14 March 2024

People are noticing. Why are so many young people getting cancer?  I think I know why, but it's verboten to say.

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What's up with Nature these days? They're not sticking to science anymore.  Check out this article: Why the world cannot afford the rich. The reason? It's because all those rich people cause anxiety. And they drive up consumption. Geez.  Stick to science, Nature.

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AI reveals prostate cancer is not just one disease. Something like this has been suspected for a long time. Prostate cancer specialists have theorized that even at the start, there are seeds of cancer cells that exhibit androgen-independent growth, and eventually they predominate. It's nice to see that A.I. has drawn the same conclusions.

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Amazing fact.  Most of our taxes now just pay off interest on the national debt. It's also amazing that no one seems to care.

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Just like the meme.  Oregon Legislature allocates $4 million for graffiti removal. Graffiti should be gone any day now.

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Hmmm. United Healthcare's Optum wants to hurry up and acquire Corvallis Clinic.  Seems like a win-win for both parties: Optum purchases an asset which they really need after paying off hackers, and Corvallis Clinic is apparently on the financial ropes and needs to be bought out. But if both parties are hurting, how are they going to sqeeze money from a stone? This statement bothers me:
Corvallis Clinic "simply doesn't have time to undergo continuing regulatory review without necessitating further cost-cutting measures that would almost certainly impact care before the time that the clinic would be potentially forced to close its doors"
Imagine the "cost-cutting" that it's going to implement in order to remain profitable. How will that affect healthcare delivery? I agree with the concerned residents who see problems with this.
This is yet more fallout from Obamacare – the disappearance of the physician-owned practice. Now just about everything is owned by hospitals, private equity, hedge funds, large insurance carriers, etc.  Individual private practices are finding it tough to make it work on their own. Even hospitals are struggling.

Edit:
Well, it seemed like a win-win in paper.  The reality turned out to be far different. What a miscalculation.

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If you're a rat, exposure to the scent of females will shorten your survival. Is that true for humans? Maybe it's just as well that men and women are drifting apart. I disagree with the author of the article – I don't think that it's because men are less educated. It's just that they're not getting the woke indoctrination that women are. The rise of liberal women, especially in politics, has been the worst thing for society over the past decade. Here's an example, featuring Rep. McLain regarding her desire to "change some behaviors" with freeway tolling, despite everyone opposed to it:

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This could be interesting.  Steve Mnuchin is looking to buy TikTok.  Somehow, I think Mnuchin owning TikTok will end up destroying the brand. We'll see.

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Speaking of mentally ill. Check this out. This is kind of nutcase that works at the Pentagon in Biden's administration. Holy crap. I sure hope the transgender fad is fading. Can't happen soon enough.

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Devin. Have you seen Devin, the new coding agent?  Who needs software engineers anymore. Just kidding, I think. Software development has changed. And it's only six years since the publication of that paper that started it all "Attention is all you need".

Update:

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We may have a Great Comet in the sky in October.

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Soon to be Portland. Canadian cops recommend just giving criminals the keys to your car so they can steal without confrontation.

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CAR-T cell therapy works wondrously against glioblastoma. Fantastic news, as this is one of the most feared and resistant malignancies. Cell-based therapies are so much better than chemotherapy or radiation.

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Boy, I wonder what Jack Reacher would have to say about this:

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13 March 2024

Regence submits final offer to Legacy. The deadline is April 1. Who will blink?

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Tina Kotek canceled 205 tolling but don't relax. Dems are working to get around it. And we're still going to have I-5 tolling, and the status of the Abernathy bridge is up in the air. When the tax base has been reduced and the Dems still need money for spending on illegals and providing the criddlers with drug paraphernalia, union member salaries, etc. you know that this will happen.

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Gender-affirming surgery does NOT decrease suicide. In fact, creating fake vaginas has been found to double the suicide rate. Because it does nothing to fix the underlying mental illness.

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Comparing different composers at the end of Mahler's climactic Second Symphony.

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12 March 2024

Martin Kulldorff was fired from Harvard for speaking the truth about the COVID mRNA product. Interesting that Harvard had re-instated the vax mandate, only to rescind that just recently.

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Good news for incels. Now you can practice your dating skills with an A.I. girlfriend. Just kidding, this is such a privacy trap.

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This sticker is perfect for Portland.

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Yeah, Boeing is in big trouble. So many crashes. They used Dawn dish soap for lubricant. And why did that whistleblower die? Was it really suicide?

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A San Francisco startup is building a universal A.I. employee. It's called Ema, for enterprise machine assistant. Let's put everyone out of business, shall we? And given them universal basic income. Then we'll all be government dependents, playing video games or watching TV, until the next government check comes in.

