Do not forget. The Supreme Court of the United States of America repudiates, invalidates and overturns existing laws all the time, every year.
Monday Open Thread
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33 responses to “Monday Open Thread”
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Back to work
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The cold front came through, 33 degrees here.
Mornin’ Gang -
It’s 30º here and overcast, drifting down to 19º at 6 AM tomorrow. It looks like we may have 5 inches of snow on Friday morning.
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Morning gang. I’m showing 16 degrees here at wake up time for me. For some reason my hot coffee feels and tastes better than usual this morning, but I’m sure the cold has nothing to do with it. But I put on some long sweat pants and a heavy shirt on top of my standard T and I’m going to be off to the coffee shop if my car will start. You all have a great day out there, and more later.
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Last day off.
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Armed Forces Brewing Company
Their story here. For $200 you can buy 20 shares. They’re trying to raise $7.5 million.
Fun video here with Robert J. O’Neill, Seal Team 6.
You can order online here.
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Coffee & Covid ☙ Monday, January 3, 2022 ☙ WHEN ROBOTS ATTACK
It’s the first Monday in 2022 and things look great. Omicron continues to spread like wildfire — especially among the injected — but people just aren’t getting as sick. Scott Gottlieb dunks on cloth masks; HHS relents on monoclonal antibodies and will let states order them again; a Rose Parade float makes a surprising metaphor; the US hits a new record level of Omicron cases but hospitalizations remain under control (again); the New York Times publishes a pair of infographics that are especially interesting when you look at them together; the Netherlands goes full booster, shooting for the record; I explain my theory on why the CDC shortened Covid quarantines; Eric Garcetti takes office as New York City’s new mayor; and the new Florida weekly report is out.
/snip
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*COVID NEWS AND COMMENTARY*Yesterday on Face the Nation, former FDA commissioner and new Pfizer executive Scott Gottlieb said something that would have gotten him canceled and fired twelve months ago: cloth masks DON’T WORK. He didn’t mince words:
“Cloth masks aren’t going to provide a lot of protection. That’s the bottom line. This is an airborne illness. We now understand that. And, a cloth mask is not going to protect you from a virus that spreads through airborne transmission.”
You don’t say.
Here’s the problem, Scott. Since the Experts have either been lying the entire time or completely wrong about simple science like cloth masks, whilst encouraging us to wear them inside, outside, at the restaurant, at the ball field, … and since all of that medical performance theater has now turned out to have been completely useless, we are wondering why we should listen to ANY of your ideas now. And don’t say “in a pandemic you do the best you can.” Stephen Petty was talking about airborne viruses and mask failure over a year ago and you just kept prattling on with the cloth mask nonsense like you couldn’t hear him or something.
So get bent.
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After Florida’s Surgeon General Joe Ladapo sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra on December 29 requesting monoclonal antibodies, pointing out that while some mABs may not work for Omicron, there are a lot of other variants still out there and patients that will benefit from the mABs, Joe Biden said there was no federal solution to the virus, and the CDC reversed its estimate of the prevalence of Omicron, HHS has now backed down.
On New Year’s Eve, HHS announced that:
“In light of recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical guidelines published on Dec. 30, 2021, and the significant variability in prevalence of the Omicron Variant of Concern (VOC), all states and territories can continue to order both Lilly (bamlanivimab plus etesevimab) and Regeneron (casirivimab plus imdevimab) monoclonal antibody products from HHS based on allocated amounts for clinically appropriate use.”
In other words, the federal government has now unlocked the stores of monoclonal antibodies. We’d been hearing reports of clinics running out of mABs from all over the country after the federal government locked them down. I’ve also been hearing many anecdotes of folks receiving the mABs and feeling better, Omicron surge or not. I’ve yet to hear one single report of anyone getting the mABs early and not quickly improving.
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The “creepiest float” award at the New Year’s Rose Parade goes to an over-the-top effort captioned “Vaccinate Our World! (VOW)”. Upon close study, it appears they may have been shooting for a Jetson’s theme, but it came out absolutely bizarre, the coerced vaccine metaphor didn’t jive or sync with Jetsons’ canon, none of the Jetsons characters were present, and, well, it was sort of terrifying and definitely NOT whimsical.
