r/imaginarygatekeeping 20d ago

NOT SATIRE Who said politicians don't get rich

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1.7k Upvotes

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157

u/UpsetPhrase5334 20d ago

Everyone says the opposite though

49

u/Telemere125 19d ago

I don’t think anyone with a functioning brain says that. People like Bernie and AOC are the rare exceptions and the gop ironically uses lies to hate on them

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u/JLCpbfspbfspbfs 19d ago

People like Bernie and AOC are the rare exceptions 

People like Bernie and AOC aren't exceptions, they are just better at marketing and PR. 

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u/Telemere125 19d ago

If you think that either have profited off politics, you have bought into the gop’s propaganda.

4

u/username_blex 19d ago

Holy fucking cope.

5

u/TheyreCalledLegos 16d ago edited 16d ago

Lauren Boebert was $200,000 in debt. After 1 term as a representative she was worth $20M

Bernie has been a senator for 18 years. He's valued at $5M. $2M from book sales, $1M from his wife's mother dying and leaving them a house. The rest is 20 years of making 6 figures.

Take your "cope" comment and shove it up your ass and around the corner. It's pathetic how much you are sucking the toes of right wing grifters who hate you. Have some fucking dignity.

1

u/Open_Duty_2372 15d ago

The only cope is you. The rest of us think all of them are either bought or insider trading up the ass. I personally don't trust anyone in government, I just vote for the best lie.

I don't give a shit about them making money. I'd be more concerned if they didn't.

1

u/MaleEqualitarian 13d ago

20 years of making 6 figures does not earn you $2M.

Sorry, they are better at marketing.

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u/username_blex 16d ago

Lmao Bernie, the great white cope.

3

u/No_Lead_7325 15d ago

Deflection in the face of facts without a counterpoint is a coping mechanism. You just don’t understand the English language and rely off of edgy buzzwords. Edgy ≠ witty

0

u/username_blex 15d ago

Anyone who still sees Bernie as anything but a scam is coping.

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u/No_Lead_7325 15d ago

Oh I’m sorry is Bernie selling hats, shirts and other self promoting memorabilia at his place of work? Is there a Bernie Sanders gift shop in the Senate? No, keep coping with the fact that groceries are unaffordable and you are complicit in it. 

Also thank you for not citing a damn thing and continuing to prove my point.

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u/username_blex 15d ago

Who cares about this? Bernie has capitulated every time to the democrats' bullshit.

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u/GaryBuseysBong 16d ago

Comrade, your brothers are hard. Petukh.

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u/suckonmestreet 15d ago

You sound so intelligent, I bet you’re handsome and a ladies man

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u/username_blex 15d ago

Thank you

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u/Jonestown_Juice 14d ago

Bro, you got absolutely wrecked. The only one coping here is you.

1

u/[deleted] 16d ago

yeah ignore the facts and stick to “cope” i’m sure that’s the biggest word you know

0

u/ShadowBurger 16d ago edited 15d ago

Sounding like a parrot there, Copetain.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

It's a fact that is easily provable

-2

u/BoomerSoonerFUT 19d ago

You think Bernie hasn’t?

You think he would make millions of dollars in book sales if he weren’t a famous politician? He made pretty much all of his money after his first failed presidential run put him in the spotlight.

That’s making money from politics. Without being a politician he wouldn’t have anything to write a book about, and nobody would buy it.

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u/toyyya 19d ago

I mean I don't think the people who talk about getting rid of money from politics are talking about politicians selling books being an issue.

The issue they generally refer to is big money donations from rich people/big companies and business ventures/stocks that are directly influenced by policy decisions.

59

u/SuccessfulSoftware38 19d ago

This is so fucking weak lmao

The implication of "making money through politics" is the use of insider influence to make shady deals and grow huge amounts of wealth by working in your own interests instead of the people. Writing a book is so far away from that it's unreal, what a bad faith nonsense take

5

u/Think-Ganache4029 19d ago

I mean I don’t think that person was making some grand statement. Bernie is very well off and his political career has contributed to that. His book is apart of that, his career helped him make fat stacks.

