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The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Son House

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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features delta blues singer Son House. Enjoy!

^{Son House - Death Letter Blues}

"Dear Trump supporters, send me all of your money. I have a plan to make America great again. I will end all the wars and drain the swamp. Don’t worry if it looks like I’m not doing any of those things, I’m playing 4d chess, trust the plan. Send me your life savings right now."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

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News and Opinion

I Hope The US Loses And The Empire Collapses

YouTube has banned the channel that’s been creating viral AI Lego music videos criticizing the US war on Iran. The Google-owned platform claims the Lego videos somehow constituted “violent content”, but we all know it was to facilitate the US propaganda effort by shutting down effective propaganda for the other side.

Iran-linked accounts are circulating a new LEGO-style propaganda video portraying U.S. and Israeli leaders as corrupt elites tied to the “Epstein files,” part of a broader online campaign aimed at undermining support for the war.

The animation depicts President Donald Trump… pic.twitter.com/PdjcJGrjuy

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) April 9, 2026

Silicon Valley is a crucial arm of US imperial control. It chooses to advance the interests of the empire at every significant juncture. It’s a branch of imperial soft power in the same way the military is a branch of imperial hard power.

Prof. Mohammad Marandi : What Really Happened in Islamabad

Iran DOWNS $600 Million Drone, Trump's Hormuz Blockade COLLAPSES | Col. Larry Wilkerson

US-Iran peace talks could resume in next two days, Trump says

Donald Trump has said that US-Iranian peace talks could resume in Islamabad over the next two days, and complimented the work of Pakistan’s army chief as mediator. The US president was speaking on Tuesday to a New York Post reporter who had gone to Islamabad for the first round of ceasefire talks over the weekend. After an interview discussing prospects for negotiations, the reporter said the president had called her back “with an update”.

“You should stay there, really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump said. He added that Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was doing a “great job” in arranging the talks. “He’s fantastic, and therefore it’s more likely that we go back there,” Trump said.

A Pakistani official said on Tuesday that he expected talks to restart soon, but it may take a day or two longer than Trump suggested. “The game is on,” the official said. Islamabad is racing to arrange a meeting date that provides enough time for negotiations before the two-week ceasefire ends on Wednesday 22 April.

Meanwhile, Israel and Lebanon have held unprecedented negotiations in Washington about the cross-border conflict, which erupted as a consequence of the US-Israeli attack on Iran. Hezbollah sided with Iran and launched rockets at Israel, which responded with intense bombardment of Beirut and other cities, and launched an invasion of southern Lebanon. In a statement after the two-hour session ended, the US state department praised the two sides for what it called “productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon”.

Hezbollah has said it will not abide by any agreements made by Israeli and Lebanese government negotiators in Washington.

Israel's War & Demands "Could Throw Lebanon Back Into a Civil War": Former Israeli Negotiator

Trump Rejects Reports That US Proposed Iran Suspend Uranium Enrichment for 20 Years

President Trump on Tuesday rejected reports that said the US has proposed to Iran to freeze uranium enrichment for 20 years, suggesting that he wants a permanent end to Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.

The president made the comments to the New York Post and again conflated the idea of any uranium enrichment with the pursuit of nuclear weapons, even though Tehran has been willing to cap uranium enrichment at very low levels far below the 90% enrichment needed for a weapon.

“I’ve been saying they can’t have nuclear weapons, so I don’t like the 20 years,” the president said. When asked whether a 20-year moratorium could work as a deal, since it could allow Iran to sell it as a win, Trump said, “I don’t want them to feel like they have a win.”

IRAN, CHINA DESTROY U.S. BLOCKADE + IDF AMBUSHED AS CEASEFIRE PRESSURE MOUNTS | Laith Marouf

House Democrats call for commission led by JD Vance to oust Trump

House Democrats on Tuesday proposed creating a commission that would work with JD Vance to remove Donald Trump from office under the 25th amendment, should they determine he is no longer fit to serve. The measure, introduced by Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, follows a series of statements from Trump, including his recent warning that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” if it did not capitulate to his demands, and a social media post that depicted him as Jesus Christ.

“Public trust in Donald Trump’s ability to meet the duties of his office has dropped to unprecedented lows as he threatens to destroy entire civilizations, unleashes chaos in the Middle East while violating congressional war powers, aggressively insults the Pope of the Catholic Church and sends out artistic renderings online likening himself to Jesus Christ,” Raskin said in a statement. “We are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and unstable situation.”

Fifty other Democratic House lawmakers have co-sponsored the bill. It faces long odds in the Republican-controlled chamber, where some members have shown a willingness to oppose the president’s policies but none have expressed serious concerns about his fitness for office.

