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We're now on winter time after Sunday's change. PA Images

The clocks went back on Sunday - but plans to stop the biannual time change won't happen next year

EU Transport Ministers have said 2019 is too early.

EU TRANSPORT MINISTERS have said the European Commission’s proposal to abolish daylight savings time in 2019 was not realistic and that disagreements remained over how to implement the idea.

Ministers highlighted the challenges of implementing the suggestion, which would see an end to the annual ritual of putting clocks forward by one hour in the spring and then back an hour in the autumn.

Under the proposal still being fine tuned, it will be up to each individual member state to decide whether they follow winter time or summer time.

“If we aim to do this in 2019, as the Commission suggested, this will not be supported by the majority of member states”, Austrian Transport Minister Norbert Hofer said at the start of an informal meeting of his EU colleagues in the city of Graz yesterday.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker — whose terms will end next spring — announced the proposal in August.

The plan, seen as an attempt to demonstrate the Commission was able to react to citizens’ concerns, followed an online consultation which generated some 4.6 million responses.

But the proposal could be complicated if neighbouring countries make different choices on whether to stay on summer or winter time permanently.

“We must also be careful that we don’t end up with a patchwork of time zones” across Europe, Hofer said.

Hofer said that Austria had suggested 2021 as a start date for the change, which had met with “broad agreement”.

EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc said she hoped member states could reach a common position before a formal transport ministers’ meeting scheduled for early December.

‘More debate needed’

Hofer said that although most member states were agreed on the principle of ending the practice, and that Austria would like to see it done “as soon as possible”, 2019 would be too ambitious.

“In certain areas, technical preparations will be necessary… for example the airline industry tell us they need at least 18 months to prepare,” Hofer said, later explaining that this was due to the possible impact of timezone changes on airline landing slots that had already been negotiated.

He said that computing businesses had also said they would need time to update operating systems.

While several ministers expressed enthusiasm for ending the practice, others sounded a more cautious note.

“We need a thorough public debate about this… we haven’t had that yet so we need more time to get the Danish position on this,” said Denmark’s Transport Minister Ole Birk Olesen.

“There is not much awareness about the fact that it will have costs whatever we choose,” he added.

New Brexit headache?

Hofer said that three countries had expressed skepticism on the principle of the change during the meeting: Poland, Sweden and the UK.

“The British have it easy of course, being on GMT,” Hofer noted with a smile.

Even though the UK is scheduled to leave the EU in March 2019, the UK government’s stated position to keep daylight savings time could lead to yet another Brexit headache along the Irish border.

If Ireland were to follow its EU counterparts, it would lead to a time difference being created across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic during one half of the year.

Proponents of daylight savings time say the longer evening daylight hours in the summer help save energy and bolster productivity.

However, Hofer said that energy savings had been minimal and that the twice-yearly change also has negative health impacts.

© – AFO 2018

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    Mute Bernard Kavanagh
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:06 PM

    Leo Thatcher Varadkar, Taoisech of spin and no substance.

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    Mute Stan
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:25 PM

    FF and FG shouldn’t be wanting to give water refunds to the middle class who happily wanted to pay 3 times for water and make those gobs eat their words. They should invest the 3-5 euro proposed middle class earners cut cuts and water refunds in disabled services Tom Clunun rightfully asking for last night on the Pat Kenny show and his article here on the journal.ie. FF should demand the investment for disabled along with disabled and carers weekly social welfare increases instead of those pointless middle income unnoticed tax cuts to appease FGs greedy & selfish voters.

    55
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    Mute David Murphey
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:35 PM

    @Bernard Kavanagh: you could buy a house for a homeless family for €160K. That would be a much better way to spend the money.

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    Mute Carl Nolan
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:41 PM

    @Bernard Kavanagh:

    “spin and no substance.”

    Someone’s been listening to the FF “spin”.

    10
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    Mute Christy Nolan
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:52 PM

    @Bernard Kavanagh:
    No mention of Leo spending 6,500euro of taxpayers money on a PR photo shoot of himself.

    34
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    Mute Gus Sheridan
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:59 PM

    @Bernard Kavanagh: sadly just another blueshirt talking head, a man of no substance, talking waffle that nobody believes.
    When will we ever have a real leader again, a leader that puts his people first?

    32
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    Mute Graham Gallagher
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:17 PM

    @Bernard Kavanagh: the pink Thatcher

    18
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:05 PM

    Image, not substance.

    93
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:32 PM

    @James Connolly: sensible and practical.

