- Share links: endit and enddrugwar. This article was written by Timeshifter. See also: Canadian single-payer healthcare, and Portuguese drug decriminalization. And: Canadian single-payer universal healthcare versus US healthcare. See: Anti-cannabis conservative agenda. Keep 'em jailed, sick, stupid, oppressed, broke, and not woke.
There were around 112,100 US drug overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending August 31, 2023, at a rate of 307 deaths per day. 335 deaths per million US population. Only around 10 to 72 total deaths per year in Portugal, a country with universal healthcare, and where all drugs have been decriminalized since 2001.
Source for the multi-country chart below: Are any conservatives in the US for a single payer and a universal health care system, or can they not coexist? Chart is from comment around March 11, 2017 by Dan Munro, "author of Casino Healthcare and Forbes contributor". See Wikipedia: List of countries with universal health care.
No deductibles on basic Canadian health care and co-pays are extremely low or non-existent.
- Health care in the US is an expensive mess. How does Canada do it? April 6, 2017. By Joan Wickersham. Boston Globe. From the article:
"He admitted that the year had been atypically intense for them; they’d seen doctors a lot. Each time, they showed their health care cards, and that was it. He felt the care had been excellent. I asked how much it had cost them. He said that outside of Richard’s crutches and some $10 charges for prescription drugs, it hadn’t cost them anything."
Single-Payer in California Would Cost A Third of Current Health Care Costs Per Family. May 22, 2017.
Chart below is from: Commons:File:OECD health expenditure per capita by country.svg
Videos
- Video. ATTN. America vs. Norway: Drug Addiction. [3]. June 1, 2018.
- Video. ATTN. Switzerland gave free heroin to addicts and it literally solved their heroin epidemic. [4]. Dec. 30, 2017. See also: Wikipedia: Heroin-assisted treatment.
Global drug decriminalization news
- Danish Politician Calls for the Decriminalization of Cannabis, ‘Hard Drugs’. May 16, 2018 article.
- British Medical Journal Advocates For Decriminalizing All Drugs. May 14, 2018 article.
- UK. Medical leaders call for legalisation of heroin, cocaine and cannabis so addicts can seek help without the threat of jail. By Shaun Wooller. 27 April 2018. The Sun. Royal College of Physicians, which represents 26,000 medics in the UK. "Drug use and possession would be legalised under the proposals but dealing would remain a crime."
- Canada's Liberal party considers decriminalization of all illicit drugs. April 16, 2018. By Ashifa Kassam. The Guardian.
- City of Vancouver calls for decriminalization of drug possession. March 9, 2018. CBC News.
- Philadelphia will open one of America’s first supervised drug-injection sites. March 8, 2018. The Economist.
- Canada. Liberal MPs urge dropping criminal penalties for all illicit drug use. Jan. 16, 2018. CTV News.
- Norway to decriminalize all drugs, likely following Portugal's model. By Mike Adams. December 19, 2017. High Times.
- Norway becomes first Scandinavian country to decriminalise drugs in historic vote. By Rebecca Flood. 15 December 2017. The Independent.
- Former premiers and Australian police chiefs call for drug decriminalisation. By Elle Hunt. March 19, 2017. The Guardian.
- Should Toronto push to decriminalize all drugs? The city’s medical health officer ready to consider it. By Betsy Powell. Aug. 4, 2017. Toronto Star.
- Vancouver's top doctor to Trudeau: Decriminalize all illicit drugs, now. [5]. Using Portugal's model. [6]. March 3, 2017.
- World Health Organization calls for Portuguese-style drug decriminalization. July 17, 2014 article. [7][8][9][10].
Portugal and drug decriminalization
Portugal has universal healthcare. Like Canada. Like nearly all of the EU (European Union). See: Portugal. Cannabis-related links. See: Wikipedia: Health in Portugal and Wikipedia: Drug policy of Portugal. And: Wikipedia: Comparison of the health care systems in Canada and the USA. And: Wikipedia: List of countries by total health expenditure per capita.
Single-payer health care
USA. Universal healthcare would save
Tens of thousands of lives yearly
The dam is breaking on Democrats’ embrace of single-payer.
