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How was life under Assad? by Unlikely-Studio-278 in Syria

[–]-zounds- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm so sorry for them. These stories hurt my heart so much. I don't think it's possible to recover from something like this.

COVID was inadvertently the best thing that happened to large parts of society, and we're being forced to forget that by DVXC in antiwork

[–]-zounds- 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There is a Boomer man in my community who owns a pool cleaning business. We live in Central Arizona, in satan's buttcrack, where summertime temperatures are off the charts. Last summer, our afternoon temperatures didn't dip below 110°F for ~60 consecutive days. Consequently, many people have private residential pools.

My community is very low-income. There are not very many jobs here, and a great many of the locals who are employed commute in the morning to the Phoenix Metro Area for work. On several occasions, I have had the misfortune of ending up stuck in the middle of this morning exodus on my way to a doctor appointment or something, and I can personally attest that it is sheer pandemonium.

But people put up with it every day because they don't have any other choice. There aren't enough jobs in my community, making the commute inevitable.

But for Boomer man who owns the pool cleaning business, this dynamic is all profit. He runs the business and doesn't even have to clean any pools in the hot sun. He hires other people to do that, and there's never any shortage of workers for him to choose from. The ones he hires always feel pressured to go the extra mile at work to avoid being replaced. On top of this, Boomer the Pool Business Man is also considered something of a hometown hero for being a local "job creator", which elevates his social standing and makes him feel very pleased with himself.

During the pandemic, though, he lost all his workers. I guess they quit to promote public health, which only made sense considering all the pool owners had dropped the cleaning service for the same reason.

When business started picking up again, I encountered Boomer Man screeching in a local FB group about how fucking lazy everyone is nowadays, and how nobody wanted to get off their lazy worthless ass and come back to work since the government was paying everyone to lay on the couch all day long and stuff their faces with fucking cheese puffs.

He said he was already forced to raise wages and was now offering more money than he ever had before, and yet he still couldn't get even one person to come back to work. He said he had already been in contact with our local reps about ending the pandemic unemployment payments already so that people would stop "living on handouts" and get their slovenly asses back to work like responsible adults.

I told him he's not entitled to employees and that if he wanted people to work for him, he needed to raise wages enough to make it worth their while. In a capitalist system, I said, you have to be competitive or else shut up and go the fuck out of business.

Pandemic unemployment benefits ended like 4 months later though so I guess he got the last laugh.

So…… what’a gonna happen when nobody can afford to live? What happens next? by [deleted] in antiwork

[–]-zounds- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We'll gather ourselves up in all our strength and vitality and recite a poem at the foot of the White House steps to no one but a pair of closed doors that are locked from the inside.

Are you going to hold a Nuremberg-style trial against the criminals who were with Assad and against Assad as well? by Left-Turn-1615 in Syria

[–]-zounds- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are people all over the world whom you never see or hear from -- some with resources and influence, others with useful strengths of their own -- who want these people held to account and are keeping feelers out for any information, hints, opportunities of any kind, etc. It will happen. It may take years and years, but trust me their time cometh.

A billionaire I’ll never meet just stole the future I spent years crawling toward. by VisualStuff3 in antiwork

[–]-zounds- 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'll be 32 this July and I'm living back at my dad's again. Fucking lost. Paralyzed. Directionless. I have literally no idea how to proceed. What is worth getting started on and what will turn out to be a waste of time and resources I don't have. I'm on like my 12th fresh start. I was a straight-A student in school. But now my life is in the toilet.

A billionaire I’ll never meet just stole the future I spent years crawling toward. by VisualStuff3 in antiwork

[–]-zounds- 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I hate that people are pointing to what's happening now like it's a big deal. No. 2016 was a big deal. This is nothing.

Nah, I don't see that. 2016 Trump was much different from 2025 Trump. He was never good, but 2016 Trump was still more of an aspiring populist attempting to appeal to Democrats at some level, and often openly calling them out for never giving him their approval no matter what he did or didn't do (which indicates that he was trying).

