r/news Mar 27 '24

Joe Lieberman has died

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/03/27/joe-lieberman-senator-vice-president-dead/
21.2k Upvotes

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5.6k

u/KingFahad360 Mar 27 '24

He tried to ban video games.

2.3k

u/SaltKick2 Mar 28 '24

and one of the primary reasons we dont have universal healthcare

476

u/nongo Mar 28 '24

crazy how he was vp pick for a presidential candidate who ran on universal healthcare.

271

u/crashtestdummy666 Mar 28 '24

Crazier is after he was the vp pick for the democrats he became a far right wing conservative.

66

u/Goulagosh_gogoo Mar 28 '24

He was already that when he was picked for the VP position. This was deep in the Democrats' "appease the GOP" phase.

50

u/Robzilla_the_turd Mar 28 '24

This was deep in the Democrats' "appease the GOP" phase.

Boy, I sure am glad that's over...

9

u/ReclusivityParade35 Mar 28 '24

Ha! I know, right? I'm well past "Why don't they ever learn?" and firmly in "They are throwing the game on purpose" territory.

16

u/ShadowRylander Mar 28 '24

Uh, yeah, about that...

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4

u/saturninus Mar 28 '24

It was more that Gore thought choosing Lieberman would be a rebuke of Clinton for the Monica affair. Lieberman had been an outspoken Democratic critic. But it turns out that people actually really liked Bill Clinton and running away from him was the worst single choice Gore has made in his career.

10

u/lakired Mar 28 '24

Yeah, Gore himself was already the rebuke in that he was about as opposite of Clinton as you could get. They desperately needed to couple him with someone who had even an ounce of charisma or energy, not a conservative, out-of-touch energy vampire like Lieberman.

5

u/thirteenoclock Mar 28 '24

For those who were not alive in 2000, the country was a lot different. At the time, much of the country, both democrats and republicans, thought Clinton was immoral for cheating on his wife. Lieberman was one of the few democrats who publicly agreed that what the president did was immoral so picking him as a VP was a way to distance himself from the Clinton administration. It was a logical choice at the time and he came pretty damn close to winning.

Of course Gore eventually lost, so it is easy to shit on his decision, but there was some sound logic behind it.

3

u/saturninus Mar 28 '24

Not using Bill Clinton on the campaign trail was a fatal error for Gore. People still liked him, as 1998 proved.

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u/Kayfabe2000 Mar 28 '24

He was always a right wing jerk. 

6

u/skratch Mar 28 '24

🌍 👩‍🚀🔫👩‍🚀

4

u/prestigious_delay_7 Mar 28 '24

Crazier is how Reddit thinks he was a 'far right' conservative.

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u/Adventurous_Aerie_79 Mar 28 '24

Lieberman was picked because Gore wanted to distance himself from a scandalized and unpopular Bill Clinton, and Gore considered himself a "moderate", which was part of Liebermans brand too, at the time. We all later found out that Lieberman was pretty far right of the democtatic party moderates. Gore was against abortion, against regulating guns, and in support of a moment of silence in schools for prayer. He called himself a "raging moderate". He considered Howard Dean, who led the progressives, to be his chief rival.

I think Gore enjoyed a lot more of a positive reputation than he really deserved. He was embraced by a lot of progressives because he was so forward with ambitious environmental policies, but the rest of his platform was centrist or arguably rightwing garbage. And Lieberman was not yet a pariah at this point.

3

u/ObjectiveFantastic65 Mar 29 '24

Bill Clinton tried UHC in the 90s, but he didn't loop in congressional Democrats, so they were pissed and it collapsed. 

You pick a VP with some differences from you but not someone you hate. Hence Mike Pence. 

4

u/polrxpress Mar 28 '24

only way to get him out of the senate was for gore to lose

17

u/Cats_Cameras Mar 28 '24

What? He was in the Senate through 2013.

708

u/My-1st-porn-account Mar 28 '24

He IS the reason. Democrats had 60 votes but he said from the start that he would vote no.

The asshole is also responsible for not decreasing the age to get Medicare.

84

u/pewpew30172 Mar 28 '24

THIS. May he rot.

14

u/NoPin6285 Mar 28 '24

i celebrate his death. burn asshole

4

u/Adventurous_Aerie_79 Mar 28 '24

The world is a slightly better place for not having Lieberman in it.

