Vox.com: “The future of work in America is uncertain. What we know is that things are going to change. Technology will upend countless careers, workers across fields will be displaced, and it’s not entirely clear how many jobs will be replaced.”
Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), argues that a universal basic income (UBI) is the best response to the social and economic disruption caused by technological change. UBI is a form of social security in which citizens receive an unconditional wage from the government.
Stern: I believe a UBI is a way to ease the transition, and it’s also a way to provide a floor for people — not necessarily a substitute for work, but a supplement to work that allows them to have a sense of economic security, have consumer buying power. We want to allow people to be entrepreneurs, to take risks and raise kids and do other things without turning the world into the Hunger Games.
Today’s news events brings memories of a great movie scene from The Godfather II: New Year’s Eve, Michael, Fredo, Roth, Johnny Ola. Superman …. The Kiss of Death. All played against the back drop of chaotic Havana. Out with the old, in with the new.
excerpt from a very informative but long and worthy of read article at alternet:
Wisconsin election adminstrator Michael Haas said the Greens met the state’s deadline, adding that it will now calculate the precise fee estimated at $1.1 million. Rocky Roque De La Fuente, the Reform and American Delta Party nominee, also filed for a recount.
[….]
“We have assembled an internal team to direct the recount, we have been in close consultation with our county clerk partners, and have arranged for legal representation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice,” Haas said. “We plan to hold a teleconference meeting for county clerks next week and anticipate the recount will begin late in the week after the Stein campaign has paid the recount fee, which we are still calculating.”
John Bonifaz, a voting rights attorney who helped organize the 2016 recount and was lead counsel for the Green and Libertarian Parties’ 2004 presidential recount in Ohio, said the Green’s Wisconsin recount petition justified why it was needed.
“We’ll point to the fact that there are certain [electronic voting] systems in the state of Wisconsin that are being used, which have been proven to be vulnerable to being tampered with or being hacked. And the state of California banned the use of those systems, but Wisconsin, with some restrictions, still uses them,” he said. “So that’s point one. Given the fact that those systems are still in use, it’s important too make sure that we verify the vote.”
“The other systems, the paper ballot systems, we’ve determined, are, in fact, showing a discrepancy between the jurisdictions where the paper ballots have been used and the touch-screen machines have been used,” he continued, referring to different margin of victory depending on the voting technology. “That discrepancy has given rise further to the point of verifying the vote. There are different theories as to why that discrepancy exists. One can argue the demographics in the jurisdictions with the touch screen machines point to why there is that discrepancy. But until we actually verify the vote we won’t know the answers to this.”
jace & Jamie, I still believe every vote should be counted and recounted before certification to the electoral college… it’s just good accounting at work.
does the slogan “your vote counts” have no meaning and be disregarded as senseless? why the rush to anoint a despot?
applicable here is the official motto of the fla supreme court Sat Cito Si Recte which means “Soon enough if done rightly” iow the importance of taking the time necessary to achieve true justice.
patd,
Every vote counts, which was never more true than this election. The irony of Third Party candidates (especially one who was a dinner mate of Flynn’s at the Putin-propaganda Russian TV Gala) leading this charge is a bit like closing the barn door after the cows have run away. Where were they before November 8th? Did they just realize (gulp!) I enabled the wrong side of history? At least William Weld realized how much was at stake before the election.
Setting aside my favorite hobby horse of excessive human population being a virus that is sucking up dwindling resources and destroying the environment to the point of destruction and is at the base of virtually every bad thing happening in the world … blah blah blah, let us consider “work”.
People WORK all the time. There is always something that needs doing and most of the things that need doing make life better. Unfortunately most of the things that need doing are simply not profitable to someone else in a way that will cause them to hire and pay another person to do them. The whole nature of work is changing and there are only a few ways to handle the situation.
1. Bump off anyone who has become “redundant”. This is usually frowned upon by friends and relatives but might provide entertainment at some future colosseum.
