1675 Comments

Our next Movie Night on Dec. 14th is 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫 (𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟏).

https://open.substack.com/pub/ziggywiggy/p/wonkette-movie-night-dec14-arthur?r=2knfuc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

We also have 2 holiday matinees coming up, 𝐀 𝐃𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐜. 𝟐𝟓𝐭𝐡 and 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫'𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲, 𝐉𝐚𝐧. 𝟏 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 (as requested by Rebecca.)

Matinees start at 4pm ET. The post goes up one hour before, for pre-movie schmoozing and trivia.

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Dead thread.

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This movie is one I wish they would have continued. The next two books that continue the events were a delight. I still need to sit and read the fourth one, which seems to be the tone of "Well we got the big bads, but now what?"

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Trust me, there is no dearth of big bads anywhere in the series.

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I can imagine. I do expect A Map of Days introduces a new threat

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Ironicalish

Iran, which had closely backed Assad, says Syrians should decide country’s future

Iran, which had strongly backed President Bashar Assad’s deposed government, says Syrians should decide their country’s future “without destructive, coercive, foreign intervention.”

https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-lebanon-news-7-december-2024-53419e23991cfc14a7857c82f49eb26f

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"Except for ours."

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In which case the US will stick its nose in too, more than likely.

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Cairnholm doesn't sound Welsh to me, but what do I know.

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Cairn: Scottish Gaelic: Not too far away. (Pretty universal among mountaineers of all sorts.)

Holm: English, Scottish, German, and Scandinavian.

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No double "l"s and no unrecognizable-to-English-speakers vowels?

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I think having two palaces in one city might have been seen as excessive.

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One palace and one fortress might have served him better in the long run?

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Or prudent. One is probably a guest palace, or for the weekends.

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You always need a back-up palace.

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The 1-percent boot lickers are at it again. I think it's perfectly fine to express one's disapproval of murder.

But today in the NY Times (of course), we get this: “It’s (UHC CEO murder) being framed as some opening blow in a broader class war, which is very concerning as it heightens the threat environment for similar actors to engage in similar acts of violence,” Mr. Goldenberg said.

But no discussion of course of how this should be a wake-up call to address how the 1-percenters are waging class warfare against us all and how we desperately need healthcare reform. No, it's just how the American people "are bad" for their lack of empathy.

And you would think events in Syria might also be a wake-up call for them. Nope.

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The celebration of CEO guy's assassination isn't evidence of a lack of empathy, it's evidence for empathy for all those abused and exploited by insurance companies.

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I find it interesting that Americans have been shooting politicians since nearly day1 and it has never had a significant effect on policy. Then one executive gets shot in the morning and by that afternoon, the industry has dropped their plans to limit anesthesia.

https://www.whiteinvestments.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WRITE-IT-DOWN-SMALL.jpg

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Isn't every murder an opportunity for "similar actors to engage in similar acts of violence"? What Mr. Goldenberg actually fears is that the proles get it into our heads to murder our betters.

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Oh, Mr. Goldenberg, I have news for you: there's been a war going on for quite a while now. The one percenters - to wit, the health "care" profiteers - have an absolutely genuine and not insubstantial body count of those they have killed. Their concern is that the casualties in the war may now occasionally extend to them.

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Mr. Goldenberg must recognize that we have an incoming President who oversees a national system of stochastic terrorism that is far more of a threat to ordinary citizens than the threat represented by lone anger bears bent on taking out a CEO.

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The NYT thinks it's readers are the 1%, so they tailor their articles. Next up?

"How Is Your Civil Unrest Bunker Coming Along? Finding the Right Contractor for You!"

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Copy cat killers. What a novel, groundbreaking theory.

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I suppose we can hope.

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Complacencies of the peignoir? Pfffft. I was up at 6:30 this Sunday morning, dammit.

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In case you were thinking that Syria is now freed from tyranny, the Syrian rebel leader is head of an Islamist group once linked to Al Qaeda:

After attracting little notice for years, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani spearheaded a stunning lightning offensive that led to the fall of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria after over 13 years of brutal civil war.

Mr. al-Jolani, 42, is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group once linked to Al Qaeda that has controlled most of Idlib Province, in northwestern Syria, for years during a long stalemate in the conflict.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/world/middleeast/syria-hts-jolani.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

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I really feel for the women in all of those fundamentalist countries. (including what is becoming ours)

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The North-East of Syria is doing pretty well for women. https://www.syriandemocraticcouncil.us/women/

"The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is the only political authority in Syria to mandate a minimum of 40% women’s representation in all of its political institutions"

"All institutions, including the Syrian Democratic Council and its representation in Washington, are led by male and female co-chairs."

"Women commanders leading major SDF combat operations have worked with the Coalition to capture strategic cities like Raqqa."

"Women in North and East Syria lead reconciliation efforts that solve disputes without resorting to the legal system, operate centers to protect victims of domestic violence, and bring new economic and social development programs into their communities through communes and assemblies. "

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And this one; and this one.

