Surprise: California’s Big Solar Push Created An Environmental Mess

By William Teach July 15, 2022 – 7:15 am

Seriously, we on the Skeptics side told you this was going to happen (also with no paywall at Yahoo)

California went big on rooftop solar. It created an environmental danger in the process

California has been a pioneer in pushing for rooftop solar power, building up the largest solar market in the U.S. More than 20 years and 1.3 million rooftops later, the bill is coming due.

Beginning in 2006, the state, focused on how to incentivize people to take up solar power, showered subsidies on homeowners who installed photovoltaic panels but had no comprehensive plan to dispose of them. Now, panels purchased under those programs are nearing the end of their 25-year life cycle.

Many are already winding up in landfills, where components that contain toxic heavy metals such as selenium and cadmium can contaminate groundwater.

“People just don’t realize that there are toxic materials in those electronics, that it’s fine if it’s just sitting in a box in your house,” said Natalie Click, a doctoral candidate in materials science at the University of Arizona who studies the issue. “But once it gets crushed and put into the landfill, a lot of those toxic chemicals and materials are going to leak into your groundwater.”

So, you’re just supposed to leave those dead components in your house? I take dead TVs and other stuff to the Wake County recycling center, not leave them in the attic or spare bedroom.

Sam Vanderhoof, a solar industry expert, says that only 1 in 10 panels are actually recycled, according to estimates drawn from International Renewable Energy Agency data on decommissioned panels and from industry leaders.

Citizens of the People’s Republic Of California don’t recycle? Hmm.

The looming challenge over how to handle truckloads of contaminated waste illustrates how cutting-edge environmental policy can create unforeseen hazards down the road.

“The industry is supposed to be green,” Vanderhoof said. “But in reality, it’s all about the money.”

You don’t say.

But as California barreled ahead on its renewable-energy program, focusing on rebates and — more recently — a proposed solar tax, questions about how to handle the toxic waste that would accrue years later were never fully addressed. Now, both regulators and panel manufacturers are realizing that they don’t have the capacity to handle what comes next.

“This trash is probably going to arrive sooner than we expected and it is going to be a huge amount of waste,” said Serasu Duran, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business in Canada. “But while all the focus has been on building this renewable capacity, not much consideration has been put on the end of life of these technologies.”

How’s that saying go? The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Or, are they false environmental intentions?

It’s actually a shame. I’d like solar and others to succeed from a true environmental viewpoint.

Read: Surprise: California’s Big Solar Push Created An Environmental Mess »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Environment, Global Warming | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

Abortion Supporters Upset Indiana AG To Investigate Abortion Doctor

By William Teach July 15, 2022 – 7:00 am

I’ve mentioned before, there’s an old axiom about reading newspapers: you have to get your point out in 3 paragraphs or 30 seconds, and this has carried through to the Internet. It might be less now, with them working to get their message in the headline and first two paragraphs

Republican AG says he’ll investigate Indiana doctor who provided care to 10-year-old rape victim

Indiana’s Republican attorney general said on Wednesday that his office planned to investigate the Indiana doctor who helped a 10-year-old rape victim who crossed state lines to have an abortion.

Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Indianapolis, has told multiple outlets that she provided care to the 10-year-old after a child abuse doctor in Ohio contacted her. The child was six weeks and three days into the pregnancy, Bernard said. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month, a wave of state-level abortion restrictions took effect, including in Ohio, a state that bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Abortion in Indiana is banned after 22 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions for medical emergencies.

Now, that looks like AG Todd Rokita is going after the doctor for doing the abortion, right? The Yahoo News reprint of the Politico piece, where I first saw it, shows that abortion supporters are not reading the whole thing

  • I don’t see the need for any such investigation, unless there is reason to suspect medical malpractice. For a child in such a situation, competent medical treatment is required.
  • It isn’t about malpractice. It is about intimidation to deny women agency over their own bodies. These laws won’t prevent all abortions, they only prevent abortions for those without the income to travel abroad. And that is exactly what is intended.
  • Pandering to the ‘base’. Nothing more.
  • Why are we going backwards with woman’s rights?
  • The investigation is clearly punishment because the doctor failed to come under the authority of the conservative Christian Church. A 10-year-old being physically damaged for carrying a pregnancy to term doesn’t seem to concern them.

