| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 8:05:46 AM | It seems that some Republicans have had it with the extreme right-wing crazyness that is rampant on the cable news and in talk radio. The news yesterday reported that Senator Lindsey Graham, republican of South Carolina, blasted Glenn Beck and others like him, for spreading lies and hate against the president.
Check this article and give us your opinion on this matter. Is this indicative of what is happening within the Republican Party? Is the Republican Party bound to split into different camps?
Sen. Graham Calls Beck 'A Cynic' And Birthers 'Crazy'
Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.) offered unusually blunt assessments of the fringe elements of his party and conservative media on Thursday, calling the popular and bombastic Fox News host Glenn Beck a "cynic" whose show was antithetical to American values.
"Only in America can you make that much money crying," Graham said of Beck. "Glenn Beck is not aligned with any party. He is aligned with cynicism and there has always been a market for cynics. But we became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers."
Appearing before a crowd of Washington's elite power players and opinion-makers, Graham spoke largely without filter, offering acidic takes on subject well beyond Beck. The Senator called the birther community that questions the president's U.S. citizenship "crazy" and implored them to "knock this crap off" so the country could get on to more important matters.
"I'm here to tell you that those who think the president was not born in Hawaii are crazy," said Graham, who went on to dispel another myth: that Obama is a closet Muslim.
The complete article and video are found at this link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/01/sen-graham-calls-beck-a-c_n_306434.html | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 8:31:53 AM | How is this thread redundant?
I checked both the Politics and the Off-Topic forums and there is no topic addressing senator Graham's speech nor the dissension within the ranks of the Republican Party.
Just because you want to shut this thread down doesn't mean that the issue will go away. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 8:58:02 AM | .
This is an attempt to gain control of the out of control GOP....
The main stream party members are forced to address crap...
Who would have ever believed any members of Congress would root for another country to host the Olympics... or groups would cheer the US coming in last place.....
Graham is concerned about where this is headed.. Becks Ideas are from a nut case that wasn shut out of the Mormon church.... His writing clsim slave owners were the victims... and Slaves rode around in wagons singing....
Graham is starting a war... | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 9:14:10 AM |
Sen. Graham Calls Beck 'A Cynic' And Birthers 'Crazy'
Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.) offered unusually blunt assessments of the fringe elements of his party and conservative media on Thursday, calling the popular and bombastic Fox News host Glenn Beck a "cynic" whose show was antithetical to American values.
"Only in America can you make that much money crying," Graham said of Beck. "Glenn Beck is not aligned with any party. He is aligned with cynicism and there has always been a market for cynics. But we became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers."
Appearing before a crowd of Washington's elite power players and opinion-makers, Graham spoke largely without filter, offering acidic takes on subject well beyond Beck. The Senator called the birther community that questions the president's U.S. citizenship "crazy" and implored them to "knock this crap off" so the country could get on to more important matters.
"I'm here to tell you that those who think the president was not born in Hawaii are crazy," said Graham, who went on to dispel another myth: that Obama is a closet Muslim.
HEY!
Is that actual light at the end of that tunnel?
Imagine the courage of Graham to speak up, going against the strong tide of ignorance and paranoia prevalent everywhere.
Good on him.
Glenn Beck is an ass.
So is Joe Wilson. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 9:22:15 AM | ^^^^^^
That's right! And senator Graham is from South Carolina. That took a lot of political courage.
It is a big surprise for me. I think that I will check on his political history to see if there was something to indicate that he would take this path. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 9:25:23 AM |
Glenn Beck is an ass.
So is Joe Wilson.
So is every anchor on ABC,CBS,NBC,MSNBC,CNN...so whats your point?
I agree with Sen. Graham..Beck is a nut job. The extreme right is no worse than the extreme Reid and Pelosi left.
I f you do not like what your hearing or who is saying it...turn the damn channel | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 9:29:14 AM | Uh, my point was that Glenn Beck is an ASS, and so is Joe Wilson.
Gosh, I thought that was clear.
I haven't watched 'the channel' in years, but even if I did watch and didn't like it--it's still my prerogative to watch, correct?
That Senator Graham is willing to speak up feels great, to me. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 9:31:30 AM | .
He is in a safe seat... He cannot get kicked out ... unless the find a dead hooker or young boy in his bed....