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    Mute Carl Nolan
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:42 PM

    @Fiona deFreyne: It’s funny how quickly people will gobble up the Fianna Fail soundbites. They’re playing you just as much as Leo is.

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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:35 PM

    @Carl Nolan: I have as much contempt for FF as FG. I see them both as indistinguishable. My point is opposition to the politics of spin and presence practiced by both FF and FG , which I see as FGF.

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:44 PM

    @Carl Nolan: They are all at it. SF are masters at it too and if you say anything in a comments section you get slaughtered.

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    Mute Emmet Dillane
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:08 PM

    ‘A democracy is only as strong as the relationship of trust between government and citizens’
    Conclusion:
    Irish democracy is hanging by a thread.

    97
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:28 PM

    @Emmet Dillane: a sceptical, questioning and cynical populace I’d a health bulwark of true democracy.

    There are no real political heroes. Expediency is the guiding motivation of politicians.

    Mistrusting politicians is a health starting point. Exercise critical and interrogative assessment. Take nothing at face value. Watch out for the political scams.

    17
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    Mute Paddy Hayden
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    Sep 21st 2017, 7:18 PM

    @Emmet Dillane: Ireland ranks No7 on the world rankings of democracies , we would probably be about third if the Functioning of government rating was higher .
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index

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    Mute Emmet Dillane
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:05 PM

    The Toryfication of the Republic continues apace. Won’t be long before Senators will be wearing wigs.

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    Mute Seamus Og
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:04 PM

    In other words, how can we fool the public into voting for us again.

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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:33 PM

    @Seamus Og: suck the suckers.

    15
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:16 PM

    The cosmetic Taoiseach.

    60
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    Mute Brinster
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:06 PM

    Of course they’re not happy.

    They’re 8% behind in the polls.

    Whinging about spin when you are propping up a Minority Gov isn’t going to do anything about that though.

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    Mute Paul Fahey
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:14 PM

    @Brinster: agreed, they had their moment, well moments, to pull the plug with the Garda revelations and they bottled it, now they will just have to suck it up. However, I am happy to rate Leo had his FG disciples, and it will be poor.

    39
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    Mute Stan
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:19 PM

    FF have to get social welfare increases for the disabled in the budget. They need to get a proper fair budget and then bring Leo down if they are going to recover in the polls. They need to invest the 300 million tax cuts into disabled services like Tom Clunan rightfully calling for instead of giving middle class earners 3-5 euro a week cut tax. FF need use their power to get investment and increases fir the forgotten vulnerable if they have any chance of not being second fiddle to FG. I no fan of FF but they at least claim to be ever so slightly fairer than FG

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Sep 24th 2017, 2:37 PM

    @Stan: I agree with you that vulnerable people deserve a lot more help than they’re receiving. But they’ll claim anything to get back into well-paid politics. They just won’t keep their election promises. Then they’ll cater to shoddy builders, prop up dangerously incompetent local hospitals, deny everything and order batches of brown envelopes. No, Fianna Fail had decades of chances to improve the lives of Irish people. They failed. I don’t care myself what bandwagon they try to hop on while badmouthing other parties at random. They lost enough votes by not paying attention to what they were doing. This is more of the same bluffing for high stakes.

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    Mute Peter Higgins
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:12 PM

    If Fianna Fail would like to ingratiate themselves with the electorate, they should pull the plug and let the people decide.

    It really is becoming more spin and less substance..

    48
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    Mute john g mcgrath
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:03 PM

    FF will huff puff spin and spoof but government will remain in place !!!

    58
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    Mute PVD
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    Sep 21st 2017, 7:28 PM

    @john g mcgrath: look we have a homeless CRISIS and Leo #FG tender for SPIN . Morally wrong and Financial wrong , can’t believe he is interested in PUBLIC Service

    19
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    Mute Adrian
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:45 PM

    This is a bit of a joke. He creates this big PR unit to try and improve their public image and now its like he’s spending money on analyzing how this PR unit are performing. What’s next, will he spend money on how the people who are assessing the PR unit are performing!

    32
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    Mute Adrian
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:46 PM

    And the answer for leo and the gov is simple, just do yer jobs properly.

    22
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    Mute Paddy Hayden
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:09 PM

    If they give me the money , I’ll send them 200 copies of this comments thread tomorrow .

    29
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    Mute JJ Sharkey
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:24 PM

    Leo seriously go and see where the homeless are sleeping, go visit families in B&B’s, go visit people waiting on trollies in hospitals instead of going for a photo op all the time.

    31
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:16 PM

    Spin and media manipulation are about TweetiePieLie.

