Open Thread March 18, 2022

 Posted by at 7:11 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 182022
 

Yesterday, I watched the Theater of War “The Nurse Antigone,” in which Margaret Atwood played Tiresias. Tiresias was blind, and she chose to present blindness with a hoodie covering a lot of her face, including her eyes – but oh, what a voice! All the actors were powerful certainly. And the discussion at the end raised issues which I didn’t realize that I didn’t realize, and not just pertinent to nurses. It was taped, which I hope means it will be available to re-watch – I will be looking for it. But a moral here is, don’t dismiss presentations for military because you’re not military (or have never been in compat), don’t dismiss presentations for medical professionals because you’re not one, and so on .. you could learn something, or hear something that really speaks to you, from any group in this web of projects.

Cartoon

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – How Putin’s Oligarchs Bought London
Quote – Invoking Dean Acheson’s famous observation, in 1962, that Britain had “lost an empire but not yet found a role,” [Oliver] Bullough[, a former Russia correspondent,] suggests that it did find a role, as a no-questions-asked service provider to the crooked élite, offering access to capital markets, prime real estate, shopping at Harrods, and illustrious private schools, along with accountants for tax tricks, attorneys for legal squabbles, and “reputation managers” for inconvenient backstories. It starts with visas; any foreigner with adequate funds can buy one, by investing two million pounds in the U.K. (Ten million can buy you permanent residency.)
Click through.  It certainly gives me no pleasure to share this information. However … it is what it is.

The Daily Beast – ‘Many’ Spy Agency Staffers Think Capitol Riot Was ‘Justified,’ Ex-NSA Veteran Says
Quote – An internal U.S. intelligence messaging system became a “dumpster fire” of hate speech during the Trump administration…. Dan Gilmore, who was in charge of overseeing internal chat rooms for the Intelink system for over a decade starting in 2011, says that by late 2020 the system was afire with incendiary hate-filled commentary, especially on “eChirp,” the intelligence community’s clone of Twitter…. “Hate speech was running rampant on our applications… I’m not being hyperbolic. Racist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamaphobic [sic], and misogynistic speech was being posted in many of our applications.”
Click through for detail.  I’m not naive enough to think the it would ever be possible to eliminate all of them (and I realize I am inviting the question “How many traitors would be about right?”), but before I would believe that so many of our intel agents knowingly and delberately lied under oath about their intentions, I would believe that so many of them simply do not know what the Constitution is and says. And that would be a failure of education.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Enheduanna (23rd century BCE)
Enheduanna … was the EN priestess of the moon god Nanna (Sīn) in the Sumerian city-state of Ur in the reign of her father, Sargon of Akkad. She was likely appointed by her father as the leader of the religious cult at Ur to cement ties between the Akkadian religion of her father and the native Sumerian religion. Enheduanna has been celebrated as the earliest known named author in world history, as a number of works in Sumerian literature, such as the Exaltation of Inanna feature her as the first person narrator, and other works, such as the Sumerian Temple Hymns may identify her as their author.
Click through for more. Sure, we can’t prove she did write everything attributed to her – but they also can’t prove she didn’t. But ar least she got recognition for the work. We do know for sure that she did not have to write under a male pen name to be piblished, like Amantine Dupin and Mary Ann Evans, to name just two. That is an accomplishment in itself.

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread March 17, 2022

 Posted by at 6:37 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 172022
 

Yesterday, aas you will see below, i had a story fall into my lap (so to speak) at exactly the right moment. That doesn’t happen very often. I also spent more time looking for parody and satire for the video thread, since the parodisis and satirists are often in sync with each other. (If you missed Randy Rainbow and Betty Bowers in yesterdas video thread, click back to it.)  I found a few, which will show up in due course … but I didn’t find a new Rocky Mountain Mike, which I was hoping for.

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Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – 300K Hackers Come Together Online To Fight Russia
Quote – Kali – and many others who contributed to this article – declined to share his real name because some of the action he is taking is illegal and because he fears Russian retaliation. He is one of about 300,000 people who have signed up to a group on the chat app Telegram called “IT Army of Ukraine”, through which participants are assigned tasks designed to take the fight to Vladimir Putin. In so doing, they are trying to level the playing field between one of the world’s superpowers and Ukraine as it faces bombardment and invasion.
Click through for C&L story, and through again to the Guardian if you want more. I find this very sweet … but sweetness doesn’t always also have teeth. This does.

