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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Mary Wells

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Motown singer Mary Wells. Enjoy!

^{Mary Wells - Your Old Standby}

"Civilization has made man, if not always more bloodthirsty, at least more viciously, more horribly bloodthirsty."

-- Fyodor Dostoevsky

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News and Opinion

What Israel Supporters Really Mean When They Say “Release The Hostages”

If you’re not on social media, you’ve likely spent ten and a half months blissfully unaware of an extremely freakish but very common phenomenon in which Israel’s supporters respond to images and videos of dead and mutilated children in Gaza by babbling about the Israeli hostages being held there by Hamas.

Whenever you see someone sharing raw footage of the most horrific thing imaginable being inflicted upon someone who couldn’t possibly have done anything to deserve it, and someone in the replies yelling “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!”, it’s important to be clear what they’re saying.

What they are saying is that they believe Israel should murder children, decapitate them, rip their guts out, dismember them, mutilate them, burn them alive, every single day, until its military demands are submitted to. They are also probably saying that they personally would help Israel do these things to children if circumstances permitted.

They are saying they are fully on board with killing, decapitating, eviscerating, dismembering, mutilating and incinerating small children every day until the hostages are released.

They are saying this despite the mountains upon mountains of evidence that what’s being done in Gaza has nothing whatsoever to do with releasing the hostages.

They are saying this despite the mountains upon mountains of evidence that the IDF has been killing and injuring Israeli hostages with its attacks on Gaza.

They are saying this despite the mountains upon mountains of evidence that Netanyahu is doing everything he can to sabotage a hostage deal while the genocide in Gaza continues.

They are saying this despite the fact that Israel holds thousands of Palestinians hostage under “administrative detention” without due process, and while Israel holds millions of Palestinians hostage in the giant extermination camp known as Gaza.

And they are saying this despite the mountains upon mountains of evidence that Israeli forces are raping, mutilating and torturing Palestinian hostages in torture dungeons as a matter of policy.

It’s important to be aware that this is what they are saying because it’s important to be aware of who Israel’s defenders and supporters really are. These are not normal people. These are not people with healthy minds, with functioning empathy centers in their brains. There is something deeply, profoundly wrong with who they are and how they are.

It’s important to be aware of this because otherwise you might fall into the trap of thinking this issue must be more complicated than it looks, and the interpretation of what we are seeing in Gaza must be a matter of subjective opinion. No, that’s not true at all. What’s happening in Gaza is very simple and straightforward, and is exactly what it immediately and obviously looks like to anyone who beholds it through the lens of conscience and basic human empathy.

The reason for all the debate and disagreement you are seeing about Gaza has nothing to do with complexity or nuance, and everything to do with some very warped and damaged minds lacking the fundamental faculties that cause normal people to care about other human beings.

Rami Khouri on Latest Israel-Hezbollah Escalation & Stalled Ceasefire Talks

Netanyahu says attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon ‘not the end of the story’

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israeli air raids targeting Hezbollah rockets in southern Lebanon in the early hours of Sunday morning were “not the end of the story”, after the two sides exchanged their heaviest fire since the war in Gaza began, raising fears of an all-out regional conflict.

The Israeli prime minister did not specify what further action, if any, was planned after the intense exchanges but he suggested Israel’s moves would be aimed at “changing the situation in the north”.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used 100 jet fighters that hit more than 40 target sites inside Lebanon in sorties over a period of seven hours. Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel.

According to Netanyahu, the raids “destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, all of which were designed to attack our citizens and our forces in the Galilee” in northern Israel. He also said the IDF had “intercepted all of the drones that Hezbollah launched at a strategic target in the centre of the country”. Netanyahu did not name the target but the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, described it as “a military intelligence base 110km inside Israeli territory” just outside Tel Aviv, an apparent reference to the Glilot military base, home to the Mossad spy agency and military intelligence agencies such as the Unit 8200 electronic surveillance section. ...

The Hezbollah secretary general claimed the Lebanese Shia militia had decided not to respond to the killing in late July of its commander, Fuad Shukr, with attacks on Israeli civilians or infrastructure but to focus on exclusively military targets. He added that Hezbollah’s arsenal of guided missiles had not been used and had not been damaged by Israeli airstrikes, so could be used in the future. The impact of Sunday’s salvo would be assessed before a decision on whether to take further action to avenge Shukr.

Israel and Hezbollah Exchange Heavy Round of Fire Across Border

Early Sunday, Israel announced it was launching “preemptive strikes” against Hezbollah in Lebanon and carried out what appeared to be its largest bombing of southern Lebanon since the start of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. ...

