Friday, December 9, 2022
Biden Exchanges a Russian Blood-Thirsty Murderer for Brittney Griner who Hates America
WNBA star Brittney Griner was freed by Russia on Thursday in exchange for an infamous arms dealer who schemed to kill US pilots in Colombia — sparking outrage from critics who blasted the deal and called it a “surrender” by President Biden.
The 6-foot-9 basketball player — missing her iconic dreadlocks following nearly 10 months in Russian custody — was traded for “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout on the tarmac of an Abu Dhabi airport in a dramatic scene reminiscent of Cold War prisoner swaps.
“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” Biden said at the White House, where he was joined by Griner’s wife, Cherelle.
But the controversial deal left ex-Marine Paul Whelan languishing in a Russian prison on what the US has called baseless espionage charges.
“I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” Whelan told CNN from the penal colony where he’s being held.
“I am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four-year anniversary of my arrest is coming up,” Whelan, 53, told CNN.
“My bags are packed. I’m ready to go home. I just need an airplane to come and get me.”
Former White House national security adviser and American ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton also blasted the exchange.
“This is not a deal. This is not a swap. This is a surrender,” he told CBS News.
"And terrorists and rogue states all around the world will take note of this, and it endangers other Americans in the future who can be grabbed and used as bargaining chips by people who don’t have the same morals and scruples that we do.”
Laura Loomer gets Her Twitter Back
Over recent weeks, Elon Musk has proven to be serious about his intention to restore free speech to Twitter, and continues to reinstate Twitter accounts taken down by the previous management.
On Thursday, Twitter reinstated the account of Laura Loomer, a political activist who has been banned on Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, & even getting her bank account shut down.
Loomer was banned in 2018, after she posted a tweet criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar.
The tweet that caused her to be cancelled, was when Loomer called Omar “anti-Jewish”, and said she is a member of a religion in which “homosexuals are oppressed” and “women are abused” and “forced to wear the hijab.”
At the time, Twitter decided that Loomer violated their rules against hateful conduct.
Loomer never accepted the suspension, all the while maintaining that no rules were violated. “Everything I said is 100 percent true and factual. It’s not malicious, it’s not mean, it’s not hateful,” she said.
Around a week after the suspension, Loomer handcuffed herself to the front doors of Twitter’s New York headquarters, while wearing a Yellow Star of David and carrying a bullhorn and several printed-out tweets.
She told reporters she was protesting Twitter’s double standard of banning her for hateful coneduct, while allowing vicious Jew haters, such as anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to remain on the platform.
On Thursday, Loomer tweeted, “After getting BANNED on Twitter in 2018, and being digitally exterminated on nearly every other social media site, payment processor, Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, & my own bank, I’M BACK!!!!! Elom Musk has finally unchained me from the doors of Twitter HQ! Thank you, Elon!”
Thursday, December 8, 2022
2,200-year-old Greek sling bullet used against Jews in Hanukkah story found in Yavna
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| The archaeological site in Yavne, with the city in the background, in an undated photo released on December 8, 2022. (Assaf Peretz/Israel Antiquities Authority) |
Some 2,200 years ago, a Greek soldier stood in battle in what is now the Israeli city of Yavne, aimed his sling at Jewish Hasmonean troops, and launched a projectile at them during battles that would later become part of the story of Hanukkah.
At least, that is one option suggested following the discovery in Yavne of a sling bullet made of lead and bearing a Greek inscription reading “Victory for Heracles and Hauron” — a possible attempt at psychological warfare against enemies.
The Israel Antiquities Authority, which revealed the finding, told The Times of Israel that the sling bullet was discovered about a year ago and has been studied since then. It timed the announcement for Wednesday, 10 days before Hanukkah.
The IAA said in a statement that the sling bullet found in Yavne’s major archaeological site is 4.4 centimeters (1.7 inches) long and around 2,200 years old. Its age places it around the time of the battles between the Seleucid army against the Hasmoneans, who were seeking to prevent the Hellenization of the Jews.