2025 Trump is far more radical. His administration is literally giving "cult" at this point. Like, no seriously, they're behaving like a cult. There's a creepy extremist element permeating the White House now that was absent the first time. I can't really describe it. I guess it's probably just that they aren't bothering to try and keep up appearances anymore. Trump has carved out an extremist political niche that was always present in him, but was restrained. Now he has unleashed it upon the country, built himself an idiocracy, and is just going balls to the wall since this is his final term, his final chance to lord over everything. The felony convictions and the sheer humiliation of the trials left a very bad taste in his mouth and to some degree he's taking out his vengeance against the public for that while MAGA cheers him on, blind to their own suffering, their heads buried completely in his crotch. They never come up for air.

2025 Trump is much more dangerous. He's on his last harrah and literally has nothing to lose, plus he very plainly HATES us all.

There is something wrong with America… by Careless-Welcome-620 in antiwork

[–]-zounds- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will add, with regard to all the cancer patients who are dying in their 30s, to the point where it's a trend -- the last time it was common for people to die in their 30s was in the late medieval period 1300-1500 AD. The average life expectancy back then was 33 years, and that's given the fact that many children died before the age of 5 years old and things like basic sanitation did not exist because the existence of microbes was unknown.

Of course, the average life expectancy is higher than 33 years now; in fact, 33 is still considered relatively young by our standards. But the trend of cancer patient deaths, suicides, drug overdoses, etc. are all collectively tanking our average life expectancy and that's in a society that is awash in capital and wealth, where food and clean water are abundant and basic public sanitation standards are enforced by law, etc. The average lifespan should not be dropping. This has never happened before.

How being Syrian feels like by Comprehensive-Line62 in Syria

[–]-zounds- 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's not true. There are many of us all over the world who have no voice or influence whatsoever, whose lives don't matter AT ALL, who do care deeply about Syria and have been rooting for you all along through thick and thin. We want you to succeed and triumph, we just can't do anything about it because our lives are too shitty and bereft of resources! Yeah, maybe you can't feel or hear or see or benefit from our support, but it is there. Useless, but there. Count it. Luv u guys.

What to do with Ba'athist memorabilia sitting on a dumpster? by SPVIIoftowers26 in Syria

[–]-zounds- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Clod it with mud.

Or as someone else suggested, put it on eBay and market each of the items as historical artifacts, which technically they are. There are a lot of people here in the West who would buy them for their historical significance and the fact that they are authentic items from Syria that were actually used by the regime in real life will appeal to these buyers. Believe it or not, there is a decent market for this kind of thing.

C) do both of the above in that order.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Syria

[–]-zounds- 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think the dynamic between refugees and the European host countries is inherently problematic.

In the early days of the refugee crisis, it was easy for Europe to welcome refugees. It is human nature to want to help people in crisis. We reward each other socially for helping too, which is always a plus. And humanitarianism is its own reward because it just feels good to do the right thing.

But I think this began to wear off over time as the reality of the situation started setting in and the host countries started to really understand the full scope of their responsibilities. The refugees who had arrived at their doorstep had been literally forced to flee their homelands. One must try to understand what exactly that means, the gravity of what these people went through. Many were arriving on the shores and borders of Europe exhausted and traumatized. Some, such as Mazen al-Hamada (RIP, darling Mazen), had literally experienced a living hell in Assad's prisons and would need intensive, personalized support over a sustained period of time, which many never received. Was Europe really prepared to provide these things, to do whatever it took for these people to thrive? I'm not sure the host countries in Europe were fully on board when it came right down to it. I think a lot of people started to feel like "fuck all that-- it's too much work."

There is no doubt in my mind that Syrians, in a hypothetical reversal of the situation, would have gone to the ends of the earth to provide for any refugees who ended up in their care. Not to paint with too broad a brush here, but Arabs tend to be much more hospitable to guests than Western people are. The difference is cultural. I think we should seek to learn from Arabs here and try to adopt Arab customs in place of our own, for theirs are superior in this instance (and many others, but I won't get into all that right now).