The float features a giant 12-foot-tall robot nurse waving a colossal syringe, with a six-foot needle, and a flat expressionless face that says nothing less than, “this is your future.”The human float riders are two scientists … or space doctors … or something … who are “flying” in a big silver saucer. In other words, they are stereotypical space aliens. Hmm. A float with giant robots armed with massive needles and aliens … both things that stereotypically ATTACK human beings! Not an especially good metaphor for friendly helpful medical care.
The real message though is discovered in the float’s ultra-high production values. The float is a Hollywood-caliber special effect, all its elements carefully designed, obviously carefully crafted, including the best custom materials money can buy, assembled by a high-end studio in LA someplace. In other words, it is obviously VERY EXPENSIVE. So the real, hidden connotation or subtext is, “there’s a lot of money in them thar’ vaccines!”
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Omicron continues to spike. The U.S. hit a new record high of 580,000 Covid cases on Thursday, breaking its previous record for the second consecutive day and nearly doubling last winter’s all-time high. Still, hospitalizations, while growing, are increasing much more slowly than are cases, and Covid-related deaths actually fell last week.
A double set of New York Times’ infographics over the weekend unintentionally show what appears to be a direct correlation between high vaccination levels in the US and high case numbers. I checked my own county — Alachua — and sure enough, we have a high vaccination rate AND ALSO a high infection rate, while the surrounding counties are the exact opposite. Weird.
I say weird because you would have thought that high-vaccination-rate areas would have LOWER infection rates, or at least the same as low-injection-rate areas. So. Dang. Weird. [/snark]
All reports suggest the vast majority of the infected are injected people. Fortunately Omicron is very mild. Injected folks are being hospitalized, but at lower rates, their cases are less serious, and they are leaving the hospital sooner. But .. what if it had gone the other way? What if the new variant HADN’T been milder? Then all the injected folks would be … what? Dying in droves?I don’t know, maybe this is something the FDA should look into? Why are do injected seem more susceptible to a heavily mutated variant than the uninjected? Doesn’t that seem like something they might want to figure out? Oh well. What do I know. Let’s just keep doing it their way.
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The Netherlands is going there. I guess somebody had to do it. On Thursday, Newsweek reported on the Netherlands’ new plan to administer FOUR boosters — six shots total — to all its citizens. They government has ordered the shots on a rolling six-month schedule, depending on when a Netherlander got his first shot. So they could get up to three more shots in 2022, if their schedule works out right. Or wrong, depending how you look at it.
The article says that the nordic country has already bought 18 million Pfizer does and is under contract to purchase another 17.5 million. According to Newsweek, the country is currently 89-percent vaccinated and 20 percent boosted.
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The independent data analysts that I have followed for 20 months — who have been right more often than the corporate experts — are predicting a winter-wave peak sometime in the second week of January, but suggesting it will be a wild ride. This would be consistent with the short, sharp peak we’ve seen with the Omicron wave in other places like South Africa. We just have to ride the bull a little bit longer.
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I’ve been thinking about the CDC’s relaxing of quarantine restrictions during record case reports and a substantial winter wave. Obviously it makes no sense from a science perspective. In fact, the CDC has already taken a lot of heat for the move, even from corporate media and its experts. But the wacky experts in Altanta are not backing down. Why not?
Over the weekend, I heard from one of my clients. He’d been laid off for being uninjected, but when the CMS Mandate was stayed, he got hired back as an independent contractor. Last week his boss offered him double pay if he’d take extra shifts. Why? Because his fully-injected co-workers are largely out sick.
So … it occurred to me that, since Omicron prefers the injected, had the CDC stuck with its original 14-day quarantine, employers who followed the guidance and enforced vaccine mandates could have most of their workforce out for up to 18 days (three weeks plus two weekend days on each side). That could put a lot of folks out of business, or in the uncomfortable position of — like my client’s employer — having to hire back their uninjected workers at huge premiums.
That wouldn’t be good for business.
So, it’s possible, even likely, that the CDC was NOT responding to the Delta Airlines letter or to the NFL, but instead was trying to avoid a wholesale, nationwide disaster where the CDC would ultimately be the one who got blamed. So they just changed the rules, again. It’s nice when you are completely unaccountable and can change the rules whenever you want. Nice and convenient.
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On his second day in office, New York City’s new Mayor Eric Adams said that city workers might have to get boosters to be “fully vaccinated” and keep their jobs. And last week, delusional governor Kathy Hochul of New York announced that 600,000 public university students in that state will be required to get boosters to stay in school. Haha! College kids will put up with anything.
