Left Coast Sports Babe

The WNBA will finally start some charter flights for players.

(yeah, I know some are thinking, they didn’t already have charter flights? Nope, they’ve actually been illegal.)

About time. I am 5’3″ and get cranky if I am not in economy plus. Cannot imagine what it’s like to be a basketball player in coach on a commercial flight. Let alone dealing with baggage, missed connections and other headaches.

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Republican Senator Katie Britt has introduced a bill to create a FEDERAL DATABASE of pregnant women that will be tracked by the government.

Dear Charles Barkley.

Since the state seems fond of big sports names running for political office, and you are a smart man.

Would you consider running for Senate in Alabama?-

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SF Giants, delayed by three hours returning from Colorado, lost to a Cincinnati Reds team who had on an eight-game losing streak. Nick Ahmed has a sprained wrist, Jung Hoo Lee has a sore wrist, Jorge Soler is out with a shoulder injury…Patrick Bailey has been on the concussion list, Austin Slater might be joining him..

Maybe it is a curse for not re-signing Renel Brooks-Moon

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House Republicans are now drafting articles of impeachment against President Biden for not supporting Israel staunchly enough.

Wonder if anyone has mentioned this to Pro-Palestinian anti Biden protesters.

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A reason Donald Trump won’t choose Nikki Haley as his running mate: She’s better looking than he is and more likable. He cannot stand being upstaged.

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How long until some Republicans who didn’t see the Aurora last night blame Biden?

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So Trump is trying to convince the American public that he is a brilliant detail oriented man who focuses intensely on everything. While he tries to convince a jury he is a distracted man who lets his staff take care of everything.

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Barron Trump has declined being a delegate at the RNC convention this summer. Mother knows best?

Second win for the SF Giants when they gave up 4 runs or more. In ALL of 2024. Almost 1/4 way through the season. Siri, what is “offensively challenged?”

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Meanwhile the Colorado Rockies 8-28, will play the Chicago White Sox 9-28, at the end of June.

Will the series be sponsored by Charmin?

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NBA has to be disappointed as far as TV ratings and merchandise sales that the Lakers and Warriors are out of the playoffs. On the other hand, at least right now the odds seem slim for an Indiana-Cleveland Eastern Conference final.

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Trump supporters tried to get rid of Fani Willis over dating coworker & allegations she didn’t pay 50% of trip costs. including a few nice bottles of wine.

While Aileen Cannon stays at Sage Lodge – a lovely $1,000 a nt and up, way up, luxury resort in Montana -sponsored by conservative law school. Why can’t Dems go after her?

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Don’t remember a single Republican or right-wing pundit telling Ken Starr that the Clinton cigar story was too much of a salacious detail.

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Ted Cruz about the current trial and Stormy Daniels “There is no person on Planet Earth that believes Donald Trump has been celibate all his life.”

Note to Ted Cruz from Planet Earth.

Trump is not on trial for adultery, though you would have impeached Bill Clinton over it. Donald is on trial for trying to buy and bury stories about his adultery to interfere with an election. Thank you for coming to MY Ted talk.

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So since RFK Jr. doesn’t believe in medical science why did he trust doctors to diagnose and reportedly treat a worm in his brain. Asking for a country tired of crazy.

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Had to pause and replay to make sure I heard this right.

Manu Raju reporting House killed Marge Three Names’ efforts to remove Speaker Mike Johnson.

CNN’s Jake Tapper to Manu “Thank you. breaking news, very exciting…” “Very exciting?” This is NOT a damn reality show. This is our democracy.

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Can media stop saying Kristi Noem is “taking hit after hit” this week? Nothing that is happening to Noem isn’t self-inflicted. Even Michael Vick realized he f*cked up and at least publicly has tried to make amends.

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126 women in the US House right now. 25 women in the US Senate.

And the one who gets the most coverage from major US media is the crazy one from Georgia who passes no legislation but has an insatiable need for attention.

Enough.

As a Spurs fan, I haven’t really cared for a while who wins the NBA finals. But sure increasingly seeming like the NBA wants the trophy presentation at Madison Square Garden.

(And if you don’t think officiating can decide a playoff series, you’re too young or have forgotten 2002 Western Conference Final – Kings/Lakers Game Six.)

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Imagine if before the Super Bowl, instead of both teams’ captains shaking hands, one team refused and said “Not accepting the handshake, if we lose it will only be because the game is rigged.” That’s where we are with Trump & his team.

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SF Giants just got swept in Philadelphia, and despite a number of high-priced free agents, are hitting if anything worse than in 2023.

Former manager Gabe Kapler might be forgiven for giggling.

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September 2020. President Trump “”What we’ve done for Minnesota, if I lose Minnesota, I’m never coming back. I don’t care. I’m never coming back!”

