COLLECTIVE MADNESS
“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
very nice...
ReplyDeleteCelebrate the good life. All lives will be better when and if we celebrate the good life. Mazel tov.
ReplyDeleteBut when the price of the "Good Life" is the subjugation of millions of people, there is nothing "good" going on.
ReplyDelete“Zionism is incompatible with peace because it offers no compromise. The only solution is to dismantle the Zionist framework and apply the rule of law equally to both people.
Miko Peled
Peled was raised in a prominent Zionist family in Jerusalem. His grandfather, Dr Avraham Katsnelson, was a Zionist leader and signatory to the May 14, 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence.
...
Peled’s father, Matti Peled, was a young officer in the war of 1948 that led to Israel's establishment. He was a general in the war of 1967 when Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and the Sinai from Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Bombing children, that's the standard of a "Good Life", aye?
ReplyDelete“Gaza is a children’s land: there are 800,000 children there. The aerial bombing was timed to start precisely when the first shift of Palestinian school children were leaving school to go home. The second shift were leaving home to go to school.
"The Israel pilots who carried out the bombing went home every night to their wives and families, and go up the next morning to do it again and again."
His conclusion is that Israel is a terrorist state, that Israel's conquest of Palestine has been made “irreversible” and that a Palestinian state based on the territories Israel occupied in 1967 (the West Bank and Gaza) “can never emerge”.
In Israel, 11.1% of pregnancies in 2009 ended in an abortion, not much of a "Good Life" for those 19,917 murdered Jewish souls.
ReplyDeleteThe good life is celebrated by people not governments. It would be good if we could have the government that we like or at least the one we constitutionally agree upon, but that will never happen.
ReplyDeleteAt this stage in my life I see the value in the good life. Good for goodness sake. Good for the purpose of enjoyment that is not at the cost of someone else.
As I said, good luck with that.
Desert Rat, do you have any shame, any decency, any intellectual honesty? Surely there must be some limits to your hatred. I will pray that you find the ability to know the good life.
ReplyDeleteThe Crookedest, most treacherous people I've ever known sat on the front row, and sang the loudest.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the religion.
I have time for none of them.
Drudge showing that a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that Obama earns 44% support in the matchup, while Christie attracts 43%.
ReplyDeleteIt may turn into anyone but Obama. Will Obama's ego let him stand certain defeat if it looks hopeless?
I say go ahead and let Abbas/Hamas have their frickin' state, and welcome to the big leagues. When states attack each other, they go to full-on war. Different rules from a occupation.
ReplyDeleteIt may turn into anyone but Obama. Will Obama's ego let him stand certain defeat if it looks hopeless?
ReplyDeleteI got one word for ya: Electoral College.
Okay, that's two words. But basically, all Obama has to do is carry a few purple states. There ain't no way California or the Soviet of Washington is going to vote for Michelle Bachmann, even if unemployment rose to 20%.
I think you have to take Rasmussen with a grain of salt; especially this far out.
ReplyDeleteThe "Compassionate" Conservatives really want Christie in the race.
ReplyDeleteThey fear Herman Cain, a man that may actually do what he says he will do.
ReplyDelete9 9 9
This is nuts. we have money to subsidize education for illegal immigrants and provide free breakfasts for student who have irresponsible parent and withdraw funding from pure science.
ReplyDeleteThe Tevatron facility near Chicago will fire its last particle beams on Friday after federal funding ran out.
Housed in a 6km-long circular tunnel under the Illinois prairie, the Tevatron leaves behind a rich scientific legacy.
This includes finding nature's heaviest elementary particle: the top quark.
Since 1985, engineers have been accelerating bunches of proton and antiproton particles around the Tevatron's main ring at close to the speed of light, then smashing them together in a bid to unlock the secrets of the Universe.
