Comments by "Orwellian Horseman of the Apocalypse" (@DennisMoore664) on "Sam Harris" channel.

  1. I know it's probably unpopular but Sam is right. The problem of gun violence is not the same problem as mass casualty massacres or suicides with a firearm. All are problems that need solutions but each problem needs its own solutions. There's no single answer for all of it.
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  2. I don't even have to start listening to this one and know I'm going to be pissed off over and over again.
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  3. While I don't think that making the private ownership of ammunition prohibitively expensive is part of the solution (apparently I needed to specify that earlier) I do want to give credit to Mr Wood for pointing out at 59:30 that Chris Rock presented the idea as part of his comedy special in 1999 "Bigger and Blacker" - it was only $5,000 a bullet but it's still a funny bit.
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  4. Campaign terror? 🤣🤣🤣 Troll fail! Bro - you gotta do better than that.
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  5. Our problem in the USA is a plutocratic oligarchy that most people think is a two party democratic Republic.
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  6. I've only been listening for a minute, scrolled down a the comment list a little bit and found yours while he is still doing his housekeeping, so you beat him to it. Wild how fixated some people are about some things.
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  7. Having any chronic illness sucks! I hope you have as many good days as the condition will allow. With your situation I suspect that you would qualify for a compassionate waiver for the subscription fee. It seems like they are pretty good about making exceptions for people with financial difficulties who are interested in getting full access to the podcast. Good luck to you.
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  8. There are often details I have to take issue with Mr Harris over even when I agree with his perspective in general. Right out of the gate, the US is still a Superpower but we're a very dysfunctional one. The world is globally connected enough now to know what the US is all about thanks to Social Media and, well, this place. One hour on YouTube and the whole world can see just how ri-dic-ulous we can be.
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  9. 1% mortality? - What a gyp!
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  10. Any religious or political zealot is a problem.
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  11. That's wonderful! I've been eating meat for so long and enjoy too much the wide-variety of options that including animal protein and products in my diet allows that I know I couldn't be a strict vegan for long. I just hope you won't think any less of your kids if they decide to start consuming animal produce at some point. There are many people who for many reasons either go back to or decide to start including meat or other animal protein in their diet.
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  12. There actually are employers and professions that force someone to take a plane or lose their job. Anytime someone has to be able to travel from one city to another that's more than a few hundred miles away, the employer of that person probably would expect the person to fly and be there later the same day or by the next morning. Most employers won't wait for the employee to take the extra time to travel by car, bus, or train. Some of that has changed in a post-COVID world where employers and employees had to adapt to remote work. But Elon Musk, for example, doesn't seem the type of employer to wait for a day or two for an employee to travel by a slower mode of transportation to come to work. And there are other jobs where people need to be physically present to do on-site training, sales, or other in-person work and who need to travel, sometimes from one side of the country to the other, who will have to use a plane to make that trip quickly. Military personnel don't get to say no when ordered to travel and have to use a commercial aircraft. Just a few examples.
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  13. I've always felt like the best way to win a fight is to not be in one.
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  14. 24:18 - "Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia." -1984
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  15. A mans gotta know his limitations.
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  16. Found this one earlier for someone else's video and since it's appropriate here too... "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." --Stephen Hawking
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  17. Except that still wouldn't solve the problem that animal rights activists have with using animals as a source of food. I abhor using animals for sport and as weapons, or for testing products and drugs. And I fully agree that we should stop factory farming and that it would be best to only have pasture raised livestock in a regenerative system. But I also think we need to stop with heavily fertilized, mono-culture crop production and I'm not a fan of GMO crops, though we'd probably need to do both to feed all eight billion plus of us if everyone went vegan. Unfortunately none of that solves the problems most vegans have with killing animals for food, and to them I'm as bad for eating a pasture raised egg as someone who fights dogs, puts cosmetics in a bunny rabbits eyes, or enjoys torturing animals. I understand their position - I just don't agree with that level of "it's all bad, man" absolutism. I also know I don't have what it takes to be a vegan and I recognize that most people don't either. It's simply much easier to get all the nutrition I need for a healthy diet by including animals produce in my meals along with vegetables and other starches, fats, and oils. I also miss the presence of meat in my diet pretty quickly form the aesthetics of flavor when I don't eat any for a few days. It's a moral dilemma -- meat is indeed murder. Tasty, tasty murder.
