124 Comments

So when a former U.S. Major General is asked whether the Capitol riot was legal or moral, he takes the Fifth? In the most terse form: "The Fifth"?

I was making an omelet and haven't double-checked , so maybe Flynn was being asked about some other part of this farrago of felonies, but however it was, when "Is (cites dastardly deed) this moral?" requires one to plead the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination, we have really set a new standard in the absurdities piling up as the January 6 Select Committee does their job!

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Jen Kiggans is running for VA’s 2nd district. One of the frequently run ads emphasizes she has been endorsed by Mike Flynn (along with Trump’s ICE director). Why Democrats cannot exploit that she is in league with criminals to fight non-existent election fraud and public K-12 CRT curriculum I don’t know but I sure hope Elaine Luria, her opponent and who is on the committee, starts using some of the discoveries in her ads. Time to take the gloves off.

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While I many years ago moved on from my "irate knee jerk left-winger" phase, I still can't understand why so many Democrats are overly subdued in their campaigning, too reticent to take off the gloves and punch, so to speak. It's one thing to want to avoid seeming "too far left," and another to be afraid to engage in vigorous rhetoric and energetic debates.

They occupy a good, reasonable "moral high ground" on plenty of issues, so it would be effective tactics, but seem fearful of upsetting the corporate donors ---when the fact is they could do it without resorting to lies or hyperbole, just enthusastically pointing to facts on the record.

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Dems seem to have been mesmerized by Obama’s gentility, which got him exactly nowhere. Dens have lost the ability to fight with every available weapon. You don’t defeat a bully by talking nice-/ you defeat a bully by beating the shit out of him!

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I didn't trust Obama to do anything else than conduct himself as a midle-of-the-road Democrat, but "beating the shit out of (Trump)" in this context is just empty rhetoric, compared to what's going on via the Select Committee and the largest, most comprehensive legal investigation in American history, which is making it increasingly difficult for the Attorney General to indict Trump.

If you think there are are not thousands of lawyers and FBI agents in the DOJ eager to do just that, you are disconnected from how Trump is estimated and understood by those devoted to the rule of law, seriously.

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Did you mean not to indict Trump?

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Otherwise he makes no sense.

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Yeah came here to clarify that, thanks!

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Beating the shit out of— is a figure of speech not to be taken literally. But didn’t you leave out the word “not” before the word “indict” in your comment?

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You got it right. Your cooking didn’t get in the way. Flynn clearly thinks the Capitol attack and therefore the attempt to keep Chump in office is both legal and moral.

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He probably took the Fifth when asked to give his name.

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Plus he seems to be using it as a tactic to consolidate support for some future grifts, and/or right wing media jobs down the road, assuming he doesn't end up in prison for too many years.

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Prison is too good for him. Treason is punishable by death. That is what he deserves!

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He absolutely deserves it. He will be considered in history the test of the strength of democracy. We are not out of the woods yet.

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What makes you think the charges may not even lead to that? This case keeps getting stronger and stronger, don't be surprised if the equivalent of a life sentence, aka "a death in prison, " is mandated by what's uncovered. So, the functional equivalent of a kind of living death for Trump, since I am doubtful the treason charges would be the preferred option of the DOJ.

A whole set of serious felonies, yes, an outright charge of treason, not yet, anyway.

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Yes, not treason, yet. Were it to be proven that he had succeeded in enlisting Russia’s aid to overthrow our government, for example, that would be treason. If it was just Orange Foolius and his goombahs, that’s sedition; hence, the convictions thus far for seditious conspiracy.

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Not only that, it isn't clear whether a controversial death penalty conviction viewed by his cultists as martyrdom, as opposed to a prison sentence that amounts to life in prison, is more onerous punishment for the likes of Donald J. Trump.

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Never in a million years will that happen!

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So far you are failing to disclose your infallible epistemic methodology: Astrological charts? Tarot cards? Ouija board, casting the runes, scrying, consulting your own precognitive states?

Let us in on the arcane secrets that guarantee your allegedly accurate results, otherwise I think it's fair to apply a standard rule: that which is asserted without evidence, no matter how fervently and sincerely, may be summarily dismissed without evidence.

The fact of the matter is the Department of Justice is quite capable of hashing out the relevant details for criminal indictments of Trump, John Eastman, Roger Stone, Rudy Guiliani, and other co-conspirators --- they none of them possess some magical talisman that protects them, your hyperbolic predictions to the contrary notwithstanding.

