Tag Archives: John Fetterman

senator fetterman can maintain his identity even if he doesn’t wear hoodies, shorts, and sneakers all of the time.

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Look —— sympathetic to John Fetterman and what he has been through BUT SOMETIMES HE NEEDS TO DRESS LIKE A GROWN UP.

I am admiring of this man for surviving a stroke and being honest about depression which followed, including being so open about seeking treatment and getting help. That was very BRAVE and hard to do, and left him wide open to some of the nastiest political commentary I have ever seen.

BUT this? A hoody and shorts and sneakers for a presser with other esteemed members of his party? Not a good look and it is my right to say so.

If Senator Fetterman hates suits, I can’t blame him, except a well-tailored suit can be really kind of fabulous. He is not impoverished and can afford some clothing more in keeping with the office he was elected to.

I received some incredibly HUH comments about my feelings on this topic, like:

makes him all the more fascinating to me! ❤️

HUH???????????????????? That is such a stupid comment it doesn’t make sense and if a grown man dressing like Elf goes to Washington for a presser makes him fascinating, you need to get out more.

Someone else said:

I did not send him to Washington to pretend to be someone he is not. When he starts dressing differently, I will begin to worry that the swamp is getting to him.

Decorum is a moving target, changing over the years. When I began my career as a programmer, I was expected to wear a jacket and tie, which had nothing do to with my performance as a professional. By the time I retired, the dress code had substantially changed. As long as Fetterman’s sweat shirt doesn’t effect his job performance, I’m cool with it.

Decorum is also based on good taste. Both are subjective. With this in mind, I can see how his appearance might offend some. But, for the record it does not offend me. I hope that this will remain nothing more than a friendly disagreement with those who are offended.

It’s not pretending he is somebody he is not to dress more appropriately, it’s acting like a grown up and dressing like one. He doesn’t like suits? Fine. How about long pants and a simple button down shirt? Observing decorum doesn’t mean he changes who he is. Further and to my point, it isn’t a moving target here and he is not in Washington to serve Shredder Nation and sorry not sorry he doesn’t have to wear a suit but he need not look like Elf Goes to Washington.

Someone else pointed out:

Unfortunately, he is now being targeted by the right wing nuts in Congress for this. As if there are not more pressing problems….Trying to say Senator Fetterman should not be giving don’ the opposition ammunition.

Agree 100%. Fetterman needs to change the narrative. There are more pressing issues, but he looks like Lurch the Shredder Dude. So how about long pants? Button down shirt? Not a suit if he hates suits, but clothing which shows a little more respect for the office. It’s the US Senate, and he’s there to change things, but that doesn’t include wear your hoody and shorts to work.

This is also a question of respect. Respect for the office. Respect for ALL of his constituents, and above all else, respect for HIMSELF.

I am not saying he shouldn’t be himself, and to be honest I don’t know why people can’t get him properly fitted for clothing since he’s tall, but I also know there are options.

This attire is underwhelming at best. I am not saying he has to be a fashion plate, but he needs to dress the part a little bit once in a while. It’s not just about his personal comfort level. Again, I am not saying wear a suit (even if everyone else does), but try pants and a collared shirt. It’s almost selfish this attire of his. I found an editorial from some random person, but this part of it did stand out:

….It’s true that dressing down is part of Fetterman’s brand, and it might play better in some parts of the country than in others. In The Washington Post, Kara Voght writes that the “comfort-craving Fetterman” tries to embody a kind of anti-fashion which “bolstered his everyman image during his successful run for office last year.”

Coming back from treatment for depression, as Voght writes, “the question of what the senator should wear was part of a larger challenge, which is reintroducing Sen. John Fetterman to Washington — on his own terms.” And therein lies the problem — the focus on his own interests and desires and not his role as a public servant.  

Sadly, however, Fetterman’s attire reflects our broader culture of unkempt appearance and dress. We act as if dress isn’t important. But what we wear isn’t simply a matter of decorum; rather, it reflects one’s heart and metaphysical well-being. How one dresses the body mirrors the soundness of the soul and the mind, and signals respect for both the beauty of the world and those who live in it.

