- Spime Wrangler
- Feb 23, 2003
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Because we can.
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a brief history lesson:
after the Netherlands became independent, the Dutch Republic soon emerged from being a feudal possession of the Spanish to becoming a flourishing wealthy empire. Free from the system of monarchy which burdened the rest of the countries in Europe, the country soon became an oligarchy run by wealthy merchants who also ran the government, and went to work building a mighty fleet that they used to enable their imperialist expansion to every continent and all corners of the world, ruthlessly exploiting every resource they came across for the sake of accumulating wealth. Not only did they invent the stock market and the concept of the corporation, but they also seamlessly integrated corporate and government interests into a single ruthless machine, and also established a global trade network which arguably played a massive part in establishing the basis for the current world order of international capitalist trade. In doing so, they rapidly accumulated unfathomable amounts of wealth, and the profits of the East India Company alone dwarf all modern ones when adjusted for inflation, and made it the most profitable company in the history of the world:
And that's just ignoring the West India Company and all of the other business which played a role in the economy. For a number of decades in the 17th century the Dutch Republic was by any measure the wealthiest nation on earth, and much of this money was invested into the armed forces and military technology, resulting in one of the most formidable armies and navies on earth, which was then used to build an exploitative global empire that drained the earth of its natural resources in the name of capital, and led to deaths of hundreds of thousands of people who stood in the way of this process. There was a period where the Dutch were pretty much the only global superpower, and not only dominated the world financially and militarily, but also created lots of scientific developments and beautiful artwork. So what happened? Why don't the Dutch still rule the world?
Well, all of this wheeling and dealing inevitably led to the Dutch becoming embroiled in numerous conflicts around the world with all of the other major powers of the day, and those decades of war (both cold and hot) drained a lot of resources and created a lot of enemies on the world stage. These wars were not only a financial burden on the nation, but also helped emphasize social divides which were already present, and generated a lot of problems in society. All of this came to a head in a single year which is now known as the 'Rampjaar' or "Disaster Year," when just about everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. After years of conflict, the other major powers all grew to despise the Dutch Republic, and in 1672 the country was simultaneously attacked on all sides by an Alliance of the English, French, and Germans. At the same time there was a bitter civil war in the country between monarchists and Republicans which culminated in the head of state, who had ruled for almost 2 decades, and his brother who was the head of the navy (perhaps the most formidable military force on earth at that time) being dragged out into the streets, where they were lynched by a mob who ripped off their skin and ate their livers and other organs raw.
This mighty empire descended almost overnight into unimaginable chaos, with every element of society being ripped apart along its weakest seams. There is a phrase from this time which describes the state of the nation - "radeloos, redeloos, reddeloos," which translates into something like "without leadership, without reason, and without possibility of salvation." Though they were able to fight off the armies which threatened to wipe them off the map, the economy was hopelessly devastated and would remain so for centuries. A leadership crisis emerged, and for the next hundred years the country was ruled by the nephews and cousins of previous rulers, who had grown up fat and wealthy and had no idea how to govern what remained of the country. While the average citizen became horribly poor and hopeless, the ineffective leaders continued to live in mansions and eat off of silver plates, and they turned to increasingly nefarious tactics to prop up their economy. They magnified the slave trade a thousand fold, and started using increasingly brutal tactics to retain control over their colonies, which were taken away from them by their enemies one by one. They invested in pet projects and other tremendous wastes of money which did little to help the country or its economy. For instance, the remaining few Dutch of this period who still had some wealth spent a lot of it financing the rebels in America in the late 1700's, largely out of spite against their ancient enemies, the British. But it didn't help, of course. They were invaded by the French and Germans (and English and even Russian armies at some point), and the nation continued along its disastrous trajectory, leading to revolution, invasion, poverty, and death. Lots of death. Many such horrors. The reason why so many Dutch cities have charming 17th century buildings which attract tourists today is that they never recovered economically from the Disaster Year until relatively recently, and for hundreds of years there was little money around for new building projects, and everyone just had to continue living in the houses which were built way back when during "the Golden Age."