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    Mute Chad Rockett
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:15 PM

    Looking at that pic I wonder if Leo suffers from globophobia.

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    Mute eastsmer
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    Sep 21st 2017, 11:29 PM

    @Chad Rockett: Possibly, I would say more likely that he has a touch of Luposlipaphobia

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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:30 PM

    Err on the side of underestimating Irish politicians and you won’t be too disappointed.

    Politicians are a honest as and have as much integrity as Garda breathalyzer testing results.

    23
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    Mute Rita Jordan
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:23 PM

    Maybe he should listen to TV, radio,go out on the street, listen to people’s horror stories, come out of his bubble, live in the real world and stop wasting money to make himself look good, do the job he is being paid to do, make Ireland better than the third world country it has become for a lot of the population.

    24
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:38 PM

    @Rita Jordan: he has an aversion to the ordinary people.

    23
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    Mute Din8rtd
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    Sep 21st 2017, 8:08 PM

    @Rita Jordan:
    He thinks anyone with a euro less than him is a peasant,just cause he came out as being gay he thinks he’s the greatest man in ireland only reason he came out was to try divert people’s attention.

    15
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    Mute Shane Nolan
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:32 PM

    Your image? Government image? All right here is what I think, your government are deluded, you expect a good public image when my generation are screwed on rents, you’ve homeless families,in the thousands. Government talk about in the budget giving extra few euro? You’re adding a sugar tax and sugar is now in nearly everything so goods might go up then this stupid alcohol move on making cheap alcohol more expensive. Taking away a luxury item from those who are responsible. Nothing much been done on car insurance! High rent, high insurance any last luxury taken away but that extra few euro. Not enough investing in housing how long have we been talking about this subject now? The government I say is useless, about as reliable as EIR!

    41
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:31 PM

    Members of the Special Communications Union will help to correct any accurate impressions.

    16
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:25 PM

    “How does this make me look?”

    15
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    Mute Frank Kennedy
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:46 PM

    And Mr homeless person, are you happy with the Government’s communications strategy. Do you think our leader is a nice man.

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    Mute Doh
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:47 PM

    #Leo has the backbone of a jellyfish

    12
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    Mute Brian O Reilly
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:51 PM

    Leo Varadkar is a marvellous person and a warm caring Taoiseach.
    Leo sent me cash only

    8
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    Mute Braonain Proinseas
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    Sep 21st 2017, 9:39 PM

    He has no mandate

    8
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    Mute Eimer Rutledge
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    Sep 21st 2017, 8:53 PM

    I work in primary education and I can assure you that €160 000 would go a very long way in overcrowded and under resourced old schools with ancient toilets, old floors and few supports for all our young children. Eimer

    8
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    Mute Frank Kennedy
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:12 PM

    Will Varadkar be leader when the results of this tender process is revealed?

    7
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:37 PM

    @Frank Kennedy: he is Lord Leo of Castleknock, the purveyor of the reality TV of politics.

    10
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    Mute DaisyChainsaw
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    Sep 21st 2017, 10:19 PM

    Leo surrounded by his lickarses in the Spin Unit:- “Does my ego look big in this?”

    6
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    Mute Rob Dizzle
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    Sep 21st 2017, 6:36 PM

    He could get Versace to design a nice logo Or Liberace to write some music too.
    Ukin country would make you sick..

    9
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    Mute Gus Sheridan
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    Sep 21st 2017, 8:05 PM

    @Rob Dizzle: dint think he will get Liberace.. he is pushing up daisies

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    Mute Irish Bob
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    Sep 22nd 2017, 10:24 AM

    Leo needs his “Joseph Goebbels” too as his is all image and no substance.
    He needs to continue to manipulate the news to hide his failures, which has worked very well for him so far .. How the failed Minister of Trolleys ever got the job of Leader of this country is beyond comprehension .. Oh wait now its not .. its the FG norm to reward failure.
    Leo the transformer .. before FG election ” The banks aren’t getting another cent, Anglo Irish will not be getting another cent of our money” after election ” A bomb will go off in Dublin, unless Bondholder are repaid, it would not be wise to take such a big risk now for so little potential benefit”
    No wonder he needs Propaganda .. if he or any politician even tried a little to carry out their election promises they would not need PR and not need the tax payer to pay for the PR to fool themselves. Roll on the Election and hopefully get this waste of space out.

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    Mute Dave Sherman
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    Sep 21st 2017, 5:07 PM

    Seriously do we give a shit.e what Timmy Dooley says?

    22
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