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But bureaucrats don't do work. They wouldn't have a clue how to do anything useful, and I'm sure, they don't have the mental capacity to learn.

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Hunger is a strong motivator: let them (or their spoiled children) miss a couple meals or hot showers, and they'll become very interested in how to grub up a paycheck. (Well, like others here, I can dream, can't I?)

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Well, they'll have to be taught then. After all, they'll be pink-slipped with no severance or retirement pay. At least in my fantasy world.

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Enter UBI. One of the lessons sought from the "Covid" episode - a beta test for UBI. What amount keeps people on their couches?

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Ron, exactly what has been happening under Biden. Covid has given them the excuse to stay home and pretend they are working. IsnтАЩt that the description of UBI? UBI was the тАЬsolutionтАЭ of the up-coming AI generation in California, led by Andy Wang in the 2020 Democrat primary, to provide for the people that are going to be clobbered by the AI revolution. Think what the Democrats have done,

1.Brought 30-50 million more mouths to feed into the country

2. Sent our тАЬmiddle classтАЭ jobs overseas and converted them to slave labor

3. Overeducated our children with bullshit majors

4. Created a worthless government bureaucracy that abhors working

5. Created the concept of UBI, where people get paid for doing nothing, just enough to survive, Maslow would love this one. They need to figure out who is going to create the meaningful money to finance this one. The Biden Covid UBI created 9% inflation. The Weimar Republic will always be the best example of what happens when you just create money with no backing.

6. Created the economic environment to accelerate AI, so after bullshitting our advanced education and bringing in millions of peons, they destroy the base of employment that the country needs.

WTF!!!!!!!!! These are all trends that Trump needs to pound into smithereens. The ideal goal would be for every SOB that is advancing these goals, to be drummed out of the country.

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John - you're exactly right, excellent summary. Just a comment or two.

Yes, the PTB always game plan many years in advance. They know all the things you mention would basically idle our workforce. How to keep the natives from getting restless? That's when the problems start. So, what's the minimum amount necessary? They're trying to dial that amount in.

On inflation, you undershot - even at 9% - closer to 18% real rate. See the Chapwood Index, a true measure of inflation - a basket of 500 goods & services, measured every 6 months in the 50 largest cities. No adjustments, no substitutions, no bullshit.

https://chapwoodindex.com/

Using the Rule of 72, with inflation @ 18%, prices double every 4 years. Not a linear progression - geometric - another 4 years and prices double again.

A $4.50 hamburger in 2016, was $9.00 in 2020 and near $18.00 today. There you go.

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Went to Chipotle the other day. Got a bowl full of rice, pico, guacamole, about a half a cup of chicken and some cheese. Damned thing cost me $19.00.

When considering inflation as high as it is is it any wonder housing prices are astronomical compared to what they were 20 years ago? I'm in land development. Costs are so bad now that profit margins are extremely thin for developers and home builders. Unless you are DR Horton or Meritage.

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CP - you shoulda gone to the burger joint, you woulda saved a buck. :-)

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You can also order a kiddie meal at a burger joint or more over here, which includes a juice-pack, small burger (but you can add adult portions of veggie/condiment stuff in it at no extra charge!) and onion rings, all for a kiddie price.

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Zazzy, for you, price is no object. Dreamy and I will be happy to take you there. If you're extra good, you can even get a chocolate sundae for dessert.

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Wow, you've put me in a giddy glaze that may be with me for the rest of the day.

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Desire is endless but the world is limited. See the problem?

The answer is what you abhor: A steady state or control economy. Time to smell the music and face the coffee.

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Nope. The answer is a free market. Fiat currency is state intervention.

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Yes. a truly free market. Lugh is right as the pols do not want the uncertainty of a truly free market, nor does the stock market. So crony capitalism creeps in which does lead to socialism.

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Yep, a truly free market - no subsidies, no incentives, no monopolies - all state intervention.

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No subsidies or incentives? Without these, Musk would be a complete nobody. How much federal subsidy does the US oil industry garner every year and then STILL avoid paying taxes? In 2022, the US government subsidized the fossil fuel industry by $757 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund

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"Maria" - A complete nobody? Please. I get your point. Regardless - Musk has genius-level intellect - 5 minutes in this head would short-circuit your brain. For good. Sounds like envy or jealousy of money, intellect or success, one.

Stop saying "the US government" that's why your people - the Free Shit Army - continue to believe the US government has some big pot of gold that they dip into to pay for free shit.

The US government produces nothing - actually they are a drain. The US Taxpayers subsidized the fossil fuel industry to the tune of $757 billion. Fuck that.

Let gas go to $10/gallon. Free market forces will adjust people's driving, consumption habits and lifestyles. It's simple economics, how supply and demand - in a free market - drive prices (and innovation). A second grader can figure this out.