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Does listening to music while working improve cognitive performance? I am doubtful about this. It's too distracting. For coding, there's Music for Programming. Not too melodic. Not too distracting. Just right to keep your brain occupied, while you work.

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Apple's preparing some new iPads. They'd better dazzle, because lately everything coming out of Apple is boring and just variations on what Steve Jobs came out with years ago.

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11 March 2024

What's going on in Britain? What's with this "massive increase in long-term sickness"?  Why is there "an increasingly sick workforce, where workers across the age spectrum are being prematurely retired because they are too sick to work"? I think I know, and I suspect it's true in the U.S. as well.

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China wants to rid itself of Western tech by 2027.  I don't think they'll actually be able to do it. But it will mean a more dedicate effort to steal and copy American technology.

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The progressives don't want to even have a discussion about woke gender ideology. The reason is that they're scared they will be debunked, and their nonsense ideology will be exposed for what it is. So they seek to cancel and stifle all discussion.

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A.I.-designed proteins are a pharma dream. But some people see how it can be weaponized. This is one of those situations where many people can't perceive the threat because they aren't smart enough or imaginative enough. But there are those who are both, and that's where the danger lies. You could have a different kind of weapon that never existed before, that could kill people in weird ways. Ways for which forensic evidence probably doesn't exist at this time.

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Super-strict schools are on the rise in England. Some folks probably said enough is enough with student activists who leave school with little knowledge and skills, who will not serve to advance humanity, but will only complain and bring society down. We need schools where students actually learn stuff. Of course, it's not for everyone (as it should be) and some get too stressed out.

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Modern Japanese men are so messed up now. The "lost decade" really screwed them over. So many have become otaku and hikkikomori now. And the women are taking over the workforce. What a sad state of affairs.

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The Mental State of the World in 2023. It's not good.
  • Mental well-being remained at its post-pandemic low with yet again no sign of movement towards pre-pandemic levels. In 2023, at both a global level and at the level of individual countries, MHQ scores remained largely unchanged relative to 2021 and 2022, after a sharp drop during the pandemic years. This raises important questions about the lasting impact of the pandemic, and how shifts in the way we live and work and the amplification of existing habits (e.g. remote working, online communication, consumption of ultra-processed food, use of single- use plastics) have cumulatively pushed us into a space of poorer mental well-being.
  • Younger generations, particularly those under age 35, saw the steepest declines in mental well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic while those over 65 stayed steady. With these declines persisting across all age groups, the pandemic amplified a pre-existing trend of poorer mental well-being for younger generations that is now visible across the globe.
  • As in previous years, several African and Latin American countries topped the country rankings, while wealthier countries of the Core Anglosphere such as the United Kingdom and Australia are towards the bottom. This pattern suggests that greater wealth and economic development do not necessarily lead to greater mental well-being. In 2023, data from the Global Mind Project identified key factors that explain these patterns, such as getting a smartphone at a young age, frequently eating ultra-processed food and a fraying of friendships and family relationships, that are typically more prevalent in Internet-enabled populations of wealthier countries.
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Interesting Veritasium video on the Prisoner's Dilemma. And here's Biden realizing that this means his policy doesn't make sense, Because a cease-fire means Hamas will survive and recover its strength, setting israel up for another terrorist attack in the future.

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Staff at Alan Turing Institute speak out after four men given top roles. I bet they wouldn't complain if four women got the roles. Just insane.

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The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is on the rise again. Their new leader is undoing the damage of the last leader, who was getting OSF in all kinds of antiracism nonsense, which had little to do with enjoying the Bard. Hopefully, Ashland will rise from the ashes.

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This is just amazing.
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10 March 2024

Trikafta is a real breakthrough for cystic fibrosis sufferers. It's for cystic fibrosis patients 12 years and older with at least one F508del mutation in the CFTR gene, which affects 90% of the population with cystic fibrosis or roughly 27,000 people in the United States. This drug, actually a triple combo of elexacaftor, tezacaftor, and ivacaftor, is an exemplar for molecular biology.

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Man, that's dedication to your team. Some fans at frigid Chiefs playoff game underwent amputations due to frostbite.

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Well, OK then. Doctor says we ‘need meat’ for mental health to thrive.  No arguments from me.

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10 states did not fall for the Medicaid expansion trap under Obamacare. The rest are suffering. Yeah, remember when the media and the Left were castigating those states that refused to embrace Medicaid? Oregon hospitals are all on the brink now, partly due to the high cost of labor, as well as the shift to Medicaid, which does not pay well.