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Added that.

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LET. PEOPLE. ENJOY. THINGS.

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Smoke'em if you got'em . . . at a POT CAFE near you!

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Pot cafes are finally coming to Mass. Here is what we know.

[depaywalled Boston Globe] https://archive.ph/DcuoM#selection-1716.0-1716.1

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Shades of Amsterdam

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there are dispensaries popping up like mushrooms after a rainy spell all around my area in NY Hudson Valley. It may be the end of the American Experiment, the climate may be crashing around us, it may well be the end of civilization and yes, even a habitable planet, but at least we'll be going out good and stoned.

(not me, I don't particularly like the stuff)

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I had hoped for the same in Germany, but I would nearly have to drive out of Rhineland-Pfalz to get my hands on some. Hit the border of Saarland and the stuff is everywhere.

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My boss from what's left of the day job is opening one here in Beacon. Nice touch is that the building is the former city police station.

And yes, of course, it's gonna be called The Station.

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Waves from Poughkeepsie to wherever you are in the HV!

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Waves back atcha! Right across the river from ya. Often work in P-town and surrounding environs

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The few times I have used it I have hallucinated. It wasn't fun hallucinating either. Also, the time lag weirdness.

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You can smoke weed inside a comedy club and not tobacco?

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For at least a year, that line will be in the opening monologue of every comedian who comes through Massachusetts.

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It's Massachusetts . . . we march to that "different drummer" (Henry David Thoreau was, by all accounts, a lousy drummer and a bit of a prig)

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Well, I completely FUBAR'd the Eggs Benedict. Except for the bread. Overcooked the poached eggs, and it went downhill from there. Never again; above my pay grade. Anytime you see a recipe on a difficult dish that has "easy" in the title ... LIAR!

On the plus side, the dogs love me. They're not food snobs.

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Poached eggs are overrated, but that's just me. The hollandaise would be worth putting some practice in to get right.

Yay for the effort!

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Poached are relatively easy….I learned to make them at less than ten years old and have been doing since. They have less fat and a nice texture compared to fried eggs, and they’re a perfect complement to a crab cake for (as the neighbor kids call them) “eggses benefict” (novice human pronunciation).

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I've been wanting to make carb cakes! My son loves them.

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Not difficult….crab, mayo, eggs etc….really, it’s a worthwhile hour and change. We make enough to freeze them, but this is the base recipe which will feed four people in benedicts with a side salad.

125G / 1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 large egg (jumbos are even better though they take a little longer to cook)

15ml / 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (the kind with seeds)

15 ml / 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (or fish sauce if you want a Vietnamese/thai flavor)

3 ml / 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha or to taste

A little less than .5 kilo / 1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over - we clean it well and shred it pretty fine; less shell and binds better with the wet stuff.

About 80ml / 1/3 cup dry fine baguette breadcrumbs, or 20-25 saltines crushed

60G / 1/4 cup oil

Lemon wedges, for serving

Mix the wet stuff in a bowl - mayo, egg, mustard, worchestershire, sriracha. If you fancy 3-5ml/ half-teaspoon of sherry, that’s additive but everyone doesn’t like or can’t have it.

Mix the crab and breadcrumbs in another bowl.

Add the wet stuff to the crabmeat and breadcrumbs and mix until it’s consistently wet

Use a deep imperial 1/3 cup measure to measure for crabcakes. If you lightly butter or oil the measuring cups, you can smoosh the mixture in and tap it out into a reasonably well-shaped cake that’s about 38mm/1.5 “ thick and 70mm/fat 2.5” round.

Add the oil to a skillet and heat it until it’s rippling with heat, so 160 to 180 C or 325-350 F (Medium high). They’ll brown in about 3 minutes - if they don’t, turn up the heat a bit.

Once they’re done, rest them on a baking rack to cool. They are great with the lemon wedges immediately as an appetizer, or they can go in the fridge overnight and be used for brunch benedicts, which is the key use-case at chez meh.

About 5 mins of heating in a nonstick or carbon steel pan in the AM while eggs are poaching and English muffins are toasting will bring them up to temp.

The benedicts can be topped with anything from hollandaise to a mixture of mayo/ketchup/cayenne/sriracha to romanesca sauce and they’ll be tasty.

Enjoy.

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Well, you tried!

I've never made them, but when I've had them out I always just want the deconstructed version. I don't actually want the poached eggs. I want an English muffin with smoked salmon and really lemony hollandaise.

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Smoked salmon under hollandaise is one of the world’s enduring flavors.

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As with last week, husband's going out of town later today for a couple of days of trial. And as with last week, I hate to nag and everything, but it's like "WHEN ARE YOU LEAVING? YOU SHOULD GO!" because as much as I love him, being alone is such a treat to this only child in a tiny condo. I LOVE alone time!

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Yass! Good time for nudism, occult rituals, chanting, and avant-garde performance art rehearsals!

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Alone time here means more cat time.