2. Provide welfare for a subsistence living during which someone might “retrain” for one of those profitable jobs without causing all the problems of poverty. Pretty much the condition that exists despite all the noise to “cut taxes”.
3. Require employers to hire more people than needed as part of the cost of doing business.
4. Combine 2 and 3 to put excess people to work doing all the things that make life better, prettier, and more comfortable but don’t make money. This could range from picking up freeway litter to chasing around a schoolyard playing with children. That changes the whole nature of “work” from profitable to necessary but then requires a huge investment of funds and organization.
Current Popular Vote Count
Clinton: 64,637,140
Trump: 62,408,908
Difference: 2,228,232
Epitaph for Election 2016?
I don’t vote. It only encourages them.
just like Reagan invaded grenada, drumpf will no doubt do cuba. maybe even propose it the 51st state, letting Puerto rico be the 52nd or turn the whole Caribbean in to the state of Caribe.
guys like that always like a little war to play with. makes them feel macho.
Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump now at 2,228,000 … which is more people than the populations of 15 states.
excerpts from heatstreet: Wisconsin Recount: The Alex Halderman Affidavit on Russian Hacking
However, the presence of Prof. Halderman in the affidavit section of the petition should reassure all those who might prefer a recount, in an election which we already know was hacked by Russia, for purely neutral purposes.
[….]
14. The only way to determine whether a cyber-attack affected the outcome of the 2016 presidential election is to examine the available physical evidence – that is, to count the paper ballots and paper audit trail records, and review the voting equipment, to ensure that the votes cast by actual voters match the results determined by the computers.
For ballots cast through optical scanners, a manual recount of the paper ballots, without relying on the electronic equipment, must occur. Using electronic equipment to conduct the recount, even after first evaluating the machine to a test deck, is insufficient. Attackers intending to commit a successful cyber-attack could, and likely would, create a method to undermine any pre-tests. For votes cast on electronic voting machines, the paper audit trail records must be counted, since the electronic records stored in the machines could have been manipulated in an attack. Voting equipment that might yield forensic evidence of an attack includes the voting machines, removable media, and election management system computers. Paper ballots, paperboard trails, and voting equipment will only be examined in this manner if there is a recount.
15. A recount is the best way, and indeed the only way, to ensure public confidence that the results are accurate, authentic, and untainted by interference. It will also set a precedent that may provide an important deterrent against cyber attacks on future elections.
For many this affidavit will provide a sobering overview of how easy and how plausible it would be for Russia to have hacked our presidential election.
The most compelling lines in Prof. Halderman’s affidavit, however, may be the last ones; that a paper audit would show foreign hackers that the US is willing to check to ensure it has correct results, and the consequences for being caught would be disastrous.
One thing to consider in the death of Castro is some of the good he accomplished, but was it worth the loss of freedom and is there some in between that would benefit everyone?
Cuba has The Highest Doctor To Patient Ratio In The World and Has a 98% Literacy Rate.
and their unemployment rate is 3.30% last time I read it.
Jamie, not to worry about having to make the redundancy decision. A I will be doing it for us. heed the predictions of musk and hawkings.
Yes, Michael Moore showcased many healthcare systems in his movie, “Sicko.”
A good healthcare system can be implemented in peaceful way, though, as exemplified by Denmark.
Great Britain’s healthcare system seems to be cracking at the moment.
The US has no healthcare system; we have an insurance industry labyrinth.
UBI is a nice idea, but it shouldn’t be given out like a soccer trophy –just for showing up. It should have re-education for better jobs and…I’m gong there…birth control education and access.
Cuban-Americans sound supportive of Trump’s promise to roll back Obama’s executive orders with regard to Cuber.
If Hillary had won the correct states and Trump had won the popular vote, if Trump’s supporters were protesting and Stein was miraculously funding a recount, you guys would be screaming. The deluge of funds showing up in Stein’s coffers is interesting, although not surprising; Hillary’s Hellions are at it, again. This has nothing to do with Green Party interests, unless she thinks she got more votes and it will get get to 5%, giving her ballot access next time, as well as federal matching funds.
