lost his seat.

He became a teacher at the State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students which would eventually become Florida A&M University.

Happy birthday, American cosmonaut Norman Thagard!

Norman Thagard, born July 3, 1943 in Marianna, Florida, is the first American to fly on a Russian spacecraft in March 1995, making him the first American cosmonaut.

His first trip into space was aboard Challenger (STS-7) as mission specialist in June 1983 with Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

His second trip was aboard Challenger (STS-51-B) as mission specialist in April-May 1985.

His third trip into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-30) as mission specialist in May 1989.

Thagard's fourth mission was aboard Discovery (STS-42) as mission specialist in January 1992.

His fifth and last trip into space was aboard Soyuz TM-21 as a research cosmonaut to the Mir space station in March 1995.  He was part of the Mir EO-18 expedition and returned to Earth on Atlantis (STS-71) in July.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Jan Davis!

Jan Davis, born November 1, 1953 in Cocoa Beach, Florida, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights.

Her first mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-47) as mission specialist in September 1992.  She had secretly married fellow astronaut Mark Lee just a few weeks before.  By the time NASA found out about it, it was too late to change their rule about "husband and wife" teams not flying on the same mission.

Her second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-60) as mission specialist in February 1994.  It was the first Space Shuttle/Mir mission and the first time a Russian cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev, flew on a space shuttle.

Her third and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-85) in August 1997.  She operated the shuttle's robotic arm for the entire trip.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Samuel Durrance!

Samuel Durrance, born September 17, 1943 in Tallahassee, Florida, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights.  He worked as a principal research scientists at the Johns Hopkins University over here in Baltimore.

His first flight was on Columbia (STS-35) as a payload specialist in December 1990.  The mission was shortened by one day because of impending bad weather at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

His second and final was aboard Endeavour (STS-67) in March 1995 as a payload specialist.  One of the objectives was to measure ultraviolet radiation from space since most UV radiation is absorbed by Earth's atmosphere and cannot be studied at the surface.

Remembering Burt Reynolds (1936-2018)

Impossibly handsome and sexy Burt Reynolds has passed away.  His television and movie career has spanned more than five decades.  I first fell in love with him in Smokey and the Bandit.  He was the epitome of the human male and we all wanted to be him. 

He was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1936 and, although he wanted to become a football player, he started acting at Palm Beach Junior College and won the Florida State Drama Award in 1956.  His breakout role was portraying Lewis in the movie Deliverance.

He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in a Supporting Role for Boogie Nights, but he did win a Golden Globe.

Rest in peace, Burt.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Winston Scott!

Winston Scott, born August 6, 1950 in Miami, Florida, is a veteran of two space shuttle missions.  He graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School and was considered one of the school's best trumpet players.

He completed flight training from the US Navy and has flown more than 20 different military and civilian aircraft and logged more than 5000 hours in flight.

His first mission into space was aboard Endeavour (STS-72) as mission specialist in January 1996.  He performed an EVA on January 17 with fellow astronaut Leroy Chiao for almost 7 hours.

His second flight was aboard Columbia (STS-87) November-December 1997 as mission specialist.  He performed two EVAs with astronaut Takao Doi for a total of almost 12 hours in space.  They are the first EVAs conducted by a Japanese astronaut.

He retired from NASA and the US Navy in July 1999.

Celebrating Pride Month - Remembering the victims of the Pulse Nightclub massacre

June 12, 2016, a security guard who had pledged allegiance to ISIL walked into the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida and killed 49 people with a semi-automatic rifle.  Fifty-three more were injured.  The club was hosting a Latino night so most of the victims were Latin.  It is the worst attack against the LGBT in history.  It was the deadliest mass shooting until the massacre in Las Vegas the following year. 

So many young beautiful lives cut short by hate.

You can find a list of the victims here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_nightclub_shooting