So what's the point of this story? There was once a global superpower which was wealthier than any other in history, with a massive and powerful army which it used to terrorize the world, as well as form much of the global capitalist economic system which surrounds us today. But then one day disaster struck and the chickens came home to roost, and it all fell apart overnight. Poof. That's all it takes. And there's a good chance that anyone who is reading this post didn't know any of this. That entire empire so thoroughly destroyed and forgotten (and good riddance), that now, 350 years later very few people in the world know that it ever happened.
The moral of the story is that no matter how wealthy, how powerful the empire which you inhabit is, it is ultimately nothing within the grand scheme of history. Your entire world can just collapse one day, and then a few hundred years later barely anyone alive will know anything about it. Everything which surrounds you and all that you know is ultimately just an insignificant blip on the radar of human progress that can and will be forgotten. All it takes is one strong shock which tears everything apart. And that's what we are witnessing happening in much of the Western world right now. So good luck to everyone with all of that.
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Apr 8, 2020 06:33
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Jun 5, 2024 22:45
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- Telsa Cola
- Aug 19, 2011
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No... this is all wrong... this whole operation has just gone completely sidewaysface
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AUGH DONT TEMPT ME THE CLOSEST ONE IS A TWO HOUR DRIVE AWAY
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Apr 8, 2020 06:35
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- limaCAT
- Dec 22, 2007
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il pistone e male
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Slippery Tilde
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I see people posting this meme and, do they realize the guy saying the unpopular thing is a mentally ill clown?
Not that I disagree in this case
Well the one without the colored mask is a TV show host so there are strict standards for hiring and the facade that he has to keep for the job, so it's easy to confuse De Niro's character with the Joker.
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Apr 8, 2020 06:35
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- oxsnard
- Oct 8, 2003
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In n out fries are loving DISGUSTING
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Apr 8, 2020 06:35
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- Farm Frenzy
- Jan 3, 2007
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I see people posting this meme and, do they realize the guy saying the unpopular thing is a mentally ill clown?
Not that I disagree in this case
yes i think people know who the joker is
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Apr 8, 2020 06:37
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- Stairmaster
- Jun 8, 2012
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I'm da joker baby
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Apr 8, 2020 06:38
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- Korean Boomhauer
- Sep 4, 2008
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a brief history lesson:
after the Netherlands became independent, the Dutch Republic soon emerged from being a feudal possession of the Spanish to becoming a flourishing wealthy empire. Free from the system of monarchy which burdened the rest of the countries in Europe, the country soon became an oligarchy run by wealthy merchants who also ran the government, and went to work building a mighty fleet that they used to enable their imperialist expansion to every continent and all corners of the world, ruthlessly exploiting every resource they came across for the sake of accumulating wealth. Not only did they invent the stock market and the concept of the corporation, but they also seamlessly integrated corporate and government interests into a single ruthless machine, and also established a global trade network which arguably played a massive part in establishing the basis for the current world order of international capitalist trade. In doing so, they rapidly accumulated unfathomable amounts of wealth, and the profits of the East India Company alone dwarf all modern ones when adjusted for inflation, and made it the most profitable company in the history of the world:
And that's just ignoring the West India Company and all of the other business which played a role in the economy. For a number of decades in the 17th century the Dutch Republic was by any measure the wealthiest nation on earth, and much of this money was invested into the armed forces and military technology, resulting in one of the most formidable armies and navies on earth, which was then used to build an exploitative global empire that drained the earth of its natural resources in the name of capital, and led to deaths of hundreds of thousands of people who stood in the way of this process. There was a period where the Dutch were pretty much the only global superpower, and not only dominated the world financially and militarily, but also created lots of scientific developments and beautiful artwork. So what happened? Why don't the Dutch still rule the world?
Well, all of this wheeling and dealing inevitably led to the Dutch becoming embroiled in numerous conflicts around the world with all of the other major powers of the day, and those decades of war (both cold and hot) drained a lot of resources and created a lot of enemies on the world stage. These wars were not only a financial burden on the nation, but also helped emphasize social divides which were already present, and generated a lot of problems in society. All of this came to a head in a single year which is now known as the 'Rampjaar' or "Disaster Year," when just about everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. After years of conflict, the other major powers all grew to despise the Dutch Republic, and in 1672 the country was simultaneously attacked on all sides by an Alliance of the English, French, and Germans. At the same time there was a bitter civil war in the country between monarchists and Republicans which culminated in the head of state, who had ruled for almost 2 decades, and his brother who was the head of the navy (perhaps the most formidable military force on earth at that time) being dragged out into the streets, where they were lynched by a mob who ripped off their skin and ate their livers and other organs raw.