The researchers, however, acknowledged that it isn’t known in what context the slingshot was used, and that there was no conclusive evidence that it even belonged to a Greek soldier.
“It seems that we will not be able to know for sure if the sling bullet belonged to a Greek soldier, but it is not impossible that it is related to the conflict between the Greeks and the Hasmoneans,” said Pablo Betzer and Dr. Daniel Varga, who directed the excavation on behalf of the IAA, in the statement.
.Israel Ranked as the 5th Safest Country in the World to Visit
Despite recent terror bombings and rockets launched from Gaza, Israel is ranked as one of the safest countries for visitors, according to travel website The Swiftest.
Israel was ranked as the 5th-safest country in the world to visit, just behind Singapore, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
According to The Swiftest’s scoring system, Israel is safer for tourists than the U.S., the UK and Japan.
The site compared the world’s top 50 countries for tourism and used metrics such as the murder rate, road traffic deaths, natural disaster risk, and deaths from unsanitary conditions in order to give each country a score.
Data on those risk rates was pulled from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Health Organization, and World Bank.
The least-safe countries in the world for tourism were listed as South Africa, India, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Brazil.
Countries received a grade, from A (excellent) to F (very poor) in a number of categories, along with an overall letter grade score summarizing the general safety situation of the country.
Israel earned an overall score of A for tourist safety, while the U.S. trailed behind with a C minus score.
The U.S.’ score was lowered by an F in the murder rate category, due to a high number of per capita homicides.
The U.S. State Department has a medium risk-level travel warning for Israel.
“Terrorist groups, lone-wolf terrorists and other violent extremists continue plotting possible attacks in Israel,” reads the warning on the U.S. site.
“Terrorists and violent extremists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities. Violence can occur in Israel … without warning.”
According to recently released figures from the Tourism Ministry, some 2 million tourists visited Israel between January and October 2022.
The Ministry expects that 2.5 million people will have visited Israel by the end of the year after nearly two years of a pandemic-induced blanket ban on non-citizens, which devastated the local tourism industry.
In 2019, Israel reached an all-time tourism high of 4.5 million visitors.
AOC Under Investigation Over Possible Ethics Violations
AOC is being investigated by Congress over possible ethics violations.
The House Committee on Ethics is investigating NY Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to a statement the panel released on Wednesday.
The statement said that the panel will announce its course of action after its organizational meeting in the next Congress.
Although few details have been released, the socialist’s chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti has been accused of diverting more than $1 million in campaign donations into a slush fund controlled by two private companies registered to him.
A spokesperson for AOC said that she is confident that the case would be dismissed. “The Congresswoman has always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations or other special interests,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The Office of Congressional Ethics forwarded its inquiry into Ocasio-Cortez to the House ethics panel in June. Typically, when that office refers an investigation, it is because the office has reason to believe an ethics law was broken.
Wednesday’s statement was attributed to acting Chair Susan Wild (D-Pa.) and Ranking Member Michael Guest (R-Miss.).
The House Committee on Ethics recently voted to extend the investigation, triggering Wednesday’s disclosure.
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
How to scrub your phone number and address from Google search
This is important to know in case any of your personal (NOT professional) information gets posted publicly.
That means if your cell phone number that you don't want clients or anyone you don't know to have comes up in a Google search for your name, you can request this to be removed.
You can use this request feature if personal information has been shared (on a website you don't control or in a news story to harm you, for example) against your wishes.
If you don't have a Google account, use this form to request information be removed from a Google search result.
If you do have a Google account, follow these steps.
1. Go to Google.com and search for your name
2. Find the search result that includes personal information (email, phone number, or home address) you don't want to appear in this search result
3. Next to the link of every Google search result, you'll see three vertical dots, like this:
Tap the three dots to request that Google remove information from a search result.
4. Tap the three dots to reveal menu options
5. Tap Remove result
6. Tap It shows my personal contact info
7. Fill out the information (be sure to use the exact information shown on the search request) and submit your request.
8. Click I'm done
You'll receive an email confirmation that your request was submitted within a few hours.
