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The night democracy dispelled darkness.

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I thought the exact same thing! Such a bright and beautiful beacon. :)

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I'm glad my Democrat friends are finally happy.

The balance of power is intact. Democracy was never at stake.

Please try to be more civil.

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Democracy was ... is .... will continue to be be at stake. PS: SF DA Brooke Jenkins won her Election for another term as District Attorney for the City & County of San Francisco. Jenkins will represent the People at the status Hearing on 11/28/22 in the criminal case of the man who brutally sttacked the 82 year old husband of our House of Representatives Speaker. Like all defendants (at least in CA state courts) the defendant will get full due process of law in a "civil" sociey.

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GandolfGrey thrives on attention. I suggest the best response to him is to ignore him & scroll on. If his baiting doesnтАЩt provoke a response, he may get bored & move on.

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Jean,

Why ignore or minimize diversity of thought that we (you and I anyway) do not agree with or share perspective with?

Should we not welcome those who think and look different from us? Are they not equal to us? Those that make us uncomfortable? Those that challenge our own perspectives, since, frankly, anyone can be wrong at anytime about any perception?

Diversity of thought is what keeps the United States a healthy democracy.

I welcome any solid Republican view that is published here without abuse, foul language and especially if it is well written. I welcome a good discussion.

I might make a friend.

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Mike, can you point out any civil discussions Gandolf has participated in? What I have read of his comments are taunting, arroganct and marinated with superiority which does not fly well for good, civil discussions. At least in my mind.

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Pensa,

I agree that his posts use words that appear to bait a more aggressive response. No doubt.

But, part of that sense of baiting that I get anyway, is because, frankly, I strongly disagree with either the basis of his questions or his comments.

So, I have to be careful to distinguish what is truly an external baited sentence from what is my own internal hacked off desire to respond.

Since, it is very hard to separate whether it is his fault that I feel baited, or my fault, I just assume it is mine. Then, my post is civil, although, in my post today, I did border on disrespect for Trumpty.

:-)

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Visit my substack and read my disclaimer.

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All diversity is not created equal. Anti-democratic thought does not make the U.S. a healthy democracy (which IMO it never has been but which many of us aspire to make it) -- although, come to think of it, it has played a role: if anti-democratic thought, and the words and laws that flow from it, are a disease of the body politic, the body politic has mobilized antibodies to fight it.

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Especially folks who complain about their 'freedom of speech'- being curtailed- in order to marginalize others' 'freedom of speech'.

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Yes, as in the repeated doses of the Gen Z vaccine.

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I attempt that path from time to time in the interest of discussion. It does not take long to discover when тАЬdiscussionтАЭ is not on their agenda; however it costs only time to try

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After 7 years of attempted, vacuous "discussion" with these attention seeking entities, I would prefer to reclaim my time.

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Everyone does. It's an accepted debate mechanism.

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The root word of ignorance is ignore. Discussion brings people together.

You cannot read the posts in these pages and not agree it becomes very uncivil much of the time, approaching violent threat at some times.

We're better than this. We should all be happy that the balance of power is intact. We should all be celebrating, but yet I see bitterness in these threads that there is not total dominance by one party.

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Have you thought of changing your handle to Saruman? I don't remember Gandalf sitting down to talk politics with Sauron.

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I don't see anyone here as Sauron. I see Democrats treating Trump as though he were Sauron.

It's silly to attribute such power to him. He is living in their heads, and in their posts 24/7/365 for about 6 years now.

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Then deported back to Canada.

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....after lengthy prison term

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You came this morning with the memory of injury, the pain covering the land of America, our care and the rule of law, Bryan Sean McKown. Thank you for so reminding us. Peace.

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I am grateful & proud of the LFAA Community; I came here to get healed; the patient's condition has improved greatly.

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ItтАЩs wonderful Jenkins won, Bryan! The hearing should be interesting.

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The Feds have a separate action, but it appears to me that Brooke is coordinating with the US Attorney so as not to be stepping on each other's jurisdiction. Each can gain valuable evidence in the separate matters.

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So did Tish James of New York.

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Go hose yourself. (If you don't think that was civil, you don't know me)

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Just before you appeared on my screen, I was reading of Juneau being torpedoed. 'In an enormous explosion, the cruiser broke in two and disappeared in 20 seconds.' Good morning, Tom.