This mighty empire descended almost overnight into unimaginable chaos, with every element of society being ripped apart along its weakest seams. There is a phrase from this time which describes the state of the nation - "radeloos, redeloos, reddeloos," which translates into something like "without leadership, without reason, and without possibility of salvation." Though they were able to fight off the armies which threatened to wipe them off the map, the economy was hopelessly devastated and would remain so for centuries. A leadership crisis emerged, and for the next hundred years the country was ruled by the nephews and cousins of previous rulers, who had grown up fat and wealthy and had no idea how to govern what remained of the country. While the average citizen became horribly poor and hopeless, the ineffective leaders continued to live in mansions and eat off of silver plates, and they turned to increasingly nefarious tactics to prop up their economy. They magnified the slave trade a thousand fold, and started using increasingly brutal tactics to retain control over their colonies, which were taken away from them by their enemies one by one. They invested in pet projects and other tremendous wastes of money which did little to help the country or its economy. For instance, the remaining few Dutch of this period who still had some wealth spent a lot of it financing the rebels in America in the late 1700's, largely out of spite against their ancient enemies, the British. But it didn't help, of course. They were invaded by the French and Germans (and English and even Russian armies at some point), and the nation continued along its disastrous trajectory, leading to revolution, invasion, poverty, and death. Lots of death. Many such horrors. The reason why so many Dutch cities have charming 17th century buildings which attract tourists today is that they never recovered economically from the Disaster Year until relatively recently, and for hundreds of years there was little money around for new building projects, and everyone just had to continue living in the houses which were built way back when during "the Golden Age."
So what's the point of this story? There was once a global superpower which was wealthier than any other in history, with a massive and powerful army which it used to terrorize the world, as well as form much of the global capitalist economic system which surrounds us today. But then one day disaster struck and the chickens came home to roost, and it all fell apart overnight. Poof. That's all it takes. And there's a good chance that anyone who is reading this post didn't know any of this. That entire empire so thoroughly destroyed and forgotten (and good riddance), that now, 350 years later very few people in the world know that it ever happened.
The moral of the story is that no matter how wealthy, how powerful the empire which you inhabit is, it is ultimately nothing within the grand scheme of history. Your entire world can just collapse one day, and then a few hundred years later barely anyone alive will know anything about it. Everything which surrounds you and all that you know is ultimately just an insignificant blip on the radar of human progress that can and will be forgotten. All it takes is one strong shock which tears everything apart. And that's what we are witnessing happening in much of the Western world right now. So good luck to everyone with all of that.
this owns so hard thanks for writing it
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Apr 8, 2020 06:39
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- gay picnic defence
- Oct 5, 2009
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I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS
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New York City's medical examiner.
Thanks for that.
I wonder if all those extra corpses are being included in the virus modeling. If there's 1000 official corona deaths but the true figure is 20% high presumably that has implications for estimating the true number of people infected in the community - i.e it could be 20% higher than the modeling predicts.
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Apr 8, 2020 06:45
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- coke
- Jul 12, 2009
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also lol that the US floundered almost as much money as that in about a week's time to prop up NUMBERS for a few seconds
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Apr 8, 2020 06:46
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- Trumps Baby Hands
- Mar 27, 2016
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Silent white light filled the world. And the righteous and unrighteous alike were consumed in that holy fire.
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AUGH DONT TEMPT ME THE CLOSEST ONE IS A TWO HOUR DRIVE AWAY
what else do you got going on
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Apr 8, 2020 06:50
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- The Anime Liker
- Aug 8, 2009
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by VideoGames
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Official ranking of burger joints:
1. Five Guys
2. Whataburger
3. Shake Shack
4. Wendy's
5. In-n-Out
Also Starbucks and Tim Hortons have poo poo coffee, Krispy Kreme is literally the only donut, Carolina BBQ is dog poo poo but it's not nearly as embarrassing as what New Yorkers call BBQ, there's no such thing as good fried chicken north of Nashville or west of New Orleans, Chicago deep dish sucks, hot dish sucks, chili has beans and beef and tomatoes, IPA is poo poo, and New York hot dogs loving suck harder than anything could ever suck.