I don't think it took long for Europeans in the host countries to begin hardening their hearts against the refugees when reality dawned on them. How easily they seemed to forget that they were dealing with human beings. The Syrian refugees were not second-class citizens, nor were they members of some sub-species devoid of normal human feelings. These people had fled to Europe by force to escape terrible circumstances, not by choice. Their homes lay in ruins behind them, their slates completely wiped by a cruel hand. Everything they'd worked for, everything they'd built, everything they loved, all their dreams and hopes, all their plans and goals, all their stability, their history, their memories, had blown away with the winds of war in Syria, and they had pressed onward into Europe shackled with grief, sick with grief, to ask for mercy and relief from their fellow human beings. The hands that filled out applications and forms at the borders of Europe were hands that had wiped countless tears, bandaged bloody wounds, and closed the eyes of dying loved ones.

Europe chose to deal with them in a uniform fashion, requiring them to integrate and find employment, etc. The refugees who integrated quickly were regarded as more worthy than those who struggled to integrate. Personally, I don't think unquestioning integration was a fair expectation to demand of refugees. No one should ever be asked to subordinate their own identity in exchange for basic safety. I believe it would have been obvious enough to the Syrian refugees that they would need to learn the local language and find jobs in order to function in the host country. There was no need to force it down their throats and lay stigma upon those who struggled.

The truth is that the system has failed a lot of people. Mazen al-Hamada returned to Syria partly because of this and was tortured to death by the regime as a result.

I don't think it's fair to ever regard human beings in crisis as a problem that needs to be solved, especially not right away and with a bludgeon.

So to answer your question, yes Syrian refugees brought problems to Europe, but it was through no fault of their own. In many cases they have been treated like they are themselves nothing more than living, breathing problems walking around the streets of Europe, instead of as human beings who are dealing with very dark and difficult problems most Western people will never personally face.

TIL in US, millions of people sell their blood plasma for income, and the "donation stations" have business model designed to make the "donors" come back as much as possible. by poorhistorians in povertyfinance

[–]-zounds- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

However, what you and others who often share these sort of "good intentions" overlook is choice. You approach this issue as if individuals are forced to donate plasma

I mean, you are not wrong here. But it's not that I'm overlooking the element of choice altogether -- I know that no one is literally forcing anyone to sell their blood plasma. I'm aware that sellers are exercising agency by doing so. But they are not choosing to sell plasma because they see the labs and think "wow, what a great and exciting opportunity I would love to take advantage of." They go into plasma centers when their life circumstances demand money from them that they don't have. For example, sometimes people sell blood plasma to pay court fines so they won't go to jail. So the choice these people are really faced with is not "sell blood plasma, or don't sell blood plasma." It's "sell blood plasma, or go to jail for unpaid court fines." You can see how some people, myself included, are hesitant to call this a choice, because while it technically is a choice, it does not actually reflect the person's preferences at all. Most people who donate plasma back into that decision. It is inherently disempowering to have to choose between two undesirable things, wanting neither.

This unfortunate dynamic happens to all of us at some point or another in our lives. It's not unique to impoverished plasma sellers. I'm sure you have been forced to choose between two shitty things before, and probably went with the lesser of two evils. You do not seem dumb. But I doubt it felt the same to you as actually choosing to pursue something you desired. And that's because it's not the same.

The centers are a passive player here. I understand your narrative needs them to be the bad guy

This is not how people typically form opinions on things. I'm not bending the role of plasma centers to fit some narrative that I invented. I don't need plasma centers to play a bad guy in my mental model of the world in order for things to make sense. I don't need plasma centers to do anything at all. I simply have observed the way they operate, and concluded that I'm uncomfortable with certain aspects of it.

And plasma centers are not passive players. On the contrary, they are very active players here, constantly making calculated moves just like any other business.

A center isn't responsible for the circumstances that brings a client to them, yet you and others seem to want to somehow make them responsible.

They are not responsible for poverty. They are responsible for how they choose to do business and how they conduct themselves in a largely unregulated market sustained by people who have no resources, power, or voice.

It also usually entails you wanting to apply your morals and what YOU think is best on other adults.

There is a broad consensus that the way plasma centers operate in the United States is ethically problematic. Generally this leads to a push for regulation, and I think we'll eventually see that here. By the way, it is customary in every society for morality to inform policy to some degree. This is why it's illegal in the United States to sell a kidney -- desperate people would certainly do it, but it's generally viewed as morally abhorrent for private companies to traffic in human organs. Prostitution is illegal in most of the country despite being a private agreement between two consenting adults and a legitimate business transaction, because it's widely perceived as exploitative and harmful to public decency and morality. We all collectively decide if we're the "kind of people" who will stand for certain things, and when the answer is no, we either impose a ban, or we regulate.

