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May 11, 2012 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:52
May 11, 2012, Friday, Hour #1
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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
Wow, what a morning.
What a morning.
Well, no, I just, I didn't, I didn't get really, really intensely started on show prep till an hour ago.
Well, because I was, I thought I could upgrade my computer to a new system OS in about 45 minutes, and it took three hours to do it.
Live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida, it's open line Friday!
And I wasn't able to print consistently with the other devices while I was going on.
Anyway, nothing went wrong.
It just took longer.
Everything's cool.
I just haven't had as much time to play with it as I thought I.
I even got here earlier than usual to make it happen.
Yes, I know about Romney.
I know about how the family of this guy saying it story's not true.
I know all that.
I know everything.
Even though I only had an intense hour before the program today, I had a lot of stuff last night.
So we're cool.
Everything's fine.
Plus, it's Open Line Friday.
And frankly, by design, that's where you people carry the show.
That's right.
We try to take more calls on Friday than any other day of the week.
And on Friday, we relax our stringent, dire standards that we place on callers.
And on Friday, pretty much whatever you want to talk about is fair game.
There are some restrictions, but not very many.
Certainly not as stringent as Monday through Thursday.
When you call Monday through Thursday, you have to talk about something I care about, or it's Sayonara before you even are told Ohio Gaza Amos.
So Friday, though, doesn't matter.
If I don't care about it, I'll either act like I do or just let you have at it until I figure people are getting bored and move on.
800-282-2882 is the number.
Well, I've always said the great make it look easy.
You shouldn't try this at home.
And basically Friday, we let them try it at home for real.
I would think it'd be an easy day for Snerdley.
He claims it's always the hardest screening calls.
Anyway, be nice to him, even though he might be short with you.
800-282-2882, if you want to be on the program, email address, lrushball at EIBnet.com.
I'll tell you, here's what I know.
Here's what I know.
And it is after only an hour of an, and by the way, you must know, I have to tell you what this feels like.
Guilt.
Like I've only did an hour of show prep, but I feel like I'm skipping school today.
I feel like I'm not fulfilling expectations of stuff.
So we'll see.
This is what I know.
Mitt Romney was not at Chappaquitic.
Mitt Romney has not been accused of rape.
Mitt Romney did not have an affair with a mob babe.
He didn't have an affair with an actress who committed suicide later on.
Mitt Romney did not father a child out of wedlock.
Mitt Romney did not support the tapping of Martin Luther King's phone.
Mitt Romney was never a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Mitt Romney did not lie about his law school grades.
Chappaquiddick is Ted Kennedy.
Accused of rape is Bill Clinton.
Fair with a mob babe and an actress, John Kennedy.
Didn't father a child out of wedlock.
That's John Edwards and Democrats Too Numerous to Mention.
Didn't support the tapping of Martin Luther King's phone.
That's Robert Kennedy.
Never remembered a Ku Klux Klan.
That's Robert Byrd.
Didn't lie about his law school grades.
That's Joe Biden.
All Democrats.
And all of those Democrats did those things well after high school.
And Obama even wrote in his book, Dreams from My Father, how he bullied a young girl.
And he hasn't even apologized.
Grab audio soundbite number six.
The audiobook version, Dreams of My Father, originally published, by the way, in print in 1995, then Senator Baracka Obama, in his book, said this about a time he bullied a young classmate named Coretta.
Her name was Coretta, and before my arrival, she had been the only black person in our grade.
She was plump and dark and didn't seem to have many friends.
I ran up to Coretta and gave her a slight shove.
She staggered back and looked up at me, but still said nothing.
Leave me alone, I shouted again.
And suddenly, Coretta was running, faster and faster, until she disappeared from sight.
Appreciative laughs rose around me.
For the rest of the afternoon, I was haunted by the look on Coretta's face.
Yeah.
So Obama admits to bullying a young girl, still hasn't apologized for it.
Washington Post hasn't dug deep.
Washington Post hasn't tried to find her.
Washington Post hasn't tried to find her family.
Washington Post hasn't alleged that Coretta was a lesbian.
He hasn't alleged, and this post hadn't alleged there was any presumed anti-gay bias in Obama's bullying.
Same book, Dreams from My Father, this about Obama and his time in Haskruel in Hawaii.
