Uh oh. Pledge of Allegiance declared unconstitutional

Though Rees said he did not know Richardson by name, he recognized him from previous meetings as the man who sits in the front row and then leaves after the invocation and pledge.

...

The Wisconsin-based atheist group Freedom from Religion Foundation emailed the mayor and the police chief asking both to explain at the next meeting that citizens are within their rights to stay seated for the pledge.

The email said the man who was asked to leave the meeting is a member of that organization.

The group also promised to attend the commission's next meeting and vowed to stay seated during both the invocation and pledge to protest "these egregious violations of the Constitution," according to the email, sent by its staff attorney Andrew Seidel.

good lord

Florida, ahead of the curve

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sixth-grader-arrested-florida-after-refusal-participate-pledge-allegiance-led-n972671

the state with the prettiest name!

am reluctant to spread that story, just because as the article alludes, there may very well be "more to it" (in the fashion perhaps of the texas clock kid).... but jeez. i made a point of not standing for or saying the pledge in my elementary school (they didn't bother w/ it in high school) and sometimes i'd get a little pushback from other students(!) but never, as i recall, from teachers.

the thing that rings true in that article is that the substitute teacher seems like a dumbfuck. no offense to subs in general, many of whom are good people struggling in a shit job, but many of the subs in my (public) schools were obvious nepotism hires who probably could barely pass a background check these days. they were often total idiots who the students (esp. honors students) ran roughshod over.

and i can totally imagine one having a #MAGA seizure in response to a mild provocation from a (black) student.

teacher seems like a dumbfuck

A quick read of the article strongly suggests the teacher had no clue how to recognize a teachable moment and nothing of value to teach anyway.

By way of contrast, my mom was a first grade teacher in a school full of poor and minority kids and she handled the pledge with delicate aplomb, explaining to her six year olds that the words "with liberty and justice for all" described what we wanted the country to be like and what we hoped would be true, even if it was not always true.