RIP Florence Henderson
RIP victims of Fidel Castro
Will the floater now declare victory over Cuba?
Fidel Castro the man so powerful that Republicans spent billions making sure that Cuba was “isolated” so that Castro would fail.
Having a lot of fun today with a 1956 Underwood manual portable typewriter. It is a beautiful turquoise blue and nearly unused. I found it in a consignment shop yesterday and gladly paid $134 for it. Now I am finding out how weak my hands are from using computer keyboards. A few typewriter letters and strength shall return. I could type out a short piece about how stupid Republicans are and hold it up to the window for all to read. Just like the old days. My retreat from modern life continues. I have had enough of silliness like people lining up, each year, to buy the latest Apple phone. I have had it with gimmicks like “Black Friday”. Life on a sailboat with limited communications is sounding better each year. And, the most important class I ever took in school was typing. The class I wish I had also taken was Gregg shorthand. One of two, but it made my life in computers easier.
Jamie, yep, work for pay is not the only kind of “work” out there. Our capitalist brains are so embedded with the notion only work for pay counts it prevents open thought on the question.
Craig
Women used to do a lot of that “work” that makes life better until they had to go to “work” to help support the family. I’ve often maintained that as wonderful as it is from the standpoint of personal development, independence, and accomplishment that WOMEN”S LIB totally destroyed real medical care and education. There was a magnificent army of stay at home moms who either “volunteered for good works” or took up truly serious drinking.
The pharmacy/pesticide/grocery lobbies should be liable for promoting sickness.
My best friend’s daughter’s in-laws are from Cuba. I’ve only met them a couple of times, but it will be interesting to hear what they think of Fidel’s death.
People need some sort of endeavor that allows them to sustain themselves. There are those who are not able to do so, and they definitely need to be supported by gov’t subsidies and private charities. Charitable giving for groups or causes people believe in is also good for more than just the recipient. If you have no interests, if you have no input into your continued existence, what’s the point?
Has anyone noticed that Trump is no longer orange, but bologna-pink? His hair is no longer yellow, but white with a little, lemon meringue swirl.
More importantly, he’s softened his stance on the Paris Accord, and, he seems to be building relationships with his haters.
I think I was correct in thinking that he will be a much better president than Hillary. The level of corruption in her administration would be astounding.
I dunno BlueD, i still think it is way too early to conclude what this presidency will be like, and of course it is forever unknowable what hers would have been like.
Patd,
Please don’t misunderstand me. Every vote should count and every vote should be counted. HRC’s continuing expansion of her lead in the popular vote is an indicator that that is exactly what is taking place.
That said a rust belt recount will not alter the outcome one bit, and it smacks of cherry picking. Barring some unheard of irregularities there is little point in moving forward with this. I would love to be as wrong about this as I was about the election, but I’m not.
The emphasis now should move to mitigating the results of the election rather than attempting to call into question those results.
If the situation were reversed, republicans would already have a plan in place. Dems on the other hand are milling around like cattle trying to figure out what went wrong. Obama got nothing from republicans, my prediction is that Trump will fare much better from dems.
Astute Jace, most astute. My estimation is that the recount crowd is not understanding that the disparity between polls and results is due to the late deciders who broke so heavily for Trump for whatever reason and were not measured because the pollsters were out of the field by the time they made their choice.
Just reading this morning’s Journal. Peggy Noonan, whom I normally detest, is all over Trump on his propensity to mix business with his new job. She says he must change in the strongest terms.
and Hillary’s impressive popular vote lead suggests to me they focused too much on running up the score in safe states.
Then of course, Trump seems to have committed more impeachable offenses before entering office than any two Presidents put together while in office. I doubt there has ever been a cabinet of such inconsequential talent only made better by comparison to the total ass assuming office. Let us hope whomever is actually doing the job might have some brains and talent.
The Threat of Trump Isn’t Trump
Impeach, remove Trump and you get Pence. What’s gained by that?
