I’m known as blksista on the pages of DailyKos, Jack and Jill Politics, and Booman Tribune, among others. If you don’t readily know who I am, you probably heard that I wrote a series of blog articles about the drowning of New Orleans, my birthplace. It took a long time for me to find my voice blogging, and these articles basically made my rep on DK.
I finally realized that I wanted my own blog to continue to talk about New Orleans, black people, culture, gossip/public intellectualism, politics, Buddhism, journalism and ethics, looksism, cooking, fiction, history, womanism, writing, race, fashion, music and other topics of interest during this rather fractious time in American life and the life of the Republic.
Finally, I would like to say that I have a patron saint of blogging, and that, for all intents and purposes, is the late Steve Gilliard. I discovered Steve’s blog while I was living on 132nd Street in Harlem, New York between 2003-2005. Through him, I got a real introduction to New York politics. We talked privately online here and there, but I never got to meet him. I’m sure we even passed by each other while at I-HOP without knowing it. I am so sorry he is gone, because he would have truly enjoyed seeing Obama in the White House. I think that he would have kept cool regarding our FBP’s striking a grand plan taxing and cutting with Boehner, McConnell and the Republicans, making them look like the charlatans and tools for the rich that they are. I know that I could never be as audacious or as knowledgeable as Steve was during his short career, but he did teach me a few things. One: to be yourself and two: to say what is real. Then you’ll never be alone.
If you like my work, if you like visiting This Black Sista’s Page, and if you can contribute $5, $10 or more, I may be able to weather some crises and stay afloat. You can use your bank account, Visa, MasterCard, AmerEx with the PayPal button to the top right.
It’s self-explanatory; more people, it is said, have been visiting Shaniya’s grave since the trial commenced (Courtesy: Justice for Shaniya Davis/Facebook)
Sorry, but I have been job hunting, so I have not been as forthcoming as I would like to be.
Plus, coding issues preclude me from using the kinds of videos that I would like to use. WordPress.com can be really limiting, but I am not ready financially to make this jump to WordPress.org.
However, I will be returning with a couple of articles on the Shaniya Davis case as well as other new/old news. The state is resting its case today.
This is an interview with Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler on Democracy Now! several months ago. Coogler is a graduate of USC’s film school, the same film school that turned out George Lucas, John Singleton, Caleb Deschanel, Ron Howard, and Shonda Rhimes.
[Michael B. ] Jordan has turned in what will most definitely be a career-defining performance. Best known for his work on the TV series Friday Night Lights and more recently the found footage movie Chronicle, the young actor has proven here that he is not only ready but seriously deserving of so-called A-List status. The quiet beauty of the role is that he isn’t perfect – at the top of the film Oscar has only just ended his weed-selling; a flashback later in the film reveals his mother visiting him in prison for an undivulged crime. Still, Coogler takes care to frame his screenplay, no matter Grant’s past (sic) mistakes, as ultimately the story of an extremely decent person.
Indeed, the film casts a very sympathetic eye on Oscar, shedding a slightly more ambiguous light on the cops who detained and killed him. Detractors may say that the film wears its agenda too obviously on its sleeve, warping what might or might not be the “truth” for its own convenience. But what is perhaps most interesting about Fruitvale is that it stands at the intersection of cinema and a digital age where sites like YouTube and WorldStarHipHop have complicated the very notion of what the “truth” even is.
The movie also stars Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Butler as Grant’s mother, Ariana Neal as Grant’s little daughter Tatiana, and Melonie Diaz as Grant’s girlfriend. Rounding out the immediate cast are Chad Michael Murray and Kevin Durand as the two BART officers responsible for Grant’s death, and Ahna O’Reilly as Katie. Forest Whittaker produced the film with The Weinstein Company distributing it.
I think that Coogler chose to make a dramatic film rather than a documentary about Oscar Grant’s last day because drama sometimes allows one to humanize the subject, no matter how controversial. I also think of this film as the anti-Django, as it was beginning to get buzz just as Quentin Tarantino’s blood and slug fest started gaining both acclaim and controversy. One important thing about Fruitvale Station is that the focus, ultimately, is on the black hero (although Oscar Grant does die), and not on a secondary character like King Schultz. Or in this case, the BART officer, Johannes Mehserle, who in my opinion, executed Grant. Unfortunately, even Mehserle’s actual name is not used in the film, nor is that of the other officer directly involved, Tony Pirone. No matter: they aren’t heroes.
