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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

The natives are becoming restless.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

If George Mason is no longer safe for conservatives, our nation is well and truly lost.

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Yeah, I figured they were objecting because Youngkin was a squish RINO and they wanted Boebert, Greene or Gaetz.

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Nah, the kids are alright, they're objecting to Fascist in a Fleece Vest for all the right reasons:

https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/george-mason-students-petition-against-youngkin-as-commencement-speaker/article_fba1f58a-cc76-11ed-9641-ebc81e703828.html

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The Smackdown of the Century: Fascist in a Fleece Vest Takes on Devil in a Blue Dress for All The MARBLES!!!

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Now I’m sad because I can’t compel whoever I’d want to give me a platform of my choosing for the big bucks.

Gonna be crying all day now...

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

"corrupt liberal media outlets like C-Span, which always makes him look like a monster or a buffoon"

C-Spam might be yer only option.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Nah, not enough 💰 to bother.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Liberal C-Span, sneakily filming on the floor of the House when one Republican Representative attempts to strangle another.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

🤣

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I blame the parent corporations.

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AI-Spam (AKA Twitter)

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

The only reason you're not getting big bucks to spout off anywhere and everywhere is because you refuse to talk about the genetic intellectual inferiority of some groups, or the wondrous history of economic growth following tax cuts, or the complete collapse of morality because jeebus was removed from the schools. In other words, you want the Wingnut Welfare checks? You gotta spout the Wingnut Welfare gospels.

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Gotta be on the right side of the Wilhoit divide.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Then I’m, like, pre-cancelled???

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Canceled like a used Forever postage stamp!

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Mar 29, 2023·edited Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

😭

What kind of nation is this??

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Best nation god could come up with on really short notice.

Anyway, 2 marks all 'round for this thread.

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😂

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Looks like Eric Adams might be auditioning for some of those Wingnut Welfare Bucks:

“When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools"

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/new-york-playbook-pm/2023/02/28/eric-adams-when-we-took-prayers-out-of-schools-guns-came-into-schools-00084832

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He’s a hustler, a liar, corrupt, and a DINO so of course he is.

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No, no – he's claiming he prayed the guns away!

Glory Hallelujah an' all 'at.

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Nah. He didn’t do shit, doesn’t do shit other than earning campaign contributions and going on TV. Literally, nothing else.

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Well, thoughts and prayers then...

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To be fair, since the city is essentially run by the police union and the state legislature in Albany, collecting campaign cash and going on TV is pretty much all that any NYC mayor does. Adams, being an ex-cop and a wingnut, just makes his TV appearances particularly excruciating to watch for actual Democrats.

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Which is definitively proven by Christian schools well-known immunity from mass shootings. Hold on... I'm getting an update...

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And then there’s, the lord working in his mysterious way:

https://apple.news/AkJJdNYLmTTKqqCAE_MLyOw

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Terminal Copbrain. By which I mean it never sees a problem it couldn't shoot, and then arrest the corpse.

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Poster bot for ACAB at least, tho’ given his disservice to the city, maybe more like ACAMF.

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FFS, if mere presence of churches made a place safe and happy, this neighborhood would be Utopia.

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You forgot "the memory of the 30 million dead at the hands of COMMUNISM", always a popular number.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Fairfax will ever be the same...

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Mar 29, 2023·edited Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

When, oh when, will liberals realize that the only correct definition of free speech is when an audience is compelled to listen to a conservative. Too often this true definition of free speech is misapplied to the criticism of a conservative by liberals, but that is a mistake. The latter is clearly cancelculture.

Seriously, I cannot believe FIRE has the gall to describe the students' wish to disinvite Youngkin as “censorship.” Because the Governor of Virginia clearly has no other way to make his voice heard. If he’s not allowed to deliver this commencement speech he’ll be reduced to orating on soapboxes in the park to get his message out.

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Right? He could just write his thoughts in an op-ed and a major newspaper would undoubtedly publish it. Or he could write a letter and send it to each graduate. But Youngkin’s supporters wants the pomp and ceremony, too, as if that’s somehow inseparable from the ideas, such as they are (I’ve learned over the years, from reading Roy and others, that ascribing any intellectual heft to conservative ideas is overly generous); it’s like they want us to watch Drumpfy do his little chicken dance to YMCA and not puke.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Stand by for the conservative wailing and gnashing of teeth when students turn their backs on Youngkin during his speech. More bitter abuse from the Intolerant Left!

