I’m leaving Twitter on Monday. Monday, the day all of Elon Musk’s evil plans click fully into place at noon? That seems to be a good idea. I’ve already deleted it from all my mobile devices. I can still access it through a web browser, but there’ll be another level of inconvenience that will discourage me from doing so (as though the content, which is truly like a sewer nowadays, doesn’t already).
But the other day I stumbled upon a tweet by a Detroit media personality who is currently grubbing the bottom of the barrel of his career, trying to rebrand as a conservative. And this individual made a point of excoriating our newbie senator, Elissa Slotkin, for her questioning of Pete Hegseth this week, on the subject of whether, as Secretary of Defense, he’d obey an order from Donald Trump to send in federal troops to quell domestic unrest, or anything else he feels like tamping down with jackboots.
She’s so dumb she doesn’t even know about 1967!, etc. Hard to imagine that a military veteran and CIA analyst, as Slotkin was in an earlier chapter in her life, wouldn’t know that indeed, the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions, about 5,000 troops, were sent into Detroit during the civil unrest. I mean, I know that, and I’m not even a native.
But he leaves out the most important detail: That federal troops came to Detroit at the explicit and official request of the mayor and governor, after local police and National Guard troops were unable to quell the violence after (I believe) three nights of it. I talked to a friend who knows more about this than just about anyone, and he said it was quite a dramatic moment; President Johnson requested network television airtime at midnight to announce the action. Flanked by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and Attorney General Ramsey Clark, LBJ laid out the request and his decision to grant it. It’s on YouTube, and you can watch it. Said the president:
I am sure that the American people will realize that I take this action with the greatest regret and only because of the clear, the unmistakable, and the undisputed evidence that Governor Romney of Michigan and the local officials in Detroit have been unable to bring the situation under control. Law enforcement is a local matter. It is the responsibility of local officials and the governors of the respective states. The federal government should not intervene except in the most extraordinary circumstances.
Only someone trying to mislead you would ignore that Trump has said he wants to send troops into American cities on his own whim, not at the request of local officials. He has spoken of “the enemy within.” From the AP last fall:
As Trump’s campaign heads into its final stretch against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, he is promising forceful action against immigrants who do not have permanent legal status. Speaking in Colorado on Friday, the Republican described the city of Aurora as a “war zone” controlled by Venezuelan gangs, even though authorities say that was a single block of the Denver suburb, and the area is safe again.
“I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump said at the rally. “We will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them out of our country.”
This is, of course, what Slotkin was trying to get Hegseth to talk about. What will he, and Trump, do when Fox News gins up another “crisis?” My friend said he thinks we’ll find out sooner rather than later. I’m afraid I agree. And he won’t do it with the greatest regret, as LBJ did. Get ready, Springfield.
Meanwhile, every MAGA idiot is rolling at the incoming president’s feet like puppies. This is in Indiana:
One of Indiana’s most influential elected officials wants to take the practice of trying to lure residents from neighboring states a step further by annexing entire counties.
Republican House Speaker Todd Huston’s bill to create an Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission to “embrace neighboring counties that want to join low-tax, low-cost Indiana” is one of the supermajority’s priority bills for the legislative session, meaning it has a good chance of passing.
“Annexing.” Such a benign word. You want to live in “low-tax, low-cost” Indiana? Fine. It’s still a free country. MOVE THERE. Of course, if you lose a hand in an industrial accident, you’ll collect about $4.17, because the insurance industry owns the legislature. If you need help in an emergency, make your way down to your township trustee’s office, get on your knees and beg. Chances are you’ll be sent away with a lecture about self-reliance. Maybe you’ll get a little cash, but prepare to come back in another month and do it again. That’s how Hoosiers do.
OK, then. The end of the week is coming into view, and mine’s been not-great. Let’s hope for a good weekend.
Dorothy said on January 16, 2025 at 8:48 am
I left Twitter on November 6 and have never missed it. My husband tells me things he reads there from time to time but I get very cranky about it, and he’s learning to tread lightly with me about anything he reads there. 99% of the time I don’t need to hear whatever he wants to tell me.
