Bully the policists and paint other crosswalks.
Quick! Paint somewhere else.
Paint everywhere else. Turn everything that’s not guarded in to rainbows of defiance.
You never know when one of those cheeky crossings will turn gay on you.
I looked at the sky the other day after a bit of rain. Boom. Gay. Just like that. It could happen to any of us.
What an incredibly efficient use of taxpayer-funded police forces! Should report it to DOGE, they definitely need to cut funding for that
Yep.
We cant give medicine/healthcare that those that need it, cause its to expensive.
We cant give food to those that need it, cause its too expensive.
We can’t provide shelter to those that need it, cause its too expensive.
but somehow, magically, when it comes to the police state and fascism… Theres always an endless waterfall of money.
I guess when one is in a gold-plated conference room with oligarch friends and you collectively have a couple trillion dollars in assets to “protect,” peeling away a few billion to pay some of the poors to shoot the other poors before they take your shit (or your head) seems like a pretty reasonable business expense.
When you look at them as the protectors of capital rather than the protectors of the people, it makes a lot more sense.
i mean, you dont even have to look at it that way.
cause it literally is that.
Police, since the begining, have existed to protect the property of the rich. Not the rights of the poor.
They’ve literally gone to the supreme court to fight against being held accountable to their own “protect and serve” bullshit.
There’s no IRS, just stop paying taxes…
Florida has it own DOGE…
Russia: Rainbow Flag Illegal
USA: Rainbow Flag Illegal
So what’s the difference anymore.
Russia has a capable (if thoroughly evil) leader?
It’s the same leader
Mmm, I’d say Ukraine makes that not the case. The capable part, not the evil part.
Maybe. I think Putin’s main concern with Ukraine was preventing them from selling natural gas from the Donbas region to Western Europe and undercutting his main source of revenue, and he’s achieved that even if he didn’t successfully overrun the whole country.
The US also has a very capable leader. As you can see with President Putin’s implementation of his controversial policies in the US.
Oh you mentioned some orange old man hanging out in DC? Oh that’s just the court jester.
Cause you know, that will stop all the horrible crime the GOP is talking about… You know how dangerous crosswalks are!
Just wait em out? You’re in a seige now, and hopefully the seiging army goes home. Then, you go out and make it a rainbow again.
Go and stand there with buckets of paint and a roller and wait them out. Even better if it’s one can labeled “rainbow” paint.
Instead of defund the police, it’s now “run out the police budget”
Is it a crime to buy a vinyl decal for a car that says “rainbow painting” and drive around a city, occasionally stopping near crosswalks to check your phone? I don’t think so.
you’ll never run out the police budget.
If you managed to even get close to it, government would step in and take more money from starving children and the ill, to keep their fascist oppressors on the streets.
We all literally just saw this happen.
ICE budget is multiplied by 10 because they “ran out of budget”
Hold the cops down and paint them then
Paint police instead? /silly
I know what you meant, but arguably this does make them the Paint Police.
You only need one color of paint (yellow, in case anyone wonders).
I’ve just been to east Germany and saw in a museum the Incredible pettiness of the surveillance state.
They collected smell samples of supposed activists, and you could be labeled an activist for writing something sarcastic on a poster or newspaper. Also if you were labeled as such they could 'unofficially ’ ruin your life (as in thwart your ambitions and goals.
So much money and effort was spent on policing the hearts and minds of the populace. And the frail religious conservatives who run America would probably love the idea.
I’ve just been to eat Germany
I recommend chewable Tums for that.
Hah!
I recently went to Germany too and there’s such an uncomfortably large number of cops everywhere. Do you happen to have more info on what you talked about? Id love to read up on it and potentially want friends who live there.
I was in Leipzig, the museum I was mainly taking about was museum der runde ecke but this museum Was also very informative
Thank you!
Well then lets hope the US Gov. also crumbles from the sheer amount of resources it takes to be that kind of a dick to its population. I mean they are on a fast track, spending billions they do not really have because of tax cuts to the rich.
Well then lets hope the US Gov. also crumbles from the sheer amount of resources it takes to be that kind of a dick to its population.
Why do you think republicans are so keen on AI? The stasi had to rely on slow humans who might give a shit about accuracy. Republicans don’t care if they arrest the wrong person. Particularly since they know that AI trained on a racist system is going to behave like a racist system.
Seems like a good use of their time. Police jobs are basically welfare for the mediocre low iq dipshits from high school.
Police jobs are basically welfare for the mediocre low iq dipshits from high school.
Soon to be replaced with lower-paying ICE jobs for the schmos who don’t even qualify to be cops. I personally wouldn’t even be surprised if it turns out ICE is hiring undocumented immigrants, for the same reason everybody else does.