Requesting this be removed does not guarantee it, but it's helpful to try and remove any personal information you don't want online.
DemonRats Ignore The Biden Crooks and Investigate the Kushner family business dealings
Demonrats on a pair of congressional committees have launched an aggressive new effort to obtain information about whether Jared Kushner’s actions on U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf region as a senior White House adviser were influenced by the bailout of a property owned by his family business.
Citing previously undisclosed emails and other documents related to former president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, the committees on Monday night sent letters to the State and Defense departments requesting material that they say could shed new light on whether “Kushner’s financial conflict of interest may have led him to improperly influence U.S. tax, trade and national security policies for his own financial gain.”
Did Arabs and Jews live in peace in 19th century Palestine?
from the Elders of Zion Blog
I saw once again today the assertion, in an academic paper, that Arabs and Jews lived quite well together in the late 19th century in Palestine.
I looked at the footnote and it refers to a 2014 paper by Menachem Klein, which brings an impressive amount of evidence for cooperation between the Jews of Palestine and the Arabs, including Arabic words that became part of Palestinian Yiddish and Yiddish words that became part of Arabic, as well as evidence of the groups working together, even politically, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Whenever I read this sort of thing, I wonder how this jives with anecdotal evidence of derision and insults from Arabs to Jews in the 19th century. For example, John MacGregor published in 1870 that "Men in Palestine call their fellows 'Jew' as the very lowest of all possible words of abuse."
In an 1824 letter from Rev. W. B. Lewis to the London Society, he writes, "Jerusalem is truly miserable, groaning under the tyranny of the oppressor. Jews...are subject to daily insults, and are shamefully and inhumanly oppressed." He then gives page after page of examples of Muslims treating Jews like garbage, stealing from them, the Ottoman authorities falsely accusing Jews and their Rabbinic leaders of petty crimes and torturing them and extorting obscene sums of money as fines. (See below)
James Finn, the British consul to Jerusalem from 1846-1863, says that Jerusalem Jews were forced to bury their dead at night: - "the usual practice is to pay the gate-keeper to let them out of the town in the middle of the night, and this from fear of having the dead disinterred by Moslems or Christians."
There were pogroms against Jews in 1834 in Hebron and Safed, in 1837 in Safed again, and in 1847 a Jewish boy was accused of a blood libel in Jerusalem.
How can we reconcile the stories of Arab abuse of and attacks on Jews in Palestine with the academics who claim that Jews and Arabs lived so cooperatively?
It appears that before the 1840s, the Jews were indeed treated like dirt. Then things started changing.
The reason is that the increasing number of European Jews could appeal to their own governments for protection, starting in that decade. Different European powers even competed for influence in the Ottoman Empire and protecting Jews gave them more power.
Oddly, in 1848 the Russians told their Jewish subjects that they would no longer be protected, and the British consul stepped in to be their protector. This protection made it much harder for Jews to be routinely harassed by the Arabs - being backed by European powers suddenly gave the Jews powers they hadn't had beforehand.
Only after the Jews came under the protection of European states did the Arabs start to treat the Jews with more respect. The Ottoman leaders were no longer able to mistreat most of their Jewish subjects out of fear of creating an international incident.
It is an old story:
Arabs respect power. When Jews were powerless, Arabs treated them like garbage. Only when they had some protection did the Arabs start to "live with them together in peace." Did the Arabs suddenly become philosemitic? Of course not. But they were practical: The Jews couldn't be attacked with impunity anymore.
And that is the story of Israel in a nutshell. When Israel acts weak, it invites Arab (now, Palestinian) derision and attacks. Acting strong is the only formula for peace. It isn't a peace based on love or friendship, but a peace based on respect.
It is no different now than in was 200 years ago.
(Some information here comes from Arabs and Jews in Ottoman Palestine: Two Worlds Collide, by Alan Dowty.)
___________________________________
Here are excerpts of the 1924 letter from W. B. Lewis with many examples of Arab oppression of Jews, most first-hand:
New York Slimes Walks Back False Report on Gaza Fishing Industry
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| New York Times Anti-semitic Cartoon |
The New York Times has published an editor’s note correcting its false report that Gaza’s fishing industry is on the verge of collapse due to an Israeli blockade of the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.