A true free market is the answer, but it'll never happen - too much money being made by too few, from the many, via subsidies, incentives and monopolies. Economics in its purist form is simple (benign) human behavior but so is a manipulated (greed driven) market a human behavior - a free market is a fantasy. Never happen.

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The State will rise again. The people will beg strong men to protect them. You are blind to the cycles of life and necessity.

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Evolution has other answers. Like many things, it's about nuance and dependencies ('It depends.').

The State may rise again, but not necessarily, or not necessarily for everyone, everywhere.

Civ may collapse so badly that we may be lucky to end up with villages. Now, we've heard of the city State, but can villages be States too? Or does a State require a certain number above some threshold? I could look it up, but am too tired ATM.

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Yes. Sell off all Federal and State land. Hunt all the animals to extinction. If they can't survive, that's their problem. Cut down all the trees for lumber. Replant the wilderness as a tree farm. Money! You're another Ronny Ray Gun.

"People"? Same. If they can't survive under the Market or Law of the Jungle, they go under. You are another Dos Pasos or Upton Sinclair.

I laugh. The real price of gasoline is probably 10 dollars a gallon. You pickup guys are gonna be screwed. You'll have shoot outs at gas stations to get the last drops of ancient sunshine.

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Ron says nothing. What could he say? He's an ideologue whose ideology is wrong.

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No.

The world is only limited by man's imagination, resources have nothing to do with it.

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Right. Just build a house in your mind and live in it. Ride to your job as panhandler in front of 7/11 on your imaginary horse. Or since your house is in your mind, just sleep in the doorway of the 7/11.

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Right. Worked for the last 100,000 years or so.

Have you long have you lived in a cave?

Haha!

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Brah-vo! Damn nearly suitable for framing!

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Maslow was sound, but as a man, flawed. He struggled with hateful feelings towards his Christian students around Christmas time.

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Yes, replace White Americans with immigrants at the lower levels and AI and/or Indians at the higher. Promise to take care of the now useless eaters but then get rid of them with the Vax. AI is an essential part of the equation of ending America and the White Western World. John is in favor of it. He can't hold all the moving pieces in his mind at the same time.

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"The Biden Covid UBI created 9% inflation." Oh? Not the $8 trillion Trump added to the debt in just 4 years?

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"UBI was the тАЬsolutionтАЭ of the up-coming AI generation in California" NOT!

The excuse to stay home and pretend they are working. IsnтАЩt that the description of UBI? NO IT ISN'T !

You need to broaden you reading my friend..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_basic_income

Milton Friedman, (an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy), proposed the idea of a negative income tax (NIT), which effectively sanctioned a basic income for all, in his book Capitalism and Freedom published in 1962.

In his 1964 State of the Union address, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced legislation to fight the "war on poverty". Johnson believed in expanding the federal government's roles in education and health care as poverty reduction strategies. In this political climate, the idea of a guaranteed income for every American also took root. Notably, a document, signed by 1200 economists, called for a guaranteed income for every American.

Succeeding President Richard Nixon explained its purpose as "to provide both a safety net for the poor and a financial incentive for welfare recipients to work." Congress eventually approved a guaranteed minimum income for the elderly and the disabled.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_advocates_of_universal_basic_income

S. Robson Walton, former Walmart Chairman[57]

Andrew Yang, American businessman, attorney, lobbyist, and politician. Founder of Venture for America, and a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate[79][80]

Tulsi Gabbard, former U.S. Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district, and a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate[81]

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta Platforms[82][83]

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon[84]

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft[85][note 1]

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple[86]

Larry Page, co-founder of Google[87]

....oh never mind.

The ideal goal would be for every SOB that is advancing these goals, to be drummed out of the country. Yeah right!

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Obummer got the Novel Prize for doing what he does best, nothing. I'm not impressed.

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Yeah. All you need is a source for the money generation to pay these gimmes. Are you so dumb to not realize that тАЬmoney does not grow on trees?тАЭ Money needs to be earned with labor or it has no meaning. UBI on a grand scale will bring down the monetary system.

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Nonsense!