Shortly after Israel launched its attack, Hezbollah announced it was starting its retaliation for the assassination of Fuad Shukr, a Hezbollah commander who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on July 30. ...

Nasrallah said the main target of Hezbollah’s attack was the Unit 8200 intelligence base in northern Tel Aviv and air defenses in central Israel. He accused Israel of lying about intercepting the attack, saying that “a significant number of drones hit their intended targets, but the enemy is keeping all relevant details concealed, but the days and nights will reveal the truth of what happened there.”

Alastair Crooke : Western Propaganda Wars

An interesting article, here's some to get you started:

Hezbollah’s Deterrence: A Turning Point in the Middle East Conflict

For the first time in modern history, a non-state actor—Hezbollah—has successfully established deterrence over one of the most formidable armies in the world, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), and the most dominant military force in the Middle East. Hezbollah’s capacity to inflict substantial damage on Israel has compelled the latter to recognise its capabilities, leading to a significant shift in the strategic balance of power. Employing inexpensive rockets and drones, Hezbollah has regained the upper hand and executed a calculated retaliation against Israel, even as US and NATO forces have mobilised in defence of Israel. Despite this, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the IOF had successfully launched a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, allegedly preventing the launch of over 1,000 to 6,000 missiles aimed at Tel Aviv. However, no secondary explosions were observed, nor were there any confirmed Hezbollah casualties among the missile launch units or the warehouse guards reportedly targeted and killed in the Israeli strikes.

Hezbollah’s recent actions have marked a significant shift in the region’s power dynamics. By launching 320 rockets and drones across the Lebanese border and targeting areas over 100 kilometres inland, including north of Tel Aviv, Hezbollah demonstrated its military capabilities. These attacks followed the collapse of negotiation talks in Qatar and came during the anticipated resumption of negotiations in Cairo.

Hezbollah’s bombing of strategic Israeli military positions deep inside the country reflected its precise intelligence capabilities and its ability to bypass Israel’s sophisticated missile interception systems. The over 100-kilometre range of the Hezbollah strike mirrored Israel’s violation of the Rule of Engagement, which saw Israel bombing the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh and assassinating one of Hezbollah’s Jihadi Council commander, Fouad Shukr. Despite Israeli threats, Hezbollah’s retaliatory strikes underscored its readiness to act, establishing a new phase of deterrence.

Netanyahu’s claim that a pre-emptive strike by the IOF had destroyed Hezbollah’s missile-launching positions and prevented an attack on Tel Aviv has been met with scepticism. According to Netanyahu, the strike supposedly destroyed over 1,000 to 6,000 missiles but failed to cause heavy casualties among Hezbollah’s specialised units. However, Hezbollah’s immediate response, which involved the launching of hundreds of rockets and drones, challenges Israel’s narrative.

If Israel’s pre-emptive strike had indeed neutralised Hezbollah’s missile-launching capabilities, Hezbollah’s retaliatory barrage would have been unlikely. The scale and precision of Hezbollah’s subsequent attacks indicate that Israel’s strike did not achieve the level of success Netanyahu claimed. The long-prepared response shows that Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and operational capacity remain primarily intact, directly contradicting Israeli assertions of a crippling blow to Hezbollah’s forces.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Which Countries Trust the US?

Blinken Condemned for 'Empty Words' on Genocide as US Backs Israel's Obliteration of Gaza

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was accused of stark hypocrisy on Saturday after he condemned the Myanmar military's genocide against the Rohingya people while simultaneously aiding Israel's genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip.

Marking the seventh anniversary of Myanmar's vicious ethnic cleansing of the stateless Rohingya, Blinken wrote on social media that "the United States continues to honor the victims and stand with the survivors as they seek justice and accountability for these atrocities."

Blinken also issued a statement highlighting the U.S. State Department's "extensive documentation of the atrocities and abuses committed against Rohingya and all civilians"—a sharp contrast with the Biden administration's reluctance to assess Israeli atrocities against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"You are currently arming, funding, and defending a genocide in Gaza," Middle East researcher and analyst Assal Rad wrote in response to Blinken's statement. "That is how history will remember you, not your empty words."

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) also weighed in, telling Blinken to "just stop trying to act like you care about genocide or human rights."

Under Blinken's leadership, the U.S. State Department has approved massive arms transfers to Israel—including a recent $20 billion sale—and provided diplomatic cover for the country's far-right government on the world stage, dismissing as "meritless" the South Africa-led genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Israel has killed more than 40,400 people in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas-led attack. Most of those killed in Israel's assault have been women and children—including thousands of infants and toddlers.

