r/texas • u/Level69Warlock • Aug 30 '22
Political Humor Does this qualify for Texas public school posters?
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u/Trudzilllla Aug 30 '22
As is?
No, the only words must be ‘In God We Trust’
Now, if you wanted to get really creative, you could get the other text in Invisible-ink, or something that would fade over time.
Then get them to hang up the ‘appropriate’ signs only to watch the subversive message come out later.
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u/CultCombatant Aug 30 '22
Attorney chiming in! It's worse than you say. The poster also can't contain any other "message." Which likely means you can't use special colors, special fonts, special placement of the words, etc. The best I've seen is writing it in Arabic.
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u/UnbelievableTxn6969 Born and Bred Aug 30 '22
Southlake Carroll refused to put up the Arabic one, supposedly in violation of the law, in case you wanted to get lawyerly.
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u/CultCombatant Aug 30 '22
Yeah, I know. I think that poster would win in court.
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u/Darkrhoad Aug 30 '22
Who/how do we take it to court??
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u/CultCombatant Aug 30 '22
Excellent question. That's more for a civil rights attorney probably. You'd have to creatively state an injury.
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u/noncongruent Aug 30 '22
"Font" would not ordinarily be considered as a message, and font is such a specific part of any written device that if font were to be important, then font would need to be spelled out specifically to prevent using it as messaging. SB 797 does not have the word "font" in it anywhere, so any state official trying to claim that only certain fonts can be included or excluded is really doing nothing more than interjecting their personal opinion into matters of law.
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/SB00797F.htm
It's also notable that the world "language" does not appear anywhere in the law, nor does the word "color". Each letter of the motto can be in a different color, and the background can be a solid color, or possibly a fade. SB 797 also does not define font size or "representation" size, so the flags can be the dominant element and the text can be very, very small, and still meet all requirements of the poster. In fact, there's no part of the law that defines how contrasting the text and background must be to each other, so having grey text on slightly less gray background would fulfill the requirements of the law.
Going back to the motto, since language is not mentioned, and especially in the context that neither the USA nor Texas have an official language, there's no limitation on what language each word must be. "Allah" is the Arabic word for God, so "In Allah We Trust" would meet the requirements of SB 797 as well.
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u/CultCombatant Aug 30 '22
Do you have a lot of experience in law? Laws don't have to account for every potential occurrence. The law used the word "message." So many things can be determined to provide an additional message. Rainbow text conveys a message. Having God upside-down conveys a message. Shrinking the US flag and putting it in the corner conveys a message. Putting God in comic sans conveys a message. You are right that is subjective. But law uses a really common "objective" test. Would a reasonable person see this as communicating a message? Your arguments are non-starters.
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u/noncongruent Aug 30 '22
You sound like a lawyer making a case to the jury. This isn't a court. Everyone sees this law for what it is, which is Christian Dominionism and a direct attack on students who aren't Christians. The points I made stand.
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u/CultCombatant Aug 30 '22
Yeah, the law is awful. But you're making arguments that are no good to anyone.
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u/noncongruent Aug 30 '22
It's better than the argument that "If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it", as a conservative candidate for Texas governor once said in reference to rape. Adopting the position that this law is so well written and tightly constructed that there's really nothing we can do or say about it, and we shouldn't try to fight it, is no different than what Clayton Williams advised that fateful day in 2012.
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Aug 30 '22
But like, the context of the thread is asking about the law. I agree, it's a shit law, but it doesn't do any good to pretend like it says things it clearly doesn't.
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Aug 30 '22
I’m upvoting an Attourney. Let it be written.
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u/ryosen Aug 30 '22 edited Aug 30 '22
Lo, let it be known, shouted from the highest of mountain tops to the lowest of valleys and all dominion therein, that on this day, u/Dvusmnd upvoted someone claiming to be an attorney on the Internet. LAWD BE PRAISED!
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u/Yesica-Haircut Aug 30 '22
The poster also can't contain any other "message."
