Contentions: The Democratic Party is Officially Leaderless

• President Barack Obama wanted Congress to pass a variety of trade-related proposals, and he didn’t want to have to rely on Republican votes in order to see that happen. He lobbied his fellow Democrats in favor of trade, and he lobbied them hard. In the end, it wasn’t enough. On Friday, the president endured a stern censure from the very member of the party for whom he once served as a savior. Barack Obama’s presidency is all but over. It’s Hillary Clinton’s party now, but she does not seem inclined to lead it so much as to emerge as its supervisor by default and through a process of attrition. She is not in a hurry to rush that process, and there is no alternative Democratic leader waiting in the wings. Inadvertently, what House Democrats did on Friday was to decapitate their own party.

Inadvertently, what House Democrats did on Friday was to decapitate their own party.

By a hair’s margin, the GOP-dominated House passed fast-track trade promotional authority (TPA) that will allow the president to prioritize trade negotiations and conclude the terms of a free trade deal with 11 Pacific Rim countries. But by a resounding 302 to 126-vote margin, however, the House resoundingly rejected a Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) proposal passed in the Senate. The TAA, a giveaway to unions and other labor interests that will potentially be negatively impacted as a result of the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, was soundly rejected.

Obama was not merely supportive of the passage of both TPA and TAA; he pressed his fellow Democrats in the House to pass both proposals. During the annual indulgence that is the Congressional baseball game at Nationals Park on Thursday, the president surprised the press when made an impromptu visit to the Democratic dugout. He smiled and waved to the adoring crowds, but Obama wasn’t there merely to soak in the applause; he was there to work House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It was clear that his cajoling was unsuccessful on Friday morning when the president made another surprise visit to the Capitol Building to implore his fellow Democrats not to abandon him. None of this extraordinary effort was enough.

Via: Commentary

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Clinton Staffers Claim Hillary is as Inspirational as Obama. Hilarity Ensues.

Via: You Tube

Clinton Re-Launch-Campaign Kickoff Speech (The First time was not painful enough)

Hillary Clinton delivered her official campaign launch speech on New York City’s Roosevelt Island. She talked about her personal story and how it guides her fight for everyday Americans, and she outlined her guiding principle that the true measure of America’s success shouldn’t be how those at the top are doing, but how all American families are doing.

Thank you! Oh, thank you all! Thank you so very, very much. (Cheers, applause.)

It is wonderful to be here with all of you.

To be in New York (cheers) with my family, with so many friends, including many New Yorkers who gave me the honor of serving them in the Senate for eight years. (Cheers, applause.)

To be right across the water from the headquarters of the United Nations, where I represented our country many times. (Cheers, applause.)

To be here in this beautiful park dedicated to Franklin Roosevelt’s enduring vision of America, the nation we want to be.

And in a place… with absolutely no ceilings. (Cheers, applause.)

You know, President Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms are a testament to our nation’s unmatched aspirations and a reminder of our unfinished work at home and abroad. His legacy lifted up a nation and inspired presidents who followed. One is the man I served as Secretary of State, Barack Obama, (cheers, applause) and another is my husband, Bill Clinton. (Cheers, applause.)

Two Democrats guided by the -- (cheering) Oh, that will make him so happy. They were and are two Democrats guided by the fundamental American belief that real and lasting prosperity must be built by all and shared by all. (Cheers, applause.)

President Roosevelt called on every American to do his or her part, and every American answered. He said there’s no mystery about what it takes to build a strong and prosperous America: “Equality of opportunity… Jobs for those who can work… Security for those who need it… The ending of special privilege for the few…(cheers, applause.) The preservation of civil liberties for all… (cheers, applause) a wider and constantly rising standard of living.”

That still sounds good to me. (Cheers, applause.)

Via: HillaryClinton.com

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Obama transfers six more Gitmo detainees, including alleged bin Laden bodyguards

Six detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, including two alleged Osama bin Laden bodyguards, have been transferred to Oman, the Pentagon said Saturday.