I spend very little time on Facebook these days. When I do it’s usually just to post my NYTimes game stats because a few of my siblings do, too, and we like to compete with each other. I focus on reading about my large extended family and their shenanigans. It’s the best way to see how the great nieces and nephews are growing and I enjoy that part of Facebook very much. IG is my preferred place to hang because I get a lot of quilting inspiration from so many accounts that I follow. Quilting and bag making are the primary ways I spend my time since I retired. Of course I have other interests there but it’s mostly for fun, creative ideas. I’ve amassed a huge trove of recipes on IG too. It’s given us many delicious meals and I’m grateful for how that has expanded my repertoire of meals.
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robert said on January 16, 2025 at 9:34 am
I would love to totally quit Xitter (“x” = “sh”), but Paul Rudnick and a few airlines still aren’t on bluesky
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alex said on January 16, 2025 at 10:04 am
If you need help in an emergency, make your way down to your township trustee’s office, get on your knees and beg.
I thought you were going to say get on your knees and suck dick. Because that’s been known to happen.
I just read this dispiriting piece in today’s NYT about Hungary. Of particular note: The president’s oligarch friends bought up all independent media and then essentially donated it to the party in power to be run by its loyalists. It’s a free link and I’m sharing.
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basset said on January 16, 2025 at 10:35 am
Never subscribed to FB, or X, or IG, or anything else except LinkedIn, and I have never missed em.
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jim h said on January 16, 2025 at 12:05 pm
The annexing bill is being replicated in other states as well. There is one in Iowa with the intent of purchasing seven counties in Minnesota so they can “rejoin” Iowa, where they apparently belong?
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Mark P said on January 16, 2025 at 12:42 pm
I guess these morons never had a civics class. They can’t annex part of another state without the approval of that state and the Congress.
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tajalli said on January 16, 2025 at 2:01 pm
Mark P, who needs a civics class these days when one’s uninformed opinion is proof enough.
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FDChief said on January 16, 2025 at 2:20 pm
The MAGAt fixation on creating these Greater Crackerstans has been a fixture here in Oregon for years.
The reality is that Oregon Republicans were toxic loons thirty years ago, to the point where they survive politically only in the Ungovernable Tribal Regions outside the paved portions of the state. They were MAGAts before MAGA was Cool, and like the rest of the country, Oregonians with a functioning hindbrain haaaaated them. So.
Their “plan” then was to hack off those rural shithole counties and paste them to white Idaho, where God, guns, and crackers are Still Great.
Which, frankly, if I was an Idaho legislator, I’d run in terror when these yokels turned up. Given the derisive tax base and ridiculous infrastructure problems these countries are a boat anchor to the actual productive blue regions here and they’d make Uzbekistan look like the Swiss cantons by comparison without us. We’d be happy to see the back of them except for some nice scenery.
But that’s MAGAtry all over, innit? Stupid ideas loved by stupid people because they get the whiteness and bible-humping and gun-licking and wimmin-hating that is the entirety of their political thinking…
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Sherri said on January 16, 2025 at 2:28 pm
I’ve been thinking about homeowners insurance lately, and the fires in California, and the desire of GOP lawmakers to tie political strings to federal aid…
I’ve been saying we live in an unstable, unsustainable situation, and this is an example. Private insurance was already pulling out of the California market; will any be left after this? The state run insurance doesn’t have the assets to handle a loss of this size. And people from states much smaller populations than LA County*have much more representation in Congress.
*40 of the 50 states have populations smaller than LA County. That’s 80 senators who represent fewer people than live in LA County.
Sure, it’s always been true that there were states smaller in population than counties. But there wasn’t one party determined to regard the opposing party as the enemy within before, and punish them accordingly.
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Dexter Friend said on January 16, 2025 at 3:20 pm
The first day: Trump has promised to wreak havoc on many fronts. This administration is bound to go off the rails of civility very quickly.
Update: I still can’t buy tickets for opening day of The Deep State Museum, formerly The Hoover Building. Maybe this fucking Patel is a blowhard asshole only?
And WHAT THE FUCK is Ramaswamy doing vying to be our Ohio US Senator? Son of a BITCH! OH FUCK NO !! I thought Jon Husted was a lock. goddammitt!