Bernie Sanders Is the Most Popular Politician in America, Poll Says. See Bernie on Colbert's Show [11].
- Will losing health insurance mean more US deaths? Experts say yes. By Mona Chalabi. 24 June 2017. The Guardian. From the article:
"Various studies have looked at whether uninsured people have a higher risk of death. The most cited was published by the American Journal of Public Health in 2009 and found that nearly 45,000 Americans die each year as a direct result of being uninsured." |
- Senate GOP Healthcare Bill Estimated to Kill 28,600 More in U.S. Each Year & Drop 22 milion from Insurance. June 27, 2017. Democracy Now!.
20 million more uninsured = 20,000+ more deaths yearly. [12]. And: Bernie Sanders' projection of 'thousands' of deaths from lost health coverage is well-supported. June 27, 2017. Politifact. See article sidebar for many sources. [13][14][15][16][17]. And: Paul Ryan: “22 Million Americans Choose To Be Poor, So It’s Their Own Problem If They Can’t Afford To Be Healthy”. [18]. June 28, 2017.
Higher life expectancy at half the cost.
See Commons source. See original chart source: Link between health spending and life expectancy: US is an outlier. August 03, 2016 by Max Roser (since updated). Chart is under a CC BY-SA license. Article that uses a version of the chart: Are any conservatives in the US for a single payer and a universal health care system, or can they not coexist? See comment around March 11, 2017 by Dan Munro, "author of Casino Healthcare and Forbes contributor".
US healthcare spending vs world
The $0 Alternative To Trumpcare. See chart below. USA versus top ten healthiest nations.
Wikipedia country lists: Life expectancy. And: Total health expenditure per capita. |
Single-Payer Healthcare. Canada passes US in middle-class wealth. Median after-tax middle-class income in Canada is higher. [20]. Why? Canadians pay so much less for more comprehensive healthcare. |
Drugs kill far fewer people in Portugal
How Big Tobacco-style marketing propels U.S. opioid crisis — and powers $400 billion pharma industry. June 24, 2017.
"Their efforts helped make opioids more American than apple pie: The U.S. — with 4% of the world's population — ingests 80% of its opioids, according to one of the lawsuits." |
- Portugal decriminalised drugs 14 years ago – and now hardly anyone dies from overdosing. June 2015 article by Chris Ingraham. Chart below is from the article:
"The country has 3 overdose deaths per million citizens, compared to the EU average of 17.3."
In 2014 the USA had 147 overdose deaths per million residents of all ages. [21] [22] [23] [24]
US charts:
- Overdose Death Rates. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Charts.
- These Are the Drugs That Cause the Most Overdose Deaths. Chart.
- Our nation’s drug overdose problem, in five bleak charts.
- Canada. Human rights board orders insurer to pay medical marijuana costs in precedent-setting case. [25]. Feb. 2, 2017.
- Canada grows closer to legalizing pot. [26]. Jan. 10, 2017.
- Canada has universal health care, and a higher minimum wage than the US. Jan. 9, 2017.
- Canada legalization takes big step with federal report now complete. Nov. 30, 2016.
- Millions of Americans find drug savings in Canada. Nov. 17, 2016.
- US Senate bill: Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act. Much cheaper under Single Payer. Oct. 5, 2016.
- Bernie Sanders video on importing drugs from Canada. Sept. 21, 2016.
- Patients can grow their own medical pot in Canada under new rules. [27][28]. Aug. 11, 2016.
- More current and former Canadian cops are using medical marijuana. Veterans too. July 13, 2016.
- Canadian judge fines man $1.30 for growing 30 marijuana plants, calls laws obsolete and ridiculous. [29]. Nov. 30, 2015.
- Homicide rates of USA (top line), Australia, Canada, Spain (ESP), Great Britain, and the Netherlands. From: OECD "How Was Life?", page 147. Article: Murder in Western nations. USA on top. Nov. 12, 2014.