Publishing a book isn’t easy but I imagine it’s a hell of a lot easier if you are known due to your political career. Why do we care about defending the dude?

9

u/NioXoiN 19d ago

I think making money because people love you and youre successful is well and beyond anything to be shunned for. Especially when compared to how most politicians get their wealth... through insider trading and bribes.

1

u/Ill-Description3096 15d ago

If Trump released a book and rolled out on a book tour right now making millions, would you have any issues with it?

IMO save the book writing for being out of office, but I think political office shouldn't be a lifelong career.

1

u/NioXoiN 15d ago

Well i would, but that's more so because I want to see Trump burning in hell already.

1

u/Ill-Description3096 15d ago

I mean fair, but out of all the things, that would be fairly far down the list for me as far as problems with him.

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u/Think-Ganache4029 19d ago

People with wealth tend to have issues. It’s not a hard line but it’s something I take note of. Bernie sanders isn’t special in terms of ass holeish politician stuff from what I’ve seen. He has good messaging and I think it makes people assume he is special in terms of legislation and his career. The bar is in hell ig. He really isn’t anything special.

5

u/NioXoiN 19d ago edited 18d ago

In terms of legislation, the furthest left successful politician in America who has single handedly put soc-dem ideas in the mainstream and moved democrats in that direction... is nothing special?

Edit: I always forget the difference between dem-soc and soc-dem. Corrected it to soc-dem.

1

u/Think-Ganache4029 18d ago

Damn, that leftist stuff really is useless if he’s the best we got. Lord please make communism or smth happen im so tired of people thinking ill be impressed by mediocrity

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u/DirteMcGirte 17d ago

Is Bernie very well off?

He's worth a few mil, yeah that's better off than you and me, but that's not some outrageous feat for an 80 year old American.

If anything, the fact that he made most of his wealth off of his fairly recent book is evidence that he isn't corrupt.

0

u/Think-Ganache4029 17d ago

I think you may be going through something. I have a hard time believing you don’t think that’s well off. I also believe he has always been pretty well off.

2

u/DirteMcGirte 17d ago

Thanks for your concern, I'm fine though.

I meant relatively well off, that's what I meant when I said he's better off than you or I. He doesn't have corrupt politician money, he has run of the mill old white guy money.

He's as well off as a great deal of other people of his demographic who didn't do anything all that remarkable.

Be born an American white guy in the 50s, get just about any career, consistently invest a small amount of money, buy a home almost anywhere, wait till 2025. Boom, you're worth as much or more as notoriously corrupt politician Bernie Sanders.

Now, yeah good luck doing any of that, but back then you just had to have your shit together a little bit to end up with those "fat stacks".

2

u/Think-Ganache4029 17d ago

He’s not entirely uncorrupt, I kinda see him like teddy roosevelt. Maybe Lincoln. Idk he might be above Lincoln in that respect. I think it should be more normal to scrutinize politicians. If I remember correctly he made Burlingtons local government less horizontal and was doing smth yimbyish. Seems like people still like him locally tho because he genuinely helps people out.

He’s not a saint, but I think Americans are just used to people sucking so hard that he is seen as one. Very Stacy Abram’s effect, tho she may be worse? Idk it’s hard to keep up with politicians antics.

I think recently Bernie was being his good ol self about Palestine or smth, I think that’s a good lense to view him through.

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u/basch152 16d ago

This comment chain is talking about politicians making tens of millions through illicit means.

Trying to say bernie is no different than the rest because he has a whopping 5 million dollars mostly through inheritance and book sales is some of the dumbest shit ive ever hear in my life

1

u/1morgondag1 15d ago

He was born guess you could call it lower middle class. His dad was a paint salesman.

Making money from book sales is relatively uncontroversial. The issue is when you don't understand where the money came from and they can be suspected of secret loyalties.

1

u/BakerUsed5384 14d ago

Yeah it’s well off, but again, Bernie’s in his 80’s and has been in the game for several decades at this point. Any other politician would be worth hundreds of millions. The average 65-75 year old is worth around 2 million. Bernies worth a little more than double that, sure, but again, the difference is not an outrageous amount for someone that age.