I spent the last two years of high school in a days, locking away the questions that life seemed insistent on posing.
I kept playing basketball, attended classes sparingly, drank beer heavily, and tried drugs enthusiastically.
I discovered that it didn't make any difference whether you smoked reefer in the white classmate's sparkling new van or in the dorm room with some brother you'd met down at the gym or on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids who had dropped out of school and now spent most of their time looking for an excuse to brawl.
I discovered that it didn't make any difference.
So we have an admitted bully, an admitted user of alcohol and cocaine.
And even at that, there has yet been, not yet been, any energy whatsoever extended, expended to try to find out any more about this.
No, what do we have?
A practically made-up story about Mitt Romney.
Starting yesterday in the Washington Post.
Back at the prestigious distinguished Crabiron School or whatever it was.
I forget Craigmont, Craig Myron, Craig, Craig, Craig's List.
I don't know what it was.
It's an idyllic place.
And Romney found this long-headed, long-haired, blonde-headed guy.
He said, I don't like long hair like that.
Pinned the guy down, beat him up, sent him on.
Guy was so devastated, he commits suicide later.
I mean, that was basically the story.
Romney apologized and apologized and apologized.
ABC News led the news with it last night.
Family member of the classmate who Mitt Romney allegedly bullied in Haskruel says she had no knowledge of the incident.
Christine Lauber, the older sister of former Romney classmate John Lauber, told ABC News she was at college when the incident allegedly occurred while her brother John and Romney attended high school.
Here it is, the Cranbrook Scroll in Bloomfield, Michigan.
The Washington Post story Thursday states that Romney and at least one other classmate held down and cut off the long, bleached blonde hair on Lauber, who was presumed to be gay, but the family says the family says all these presumptions about the guy in the story are wrong.
They don't specify which presumptions are wrong.
They just say that the caricature of this guy in the story is not correct.
And they're upset about it.
The guy's dead.
He can't defend himself.
And so what's happened here, the media in typical left-wing fashion has taken a couple of people to set out and just destroy them.
There's nothing they can do about them, all for the purposes of advancing some really silly, pathetic.
This is, by the way, this is not an accident.
This story has been waiting in the wings for Obama to announce that he wasn't going to do anything different on gay marriage, which is what he did.
I'm reading reports of the fundraiser at the Clooney Estate last night.
Exactly what I thought would happen.
They all sat around, applauded each other, applauded Obama, talked about how great it was.
Nothing's different.
There's not a shred of change in gay marriage policy in this country.
And Obama didn't make a shred of change, but it doesn't matter because we don't look at results.
We look at intentions.
So all these people feeling really good about themselves.
In the meantime, how pathetic is this?
Literally pathetic.
This is all they've got.
And this is something that they have obviously been waiting and holding in reserve.
It's all part, I'm convinced, folks, it's all part of a conceived strategy waiting for execution with a timeline.
The only thing that's gone wrong here is that the family member of this classmate that Romney allegedly bullied, now saying it didn't happen.
Well, that's not a big problem, is it?
It didn't happen.
The family member says she doesn't remember anything about this.
She didn't hear anything about this.
I don't remember that incident.
Romney said, and I'll tell you, I certainly don't believe the fellow was homosexual.
The furthest thing from our minds back in the 60s, that was not the case.
Ms. Lauber, South Bend, Indiana, said that she and her sisters will likely issue a statement later today through their attorney.
She also said, yeah, later today.
She also said if her brother were alive, he'd be furious about this story.
Ms. Lauber told ABC her brother was a very unusual person.
He didn't care about running with the peer group.
What's wrong with that?
Even if it did happen, John probably wouldn't have said anything.
Wouldn't have been used by them.
But sister didn't know about it.
But I'm still struck by the fact that it's such a pathetic really is this all they've got?
Vain?
No, I'm sitting here.
Correct me if I'm wrong, and I probably am on this.
I'm sitting here, and I can't imagine this being effective with one person who's undecided about anything.
I just, I know I'm wrong.
I know that this country's full of people who, hell, want to ban football for crying out loud.
Cutting off a blonde kid's hair, probably worsening and happens in the football field as some people I can imagine.
But I just a presidential election.
