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John,

The next time Harris says something meaningful and intelligent will be the first time. I did not like Obama but she’s not even a bad proxy of Obama. Harris is a zero as a leader.

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John McWhorter, I quote "you have to choose what hill you are going to die on". He believes ipso facto that the police killing of Sonya Massey (black) is automatically unjustify. Here we go again, McWhorter shooting from the hip. John is a lost cause. On the other hand brilliant Glenn Loury will never get to the promised land because he cannot live up to his own expectations. Glenn is fundamentally chained to his own skin, even his brilliance does not allow him to unlock himself. Inter alia Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Walter Williams crossed that Rubicon. Glenn is stuck with MAGA waving and cheering him from the otherside.

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John - you mention Kamala certainly is Black because she grew up in Oakland around Black kids, was a member of a black sorority, etc... my friend grew up in Houston, dated a Black female in high school and college, and was the ONLY non-Black member of a Black Fraternity. He's Chinese but by your argument growing up in the mixed-race neighborhoods of Houston, dating a Black girl for many years AND being a member of a Black Frat absolutely make him Black. Help me understand, please.

Also, you're apologetics of Kamala not having the right answers to questions because she hasn't had time - she is next in line to be POTUS! How can you not BUT be prepared? I'm surprised, John, that you actually made such a poor argument...

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Remind us John McWhorter what u told us in your book “Woke Racism” 1. Woke Progressive Racism has been made into a Religion, which “is NOT progressive” and “we must treat woke racism like a virus…, ““step around it”, “corral it, “ “hope it disappears,”“it is NOT progressive” Wokeness is something we “must resist.” The Elect, those head of Woke Racism you said have SATAN as their God So John what do u propose we do with this THESE ARE YOUR WORDS JIOHN NOT MINE NOT A PARAPHRASE

so again what do you propose we do with this video below

https://youtube.com/shorts/fn9Iujqpo5Q?si=E97y1MBUti5R4_Ij

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This is Glenn’s way of endorsing Kamala and giving her as much manipulated juice as possible Shame on you Glenn

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I’m struck at how superficial this conversation by two people who call themselves intellectuals. Why not read the preface of John’s book Woke Racism wherein he says that the black community has taken a detour in their moral development that he doesn’t think is very good into an ideology of woke progressivism that they’ve very literally turned into a religion he likens to Pentecostalism which is “….attempting to transform this country on the basis of racism…” Since John McWhorter wrote in his book that he doesn’t believe this to be good for the black community then what are folks to do when told to become this in the video below?

https://youtube.com/shorts/fn9Iujqpo5Q?si=E97y1MBUti5R4_Ij

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John mentioned that Kamala was black because she went to elementary school with black children and played with them. My Italo-Scottish children did the same in Statesville, NC. Their light faces were a contrast to the majority of the children who had African ancestry. I would agree with Glenn's skepticism of Kamala's black identity, since I don't think my adult children could claim to be black. On another note: It does bother me that Glenn is so concerned about "black enough". On the one had, Glenn seems done with identity politics, and on the other hand, he cannot let us all be Americans and forget the racial divides. Perhaps future episodes will make Glenn's concerns over Kamala's racial identity more clear. Overall, the Glenn / John dialog. is thought provoking and has merit. Keep up the good work.

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Did you read Woke Racism by John McWhortet? I’m so confused bc John seems to have done an about face… I don’t undetstand

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Second quick edit: “On average, annually, over the same time period…” that being: 2015-June 30, 2024

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Quick edit: 300+ since 2019, and counting first few months of 2024

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Given the discussion of candidates and our increasingly racialized politics, and John’s mention of the Washington Post database, see examples below.

WAPO database in Minnesota: Since 2015 (9.5 years), there have been 100+ police shooting deaths in Minnesota. 60% white; 24% black; 7% Native American; 5% Hispanic; 4% Asian.

Regarding just a few of the 24%, enter Ben Crump. First, publish photo of deceased holding a baby. Ignore criminal records and current felony warrants. Sue city. Build memorial. Enlist guilty white liberals. Repeat.

Additional Minnesota shooting deaths from Minneapolis police department databases, since George Floyd’s death (2020-2023): there have been over 300 non-police related homicides just in Minneapolis. Mostly gang and drug trafficking related. Mostly black and brown.

On average, annually over the same time period nationwide, there are about 1,000 police shooting deaths. Adjust database filters to see stats for your state.