No past president has ever been thusly indicted, so what? No past president has come close to Trump's level of culpability for these kinds of illegal chicanery, either!

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Is seditious conspiracy the legal equivalent to treason, or is it a separate crime?

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I found a headline on a blog I participate in, for years now, that the right wing donors are finally tiring of the "constant shit show." No money for most of these criminals will dry up their thrusters. Let's cross our fingers.

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That’s why the political class now supports DeSatan. The same politics without the crazy.

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It's still the same politics and worse crazy because DeSatan is not like Trump. And he's more dangerous.

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Too good to be true except in a very few limited cases.

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Trump does just fine with his dimwitted supporters who make enough small contributions it turns into big bucks in his whatever he makes up to get them.

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I liked the proposal to reactivate Flynn, charge him, then court martial.

No retired pay, no other bennies.

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it was obvious to me that what Flynn was doing was indicating his sense that the entire Committee and everything about it were beneath HIS contempt. so he wasn't going to give them ANYTHING but that contempt.

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Sure, but it seems as if it is also bad lawyering, you always want to have your client in possible future litigation without any contemptuous record in an examination under oath, such as you describe. Judges have all sorts of items like this brought to their attention when they do their own 'due diligence.'

So we both start from a similar premise, that Flynn is psychologically disturbed, right? And part of that expresses itself as contempt for the law, democracy, etc. His lawyer was sitting right next to him in the Zoom call or whatever it was. Maybe he tried to advise him to answer questions like that and dodge others, but I wonder!

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"Trump broke the government itself. Charge him. Try him. Convict him. Send him to jail."

We apparently now live in a country that is beyond the reach of reason, let alone the law.

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Never trust anyone who puts catsup on anything besides French fries....

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LOL. Catsup is a weird condiment, isn't it. That's the ONLY place I ever use it. But Trump loves those cheap McDonald's hamberders that need catsup.

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Catsup is the main course for trump.

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does anybody remember when we discovered that it was considered a "vegetable" for school lunch purposes? but I must confess that I love a nice splash on my cheeseburgers...when did this become declasse?

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it's a shame hat they didn't let him through, so that we'd have the footage of him on The Capital steps urging the coup d'etat to go forward.

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Yes, I find myself thinking the same. Those silly photoshopped images of his mug on Sylvester Stallone's younger body, leading the charge against tyranny was conceivably the image in his mind. I have to go throw up now....

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I initially thought that Trump was boasting when he said he would walk to the Capitol with the mob and that he never planned to walk there because he is a wimp. So I was somewhat surprised to learn he intended to walk with the mob but his security detail nixed the plan.

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That would ahve been irrefutable evidence of his crimes.

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Make him an honorary Gravy Seal, sort of a battlefield promotion!

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I’m reminded of the Spy Magazine cover of a crying baby Trump 30+ years ago, and my first thought upon hearing this part of the testimony was “But did he finish his chicken fingers and crinkly fries first, and did his tantrum cost him the opportunity to enjoy his Snack Pack chocolate pudding for dessert?”

It’s horrifying and yet totally unsurprising. And I’ll guess that at least 65M would still vote for him.

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I know how much pride Trumpers take in “triggering” liberals. I think Dear Leader is likely to be so triggered today that they best not use the good china at Mar-a-Lago.

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Saw a meme that they have switched over to paper plates...

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So, in Trump’s case the plates are edible too if they have classified information on them.

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Trump is a pig-f-ker deplorable, leader of Deplorables every where. That’s all.

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That’s assuming the pig consented.

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Pigs do have standards.

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And are actually very smart. Trump is stupider than any pig I've ever seen.

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Spot on!

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You can say that again

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Satire from Andy Borowitz today on the ketchup debacle:

“Trump Claims Ketchup Would Never Have Hit Wall if Giuliani Had Not Ducked

“It was a perfect throw,” the former President boasted.”

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Is this finally the testimony that will take him down?

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Twitter convos imply there are more damning public surprises to come. Implied: This begins a new chapter.

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None of thisvwill make the slightest bit of difference. The only thing that will end his reign of corruption and terror is his death.

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Indictments won't help him, though, and they are looming ever more likely as the weeks unfold this summer!