Jamie,
To your earlier point Trump’s impeachable offenses. Could someone please remind again me how Hillary’s ties to the Clinton Foundation were supposed to be sooo bad.
This election was not rigged. With the cast of characters that trump is picking don’t bet that 2020 won’t be. I think that is and should be a real concern going forward. Every civic minded watchdog group should be prepared to redouble their efforts over the next four years.
“Barring some unheard of irregularities there is little point in moving forward with this.”
jace, that is the point, heard or unheard of irregularities. we have machines out there that are hackable and need to be replaced before the next election. the uneven, unfair tactics in some states to purge registration lists of voters who missed a few elections and in some others to repress votes call for standardization. whether or not the election was hacked this time around needs to be looked at for the sake of protecting future elections. hopefully, what is found will motivate congress to do what is necessary to insure integrity of the system regarding national elections and to provide adequate safeguards against foreign intrusion.
Craig,
Great point. You would need an Agnew/Nixon scenario. Sadly there are no longer any Gerald Fords left in the republican party.
Patd,
This congress and this administration are full of people who think that voter suppression is perfectly legitimate and desirable., and they will appoint judges and election officials who agree with them. The sanctity of our elections will never be defended by this congress. Elections are only legitimate when they win.
might want to read up on the 25th amendment to u.s. constitution
Section 4.
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
wouldn’t be too hard for pence and like minded cabinet members (who he had a say in recruiting) plus a congress concerned about their future to go along with a threat of impeachment to convince the drumpf that by stepping down peaceably he could save face, he and his family could retain his empire and return to his happy existence in the tower. the alternative would be ugly and uncomfortable.
meanwhile, considering bbronc’s “Will the floater now declare victory over Cuba?” my guess is that the drumpf will make a deal with his buddy vlad for both to avert their eyes and trade invasion of Ukraine for invasion of cuba.
Jace: “Dems milling around like cattle trying to figure out what went wrong.”
Amen friend. Fantasy scenarios a waste of time. An election was lost, on to the next one.
wapo:
In a Medium post, Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias said that the campaign had received “hundreds of messages, emails, and calls urging us to do something, anything, to investigate claims that the election results were hacked and altered in a way to disadvantage Secretary Clinton,” especially in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where the “combined margin of victory for Donald Trump was merely 107,000 votes.”
Elias said the campaign had “not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology.” But because of the margin of victory — and because of the degree of apparent foreign interference during the campaign — Elias said that Clinton officials had “quietly taken a number of steps in the last two weeks to rule in or out any possibility of outside interference in the vote tally in these critical battleground states.” He said that they would also participate in the Stein-initiated recount in Wisconsin, and if Stein made good on efforts to prompt similar processes in Pennsylvania and Michigan, they would do so there, as well.
“The campaign is grateful to all those who have expended time and effort to investigate various claims of abnormalities and irregularities,” Elias said. “While that effort has not, in our view, resulted in evidence of manipulation of results, now that a recount is underway, we believe we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported.”
The presidential campaign was marked by fears that Russian hacking might affect the outcome, especially after Russian hackers penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and were found to have attempted intrusions on voter registration databases. The Washington Post also recently reported, citing researchers who tracked the phenomenon, that Russians created and spread fake news about the election with the apparent goal of helping Donald Trump.
I’m not minimizing the suffering of many of the families in fleeing Cuba and the joy they feel today over the death of Castro. Still it is indicative of the dumbing down of modern media that there hasn’t been so much as a peep about the evil that was Batista, the role of the mafia, and the crushing poverty that brought rise to Castro in the first place. Many of those “fleeing” the fall were packing the bags with ill gotten gains jumping on the yachts to leave town. Castro came to the US before he went to Russia but the whole Anti Communist atmosphere probably caused most of the trouble that followed. That doesn’t make either Castro a good man or Communism a good idea, but it was probably one of the biggest missed opportunities of all time.
Jamie: “Trump seems to have committed more impeachable offenses before entering office than any two Presidents put together while in office.”
maybe so but don’t impeachable offenses have to be committed while in office, not before? Give it time.