I am sure many on the real GOP members of Congress have been thinking about this.... Remember when everyone was kissing Rush's cyst .... The party leader Steel had to suck up....
Another side to this is the Palin .... Religious Right (Focus of the Family, The Family) part of this battle.................... Palin is Dobson's girl....
This group does not recognize Beck as a Christian.... He is Mormon... This also hurts Romney......
That will be interesting to watch.... Beck is undermining Romney .....
. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 9:31:44 AM | Who would have ever believed any members of Congress would root for another country to host the Olympics... or groups would cheer the US coming in last place.....
"I'm here to tell you that those who think the president was not born in Hawaii are crazy," said Graham, who went on to dispel another myth: that Obama is a closet Muslim.
But he is a "not so closeted" Chicago politician...........Vote early,Vote often.....and is it not possible...come on.....is it not possible that the Obama might be trying to pay back favors with the financial benefits to some in the Chicago area.After all...he was an IL senator who was able to distance himself from the politics in his own states most populated city by playin[???]dumb? I don't care where he was born[as long as it met the Constitutional statutes] and if he's a Muslim....well....not my choice but as long as I don't have to watch him kneel and pray......
And since he may very well be gone in 3 years......could it be he's just trying[possibly?]to pay off old debts.And really...Chicago for the Olympics........Are Giuliani and Bloomberg planning on moving?Cause Daley sure hasn't proven to have the tools........
Chicago....Vote early,Vote often!!! | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 9:43:03 AM |
But he is a "not so closeted" Chicago politician...........Vote early,Vote often.....and is it not possible...come on.....is it not possible that the Obama might be trying to pay back favors with the financial benefits to some in the Chicago area.After all...he was an IL senator who was able to distance himself from the politics in his own states most populated city by playin[???]dumb? I don't care where he was born[as long as it met the Constitutional statutes] and if he's a Muslim....well....not my choice but as long as I don't have to watch him kneel and pray......
And since he may very well be gone in 3 years......could it be he's just trying[possibly?]to pay off old debts.And really...Chicago for the Olympics........Are Giuliani and Bloomberg planning on moving?Cause Daley sure hasn't proven to have the tools........
Chicago....Vote early,Vote often!!!
You should try to address the topic here. We have a topic about the Chicago bid for the Olympics and president Obama's attempt to help with that effort. This thread is about senator Graham's trying to right the course of the Republican Party ship that seems headed for a wreck. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 9:53:58 AM | .
I thought the Games were in the USA not a so much the city..........
Too bad Chicago did all that work in an attempt to get the games....
Bike events would have been in Wis.... Is that a pay back? Corruption????
Why not get Dallas or your acceptable Location on the Ball and apply
I think 2024 is taking applications..... too late for 2020
Hey what if I don't like TEXAS....
I would support that....
This is what Graham wants to change..... | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 10:30:35 AM | I posted this elsewhere before I saw this thread. seems like reality is beginning to impinge.
bad news for the Dems but McCain and Lindsay are so right. (pragmatically not politically)
Christian Science Monitor today
Palin, Limbaugh, Beck … now it's Republicans seeing the downside
Some moderate conservatives see danger in the vociferous right, especially among broadcast pot-stirrers. They want to advance the GOP by changing the tone.
By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer/ October 3, 2009 edition
These days, it seems like Republicans are the ones duking it out with each other … or at least examining where they are and where they should be headed after recent electoral drubbings.
Mainstream Republicans are looking at the loudest of the conservative voices - Sarah Palin and the most prominent of the talk-show types (Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, et al) - and concluding that the GOP needs to do something different if it's to succeed.
Steve Schmidt, former campaign strategist for John McCain, said Friday that nominating former Alaska governor Sarah Palin for president in 2012 would be "catastrophic" for the party.
"In the year since the election has ended, she has done nothing to expand her appeal beyond the base," Schmidt said at a forum sponsored by The Atlantic magazine and web site.
"The independent vote is going to be up for grabs in 2012," he said. "That middle of the electorate is going to be determinative of the outcome of the elections. I just don't see that if you look at the things she has done over the year … that she is going to expand that base in the middle."
Meanwhile, Schmidt's old boss "is working behind-the-scenes to reshape the Republican Party in his own center-right image," reports politico.com. That means recruiting candidates, raising money, and campaigning on their behalf.