People love Canadian healthcare
- American conservatives love to bash Canadian health care — but U.S. corporations love it. May 28, 2017. Salon. From the article:
"At the same time he was quick to praise Canada’s system, which he says he and his family rely on, as do most corporate executives in Canada. He reported that wait times are generally not a problem, and says care is good." |
Some patients need free cannabis
- Alison Myrden – Together we will make a difference! Longtime Canadian activist Alison Myrden has bilateral trigeminal neuralgia (aka tic douloureux). It can be one of the most excruciatingly painful conditions known.
- Weed Mom. Global Marijuana March shared AJ+'s video. Jan. 21, 2017. "She grows marijuana to treat her son's seizures. But her country sees her as a criminal."
Cannabis is safer
Return to top. Full site / Mobile. To Top or End. Note: This section and the following ones are at: Beyond drug war, debt, and wealth concentration. To single-payer healthcare and progressive taxation.
See articles: Cannabis is safer. And:
History of US Republican-led war on cannabis, and their lies about its health effects.
See 2024 GMM-420 on Fandom and on Shoutwiki. See 2024 talk page (no need to log in) to leave event links, and especially compilations.
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Portugal's decrim
Return to top. See: Portugal. Cannabis-related links and decriminalization. See the utter failure of the US Republican-led drug war and mass incarceration: It is killing Americans at the rate of one Vietnam War every 6 months.
There were around 112,100 US drug overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending August 31, 2023, at a rate of 307 deaths per day. 335 deaths per million US population. Only around 10 to 72 total deaths per year in Portugal, a country with universal healthcare, and where all drugs have been decriminalized since 2001. See timeline table of yearly overdose deaths by European country.
Chart from: December 15, 2020 article: Scotland's drug death crisis in six charts. BBC News. |
Harm reduction
Return to top. End the expensive, incarceration-heavy US drug war with Portuguese and Canadian single-payer universal healthcare, and Portuguese decriminalization.
Government debt
Return to top. Share link: Debt ceiling. See: Wikipedia: US debt ceiling.
Save $1.5 trillion:
Per year in the US:
Single-payer
Return to top. Republicans oppose single-payer universal healthcare. US would save 1.5 trillion dollars per year if it instituted Canadian universal healthcare. That is 5.4% of US GDP.
Canada spent 11.2 percent of its GDP for total healthcare costs in 2022. US spent 16.6 percent in 2022. Former US Lawmaker Finally Enjoys Social Policies He Fought for—In Europe.
Medical bankruptcies
Return to top. See: Health Care Costs Number One Cause of Bankruptcy for American Families. And: Americans have high personal medical debt, unlike Canadians. [30][31][32]. High student debt is another problem Americans have due to Republican politicians. Unlike Canadians. Changing the age of adulthood to 17 would free up a year of education money.
US is Broke, not Woke. Healthcare spending and debt ceiling.
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Richer Canadians
Return to top. Many sleepy Americans can't do the math concerning healthcare costs and medical debt. Also, incarceration and family debt due to the GOP-led war on drugs. Also US student debt, and US household debt due to GOP's low minimum wages, etc...
Canadians are richer on average than Americans, and they have more energy because Canadians don't have to take 3 jobs, go bankrupt, or sell their homes, due to medical and student debt. See Wikipedia: List of countries by total health expenditure per capita. See: Student debt balance is forgiven after 15 years payment in Canada.
USA. Two Leading Economists Say Medicare for All Would Give 'Biggest Take-Home Pay Raise in a Generation'. |
Medicare spends 1.4% on bureaucracy. Insurance companies spend 16-20%. See chart. We need Medicare for All. |
Healthier Canadians
Return to top. See: End drug war with universal healthcare and decriminalization. Cannabis is legal across Canada. See Wikipedia: Cannabis in Canada.
|
US Republicans Voted Often to Kill Coverage of Pre-Existing Conditions. [33][34][35].
Health spending
Return to top. Republicans are responsible for the large US government deficit. Because they support the wasteful US healthcare system over the much cheaper single-payer universal healthcare in Canada and elsewhere. See: Canadian single-payer universal healthcare versus US healthcare.