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  18. Fair criticism.
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  19. Aaaand not gonna answer that last one here. Nicely played.
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  20. I'll always listen to Dr Mate. He's great!
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  21. I see you keep asking that. Trump is, was and will be a significantly culturally relevant figure and topic of discussion for the duration. You gotta accept people are going to talk about him, dude - or don't and continue to scream into the void if it makes you feel better - enjoy the ride. And yes, it sounds like he does but mostly tangentially.
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  22. He's not endorsing genocide. When someone makes a hyperbolic statement like that it makes them look silly. But to be fair, the into music was always kind of scary.
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  23.  @nickboles9649  Inshallah
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  24.  @runem5429  his damn room.
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  25.  @Brownkid422  That's not your original statement that I replied to though was it? You wrote "no one is forcing you to take the plane or lose your job" and I provided a variety of examples that proved that statement incorrect. Changing your argument after someone has proven you incorrect is a Red Herring fallacy. So you aren't even arguing in good faith. As for your modified argument it's still flawed. There are workers - contracted, part- or full-time, salaried or commissioned - who take a job with one set of standards and expectations from the existing supervisors or owners. Then a new supervisor is hired or owner takes over the company and resets the standards and expectations (Elon buying Twitter as an example). All those employees have to decide if they want to work under the new mandates or leave and find a different job.
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  26. I was reminded about the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack on that documentary on them that was released a few years ago.
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  27.  @chickenfishhybrid44  One of the good things about a comment section is can help me see if this is going to be a useful episode or not. I think I'll skip this one. And I've heard Sam (or someone) recently make the same comparison, probably since the 9-11 anniversary just happened last week, and it's both horrible and just a dumb comparison. Someone else nicely laid out a list of the collateral death, destruction, and costs financial, cultural, and institutional to show just how bad a comparison it was. It's such a dumb comparison on so many levels I'm kind of surprised Sam would do it. Maybe he suffers from that very smart - minimal common sense problem a lot of smart people seem to have a problem with sometimes.
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  28. 1:03:25 - "What have the Romans ever done for us?"
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  29. The way America has/is being perceived globally? That's a broad and diverse topic that often has more than a single perception from anyone with any sense of nuance. It's not like the foreign policy of either the Trump administration or the Biden administration was/is some one size fits all thing as they both had/have other people in their administrations helping set that foreign policy. The view that the people of other nations have of the US is pretty diverse depending on the group of people, the country the are in, and which part of US foreign policy they are talking about. Anyone trying to conflate the entirety of US foreign policy as one monolithic thing and distilling it down to 'America good' or 'America bad' in relation to its foreign policy positions is nonsense and someone to largely ignore.
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  30. Better yet, free the Palestinians from Hamas.
