Current Events > This Ted Cruz thing resonates with me bc the same thing happened in Australia

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MrMallard 02/22/21 1:20:27 AM #1:	...except it was our prime minister, comparable to your President, who left the country in a time of hardship and need to take a holiday. Australia's 2020 bushfires were the worst ones in recorded history. It's estimated that over 1 billion animals were killed in the blaze, and it put a sizable dent in the already endangered koala population. Entire towns were annihilated in these fires, with people having to sail a short distance out into the ocean to escape the blaze in the most extreme of circumstances. The blame for these once-in-a-lifetime bushfires was split down party lines. For the Liberal National Party - our conservative government who've been in charge for over a decade - people blamed their yearly cuts to the Rural Fire Service, which led to staff downsizing, relevant firefighting equipment becoming obsolete and the flow of equipment slowing considerably. Because of this, when the bushfires did hit, our fire services were overwhelmed. This is bolstered by reports from former RFS staff members which predicted another catastrophic bushfire event as early as 5 years before it happened. Due to underfunding and cuts, the former head of the RFS predicted the 2020 fires within a year of when the actually took place. The government refused to heed his warnings, and they kept cutting funding from firefighters. The blame that was levelled at the Labor Party and the Greens - our centre-left and left-wing parties respectively, the latter of who is endorsed by the former in the same way that the far-right Nationals are endorsed by the center-right Liberals - is that because of policies effected by the Greens, backburning was restricted for environmental reasons and this led to a build up of dry wood, dead plants and other fuel sources that fed the 2020 bushfires. Keep in mind, though, that our parliament has a majority of Liberals and Nationals, and that affects what laws pass. To paint the 2020 bushfires as the Greens going mad and screwing the country with well-intentioned nonsense is to state that they abused power that they don't have in the senate. It should also be known that the Nationals have something of an iron grip in regional Australia, and the negligent policies that led to widespread destruction went through the Nationals. So we had our worst bushfires in recorded history. Both sides blame each other. Over a billion animals have died, and it's all but certain that multiple species of flora and fauna have gone extinct thanks to large swathes of our forests burning to the ground. Where was our prime minister? He was in Hawaii. For context: despite referring to them as the 2020 bushfires, the internet states that they started in June of 2019. My impression was that they began in September 2019, and November was the point where they got really bad - but the worst bushfires in the recorded history of Australia started in June, and burned straight through into May of 2020. I think it's safe to say that we knew by December that we knew this was the Big One. Scott Morrison left the country in December, without telling anyone, to have a holiday with his family in Hawaii. We were lucky in that we only had 34 direct casualties thanks to the bushfires. However, we had an additional 450 deaths from smoke inhalation and the like - civilians and firefighters alike. But while those people got sick with what would eventually kill them, or died outright, our leader was sipping cocktails out of coconuts in Maui. There are two backlashes I want to bring up in response to this. The first one was when Scott Morrison cut his vacation short after he got called out, and visited some of the most affected areas of the nation for some good PR. I'd like to tell you that it was out of a sense of obligation and goodwill, but this man is on camera taking people's hands and shaking them when they don't give them willingly, while they ask where he was while their homes burned to the ground and how he was going to help them. He refuses to look them in the eye. There are also firefighters who refuse to be a part of his PR shenanigans. https://youtu.be/CSSjxsmlkVM The second backlash occurred in response to a payment dispute for the RFS. The Rural Fire Service depends on volunteers, even moreso since their budget has been getting cut over the past decade. So there were some people who were fighting bushfires for months at a time, who weren't getting paid and who couldn't work a job on top of 16 hour days battling bushfires. The public discourse argued that the people who had been fighting the worst bushfires in Australia's recorded history for months at a time deserved compensation for the work they were missing. The Liberal National party refused. So keep in mind - the man who went on holiday as Australia burned to the ground was opposed to compensating the people who gave months of their lives to try and contain those fires. It was only through public condemnation and pressure