Black lives do matter. What about all the rest, mostly white? Suggested historical quote to contemplate for our times: “There is that of God in every man.” (George Fox, 1658). In 2024, how about an update: “All lives matter.”

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Did u read John’s book “Woke Racism”? Like I asked James did John do an about face. I’m confused …

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The Sonya Massey case is horrible, possibly worse than any of the other high profile cases in recent years. However, a quick search on the WaPo police killings db shows a similar case also last month, Christopher Ryan Junkin (white male). It was a mental health issue, he was unarmed, and shouldn’t have died. The same cop had killed someone else the previous month, and didn’t have a good reputation around town (Crookston, MN). It’s not a complete equivalent because Junkin was walking toward the cop, but a very similar case. The better play by Al Sharpton & Co at the DNC would be to mention both cases as a means to improve mental health interactions, but won’t happen.

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How sad that the country is faced with two of the worst presidential candidates in modern history, a narcissist and a far left wannabe. Inspite of this, I can only hope that either will do what's in the best interest of the country and refrain from piling up trillions more in debt.

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Look I’m a card carrying Dem when finally pushed I looked into the hatred of Trump. I lived in Manhattan when Trump was beloved by Hillary Schumer and the left..He gave them tons of money and then guess what? He knew how the left operated thought it was wrong and decided to run himself and they hate him for it.

I didn’t realize this or why people called him a narcissist bc I remember when for years Wolman Rink in Central Park was closed and one company after the next suck money from the city charging $150 for screw because the government paid and this was there pay back. It went from company to company doing this UNTIL Trump steps in and finishes iWolman Rink in a matter of months and was New York’s hero So ok he boasts about his accomplishments. No one else will… He made the Manhattan Skyline beautiful again. And maybe he boasted probably bc no one would boast about him. But I understand your point. I was just shocked though because I went along with the hate UNTIL I did my own homework. Trump didn’t even take the President’s salary… Some things wrong here But anyway this was the list of things Trump did as President

Trump as President

Didn’t get us into any major wars

against terrorist safe havens

Eliminated Isis the terror group

Eliminated the threat of Solemani and Al Bagdadi

Withdrew from the most dangerous deal America ever engaged in with Iran in 2015 which allowed them to continue building nuclear weapons He instead reinstated sanctions

Brought hostages home

Changed NAFTA to USMCA

TAX CUTS for companies which is misunderstood when the left refers to cutting taxes for the wealth. It was for Corporations from 35% which was the highest around the world, the highest of any country in the world forcing US companies to leave America to get taxed as much as 20% less which was the average where as America was 35% so Trump put American Corporations at that average rate 21% now in line with the rest of the world...the effects to mention a few is that companies focused on expansion in the US bringing their profits back to America ...creating more jobs

higher wages by $6,000 per households

think of having 6,000 more right now and it’s documented evidence in the Census rResearch in the Government

Then COVID HIT and the left Mandated business shut downs it was horrible.

Eliminated the penalty for no insurance which had only helped double profits for Ins. Premiums which previously rose to $7000 per individual

“Right to Try” for terminally ill patients when it didn’t get done for 50 yrs.

Reversed that price tag by increasing competition which as a business person he understood unlike folks that never had a job in the real world but lived off taxpayers money…and quite well which is shocking. Mansions, 3 houses at least one by the lake one in the city one in dc Others with huge stock portfolios allowed to trade on government info This guy apparently never even took a salary while the Clinton’s left with the China from the Rose room

Lowest unemployment in US history

Lowest unemployment for blacks and Hispanics

Opportunity zones

Decided to consistently fund black colleges by committing funds overtime instead of making them come back groveling every year as has been done for decades

Increasing flexibility for school choice

Veterans —totally reformed their access to healthCare and rehabed Walter Reed

Built the military to its strongest ever which means other countries will think twice before messing with us

Restored property rights of people that Environmental policies took from families where the land had been for generations don’t get me started down that road. It’s so infuriating to think how easy it was to find out all this stuff while all I heard was Russia Russia Russia How stupid did we have to be to think this guy was a Russian agent??? The one thing about him was if he thought it he tweeted it…. He would have given himself away…

And about xenophobia …..first what I found in the clips was he didn’t want criminals like the MS 13 guys who raped tortured and killed 2 beautiful young girls a few towns from where I grew up savages that’s what I heard him saying. He wanted the nice hard work immigrants that makes sense. I don’t want savages. He just said it in a way that was easy to criticize… the other thing I discovered about him is he grew up in a church where the Pastor wrote a famous book on positive thinking…so between hard work and thinking positive this guy forged through life… and although Matt calls him Richie Rich I didn’t find that as an accurate picture. His father apparently was a tough guy. And sent him to military school which almost broke him but instead it make him work tirelessly to prove himself. And his father didn’t want him to go into the business he did in Manhattan and he was always having to prove himself. There’s just something I hadn’t seen in him bc o all that was being said about him.