The fact that Oscar’s killing was videoed all over the country and around the world because of the ubiquitous cell phones that all the bystanders carried has made cops even more nervous about even the appearance of misdeeds. Some now have a way of fighting against prosecution. A very recent case in point is the vicious beating death of David Silva in Bakersfield, CA last Tuesday night. Silva, a Latino, was inebriated and already on the ground, but sheriff’s deputies set on him and killed him outright with their clubs. Then the deputies tried to make sure that no one would be prosecuted by having every cell phone camera that might have been trained on them confiscated. I kid you not, and the witnesses will stand up in court despite smears and false accusations from cops.
Kern County deputies beat an intoxicated man to death in the street Tuesday night, then detained and intimidated witnesses, confiscated video evidence, and arrested another man who spoke out. David Silva was beaten with batons, left in a pool of blood until an ambulance finally arrived after he was already dead.
A female 9-1-1 caller named Selena told the dispatcher, “There’s a man laying on the floor, and your police officers beat the (expletive) out of him and killed him.” She said that she witnessed the victim do nothing wrong to cause 8 officers to bludgeon him to death. “These cops had no reason to do this to this man.”
A 19-year-old male witness, Ruben Ceballos, was awakened around midnight by screams and loud banging noises outside his home. He said he ran to the left side of his house to find out who was causing the ruckus.”When I got outside I saw two officers beating a man with batons and they were hitting his head so every time they would swing, I could hear the blows to his head.” He said that Silva was on the ground screaming for help, but officers continued to beat him After several minutes, Silva stopped screaming and was no longer responsive, according to Ceballos.
Another witness, Jason Land, said that he witnessed the beating of David Silva. “They jumped out, reached for their bats, and beat that man until they killed him,” he said, “right in front of my face.” Land spoke up about what he saw and was arrested as retaliation. The witness was on probation and says police responded to his eyewitness report by claiming he was high on PCP and arrested him without any proof.
Next time, don’t even say you have a cell phone to the cops if you see this kind of thing. Get a good lawyer who will apprise you of your rights, and then give up the video to those who are preparing a wrongful death or a prosecution case against those who were responsible. Murder at the hands of police is also wrong, wrong, wrong.
The spectre of Oscar Grant will not rest until incidents like these stop. Fruitvale Station debuts July 12. Check your local cineplex listings and run, don’t walk to see this movie.
It’s getting to the place where a brother can’t even Tweet another brother a supportive and positive message, even across the Twitterverse, without someone trying to make something of it, to cast shade on the individual sending the message as well as the person receiving it. I mean, this is what I feel is a positive message. This was no mere masculinist shoutout.
Retired Green Bay Packer LeRoy Butler, creator of the joyful “Lambeau Leap” that is now done by not only Packers but a lot of other footballers since 1993, wasn’t asking for a rendezvous when he Tweeted a message Monday. But from all the fuss, you’d think he’d done something at the level of former Representative Weiner.
LeRoy Butler in the very first “Lambeau Leap” in 1993. Yep, the Leap is 20 years old, but Butler has remained young in his heart (Courtesy: JSonline)
It may be nice, it may be hilarious, but the supine and corporate Fourth Estate still treats this event as patting themselves on the back—for practically little. They’re all rich, well-connected, and well-heeled, even Reverend Al, by varying degrees. They don’t inform, they advocate. And for the wrong people. And not necessarily for the President.
Enjoy. I think.
(Understand that when the event is over, there is no recorded playback using this channel. Check with You Tube, or the White House dot gov website.)
Well, here’s the first stall from that stack of motions his defense attorneys presented to Judge Ammons: Mario McNeill will be psychologically evaluated before he stands trial to ascertain his mental capacity. You know, I thought that had already been done. No, I don’t think that McNeill is impaired so that he cannot withstand the rigors of a trial, but I think that his tendencies are definitely anti-social and anti-woman/child. In the long run, the attorneys may be making a play for a lesser sentence come the verdict in a death penalty murder case.