Many, many, many more like that. What’s the reality? Well, paragraph 3

“We’re gathering the evidence as we speak, and we’re going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure if she failed to report. And in Indiana it’s a crime … to intentionally not report,” state Attorney General Todd Rokita said on Fox News on Wednesday night. “This is a child, and there’s a strong public interest in understanding if someone under the age of 16 or under the age of 18 or really any woman is having abortion in our state. And then if a child is being sexually abused, of course parents need to know. Authorities need to know. Public policy experts need to know.”

There are strict reporting requirements in both Ohio and Indiana for abortions and rape allegations. Rokita doubled down on his threats of criminal charges in a letter dated Wednesday but released publicly on Thursday. The letter, to Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, called for records from the Indiana Department of Public Health and the Department of Child Services to determine whether Bernard filed a report within the required three-day window.

“If Dr. Bernard has failed to file the required reports on time, she has committed an offense, the consequences of which could include criminal prosecution and licensing repercussions,” the letter said.

And that is what the investigation is about, whether the doctor performed her legal requirement to report that a minor required an abortion, which means statutory rape occurred. Why do Democrats not want rape reported? They’ve spent the past 10 years making a big deal about sexual assault (especially as it has occurred in Democrat run Hollywood and colleges) and report it. But, not with a 10 year old?

And, it makes no difference that it supposedly had been reported to Ohio law enforcement, the abortion occurred in Indiana, and the law is the law.

Now, Indystar, who started this whole thing with their light on details and journalism report, is saying that

The Indiana physician who provided abortion services to a 10-year-old Ohio girl who was raped disclosed the abortion in a form filed with the Indiana Department of Health and the Department of Child Services, according to documents obtained by IndyStar through a public records request.  (big snip)

Bernard filed the required abortion disclosure, known as a “terminated pregnancy” form, on July 2, two days after she performed the girl’s abortion, according to a copy of the form IndyStar received Thursday from the state health department. State law requires the forms to be filed within three days for patients under age 16.

The form shows Bernard indicated the girl was seeking an abortion as a result of being abused.

A form Indystar did not share. And might not legally have had access to.

The form indicates the doctor did not know the age of the “father.” In such cases, doctors are required to enter an “approximate age,” according to a person familiar with the electronic filing system. Bernard entered “17.”

Um, the girl was 10. She should have really been calling the police. But, abortion supporters will do anything to protect abortion, even if it involves mostly ignoring a 10 year old being pregnant, which is called felony rape of a minor under 13, as the 27 year old illegal alien was charged with.

Read: Abortion Supporters Upset Indiana AG To Investigate Abortion Doctor »

Posted in Current Affairs, Unhinged Tools | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Climate Nutters Slashing Tires In Primarily Democrat Cities

By William Teach July 14, 2022 – 3:03 pm

These cultists better think twice about doing it in Republican run areas

Climate activists expand tire-slashing operation beyond NYC. Here are the cities they’ve hit

The U.K. climate group whose members deflated tires on an estimated 40 vehicles in New York City last month recently announced similar actions in cities nationwide.

The Tyre Extinguishers, which encourages activists to deflate tires of parked sports utility vehicles (SUV) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said it has already spread to Chicago and the San Francisco area this month. Individuals affiliated with the group have deflated the tires of 20 SUVs in Chicago, another 20 SUVs in Scranton, Pa., and 12 SUVs near San Francisco this month, according to the group.

“It can happen anywhere, anytime,” a spokesperson for the group told Fox News Digital in an email. “If you’re reading this and you own an SUV, scrap it before we get to it.”

The spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital that the group expected to “expand massively” across the U.S. in the coming weeks.