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Good evening, Fern :-)

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"Go hose yourself" is civil???

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Democracy was and still is very much at stake. The people here who defend democracy and the ideals of our constitution are very much civil as anyone who has ever been on other blogs and sites knows. So I am puzzled by someone who makes this plea on this particular blog. Never since the Civil War has our country been so imperiled from within.

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The greatness of America

Is that it does survive

Attacks upon democracy

Whose flame it keeps alive.

The laws that blossom from the words

The Founding Fathers wrote

Still serve us well today to keep

America afloat.

This doesnтАЩt happen by itself,

We cannot wish it true,

The bottom line, my friends, is that

It all depends on you.

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True!!!

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Can you be specific as to the nature of this peril?

The balance of power is intact. What more do you want, complete dominance?

Complete dominance by any party is much more dangerous.

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If you are a regular reader of this letter and the comments, then you know why people are concerned. I am not going to repeat the many, many points they have made. Read carefully your last sentence.

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He is and usually has opposing views.

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This is a forum where opposing views may be posited and discussed respectfully. Anybody trying to strike sparks by friction needs to seek pleasure elsewhere.

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Opposing views are better than having an echo chamber, trust me.

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Once again, Democracy is not in peril. We have a balance of power. Why not enjoy it for a while and be celebrate that we have a Democracy?

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GandalfGrey,

First, cool name.

Second: "Can you be specific about the nature of this peril?"

Sure, in 2020, a fat white male, long pickled in inherited wealth and corruption, named Donald Trump, lost a free and fair election to Joe Biden, who, was born working class and has been working for a living ever since.

Lost. Loser Trump was. As he has always been since middle school when he was the worst player on his baseball team.

However, the pickling with inherited wealth of Trumpty Dumpty and his long experience breaking laws successfully in NY City corruption, provided him a platform to call up an all white army of people after feeding those poor people lies that the election had been "stolen".

These poor suckers, not realizing that the fat white rich boy was lying to them, marched on the Capitol AND are now going to jail because of their mistake, while Trumpty's big, fat, white arse sits at Mara Lago growing ever larger by the day.

So, now, IF calling up a civilian army to overthrow the government by a fat white Trumpty male is NOT a threat to Democracy, then, perhaps, you are not willing to step into the reality that other Americans, now going to jail, stepped into.

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Let's not leave out the theft of government documents, a crime for which you or I or any mere mortal would have already been tried and sentenced.

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Sharon, good point. Theft is a more insidious threat to our Democracy.

Plus, it threatens our allies security.

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Try finding something from the non fiction section, please.

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Ummmm, Gandalf, civil disorder occurs quite commonly on Planet Earth. I know that the Shire in Middle Earth was a relatively peaceful place as were the Elf Kingdoms, but here in the US, We, the People hold elections to choose our leaders who are then allowed to тАЬruleтАЭ for a specified number of years. We, the People have established rules and procedures to administer fair and impartial elections and, if there is some possible discrepancy, a тАЬlosingтАЭ candidate has legal recourse. Donald Trump, in SCORES of instances, pursued those legal procedures and failed to overturn the Will of We, the People. We have a specified procedure that governs the Peaceful Transfer of Power. Mr. Trump and his supporters (you know the folks who broke into the Capitol, carrying Trump flags and defecating in the hallways, etc.) failed to honor that Peaceful Transfer of Power, not only on January 6, 2021, but before and after that date.

No, We, the People donтАЩt want Complete Dominance, we want Complete Adherence to the Rule of Law. IтАЩm sure you agree, right, Great Wizard?

Also, you say тАЬComplete dominance by any party is much more dangerous.тАЭ Please note (and our Founding Parents subscribed to this as well) that тАЬbalance of powerтАЭ is not a numbers game. Even though one political party has more Senators or Representatives (for example) that does not mean the balance of power is skewed. The POWER is with We, the People. We ELECT those Senators and Representatives (etc.). Every candidate has an equal chance at being elected. The BEST IDEAS and the BEST PERSUASIVE ABILITIES should be the deciding factors.

BTW, I sincerely hope I will read your considered response to my comments. Thank you. Say HI to Bilbo and Frodo for me. I love those rascals!!

