91 Comments

Outreach by the Harris team?!?!? For every little piece of crumb they have been putting in the front of the Muslim AND peace seeking people, they have been sending multiple big pot of Matzoh ball soup with Jelly-filled Sufganiyot

If she wants my vote and my support, she needs to come out and be clear about this genocide. Not a single bomb and full withdraw of Palestinian land is the price for my support

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The best chance that we have to stop the genocide of Palestinians is to elect the person whose constituency includes people who care about the lives of Palestinians. Handing Trump the presidency to “punish” Kamala, when she’s not even been the decision maker related to Gaza (that’s been Biden), is so foolish and dangerous. Wake up people. We’re up against actual fascism. Thinking you are Punishing democrats by not voting for Kamala is one of the dumbest things one could do.

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That would be indeed a logical thing to do if Kamal had shown any sign that she remotely cares about those constituency who care about the lives of Palestinians. The only thing I got from her when I was dangling my support and vote for her during the DNC was a middle finger.

I remind you, voting for the "lesser of two evils" is still voting for an evil person.

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It seems like you were never going to vote for her, man. Seriously. She has at least shown more empathy than Biden ever has re Palestinians, and it’s likely she would be somewhat different. Feels like you’re literally just looking for justification to not vote for her.

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Are we setting the bar so low for that "shown more empathy than Biden" and "likely" should be enough to vote for her?

You could not be more wrong on your take about my position. As how much I agonize not to vote for the first woman President, not to vote for the first Black woman President and not support a person that is opponent to tRUMP.

But this genocide and complicity to this genocide is above all for me. I don't know how I would reconcile it in my own conscience that I actively helped to bring a person to the White House who has been so indifferent to this genocide.

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You may not realize that what you see as Harris’ indifference (even though she has repeatedly spoken about the suffering of the Palestinian people) would be replaced by Trump’s active encouragement of genocide.

And trump’s son-in-law wants to open resorts in Gaza’s beaches.

Kamala is walking a tightrope on Israel. Please, please vote for the lesser of two evils, because once Kamala is in she’ll be free to act on her words of support for the Palestinian people- and we can join forces to pressure her to do what is morally right … even though it is admittedly late for far too many innocents.

☮️

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I appreciate your passion/encouragement here and I remind you, 'the lesser of two evils' is still an evil person. I will not legitimize this corrupt two-party system with my vote if our own choice is an evil person.

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Change doesn't happen overnight. Moses didn't freed Israelites overnight. It took over 200 years of enslavement and oppression before Moses led them to freedom. We must pave the way for future now by breaking the corrupt two-party system.

Imagine Jill Stein with 36%, Republicans/Democrats 32% each, making Jill win all electoral votes. This can happen only if we begin the change now and bring Jill from 2% to winning presidency. The young generation is fed-up with corrupt two-party system and chances look bright for America in future with 3rd party.

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Mehrdad, As I imagine you know, Elon Musk currently is funding swing state ads that target Arab American and Muslim populations and that portray Harris as pro-Israeli while simultaneously funding ads that target Jewish populations and that portray Harris as pro-Palestinian.

My question for which I need an answer to help me frame my next letter to Harris: Were Harris to show her support of Israel’s right to defend itself by stating the U.S. would continue to provide defensive weaponry while also conditioning offensive weaponry on an immediate and permanent ceasefire and withdrawal from Gaza and Lebanon, would you vote for her?

I very much would appreciate, at your earliest convenience, a reply.

My thanks,

Barbara

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Hello Barbara, I am going to take your question at face value and answer as honest as I can and that is a YES, I will vote for her if she were put any serious effort in pushing Israel to a ceasefire and withdraw from Gaza and Lebanon. The key word here is 'serious effort'

But if I were to have a discussion with someone such as yourself, I would ask; considering what we have seen from the State of Israel not just in the past 50+ years but specifically in the last 12 months, I would seriously be concern why Israel should get any offensive weaponry? I would also include that the best defensive weaponry Israel can get is a peace deal thru ending the OCCUPATION. Israel has had a peace deal and no occupation of Egypt and Jordan and has not faced any threats from them. All they can do is to duplicate that, end the OCCUPATION so they can have peace.