The constitution’s 25th amendment sets out how a vice-president can take over from a president who dies or resigns. It also outlines the process by which the vice-president and a majority of the cabinet can remove the president from office, if they determine the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the office.

Raskin noted that the vice-president may also make the determination in conjunction with an unspecified “body” that Congress authorizes. His measure would create the commission on presidential capacity to discharge the powers and duties of office, which would be composed of four retired executive branch office holders chosen by Congress’s Republican and Democratic leaders, which could include former presidents, vice-presidents, surgeon generals and certain cabinet secretaries.

Russia Warns US Will 'Intensify' Iran War; China Warns Navy Protect China Oil Tankers; Putin Xi Trip

Italy Suspends Defense Agreement With Israel Amid Mounting Public Pressure to Cut Ties

The Italian government has suspended a military cooperation agreement with Israel in response to its attacks against Lebanon in recent weeks, which have killed hundreds of people.

Italy’s right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, announced on Tuesday that it was suspending an agreement with Israel that dates back to 2003 and involved cooperation between the two countries, which traded military equipment and shared technical data.

“In view of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel,” Meloni said on Tuesday.

It marks a dramatic shift in policy for Italy’s government, which has until recently been one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe. Amid the genocide in Gaza, Meloni has faced pressure both from opposition parties and from the public to cut ties with Israel for more than a year.

The relationship appears to have finally frayed with the events of the past several weeks, when Israel launched an invasion of Lebanon that has involved the displacement of more than 1 million people, the razing of entire villages, and the aggressive bombing of civilian areas.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday that her country had suspended an automatic renewal of a defence cooperation deal with Israel amid 'Middle East conflicts'. pic.twitter.com/GvPBoUcNLE

— Al Jazeera Breaking News (@AJENews) April 14, 2026

Tension between the two countries hit a boiling point over the past week, when the Italian government accused Israeli forces of firing warning shots at Italian UN peacekeepers, which caused damage to a vehicle but resulted in no injuries.

Italy was also among several European countries that called for Lebanon’s inclusion in last week’s ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran. Meloni accused Israel of “disrespecting” the two-week truce when it launched the most devastating attack yet on Lebanon the day after the ceasefire was reached, which killed and wounded more than 1,400 people, including many civilians.

Though Meloni has been an ideological ally of US President Donald Trump, she has grown increasingly critical of the American president. On Monday, she condemned what she called “unacceptable” insults from Trump against Pope Leo XIV, who criticized the war in Iran.

Trump responded with his own shots at Meloni: “I thought she had courage. I was wrong,” he said.

Meloni is also facing mounting pressure from her own people over Italy’s relationship with Israel, which could loom large as she faces reelection in 2027.

Nearly 3 out of 4 Italians said in a September survey that they believe Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide, and 59% said they wanted Italy to cut ties with Israel. During the fall, millions of Italians took to the streets to rally in solidarity with Palestinians and support the Global Sumud Flotilla as it carried humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza.

This anger has been seized on by the opposition. Last week, during a heated exchange, the Parliament erupted in applause after opposition lawmaker Angelo Bonelli took Meloni to task for “failing” to condemn or distance herself from Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“You are stubbornly short-sighted and fail to grasp where the world is heading,” Bonelli said. “A world where the logic of war is dictated by two criminals.”

Responding to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon on Wednesday, Bonelli asked the prime minister: “200 people were killed as if it were nothing. What is your response? What are you doing? Do you have the courage to take action?”

I’m beginning to love this guy more and more every day.

Thank you Italy. pic.twitter.com/fPOBcvlf7U

— Hussain “Hoz” Shafiei (@HussainShafiei) April 12, 2026

Riccardo Magi, a member of the center-left opposition party More Europe, wrote on social media that by suspending Italy’s defense agreement with Israel, Meloni had “finally realized that something is happening in the Middle East.”

“After years of massacres by Israel against Palestinian civilians, in which our government simply decided to look the other way, today Meloni has suddenly decided to suspend the memorandum between Italy and Israel, as the opposition has been demanding for a long time,” he said.

However, he cautioned that the decision was “not about a renewed humanitarian spirit on the part of our government,” but rather “pure electoral convenience.”

“It is not enough for us, and we believe sanctions are necessary against Netanyahu and his ministers, including a ban on entry into the territory of the union,” he said. “The illegal occupation of Gaza, together with the wars provoked in the area without any consideration for the lives of civilians, is now a point of no return. Israel must stop.”

