March 27, 2011

Hypocrisy, Inaction (Pamphlet #7)

If it were an earthy possibility that hypocrisy could take the shape of a pig, our council chambers would surely be the sullen quarters of a most stinking and squalid sty.  For too long the entrenched Members of Council who legislate solely to preserve their inept positions in bold defiance to our outcry for reform and good governance have lazed in the filthy mud of impotent squalor.  For too long the Entitlement Class leaders who peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie have done nothing for the public at large while striving to establish their importance to we who pay taxes.  In INACTION, their calls for support are the height of HYPOCRISY.

First, they DARE to call themselves REFORM!  NO!  These stagnant tramplers of justice have done nothing for years - some for decades - and claim to be aligned with our dear child reform.  They claim they have never been the majority!  They claim they have always represented the weak and defenseless.  LIES, do not trust these scoundrels!  This, dear Hobokenite, is the most vile of HYPOCRISY, when those who have CONTROLLED EVERYTHING in this city for far too long feign to be the heroes of OUR reform.  This, dear neighbor, is the putrid regurgitation of popular rhetoric while absolutely nothing that has not benefited the FAMILY RULE has been ignored by INACTION!

Secondly, majority Members of Council have, on countless occasions, insisted that they seek to improve the quality of life of ALL RESIDENTS, yet they confide only with those whom they qualify as members of  "Old Hoboken" to save and preserve the legacy of FAMILY RULE over democracy.  These Members of Council assemble campaign literature that presents themselves as having concern and support for OUR reform issues, yet there is no record to show this has ever been true.  Consider the recent approval of bonds for parks.  Councilwoman Castellano is on record - on taped video even - claiming that "Hoboken has enough parks", and dismisses OUR reformer efforts to improve the quality of life for all Hobokenites.  Council Vice-President Russo, too, is quoted in the press several times over his many, many inactive years sitting on the Council favoring various forms of development over new parks.  Yet now, when there is a desperate need to trick residents into voting for their form of political hyprocisy through inaction, a new contradictory vote is made to support the parks bond.  What can be the rationale?  Be it parks that are suddenly more of a necessity to these Members of Council, or perhaps be it votes?

Thirdly, majority Members of Council release statements to the press criticizing the implementation of policy for ensuring accuracy of information released to the public, characterizing this as "suppression", yet at every single meeting, the Council President attempts to stifle the voices of dissenting Members of Council and - what is even more appalling - members of the public.  How can anyone other than a hypocrite insist on both things at once?  And has not any Member of Council criticizing this policy ever READ the actual policy?  Here it is for the liars who dare to fool us:

"Employees, like all citizens, have a First Amendment right of free speech. On occasion, an employee's personal interest in an issue may be different from the City's position. When this occurs, employees are required to clearly state that their position is personal. Notification following a conversation or interview with the news media must be made the same day of contact. Notification of media contact must be made to the City's Business Administrator and the employee's immediate supervisor. Notification must be in person, by telephone, or by e-mail."

Fourthly, majority Members of Council demand that the city is not following good governance laws by citing a letter from the New Jersey Comptroller criticizing activities FROM A FORMER MAYOR, yet they regularly change or entirely ignore the rules of City Council to forcefully install a new council president, force through votes that have not been vetted appropriately, and disregard laws or requirements that are not in the interest of their political ambitions.

Fifthly, in a recent debate on the issue of rent control, majority Members of Council rally behind the argument that "Perfect be not the enemy of good".  Their argument being that the rent control amendments were not perfect, but they were a good start and should be voted on as a way to move forward.  Good politics, that be, weeks before an election.  Yet, in exactly the same meeting on a debate about anti-wheeling laws, the Council Vice-President Michael Russo argues that the amendments to this ordinance presented are not perfect, require a comprehensive and thorough effort, and must not return to Council for a vote until complete.  Suddenly now, "Good be not the enemy of Perfect."  But good politics again, that be, weeks before an election.  Is this not the epitome of HYPOCRISY through inaction?