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Mehrdad, I greatly appreciate your quick reply. I would note, while for decades I have pressed for a resolution to the conflict that would entail Israel’s withdrawal to its 67 borders, presently, I’m merely seeking a path, wherein enough of us can unite to defeat Donald Trump.

With your reply in hand, I will write the Harris campaign once I have gotten some sleep.

My deep thanks,

Barbara

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We in America need more conscientious with the right moral compass like you. I thank you and hope you got a good night sleep.

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Hello Mehrdad,

I write in the event you have not yet voted and live in a swing state regarding a “vote-swapping” option (votetosurvive.org/voteswap-redblue-states/

Briefly stated, a voter in a swing state who can’t bring themselves to personally cast a vote for Harris, but who does not want Donald Trump to become President, can pair up with a voter in a safe “blue state” like MA where I reside, and the latter can agree to cast their, the swing state voter’s vote (perhaps for Jill Stein, Cornel West, or no presidential candidate), for them in the blue state, while they agree to cast their blue state voter’s vote for Harris in their critical swing state.

Rather than my registering with the online platform, I would welcome the opportunity to select you as my VoteSwap partner because I believe we have established sufficient trust to make this commitment. I greatly would appreciate hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

With deep thanks for your consideration, Barbara

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Hello Barbara,

Thank you for reaching out, interesting idea which I had not heard about but that is not a surprise as I am totally consumed by this genocide. I don't know if this is legal as I am not interested in any illegal or even immoral activities. But let me consider it, think about it and I will let you know. I may add that I am firmly in a blue State and believe my vote here is mostly symbolic and will not count.

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Mehrdad, Thank you for your quick reply. While I can assure you there’s nothing illegal, nor in my view immoral, seeing you, too, live in a blue state, there’s really no point in our becoming VoteSwap partners. That said, because I would prefer to partner with someone through a personal connection rather than through the online platform, if you know an honorable someone from a swing state whose perspective mirrors yours, I would be most interested in working to establish sufficient enough trust to pursue a vote-swap arrangement.

Again my thanks,

Barbara

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Hello Barbara, I concur and the only people I know in the swing States are already voting in line with your outlook and camp hence no gains there but I will keep that in mind.

Kind regards

Mehrdad

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Mehrdad, My sincere thanks for keeping in mind a trustworthy VoteSwap individual with whom I could partner. Btw, given several of us are seeking partners through a personal connection in lieu of using the online platform, if you locate more than one, don’t hesitate, if you’re comfortable, to pass the names to me.

Before signing off, I wish to note how much I have valued yours and my mutually respectful exchanges these past few months.

All best,

Barbara

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"Before signing off, I wish to note how much I have valued yours and my mutually respectful exchanges these past few months"

Same here and it is mind boggling for me how we have got where we are that such exchange has become so less frequent.

I will be in touch if I found anyone in those States.

Mehrdad

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“No matter what your political views, we cannot support somebody who is working overtime to undermine American democracy.

We cannot support somebody who fomented a violent insurrection.

We cannot support somebody who won't accept free & fair elections.

We cannot support Trump.”

-Bernie Sanders

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Voting is a chess move, not a love letter. You’re voting for which group has the most allies. The Republican Party has no one who cares about Palestinians or Gaza. Absolutely no one. They want annexation of the West Bank, etc. The people who care about Palestine 🇵🇸 and Gaza are mostly democrats. Handing power over to people who don’t even see you is so dumb

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At this time, other than some domestic issue, I can not tell the difference between Democrats and Republican. Voting is for my future and future of millions of people and I don't want to play with it as it is a chess game.

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Mehrdad, do you want to live in a Trump dictatorship? Do you want mass deportations and travel bans? Do you remember Jan. 6?

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No I certainly don't and I am not going to vote for that convicted felon. But I am also not going to support someone that not only turn a blind eye to a genocide but actively complicit in that genocide.