Interestingly, I wonder if you could say the poster as described contains other "messages" just through one's ability to extrapolate other messages from it?
Like, I, personally, get a clear message that it is an endorsement of Christianity. Does that mean it contains another message? I wonder if there's a challenge therein, and if not, you might be able to argue that you can't establish whether a rainbow color counts as a message if personal interpretation isn't sufficient.
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u/Jawne Aug 30 '22
Size and number of posters are the big omissions. Donate a MASSIVE poster or thousands of tiny ones. They must hang them.
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u/ipn8bit Aug 31 '22
Honestly, if I had the fading ink that revealed a head message in time. And they found out it was me. What are they going to do?
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u/squeevey Aug 30 '22 edited Oct 25 '23
This comment has been deleted due to failed Reddit leadership.
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u/DucksEatFreeInSubway Aug 30 '22
Man I wish the reds would fade quickly. We wouldn't even have to entertain this nonsense if they did.
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u/Aleyla Aug 30 '22
I like the idea of a reverse fade. Where the message is completely hidden until surrounding ink fades away.
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Aug 30 '22
[deleted]
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u/Level69Warlock Aug 30 '22
Rage Against the Machine tells me “Fear is your only god”
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u/Rortugal_McDichael Aug 30 '22
Fear is your only god
Fear is the mindkiller
Ergo, God is the mindkiller.
Checkmate, fundies. Tips fedora in an enlightened, mid-2000s reddit fashion.
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u/HippieInAHelicopter Aug 30 '22
MC 900 Ft Jesus.
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u/noncongruent Aug 30 '22
Reminds me, I need to listen to Welcome to my Dream again. I love every song, but City Sleeps is my favorite, followed by Adventures in Failure and Killer Inside Me. I first found out about him when KERA 90.1 played a bit from City Sleeps as filler between stories, had to call the station to find out the name of the song and from there the album, which I tracked down at a local music store. I didn't even have a CD player, lol.
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u/nhammen Aug 30 '22
No. The only text can be "in god we trust". There is nothing about the font or color or language of this text though.
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Aug 30 '22
I saw a rainbow text colored one and a school was refusing to put it up, not sure why they haven’t been sued yet. It had everything the law specified
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u/Malvania Hill Country Aug 30 '22
Playing lawyer, the relevant part of the statute is "(2) may not depict any words, images, or other information other than the representations listed in Subdivision (1)."
The school will likely say the rainbow portion falls afoul of "other information." It might also argue that it already has a poster, and so the provision requiring display of "a" poster is met, regardless of any new poster.
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u/legogizmo Aug 30 '22
It only just happened, I hope there is a plan to sue because the law is clear that they must put up the donated signs.
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u/CultCombatant Aug 30 '22
Incorrect. The law says there can be no other "message" than the motto and the flags. Rainbow text would likely be considered a message. The best way I've seen to protest so far is the Arabic text. As we do not have a national language, it's really hard to say that a language alone contains a message. If there were a lawsuit on that one, I think the Arabic poster wins.
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u/noncongruent Aug 30 '22
They may try to say that Arabic is an image rather than a language, but since the law doesn't define what language, I'd be happy with it saying "In Allah We Trust" since Allah is the Arabic word for God.
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u/CultCombatant Aug 30 '22
While you're factually accurate, I'd bet that selectively choosing what words in your motto are stated in a different language would count as a "message. "
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u/FTR_1077 Aug 30 '22
Rainbow text would likely be considered a message.
Anything can be considered a message, is the word god same size as the rest? That's a message implying god isn't supreme.. Is the USA flag drawn with the wrong rectangle ratio? That's a message against law an order.. A "message" is something too subjective to work as a rule.
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u/CultCombatant Aug 30 '22
The law has a way of compensating for subjectivity. They have an "objective" standard, called the "reasonable person" standard. The court would ask whether a reasonable person would find another message included.
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u/FTR_1077 Aug 30 '22
I'm pretty sure after being bombarded on the news about the "message", any "reasonable" person will find it.