In the meantime, the Rasmussen tracking polls out.
Obama's down 50 to 43.
That's the news.
The Rasmussen Report's daily presidential tracking poll for today shows Mitt Romney earning 50% of the vote, Obama at 43.
4% would vote for a third-party candidate.
Another 3% are undecided.
First time Romney has reached a 50% level of support in Rasmussen, his largest lead ever over Obama.
And it comes a week after a disappointing jobs report that raised new questions.
And by the way, there was a jobs report yesterday.
Have you heard anything about it?
Something like applications for new unemployment benefits were down 1,000.
I mean, that's a wild guess.
Rounding error.
There's no news to report.
Upside positive news on the jobs front.
What else did I?
Oh, something like 239,000 people lose their unemployment benefits today.
This is the day their 99 weeks expire.
So they'll go on Social Security disability and food stamps, and they'll keep the gravy train rolling.
From CNN, here's this headline, National Eat What You Want Day.
It's today.
May 11th is National Eat What You Want Day.
Michelle Obama giving us one day to eat what we want.
Ashley Strickland reporting for CNN.
You can have whatever you like.
May 11th, National Eat What You Want.
What a concept.
Here we are in the United States of America, where all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.
Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.
By the way, May 11th.
Eat what you want day.
The other 364 days, screw you.
You're going to eat what we tell you to eat.
Maybe you've been on a restrictive diet and you're ready for that one luscious treat that you can't stop craving.
Or maybe you just can't make up your mind because of the overwhelming tasty choices.
No matter your food dilemma, today is for you to celebrate your favorite flavors.
If you are incredibly indecisive, visiting a buffet or setting up one in your own home, it's a fun way to explore the boundaries.
Really?
So CNN is telling us the benefits of a buffet, of a buffet.
So nobody's ever seen one before.
And maybe we've seen one, but we don't know what to do when we see one.
Oh, yeah.
A buffet is a fun way to explore the boundaries of your taste buds.
You ever been to a buffet with your family and say, hey, okay, time to go up there and explore the boundaries of our taste buds?
You talk that way to anybody?
It's just like these golf announcers.
Tiger authored a par on number 17.
Well, I play golf.
Nobody after shooting parr ever said that they authored it.
They shot it.
They made par.
Now we are exploring the boundaries of our taste buds.
After all, pretty much any buffet is all you can eat.
Goes pretty well with today's theme.
But tomorrow, back to the garden.
And how about this?
Obama is at the cloony fundraiser last night.
By the way, the story on that is the original expectation was 10 million.
That's what they were going to raise.
But then our brave, courageous president went out there and said that he thinks the states ought to determine gay marriage.
Gay people should be able to get married.
Lo and behold, the floodgates opened and an additional $5 million was raised at the Clooney Fund.
I'm not believing that either.
The whole thing is a crock.
We've got 15 from the get-go.
You got Obama in Clooney's house.
The tickets have been sold, but they want us to believe that there's all this newfound enthusiasm in Hollywood where he was lagging behind a little bit.
There was some distrust, some disappointment, some people simply didn't have that confidence in 2000.
But then Obama came out, and he said, I think the states ought to determine whether or not gay people get married.
And some reason that got another 5 million.
While he was there, if this isn't in every Romney ad from now till November, somebody needs to be fired.
Obama said, quote, sometimes I forget the magnitude of the recession.
Sometimes I forget the magnitude of the recession.
Is it cool to be out of touch?
That's what he said, and I've got to take a break.
Don't go away.
Hi, welcome back.
Great to have you.
Rush Limbaugh Open Line Friday.
Sometimes I forget the magnitude of the recession.
He said it just before the Hollywood extravaganza.
He says this just before he hops on Air Force One.
He says this after living in the White House for three and a half years, after partying nonstop, after vacationing, after golfing as if he was a retired lottery winner in the Kennedy family.
He says, sometimes I forget the magnitude of the recession.
You remember when George H.W. Bush was raked over to Kohl's because he didn't know what a supermarket scanner was?
Well, you don't remember that, Rachel, because you were not even out of the womb then.
But back in 1991, George H.W. Bush went to grocery stores.
President.
He'd never seen a supermarket scan.
So what's that?
And they showed it.
He said, wow, that's really cool.