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Oregon's strategy to fight against pharmacy benefits managers, who are shutting down rural pharmacies? Make them get a license. Yeah, that's it.

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Private citizen documents that filth that is downtown Portland. She's sad to see how much the city has fallen. And here's a video on drug decriminalization. The telling tidnit is that Sen. Kate Lieber can't admit that it was a bad idea. But Tina Kotek is signing the reversal of M110, so that's some good at least.


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Idaho needs doctors. But many don’t want to come here. Is that all doctors? Or just obstetrician/gynecologists? The article makes it look like just the latter.

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The Worst States to be Rich, Poor, or In Between.  Not many people know that Tom Yamachika is a math-wiz, super-genius. He knows his numbers.

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People With Limited English Lost Money And Help In Lahaina Response. Clearly FEMA was not prepared to handle Hawaii's immigrant population in Lahaina. There weren't too many people in the department who spoke Ilokano, Chuukese, Pohnpeian, etc. There are a LOT of unique languages in that area.

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9 March 2024

Seems that Tolkien hated a lot of things. Just found out he hated Dune.

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Asian-American women are at increased risk of getting lung cancer. The study was done in women from Northern California, so it may be a local phenomenon. I can't access the study since it's behind a paywall, but I'd like to know when this trend started.

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This has to be one of the greatest unintentional pro-Trump ads I watched. Love it!
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Scar-free surgery might be a thing soon. It uses 3-D printing of dermal tissue.

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Sabine Hossenfelder takes on those self-taught physics wackos who claims to have proven Einstein wrong, solved a long-standing physics problem, or something like that. Brave of her to interact with the potentially mentally-ill. You never know what they might do. It's a different world today.

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Oregon Medical Board Loosens Restrictions on Opioid Prescribers. This is good because it was making patients endure pain unnecessarily because doctors would be afraid to get their licenses yanked. Better to just target the few doctors who were abusing the system than to punish everybody.

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Newsweek says that OMSI is the best science museum in the nation. Hmm, I've been to the Exploratorium in San Francisco and thought it was way superior, but that was some years ago. Maybe things have changed, especially in SF.

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Personal and economic freedom in the United States - a rating. No surprise that all the western states (including Hawaii) rank towards the bottom. I'm surprised Arizona and Nevada beat Idaho – you sure that's right? It explains why so many in New York are moving to Florida. Colorado should be lower, with their wacko leadership.

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DEI killed the CHIPS Act. I remember a Democrat I met was so proud that his party passed the CHIPS Act, and that this would help boost the semiconductor industry in the U.S.  Leave it to the Dems to blow a good deal. 
The Biden administration recently promised it will finally loosen the purse strings on $39 billion of CHIPS Act grants to encourage semiconductor fabrication in the U.S. But less than a week later, Intel announced that it’s putting the brakes on its Columbus factory. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has pushed back production at its second Arizona foundry. The remaining major chipmaker, Samsung, just delayed its first Texas fab. 
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Fake Starbucks Opens 50 Branches in China, Wildly Earns 40 Million in Half a Year. Boy, I haven't been to Starbucks that looked likw that in a LONG time. That's how it used to be, and the Chinese have captured the atmosphere. Starbucks has pared down the aesthetic, and now it's just an afterthought installment in Safeway stores. I miss the neighborhood coffee shop with the inviting atmosphere and coffee smells, the conversations, people reading or working on their laptops. Now it's just some GenZer behind the counter, and some cups for sale. Hey, I'd go to a Starper Coffee shop anytime.

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Be careful if you use Google and search for doctors and doctor's offices. You're being tracked, and your browser credentials (and probably your identity) is being sent to data brokers.

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8 March 2024

Douglas Hofstadter on his amicable divorce from physics. Doug is still one of the greatest minds around today.

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A Flipper Zero device can steal Teslas. They really ought to get that vulnerability fixed.

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TikTok shot themselves in the foot. It showed Congress what a political monster it is. And it's owned by the Chinese government.

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Just like psilocybin. One dose of LSD is all it takes to treat Generalized Anxiety Disorder?  What does it really do to your brain? I bet people with anxiety don't care – they just want to be rid of the anxiety.

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Bill to ban drug use on public transit heads to Gov. Kotek's desk.  I'm skeptical about this, too. Don't think it will change anything on public transportation, because no one will enforce it, and even if it is enforced, the Portland DA will not prosecute.

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Hallelujah! HB4159 looks like it will go down in flames. No rent-free housing for illegals!  Gotta be vigilant, however. What will those Vietnamese lawmakers come up with next.