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nancy said on January 16, 2025 at 3:37 pm
Breaking: Trump taps Mel Gibson, Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone as Hollywood ‘special envoys’
I read the sober, WashPost reporting on this and think: This is a flaw in how we cover this administration. To wit:
It is unclear what duties a special ambassador to Hollywood would have in the Trump administration.
Special ambassadors or special envoys are typically appointed to policy issues or a foreign country, not neighborhoods in domestic cities. The emphasis on Hollywood suggests that the role is likely to focus on the entertainment and film industry, but symbolic in nature and unlikely to hold significant authority.
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Jeff Borden said on January 16, 2025 at 3:55 pm
It wouldn’t be surprising if the MAGAts tried to reintroduce the Hays Code, which prohibited Hollywood from ever showing the triumph of bad guys over good. There were also various rules about language and dress codes. Even as they elevate pond scum like Pete Hegseth –thrice married and an adulterer to all three not to mention his drunkeness and the allegations of sexual assault– to positions of great power and authority, the default position of the QOP is prudishness. And looking backward, of course. This is what the MAGA movement is all about. . .going back in time. Christ, if you grew up in the 50s and 60s, this country was all about looking ahead and inventing a new future. Now, we seek a return to a past that only existed on black and white TV shows.
I’m going dark Monday and for the first few days of the shit storm. I’ve been advised to leave my television on a channel like HGTV or Smithsonian, which are regularly swept by the rating services. This may depress Lumpy’s inauguration ratings, which will tie his little undies in a knot. It will be very, very cold in D.C. Perhaps, if we’re lucky, several of the MAGA royalty will get pneumonia.
Meanwhile, I need to buy some Canadian sports gear. When our beloved Cosmo passes on, sooner than later, we hope to travel overseas again. We’ll disguise ourselves as being from the Great White North to avoid the embarrassment of being seen as citizens of the stupidest fucking country on the planet.
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Brandon said on January 16, 2025 at 4:09 pm
Will you be archiving your tweets if you’re leaving Twitter?
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Jeff Gill said on January 16, 2025 at 5:26 pm
Dexter, my condolences: we’ve lost Bob Uecker. (And David Lynch, for all the Twin Peaks fans.)
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Mark P said on January 16, 2025 at 6:24 pm
I hadn’t realized that Tim Cook was giving $1 million for Trump’s inauguration committee. I suppose it’s pragmatic, but it was also pragmatic when German industrialists supported Hitler.
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Deborah said on January 16, 2025 at 6:31 pm
David Lynch has died of emphysema at 78, after a lifetime of smoking, or at least that’s what AI says.
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Heather said on January 16, 2025 at 7:18 pm
David Lynch was my birthday twin. I wasn’t a megafan of his work, but I appreciated his talent and admired his commitment to his weirdness. He seemed to balance it with a groundedness that made him seem very down-to-earth.
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Sherri said on January 16, 2025 at 7:38 pm
Maybe we should just apply Bob Uecker’s iconic movie line from Major League to every Trump delivery.
“Just a bit outside.”
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Andrea said on January 16, 2025 at 9:54 pm
What’s hilarious about the Indiana annexation thing is that those red counties in blue Illinois are all heavily subsidized by the Chicago metropolitan area. If Indiana took them, we’d be better off financially and Indiana would be worse.
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Deborah said on January 16, 2025 at 10:14 pm
Favorite Lynch movies etc: Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, I even liked his version of Dune.
Stars are blazing tonight in Abiquiu.
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Jeff Gill said on January 17, 2025 at 8:00 am
“Harry, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Everyday, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the Men’s store. A catnap in your office chair. Or two cups of good, hot black coffee. Like this.”
https://twinpeaksblog.com/2019/12/17/quotable-peaks-give-yourself-a-present/
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Deborah said on January 17, 2025 at 9:43 am
This is creepy, I think it’ a gift article https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/new-apostolic-reformation-christian-movement-trump/681092/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
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Heather said on January 17, 2025 at 11:45 am
Exactly, Andrea. A lot of Downstaters hate us libruls in Chicago, but guess who pays for their infrastructure and services with our taxes?