Sixthly, majority Members of Council announced months ago a so-called open space initiative, yet no legislation was ever presented, ONLY PROMISES.  These same Members of Council voted down the mayor's bond request for park land acquisition after they failed to take action for many weeks after their announcement.  They even go so far in their hypocrisy as to criticize the large amount of the mayor's bond request, yet in the next breath demand that they may in fact need a much larger bond, perhaps ten times as large!  Insult to injury, at the very next City Council meeting, all of these opposition Members of Council, without explanation of a believable rationale, vote in favor of this bond request.  More good politics and permanence for them.  More hypocrisy is what we get.

And yet more unpleasant hypocrisy there is.

Dear resident, the majority members of the City Council have demanded from the Mayor an on-time budget and have also PROMISED to return $20M to the taxpayers without the lay-offs that they oppose.  That is the FOUNDATION of their campaign.  They have further demanded an ADDITIONAL 15% cut in the budget as they "Hold the mayor's feet to the fire."  Will this fiery rhetoric disappear in baseless smoke over the next few weeks?  Will the majority Members of Council follow through on their promises and commitments, or will HYPOCRISY THROUGH INACTION deliver next to nothing in reductions out of fear of further layoffs or anything else politically unpopular?  And will you, dear neighbor, then hold their feet to the fire in the upcoming elections?
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March 19, 2011

City Council At War With Truth, Law And Democracy (Pamphlet #6)

The current Members of Council who represent the so-called "new majority" have nothing to say but lies and distortions, watch them if you will.  Can not any common person witness these meetings and understand that the posture is pretended, the debate is diatribe, the spirit is sunken?  How be it so that for too long those who pretend to represent us have expended their energies on nothing substantial but to tear apart the honor and the respect of our city government?  How be it so that the rules which dictate right and wrong, proper and improper, fair and unfair, are so regularly ignored and frequently twisted to clear the way for an agenda that defies ethic?  How be it so that those who impose their neglect and selfishness upon us maintain the audacity to spout lies in public, without proof, and carry on without qualm?

We, fellow Hobokenite, are witnesses to the most egregious and insufferable abuse of authority possible in a legislative body.  All their oars are set to overtake the springtime movement of reform so that the Entitlement Class may maintain their power and their seats from which control over the riches of our city are abused.  We hear demands for information without a care to read it.  We see posturing for justice without a care to succeed in it.  We have before us no less than a wicked and deplorable WAR with truth, law, and democracy, all for the PERMANENCE and self-gain of the ARISTOCRATS who currently control City Council.

At war with truth, are they, in that the majority Members of Council will have you believe that they succeed in exposing lies and treachery when in fact their lies and treachery are at every congress revealed.  Consider how freely these lethargic usurpers declare untruths and, once the fact is stated, quickly move on to a new distraction.  Consider how swiftly these corrupted marauders insist their friendship with OUR reform and include the successes of OUR patriots as their contributions.

At war with law, are they, in that the majority Members of Council will have you believe that they succeed in exposing inappropriate and illegal actions when in fact their blatant disregard for the laws and rules of their positions are at every congress revealed.  Consider the repeated interruptions by their appointed legal representation about procedure and proper conduct to the extent that the majority Members of Council were recently lectured by their legal counsel that since the new majority has grabbed power of the City Council, they have "...ignored the by-laws more than they have followed them!"

At war with democracy, are they, in that the majority Members of Council will have you believe that they succeed in exposing deviations from our governmental structure when in fact their aristocratic totalitarianism is at every congress on display.  Consider the various, morphing attempts to silence minority Members of Council, and increasingly, even THE PUBLIC at all times unless when the voices are in advance programmed.  Consider the attempts to circumvent and avoid the laws of our city when they do not suit.

I ask you, dear neighbor, what has been accomplished by this new majority other than the swelling of bruises from lies beaten upon us?  What successes have been enjoyed by this new majority - and by this is not meant the successes by OUR REFORM for which they grab credit - other than the slaying of rules and the sweeping of order from the dais?  Where are the lockstep results of a lockstep unity other than the lockstep march towards moral obliteration?