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  31. On The PBS NewsHour last night they had an interview with a photojournalist named Motaz Al Aaraj that left me even more confused than I was before about all of this. The story begins with some of his stunning still images of a beautiful place and happy people and this narration -- "That beautiful coastal city is Gaza. It's charming port, peaceful beaches, and life both everyday and extraordinary pulsating through it's people. All that was before the war." What's confusing to me to have a place described as both beautiful, charming, and peaceful and at the same time as an open air prison filled with oppression and hopelessness. From the way I've heard people describe Gaza in the past it always sounded like a barely functioning slum that knew nothing but the indignity of oppressive occupation. But then in the broadcast they made it sound like it was anything but until the Israeli forces retaliated with overwhelming ferocity and horrific violence in response to the brutal attack by Hamas a month ago. I was left feeling that it was even more tragic that Hamas was willing to run the risk of having such an imperfect yet vibrant and stunning place destroyed and thousands of civilian men, women and children killed just so they could attack a music festival and a few kibbutzim. Was massacring people who by and large were the kinds of Israelis (and other foreign guest workers and tourists) who supported Palestinian statehood and living peacefully beside their neighbors in Gaza and who would provide humanitarian aid and assistance to the people there in need really worth what has now happened? And yet so much of the story is now about the destruction of Gaza by Israel. Not sure what anyone thought would happen when Hamas chose to do that with a violent hard-liner like Netanyahu in charge.
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  32. The biggest problem with charity is all the grift. Even among the "legitimate" organizations it seems like we always find the disheartening reality about how much of the donations end up gpoing to adminstartive costs and not the cause they are supposed to be helpping. To prarphrase what someone else said in another comment, charity begins at home. I'm not a celebrity or person of means and my fanancial state has never been one where I could be of much help. But when I can I'm going to help family, friends, and my neighbors before sending what little help I can to a faceless organization.
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  33. I can act or speak in racially insensitive ways, but it usually as an ugly response to being triggered somehow. But my default position and set of beliefs is for inclusion and equality and am someone most people in the struggle would call an ally (I think). We don't seem to be able to make a distinction between someone being racist and someone who is a racist. Whether people like it or not, even though neither one is good, there is a difference.
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  34. If Trump is in the title the triggered comments must be plentiful. Think I'll skip 'em this time.
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  35. I'll bet people are going to start accusing Sam of suffering from Tucker Derangement Syndrome now. But it's normal to have negative reactions to toxic people, relationships, and events. It's the support of the MAGA mindset and their wallowing in their ideological filth that turns off anyone with any decency. Nothing deranged about not liking trash.
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  36. Anyone who doesn't foam about Trump is either not paying attention or has something wrong with them.
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  37. Italy - the land of Mussolini, the Mafia, and rampant corruption in the legal system.
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  38. Derangement syndrome - oh what a giveaway!
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  39. It fraking freaks me out. The disconnect is astonishing to me especially since it''s not uncommon knowledge how Hamas, ISIS , and other groups treat women and LGBTQIA+ people.
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  40. you forgot - are bottom-feeding toxic waste pits of a person.
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  41. Very nice - excellent comment. High thumb!
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  42. It's sad that when "Fuck You" comes on I can't sing along to that fantastic line "Oh shit she's a gold digger - just thought you should know, -" and I have to stop. That sucks because it totlly fucks up the flow and it's such a kick-ass song.
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  43. Well said. We are focusing on race but I thnk it goes all the way back to tribal conflict. Until we can overcome that fundamental "othering" of anyone not part of our group then at least some of us are always going to be in conflict with each other. We also can't replace race with some other metric of division and say we've really fixed anything. Regardless, this is a generational problem and it's going to take generational solutions and long-term effort to get past - certainly nothing I'll see in the 30 to 40-odd years I probably have left to me (fingers-crossed). We'll hopefully also get past class and gender conflict along the way and maybe get off this little blue rock and out among the stars even then we'll probably see something more like on the Expanse than Star Trek. But any of that would be a better choice than the Soylent Green or THX-1138 storyline.
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  44.  @soulfuzz368  It probably depends on the tribe. Problems seem to usualy arise when the groups beliefs and values become toxic and/or violent either on an inter- or intra-tribal level. I think there is a group-size element at work too as it seems problems get worse as populations increase to the point that after a certain point tribal groups tend to split apart into new smaller groups if they want to co-exist without seriuos conflict.
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  45.  @-Nos-  I'm using the word in an anthropoligical sense of bands of people who having temporary or permanent integration, and are defined by traditions of common family, ancestry, language, culture, and ideology. I'm refering to any modern or historical group of indigenous peoples as well as members of a subculture like fans of a sport club or Trekkies or Dead Heads.