"Those familiar with McCain's thinking say he has expressed serious concern about the direction of the party and is actively seeking out and supporting candidates who can broaden the party's reach. In McCain's case, that means backing conservative pragmatists and moderates."
Speaking at the same two-day Atlantic event as Schmidt, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina said party leaders need to call out "birthers" and other conspiracy theorists on the right. "Say, 'You're crazy.' In a respectful way."
Graham dismissed Rush Limbaugh as someone who "makes hundreds of millions of dollars being able to talk on the radio." And of today's hottest conservative/libertarian phenomenon he said, "Glenn Beck is not aligned with any party as far as I can tell. He's aligned with cynicism, and there's always been a market for cynicism."
But perhaps the most devastating critique of the vociferous right - from the right - comes from David Brooks, resident conservative columnist at The New York Times.
Referring to them as "media mavens who claim to represent a hidden majority but who in fact represent a mere niche - even in the Republican Party," Brooks wrote this week:
"The rise of Beck, Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and the rest has correlated almost perfectly with the decline of the GOP. But it's not because the talk jocks have real power. It's because they have illusory power, because Republicans hear the media mythology and fall for it every time."
Is this tug toward the center by prominent middle-of-the-road conservatives likely to succeed?
"Much of the party is fonder of Palin than of McCain, and thinks that the catastrophe was in nominating him; in their version of events, going with McCain meant selling out conservatism and inviting disaster," writes Gabriel Winant at salon.com. "This kind of thinking sends a party into a downward spiral. The GOP base is likely to view McCain's current efforts, and Schmidt's comments, not as healthy argument, but as a corrupting influence."
No surprise in Rush Limbaugh's response to the current hoo-hah.
"I think it's time for the McCain crowd to acknowledge they are losers and pack it in," he emailed political blogger Greg Sargent. "They've done enough damage to the Republican Party. Move aside and let a brighter, more principled, and more competent generation of people clean up the mess they helped create." | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 10:53:45 AM | | I think it's great that Senator Graham is condemning Beck. Now, if only a Democrat would have as much moxy and condemn people such as Joy Behar, some of my faith in the sanity of our elected officials might be restored. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 11:00:53 AM | I asked five people around me today who Joy Behar is and none of them had a clue who that was. all of them were familiar with Beck, Hannity etc.
as Will Rogers said, "I'm not a member of any organized party. I'm a democrat." | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 4:49:54 PM | Who would have ever believed any members of Congress would root for another country to host the Olympics... or groups would cheer the US coming in last place.....
You should try to address the topic here. We have a topic about the Chicago bid for the Olympics and president Obama's attempt to help with that effort. This thread is about senator Graham's trying to right the course of the Republican Party ship that seems headed for a wreck.
I thought the Games were in the USA not a so much the city..........
Too bad Chicago did all that work in an attempt to get the games....
Bike events would have been in Wis.... Is that a pay back? Corruption????
Why not get Dallas or your acceptable Location on the Ball and apply
I think 2024 is taking applications..... too late for 2020
Hey what if I don't like TEXAS....
I would support that....
Scold one....scold all.....I just had my own ideas to two topics addressed in this thread by.....others. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 4:58:44 PM |
HEY!
Is that actual light at the end of that tunnel?
Imagine the courage of Graham to speak up, going against the strong tide of ignorance and paranoia prevalent everywhere.
Good on him.
That's right! And senator Graham is from South Carolina. That took a lot of political courage. Wouldn't it be great if he gets so sick of the GOP antics that he switches parties? What with the way things are going for the GOP in S. Carolina ... he might be well off to go on over to the Democratic party since it occurs to me that might be the party to be in ... in the upcoming elections. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 5:57:21 PM | republican moderates can see that the continual alienation of minorites and swing voters by the party seriously impacts the parties ability to compete for the whitehouse. while a very vocal and activated small core of white conservative can bring legislation to a halt they cannot bring the majority of of the country to their policies unless they moderate their tone.
when you looked at the republican convention it was filled with almost entirely white, middle aged people. the times they are a changing. by 2050 a full third of the country will be made up of minorities.