This is a wonderful way to get shot. By the way, since they are claiming to do this across the country, that would make it federal. Where’s the DOJ? And, yes, Scranton does lean very much Democrat

On the site, the group provides tips for activists to quickly deflate tires and a leaflet that can be printed and left on targeted vehicles windshields. The document asks the victim to not “take it personally” that their tires were deflated.

Don’t take it personally when you get punch and knocked out. Or hit with a baseball bat or something.

The Tyre Extinguishers don’t exclude electric vehicles (EV) from their actions, explaining such cars also have a major carbon footprint.

The group’s spokesperson forwarded Fox News Digital an email from an EV owner located in San Francisco, complaining their vehicle was targeted and demanding compensation.

“Are you people verifying whether the cars you’re slashing are electric vehicles or not? Or are you just targetting ALL SUVs?” the person wrote.

“Freaking geniuses,” they continued. “How do I get compensated for this?”

Of course, if the vehicle owner catches one of the nutters and beats them up the vehicle owner will be in trouble and the nutters will be lauded.

Read: Climate Nutters Slashing Tires In Primarily Democrat Cities »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 11 Comments | Trackback URL

Would It Surprise You That 62% Of Biden’s People Have No Business Experience?

By William Teach July 14, 2022 – 10:30 am

Earlier I mentioned a The Hill article on inflation, and how most of Biden’s people, and Biden himself, have little to no experience in the private sector. And now we learn specifics

Exclusive — Ship of Fools: 62 Percent of Biden Officials Who Handle Economic Policy Have Zero Years Business Experience Per Report

An explosive new analysis published by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity reveals that Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration has very few business-oriented officials in the administration and that the vast majority of people handling economic policy for the United States government under Biden have no business experience whatsoever.

The 15-page report, authored by economist Steve Moore and the Committee to Unleash Prosperity‘s executive director Jon Decker, was provided to Breitbart News exclusively ahead of its public release. The headline of the report is: “Not Ready for Prime Time Players: Majority of Biden Appointees have Zero Years of Business Experience.” The report analyzes the backgrounds of the “top 68 officials in the Biden administration, starting with the president himself, and including cabinet members, regulatory officials, and White House advisers.”

In the executive summary, the authors detail some key findings in the report. First and foremost, 62 percent of Biden’s top political appointees and staffers “who deal with economic policy, regulation, commerce, energy and finance have virtually no business experience.”

What’s more, only one out of eight Biden officials has what the authors deem “extensive business experience,” and the average level of business experience across the Biden administration is about 2.4 years. The median years of business experience among Biden’s top appointees is zero, since so few have any experience in the private sector, and the “vast majority of the Biden economic/commerce team members are professional politicians, lawyers, community organizers, lobbyists, or government employees.”

These people do not really understand how an economy or business runs. They’ve never run a business, never had to make payroll, never had to deal with real world issues. They don’t understand supply chains, suppliers, profit-margins, etc and so on. Look at Biden: he briefly worked as an attorney before being elected to the US Senate and taking office in January 1973. He has no idea. For him, and all these other folks, it’s only knowledge of government, completely divorced from the real world.

In fairness, this describes a goodly chunk of those in Congress. AOC worked as a bartender, but, really, was just a worker. What does she know about business? How many other Democrats and Republicans in Congress have little experience, or, it’s been decades since they actually worked in the private sector? Virginia Fox (R-NC) is a great representative, but, besides owning a landscape nursery business, she has no real experience in the private sector. How can the Legislative and Executive Branches respond to economic issues when they do not have experience?

“What is the takeaway from these findings? Surely we want our political class to have a diversity of backgrounds,” the authors write. “We want lawyers, grassroots activists, those with political and policy experience, scientists, health experts, and academics with required specialties. But we also want people who have experience running large operations with hundreds and thousands of employees and who understand logistics. We want people who know how to cut costs, manage logistics, increase productivity, meet payroll, and make a profit (or in the case of the government, avoid large losses). We need people at the top rungs of government who have experience dealing with large-scale crises (as we experienced during COVID), and also at least some familiarity with the everyday struggles that businesses have with the government.”

