The Jeff Cumberbatch Column – The Guns of August
BU shares the Jeff Cumberbatch Barbados Advocate column – Senior Lecturer in law at the University of the West Indies since 1983, a Columnist with the Barbados Advocate since 2000 and BU commenter – see full bio.
MUSINGS: The guns of August
8/23/2015
[…]
Barbadians might be forgiven for thinking that our island in recent weeks had been transformed into some latter day Caribbean Dodge City or Tombstone Territory, given the alarming incidence of crimes involving the use of firearms. It is disconcerting enough when the offence involves mere unlawful possession, although if one judge from the newspaper photograph of one such weapon, preparations for an internecine civil war or a serious public assault might already be substantially underway.
This may be scary enough; however, when there eventuates the scenario of an innocent bystander’s life becoming the collateral damage of some unfriendly fire, the situation becomes even more terrifying.
Despite the populist diagnoses of this spate of gun violence, ranging from scarcely veiled partisan discourses on the degree of the contribution of the state of the economy and, by extension, depending on the speaker’s political allegiance, the indirect responsibility or non-responsibility of the governing administration for the current state of affairs, to the so-termed “slap-on-the-wrist” approach of the magistracy and judiciary to sentencing offenders that, as popular wisdom would have it, contributes immeasurably to all criminality in Barbados. There have been more broad hints than one in the public domain during the last week that some aspects of Sharia law may not be that bad after all.
Last week’s revelation from the acting Commissioner of Police, Mr Tyrone Griffith, of the police suspicion (he might have put it higher than that) that negligently or criminally inadequate oversight by local customs officers of incoming cargo is a major contributor to the presence of illegal firearms in this country was always going to set the cat among the pigeons in a jurisdiction where such sweeping generalisations are more than likely to raise the hackles and much otherwise of all the members of the class of individuals at whom fingers are pointed.
As to be expected, there is a report in another section of the press this morning (Saturday) that customs officers are “hopping mad” and their representatives “outraged” and befuddled at what has been reasonably interpreted as a generalised calumny on all customs officers.
Of course, I do not believe that this defamation was intended by the acting Commissioner, but it would have satisfied the requirements for actionability in the courts had he been any more particular in his assertions. Indeed, as I propose to tell the students in the law of Torts II lectures in a few weeks, when a wide class of individuals is impugned by a statement, no member of that class may sue successfully for defamation unless he or she is able to establish that there is something in the statement that would lead the ordinary hearer or reader reasonably to consider that the claimant was being referred to.
While this is the strict legal position, it is at least doubtful whether the customs officers would be detracted by such a technical consideration.
However, given that it would have been both defamatory and impolitic for the acting Commissioner to be any more specific in this context, there is necessarily now an impasse between the two entities to be judged in the court of public opinion. There the issues to be determined are whether the acting Commissioner was right to have made the police suspicion public without there having been at least the arrest and charge of one officer, and whether the customs officers are not being overly sensitive, given the allure of an argument that a proliferation of weapons in the island must include at least a number that were imported through the lawful ports of entry.
The workers’ representatives are nothing if not adamant that the Commissioner’s statements were more than unfortunate. While the more representative of these organisations, the National Union of Public Workers [NUPW], has termed them as “inflammatory, without basis” and serving only “to tarnish the reputations and integrity of all customs officers”, Mr Caswell Franklyn, the leader of the Unity Workers’ Union, argues that the police force was “more responsible for interdicting weapons than Customs given its superior facilities and training…”
What may be equally regrettable is the appearance of a public spat between these two governmental entities that are placed in the forefront of the interception of contraband into the jurisdiction. At a time when there are already publicly expressed fears that the interdiction of drugs, despite reports of periodic substantial seizures, is barely effective if at all in stemming the available local supply, any fissure in the scheme of co-operation between these agencies could scarcely be in the public interest.
Perhaps it may be that guns have become the new controlled narcotic substance and thus their imported presence here, like that of the latter, is inevitable.
For the average Barbadian, this maybe a future too terrible to contemplate. A combination of astute political leadership, the committed co-operation of the responsible authorities and judicious parenting would serve us all in good stead to alleviate the problem.
Barbados Underground 
@Simple Simon
I was looking at your calculations and am wondering if they are correct . US $600/ month or US&200/year. If they are correct, I might cancel retiring to Florida and head home.