Mother Jones – Invoking Pearl Harbor and 9/11, Zelenskyy Issues Extraordinary Plea for Help
Quote – During his speech, Zelenskyy urged Americans to recall the panic sparked by the attack on Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terrorist attacks. “Our country experienced the same every day,” he said. “Right now. At this moment, every night for three weeks now.” To conclude, Zelenskyy switched from Ukrainian to English, calling directly on President Joe Biden to become the “leader of the world.”
Click through for more excerpts, analysis, and a link to the full speech. I really couldn’t ignore this. It’s also noteworthy that on Tuesday the Senate voted unanimously to censure Putin as a war criminal. Sure, talk is cheap – but not as cheap as we used to think before TFG.

Colorado Public Radio – Without Ouray, Colorado, there’d be no ‘Danny Boy’
Quote – It was [in Ouray] in 1913 that Weatherly, the wife of a patrician miner from England, linked an old Irish tune to a poem that had been written by her brother-in-law, Frederic Weatherly, an English barrister and lyricist. The poem was written in 1910 as Frederic mourned the deaths of his father and his son. He intended for it to be a song, but no one had succeeded in coming up with the right melody to suit the sad words. That is, until Margaret Weatherly thought of a tune she had heard her father, who immigrated from Ireland, and other Irish railroad workers play when she was a child in California.
Click through for story. Who knew that a story combining Women’s history and irish culture would fall into my lap. I knew Ourau was historically significant (it’s named after a chief of the Tabeguache band of the Utes), but I certainly did not know this. (Ouray is also absolutely gorgeous, and photographs do not do it justice.)

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread March 16, 2022

 Posted by at 6:33 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 162022
 

Yesterday, it was pretty quiet. Which is just fine with me.

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Short Takes –

Headline from Democratic Underground – Cawthorn said he used his wheelchair to transport “multiple weapons” during Jan 6 insurrection


The video is short. But it contains all the necessasry “receipts.”

Robert Reich – Helplessness in the face of evil – An allegory
Quote – It’s like watching a three-hundred-pound bully beat up a kid half his size, for no reason — bloodying the poor kid, pulverizing him. Yet you don’t dare try to stop the mayhem because the bully has a gun that he’ll use on you if you intervene. You look for police, but there are none….
Click thorugh for the rest of the story. Yes. This is is exactly what it is like.

Women’s History – The 19th – Black women’s qualifications have long been questioned. Ketanji Brown Jackson’s allies were prepared.
Quote – “Vicious, racist, sexist tropes have long been levied against Black women,” said Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist and member of the Black Women’s Leadership Collective, which has worked in tandem with the White House on messaging efforts around Jackson’s nomination. “These are outlandish tropes, but they’re designed to undermine Black women based on stereotypes, based on trying to play to people’s worst instincts and fears.”
Click through for – I guess I have to say aaalysis. And at least some of it, if not all of it (we can hope), will turn out to have been necessary. I do hope it doesn’t take forever (even though Justice Breyer has arranged things to provide plenty of time.)

Food For Thought:
Tweet including letter on the loss of American Journalist Brent Renaud. (And i still cut off some of the signature) Yes, you’ll ned a hanky (at least I did).

 

 

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Open Thread March 15, 2022

 Posted by at 7:24 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 152022
 

Yesterday, I changed some light bulbs. Yes, it would have been nice had I changed them when it was getting dark earlier – but there isn’t a lot of ancillary lightng in that room, and I had to be able to see to do it. Also, balance is an issue – I’ve had balance issue on and off since childhood. Most of the time you wouldn’t know it – I can walk aound fine inside without a cane or crutch (because i knpw all the handholds) – but when I go even one step up I need something to grab. But I got it done.  Later, I listenet to the Met Opera “A Concert For Ukraine.”  I hoped it might show up later on YouTube, but all that has been loaded is the final curtain calls (If anyone does care, when they bring on the soloists, they are, from left to right, .Jamie Barton, Elza van den Heever, Lisa Davidsen.  Then Yannnick Nézet-Séguin (the conductor), and on the right, a 24-year-old Ukrainian bass-baritone in the Met’s Lindemann Young Artists Program (which is what thy call their apprentice program, Every major opera company has one now.), followed bt Piotr Beczala and Ryan Speedo Green.  Davidsen sang the Four Last Songs by Strauss, and the young Ukrainian soloed in the Ukrainian National Anthem.  The other four were the soloists in the last movement of Beethoven’s nintu (Ode to Joy).  Sorry I didn’t catch the young Ukrainian’s name … but I also watched a video of a different performance of the anthem, prior to an opera, and I actually picked him out – he was the only one not reading the words, and he had his hand over his heart just as he does in the curtain call. (Beczala, who also puts his hand over his heart in the curtain call, is from Poland, one of Ukraine’s nest door neighbors.)  I realize this is not as meaningful  if one doesn’t know the peole … but I do (except the one I will get to know better  later.)

