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Bomb disposal experts showcasing the hefty British bomb afterwards Boris Roessler DPA/PA Images

People in evacuation zone well past deadline as WWII bomb finally defused in Frankfurt

The 1.8-tonne British bomb had the ability to wipe out whole streets and flatten buildings.

AT LEAST 60,000 Frankfurt residents were forced to leave their homes yesterday, in Germany’s biggest post-war evacuation, to allow bomb disposal experts to defuse a huge unexploded World War II bomb dubbed the “blockbuster”.

The 1.8-tonne British bomb, which German media said was nicknamed “Wohnblockknacker” – or blockbuster – for its ability to wipe out whole streets and flatten buildings, was discovered during building works last Tuesday.

The operation in central Frankfurt to get residents to safety was the biggest evacuation of its kind in post-war Germany, the city’s security chief Markus Frank said.

After hours of delay as police struggled to get the area cleared, bomb disposal experts finally managed to disarm the explosive in the evening.

Police then began lifting the evacuation order progressively, giving priority for patients in two hospitals within the affected district to be brought back to their wards.

Close to the city centre, the bomb was discovered in the Westend district, home to many of Frankfurt’s top bankers, including European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi – who is known to spend his weekends away from the city.

War memories

The massive operation began at dawn, as homes and buildings within a 1.5-kilometre radius of the site were ordered cleared by 7am Irish time.

But some people were still in the evacuation zone well past the deadline as police carried out door-to-door checks.

WWII bomb disposal in Frankfurt am Main A family leaving the restricted zone yesterday Frank Rumpenhorst DPA / PA Images Frank Rumpenhorst DPA / PA Images / PA Images

At one building where officers were ringing doorbells and using loudspeakers to announce the evacuation, a man and a woman emerged, saying they were unaware they were in the affected district.

At midday, emergency services were still unable to give the all-clear for bomb disposal units to move in.

After a delay of at least two hours, experts were finally able to start disarming the bomb, an HC 4000, a high-capacity explosive used in air raids by Britain’s Royal Air Force during World War II.

Some elderly residents affected by the evacuation recalled poignant memories of the war.

“I was here in Frankfurt’s Westend during the war. I heard the bombs falling when I was in the basement, and I helped to extinguish the fires. So I knew how it feels and for me it’s not a new experience,” said Doris Scheidt, 91.

Another resident, Eva Jarchow, said the evacuation “reminds me of our flight from Berlin when the bombs were still falling during the war. Here, at least, it’s calm and sunny.”

Giesela Gulich, meanwhile, had a “queasy feeling about it (as) the bomb stayed in the soil for so long, but now, when it’s being moved, you don’t know what can happen”.

City officials had readied halls as temporary lodgings, while museums were offering free entry.

Others had packed their bags and were ready to head out for a full day.

David Hoffmann, 29, who works at a bank, was loading up luggage in his car.

“I have the essentials with me – the most important documents,” he said, though he complained that he had not received any leaflets about the evacuation.

Unexploded WWII bombs

More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are regularly found buried in Germany, legacies of the intense bombing campaigns by the Allied forces against Nazi Germany.

On Saturday, 21,000 people had to be evacuated from the western city of Koblenz as bomb disposal experts defused an unexploded American World War II shell.

In May, 50,000 residents were forced to leave their homes in the northern city of Hanover for an operation to defuse several WWII-era bombs.

And one of the biggest such evacuations took place on Christmas Day 2016, when another unexploded British bomb, containing 1.8-tonnes of explosives, prompted the evacuation of 54,000 people in the southern city of Augsburg.

© AFP 2017

Read: 60,000 people leave homes in Frankfurt so huge WWII bomb can be defused

Read: 70,000 people to be evacuated from their homes in Frankfurt after discovery of WWII bomb

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    Mute Mrs M
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:40 AM

    I’m most interested in Georgia , fingers crossed for Stacey Abrams hope she’s the next governor there .

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    Mute Garry Coll
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    Nov 6th 2018, 11:16 AM
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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Nov 6th 2018, 11:41 AM

    @Garry Coll: “her militia” ? When did she found it ?