from Labor, the Greens, the Liberal party itself and even a handful of Nationals did Australia's firefighters get a pittance in the first place. I see something similar happening now with Ted Cruz. Texas is weathering what looks like the worst snowstorm in recent memory. Businesses and rich neighbourhoods have fluctuating power - but parts of Texas don't have any power at all, and they haven't had power for days. Children are dying in trailer parks despite being bundled up with family members. Homeless people have almost certainly been dropping off, and more will continue to die from exposure. And your senator, the man who the people of Texas elected to look out for their best interests, has left the country for greener pastures. This disregard for your lives, for your plight, is an indication of Ted Cruz's disconnect from his constituency. It shows his priorities. On top of the COVID denialism and far-right pandering, you need to make this stick to him, because otherwise he's going to get re-elected. And the next time something happens that puts your life at risk, when something comes along that can and will kill you without a second thought, Ted Cruz will do everything in his power to remove himself from the situation and leave you to die. And then he'll come back with a greasy smile on his face and pay himself on the back for leading the people of Texas through a crisis. These scumbags need to be called out for what they are - traitors. Ted Cruz is a traitor to the people of his state. Scott Morrison betrayed his country. Both men put aside their duty to their fellow man, the responsibility afforded to them by the faith of their constituents, to look after their own self interest while the people who voted them into power died in agony. The next chance you get to vote Ted Cruz out, you need to take it. People were going to die whether ScoMo or Ted Cruz stayed where they belonged, but what matters is that these people show solidarity with the people they represent. That they aren't so flippant with the lives of people who died, that they're committed to steering this ship through the good times and the bad. That they have our best interests in heart as our elected officials. If they jump ship the first chance they get to flounder around in tropical paradise while people die, then they aren't fit to decide what's in our best interests and they need to be voted out. It's not a case of deciding between whether to save the many or the few, it's not a greater moral quandary that a leader has to shoulder. It's whether they wanted to represent the people who put their faith in them, or if they wanted to gratify themselves. And both men chose to gratify themselves. --- I can feel it in my bones, I'm gonna spend another year alone. Now Playing: Persona 5, Minecraft <cite>MrMallard posted [p:950933332] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>...except it was our prime minister, comparable to your President, who left the country in a time of hardship and need to take a holiday. Australia's 2020 bushfires were the worst ones in recorded history. It's estimated that over 1 billion animals were killed in the blaze, and it put a sizable dent in the already endangered koala population. Entire towns were annihilated in these fires, with people having to sail a short distance out into the ocean to escape the blaze in the most extreme of circumstances. The blame for these once-in-a-lifetime bushfires was split down party lines. For the Liberal National Party - our conservative government who've been in charge for over a decade - people blamed their yearly cuts to the Rural Fire Service, which led to staff downsizing, relevant firefighting equipment becoming obsolete and the flow of equipment slowing considerably. Because of this, when the bushfires did hit, our fire services were overwhelmed. This is bolstered by reports from former RFS staff members which predicted another catastrophic bushfire event as early as 5 years before it happened. Due to underfunding and cuts, the former head of the RFS predicted the 2020 fires within a year of when the actually took place. The government refused to heed his warnings, and they kept cutting funding from firefighters. The blame that was levelled at the Labor Party and the Greens - our centre-left and left-wing parties respectively, the latter of who is endorsed by the former in the same way that the far-right Nationals are endorsed by the center-right Liberals - is that because of policies effected by the Greens, backburning was restricted for environmental reasons and this led to a build up of dry wood, dead plants and other fuel sources that fed the 2020 bushfires. Keep in mind, though, that our parliament has a majority of Liberals and Nationals, and that affects what laws pass. To paint the 2020 bushfires as the Greens going mad and screwing the country with well-intentioned nonsense is to state that they abused power that they don't have in the senate. It should also be known that the Nationals have something of an iron grip in regional Australia, and the negligent policies that led to