BBC
Ah, they weren't very good. They were, actually, looking for the Universe's "Densest" low-energy particle, "The Quirk," and it's been over there in Detroit the whole time. :)
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDelete"Densest" low-energy particle, "The Quirk,"
Another one of my many achievements.
:)
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ReplyDeleteI see the Feds are raiding the hood.
They have a task force set to go into area code 48205. It covers the area with the highest density of murder and violent crime in the city of Detroit.
About a half mile from where I grew up as a kid.
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ReplyDeleteTimes change, and so do neighborhoods.
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God Bless America Land of the Free
ReplyDeleteCompliance With U.S. Personal Income Tax Filings
Unlike most other countries, including Canada, the United States requires U.S. citizens, dual citizens and green card holders, irrespective of their place of residence, to not only file an income tax return, but also to annually report holdings in “foreign financial accounts” and ownership of certain non-U.S. corporations, partnerships and other entities. For some, this requirement to file a return may have been unknown. For others, the filing requirement may have been known, but ignored—largely on the perception that no benefit would be achieved by filing a nil return. However, irrespective of whether or not any U.S. tax may have been due, there are penalties associated with the failure to file. This failure to comply, and the related penalties, has now become a huge issue due to the recent push by the IRS, under the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), to search out those individuals who are not complying. Potentially impacting as many as one million Americans and green card holders residing in Canada, this enforcement by the IRS could also have a significant impact for clients and employees of Canadian CAs. This article summarizes the annual filing requirements and highlights considerations for CAs both in public practice and in industry. Annual Filing Requirements The enforcement efforts by the IRS are not only directed to ensure filing compliance of the federal income tax returns, but also to ensure that non-resident U.S. citizens (including those with dual citizenship) and green card holders meet the following annual reporting requirements:
1) “Foreign financial accounts”: Where the cumulative balance in all foreign financial accounts held outside of the U.S. exceeds $10,000 at any time of the year, a detailed listing of each account must be provided and reported on U.S. Department of Treasury Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). The definition of a financial account is far reaching and includes Canadian bank accounts—chequing and savings accounts—securities and brokerage accounts, RRSPs, RESPs, TFSAs, insurance and annuity policies with a cash surrender value, commodity futures or options accounts, mutual accounts, etc. The penalty for “non-willful failure” to report this information is significant (up to $10,000 per account per year). If the IRS deems the non-compliance to be a “willful failure”, the penalty is significantly higher. It can be as much as the greater of:
a) $100,000; and
b) 50% of the amount in the account at the time of violation.
2) If the U.S. citizen owns 10 percent or more of a Canadian or other non-U.S. corporation, partnership or other entity, this ownership must also be disclosed. Again, the penalties for failure to comply are harsh, up to $10,000 per year for each entity.
The statute of limitations does not run for an unfiled return. Therefore, technically, a non-filer would be required to file for all years when the U.S. citizen had income exceeding a small threshold amount. For a brief period, under the U.S. 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative, the IRS accepted returns for the period 2003 through to 2010 and did not look back further; however this expired on September 9, 2011. Neither the filing of a Canadian income tax return nor paying taxes in Canada during this time
mitigates the obligation to file in the United States.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, renouncing one’s U.S. citizenship may alleviate obligations to file on a go-forward basis, but does not eliminate any past obligations owing to the IRS. As well, even renouncing one’s citizenship will not reduce the obligation to file in the future until one has filed for at least five years. Since failing to file U.S. income tax returns could be a criminal offense, individuals who have questions regarding their obligations may want to seek guidance from a lawyer who has experience with such issues. Considerations for Canadian CAs If you are in public practice, and have not already done so, it would be prudent to review your client list to determine whether any are American citizens, dual citizens or green card holders. Should any fall into this category, advise them of the IRS reporting initiative. If in industry, you may want to make your employees aware of this filing requirement. Remember that it is not only the client or employee potentially impacted by the legislation; it may also extend to spouses and dependents, depending on their individual citizenship status. For example, if children have RESPs and Canadian bank accounts, the cumulative total of which was more than $10,000 at any time during the year, and the child is either an American citizen or dual citizen, the child would also have been required to report these accounts as foreign financial accounts on the FBAR. Furthermore, since an RESP is a Canadian trust, there are also various U.S. foreign trust reporting obligations. It is important that you encourage individuals potentially impacted by the IRS compliance initiative to:
ReplyDelete1) investigate and understand the implications of the compliance enforcement actions of the IRS;
2) establish an action plan to understand the options available to become compliant,
3) understand the potential costs associated with those options; and
4) commence the process of preparing the necessary filings to come into compliance with the U.S. reporting requirements.