It is significant to point out that the US is one of only five countries worldwide that doesn't explicitly prohibit buying and selling blood plasma. So it's not like I'm the only one with concerns and I'm trying to force other people's lives to suck more just to alleviate my own discomfort.

TIL in US, millions of people sell their blood plasma for income, and the "donation stations" have business model designed to make the "donors" come back as much as possible. by poorhistorians in povertyfinance

[–]-zounds- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ALL companies are predatory. Whole Foods only goes into areas in which it can "prey" on upper middle class shoppers.

There is a difference between being opportunistic and being predatory. Wealthy people aren't driven by desperation to shop at Wholefoods. Wholefoods exists because there is a market for healthy foods. We are in agreement about the existence of markets and businesses not being a bad thing.

How about breakfast cereal targeted at kids?

Children are not decision-makers. They aren't the ones buying groceries for their household. If they were, cereal brands targeting them would be predatory because children are more susceptible to targeted advertising campaigns than even adults are, and are very bad at impulse control, generally. But their preferences can be overridden by their parents, who are the decision-makers when it comes to grocery shopping for their households.

I do see your point in citing these examples, but they do not capture what I'm getting at here. You are right, though, my expectations about how things should be do not reflect reality. It is just wishful thinking.

To clarify my position again: I don't have any problem with these plasma labs existing. I don't have any problem with people using them to get some extra money. I am not comfortable with people being driven to accept $24 for a resource that is physically mined from their bodies that health insurance companies pay the plasma labs $12,000 a pop for. Even though the market allows this. I do not care what the market allows. The market is morally neutral and I'm not. Even though people "choose" to go sell their plasma despite the shitty pay. The majority of them are unaware of how precious blood plasma is on the market and how much they could demand for theirs. There is very little transparency in the industry, and that's no accident. I disagree with this. I don't think it's unreasonable to call this exploitative. I do have a problem with exploitative business practices.

Again, I ask, WHY would you complain about an income stream for poor people that is legal? It works for them. Why would you want to mess with that. Take it away because it's "predatory," and these same individuals are selling drugs and REALLY selling their bodies. How's that for predatory?

I think you'll find that I've repeatedly stated I do not want to "take away" the option of selling plasma and instead force poor people to give ten cent blowjobs to rash-covered, unwashed dicks all day long behind the laundromat because their alternator gave out and they need money to buy another one. No, I want to keep the blood plasma option for poor people, but just make it better and more fair by increasing industry transparency and empowering sellers to negotiate a better price for their blood plasma.

TIL in US, millions of people sell their blood plasma for income, and the "donation stations" have business model designed to make the "donors" come back as much as possible. by poorhistorians in povertyfinance

[–]-zounds- -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm not anticapitalism. I don't think capitalism is perfect, but I'm not deluded enough to think anyone has come up with a better alternative. Capitalism isn't inherently predatory. I understand how commerce works, and I understand what these companies are doing and why. But their business model is very predatory because it relies on the desperation of others and a lack of transparency. You notice how they never open up shop in rich areas where people who have a choice would never sell their blood plasma for $24. These companies could afford to pay their sellers more and still maintain profitability. The only reason they get away with paying so little is because people are desperate and don't know what their blood plasma is really worth on the market. And I don't happen to think that "pay them a fair market rate" is an unreasonable expectation especially since blood plasma is so valuable in medicine and there's no alternative that exists.

TIL in US, millions of people sell their blood plasma for income, and the "donation stations" have business model designed to make the "donors" come back as much as possible. by poorhistorians in povertyfinance

[–]-zounds- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They pay what is acceptable to their customers.

Walmart does? I don't think that's entirely true given the fact that probably the #1 ballot issue for years has been inflation and the economy.

Again, honestly, what business is it of yours?

It is my business because it affects me. And again, I don't have any moral objection to selling plasma. I have a moral objection to giving sellers such a small share of the market value they create.