widespread destruction went through the Nationals. So we had our worst bushfires in recorded history. Both sides blame each other. Over a billion animals have died, and it's all but certain that multiple species of flora and fauna have gone extinct thanks to large swathes of our forests burning to the ground. Where was our prime minister? He was in Hawaii. For context: despite referring to them as the 2020 bushfires, the internet states that they started in June of 2019. My impression was that they began in September 2019, and November was the point where they got really bad - but the worst bushfires in the recorded history of Australia started in June, and burned straight through into May of 2020. I think it's safe to say that we knew by December that we knew this was the Big One. Scott Morrison left the country in December, without telling anyone, to have a holiday with his family in Hawaii. We were lucky in that we only had 34 direct casualties thanks to the bushfires. However, we had an additional 450 deaths from smoke inhalation and the like - civilians and firefighters alike. But while those people got sick with what would eventually kill them, or died outright, our leader was sipping cocktails out of coconuts in Maui. There are two backlashes I want to bring up in response to this. The first one was when Scott Morrison cut his vacation short after he got called out, and visited some of the most affected areas of the nation for some good PR. I'd like to tell you that it was out of a sense of obligation and goodwill, but this man is on camera taking people's hands and shaking them when they don't give them willingly, while they ask where he was while their homes burned to the ground and how he was going to help them. He refuses to look them in the eye. There are also firefighters who refuse to be a part of his PR shenanigans. https://youtu.be/CSSjxsmlkVM The second backlash occurred in response to a payment dispute for the RFS. The Rural Fire Service depends on volunteers, even moreso since their budget has been getting cut over the past decade. So there were some people who were fighting bushfires for months at a time, who weren't getting paid and who couldn't work a job on top of 16 hour days battling bushfires. The public discourse argued that the people who had been fighting the worst bushfires in Australia's recorded history for months at a time deserved compensation for the work they were missing. The Liberal National party refused. So keep in mind - the man who went on holiday as Australia burned to the ground was opposed to compensating the people who gave months of their lives to try and contain those fires. It was only through public condemnation and pressure from Labor, the Greens, the Liberal party itself and even a handful of Nationals did Australia's firefighters get a pittance in the first place. I see something similar happening now with Ted Cruz. Texas is weathering what looks like the worst snowstorm in recent memory. Businesses and rich neighbourhoods have fluctuating power - but parts of Texas don't have any power at all, and they haven't had power for days. Children are dying in trailer parks despite being bundled up with family members. Homeless people have almost certainly been dropping off, and more will continue to die from exposure. And your senator, the man who the people of Texas elected to look out for their best interests, has left the country for greener pastures. This disregard for your lives, for your plight, is an indication of Ted Cruz's disconnect from his constituency. It shows his priorities. On top of the COVID denialism and far-right pandering, you need to make this stick to him, because otherwise he's going to get re-elected. And the next time something happens that puts your life at risk, when something comes along that can and will kill you without a second thought, Ted Cruz will do everything in his power to remove himself from the situation and leave you to die. And then he'll come back with a greasy smile on his face and pay himself on the back for leading the people of Texas through a crisis. These scumbags need to be called out for what they are - traitors. Ted Cruz is a traitor to the people of his state. Scott Morrison betrayed his country. Both men put aside their duty to their fellow man, the responsibility afforded to them by the faith of their constituents, to look after their own self interest while the people who voted them into power died in agony. The next chance you get to vote Ted Cruz out, you need to take it. People were going to die whether ScoMo or Ted Cruz stayed where they belonged, but what matters is that these people show solidarity with the people they represent. That they aren't so flippant with the lives of people who died, that they're committed to steering this ship through the good times and the bad. That they have our best interests in heart as our elected officials. If they jump ship the first chance they get to flounder around in tropical paradise while people die, then they aren't fit to decide what's in our best interests and they need to be voted out. It's not a case of deciding between whether to save the many or the few, it's not a greater moral quandary that a leader has to shoulder. It's whether they wanted to represent the people who put their faith in them, or if they wanted to gratify themselves. And both men chose to gratify themselves. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Darmik 02/22/21 1:23:24 AM #2:	We even have same people using the same defense he did. "Well I don't carry a hose mate" The sad thing is that Australia seems to have completely forgotten that ScoMo did this and his approval rating has skyrocketed after how we handled Covid. Solely because he takes credit for the wins and shifts blame for the failures. --- Kind Regards, Darmik <cite>Darmik posted [p:950933390] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>We even have same people using the same defense he did. "Well I don't carry a hose mate" The sad thing is that Australia seems to have completely forgotten that ScoMo did this and his approval rating has skyrocketed after how we handled Covid. Solely because he takes credit for the wins and shifts blame for the failures. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Johnny_Nutcase 02/22/21 1:23:27 AM #3:	I'm not going through all that because it's too far away but @TreyFlowers can you confirm? --- I got a freakin muscle spasm in my back the gear slipped the air brakes were shot to hell. I mean there was nothing I could do, boom right into the post office <cite>Johnny_Nutcase posted [p:950933392] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>I'm not going through all that because it's too far away but @TreyFlowers can you confirm? </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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Sad_Face 02/22/21 1:33:54 AM #6:	Johnny_Nutcase posted... I'm not going through all that because it's too far away but TreyFlowers can you confirm? This post is insulting. Why would you come into a topic, admit you're not going to read the OP but call for someone to verify it? --- https://imgur.com/WmIB016 https://imgur.com/53FGj6K <cite>Sad_Face posted [p:950933590] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>Johnny_Nutcase posted... </cite> <quote>I'm not going through all that because it's too far away but TreyFlowers can you confirm?</quote>This post is insulting. Why would you come into a topic, admit you're not going to read the OP but call for someone to verify it? </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Johnny_Nutcase 02/22/21 1:40:05 AM #7:	It's ok he lives in Australia, he can fill me in. --- I got a freakin muscle spasm in my back the gear slipped the air brakes were shot to hell. I mean there was nothing I could do, boom right into the post office <cite>Johnny_Nutcase posted [p:950933701] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>It's ok he lives in Australia, he can fill me in. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Frosted_Midna 02/22/21 1:47:42 AM #8:	I have a feeling Texas will re-elect him. I can feel it. --- It's more than good, it's alive! Warning: May contain stone hat pieces https://imgur.com/N6v5qZx <cite>Frosted_Midna posted [p:950933821] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>I have a feeling Texas will re-elect him. I can feel it. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
brestugo 02/22/21 1:48:14 AM #9:	wbloechel posted... lol we know what a Prime Minister is. You'd be surprised at the idiocy around here. --- Not everyone is suitable to kill a lion - Maasai proverb. <cite>brestugo posted [p:950933828] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>wbloechel posted... </cite> <quote>lol we know what a Prime Minister is.</quote>You'd be surprised at the idiocy around here. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
mach25687 02/22/21 1:52:08 AM #10:	Remember seeing clips of the people calling that MF out. --- Best damn game about Ninja http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/ninjagolf/ninjagolf-flashgame.php <cite>mach25687 posted [p:950933882] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>Remember seeing clips of the people calling that MF out. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Lorenzo_2003 02/22/21 1:59:40 AM #11:	Ok, well, that sucks. They say the problem with democracy is sometimes people vote for the person you dont like. --- ... <cite>Lorenzo_2003 posted [p:950934009] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>Ok, well, that sucks. They say the problem with democracy is sometimes people vote for the person you dont like. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
ColdOne666 02/22/21 2:10:27 AM #12:	As a fellow Australian, please stop whining and throwing tantrums, it's embarrassing. --- Aussie Aussie Aussie OI OI OI! <cite>ColdOne666 posted [p:950934198] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>As a fellow Australian, please stop whining and throwing tantrums, it's embarrassing. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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008Zulu 02/22/21 2:44:46 AM #14:	I hope this waste of space gets voted out. I won't be voting for him. --- If you protest, it's because you feel your voice isn't being heard. If you riot, it's because you feel your voice is being ignored. <cite>008Zulu posted [p:950934682] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>I hope this waste of space gets voted out. I won't be voting for him. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