Reporting on the story, the New York Times boldly asserted that “The [Omicron] variant of the coronavirus has shown it can evade vaccines, though studies indicate Moderna and Pfizer are likely to offer substantial protection from the variant.”
In English, the Times is saying: (1) the injections don’t work against Omicron, and (2) nobody knows if the boosters will work, either. So let’s boost, of course.
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/snip -
From C&C comments:
You may not yet have seen last evenings covid news. Apparently an insurance guy sent Dr Malone an email & an article was published in alt media, stating that his company has seen a 40% increase in deaths & big increase in both short & long term disability claims among *working age people* compared to pre-pandemic. And he’s hearing similar from others in the industry.
Even Dr Malone is starting to to take the 1st steps toward turning “conspiracy theorist.”
Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong here: Is it accurate to say that the Supreme Court is going to be looking at constitutional considerations and effectiveness data (none) regarding these injections but will NOT be looking at any safety data whatsoever? Is this information off limits?…..out of bounds?……unimportant?….too controversial?
For the love of God, we could fill a stadium full of parents, relatives and loved ones who have experienced unimaginable suffering because of these worthless and totally unnecessary injections. Moreover, there’s got to be dozens….HUNDREDS?….of qualified professionals that can sufficiently present enough compelling evidence to drag this vaccine garbage back into the primordial sludge from whence it wriggled. How do we do this? What’s the process? IS there a process? Is there a particular court that will even consider this? How do the Nuremberg Trials fit in? DO they fit in?
How many poor souls have dispensed with their mortal coils? Conservatively….. thousands?….tens of thousands? Serious, life changing adverse toxic reactions…..? Hey, it’s anybody’s guess. But don’t be alarmed, everything’s fine. According to the good folks at Hallmark, I mean the CDC, “The number of deaths and injuries are within acceptable limits.”…….. Wheewww! Thank goodness
Let Us Alone
31 min agoYou wrote “Is it accurate to say that the Supreme Court is going to be looking at constitutional considerations and effectiveness data…” I hope the Supreme Court only considers Constitutionality of the mandate and not the effectiveness of the vaccine. Because if it rules the vaccine is not effective and therefore government can’t mandate the vaccine then that would open the door for mandating vaccines that *are* effective. No one should be forced to take a drug, or any medical treatment, by rule of government or employer, effective or ineffective. Being forced to undergo a medical treatment or drug (consumed or injected or skin patch, whatever) should be the only item the Supreme Court should consider.
MitchB
Critically thinking a bit here. Pfizer and Moderna target a single spike protein. It’s likely this provides minimal protection if any as Omicron evidently has far fewer of that protein making these vaccinated vulnerable. However, the unvaxxed likely have a very high level of natural immunity by this point. Since natural (recovered) immunity would be sensitive to many more of the likely common components of the virus this seems to make logical sense. Why on earth do so few of our medical “intellectual betters” seem to be so lacking in basic critical thinking?
Of course it would help if any of our institutions were actually tracking data in research-grade detail; as it is I’m unconvinced the data we have is high enough quality to root out the variances enough to draw truly accurate conclusions let alone correlations from the data.
1ReplyMary
Its even less than that. They target only one Subunit of the 2-Subunit spike protein. And it is the “dangerous” subunit that causes the damage.Leila L
Yes, that is Dr. Robert Malone’s take on this. And mind-boggling the ignorance of our “best and brightest” scientific minds. They are either willfully ignorant, intentionally lying, or just plain stupid. Not sure which answer is the most unsettling.
All for the love of money. But they can not take it with them into the grave. Fauxi is 80 or somewhere thereabouts, Schwab is older. Do they think they will live forever? They should have let doctors use Ivermectin and HQC and there would have been a whole lot less deaths to be mourned, and no jabs, that would have saved the sports world a lot of good young men.
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RE: #8
2022 Rose Parade winner – Vaccinate Our World !
The float features a giant 12-foot-tall robot nurse waving a colossal syringe, with a six-foot needle, and a flat expressionless face that says nothing less than, “this is your future.”
The human float riders are two scientists … or space doctors … or something … who are “flying” in a big silver saucer. In other words, they are stereotypical space aliens. Hmm. A float with giant robots armed with massive needles and aliens … both things that stereotypically ATTACK human beings! Not an especially good metaphor for friendly helpful medical care.