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Or multiple cats. If you got ‘em, snuggle ‘em.

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For the one month each year when spouse is overseas with family, I go WILD.

And by wild I mean I eat what I want and sleep in the middle of the bed, goin' out when I wanna and comin' home when I please (speaking of Tom Waits).

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I'm the same level of "wild"--for me it's pasta for dinner 2 nights in a row and going to bed early while listening to a podcast!

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Thanks for making me grateful to be single. The holidays or the cold always trick me into feeling lonely. Even Gato is off snuggling Garfield, stupid helper primate all alone in her enclosure.

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I'm truly always grateful to be single. The only time I felt lonely was in a relationship.

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I really miss snuggling a person. Been a couple decades and i am in my fifties. I just gave up

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Awww don't give up on all intimacy :(

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Aaron Rupar

‪@atrupar.com

Trump confirms that he plans to deport US citizens who have undocumented parents

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lcsj7erxlc2m

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Shit. Mine have been dead and gone for ~15 years. Hope Assbreath does not require me to dig them back up.

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That man doesn't look well.

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We can dream.

No one is going to declare unquestioned fealty to JO Davenport Vance or come to his defense if the orange horror shuffles untimely off this mortal coil.

It’ll be infighting all the way down.

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Might still be better than having Trump in the WH.

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We're just waiting for the palace coup. Not sure if it will be the Grim Reaper or someone else.

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I can't look at that face anymore but he hasn't looked good for awhile now. People voted for him but BIDEN OLD!

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His appearance and voice induce shuddering revulsion in me. I wore the mute button out on my remote last time around. This is gonna suck harder than last time.

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This time around I am avoiding all TV, video, pictures of him. I have stopped watching Rachel and Lawerence O’Donnell because of unexpected video. Local news, SAME.

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No way he's gonna finish four years. We should have a lottery!

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I have thoughts, banhammerable thoughts...

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Good!

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Welker, NBC, "You've promised to end birthright citizenship on day one," Welker noted. "Is that still your plan?"

"Yeah, absolutely," says The Worst.

"The 14th Amendment, though, says that, quote, all persons born in the United States are citizens," Welker pointed out. "Can you get around the 14th Amendment with an executive action?"

Oh holy shite! The imbecile gets going:

"Well, if we can, through executive action...I was going to do it through executive action, but then we had to fix COVID first, to be honest with you. We have to end it."

If it wasn't for the PAB fixing COVID, there'd be no birthright citizens!

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I had long assumed that multitasking was not his strong suit.

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The neurons are mixing up the paths again.

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Is this not him and all his kids but Tiffy?

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She’s just as bad, just smart enough to maintain distance for plausible deniability.

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There are no words for the amount of ANTIPATHY I feel for THAT MAN.

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You're not alone.

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A question I keep coming back to, which I know won't be answered by anyone, is "if being literally born in a country doesn't make you a native of that country, what does?"

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Germany on line one.

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Becoming a billionaire as calculated in the country's currency?

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Name ends in a Z? Get on the bus!

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"Not you, Matt."

"Thank Christ! What about Carolina?"

"...shouldn't she be in school?"

"Half-day."

"I mean in general."

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Phew. Missed it by that much.

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Well, deporting the undocumented parents of a one-year-old US citizen is a “constructive” deportation of the child as well.

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More QUELLE SHOCK. He fucking MEANT IT when he said it people.

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The HELL he will.

That is NOT how the law works, you vindictive, fat fascist fuckwit.

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GQP bootlickers are going to try to enable his fascist lazy ass all over again, and SCOTUS has his back. Sucks.

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Or citizens with documented parents. They don't care.

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soooo, 'parts of the constitution may have to be terminated,' do I have this right?

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Long way to say 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱

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Heretofore to be known as the 14th Suggestion.

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He's an idiot.

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Yep. He said that.

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of course he will

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Rick Perlstein

‪@rickperlstein.bsky.social

Just putting this out there: the jacket the CEO-murderer wore is flying off the shelves. That sort of popular anger was there to be harvested this past November by the the Democratic Party, were they led with the kind of valor, empathy, and populist courage FDR showed.

https://bsky.app/profile/rickperlstein.bsky.social/post/3lcqjd2ylbc2n

"This sort of popular anger" is being expressed in a very American way- by people buying things.

It's impressive. The response to demonstrate support for the killing of a man whose offence was grotesque profiteering for his corporation is to rush out and provide a different corporation with an increase in its profits.

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Pfft…it’s a cool jacket…I wanted one when I saw it

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That guy doesn’t seem too bright.

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Yet another blame Kamala opinion. Was she supposed to shoot a health insurance CEO on 5th ave???? Please do FUCK OFF.

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I am going to go out on a limb and guess that Rick here was backstabbing right up until 11/6 and now he’s all “the Democrats let us down!”

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How has Trump not cashed in on this??

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Wait for it.....

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I have the first in that series and I was just thinking about putting it out in my Little Free Library

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