Meloni’s Israel U‑turn ‘too late’ and proof of ‘political cowardice’: Italian MP

Trump accuses ally Meloni of lacking courage for not joining attacks on Iran

Donald Trump lashed out at one of his closest allies on Tuesday, saying Italy’s Giorgia Meloni lacked courage in light of her failure to join the US in attacking Iran. “I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” the US president said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The attack came as Meloni said that her far-right government would suspend the automatic renewal of its defence cooperation agreement with Israel “in light of the current situation”.

“Giorgia Meloni doesn’t want to help us in the war. I’m shocked,” Trump said. “Do people like the fact that your president isn’t doing anything to get the oil [in Iran]? Does she like it? I can’t imagine.”

Tensions between Italy and the US have intensified in recent days after criticism from Trump directed at Pope Leo, marking a dramatic shift in relations between the US president and Meloni, whose political alliance and personal rapport had long been openly embraced – with the Italian leader having said earlier this year that she hoped he would one day receive the Nobel peace prize.

Trump said he did not think the Chicago-born pontiff was “doing a very good job”, while also suggesting he should “stop catering to the radical left”. Meloni criticised remarks by Trump targeting the pope, calling them “unacceptable”. She added that she would not feel comfortable in a society where religious leaders were expected to follow the direction of political leaders.

Scott Ritter: Trump Panics as Iran’s Strategy Exposes His Biggest Defeat Yet

Iran war escalation could trigger global recession, IMF warns

A further escalation in the Iran war could trigger a global recession that would affect the UK more than any of the other G7 nations, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Against an increasingly volatile backdrop, the Washington-based fund said the economic damage from the Middle East conflict was steadily rising as it cut its growth forecasts for 2026 based on the impact of the war so far.

In its half-yearly update, the IMF said the UK would suffer the sharpest growth downgrade and joint highest inflation rate in the G7 this year, even if the fallout from soaring energy costs can be contained by the middle of 2026. However, under a worst-case “severe scenario”, involving a drawn-out war and persistently higher energy prices, it said the world would face “a close call for a global recession” for only the fifth time since 1980.

The IMF’s warning prompted the UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves, into the British government’s harshest rebuke yet to President Trump. “The war in Iran is not our war, but it will come at a cost to the UK. These are not costs I wanted, but they are costs we will have to respond to.” Speaking before travelling to Washington for the IMF meetings, Reeves blamed Donald Trump for the impact of the war on “families here in the UK but also families in the US and around the world”.

As finance ministers and central bank heads from around the globe gather in Washington for the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, the fund said the war had darkened the outlook for global growth. While warning that countries worldwide would face slower growth and higher inflation, the IMF said net energy importers and developing nations would face the biggest hit.

Ro Khanna to introduce bill to stop US gasoline exports amid Iran war

Amid historic jumps in gas prices triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran, the California congressman Ro Khanna is to introduce legislation on Tuesday that would ban the export of gasoline during price spikes. “The country is crying out for a new energy policy,” said Khanna in an interview with the Guardian, “that doesn’t have us subject to the whims of the profits of big oil companies.”

The Iran war has sparked the largest-ever disruption to fuel supply, according to the International Energy Agency, with crude costs topping $100 a barrel so far this week. That has in turn caused the price of gasoline – for which crude is the main input – to rise dramatically, with Americans paying more than $4 a gallon at the pump.

Keeping domestic gasoline supplies at home, Khanna said, could lower the cost of gas for US consumers. During any period when national gas prices average $3.12 a gallon or higher, his proposed legislation would stop US shipments of refined gasoline to other countries.

The US became a net exporter of gasoline in the 2010s and the world’s largest exporter of motor gasoline in 2024.

Khanna’s proposal is unlikely to pass Congress, as Republicans are unlikely to “contradict the big oil companies”, he said. But its introduction illustrates the push from Democrats and progressives to highlight how the Iran war is not only deadly for those abroad, but also costly for Americans.

Everything's Wrong With The "Doordash Grandma" Story

The Great Class War

With Help From Trump-GOP Law, At Least 88 Big US Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Income Tax Last Year

Dozens of America’s most profitable corporations avoided paying any federal income taxes in 2025, according to an analysis out on Tuesday from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

The 88 companies—which include Tesla, Southwest Airlines, Live Nation, Palantir, Citigroup, and many others listed in the S&P 500—brought in a collective $105 billion in pretax income last year.