Using official Palestinian statistics, the media watchdog group Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) proved to the Times that the claim is false. CAMERA provided information indicating that the fishermen have more than doubled their annual catch in the last 15 years. In addition, the number of registered fishing boats has also more than doubled, according to Tamar Sternthal, director of CAMERA’s Israel’s office.
In a Nov. 27 article, “Amid Israeli Blockade on Gaza a Fishing Fleet Limps Along,” Times correspondent Raja Abdulrahim claimed the Israeli blockade has been “devastating for the Gaza Strip’s fishing industry.”
But CAMERA refuted the claim and provided the Times with research data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics disproving the false statement.
On Dec. 3, the Times printed the editor’s note acknowledging the article omitted important context, leaving the impression that the industry has been devastated. “The current catch is higher than that in the early years of the blockade,” the note reads.
“CAMERA staff are doing the basic research that Times staff should be doing themselves,” stated Andrea Levin, executive director and president of CAMERA. “Abdulrahim’s story claiming Gaza’s fishing industry is collapsing falls completely apart when you look at the facts. But the Times’ impulse to run with any storyline blaming Israel subverts ethical reporting norms and leads again and again to these blunders.”
Dems Secure Senate Majority as Anti-Israel Warnock Wins Georgia
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock on Tuesday beat Republican Herschel Walker by a margin of 51.3% to 48.7% in a runoff election, becoming the first full-term first Black senator from Georgia. Warnock, a Methodist pastor, and Medicaid activist, initially won his seat in a 2020 special election, defeating incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler. His win gave the Democrats 50 of the Senate seats, and they ruled the chamber with the help of Vice President Kamala Harris who is the president of the Senate.
Chaidie Leaders of Meron now Attempting to Shift Blame on Police
The senior officers said it will take time because of the huge crowd to get through!
Why not focus on the actual issue of how FRUM leaders allowed this to happen to begin with?!?! They were warned of the potential disaster but, as usual, they knew better! They have blood on their hands!
In newly released recordings of police discussions which occurred during the hour prior to the Meron disaster in 2021, police can be heard warning their superiors of an impending catastrophe.
Israel’s Kan news revealed the jarring recordings from the half hour preceding the tragic disaster in which 45 people were trampled to death. Reporter Moshe Steinmetz says that the recording demonstrates that the Meron tragedy was not only the result of poor infrastructure and overcrowding, but was also a huge tactical failure on the part of police senior officials, who were warned by their subordinates that the situation was dangerous and they needed more backup forces but did not provide the necessary reinforcements to close the deadly bottleneck at the Dov bridge.
At 12:14 police officers at the bridge said that “its getting very crowded here, there are huge gatherings, people are jostling, come here now.” A similar warning was issued at 12:22, more than 20 minutes before the catastrophe. The warnings became more urgent as the catastrophe grew closer, and the local police headquarters queried what was going on. The police answered that they needed urgent backup, asking: Where are the sleeping officers?” Police further up at the Kohanim porch also noticed the unusual crush and asked for backup to close the porch and stop the masses from exiting the area.
One of the senior officers attempted to calm the juniors, stating “its because of the Hadlakah [Toldos Aharon] it will take at least another half an hour.” The police at the Kohanim porch succeeded belatedly in stopping people from descending but it was too late for the masses near the Dov bridge, who were already being crushed as they attempted to descend. The senior officers were still asking why reinforcements were needed while the juniors said that the entrances needed to be closed because “people are trampling one another.”
Naftali Bennett Sues Rabbi Who Claimed His Parents Are Not Jewish
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett has filed a 1 million shekel lawsuit against a rabbi who falsely claimed that Bennett’s parents, Myrna and Jim, were not Jewish.
The defamation lawsuit alleges that the false claims and “appalling epithets and curses” were seen by hundreds of thousands of people. The rabbi has more than 150,000 followers on social media.