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$7200.00
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My maths was a bit off… $200 BDS = $11000. US
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What is so different from the older generation of children who were raised in an environment much worse than what today’s children are being reared .
the end game comes down to those in control and how the agenda is being set,
the children of the bygone era had parents who set the agenda ,understood the basic skill of prioritizing and drum into the minds of the children that an honest days work would take “You” a long way and the number one goal was to secure a good education by hook or by crook
what society is experiencing is a one hundred degree turn around with underage mothers having children out of wed lock setting agendas tabled for them by entertainment and commercial enterprises with a sickening and degrading result of children who no longer cares about maintaining an honest days work or even securing an education but living a lie built around greed and consumption.
There s no such thing as a bad child when children are born they are unable to form or make decisions;; before birth babies are confined to one of the purest and sterile environments conceptualized by nature and afforded to human behaviour setting the baby on a path of innocence.. Then who directs and controls every waking moment of that child/s life into teen age or even possibly adult years are the parents who set the agendas and priorities who sets a stage for success or disaster. If if the parent priorities are out of wack the end result would be that of raising a traumatized child that cannot differentiate between needs and wants good and bad with bad attitudes living in in a fanatical world relishing the thought of having the best of what life have to offer and accessing and retrieving those materialistic goals by any way necessary even if it is a cost to their own life or others.
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My goodness gracious!!
Lord have mercy ….
AC the sensible one tek de computer away from Irene and tell she it is cabinet day go and hush you mout!!
Wunna see dis post at 9.13??
Whuloss man, now you see why de ole man does change he password regularly?
So much so dat I ent even know haw to find back me icon no mo’?
Looka common sense from AC!!
We gots to get a bad set uh rain soon… I ent even know what to do wid meself
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@Pieceuhderock,
Bad set a rain fuh true.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=2
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By mentioning “How many amongst this list of B U intelligent would risk life and limb to be a member of any police force. I also notice that those who are critical are those whose careers where white collar and outside tapping on a keyboard NEVER HAD ANY DESIRE to be on the front line where the heavy lifting begins,” you are essentially IMPLYING that “those amongst this list of BU’s (intelligentsia) are NOT willing to RISK LIFE AND LIMB to be a MEMBER of any police force.”
Some of the “BU intelligent” contributes to BU under the cloak of anonymity. Since you don’t know their identities and whether or not they were previously or presently members of the RBPF or any other police force, you are making a presumptuous assumption.
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A question was asked followed by an observation due in fact to the numerous criticisms levelled towards the BPF
So i have no doubt as i stated in my posting that many contributors on BU have never been on the front line of policeman duty and contributed to pulling the heavy load
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De ole man gine riseth in opposition to the prosecution me lawd, to say that what de Queens Council doth present here is not only sadly flawed but, me lawd, an egregious untruth.
When de ole man werent too ole me lawd, in fact when the ole man were a young man me lawd, de ole man did pledge “to protect and to serve” for and among another nation far more serious and deadly than these lil boys and wanna be bruce eillises.
But de ole man did young den and did immortal, in thought only, so unlike Irene who only does talk causing she gots a mouf, and de onliest time dat she was in de front line uh duty against de criminal element was when she get she cell phone snatch outta she hand in Massey Car Par in Warrens aftah shopping at Supa Centre
hu does confuse me is how dem does raise de bar to these heights to disqualify the BU rank and file when dem demselves does not evah qualify.
You notice dat Artaxerxes? She, Alvin Cummins and Donkey always putting dem foot in dem mouf wid matters like dese!!
Only recently SSS had was tuh pull out all uh Alvin front teets when she lambaste he snozzet by exposing he underhand operations at de FisherFold ting is tink is was and two days ago Donna Expose Donkey as a liar who did pretend dat he did friends wid Starsky and Donna confirm a nex blogger remarks and de two uh dem leh all uh we know dat Donkey is a fraud and all uh he days up in Station Hill was not riding around wid Lion man and Ghost in the 1970 but more probably hiding from de police fuh bestiality wid de police horses en ting…
De Ole Man doan gots tuh see a pattern draw out fuh he pun a Butterick Dress Pattern to recognise dat we is got pretenders to de throne.