Look I’m a card carrying Dem when finally pushed I looked into the hatred of Trump. I lived in Manhattan when Trump was beloved by Hillary Schumer and the left..He gave them tons of money and then guess what? He knew how the left operated thought it was wrong and decided to run himself and they hate him for it.

I didn’t realize this or why people called him a narcissist bc I remember when for years Wolman Rink in Central Park was closed and one company after the next suck money from the city charging $150 for screw because the government paid and this was there pay back. It went from company to company doing this UNTIL Trump steps in and finishes iWolman Rink in a matter of months and was New York’s hero So ok he boasts about his accomplishments. No one else will… He made the Manhattan Skyline beautiful again. And maybe he boasted probably bc no one would boast about him. But I understand your point. I was just shocked though because I went along with the hate UNTIL I did my own homework. Trump didn’t even take the President’s salary… Some things wrong here But anyway this was the list of things Trump did as President

The other thing I started to think about was Trump never censored free speech that’s been a calibration completely orchestrated by the left the Democrat party that I am a carrying member of

Trump never used the media to silence his political opposition. The left did that in such horrific wheeze. It scares me

Trump never threatened to take the peoples guns. Our guns the left did that meanwhile, they’re walking around all the time with armed guards. I don’t understand.

Trump never threatened to put people who disagreed with him politically into reeducation camps. That’s what the left said they were gonna do so scary to me.

And then the last thing I’ll say is the Middle East was not in the agitated state it is now

Serbia was talking to Kosovo

The Arabs, the Arabs now so against Israel were talking to Israel

Bahrain and the UAE Oman and Sudan were being engaged in diplomacy with Israel

Every time I hear Trump speak I hear him say I want people to stop dying

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The more research I do on the left my own party the more I uncover the idea that they want population control. They want less people that freaks me out. I remember when I was in college they said that all the people in the United States could fit in the state of Texas and have I don’t know like half an acre each, that’s how much space and land we have and I finally thought to myself. Oh my goodness oh my goodness the people in the presidency most of them never even had real jobs lived off government money, which is your taxes and my taxes. The United States is the largest corporation in the world and they don’t know how to run a business except to spend our money. I am so beside myself about this , I can hardly see straight. I don’t understand why he would say such awful things that you wouldn’t say about anybody your worst enemy that they be dead well but something has happened to make people not see clearly I didn’t see clearly and I can’t explain what it was. I didn’t think my friends were lying to me , they hated Trump. They hated Trump so it was easier for me to think that there’s a reason there must be a good reason. I love my friends but then finally when it got so bad I remember watching some of those trials. Do you know that that lady that said , she raped her first of all I lived down the block from Boll Goodman. There’s no way you could be in that store and privately rape somebody unless you went into the stairwell and she said it happened right on the floor she couldn’t remember what day what year or when it actually happened , and Box had no footage anywhere. No one Bergdorf could ever verify anything and then I found out that apparently in those cases, the statutory limitations ran out someone in the DOJ wrote some special statute to open up and eliminate those limitations on one day the next day, they charge Trump and year later , they put the statutory limitations back in I mean, what is that about? I mean I wasn’t there. I don’t know what he did, but it doesn’t seem feasible this from a woman who said she thought rape was kinda cool. I mean she was a little eccentric. I just happened to be home and and watch that and I had to shut it off , that’s why I just don’t understand and it was painful John I mean, I don’t know why he always calls him a gorilla moron I mean, how could the guy be a moron look at the branch built and all the people that have always loved him, Trump. I mean it’s just heartbreaking because I think the heart is deceitfully wicked and that the end of the day without God we’re all lost , I want you to have researched so that if you ever do research it you can verify all this. It’s true oh you know then I thought about this whole thing with the drugs and insulin going down to $35 I lived in DC also for a decade and I had done a lot of homework when the whole virus was and I was trying to get some information from the FDA well the truth is , Trump had already negotiated the insulin down to $35 that was already a done deal with the FDA that was going to happen. What Biden did was he took that statute and repackaged it to make it a bill legislative bill and when he did that, he put it into a package with a bazillion, more spending items that are anathema to us all , no one could have voted for that to become a bill with all the money more money to Ukraine more money more money there appropriations hospitals doing surgeries so it wasn’t the bill that folks in Congress were against. It was because it wasn’t a single bill. it included all this other stuff and that’s how they create a narrative look. I’m not saying that the other side doesn’t do that I mean, I’m one person. All I can do is as much homework as I can do but this is like crazy stuff I saw in the FDA website I called. I spoken to the FDA the CDC all of them That was already done in March I think I want to say it was done in March 2019 or 20 I think maybe 20 when he was still president just at the outset I guess of Covid and all of that but he had negotiated that agreement Trump for a cap on insulin, but it didn’t become a bill because then it did become a rule. It was going to happen but then making it a bill would’ve been the next step not to make it happen because it was a done deal but Covid hit and that was a mess so there you have it if I’ve said anything wrong here please let me know. I mean, I don’t want not to have the truth. I don’t wanna not be speaking the truth, but I’m so tired of all the lies that I just can’t stand it thanks.