In addition to perpetrating horrific war crimes in Gaza—often with U.S. weaponry—Israel has sold arms to Myanmar's military, even after the 2021 military coup.

"According to documents and sources who spoke with Haaretz," the Israeli newspaper reported last September, "the government-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and the Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems maintained their trade with Myanmar despite an international arms embargo on the country, and despite a 2017 ruling by Israel's High Court of Justice and the Israeli government's own 2018 statement saying it stopped such sales."

"Israel's longstanding relations with the different regimes controlling Myanmar have involved arms trade since the mid-20th century," Haaretz continued. "Even in the years in which the country was openly ruled by its military junta, Israel refused to stop the trade. The trade was maintained through the Rohingya genocide of 2016-17."

Tlaib Says She Is 'Ashamed of Our Country Looking Away' as Gaza Faces Polio Crisis

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the lone Palestinian American in the U.S. Congress, said Friday that she is "so saddened and ashamed of our country looking away and pretending they are trying to stop this madness" after the World Health Organization confirmed that a 10-month-old child in Gaza was paralyzed by polio.

"The first case of polio in more than 25 years, but no one will care because the baby is Palestinian," Tlaib (D-Mich.) lamented. "We don't want your thoughts and prayers. We need action."

Tlaib's comments came hours after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris closed out the Democratic National Convention with a speech that acknowledged the "heartbreaking" suffering in Gaza without clearly identifying the perpetrators—the far-right Israeli government and its main arms supplier, the United States—or pledging to break with President Joe Biden's unwavering support for Israel.

"Vice President Harris has said that she supports a cease-fire in Gaza," Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, said in a statement Friday. "But a cease-fire cannot happen as long as the U.S. continues supplying the bombs used to kill people we love.

The Biden administration has continued to transfer lethal weaponry to the Israeli military even amid overwhelming evidence that the country's forces are using the arms to commit atrocities in Gaza, wiping out entire families and civilian infrastructure. Israel's blockade, meanwhile, is suffocating the enclave's population, forcing children to search rotting garbage for food as famine takes hold across the territory.

Larry Johnson : Can Iran Avoid War with the US?

Biden Taps 'Literal Arms Dealer' Mira Resnick for Top Israel Policy Post

Peace advocates on Friday voiced alarm over the Biden administration's selection of a senior official who has worked to speed the shipment of U.S. arms to Israel as the State Department's point person on Israel-Palestine policy.

HuffPost reported that Mira Resnick, the deputy assistant secretary of state for regional security in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, has been tapped to oversee Washington's handling of issues related to Israel and Palestine. In her current role, Resnick's office supervises around $40 billion in annual U.S. arms transfers.

Using a critical nickname for U.S. President Joe Biden, journalist and podcast host Emma Vigeland said on social media Friday, "Genocide Joe's swan song is to institutionally entrench our support for Israel and make it as difficult as possible to disentangle it, which the old fool views as romantic and righteous."

Biden doubles down on supporting Israel's genocide by appointing Mira Resnick, a staunch proponent of arming Israel, to be the new Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs. https://t.co/w73w3N7lYS

— Josh Ruebner (@joshruebner) August 23, 2024

Over the past 10-plus months, the Biden administration has approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel worth billions of dollars. Earlier this month, the administration greenlighted a new $20 billion arms package for Israel.

The announcement of the package—which includes dozens of F-15 fighter jets, tens of thousands of 120mm mortar shells, over 32,700 tank shells, and 30 advanced missiles—came just days after Israeli forces used at least one U.S. bomb in an airstrike on a Gaza school where forcibly displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing more than 100 people including women and children.

As criticism mounted over Israel's assault and siege on Gaza—which has left more than 144,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and has flattened most of the coastal enclave while stoking deadly famine and the spread of preventable diseases including polio—Resnick helped expedite the flow of U.S. arms to the key Middle Eastern ally.

She also worked with the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan wants to arrest for alleged war crimes including "extermination," to allow private citizens to donate equipment to the Israel Defense Forces.

Annelle Sheline, a former State Department official who resigned earlier this year over Biden's support for Israel amid a war for which the key ally is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, told HuffPost that Resnick's appointment "reflects a doubling down on the administration's determination to continue to provide unconditional material support for Israel's genocidal campaign against civilians in Gaza."

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov ARRESTED; Tucker Carlson, Edward Snowden CONDEMN French TYRANNY

France Arrests CEO of Telegram Over Allegations Related to Content Moderation

French authorities have arrested Pavel Durov, the CEO of the messaging app Telegram, over allegations that the platform is not doing enough to moderate its content.