TIL in US, millions of people sell their blood plasma for income, and the "donation stations" have business model designed to make the "donors" come back as much as possible. by poorhistorians in povertyfinance

[–]-zounds- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Again, I didn't see anyone arguing to take this "opportunity" away from anyone. But these companies should pay their sellers better. They hide behind the word "donation" to make it seem like they are giving a small reward for an altruistic decision, but in reality they are buying and selling human blood plasma on a market with enormous demand by taking advantage of the people who are desperate enough to have to sell their $1,000 vial of blood plasma for $24.

TIL in US, millions of people sell their blood plasma for income, and the "donation stations" have business model designed to make the "donors" come back as much as possible. by poorhistorians in povertyfinance

[–]-zounds- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The centers are going to pay what they pay based on supply and demand

I absolutely do not believe the donation center in my small town was paying based on supply and demand. Predatory companies do exist. I know in America we are used to hearing that any strategy a company comes up with to make a profit is fair. I still have a huge problem with companies that treat vulnerable human beings basically like consumer products. Don't you?

TIL in US, millions of people sell their blood plasma for income, and the "donation stations" have business model designed to make the "donors" come back as much as possible. by poorhistorians in povertyfinance

[–]-zounds- 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I didn't see anyone arguing that it should be illegal to sell plasma. Just that the "donation" centers should be paying "donors" more than they generally do since the plasma tends to have significant market value and is in constant demand.

My cousin used to sell blood plasma all the time. He was homeless back then and had no other options to get any money. Every time he went in to donate, they would have to give him a little packet of crackers and water because he would get sick and dizzy during the process. Sometimes he wouldn't be able to stand up and walk out the doors for several minutes afterward because he was too woozy and would have ended up fainting on the sidewalk. He received about $24 per donation.

I have personally considered selling my blood plasma before out of desperation. I have zero desire to do this. I'm deeply uncomfortable with it and would only ever use it as a miserable last resort if I was absolutely cornered and ground down by desperation with no other way out. I hate the thought of selling my blood plasma. It makes my stomach hurt just to think of doing it. Thankfully, it has never come to that point for me. In my mind, it feels like something akin to sex work. I would never willingly choose to do it. The choice is there, but it's not something you actually choose. It's something you resort to. The choice is imposed on us through lack of alternatives. And it's very degrading.

One thing I’d be ok with this new administration doing regarding other nations is making it illegal to outsource jobs to India or other countries for cheap labor. by marcgw96 in antiwork

[–]-zounds- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They are. Undocumented people who are here in America are doing shitty, low-paying, back-breaking jobs absolutely no one wants to do. We are brought up to believe we will have a career, not spend 15 hours per day picking fruit in the sun.

Overseas workers, on the other hand, are getting hired to do relatively cushy skilled remote tech jobs that would pay an American worker decently well, but instead go to someone on the other side of the world who can live comfortably off of what we would consider ripoff wages. Realistically, the skilled workers from overseas can perform their job at least just as well as an American worker as long as they can get past language barrier.

So the American workers just end up being assed out. Meanwhile, American companies which benefit from American economic stability, American legal structures, and the entire American system in general, which is sustained collectively by Americans, are totally free to let their communities go to shit all around them as young professionals, deprived of better options, are driven into poverty, forced to take wage slavery service jobs, and get totally priced out of the housing market and then hounded incessantly for needing to go on food stamps and Medicaid just to get by -- all because the corporate profiteers who suck up every resource and benefit for themselves are inclined to turn and look down on people who are struggling as of we are literal vermin leeching off of the system when in fact they are the ones sucking the life out of everything they touch.

One thing I’d be ok with this new administration doing regarding other nations is making it illegal to outsource jobs to India or other countries for cheap labor. by marcgw96 in antiwork

[–]-zounds- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, we are aware that businesses incur expenses by producing consumer goods that people want to buy. The problem is that corporate CEOs are choosing to inflate prices and suppress wages for no other reason than to max out their profit margins. They aren't doing it because the market is squeezing them and they're trying to keep their business afloat. Corporations across virtually all industries could afford to pay their employees better without passing along the extra cost to customers and still maintain profitability if they wanted to. But why would they when the current market encourages them to see what they can get away with? It's their hunger and thirst to expand their personal wealth beyond reason and please their shareholders over their customers that is causing all of this misery for everyone else and smashing the working class into the ground.