The article title is framing things way too passively considering the reality which is :
“Florida Republicans order the erasure of mass shooting memorial for 49 murder victims targeted by a bigot wanting to kill members of the LGBT community”
…a mass shooting that took place LESS THAN A DECADE AGO
Has anyone heard of Toynbee Tiles? These are interesting by themselves but the relevant point is how they are made.
You make a mosaic out of vinyl flooring chunks on a backing of paper and roofing tar as mastic.
You place them paper side up on asphalt pavement in hot weather. As cars drive over them, the paper and tar wear off revealing the vinyl mosaic.
Just a thought that a group of people could quickly make a rainbow crosswalk that can’t be painted over.
I’ve never seen one, but have read about them.
Really interesting from a guerilla art perspective. Also, the durability is innovative.
Yeah, it’s intriguing.
I have given it some thought and they could be made even more durable by using vinyl flooring adhesive to adhere the mosaic pieces to a backing of wire mesh.
The usual method uses only asphalt crack filler, which is still necessary, but it also requires one to assemble the design backwards. Adhering to metal mesh first would allow one to assemble it front the viewer’s perspective and reduce shifting of the pieces over time for more durability.
Not to mention that a basic CNC machine could cut the vinyl very precisely and in elaborate shapes. One could really take the quality and durability of the designs up a notch or two using the old noggin and modern Maker tools.
So now I am going to have to think of a place locally to do this….
Small squares as pixels would be time consuming, but would allow high detail even without a CNC.
Drag knife on a cricut wouldn’t be strong enough for thick tile.Mill with a O-flute single flute plastic routing bit would be the way to go. 1/8" diameter, carbide, as fast the spindle will turn. Flute length as short as the tile thickness will allow. You’d want a few spares, you’ll probably break a couple getting it tweaked. Start at .030 chip load, full width and depth, probably don’t need a finish pass as the edge roughness will increase adhesion and won’t be visible. Don’t use coolant, don’t breathe the dust, wear a P99 or P100 respirator, shop vac with HEPA for cleanup. Some tile may have abrasive fiber in it and will shorten tool life.
For fixturing, I think I’d use strap clamps and bars around edges. Use tabs between pieces almost like a stencil, lot of CAM software has a setting for auto tabs on profile cuts, cut from center to edges. Vacuum tables can be real temperamental, slow way down and still tab if trying to hold with vacuum. Double sided carpet tape can do it but has to be removed with acetone and IDK if that would effect the tile.
Just spitballing, I’d be afraid metal mesh might cause de-adherence over time, especially if it corordes. I really like the mesh idea. Loose cotton fabric like cheese cloth or maybe a little tougher would absorb the tar and might make it even stronger, just have to pour at a high enough temp. Fiberglass sheet might also work.
Yes, regarding the mesh. I was wondering if a flexible mesh might be better. Toynbee tiles seem to become illegible mostly because individual pieces shift over time and make them look more of a jumble, this becomes more pronounced as the individual pieces become smaller. I was thinking more fiberglass, too, but even burlap would be fine probably.
A good flexible adhesive on the back of the pieces then pressed firmly into the fiberglass/cloth and weighted until set up.
One thing to consider is that the asphalt crack filler needs to be pressed into and around the pieces, serving a role similar to grout in tile. So the order of operations would be important. That’s more of an assembly issue, I guess.
There are numerous open source tile mosaic softwares out there that will generate the tiling, including the needed gaps for ‘grout’.
And Armstrong Flooring makes VCT in a huge array of colors. A source for vinyl tile of specific colors
Super fun, I am going to talk with my local folks and find a good location for a small test of these ideas. Such fun, thanks for engaging
Let us know how it goes!
Imagine being so insecure that you have to stop people from having a harmless shrine to a bunch of people killed in a mass murder.
Anyways, there’s a lot of crosswalks and there’s no way they can even long term focus on this crosswalk. Wait for them to leave, do it again.
You bring up a good point here. There are a lot of crosswalks. So what happens if people just start doing this at random crosswalks around the city?
Aha, a crime wave! Deploy the National Guard!
They just obama strike the place. The gays have taking over and can’t be contained.
Obama?
This would be funny if it was not true
Causing damage for political purposes - terrorists.
Death penalty.
Once they cover the city in guard to prevent gay crosswalks we just move to the next city
Do the Andy Dufresne method of shaking colored paint/chalk out of your pant legs while you cross the street. They’ll never see it coming.
I was thinking, what else can we rainbow up while they’re all looking at crosswalks?
Postal boxes? Transformer boxes? Manhole covers? Park walking paths? Detention center fences? The houses of local homophobic politicians? Bike racks? Telephone poles?