The arrest, which has chilling implications for free speech in Europe, occurred on Saturday night when Durov arrived in France on a jet that left Azerbaijan. Durov was born in Russia but left in 2014 and now has citizenship in France and the UAE, where Telegram is based. ...

Durov told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview earlier this year that he left Russia after the Russian government asked for personal information about users of VK, a social media site similar to Facebook that he founded in 2006. Durov said he was given the choice to hand over information when he was asked or sell the company and leave Russia, and said he chose the latter.

Durov also said in the interview that he had faced pressure from the FBI during visits to the US. He said one of his engineers was approached by US government officials who wanted to hire him as part of an effort to give the US a back door into Telegram to access user data, similar to how US intelligence agencies have access to American tech platforms.

Let us show Putin we have ability to hit targets deep inside Russia, Ukraine urges west

Ukraine wants permission from the west to use long-range Storm Shadow missiles to destroy targets deep inside Russia, believing this could force Moscow into negotiating an end to the fighting.

Senior figures in Kyiv have suggested that using the Anglo-French weapons in a “demonstration attack” will show the Kremlin that military sites near the capital itself could be vulnerable to direct strikes.

The thinking, according to a senior government official, is that Russia will consider negotiating only if it believes Ukraine had the ability “to threaten Moscow and St Petersburg”. This is a high-risk strategy, however, and does not so far have the support of the US.

Ukraine has been lobbying for months to be allowed to use Storm Shadow against targets inside Russia, but with little success. Nevertheless, as its army struggles on the eastern front, there is a growing belief that its best hope lies in counter-attack. ...

Zelenskiy has argued that the aftermath of Ukraine’s incursion into Russia shows that Kremlin warnings about red lines are exaggerated. Moscow has largely downplayed the attack: leaders barely refer to it in public and describe their response as a “counter-terrorism operation”.

Putin, top generals prepare big moves

Russian Ambassador Expects US Will Lift Restrictions on Ukraine’s Use of Weapons

Russia’s ambassador in the US has said he expects the Biden administration to soon lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US-provided weapons to support long-range strikes on Russian territory.

“The current administration behaves like a person who extends one hand and holds a dagger behind their back with another one,” Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Friday.

“They are, essentially, laying ground (for a decision) to simply remove all the existing restrictions at a certain point, without much thought,” he added.

Germany looks on nervously as AfD crowds cheer nation’s most feared politician ahead of state elections

The most feared man in German politics cleared his throat and took a sip of water as his audience hushed in anticipation, their mobile phones aloft and set to record. “I’ve got to protect my voice for my first speech as state premier,” Björn Höcke said with a grin. The crowd went wild.

Three eastern German states hold elections next month and, by a quirk of the calendar, the regions up for grabs are among those with the most supporters of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland. If the polls are accurate, the AfD could wind up the strongest party in all three, a year before the planned date of Germany’s next general election. Depending on who you ask, it would be a political earthquake, a catastrophe or a wake-up call for the country.

The strength of the AfD and a new populist upstart, the “leftwing conservative” Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance), underlines dovetailing trends in Europe’s top economy: mounting frustration with incumbents, anxiety about Germany’s military support for Ukraine and festering divisions between east and west more than three decades after reunification.

Höcke, 52, co-heads the state chapter of the AfD in Thuringia, which will vote on 1 September along with Saxony. The AfD, polling at about 30%, has been classed as “confirmed rightwing extremist” by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the domestic security watchdog, in both states. Brandenburg, the largely rural state surrounding Berlin, will hold its election on 22 September. Its AfD chapter is listed as “suspected rightwing extremist”. ...

Höcke has belonged to the AfD since it was launched in 2013 as a Eurosceptic party. He is seen as the driving force of its ever-stronger embrace of radical anti-migrant, anti-Islam sentiment, as he calls into question the foundations of Germany’s democratic order and postwar penance for the Holocaust. It is the performance of his state that will be watched most closely in Germany, which has long prided itself on consensus-oriented politics and having learned the lessons of the Nazi past, when the results trickle in on election night.

“How Many More?” Attorney Ben Crump on Latest in Breonna Taylor, Tyre Nichols & Roger Fortson Cases

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Trump accepts RFK Jr endorsement and vows to release JFK assassination files

Hours after being endorsed by the third-party candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump said he would release “all of the remaining documents pertaining to the assassination of John F Kennedy” if he were elected president in November, as part of a proposed new commission on presidential assassination attempts, including the one that targeted him.

Speaking at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, Trump also pledged that, if elected, he would “establish a panel of top experts” that would work with Kennedy, a prominent anti-vaccine advocate, to investigate childhood health problems. The 13 July assassination attempt on Trump is already being officially investigated, including by the Secret Service and the FBI.