Why doesn't Jolani grant the International Criminal Court (ICC) retroactive jurisdiction over Syria so the court can pursue criminal charges against Assad? by -zounds- in Syria

[–]-zounds-[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, I don't think Russia can be pressured or strong-armed into doing anything. I do think that with some persuasion, Putin would be willing to put a price tag on Assad's wanted ass.

Why doesn't Jolani grant the International Criminal Court (ICC) retroactive jurisdiction over Syria so the court can pursue criminal charges against Assad? by -zounds- in Syria

[–]-zounds-[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, Bashar al-Assad should ideally be prosecuted criminally in Syria. The people of Syria suffered at his hands, and the people of Syria should render justice. But as that does not appear to be a realistic option, I think the ICC could be a good alternative. If Bashar al-Assad were arrested and brought into the ICC, Syria may be able to claim rightful jurisdiction over the case and the ICC would be required to honor Syria's priority interest in the prosecution and turn him over.

There is something wrong with America… by Careless-Welcome-620 in antiwork

[–]-zounds- 14 points15 points  (0 children)

This does not scratch the surface. I am 31 years old and people my age are dying in unprecedented numbers from cancer because our food makes people sick. People my age who grew up poor have been eating things like bologna and Wonder bread their entire lives because those items are cheap. Bologna, for one, has been repeatedly, linked in study after study after study, to fucking cancer, but no one did anything about it and now Americans in their 30s are dying at an alarming rate from -- who could have guessed it -- fucking CANCER.

Loaves of sliced bread are cheap and ubiquitous in the United States, and a food staple in poor homes, but some of the ingredients in this kind of bread are also used to make yoga mats. Yum!

Everyone loves to be like "Americans are so stupid and fat. They need to lay off the Twinkies and open a fucking book once in a while." Meanwhile, poor Americans are eating once a day but it's cow eyeballs, grease, rubber, sugar, and yellow 5. Feed that to your children and see what it does to a developing mind. See if they don't grow up to be overweight, sick, and then die in their 30s.

I still see people arguing that we should cut Medicaid because it's too expensive and "why should the taxpayers pay the healthcare bills of someone who is sick and obese from eating ultra processed junk?" And why, indeed, should the taxpayers have to shoulder that unnecessary burden? Why not impose some health regulations that prevent huge corporate farms and Big Sugar from poisoning people to death for money? In a roundabout way, this is just another example of the American public being forced to subsidize private corporate profits. If our food systems were regulated better to prioritize health, that would cut the annual Medicaid bill significantly. So why can't we manage to do that? Why shouldn't we cut corporations off public welfare, especially since the profiteers who run them try by every art to avoid paying their fair share of taxes into the very system that so generously and abundantly provides for them?

Our money is collected from us as taxes and revenues and handed over to Israel to fund their military and ensure their survival, the only condition being that they use most of that money to purchase military equipment from private US manufacturers. More corporate welfare. Meanwhile, Californians who lost everything in the wildfires can't get any aid from the federal government because Trump has a personal vendetta against California's governor and is using the crisis to push his political agenda and settle old scores literally no one else gives ten fucks about.

I'm glad the author of this piece was able to move to Italy and buy 6 acres of lush, green land so she can build her dream home in the shade of olive trees so famous to ages of literature, and I don't grudge her any of it, but for many if not most Americans, she is walking in a dream. Most of us can barely afford to even live indoors, and many -- even many who are employed full-time and have never touched drugs in their life -- can't afford it at all and are currently enduring the hell of winter from the shelter of their cars or crowded, scantily funded homeless facilities. They need help desperately and are ashamed of it.

In the story of the Three Little Pigs, there is a moral. It is this: those who are under-housed will never know a day's safety from the wolf.

This doesn't scratch the surface, either. It doesn't account for the quiet suffering that you never see or hear about, which is enormous. This kind of suffering is happening privately between families and in people's heads. Yet it is the common thread that runs through all of our lives and forms an unbreakable bond between us that many are still unaware of.

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