I applaud both senator graham and senator mccain, for whom I have much respect, in their efforts to lead their party out of what is largely becoming an exercise in self destruction for the nation.
however, I also think senator graham sounds like hes been reading obama's playbook.
heres a good example of what the senator is talking about.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former student of an Obama Administration official is coming to his defense, as critics seek to use a 20-year-old incident to call for the official's resignation.
Kevin Jennings, who heads the Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, is under fire for counseling advice he gave a teenage gay student more than two decades ago.
Conservative groups charge that Jennings, who is openly gay, condoned statutory rape and child molestation. That's in reference to an incident in 1988 when Jennings, who was a teacher at the time, did not tell authorities that a 16-year-old student revealed to Jennings that he'd had sex with an older man.
Now that former student is speaking out for the first time and telling CNN he did not have sex with that man at all. He did not elaborate on what he told Jennings at the time. Jennings could not be reached for comment late Friday.
In a statement obtained by CNN, the former student, who wanted to be called Brewster, wrote: "Since I was of legal consent at the time, the 15-minute conversation I had with Mr. Jennings 21 years ago is of nobody's concern but his and mine. However, since the Republican noise machine is so concerned about my 'well-being' and that of America's students, they'll be relieved to know that I was not 'inducted' into homosexuality, assaulted, raped, or sold into sexual slavery."
The former student recounted what happened at the time and maintained there was no sexual contact.
"In 1988, I had taken a bus home for the weekend, and on the return trip met someone who was also gay. The next day, I had a conversation with Mr. Jennings about it. I had no sexual contact with anybody at the time, though I was entirely legally free to do so. I was a 16-year-old going through something most of us have experienced: adolescence."
"Brewster" also lashed out at the critics who have used the incident to attack Jennings.
"I find it regrettable that the people who have the compassion and integrity to protect our nation's students are themselves in need of protection from homophobic smear attacks. Were it not for Mr. Jennings' courage and concern for my well-being at that time in my life, I doubt I'd be the proud gay man that I am today."
Critics contend that Brewster was 15 at the time of the incident. But CNN has obtained a copy of Brewster's driver's license which verifies he was 16 at the time. The legal age of consent for sexual activities in Massachusetts is 16.
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 6:41:26 PM | Lindsay "Amnesty" Graham, you say? Another RINO willing to sell out his principles like Benedict Arlen Specter. Needless to say our expectations aren't high when it comes to him and his cronyism. He's part of the problem and another reason we need term limits.
Beck isn't even a Conservative; he's a libertarian. Big, big difference. It's a shame when our CO2 in Chief can add trillions of dollars in debt but when people call him out they get labeled nut jobs. I would think our politicians would have better things to do considering the enormous problems we have than to be calling out private citizens.
However, I know......it's feeding time for the libtards when a Republican calls out one of his own. You applaud him now but he still won't vote for the health bill.
Will the libtards applaud him then? | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/3/2009 7:25:13 PM | .
a Republican calls out one of his own.
Is he or isn't he?
Beck isn't even a Conservative; he's a libertarian. Big, big difference.
Graham wasn't calling out one of his own.... That was his point....
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/4/2009 4:49:10 PM |
Beck isn't even a Conservative; he's a libertarian.
If I was a libertarian I would be offended that people are identifying my party with a buffoon like Glenn Beck. If the leadership of my party were to tell me that Glenn Beck is speaking for my party I would rip my party membership card and mailed back to the party headquarters.
I would think our politicians would have better things to do considering the enormous problems we have than to be calling out private citizens.
Private citizen can mean many things, but Glenn Beck has chosen not to be a private citizen. He has decided to be very much in the public arena trying to undermine the civility required to maintain a democratic society. His participation in the well orchestrated effort of the extreme right-wing to test the limits of the social order, with their continued barrage of unfounded attacks and insults against the government, makes him a public figure who will be identified as a responsible party should our society enter into a violent conflict provoked by the enemies of the people. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/4/2009 5:30:25 PM |
If I was a libertarian I would be offended that people are identifying my party with a buffoon like Glenn Beck. If the leadership of my party were to tell me that Glenn Beck is speaking for my party I would rip my party membership card and mailed back to the party headquarters.