And they dumped all over him.
Presidents go to grocery stores every day, right?
The usual question, Mr. President, you know what the price of milk is?
No.
Obama.
Sometimes I forget them.
And you know what?
The left is going to look at this as highly sensitive.
This is a guy who's in touch.
He has the courage to admit he knows how tough it is for people out there.
Yes, sir, Reebob.
Before his Hollywood extravaganza, $15 million raise with George Clooney gets on Air Force One, has lived in the White House three and a half years, parties nonstop, vacations and golf.
Sometimes I forget the magnitude of the recession.
After the stimulus bill, after all the jobs bills he claims to have cared about.
We got it.
Rob Audio soundbite number 16.
Last night, um, in Seattle, uh, this, no, wherever, wherever, it was in California last night.
Anyway, Obama at a campaign event.
Listen, here it is.
It was a house of cards, and it collapsed in the most destructive, worst crisis that we've seen since the Great Depression.
Sometimes people forget the magnitude of it.
Sometimes I forget.
800,000 lost their jobs in the month that I took office, and it was tough.
Sometimes I forget the magnitude of the recession.
He says that as though he wants credit.
He was in Seattle.
He's forgotten to cut the national debt in half in his first term, like he said he was going to do.
So after all the partying, after all the times on Air Force One, after all of the jobs bills, after all the stimulus, his administration has been focused on bringing the economy back, has it not?
According to him, according to him, the whole reason he was there has been to revitalize the U.S. economy for people.
He says, sometimes I forget the magnitude of the recession.
He wants credit for this.
I never forget it.
I can't get it out of my mind.
I bet most Americans have not forgotten the magnitude of the recession.
He's also forgotten to create jobs.
By the way, Edward Saverin, co-founder of Facebook.
Did you see the movie, The Social Network?
Zuckerberg's buddy, Harvard.
They basically, in a series of maneuvers, bought him out, sent him packing.
He was focused on advertising early on when they didn't care about that.
So he's got still a little percentage of Facebook, enough that he's a billionaire.
He lives in Singapore.
Edward Saverin, on the eve of the Facebook IPO, says that he is going to give up his U.S. citizenship.
He's 30.
Edward Saverin joins a growing number of people giving up U.S. citizenship in order to trim his tax liabilities.
He is, like a lot of people, frightened and worried about tax mageddon that's on the horizon at the beginning of next year, January 1st.
The Bush tax cuts perspire.
A number of other stuff happens.
Healthcare implements and taxes go up and all charitable deductions practically go away.
And so Edward Saverin says, I'm out of here.
He hasn't lived in the U.S. for a while.
President Obama declared his personal support for same-sex marriage yesterday, but the White House chose not to push for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.
And guess what?
The White House is not going to push the gay marriage plank into the party platform.
As of now, the White House is not going to, Obama, the Democrats, no, Obama, are not going to move to have gay marriage become part of the party platform.
Those of you on the Democrat side, the gay population, you have to understand, not one thing changed for you.
Obama totally left it up to the states, said he was perfect.
All he said was that he thinks gay people should be able to get married.
And then he had the language about getting in the 21st century and how America's always been unfair and unequal and we've got to take this step and all that yada yada good sounding stuff.
But substantively, nothing changed for you.
The only thing that's happening, you gay couples, is that every time this comes up for a vote, state after state after state, after 32 of them, you're over 32.
And now your biggest champion is not even going to push for it to be in the Democrat Party platform at the convention, wherever they hold it.
There's some talk out there, of course, they're going to move it out of North Carolina.
They are thinking of doing so.
Man, oh, man, oh, man, folks, I have to tell you, by the way, there are a couple of other family members of Mr. Lauber.
Betsy Lauber, one of John Lauber's three sisters, spoke with ABC News.
The family of John Lauber is releasing a statement saying the portrayal of John Lauber is factually incorrect.
We are aggrieved he would be used to further a political agenda.
There will be no more comments from the family.
So Obama got the money spigot turned on on gay marriage.
The Washington Post story about Romney and beating up this gay guy, ostensibly, that's part of turning on the money spigot.
He got supposedly $5 million additional dollars at Clooney's last night.
So now he can shut up about gay marriage.
In fact, that's going to be probably standard operating procedure.
