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From Judge Merchan's Trump gag order:

"[A]ll citizens, called upon to participate in these proceedings, whether as a juror, a witness, or in some other capacity, must now concern themselves not only with their own personal safety, but with the safety and the potential for personal attacks upon their loved ones. That reality cannot be overstated."

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Same as for violent mob crime, and yet, this does not disqualify him. Lawyers still promote his bull Schitt. News anchors refuse to call him what he is, religions still see him as reformed and a Christ figure, Republicans still claim him as conservative, Latinos and blacks are cozying up. Orwell would be shocked. Yet his evil runs amok. Who will die first.

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"Who will die first," Jeri?

I don't know about first, but I had a sister die as one of the COVID million who met that fate thanks to the grifter incompetent in the White House then.

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My predictions:

1. TFG will be found guilty on all counts. He’s toast in NY. No way Jose.

2. TFG will be remanded to Ryker’s Island for not less than 10 days for breaking the gag rule one too many times.

3. Yours truly will will get into the courtroom with media credentials in order to report live especially when Stormy points her little pinky to indicate the size of his doubleganger.

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From your lips to God’s ears!!

I can’t stomach listening to anything about this guy anymore. I know he is dangerous but all this free publicity…. Just the mention of his name makes me want to hurl.

I’m praying for the day when they put him in an orange jumpsuit and ship him upstate. I don’t know but I think NYS prisons aren’t as nice and Federal prisons??

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State lockups are pretty grim compared to federal. But I'm guessing that if he is convicted and sentence, a deal will be struck to transfer him to a Club Fed, solely because the Secret Service will be stuck with protecting him even while in lockup. I pity the poor agents who have to serve his sentence with him.

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It’s their job, they signed up for everything, prison can become part of everything 🤷‍♂️

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I don't care if they install a gold toilet as long as they stop feeding him.

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A steady diet of hamberders should be just the ticket.

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Maureen, which is why I never mention him by name although I was once castigated on this forum for refusing to do so. This is just like a mob trial and one of my names for him is mafia don. I have a fiction book called The Juror and have had it for some time. I started it and realized that I couldn't read it. What happened to one of the jurors shows us who he is and who his minions are. Intimidation all the time.

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It’s gone beyond what fiction will tolerate, hasn’t it, Michele. Gad. It we were not watching, we would not believe it.

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You beat me to it so I’ll second what you said.

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I agree with (1) because he will be convicted. Disagree with (2) because the judge had every opportunity to jail him for that and didn't. Don't believe the judge will do it during the trial, he will only keep fining Trump. That said, maybe the judge will add another year in the can during sentencing specifically for the gag order violations. (3) We will cheer your journalistic epitude!

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The keep fining him I believe is starting to “pay off.” He is now demanding down ballot R’s pay him a percentage of their funding, and he has taken large sums out to help his own businesses, Mar-a-Lago and Doral. He’s a sinking piece of blubber financially.

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I hope so, Sue

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Trump knows that they won’t put him into jail. So the gag orders mean nothing to him The best judge can do for now is to fine him for each violation. And maybe at the end of the trial add it to sentencing

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I read early on she said it looked like a mushroom. :0)

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I have a feeling once this trial gets underway, we'll be subjected to lurid details unlike any ever released before. I wouldn't put it beyond them to ask Stormy to identify his goober from random pictures of guys' junk. Get ready. As if we all weren't already sick enough of the guy. (Kudos to HCR for not wanting to concentrate on him anymore!) All I know is I wouldn't have served on that jury for all the gold gilt in T***p Tower.

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"That's entertainment, folks"....Or so they would probably say. I did laugh out loud when I read your comment, Bruce. He certainly wouldn't be shamed by it. In his unreality world, it could really BE a goober and he would insist it was Secretariat sized.

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I don't believe Merchan will allow that.

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She did, Sandra. Funny as hell.

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Bill, I can’t wait to read your live reporting about the witnesses’ previously unreported personal knowledge.

