This is a glimpse into the minds of rural, white, heterosexual, Christian, conservative men.
If you don’t know many people like this, I do.
If your list of Facebook friends does not include this demographic, mine does.
For twenty plus years I have been active in the field of forestry, operating from my home on a dirt road in Lower Alabama. Southern forestry is almost, not completely, but almost entirely dominated by rural, white, heterosexual, Christian, Conservative men. Likewise, southern states and many Midwestern states are governed almost exclusively by rural, white, heterosexual, Christian conservative men.
This post will show you what my friends are sharing on Facebook. I have little doubt that the material is representative of beliefs held by our Senators, Representatives, and Governors in the Deep South and much of the Midwest.
My friends list on Facebook stands at 410 souls as of August 5th, 2016. A winnowing occurred in the lead up to this election, as my comments turned rather stridently against Donald Trump, but a few hardy conservatives are still hanging in there.
I picked four men who met my above description: Rural, White, Heterosexual, Christian, Conservative, Male. In addition, all four men hold college degrees, in some cases, advanced degrees beyond a Bachelors of Science. I did so because white men lacking degrees are not representative of our elected leadership, with the notable exception of Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin, who only holds a high school diploma.
I started at the top of their Facebook feed and entered their posting information in the same information it is presented on their Facebook feeds. I did not include ‘Memories” = previous posts on the 1 or 5-year anniversaries. I did not include the “seven-day challenge” material that is currently in vogue, where married couples post loving information about their spouse over a seven-day period. Otherwise, I left in personal material that generally reflects well upon the poster.
More on the men: All of them are employed or self-employed. If you met them in person, you would almost certainly think they are nicest gentlemen you could ever meet.
What did I get from reading these posts?
They are human, they like pretty pictures of flowers and silly videos like everyone else.
They love their guns. They are fanatics about guns. Some of them are stockpiling guns and ammo for the inevitable downfall of civilization that will take place under Clinton’s Presidency.
At least some of them buy into the silliest conspiracies you can imagine (chemtrails?) Propose an insane Clinton Conspiracy and they will believe it and share it immediately.
There is a lot of hate beneath those real-world facades. If you are sharing posts from RightWingNews and many of these “Patriot” sites on a minute by minute basis, the message is very clear: I must hate. You must hate. We must hate.
There are millions of white men like this across the country. They are no longer open to reason. They are almost completely insulated in a world of fear, hate, and conspiracy theories. They love their guns, and some of them believe, regardless of the results of the election, that Donald Trump will give them a chance to put those guns to use. If you are not familiar with the Freedom Caucus in the US House of Representatives, you should be. These are their beliefs.
Two days ago I commented on another friend’s page that “Trump and his followers are a clear threat to our democracy.” Another friend, like those described above, saw my comment and messaged me,
“I might be a "clear threat to our democracy" but do you realize that you and your fellow libs (ordinary men and women) are more that (sic) a clear threat to my (maybe not your) country?”
There is a whole world of these people out there. They are only going to get more radicalized as they eliminate people like me from their Facebook Feed, and further immerse themselves into right wing websites and hate radio. They are only going to get more paranoid when we elect their “Boogey Woman.” I don’t see how they deradicalize. I just don’t see this ending well.
The material is presented in four columns.
#1 Time since the material was posted: Some of these guys were such prolific posters that I quit half-way through a single day’s material.
#2 The Source of the Material:
#3 The Headline and text of the posts.
#4 A description of graphics included in the post.
HT (Initials)
Time
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Source
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Title
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Description
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Yesterday
2:52 PM
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Mad World News
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Like if you Think Hillary Should Never Hold Office Again
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Photo of Hillary Smiling
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Yesterday
2:52 PM
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The Informed American
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Try Explaining to a Liberal that Hillary’s Corruption Matters
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Photo of man talking to brick wall.