Proponents of UBI argue that basic income could increase economic growth because it would sustain people while they invest in education to get higher-skilled and well-paid jobs.[63][64]

Advocates contend that the guaranteed financial security of a UBI will increase the population's willingness to take risks,[66] which would create a culture of inventiveness and strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit.[67]

According to statements of American Enterprise Institute-affiliated Libertarian/conservative scholar Charles Murray, recalled and sanctioned in 2016 by the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and nationally syndicated columnist[69][70] Veronique de Rugy, as of 2014, the annual cost of a UBI in the US would have been about $200 billion cheaper than the US system put in place at that date.[71] By 2020, it would have been nearly a trillion dollars cheaper.[72]

According to Swiss economist Thomas Straubhaar, the concept of UBI is basically financeable without any problems. He describes it as "at its core, nothing more than a fundamental tax reform" that "bundles all social policy measures into a single instrument, the basic income paid out unconditionally."[74]

Regarding the question of basic income vs jobs, there is also the aspect of so-called welfare traps. Proponents of basic income often argue that with a basic income, unattractive jobs would necessarily have to be better paid and their working conditions improved, so that people still do them without need, reducing these traps.[86]

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Geez, Denis - it's all pearls before swine. Not sure why you bother showing off your powerful intellect around this shaking shack...

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Maria, I am not that smart, I just know how to use the resources that the wonderful internet makes available to everyone of us.

Every one of us that is not closed minded that is.

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Well, the government is lying and wants to get rid of us so, no. But if they were still good, then yes, it might be a good thing, though a lot of people wouldn't know what to do with themselves and that would be a problem. Before the Vax, I was in favor of UBI.

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Hahahahahaha! Boy have you been sucked into a bunch of BS by the extremists on the Left.

Money has to be generated by some sort of human activity. I will bet you think food stamps are a human right too. You are just a little Left of Bernie Sanders, and I will tell you a secret. During the next four years, your opinion means absolutely nothing, Leftie.

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I suppose you think Milton Friedman was a "leftie." LOL

One thing you excel at, my friend - putting labels on people.

Better you go onto READ ONLY mode - and stop making a fool of yourself.

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You are not my friend. I swore this year I would not let you haters get away with shit and I wonтАЩt. I have noticed others on the blog are starting to not put up with your BS also. Just keep proselytizing, I will keep calling out your BS.

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Name me one thing I have expressed hate for in any of my posts?

Aside from your male bovine excrement and preaching.

Proselytizing? Come on man! That's your hobby!

Your hatred of those with left wing ideas is crippling you my friend!

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Yes, very true: many were very happy to be paid to sit at home in prison a long as they could get fed and watch Netflix and porn.

Pathetic, but that is the mass of mankind now.

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And substance abuse and depression soared. Endless amusement is no laughing matter.

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All of a man's problem stem from his inability to sit quietly in his room. So you're not wrong, but of course you want him to go out and look for trouble, so you're not right either.

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I like this comment, Lugh. I have three children coming of age and they can't go five minutes without music. Either they are blasting it from a speaker (much to my annoyance) or they are hiding behind gawdy earphones or ear buds. These young people don't know how to handle quiet time.

I love to sit on my back patio and just watch the world. I sit in silence, watching the birds fly by, the bumble bee work over some Linden tree blossoms or my young corgi sniff about the plants in the garden. It's in these quiet times that we actually can think and resolve so many problems.

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"These young people don't know how to handle quiet time"

What a stupid gross generalization, Cankerpuss.

How many "young people" do you spend time with?

My young Daughter who is an MD, and just got another PhD would like to have a word with you - and give you a well-deserved swift kick in your nuts!

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Good for her, a Type-A, hard-charger, an overachiever - probably running from something, anything to avoid the "quiet". For many like this, it's hard to be a human being they prefer, for whatever reasons, to be a human doing.

Cankerpuss's point may stand. I'd bet that if you tied her to a chair - no phone, no screens, no noise, no intentional distractions - her head would probably explode after 5 minutes of quiet.

Or I could be completely wrong.

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Dennis Merwood likes to bring up his daughters. This is the second time he's bragged about his super girls and told me they want to meet me and kick my ass. Dennis Merwood is an arrogant prick, but I must admit his comments are quite comical. Although I will not engage him directly I do find myself actually looking forward to his comments. They make me laugh. He's easy to bait. Mention God and he's all over it like white on rice, like stink on poop. The dude is hilarious.

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"All of a man's problem stem from his inability to sit quietly in his room." ~ Lugh

There's a lot of truth in this. In his room or in his cave, as the ascetics did.

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If true, this is a silver lining of Hyperacusis. My body forces me to be very quiet, much of the time. I can work, but only with a quiet work environment. Engineering employers would rather be sued than give engineers the quiet work environment that the accounting department generally has.

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from Blaise Pascal, mathematician turned spiritual seeker turned Catholic mystic.

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Most people hate their jobs. Why wouldn't they? What could be more abnormal and destructive than repetitive labor or part time slavery?

Yes, it's better than full time slavery as per UBI's guilded cage. But can we not do better? Not under Capitalism which will replace most of with AI and AI guided robots.

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An Indian (feather, not dot) sits in the shade of a tree along a country road. A man drives by and stops and asks the Indian what he's doing. Enjoying the day he says.