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alex said on January 17, 2025 at 12:21 pm
Not only do big blue urban areas provide revenue for the rest of their states but for red states too. Impoverished places like Mississippi would be underwater, and not just figuratively, without federal financial help.
Chicago is facing a financial crisis; cutting loose some ungrateful backwater counties couldn’t hurt.
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Jeff Borden said on January 17, 2025 at 12:24 pm
Damn. They’re moving tRump’s inauguration indoors because of the cold and wind Monday, ruining any chance the orange blob might emulate William Henry Harrison by contracti g pneumonia at the event. Harrison died a later after speaking for two hours in bitter cold. My guess is tRump demanded this lest the wind blow his 16 strands of hair around.
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Jeff Gill said on January 17, 2025 at 12:28 pm
From a guy on Xwitter —
Bob Uecker story:
My cousin is a cop. Near Am Fam, there is a police bar. He was in there one day with my aunt and uncle. The place is packed for lunch with police officers.
Ueck walked in. Took pictures with everyone and had his lunch. Then he left.
After he leaves, the PA announcer said over the loudspeaker: “All of your meals have been paid for.”
Bob paid for everyone’s lunch.
RIP Mr. Baseball.
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Brandon said on January 17, 2025 at 1:03 pm
I knew of Bob Uecker mainly from his role in Mr. Belvedere.
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Dexter Friend said on January 17, 2025 at 1:12 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12QQV3lyYj0
lordy, I loved Twin Peaks so much.
And Uecker, I have known of him since he played MLB.
David Lynch was not for everyone’s taste. For those of us who definitely “got him”, it is a day of mourning in earnest.
I am not sure many of you have watched Billy Bob in Paramount Plus’s “Landman”. He plays a manager of an oil corporation down on the border. Light sex, heavy violence, fun, great acting, beautiful women for sure. Best in class.
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JodiP said on January 17, 2025 at 2:12 pm
I commented on the last post some personally uplifting news:
I have found a beautiful apartment! It’s a lower level duplex, owner occupied in a neighborhood not too far from my current one. The owner is “family” as we gays say, and very nice. Lots of woodwork, huge kitchen and beautiful gardens.
I also recommended Louise Erdrich’s latest book, The Mighty Red.
I leave for Puerto Rico on Tuesday returning on February 1. Meeting up with friends from NYC and we’re all staying in the same guesthouse as we have for years.
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Dexter Friend said on January 17, 2025 at 2:29 pm
On January 20, 1961, the temperature at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration was around 22°F (-6°C).
However, with the windchill, it felt much colder, around 7°F (-14°C).
Trump can’t take it, neither could that enemy of the working class, Ronald Reagan.
JFK killed the hat industry as he stood there and took the oath.
The pussy grabber is a pussy.
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alex said on January 17, 2025 at 3:09 pm
Have fun on your vacay, Jodi! I’ll be thinking of you when I’m chillin’ at home, and boy do I mean chillin’.
The inauguration will be the coldest ever, temperatures notwithstanding. I was shocked the last time when he was so ungracious, even in victory, and turned the event into another meandering soliloquy full of lies and name-calling, and I’m sure this time it will be far worse, only Melania won’t be making faces behind his back and I won’t be tuning in.
Although we’ve gotten a temporary reprieve from the weather, I bought fixings for a nice beef vegetable soup and I’m about to peel some veggies, brown the meat and let it simmer all afternoon.
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Sherri said on January 17, 2025 at 4:10 pm
Reading the Atlantic article Deborah linked to makes me want to learn how we got from a religion based on following Jesus to the Crusades.
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Deborah said on January 17, 2025 at 4:10 pm
Jodi, good news! Sounds great. Enjoy your vacation.
I find it ironic that these “masculine, he-men” can’t take a little cold. Babies. You’d think as Marjorie Taylor Green says the incoming government can control the weather, they could do something about DC’s temps on Monday. Can you just hear the wailing that would have happened if Biden had moved his inauguration inside in 2021?
It’s going to get cold in northern NM Monday and Tuesday, but it’s been colder. It’s only because of overly warm weather we’ve been having that we all aren’t acclimated.
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Jerrie in Mid-MD said on January 17, 2025 at 4:34 pm
Yes, it will be frigid here in the DMV on Monday but it’s clear that Trump doesn’t want to risk another skimpy crowd photo. It’s easier to fill the Capital One Arena than the Mall.