Kennedy, the scion of one of the country’s most famous Democratic political dynasties, got a roar of approval from Republicans when he joined Trump on stage at a Republican campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona. “Bobby! Bobby!” the crowd chanted.

Kennedy had announced earlier on Friday that he was suspending his third-party campaign for president and endorsing Trump. Kennedy’s vice-presidential pick, Nicole Shanahan, had previously spoken out about the campaign’s belief that staying in the race would result in a victory for Harris, because “we draw votes from Trump”. Kennedy said he would remove himself from the ballots in swing states, where he might siphon electoral college votes from Trump, while staying on the ballot in other states.

In a brief speech at the rally, Kennedy said Trump would “make America healthy again” and that he would be a president “who is going to protect us against totalitarianism”.

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Industry acts to head off regulation on PFAS pollution from semiconductors

Producers of PFAS chemicals and semiconductors, a key part of most electronics, have formed a group that develops industry-friendly science aimed at heading off regulation as the facilities release high levels of toxic waste, documents seen by the Guardian show.

The group, called the PFAS Consortium, was formed during a boom in domestic semiconductor production spurred by the Chips and Science Act that has led to $825bn in investment aimed at shoring up the industry.

Left unchecked, however, the boom could also generate huge levels of toxic waste, experts fear. The semiconductor industry is a prolific polluter and a major source of unregulated and unmonitored toxic PFAS, or “forever chemicals”, some of which also turn into potent greenhouse gas. ...

Testing data from 2022 from one US production plant, or fab, seen by the Guardian showed as much as 78,000ppt of PFAS in wastewater from some samples. The EPA legal limit for several common compounds is 4ppt. Public health advocates are increasingly sounding the alarm and calling for simple protections to curb semiconductor PFAS waste while pushing the industry to find safer alternatives, but manufacturers have mobilized in response.

The consortium’s white papers circulated among policymakers make their case against regulations. In a document titled “Impact of a potential PFAS restriction”, the consortium acknowledges its PFAS pollution, but repeatedly stresses that there are very few regulations and opposes proposals to monitor or restrict waste. Finding safer alternatives is “impossible in some instances”, the paper states, adding that finding alternatives would require “stepping back decades in technological advancement”. It touts industry efforts to cut back on waste, stating that the industry would continue to voluntarily reduce pollution “if exemptions [to regulation] are granted”.

California sees ‘winter wonderland’ in summer for first time in 20 years

This summer, Californians have had to endure blistering heatwaves, raging wildfires – and now snow. An unusually strong and rare snow system dusted California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range early Saturday, the first time snow has fallen in August in the so-called Golden State in more than 20 years.

The Madera county deputy sheriff, Larry Rich, said it was “definitely unexpected” to see snow at Minaret Vista, a lookout point south-east of Yosemite national park in the Sierra Nevada, in August.

Yosemite has not seen August snow for at least 20 years, the National Weather Service said.

Snow fell at Mammoth Mountain and Palisades Tahoe ski resorts as officials at Mammoth posted on social media, “This morning was chill. Take a look at the dusting of new snow on the mid and upper-mountain.” About 3in fell in Lassen Volcanic national park, according to the weather service. But most areas just got a dusting with summertime temps returning 24 hours later.

The rare summer snowstorm nonetheless caused a record amount of rainfall in Redding, Red Bluff and Stockton in northern California on Saturday, the weather service said.

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Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

The Problem Isn’t The US Having The Wrong President, The Problem Is The US Empire’s Existence

Voting Explained

The War on Gaza – 2.6.24

Western Media Outlets Are Complicit in Israel's Genocide—and Must Be Held Accountable

The US Push for Saudi Recognition of Israel

The Cant About Israel’s ‘Right to Self Defense’

Restoring Israel’s Rule by Fear

Israeli security chief condemns ‘terrorism’ of militant settlers

Chris Hedges: My Thoughts on the Arrest of Richard Medhurst

Patrick Lawrence: “The End of Days”

Visits to Japan’s only Shinto weather shrine surge as climate crisis bites

Jon Stewart FLAMES DNC For Palestine Hypocrisy

Zelensky trapped in Kursk

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A Little Night Music

Mary Wells - My Guy

Mary Wells - The One Who Really Loves You

Mary Wells - What's Easy For Two Is So Hard For One

Mary Wells - Two Lovers

Mary Wells - Laughing Boy

Mary Wells - You Beat Me To The Punch

Mary Wells - He's a lover

Mary Wells - Bye Bye Baby

Mary Wells - When Your Lover Comes Back

Marvin Gaye & Mary Wells - What's The Matter With You Baby

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