In “sermons” posted online, he falsely claimed that Bennett’s mother underwent a Reform conversion in the US, and that he is “worse than a dog,” who is at least loyal.
To illustrate how widespread the claim was, Bennett pointed out that Google users search for his mother are suggested by algorithm to add the words “Christian” or “convert .
Bennett said that his mother, Myrna — whose parents come from generations of Jews, some of whom “were murdered in the Holocaust for being Jewish” — received “many inquiries over the past year in regard to doubts about her Judaism,” which “brought her great pain and sadness.”
Bennett said that damages he receives from the lawsuit will be donated to organizations that assist the families of fallen IDF soldiers.
One million shekel is equal to over $292,000.
Monday, December 5, 2022
UTJ said to request full authority at Meron, site of disaster So they can Cover-up the Faults of the Chareidie Leaders
Years before this tragedy, police were warning the Chareidie Askanim and leaders that this Meron was a "tragedy waiting to happen" but the Rebbes refused to listen and in fact fought tooth and nail not to have any police supervision of Meron. They called it "Zionist Intervention."
All public places where the police are in control, places like the Kotel, Kever Rachel, Mearas Ha'Machpeilah etc are basically places that crowds can safely enter and exit.
We don't really know what happened at Meron, but now we will never find out. The families of the victims must sue every one of these Chassidishe Rebbes in court so that maybe just maybe we would get some of the truth out.
Chareidim blamed the police and it could be that police did have a hand in this tragedy but now we will never know,
United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush has requested full responsibility over Mount Meron, a significant religious site in the Upper Galilee, including implementing recommendations made by a committee investigating the deadly disaster during Lag B’Omer festivities there last year, according to a Sunday report.
The Haredi party lawmaker made the request during coalition talks with the Likud party, the Walla news site reported.
Citing sources involved in the talks, the report said the ultra-Orthodox lawmaker wants responsibility over any changes to be made as a result of the findings of the government committee probing the tragic crush at the site in 2021 — which left 45 people dead and more than 150 injured.
Rabbi Dr. Ahron Twersky Predicts Agudah Will Become ‘Irrelevant’ Due to Not Representing Chassidim
Interesting!
So Chassidim are not happy with their own organizations and now want to take control of the Aguda as well.
Have you ever seen a Litvisher Gadol in the Eida Hachreidis?
And how come when the good Dr. Twersky mentioned all the Chassidic groups, he leaves out Chabad? I guess Chabad is only good when they need a hot lunch when they travel.
Dr Twersky is correct when he says that the Aguda will become irrelevant in two or three years but not because they don't have any Chassidim on the Moetzes Torah Hagdolah, they are irrelevant because they are out of touch with the "hamoin am"
If the Chassidim would join, you would no longer recognize the Aguda.
Dr Twersky is not being genuine, he knows that Bobov was never part of Agudah, Satmar hates any organization that they cannot control, same with Chabad. Satmar is also opposed to the Daf HaYoimie, a big Aguda program.
Dr. Twersky also knows it not practical to appoint Chassidishe Rebbes on the Moetzes. If you appointed Bobover 48, Bobov 45 would scream. Let's for argument's sake say that Satmar would join, so who would you appoint? R' Zalman Leib or R' Aron? His whole speech was a waste of time, and the listeners will never get those 20 minutes back.
Jaw-dropper: At @AgudahNews convention panel on antisemitism, Rabbi prof. Aaron Twersky reprimanded umbrella group for excluding Hasidic members & causing division, calling it “shameful.”
— Jacob Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) December 2, 2022
Twersky predicted “Agudath Israel will become irrelevant to Klal Yisroel” in a few years 💥 pic.twitter.com/SmA5VBMOIt
While appearing at a panel about antisemitism at the Agudah Convention Friday, Rabbi Dr. Ahron Twerski spoke out against the lack of Chassidic representation within the Agudah in recent years.
He said, “I used to come to Agudah conventions and feel comfortable…because there was a Chassidishe olam…for the last ten years we have been uninvited, not formally, but uninvited. The problem starts because Chassidim are not represented on the Moetzes Gedolei Torah.”
