232 Comments

These folks are not conservatives, they’re reactionaries. They say children who protest are pwns of the teachers union, but they are using the children as pawns of their own, repugnant agenda.

When things get really bad, as they have here, folks turn out to vote. The three seats might be filled with decent candidates. But don’t stop there Woodland Park, force a recall for the remaining extremists to be removed, demand a vote over the American Birthright curriculum to repeal it immediately, repeal the charter school. These things can be done, you just need to stand up and vote.

At some point there has got to be a reaction to the right’s culture war. There may be folks on the left that are extreme, I rarely see it happen, but nothing from the left rises to the level that the right claims it is. No one’s forcing children into drag shows, no one’s teaching white children that they hold responsibility for slavery and they ought to be ashamed of themselves, no one’s making millions of unwilling children get surgery to change genders, no one is trying to stay pregnant for eight months only to abort at the last minute, none of this is happening but the right is pushing the lies and pushing legislation to solve these strawman issues. There are no litter boxes. We can’t let them keep lying, we can’t believe them when they say this bs. The left folks are falling for this shit, because it is repeated so often it’s beginning to take on a life of its own.

My town has dealt with a bit of this type of nonsense, it’s very minor compared to Woodland Park, but we turned out for the sake of quality education for our children. Let’s encourage Woodland Park to do the same.

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It is the nature of conservatism to be backward looking, intolerant, and stagnating. These people want the kind of education that helps the Christian nationalists in their efforts to rule the country. It's also the kind of education that guarantees America's failure. I don't think they will succeed in the long run, but they're capable of doing immense damage in the short term. I hope none of those kids want to get into a decent college.

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'Murka will be the new Syria as cult vs cult.

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Where they will turn it into a shitty college through their very presence.

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Tell me about it...during my college years, a very, very, very vocal group of fanatically religious students who were part of the Maranatha Christian Cult harassed other students on their way to class, on their way to the library, on their way to sporting events, theater productions, you name it. Sometimes you couldn't even hang out with friends at the student union or one of the campus-adjacent coffee shops if one or more of them was there proselytizing. It was a large campus, and they were a small minority, but they made their presence felt. I ended up in a western civ class with one of those morons, who constantly interrupted the professor to state that such-and-such "wasn't biblical." The student newspaper office was the site of an angry protest after it a published a letter to the editor detailing their obnoxious behavior.

People complained, but were told by admin that nothing could be done about it, as it was "free speech."

At the time, I was still christian (having been raised by fervent Baptists) but those people embarrassed the living daylights out of me. I seldom mentioned my religious leanings to anyone, lest I be tarred with the same brush, as it were.

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We've been hearing for longer than I care to think that THIS is what some Christians want to do with our public school systems. In this case, it's like that old saying goes: "When they tell you what they want to do, BELIEVE THEM." Now they've effectively ruined the Woodland Park school system.

My question is: where are the parents? I have a tough time believing that ALL of them approve of this action. Where's the blowback? Have any lawsuits been filed? What about American Atheists or the Freedom From Religion Foundation? This isn't happening in a vacuum.

Something needs to be done ... and quickly.

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Get ready for the double whammy: when test scores plummet and behavioral problems rise, the board will say that it's lack of religion in school that is the problem, and spend public money on "In God We Trust" signs and illegal school prayer.

Cause destruction. Then use "oh no, things are terrible!" to promote their faith.

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I doubt they give a flying farkle about test scores. They don't want educated kids. They want indoctrinated robots.

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The parents are the voters who elected these people, how else do you think they got into office? The parents are likely to be religious Republicans themselves, and either agreed with whatever was spewed during the election or weren't paying close attention. Face-Eating Leopards Party in action, as it were. Several of these elections were also apparently held in off-years, meaning low turnout in most cases; so it would be easier for a vocal minority group to get specific people into office anyway.

When the Woodland area wonders why they're losing people and the area is dying in a few years, well, the rest of us will know the answer, won't we?

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May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023

The parents are the staunch Republicans who allow all this to transpire. It's like a page out of Atlas Shrugged taken to its delusional extreme.

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founding

This school district is in the CO-3rd, Lauren Boebert's district. At least as of this year, since the maps were redrawn and her district now covers more than half of the landmass of the state. "Conservatives" have to do what they can to make sure that only "Christian" nationalists can vote in that district, whether by indoctrination or by forcing people who disagree to leave.

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South Park on steroids. Eric Kartman is now the mayor and the pastor.

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Excellent burn. If it wasn't so true-to-life sad, it would be laughing at the very clever, witty, and apt observation.

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May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023

I don't watch S P. I cannot understand what they are saying anymore. It all sounds like high pitched bliblibliblibli

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I never could understand what they said. I have the feeling I would like SP. but I don’t know.

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Congratulations, WPSD. You'll be sending your students out into the world completely unprepared to deal with real life.

Bravo. Bra-Vo. *sarcastic slow clap*

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If they live in a Christian bubble, many of them probably won't have to cope with real life. Of course the ones that don't live in a Christian bubble............. will be fucked.