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Mar 29, 2023·edited Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Gnashing your teeth sounds so painful. No wonder people wail.And if you find yourself moaning when you piss see a doctor. This is common sense.

I think the whole issue goes away when the media

Is overwhelmed with AI generated deep fake news and nothing is real. (Hopefully, there won't be anything to get hung about.)

Will those who make and spread this genuinely fake news have Freedom of Speech?

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Again, see soap, on a rope.

Naytheless, 2 marks!

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Oh. I think you are missing something about the gnashing.

Take it from me – don't EVER gnash yer OWN teeth...

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Right, to protest before the speech is prior restraint. But to protest during the speech is mob rule. Wonder how it would work to protest *after.*

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I believe that would be designated a "riot," as that's what the protest marches after George Floyd's murder were called.

Of course, the J6 insurrectionists are now patriotic freedom fighters.

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Well, I MEAN, those Antifa/BLM rioters burned down the ENTIRE UNITED STATES, so there's that

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LOL. I'm envisioning two rural MAGAts watching The Last Of Us, one turning to the other to say "and that's what Boston looks like today."

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Damn right, and it was hard work burning it all down, too! Fortunately, I saw what was happening, highjacked a tanker full of napalm, bought stock in Diamond box matches, and sat back to watch the flames...lovely, really...the warm glow, the dancing in the streets, the complete and utter breakdown of civil society (except for the pubs, and the bagel places, and the artists supply stores, and the bike shops, and the local church that hosts the jazz concerts, and the food trucks where all the best foods are, and the dentist, and the museums, and the 365 days/year free concerts in the Kennedy, and the bike routes thru the park...)

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Of course, the J6 insurrectionists are now patriotic freedom fighters.

Just like the Contras

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Fighting freedom since god was a pup!

Our guys: freedom fighters.

Their guys: terrorists.

See the difference?

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Mar 29, 2023·edited Mar 29, 2023

If you're confused, you should consult the rules that apply to any discussion of gun laws after a mass shooting: The allowable period for debate, which falls between "Too soon!" and "Shooting? What shooting?" can be measured in nanoseconds.

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Ah, but when the shooter is allegedly trans and the victims are Christian, we now learn it is NEVER too soon to condemn the trans community.

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And we know RIGHT NOW that it's a HATE CRIME, no need to wait for further info about the shooter's motives, just ask Josh Hawley! (Who, just incidentally, is against federal hate crimes law being used for attacks on non-Christians, how very Christian of him.)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/29/josh-hawley-nashville-shooting-hate-crime

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I remember how there was speculation right after the incident that the Buffalo shooter awhile back was trans, which of course Alex Jones grabbed and ran with. And the recent guy in Denver (?). Nope, never too early.

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Well, I MEAN, a group of fancy boys in powdered wigs decided 250 years ago that they DINN'T WANNA have a standing army, and now we pay for it with The Massacre Of The Week, and we can't do jack-shit about it because MAH LIBRETEES 2NA 2NA!

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Much more importantly, trans this and trans that did not exist back in the holy days, so of course they can't exist now. Settled law.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

"Because the Governor of Virginia clearly has no other way to make his voice heard."

Right! It's just like how we have no other way to learn history except through statues glorifying Confederate generals! Respect my diverse learning style, libs!

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I thought soap came on a rope? Which, come to think of it, might be why he's taking a hard pass on the soap-enabled speech route...

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Some assembly required.

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A timely reminder that "compelled" and "compelling" sometimes don't mean what some folks think they mean...

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Like these fucks respect liberal/left viewpoints?

Screw that. Respect is earned.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

I guess we'll never know how the students and faculty of George Mason University would respond to a liberal commencement speaker, because this is a thing that WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

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I seem to recall at least two occasions in the last few decades where conservatives advocated for planting spies in college classrooms to record incidents of ungoodthink. And then there's the whole trans/CRT crusade in the grade schools. Yes, please, I want to "engage" with people who panic at the sight of rainbows.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

6100 signatures v. the head of the campus Republicans - maybe the hope that the present generation of students will be more antifa than their elders is true. Anyway, inviting a governor who campaigned against “Beloved” to speak at a commencement? The tone is most deaf at GMU.