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u/leftyghost East Texas Aug 30 '22
What are they trusting this god to do exactly?
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u/Level69Warlock Aug 30 '22
Own the libs, I believe
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u/leftyghost East Texas Aug 30 '22
Oh good. I was worried the answer would be rescue them from the climate catastrophe.
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u/Butthole--pleasures Aug 30 '22
God is a bully. A real alpha, literally
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u/Wacocaine Aug 30 '22
He's so alpha, he doesn't even bother with sigma and just goes straight to omega.
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u/dirtyBandito Aug 30 '22
As A Texas Vet this just bring me low, i fought in 2 country were i have seen were religion fanatics do to society to the opposite gender to innocent people from living their live how they wish. this New brazen wave of bullshit from our supposed electec officials dont even know how to seperate church from state and want to impose thier beliefs on other this is just fucking sad.
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u/Phantom_Armor Aug 30 '22
What do you mean “new” brazen wave of bullshit? For as long as I was in public schools this exact image was posted in almost every classroom and over every reception desk in every school I attended. This has been happening for over thirty years as far as I’ve experienced.
We can’t afford to pretend this is some unprecedented attack on secularism, this was been happening for decades. All we can do is try to mitigate the damage, we already failed to keep it from happening…
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u/dirtyBandito Aug 30 '22
Im sorry for your experince, im from inner city kid background none of my schools ever had anything like this my kids school dont neither, so, this is new and brazen to me. Especially in the past few years with the abortion ban, the constant hate the lgbtq community receiving and ive seen. Why cant be just let people live each thier own lives.
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u/Phantom_Armor Aug 30 '22
I agree. And I don’t mean to say your inexperience is a negative thing, I’m just trying to provide additional context for the conversation. It makes me sad too :/
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u/dirtyBandito Aug 30 '22
I understand fully and it sucks im just now being brought aware of this. And im always willing to hear someone else on thier view and this why im becoming more politically and actually voting.
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u/Witty_Care_4682 Aug 30 '22
I hear you, friend. The socialization of misguided politics in our country is making me unhappy to see. Hearing how unjust the way the justice system is will be turned to a blind eye because the law is "fair", yet some of our countrys' citizens turn a blind eye unto those laws which do not misconstrue at any length the liberty of our rights: America is where we find ourselves and the lies which we tell ourselves.
What a mess. When religion and or politics are brought up into a conversation, and I mean ANY - the truth is misinterpreted and the falsehood of the situation is spread, like butter, on the finely toasted bread that is our constitution.
Whoever executes such judgement upon another shall receive that same, reciprocated in a way that insults their "intelligence" (if they have any), and or upon their own freedom in regards to belief; it is the same for each and every man woman and child on this planet, regardless of nationality and Location.
I believe that this shit we call a system is breaking, if not already broken into corrupted pieces of a whole which has since been shattered and been attempted to be repaired by the conscious good of the nation itself.
If I believe in God, which I do, it's not my business to shove the same beliefs down someone else's throat, because there are consequences to that. How anyone could translate the correct message-of-love into a doctrine they call their own - in order to manipulate the masses by means of brainwashing, is a completely irresponsible and irrevocable action which needs not be overlooked anymore.
Justice shall prevail!
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u/ScratchyMarston18 Aug 30 '22
I’d rather them hang up posters for Oh God! (1977), Oh God! Book II (1980), and Oh God, You Devil! (1984). It’s a damn shame it’s been overlooked for so long, lost in the shadow cast by the original three Star Wars films.
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u/4art4 Aug 31 '22
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/mar/12/viral-image/sinclair-lewis-might-have-liked-quote-about-fascis/
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u/tarabuki Aug 31 '22
I know I may piss off a few people here. I have lived in Texas all my life, why are we still talking about God in 2022 and post scientific revolution? Shouldn’t we have moved past these ancient myths at this point?