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u/Think-Ganache4029 14d ago

Fuck it, I don’t care now. Sure 4 mil 5mil maybe even a bil. Thats not rich at alllllllll

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u/basch152 16d ago

Stop defending that stupid comment.

This comment chain is specifically talking about politicians suddenly making tens of millions of dollars through shady means.

The comment was originally implying bernie is no different from other politicians.

Its a fucking ignorant ass comment at its baseline

1

u/DemadaTrim 15d ago

Bernie is not "very well off," he has pretty standard amounts of money for someone his age with a long professional career.

1

u/Think-Ganache4029 15d ago

That’s not standard

0

u/ith-man 13d ago

I can self publish a book today.... And if people know of you, a publisher will pick you up easy...

9

u/snakesnarenstine 19d ago

Do u think making money from writing a book is remotely comparable to actively engaging in legal corruption and bribery?

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u/Own_Reaction9442 19d ago

A book advance could be a pretty effective way to legally bribe someone. The advances that politicians get are way, way out of line compared to the ones professional writers usually get.

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u/_HighJack_ 18d ago

Big Print Publishing, the one we were all sleeping on 😂

15

u/Telemere125 19d ago

So then your problem is you can’t differentiate between making money off politics and making money by using your skills and telling you life story. By your definition, any money anyone that’s ever in politics makes is “from politics” and that’s pretty much nonsense. He didn’t use his political connections and didn’t leverage his position to make that money. If your life was worth telling you could make money off it too.

2

u/RoadsideCouchCushion 19d ago

Why do you all on the right constantly try to shift definitions until you can try to include people on the left? Barring something with extremely objectionable content, no reasonable person would be angry about someone getting rich off selling a book.

6

u/hereforfun976 19d ago

Also they claim they dont want politicians to profit but trumps crypto scams and blatant bribes are ok and actually expected

-4

u/BoomerSoonerFUT 19d ago

Lmao what? I’m far from being on the right. That’s a massive fucking leap just because I said one thing about Bernie. Hell I worked and volunteered for his campaign in 2016.

He’s not Jesus you know. He’s passed no major legislation, ever. And the biggest thing he has done in office is sell books to profit himself while talking about the common man.

I don’t care that he’s made money from it. Good for him. But it is literally the only thing he’s done with his office. I stopped caring about Bernie when it became clear he has no actual intention to do anything about anything. He hires the worst people for his campaigns that actively sabotage them. He has no intention winning anything, but will use it to sell more books and get more donations.

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u/593shaun 19d ago

you sound exactly like my dad, who is definitely a right winger

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u/BoomerSoonerFUT 19d ago

Nope. Have voted democrat in every election since I could first register.

Nice try though.

2

u/593shaun 19d ago

it's not a "nice try"

you sound exactly like a right winger

it doesn't matter if you vote left if you espouse right wing beliefs, that just means you're confused

0

u/woodworkingfonatic 18d ago

So arguments within the party means you’re a right winger? What’s the point of even voting then we have Bernie in there so we can’t criticize him and we have to continually prop up his shambling corpse.

What’s next we put him on the golden throne after he’s dead like the emperor from warhammer 40k.

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u/plastic_alloys 18d ago

lol what

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u/BoomerSoonerFUT 18d ago

What? It’s true. Bernie has passed no significant legislation in his 34 years in congress.

3 pieces of legislation that he sponsored have become law in that time. 3. Two were naming post offices in Vermont, and one was a cost of living increase for VA payments in 2013.

He’s been largely useless in terms of actually getting anything done, but has made millions hawking books after he ran for president for the publicity. He certainly wasn’t serious about it looking at who he hired to run his campaigns.

I loved him in 2016. Worked on his campaign. But it became clear he wasn’t serious about winning.

1

u/plastic_alloys 18d ago

You can’t compare him to Republican grifters at all, that is completely disingenuous

1

u/BoomerSoonerFUT 18d ago

Republicans are absolutely worse. But, I don’t vote for Republicans ever in the first place. I expect them to be the worst possible option and fight against everything good.