ITEP found that 2025 saw a spike in corporate tax avoidance, enabled in part by new loopholes created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald Trump and by his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduced the corporate tax rate to 21% from its previous 35%.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is expected to hand the wealthiest 1% of Americans $117 billion in tax cuts this year, while those in the bottom 95% are set to pay more in taxes while facing across-the-board cuts to social safety net programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

It also allowed multimillion- and billion-dollar corporations to find new ways to avoid paying taxes. More than half of the tax-avoiders listed in the report used a provision in the new tax law allowing companies to immediately write off capital investments, reducing their collective taxes by $11.4 billion.

Pharmaceutical and tech companies, meanwhile, were able to take advantage of tax write-offs for research and development, exempting them from approximately another $4.4 billion.

In total, the corporate tax avoidance documented in 2025 by the researchers helped to rob the public coffers of yet another $26.7 billion, enough to give every public school student a free lunch for a year, according to a University of Missouri analysis of the National School Lunch Program.

The researchers said that the full scale of corporate tax avoidance remains unclear, since corporate tax returns are not publicly available. Some companies were also excluded because they are not part of the S&P 500 or have not yet reported their 2025 taxes.

“These findings are not isolated cases—they reflect systemic deficiencies in the corporate tax code,” said Amy Hanauer, the executive director for ITEP. “Without meaningful reform, profitable corporations will continue to pay less than their fair share.”

US Farmers DIRE WARNING: NO FERTILIZER From Iran War

ICE detention of US citizen in Minnesota investigated as kidnapping, false arrest

Authorities in Minnesota are investigating the detention by federal immigration officers of a US citizen as a possible kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment. The arrest of ChongLy “Scott” Thao, 56, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in January became symbolic of Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s brutal crackdown in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul. It came the same month as American anti-ICE protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by government agents.

Masked ICE officers broke down the door of Thao’s house in St Paul – without a warrant, according to his family – and dragged him into the street in his underwear while he clutched a blanket in sub-freezing conditions. Thao, a Hmong American and naturalized US citizen, said at the time that agents drove him “to the middle of nowhere” and forced him from the car in frigid weather to photograph him, before realizing their mistake and dropping him back at home almost two hours later.

Videos captured a chaotic scene at Thao’s house on the day of his arrest, including people blowing whistles and horns – and neighbors screaming at more than a dozen armed ICE agents to leave the family alone.

On Monday, local Ramsey county attorney, John Choi, and Bob Fletcher, the sheriff, told reporters at a press conference in St Paul that the homeland security department (DHS) had failed to respond to their request for information about Thao’s arrest and detention. They said a grand jury might be convened in May. “There are many facts we don’t know yet, but there’s one that we do know – and that is that Mr Thao is and has been an American citizen,” Fletcher said. “There’s not a dispute over that.

“There’s no dispute that he was taken out of his house, forcibly taken out of his home and driven around. Is that good law enforcement, to take an American citizen out of their home and drive them around aimlessly, trying to determine what they can tell them?”

California man shot by ICE arrested by FBI and charged with ‘assault’

Federal officials have arrested a California man who was shot by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and charged him with “assault” on a federal officer. Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, was shot by ICE officers on 7 April in Patterson, a rural town in California’s central valley roughly 80 miles south-east of San Francisco. He was hit by more than six bullets, including in the face, according to his attorney.

Hernandez is the latest person to be injured by immigration officers and then criminally prosecuted by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). In the Los Angeles region, the DoJ has consistently failed to win convictions against people accused of assaulting immigration officers, suffering a string of embarrassing dismissals and acquittals in recent months.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially accused Hernandez of being a gang member wanted in connection to a murder, but his attorney has strongly denied those claims, and the justice department did not repeat those allegations in its complaint and press release on Tuesday.

Hernandez, who does work rehabilitating buildings damaged in fires, was pulled over on his way to a job. Dashcam footage of the encounter, from a witness in a nearby car, showed Hernandez reversing away from the officers as two officers pointed firearms at him. The car then drove forward and jumped over a median. The footage, with no sound, does not make clear when officers fired shots, but Hernandez, through his attorney, has insisted he moved his vehicle only after he was shot, to flee the bullets.

A second witness in another car released dashcam footage last week and told reporters that ICE fired its first shot before the car moved. In its initial statement, DHS alleged Hernandez “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run an officer over”, saying officers “fired defensive shots to protect themselves”. That statement did not include any claims the officers were hit by the car or injured, and the videos do not show the car colliding with agents, though the footage is grainy and partially obstructed.

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NAACP lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s xAI of polluting Black neighborhoods near Memphis

A new lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company of illegally spewing toxic pollutants into the Black neighborhoods on the border of Tennessee and Mississippi.