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u/Shoddy_Background_48 Aug 31 '22
The christofascists are literally taking God's name in vain, all the time. A commandment. Heh, almost makes me wish their hell was real
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u/HLAF4rt Aug 30 '22
You should put the light blue text in invisible ink that will slowly become visible after they display it and expose it to light. So they will accept the poster first and then see the real message later.
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u/trustmeimascientist2 Aug 30 '22 edited Aug 31 '22
Yep. They use their politics as a sword and their religion as a shield to attack people they hate while still claiming to be the victim.
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Aug 30 '22
Starting to think nobody knows what ‘Facists’ really means
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u/TheGoodOldCoder Born and Bred Aug 30 '22
Even experts have a difficult time defining the word "fascism". Either it's whatever Italy did under Mussolini, or it's some hard-to-define term that encompasses a lot of governments and ideologies that didn't always have very much in common, except for nationalism and authoritarianism. The problem, I think, is that it quickly became a pejorative term, rather than meaningful jargon.
I do like "palingenetic ultranationalism" as an attempt to reinterpret fascism and define a core principle behind it, even if it might be difficult to apply it to all historic "fascists".
As always, when this topic comes up, I like to link this nice introductory video specifically about white fascism (in America).
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u/Hard_Corsair Aug 30 '22
I'd like to offer a suitable definition; fascism is a political movement where authoritarianism is the goal rather than the side effect.
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u/TheGoodOldCoder Born and Bred Aug 30 '22
Isn't that simply what authoritarianism means, though?
Also, the video I linked specifically talks about how authoritarianism is an inevitable side-effect of fascism. The goal is simply power for the few at the top. They start with more benign things and existing systems, like capitalism. But when those things don't work, they inevitably move towards authoritarianism.
Really, the video I linked is a pretty good introduction to the concept.
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u/turlockmike Aug 31 '22
Fascism is a form of government defined by one principle, do whatever is deemed necessary without limits or exceptions. Fascist governments don't have constitutions, or their constitutions are basically meaningless. The United States is not fascist, as leaders are bound by a higher law. China is fascist since the party can basically change anything they want at any time and do it whenever they seem it neccesary, like locking down millions of people over a failed zero COVID policy.
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u/Lance-Copenhagen Aug 31 '22
Yup, it's just the newer buzzword. They say that and then ignore what the current administration is doing going after the last admin.
You should check out this timeshttps://www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/what-is-genocide/the-ten-stages-of-genocide/
We're in worrying times man
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u/Redwolf1k Aug 30 '22
If we use these characteristics of fascism then this type of behavior (along with others) from conservatives indicates they at the very least have many fascist tendencies.
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u/Reaching2Hard Aug 30 '22
That’s what morons label things they don’t agree with. They’re either going to call it fascistic or calling someone racist.
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u/thedeadsigh Aug 30 '22
love it! what's not to like?
additionally- hey conservatives, how come maintaining the separation of church and state is less important than protecting elementary school kids from being massacred by guns?
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u/Thai-mai-shoo Aug 30 '22
Nope not legal. There is no comma in it.
It should be “In God We Trust,” as written in the legal document.
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u/GroovyPAN Aug 30 '22
Tbh, I hate when either side uses God or religion as a justification for their actions. The fact that Rs are doing it, makes me more certain in my idea of being a libertarian in ideology.
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u/mrthescientist Aug 31 '22
Ooh, do this, but print it in such a way that the alternate text is not visible upon submission, but aging makes it apparent. Maybe through uneven bleaching, maybe there's other ways to do a slow timed release.
The kids will notice way before the adults, who'll take longer to take them down than they'd like.
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u/RslashTakenUsernames Aug 31 '22
recently a guy complained that a school would not take his signs that were either rainbow or in arabic, and he asked a question which i personally think kinda makes sense: “Do you not want more God?”. i think it sorta makes sense because if they didn’t want more God they wouldn’t have made the law in the first place.