And in Washington, in particular, dignified dress reflects the order, virtue and beauty of our democracy, as well as the dignity of those our elected officials represent.

~ Scott Raines , Perspective: The dressing down of America
Our clothes are a measure of our cultural health. In our society of sweats, the prognosis is not good

I also found this interesting piece from a few months ago:

High Snobiety: JOHN FETTERMAN JUST BECAME PENNSYLVANIA’S WORKWEAR SENATOR
6 MONTHS AGO IN CULTURE BY JAKE SILBERT

On November 9, John Fetterman toppled Dr. Mehmet Oz in the polls to become Pennsylvania’s senator-elect, following a three-year stretch as the state’s Lieutenant Governor…Despite his Master’s degrees from UConn and Harvard, Fetterman has been situated as the blue collar alternative to Washington’s stuffy suits. Despite the stroke he suffered before the midterms, Fetterman’s image is hardy, tough, reliable.

He’s a relative rarity amidst American Liberals, who struggle to reach the blue collar voters that their Republican rivals so frequently court with vague rhetoric about putting America first (that was literally Dr. Oz’s campaign slogan, mind you).

Fetterman, who ran on a platform of abortion rights, commonsense gun control, and legalized marijuana, dresses the part of an Average Joe. His uniform is hoodies and down jackets from Carhartt, the brand worn by folks who work with their hands.

No ties, please: even when sitting for his official Pennsylvania government photo in 2019, Fetterman eschewed blazers for a double-pocketed work shirt.

The only time in recent memory that Fetterman publicly suited up was back in 2019 for his inaugural lieutenant governor address.

Since then, whether he was campaigning with teachers or hobnobbing with presidents, Fetterman has made Carhartt his no-nonsense uniform, so much so that some people tossed on a bald cap and Carhartt hoodie to dress as him for Halloween…

What’s most interesting thing is how Fetterman’s manifested his image through clothing, his Carhartt clothes a replacement for the little American flag pin that’s clipped to so many lapels.

Workwear as political posturing is nothing new, of course: just look at how many gladhanders toss on a hard hat to represent synonymy with laborers.

Ok so his clothing is what makes people remember Fetterman, but should it always be the clothes? And no clothes, don’t make the man but he is 53 years old, and it would be helpful to ALL of his constituents if it wasn’t always a hoodie, shorts, and sneakers.

Is Washington, DC literally full of stuffed shirts? Yes. But Fetterman has had a rough start and he isn’t helping himself. Or his constituents. His constituents are not all of one type. So maybe, just maybe he also needs to remember that.

I actually feel badly for Fetterman, because I honestly feel he is not comfortable in his own skin. But no one is going to remember other than the clothes he wore if he doesn’t try once in a while to dress for the job he was elected to. Again, he doesn’t need to wear a suit. Long pants, collared shirt, regular shoes.

Enough of Elf Goes to Washington. And no, you don’t have to like my opinion, but I am entitled to it.

fetterman spam – he blocks me on twitter, yet apparently is allowed to spam my e-mail?

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My commentary will be simple: I didn’t sign up for this. So now I’m getting Fetterman spam?

John Fetterman, I don’t like you. I have never liked you. And I find your wife very full of herself and I’m not quite sure why. Truthfully, I find both of you slightly distasteful most of the time.

You do not keep your promises to your constituents. Look no further than the people victimized by pipelines in Chester County. You used them for a photo op when you were running for lieutenant governor and never helped them.

And then let’s talk about the way you block constituents. You blocked me for criticizing you. On Twitter. You blocked me in 2019, I wrote about it.

I checked just today and you STILL block me. I am a constituent, and I am actually a Democrat and you block me. There is Federal level case law that suggests that elected officials should not block their constituents. Yet you block me. And others.

Yet you seem to think sending me campaign spam is okay? It’s not. You need to unblock your constituents and apologize for all the things that you didn’t do for people now that you want us to vote for you for a higher office.

