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IT'S MY FAVORITE TIME OF DAY: ZOOM PRESCHOOL

My brother's girlfriend is a preschool director, and they're virtual this week. So far:

Child 1 has a cookie and is in the car to pick up her sister who is in first grade in Ms. Pellegrini's class.

Child 2 is eating a snack and watching a video called the 72 cutest animals.

Brother's girlfriend: I have a story to share with everyone.

Child 3: I HAVE A GORILLA

Also, Child 4 is making asides in Mandarin about how other students are wrong hahahahaha

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I hated zoom preschool.

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Garth's Mirthmobile from Waynesworld sold for $71,500 yesterday.

https://barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1976-AMC-PACER-WAYNES-WORLD-252794

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Party on, Wayne!

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Party on, Garth!

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Disney has rebranded the Tom Sawyer Island Raft. It will now be known as the Washington Football Team Joe.

https://twitter.com/wdwfacts/status/1485667899033411590

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WFT announces its new name next week. I live just across the river and have zero interest.

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It’s almost as if it was written by Carlson or Hannity.

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DBD AV Club

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Last night we watched the first half of the doc The Rescue, about the cave rescue of the Thai boys soccer team. Super intense.

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Jan 27, 2022·edited Jan 27, 2022

So we finished "We Are Ladyparts" WB 15/19 - fun show, but they ain't really punk rockers.

And watched the 3rd Episode of Mythic Quest, so far underwhelming - does it get better?

Quite enjoyed the 4th E of Boba Fett, nice that Mando intersects his story.

Also, if you liked Downton Abbey, you'll enjoy Gilded Age.

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It gets better. Staring with E5 or 6.

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I loved Mythic Quest from the start. Maybe it's not for you.

I finally enjoyed this Boba Fett episode! Maybe because it's really a Mandalorian episode.

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Abbot elementary is better than American Auto. But I do like both.

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Tahoe ski update

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Jan 27, 2022·edited Jan 27, 2022

HAG and i had a couple nice days of skiing at Northstar and Palisades (the-ski-resort-formerly-known-as Squaw Valley)

hard packed snow, but still quite enjoyable. plus it was 35-45 deg temps so it was on the warm side.

despite HAG's complaints he did pretty well for not skiing in 27 yrs.

on the other hand i took one hard fall and now my left side ribs and right thumb are a little banged up. hopefully it will feel better soon and i dont need x-rays.

our other HS friend had a ski in-out cabin at Northstar so we stayed there for a couple nights.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/42VwcYrjjkTkgbvUA

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How much was palisades? $250?

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$200 I think. Though HSB got me an IKON discount.

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Northstar was maybe 179?

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They really need to rename the bread next.

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My legs are shot after a day and a half of skiing. I thought it was going to be much tougher getting back up there. I now realize I do miss skiing.

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if anyone wants to plan a ski trip w/ HAG, he is ready to go!!

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What is the best ice-cream place near where you live and your favorite flavor there?

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McConnell’s

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Send me some double peanut butter chip please.

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Excellent choice

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The original Swensen's. I am fond of the Sticky Peanut Butter.

I am spoiled for choice around here -- I have two branches of Smitten, a Salt & Straw, the aforementioned Swensen's, the Ghirardelli chocolate factory and one called Over the Moon that makes a particularly good ice cream sammich with freshly baked cookies, all within about a mile from my living room.

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There used to be a Swensen's on Euclid Ave. near (downhill from) LaVal's.

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I remember a donut shop on the West side of Euclid right near Hearst. My parents used to take us there maybe 45 years ago. They have French donuts as big as my head (it seemed)

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Colonial, it was on Hearst!

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I think there was also one in the grand lake neighborhood on Lakeshore Ave

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That one is still there.

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would you perhaps like to meet for ice cream this weekend?

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Fenton's run on Saturday?

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They have good chocolate milkshakes.

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I'd maybe punch a Nana for a Fenton's Black & Tan right now...not a hard punch, something on the arm...but enough to bruise. ;-)

That's my favorite sundae in history...

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Is the original Swensen's the one on Hyde? I always wondered when I drove by since it looks so old.

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Yes. Hyde/Union. They still make all the ice cream in the back.

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Mmmm. I lived at Bay and Hyde for years. Loved the Swensens visit.

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Longford's small batch ice cream in Larchmont NY. the blackberry is particularly good

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The closest Rite-Aid that has Chocolate Malted Crunch.. In Louisville there was a Homemade Pie Kitchen and Ice Cream. They had an Oreo ice cream that is amazing. Or the Graters Peach ice cream.

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The other good one is a small Louisville chain called The Comfy Cow. They have a bourbon ball ice cream that is really good.