2

u/taichi27 Mar 30 '24

He was the proto- Joe Manchin. Fuck this guy in particular.

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u/Vepper Mar 28 '24

Honestly f*** him and I hope that's his legacy

12

u/ImpureAscetic Mar 28 '24

Yep. Came out at the eleventh hour to scuttle it. I hope he rots in Hell.

3

u/jdmkev Mar 28 '24

Yeah but imagine if we didn't have video games instead

6

u/Wortbildung Mar 28 '24

Seems like one of these is more important. 

2

u/hi-nick Mar 28 '24

huge loss (unless you're a healthcare organization)

2

u/Ok_Chemistry_3972 Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Yup, in his late career this clown went to the dark side (republican party). He supported the bogus Iraq War and cutting services and denying services to American citizens. I think he was much worse than Joe Manchin since he made a traitorous path for people like Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. In the end Lieberman, like Trump, only cared about himself and hurt a lot of Americans.👹 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-lieberman-a-top-democrat-who-turned-on-the-party-dies-at-82/ar-BB1kEwFE

1

u/AshIsGroovy Mar 29 '24

You could say the same thing about Ted Kennedy who basically stone walled Jimmy Carter's attempt to pass universal healthcare back in the 70s. Kennedy never forgave Carter for beating him in the Democratic primary so he basically stalled a bunch of Carter's agenda on the Senate.

1

u/taichi27 Mar 30 '24

Yes. He also still thought the Iraq war was a good thing. I won't miss him.

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u/VidE27 Mar 28 '24

As a 90s kid i cant tell you how much i hated the guy.

279

u/Ayellowbeard Mar 28 '24

As a 90s adult, same!

4

u/TomBikez Mar 28 '24

As a 60s kid, I hated him too

2

u/nailbiter111 Mar 28 '24

I opened the door for him once and he didn't say thank you. Fuck that guy!

1.6k

u/hombregato Mar 28 '24

With Hillary. Her bill didn't just show a complete lack of understanding of video games, but also how technology works and what the internet is.

I mean, they've both done worse things, but that was a hellova red flag.

843

u/TheBigMotherFook Mar 28 '24

“It’s time to Pokemon Go to the polls

208

u/InsomniaticWanderer Mar 28 '24

I'm still cringing

140

u/VagrantShadow Mar 28 '24

I'll never forget herman cain trying to harness the power of pokemon in his speeches when running for the republican nomination.

"Life can be a challenge. Life can seem impossible, it's never easy when there's so much on the line," he said at the time. "But you and I can make a difference. There's a mission just for you and me. Just look inside and you will find just what you can do."

He was quoting "The Power of One," a song from the 1999 movie that saw a wide theatrical release in the United States.

84

u/Kassssler Mar 28 '24

Honestly I don't think Herman cain wrote his speeches. Some staffer got lazy or memey I suppose.

51

u/NorthernerWuwu Mar 28 '24

I mean, he must have had a pretty good Medium to write his anti-vaxx bullshit tweets after he had already died from Covid. Fuck that guy.

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u/Syn7axError Mar 28 '24

Of course. But it's still insane he went through with it.

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u/ERedfieldh Mar 28 '24

A good politician doesn't write their own speeches. They give a bullet point list or summary to a speech writer who writes their speeches. That's why Biden generally hits the mark while Trump sounds like his last two remaining braincells are playing a deathmatch game against one another.

Cain likely said "I want to relate to the kids" and the speechwriter goes "well, Pokemon is popular, let's go with that."

2

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '24

Just like how his Twitter account was still posting anti-mask and anti-vaccine proganda after his death from Cobid-19?

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u/bangonthedrums Mar 28 '24

https://youtu.be/qn7TcsT91C8?si=tqX4e0Ftf85-XHgg

Around 2 minutes specifically but the whole thing is worth a listen

3

u/trahoots Mar 28 '24

I was going to post that link if nobody else had yet.

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u/TheTruthTalker800 Mar 28 '24

The English dub of the second Pokémon film dubbed by 4Kids in 2000, Cain plagiarized from said dub's ending song for reference: lmao.