The terror-related detainees are all from neighboring and embattled Yemen. They departed Friday from the U.S. detention center, at a Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to get terror-suspects off battlefields.

This is the first time in roughly the past five months that Guantanamo suspects have been transferred, as Congress considers new restrictions on such moves.

President Obama campaigned in 2008 to close the facility. The new transfers mark the departure of more than half of the 242 detainees who were at the facility when Obama was sworn into office in 2009. The number is now 116.

National Security Council spokesman Ned Price on Saturday repeated the Obama administration’s argument that keeping open the facility weakens national security by draining resources, damages U.S. relations with key allies and partners and emboldens violent extremists.

“As the president has repeatedly made clear, the administration is determined to close the” facility, he said. “We are taking all possible steps to reduce the detainee population at Guantanamo and to close the detention facility in a responsible manner.”

Congressional Republicans and other critics of releasing detainees argue they have the strong potential to return to the battlefield or commit other acts of terror.

Each of six the new transferees was unanimously approved through the 2009 Executive Order Task Force. And they were approved by six federal departments or agencies -- the departments of Defense, State, Justice and Homeland Security; the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.   

Still, Obama remains far from achieving his closure goal, with just a year and a half left in office and as Capitol Hill lawmakers threaten to make the movement of prisoners even harder.

Bullet train puts California’s future in the hole

The California High Speed Rail Authority is in damage-control mode in Southern California.

Planning is underway for the Palmdale-to-Burbank section of the $68-billion bullet train, and the rail authority is required to solicit community input on proposed routes. On Monday, Team Bullet Train was at the Santa Clarita Activities Center to comply with that legal mandate.

The strain was evident. “Santa Clarita has been very effective at vocalizing its concerns to the High Speed Rail Authority,” a rail official stated with cool irritation.

“I will lead the City Council to file a lawsuit if it goes through Santa Clarita,” Council member TimBen Boydston said later.

Public meetings usually feature members of the audience asking questions of a panel of officials and experts. Everyone can hear the answers.

Not this time. The rail authority’s meeting took place in two large rooms, with chairs set up in one room and computer displays in the other. Two officials gave a presentation in the room with the chairs but would not take questions from the people sitting in them.

“We prefer that people ask their questions individually of the experts at the open house,” an information officer said, referring to the room where engineering and environmental consultants stood near their displays like bored vendors at a trade show.

So none of the other people attending the presentation heard the experts tell me that the automobile was “a 50-year experiment that did not work out well,” or that “Ansel Adams opposed the Golden Gate Bridge, and one day opposition to high-speed rail will seem just as ridiculous,” or that “we will learn from the Europeans” how to safely evacuate train passengers from a tunnel 60 feet underground in the event of a fire or explosion.

Actually, automobile sales have been rising since 1892, Ansel Adams was a photographer of nature’s untouched beauty, and the CHSRA’s own literature on project pros and cons lists “Fire & Life Safety” as one of the “cons” of the “HSR deep tunnel.”

Via: California Political Review

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1,037,900 Jobs Deficit: U.S. Created 16x as Many Jobs in Mexico as Mexico in U.S.

CNSNews.com) - U.S.-majority-owned multinational enterprises employed 1,106,700 in Mexico in 2012 (the latest year on record), according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, but Mexican-majority owned enterprises employed only 68,800 in the United States that year.

That means that U.S.-controlled multinationals employed 1,037,900 more people in Mexico than Mexican-controlled multinationals employed in the United States.

Put another way, multinational enterprises that had a majority U.S. ownership employed 16 times as many people in Mexico as Mexican-controlled multinationals employed in the United States.

Forty-nine percent of the jobs--546,500 of 1,106,700--that U.S.-controlled multinationals maintained in Mexico in 2012 were in manufacturing, according to the BEA. (See Table 5.2 in the August 2014 BEA report "Activities of U.S. Multinationl Enterprises in 2012.")