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I have this nightmare scenario where he dies of a heart attack.

A civil war breaks out over where to bury him.

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…because nobody wants him.

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Toss him in the East River with the rest of the NYC criminal class.

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If he ever does die, you can be sure the GOP will say the Dems killed him.

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I’ve thought about that. There’s going to be a raft of conspiracy theories when he dies. There’ll be ones to cover everyone from liberals to Kevin McCarthy. I remember the ones for Scalia.

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Very solid bricks in a wall of evidence. Relevant, damning, cogent, strong evidence.

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Evidence that will do nothing whatever to take t-Rump down.

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To MAGAts, just another day to own the libs.

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NO-/ the testimony that could destroy t-Rump does not exist. I can’t understand why anyone thinks there is ANYTHING that will ever destroy him, other than a massive stroke or heart attack.

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Get real, this is as close to a mirror image of Trump's own delusional sense that he is "above the law" as it gets.

There is already a mountain of testimony that is burying Trump, some of the most damning from his own yap!

Seriously, I expect all sorts of critics who have been insisting Trump "will escape again" to scramble to invent some fallback position when Trump is indeed indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison when his appeals fail.

He has become increasingly vulnerable to several felony charges and that's just based on the testimony we have already seen.

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Hmm. Are you now or have you ever been a trial lawyer, sir? Any civilian can hear that a lot of what we've been listening to is very satisfying hearsay, presented without anything like cross-examination. djt's belief that he is above the law isn't delusional. It's been his reality and New York's all his long life. Meanwhile, this administration's timidity here & elsewhere is demoralizing. Sure hope you're right, though.

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Well put—my thoughts exactly! It is not an opinion without foundation to suspect that a man who has gotten away with absolutely everything his entire, and entirely too long, life will continue to do so for the remainder of his life.

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Are you sure all of it's hearsay and not a lot of witness testimony?

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"All" hearsay? "Sure" of anything? Please don't put words in my mouth … keyboard.

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Richard Turnbull, J.D., I really do hope you’re correct!

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Write (email too, but a fast three paragraph letter explaining concisely why they NEED TO DO THEIR JOB and all alleged "drawbacks" to indicting are far less bad than NOT indicting ex-president Trump is even more effective) the DOJ, they are the ones, headed by the highest law enforcement official in the United States in 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland, who need to be correct.

They know they need to be correct, to get it right, but support from the population helps focus their attention.

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Wooden stake in the heart, then you gotta cut off the head, fill the mouth with silver, bury it deep in consecrated ground, and burn the body. I think that's one prescription for dealing with vampires.

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#TeamCholesterol

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Colonel Sanders!

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I could live with either....

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Throwing a plate of United States government food against a government-owned wall? Sounds like something a jury might understand . . .

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Death penalty offense, ruining the people's decor.

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From your lips to God’s ear.

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I haven't read the article yet because it was during a break in the riveting hearing today, first one I've watched all the way through and so glad I was able to, but NYTimes also reported that the DOJ has one of its attorneys who specializes in this particular set of high-level crimes, though I'm quite sure he's never seen anything like this because who has in this country, but he is on this. I bet he's salivating about now. Anyone who chooses a life path and something this rich drops right into the middle of it has got to be "on it" in the biggest way possible. Now we wait for the charges. But wow, today was mind exploding. All things we're not surprised to hear but that he actually, truly is this demented, this disturbed, and actually this much a horror of a human that he is, well, no matter how you've girded yourself for the worst, this sailed straight past it. It was a jaw dropping day. It was a turning point day. But we are in the strangest of times so most of us who've always respected justice caution ourselves that in the world we're in now, even this may not be enough to start turning the tide. I do feel, though, it turned the tide of Cassidy Hutchinson's life. I hope she's girded for what's to come.

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I do not believe that her testimony changed even one t-rump-rotted mind.

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After everything I've seen and heard from the Jan 6 Committee I have no doubt that Justice has all they need to indict & try the Orange Stain. And if a jury composed of reasonable, intelligent people listens to testimony, it stands to reason TFG would be convicted. That said, my new nightmare is what occurred with the Simpson trial. The evidence was crystal clear and that dude was guilty as hell, but something called "jury nullification" raised its ugly head and he walked. My nightmare is that something similar could occur with the Rump. How many jurors would it take to let him walk? One, three, five? Hopefully it will never come to that. If he's indicted I envision him jetting off to Saudi Arabia or Russia for the rest of his miserable life. I could live with that.