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Jan 27, 2022·edited Jan 28, 2022Author

"Fresh. Local Ice Cream." No short cuts. No fake anything. Their banana pudding flavor is one of my favorite things in the world.

https://www.freshlocalicecream.com/

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Curbside Creamery in Temescal. Maybe salted caramel.

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Jeni's in South Pasadena, followed by Wanderlust. Favorite at J's is the pineapple upside down cake. Favorite at W is the mango sticky rice.

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I miss Jeni's so much <3

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i thought Jeni's was a midwest thing?

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started in Columbus, but she has scoop shops in a lot of other places now, but alas, not the Bay

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Fenton's on Piedmont Ave. Toasted almond.

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https://mitchellsicecream.com/

Mint chip is generally my favorite anyway, so that's what I tend to get. But you can't go wrong at this place.

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Their chocolate is the platonic ideal of chocolate ice cream.

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Funny, I haven't "gone out" for ice cream in decades.

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https://www.curbsideoakland.com/

Last place, it was good bourbon & something else.

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And only got some because I was waiting for a haircut at the hipster barbershop.

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The Richard Spencer cut seems to be their specialty.

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where they trimmed your handlebar mustache while you enjoyed an ice cold PBR tallboy?

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The straight razor back neck cleaning is very nice.

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Carbon steel pans

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The only one I have is a carbon steel wok, probably about as old as I am. My mom gave it to me when they bought a new stove with the euro style solid electric burner with a glass top. It's a round bottom wok that needs a ring so with the glass top it couldn't be used

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We have a set of three. I bought them in September/October. Mrs Slug prefers them to the non-stick pans that the carbon steel pans replaced.

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accept no substitutes

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Lee

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Will

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Forte. Was in Kindergarten with him, then he moved to a different part of town so he went to a different elementary school. Apparently was in 7th and 8th grade with him then he went to the other HS in our district.

When No 1 heard I went to school with him he said, "you went to school with MacGruber?!?!"

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He is a Class of 1988 graduate of Acalanes HS in Lafayette. Funny guy back then, too

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Is that right? I know folks in that class and/or around that time, but somehow this that has never been mentioned. I graduated from nearby Las Lomas a little later.

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Yeah, he was in my sister's class. He played football and drove a huge old chevy blazer-type truck, but was not a jock - I was a freshman and he was kind enough not to haze me.

My mom moved that summer tho, so I went to LLHS as well - Class of 1991.

What about you? We might know each other?!?!?

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‘89. Maybe I stole one of your cheese zombies at some point! Nah, I was a timid little mixed up preppy, closet jock hanging out with the stoners on the baseball field.

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oh man, cheese zombies were so good. surprising how bad sausage zombies were...

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The director of MacGruber, Jorma Taccone, was a student of mine, as were his Lonely Island partners, Akiva Schaeffer and Andy Samberg. Still in touch with Jorma, good dude.

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This one is one of my underrated favorites. I am a Michael Bolton fan..... ;-)

https://youtu.be/GI6CfKcMhjY

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i was lab partners w/ him in 8th grade physics. we used to crack each other up.

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That sounds like a humblebrag ;-)

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Ta'ufo'ou. The best Cal FB in recent memory. Ferocious. Better blocker than McMorris.

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Elsewhere in college

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Cleveland State is 9-1 in the Horizon and 13-4 overall. That program has been turned around by a young and gifted coach and recruiter, who also happens to be a beloved and model Cal Bear and is also a POC. Deep sigh.

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I echo that sigh…he was my pick.

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Such a huge miss. He checked off all of the boxes. His extension is not that pricey either ($550K/year), so it's not like that should have been an issue. What's unclear is whether he was ever even considered, and all the tea leaves seem to indicate no. They should have talked to him even during the Wyking search.

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So disappointing.

I could see Shantay Legans perhaps being a candidate in the next HC go-round...I'm not a huge fan, but he's hanging tough at Portland.....

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Gates's salary is not so large that you couldn't buy him out if you wanted him. Not our style though. Our style is more 60s-era ex-military insurance salesman.

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I'm a little surprised he's still at Cleveland State...I thought a B1G team would've come knocking by now....

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Pass. I'm still sore at him for transferring. He blew up a certain tourney team.

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I agree....hard pass for me, actually. For the same reasons...I was real creased when he followed Ray Lopes to Fresno State.

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My dad went there!

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Charlie Moore banks in a game-winning half-court shot

https://twitter.com/caneshoops/status/1486518608343834628?s=21

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no bear, no care

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Is he 35 yet?

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Still looks 14 tho.

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Jan 27, 2022·edited Jan 27, 2022

Utah looks inept in getting housed at Wazzu...fall to 1-10, with only win being Cal...Fox is not the answer.