All of the Democrats can sit down and shut up now. No flapping because I cannot swear undying love. I know the alternative to Lurch is even more terrifying than he is. But isn’t it pathetic that these are the candidates that both parties are putting forward? We get to chose the lesser of two evils or get stuck with actual evil?

So here’s what I think John Fetterman: if you expect me to consider voting for you in November, maybe you can unblock me and all the other people you blocked who are your constituents because we didn’t agree with you.

Next thing: Am I going to give this man a campaign donation? Oh hell no. I don’t give any politicians campaign donations. But I think considering the stakes in Pennsylvania, if this man wants our support he has to get out and earn it. Again, he also has to unblock his constituents.

There will be lots who don’t like this post. But when it comes to politics I think politicians owe it to be straight with us, and real with us, and not glossy pieces of TV ads. We are real people, and politicians only value us for what? What we can do for them? I ask what are they going to do for us? Because that is the real thing we have to discuss as Americans and Pennsylvanians. It’s not what can we do for politicians, but what will they actually do for us? And that applies to both political parties.

I am all about the politician who wants to be there for everyone. The only problem is you so seldom meet any.

Below is the email I received today welcoming me to his “team.” What utter and complete bullsheit. There I said it.

Thanks for stopping by.

let’s talk shots

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Let’s talk shots. COVID-19 shots. Have you got one? If yes, lucky you.

I am still a cancer patient, so I am eligible. I registered with Chester County. I registered with the state. I registered with Chester County Hospital and therefore Penn Medicine. I signed up on some other websites. Nada. Nothing. Zippo.

It seems that finding COVID-19 shots in Chester County is the ultimate Where’s Waldo. And even Waldo is practising social distancing.

Image result for where's waldo covid 19

According to The Daily Local as of February 7, Chester County is quite literally striking out on COVID-19 shots so WTF?

“The Chester County Health Department continues to receive a very limited amount of vaccine doses each week, and last week it received no doses of the vaccine.

To date, Chester County has received more than 182,000 pre-registrations with the Chester County Health Department to receive the vaccine. In contrast this week, the county received just 3,200 doses, which the state instructed to be used as second doses. County officials are trying obtain more doses for Phase 1A groups, especially for seniors and those with high-risk conditions.”

Oh and then there is when you TRY to register according to Pennyslvania’s map:

So yeah, other than pipelines and blocking constituents on social media if you wonder WHY, WHY, WHY I won’t vote for Pennsylvania Lurch, a/k/a John Fetterman for U.S. Senate, look no further than we can’t get COVID-19 shots and the mansplaining out of Harrisburg is clear as mud and twice as frustrating as a long PECO outage.

I know people who do NOT live in New Jersey or Delaware but somehow signed up for shots there. No residency questions or challenges so to me this seems unethical if not dishonest. Is it dishonest? Who knows?

All I DO know is I have played by the rules throughout COVID19, including going on voluntary self-quarantine before stay at home was enforced because I was at a horticultural event where literally one of the first COVID19 victims in Chester County was. They were (whomever they were) the 2nd confirmed victim.

I have stayed home, gardened, learned how to make bread, and more this past year. Yes it is almost a year. I wear masks. I wash my hands. I don’t see my elderly familial people.

Think it’s just me gretzing?

We are all playing COVID shot roulette. And it’s debilitating. I am perfectly willing to wait my turn, only it would be nice to have a realistic idea of what that looks like. And most of us do not. We go to site after site. Like Giant Food Markets only where are their pharmacies administering shots? And who decided the randomness of it all as to where the shots will go?

Every time I have a medical appointment I have to COVID19 pre-screen. I don’t mind pre-screening but how about a damn shot instead?

Sign me, COVID-frustrated.

if mr. costello wants to go to washington, he needs to get out of his nappies first.

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A preface: This post is a week old. WordPress has this oddity and flaw in its app of sometimes making you republish things although you already did. Such is the case here.

📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝

So former Chester County Commissioner and U.S. Congressman Ryan Costello blocked me on Twitter. I don’t really care but he behaved today in a manner so purely childish that I can’t believe he seriously wants people to take him seriously that he wants to run for Pat Toomey’s seat in the United States Senate.