The capital murder trial of Mario Andrette McNeill has been delayed for at least a week while McNeill undergoes a mental evaluation.
McNeill, 32, is charged with murder, rape and kidnapping in the death of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis.
Defense attorneys raised a question Monday morning about McNeill’s “capacity to proceed” and included an assessment of McNeill by Durham psychologist James Hilkey, who also evaluated Robert Stewart, who received a life sentence for killing eight people at a Carthage nursing home in 2009.
Ammons directed doctors from Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro and Central Regional Hospital in Butner, two state mental hospitals, to confer with Hilkey and conduct an independent evaluation of McNeill over the next few days.
The judge said he would hold a hearing Friday to determine whether the trial will proceed.
Suspect Mario McNeill while listening to the jury selection last week. A psychological evaluation may not help or hinder his case (Courtesy: WRAL.com)
Again, this is what I am afraid of: that the trial will not proceed because of the findings. But see, McNeill doesn’t want a life sentence, especially one without possibility of parole. He wants a get-out-of-jail-free card. An evaluation by the local shrinks may not help him out much, because it might influence the judge (or jury) to remand him to a prison with a psych ward instead of death row. However, it might wipe that smirk off his face but good as with the photo above.
There was more from last week. Apparently, Judge Ammons told the public and the press to leave chambers because there was something he wanted to say only to the jury, the defense and the prosecution. That got the Fourth Estate riled:
The move came after the state and defense began to disagree Thursday afternoon on whether to allow information into evidence pertaining to McNeill leading investigators to the child’s body.
At a motions hearing Friday morning, Judge Jim Ammons unexpectedly cleared the courtroom.
“The matter has come to my attention that requires me, in the interest of justice, with no available means to me, to require this court to be closed to everyone except the parties that are involved,” the judge explained.
Reporters were ordered out for about 15 minutes, let in for a couple of minutes, and then [they] learned the hearing has been continued until first thing Monday morning, which is when the court expected to begin opening statements.
Now the jury will not report until Monday afternoon. So far, there’s been no clue as to what’s behind the continuance.
I wish I had been a fly on the wall listening to what happened, but Ammons is trying to be oh, so careful. He doesn’t want to give McNeill’s attorneys anything to stand on for an appeal that might throw out the verdict. At the same time, I feel that McNeill was not tricked when he admitted to authorities where to find the little girl’s body in exchange, he and his attorneys say, for a plea deal. That supposed deal that went out the window with a new prosecutor. One way or another, even with such an admission, he was not going to walk out of the clutches of the law that easily.
In another vein, I’m wondering why the media had to be thrown out of chambers as well as the public over this issue. Because whatever was discussed is bound to surface sooner or later.
You know, when there are calamities that befall our country like what happened on Monday at the Boston Marathon, there seems to be a knee-jerk belief among many that the terrorists must be from abroad and that anyone fitting the description needs a beat-down. Hey, this is not to suggest that the fear is unwarranted, especially when we have precedents with 9/11 and the earlier attack on the Twin Towers in the Nineties.
But it seems to me, especially from our news media and from the consciousness-impaired that all of these attacks must emanate from people of color, namely people from the Middle East, a considered trouble zone. Not necessarily, because we also have homegrown, right-wing, light-skinned to white people who practice bomb-making and are stockpiling weapons, and have some serious “issues” with the United States as if they were about to go to war at any moment. This reality seems to be lost on those whites for whom darkness and blackness are consonant with evil. They even justify the stockpiling and the bomb-making as defending themselves and others of like mind.
A Muslim woman in Boston says that she was attacked by a white man on on Wednesday morning because he was apparently enraged by the Boston Marathon bombings and convinced, despite a lack of evidence, that the perpetrators were Muslim.
Heba Abolaban told Malden Patch that she and her friend, who were both wearing hijabs, were walking on Commercial Street with their children when a white male in his thirties punched her in her left shoulder.
“He was screaming ‘Fuck youMuslims! You are terrorists! I hate you! You are involved in the Boston explosions! Fuck you!’” she recalled. “Oh my lord, I was extremely shocked.”