Those 546,500 Mexican manufacturing workers employed by U.S.-controlled multinationals included at least 100,000 in transportation equipment manufacturing, 71,300 in food manufacturing, 53,700 in computer and electronic products manufacturing, 34,000 in machinery manufacturing, 32,200 in chemical manufacturing, 30,500 in electrical equipment, appliances and components manufacturing, 18,600 in primary and fabricated metals manufacturing.

Of the 68,800 that Mexican-controlled multinationals employed in the United States in 2012, 56,200 were in manufacturing, according to the BEA.

The 546,500 that U.S.-controlled multinationals employed in manufacturing in Mexico was almost 10 times as many as the 56,200 Mexican-controlled multinationals employed in manufacturing here.

The overall number of workers that U.S.-majority-owned multinationals employ in Mexico has been increasing.

Via: CNS News

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ObamaCare: King v. Burwell -- More than Tax Credits

As the Obama administration nervously waits for a Supreme Court decision in King v. Burwell, there is another aspect to the case that has nothing to do with ObamaCare or tax subsidies. King v. Burwell tells the story of a president who overstepped the limits of his authority by unilaterally changing key provisions of the law without Congressional approval. It’s also a story of an administration’s repeated efforts to interfere in Congressional inquiries to determine whether IRS and Treasury officials were pressured into promulgating rules that are contrary to statutory text and favorable to the administration’s political objectives. 

The issues raised in King v. Burwell weren’t created in a vacuum -- they are the consequence of a poorly written law that was hastily passed through the reconciliation process. A Supreme Court ruling in favor of plaintiffs would be a strong rebuke for President Obama, who repeatedly altered key provisions of the law. Even if the Supreme Court rules against plaintiffs, the story does not end, for there are other rules that are also contrary to the plain language of the law.

Almost immediately after Obamacare was signed into law, the Obama administration began to eliminate, postpone, and alter key provisions without Congressional approval. The first to go was the CLASS Act, a provision that the Congressional Budget Office relied on to justify the cost of the law. Next were the SHOPs, which were supposed to level the playing field for small business owners by expanding their options to purchase affordable and quality healthcare plans for employees. Next, and with no prior warning, President Obama delayed implementation of the Employer Mandate, but he did not do the same for the Individual Mandate. Other provisions, including COOPs and the Navigator program, fell to the wayside.  

Once the rulemaking process began, some members of Congress became concerned that department officials were not interpreting the law’s plain meaning. When the IRS issued its proposed rule for the tax credits in 2011, it was met with strong opposition from Congressional members including Senator Orrin Hatch, then the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. Hatch questioned the legality of the proposed rule and in December 2011 sent a letter to the Department of the Treasury asking for all of the documents related to the development of the rule and the reasoning behind it. To date, the IRS and the Treasury Department have not responded to Hatch’s request. 
In September 2014, Darrell Issa, then Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, issued a Congressional subpoena to the IRS and Treasury requesting the same documents. The subpoena was ignored. After Issa moved to compel production of the documents, the Obama administration intervened and blocked the request. To date, no documents have been produced. 

Via: American Thinker

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Why Veterans Preferred to Call These 10 Cities Home

1. PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Pittsburgh has an active business community with a number of companies headquartered in the area. The Pittsburgh area offers a vibrant downtown, historic neighborhoods and plenty to do with ample downtown shopping and nightlife along the river.

>> Find Out How Much You Need to Make in Pittsburgh

>> Start Your Separation Checklist

Pittsburgh Snapshot

• Population - 2,357,981

• Median Home Price - $113,500

• Median Rental Price 2BR - $799

• Unemployment - 6.8%

• Local Employers - Alcoa, FedEx Ground

• Nearby College - University of Pittsburgh

2. AUSTIN, TEXAS

Austin area residents enjoy a strong economy, education opportunities, attractive housing options, a relatively pleasant climate and abundant activities. Area highlights include the University of Texas, an important music scene and a large tech industry. 