En Donna and Simple Simon, jes en case wunna want to know whu a hard back ole man know bout wunna patterns dem, me first wife did a seamstress en I get tired us seeing all uh dem paper dem all ovah de workshop….instead uh me manuals and books en ting
A man entitle tuh he space whu after all
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@ac August 24, 2015 at 9:13 PM “The majority of children in Barbados have always been born out of wedlock. ”
The age of first birth has been rising steadily since the invention of the oral contraceptive pill in 1962 and even moreso since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in 1981 and many more people use contraceptive pills and or condoms than in 1960.
Don’t take my word for it the Barbados Statistical Services publishes its census data in paper and on line.
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The BU classroom is dominated by the male with only one hand rising to debunk my observation////yet being clueless to my insertion of the word “many” which by any definition “one” would not be sufficient to be called “many”
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But I, this One is not alone
I am accompanied by “The ONE”, The True and Living GOD and therefore collectively “we” are more than your multiplicity can ever be.
But doan get tie up wid that profound statement
How was Cabinet today??
It must have been busy cause you ent say a pang during the hours that you were there messing up the lives of mo Bajans
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ass hole !
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http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/71532/shot-vauxhall
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Piece
AC, Sis, don’t perplexe yourself with the old guy because he isn’t as enigmatic as you might think. He is just in want of his evening dose of lithium to suppress his every emerging bipolar-disorder.
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Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right August 25, 2015 at 1:24 PM #
“………. and two days ago Donna Expose Donkey as a liar who did pretend dat he did friends wid Starsky and Donna confirm a nex blogger remarks and de two uh dem leh all uh we know dat Donkey is a fraud..…”
PUDRYR, it was me dat tell himaar dat the acktin commissioner was not called “Starsky,” it was the late Sergeant Daniel Jemmott and Donna confirmed I was correct.
“Starksy” was Jemmott and “Hutch” did Stephen Streets, who I tink is an Inspector now (well, dahs iffen he still in de force).
Back in dem days we uses to hear ‘bout “Starsky and Hutch,” “Ty P” (dahs wuh duh uses to call Griffith), “Invader 1 & 2” (#1 get lock-up fuh trying to escort a drug mule tru de airport and #2 waiting fuh “all ah we” to join he pun de ground floor), “Lion-man,” “Johnny Salt Bags,” “Rap Brown,” Baretta,” “Dirty Harry,” “Track Suit Top” and “Bill Johnson.” Dem was de days dat the CID men did cruel.
A man tell me dat one time “Bill Johnson” approached a man and tell he, “Hey, de police looking fuh you, de jeep park at the top ah de gap.” And by de time “Bill” get back to de jeep, the man was in the back sitting down.
I remember watching police 2nd division football team playing against another team ah evening pun Weymuff. A man tackle “Rap Brown” cruel and tra he down. “Rap” get up and run ‘long side de man and tell he something. After the game when de men ask he wuh happen, de man say dat “Rap” tell he “You better doan walk ‘bout late tonight, yuh”
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“King Solomon had everything and in the end concluded –
“…all is vanity”.”
It is instructive to note that ‘It was in the end’ when he arrived at his conclusion.
He could afford to talk then after enjoying to the fullest all that he had in abundance
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some of these \so called spoke person on society problems need to stop making excuses for “latch key” children
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Balance,
Quite true. I always said he wasn’t as wise as people say. But then again most people don’t think before they speak when it comes to the Bible.
I know you are coming from a different angle. But I discovered a long time ago that it was vanity. When as a young person I read many of the life stories of the super rich I realized that the only problem they don’t have is a money problem Or perhaps I should say a LACK of money problem because having too much money also presents problems, I find.
I am quite content with not being super rich. When I dream of having a billion dollars I think about how I would put it to use for our nation’s children. I’ve worked out how I would spend it. It would be a hands on approach. I imagine those children’s faces wreathed in beautiful smiles. I imagine God’s face beaming at me. I imagine my funeral with all my grown up babies in attendance. My babies handing out the leaflets, my babies helping my son with the casket. My babies making a presentation in song, drama and dance. My babies supporting my son as he gives the eulogy.
And before you think I’m too morbid. This came from a funeral I attended a where a young well-loved teacher was laid to rest. The preacher asked us to imagine our own funeral and what we would like to be said in our eulogy. Then he asked us to go about living our lives with that in mind.
When I dream this dream I find myself grinning like a Cheshire cat.