Standard operating procedure is going to be no more talk about this.
All right, we've been there, done that.
We got it done.
People are writing checks.
That's all this was about.
Shut up about it.
Don't say anymore.
Because seven swing states swung to the anti-Obama side, or they are expected to because of this.
Social issues.
Everybody says, social issues.
Don't bring them up.
Don't bring them up.
Mr. Limboy is going to hurt the Republican Party.
It's going to hurt conservatives.
It can't win with social.
Look what's happened.
Obama comes out and talks about gay marriage, how he wants to make it happen.
And he just took seven states, swing states, and made them that much more difficult for him to win.
And gay marriage, I would say, is a social issue.
I also say, I can't remember where I saw this today.
Really, I was hustling through everything so fast.
I was skipping every other line when I was reading stories.
I don't remember where I saw this.
Somebody had an interesting theory about Vice President Bite Me that Biden can read and Biden hears and sees all the talk about getting rid of him and replacing him with somebody else.
He's heard all this talk about Hillary replacing him on the ticket or somebody else.
And he doesn't want to be replaced.
Bite me wants to stay on the ticket because then Bite Me wants to run for president 2016.
And if they throw Biden off a ticket now, why, that's bad.
That's bad for the resume.
They make him look like the problem.
So one of the theories I read, and I really wish I could remember so I could properly accredit it, is that Biden was rogue.
He did purposely go out Sunday on Meet the Depressed, and he did bring this gay marriage up.
And he did say, while everybody thought that he was speaking for the administration, that he's all for it, dad, he's totally comfortable with gay marriage now.
The theory is Biden did that to make it almost impossible to throw him off the ticket now.
The thinking is that gay marriage is so popular on the Democrat side, it's turned on the money spigot.
People who were holding back, people who weren't writing checks, people who weren't fundraising, they were not bundling, all of a sudden now are running 150 miles an hour, raising money, bundling money, donating money, all because of Biden.
Biden's thinking is, according to theory, if they dump him now, that he won't look bad.
It'll look like an obviously political move, no loyalty, can't trust Obama, so forth.
So, interesting theory.
Don't know if it's true, obviously, but still that Obama now has it all that much more difficult to get rid of Biden because Biden's ultimately responsible for all this.
See, if Biden hadn't gone out on Meet the Press Sunday, say what he said, by Obama's own admission to Robin Roberts, he would have waited either until before the election or before the convention to announce that he had finished evolving.
But they had to speed up that evolution because of what Biden said.
So Biden ultimately now can travel around in these Democrat circles and say, I did it.
You have me to think.
I'm the guy who brought this forth.
And he may have a point.
Open Line Friday.
We always try to take calls early.
You want Open Line Friday, and so shall we do so now with Michael in Moments, Illinois.
Great to have you on the EIB network.
Hello.
Thanks a lot, Rush.
First-time caller.
I'm calling because I was at the unemployment office just yesterday.
And on the tape, they have tables there where people fill out the paperwork that they have.
Wait, wait, just second.
I need you to go slow here.
Okay.
Why were you at the unemployment office?
It may seem like an obvious question, but I want to.
Why were you at the unemployment office?
Oh, I was filing for benefits.
Filing for unemployment benefits.
Okay.
Then you said on the tape.
What tape?
No, on the table.
Tables set out for people to fill out paperwork.
Okay.
All right.
On this table was a few copies of a news release, as it said across the top of the paper.
And what the news release was saying was due to the lowering of the unemployment rate and the improving economy, that federal extensions for unemployment benefits were being canceled.
So it's not 99 weeks anymore.
Well, where this was in Moments, Illinois.
Kankakee County office.
The what county?
Kankakee.
Kankakee County.
So you went in there.
Yeah.
And they're touting the economy roaring back so much.
Unemployment rate has gone down.
The economy is improving.
So federal extensions for unemployment benefits are being canceled.
That's correct.
I had not heard that.
That was news to me as well.
Well, but was there anything in this about 99 weeks?
Are you just saying that because you know it's 99 weeks?
It's the max.
Well, actually, my brother's well below his 99 weeks.
He just called to verify, and he said he's going to be kicked off as of next week.
Even before he reaches his 99 weeks?