teep_ 02/22/21 2:50:51 AM #15:	Johnny_Nutcase posted... It's ok he lives in Australia, he can fill me in. So does TC...? --- teep dumb as f*** fr - BatmanVonDoom I'm gonna pound a 400 lb woman just to prove teep wrong - NigerianKnight <cite>teep_ posted [p:950934770] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>Johnny_Nutcase posted...</cite> <quote>It's ok he lives in Australia, he can fill me in.</quote> So does TC...?</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
MrMallard 02/22/21 7:24:55 AM #16:	teep_ posted... So does TC...? Johnny's probably got more of a handle on Trey, and trusts his take because of that. It's all good, I don't think I have bad blood with Johnny or anything - a friendly face giving their own two cents on a topic can go a long way. Lorenzo_2003 posted... Ok, well, that sucks. They say the problem with democracy is sometimes people vote for the person you dont like. Absolutely, but you'd have to be pretty ridiculous to go "my elected official deserves to take a holiday instead of leading the state/country through a time of crisis". Bush got criticized because he was reading a storybook to schoolchildren when 9/11 happened, and when he was told about what happened, he finished the story before leaving - but when Australia is on fire or when snowstorms in Texas are killing dozens of people and causing outages, we're okay with our officials literally leaving to go on holiday when things are at their worst? This isn't a matter of "someone got elected I don't like". This is a matter of "a figure of authority who demands respect for their position of power fled a crisis to go on vacation, leaving their constituents to suffer through a major crisis". This would be fucked up if AOC organised a trip to the Bahamas just before NYC got hit by a hurricane. It'd be fucked up if half of California was on fire, and the governor chartered a 2 week holiday to Scotland to clear their head. I just think it's fucked up that in the wake of a serious, deadly catastrophe that affects thousands of people at least, the people who we've voted into power can't be assed to show some solidarity and leadership to get their constituents through a time of crisis. It's fucked up that when thousands of people can't escape hellish conditions, and there are natural and/or artificial forces that are putting them in harm's way, people in positions of power choose to go on holiday with the full knowledge of what's about to happen to the people they represent. Whether I support them or not, that's a fucked up thing to do. --- I can feel it in my bones, I'm gonna spend another year alone. Now Playing: Persona 5, Minecraft <cite>MrMallard posted [p:950938012] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>teep_ posted... </cite> <quote>So does TC...?</quote>Johnny's probably got more of a handle on Trey, and trusts his take because of that. It's all good, I don't think I have bad blood with Johnny or anything - a friendly face giving their own two cents on a topic can go a long way. Lorenzo_2003 posted... </cite> <quote>Ok, well, that sucks. They say the problem with democracy is sometimes people vote for the person you dont like.</quote>Absolutely, but you'd have to be pretty ridiculous to go "my elected official deserves to take a holiday instead of leading the state/country through a time of crisis". Bush got criticized because he was reading a storybook to schoolchildren when 9/11 happened, and when he was told about what happened, he finished the story before leaving - but when Australia is on fire or when snowstorms in Texas are killing dozens of people and causing outages, we're okay with our officials literally leaving to go on holiday when things are at their worst? This isn't a matter of "someone got elected I don't like". This is a matter of "a figure of authority who demands respect for their position of power fled a crisis to go on vacation, leaving their constituents to suffer through a major crisis". This would be fucked up if AOC organised a trip to the Bahamas just before NYC got hit by a hurricane. It'd be fucked up if half of California was on fire, and the governor chartered a 2 week holiday to Scotland to clear their head. I just think it's fucked up that in the wake of a serious, deadly catastrophe that affects thousands of people at least, the people who we've voted into power can't be assed to show some solidarity and leadership to get their constituents through a time of crisis. It's fucked up that when thousands of people can't escape hellish conditions, and there are natural and/or artificial forces that are putting them in harm's way, people in positions of power choose to go on holiday with the full knowledge of what's about to happen to the people they represent. Whether I support them or not, that's a fucked up thing to do. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