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May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023

I have a feeling their graduates should probably get used to asking "You want fries with that?"

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Cooking fries the right way may be too complicated. You have to fry them a first time, take them out of the fryer, let them dry and fry them a second time with another temperature and cooking time.

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Write yourself a note to never eat fast food fries if you ever come to the US.

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May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023

If and it's a big IF, I come to your country I won't eat fries at all. Most chains/restaurants don't know the difference between Belgian fries (beef fat) and French fries (oil).

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That's why we have FREEDOM FRIES!!1

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My wife is Dutch and they have something called frites sauce, which it seems to me is just very, very bland mayonnaise. Similar to American mayonnaise in fact. I prefer mine a little bit more vinegary and spicy. Still, the marriage has survived so far. 😁

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When I was a kid, McDonald's cooked their fries in beef fat. They tasted soooooooooo good.

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Skip the corporate fast food joints. I've often found the best fries at locally-owned diners.

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Unless she comes where I live. I can recommend the fries at the Dick's Drive-In mini-chain.

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May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023

That's why they're running the registers instead of doing any actual cooking.

(At least, they WILL be on the registers if they can get over the notion that 3 = 1 and 1 = 3)

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I had to run one in the 90's and not one with a button attributed for each item like we have now. You had to tape each price by hand.

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And there are people who think IDIOCRACY was just a comedy, not a documentary.

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I don’t know where they’ll work since Shooter’s grill was probably the only employer in the area that would hire folks that ignorant. And it shut down.

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Are they all running for congress?

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Tell me how educating all children to be able to overcome their class is classist. The right are the classist, supporting the system where the wealthiest get all the money and the rest of society works for them. The very idea of a gulag is classist. Read a book for comprehension.

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No, my comment is that the right wing nut jobs are intentionally keeping people ignorant so that they can be abused in food service and other low paying inhumane jobs for their whole lives. Supporting improving education serves the opposite. I’m making fun of one person who has made it her mission to cause as much damage to our country as she can while being ad trashy as possible and I was laughing at the fact that her trashy restaurant went under because of her incompetence. I’m making a statement about how the right is causing the class mess. Your comments all illustrate how you cannot read for comprehension, you do not understand cynicism, snark, or satire.

Folks who work in retail and food service are not less than and I am fighting for their rights across the board, that is the opposite of classism. But you don’t understand that do you, comrade?

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Poor Benji:

Angry about his physical and mental shortcomings.

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But, but, but they have a brand new babble college !

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May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023

From 2016 to 2019, 20 private colleges closed their doors. Maybe this new college could steal...I mean acquire one of their names.

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By hook or crook, vote or board meeting, club or Molotov, they are coming for it all. In every corner of the world, it's rising ( https://www.liberation.fr/societe/ville/saint-brevin-le-maire-demissionne-apres-lincendie-de-son-domicile-20230510_A2QOXYO4MBEWLK2K6BLE4E46WA/ ). Some people call it terrorism, some nationalism, some fascism, some even call it simple political discourse. Whatever label you put on it and as a judge once said, I know it when I see it. It's violent physically, mentally, emotionally, and dare I say spiritually. It's ugly, imo, especially when it's supposed to be dressed in the lamb's blood of Jessie.

Beware. Vote. Participate. Teach.

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Explanation for those who don't understand French. The government wanted to install a asylum seekers shelter in a town, right wing nuts objected their usual way by arson (the mayor house and 2 of his cars), cops are sitting on their thumbs. The mayor*, fed up, send his resignation to the Prefet of his département.

* Quote from the mayor "we already welcomed 400 asylum seekers in 7 years. We never had problems with them."

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Merci beaucoup !

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Hey, this is america, what do you think you're doing citing an article in some foreign language? Anything worth reading would be written in good american english FFS.

Side note: The side bar has a link to their 'portrait of the day' piece and it's John effing Waters! What a lucky find, thanks. We should force all of these religious freaks to watch his early movies like Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble over and over again for about a year, kinda a la Clockwork Orange, it might help them gain some sanity.

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Or cause their heads to explode. Which then makes me wonder who is worse the French with guillotines or is with Scanners like and efficient propaganda on the vidi.

(⁠。⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)

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I have a serious thing for guillotines, [and trebuchets too], but the Scanners exploding head is tres cool too,. If you use guillotines, you could then use the heads as projectile ammo for trebuchets!

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I don’t think sanity works like that… 😏

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Langue étrangère, langue étrangère. Est-ce que j'ai une gueule de langue étrangère ?* 😝

*Misquote from a French movie you probably never heard about.

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I googled with quotes and it came back with this page already, google bots R busy bots.

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Normal, I changed some of it. The original quote "Atmosphère ! Atmosphère ! Est-ce que j'ai une gueule d'atmosphère ? (Extrait du film "Hôtel du Nord")"

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De rien et à ton service 😉

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Pretty soon those last four will get you arrested.

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I believe you are a troll, and probably a bot. I've reported your behavior in the content of your comments.