I used to think he was a nice enough guy. I liked dealing with his congressional staff because he quite frankly inherited a lot of them from Jim Gerlach. I had dealt with them for years.

So today comes this Philadelphia Inquirer article on how he wants to run for U.S Senate. (And so does Lt. Gov. John Fetterman so please for the love of God, who else is running?)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Former Pennsylvania Republican congressman Ryan Costello is taking steps to run for Senate in 2022
by Jonathan Tamari and Andrew Seidman, Posted: January 8, 2021 – 4:50 PM

So that is the article if you want to read it. Anyway the PA and Chesco Twitterverse started discussing this. One because of the shall we say haphazard way he decided not to run for re-election and then bailed on the Chester County GOP. Because truthfully he did. Not that I actually blamed him back then because they were rattlesnake material circa 2016 in my humble opinion. And 2016 was a Republican epiphany back then for many of us, myself included. The day Trump became the nominee was my last day as a Republican.

My initial comment when I saw the article was ummm no, we have already been to this movie.

Then there was the commentary regarding what Costello said this week when he gave a sound byte to local media over the events in Washington:

📌Ryan Costello, a critic of President Trump who held the 6th District House seat before Houlahan, said “watching these protestors invade the Capitol reminded me of the left-wing protestors who would storm in and occupy my congressional office and harass my staff on a weekly basis. Politics has become an invitation for extremist behavior; to be rude, dangerous and disrespectful to our institutions and policy-makers.”📌

Ummm…leftist fringe? Some of these people are my friends.

I did say the following:

So Ryan Costello wants to run for US Senate? Here’s hoping he is out of his diapers before then, because this response out of him is better suited for sucking a binky and living on Parler.

Honestly, I am disappointed because I used to like him. And to color outside the lines in such a manner BEFORE he announces a legit run for office? He’s not exhibiting strength, he’s demonstrating immaturity at a minimum. There already are enough hate spewing windbags like this in Washington D.C.

They didn’t threaten anyone. They are hardworking people and he seemed to forget he worked for the people not the Chesco GOP or whatever. They did not feel they were being heard. And that is the worst feeling and one we as regular people feel all too often at the hands of our elected officials.

Not that Fetterman is a better choice for US Senate….I wouldn’t vote for him either at this point either and I have never liked Political Lurch.

Here is the letter he referred to BY LINK.

Here is the letter by text as I obtained it:

📌The Daily Local News should stop promoting former Congressman Ryan Costello’s false comparisons between our area and dangerous events on national news. The violent, seditious terrorists we witnessed at the nation’s Capitol bear absolutely no resemblance, whatsoever, to the peaceful demonstrators exercising their democratic rights outside his district offices in 2017 and 2018.

The former Representative should consult the Daily Local’s own accounts of what transpired before leveling dangerously false comparisons. Costello claims that protestors “stormed his office and harassed staff weekly,” but most of the constituent rallies took place outdoors and far away from Costello’s office and staff.

The one occasion constituents entered Costello’s district office to stage a sit-in, the Daily Local’s own account describes them as “unobtrusive” to the staffers. When asked to move to another room, they complied. They ate pizza and sang Christmas carols, then left. That was it. No guns, violence, broken windows, Confederate flags, Nazi flags, or threats of any kind.

Ultimately, Costello’s commentary once again proves himself disconnected from reality and from the community he was once elected to serve. There was nothing remotely similar between the peaceful gatherings at/near Costello’s office and the riotous mob in DC. Peaceful assembly and requesting redress are protected rights of our citizenry.

Responsible journalism would not treat Costello’s conflation of the two as fact. Clarity is critical at this moment for our body politic, and readers deserve to be informed about what relevance an opinion has to the truth. The Daily Local does a disservice to its readers by reporting such egregious claims without basis of truth.

Luke Bauerlein, Exton; Phil Dague, Downingtown; Jane Palmer, Wyomissing; Beth Sweet, West Chester and Claire Witzleben, Wayne📌

These folks have a right to be upset. I guess so does Ryan Costello that we were discussing it. And what happened next wasn’t very “senatorial.”