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Oof. I know John didn’t mean to damn Harris with faint praise, but it’s telling how hard it is to make the case for her intelligence. She hasn’t had time to think about issues or decide what she stands for? She’s nearly 60, and she’s been in politics for decades. This isn’t even the first time she has run for president. There is no excuse to be unprepared.

Harris isn’t stupid. She’s sharp when she’s focused and prepared—like in those Senate hearings—and I believe her intelligence is solidly above average. But there’s just no comparison with Obama. He was brainy, a policy wonk, able to speak to any topic on his feet. He had clearly spent his life learning and thinking deeply about the world.

You don’t need to be a genius to be a good president, but I hope she gets with her advisers and studies like it’s her second chance to pass the bar.

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I think Harris is more normal than abnormal on this measure, compared to the types of people we elect to be POTUS. Clinton and Obama stand apart from everyone else. Maybe HW, too, based on long experience in government including executive branch roles. But W, Trump, Biden, Reagan... these are not towering intellectual heavyweights.

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Aug 14·edited Aug 14

A towering intellect is NOT what is needed to be President, and it may, in fact, be a hindrance since often people who think they are smart don't ask for help or advice. That is probably Trump's biggest weakness; he said when he was campaigning back in '16 that he was "smarter than all the generals." I understand that he was trying to indicate he would do things differently, but it was not a great thing to say. He has come away from that.

Clinton was a very cleverly manipulative person. That's exactly the kind of intelligence we do not need or want.

Obama was an empty suit of average intelligence and considerable charm. Off the teleprompter he showed very little insight or intelligence. His skin was his magic.

Reagan was of average intelligence, but he was charming and had insight into what motivated average people. He was perhaps too dependent on his aids for advice or too trusting.

Biden always was, and still is, a habitual liar and copycat. He is of below average intelligence, as he was when he was in the Senate, and always blew with the wind. I met him back in 82.

W was smarter than people think, but too much under the influence of Dick Cheney and some others. He was famously not inquisitive.

HW was the smartest President of the past 50 years, but he didn't have 'street smarts' since he had such a sheltered upbringing. He came off as elite because he was.

Kamala is not very bright, but she is manipulative and extremely ambitious. Another one who blows with the wind and will say anything to get elected.

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She's either been under a rock for the past 4 years or she hasn't.

If she has, she's the candidate who couldn't win California in 2020 and dropped out early. Her main qualification for office now is "I'm not Trump" (followed by "I'm Biden's black woman VP").

If she has done something for the past 4 years, then let's have a discussion about it. Let's get some media to ask tough questions. For all Trump disgusts me, he is at least willing to face a hostile crowd. Until people ask things like "Tell me about your experience at the border", "Tell me your position on fracking", "Tell me where you stand on defund the police", her main qualification for office seems to be "I'm not Trump".

And that may be sufficient.... but what a sad state of affairs that would be.