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Folks, so many are still not getting it. The Palestinian genocide and expanding wars in Lebanon and beyond are not occurring by Israel in a vacuum. This is a US/Israeli genocide. The Biden/Harris administration are 100% fully responsible. They continue the weapons shipments and intelligence along with a backup force of battleships and US military personnel to assure Israel is not opposed. Harris actually sounds more hawkish than Biden if that’s even possible. No one, and I repeat, no one of right mind wants to see a return of Trump to the presidency. So why is this administration doing everything in its power to assure that outcome? Instead of taking a moral and logical course to de-escalation, the very opposite is occurring. This disgusting and immoral display of heartless hegemony is a bridge too far for many. As Omar said, if the Democrats lose this election to Trump, it will be on them. The result of their own political malfeasance in denying the will of their own constituency.

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Mehdi, I agree with you and with your views about 90% of the time, the other 10% is that I disagree with how to execute. First of all, Mehdi, you have been around long enough to know that focusing on identity politics is not a winning strategy. Second, you know that Kamala Harris is the Vice-President, not the President, so she does owe President Biden a degree of loyalty. Thirdly, if the Americans of Arab descent or who are Muslims, think that U.S. policy toward the Middle East would be more favourable to them under Donald Trump or the Republicans, they are sadly mistaken, and you need to use your voice to make them aware of this. Last, but not least, “sitting out” this election and not voting is tantamount to electing Donald Trump, and American Muslims and Americans of Arab descent need to know this and act accordingly. Please, Mehdi, use your voice to make sure that we don’t kill our democracy and our country by putting Donald Trump back in office. All this said, Mehdi, I do miss seeing you on TV and am more than happy to support you and Zeteo. Keep up the good work. We need your voice more than ever.

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Came here to say exactly this. I get so tired of this. Trump will not make your life better, people. Go ahead and sit this out and watch how Trump treats the Arab Americans and situation in Gaza and everywhere else. this is the time to look at the bigger picture.

And yes, I agree I enjoy you very much, Mehdi.

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Spoken from a place of privilege and a place completely removed from any sense of struggle or oppression. No one wants to vote for Trump. But at the same time, they cannot vote for someone who is actively supporting a genocide. She's the Vice President, yes. But she volunteered the fact that she wouldn't have done anything different! She said that she will not stop any aid or shipments of munitions to Israel. She always prioritizes the safety and security of Israel: an apartheid state engaged in occupation, and guilty of innumerous violations of international humanitarian law, violations of our own domestic policies, violations of treaties that they were a party to with the Palestinians, continuously expanding on occupied Palestinian territory in the west bank...etc. etc. etc.

So to sit here and brow beat people about "bigger picture" is exactly why Kamala, and the democrats as a whole, have been unpopular with a large portion of the population, and only get votes due to always appealing to the notion of "the lesser of two evils". You and the original poster are exemplary of what's wrong with this party. Take accountability for your inaction.

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Oct 18Edited

Curious, if Trump was in office - what do you think would've been the outcome? His answer is deflective "Iran wouldn't have been able to fund this war" but it did - so what would he have done differently? We never get a straight answer from him as to what he would also do if he gets into office - he certainly does not say 2state or even the word Palestine.

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I'm curious as to why you're needing to imagine some hypothetical mythical world where Trump is in office, when we literally have one of the worst scenarios playing out in front of our eyes in real time. The sad thing is that there have been numerous off ramps for this administration to actually do the right thing, but it has tripped over itself to circumvent these safeguards to continue to perpetuate, subsidize, and defend the atrocities in Gaza.

Political concern: there is a plurality of the citizenry that supports an end to the shipment of arms to Israel. There is a plurality of the citizenry that supports an end to the financial aid being sent to Israel. This small margin between kamala and Trump would therefore widen, because all of those people who turned to stein over the genocide in Gaza would be able to come back to kamala to help ensure that she would win. Instead, the democrats said eff this voting block, we'll try our odds on election day, Israel first and always.

