If transactions cease to reflect principles of fair exchange, then all transactions become a coercive, sick joke.

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"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating, " the statement continued.

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The idea that vandalism might be on the wane - that the authorities have somehow got it under control - will sound like a sick joke to those that have to live with it every day.

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In a statement, Te'o said he had been the victim of a "sick joke", but he did not say whether he had ever met Kekua in person, nor did he correct media reports that he had met her.

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Yet current casting is not so monolithic, and it varies from cable to network, from sick-joke satire to earnest heart-tugger.

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There is a grim joke that circulates among medical residents: Hospitals are terrible places for sick people.

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