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Short Takes –

Crooks and Liars – Ukraine To Release Commemorative ‘Russian Warship, Go F#ck Yourself’ Stamp
Quote – The Ukrainian postal service will release a stamp that says “Russian warship, go f#ck yourself” to commemorate the soldiers who reportedly cursed out Russian forces attacking Snake Island during the early days of the Russian invasion. Ukraine’s Ukrposhta wrote on Facebook that they will be holding a vote to choose one of 20 finalist designs sent in which feature the phrase, which has become a rallying cry for Ukrainian troops and citizens defending their homeland.
Click through for more. The contest is over and the winner is in (and shown here.) My mom took up philately as a hobby after she retired, so I know that collectors all over the world will want this. So if you want one, find yourself a business that deals in philately and you should have no trouble putting in an order Ask about first day covers – I know those are a thing but I really don’t know what effect it would have on the value of this one. You may have to wait a while – I don’t know how hard it will be to get it printed while being shelled. God, I love the Ukrainians. (Can we get a stamp that says “F*ck the GQP”?)

Slate – A New Report Adds Evidence That Trump Was a Russian Asset
Quote – During the campaign, Trump, his national security appointees, and his allies in Congress insisted that China was meddling in the election to help Joe Biden. They even claimed that China’s interference was more dangerous than Russia’s. The report shreds that fiction. China “did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the US Presidential election,” says the assessment. It finds no attempt by China to “provide funding to any candidates or parties,” and it challenges the Republican spin that China feared Trump because he was too tough. It argues, to the contrary, that Beijing saw Trump as a weaker adversary because he “would alienate US partners,” whereas Biden “would pose a greater challenge over the long run because he would be more successful in mobilizing a global alliance against China.”
Click through. This report doesn’t mention that he may actually have been a Russian asset for 40 years, or nearly – since the 80’s (when he started getting loans from thhem through Deutsche Bank), but that has also been mentioned recently.

CNN – After over three decades of covering Russia, I leave in despair. One man has extinguished the bright hope many once felt
Quote – Over the past couple of months while I’ve been reporting from Moscow, I’ve met many people who have been horrified, shocked and numbed by Putin’s wanton aggression. Some of them believed him when he said he wouldn’t invade Ukraine. Some even knew players in the Kremlin inner circle and thought they understood the President’s red lines, but now that trust is blown and they fear he has no limits at all.
Click through for full analysis. It’s pretty clear that Mr. Robertson feels strongly about this. I certainly would in his shoes. I wish I had a solution. I wish someone – anyone – had a solution.

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread March 14, 2022

 Posted by at 6:32 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 142022
 

Yesterday, I managed to make two trips out to the recyclables bin and one tp the trash bin (and neither is actua;;;y full yet. I know there are disadvantages, but DST is far better suited to my biorhythm than standard time. The first day the sunset is an hour later is also the first day I can summon up the energy to schlep stuff around, which I have been putting off for days. (And I didn’t even get up all that early.) So I am on the side of peple who want to keep DST all year (which would also eliminae the stress that comes with “springing forward,” and studies suggest it would also save lives and energy, and have other benefits.)  And – I almost forgot – Happy PI Day!

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – Did George Washington Have an Enslaved Son?
Quote – [West Ford’s] descendants have demanded that Mount Vernon recognize Ford for his contributions to the estate, which was near collapse during the decades after Washington’s death. They also argue—citing oral histories from two branches of the family—that Ford was Washington’s unacknowledged son, a claim that Mount Vernon officials have consistently denied. As that debate continues, Black civic organizations in Gum Springs are engaged in related battles to save their endangered community.
Click through for backstory and current issues. Absolutely no one that I can see except The New Yorker is covering this (but I didn’t search for small local news outlets.) Jefferson’s (white) descendants – most of them – have learned to live with the truth. AreWashington’s tough enough? Also, there is more than genealogy in this story.

Daily Kos (David Neiwert) – ‘Patriot’ threatens Nevada’s governor at restaurant, and Republicans cheer the eliminationism
Quote – This kind of rhetoric is not simply violent but eliminationist in nature: That is, it’s discourse intended not simply to oppose a political or cultural foe but to dehumanize and demonize them, to render them nonhuman objects fit only for elimination—vermin, diseases, existential threats. It’s a powerful precursor to real-world violence because it not only obliterates any compunction about killing, it positively creates permission for it…. [Joey] Gilbert … published a long post on Facebook…. “That time is upon us where these fraudulently elected leaders of ours will not be able to walk the streets alone,”
Click through for discussion. (My Daily Kos newsletter has stopped coming again, but Crooks and Liars is reprinting enough to keep me in touch.) Neiwert has put his finger right on my deepest fears. I lived through the sixties when one leader after another was getting shot and killed. I am still jittery about it. I am not expecting anyone to target me personally … but they don’t have to in order to ruin my life. This is real.