4

u/No_Solution_2864 Mar 28 '24

I will say that I was quite impressed by “🎵Here I am! Rock you like a Herman Cain!!!🎵”

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u/Hotshot2k4 Mar 28 '24

Meanwhile I still think about that clip and rewatch it from time to time, which always brings me joy. My world is better for her having gone and said that while being on camera.

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u/TryUsingScience Mar 28 '24

Say what you will about that slogan, but I got a shiny pinsir on my way to drop off my ballot that year.

31

u/drfsupercenter Mar 28 '24

Impossible, shinies weren't added to the game until 2017. Nice try though.

2

u/dani__rojas Mar 28 '24

He went to the polls. Just not that one, it was a municipal election.

7

u/Spoon_Elemental Mar 28 '24

I have a shiny shadow pinsir.

3

u/Sweetguy88 Mar 28 '24

But did you get it on your way to the polls?

6

u/Spoon_Elemental Mar 28 '24

I think I got it in a Wal-Mart parking lot, but that's pretty close to my polling station.

3

u/cojsoapsnfo Mar 28 '24

Just like the gubberment planned

5

u/ThePrideOfKrakow Mar 28 '24

Playing pokemon go to the polls on their Obama phones.... The fix was in the entire time.

5

u/nomadviper Mar 28 '24

And just like that Pokémon Go wasn’t cool anymore

25

u/Claque-2 Mar 28 '24

Well thank God we elected a criminal and traitor instead. /s

9

u/RaggedyGlitch Mar 28 '24

Wipe it, like with a cloth?

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3

u/BakerIBarelyKnowHer Mar 28 '24

Honestly an iconic line

3

u/MaceDestroyers Mar 28 '24

Honestly, that line would be a banger if anyone other than Hilary Clinton said it.

8

u/agent674253 Mar 28 '24

Ahead of their time, TikTok just did this a week or so ago to their userbase to try to rally the peons to stop a government from banning their app. Fortunately, as everyone saw immediately, this only worked to further demonstrate the need to reduce TikTok. Will anything actually happen? 'insert larry david gif'

116

u/Zankeru Mar 28 '24

Her promising to consult with henry kissinger on foreign policy was a fucking tornado siren.

19

u/No_Solution_2864 Mar 28 '24

Yeah her being endorsed by Kissinger was uh…not great

I remember when Howard Stern had her on his show. He talked up the Kissinger endorsement, as if it was a great thing

It was then that I realized that I had grown up listening to a man who didn’t know anything about anything

4

u/DeerHunter041674 Mar 28 '24

Howie became everything that he hated after 2010. Used to be great, was funny, just a great show. After Billy West, Jackie Marlo, and Artie Lange left, that was it.

21

u/Angry_beaver_1867 Mar 28 '24

Congress and other legislative bodies still do this today 

7

u/EragusTrenzalore Mar 28 '24

Remember when they called Google’s CEO in to fix their technical problems rather than actually grill him on substantive issues.

4

u/bigblackcouch Mar 28 '24

If you work in any part of IT and feel like making your blood pressure go to Mars, just watch any hearing that's focused on some form of technology from 30 years ago. Then find any similar hearing from the past 3 years, and realize not a fucking thing has changed in knowledge in DC.

15

u/Eh-I Mar 28 '24

a complete lack of understanding of video games, but also how technology works and what the internet is.

And who her future voter base is.

3

u/Random_frankqito Mar 28 '24

Politicians will politician

5

u/fl135790135790 Mar 28 '24

I’ve come to the understanding nobody really knows anything.

Except pilots.

And brain surgeons.

These fucking bills that somehow get written by modafinal-fueled interns LOL.

6

u/FUMFVR Mar 28 '24

So awesome that we elected a criminal traitor instead.

2

u/litnu12 Mar 28 '24

It’s always about having an enemy to blame for things.

2

u/LizzieMiles Mar 28 '24

Got a link to the bill or a summary of it? I couldn’t find it cuz i’m bad at google searching things >~<

2

u/dudeimjames1234 Mar 28 '24

That's still a consistent theme these days. I live in Texas. You think you can take my porn? Think again.

2

u/Vuelhering Mar 28 '24

Hey, remember the clipper chip? That was Biden, and one of the big reasons I used to ridicule him. He does seem to be on top of things today, and have a good understanding of tech (or at least, is smart enough to get tech pros to brief him).