TreyFlowers 02/22/21 3:07:32 PM #17:	Johnny_Nutcase posted... I'm not going through all that because it's too far away but @TreyFlowers can you confirm? Kinda yeah, our PM went and holidayed in Hawaii during the bushfires last year @Johnny_Nutcase --- ...for it is better to be alone than in bad company. <cite>TreyFlowers posted [p:950951278] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>Johnny_Nutcase posted... </cite> <quote>I'm not going through all that because it's too far away but @TreyFlowers can you confirm?</quote> Kinda yeah, our PM went and holidayed in Hawaii during the bushfires last year @Johnny_Nutcase </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
MrMallard 02/23/21 10:01:34 AM #18:	One last bump --- I can feel it in my bones, I'm gonna spend another year alone. Now Playing: Persona 5, Minecraft <cite>MrMallard posted [p:950978366] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>One last bump </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Cemith 02/23/21 10:18:18 AM #19:	Frosted_Midna posted... I have a feeling Texas will re-elect him. I can feel it. They will, all our old people suck --- CE's resident Smash Player \|\| https://imgur.com/NXtuvJ8 "Friends don't let friends watch The Big Bang Theory" - mogar002 <cite>Cemith posted [p:950978836] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>Frosted_Midna posted... </cite> <quote>I have a feeling Texas will re-elect him. I can feel it.</quote>They will, all our old people suck </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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MrMallard 02/25/21 8:16:55 AM #21:	UnhndredDescole posted... I heard there are probably many species that have gone extinct because of it that we never discovered. I could see that. --- I can feel it in my bones, I'm gonna spend another year alone. Now Playing: Persona 5, Minecraft <cite>MrMallard posted [p:951053196] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>UnhndredDescole posted... </cite> <quote>I heard there are probably many species that have gone extinct because of it that we never discovered.</quote>I could see that. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Jiek_Fafn 02/25/21 8:30:17 AM #22:	The type of people that vote for Ted Cruz don't care about this type of thing or at least not long term. Unfortunately, there are a large amount of people who vote for Ted Cruz. --- PSN: Jiek <cite>Jiek_Fafn posted [p:951053510] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>The type of people that vote for Ted Cruz don't care about this type of thing or at least not long term. Unfortunately, there are a large amount of people who vote for Ted Cruz. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Solid_Seb 02/25/21 9:08:44 AM #23:	I live in Texas and the issue with republicans is they cant see faults with their politicians. A lifetime of considering anything not in their party as the enemy has conditioned them to be super defensive. Also republicans tend to merge the concepts of god and country, leading them to be much less likely to question leadership, the same way they would never doubt their religion. Just scrolling through my fb feed and I see a ton of ridiculous justifications. yall are just jealous that you cant go what could he have done anyways, he cant control the weather theres plenty of other elected officials, its not his job to handle this And just like your pm, he cut his vacation short when he got called out, and immediately started a pr campaign. Photos of him serving bbq, giving out water, shaking peoples hands, etc. Pretty certain hell get elected again next year too. <cite>Solid_Seb posted [p:951054481] in This Ted C... [t:79309930]...</cite> <quote>I live in Texas and the issue with republicans is they cant see faults with their politicians. A lifetime of considering anything not in their party as the enemy has conditioned them to be super defensive. Also republicans tend to merge the concepts of god and country, leading them to be much less likely to question leadership, the same way they would never doubt their religion. Just scrolling through my fb feed and I see a ton of ridiculous justifications. yall are just jealous that you cant go what could he have done anyways, he cant control the weather theres plenty of other elected officials, its not his job to handle this And just like your pm, he cut his vacation short when he got called out, and immediately started a pr campaign. Photos of him serving bbq, giving out water, shaking peoples hands, etc. Pretty certain hell get elected again next year too. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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Current Events > This Ted Cruz thing resonates with me bc the same thing happened in Australia (+) Yeah! (+)

Current Events > This Ted Cruz thing resonates with me bc the same thing happened in Australia