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 3:20 PM

    @Garry Coll: militia? Would you call white people that are breaking no laws whilr carrying an election ooster the same name? Funny thing is Abrams wants more gun control and they know it. They might as well grab a sec9nd sogn that says ‘This should be illegal, but its not’

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 3:31 PM

    @Dave O Keeffe: new phine, apologies for being stupid.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 3:31 PM

    @Dave O Keeffe: phone obviously

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    Mute Dáithí O Raghailaigh
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:38 AM

    Oh yeah! want to see the orange baby get a kick in his jingle bells

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    Mute Lad
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:38 AM

    @Dáithí O Raghailaigh: “Yes to a certain extent” so that’s a no then..

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    Mute Dot Com
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:39 AM

    Don’t forget when Trump talks about foreigners coming to America to steal their jobs he means us, we’re foreigners too.

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    Mute Peter Kiernan
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    Nov 6th 2018, 11:11 AM

    @Dot Com: well we are.

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    Mute Fifty Shades of Sé
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    Nov 6th 2018, 11:12 AM

    @Dáithí O Raghailaigh: If Stormy Daniels is telling the truth, he won’t be able to feel much pain in that area…

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    Mute Rose Margaret
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    Nov 6th 2018, 11:43 AM

    @Dot Com: He seems to forget that, at some stage, his family were also foreigners as is his wife.

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Nov 6th 2018, 12:18 PM

    @Rose Margaret: Correct. They were foreigners. But they were foreigners migrated legally to the US .

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    Mute Rose Margaret
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    Nov 6th 2018, 12:38 PM

    @Tommy Roche: According to the Washington Post he dose not seem to see any difference on legal or illegal immigrants.
    How Trump is changing the face of legal immigration
    By Abigail Hauslohner, Andrew Ba Tran
    July 2, 2018 at 7:53 PM

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    Mute Damien Hawe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 1:49 PM

    @Tommy Roche: Like the migrants who legally apply for asylum by following the legal procedure?

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Nov 6th 2018, 1:55 PM

    @Damien Hawe: Yup..and a few lucky people can become citizens by getting the ‘Einstein Visa’..hmmmm..is there anyone in Trumps family that has benefited by that visa.Or by the chain migration one..?

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 3:23 PM

    @Tommy Roche: you know that caravan he keeps banging on about? Not illegal. His rhetoric may change that though, if he continues to tell people that legal entry will be met woth military opposition then perhaps they’ll condmsider illegal entry on his advice

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:45 PM

    @Rose Margaret: Ah, sure if the WP print something then it must be true. Ok.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:34 PM

    @Tommy Roche: Well meeting people attempting legal migration with the military would suggest that they’re right this time.

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    Mute Melanie Dillon McManus
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    Nov 7th 2018, 6:07 AM

    @Rose Margaret: ridiculous comment !!! If that’s the case, we’re screwed, housing crisis is gonna hit the already, blown roof !!!

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    Mute Trevor Hayden
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:44 AM

    No, nothing to do with us.
    America has made their choice, life goes on.
    Although it is good to see a shake up in electoral terms, it’s only a pity Ireland couldn’t follow suit.

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    Mute DaisyMay
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:14 AM

    @Trevor Hayden: his policy flip flops are resonating across the world.

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    Mute Trevor Hayden
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:17 AM

    @DaisyMay: And how will the Irish electorate be able to influence the mid terms?

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    Mute Dave Thomas
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:19 AM

    @Trevor Hayden: they won’t..but it doesn’t mean we can’t pay a little attention to them.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 3:24 PM

    @Dave Thomas: he knows, hes on every article. Hes just playing dumb, at least i think hes playing

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    Mute Trevor Hayden
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    Nov 6th 2018, 6:28 PM

    @Dave O Keeffe: How is it dumb to state “We have no control over the American electorate?”

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    Mute Diarmuid Hunt
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:48 PM

    @Trevor Hayden: Playing dumb and being dumb are two different things but maybe you are just playing dumb again? Keep at it and you might convince us of the other option.

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    Mute
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:18 PM

    @Trevor Hayden: what shake up Center Right or more Center Right not much of a choice to be honest

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    Mute Jurgen Remak
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:49 AM

    Trump will claim it as his victory if the Republicans do well. Of course if they do badly it will be someone else’s fault.
    Take back the house!

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    Mute JJ O Riordan
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    Nov 6th 2018, 1:58 PM

    @Jurgen Remak: he’ll blame the caravan. Like Peter Casey.

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    Mute Justin Gillespie
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:37 AM

    Wouldn’t miss it for the world, popcorn & beer in stock & TV on Fox News all night.