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You failed to mention that the most powerful man in the country was leading the charge via lies to the courts, lies to the media, lies to his own insurrectionists, lies to the DOJ, manipulation of government agencies against his enemies, and the theft of national secrets

If that does not present as a threat to Gandalf, it might be interesting to hear what does

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Yeah, I really hope that Gandalf spends some quality time responding to our thoughts about these very important issues. I hope he doesnтАЩt pass his responses off to Smeagol/Gollum. Just SayinтАЩ

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Yes, I agree with the rule of law. I am not happy that the Supreme Court would not give the evidence a hearing, but that's now water under the bridge.

I believe the idea of balance of powers is the balance between the executive, Congress, and Senate, with the Supreme Court being the arbiter where the application of law is vague. All of these are intact and well balanced in my opinion. I feel less safe when one party controls all.

We certainly need to reform the way we handle elections. I'm not just a whiner, I like to propose improvements. See my substack article "Doubt Relief". Feel free to comment and/or offer your own suggestions for improvement.

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Why do you believe the Supreme Court has not heard тАЬthe evidenceтАЭ presented by Trump on election fraud, Gandalf?

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Re тАЬgive evidence a hearingтАЭ

What evidence?

What issue?

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GG - were you involved in the Jan 6th insurrection?

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No. I have watched the video, at least what is available. It looks like a typical New Orleans mardi gras parade to me.

The Kavanaugh insurrections troubled me more. With the backing of Democrat legislators, the proceedings were taken over by radicals who occupied the halls of congress and the congressional office building.

Again, certain of our elected officials invited insurrectionists to interrupt the business of government for an entire week. That is concerning.

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You're a persistent fuckwit, aren't you? Go crawl back to Flyover Loserville where you belong, senile old white male boom-boom.

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TC, I would offer that my response respects his request for an example.

Take a look.

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My response to your post is simple. Free speech is an amazing thing. It allows each of us to seek common ground and, at times, to make complete asses of ourselves.

It helps the community to know which end of the donkey we're looking at.

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Trust me, everyone here knows which end of the donkey you are.

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Boom Boom Man | Juni X Tooni | nursery rhyme | for Kids | Littletooni | English toddler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9wwSd579nY

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Sealion off the starboard bow!

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For GandalGrey:

I'm not sure where you find your information, who you actually listen to or watch, but you are absolutely under educated in these times. If governments around the world were predicting the end of democracy in America. If those in the Republican Party have plans to take away women's right to choose, take way social security and Medicare, work towards ending the voting rights of America by letting state legislatures determine who our President would be, get rid of President Biden's Acts which hold drug companies to lower drug costs, infrastructure rebuilding -- everything the majority of Americans want - -- THAT is the end of democracy in America. Those who are uncivil are those who are in leadership positions on the right who spew lies on Twitter. Ted Cruz with a violent purple face, screaming with rage, on Fox that the ┬иleft wing nuts┬и got the young voters to turn out. Read his tweets. Read those of his colleagues. Lies upon lies. But, you know, you have your beliefs and we have ours. Although ours are based in facts.

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Facts... exactly!

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No, not really.

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The things you describe are not democracy, they are a wish list for the Democratic Party. Our ability to vote is what makes us democratic. We have voted and no one has a dominant majority. The balance of power is intact.

If what you really want is full control of all houses, and the ability to pass any of your preferences, that is the antithesis of democracy.

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You are out of tune. I've no wish to waste any more time here.

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Scroll on!

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To fix that comment, grammatically at least, use a lower-case "d", except for "Democratic Party".

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Ha...haven't had my coffee yet.

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Civil.

You mean like making a joke about an 80+ yr. old man being beaten with a hammer? That kind of civil?

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Where did I do that?

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Ummmm, Gandalf, I agree that a decent degree of civility is required as we discuss the various solutions to Life in the US and the world. We CAN disagree without being DISAGREEABLE. HOWEVER, as a reader of the comment sections of several тАЬright-leaningтАЭ news sources and after listening for six+ years to the most UNCIVIL LEADER of the Republicans, I am hoping that you will spread your wizardry in MAGALAND as well.

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Hear, hear and HERE!

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Ha ha...I do.