UN: the UN has held several hearings and presented several resolutions calling for a ceasefire and an end to hostilities in Gaza. The US has vetoed all of them. The UN General Assembly met and passed a resolution to stop sending arms to Israel, the US voted no. The resolution hasn't been sent to the security council yet. The UN voted to admit Palestine as a permanent member, the US voted no: "Palestine isn't ready to be a state, it hasn't fulfilled requirements necessary to have a fully functional state. These terms should also be negotiated with Israel". Can you imagine the lunacy of having to negotiate your own freedom from your oppressor?

US domestic law: the foreign aid act prohibits the sending of military aid to any entity that is restricting or impeding the flow of US humanitarian aid, or to any entity currently engaged in human rights abuses or any entity demonstrating the propensity to use US military aid to commit human rights abuses. Our own agency found in April that Israel was impeding the flow of humanitarian aid. The Biden administration fell over itself again to discredit this report that would have required the immediate cessation of all aid to Israel.

At every conceivable turn, the US has endeavored to implicate itself further in Israel's commission of genocide. Over 40k Palestinians have been slaughtered, tens of thousands have been maimed, tens of thousands are being starved, numerous people have already died from starvation, children have been irreparably harmed to the extent that generations from now will still feel the effects of the malnutrition that children are experiencing today...much of the irreplaceable history, art, and cultural sites have been destroyed...etc.etc.etc.

There is literally no need to imagine some mythical universe where Trump is president, Kamala and Biden are doing an excellent job of exemplifying what the worst case scenario looks like.

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Trump telling Netanyahu to get this done quickly is worse than what is happening today. These leaders on’t care about 40k or 400k so your essay falls on deaf ears

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They are literally getting it done quickly. WTF don't you understand. They are starving to death right now with Biden's and Kamala's blessing. Every day scores of Palestinians are dying from bombings. You can seriously fuck all the way off. Would gladly trade your ass for one of the Palestinians who is struggling to survive right now, and see if you still say the same ignorant tone deaf BS.

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Great minds think alike. 😊

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Kamala Harris is a bigot. She does not care about Muslim voters. She only care about black voters because she knows that we fall for the tribalism routine and the nonsensical pandering, like posting on twitter "I need hot sauce on my greens". I trust her less than I trust trump. At least trump is honest about his racism and hatred. I would never vote for that fascist but both candidates are trash.

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Wow. Jill Stein '24? Jared Kushner's Gaza condo developments?

Trump & Bibi & Likud's & AIPACs genocidal plans ascendant?

Miriam Adelson's West Bank annexation game plan?

Not on my watch

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Why do people continue to bring up Kushner land development? It’s exactly the same situation under Dems, they are already allowing land to be sold for development even though it’s against the law. When these illegal land sales take place, police are sent to protect the Zionists. Under Democratic government. Find a real argument for people to vote for the current Genocidal regime.

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Kamala Harris talks about unwavering support for Israel and her husband is a certified Zionist. You think anything is going to change? Sorry Mehdi. No amount of money is going to replace all the lives lost and the damage done. Her hands are as bloody as the president's who she is supposed to advise! Nope. I am a 1 issue voter-that of equal justice for all! For humanity's sake vote your conscience.

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Great interview. I love Ilhan Omar and I understand as a democrat her hands are tied in that she has to support Harris. Im voting Jill stein not because I think she is a great candidate but in the hopes of breaking the two party stalemate. People need to understand the importance of getting 5% of the votes. If Jill stein gets 5% it will be cataclysmic because then the federal govt has to fund them. That’s all we need to stick it to AIPAC and their cronies. It will send a message to every politician in Washington that if you support genocide your seat is at risk.

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Subject: Break 2-party system. Republicans & Democrats are two faces of the same coin

Dear Mehdi,

Please DO NOT vote for Republican-Trump or Democrat-Harris as they are two faces of the same coin when it comes to Muslims and Foreign policy over decades including supporting Israel's Genocide. We must break the 2-party system by voting 3rd party, JILL STEIN, knowing that the 3rd party may not win and Trump may win in 2024. We never know Jill may win California, Texas and New York and net over 100 electoral votes. This will happen only if we start the change now.

Faheem.

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Yes it’s a choice between evil and catastrophic. It’s not the he time. Way too much ch is at stake.