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    Mute Dáithí O Raghailaigh
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:39 AM

    @Justin Gillespie: would you not rather watch in on a News station?

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    Mute Trevor Hayden
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:45 AM

    @Justin Gillespie: Nascar & WWE with the deliverance soundtrack in the background.

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    Mute Annie Citric
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    Nov 6th 2018, 4:29 PM

    @Dáithí O Raghailaigh: Omg. Thank you for that comment. It made my week.

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    Mute Melanie Dillon McManus
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    Nov 7th 2018, 6:04 AM

    @Justin Gillespie: Yaasssss

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    Mute A Sharks Tempo
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:36 AM

    Good Luck Hillary!

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    Mute Trevor Hayden
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:03 AM

    @A Sharks Tempo: Ohh how boring.

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    Mute Nial D
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:17 AM

    @A Sharks Tempo: what a cockswab

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    Mute The Quare Fella
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:41 AM

    @A Sharks Tempo: Yeah , I bet the people of Libya are wishing her that. As are Wall Street, the group she assured that “I have one view for the public but a private position for you” , when it comes to Wall Street reform.

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    Mute Damien Hawe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 1:50 PM

    @The Quare Fella: Did Trump not give a lot of Goldman Sachs people positions?

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 3:26 PM

    @The Quare Fella: lol, you got that quote wrong by the way. It was about have a public face and a provate face, not view. Everybody has a public and private face. Especially politicians.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 3:30 PM

    @The Quare Fella: sorry, my bad, you just invented the quote based on a hint of something she once said. She said you need a public and private stance on issues. Which when you consider that politicians represent constituents rather than themselves makes perfect sense.

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    Mute Damocles
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:57 AM

    Because of Trump we’re all supposed to show an interest.

    But I think that if he was going to bring about a nuclear war he would have done it by now.

    So US politics is back to being a sideshow.

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    Mute Fred Coloe
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:35 AM

    A win for Republicans could see Trump become even more “aggressive” in behavior right and act. But a loss might lead to greater petulance from Trump. Neither is good.

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    Mute Baron Adams TD
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:42 AM

    Absolutely. Won’t change a thing and I’ll get angrier as the night goes on but why not!

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    Mute Johnny Mason
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:56 AM

    What could more exciting than following the Brexit ?

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    Mute Brian Dunne
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:53 AM

    Will keep an eye on it. Hard to avoid really

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    Mute Pixie McMullen
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:42 AM

    Think i`d rather shite in my own hand and clap…

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    Mute Dáithí O Raghailaigh
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:43 AM

    @Pixie McMullen: would you not like to do something Different Tonight?

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    Mute Pixie McMullen
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:47 AM

    @Dáithí O Raghailaigh: Yeah, I`d like to shite into your hand and see you clap , you up for it?

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    Mute Joe Phillips
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:06 AM

    I kinda wanna see this too

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    Mute Dáithí O Raghailaigh
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:22 AM

    @Pixie McMullen: No… but if you make an offer like that to Trump , you have a friend for life..

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    Mute Pixie McMullen
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    Nov 6th 2018, 10:45 AM

    @Dáithí O Raghailaigh: No thanks, who wants you as a friend for life??

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    Mute Stevie Doran
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    Nov 6th 2018, 1:12 PM

    I’ve had enough of Trump and want him impeached. Novelty Factor over.

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    Mute Markonline
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    Nov 6th 2018, 9:52 AM

    Where does my vote go in these polls when I dont choose an option but still press the vote button to see the results?

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    Mute Nigel Mcatamney
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    Nov 6th 2018, 2:56 PM

    @Markonline: the cost of curiosity….

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    Mute Michael Smith
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    Nov 6th 2018, 2:10 PM

    Looking forward to a blue wave.. #FakeNews. MAGA 2020.

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    Mute Kieran Mccarthy
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    Nov 6th 2018, 4:42 PM

    My money is on the Democrats to win back both houses from the Russians!

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    Mute Melanie Dillon McManus
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    Nov 7th 2018, 6:11 AM

    Don’t shoot me but ……. am I the only one who doesn’t hate him ?!?

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    Mute Melanie Dillon McManus
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    Nov 7th 2018, 6:10 AM

    Don’t shoot me but …… am I the only one who doesn’t hate him ?!? X

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    Mute Patrick McGarry
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    Nov 6th 2018, 1:12 PM

    Tester in Montana

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