The Trump admin had way, way more experience in the private sector, and, here’s a point, dealing with people in a business environment, rather than simply as voters.

But it seems, the report authors note, that Biden’s focus on making “diversity” a major hiring “goal of its administration,” the U.S. government is now falling short when it comes to actually having people who know what they are doing with the economy in charge of economic policy. The authors note that “the one area that is sorely missing in this diversity goal is in attracting talented and experienced men and women from the field of small business, commerce, and finance.”

There’s basically a permanent political class in the nation, people making decisions and policy who haven’t put in the work to know the reality. Government is their business, and they think very differently from those in the private sector.

Read: Would It Surprise You That 62% Of Biden’s People Have No Business Experience? »

Posted in Joe Biden | 31 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrats Continue To Push For Economy Damaging Climate Scam Deal

By William Teach July 14, 2022 – 7:15 am

Democrats know they have to figure a way to push through this scam garbage through, because they will lose the mid-terms. If Republicans had any brains, instead of living in their D.C. bubble, they’d push hard for legislation saying that any Democrat who sponsors, cosponsers, supports, and/or votes of climate bills has to practice what they preach. No government paid for fossil fueled travel. AC set to 80 in their offices. Almost no lights in their offices, no meat allowed, and so much more

Democrats push for climate deal as time runs short

Democrats are scrambling to secure a deal to mitigate climate change as their window for an agreement is rapidly closing.

Key lawmakers say they’re still working to sell Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on a slate of clean energy tax credits and a fee on methane emissions.

And the stakes are particularly high amid high fuel prices, a Supreme Court ruling that curbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate powers and the growing threat of climate change itself.

For months, lawmakers have been negotiating a package that would seek to limit climate-warming emissions, lower prescription drug costs and raise taxes on high-income individuals.

But with the August recess looming, lawmakers are seeing their time run short.

Oh, good, climate garbage that will drive the cost of energy higher, which means the cost of goods and services will also jump higher. Which doesn’t hurt the rich folks who vote for this, just the lower and middle classes.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) told reporters on Tuesday that he is still working with Manchin on a program aimed at cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.

He said that the two sides had reached a “pretty good agreement” a few months ago, and added, “We’re looking at it now, tweaking it a little bit.”

Methane is a potent source of planet-warming emissions, with 25 times the impacts of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. It’s also the main component of natural gas, which is used in electricity generation and home heating.

I’ll agree that methane needs to be reduced. It is considerably more potent than CO2, and it doesn’t have the double effect. Yet, this is not the right time to do it.

Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said he believes the essence of his panel’s clean energy tax credits are still “intact.” In particular, he said a “neutral” approach that would give credits to various kinds of emissions-reducing technologies is still in play.

“A new system based on technological neutrality — not picking winners and losers — and making sure that in the future, the bigger your emissions reductions the bigger your tax savings — I believe are still in good shape.”

In other words, it will pick winners and losers. Or, just f**k everyone.

In terms of a timeline, Manchin told reporters this week that Democrats have until Sept. 30 to hold a vote. That’s the day that a budget resolution allowing them to pass legislation with just 50 votes expires.

So, they’d have to play that game. They would, though, have to put it through lots of offices which will release what the true costs are. At least true by D.C. standards, which means way more costly in Reality Land.

Read: Democrats Continue To Push For Economy Damaging Climate Scam Deal »

Posted in Democrats, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

The Government Has Tried To Do Something About Inflation Or Something

By William Teach July 14, 2022 – 7:00 am

Even though there are a few points where this The Hill piece softly slaps the Biden administration, it mostly seems to be taking the position of “well, Los Federales tried, but, you dumb citizens aren’t helping.” Now, if this were happening under Trump, the headline and Blamestorming would be much different, including the headline

The government has tried to stop inflation. Why isn’t it working?

Biden Brain SuckerNo matter what the federal government does, inflation keeps rising with no clear end in sight.

Consumer prices jumped 1.3 percent higher in June and a whopping 9.1 percent over the past 12 months, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department, despite the best efforts of the Biden administration and Federal Reserve to bring inflation down.