Ryan Costello started addressing me on Twitter. He told me I didn’t know what I was talking about and did I remember when he stuck up for me once upon a time. And I did remember that, and part of the topic was his wife had gotten upset when people startled her on their street. I believe she was a pretty young mom at this point and probably not used to the public eye. Politicians sign up for this life, and their families really have little choice in the matter. And I felt at the time and probably would still today that people could have been nicer to her and more understanding. I took a walloping on social media for my opinion, and he stood up for me and I will always appreciate that.

However, it doesn’t mean I’m not going to speak my truth about how I feel about certain things. And calling people I know some thing akin to domestic terrorists for staging a sit in with pizza it’s not some thing that sits right with me. And it is a gross miss characterization of what I believe happened.

We went back-and-forth a while and then he sent me a private message and basically said that he thought I was talking to him in good faith and then he saw the comment about calling him Baby Ryan. And then he blocked me. I guess he just wanted the last word.

He did however say in one Tweet he didn’t care if screenshots were taken and shown that he stands by what he said. So Ryan? I do think you are acting like a baby or a toddler. I was also however communicating in good faith. I wish you could see how you are hurting yourself. Pennsylvania is a much different political climate than when you pulled your exit with drama, stage right. You need to get to know people all over again and their issues then, and issues now.

Here are the screenshots. Hopefully in some semblance of order. 2021 is certainly quite the year so far:

lieutenant governor john fetterman blocked moi on twitter

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blocked by john

Oh my! Should I wear it as a badge of honor? Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of the Commonwealth of PA has blocked moi on Twitter. My first ever gubernatorial blockage!!!

Yes, really.  And honestly? I tweet at Donald Trump and Real Housewives significantly more than him which isn’t saying much because I don’t tweet at any of those folks or Trump much.  Mostly where Big Orange is concerned, I try to pretend he isn’t on Twitter. (Keeps the blood pressure down.)

But even Big Orange hasn’t blocked me on Twitter.  But John Fetterman has apparently. It’s like he wants me to write a blog post about it. Especially amusing since there seems to be some legal precedent stating elected officials cannot block constituents on social media, especially if they use social media to inform constituents? And Lt. Gov. Lurch might not like my Tweets, but I am a constituent, yes? Something about that pesky thing known as the First Amendment, perhaps?

I do not know precisely when I was blocked (I discovered it today) because I don’t include him in tweets very often. I think he is like an empty paper bag with even less substance. I never even wrote a blog post about before about our Lieutenant Governor because he has always seemed a little creepy to me.

I have no problem with ink but his date and numeric tattoos are utterly creepy to look at.  And I am fascinated and always slightly puzzled how the man can never get a shirt that fits properly at the collar.  Or how a politician can look so uncomfortable in a suit, or even  as a politician.

I remember when he first came onto the political scene that I took note of him.  It was that 2016 U.S. Senate attempt.  Then I promptly forgot about him until Tom Wolf starting trotting him out for his last election.

Wolf is a true Rendell Democrat and we’ll leave it at that.

Now what had I tweeted and how often at John Fetterman? The answer is not much and it was mostly pipeline related.  Those pipelines are ruining where I call home and in my humble opinion are too problematic and too damn dangerous.  And for what all this risk to residents? So people a few miles up the road can get sinkholes, the people in East Goshen suffer from inadvertent returns on Boot Road, other people can get their water wells ruined, miles and miles of countryside get raped and pillaged and for what? So a company that should not have PUC utility status can ship gas and “other hydrocarbons” overseas to make plastics in places like Scotland? And don’t forget exploding refineries that then immediately go out of business, right? Or property values that go down due to pipeline syndrome, right?

