Here’s my idea: We all start carrying around spray bottles full of water and every time a conservative says “woke” we squirt them in the face. Maybe we can train them to knock it off like training a cat to stay off the counter.

Of course that doesn’t really work on cats so I’m not sure it’s gonna work on Republicans either, but it might at least be amusing.

My complaint isn’t actually about the word, though, it’s about having to watch Republicans systematically dismantle the laws, regulations, and social mores that are preventing them from being racist, homophobic, transphobic, woman-hating, antisemitic, Islamophobic dipshits. It’s about Republicans and other conservative asshats demanding that they not only be allowed to be as hateful as possible right out loud in front of everybody, but that 1) we should all be forced to watch them do it, and 2) they should escape all consequences for their behavior.

Like dude. This is America. You’re already allowed to be a shitty bigot right out on the sidewalk, or on TV or the radio, or on the Internet. That’s legal. Free speech, yadda yadda. The government can’t stop you – the First Amendment protects you from that.

What you can’t do – what the First Amendment doesn’t protect you from – is be a shitty bigot right out in public sans consequences. If you’re a shitty bigot, the rest of us are allowed to ignore you, stop inviting you places, stop hanging out with you, etc. The rest of us are allowed to tell you, to your shitty bigot face, that you’re a shitty bigot. TV and radio companies are allowed to stop booking you or to cancel your show. Privately owned platforms like Twitter or Facebook or wherever are allowed to tell you, hey, we don’t tolerate shitty bigotry on our platform, so you’re banned now. That’s all legal, too.

The point of all the screaming about “critical race theory” or all the anti-trans laws and “don’t say gay” laws and whatnot is to try to protect shitty bigots from the consequences of being shitty bigots. The point of all the talk about “groomers” and pedophilia accusations is to try to make you okay with them being shitty bigots out loud in public.

Don’t let ’em get away with it.

👉 CNN: Senate votes to overturn Biden administration retirement investment rule Republicans decry as ‘woke’ – “The Senate passed a politically charged resolution on Wednesday to overturn a Biden administration retirement investment rule that allows managers of retirement funds to consider the impact of climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors when picking investments.”