Report from TOP

I just visited DK (aka TOP) just to see what is going on and posting a few comments. The daily diary count is diminished--no surprise there. I am happy to report that many Berniecrats have so far escaped the dreaded ban hammer, including Tom P, Liepar Destin, delphine, LoneStarMike and others. I dwell on this topic briefly because some of the ongoing diaries there are very openly proBernie, but now of course far outweighed by proHRC stuff. But it is still unclear to me, how OPOL can get banned with a diary as benign as the one drawing forth the wrath of the Great Kos--and yet persisting pro-Bernie diarists at TOP are still getting their say--wonder how long that's going to last. I'm prettier the Great Kos is aware of the reduced traffic to his site since the Ides of March.

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Galtisalie's picture

needs to be a transitional progressive presence at that other place. Meanwhile this place will continue to grow dramatically, and the post-election relevance of that presence at the other place will diminish dramatically regardless of the outcome.

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FreakFlagFly's picture

It's 5:40 am here. 3 truths to remember during this morning's meditation:

  • Coffee is good.
  • Trump will NEVER be POTUS.
  • Daily what?

Thanks.

...yAWn...

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Beware the bullshit factories.

riverlover's picture

Blood pressure may rise for those of us with situational-based bp. Getting over it, other than sending "cards" to some of my folk.

Panic attack this AM had nothing to do with that mess, just attempt to cold-turkey off antidepressant. Nice calming drawings and music here.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho

PastorAgnostic's picture

A. If former Putin aides keep dying off after leaving, how will Putin keep track of the billions he has grifted and stolen?

B. Which past or current GOP candidate is actually a clone of the now deceased former mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford?

C. When a snake's in the sea, aiming its fangs at thee,
That's a morray?

D. When facing a binary solution, what is behind Door #3?

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WindDancer13's picture

When a moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore

Dean Martin - That's Amore Lyrics | MetroLyrics

D 011001110110111101100100

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

PastorAgnostic's picture

No, for the turd verse,

. . . . .

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Lookout's picture

I visit to read the BNR, and then leave. Fewer clicks, fewer $. I don't wish Kos ill will, but he's lost my support. This open forum, c99, is a far better place.

I think it is best to quit focusing on TOP, and think about what we should discuss and act on here.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

there is plenty of good content to read at caucus99percent.com.

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Bisbonian's picture

Off Topic, but since you are here.

It's my problem, and I am trying to fix it in myself, but maybe you could help. I keep posting a new comment, instead of making a reply, like I want to. It happens when the comment I want to reply to is the last one on the page. I see the "reply" button, and right below that is the Subject box, and I just start typing. And then posting.

There is a blue line between "reply" and the next comment, on every comment except the bottom one on the page. I was originally going to ask you to make the reply button about 4 inches square, and red, but could you instead see if you can make a blue line between "reply" and the whole "Add new comment" apparatus? That might be enough to remind me.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

I'll see what I can do.

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Deja's picture

I mean, you actually listen (read lol), and consider suggestions, and actually respond.

Seriously, you rock, and this site does too.

Polar opposite of the little fit thrower somewhere else.

Thank you!

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riverlover's picture

and the slight "improvements" seem so natural. I haven't figured out all the little boxes ^^^^, another learning curve. But truly, JtC, super-good!! Bravo!!

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Cassiodorus's picture

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The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.

I thought I couldn't leave TOP. The main draw for me was how quickly new content came online. I would casually check in every time I went online probably some days over a score of times and there was always new content to read. Some sites nothing new is added for hours on end. Well guess what, the content here is changing just as fast, so I can spend hours here without hating myself for using a site whose owner has contempt for me and only uses me to boost his numbers.

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“The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us”
― Voltaire

Steven D's picture

I'm sure he doesn't give hit at the moment.

That's how the man rolls.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g8_Nt8Q6Gs width:420 height:315]

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With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU

hester's picture

He's a bit smug if he believes that.