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See you over on Newsmax, OK, Gandalf? IтАЩm тАЬFacts Unlimited.тАЭ WhatтАЩs your handle?

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I'm not going to cross connect my handles. Sorry but it's a strict policy.

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ThatтАЩs fine. I sincerely hope you spread your expect decency from the MAGA portion of the GOP, including, the MAGA Leader, whom you must agree has demonized many, many fine upstanding and Patriotic Americans, which then has the тАЬopening the damтАЭ effect on his followers.

My point about that the difference between Civil Discourse on THIS site versus Newsmax (for example) is monumental. I hope you also have a тАЬstrict policyтАЭ on urging the MAGA folk to remain civil. Complete transparency on that claim would, indeed, be monumental.

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OK. I'll bite.

Democracy is "at stake" every hour of every day. It always has been and it always will be. The enemies of true representative government have been embedded in our society since before the Founding and will be ready to pounce at the first sign of non participation and gullibility of the public. If we get lazy, they take power. If we get complacent, they harvest the nation's treasure. If we ignore their existence, they become ever more powerful.

But thanks for your good wishes. Are you preparing for the Blue Tsunami that will sweep the nation two years from now? Join us. We sleep well and definitely have more fun.

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Democracy was very definitely at stake...and we must remain very vigilant....it still is...

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Not even close. Very evenly distributed.

Yes, we must remain vigilant, but there is cause for celebration and perhaps civility, at least until the next election cycle.

If ever there were an opportunity for civility, it is now.

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You are Just Wrong....nothing more to say to you on this ..Democracy was and remains at stake...

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Suit yourself. I think some folks are habituated to feel constantly under threat.

I sometime wonder if television is not capable of mass hypnosis.

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I wish you hadn't written the last six words.

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I admit I was angry but, I have practicsed over 30 years as a litigator & trial attorney & fully understand the fiduciary duty an attoney owes to the jury, the judge, clients, witnesses, the bailiffs, colleagues including opponents and never thought the legitimacy of our democracy with all its so-called "inefficiencies" would ever be at stake. It's not over despite the many recent hard working recent accomplishments. Of course, you were right Anne-Louise.

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Jeeze Bryan, you are ruining my penchant for lawyer jokes. You are the fifth attorney In my 72 years that has garnered my respect and leads me to believe there are good men and women in your profession out there. We depend on your wise counsel. Thank you sir.

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You should see my ex-law practice partner in action; she is still practicing. Like this LFAA community, the sum is greater than its parts.

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Hell, you were entirely right to use those last six words. You don't owe some escapee from Flyover Loserville a damn thing. What they need is found in the Beatles song "Piggies." The last line.

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I think she was referring to me. Why would I delete a comment pleading for civility?

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because you're being a smart ass.

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Thank you for your opinion, jaded as it may be.

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Since you don't have the ability to delete squat here, you persistent moron, why don't you go stick your head back up your ass where you've kept it for the rest of your life there in Flyover Loserville?

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I most certainly do have the ability to delete my own content.

I am also very happy with the election results. Democracy is intact. We're all on the same page, so why not enjoy it for a while?

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Boy are you a joke. But not funny by any measure. Love those election results deniers, huh?

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I am with you st this point Jeri.

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Not to cavil, well, to cavil only a little bit, I think you mean Democratic friends. The use of тАЬDemocratтАЭ for the party is a subtle but unmistakable slur that Republicans have employed since the 1940s. It shows a lack of respect for the party, as if Republicans need not bother to learn itтАЩs name. Individually, we are Democrats, but the collective is Democratic. Thanks.

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I switched party affiliation during the Kavanaugh insurrection week.

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And some of my best friends are still Democrats. We debate openly and honestly, without demonizing one another. Several of us had lunch and went to early vote together.

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I was a Democrat for a long time. I've seen it slip to the far left of JFK's party.

When the Democrat Party eliminates the elite superdelegates I may resume respecting the label "Democratic".

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OMG ! I'm bending over from cracking up. If you are sincere, then bless you.

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Give us a break!

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Give the planet a break!

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Nov 14, 2022
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Gunfire last night off campus in Idaho & an incident in Virginia this am. No details so I will NOT re-post main stream media chirons.

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Nov 14, 2022
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I brought a few of them with me to early voting. Treated them to lunch too.

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