Wouldn’t results in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — all three — have to be reversed to change the outcome? Unless some electors in Trump states switched.
One More Myth About Clinton’s Defeat in Election 2016 Debunked
By Lambert Strether, Naked Capitalism, November 25, 2016
Talking Point: Sexist BernieBros were one reason Clinton lost election 2016.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
Unpaid work isn’t given the value it deserves in our society. I’ve done volunteer work most of my adult life. When I wasn’t in a paid human services job I still volunteered at shelters, soup kitchens etc. I tweeted today to highlight President Obama & family serving Thanksgiving at a soup kitchen type establishment. As I said in my tweet, everyone should do this at least once in their lives.
BiD: So because he hired some stylist to give himself a more appealing facade we should just conclude that a sexist, racist, homophobic, misogynist, narcissistic pig will now be prepared to be the leader of the free world? Not happening!
Craig: “…disparity between polls and results is due to the late deciders who broke so heavily for Trump for whatever reason…” Can we be real? How about is Comey’s well timed torpedo just before the election…and that’s just one reason! PS: I think we need to stay angry and motivated because acceptance=complacency and that will be the end of us.
Problem is that short of a Designated Survivor scenario, there’s nobody in his current line of succession who is not almost as frightening as trump. We need everyone to get out and start working from the bottom up supporting local, state, and congressional candidates with human/humane values. And we have to start calling the media to task for their lack of journalistic integrity!
I thought this was interesting: http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/25/1604002/-The-joke-Trump-restricted-at-his-comedy-roast-tells-you-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-next-4-years
I think the ALLOWED topics say even more about what caliber of man he is and how undeserving he is to be President!
I’m getting quite a kick out of how much it will cost to keep the Elected One in the style to which he is accustomed while enriching himself on the side. The Lease of the New York Golden Trailer is over 1.5 million a year plus all the space for the Secret Service. Police are at a million a day, so the economy of NY is getting a nice bump in the coffers courtesy of the American taxpayer.
The Emoluments Clause is looking like a bottomless source of politics for fun and profit. He’s not in office yet, so that gold club gift from Japan to Donald from the meeting with Ivanka can be kept. If the golf course in Argentina doesn’t suck up any more variances and benefits, he should be safe there. Not quite sure if closing down wind farms that might ruin the view off Mar-a-Lago will be good for property values, but it certainly won’t be doing the environment any favors.
Comey swung this election as evidenced by the large number of late deciders that broke for Trump.
One can only wonder what the outcry would have been had the Commissioner of the IRS unilaterally decided to release Trump’s tax returns a week prior to November 8th. (Don’t bet that those returns won’t become public before all is said and done)
Democrats have not done well in addressing the concerns of white voters in the rust belt, but GM is alive because of democrats and HRC was the only candidate to take any interest in the plight of Flint and surrounding areas.
It’s not about what you do it’s more about when you do it.
yes Granny, Comey likely bears more of the blame than Russian hackers. Difference is, right or wrong, voters got what they voted for.
Granny: “Unpaid work isn’t given the value it deserves in our society.”
yes, I suspect that as paid work becomes more scarce our society will morph into an interesting post-capitalist form that might mean better real quality of life, minus the stress of acquiring and protecting unnecessary possessions.
“Wouldn’t results in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — all three — have to be reversed to change the outcome?”
boss, what results? didn’t know any counts have been officially completed and certified yet so how can something not there be reversed?
Interesting tweet from Amy Siskind
Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember. Here’s my list for week 2:
even if the recount shows Hillary won fair and square, unless Obama pre-emptively pardons her of all alleged sins the insurgents in the fbi will cook up something else to nail her with and the goper critters will immediately start impeachment activity in combination with putting the brakes on any of her programs/appointments just like they did to Obama. also as I said before the media wants trump and aren’t about to let the golden goose egg go.
patd, the results are Trump won those states. Recounts must prove she won all three to give her the election. Or at least one or two plus some electoral college defections.