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doubleganger.... nasty! (didn't pass spell check lol)

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Ok not only the wrong spelling but doppelgänger means ghost which is a stretch though one might conclude that what he has an only a ghost of the real thing.

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lol i did get that.... German word i think

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I think if he is remanded, it will be under house arrest.

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lol Bill...

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I think I'll believe it when I see it.

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Good luck!

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You know first hand how much blood he has on his hands. I’m so sorry. There will be more, I fear

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Here in NY, My uncle died at my 60th birthday party on March 8, 2020, three days before they shut down Broadway. Three relatives had Covid-19 and didn’t know they were spreading it. My brother-in law STILL has long-Covid symptoms from then. We were frantic. Had to take him to Connecticut to find a test to confirm and almost lost him, too. My Aunt died of Covid a year later, before the vaccine came out. When I heard Trump knew back in February about how bad it was, I blame him for every death in US from Covid.

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So do I. Every day his TV appearances were so idiotic. How can magats forget how horrid that period was? They are truly a cult with no rational thinking.

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I am so so sorry for your family's losses. May they rest in peace.

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Debra, I blame him for discouraging people to wear masks and get vaccinated.

Remember how he used to make fun of President Biden for wearing a mask?

He made people feel

entitled enough to risk making others sick. They kept saying, "MY right not to wear a mask or get vaccinated." What about others' right not to die?

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And remember that they call themselves Christians

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Meant to say the Uncle died a few days after my party.

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Debra, I am so sorry. My closest call with Covid has been two friends with debilitating long Covid, and another who died from a stroke right after she had Covid.

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Debra and Ally, I have compassion for all the families and friends who have lost someone or many someones thanks to all the blather of the anti-mask and anti-vax bluster and bullying. We still have 1000 people suffering and dying every week in America from Covid.

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They should have been telling Americans to take large doses of vitamin D. The immune system is loaded with vitamin D receptors, because it needs D to function on all four cylinders. My siblings and I take large doses of D. I take 5000 IU four times a week, except in the summer, when I run shirtless. My blood level is the same summer and winter, around 50ng/ml. None of us got covid until I got it a week before the eclipse. It was a nothing. I had no real discomfort, just a slight wooziness. My temperature was mostly below 99. (And I'm 70.) It went away after about 8 days.

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I am so sorry to hear that Phil. It must be very hard.

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My brother, too.

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So many, his denial early on killed so many. Acknowledgment and lock down for couple of months may have prevented another 1918.

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It WOULD have prevented another 1918.

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Indeed

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Paula, I am so sorry about your brother. May his memory be a blessing.

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Paula, I am sorry about your brother and condolences to all the family members who lost loved ones thanks to death star's denial. One of my hubby's cousins in South Dakota keeps track of the COVID deaths there and posts reminders directed to the death star clone governor, The Gnome who loves to brag about how she ignored doing anything about it.

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I’m sorry to read of your loss. May his memory be a blessing

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So sorry.

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I’m so sorry, Paula. 💔

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I am so sorry.

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That is beyond sad, Phil. I suspect a majority of Covid deaths have been Republican. It hurts especially when it's personal. One million plus Americans, death "by choice". And it sheds a dark like on the social nature of us all, influenced by figures of authority, and your predisposition to believe.

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Frank, that "predisposition to believe" is key.

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agreed, and that's how social groups of any kind form.

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A wisdom saying:

When something is true And no one believes it, it is still true.

When something is a lie, and everyone believes it, it is still a lie.

It is so tragic like Hitler’s big lie that Many people innocent Fell for Trump’s big lie, and the terrible price everyone paid for that.

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Phil, I am so sorry about your sister. May her memory be a blessing.

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So terribly sorry about your sister. We cannot let that horrible profligate, Trump, get his grubby little hands on power ever again. All he knows how to do is destroy.

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So sorry, Phil, for you and others who lost beloved family members.

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I wish every American who lost a loved one to COVID due to his mishandling of the crisis could sue him for wrongful death!