Unfortunately, this matter will not be going away and ignoring the situation is not a rational option—to ignore the reporting requirements may only result in significantly increasing the exposure of the individual to potential penalties. Such legal obligations may ultimately fall on executors or beneficiaries of estates of U.S. persons. If they fail to comply for the deceased, they may be liable for the U.S. tax obligation.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteya, Q, the fed's raiding the 'hood' of all non-residential Americans.
ReplyDeleteI see the Bartender named "Desert Rat" still rants about Jews, Israel and Zionism.
ReplyDeleteDoesnt miss a tread to spew his hatred.
I wonder WHY IS HE A BARTENDER?
I am not a "bartender"...
But truthfully, I do not want to be one.
But why is Rat given an "honored"position?
Seems overtly biased.
Let the Jew hating asshole post, LIKE ME...
No more or less...
But you still but him on the board, so his remarks are a reflection of the EB.
BTW, why not remove my name from the roster while you are at it?
PLEASE...
Unlike others that pout and threaten, I request again, nicely, remove my name.
Never shamed by the truth.
ReplyDeletePeople have abortions, governments are made up of special people. Especially in a Jim Crow "democracy".
When their happiness is built upon a system of apartheid and ghettos, there is no real happiness, not enough to go around, anyway.
The political subjugation of over a million people, that is never cause for celebration.
ReplyDeleteNo, Story, I quote rabbinical students, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and a born and bred Israeli.
ReplyDeleteThat you consider them all to be anti-Judaic, well that is your perspective, not my perception.
I do, really, luxuriate in the truth.
ReplyDeleteShame, I've discovered, is paramount amongst those living a lie.
Especially when they are found out.
Not so much before they are discovered.
Did Bernie Madoff feel shame?
ReplyDeleteIf so, was it before or after he was found out?
Jacob said...
ReplyDeleteDesert Rat, do you have any shame, any decency, any intellectual honesty? Surely there must be some limits to your hatred. I will pray that you find the ability to know the good life.
You are wasting your breathe.
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ReplyDeleteya, Q, the fed's raiding the 'hood' of all non-residential Americans.
What's happening Ash, get busted?
:)
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What business is it of the IRS or any government to know what you own and where you own it?
ReplyDeleteIt really does not pay to own anything.
ReplyDeleteRent a house. Lease a car. Get rid of the credit cards. Never hire anyone. And it is hard to understand why there are so few new jobs being formed.
ReplyDeleteNot busted but the long arm of US law extending beyond the borders is...troubling.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of folk who were born outside of the US to US parents who have lived all their lives filing and paying taxes in the country where they lived never making enough to even come close to the exemption limits for US tax obligations who are now faced with the US government, seemingly out of the blue, getting aggressive on non-filers and reporters.
10k for non-willful failure to comply for each account for each year is...draconian.
Not only are you expected to tell the US government your annual income but you are required to inform them of each and every bank account you have any signing authority on, retirement accounts, kids education accounts, joint accounts with the wife. It is bloody well Orwellian.
The only liability the vast majority of foreign residing US citizens have is liability arising from "non-willful failure" to report.
