Margaret, lots of people are claiming that 200,000 Americans have not died from COVID. They are right. I did the research. I actually talked to some doctors, did some investigating… I spent hours reading about mortality rates. Honestly, it’s a global pandemic. What better reason will you ever have for dedicating hours to such a boring, mundane endeavor? It would be so much easier to just watch a YouTube video or read a Tweet and draw your conclusion. But why would you do that if it meant putting yourself or your loved ones at risk? To make sure you have the facts, you must dig. So, my dog dug.
Now I know many of our readers are waiting for me to use a few dirty words or make a joke. They expect me to call Trump an asshat. But this really is too important. If you support Trump, my need to make a joke shouldn’t be a reason for you not to read this. Nor should it be a reason for a Biden supporter to not forward this to their Trump supporting family members. Because of that, I am going to do my level best to be serious.
If you don’t believe that almost 200 thousand Americans have died from COVID-19, you are right.
I dare you to keep reading…
There seem to be two different but related theories out there suggesting that the number is closer to 10,000. One theory is that hospitals are making more money by recording as many deaths as possible as COVID deaths. Another theory suggests that it isn’t about money, but rather its about the way you count COVID deaths even if the patient died of something else. In that theory, a patient who has COVID but dies in a car crash would be counted as a COVID death. Neither are true. First, hospitals don’t have that power. Second, there are not that many bad people. And last, scientists are not that stupid.
First, you need to understand how medical records work. They begin the moment you are seen by a healthcare worker. That worker could simply be the person who answers the phone at your doctor’s office. But if you are dying from COVID you have probably bypassed your doctor’s office and headed straight to the hospital. Your medical record begins when you arrive, stays with you for your entire stay – growing the whole time. It lives with you until you leave and even then, it follows you. And if you die, it continues to live and grow after you have expired. For a hospital to falsely report your death as COVID-19 would require the coordination of clerks, technicians, nurses, doctors, administrators, coroners, health departments, insurance companies, your family members and even the Federal Government. Plus, for it to be impacting numbers on a national level with any significance, it would have to be hundreds of hospitals and tens of thousands of healthcare professionals plus insurance companies AND the Federal Government. That just doesn’t happen. Simply put, that dog don’t hunt. Theory one ain’t happening.
Theory two sounds a little more believable. This is the one where everyone who tests positive for COVID and then dies gets counted as a COVID death even if they died in a car crash. Again, false. Here is why. First, it is not uncommon that multiple causes of death might appear on your records. Yes. You might die in a car crash. But car crash isn’t a medical reason for death. Complications resulting from a car crash are. COVID is not a complication of a car crash. However, let’s say you have cancer and you contract COVID and ultimately die. You indeed could have a cause of death listed as cancer and COVID. It might even just say COVID. Or let’s say you are dying of something else. You are in hospice with a few weeks left to live and you get COVID before you die. Again, your record could show that your cause of death was the illness or illnesses that got you to hospice as well as COVID. It stands to reason that in both of those cases counting them as COVID deaths would be overcounting COVID deaths. Of course, in the case of cancer, you might have lived a few more months, years or even beaten it all together. We have a family friend who was battling breast cancer and might have beaten it. But she contracted COVID and it was just too much for her body to handle – chemo and COVID is pretty nasty. Sadly, we lost her.
But here is the deal…
The CDC takes all of that into account. They don’t just grab all the death certificates and look for COVID and then add them up. Please. Our scientists are smarter than that. And thank god they are. If you are hoping for a vaccine, especially one before the election, you better damn well hope our scientists are smarter than that. The CDC looks at modalities and expected outcomes and statistical variations and… well sciency things. I’m not a scientist and probably neither are you. Simply put, they take into account the deaths they would expect to see during a period of time based on what they have seen in past years and then compare that to actual deaths during that period of time and then adjust for which deaths should be counted as COVID and which should not. So, theory two comes to an end. It’s not true. Stop spreading it. And stop pointing at YouTube videos with unknown narrators telling you that the person who said that really meant this. Trust me. That narrator is an asshat.
But wait. You said the number was false. You said that 200,000 Americans haven’t died from COVID.
You’re right. I did say that. THE NUMBER IS PROBABLY HIGHER.
COVID is still new to us. It’s still new to doctors and scientists. And we are not testing everyone. Sometimes you die from COVID. Sometimes you die from COVID plus XYZ. Sometimes you were going to die regardless. BUT sometimes you die never knowing you had COVID. It never made it into your Medical Record and, therefore, they never knew that maybe what you died from wouldn’t have killed you had you not had COVID.