Defacing postal boxes is destruction of federal property. Up to 3 years and $200k. Also, postal inspectors will absolutely dick you down and make local Florida cops look even way more dumberer.
Postal inspectors are kind of like game wardens. They are cops, but, they mostly get a pass and they do a lot of good.
Okay, so not those then!
So long as conservatives continue to exert exceptional effort to try and erase LGBT identity, people should attack Christian identity in equal measure. Tear down billboards with gospel on them. Deface publicly displayed crucifixes. Burn bibles in public.
Don’t forget to remove churches from your communities…
I believe in proportionality. So long as their current actions stay in damaging inanimate symbols that’s where it should stay. If they were to Remove places significant to LGBT+, then I’d consider it. If they were to start straight up shooting LGBT+ people, well…
These crosswalks were painted specifically in honor of the Pulse massacre where 50 LGBT+ people were murdered in 2016. 25 were injured or killed in a shooting in a Colorado Springs gay bar in 2022.
The shooting has been happening for years already.
The Pulse shooter wasn’t a Christian, so that’s not really a good reason to start tearing down and burning churches.
Which, I can’t believe I need to say this, is bad. I grew up in a small community that embraced Christian homophobic and transphobic abuse as a virtue, I think Christianity on the whole is more negative than positive, and I still wouldn’t destroy a random church because it’s a church. That is fash shit. You don’t target random places of worship because that’s the religion of your enemy. What is this shit.
I would destroy every single thing that I think has something to do with an irrational belief.
Christian billionaires do fund a lot of the anti gay conspiracy media. I would specifically focus on those entities.
I apologize, I’m with you on do not attack random churches and should have called that out myself in my first post and can see how what I said could be interpreted as supporting it.
I was trying to point out that LGBTQ+ people are already under physical threat and have been and the first person’s point about waiting until they are getting shot to take further action was passed already. I think the real physical threat is not understood by many. I do not think the action should be burning down random churches.
I apologize
I like the cut of your jib.
Tit for tat is a good tactic, usually. There is something to be said for a chilling effect, or “intimidation”, as a way to not just punish current behavior but to forestall future escalation. The only key is that it needs to be selective, and not permanent, and then extremely reversed when they switch to cooperation.
They preach hate, you destroy their landscaping and signage. They remove your memorial and you burn down their building.
Meanwhile you praise the episcopal church and very visibly support fundraisers by the united Methodist Church.It only alienates the people who were already too far gone. Others will tut at the disproportionate response but agree to the middle ground of “it’s self defense, so it’s justified in principle”.
Gotta shift the center somehow.
That is what they want.
Right wing shitheads have been trying to paint themselves as the victims for decades. “The War On Christmas” being one of the best examples. And as much fun as it would be to burn down a church (but not Korean Jesus, that dude is okay), all it will do is provide them the evidence they have been trying to manufacture all this time.
Because news media won’t be reporting “As retaliation for the murder of a trans person, a bible was ceremonially burned”. It will be “The fucking gays are burning your bibles, go get them”
They’ve been riding their train of manufactured victimhood and rage for decades and found great success, they don’t strictly need a reason to abuse people.
Staying your hand because your enemy might get angry and retaliate is the mindset of the battered housewife. People should stand up for themselves even if that means violence in the end.
Ignoring the sexism bordering on mild misogyny:
We’ve literally seen how this plays out. Walz calls trump “weird”. fuckface calls for the murder of Kamala. “Both sides traded barbs”.
The vast majority of christians don’t actually hate The Gays. They insist “I don’t approve of your lifestyle but I tolerate you”/“I don’t respect or tolerate you but I also don’t want to consider myself a bigot”. It is why “bathroom bans” and the like are so popular. They are a direct attack on people’s very self and a way to remove their ability to function in society but they also don’t immediately seem like hate unless you think for even a few seconds.
But once The Gays are outright attacking christianity? Guess what? “Both sides traded barbs” becomes “They are literally coming to destroy your beliefs” and it is a literal holy war.
Or, to go back to your sexism: People love the idea of a victim standing up for themselves. When they do? Suddenly it just becomes “they are both a mess” or “they deserve each other” rather than “She finally struck back after her third visit to the emergency room”.
Everyone wants to act. Not acting is the definition of helplessness. But it is also worth understanding that retaliation is a thing. The call of duty generation loves the idea of being heroic guerilla fighters who scream “wildcats” every five seconds. But it is worth looking at the actual “stay behind armies” and how so much of their equipment and doctrine was designed around resistance without ever pushing things far enough to lead to genocide and eradication. Whether that would have been successful is a very controversial topic but… that is the idea.
Ignoring the sexism bordering on mild misogyny:
Lol. Ok Stretch Armstrong.