While a June surge in gas prices was responsible for much of the overall increase in inflation, prices grew across almost every sector. That’s a troubling sign for the U.S. economy after the federal government scrambled to stop the highest annual inflation in more than four decades from getting worse.

“It’s going to be a long and tough road ahead. This is not going to come down very quickly,” said Derek Tang, co-founder and economist at research firm Monetary Policy Analytics.

After waiving off the threat of inflation for much of 2021, the Biden administration and Fed pivoted sharply toward bringing prices down.

In other words, Biden and his people were ignoring the issues. They weren’t engaged. Manufacturers knew issues were going to happen all the way back in mid-2020. A lot of Asian car manufacturers saw the shipping and cost issues, and moved a lot of the manufacturing to North America. So many who make and sell other products saw the shortages and price increases, and adjusted accordingly. Did you wonder why there really weren’t that many sales when stuff started opening in certain areas in 2020, or for Christmas 2020? Yeah, they projected everything out, because they understand economics, supply chains, etc and so on, things that most in the Biden admin do not. Most haven’t worked in the private sector anytime recently. Biden hasn’t since the early 70’s. So many might know teaching and law, but, not much else.

The Fed began raising its baseline interest rate in March in a bid to slow the economy enough to bring down inflation without causing a severe economic downturn.

But as inflation has steamed ahead, the Fed has hiked rates at an even faster pace. The bank in March boosted rates by 0.25 percentage points, followed by a 0.5 percentage point hike in May and a 0.75 percentage point hike in June — the largest single increase since 1994.

The Fed also ceased its monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds and will soon allow its holdings to expire, which will pull billions of dollars out of financial markets and into the central bank each month.

That’s literally all the government has done. What has the Biden admin done? The story really doesn’t say. Because there’s not much of consequence to discuss. They really have hurt more than helped.

“There is still a lot of pent-up demand in the economy, especially around leisure, hospitality and tourism, as people appear prepared to run down accumulated savings and pay higher prices to do things they missed out on over the past couple of years,” wrote James Knightley, chief international economist for ING, in a Wednesday analysis.

“To get inflation meaningfully lower quickly we need demand to better match the supply capacity of the economy. Ideally this would come via the supply channel,” Knightley added.

High inflation is often caused by a mismatch between the goods and services that consumers and businesses want to buy and the economy’s ability to supply them.

Demand is normal, has been normal post COVID, and actually dropping because of the lack of goods. There was a short period of demand, especially in the travel sector, but, what we’re seeing now is demand destruction, where people are just not buying a lot of things.

In a Wednesday statement, President Biden dismissed the June inflation report as “out-of-date” given the steady decline of gasoline prices throughout the last month. Even so, those supply shocks are far from settled as long as the war in Ukraine rages on.

Yet, gas is still way, way above where it was when he took office, and it’s still a nationwide average of $4.65, and the higher gas and diesel prices are baked into the cost of goods for months. He has no real idea what’s going on, and doesn’t seem interested in asking those in the private sector who know. And should have asked early in 2021.

Of course, maybe his people wanted this to happen.

Read: The Government Has Tried To Do Something About Inflation Or Something »

Posted in Economy, Joe Biden | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Biggest Reason People Don’t Want And EV Is Charging Logistics

By William Teach July 13, 2022 – 3:00 pm

It’s actually surprising, I would have thought it would be cost

Electric car survey finds this as the biggest reason preventing people from buying them

Electric vehicleA survey of U.S. adults has found that the logistics of where and when they would be able to charge an electric car is the largest barrier preventing them from owning such vehicles.

The revelation emerged in a recent poll of around 8,000 people conducted by Consumer Reports, in which a combined 36% said they would “definitely” or “seriously consider” choosing an electric-only vehicle as their next auto purchase.

When asked about the top concerns preventing them from making the jump from gas to electric, 61% cited charging logistics, followed by 55% saying the number of miles the vehicle can go per charge and 52% saying the costs of buying and maintaining an electric-only vehicle.