But a bunch of us saw a tweet from the President that said only 6% of the reported cases were actually COVID.
The tweet you saw from the President was actually a tweet that he misunderstood and re-tweeted. It was falsely claiming that there were really only 9,000 cases because only 6% had COVID as the only cause of death. What that actually means is that when you get COVID you frequently develop complications that eventually kill you – complications you wouldn’t have gotten if you didn’t have COVID. For example, if you contract COVID and you then develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that kills you, your death record will show ARDS and COVID. People actually read the President’s tweet and went in the absolute wrong direction. This COVID is so nasty that most people who get it will develop at least 2.5 other deadly complications. Which means that most of the time you NOT ONLY die from COVID but also everything else the bastard did to your body once you were infected. 200,000 deaths might not sound like a lot, but COVID-19 is very deadly. And if one of those deaths is your loved one then even one death would seem like one too many.
But honestly. Why are we having this conversation? Why would you choose to believe that our scientists and medical experts are lying to you? What could possibly be in it for them? All of them? We know that hospitals in many cities across the country saw unusually high admissions. Scratch that… extraordinarily high admissions. Trust me. It wasn’t the money. Those hospitals make way more money off elective surgeries and those surgeries had to be cancelled because of COVID. And ICU beds in many of our largest medical centers became scarce. That didn’t go away until a great many of us started taking it seriously and either went into full quarantine mode or at the very least started wearing masks and social distancing. Imagine if we had not done that? And imagine how much better off we would be if the rest of you had done it too. Remember Spring Break? Memorial weekend? Fourth of July? The Trump Rally in Tulsa? The Sturgis motorcycle rally?
If you are a Trump supporter, you now can hear it straight from the President of the United States. He is on the record as saying this is deadly and at least five times (5x) worse than the flu (click on that link and listen for yourself). You can hear him say that it is airborne, and it is more deadly than “even your strenuous flus”. (REMEMBER THAT WORD STRENUOUS FOR A SECOND)
Every year the flu kills on average 30,000 Americans. But the flu is seasonal. We are usually only dealing with it 4 to 6 months each year. AND we have vaccines. COVID is not seasonal. It keeps killing month after month. There is currently no vaccine. We have had it for at least 6 months. About as long as not a typical flu season but rather a BAD flu season – A STRENUOUS FLU SEASON. In bad flu years we see close to 50,000 deaths. So, if COVID-19 is 5 times more deadly than the flu, we would expect to see 5×50,000= 250,000… Well I’ll be. This dog did hunt.
Math. Science. Smart people. Listen to them. Wear a mask so we can finally put this damn thing behind us.
And when it comes to the election remember this. Trump knew. He never once encouraged you to wear a mask. In fact, he invited you to mass gatherings in multiple states and never once encouraged you to wear a mask. He knew it was dangerous. He has admitted that he knew and that he downplayed it. The other guy did the opposite. Remember that. I mean it. Really.
(Want more? Follow Margret and Helen on Twitter @HelenPhilpot)
We don’t control the ads on this space. If you see an ad for Trump, rememer he doesn’t have to pay for it unless you click on it.
Margaret and Helen 
[…] and Helen, at it […]
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By: Links. | kmkat & her kneedles on October 10, 2020
at 1:01 AM
@ Biden’s Fog on September 21, 2020-
LMFAO here Skippy-
hate to break it to you hon but you just slipped 9 feet under the runway trying to stick your Troll 101 landing here.
You did all the obligatory name calling and putdowns okay but the big old squishy why-are -people-moving-outta-3-states thingy? Pfft. Fail.
See- you didn’t build the thing up beyond insisting middle class Americans are fleeing some kind of rot and assumed someone here would try to refute you by insisting that we check moving companies for data… what the hell does numbers of folks moving mean by itself?
All we have is some intimation that it’s cuz “lefties’, blah, blah, blah.
Not a tight argument, not a zinger , not a thing here, hon. No thing.
Fail.
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By: alaskapi on September 22, 2020
at 7:40 AM
I see you vile hags and other assorted dumbasses from the Left are still playing scholar.
I got a very simple question for all you maggots. If CA, IL and NY all so good, so rich, so wonderful, why is there currently a mass exodus out of all three states? The middle class can’t leave that rot fast enough. You don’t believe me, dummies? As the moving companies.