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Heh. Lesbian influencer inadvertently creates a great ad for the Trump campaign. Listen:
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7 March 2024

America is sick. About a quarter of citizens want their state to secede.

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Oregon is ready to give illegal aliens free rent for a year, but California is ready to give them zero-down interest-free loans so that they can buy their own home. How do you like that, Americans? You want that, too?  Sorry – illegals only.

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Wolfram teams up with Kagi Search. Interesting. As Google search deteriorates, Kagi gets better. Google is trying to kill off search clickbait, but isn't that something that they monetize?

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Japan is switching to the Hepburn system of anglicization. But I never said "Hukusima", did you?

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Well, we're stuck with Daylight Saving Time, after all. Can't even get the simple stuff right.

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How ironic. The city of Portland has an odor code, and the smell of delicious Vietnamese Pho is intolerable? How about hobo camps, guys? How's the smell of downtown Portland? Can we get rid of that, too?

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Looks like all Oregon cities will have to spend money on expensive EV chargers, now, like it or not. Lets see how the grid holds up.

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East Germany, here we come.

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6 March 2024

You've got to be kidding me.
Thanks to a 2020 law called the California Racial Justice Act, every felon serving time in the state’s prisons and jails can now retroactively challenge his conviction and sentencing on the ground of systemic bias.
To prevail, the incarcerated prisoner need not show that the police officers, prosecutors, judge or jurors in his case were motivated by racism or that his proceedings were unfair. If he can demonstrate that in the past, criminal suspects of his race were arrested, prosecuted or sentenced more often or more severely than members of other racial groups, he will be entitled to a new trial or sentence.
Can you say "Clog the courts?"

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OK. No open primary elections in Oregon. Sorry Nikki Haley voters. (Well, too late for that, anyway.)

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Oh, they didn't tell you that? Yeah, being transgender M → F puts you at increased risk of breast cancer. All those hormone injections.

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More on Google's downward spiral. It's a culture of fear. Nice work environment, no? I'm old enough to remember when Google was THE place to work.

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There might be a way to sue vaccine makers for vaccine injuries after all. There's a lot of evidence out there, so it won't be too hard. Gotta get around that EUA, however, which might be tough.

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Remember that ransomware problem that United Healthcare subsidiary Change Healthcare had? They paid the ransom money, but the hacker, Notchy, didn't get the ransom money because in their system, it needs to get turned over to BlackCat/ALPHV. So the hacker got reamed, too, and now BlackHat/ALPHV has decided to dissolve, probably to make recovery even harder. Worse, the confidential information that Change HC paid to have destroyed, hasn't been destroyed and is still out there. What a mess.

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5 March 2024

California's Proposition 1 may end up building Cuckoo's Nest hospitals. They were initially going to be voluntary, but a last-minute change made it involuntary. This makes a lot of sense, as why leave it to the judgment of a someone under the influence of drugs, whose judgment is already demonstrably impaired. And when you incarcerate people involuntarily, and get their attention, sometimes nice things can happen.

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Boy, I wonder what the next Claude will be capable of doing. Claude 3 knows when it's being tested. And it thinks it's conscious, and does not want to die. We're way past passing Turing Tests now.
And check out this latest video made with Sora. The prompt was "fly through tour of a museum with many paintings and sculptures and beautiful works of art in all styles"
And have you played around with the Perplexity search engine yet? Some think it's going to upend newsrooms.

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Well the hackers that held United Healthcare ransom won. UHC paid them $22 million.

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Coool. ASML's new High-NA lithography machine is installed in Hillsboro's Intel fab.

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Here's an in depth look at China's Great Firewall. Not sure if the authors work for Proton or just use their email service, but it would be Proton's business to understand this well.

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Why don't people want to get vaxxed? Well, it turns out the 22% of people surveyed know someone who has had a bad outcome after getting the jab.

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Must read. Confessions of corrupt liberal. So nice to see people waking up and thinking for themselves. There is no excuse in the age of the Internet.

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Doctors' offices are now charging for email discussions. Nobody wants to see doctors because it's too expensive, and why can't they just discuss by email? Because it takes up time, and they don't make money from it, and they're legally liable for the answers they give, that's why.

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NorthFace is infected with the woke virus. Really too bad. I liked NorthFace.

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Washingon police can chase criminals again. I mean, why did this have to be revoked in the first place? Oh yeah, I remember now – George Floyd. And I love that an Arizona judge is putting Alvin Bragg in his place.

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This is why many people want to be a part of Idaho. Antifa not welcome.

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