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Just watched her DNC acceptance speech. She talked a lot about her experience as a CA prosecutor. I guess she has been under a rock for the past 4 years. And I guess she's running as the outsider against an incumbent Donald Trump.

And she's going to be the unifier who represents all Americans and puts us on a new path to greatness.

Amazing.

She's repeating the Biden 2020 campaign. As if it's still 2020.

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"For all Trump disgusts me, he is at least willing to face a hostile crowd."

He does it because he thrives on the hostility, wants to be seen telling off hostile crowds. He doesn't enagage with questions in good faith.

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“Kamala has not had enough things assigned to her” to gauge who she is. Come on John. She was assigned the border crisis by Biden. Despite what media is spinning… she was appointed Czar of the border by its very definition of being appointed someone of great power in charge of something. She has done nothing to solve the issue. And it’s the issue that is top 3 to most voters. That is a huge assignment and should be enough to prove who she is in her failure to even communicate progress or transparency.

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She was appointed to address root causes of migration from Central American countries via diplomacy. She was never appointed to be in charge of operations at the border.

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Aug 14·edited Aug 14

Wrong, Michael. That's the current spin you are repeating. Here is what Biden said:

"In addition to that, there’s about five other major things she’s handling, but I’ve asked her, the VP, today — because she’s the most qualified person to do it — to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help — are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border."

"So it’s not her full responsibility and job, but she’s leading the effort because I think the best thing to do is to put someone who, when he or she speaks, they don’t have to wonder about is that where the President is. When she speaks, she speaks for me. Doesn’t have to check with me. She knows what she’s doing, and I hope we can move this along."

-Biden, 24-Mar-2021, the White House

In other words, she didn't have to direct the Border Patrol, but she should have been in frequent discussions with the Administrations of Mexico (LIKE TRUMP DID) and other places to change the flow of migrants.

SHE FAILED because SHE WAS LAZY.

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Bravo thank you

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Biden's quote is clearly a reference to the root causes work, and clearly not a reference to work at the US border.

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She didn’t do anything on root causes other than take a couple of vacations in Central America. But, no, Biden gave her the whole enchilada.

She was against fracking before she was for it.

She was agains the wall before she was for it.

She was against a strong border before she was for it.

But her values haven’t changed. Hahahaha!

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said:

"In addition to that, there’s about five other major things she’s handling, but I’ve asked her, the VP, today — because she’s the most qualified person to do it — to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help — are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border."

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What was her assessment of those root causes? Did she issue a formal report?

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Touché…. Suddenly he’s not an expert He just refutes the Facts…

Ben’s great line

Don’t confuse me with the facts

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I am not an expert on her activies on this, but I know she launched a public-private partnership called the Partnership For Central America that secured $5 billion in private funds and invested in antipoverty programs in the Northern Triangle.

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No you’re not an expert you just refute facts. Get lost

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Another powerful conversation. But I think this Kamala being black thing is way too subjective.

There are people who disagree with John's take. So it seems that no one can define what black authenticity is.

Who has the moral authority to define what blackness is?? Can anyone tell me?

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It’s not only subjective but an obfuscation of matter at hand. A manipulation to buy Kamala time not to : As her ex lover married Big Willy told her There’s no reason to carve out your policies not doing is working for you.

How stupid are we if we let this slide…. Talking about her blackness takes us away from what she must tell us she will do for the country.. so far this video tells me what she wants us to do

https://youtube.com/shorts/fn9Iujqpo5Q?si=E97y1MBUti5R4_Ij

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This is nonsense regarding her upbringing, comments from her mother

She brought up her daughters, in the late ’60s and early ’70s, in a black neighborhood in Berkeley, sharing a house with a friend who ran a small preschool. “She had two black babies, and she raised them to be two black women,” Harris says of her mother’s choice of community. Stacey Johnson-Batiste, one of Harris’s oldest friends, remembers Shyamala turning ingredients like chicken or okra into either Indian dishes or soul food, depending on the spices she used. The girls sang in a Baptist choir, and every two years, Shyamala took her daughters to India.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/magazine/kamala-harris-a-top-cop-in-the-era-of-black-lives-matter.html

When Conservatives make race the issue, they confirm the stereotype formed by many voters.

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Democrats ALWAYS make race the issue. Conservatives only do when in response to someone taking advantage of race.

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Laughable. Do you agree that DEI was responsible for the screw ups at Boeing?

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