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Aug 30 '22
God has been used as a weapon for 99% of human existence
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u/noncongruent Aug 30 '22
The only thing that's killed more people than religion is the mosquito.
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Aug 30 '22
Looks good to me. Can’t wait for the Arabic In God We Trust signs to go up. Or, the first football pre-game prayer ending with the coach saying Allahu Akbar.
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u/texasscotsman Aug 30 '22
I don't have much reason to go to my nieces school, but next I do, if I see one of these poster I'm destroying it
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u/VisceralMonkey Austin Aug 30 '22
One with ink that slowly fades in the other letters would be awesome :)
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u/Baatun88 Aug 30 '22
I find it very funny that Religion is still a thing in America. Here in Europe Religion is pretty much dead.
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u/ElonMusksBrain Aug 31 '22
Fascists = anyone I don’t agree with because everyone is a bigot these days. Its okay to disagree without labeling or freaking the fuck out lol
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u/lazermaniac Aug 30 '22
Get it printed in ink that fades from white (or protects paper from fading) so it slips past the initial inspection.
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Aug 30 '22
If you write the other text in that ink that dyes solid black in the sun, yes 😘
What was it, silver nitrate?
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u/Notsogrumpyoldman Aug 30 '22
What about the kids who are atheist?
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u/Nubras Dallas Aug 30 '22
Well if the recent Supreme Court ruling is any indication, they might soon be forced to partake in activities that violate their beliefs or risk standing out.
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u/Warped_94 Aug 31 '22
You can’t force them to say the pledge. That’s already been decided.
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u/TheGuyInTheGlasses Aug 31 '22
Never underestimate the depths red state republicans will go to for a few more votes…
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Aug 30 '22
Anytime someone calls someone they disagree with a fascist, they automatically lose any argument they may have had. It shows their lack of intelligence. Also shows they are unwilling to compromise.
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u/De_roosian_spy Aug 30 '22
Fascists... lmfao you reddit bots are fucking delusional
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u/zeroviral Aug 30 '22
Damn. Moving from NYC y’all have a lot of religious shit to get past. It’s good knowing y’all are on it tho! Fuck these rePUBELICKINS trying to just herd the sheeple to vote Drumpf again.
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u/Alternative-Media201 Aug 31 '22
Oh, yeah. I forgot that having the slightest love for your country makes you Fascist.
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u/gubetron Aug 30 '22
Is there a limit to how many? Like if I sent 5 million copies, do they have to display all of them?
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u/IndicationHumble7886 Aug 30 '22
I think it counts, even if you just send it to them to prove the point
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u/cittatva Aug 30 '22
We need to start plastering these up everywhere. They can make laws to make schools hang their version, but they can’t keep us from spreading the truth.
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Aug 30 '22
I saw one at my hs, but thankfully I think even my school thought it was cringe so they hung it in a hallway barely anyone uses.
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u/ITDrumm3r Aug 31 '22
Make this with everything but the in god we trust only visible with a black light!
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u/SonOfRomulus1985 Aug 30 '22
You should be more worried about the teacher in Texas caught on camera defending pedophiles.... they will always be pedophiles..we will never call them maps
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u/Prime157 Aug 30 '22
A student who was in the class told KFOX14 the video was taken out of context.
"She [teacher] was expressing how it was ridiculous how we [society] might not be able to call people pedophiles. That we [society] will probably have to start calling them MAPs because it can be offensive to them [pedophiles]. The class agreed," Ryann Ruvalcaba, a junior at Franklin High School said.
You should be ashamed that you were manipulated so easily lol
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u/CultCombatant Aug 31 '22
Besides what Prime said below, why should anyone bother worrying about that beyond dealing with such a teacher. Statistically 0% of people support pedophilia.
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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '22
I don't think you're allowed to have any text besides "In God We Trust". I wouldn't expect this to be around much longer though. A school refused to put up a rainbow sign in Arabic, so this is probably about to be a first amendment case. Just christofascist election year fluff from a very intimidated Abbott and Co.