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Big X discussing eliminating divisions and dropping to eight conference games as part of confederation with Pac 12. Not in article, but one would presume that the Pac 12 is thinking the same thing.

https://theathletic.com/news/big-ten-discussing-potential-elimination-of-divisions-as-part-of-future-football-scheduling-plans/g0LD4tO9pYmP/

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This is a good idea for the B1G. I like the idea of each team having 3 permanent opponents and rotating among the remaining ten teams.

If the Pac-12 were to do something similar, or even use the same model (only there would be 8 non-permanent teams, not 10 as the B1G contemplates), it would ensure that all of the California schools would play each other as permanent opponents. It would also ensure that all of the non-California schools would get at least one Bay Area and at least one LA opponent each year. Each Pac-12 school would play 5 of the 8 non-permanent opponents each year.

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I would honestly be okay with skipping USC every couple of years.

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I believe they opened the same year, 1923. I guess Cal wasn’t the only ones packing the bleachers. Of course, going from 18” to 20”isn’t a massive increase in wiggle room, but I’d take it.

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Going from 18" to 20" isn't a big increase, but it will result in an approximate 11-12% decrease in stadium capacity.

Ouch.

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It’s simultaneously a growing and shrinking fan base so it makes sense.

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Based on my recollection of my Nebraska relatives, this makes sense.

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Fewer seats will help them maintain their consecutive sellout record streak going.

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That’s what instantly crossed my mind!

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Hoy en La Rona

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could be Cal thread too

took an on-campus PCR test to get "cleared" to be on campus but they said results would be ready in 3 days.

however, i am now CLEAR to be on campus because i tested, not because the results of the test are known!!

is this normal at other schools? i would have figured it was a rapid test.

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This is what we're doing at work too. It seems a little bit...crazy?

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Carbon

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Jan 27, 2022·edited Jan 27, 2022

I really enjoyed Altered Carbon and was bummed that Netflix cancelled it after only 2 seasons, they didn’t even give them the usual 3 season treatment.

Netflix did make an animated Altered Carbon movie that was pretty good.

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Jan 27, 2022·edited Jan 27, 2022

I love that show...Renee Elise Goldsberry with one of the all-time great tv character names!!!

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We watched the first season, and it wasn't until just now that I realized I'd seen Joel Kinnaman before "For All Mankind"

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he was in the first season of Hanna also

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Jan 27, 2022·edited Jan 27, 2022

I first saw him in The Killing, a great show years ago with Mireille Enos.

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That’s why I know him. Awesome role. And he’s great in FAM, but diff. Was also robocop reboot, but didn’t see it.

I saw E1 of altered carbon a few years ago and had no idea that was him. From scrawny to ripped!

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I really liked the Robocop reboot.

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He had a cool little role in Safehouse, a pretty decent Denzel/Ryan Reynolds number with a couple of great chase scenes.

Highly recommended film...Safehouse.

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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Breyer's next flavor won't be vanilla

https://twitter.com/caitlynkim/status/1486757440653824002

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Arizona House Bill 2596 would eliminate early voting except for valid excuses (eg, being Republican), be required to be counted by hand (and not be influenced by Italian Space Lasers), restrict voting to home district, and allow STATE LEGISLATORS TO GO AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND PICK WHOEVER THEY WANT AS THE WINNER.

https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/55leg/2R/bills/HB2596P.pdf

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Arizona isn’t taking going Democrat very well. This is ridiculous and hopefully it doesn’t pass.

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subtle of them

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those of you who are terminally online may have seen that a school district banned the graphic novel Maus for being inappropriate for kids. The reaction has been going about as well as you'd expect.

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also the new governor of VA has opened up a "tip line" (an email address, to be more precise) for people to complain about what their children are being taught in schools. Submissions are not all entirely serious...

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That dude is going to be very unpopular, complete snake in the grass, ran as a moderate, leaning into every hot-button culture issue is really alienating.

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Him and Desantis are going to paint themselves into a corner while twisting into a pretzel to defend their crazy QAnon policies.

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Some of you may remember tales of my work crush, The Hot Consultant. I learned this week that he was college roommates with Ron DeSantis. 🤯

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how IS the work crush?

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do you mean to tell us that populist firebrand DeSantis went to a posh private college?

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You mean Ron Deathsantis?

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Apparently not enough Virginia voters

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PRO

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Big Ben retires 12 years after being suspended for 6 games due to a violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33158955/pittsburgh-steelers-qb-ben-roethlisberger-retires-18-seasons

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You mean 12 years after raping two women?

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Good riddance.

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Exactly. Rapistberger...dude is a clown...all his born again schitt now doesn’t erase the a$$hole he was.

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CAL

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Go Bears!!!

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