The suit, filed on Tuesday in Mississippi federal court, alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act due to emissions from its makeshift power plant in Southaven, Mississippi, which powers its datacenters in south Memphis. The NAACP, represented by environmental groups Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, says xAI has been polluting the surrounding historically Black communities by using dozens of methane gas generators without permits. The organization is seeking to force the company to stop operating its unpermitted turbines in Southaven.

“All too often, big corporations like xAI treat our communities and families like obstacles to be pushed aside,” said Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP. xAI’s datacenters, nicknamed “Colossus” and “Colossus II” by Musk, are massive facilities, with the latter occupying 1m sq ft in Memphis. They are located in Memphis’s industrial zone and a few miles from residential neighborhoods that have long dealt with harmful pollution, including Boxtown, a neighborhood that was established by formerly enslaved people after emancipation in the 19th century.

The lawsuit alleges xAI illegally installed and operated up to 27 gas turbines, each one the size of a large bus, to power the datacenters. Combined, they have the capacity to emit tons of harmful nitrogen oxides per year, along with toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Black residents still make up a large portion of the Memphis neighborhoods, which have faced higher rates of asthma and respiratory diseases as well as a lower life expectancy than other parts of the city. Studies have likewise shown these neighborhoods have a cancer risk that is four times the national average. “We cannot afford to normalize this kind of environmental injustice – where billion-dollar companies set up polluting operations in Black neighborhoods without any permits and think they’ll get away with it because the people don’t have the power to fight back,” Johnson said. “We will not allow xAI to get away with this.”

Cuba could beat US energy blockade with $8bn investment in renewables, says thinktank

Cuba could beat the US’s crippling energy blockade for ever with just an $8bn investment in renewable energy. And the rest of the world should pay for it. Those are the bold claims of a thinktank analysis of the embattled socialist republic’s energy policy, which claims that Cuba could show its Caribbean neighbours the way to a green energy future.

Just $8bn (£5.9bn) could fund the buildout of enough renewable energy to cover 93.4% of Cuba’s electricity generation needs, the report claims. For less than $20bn, Cuba could become the first country in the Caribbean to have a grid powered entirely by renewables. The proposals come as Cuba endures weeks of an energy blockade imposed by the US on the island and its communist-run government, which Washington claims has a “malign influence” on the region.

Since January, Cuba has received just one shipment of oil, from Russia, after Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening trade tariffs on any country that sold oil to the island nation. By March, its national electric grid had collapsed, with its 10 million people enduring repeated blackouts. Hospital intensive care units lost power, and transport and industry ground to a halt, as Trump boasted: “I do believe I’ll be … having the honour of taking Cuba.”

Analysis by the Common Wealth thinktank’s Transition Security Project (TSP) outlines how Cuba could gain complete energy independence from its volatile neighbour by transforming its grid to run from renewable energy, which would not only eliminate its vulnerability but also serve as a model for the region. “The US’s energy dominance strategy seeks to entrench dependence on fossil fuels, stall the green transition and strengthen US power,” said Kevin Cashman, a researcher with TSP, who wrote the analysis. But increasingly cheap and scalable solar power and battery storage weaken such a strategy.

“For countries like Cuba – with enormous renewable potential, but suffering blackouts and widespread suffering under a cruel and illegal US-imposed energy blockade – a transition to green electricity would reduce US leverage and provide a shining example to the world.”

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Also of Interest

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

Leaked Documents Reveal Details of the Secret Saudi Arabia–Pakistan Mutual Defense Pact

How Many People Have the U.S. & Israel Killed in Iran?

Think the Iran war is a disaster? Blame these DC think tanks first.

Iran War: Contested Reports About US Blockade Failure in First 24 Hours as Saudi Arabia Protests and Experts Warn of Difficulty and High Risk; Markets Still Buying Trump Howlers About Iran Begging for Deal Despite Intelligence-Insulting Lie About His Jesus Tweet

War On Iran: The Stalemate Of Blockading Blockades

Francesca Albanese on death threats, danger and dread after accusing Israel of genocide

Vijay Prashad: Apologies to Gaza & Lebanon

UK Arms Shipment to Israel Seized in Belgium

Trump risks war backlash from the heartland: American farmers

US edges closer to popular vote deciding winner of presidential elections

‘Nothing but tree skeletons’: record-breaking wildfires devastate US cattle country

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A Little Night Music

Son House - Walkin' Blues

Son House ~ The Pony Blues

Son House - Levee Camp Blues

Son House - John the Revelator

Son House - Preachin' Blues

Son House - Sundown

Son House ~ Fo' Clock Blues

Son House ~ Pearline

Son House - My Black Mama Part I

Son House - Grinnin in Your Face

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