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Mos, indeed.

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So I'm thinking the way to deal with this is let Youngkin come and speak, but spend the entirety of his speech dissing him. Have ostentatiously loud conversations with the people sitting next to you. Ignore Youngkin entirely. If you can get someone from the administration to come out on stage during his speech and interrupt him to ask for quiet, that's a win.

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Yeah, another bastion of liberal scoun – Sorry, what was that? Hoover wants a word? And who are you? Rice? "Condo" Rice? I'm sorry, I don't take back talk from tiny real estate units as a general rule.

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I'd prefer to see a surprise rebuttal speaker, a student, follow his speech. I have a sneaking suspicion that 75% of the graduates, easy, are going to be smarter and more honest and funnier than their governor. Surely one of them is up to this challenge.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

What if they all brought notes from their parents saying they aren't allowed to view this content?

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Mar 29, 2023·edited Mar 29, 2023

If Mommy won't let me see David's marble dick, then she probably doesn't want me seeing dicks of the political variety either.

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And the GOP has many, many dicks, of both kinds

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Flaccid and ROCK HARD at the SAME TIME!

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

Think of it as the school's final lesson in Life Preparation. Most of these kids will not be Masters Of The Universe. In their professional careers, they will have multiple instances of having to sit still while some asshole bloviates. In some of those instances, the speaker will know damn well he's wasting everyone's time. It is the duty of the employee to tamp down on the natural urge to say, "Will you please, please just fuck right off." The good employee understands the power dynamic and acts accordingly.

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Mar 29, 2023·edited Mar 29, 2023

Good point, we have no other way of teaching this important lesson to our young people now that Dilbert has been canceled.

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My inability to appreciate this dynamic until I was about 36 explains why my career is where it is. If only Glen Youngkin had been my governor!

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Lesson learned: move to a state with more an illustratively authoritarian governor.

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Mar 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso

I am showing my support for Governor Youngkin by appearing as his warm-up act.

You mean Younkin plans to use the occasion as a political rally? Perish the thought.

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A conservative hijacking a public speech for their own benefit? Unpossible!

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Having seen the Guvnuh in action I think your gonna need a bigger propane tank.

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Typically, I agree that when universities or student groups invite speakers, they should be allowed to speak, no matter their politics. I saw Phillis Schafly as an undergrad. There were some protests but nobody shouted her down or made any threats and that was as it should be.

Commencement is different, perhaps. Maybe they shouldn’t invite divisive speakers for that occasion. But these days anyone with a political opinion is a divisive speaker, so what to do. My solution would be to play tapes of past Kurt Vonnegut commencement speeches at all commencements people become more feasible, or forever, whichever comes first.

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Of course I meant to write “until people become more reasonable. It sucks we can’t edit Substack comments.

So more on my no doubt unpopular opinions on what passes for the left these days. The idea that people should be able to speak is traditionally a bedrock of liberalism, while censoring speech is more associated with Fascism. And frankly, I no more want to live in these peoples left wing dictatorship than I want to live in a right wing dictatorship. I’d be taken out and shot either way.

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If you click on the three dots there's an "edit" option.

Put yourself in the shoes of a George Mason student for a moment. You hear Youngkin has been invited, you know he has been an advocate for laws that you view as anti-gay and anti-trans, and this offends you.

1. You complain to your friends

2. You and your friends write a letter to the University President

3. You and your friends turn your letter into a petition to the University President, and circulate the petition on campus.

Now, tell me where any of this crosses the line into "censoring speech"?

Yes, if certain students had the awesome power to simply press a button and remove any person from their commencement, we'd have to worry about an abuse of this power, wouldn't we? But they don't. They're just one voice among many. A voice that will be ignored, incidentally.

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What did she look like under a grad?

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I dunno. If I'm a student paying a school to educate me, and that school deliberately acts in a political fashion via inviting a publically anti-intellectual boob to speechify at me, and (presumably) paying said boob with MY money, then I think I got a right to call bullshit and demand a refund.