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AC,
I am hard-pressed to come up with an excuse I can use for YOU.
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But I have an answer for u stay out my face stop reading my comments and it sure as hell would make yuh life easier and furthermore you won’t have a brain seizure finding answers for ac.have a good day
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ac,
Actually I picture you in my mind when I read. Mumbling and lashing out wildly and incoherently.
It reminds me of a character I knew that the children used to tease, calling her “Assey”.
I always felt sorry for her but you I find hilarious.
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Is the return of Jesus closer than you think? What are the most powerful prophetic signs being fulfilled on the earth today? How is the new Middle East after the Arab Spring aligning with the testimony of the biblical prophets? What are the little-known prophetic signs that few are paying attention to?
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@ Donna
Your ability to combine intellectual discourse with sarcasm and wit is excellent.
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Artaxerxes,
Got a double dose, one from each side of the family.
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@Donna whatever! and who the hell cares !grow up ole lady
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Can we keep the standard of the discussion up? The objective of a forum like this is to share opinions and learn from one and all.
On 26 August 2015 at 16:54, Barbados Underground wrote:
>
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The standard deteriorated when one class clown by the name of donna made a tactical error to be ugrunt
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David,
You need to speak to all your other contributors then, don’t you? If I am attacked I will defend.
ac.
You like you can only give but you can’t take. I thought better of you.
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It was a general request. Note also we hold some commenters more responsible. They are some commenters who do not have the capacity to appreciate what is decorum.
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Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right August 24, 2015 at 12:35 PM #
“Bush Tea, who dis Donna is? You feel dat de blogmaster would give a fellow she real real IP? I surprise dat AC ent start to cuss she yet !!”
Behold, PUDRYR asketh of Bushie, “From whence this Donna came?” and foretold she may suffer the wrath of AC’s tongue.
And it came to pass that on the 2nd day after PUDRYR asketh his question and foretold his vision, AC smote Donna with her tongue, saying: “The standard deteriorated when one class clown by the name of donna made a tactical error to be ugrunt…….” [ac August 26, 2015 at 1:06 PM #].
But Donna waxed mighty, and should have told the ACs, “Howbeit there is no reckoning or boundaries of thine ignorance, even in thine own eyes. And thou hath wrought much incoherent political diatribe in the house of BU, enough to provoke even David to anger.”
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Artaxerxes,
Actually she started on Sunday with her personal attacks.
David,
Wait, are you saying that Bushie doesn’t know what decorum is? LOL
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David I have been enjoying de bassa bassa and you want decorum.
Man leh dum fight nuh !
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@Hants
It has become too predictable. If a person who constructively engages others does it occasionally fine, then we get others all they do is froth at the mouth, daily.
On 26 August 2015 at 20:00, Barbados Underground wrote:
>
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Yes Please! i am raising my hand ! can i say something,,, is that enough decorum
In any case let me warn the centepides of the BLP type that snow woul;d fall in bubbudas before ac let any carnivorous insect black white or green draw blood and ac not respond,.
Since the topic is concerning crime and violence what transpires on most of these threads with outlandish and vicious attacks hurdled at opposing views is a representation and manifestation of a culture that was formed many many years ago but was kept silent because of technology for the most part a culture which was handed down from generation to generation under the cloak of darkness and which has now find it way on the streets and dispensed of by a newer generation
Lets not fool ourselves that similar actions done only in words on social media by “so called intelligent in our society does not have an altering effect that corrupts the minds of the youth;
If all are truly serious about corrective measures one should take a good look at ones behaviour with considerable criticism making judgement calls whereby one is forced to condemn self and practice becoming advocates of exemplary measure whereby the youth can look for guidance. No sense in getting on social media and condemning the youth when mash up and break up sits right on one.s front door, in gestures to curse and degrade coming from own mouth.
Those within the reach of BU and the internet should become more civil in their words and cull the temptation to be leaders or cheer leaders of insults and bullying tactics
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“When I dream this dream I find myself grinning like a Cheshire cat”
Keep dreaming Donna , keep dreaming Vanity or no Vanity I wish I could be a King Solomon any day
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Hants,
What fight what? Just a little fun with somebody I thought could take it. It’s the difference between a Sangakara tease and a Shane Watson sledge. I thought water used to run right off a duck’s back. I would never harm a defenceless creature. Honest.