“I did not say anything to him,” she added. “Not even that we aren’t terrorists… he was so aggressive.”
After about two minutes of confrontation, the man left and Abolaban called her husband and police.
In my fading memory, after the Oklahoma City Bombing, I distinctly remember certain Muslim communities in Oklahoma and in surrounding states being intimidated, with a couple of their mosques being vandalized or burned. It was a lynch mob environment. Even a fearful expectant mother nearly lost her baby when someone hove a brick or large rock through a window of her house because the perp(s) knew that there was a Muslim family in the neighborhood. All because their less-than-tolerant neighbors thought that they—or a few of them—were responsible or needed a beat-down in revenge.
So when Timothy McVeigh and his co-conspirators were caught, there was a significant silence from these same citizens, along with a sense of feeling betrayed. And there weren’t any news of introspection and regret, apologies or restitution towards these Americans or American residents. The burden of proof of innocence is always on people of color.
Not a few black people are spreading this photograph of 8-year-old Martin Richard on social media in the wake of the Boston Marathon Bombing, and showing and expressing support for his grieving and injured family members.
Statement to the Family of Martin Richard from the Parents of Trayvon Martin
Our hearts are broken over the tragedy in Boston yesterday. Our family sends our sincerest condolences to all of those who have been affected by this terrible situation. We especially would like to send a message to the family of eight-year-old Martin Richard. We have come to understand that the peace sign that Martin is holding in a photo being circulated throughout the media was created in response to a lesson by his teacher about the death of our son. From our family to yours, we are praying for you, thinking about you, and will remember your son for the rest of our lives.
~Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, parents of Trayvon Martin
(Statement corrected only for punctuation.)
This poster, which was generated by the Facebook group Everyone Matters, is being spread throughout social media. It depicts in shadow two now-famous murdered children hand-in-hand and facing eternity, teenager Trayvon Martin and Martin Richard, one of the three killed at the site of the Boston Marathon finish line Monday, with the original photo in the inset below right (Courtesy: Everyone Matters)
When children are heartlessly murdered, or coldly considered by terrorists like Timothy McVeigh as “collateral damage,” it is viewed as even more of a crime. Particularly with this little child, he was being taught not to hate, but also to dislike discrimination, whether with Trayvon, who was innocently wearing his hoodie in the rain, or elsewhere. Even young children have a sense of what is injustice and what is wrong, and it was being reinforced with Martin and with his classmates, whether in school or at home. He was being taught to care.
Despite what the online hate squad wants to everyone to think, young children do have a point-of-view about the world, whether simplistic or mature. And they bear respecting, because hate kills.
Mother Tammy Lynch consoles her weeping daughter, Kaitlyn, after they placed flowers and balloons of condolence at Martin Richard’s house (Courtesy: N.Y. Daily News)
Meanwhile, Back in Wisconsin: Ex-"Lambeau Leap" Footballer Leroy Butler Gives a Four-Word Tweet of Support for Jason Collins; Loses Church… 2 weeks ago
Early on in his political career, Scott Walker had his sights on labor unions. In fact, his first major bill as a legislator sought to limit the ability of labor groups to raise money for poli…
From state property for sale, to shunning foreign investors' purchasing power, plus cuts to stewardship and farmland conservation funds, there have been plenty of land-related budget items to debate.
Witnesses say an oversize load on a truck hit the bridge before a large section collapsedA truck crashed into a four-lane freeway bridge in Washington state, possibly causing it to collapse, sending vehicles into the frigid Skagit River.
The CTA will waive a $5 fee for customers who obtain the new Ventra transit card and it also will eliminate or reduce some of the controversial service charges, officials said.
Allegations involved girls, varsity baseball playersThe athletic director of Evanston Township High School has pulled the varsity baseball team from the state playoffs after "inappropriate photos" of girls at the school were distributed among some players, officials said.
Revised city deal still a gain for vendor, analysis findsTribune analysis: Chicago taxpayers still could end up pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the coffers of the company leasing the city's parking meters under Mayor Rahm Emanuel's revamp of the much-reviled deal.