The man tells the Indian he needs to get a job. Why asks the Indian. So you can save money says the man. What do I need money for asks the Indian. So you can invest the money and someday retire. Why says the Indian. So when you retire, you can sit in the shade of a tree and enjoy the day.

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So true, Ron. Such a rat race we have created for ourselves in our Country. I just spent a couple weeks in Mexico and I loved it. The people there have much less than we do but they are also happier and seemingly more satisfied. My favorite day was resting on the beach and watching Mexican fishermen clean their catch of the day. Didn't detect any misery in those guys. Lots of jokes, singing, laughter and banter with their buddies. I was envious of them and dreading the return to "murica" and the rat race. If I had the cojones, I'd pull an Andy Durfrain from the Shawshank Redemption and high tail it out of here to Mexico for a simpler life.

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Yet you endorse the rat race of the Market, the fore-runner of the AI Beast.

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You may be right BUT

There is a huge problem that will arise, and it has already started. AI may come into manufacturing and eradicate human labor. BUT, what happens when the consumer base erodes or dies and their is no one to buy what AI does? How do you have an economy where no one has purchasing power, there is no or little demand. That day is coming. Will wise men stop it? As there are no wise men in government, counting on government to help us is a joke, a fatal joke.

FYI. Musk goes through his factories and has found that some jobs are better done by people and removes robotics.

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Economics As If People Mattered by Hazel Henderson. The title tells the tale. AI is worthless because it replaces people directly. You worry that this may be bad for the economy! - forgetting that the economy or "art of the household" is supposed to serve man. What a confused condition you are in.

If other nations want to go down this path of death, let them. Break off all relations with them and just wait for them to die off.

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Where do you read all this nonsense John?

Maybe it's time you started reading different comics!

"The day is coming where we have an economy where no one has purchasing power, there is no or little demand."

Got a link to any rational person who holds this belief?

While you are looking for links ~ find us one about Elon found that some jobs are better done by people and removes robotics. LOL

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As I said, read his Biography before you shoot your mouth off about things YOU know nothing about!!!

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So, you can't find any reference that Elon found that some jobs are better done by people and removes robotics

What page of his Biography is this discussed on?

Since you know so much about it you would provide a link, or evidence.

But you can't. You think you know everything about everything! Look at your posts in this thread. Like the day is coming where we have an economy where no one has purchasing power, there is no or little demand.

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As I said, you know nothing about what you are espousing, about anything you espouse. I disagree with Cankerpuss, you are not humorous, you are disgusting. Read his bio, fool, I do not have to supply you with pages for you to understand what Musk is all about. Everything I have stated is in the bio, if you want to stop your absurd statements, read the damn book.

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Insults. The last refrain from a man who has lost the debate and has nothing to contribute.

Knowledge is not something you simply assert, John; knowledge is demonstrated.

"I find it somewhat ironic that those who demand evidence for my disbelief in their god are usually quite happy to believe in their god without any evidence whatsoever." -- Hitchens

Stop the bullshit! Just present the evidence for the existence of your тАЬGodтАЭ that's all I ask.

God exists in the minds of people who need him to give answers to questions they want to hear.

If you and Cankerpuss want to bask in self-imposed victimhood over something happening between your ears, there is nothing I can say that will stop you.

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Tsk, tsk, seems like if someone faces off with you about the truth and your lies, you seem a little sensitive. I do know a lot about various subjects that I like to discuss on the blog, the only thing you seem to know is how to call down people of faith.

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Bandit, I take some exception to your comment. Not all bureaucrats are lazy slobs not doing anything on the job all day. In my line of work in land development I work consistently with city governments and I can state that some of the city workers are hard working individuals. When we are putting in a water line those city inspectors are right in there working hard, doing their jobs. When a water or sewer line goes bad the City workers are there getting the repairs done. Building Inspectors, City Planners, and other officials work long hours getting my plans reviewed so I can meet deadlines. Yes, you are right, some bureaucrats don't do any work and are leaches, but from my experience many government employees do work hard and do their best to assist us in the private sector.

One could raise the question if we need all of these City jobs such as inspectors and planners. That's a different discussion for a different time. My only point is I don't agree that all bureaucrats don't do any work. Some of those that I work with are very hard working individuals.

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FYI, the city workers are not bureaucrats. They are, at least, skilled trades, they work for their money. I've worked for cities, too. The bureaucrats do jack, other than sit around and put down the people doing the work.

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I'm glad to hear you say that. I have worked with many City workers and they have all been very dedicated, skillful, knowledgeable and hard working people. They earn their paychecks, even if it is the government paying them.

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Thank-you for noticing that we're not the scum management says we are.

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Have you ever had the nickname, Bandits, with an s?

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Nope.

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Fair enough.

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