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  46.  @-Nos-  Fan boys of Star Trek? That's an ugly choice of words. Whatever - tribes are all groups of people so most aspects of being a human being would be similar between any two tribes of people. But if you want a concrete example, members of a tribe of indigenous people will dress up in costumes for a ritual ceremony - members of the Star Trek tribe will dress in costume when they attend a convention. You'll see the same thing at sporting events among the members of those tribes. Please don't make me regret answering you.
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  47. DOOMED! We're all DOOMED! Maybe, maybe not. I listen to the old Barry McGuire song "Eve of Destruction" every now and then to remind myself how we've been here before and probably will be again. The stuff does rhyme. Enjoy the decade, folks - the next one didn't go very well the last time.
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  48. "Bro" - dead giveaway - dead giveaway.
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  49. David Brooks is one of the best of the conservative reporters out there. But it's a problem when any reporter equates the Democratic party from before the Civil Rights legislation with the Democratic party after the Southern Strategy response to the Civil Rights legislation. Things like that are part of the problem with being able to have trust in journalism.
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  50. Right or wrong, do you need to be such a dick about it? You write about compassion but exhibit so little of it that all you are going to do is trigger anomosity in others. If you are trying to accomplish somethig positive here it isn't working.
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  51.  @surfacereflection8298  So you do need to be a dick - okay. Good luck with that.
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  52. The Free Palestine sect is going to freak out over this one. But but but - GENOCIDE! "The least effective genocide in history".
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  53. The only trust in people I have is for them to do the wrong thing. If it turns out okay that's what I call a happy accident.
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  54. Long but very well written.
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  55. Lex maybe but Rogan would be a more difficult conversation.
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  56. It doesn't have to be but it often can be, or is at least Antisemitism adjacent.
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  57. There is a lot of open office space these days all of a sudden, no? Maybe we should use some of those empty offices to store all the medical PPE and equipment and other Emergency supplies that don't expire like gloves, gowns, whatever those shoe coverings are called, face shields, respirators, dialysis machines, needles, tubing, mylar blankets, water purification systems, bandages, gauze, cotton, and surgical and emergency medicine instruments and supplies we don't have right now. It would be in the public interest to have large numbers of these and other non-perishables stored in a dispersed fashion across a city, wouldn't it? Let robots make the stuff and make it too cheap - and too shaming - to steal.
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  58. Such a silly thing to write.
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  59. lf you couldn't vote for Biden you could have voted for a third party candidate, written someone in, not voted for the president and only voted for down-ballot candidates and local ballot measures, or not voted at all. If you chose to vote for Trump you chose to support a con man, a grifter, a liar, a shit human being and that speaks very poorly of your character. Just own it and stop pretending that your one of the good guys.
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  60.  @joshh5353  If we had communal land use practices we could vastly expand the amount of animals being pasture raised and naturally revitalize depleted farm land. I don't know if it would be enough to fully meet the demand, but we could at least replace a lot of the factory farming going on. It would also allow ranchers to return raising grass fed and finished livestock instead of the grain-fed feed lot method and help to revitalize land we grow our crops on without having to use petrochemical fertilizers or spraying the slurry from waste treatment plants. Finally, I didn't say people can't get all the nutrients they need from a plant based diet just that it's "much easier to get all the nutrition I need for a healthy diet by including animals produce in my meals". For many people, and for a variety of reasons, it is easier to get all our nutritional needs by including at least a few types of healthy animal produce in our diet. I am NOT talking about a highly processed cheeseburger and milkshake from some fast food chain, but eggs and dairy produce or other meats that have a higher level of bioavailability of nutrients than many plants. Most people can thrive on a Vegan only diet, but they will still need dietary supplements and careful planning to make sure they are getting all the vitamins and minerals their bodies need that they wouldn't have to worry about if they include a bit of healthy meat, eggs and dairy in their diet. Even the academy of nutrition and dietetics would agree with that.