Hall of Fame tight end will become 14th Bear honored and 1st since Butkus and SayersTwo sources have told the Tribune the Bears will retire the No. 89 of Michael Keller Ditka Jr., also known as Da Coach, in a ceremony during the Dec. 9 "Monday Night Football" game against the Cowboys at Soldier Field.
With Toews in box for 2nd of 3 penalties in 5 1/2 minutes, Wings net game-winner in 2nd periodJonathan Toews barked at officials from the penalty box, venting his frustration during an almost-surreal string of three penalties called against the Blackhawks captain in a span of 5 minutes, 34 seconds.
Legendary Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson discussed his new book, "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success" with Tribune sports reporter K.C. Johnson Thursday evening. Watch the live interview and learn how the "Zen master" grew to be one of the most innovative coaches in sports.
Police investigating the murder of a soldier hacked to death on a busy London street were looking on Friday into whether the two suspected killers, British men of Nigerian descent, were part of a wider conspiracy.
In a sign of Wall Street’s resurgent influence in Washington, bank lobbyists are aiding lawmakers in preparing legislation that softens financial regulations.
During assignments at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Luke Sharrett, whose cousin was killed in Iraq, began to notice the mementos left by friends and family.
Oceanic and atmospheric conditions are expected to create stronger and more hurricanes in 2013, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
BART plans another test for bicycles After a nearly two-hour hearing, the BART board voted 6-3 to conduct the test instead of the other option it was considering, which was to end its policy of banning bikes on trains during peak commute hours. All but a couple of them urged BART to get rid of the rush-hour prohibition, which many said kept them from getting […]
SF Chronicle names new management team Hearst Corp. on Thursday named a new management team to lead The San Francisco Chronicle, picking a newspaper industry veteran to serve as publisher and a seasoned digital media executive as the paper's president. Incoming Chronicle President Joanne Bradford, in contrast, has spent much of her career in online medi […]
Boy Scouts vote to allow gay youth The Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to allow openly gay Scouts to join troops for the first time in the group's 103-year history, but sought a political middle ground by retaining a ban on gay adults serving as leaders. The Scouts didn't appear to satisfy many people with their decision, leaving local troop l […]
S.F.'s new tack in fighting metal theft San Francisco prosecutors have opened a new front in the battle against copper theft, filing a $10 million lawsuit against a scrap-metal recycler that allegedly chose to shut down and trash its files rather than comply with a city subpoena seeking sales records. The unusual suit against J&S Recycling, which un […]
Court rejects Arizona abortion law A federal appeals court that included an ardent opponent of abortion struck down Arizona's ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy Tuesday, citing 40 years of Supreme Court precedents that allow a woman to terminate her pregnancy if the fetus is not yet viable. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproducti […]
Supplier urged use of banned Bay Bridge rods San Francisco Chronicle Copyright 2013 San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 9:11 am, Wednesday, May 22, 2013 Caltrans decided to install high-risk steel rods on the Bay Bridge's new eastern span after a supplier pointe […]
Ray Manzarek, Doors keyboardist, dies Ray Manzarek, the founding member and keyboard player for the Doors whose haunting and sweetly melodic organ riffs loomed large in the psychedelic rock era, died Monday at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany. Formed in 1965, when Mr. Manzarek had a chance encounter with aspiring poet and film student Jim Morrison at V […]
After July 1, BART riders with bicycles can enter trains during peak hours as long as they follow a rule restricting the two-wheelers from overcrowded train cars.
A teenage boy was arrested on felony assault and robbery charges Thursday in connection with an attack that critically injured an 83-year-old man near an Orchard Supply Hardware store May 18, authorities said.
Netflix is hoping this weekend's release of the resurrected TV series 'Arrested Development' will lock up more subscribers to its Internet video service.
High school athlete Amir Khakimov, 18, collapsed suddenly while working out May 13 and was rushed to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where he underwent brain surgery. After having suffered extensive and irreparable brain damage, Khakimov died Tuesday.
The Ocean Conservancy, a Washington D.C.-based environmental organization, released its 2012 list of trash collected during its International Coastal Cleanup.
Final plans for the Al Copeland memorial in Metairie's Lafreniere Park were presented Friday during a news conference. The public unveiling of the design capped three months of give and take between the late businessman's relatives and Jefferson Parish officials over...