Women’s History – The Conversation – Deaf women fought for the right to vote
Quote – As a researcher of deaf history, including deaf women’s history, I work to illuminate the often hidden history of deaf people and their unique contributions to the world. I have unearthed historical information about deaf women suffragists and assembled it into an online collection chronicling what is known—so far—about these women and their lives. Despite harsh, discriminatory conditions, low pay, and lack of recognition, countless deaf women have fought with brilliance and dedication for personal and professional recognition, including for the right to vote.
Click through for several individual stories. This was publshed last year, but reprinted this year in Yes! Magazine. I prefer original sources in any case, but especially when the original source is one I know everyone can access.

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread March 13, 2022

 Posted by at 7:05 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 132022
 

Yesterday, the opera was “Ariadne auf Naxos,” which, in the announcements this week, was referred to as a combination of “high drama and hijinks.” It’s about two groups of actors who have been hired to provide after-dinner entertainment for a count’s (or duke’s, I forget which) party (so you can add high privilege to the mix.)  In the first act (which Strauss called the “prologue”) we meet all the actors as they squabble about which group is to go first (and other things). Finally, they get orders that both are to perform simultaneously. Of course, there’s more squabbling; no one likes that, since one is an opera comoany with a grand opera, and the other is Commedia dell’Arte, including slapstick. It appears impossible. In the second act (which Strauss called the opera), they do the impossible. I wouldn’t describe how they manage it (even if I could) because that’s kind of the point. But for this performance, the Met made it even more complex by starting with the chorus singing the Ukrainian National Anthem.

As incongruous as it sounds, there was a time (around WWI) when our nantional anthem did open every opera performance,  just as sports events still do. But that was long ago, and even those who survive to remember it have I suspect mostly forgotten it. So this gesture — well, I applaud it, but I admit it carries a lot of baggage. For as long as I can remember, the Met has worked hard to stay detached from world events. And there has been pressure on it to recognize some world events, but it hasn’t budged. Until now. I suppose, given that it has disinvited Anna Netrebko from next season, I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was.

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Short Takes –

Mother Jones – I’m a Cop With a Trans Daughter. Lawmakers Want Me to Arrest the Doctors Who Saved Her Life.
Quote – I mean, if I think back to before the doctors, I’ve got pictures of her from the year before she came out, and you can see the look on her face. Like she’s not there. As her health care kicked in and she got more confident about who she was, she became more outgoing, making friends. She never used to talk to people hardly at all, unless she really, really knew them. Now you get her started and you can’t get it to stop. She started her own online group on Discord for kids like her, so they’d have some place to talk. She’s trying to write a book. Before she never wanted to be in crowds, and last night we went to a Billie Eilish concert together.
Click through for article. I’ve been saying that misogyny is more powerful even than racism. I don’t exactly think anti-LGBTQIA is part of misogyny (I don’t want to disregard or diminish the effect of any form of bigotry), but I do say they are related as part of opposition to anything other than straight male. And I believe that opposition does transcend racism even.

Democratic Underground (majdrfrtim) – I heard from one of my UKR paratrooper buddies Tuesday.
Quote – Anyway, for most of the rest of my times being deployed I sent him money every month to help him and his growing family so they could buy an apartment. Just after the invasion two weeks ago he sent me a photo of his military kit (rucksack, sleeping bag, bedroll, etc.) with the caption, “All your presents are at work again.” That took my breath away. Since then, I’ve been checking that platform several times daily looking for word from him, his wife, or any of the other guys I know. As the situation over there has worsened, I have engaged every resilience option at my disposal to just get through each day.
Click through for this very personal account. It’s easy to get caught up on the big picture of big events and thereby to miss how such events affect every person individually.

Women’s History – HuffPost – Congress Finally Renews The Violence Against Women Act
Quote – It’s been an embarrassingly bumpy road for VAWA reauthorization in Congress. The law’s authorization lapsed three years ago. Once upon a time, this was legislation that passed unanimously in both chambers, and it was uncontroversial to support programs credited with stopping violence against women and saving people’s lives.
Click through for details. We once again lost out to the NRA, and the renewal is only for five years. But it’s something. We still have a lot of work to do if we are going to be able to keep it – and the rest of our democracy.