The vast majority of christians don’t actually hate The Gays.
If you vote to hurt someone, you hate them. This isn’t complicated.
But once The Gays are outright attacking christianity? Guess what? “Both sides traded barbs” becomes “They are literally coming to destroy your beliefs” and it is a literal holy war.
Shit. So you’re saying if we just left the Nazis alone they would have tolerated the Jews? Lol. I like how you consider direct Christian attacks on LGBTQ people as “tolerance”. They are already actively degrading the quality of life of LGBTQ people. Do you expect people to just sit by and be subjugated in the hopes that they won’t be subjugated harder if they do something?
to go back to your sexism
Oof. You are trying so hard.
People love the idea of a victim standing up for themselves. When they do? Suddenly it just becomes “they are both a mess”
What planet do you live on? When a battered housewife (oh no I’m a sexist now) stands up for herself, I don’t think she’s a mess. What kind of fucked up logic is that? I’m happy for her.
But it is also worth understanding that retaliation is a thing.
Yes, it’s a good thing when you are being oppressed. You are typing lots of words in defense of people not defending themselves. I’m not sure what’s wrong with your brain, but you should fix it or find someone that can help you fix it.
I mean, they’re going to claim it’s happening even if it isn’t. May as well try in that case.
Right wing shitheads have been trying to paint themselves as the victims for decades.
Ok. Time to make them actual victims.
This isn’t fun and games anymore. They’ve ramped up their oppression. They’ve made it clear they are our enemies and won’t stop until their boot is firmly on our necks, indefinitely.
If you don’t end up fighting the schoolyard bully, they bully you forever.
Funny because if they knew their history, the original people that had a war on Christmas was Christians.
In the sense of stealing yule celebrations to attack Germanic people? Yes
In the sense of “Those pagan bastards are defiling the celebration of our lord and savior’s birth”? “The War On Christmas” is a tried and tested method of mobilizing the troops.
Also in the sense of literally trying to outlaw Christmas. The Bible doesn’t describe a Christmas festival and celebration, so many Christians felt that it was improper and unchristian for a very long time.
In the US the only real war on Christmas was fought by Christians. The soviets, the CCP and briefly the French revolutionaries are the only times atheists have actually pushed against it. The Nazis were in favor of a pro-nazi version of Christmas that was more about the state.
Even then. Constantine favored Christianity for the empire and settled “the birth of Christ” during the popular Solstice festivals to gain more traction for people.
But yes I understand what you’re saying and modern “Christians” just love to play victim.
There’s a significant number of LGBTQ+ friendly churches in Orlando. Presumably some of the dead could have been members of those churches. A religious-freedom argument could be made to sue for reinstatement of the memorial. I remember the time UCC and Unitarian churches sued for the right to perform gay marriages in a red state before it became legal nationwide.
In my city, I always see the stupid billboard that says “THINK GOD” and I always fantasize about climbing up there and putting a big red X on GOD so it just says THINK.
I see that shit a lot too. And i live somewhere, where i don’t even know anyone who is a real Christian who believes all that crap. No clue for whom it’s for and how anyone looks at these and think: good thing they don’t pay taxes so they have enough money to advertise to no one and hide their kiddy fuckers.
In the Scandinavian countries there are some folks burning down churches. Food for thought. 🤷♂️
Considering the nature of the Pulse shooting being a hate crime grounded on religious principles, and this is a memorial to that hate crime… it wouldn’t be too surprising if a proportionate response were to occur.
The problem is that they already use this as scare to affect people who would otherwise be neutral that days, trans, atheists are after them.
The people who are responsible for this don’t truly believe in God, they are using God to control other people.
They successfully painted trump as some kind of Christian savior, while he is embodiment of the 7 deadly sins and is much closer to be an antichrist.
I don’t understand how people aren’t killing each other out right to be honest.
But like, other people right? You wouldn’t want to end up in jail yourself.
I would never advocate or incite for imminent lawless action. I would advocate for a change in public policy that included things currently held to be illegal.
As long as it makes a difference, the first amendment protects your right to advocate for changes to law and policy. You just can’t tell people to right now go and break a specific law if you have reason to believe they might.“People should shoot maga fascists dead in the street and hang them from lampposts” is protected because it’s saying what society should do, not actively calling for people to go do this.
You got me, officer. I’m a coward who’s all talk, I would never do anything I described.
If anyone created a high powered paint sprayer that could do it from the ground, I’m sure various people would use it to deface things. Not me obviously, but others would
Those already exist (they are basically just pressure washers). And plenty of protesters and activists DO use them.
Hell, a drone, a can of spray paint, a radio, and a servo can go a long way if you really want to.