And on the night his son graduates from high school, Trump is now headlining a GOP State Fundraiser in St. Paul. Another promise Velveeta Voldemort took as seriously as his three wedding vows.

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Hey media? Why isn’t it a bigger story that both the GOP Presidential candidate and those wanting to be his VP all refuse to accept the results of the election if they lose?

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WTF CNN? This headline “Judge’s warning provides dilemma for Trump.” What dilemma?

Judge Merchan simply told Donald not to publicly attack witnesses & jurors.

For most defendants when threatened with jail time, to shut up or not to shut up is not a hard question.

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Trying to imagine what would happen to most of us if we told a policeman who pulled us over for a traffic violation that you felt your rights were being violated and “our constitution is much more important than jail.”

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As Houston area begins long process of recovery from recent flooding GOP Polk Country judge Sydney Murphy is “tired of dealing with historic weather events”, but “whatever happens, whatever Mother Nature sends our way, we will deal with.” Anything but acknowledge climate change.

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Donald Trump reportedly complained about having to take photo at Mar-A-Lago with donors and said if people didn’t get pictures it’s because they didn’t give enough money. Well, if they really wanted pictures with him they should brought a teenage daughter in skimpy clothes.

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Increasingly looks like Barack Obama won two Presidential Elections not because of but in SPITE of having David Plouffe and David Axelrod as campaign managers.

Apparently Wisconsin Senate candidate Eric Hovde voted absentee in California in 2023 and 2024. When he loses to Senator Tammy Baldwin in November, bet he’ll be glad to get back to his gorgeous home in Laguna Beach.

https://www.compass.com/listing/532-emerald-bay-laguna-beach-ca-92651/24898364072081121

So Jakson Reitz finds out late Saturday he is being called up to SF Giants, gets on red-eye via Chicago to Philadelphia, arrives Sunday morning & hits a ball deep into the bleachers about 400 feet. Maybe SF Giants need to put whole team on red-eye flights to wake up their bats?

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Even if you’re not a big NHL fan, there are few more exciting things in sports than the phrase “Overtime in game seven”

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Putting a literal spin on “close only counts in horseshoes.”

On Kentucky Derby day, overtime in game seven in the NHL playoffs also turned out to be just an exciting two minutes.

Once again, reversed seasons in Toronto. Where spring is the time for falling Leafs.

WTF Maureen Dowd? – In her column Sunday “In Trump’s social media posts, he can be playful; ‘Contrary to FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I don’t fall asleep during Crooked D.A.’s Witch Hunt.. I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely & take it ALL in!'”

He is NOT being playful, he’s serious.

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Never one to shy away from media, Dean Phillips is first Democrat to call for indicted Congressman Henry Cuellar to resign. Not that I don’t agree with him this time.

But just a touch ironic that the man who primaried Joe Biden for months with no chance for anything but attention, is now telling another Democrat it’s time to quit.

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Houston was experiencing serious flooding this week and it’s not over.

So the question… where did Ted Cruz escape to?

Governors Gretchen Whitmer & Katie Hobbs are fighting hard in purple states to protect our freedoms. Whereas Governor who gets all the media attention lied & shot her dog.

Not that she doesn’t deserve derision, but when people think politicians in general are bad, they don’t vote.

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Been some probably false rumors that Mitt Romney will leave the GOP over Trump. I doubt he’d ever do it.

But again, if Lisa Murkowski wants to leave GOP and become an independent…..

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Hey NY Times, CNN etc. While you focus on both-sidesing and downplaying Trump’s threats, maybe pay attention to what his good friend Netanyahu is doing to journalistm in Israel?

“Israel to close Al Jazeera news network in the country.”

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What have we learned lately about MAGA

In Trump world you can shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue with no repercussions. But don’t shoot your puppy in a gravel pit.

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There’s a big reason Trump and GOP cling so strongly to the stolen election lie: For all Donald claims he wants to “Make America Great Again,” he knows Americans decided that the four years he was in office weren’t that great.

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Finally, all joking aside.-

54 years ago on May 4 – Allison, William, Sandra, Jeffrey…. “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming…” #KentState

They’d have only been in their early mid 70s now.

Bally Sports channels now will be removed from Comcast after bankruptcy of Bally operator Diamond Sports.

So Comcast fans of MLB’s Tigers, Brewers, Reds, Cardinals, Rays, Rangers, Braves, Angels, Royals, Twins & Marlins can no longer see games.

Sadly White Sox fans can still watch their team.

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Non-political rant: Can someone explain to me why SF Giants pinch-hit Austin Slater for Yastrzemski at Fenway Park? Sure, Yaz isn’t great against lefties, though Boston seems to bring out the best in him. But Austin Slater in 2024 isn’t good against ANYONE.