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Phil this must be incredibly difficult for you and your family. So very very sad.

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SO sorry. Bill! My younger sister, too, died in February of 2020 — after spending the previous four months in a nursing facility that wound up being a hot spot for COVID.

We’ve never been sure, as she was dealing with dementia. But …

He not only did not handle the outbreak adequately — he dismantled our early-warning and rapid-response system for epidemics left in place by the Obama administration, so we had no eyes and ears out in the world looking for the possibility of an outbreak until it was already OUT.

He was and is and will always be a monstrous disaster walking …

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My condolences to your family for your loss during that terrible time in our recent history. It must be so painful to think, “It was so unnecessary”! I read recently roughly 75% of the deaths (~750,000 souls) were linked either directly or indirectly to an incompetent or devious tRump. My Family was very fortunate in that we only suffered the associated illness. Although, every day we anguished in that our GrandDaughter was a Nurse at a large Boston area Hospital working double shifts because of Nursing shortages. Due to PPE equipment shortages …Nurses and I suppose other medical personnel, were washing masks and gloves, etc.. attempting to remain safe…all caused by tRumps initial gutting of the preventive systems. In addition, our Governor at the time had arranged for emergency shipments of PPE and tRump et al seized and redirected the shipments…Why…only that goon and his fellow thieves know??? Although, I’m embarrassed to admit that I wished harm to a fellow Human Being. I actually wished tRump had actually drank the Bleach he touted as a cure for Covid. I may well pay for that in the End! So be it!

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so many heroic people in the medical fields and first responders to be grateful for, such as your granddaughte…..I had heard about Trumps administration hijacking shipments of PPE to stockpile for their own use, or, knowing him, to sell on the black market. Such a disgrace.

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You are going to have a lot of company Bob, wishing is different than acting, none of us have brought harm to him, although many of have had fantasies.

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I am so sorry for your sister’s passing. I hope your memories of her bring you solace and joy.

trump lied and people died.

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I’m so sorry for your loss, Phil. 💔

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So sorry for the loss of your beloved sister.

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Phil, the "like heart" was simply mean as the ❤️ that I use to convey love and sympathy. I am so sorry you lost your sister to that evil disease.

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Once in a while the thought comes to my mind: what if animals in the wild used the same amount of critical thinking processes that some of us use, how long would they survive? Somewhere along the way of human evolution, perhaps because our forming communities gave us security as well as a sense of security from outside threats, we've developed the ability to not recognize certain actual threats, to deny reality or at least certain probabilities. Margaret Taylor Greene is a poster girl for this phenomenon. Stupidity alone does not account for it. I'm not certain that she is stupid.

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MT Greene is a Russian asset, bought and paid for by Putin. If only Georgians could see that she isn't representing them, but a foreign autocracy.

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The propaganda she spouts is SO furious I think you're on to something. I hope the Justice Department is secretly investigation all her campaign funding sources to see what is coming from Moscow via money launderers.

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Yes, Shane, I hope DOJ is following every thread back to its source. If the influence direct/indirect can be documented & proven, I hope she is held to account—not sure via what laws/regs that might be, but sure seems like there should be. And, I’m afraid, she’s likely not alone in this, as several legislators seem to parrot this very (dis)information.

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Who is communicating this propaganda directly to MTG, and how? What is she giving or receiving in return? I hope somebody is paying attention!

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I don't understand that either. How did she find out that there's an ethnic in Ukraine, I guess, who speak Hungarian? That seems really obscure to me.

Also, I don't see how we have the right to tell Ukraine that ethnic minorities must speak a certain language.

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She is not the only one, I am sure. Rachel Maddow's book, "Prequel" is a must read!

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I would agree that she is a de facto Russian asset. I'm not certain that she understands the potential consequences to American democracy by her actions.

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Either she doesn't understand, or she does. And either is cause for dread.

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Every word true. Any path to control.

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That certainly would explain a lot.