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Jakash said on January 17, 2025 at 4:48 pm
“JFK killed the hat industry as he stood there and took the oath.”
Sorry to take issue with that, Dexter, but ’tis the season for inauguration trivia! At any rate, Neil Steinberg went to the trouble of writing a book to correct that widespread misimpression. Titled “Hatless Jack,” no less, it was his “favorite book to write” of the 9 he’s published.
As Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker summarized: “In ‘Hatless Jack,’ a fine and entertaining book published several years ago, the Chicago newspaperman Neil Steinberg demonstrated that the tale of Kennedy’s killing off the hat was wildly overstated. The hat had been on its way out for a while, and Jack’s hatless Inauguration wasn’t, in any case, actually hatless: he wore a top hat on his way to the ceremony but removed it before making his remarks.”
Mr. Steinberg himself devoted a blog post to the topic last July:
https://www.everygoddamnday.com/2024/07/the-hatless-man-in-hat.html
With regard to “The pussy grabber is a pussy,” however, that’s indisputable.
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David C said on January 17, 2025 at 5:45 pm
I read it’s supposed to be windy in DC on Monday. There isn’t enough hairspray in the whole world to make manly man’s coiffure stay in place in the wind.
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Julie Robinson said on January 18, 2025 at 11:53 am
Jodi, I hope your apartment will be a good place as you rebuild your new life. And that you have a marvelous and warm vacation.
Only reading news headlines now.
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Mark P said on January 18, 2025 at 12:14 pm
This is old news, but I recently ran across the story again. The Trump regime is already trying to purge the NSA of people who voted wrong or won’t sign loyalty oaths. I truly fear for our safety once the purges are over and all the competent people are replaced by loyalists. What foreign intelligence agency will share information with us any more? I am also wondering what my former coworkers, many of whom I am sure voted for Trump, are thinking right now. I would like to think that I won’t be hurt in the coming shitstorm, but we depend on Social Security and Medicare, and those are under threat, too.
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tajalli said on January 18, 2025 at 1:45 pm
Jodi, so pleased about your wonderful new home and your fresh start in life. One door closes and another opens.
Immediately put a hold on The Mighty Red, anything by Louise Erdrich is a guarantee for a fine read. Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass) has a new book, The Serviceberry : Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World.
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Deborah said on January 18, 2025 at 5:55 pm
It’s been quite windy in Northern NM today, temps aren’t bad but the windchill is quite unpleasant.
I will not be watching the inauguration, I don’t need that to spoil a nice cozy indoor type day on Monday. LB and I will be making more candied orange peels dipped in chocolate again. We have so many orange peels we need to do something with. We will probably have day fires those days too, I love burning the fireplace during the daytime, we normally only do it in the evenings. I may watch something on Netflix that can keep my mind off of the awfulness coming our way.
Supposedly Chicago is going to be hit with deportations on Tuesday, glad I’m not there for that, sounds like it could be violent. It’ll probably mostly be activities for the TV cameras.
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Dorothy said on January 19, 2025 at 8:38 am
My husband tells me those deportation raids they were going to do on Tuesday in Chicago are now shelved. I mean who announces “HEY we’re coming for you!!!” before doing a raid like that?! Word has it they realized the folks being targeted for deportation have probably gone elsewhere to avoid the raid. Gee, ya think?!?
Tomorrow we plan to go see a new movie – The Room Next Door – in the morning. It feels like we need to do something purposeful to make sure we’re no where near a source for news while the inauguration is happening.
Jodi your new home sounds wonderful and I look forward to seeing pictures once you’re all moved in! And I envy you the trip to Puerto Rico. We’re going to the Outer Banks in about 3 weeks for the first time. My sister is renting a condo and we’re joining them. Can’t wait!
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Jeff Borden said on January 19, 2025 at 10:25 am
I will rewatch Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” rather than watch the installation of a traitorous felon moron to the highest office in the land. I’ve already stocked up on single malt Scotch and German beer before the expected tariffs begin. As always, great music, great books, great movies and great art will get me through the upcoming tsunami of stupidity and cruelty.
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