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He will NEVER be indicted!

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He will almost CERTAINLY be indicted!

It's no longer even a close call, it's now more a matter of how many of the violations the prosecutors want to include.

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Maybe you’re correct—I hope so! But I still think he will walk away, never indicted and most certainly never spending a nanosecond in prison. I hold by my Theory of the Perfect Seven: a person who is powerful, rich, old, white, gentile, heterosexual and male — as t-Rump is— can get away with anything.

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I swear you have in a way bought into Trump and the elite's myths about themselves, they absolutely thrive on all forms of American cynicism, and shrink like a vampire from a mirror from the opposite forces in our politics.

Example on point: it is not only that AOC is a woman, a minority, smarter than hell, "wiser than her years," that really annoys the usual suspects on the right and in the "establishment," it is her consistently optimistic, energetic advocacy of meaningful legal change. That sense that things can get better, can change for the better when they are made to do so, by humans acting collectively to change for the better is the single most terrifying prospect for all reactionaries, those "not busy being born, but busy dying," to paraphrase Dylan. They must insist otherwise and encourage others to agree with them, otherwise, well, first of all they would have to be accountable for their actions, and these people are loathsome, reckless, predatory barstewards.

To proleptically hammer on an obvious point as well, just in case I might be misunderstood: I am not talking about the sincere slice of the wealthy elite whose philanthropy is absolutely sincere, and who openly espouse progressive politics, they ain't the problem, are they? I don't deny they exist, thank the gods they do, progressives with wealth and real generosity are another terror of the reactionary right!

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When I was at a private school in Kendall, Florida in 1967, there was a sweet boy whom everyone loved. And then a younger boy was found roughed up by a pool. For a few months it was assumed some bullies had gotten to him, nothing amazing there. During the summer the truth came out, pretty boy had encouraged the bullies to do his deed. At first nothing happened but by the fall enough of the students realized this boy they liked had used his popularity to instigate violence. In October he was arrested and charged with assault with malice afore thought. He was in juvenile detention for a few months. Eventually he was released, and he went to live with relatives in another state. What is this story about? It tells you that decent people can be deceived and played for fools, and the challenge is to understand the truth and act on it however uncomfortable it might be. Donald Trump thinks Americans are fools, it's long past time to show him that we are not.

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While I watched Ms. Hutchinson, I thought to myself, John Dean should be watching this, and he probably was.

She's the only patriot (of the bunch that's been subpoenaed) and the only one who said that she was disgusted with the entire affair. She's being intimidated by Trump's minions and she's been threatened by his supporters.

This is what Donald Trump does-he throws things, intimidates and threatens people with all kinds of shit that only a Mafia don would understand, but most of them were at least polite to not throw things at the wall when they heard bad news.

They were at least civilized and Donald Trump doesn't even qualify for that. He's below their class.

Throw the goddamned entire US Code at him and shut him away in the Supermax,.

He deserves no less.

He's a criminal, a thug and should be stripped of his pension because he was willing to overthrow his own government and country so he could stay in power.

And Hillary was absolutely right. I bet she's watching this too, and saying repeatedly, "I TOLD YOU SO!"

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Tim O’Brien, who wrote a book about Trump, says the Trumps are a four-generation crime family.

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I know that none of us who follow Lucian is surprised by these revelations. TFG is a monster and a mobster, always has been.

MAGAts will never hear any of this in their hermetically sealed news bubble. But maybe, just maybe, a few people who aren't in the cult will hear and start to pay attention.

I'm heartened that a young woman had the courage to step up and provide these details. I'm hoping Ms. Hutchinson's honesty and courage inspires others. Perhaps the John Dean of the Trump administration is thinking right now about coming clean and doing the right thing for our country and our democracy...how about it Pat Cipollone, are you a man of integrity and honor?

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He refuted Cassidy's comment live on Truth Social. The jerk was watching today!

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Refuted: which is gospel truth to his worshipers. These hearings are making NO impression whatsoever on those fucking morons!

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Ever a clear voice in this surreal world.

Thank you Lucian. We memorialized one of your followers last Friday at West Point.

Col Terry L Rice, class of 1969. He was a fan.

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Thank you Gail. Terry was a great guy.

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