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Don't believe everything you think.

reflectionsv37's picture

so disappointed!!!

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“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush

Bollox Ref's picture

...

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

PastorAgnostic's picture

to go there and gloat just once after Bernie is sworn in.

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it will not be easily re-established. Many of us will have found other options, for politics at least. If it turns out to be Hillary and whoever, I will not be reading any politics at TOP. There are other diarists that I might continue to take the journey to read.

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I left after Barack Obama took office in early 2009, and returned only to follow the Sanders campaign in late summer of 2015 because it was one of the few places to cover it. I also started watching Bernie2016TV to view his rallies in the summer of 2015.

During the 6+ years before I returned, I started reading Naked Capitalism, the Archdruid Report, Black Agenda Report, Global Research, TruthDig, and Calculated Risk (which I very rarely read now). More recently, I have added this blog (Oct 2015), and Jacobin. I also watch youtube videos (Chris Hedges, Richard Wolfe, Cornel West). One of my more recent favorites is Yvette Carnell. She's a great counter to Denise Oliver-Velez (who I find has a great affinity for and continues to advocate for the Black Misleadership Class).

At work, I joined a book club for secretaries. On the whole, we focused on books that dealt with women's issues or were written by women. Despite some of the very conservative members, we chose some provocative books. My last choice for the book club was the short fiction work The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas (Ursula LeGuin in 1973).

So, there's so much out there and I find TOP/GOS to be one of the least informative sites to read.

Thank you for starting this blog. I look forward to many more informative diaries. I'm more of a reader than a commenter.

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lunachickie's picture

I'm looking forward to after the inauguration when his traffic does a nosedive. If that sounds mean, oh well. He's been an insufferable jagoff for the last several years, and IMO, is long-overdue for a visit from the karma fairy....

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not going back AND not voting for Clinton if the DNC/DLC is dumb enough to give her the nomination.

There - killed two myths with one almost sentence.

Why do people still make comments about TOP, when it's so darn good to be HERE.

Maybe, we could just have one "thread" or "essay" for TOP comments, which those of us who want to, could ignore.
Just don't see any value in referring to a long gone, past its sell by date, useless website! Kos sold out, so what. His loss, not ours anymore.

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I lost interest before, came back because for all the excitement about the Bernie Sanders campaign. Now I am gone from DKos again. Who knows if or when I will check in there again.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

michelewln's picture

I did put a bug in Ojibwa's ear about they may not want us over there any more. Maybe we can get him and the other Street Prophets and Native Americans over here.

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A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. Oscar Wilde

Word.
I would gladly support their efforts, but not there.

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Bisbonian's picture

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

mileser's picture

And always get to hear different perspectives.

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-9.75, -8.21

As well as few other very interesting, not so politically vocal, diarists.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

Though I took a break in 2008.
Since the edict/purge, I go there maybe once or twice a week, to rec a compelling Sanders diary or to check that I have not been jettisoned for something I say here or at reddit.
I do not trust there.
The thought that Sanders supporters will magically return is, well, magical. If he loses, forget the GOS. If he wins, some will go back to celebrate. But why return to a betrayer?
We get lots of invites to go back, to support friends. It rarely works, for me.
Perhaps it works for those who remarry an ex.

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thrownstone's picture

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“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire

Muddy Boots's picture

but the comments have the usual dick dick dickishness of water torture. I recced around a bit. I like to give the Bernie message some support wherever it exists.

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"If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back" - Regina Brett

Cassiodorus's picture

Teacherken's "If you really want to understand why Clinton is winning." Well, okay, she started out forty points ahead, and now national polls have her tied. So why is Clinton "winning" -- you know, other than her pay-to-play schemes and her insatiable hunger for money from rich people and all the nice things it buys? teacherken:

for many of us someone who understands policy in detail, can talk about it and its implications, is important, because that is how real change gets started, and maintained.