You dolts are as hapless as ever, too old and feeble to riot, too weak to toss a bomb, too stupid to understand simple concepts like “why are people leaving?”
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By: Biden's Fog on September 21, 2020
at 6:45 PM
[…] COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories [Image from DW News] From Margaret and Helen: […]
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By: You are right. The number of US COVID deaths is wrong. – FairAndUNbalanced.com on September 17, 2020
at 5:04 AM
Indeed: I can look at a copy of my wife’s death certificate. It lists under immediate cause “cardiopulmonary failure” (ie: she stopped breathing) but directly below it are three more spaces labeled “Due to or as a consequence of” where on hers it says “colon cancer”.
there is a second box “other significant conditions contributing to death but not resulting in underlying cause” If she had passed in a hospital, this box would have mentioned other organ failures as they would have been in her records instead of just discussions with the hospice visiting nurse..
It of course has other boxes for manner of death, and “result of injury”
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By: randomjnerd on September 15, 2020
at 11:03 AM
Grade A+ again, Helen! I can only say that those people who attend big events such as rallies, or high school/college parties, cram themselves onto already overpopulated beaches are exhibiting suicidal behavior for themselves and homicidal behavior for all those innocent people they infect. All of this is underscored by the behavior of the Golden Gibbon who is complicit in all of this along with his toadies on Capitol Hill. Right now, by adhering to the rules (mask, social distancing) I am still healthy and able to get the groceries, pick up my stuff at the drug store and even work a few days in a very, very small office that doe snot depend on street traffic for business. We have always used the internet and phones. I pray that I can thus get through all of this. And I am willing to bet that the tRump faction in this country who are so self entitled wouldn’t know the meaning of prayer!
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By: mageen in old virginny on September 15, 2020
at 9:08 AM
ARDS is ACUTE Respiratory Distress Syndrome, by the way. You might want to correct that. Thank you for your otherwise well-written and researched commentary.
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By: Nancy Troyer on September 15, 2020
at 8:54 AM
I wish sending this to certain people would actually make a difference. It’s excellent.
>
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By: Deborah M Cook on September 14, 2020
at 7:53 AM
[…] **If you think that the number of COVID cases and deaths in the U.S. is greatly exaggerated, then I recommend this explanation. […]
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By: The struggle between tyranny and freedom | More to Come... on September 14, 2020
at 6:24 AM
I figure (my figures not Trumps) that before it is over with over a million will die in the usa..closer to 2…I haven’t started drinking yet, but one of trump supporters said alcohol will kill the virus.
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By: yellowdoggranny on September 13, 2020
at 6:04 PM
Thanks Helen! As usual, you hit the nail on the head. I think I am a nice person generally speaking. I respect dogs and cats even though I am scared of dogs and I don’t own any. I like them for their loyalty to their owners and unconditional love they give their owners. However, I do not have an ounce of respect for the Trump voters, especially the one lining up at his rallies right now. That they choose to put their blinders on, in light of all that we are witnessing every day regarding this administration’s incompetence regarding the pandemic, and other issues regarding race relations, that are being inflamed by self-serving rhetoric, show all I need to know about them. Unfortunately, the virus does know to distinguish between the Trump voter and the rest of us that are behaving sensibly by doing things such as wearing masks and following guidelines on ways to avoid this virus.
Thank you Helen for speaking out. We need all the voices out there, to counter the propaganda that is being served to the willing to hear it, but not willing to pay head to anything else not serving their purpose of dividing and harming this country.
Pease everybody vote! Our lives depend on your votes!
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By: Easier on September 13, 2020
at 3:30 PM
It is sad that so many people have bought into bizarre conspiracy theories. People still scream at me that masks don’t do anything and there is no science behind them. I can offer them the science and they tell me it’s not true. A lot of nonbelievers who went to the Sturgis rally. The estimate now is set up to 250,000 people have contracted this disease because of that really
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By: Emilie on September 13, 2020
at 6:04 AM
Reblogged this on Scotties Toy Box and commented:
Hello Helen. Thank you for this well written explanation of the newest conspiracy theories being used to dismiss this very serious virus. This is information we need to be able to refute the nonsense. Hugs
LikeLiked by 1 person
By: Scottie on September 13, 2020
at 5:00 AM
Your guys are amazing, so well said!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
By: Rochelle Miller on September 12, 2020
at 10:08 PM
A few thoughts….
First, thank you Helen for adding clarity and truth to the pandemic discussion.