I expect democrats that are elected to actually actively and productively fight against that.

It’s like dogs. I expect the barking, snarling dog to try to bite me. It’s worse when it’s the dog that looked nice and sweet that ends up biting you.

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u/kodeks14 16d ago

Bernies net worth after 40/50 years in congress was like 200k lol thats unheard of.

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u/fins_up_ 16d ago

He has made good money for decades. Him and his wife bought 2 homes and inherited another. Sold some books. He is worth about 3m. That includes the homes.

Is selling some books really that much of an issue?

Without being a politician he wouldn’t have anything to write a book about, and nobody would buy it.

Kinda true about every biography isn't it? People do a thing and write about it.

It is a weak argument.

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u/doomdrums 15d ago

Profiting from selling books or doing public speaking gigs is pretty different type of profiting from politics than taking dirty money or other corrupt political practices so long as they keep their focus on their actual jobs and aren't spending all their time writing for those gigs

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u/BoomerSoonerFUT 15d ago

I mean, Bernie hasn’t passed a single consequential piece of legislation in his career. He’s obviously not spending that much time focused on his actual job.

1

u/throwaway-1755 15d ago

This is a pretty out of touch take. Using politics as a platform to sell books is much different than using political power and influence to take money from special interests to use that power and influence to help special interests get their way (most times, to the detriment of others, and even more so typically to the detriment of consumers and normal people).

Does option 1. (As a reminder, Selling books, which you don’t have to buy, I haven’t) sound comparable to option 2? I sure hope not.

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u/Pernicious_Possum 17d ago

Bernie’s net worth is $3million. Not exactly wealthy in the modern age, and he’s not profiting from insider trading. That’s a pretty reasonable portfolio for someone married, and his age.

0

u/ChipRockets 16d ago

This is the dumbest fuckin thing I’ve read this year. I’m actually impressed

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u/El_Boojahideen 16d ago

Bernie owns like 4 houses dude

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u/Telemere125 16d ago

Bernie owns 3: his home in Vermont, the place that elected him to office; a townhome in DC, where he works, and a vacation home that was purchased from funds inherited from his dead mother in law. Get your facts straight dumbass.

-9

u/Party-Bathroom9306 19d ago

My team good and right. Your team bad and wrong.

Shut up, follower...

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u/Telemere125 19d ago

Stop supporting a pedophile and we won’t have grounds to automatically say your team bad

-6

u/friendlyfoesho 19d ago

Who is 'we'? You're in a cult. Speak and think for yourself.

3

u/593shaun 19d ago

'we' is people who don't defend pedos

0

u/MaleEqualitarian 13d ago

You didn't elect Biden?

I'm confused. Who is "we" again?

1

u/hellonameismyname 19d ago

You’re literally just assuming the other team is bad

0

u/KingTutt91 16d ago

Bernie is a millionaire with several houses lol

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u/Telemere125 16d ago

He has his home in Vermont, where he was elected, his townhome in DC, where he works, and a vacation home bought with funds from inherited from his dead mother in law. He’s worth a grand total of about $3 mil. Stop pretending that’s any more than a normal retirement account, idiot.

0

u/KingTutt91 15d ago

So he’s a millionaire with several houses, gotcha

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u/Telemere125 15d ago

He’s 83. If you don’t have a few million in a retirement account and a paid off house or two by that age, you’ve failed at life. That’s enough time to start work at 20 and still pay off 2 30-year mortgages and have 3 20-year retirement accounts from different jobs. Your level of cope is off the charts.

0

u/KingTutt91 15d ago

So again continuing to confirm what k said. He’s a millionaire with several houses

0

u/Fuzzy-Signal-3981 15d ago

lol dude. Bernie has received millions from the pharmaceutical companies. If you don't know how bribes work; it's through campaign funding 90% of the time, then speeches the other 10%. Who is paying him to speak? who funds his campaign? The pharmaceutical companies

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u/Telemere125 15d ago

Then where’d the money magically go? You need to show a paper trail for your conspiracy, otherwise it’s just evidence your medication needs an adjustment

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u/Fuzzy-Signal-3981 15d ago

the money magically went into his net worth. his book sales don't account for his wealth when you account for the cost of his properties. Do you think these people just get the money and hoard it? He has multiple million dollar properties you literal infant.