Fucking land of the free my ass. Bend over and spread 'em for the US government.
and I tell you the grief of filing is one helluva pain in the ass. They purposefully make it difficult for Tax preparers abroad to do it for you and for me, because I own my own company, they wouldn't let me file a 'short form' based on the salary I draw from the company but rather I had to fill out a quite extensive form breaking down my revenues and expense in odd ways answering stooopid questions like how many miles I drove. And now this requirement listing all my holdings, jesus! This on top of my regular friggin' tax filings running a business in Canada. It is just one hell of a pain in the ass for little purpose.
ReplyDeleteThat is the way of John Galt, Deuce.
ReplyDelete... you have allowed your world to be run by means of force, by men who claim that fear and joy are equal incentives, but that fear and force are more practical.
Luxuriate in it.
Then, with that truth in hand you can see through the lies, and those that propagate them for what they are, ring masters and clowns.
Better than leasing a car, buy an antique.
ReplyDeleteMy 1975 Chevy is running better than ever.
$17 per year to register, or $90 for a lifetime.
No payments.
Cheap insurance.
Easy to fix, no computer required.
"Turn on, tune in, drop out"
ash:
ReplyDeleteFucking land of the free my ass. Bend over and spread 'em for the US government.
Could not have happened to a more deserving citizen...
Thank you for the best chuckle I have had today.
The only thing more that could happen today would be Rat being deported to Gaza or Ms T's cancer to turn out to be a fraud and she's just a faker looking for attention (and healthy of course)
You US citizens living in the US, are you required to file annually all your foreign holdings? If you have a foreign account are you required to file the U.S. Department of Treasury Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteI sympathisze with you Ash. It's bullshit.
I throw around the old Orwell 1984 meme a lot. But it's not hyperbole. It's fact. It's also obvious.
Newspeak? You see it in the euphemisms used in OZ to change the meaning of everything they do. A limited kinetic engagement? Damn.
The regulations you mentioned just now are an example of how they intrude into our lives.
The war on terror? They can do about anything they want without a court order as long as they say it is for 'national security' reasons. And if you get caught up in their web by accident or a mistake or having a name that is similar to someone else's forget about trying to get off the 'list'. Heck, they don't even need to tell you you are on the list much less why you are on the list.
They classify everything as 'secret' or at least 'classified'. Then you have Bush going back and trying to have material that has been public two or three decades reclassified as secret. Obama's CIA goes out and buy the entire first edition of an ex-agent's book just to keep a few trivial bits of info from being published. (Most of the items had alresdy been released in other publications).
And we end up doing it to ourselves. They had the TV's for monitoring citizens in 1984. We voluntarily sign up for Facebook and Twitter (and blogs).
The shifting wars in 1984? Only the criminally naive would view our participation in the Libyan War as anything but pure politics. The euphemisms used there could fill a book.
The trend towards seperation of the 'haves' and 'have nots' continues unabated.
You could go on for a series of posts giving what amounts to a Cliff Notes summary of the similarities between 1984 and where we are today.
Start memorizing your favorite book. No telling how long it will be before we enter the world of Farenheit 451.
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heh, heh, ya Quirk - land of the free!
ReplyDeleteLike Canada is some beacon of freedom?
ReplyDeleteYou can be sued for saying Islam is a death cult.
I think some of you are missing the "Spirit" of Deuce's Post. :)
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteI think some of you are missing the "Spirit" of Deuce's Post. :)
What do you expect?
There is a worldwide helium shortage right now. Prices are going through the roof.
People are hoarding party balloons.
Some people are substituting hydrogen.
Oh, the humanity.
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The only thing more that could happen today would be Rat being deported to Gaza or Ms T's cancer to turn out to be a fraud and she's just a faker looking for attention (and healthy of course)
ReplyDeleteThere is a red bandana I'm wearing under my wig like a kippah. If that's not good enough evidence of my chemo then to hell with you.
Ignore him, T. He's just an ignorant ass.
ReplyDeleteRufus II said...
ReplyDeleteIgnore him, T. He's just an ignorant ass.