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Benjy went bye-bye.

Thank you, Hemant (and Boreal).

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Some of that sounds blatantly illegal. Secret meetings that are required to be public (both for charter school and hiring); firing teachers for speaking out against board decisions and firing staffers for requesting release of board meeting videos. Where are the civil suits? Maybe the public can't prevent their elected board from making stupid or biased decisions, but they should be able to prevent them from making illegal ones.

"At least four of the district’s top administrators have quit because of the board’s policy changes..."

Sounds like four good candidates for School Board to me.

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There ares plenty of jobs in other places. Will they stay or leave?

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I expect the district is going to experience some serious brain drain as the intelligent, socially aware people gtfo and take their children with them. Which, frankly, I expect this board will love. If everyone who wants to argue about it leaves then the problem is solved, right?

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May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023

After all it's not like they need people to repair their cars full of electronics systems or doctors since they have jizzus.

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"...and that telling kids to vote amounts to activism."

Nothing wrong with that. A lot of kids should get into activism in one form or another. Apparently the author behind the awful book doesn't want to see kids working to ensure the rights and equal treatment of all minorities including the so-called enemies of God such as gays, trans, Jews, Muslims, smart, independent women, teens wanting independence from their parents, etc.

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May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023

Well there's the obvious self-serving: discourage young people from voting because they typically vote more liberally.

There's also religious & authoritarian subcurrents here. "Activism" = trying to fix problems yourself = not trusting God via prayer to do it. Also = not trusting authorities to fix it. Both bad. If you are going out trying to solve society's ills, you are not Awaiting Our Orders.

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Awaiting Our Orders.....

That is going to give me nightmares

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Doubtless, this is working as intended. Get all the real educators to quit- then they have free reign to either replace them with Nat-C ideologues or shut the public schools down entirely. Sounds like they have their own little pocket of Gilead in the works out there. The kids coming up through that school system will be fucked sideways if and when they venture out into the wider world, and I'm sure that's part of the plan as well... the only way their ass-backwards worldview survives another generation is if they keep that next generation dumb, docile, and prevent them from ever peeking over the horizon at something better.

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Lauren Boebert nation: Idiocracy in Action.

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Makings of “The Village”

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You beat me to it. The above posts had me thinking along those those same lines.

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They just have to replace the competent staffers who left by chaplains and pastors..

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These are people in charge of kids, I think they'll find youth pastors to be more effective at destroying their lives. /...snark?

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Yep and a reference to an older post about replacing trained (counselors ?) by pastors in schools.

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OT

Because of course Abbott wants to pardon a fellow racist scumbag...

"Army sergeant promised pardon by Texas Gov. Abbott gets 25 years in protester's murder"

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/army-sergeant-texas-gov-abbott-wanted-pardon-sentenced-25-years-rcna79474

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8^(

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Hmm. Sounds like cancel culture to me. And what a surprise! It's the kkkonservative kkkristians who are the ones engaging in it.

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They created it. Excommunication, shunning.

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I think the thing that may turn the tide in Woodland Park is when the kids start speaking out about the BS they're about to be exposed to. Because you just KNOW that all those exiting teachers and staffers are going to be replaced by Bible-thumping Nat-Cs.

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I doubt they will find enough to replace all who left.

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May 23, 2023·edited May 23, 2023

Your sad, insecure and fragile ID is noted, dimwit.

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They did this in Vista, CA a few years ago. Started making noises about teaching creationism instead of science. Parents realized what had happened, as they had not been informed that the people running for the school board were rabid christian extremists. Noises were made, the hard-liners resigned, and the kiddies were again on track to qualify for Stanford.

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May 11, 2023·edited May 11, 2023

Yeah, and Kansas went through two or three cycles of that, in the early 2000s. Mainstream voter apathy allowed conservatives to get creationist board members elected. They did exactly what they said they were going to do. Mainstream then wakes up and votes them out next election. A few years pass, mainstream voters are again apathetic, and it happened again. I can't recall if it actually happened a third time, but I think so.

The cycles gave us Bobby Henderson's FSM. So a net benefit to society as a whole. :) But an object lesson that it's not enough to go about your life just not being a fundie. You have to vote not-fundie. And yes that means in local and off-year elections too. Honestly intentioned apathy results in you living under fundie policies.

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See how persecuted Christians are in this country? See? See? :S

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....zzzzZZZZZZzz.... *snort* *cough* What? What'd I miss? Who goes there?

Oh, I'm sorry, you were saying about Christian persecution? My nap time raged out of control again. Seems to happen a lot if I hear the same lie too often, oddly enough.

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*Reads the fine print with a magnifier...*

𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯; 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘕𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥; 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧𝘧, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘦, 𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺. 𝘛𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯. '𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢.

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May 12, 2023·edited May 12, 2023

I stole that. 😇 and in return I leave you this. Just like the shoemaking elves or gnomes or whatever.

https://tinyurl.com/2njje54y

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A metal version at the beginning when he repeat "It's a lie".

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