Partial laws and minor gains will be lauded by them as feats of heroes.  Will not they proclaim that rent control has been resolved?  Who will hold Council President's feet to the fire on the fact that for nearly two years under her responsibility a change was not forthcoming, when during this time hundreds of thousands of dollars have been lost in litigation?  Will they not announce that police contracts are finalized and millions have been saved the Hoboken residents?  Who will hold Council Vice-President to task for antagonizing the labor negotiations last fall forcing arbitration and face-saving?  Will they not declare that redevelopment is proceeding for open space and parks, when majority Members of Council attempted just this month to stop all redevelopment progress on a minor procedural technicality?  Who will reprimand the newest Councilman to cut his prepared political banter and take the time to learn the very basics of redevelopment law before assuming the chair of that critical subcommittee?

None other than the bitter fruits of political positioning are to be found in this otherwise spoiled garden, dear neighbor.  Next to nothing has been accomplished to benefit the common residents of Hoboken that has not come from those REFORMERS who hang on during this tumultuous period of council chaos.  No progress has been made other than desperate throes to project this majority in a righteous, yet false, light.  No, there is nothing to find here in the way of legislative success when the moral compass has been demagentized by greed and graft.  The City Council is exhausting itself in its war with truth, law and democracy.  Will you, good neighbor, stand for more than these six months of miserable failure?
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March 11, 2011

Apathy Will Get You Nowhere (Pamphlet #5)

Your trip to work STANDING ROOM ONLY?  Your RENT TOO HIGH in a poorly constructed building?  Your WATERFRONT CRUMBLING into the Hudson?  Your PLAYING FIELDS none to find?  Your SCHOOLS AWFUL?

You are not alone!  Look around, fellow Hobokenite, at those who join you each day to and from our bustling little city.  They too PAY A HIGH PRICE to live in Hoboken yet suffer the same injustices as you.  The injustice is the failure to return to you what YOU DESERVE for the price you pay to live here.  The mistake is an attempt to lay blame for these injustices on the blossoming movement of REFORM taking hold in City Hall.

Do you know why you get nothing, neighbor?  The truth is hard, but the fact is very plain.  YOU ARE SIMPLY NOT CONSIDERED by those in power focused on self-preservation!  Worse even, you are intentionally ignored!  You are neglected by those who have HELD ON TO POWER FOR TOO LONG in our government.  Your concerns are not relevant to them because they have chosen to PRIORITIZE OTHERS who do one thing far, far better than you.  They dependably offer their vote while you say nothing.  You get nothing for your costly contributions because those who are elected to serve you don't know who you are, have never heard from you, and generally think YOU DO NOT AND WILL NOT VOTE.

So I ask, dear neighbor, on this are they wrong?  Have you spoken your concerns in their ear?  Have you expressed your desire to receive more than the residue of their hand outs?  Have you demanded anything from your elected representatives?  Do you know who represents you?  Do you trust them?  Do you know of their prior actions?  Do you have faith in them to do right?  Have you spoken your mind through your intent to vote?  Have you even registered yourself for the right?  DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?


If you will agree that you have not been heard nor even listened to, then let me be the first to propose that APATHY WILL GET YOU NOWHERE.   Say you are too busy and you will get nothing.  Say you are not interested in local politics and expect more neglect.  Say you have other more important things to do and know that no one will come to your aide.  Yet, aide will come and go elsewhere.

If you want to be heard, if you want to be represented, if you want your fair share of the riches of Hoboken, NOW IS THE TIME to act.  The REVOLUTION HAS COME!  The reform of Hoboken city government is underway!  Purge the ENTITLEMENT CLASS ARISTOCRATS who have stuffed themselves and their supporters at your expense.  They are extremely vulnerable to your vote.

A fresh, untainted reform candidate with a mind to focus on your concerns is challenging the entrenched, corrupted Members of Council that feign to represent you.  A shift towards good, balanced government that listens to your voice is within your reach.  Will you stand alongside your neglected neighbors to VOTE FOR REFORM, or will you just keep standing in line for the same apathetic bus?  Weigh carefully, young Hobokenite, you have the whole packed commute to decide!  To act, pick your reform/good governance candidate here and VOTE FOR REFORM!
http://thehobokenjournal.blogspot.com/p/city-council-candidates-page-good.html
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March 6, 2011

On Democracy and Family Rule (Pamphlet #4)