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How could somebody call someone a centipede and in the same breath rant and rave about a culture of violent insults?
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Balance,
And at the end of your life you would come to the same conclusion.
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Because sumbody aint no fool, now go wash yuh draws and stop picking fights with the wrong persons,
the mesaage was for you fool glad you read it!
do ac a favour just stay on your side of the street before you get run over .
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ac,
You do realize that the only person who thinks you won this is you, don’t you? Oops! Of course you don’t because you don’t even have enough sense to know when you’re beaten.
Silly me, I forgot that in order to have a battle of wits one must have two wits not a wit and a twit.
Goodnight twit!
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Back to the guns and drugs.
The short term solution is for the police to carry out massive raids in troubled neighborhoods.
At least that might slow down the black on black gun violence.
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“And at the end of your life you would come to the same conclusion.”
And what glorious vanity would it be to have you in the harem
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Well what is so wrong when one sees themselves as a Winner? against what others think of them / Isn/t the goal in life to be a winner .then why should one allow others to set the stage .put the agendas in in place and declare who won or who Lose
Girlfriend their is no one under the sun that can or will decided where i should be placed or how i should be categorized( and)for those reason i declare myself a WINNER.
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ELITES PREPARING LAST PHASE OF NEW WORLD ORDER?
‘A secret priesthood of people who have access to supernatural power’
Published: 10 hours ago
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2014/06/lhohmann_avatar.jpg
Who is this mysterious woman?
Popular theories say it’s the Roman Catholic Church. Others point to New York City, seat of the United Nations, Wall Street and all manner of human greed and fleshly lusts. Some say it’s apostate Christianity in general, not just the Catholic Church, or America as a whole, not just New York.
Still others point to Mecca and Saudi Arabia’s royal family, which lives in opulence and owns everything from diamond-studded cars, a harem of sex slaves and more than a few Washington politicians.
Whatever it is, this mysterious Babylonian spirit reigns supreme during the very last days, and if the amount of space devoted to it in the Bible is any indication of its importance, then it might behoove the faithful to dig deep into the bowels of Revelation 17-19, Isaiah 13-14 and Jeremiah 50 in search of clues.
Solving this mystery could hold the key to understanding the spiritual battle raging right now in the earth, say the authors of a new book, “The Babylon Code: Solving the Bible’s Greatest End Times Mystery.”
i
To understand what is happening now regarding the “Babylonian spirit” you have to go back to the beginning, says Paul McGuire, co-author of the book with Troy Anderson, who is executive editor of Charisma magazine.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/elites-preparing-last-phase-of-new-world-order/#V6PxuHWAeP9lWy4E.99
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@ Artaxerxes
That bipolar outbreak had to happen sooner or later
On another thread you hinted at what the ole man will call “Positive Behavioral Modification
You said “programs should foster the good practice of disseminating valuable information on important issues …(I only took and excerpt of your sentence)
CBC reporting lies should be lead the charge in this “PBM”
“Socially Responsible” Propaganda when fashioned by men and women of vision (not the Chilrun are is reading well) can make a serious impact on these issues that are besieging and defeating us i.e. the senseless use of guns, drugs, crime, our lack of values
TV as a tool CANNOT SOLVE EVERYTHING but it will go a long way in creating a rudder of sorts trying to build a “conditioned” environment, in and among our errant citizenry
“Accentuate the Positive” does have a place under our Sun.
Let corporate Barbados and dem fellows at Sagicor en ting pull dem pockets to underwrite a nexTV/Radio station which will only focus on upful materials NOTHING ELSE
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Balance,
Trust me, you don’t want me in your harem. I’d organize a rebellion and you’d probably end your life as a eunuch. Then you’d have more reason to cry- “All is vanity!”
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Dear ac,
Hope you enjoyed the fun yesterday. I don’t have time today so have fun without me.
Love,
Donna
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All good !
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Balance,
“Trust me, you don’t want me in your harem. I’d organize a rebellion and you’d probably end your life as a eunuch. Then you’d have more reason to cry- “All is vanity!”
Is that an offer or challenge? Solomon has never been known to back down.
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Balance,
Solomon was not such a wise man.
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ac,
Thanks! When you don’t have a man to fight with you got to find somebody who enjoys a little spat. (That’s me without the man. Not suggesting anything about you.)
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