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  61. Very few people think about it happening but many think it can't happen.
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  62. I'd buy that for a dollar!
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  63. It's the crazy authoritareian part that's the problem - left or right. When the penulum swings too far to one side it tends not to return to the center on the back-swing.
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  64. Aren't these supposed to be the Law and Order guys? DUN-DUN!
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  65. As opposed to the useless population who are currently being controlled with video games and psychoactive medication while they're still working their jobs?
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  66. "The White Plague" - Frank Herbert - 1982. Nobody saw this coming - riiiiight. And then there was "The Last Man On Earth" with Vincent Price and it's 70's remake "The Omega Man" with Mr Apocalypse himself - Moses! (even a third with Will Smith, but that was a relatively recent release)
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  67. Apes - damn dirty apes!!
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  68. Probably not. If anyone is reading these it's an intern.
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  69. I appreciate that you compared religion to a candy bar as they both might taste great but they're bad for us if we eat too much and it's not part of a healthy diet. There are people who have consumed too much of whatever their religion is and it seems to rot their brains making them capable of saying and doing terrible things along with any good they got out of it. I'm not saying people shouldn't have religion, but like you seem to say, you have to have the rationality to help balance things out. I'll finish by suggesting it's also a good idea to read the wrapper instead of eating it to try find out what all is in that candy bar someone is eating - it might change their mind about what they are putting in their body.
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  70.  @andybaldman  Not disagreeing with your original point either, although I'd suggest going beyond JP and include study of non-Judeo-Christian religious traditions to get a more balanced set of non-secular narratives from which to draw inspiration and life-guidance. Like I said, I appreciated your choice of metaphor and then like a bushwackin', hornswagglin', cracker croaker I hijacked your metaphor and expanded on it. I wanted to make my own arguement that it is best when consuming the sweet candy bar narrative of a religion, which like you I am applying to both spiritual and secular narratives, to do the additional work of personal study, reflection and reason that relies on reading and understanding the wrapper of that religious candy bar and realizing if that sweet tasting thing is a low-sugar, dark chocolate or Candy Corn and Smarties.
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  71. You can always request a free temporary subscription or send them an email and see about an alternate method of payment like using a card associated to a bank account. But since the full subscription is for a recurring indefinite period of time they want people to use a method payment that can automatically renewed and that generally means a credit card.
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  72. When it comes to Tucker Carlson I'm with George Carlin -- "Fuck Tucker, Tucker sucks!"
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  73. That's YouTube for you.
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  74.  @TheMithridates  I'd also be curious to see a list of the things you think Sam was mostly wrong about and Brett turned out right concerning COVID. Also, Sam has owned that there are things he thought were right and he got wrong with the pandemic. But since I don't listen to Brett about COVID I don't know how much (if any) he does the same.
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  75. On this I'm with you 100%
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  76. Welcome to 2024 - buckle up and keep your towel handy!
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  77. Picking nits here but I think it's odd that these get put up before I get the email notification about the full length episode. I expect it will show up in my in basket later today. As one-term former president Trump so eloquently said, <accordianhands>It is what it is.</accordianhands>
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  78. All of them, but then you wouldn't have lived much of a life.
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  79. Mamma mia!
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  80. You're a schode
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  81. Much of this conflict plays into the hands of Hamas and the Israeli hardliners as well as Iran and others who want to keep the region destabilized.
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  82.  @RafaleKez4  Thanks for a good example of an ad hominem fallacious argument. Gotcha.
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  83. Brooks is good, especially for a reporter who favors the conservative side of politics, but he definitely says things that discourage trust.
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  84. Israel will never be accepted by it's neighbors. That's part of the problem.
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  85. I'm your tribe - just not a paying subscriber.
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