Think you, kind neighbor, that T.Paine might regularly employ the terms "modern aristocracy", "Entitlement Class", and "inheritance" in these pamphlets without reasonable cause?  Have you perhaps innocently presumed that the intent for such words is merely to incite vivid imagery where far less provoking nomenclature be appropriate?  Then behold, for the purposes of elucidation, that beyond what upstanding championship of democratic governance you may come to expect from those who control the hundreds of millions of dollars collected by our city for decades, the presumed rules of government in which we honest Americans believe and to which we pledge allegiance have not, in any discernible form imaginable, been the rules by which our fine but fouled city has been governed for far too long.  Exaggerated are these words not, for the sacred principles of good governance and fairness to all Hobokenites have been held hostage for far too long and no other means but that of exact description can do justice where, heretofore, none has been done.  In fact, where the expectation is that our leaders have operated under the conspicuous guidance of fair DEMOCRATIC RULE, the reality is that those who controlled the city for so long, and those who yearn to once again seize upon its purse strings, have done so under an aristocratic, obscure, prowling system of FAMILY RULE.

Does it surprise you to learn that the legacy of former mayors, some of whose brethren and progeny still maintain a seat on the current City Council, carries on in the desire and constant influence from these current majority Members of Council, leaders of such an Delphian aristocracy?  Does it surprise you that decades of Hoboken governance is founded, frighteningly, upon an ulterior system of rules which cannot be found in any state manual instructing means by which local government shall run?  Does it surprise you to learn that our fair city has heretofore functioned on such a system so perverse that it rivals stories portrayed in film and fiction?  Does it surprise you to learn that this wretched system has kept so many in stronghold or fear that they remain compelled to support it or risk losing all footing in their current life station, when and if the cruel powers would regain control of the city?  Have you care, good neighbor, to learn more?

Journey, if you will, for some moments to explore the evils and treachery that have plagued Hoboken's government for far too long.  Strong exterior forces and funds have propped the more powerful and the most merciless over the needy and helpless, creating aristocratic overlords and a beholden proletariat who, after such long a time oppressed by this other system, know pitifully little of the proper democratic process to which they are legally entitled.  Rather than a democratic system of rules and repercussions clearly scribed and consistently applied, as is found throughout our great country and mandated more specifically by state law, an enigmatic, dark system of favors and debts ruthlessly executed and indiscriminately issued has festered mostly unchecked from within the walls of City Hall.  Though this malevolent system now slowly suffocates under the squeeze of a growing reform movement, the desperate throws of the current majority Members of Council are fixed on regaining control of City Hall and creeping quietly back to an underworld economy of debts owed and favors given that are never forgotten in such a system, thereby spoiling the possibility of eschewing Hoboken's bane of corruption.


“Explain yourself, T.Paine!” you declare, “For we are a strong community with a proud history and our good residents have endured too much to be cast in such a light with no proof!”  Without haste, friend, shall I make the case for why we have found ourselves on the verge of a RETURN TO FAMILY RULE!

First, consider how emphatically the majority Members of Council who lead the Entitlement Class continue to peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie.  This, my friend, is done subversively to remind all those who have participated (or whose families have participated) and gained favors or perhaps prospered from the Family Rule system that they are yet still indebted and must not turn their backs or face retribution once and if power is regained.  More on this in Pamphlet #1,"Old Hoboken Is A Lie."

Second, consider how frightfully challenging it has been these odd months for the new majority Members of Council to abide by common body rules, avoid stepping upon their own toes with hypocrisy, and prevent spoiling their seemingly righteous words with contradictory corrupted actions.  It is no less conspicuous than swine feigning swans that these new majority Members of Council, SELF-INTERESTED USURPERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC PROCESS, wherefore years employing the masked rules of an ulterior system, have absolutely no knowledge of conducting the legal proceedings of a legitimate, functioning City Council.  That body's very inability to even attempt to manage itself without exposing insensitivity to democracy and an unwillingness to serve the community at large demonstrates how corrupted it be, and, it exposes those same Members of Council to the unavoidable proof of how unfamiliar each is with abiding the laws relevant to run a local American government.  More on this in Pamphlet #2, "City Council, Corrupted."