And thank you Catherine Matthias for connecting us to the kind of candidate Angela Mayfield appears to be; honest, outraged, and smart. She’s in it to be a public servant.
Once upon a time, public service was the reason that many politicians went into government. Back in the day, (I’m 74), there was a limit on the amount of money and power politicians could reap while in office..or afterwards as lobbyists.
We’re now facing a pandemic in which leading politicians and their followers refuse to wear masks, cut off cars that display bumper stickers with which they disagree (in my small town), and refuse to elect politicians that care about ideas that could help improve all lives, not just some. The conviction, held by many, is that strengthening America is achieved through hate and militancy…an illusion at best.
We’re living in a truly frightening period; basic human decency is being devalued. And for what…to win money and power? I can’t see any other way to interpret what’s going on in much of our government.
Track the actions of the Republicans over the last decades. Begin with Reagan, if not earlier, and see how the divisions amongst us began to be planted. A classic strategy….diivide and conquer/gain power.
Phrases like ‘welfare queens’ were early seeds that were planted and cultivated by that party. We’re now harvesting the fruits…division, hate, lies, and outright criminality. We now have a Supreme Court that too often votes to support and perpetuate political power, instead of advocating for justice for all.
And, yes, Donald Trump.. He hasn’t emerged out of a vacuum…his party created the conditions that enabled his presidency.
Perhaps enough of us will vote in November to end this insanity. Perhaps enough of us will realize that we will continue to weaken America in multiple ways if we vote purely for party, not ideas.
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By: Roz on September 12, 2020
at 6:38 PM
Love you two. Thanks for keeping it real and truthful.
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By: Mary Wiker on September 12, 2020
at 4:23 PM
Most of these people will die in a hospital. Their records will show the diagnosis on entering the hospital, no matter if they already do have long standing medical problems. The doctors are trained to follow the signs and if all the signs spell COVID, it is what it is. I know of a meager type of person who also does not believe that all those people died of their diagnosis. It seems there is a plan afoot to keep the numbers way, way down thereby proving that this is not something to be excited about. That it just does not meet the 60 million dead from the Spanish flu so many years ago. Imagine! Somebody needs to see more people dead before he or she believes in science! My God!
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By: mageen in old virginny on September 12, 2020
at 3:38 PM
Trying to make sense of the comment “Remove me from your list you racist morons” on 12/20 at 12:46 pm…
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By: Carol Kelly on September 12, 2020
at 3:36 PM
Thank you for your honesty.
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By: Paula Sweeney on September 12, 2020
at 3:04 PM
Thanks for all the great info! I hope everyone reads it, but sadly many can’t or won’t. Keep up you great work for the sanity of America! Love you gals!!
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By: Julysthebest on September 12, 2020
at 2:56 PM
Thank you for taking time to do the research and share it with us all! While you’re at it, check out the response “Catherine Matthias on September 12, 2020 at 11:25 AM,” and follow her link to the Daily Kos article about Angela Mayberry. (Is that the name? Darn short term memory gets shorter all the time!) Now there is a woman I can support!
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By: robertastew on September 12, 2020
at 2:23 PM
Thank you for a well thought out, researched and clear conversation. Being a retired hospital employee, Transfusion Service Medical Technologist, You hit it right on the head. Hopefully people will listen.
Beside and take care.
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By: Kat on September 12, 2020
at 2:12 PM
Help me understand something. What kind of person who knew the COVID-19 pandemic risk was bad and it could be transmitted airborne would downplay it, naysay it, call it a hoax even, and hold rallies without cautioning folks of such risk? Saying it differently, this person chose to risk the health and lives of his most loyal fans just so that he could hear their applause. And, he is still doing it. Who would do that? There is a word for it. It is called a sociopath.
We have a 193,000 dead Americans due to COVID-19 (using one count) and it is growing. The last time I checked the US has 4% of the global population and 22% of the global COVID-19 deaths. We are not the “envy of the world” as this person says. The world is “aghast” using a word I read from reputable global sources.
Mission one in a pandemic is tell people the truth, says a epidemiologist and historian, who shared that on NPR. He said, only then, will they be receptive to health safety directions. My favorite story is a Baptist Home for the Aged was applauded for having no COVID-19 cases or deaths. The ED said when he heard Trump naysay it in February, he knew he need to look more into it. Knowing the president is untruthful, he did the opposite of what the president said.
That sums up a lot of things about this untruthful incumbent. If Trump says it, be skeptical and look more into it.