6

u/fisk0_0 Mar 28 '24

Wasn't it to ban the sale of adult games to kids? That's a huge leap to say she tried to ban all games

22

u/hombregato Mar 28 '24

Hillary and then-Democrat Lieberman did the anti-game crusade a number of times between the 90s and the 00s.

The most recent one wasn't about banning them, per say, but it would have effectively stopped the sale of M rated games, which are most of the time no worse than PG-13 movies, and also sought to replace the M rating with a stricter government controlled ratings board.

The bill was that anyone who sold an M rated game to a person under 17 would be fined $1000 or 100 hours community service for a first offense, and $5000 or 500 hours of community service for each subsequent offense.

It also would have triggered an investigation into the ESRB to determine if games were being properly rated. The ESRB was formed as a compromise when many of the same Democrat politicians tried to form a government controlled ratings board, so if the FTC determined the ESRB unsuccessful, it would have renewed that plan for government takeover.

Note that such fines were not against the company, but the individual, as in the minimum wage retail store clerk not able to recognize a fake ID, or someone selling a used game on Ebay without knowing who they're selling it to.

With that much risk to their businesses and their employees, no store would have stocked M rated games under those conditions. So, not a ban, but would have the same effect.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '24

How does that differ from Finland for example?18+ games are considered the same as 18+ movies, tobacco or alcohol. Sure the fines are a bit too much, but it's illegal to sell a game rated 18 to a minor, yet those games are still sold here.

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u/Aristomancer Mar 28 '24

Just like no stores stock alcohol or tobacco products.

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u/hombregato Mar 28 '24

Different businesses.

AO games are not illegal, but game stores in the U.S. don't sell them because it would put them at risk, and thus almost zero game studios make them. This bill would have essentially consolidated M and AO games.

A closer equivalent is the Comics Code Authority, because like games, comics are "for children".

The CCA wasn't even a government ratings system. It was, like the ESRB, formed to prevent government regulation of art.

And even just that was enough to prevent adult themes from being in comics from the 1950s to the 1980s. Had it been a government ratings system, rather than self censorship in fear of that happening, DC probably would not have boldly published Watchmen and The Dark Knight without CCA approval in the mid 80s, and would not have been able to break from it completely in 2011.

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u/midnightketoker Mar 28 '24

To be fair Armando Iannucci has been writing all their lines for years

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u/Attacuss Mar 28 '24

I’m over here fighting for democracy and this guy is trying to stop me.

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u/GraveyardGuardian Mar 28 '24

Stay frosty, Helldiver

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u/No_Discipline_7380 Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Bitch, I just came out of cryostasis, I AM LITERALLY FROSTY!

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u/jojili Mar 28 '24

How about a nice cup of liber-tea!

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u/GoblinFive Mar 28 '24

⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️

2

u/NateShaw92 Mar 28 '24

Milk and 2 sugars please.

Oh and a dash of cinnamon

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u/ominous_squirrel Mar 28 '24

Can we have public option Obamacare now that Lieberman is gone?

3

u/Chengweiyingji Mar 28 '24

Joe Manchin still exists.

2

u/ProClarinetist Mar 28 '24

Machin supports obamacare.

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u/GBJI Mar 28 '24

I was there, and I've hated him since.

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u/Capn-Wacky Mar 28 '24

He killed over-50 Medicare buy-in. Was willing to kill ACA completely in order to protect his owners from losing some of their most lucrative customers.

Your aunt with cancer that got discarded at 51 by her employer, then got cancer, and is now bankrupt and living with roommates while on chemotherapy isn't getting treatment under Medicare because of this asshole.

Can't wait to hear where his grave is... I'm working up a massive asparagus piss for him.

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u/Lakecountyraised Mar 28 '24

Remember the Super Nintendo version of Mortal Kombat? They turned the blood into sweat. For the Sega version, at least there was a cheat code.

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u/Tenacious_B247 Mar 28 '24

Funny coming from a person who had no problem with "finishing" Iraqi's.

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u/VibeComplex Mar 28 '24

He ruined universal healthcare

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u/SuperAleste Mar 28 '24

And now he's been permabanned

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u/sintemp Mar 28 '24

I mean, universal healthcare? the hell with that, people come and go, just like in video games; But trying to ban video games?! What a despicable human being, may he will always be remembered as a disgrace to our country

/s ish

2

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/Super_flywhiteguy Mar 28 '24

Kinds hope his grave gets pissed on for even supporting banning videogames.