Third, consider how contemptuously these same majority Members of Council presume that they shall inherit the seats in which they have sat but done next to nothing to benefit and improve the future of our city.  In a Family Rule the modern aristocracy make no mistake to expect an hereditary succession, as has occurred for far too long already in so many offices of City Hall.  In fact, one must be none but troubled to consider the parallels between the concurrently teetering nation of Libya, its leaders and brethren installed throughout that government, and the way in which such powers and positions are mirrored so much the same here at home.
Take pride, we may, in that our nation may better consist of authoritative seats cured of nepotism, yet shudder, we must, in that our local government reeks of the endemic rot induced by Family Rule.  More on this in Pamphlet #3, "Hoboken Shall Not Be Inherited."

Fourth, consider how rife the clan is that aprons the aristocratic leaders of the Entitlement Class with multiple generations of thugs and windbags abandoned by the relentless merits of progress, lost in the murk of uselessness, and searching for a place to apply their primitive, ruffian, anachronistic tutelage.  Have you witnessed how regularly your allies of reform and grass-roots inspired advocates speak in tones of enlightened debate in quest of truth and fact while the aristocratic leaders of the Entitlement Class and their subservient lackeys speak in convoluted bits of witty snipe, aggressive intimidation and outright vandalism in an attempt to insulate their unsubstantiated, vituperative diatribe?  This is by no method an implication of inferior mental capacity; rather, there is an intentional technique here employed with much intelligence and for good purpose.  It must then be asked, in what form of good governance is it necessary to surround oneself with delinquent, hoodlum, goonish malefactors trained in the arts of filthy-mouth and physical threat?  At least it can be said in pride and confidence that such ramparts are not needed in American democracy.  Mayn't we all readily concede the fact that the brute is a coarse, unsophisticated tool not of democracy but of Family Rule?

Fifth, consider how the individuals who supported, endorsed, and funded the campaigns of former corrupt officials are by and large the exact same lot who now converge to lay siege upon our budding springtime movement of reform.  Witness their exasperated balk whenever this subject is raised, how furious they become when reminded of the stinking beds of corruption from which they rise each morn and the greasy tables of graft from which they feed each eventide.  The hypocrisy is never more glaring than at these moments when THEY insist it some matter of primitive simplification to group THEM with THOSE who were once cheered by THEY as heroes but now exposed by WE AND LAW as CRIMINALS.  It is duly granted that one can not categorically be made guilty by association, but must it be asked in plain word at what point of recurring affinity does acquaintance turn to accomplice?  The majority Members of Council who antagonize our fledgling efforts at reform insist they be independent and fight for justice, yet they hail from a history of repeated, chronic association with the very deposed despots who were convicted in democratic courts of law to have misled, lied, conspired, stolen, taken bribes, shamed, embarrassed, betrayed, and NOT REPAID us all!  What is it other than Family Rule that, time and again, unites them and, exasperatingly, permits them to believe they have been forgiven of their debts?

Let us now use some common sense to acknowledge that it simply can not be just the one convicted who dealt in the misdeeds leading to imprisonment.  And let us use some more common sense to acknowledge that it simply can not likely be just the small sums of bribery and promise admitted or revealed in adjudication that comprise the totality of the crimes actually committed.  And let us use even more common sense to further acknowledge that not even innocent fools, if justice, democratic right and a DESIRE FOR REFORM were the motives, would attempt to assemble the same sullied team and the same disingenuous core supporters of those who were convicted for indicted acts of CORRUPTION.  And let us again use common sense to acknowledge that there must be some ulterior motive that forces these same individuals to align in an incongruous and illogical UNITY not just once but over again despite their shallow protests of self-representation and independence.  Why, should it not then be common sense that such incongruous and illogical unity is due to a force stronger than that of concord, strategy or logic?  Why, in plain truth, is it not also then, by common sense deduction, anything more obvious than bonds that supersede pact, friendship, logic, or temporary strategic alliance?