The perfect cherry on top of a year in which America was consumed with a mass psychosis.
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Texanadian, I hope you still have plenty of firewood.
I do, and 20 minutes from home, or closer depending which way I go, I am in country identical to the fox and fiddle video from yesterday.
High temp yesterday 32 degrees, current temp -8. Things will be trending higher later in the week and hopefully the worst of winter is over with.
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Antonio Brown acting all afool again yesterday. I assume it ain’t drugs since the NFL would catch that but I sure wouldn’t want to live inside that guy’s head.
Guy was close to reaching several incentive marks to receive a million bucks in bonuses.
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Back from coffee this morning and brimming with extra useless knowledge now. Temps have already risen to above freezing (34). Winds have died down, so that’s not too bad given the sunny skies and radiant heat. Not sure what the rest of the day holds in store, but I’ll get to work on planning here shortly. More later.
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Never got below 38° in the Barrio.
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No one talks about how hard the journey to getting pregnant can be for same sex couples.
ROTFLMAO This is an actual headline.
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Congressman Troy Nehls
BREAKING Today, I submitted the transcript from the
@joerogan
experience podcast episode #1757 with Dr. Robert Malone to the Congressional Record. Big tech wants to restrict your access to this information- but they cannot censor the Congressional Record. -
Just found out though my high school FB page that a classmate has passed away. I haven’t seen Tim since we graduated, but I’ve thought of him off and on over the years. If I hadn’t met Hubby when I did, we might’ve been a couple.
I have one fond memory – it was fourth grade, around Christmas time. We were literally playing “reindeer games”. I was Santa and I had classmates playing the reindeer and they were pulling my imaginary sleigh around the plaground. Tim wanted to play, but I’d filled all the reindeer slots, so I told him he could be a moose. From then on, my nickname for him was Moose. That’s how I’ve always remembered him, the good natured guy who just fit in.
Sweet guy. Prayers up for his family.
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I saw earlier a comment on a Fox article. The guy said he quit Facebook years ago, but since he’s a landlord and business owner he loves FB because it’s the first place he goes for background checks on prospective tenants and employees. If they are leftwingers he won’t rent to or hire them. Touche’.
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Employers search social media for the same reason.
I was searching for an Office Help replacement, and I called one guy’s number. He looked great on paper, but his recording was so ghetto and full of questionable words that I just hung up and crossed him off my list. The person at that desk was going to have to deal with a lot of people, and I didn’t feel I could trust him to (1) be understandable, and (2) project the kind of reputation that we wanted to keep with our clients.
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Oh, and we got an email once, asking about one of our vacancies. At the end of her(?) email, she(?) listed her pronouns.
Um, no. If you look like a girl and have a girl’s name, I’m not going to be constantly battling my tenant because I don’t refer to her as “him”. Life is too short.
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RE: Landlords checking FB
I’ve done that. I had some applicants that I’ve refused because their FB page talks about killing white people or some other BLM crap. Again, I’m not fighting my tenants. He wouldn’t be happy renting from a pigmentally challenged landlord.
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Facebook is a truly evil organization. I hate them.
Facebook has “permanently disabled” the ads account of a conservative children’s book publisher, claiming that Heroes of Liberty – which has published books about Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, former President Ronald Reagan and author Thomas Sowell – violated the company’s rules against “Low Quality or Disruptive Content.” Facebook originally locked the ads account on Dec. 23, and after Heroes of Liberty appealed the ruling, the company permanently disabled the account.
“The question is: is a children’s biography of Ronald Reagan no longer permissible on Facebook? We don’t know. But apparently promoting one may well kill a business,” Heroes of Liberty editor and board member Bethany Mandel told FOX Business on Sunday.
“We began investing in Facebook four months before we launched our first book,” she added. “We invested most of our marketing budget on the platform, and now our budget (the money we’ve already spent), as well as our assets and data are gone. Marketing-wise we are back in square one, financially it’s even more challenging.”
I’ve been a fan of Bethany and Seth Mandel for years and this is a great project. If there are children in your life, consider these books and support the company.
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Texpat says:
JANUARY 3, 2022 AT 12:47
I saw earlier a comment on a Fox article. The guy said he quit Facebook years ago, but since he’s a landlord and business owner he loves FB because it’s the first place he goes for background checks on prospective tenants and employees. If they are leftwingers he won’t rent to or hire them. Touche’.I’m Admin or owner of about a dozen FB groups for reenacting, backpacking, and classic camping and have been using that criteria for years.