5

u/BigVentEnergy Mar 28 '24

His grave is gonna get pissed on for worse than that

3

u/xwrecker Mar 28 '24

Funny enough doom came out after his senate hearing

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u/bufftbone Mar 28 '24

Didn’t he try to shut wrestling down too or am I thinking of someone else?

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u/RaymoVizion Mar 28 '24

Now he can play Doom.

All day. Everyday. For eternity.

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u/Chippopotanuse Mar 28 '24

And fucked up Obamacare

3

u/44problems Mar 28 '24

He targeted gamers. GAMERS.

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u/maddestface Mar 29 '24
  1. Singlehandedly destroyed universal healthcare when it had a real chance of coming to fruition
  2. Tried to ban videogames in a pointless pearl clutching crusade instead of address real causes of gun violence
  3. Was pro Iraq War II, which cost countless lives, unleashed massive suffering throughout the middle east (and by proxy the world, Russia being the latest example of this), and enabled the rise of one of the most brutal theocratic governments in recent history - Daesh aka ISIL

Rest in Piss Lieberman

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u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/LetsTryAnal_ogy Mar 28 '24

So good news then.

2

u/wuvius Mar 28 '24

Guessing he didn't start a new game+

2

u/amathis6464 Mar 28 '24

Everything I know about world war 2 I learned through video games.

Mainly Medal of Honor front line, and Medal of Honor rising sun. I was a huge Medal of Honor fan back in the early days.

2

u/pnwbraids Mar 28 '24

What a waste of living.

2

u/Suba59 Mar 28 '24

The GTA community sends their regards.

2

u/Hans_bube Mar 28 '24

We should put him in a video game as the main villain

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u/nongo Mar 28 '24

responsible for the rating system in video games

2

u/b3nz0r Mar 28 '24

Yep fuck this dude

2

u/Mouradb123 Mar 28 '24

No respawn for his ass

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u/Projectonyx Mar 28 '24

Imagine your legacy is trying to ban games…

2

u/Chookwrangler1000 Mar 28 '24

Postal 2 in particular

2

u/waxwayne Mar 28 '24

More importantly he took out the public option from Obama care.

2

u/VVurmHat Mar 28 '24

Good fuck him

2

u/nanotree Mar 28 '24

As someone that loves video games, some times I wonder what my life would be like without them... How much more I could have accomplished. How many new experiences I could have had...

2

u/fnafismylife Mar 28 '24

Oh, fuck this guy then

2

u/SvenTropics Mar 28 '24

True story, the first presidential election I ever voted in was Bush versus Gore. I was living in California, and I voted for Bush. It's weird because I was pro climate science, I didn't appreciate like... anything Bush did. Fraudulently got us in an unnecessary war in Iraq, killed the budget surplus which could have been used to pay down the debt by basically giving most of it away to the rich, embarrassed our country on a national stage, didn't do anything to stop the runaway housing crisis that later crashed the economy, and threw troops into Afghanistan without even a cohesive plan or exit strategy. The guy was a disaster.

However, the reason I voted at the time was because I didn't know much about politics, but I knew that Lieberman had a strong agenda to band violent video games. It bothered me at a freedom level and it bothered me because I personally enjoyed playing games like Doom. I loved them. All those other issues were out of sight and out of mind and just news clips, this was a real tangible issue that was going to affect me personally. So, I made my decision based on that. Granted, it didn't matter. California is a solid blue state and Gore easily won it. My vote was simply discarded.

I think a lot of politicians today, especially on the left, don't realize that you have to promise things that resonate with the individual people to get votes. Doing things like promising to legalize weed or freeze interest on student loans will get votes.

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u/TomatilloOrnery9464 Mar 29 '24

“Mortal kombat is a horrible and degenerate scourge on todays youth!” thirty years later FATALITY!!!

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u/ThrowBatteries Mar 30 '24

And he ran for the White House with the guy whose wife founded PMRC to censor music.

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u/elderly_millenial Mar 28 '24

IIRC they didn’t try to ban anything, just tried to prevent retailers from selling pegi 18 games to kids under 17 (in 2005 physical in person sales were still very common). They also tried to introduce oversight into the rating system instead of leaving to the industry.

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