(and with runners on 1st and 3rd and no outs he struck out on 3 pitches.)

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76ers owners bought thousands of Game 6 tickets in Philadelphia on the secondary market tonight to block Knicks fans from taking over the arena, and gave them away to “first responders, health care professionals and other local Philadelphia-based organizations.”

Now that’s cool…but thinking after Knicks closed out series maybe 76ers fans who sold tickets made the smart decision?

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So Donald Trump is saying now he might not accept the November election results and there could be violence if he loses – “it depends” Well we all know he’s just joking because he would never actually endorse violence or try to overthrow the results of an election. #sarcasm

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GOP Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed immigration enforcement legislation, which he said ‘became one of our top priorities following senseless death of Laken Riley.” If only GOP gave half as much a damn about senseless deaths due to domestic violence & guns being in the wrong hands.

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Now she’s talking about the “safety of her children?” How long until Kristi Noem demands all her books be destroyed so she can rewrite the chapter and pretend her disappointing hunting dog had attacked kids instead of chickens?

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There’s a fair amount of bipartisan condemnation of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem shooting a family dog who wasn’t well trained. But some in GOP and pundits like Sean Hannity are trying to defend her. Yep, mostly the same people who would let a woman die rather than have an abortion.

So who had insulting London and Paris on their Trump 2024 bingo card?

“We’ve seen what happened when Europe opened their doors to jihad. Look at Paris, look at London — they’re no longer recognizable.”

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“We can be extremely upset at Biden administration for policies w/ regard to Israel & Gaza. OTOH, I’d hope most young people don’t want to see Donald Trump a racist, sexist, homophobe who doesn’t acknowledge reality of climate change, be elected president of US.” Bernie Sanders

SF Giants had already been outscored 34 to 6 in Blake Snell’s starts. Today Snell was scratched three hours before the game with an injury and the team kept the “streak” going without him… losing 8-2. At least they didn’t sign him for 10 years.

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There are slow starts and there are slow starts. At this point though, the Chicago White Sox, 3-21, probably not only have given up on the playoffs.. they also probably couldn’t qualify for the College World Series.

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So if a teacher now in Tennessee wants to talk about gender identity, teach banned books AND carry a firearm, things could get interesting.

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Have to figure many of the young protesters who’ve been shutting things down in cities and at colleges are at least 20 to 22 years old. Wonder how many of them voted in 2020 and 2022?

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As their sales falter, Elon Musk now insists Tesla isn’t a car company. That should be very comforting to those who own Teslas now (or are thinking of buying one) and consider maintenance and repairs in future…

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Don’t get me wrong. I am glad that Mitch McConnell at least decided to do the right thing with Ukraine funding. But forgive me if I don’t deify the man who stole two SCOTUS seats, and would steal more if he could.

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Important note on yesterday’s vote for Ukraine aid. 3 Senators couldn’t be bothered to vote. Rand Paul, Tim Scott & Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville after a long speech ranting against the aid. Guessing once Tommy had done Putin’s bidding he hightailed it to his home in Florida.

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Not surprised that misogynistic SCOTUS judges like Alito are skeptical of emergency abortion care… Meanwhile, no doubt these men would allow ANY emergency care if a man just had an erection lasting longer than four hours….

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So is Donald Trump particularly upset because his daughter-in-law and handpicked RNC chair just told him he has to campaign in all 81 states?

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As CNN headlines how voters under 30 disapprove of Biden’s handling of Israel-Gaza war, why aren’t they talking about how Trump wants to let Netanyahu absolutely destroy Gaza, while Donald institutes a US Muslim ban and deports protesters?

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Pres. Biden announced new rule to make over million white-collar workers eligible for overtime pay. Rule increases threshold for being exempt from $35k to $43k.

Sounds geeky & not as sexy as a trial involving payoffs to mistresses.. But will make big difference to hardworking Americans. #DoBetterMedia

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Only good thing about some of the media doom and gloom polls.. maybe it will galvanize some of the moderate/liberate “Oh, my vote doesn’t matter” people.

Your vote ALWAYS matters. Vote while we have a democracy. Vote to keep our democracy. #VoteBlue

So who had the only halfway decent first-round playoff game Sunday being between the #1 seed Oklahoma Thunder and the #8 seed (and Zion-less) New Orleans Pelicans.

(94-92 OKC, and New Orleans had chance to tie or win at buzzer.)

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Okay, kudos to those Mike Johnson and Mike Pence on in the pool of “unlikeliest Republicans who would someday do the right thing

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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, often mentioned as being on Trump’s VP list, said Sunday there should be no exception for rape or incest with abortions. It barely even made news cycle.

GOP hopes we won’t notice their extremism.

Intentionally or not media is helping them.