Jamie – the same time period had America turning down offers from Ho Chi Minh to bring a united Vietnam to work with the U.S. and avoid the Vietnam War. Much of that era has the CIA looking at the wrong side of history. But the fear of Communism was real. What Stalin did to Russia and the satellites is real. What Red China did after chasing the Chinese Nationalists to Formosa is real. The times were confusing. The fears overwhelming rational thinking. We survived, probably because the world has always been a screwy place too.
Today I look forward to recount results. I also look forward to software audits of the voting systems.
Right now I am trying to decide on which fountain pen will change color to green. The holidays do require red and green inks.
my hunch: Recounts will affirm Trump’s victory, and Dems in denial will look even more foolish.
strikes me as idiotic for Clinton lawyer to say anything about this quixotic recount effort: http://trailmix.cc/home/2016/11/26/our-jobless-future-could-be-bright/#comment-42149
I’m sorry but sore losers who ignored Wisconsin, ridiculed Bernie, dismissed working whites, and spent nearly all of their TV advertising dollars on negative ads don’t get to blame the outcome on unproven allegations of ballot fraud.
Craig,
RE your 5:46
It’s time for Dems and HRC voters to stop playing what if and start worrying about what will be. If there had been any election tampering or fraud or hacking on a massive scale someone would have noticed it before now.
Time to move on and make sure that this clown doesn’t govern the same way he campaigned. Concentrate on giving him nothing and when there is nothing to give,give him less than nothing. It may not be a great governing strategy but it worked damn well for republicans. Time for dems. to learn to play the game.
Craig
I’m not expecting any different outcome from the recount than the we got other than the small possibility that some form of alteration to the Electoral College might be produced. Other than that I fear for the country due to the overwhelming greed of the Asshole Elect and the army of racist hoards he has now given permission to crawl out from under their rocks. He and they were that 22 months ago, but the nation wanted change and believed all the swill thrown at the Clintons for the past 30 years. The wind has been sown, and we all shall just hope to survive the whirlwind.
hey everybody, Jace is making a lot of sense. the time for grieving is closing and it is time to get on with life. Grabbing on to straws won’t help it just leaves you that much farther behind when what you realy need to be doing is fighting for the next election. The 2018 election season began 18 days ago if you aren’t focused on it you are already behind.
Which means my senator, Ms McCaskill needs to be camping out spending her time fund raising and listening to old rural people complain about their problems, because Speaker Ryan is going after Social Security and she needs to be proactive rather than reactive.
Will she? I doubt it. she has been in DC long enough for the water to affect her brain cells.
Jack
I am sipping a rum and coke with lime AKA Cuba libre’
In celebration of the death of Castro and yes I mean celebration. You can talk all you want to about Batista but Castro was just as bad or maybe even worse as he was the betrayer of the revolution.
https://youtu.be/58ihkMxbWOE
In case you feel like dancing
https://youtu.be/6U7wEOUivsw
citizens receive an unconditional wage from the government.
In Cuba that is 8lbs of beans and rice a month.
We were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving at the Hispanic church who are our partners. they had a guest preacher from Cuba. That is why I know about the beans and rice. Also, He is an architect, but not allowed to practice his profession because of his religion, evangelical Christian. Also he talked about the wages, Doctors in Cuba make about 5 dollars a day. life is not fun for anyone under Castro socialism.
Cuba Libre’
Jack
Thank you, WhskyJack !
57 years of Cuban polities – no matter how small and how distant from Havana – being unable to select their own dogcatchers or parking attendants without approval from his majesty is appalling. In re battista, 3/4 of Cubans weren’t even born when that pimp ruled ! Only old farts like the castros remember battista.
My mom always said , if you can’t say something nice about some one, then say nothing at all. Hence I am prohibited form commenting on the recently departed leader of Cuba.
craig, the verification of more votes, even tho not enough to flip the call, has the upside of pooh poohing the so-called mandate ryan says the gopers have. no sore loser here, just a sad one.
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