Yes, dear neighbor and advocate for reform, the will is so strong and the attraction is so great among THEY WHO CONSPIRE to overtake our emergent morn of good governance because this tie that binds they who peddle the "Old Hoboken" lie, the self-ordained political aristocracy of entitlement, and the foot soldiers betrothed thereto, none of whom find a faith in democracy relevant, is one of a more profound yet less puritanical rule.  This tie that binds them is one that defies common logic and overthrows the democratic laws of our land.  This tie that binds them is unarguably an extension of the same connexion that allows one to overlook flaw and defect in sibling and progeny, even beyond laws broken and ethics eschewed.  Yes, fellow Hobokenite, this tie that binds them is indisputably that of a deeper, covetous law than that followed by you and I.  Yes, this tie that binds them is unequivocally that of FAMILY RULE.
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March 1, 2011

Hoboken Shall Not Be Inherited (Pamphlet #3)

It is an incomparable disgrace to witness the so-called "Entitlement Class" of modern aristocrats who now control the City Council unabashedly admit to an expectation of keeping that control as it were their fathers' right to pass the house on to the child.  One of the many contemptuous notions of Hoboken's Entitlement Class is that they feel they are deserving of the keys to the city (and more importantly the city's coffers) because, they contend, to have suffered through the hard times, or because, more egregiously, their families have maintained such control for so many years.

Listen to them talk of their family names like Old World nobility as if the thieves who have sullied Hoboken's name for their own benefit only could possibly own of anything that were noble.  Defend their reputations they do, praising the brethren, CONVICTED FELONS WHO STOLE MILLIONS FROM OUR CITY, as if they had committed minor mistakes since then repented.  Is it repentance to never pay back what you owe the residents of our fine city?  Is it repentance to avoid fines and penalties costs with lies and shifting of real estate to other family members?  Is it repentance to disgrace our city with selfish motives and to continue to play politics vicariously through disingenuous progeny?  Ignore the graft and corruption they do, speaking of the brief, good moments ("But we plowed the snow, did we not?") while forgetting the painful, suffering, corrupt era that has spoiled so much of the potential of our fine city. 

Has it not occurred to you, dear neighbor, that they themselves, through years of mismanagement and SELF-SERVING GOVERNANCE, have caused so much hard times upon so many others?  Consider rent control stagnant for decades and still incomplete because the politics are too divisive, infrastructure crumbling due to neglect when attention was turned instead to lining pockets, overdevelopment with little to no benefit to the community at large so long as campaign contributions were secure (have we a community pool yet, but still the same name dares to ask for even more?), and does not this despicable list continue on with many other displeasing counts of irresponsibility heretofore unresolved?

To inherit implies the right and dues of permanent ownership within a family.  Yet in Hoboken, as it is understandably surprising to discover, we do indeed govern under the PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY, if T.Paine were to be so bold as to associate the tainted reigns of mayors past with that illustrious term.  There is no permanent right to ownership of our government, is there not?  And there most certainly is no nobility of which to claim such right, correct?  In fact, the only inheritance that is truly begot all of us is in the costs of decades of mismanagement resultant of the ERA OF CORRUPTION that still permeates the ranks of City Hall, and most notably, City Council.

The fundamental belief in "hereditary succession" among some Members of Council and their cherished Entitlement Class must be flawed because these selfish peddlers of the "Old Hoboken" lie have all but lost their control of the riches of our city and are now in a last desperate throw to regain their hold.  We, the tired but resilient keepers of governmental reform, have effected all but the last stamping out of the shameful past that some Members of Council have the audacity to praise when it criticized.  Needed is but one final blow to these thieves, their installed puppets, and their ex-reformer Madam financier, TRAITOR TO US ALL, to finally and completely turn the tides of our beautiful city towards a bright and promising future.  As the kingdoms of Europe were torn down and transformed into modern democracies, the cause being the oppression of the proletariat, we too must tear down the remaining strongholds of the modern aristocracy that disdainfully cares for only their own at the expense of we the many.  Where are you this eve, dear neighbor?

Now is the time to take notice of the corruption that has ruined our fortunes and stalled our progress.  Now is the time to end the budget manipulation that occurs when those who have entrenched themselves for too long in the seats of the City Council make no effort but that which promises to preserve themselves and the desperate dependents who feast upon the bounty of their control.  Now is the time to act on your disgust and remove the selfish aristocrats of the Entitlement Class.  Now is the time to voice your opinion in every commentary on every medium, share your contempt for the dishonesty and treachery, and rally your neighbors to join this final encounter with the dark past.  Now is the time to speak aloud the voice of reform and reason.  No, Hoboken shall not be inherited!  Take them down with your voice, remove them with your vote!
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