>> Find Out How Much You Need to Make in Austin

>> Start Your Separation Checklist

Austin Snapshot

• Population - 1,731,777

• Median Home Price - $201,400

• Median Rental Price 2BR - $1,098

• Unemployment - 5.2%

• Local Employers - Union Pacific, City of Austin 

• Nearby Colleges - University of Texas

3. OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma City, the capital and largest metro in the state, is a major hub for the oil industry and related manufacturing. The modern downtown features attractive parks and the restored "Bricktown" residential and entertainment district with a canal and promenade. 

>> Find Out How Much You Need to Make in Oklahoma City

>> Start Your Separation Checklist

Oklahoma City Snapshot

• Population - 1,256,947

• Median Home Price - $126,000

• Median Rental Price 2BR - $751

• Unemployment - 5.1%

• Local Employers - 77 Energy, Chesapeake Energy

• Nearby Colleges - University of Oklahoma

Via: Daily Caller

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SENATE REPUBLICANS WARN ADMINISTRATION POTENTIALLY VIOLATING EXEC. AMNESTY INJUNCTION WITH CRYSTAL CITY FACILITY

Senate Republicans are pressing the Obama administration on its newly revealed plans to use a facility initially leased to house employees who would process executive amnesty — currently blocked by a court injunction — as a general immigration service center without consulting Congress.

As Breitbart News reported Thursday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has confirmed that it will be using the building leased in Arlington, Virginia’s Crystal City neighborhood to process executive amnesty workloads to instead process other immigration benefits not held up in the courts.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan and General Services Administration Acting Administrator Denise Turner Roth, Republican Members of the the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committees, express concern about the unilateral decision and warn it could violate the ongoing injunction blocking executive amnesty.

“It appears USCIS intends to circumvent Congress yet again, this time by not consulting with Congress or the public regarding the designation of a new Service Center.  Following the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) established four Service Centers in California, Texas, Nebraska and Vermont to process benefits applications arising from that legislation.  The Service Centers were established as a direct result of Congress passing a legalization program and expanding benefits to a certain defined class.”

Via: Breitbart

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Malkin: Why America Hates The GOP-Obamatrade Deal

Constitutional conservatives don't like it. Trade unions abhor it. Obama critics hate it. Environmentalists despise it.

Outside the Beltway bubble, a broad coalition of voters from the left, right and center opposes the mega-trade deal getting rammed through Congress this week by the Republican establishment on behalf of the White House. Here's why.

The Obama administration, House GOP leader John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have sold out American sovereignty. Their so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission will have sweeping authority over trade, immigration, environmental, labor and commerce regulations.

As alert watchdogs U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest and U.S. Rep Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., warn: "By adopting fast-track, Congress would be formally authorizing the President to finalize the creation of this Pacific Union and will have surrendered its legislative prerogatives. Before a word, line, paragraph, or page of this plan is made public, Congress will have agreed to give up its treaty powers. ... In effect, one of the most sweeping international agreements seen in years will be given less legislative scrutiny and process than a Post Office reform bill."

The Obama administration, House GOP leader John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have sold out legislative transparency. Boehner smugly asserts that so-called Trade Promotion Authority puts Congress in charge and promotes "more openness" on trade talks. Nonsense. Under the Boehner/Obama plan, Congress gives up its ability to amend any trade deals under fast track, severely limits the ability to debate and lowers the vote threshold in the Senate from 61 to 51. The 11 international parties negotiating with Obama on TPP refuse to sign their dotted lines until Congress agrees to pre-agree to behemoth global trade pacts -- sight unseen.

As Obamatrade cheerleader and Big Business crony Sen. Orrin Hack, I mean Hatch, admitted, "I don't know fully what's in TPP myself."