Oh really, Mr High and Mighty? Your sanctimonious smugness is hilarious. So I'm guessing when Howard Dean said Republicans want to kill the bill and kill the president, you denounced that, right? If you're a Democrat, you withdrew from the party, right? How about when Ted Kennedy ripped Robert Bork on The Senate Floor? How about The Truthers--do you denounce them? Do you believe George Bush engineered September 11 so he could go to war? Do you call out your own and rip up your party membership and mail it back to the party?
Private citizen can mean many things, but Glenn Beck has chosen not to be a private citizen. He has decided to be very much in the public arena trying to undermine the civility required to maintain a democratic society. His participation in the well orchestrated effort of the extreme right-wing to test the limits of the social order, with their continued barrage of unfounded attacks and insults against the government, makes him a public figure who will be identified as a responsible party should our society enter into a violent conflict provoked by the enemies of the people.
Like Glenn Beck or hate Glenn Beck he is still a private citizen. Once again, do these people not have bigger problems to solve than listen to the likes of Glenn Beck? I'm not a libertarian but I agree with Glenn Beck that the federal government has wayyyyyyy overstepped its Constitutional authority and has put the country on the road to calamity. The Federal Government is not the final word on all policies, nor does it make me an American. I'm a citizen of liberty before I am an American citizen. I never thought I would think that way but the level of disgust I have our leaders is so deep and profound--this includes Bush and Obama--that if that day ever comes where citizens decide enough is enough I will join them. And I know alot of people that would do the same. Glenn Beck is doing nothing but voicing our concerns. I don't want to live in a socialist utopia.
Winston Churchill was a lonely voice during the 30's. Nobody listened to him as Hitler became more and more dangerous. We're a minority now but our numbers are growing.
Socializing our healthcare, destroying the free market, attacking free speech and 2nd amendment rights, open borders, high taxes, wars without end, and 7-10 trillion dollars is unacceptable and is not responsible government. And those that defend it are as guilty as the one's imposing it. We don't need Glenn Beck to tell us that the breaking point is coming. He's just that lonely voice warning the country that it cannot continue this way. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/4/2009 5:43:02 PM |
Winston Churchill was a lonely voice during the 30's. Nobody listened to him as Hitler became more and more dangerous. We're a minority now but our numbers are growing.
your numbers are growing huh.
so just who are "you" and where exactly is a description of just exactly your platforms are? and not some broad laundry list of "we hate socialism, we like guns, etc" but specifically what are the solutions that seem to elude everybody else but that are so obvious to "you".
who are your spokespeople and where are their solutions? so far it a lot of noise and nothing to be called to account for. the "I don't like anything" is pretty juvenile.
and Mr. Beck is the one who put himself in the public arena and set himself up as a spokesperson for "you". when you broadcast a stream of misinformation to millions of people you sort of are in line for some criticism.
(Winston Churchill would have dropped his brandy if he had ever heard himself being associated with some of the gudge that the deep Right spews) | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/4/2009 5:51:59 PM | What do Hitler and Churchill have to do with it?
Both were conservatives.
Hitler the far right.
Churchill was a drunk and responsible for the Deaths of Thousands of Anzac troops in WW1. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/4/2009 6:13:38 PM |
Winston Churchill was a lonely voice during the 30's. Nobody listened to him as Hitler became more and more dangerous. We're a minority now but our numbers are growing.
Yeah! you are a minority now, but your stridency and the lunacy of your speech ressemble more the path that Hitler took than Winston Churchill's path. Hitler, by the way, was also a minority who didn't hesitate about using all means to achieve his goals.
I'm a citizen of liberty before I am an American citizen. I never thought I would think that way but the level of disgust I have our leaders is so deep and profound
That, like I said, reminds me more of Hitler than Churchill. | |
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| Is senator Graham calling it like it is?
Posted: 10/4/2009 6:19:55 PM |
Oh really, Mr High and Mighty? Your sanctimonious smugness is hilarious.
It's so hilarious, that you had to respond to it...
Name-calling is not tolerated well on this site--stick to discussing the topic.
People did listen to Churchill, but who wanted to believe that a Hitler was really possible--besides, it wasn't Churchill who had the ability to make decisions about Hitler.
Believing took some time.
Time is required for the Obama Administration to make positive changes, and Congresspeople like Senator Graham speaking his truth will go a long way toward bridging polar-thinking citizens. | |
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