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She is either brain-washed, self-absorbed, or a power-freak. Maybe all. Probably not stupid, like many of her fans, but a user who sees an opportunity to rule that may never come again. Nunes said about this very thing in 2017. Something along the lines of "without trump, all this goes away." Piss on the country...

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I would love, and would pay for a dissection of her conduct and her reasoning for it by someone with the professional/academic qualifications to assess/analyze it.

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Goebbels could explain it, or Orwell...

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https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/political-warfare-and-congress?r=5v4jv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Timothy Snyder posted this in regard to Greene and Gaetz...........these are the most obvious Russian agents in Congress.

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Thanks for Professor Snyder's link, Kathy! I found a wealth of important information that gave me a greater understanding of what's going on with Greene & Gaetz. The ongoing fight between Democracy and Autocracy. This is America! We must adhere to Democracy!

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Thank you for sharing Prof. Snyder's post with us, Kathy. Much appreciated.

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Jeri, Mike Turner is quoted in HCR's post today- "We need to get back to professionalism. We need to get back to governing. We need to get back to legislating."

Get back to?? They're just now realizing the need for this?

Why did the Republicans let it get this far? Being professional, governing, legislating- they have done none of these since Trump came on the scene and they crumpled in fear under his sense of power and grandeur.

His power and grandeur were and still are Delusions.

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If only they would get back to professionalism.

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Does he have a coworker who agrees with him. Would love for a few to come out of the woodwork

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1984 "Agitprop".... in the end, our defeated hero learned, at depth, that 2+2 = 5.

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The goal. Hope MSM keeps a few math skills.

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lol. she's a "living and breathing" example. Maybe go back to running a restaurant.

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I am pretty religious as a metaphysician based in Christianity and I clearly and unequivocally see Donald Trump as America’s unique anti-Christ. Those of us who align with the goodness that faith gives us see very clearly the devil in the details, the devil in the Teflon Don. Please don’t lump us with unthinking, self interested, or ignorant people who wish to or who have a chance to destroy democracy to impose their moral values- often immoral values, on others. But thanks for commenting and getting what is going on!

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I go to a UU church that accepts all stripes. I know well that there are those who see him for what he is AND practice their religions with integrity and love. The ones in my family need to be "lumped." except for a Methodist cousin who is loving, kind and accepting to all. Sorry if I lumped too much...

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Totally understand!!

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I have reached the point that I fear the Article 3 Courts may soon join the Article 2 Executive and the Article 1 Legislature as casualties in the MAGA wars, eviscerating the entire Constitution, and making tRUmp - therefore Putin - victorious😡

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I fear such also, they truly are Putin's useful fools. once gone, dark ages will descend on our beautiful earth

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Maybe if the media would quit idolizing Trump's actions and/or stop reporting his postings on Truth Social, people might pay attention to all of the accomplishments of the Biden administration and the perverse actions of the Freedom Caucus.

It may seemed hypocritical to praise HCR for dwelling on Trump's actions, but I don't recall a single time that she has said a good word about TFFG.

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Gary, she hasn’t said a good thing because she works hard to tell the truth in a historical context.

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Do you have a good word to say about the tffg? I do not.

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I think we are at a turning point, similar to when McCarthy lost his audience during the senate hearings on unamerican activities. We have not turned the corner, but cracks in the extremist rightwing are starting to appear. They are being openly criticized by some traditional republicans, they have lost every election that was about women’s health care and drumpf is slowly declining in the incessant polls. This trial is important and evidence and testimony will be presented on every news channel, some channels will wildly distort the facts, others will cherry pick what they present ad nauseum. This election is also about the Supreme Court as vacancies will likely happen and I want to see competent judges appointed who are not owned by billionaires and use laws from the dark ages as basis for their highly questionable decisions.

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OMG, I hope you’re right! We need to be shifting this ship SOON - o we’ll go into full breach.

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Name one thing that Trump has done that you are proud of.

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🤔 💭 🧐 🧐 💭 🤔………………………….

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