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office is investigating an apparent murder-suicide in River Ridge. The incident occurred in the 300 block of Celeste Avenue about 1:30 p.m.No other information is available. Stay with NOLA.com for more details as they become available....
The possession, use and distribution of synthetic marijuana and the drug known as 25-I will now carry criminal penalties in Louisiana, after Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law legislation to add various stimulants and hallucinogens to the state's list of...
Louisiana's Road Home program is winding down, with only 20 claims left to be processed as of early May. But even as the number of claims processed has dwindled to a trickle in recent months, the costs of administering the...
A St. Bernard Parish oil refinery is schedule to transport a large reactor through the parish on Tuesday. The transportation of the processing vessel to Valero Energy Corporation's Meraux oil refinery is expected to close portions of Parish Road and...
Elementary school students from Lusher Charter School in New Orleans, relish their annual countdown to summer Friday, May 24, 2013. It was good bye to the campus fifth graders who she a few tears as did their parents. Everyone else was smiling.
State legislators will face a crucial decision this week regarding the long-term viability of Mississippi River ferries in our region. Senate Bill 215, authored by Sen. David Heitmeier, creates a sustainable path forward for the ferries now that their funding...
Covington Police have arrested a Hammond couple in connection with a downtown purse snatching in which the victim was attacked with an electric stun gun, Capt. Jack West said in a news release Friday. Police arrested one suspect Thursday afternoon...
British men held on suspicion of endangering aircraft after Manchester-bound flight is diverted to Stansted as a precautionTwo men have been arrested after a passenger jet from Pakistan was escorted into Stansted airport by RAF fighter planes following a security alert.The Pakistan International Airlines plane took off from Lahore with 297 passengers people […]
Assad regime agrees 'in principle' to conflict resolution initiative as Syrian opposition comes under pressure to take part as wellThe Assad government has agreed to take part in next month's international conference in Geneva aimed at resolving Syria's civil war, according to ally Russia, as the Syrian opposition came under pressure to a […]
Human rights groups wary after president asks Congress to establish special court or board to authorise legal drone actionProposals to vet future US drone strikes risk creating "kill courts" according to human rights campaigners who say Barack Obama's promise of new legal oversight does not go far enough to end what they regard as extrajudicia […]
Once denied by its leaders, the Shia militant group's involvement in Syria is now a badge of honour for families burying their deadThe workmen had been busy in the room where Hezbollah honours its dead. In one corner of the martyrs' cemetery in south Beirut, four women shrouded in black sat cross-legged near a new grave, reading from the Qu'ra […]
Paula Broadwell speaks publicly for the first time about the extramarital affair that led to the CIA director's resignationThe woman whose affair with David Petraeus cost the four-star general his job as CIA director has spoken of her remorse over her role in the scandal.Six months after Paula Broadwell's personal relationship with her subject beca […]
Discoverer of Undertones calls for fresh inquiry into 2004 blaze that destroyed huge collection of Northern Irish punkIt was a blaze that wrecked businesses, destroyed 50,000 vinyl records and left a large part of Northern Ireland's punk history in ashes – but the culprit has never been found.Now Terri Hooley, the new-wave impresario who discovered the […]
Toronto’s citizens are struggling to make sense of the events surrounding their mayor, Rob Ford, who has spent the last seven days ducking a media storm surrounding a video that allegedly shows him partaking of crack-cocaine.
A cat getting a hairball is not usually a life-threatening situation, unless the cat in question is a 27-stone Serbian tiger, and this particular hairball is the size of a football.
A cat getting a hairball is not usually a life-threatening situation, unless the cat in question is a 27-stone Serbian tiger, and this particular hairball is the size of a football.
Lack of a death certificate or burial site and sparse obituary information has led to talk in hip-hop circles that rapper Tim Dog, who owes thousands of dollars to women he was convicted of swindling, faked his own death.
The Boy Scouts of America has thrown open its ranks to gay youngsters, but not adult leaders, in a compromise that some warned could fracture the organisation and lead to mass defections.
President Barack Obama combined a vigorous defence of his controversial use of drones with a no less impassioned demand for the closure of the notorious prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which he called “a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law.”
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