The secretive wheeling and dealing on the massive 29-chapter draft (kept under classified lock-and-key and only a tiny portion of which have been publicly disclosed through WikiLeaks) make the backroom Obamacare negotiations look like a gigantic solar flare of openness and public deliberation. Fast-track Republicans, who rightfully made a stink when Nancy Pelosi declared that "we have to pass the [Obamacare] bill so that you can find out what is in it," now have no transparency legs to stand on.

Via: Truth Revolt

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Republicans Watch With Bewilderment As Democrats Flounder on Trade

June 12, 2015 It's a new vantage point for Republican leaders. After nearly five years of intra-party squabbling of their own, Republicans are watching Democrats erupt into disarray over their own president's trade bill.

Friday morning, President Obama made his final pitch to the caucus, travelling to the Hill to do so. But, the president's only one of many messengers. Unions and other progressive groups have been lobbying members to vote against Trade Promotion Authority, which limits Congress to an up or down vote on future trade deals, as well as Trade Adjustment Assistance, a Democratic priority that provides resources for workers displaced by future trade deals. Democratic leaders had largely stayed neutral on the trade package, leaving the whip operation to the Obama administration.

On the actual vote, Democratic leadership split, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi giving a speech just before the vote declaring her opposition. Pelosi voted against TAA while Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer would up voting for it. TAA went down by a big 302-126 margin, seriously imperilling the fate of Obama's trade deal.

Republicans pounced that Obama's inability to get members of his own party to support him was a reflection of his waning appeal on Capitol Hill.

"Democrats are caught up in a real challenge where the President of the United States has no clout with their members and they viewed it that the president has never paid attention to them, and when he came asking for something, he was out of step," said Pete Sessions, the chairman of the House Rules Committee.

Via: National Journal

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GOP Weekly Address: Troop Funding 'Most Important' Role of Government, Saturday June 12, 2015

Sen. Roy Blunt encourages the passing of bipartisan legislation as well as the importance of a bill that will provide funding for troops and their families.

President Obama and other Senate Democrat leaders say they will oppose the bill unless Congress increases spending in other areas such as the Internal Revenue Service.

“We can spend all the time we want talking about other priorities and all the other things we should be doing, but almost every American and an overwhelming number of Missourians, agree with me: the most important role of the federal government is to do the one thing we sure can’t do by ourselves – defend our country,” said Blunt.

Via You Tube

Obama Weekly Address, Saturday June 12, 2015

In this week's address, the President reiterated that his top priority is to grow the American economy and ensure that every hardworking American has a fair shot at success. It’s because of this commitment that the President has worked to enact smart new trade agreements that level the playing field for our workers, open new markets for our businesses, and hold other countries to the kinds of high standards that Americans are proud to hold ourselves to here at home. 

On Friday, Republicans and Democrats in the House took an important step by voting to help the United States negotiate and enforce high-standard trade deals. But they also failed to renew Trade Adjustment Assistance, despite the fact that it provides vital support to about 100,000 workers, and passed the Senate with bipartisan support. The President urged the House to pass TAA without delay so that more middle-class workers can earn the chance to participate and succeed in our global economy.  

Via: White House

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Obama's Ambition Threatens The Separation Of The Powers Of Government

President Obama has crossed another red line, and not one so easily erased as those smudged out by his lethargy and timidity in the Middle East. American representative government and its more important but allusive essence, democracy, have been protected in many ways over two centuries of American history. There is, of course, the written Constitution, which sets out the basic requirements of government.

But above and beyond that, there’s the role of respect — and civility — in relationships that guarantee that these words on paper will be respected, however much in the breach.

In fact, usage as well as legalism has defined the growth of American democracy. In one of the unique features of American constitutionalism — as distinguished from inheritance of British common law — the Founders embraced the separation of powers, with each of the three equal branches of government clearly defined. The Founders turned their backs on a basic principle of British government at the time, the paramountcy of Parliament over both the king and his courts.