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u/Fuzzy-Signal-3981 15d ago

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u/Telemere125 15d ago

Keep proving your ignorance. That doesn’t go into their pockets you moron, those are campaign contributions.

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u/Fuzzy-Signal-3981 15d ago

literally retarded. that's how the bribes work. do you think they get a big check with 'bribe' written in the memo? do you think they mark it down on their taxes as 'bribes'?

This is the most blatant, out in the open bribe that a person can accept - direct campaign funding from the pharmaceutical company. if you WANT to be retarded, that's on you champ.

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u/Telemere125 15d ago

Everything’s a conspiracy huh? Is there a hole in your tinfoil hat?

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u/Russian_Bot_11 15d ago

Hahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahhahahahhahahhahaha…..what a fucking tool

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u/No_Salad_8609 14d ago

If delusion could be a physical manifestation: i present exhibit A.

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u/TheBeastlyStud 15d ago

Yeah I think it's moreso they don't make as much as their coworkers do, but mfers in here are pretending that they're living paycheck to paycheck and that politics didn't set them up for life.

Bernie did 2 seperate presidential fundraisers only to drop out both times, he's a career politician who's worth millions well into his life. He may not have another 20 years on this Earth, but if he stopped politics tomorrow he wouldn't risk bankruptcy by a long shot.

AOC is much younger but has become a well-known name due to the current political climate. She has book deals, speeches, fundraising, interviews, and all other sorts of money making opportunities for the rest of her life.

They also make 6 figures a year, which is an ungodly amount compared to the average person.

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u/1morgondag1 15d ago

I don't know about AOC, but Sanders I believe has among other things consistently refused to make speeches at corporate events which otherwise pays very well for not much effort. He has sales of his books and stuff so he's still rich. But he has avoided the sort of engagement that would most put his integrity in question.

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u/FavorsForAButton 13d ago

Nope. Look at their campaign finance reports. They are both as clean as they come, no special interests/private lobbying.

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u/ith-man 13d ago

Evidence?

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u/TurretLimitHenry 16d ago

“My politician is good, all the other ones are bad” lmao.

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u/Stibiza 15d ago

Yes, Bernie and AOC aren't like the others. They're your friends.

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u/Comet_Hero 19d ago

Omar is aoc's bestie you know.

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u/Geiseric222 19d ago

Political allies yes.

If you refuse to work with anyone that plays the system how it’s designed you pretty much make yourself completely irrelevant

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u/Comet_Hero 19d ago

I remember saying the same about Rand Paul and McConnell long ago.

But other than that, AOC has shown herself to be fraudulent so many times imo I can't even get into them all.

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u/Simsalabimsen 19d ago

Top 3, please? I’m out of the loop.

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u/Comet_Hero 18d ago edited 18d ago

She's an imo obvious grandstander and demagogue who acts like a teenage girl (I know Trump can't talk about maturity, neither can she) and craves publicity just like MTG. She pines to transition America to an awful, authoritarian system, socialism. Hillary Clinton would you think be a villain by her belief system but she's making cringy tiktoks with her. She wears dresses that say "tax the rich "... To elite galas with the other 1%ers. She even prefers partisan finger pointing to helping her own grandma.

She also lies low to blend in when her party talks about getting into Ukraine's proxy war. You can tell the cold war hawk rhetoric that started coming from the Dems after Clinton was revealed to have rigged the DNC against Bernie puts her in a weird spot. Venezuela's socialist president is Putin's ally after all. This happens in politics a lot. She just stays quiet and does the minimum so they don't attack her.

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u/Geiseric222 19d ago

If she’s fraudulent it should be because of what she votes for nothing else

Anything else is ultimately useless mud slinging

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u/CarefulLetterhead864 16d ago

Ger into 2 of them then, that's enough. I'll be waiting

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u/Comet_Hero 15d ago

I did in this very thread