The U.S. Department of Energy reports that there are currently around 49,000 public charging stations across the country.

There are around 145,000 gas stations around the country, and they generally only take a few minutes for you to fill up and be on your way.

Interestingly, only 36% are really interested in buying one

“The survey shows that there is clear interest among Americans in reducing costs for transportation and lowering their environmental impact,” said Quinta Warren, Consumer Reports’ associate director of sustainability policy. “It underscores some key concerns, but fortunately, many of these barriers to owning a battery-electric vehicle EV can be addressed through experience and education.”

Right, right, experience and education. Not price, charging logistics, range anxiety, cost to purchase.

Meanwhile, this is a bummer (hopefully the tweet will show)

Read: Biggest Reason People Don’t Want And EV Is Charging Logistics »

Posted in Global Warming | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach July 13, 2022 – 1:00 pm

…are horrible carbon pollution driven Bad Weather clouds, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Daley Gator, with a post on leftism being a ideology of perpetual victimhood and misery.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

Josh Hawley Says Democrats Have Lost Their Minds After “Transphobic” Debate

By William Teach July 13, 2022 – 10:30 am

Well, yes, they have lost their minds. They lost them back when George W. Bush was president, which is when the term barking moonbat came about. They were worse when Bush won in 2004. Then they started getting very weird when Obama was president, and then pure bat-guano insane with Trump as president. And even wonkier now

Josh Hawley says Democrats ‘have lost their minds’ after tense exchange with progressive law prof goes viral

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley says the Democrats “have lost their minds” after his tense exchange with a progressive pro-choice California law professor went viral.

Hawley torched the Democrats in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital, calling the party “extremists” and saying the Democrats’ descent into madness is on display for the whole country.

“The Democrats have become such extremists. Now their official line is men can get pregnant — and if you disagree, you’re violent,” Hawley said on Tuesday after the exchange went viral online. “They have lost their minds and the whole country can see it.”

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the impact of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the subject of abortion back to be decided at the state level.

The University of California at Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges, a pro-choice witness on a panel before the Senate, accused Hawley of endangering transgender Americans by asking if only women can get pregnant.

Here’s the exchange

It really is insane

Read More »

Read: Josh Hawley Says Democrats Have Lost Their Minds After “Transphobic” Debate »

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States Step With Climate Crisis (scam) Action After Court Ruling

By William Teach July 13, 2022 – 7:00 am

Well, yes, they can. What the WV v EPA ruling said was that Los Federales shouldn’t be passing massive regulations from the Executive Branch, they should come from the Legislative Branch. Which includes state legislatures

After Supreme Court limits federal ability to combat climate change, states step in

electric vehicleThe Supreme Court’s restriction of the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions has led to calls for governors in blue states to launch initiatives to combat climate change.

“We’ve got to double down, quadruple down, here in California and in blue states all across America,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said on June 30, in response to the ruling handed down that day in West Virginia v. EPA, which held that the EPA may not require electric utilities to move away from coal-fired power plants.

And in fact states do have considerable power to reduce the emissions causing climate change, since they are actually the primary regulator of the companies that deliver electricity to consumers.

“Constitutionally, states can do a lot of things within their own boundaries to address greenhouse gases,” Barry Rabe, a professor of environmental policy at the University of Michigan, told Yahoo News. “We’ve seen this now for about a quarter-century — some states have tried a pretty wide range of efforts, for the most part working on their own, although in a few cases working together across state borders or boundaries. So I would say the sky’s the limit.”

Go for it, climate cult states. Let’s see how that works out for your economies and energy sector. If only there was a way to restrict the people who vote for this to be forced to stay in their states, rather than escaping.

One major option that states possess to regulate greenhouse gas emissions is the power to dictate the sources of energy used by their electric utilities.

Do it! I triple dog dare you. Every experiment needs experimental groups.

Read: States Step With Climate Crisis (scam) Action After Court Ruling »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 4 Comments | Trackback URL
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