Compared to a lot of what I see on Twitter, I barely nipped at Big John’s ankles.  I pulled as many  tweets as I could find, and like I said, there weren’t many.  I have screen shots so you can see:

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John Fetterman did kind of make campaign promises about pipelines to people in Chester County and elsewhere.  Once he got elected, what has he done?  Here are some pipeline and Fetterman things I found on Facebook:

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Here is what the ACLU had to say in January of this year:

Court Rules Public Officials Can’t Block Critics on Facebook

By Vera Eidelman, Staff Attorney, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
JANUARY 9, 2019 | 12:00 PM

One of the core purposes of the First Amendment is to allow people, regardless of their views, to hold the government accountable through expression. So, if your elected representative has an official Facebook page where she invites comments, can she block you from commenting because you criticize her work?

According to a federal appeals court, the answer is a resounding no.

On Monday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the interactive portion of a public official’s Facebook page is a “public forum,” so an official cannot block people from it because of the opinions they hold.

And then this happened today ironically:

Wall Street Journal: President Trump Can’t Block Twitter Users, Federal Appeals Court Rules
Practice of blocking users violates free-speech protections, judges say
By Corinne Ramey
Updated July 9, 2019 4:03 pm ET

A federal appeals court in New York ruled President Trump’s practice of blocking some users on Twitter violates the free-speech protections of the First Amendment.

Tuesday’s ruling stems from a 2017 lawsuit filed by Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute on behalf of seven people who had been blocked by the president’s @realDonaldTrump account.

Here is a report also from NPR:

NPR: U.S. Appeals Court Rules Trump Violated First Amendment By Blocking Twitter Followers
July 9, 20193:38 PM ET
VANESSA ROMO

A federal appeals court in Manhattan says President Trump cannot block critics from his Twitter account, calling it “unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.”

In a 29-page ruling on Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court’s decision that found that Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked certain Twitter users, because he uses his Twitter account “to conduct official business and to interact with the public.” By preventing critics from accessing his feed, the president is barring them from participating in what the judges deemed a public forum.

“[The] First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise-open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees,” the judges wrote.

So I guess Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is more special than the sitting President? (However, I can’t say either would honestly win any popularity contests, can you?)

Now mind you, the reaction from some Twitter-vomitors was amusing.  One guy said to me he would block me too and I was a “conservative big oil hater.” Oh how that made me giggle.  I am an independent and a moderate but  I’m not anti-oil, I’m anti-pipeline in Pennsylvania, there’s a difference. Above all else I am an independent thinker and I’m proud of that. But to the intellectually limited who haunt Twitter I am either that or an  evil Liberal or a former RINO (Republican in Name Only).

Seriously, Twitter is the last bastion for total freaking craziness.  That is why over the years I have been active then not active on Twitter.  Twitter is like a weird free for all where grown men seem to think it’s OK to call women a Facist C-U- Next-Tuesdays. Yes, someone did actually do that.

Do I really, really care if John Fetterman blocked me on Twitter?

No.  Because in the stratosphere of politics in PA, he’s temporarily trendy at best.  He’s like that dress you know you shouldn’t have bothered buying that will be out of fashion before you even get to wear it enough.

But there is the principle of the thing here.  The First Amendment allows freedom of speech and the ability to address your government. It’s not selective or subjective.

First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

At the end of the day I know I did not do anything so terribly awful or profanity laced that I deserved to be blocked.  I am a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, therefore one of his constituents whether he likes it or not. And whether I like him or not, which I really do not on principle. He’s a phony baloney. And he sucks up to that Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing so often people probably actually do throw up a little every time they see him fawning.

And am I so powerful he decided to block me? Oh hell no. I actually just think it’s because he doesn’t like to be reminded of things he said he would do and hasn’t, and he must hate being reminded about his pandering to Chester County residents devastated by the pipelines just so they would vote Wolf-Fetterman last election, right? besides, I am a blogger which is always an easy target for politicians because everyone knows bloggers are really Cyborgs, right?

So John Fetterman, I am not so politically naiive and honey have I got your proverbial number.  You keep on going on your “listening tours” with your selective politically male hearing.  We’ll remember the truth come the next time you want to run for something. 

Meanwhile, I will continue to look at the little plastic troll dolls many friend got at a tag sale and marvel how they all sort of resemble John Fetterman.  

This post was brought to all of you courtesy of the First Amendment and to all a good night.

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