The Founders certainly foresaw, especially the more conservative among the revolutionaries, James Madison, that no written document alone could preserve the liberties of the new country. It was Madison’s genius that he set out to balance one branch of government against the others.

But it has never been clear that the Founders, in their considerable wisdom about governments and regimes which had gone before, meant to establish what has come to be known as “judicial supremacy.” But it quickly became an obvious manifestation of the workings of the new government that, finally, in the interplay of carefully balanced legislative, executive and judicial branches, there would have to be occasional final arbitration. The Supreme Court, in Marbury v. Madison, ruled in 1803 that the Supreme Court had the authority to determine whether a law, the work of Congress and the enforcement by the president, was constitutional.

Mr. Obama has challenged this crucial tradition twice. Once he rebuked the justices of the Supreme Court to their faces at his State of the Union address in 2012, and now, at a press conference, Mr. Obama has crossed two red lines. He rebuked the court for entertaining a challenge to Obamacare, and more important, he tried to pressure the Court as it deliberates. This threatens the very interplay among the three branches. Such a threat is beneath the presidency. We suspect the president knows better. The other branches of the government dare not let him get by with it.

Via: Washington Times

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Standoff continues after Dallas Police HQ attack

DALLAS — Dallas police were in a standoff Saturday morning after suspects in an armored van opened fire on the department's headquarters before leading officers on a chase to Hutchins, about 10 miles southeast.

Just before 9 a.m., police executed a planned detonation on the vehicle as the standoff reached roughly eight hours. The armored van was "disabled" by police at 5:40 a.m.

Sources told News 8 that the suspect in the armored van may have been injured in the initial shootout Saturday. Police had not communicated with the suspect for quite some time, as of 8:30 a.m.

Police were using robots to examine the suspect's vehicle.

The South Side on Lamar apartment complex in the 1400 block of South Lamar was evacuated as a precaution after one or more bombs were discovered outside police headquarters.

Just after 6 a.m., Dallas Police Maj. Max Geron said on Twitter that officers were clearing the station.

"Not 'evacuating' but getting officers to clear in service from the station," he said in response to a tweet.

The area around Dallas police headquarters was sealed off after suspicious packages were found following a shootout. (Photo: WFAA)

Dallas police Chief David Brown said four suspicious bags were found outside the building. Two explosive devices were found and detonated, while the other two ended up being trash, according to Maj. Geron.

Via: WFAA

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For Democrats split on trade, the fight is getting personal.

President Obama's feeling the heat -- from Democrats ahead of Friday's vote on trade legislation. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Democrats feel backed into a corner on today's high-stakes vote on Obama's trade deals. And they're letting it show.

The House of Representatives is expected to take a very important vote Friday on legislation known as fast track. It would give Obama leeway to negotiate two massive deals with Pacific Rim nations and Europe. Broadly speaking, Republicans support the plan. Democrats, not so much.

[The congressional trade deal explained, in 6 factions]

Labor unions, those well-funded foundations of all that is good for the Democratic Party, absolutely hate the trade deals. Unions have promised to spend cash, lots of it, to take out any Democrat who supports Friday's vote.

So as Obama works with House Republican and Democratic leaders to shove fast-track legislation through on what's expected to be a razor-thin vote, most of the 188 House Democrats feel their career hanging in the balance.

And they're increasingly attacking not just the trade deal, but their own president.

Obama arrives on the Hill for trade vote(0:35)

President Obama made an 11th-hour appeal to dubious Democrats on Friday in a tense run-up to a House showdown on legislation to strengthen his hand in global trade talks. (AP)

The vitriol started with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). As the Senate prepared to vote on fast track last month (it passed 62 to 38), the liberal darling was so vocal about the secrecy surrounding Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership deal with 11 other countries that she earned a rare diss from Obama.

Via: Washington Post

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