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread March 12, 2022

 Posted by at 7:18 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 122022
 

Yesterday, while looking for short takes (and finding the first one), I was (as I often am) reminded of something written by C. S. Lewis. I was pretty sure the quote in question was in “Screwtape proposes a toast,” so I looked to see whether that might be available on the ‘Net, and indeed it is (in pertinent part), for free, with some emphasis added, at the link on the title. With the caveat that it’s not always easy to read things that come from Opposie Land, I can’t recommend it highly enough. It is more accurate now than it has ever been/. The phrase “scary good” comes to mind. (It’s also not that long. It’s not a book like “The Screwtape Letters,” but just an essay.)

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Short Takes –

Letters from an American – March 10, 2022
Quote – Freedom House documents that for sixteen years, global freedom has declined. Authoritarians are undermining basic liberties, abusing power, and violating human rights, and their growing global influence is shifting global incentives toward autocratic governments and away from democracy, “jeopardizing the consensus that democracy is the only viable path to prosperity and security, while encouraging more authoritarian approaches to governance.” Over the past year, 60 countries became less free, while only 25 improved.
Click through for the full letter. In her “notes” she includes a tweet from Anne Applebaum which is accurate as far as it goes, but vastly underestimates the antiquity of the practice, which can be traced back to ancient Greese and is almpst certainly older.

Daily Kos (David Neiwert) – Outcome of Michigan militiamen’s trial in plot to kidnap governor could have broad consequences
Quote – [I]f the Wolverine Watchmen’s legal defense is able to succeed by establishing in court that the methods used to build the Michigan case are unsound, it could have far-reaching consequences for the government’s ability to investigate these groups—as well as to prosecute other related cases, such as the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection prosecutions. It also could feed the conspiracist claims by Tucker Carlson and others that the FBI manipulated those rioters into performing criminal acts. Most militia groups have kept a lower profile since the Michigan kidnapping bust in October 2020 and the post-Jan. 6 arrests, according to Rachel Goldwasser, a research analyst with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The outcome of the Michigan trial, she said, may “indicate whether they stay in their foxholes or come out as a force in public again.”
Click through for details.

Women’s History – Wikipedia – Edith Cavell
Quote – She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during the First World War, for which she was arrested. She was accused of treason, found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage.
Click through for bio. The night before her execution, she said “Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.” Though she may well have spoken afterwards, those are generally considered to be her last words. It’s a thought which is not popular with governments … but it transcends governments and is definitely worth aspiring to.

Food For Thought:

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Open Thread March 11, 2022

 Posted by at 6:36 am  Open Thread, Personal, Politics
Mar 112022
 

Yesterday, It snowed again – which was not predicted – and stayed sub-freezing all day – which was predicted. And it felt cold, colder than usual, inside as well. The other day i made a reference to the ki-ki-bird, and I shall now explain it. It was a joke, when I was in service, that at bases like Adak, AK, one migh, when it was sub-zer, hear the call of the ki-ki-bird: “Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-RIST, it’s cold!” It’s not that cold inside today .. but I’ll bet it is outsode!.

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Short Takes –

ProPublica – When Billionaires Don’t Pay Taxes, People “Lose Faith in Democracy”
Quote – [Senator Ron] Wyden’s bill seeks to counteract a technique that the ultrawealthy can use to avoid income taxes: They hold on to their assets and simply avoid the income — and tax — that comes when they sell them. The rich can live lavishly by employing a technique known as “Buy, Borrow, Die,” in which they buy or build assets, borrow against them and then avoid estate and gift taxes when they die.
Click through for details. It seems self-evident to me, but I’m sure some wont believe it without “receipts” (and some won’t believe it regardless of evidence.)

The Hill – FBI agent: Suspects in Whitmer kidnapping plot arrested over ‘real concern’ they might obtain explosives
Quote – This comes as prosecutors allege that the four men, [Adam] Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, plotted the kidnapping of Whitmer due to their frustration of statewide COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. They planned to snatch her from her vacation home and blow up a nearby bridge to slow authorities’ response to the incident.
Click through for story. May the conviction be swift and the sentence appropriate.

Women’s History – Huff Post – Republicans Keep Attacking Biden’s Judicial Nominees For Being Good Lawyers
Quote – It’s been a pretty over-the-top and performative few months for the Judiciary Committee. But cutting through the drama, what’s not amusing is what Republicans have actually been arguing: that poor people charged with crimes don’t deserve any legal representation at all, and lawyers representing them should be ashamed for doing it.
Click through if you can stand to. Cruz and Hawley in particular – it would be a real public service if they could be investiga6ted back to birth. You just know that crimes would be found. And I say that knowing that both hold security clearances.

Food For Thought:

Sorry but I just had to add this:

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