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Do you have the power to stop TRUMP presidency? Absolutely not at this point, because even democrats are divided, Muslims are divided.

.

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The U.S. will always remain a two-party system because of being told constantly to not vote for one party because another will be sure to win. That guarantees no third party will ever get into power. You cannot chastise people if they want to vote for a smaller party, in a democracy one should be allowed to vote for whomever they want without fear of being criticized. Personally I think that this time around is not much different to previous elections in the States, piss-poor choice!

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Sorry, but There is no “piss poor choice” here. One candidate is a normal democrat politician and the other is a literal fascist who will barrel our country head first into authoritarianism.

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Exactly, it’s the same nonsense every election. People saying the Democratic Party isn’t fascist, when they have literally been paying for a Genocide, have started more cop cities than Republicans. Nothing changed for abortion rights, Medicare, or housing costs. But, they have the same policies on immigration, and are bringing us into WW3, whilst destroying the planet with bombs. At least it’s not Trump is a weak argument at this juncture.

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You make a fair argument. Politics in the U.S. never seem to change much, both parties ultimately end up disappointing. The money goes to overseas wars and the people at home get promises. It's a shame, the Americans are hard working people but have to beg for affordable healthcare and a host of other things.

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It is simply too late for Kamala to win my vote, my ballot has been cast.

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Harris' interview with Fox the other day was so underwhelming - so static. She has nothing new to offer and has no vision but just the BS talking points of Biden for Palestine. The US to join the world and overhaul its 2 party biopoly where the people have more choice.

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Trump lost my vote because of his doing during his presidency and later his rhetoric what he will do to install his agenda. Now Biden and Harris have lost my vote by being supporter of genocide committed by Israel no matter what. So I it makes sense to vote for third party led by Stein or West. And try not to predict who will win of the two evils.l but put my trust in God who ultimately decides the outcome of the election by His will. Who can challenge it? There is peace of mind in it.

MAI New York

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Do you feel good knowing you’re just helping Trump win? I’m not trying to demean you, seriously, but if you know voting for stein will just help Trump win, how can you sleep at night? Trump is even more genocidal in every way. He just said today he’s speaking to Bibi and telling him to go further..!!! It can get much much worse sadly.

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Understand your point. Only GOD controls the outcome. We do our job and vote for the better candidate and not the lesser of 2 evils theory. All scriptures are clear about this.

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Can you tell me which is the lesser evil? It is possible for a third party to win if only people stop following “the lesser evil” BS. The way I see it a majority of people are pretty much fed up. People need to get out of the 2 party mind set.

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Bi bi is already going further anyway. Can’t you not see that? He doesn’t need Trump to tell him that.

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AIPAC

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The best chance that we have to stop the genocide of Palestinians is to elect the person whose constituency includes people who care about the lives of Palestinians. Handing Trump the presidency to “punish” Kamala, when she’s not even been the decision maker related to Gaza (that’s been Biden), is so foolish and dangerous. Wake up people. We’re up against actual fascism.

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Glad to see the conversation with Mosab Abu Toha. I hope you will publish it as a separate clip. He's now looking older than his 31 years, and no wonder; I can't even imagine how a human being can stay sane under such conditions. His answer to your final question - he sees hope in people in the outside world using our freedoms to stand up for the freedom of people in Gaza (and all of occupied Palestine). Let us be those people. Let us justify his hope in us.

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Quran and Bible are very clear. We do the right thing and GOD will control the outcome. No major change in history happened overnight. It takes decades. Salahuddin did not conquer Jerusalem overnight. The pre-cursors happened 100 years before that. What is happening today are pre-cursors for the change to come, which we may not even see in our life time. Change has to start. Does not matter if TRUMP is in the white house. We survived his first presidency and can definitely survive another one. Do the right thing and vote for 3rd party.

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That's perfectly alright, you are entitled to your opinion as am I. In my view from what I've seen of Harris, and from what I've heard her say about Israel I don't think she will differ much from her boss. Her domestic policy will be okay but I don't think she will have the last word on any foreign policy. But you have a right to disagree.

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