Yeah, 99 weeks doesn't mean anything anymore.
I have not heard this anywhere.
You heard this anywhere?
That people are just being told the economy doing so well and unemployment's going up or down, employment's going up, that your benefits are being canceled?
Not mine personally yet, but that's what's going on.
Well, but you're just starting.
Illinois' unemployment rate hasn't gone down.
Illinois' unemployment rate's skyrocketing.
Well, apparently they seem to think it's pretty good.
Well, this way, this doesn't make any sense.
Well, Rush, here's part of my question, is what happens to these people now that they're shoved off the unemployment rolls?
Are these people being canceled?
That's why this doesn't make any in an election year.
You add people to the unemployment rolls.
You take care of them.
You extend their benefits.
You make sure they know you're doing.
This makes no sense.
This is like a Romney prank.
You know what?
You probably could do, and maybe you guys, you know, maybe your staff could do it.
Maybe go to the Illinois unemployment website and click on news releases.
They do release news on the website.
Well, I'll assign one of the 55 people doing research to that.
Snerdley is asking me, could this be how they're lowering the numbers?
Am I the only one that sees this?
Again, I ask that question.
Okay, here are the two possibilities on the table.
Michael, I was joking about the 55 people doing research.
I was being very, very facetious.
But we'll see.
I know that Illinois unemployment's 9.1%.
That's 1% higher than nationally.
So thanks for the call.
Here's what we have.
Guy goes in, the Illinois unemployment office, Kankakee County.
News release all over the tables where you fill out your forms because the unemployment rate is coming down and the economy is recovering.
Unemployment benefits are being canceled.
The only thing not said on the release is get a job.
Okay, so the guy walks.
I don't know what canceled means.
Benefits, they're not canceling everybody's benefits.
That I know.
But it's just what this guy saw.
So here are the two possibilities on the table.
Snerdley's theory is that this is how they're getting the unemployment rate down.
The benefit of that is what?
The unemployment rate going down.
Millions and millions and millions of Americans unemployed.
Who else are going to see this?
The only people going to see this are people going to the unemployment office.
Why do you go to the unemployment office?
To get your Bennys, to get your benefits.
So you walk in there.
Everybody knows Obama's pretty.
You walk in there to get your benefits.
You read a news release saying, sorry, you're out of luck.
Get a job.
This is how we're lowering the unemployment rate.
And this lowering the unemployment rate is going to redound to Obama by getting him more votes because we're going to spread the news.
The economy is recovering.
Unemployment's going down.
But nobody's going to see that unless somebody from that office called here like just happened.
On the other hand, what is the real world effect of this?
People who are on unemployment are in there.
I'd say the vast majority of them are genuine.
They're not scamming the system.
Some are in there trying to scam it.
It happens everywhere.
But most people are in there because they're out of work and they want some unemployment benefits.
They read something and they're sorry.
The economy getting so good.
The unemployment rate falling so much that benefits are canceled or extension benefits are canceled.
In an election year, Obama turning away voters, I can't believe this.
This is like a Republican trick.
If I didn't know better, I'd say Andrew Breitbart had been in the Kankakee County, Illinois unemployment office.
This Because my impression of this is, I mean, here you have hapless people with nowhere else to go, out of work, going in to sign up for unemployment, and they read something from the regime which says no benefits.
Economy is doing too good.
In an election year, you want as many people on unemployment benefits as possible.
You want dependents.
You want people thanking you for making it possible they can eat.
Snerdley, you're off the reservation.
Snerdley's now suggesting that this is how they're getting rid of white working class.
They don't know who's going to walk in there.
The news release doesn't say only to be read if you're white working class.
Doesn't say that.
Everybody's going to see this.
Wait a second.
I got to correct the Illinois, according to the BLS, the Illinois unemployment rate is 8.1%, so it is down.
Okay, so that part of it makes, okay, got to take a break.
Got to take a break.
This doesn't make any sense.
And again, anybody can call here and say anything, but the guys sound a legit to us.
Okay, we mentioned that today is the day that a lot of people hit their 99 weeks.
239,000 people.
Unemployment ends today.
But I'm still, I'm profoundly confused what this has to do with in Illinois.
It makes no political sense whatsoever.
I gotta find out about it.
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