So here are three examples:

Hillary Clinton's climate change plan "just plain silly," says leading expert

Hillary Clinton's weak plans for changing Wall Street

Clinton, finally forced to confront a single payer advocate, can't win on policy, falls back on demagoguery and distortiion

Sorry teacherken. Real change isn't even promoted by meaningless policy wonkery. Maybe you could start a group "Quakers for more war," or something like that. Maybe your students could go out there and fight Clinton's new wars, too. Would that make you proud?

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The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.

To Be Arab and American. I didn't read it. Couldn't stop sniggering. If being white and speaking to or about black issues is whitesplaining, then being black and speaking to or about Arab Americans issues must be blarabsplaining.

I was already registered with Reddit, so to drop in on the other refugee camp was easy. Tausenberg was doing the happiest of happy dances over his post at TOP on Bernie winning Nevada. Kos was right. It is a big [and happy] internet. Congrats to LD on #300 and an "attaboy" or TomP and his comrades for their endurance.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Cassiodorus's picture

Did they all go to meeting and receive instructions from God telling them to vote for the warmonger?

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The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.

shilling for Shillary on the internet in his spare time.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

I just got off the phone from talking to my son about deployment. Yes. Deployment.
I can choose not to support a Quaker who embraces a warmonger. But I cannot choose whether my son marches onto a transport plane at two am if the Commander in Chief orders it.

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mimi's picture

I am so sorry to hear that. I cross my fingers he won't be at a place where he has to kill innocent people. Sanders needs to be more forthcoming with regards to his potential support of military activities of the US overseas.

I didn't go over to TOP to see what's happening there. I think it's better for me to not do that.

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And thanks for asking. I have a pretty good idea, but the Army tells you what it wants when it wants.
He is in a support capacity, so he is in a safer line of work than if he were infantry or artillery. Hopefully no killing. Soldiers complete basic combat training -so never say never.
Frankly, the discussions of HRC's top secret e-communications have long interested me. From the get-go, the Army is close-mouthed and wants its soldiers, and their families, to do the same.
I agree with you, I do not go over there. It will annoy me. That is not good.

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I figure they sought out the old war criminal HFK so that Henry could console them the way he consoled Nixon after Milhouse left the WH. Do they laugh with him about regime change over cocktails?

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Yahoo

He used to write a lot about education, which really interests me. Then his diaries were all about his wife's illness. Of course, I/we care, but I have enough friends and relatives with health problems and don't need to be following all the details of the spouse of someone I don't know.

Finally, his shilling for Hillary did it for me. Gone. Haven't read or recommended a diary for a very long time. Used to read every one and comment frequently. Those on education, that is.

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Shahryar's picture

as you say, he's been telling us about his wife's health.

So he posts this anti-Bernie diary, then says he won't have time to discuss it because his wife needs caring for.

But...but...he did have time to post a factually challenged anti-Bernie diary. Frankly, if my darling wife, shaz, needed something important, like treatment or whatever, you can bet that I wouldn't be wasting my time posting on a blog!!

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Deja's picture

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lunachickie's picture

that it gives me cavities. And I don't even have my real teeth anymore....

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Bernie said that and I think Obama has said that too in his campaigns. Personally, Bernie motivates me more as one of the commoners trying to make change at the top.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

I really do think that HRC is a very intelligent person who can put together intelligent thoughts and plans for policy positions. However, she doesn't do that because she has all these donors and political allies to appease. If she wasn't such an old-school politician with the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" crap, she would probably be a decent candidate that I could support (hell, I think her warmongering ways are really politically motivated not what she truly thinks, but maybe I'm being a naive optimist). As it stands, I can't stand the typical politician that she is and represents, and after Obama I'd like to get a real progressive who will fight for progressive values in the White House.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

Well, okay, she started out forty points ahead, and now national polls have her tied. So why is Clinton "winning" [?]

I don't know, maybe she's got tiger blood and Adonis DNA?

I mean, look how well it worked for Charlie Sheen!