Vonnegut, on the other hand, gets a pass.

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You should ask to speak to a manager.

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I'm little puzzled about how the folks at FIRE think students should respond in these situations. The school invited Youngkin, many students didn't like the choice, so they wrote a petition and collected signatures. Which is itself free speech, no? Sorry, I know this is an obvious point, but some clarification would be helpful: Is it OK if students complain about a choice for a commencement speaker if they don't put their complaints into petition form? Would a polite letter to the University President be OK, or would that also count as an infringement of Yougkin's free-speech rights? How exactly is a petition different from a letter, except that is has more signatures on it?

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No, that’s all fine. There have been at least a few recent incidents of students actually preventing people from speaking.

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Well, I'd need to know more about those other incidents. My guess is you're not arguing that absolutely anyone has a right to a speaking gig on a college campus, up to and including actual Nazis, but if that's the case, where do you draw the line? Is a commencement, which all students are basically compelled to attend if they want to celebrate their graduation different from an event where students have the option not to attend? What if the speech carries with it the risk of violence from thugs who support the speaker and threaten to fuck up anyone who comes to protest?

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Mar 29, 2023·edited Mar 29, 2023

For example, suppose Nick Fuentes gets invited to speak. Aside from Fuentes views, which are horrible, there's the likelihood that he'd attract a contingent of the Proud Boys eager to beat the crap out of any lefties who come to protest. And that's the best-case scenario, in states where open carry or concealed carry is allowed, there's a real possibility of somebody being killed.

ETA: I've lived in Madison for more than 20 years, so I've been to more lefty protests than I can count, but it was only a couple of years ago that I first saw someone - a right wing counter-protester - carrying a gun at a protest. More recently, I saw someone with a rifle who was claiming to be in sympathy with the left group that had organized the protest, there to protect us from the right-wingers with guns. It's a different world now, the problem isn't the debate that's happening inside the hall, it's the threats of murder happening outside the hall.

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I’d say if someone has a legitimate invite to speak, then they have a legitimate right. You could do all those what ifs from different perspectives and keep people you agree with from speaking just as easily. It is a universal right, in the liberal tradition. Not that people can’t express their misgivings, but actually stopping it through intimidation is something else.

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Well, again I'd need to see the specifics, you said "there have been incidents." The quickest way to get an event on campus cancelled is for the University Police to tell the administration, "We can't handle this." And they're not saying that because of the threat of lefties waving placards. They're saying that because they're getting intelligence reports from right-wing chatboards indicating an eagerness to go crack some skulls.

We've come a long way from the days when Phyllis Schlafly came to speak at your campus, Phyllis didn't come with an armed militia.

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Sorry, I’m just not afraid of armed right wingers. Bring’em on, I say.

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Who gets to decide who has a legitimate invite to speak? Were the other students given any ability to disagree? Sending a letter to the President is not stopping it through intimidation, neither was the recent Stanford incident, so I don't get the incidents to which you are referring

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Back to the sixties, man! Can we also get S. I. Hayakawa and Joe Stalin?

But seriously, are these folks serious? They threw Eugene Debs in prison for speaking to workers about the US staying out of WWI. On the same basis, maybe we can have the governor arrested for indecent speech. A parent can complain that their kid shouldn't be exposed to his ideas.

Isn't that how it's done these days? The RIGHT way?

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Mar 29, 2023·edited Mar 29, 2023

The same week as the Nashville school shooting the Republicans top priority in the House was the Parents Bill of Rights, giving parents the right to protect their children... from dangerous books in the library.

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Well, to beat them and homeschool them as well, don't forget that.

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"Mercy me, violence against children! That's OUR job!"

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OK, OK. Today's REBID and all its attendant comments are cherce.

2 marks for the lot of you!

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Dear Freespeechologist,

Your donations are much appreciated and we're all looking forward to your memes and jokes. However, the Governor requests that you refrain from quoting or even paraphrasing a member of one of those "despised minorities" as many of the Governor's racially sensitive supporters may be in attendance. We checked Wikipedia and Brandeis is definitely out.

Above all, please don't mention the Governor's special puffy fleece version of an academic robe.

Thank you for your cooperation.

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Mock the Pope?

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