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40 minutes ago
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The New Yorker
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None
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Cartoon of Olympic Candidate standing my giant Citronella Flame/Candle
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3 hours
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Mad Patriot
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If you predict Trump will be the 45th President of the US: Like and Share
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Photo of Trump and his Airplane
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6 hours
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The Comical Conservative
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BIG: Wikileaks Assert Hillary sold weapons to ISIS and it gets worse:
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Photo of “Breaking News”
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5 hours
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Art, Craft, and Architecture
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Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
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Photo of a Cathedral in a reflecting Pool
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5 hours
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Amanda Shea
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Bumper Sticker of the week: “Oh Crap: Don’t let delete Hillary Delete Freedom”
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Photo of a bumper sticker on a vehicle
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7 Hours
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Visit Savannah
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8 Historic Sites that Everyone Should See
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Photo of a statue and live oaks with Spanish Moss.
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21 hours
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Newt Gingrich
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Jefferson sent Marines to the shores of Tripoli to fight Barbary Pirates. Obama sent his staff to a giant ATM to pay off Iranian Kidnappers.
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Photo of Obama
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10 hours
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Free American Patriot
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The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise, they will win and the decent people will lose. James Earl Jones
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Photo of James Earl Jones
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10 hours
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Mad Patriot
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“I like Donald Trump because he speaks from the heart- Make America Great Again is a great slogan. I would like to meet him.” Obama’s half-brother Malik, who says he is voting for Trump
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Photo of black man in “Make America Great Again” from ClashDaily.com
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11 hours
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The Informed American
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“Secretly, everybody’s getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. That’s the Kick-Ass generation we’re in right now. We’re really in a pussy generation. www.unclesamsmisuguidedchildren.com
Clint Eastwood
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Photo of Clint Eastwood
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11 hours
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Mad Patriot
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Quiet Please (clashdaily.com) Obama is speaking again.
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Photo of donkey passing gas.
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11 hours
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Mad Patriot
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The NRA isn’t the enemy. Home Depot is! Number of people killed in 2011 (photo of AR 15) = 323. (Photo of Hammer) = 496. It’s Hammer Control Time!
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SM (Initials)
Time
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Source
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Title
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Description
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2 hours
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Weekend Blessings of Emmanuel County
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Weekend Blessings of Emmanuel County
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Non-profit to provide food to hungry kids
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12 hours
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The Blacksphere
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“Hillary Benghazi Scandal” on Mtn Top. “Hillary Clinton Email Scandal” on Mtn Top. “Clinton Foundation Scandal” on Mtn Top
Gaggle of Washington Post reporters surrounding mole hill labeled “Trump”.
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Political cartoon by Branco.
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12 hours
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Constitutional Patriot
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Khizr Khan’s Writings discovered subordinating US Constitution to Sharia Law
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Photo of Uncle Sam as “The Thinker”
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12 hours
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Newt Gingrich
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Jefferson sent Marines to the shores of Tripoli to fight Barbary Pirates. Obama sent his staff to a giant ATM to pay off Iranian Kidnappers.
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Photo of Obama
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12 hours
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Conservative Country
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The Important Stuff.
Photo of Julian Assange saying “Wikileaks will be releasing 1,700 of Hillary’s emails showing she supplied weapons to ISIS”
Above
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Below: Photo of generic new anchor saying “Sorry Julian, we have breaking news that Trump eats chicken with a knife and fork.”
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12 hours
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Right Wing News
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India has 1.27 billion people. 400 million of them have less than $1.25/day. Yet every single voter has an ID. (Democrats in the USA call that “voter suppression.”)
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Photo of Indians with ID cards
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23 hours
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Ryan Stenger
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Why doesn’t anyone remember when President Clinton sent a SWAT team with high-powered rifles to literally drag Elian Gonzales out of a closet
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Photo of SWAT team member and terrified child in a closet.