Keith
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By: Keith on September 12, 2020
at 2:11 PM
Thank you. This was clear; let’s hope folks pay attention.
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By: Vivian Sherrill on September 12, 2020
at 2:00 PM
Awesomely excellent article. Clear, fact filled and easy to read if you aren’t a moron. Thanks for summing things up nicely. Keep up the good work and don’t get this damn virus. The world needs you.
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By: Sharon Ogden on September 12, 2020
at 1:54 PM
Remove me from your list you racist morons
Sent from my iPhone
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By: pvogel2013 on September 12, 2020
at 12:46 PM
I always enjoy reading your posts as we have similar leanings and I also enjoy your verbiage on various subjects. 🙂 But in this post you have posted some really serious information that explains and destroys the two theories you listed in various terms that are easy to understand. This is the type of post that I really like to read among all the posts of misinformation. An explanation that is easy to understand. THANK YOU!!!
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By: Vicki Hollenberg on September 12, 2020
at 12:38 PM
Thank you.
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By: Anonymous on September 12, 2020
at 12:09 PM
Please give this outrageous woman running for the state house in Georgia a shoutout. We need more like her fighting the good ol’boys: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/09/11/1976625/-I-want-this-woman-to-win
Thank you and love you! Catherine
On Sat, Sep 12, 2020 at 5:45 AM Margaret and Helen wrote:
> Helen Philpot posted: ” Margaret, lots of people are claiming that 200,000 > Americans have not died from COVID. They are right. I did the research. I > actually talked to some doctors, did some investigating… I spent hours > reading about mortality rates. Honestly, it’s a global pan” >
LikeLiked by 1 person
By: Catherine Matthias on September 12, 2020
at 11:25 AM
Omg how I love you ladies.
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By: Tanya Wasielewski on September 12, 2020
at 11:15 AM
Wait…so every time I see a despised Trump ad and angrily move on, I am only harming myself. But if I click on the ad, he has to pay? What’s the catch? That sounds like a no-brainer.
LikeLiked by 2 people
By: Raleigh on September 12, 2020
at 11:12 AM
Thank you for posting such a rational article. However much I love the humor this is such an important message.
For the life of me (I hope not literally) I don’t understand why it’s so bloody difficult to wear a mask, wear a mask and this madness will end.
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By: Phoebe Barnum on September 12, 2020
at 10:38 AM
Thank you for this excellent article. Wish more people could see it!
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By: Penny Reid on September 12, 2020
at 10:23 AM
My father died this May from Covid it destroyed his lungs. It brought Covid up close and personal. I miss him terribly We will never know how may people were saved by quarantine, wearing masks and washing hands. Keep it up and stay safe.
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By: Jackie on September 12, 2020
at 10:06 AM
Thanks dear heart. You weren’t funny, but sometimes life is real.
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By: Richard Schmidt on September 12, 2020
at 10:02 AM
Terrific, informative post. Thanks. (It was so good, I didn’t even miss the humor.)
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By: Anonymous on September 12, 2020
at 9:45 AM
my mom died at the end of July of (per death cert surgery followed by pneumonia. IMO, covid was a contributing factor because she could not face two months of rehab in lockdown. (All rehab facilities operate with no visitor protocols due to covid.)
Sent from my iPhone
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By: Ellen Hansen on September 12, 2020
at 9:23 AM
I wish you hadn’t worded your headline that way — many people will not read beyond that. Then you go on to prove yourself wrong: 200,000 Americans HAVE died of Covid — but the actual number is more. 🙂 Love your posts, would hate to see that headline passed on as “SEE–even Margaret and Helen say Covid isn’t that bad!!”
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By: Sue PS on September 12, 2020
at 9:19 AM
Have you thought about running for office, Helen?
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By: Jill Nadel Laufer on September 12, 2020
at 8:59 AM
Thank you, as always. I got so tired of the insanity on Facebook, I quit it last year. So tired of putting out fires—thank you for fighting the good fight.
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By: janpriddyoregon on September 12, 2020
at 8:30 AM
Brilliant. But, the people who don’t want to believe it, still won’t. Always glad to see your names in my inbox.
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By: Ellie on September 12, 2020
at 8:00 AM
Read it and Weep.
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By: Olive Jackson on September 12, 2020
at 7:59 AM
Well researched it appears.
Vern Hoppes
Stay safe and healthy
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By: Vern Hoppes on September 12, 2020
at 7:53 AM