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

snoopydawg's picture

I hope people read it.
The author is asking why the hell people are voting for Hillary over Bernie when he's a true progressive and she is a centrist.
I also linked it on a comment on top but since it tears down her highness I didn't go in to detail.
Please read this

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/01/the-hottest-seats-in-hell/

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the author of that article went HAM on HRC and supporters. I dig it though, because I feel like it's the truth - if you support the policy positions that HRC has taken and currently supports, you aren't a progressive. Those are just not progressive policy positions, full stop.

Thanks for sharing the link, snoopydawg. Smile

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you put her in the context of 2016, with the entire Republican Party being on the extreme far right. In my growing up years there were many Republicans far to the left of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

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thrownstone's picture

Counterpunch link! I needed a good rant right before bed. The photos are beautiful.

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“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire

sojourns's picture

I also believe that Super jesus Kos has toned it down since it is long after March 15th and Bernie is not living underneath a dumpster.

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"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

Tommymac's picture

The backpedaling is about as sincere as HRC.

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FEEL THE BERN: "But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing." - Thomas Paine
"Here I Stand, I can do no other." - Attributed to Martin Luther, 1521

lunachickie's picture

but his little minion patrol is still in super-trigger-finger mode. He's good at getting people to do dirty work for him, I'll give him that much credit.

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Cassiodorus's picture

"What Hillary Clinton Means To Me"

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/3/1509781/-What-Hillary-Clinton-M...

I came into this election cycle inclined to support Hillary Clinton because I believed she was the best-qualified presidential candidate.

Once again, qualified to do what?

I knew about her early career as an activist and trail-blazing attorney, her time as First Lady of Arkansas and then the United States, her service as a Senator, and her tenure as President Obama’s Secretary of State, during which she worked to repair the damage done to our international reputation by George W. Bush and the rest of the GOP motley crew.

Reputation among whom? Libyans? Syrians? Hondurans? Haitians?

I believe President Obama will be recognized as one of the greatest presidents in our history, and he inspires me for the same reasons that I have come to find Hillary truly inspirational—he is a whip-smart, results-oriented progressive with a passion for details.

You mean like the sequester? Does that count as a "progressive detail" now?

I am moved by her courage in admitting to coal industry workers that fighting climate change means moving beyond the coal industry, and her positive engagement with this reality in the form of a plan to reinvest in these workers and help them transition to new careers.

Maybe they can get involved in the new fracking boom she's been promoting.

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The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.

thanatokephaloides's picture

That article over on TOP is pure fluffer nothingburger. "Oooh, Shiny, Hillary Clinton!"

Jesus Christ Supergak!!

Bad Dash 1 Bomb

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Deja's picture

Heard it today on the Stephanopoulos show. She's digging at Bernie, of course, and he's ALWAYS on there live. He said she's scared. He's right; and she should be.

Since I'm here, I feel comfortable enough to repeat what I said to the teevee (to her), "Except when you're not, skank. Fucking Goldwater Girl!" Then Bernie started responding, so I stopped talking to her through my teevee lol.

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Lookout's picture

What I found most interesting about the Disney fantasy news this Sunday, was Mathhew Dowd taking up for Bernie and getting cut off. The MSM is as scared of Bernie as Hillary is!
Hillary going down.jpg

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

mjsmeme's picture

goldwater.jpg

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snoopydawg's picture

is the best president ever makes me want to puke.
The middle class has gotten worse under him, the poor aren't even mentioned, most black's lives have gotten worse and the fucking rich have gotten richer.
Sure, greatest president ever.
My ass.

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detroitmechworks's picture

More Ass Kissing than a Oscar Red Carpet Interview.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

thanatokephaloides's picture

Sure, greatest president ever.
My ass.

Small problem, Snoop:

Your ass exists. "Greatest President Ever"? Not so much!

Wink

"It would have to exist first! -- Styx Allum, Founder, FidoNet HOLYSMOKE Echo

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

... at deporting undocumented immigrants.
... at warrantless snooping on electronic communications
... at suggesting "grand bargains"
... at looking forward, not back

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You keep using that word...