And for you Philly fucks, Nick's Roast Pork is the best by such a huge margin and your fat mother can rot in hell if you disagree.
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Apr 8, 2020 06:52
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- Shipon
- Nov 7, 2005
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In n out fries are loving DISGUSTING
as much as i love in n out burgs, i have to agree. the fries are shamefully bad. i usually grab the burg and go to the next door mcdonalds for fries
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Apr 8, 2020 06:54
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- NO LISTEN TO ME
- Jan 3, 2009
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「プリスティンビート」
「Pristine Beat」
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Becoming nocturnal during quarantine is working out because it means I can go to the laundromat in the dead of night and not feel bad about being around too many people. Every other part sucks but that part is okay.
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Apr 8, 2020 06:55
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- Telsa Cola
- Aug 19, 2011
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No... this is all wrong... this whole operation has just gone completely sidewaysface
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as much as i love in n out burgs, i have to agree. the fries are shamefully bad. i usually grab the burg and go to the next door mcdonalds for fries
Will accept, I only ever order the animal fries when i get a burg.
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Apr 8, 2020 06:57
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- i am harry
- Oct 14, 2003
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This dude sucks and most people cannot find masks.
Also anyone with brown skin gets denied service when wearing a mask...
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Apr 8, 2020 06:58
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- Siljmonster
- Dec 16, 2005
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by LITERALLY AN ADMIN
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God I want a mound of French fries
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Apr 8, 2020 06:58
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- upgunned shitpost
- Jan 21, 2015
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all masks detained by ice for entering the country illegally
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Apr 8, 2020 06:58
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- Modest Mao
- Feb 11, 2011
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by Cyrano4747
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Laoganma is what you use with french fries.
lol no its not
Siracha is as gross as this
Siracha is insanely american flavored idk why anyone likes what should be called "Cali Sauce"
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Apr 8, 2020 07:01
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- oxsnard
- Oct 8, 2003
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Their fries are bad because they just throw raw potatoes into hot oil. If you're doing them homemade You have to blanche them at a lower oil temp, cool them off and then finish em in a hot fryer. That's why freezer fries taste so good
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Apr 8, 2020 07:01
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- PostNouveau
- Sep 3, 2011
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VY till I die
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Grimey Drawer
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rlm the voice of a generation
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Apr 8, 2020 07:05
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- Strep Vote
- May 5, 2004
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أنا أحب حليب الشوكولاتة
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PBUH
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Apr 8, 2020 07:06
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- Trumps Baby Hands
- Mar 27, 2016
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Silent white light filled the world. And the righteous and unrighteous alike were consumed in that holy fire.
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holy poo poo
Appropriate contacts in Asia
He wont just come out and say we bought them from China
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Apr 8, 2020 07:07
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- gradenko_2000
- Oct 5, 2010
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HELL SERPENT
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Lipstick Apathy
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where's my loving money and my loving vaccine
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Apr 8, 2020 07:15
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- coke
- Jul 12, 2009
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In n out fries are loving DISGUSTING
as much as i love in n out burgs, i have to agree. the fries are shamefully bad. i usually grab the burg and go to the next door mcdonalds for fries
lol that's why you ask for 'well done' or 'extra well done' fries
also for the best in'n'out burger ask for 3x3/4x4 with
-no salt
-grilled onion
-chopped chili peppers
you get a nice meaty burg with a decent kick to it without feeling extra thirsty hours later
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Apr 8, 2020 07:19
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- Zeroisanumber
- Oct 23, 2010
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Nap Ghost
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Planning to give my trumpbux to the local foodshelf.
I can''t imagine dealing with the anxiety of corona coupled with the anxiety of being hungry with no money.
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Apr 8, 2020 07:20
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Jun 5, 2024 22:45
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