He called it “shameful” and said “there’s no excuse for it.”
Dr. Twersky predicted that “Agudath Israel will become irrelevant to Klal Yisroel” in a few years
The always gracious and even-tempered Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel responded. He first joked about how this proves that the Agudah carefully censors each speaker’s speech in advance. He then thanked Dr/ Twersky for raising the issue, and assured the audience that it is being addressed.
Turtle that lived during the times of R' Akiva Eiger & Chasam Sofer Celebrates its 190th Birthday
Jonathan the tortoise celebrated his 190th birthday as he extends his run as the longest-living land animal in the world.
Jonathan first arrived in his current home on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic in 1882 as a gift to the governor of the island, which is a British territory. At that time, he was thought to already be 50 years old.
Now notching 190 years on Earth, Jonathan is 48 inches long, the same size as when he arrived on the island. His species of tortoise reaches full maturity by 50, providing the best estimate for his age, even though some naturalists believe he could be even older.
Despite his long life, he only gained international attention in 2008 when The Independent reported on his then-remarkable age of 176.
Locals speculated as to why Jonathan has lived so long, exceeding the expected life of his breed, the Seychelles Giant tortoise, which is 150 years old.
Jonathan was five years old when Queen Victoria – Britain’s second-longest reigning monarch – took the throne, and he outlived both World Wars. He is older than the first photograph and has lived through the administrations of 39 US presidents.
Locals organized a number of events to celebrate Jonathan’s birthday, culminating in a three-day celebration.
Estimated to have been born in 1832, Jonathan has lived most of his life at the governor’s plantation house, according to the island’s website, which adds that Jonathan could arguably serve as a national symbol for the island. Jonathan’s image even adorns the backside of a St. Helena 5 pence coin.
Scientists have even studied Jonathan to determine what health benefits they might glean from his diet and his cells. Because his cells do not mutate the same way the cells of humans do, scientists hope he could reveal some secret to fighting cancer in humans.
Jonathan shares his home with three other tortoises: Emma, a 54-year-old female; David, a 54-year-old male; and Frederika, formerly Fredrik, a 31-year-old tortoise originally thought to be male but now thought to be female. The first two arrived in 1969, and Frederika arrived in 1991.
Jonathan last year surpassed the previous record-holder for oldest living land animal, a Madagascar tortoise named Tu’I Malila, who was gifted to the Tonga royal family in 1777 and died in 1965 at the age of 188 years old, according to Smithsonian magazine.
Sunday, December 4, 2022
BAT OUT OF HELL
Alarming video shows a belligerent attacker pulling a baseball bat from his pants and hitting an unsuspecting man in the back of the head on a Manhattan sidewalk.
The 47-year-old victim is knocked to the ground and the unknown attacker is seen angrily yelling over him as he lies on the sidewalk in front of 1770 Amsterdam Ave. in Hamilton Heights Tuesday at 8:06 a.m., according to the video released Saturday by the NYPD.
It’s not clear if the two had any interaction before the attack but the assailant appears to be targeting the man and glances at his face before pulling out the weapon. Police are now asking for the public’s help identifying the assailant.
The video clip released by authorities shows the attacker fiddling with the bat in his pants with the handle covered by a hooded sweatshirt. He walks behind his intended target and nearly passes him, glancing over at his face.
At that moment, a third man walks in the opposite direction between the two and the attacker turns toward the street and stops, seeming to wait for the bystander to pass before he takes out the bat. He takes a hard swing at the victim, who tumbles to the ground and rolls around in pain.
The attacker turns and walks away, visibly furious, and appears to yell back at the victim. The bat-wielding man then returns and yells at the victim, appearing to stomp him at one point before leaving again.
The attacker was last seen in a hooded sweatshirt with “Nike” on the front, gray sweatpants and black sneakers. The victim suffered a laceration and bruising and was taken by ambulance to NYC Health and Hospitals/Harlem in stable condition, the NYPD said.
Cops are asking anyone with information to call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/.
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