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Look, I love Dionne Warwick

But if she’s now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame why not the Carpenters?

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We’ll never know… but on gay rights, their children changed many GOP opinions. Have to think Mike Johnson’s son potentially having to go to war against Putin played a huge part in Speaker’s conversion.

“He thought about his son, set to attend U.S. Naval Academy in fall.”

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Lindsey Graham on the passage of Ukraine aid: “This wouldn’t have passed without Donald Trump.”

Could he get any more craven? When John McCain died he took Lindsey Graham’s soul with him.

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Increasingly obvious that the worst fear for major US media is not that Trump will get back in the White House and destroy democracy. But that Biden will be re-elected and we will have four more years of a competent caring no-drama man in the White House.

Worst sports headline of 2024?

“NBA star’s family nightmare continues as brother gets 6 years for DUI crash.”

Uh, it’s been a bad month for Nuggets Michael Porter Jr, whoses brother Jontay banned for gambling. Now brother Coban got 6 yrs in prison for killing woman w/ young child in a DUI case where he was allegedly over twice the limit.

HER family has the real nightmare.

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Early days but sure seems like SF Giants could have saved a lot of money on Blake Snell and spent a little more to keep Renel Brooks-Moon.

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It was Patrick Bailey bobblehead daily Saturday at Oracle Park. He’s 4-4 with a splash hit. Giants won 7-3.

How quickly can SF Giants manufacture bobbleheads for the entire lineup?

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So maybe it’s time to ask the question with some of these former “Never Trumpers” who have fallen in line behind Donald as the GOP nominee. Are they being paid? Or are they scared of falling out of windows

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Can the media also STOP covering Velveeta Voldemort whining about not being able to campaign. With their nonstop coverage on his every gesture and every word he says outside the courtroom, why would he want to campaign? Trump getting far more attention where he is.

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Air traffic controllers mistakingly directing 2 planes to same runway resulted in near collision at DC National Airport. Hate calling it Reagan, but reminder, Ronald was one who decided to play cowboy & fire all air traffic controllers for going on strike. Air Traffic Control is still recovering.

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Another rewrite of CNN headlines: “In passing Ukraine aid, the accidental speaker became an unlikely Churchill.” How about “By belatedly passing Ukraine aid, Mike Johnson showed he ultimately cared about democracy .. or having his Naval Academy son pressed in to combat?”

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NBC News making their pitch for worst out of context headine of the year. “Muslim Americans who soured on Biden see Israel aid package as further betrayal.” Without mentioning that President Biden’s opponent would institute a Muslim ban and deport Palestinian protesters.

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As longtime volunteer been lucky to have heard our last 4 Democratic Presidents speak, & countless candidates. Biden will never win speaking awards. Didn’t vote for him to be President of Toastmasters, Voted for him to be President of United States. And Joe’s a damn good one.

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Dear Climate activists shutting down Democratic events: Trump promises to reduce energy prices by increasing domestic production, he plans to end delays in federal drilling permits & leases. “We’re going to ‘drill, baby, drill’ right away,” Please pay attention & grow up.

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Sometimes I think I could devote a whole blog to fixing CNN headlines.

“Trump caps off an unprecedented week with North Carolina rally.” How about “After a week in NY and nonstop rants about being a criminal defendant, Trump returns to his regular rallies.”

The NFL formally reinstated five players today who had been banned indefinitely for gambling violations in 2023.

Wonder what were the odds?

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At least two teams, the Las Vegas Aces and the Washington Mystics, have moved their games against the Indiana Fever to larger arenas because of higher than expected crowds.

Good for them. Now pay the women more.

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Missisippi GOP Senator Wicker is very conservative. But he supports Mike Johnson’s allowing vote on Ukraine aid. Wicker notes his son, like Mike’s, is in US military. Maybe it’s just not wanting to lose child to war against Putin.

But he gets it, for whatever reason. US needs to stand up for democracy

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The entire Kennedy clan is going to endorse President Biden. And you think your Thanksgiving family dinner is going to be awkward.

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Marge Three Names submitted an amendment to the Ukraine aid bill barring funding until “restrictions on Hungarians in Transcarpathia” and other minorities are lifted.

Bet Marge Three Names didn’t even know Transcarpathia existed.

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Trump: It is a shame. I am sitting here for days now from morning until night in that freezing room. Freezing! All for this. This is your result. It is very unfair.

Uh, how the heck should Americans trust a man to handle all the challenges he will face as leader of the free world, if he can’t dress himself well enough to be comfortable in air conditioning?

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Gotten attacked by some far-left folks on Twitter/X today for being against shutting down roads, bridges, Democratic events etc to make a point. They say extremism is only way to get real change.

That worked so well in voting for Jill Stein & putting anti-Muslim climate change denier in White House

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