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Yesterday 7:34 PM
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Ted Cruz in the Man
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K-9 Handler reveals Hillary’s Sick Order When She Saw His Bomb Dog Protecting Her
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Photo of Hillary next to soldier and dog.
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CB (Initials)
3 hours
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Daryl Plant’s video
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When you realize Hillary is Fake AF
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Anderson Cooper and video of Hillary
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Previous Day
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Post on our High School FB team
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|
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Previous day
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Henry Alfonso Navarro
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MTV turned 35 years old. Help celebrate 15 years of music
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MTV logo
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Previous day
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SubjectPolitics
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Black Trump Supporter DESTROYS Race-Baiting CNN Reporter
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Black man in Trump hat in front of camera.
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Previous Days
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Hilarious Stories with Shareably
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|
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Aug 1
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AC/DC Thuderstruck Music Video
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Same
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July 31
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Yes I’m Right
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Photo of young white couple w/ caption: Christian bakers refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding. Fined $130,000.
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Photo of Islamic man in Kafiya by Bud Light truck: Caption: Muslim truck driver refused to deliver alcohol because it is against Islam. Awarded $240,000
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July 31
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Locked and Loaded
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At a Democratic Debate Hillary was asked the enemy she was most proud of making. SHE SAID THE NRA. That’s right
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She thinks law abiding American citizens are a worse enemy than Muslim terrorists who massacre innocent people. SHARE if that’s obscene.
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July 31
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VSF Revolution
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I’m not sending this to blast Hillary for giving a speech about inequality while wearing a $12,500 Armani suit. I’m posting this
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to give props to Armani for being able to sell a potato sack with sleeves for $12,500, which in this case, holds about 180 lbs of bullshit.
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July 1
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Conservatives against Obama’s Liberal Agenda
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It’s 3 AM and your unit has come under enemy fire. When they call the WhiteHouse asking for permission to send in reinforcements who do you want answering the phone?
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Photo of Trump on left, and Hillary on right.
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LF (Initials)
Yest 5:55 AM
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GreenMedInfo
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HealthInfo:
Osteoporosis is scurvy of the bone, not calcium deficiency
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Graphic of skeleton
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July 29th
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David Kelley’s Video
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Moral of the Story: Never take a turtle’s ball
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Video of dog and tortoise playing with a ball
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July 27th
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Zoe Smith’s post
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Ad on Craig’s List: Looking for 700 Crisis Actors to fill seats at DNC.
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Photo of Craig’s List ad
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July 27
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State Line Hunting
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It’s so hot in Alabama that deer feeders be like:
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Photo of deer looking at feeder full of popped corn
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July 26
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Brent Bozell
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Dear Hillary, We have your back. Heart symbol, the Media
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Photo of bill board by Media Research Center.
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July 26
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Nature’s Sunshine Products
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TEI-FU Essential Oils Skin Conditioner
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Box of skin conditioner with oriental design/lettering
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June 29
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S Walker
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Some of my grandma’s lilies
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Photo of lilly
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May 28
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TheNewYorkEvening.com
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Plane crash kills 163 after pilot forgets to turn off chemtrail while landing-The New York Evening
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Photo of smoke column from an airport
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May 23
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Paul Fassa
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Pharmageddon, Proof conventional medicine is a killing machine
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Long quote attributed to James Bennie MD
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May 18
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Maria Merola Wold
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Medical Errors, still the third leading cause of death
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Photos of operating table and a physician
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May 17
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Robert Jozwiak
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Almost 94 million Americans don’t work, but the government says unemployment is 5%: COMMONCORE
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Photo of man with bad hair
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May 15
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LivingTraditionally.com
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McDonald’s French fries found to contain silly putty ingredient and petroleum chemical
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Photo of McDonald’s French fries
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May 13
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Brent Bozell
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NBC: Couric pushes Anti-Gun Doc, Blasts NRA as Marketing Arm for Gun Manufacturers
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Photo of Matt Lauer and Katie Couric
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