Thank you for the insult Rufus...
I see that your spirit of compassion and thought is well expressed today.
I stated: Ms T's cancer to turn out to be a fraud and she's just a faker looking for attention (and healthy of course)
ReplyDeleteI realize how stupid most of you here are...
but learn to READ....
Simply put for the ignorant asses....
I should hope that Ms T's cancer is a fraud and that she is actually HEALTHY..
fucking retards....
As for "red kippah's"?s
ReplyDeleteask the Pope (and his bishops), they stole all of them
Golly, Story, you misread all the time, not even understanding the difference between a gun battle and a live fire simulation.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, your pants were wet.
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ReplyDeleteForget about him T. It's typical.
I was going to say that it is the religious hypocrite that professes to know so much about his religion that ends up being the most unreligious in his outlook on life and others.
However, as I think about the god of the Jews, I can't really say that. The overriding philosophy seems to be "Kick ass and take names, and by the way, don't piss me off while you are doing it."
(Just my opinion of course.)
Therefore, just forget about him T.
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9 9 9
ReplyDeleteWould never stand a chance of passage, Deuce, even if Herman were to win.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteA regressive tax plan based on supply side principles. Currently, not the best conditions for getting something like this through.
I have to agree with rat.
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As I understand it, the purpose of The Constitution was to place limits on what government could do.
ReplyDeleteThe underlying belief is without restraint you could trust and expect the worst from any government.
The US government has bullied every country in the Americas to do their dirty work. Our congress is a wasteland of ineptness and plunder. We have agencies that rule by edict, courts that are frightening reminders of what putting a uniform on a person does to their character. The sheep look in a mirror and see eagles.
A regressive tax? Come on.
ReplyDeleteTobacco taxes, state lotteries, alcohol taxes. fuel taxes, sales taxes, taxes on savings and government induced inflation are all regressive taxes. The term is meaningless.
ReplyDeleteWhy would anyone tell a thief where they hide their money?
ReplyDeleteThey are requiring the banks and others to report the holdings of US citizens. 10k per account per year for non-willful non-disclosure a lot more for willful non-disclosure including prison.
ReplyDeleteOkay, someone synopsize for me. What Is 9 9 9?
ReplyDeleteIf I lived in a foreign country, I would make it a point to have no one in the US government know where I lived.
ReplyDeleteHerman Cain's tax plan. 9% sales tax, 9% income tax, 9% corporate tax
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteTobacco taxes, state lotteries, alcohol taxes. fuel taxes, sales taxes, taxes on savings and government induced inflation are all regressive taxes. The term is meaningless.
Meaningless?
You might have said it could have a couple meanings, but meaningless?
I don't think so.
The fact that a term encompasses a lot of items doesn't make it meaningless.
From Investopedia:
What Does Regressive Tax Mean?
A tax that takes a larger percentage from low-income people than from high-income people. A regressive tax is generally a tax that is applied uniformly. This means that it hits lower-income individuals harder.
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The Canadian government is no box of chocolates, they are trying to ram through an anti-Internet set of electronic surveillance laws that will invade your privacy and cost you money. The plan is to force every phone and Internet provider to surrender our personal information to "authorities" without a warrant.
ReplyDeleteTechnically you are correct Q but the term is thrown around as a pejorative so that the progressives can embed their own social agenda in the tax system. They love regressive taxes when it suits their agenda; they just fail to mention them.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteTechnically you are correct Q but the term is thrown around as a pejorative...
The term was used correctly. Whether pejorative or not in this context is irrelevant as I was responding to rat's point that 9-9-9 will not be passed in the current environonment.
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Well, I don't think the American people are in the mood for a Federal Sales Tax.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteBesides 999 is merely 666 upside down.
I see you Mr. Cain (if that is your real name).