Turn about is fair play.
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According to data gathered by the Crime Stoppers of Houston, which was then publicized by FOX26 Houston reporter Greg Googan, “no fewer than 113 defendants charged with capital murder have been inexplicably granted bond and released back onto our streets pending trial,” specifically, “we are talking about capital murder – the most egregious offense in the criminal code – a conviction for which carries either life imprisonment or the death penalty.”
In Harris County, judges began approving low bonds to reduce the prison population in response to COVID-19 in early 2020. Despite the waning severity of the pandemic, the practice has continued unabated, resulting in a surge in violent criminal activity throughout the county.
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The move to enact progressive changes to bond policy in Harris County follows a nationwide move to enact low cash bail or eliminate bail entirely in an effort to provide “equitable” justice for those who can’t afford bail. However, such policies have endangered local communities, which are suffering from the consequence of violent offenders roaming free as they await trial or sentencing for violent offenses.
https://thepostmillennial.com/criminals-out-on-bail-for-violent-felonies-killed-155-people-in-texas
The Progressive Soros affect.
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Here is a letter from an RCMP corporal who is being put on unpaid leave for not revealing his “vax” status.
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#26
So much good stuff in that letter. Here’s one:And get some sunshine. The latest German study, you know, actually science, showed an inverse relationship between vitamin d and Covid mortality rates. The study showed, given high enough vitamin d levels, a mortality rate of zero could be achieved. In addition, please don’t let them inject this “vaccine” into your children. Why on earth would you allow an experimental drug to be injected into your children, from pharmaceutical companies that have a history of civil litigation settlements, where these same companies have blanket legal immunity from the vaccines they create, for a disease that your children are completely safe from? It’s insanity. And the latest video where Trudeau explains he is excited to begin vaccinating children, looks completely psychotic and unhinged. Keep these lunatics away from your children. Your children are going to be just fine with their natural immunity.
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Corporal Richard Mehner, your “vaccine” free Minotaur
P.S. Chief Supt. De La Gogondiere,
I taped a copy of this letter on your office door, Martin Luther style. If you don’t understand the historical reference I invite you to look it up.The Minotaur thing just cracks me up. This is a guy I’d love to meet. He’d be quite an addition to the Couch.
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When I did my census I may have been a martian, and under gender I think it was goat.
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As far as the whole scamdemic thing goes, I will not be satisfied until Fauci and his ilk, including those in China, are tried and convicted for crimes against humanity. The socialist tyrants who have used this man made scourge as an excuse to seize that power which they so crave need to be decorating lamp posts. The outright murder (putting known positive patients into nursing homes), abdication of the rule of law (releasing violent criminals to protect them from covid in the prisons; refusal to prosecute wanton property destruction via riots; and very low or zero bond for repeat offenders), and the outright lies concerning the jab that include loss of employment coupled with a shield against liability for the manufacturers; are all things that simply can not be allowed to stand. Civilization can not survive under these circumstances; this is tyranny.
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…and under gender I think it was goat.
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Well, it’s getting cold again out here, but not as cold as it has been. Still above freezing tonight. I’ve got med appointments in the AM early, so I may check in early tonight. Guess that means that I’ll have to take a shower in the morning as well. So anyway, not much else to report today.
I did finally master the art of making a bootable flash drive for the latest version of Linux Mint. My old 32 bit machine’s days are numbered, even running Linux, as I hear they are going to stop support of 32 bit machines in 2023. It’s always handy to have a bootable operating systems in your pocket if you happen by a friend’s house or something and need to access the computer, but you don’t want to leave any tracks behind. New router parts should all be here tomorrow, so I’ll redo my entire network. If there is no noticeable improvement, I’ll just pack it all back up and return it and go for a true mesh system, although not WIFI6, for about the same price. I don’t do anything to justify lightening fast computer speeds, especially noting that most of the stuff I presently use is 2010 vintage or older. They didn’t have fast stuff back then. But by gosh, if I’m going to be watching TV an hour or so a day I want a good solid picture.
OK, that’s probably all for the evening. If I don’t make it back, you all have a good night. More later.
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The Manhattan district attorney’s office is closing its investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of nursing home COVID-19 deaths without bringing charges against Cuomo, according to the former governor’s attorney.
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