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LibWhacker, true that on the Canadian Government but that copyright legislation now tabled (for the third time I believe- it's died twice on the order paper) has been heavily backed and insisted upon by the US Feds and other US lobby groups. They claim, due to Canada's antiquated copyright laws, that Canada is pirate heaven.
ReplyDeleteThe Conservative government, recently elected to a majority, is also pushing a US style omnibus crime bill through parliament. That may very well be where the surveillance laws are stashed. There is a bit of a push back on that stuff but now that the Conservatives have their majority...look out! Ironic that the Liberals are more concerned about privacy then the Conservatives.
Give it up. Set it up, slow it up but mostly up it up. First of all, I love the nihilistic wish-fulfillment aspect of this blog. I read a lot of post-apocalyptic lit and come in contact with its fanboys, and the some of them clearly are just dying for the world to explode so that they can be kings. Sure, in this life they’re pathetic Cheeto-dusted losers, but when the earth caves in and we really NEED somebody who’s read every issue of Soldier of Fortune cover to cover to run our new proto-colony of nuclear holocaust survivors, then we’ll be sorry. Then every hot club girl who wouldn’t blow them will HAVE TO so she can get her ration of flour for the day, and won’t that be just and correct? Fuckin A.
ReplyDeleteWatts wrong wit Cheetos?
ReplyDeleteIs that you bobbo?
ReplyDelete"pathetic Cheeto-dusted losers,"
ReplyDeleteWhy do I find that amusing? Light is up HAIGHT
THAT come from Ideehoe?
ReplyDeleteSorry , sorry AIGHT not HAIGHT.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteAight.
Can we expect to see you around here again or is this just a one-off cause you forgot to take your meds today?
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…the really hot girls that wouldn't blow them….
ReplyDelete:) Writes pretty well.
ReplyDeleteHope it wasn't just a cut n paste.
:)
ReplyDeleteHell with the Hot ones. I couldn't even get the Dogs to blow me most nights.
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ReplyDeleteNaw, he's a 'post-apocalyptic lit' major.
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Is this what 5772 is really about?
ReplyDeleteOkay, I give up agin. I couldn't watch the whole clip. What's with 5772?
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteI'll be waiting for a follow-up post, but right now I just remembered I gotta run out and pick up a few more sacks of flour.
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I actually started calling bow-wows that I was reasonably convinced had blown Q. Even that was mostly unsuccessful (okay, it was 100% unsuccessful, but at least one of them talked to me briefly (long enough to say, "fuck off") on the phone.
ReplyDelete:)
Yeah, flour for blowjobs; I can see it. Two words: Atkins Diet.
I've spent a whole life throwing washers and dryers, diamond rings, houses, SUVs, and Cash at wimmin tryin' to get laid, and now this guy tells me all it's going to take is a cup o' flour?
ReplyDeleteAnd, all I gotta do is start a Nucular War?
Where was he when I was Twenty? :)
No, rufus, he's tellin' you that you have to survive the Apocalypse, before you get any strange.
ReplyDeleteDoubt that it's a "real" deal.
Rat, I'll guarantee you I've survived worse on my nooky-chases. :)
ReplyDeleteYou ever heard of a roadhouse called the "Oak "Grove?"
No, I've managed to miss out on that one.
ReplyDeleteI spent some time at the "Horny Toad", before bouncing over to the "Satisfied Frog".
It's all fun and games ...
Until someone loses an eye.
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ReplyDeleteRain delay in NY.
Tigers 1
Yankees 1
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ReplyDeleteWhat, AIGHT, didn't come back?
I blame it on Rufus.
How many of these guys have we had come around here drop a little vitriol and disappear never to be seen again? AIGHT looked like he could be fun. But no. Rufus drives him off with his perverse talk about apocalyptic dogs.
You don't think that was 'Bad Trish' under an alias do you?
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ReplyDeleteNo. It wasn't 'Bad Trish' nor 'Good Trish'.
Went back and noted some inconsistent punctuation, mostly on commas, Trish's specialty.
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