Wikipedia: Health spending by country. Percent of GDP. See Gross domestic product. 11.2% for Canada in 2022. 16.6% for the US in 2022. |
See Wikimedia chart source. |
Wikipedia: Health spending per capita. OECD countries. US dollars, using economy-wide PPPs. Public, private, and total expenditures. $6,319 for Canada in 2022. $12,555 for the US in 2022. |
See Wikimedia chart source. |
Poor and sick:
Return to top. Canadians are healthier on average, and their preventive healthcare is much cheaper! Versus US Emergency Room care. See Wikipedia: Health spending as a percent of GDP by country (gross domestic product). And: Wikipedia: List of countries with universal health care.
"The Easy-to-Digest Republican Party Platform" from Michael Moore has this image: "Keep 'em poor and sick". |
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Republican states;
Prohibition plus;
Return to top. See Wikipedia: Republican states.
See article: US Republican states. It's not just cannabis prohibition. Many maps. It's also their low minimum wages, high Covid death rates, poor healthcare, high household debt, high gun death rates, high homicide rates, high incarceration rates, etc.. See: Drug war and other excessive uses of force. They are autocratic gerrymandered states that have long avoided federal oversight due to the Republican filibuster. See Wikipedia: Filibuster in the United States Senate.
The US Republican Party wants to concentrate wealth at the top. So they want most people to be Broke, not Woke: Trickle-down economics. See: Beyond drug war and conservatism.
The federal minimum wage would be $13.46 in 2022 dollars if its real value had remained at the 1968 level. Even more in 2023 dollars. See graph below.
Note the low minimum wages in the Republican south: |
See Wikimedia SVG map. See PNG map [36] (for Facebook, etc.). |
History of the US federal minimum wage. $13.46 inflation-adjusted peak in 1968. $7.25 an hour now due to Republican filibusters in the US Senate. See Wikimedia GIF chart. |
- See Wikipedia: Republican states.
- Wikipedia: List of US states by minimum wage.
- Wikipedia: List of European countries by minimum wage.
Voter suppression;
Return to top. Vote out the many Republicans supporting backward cannabis laws. It is purposely made more difficult by the lack of no-excuse postal voting. Just one example of Republican voter suppression in GOP states. Such as many states in the south.
See Wikipedia: Postal voting in the United States.
Lies of GOP radio
Return to top. Google image search: Top right wing radio hosts.
How Fox News and the Right-Wing Media Machine Made My Dad Crazy. Republicans dominate talk radio. Especially in the Republican south with its backward cannabis laws.
See Wikipedia: Conservative talk radio. A percentage of people in many states do not have access to broadband internet, and desktop or laptop computers. Cell phones are a poor substitute for many people. So they are left with Republican misinformation radio.
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Senate filibuster
Return to top. A minority of Senators should not be able to block cannabis laws supported by the majority of Americans.
The War on Cannabis. It accelerated in the US, and that's where it will end. US Congress could legalize, reschedule, or remove cannabis from the federal schedule if the Republican filibuster were gone. Vote in US Senators who will abolish it. [37][38][39][40]. Senators Manchin or Sinema could abolish it now.
Electoral college
Return to top. Presidents should not be elected who do not receive the highest number of votes.
Abolish the electoral college. Imagine the US without the 12 years of the Bush and Trump presidencies and their backward cannabis policies.
Ranked voting
Presidential veto
Return to top. Presidents should not be able to block cannabis laws supported by the majority of Americans.
See Wikipedia: Veto power in the United States.
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End war powers
Return to top. Nixon, Reagan, and Bush are responsible for the US War on Drugs, and the lie that massive incarceration is a solution. See more lies in
Reagan's frequent demonization of cannabis.
Presidents have too much power. Wars later determined to be started based on lies of Presidents, or done in secret:
Vietnam War: President Johnson and the lie of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Cambodia: Nixon and Kissinger's secret B-52 carpet bombing campaign that helped create the unrest that led to Pol Pot's genocidal regime. And Kent State shootings in US.
Iraq War: President Bush and the lie of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Trump and Biden
Return to top. Institute a mandatory retirement age for US Congress members and the President. [41]. Mandatory retirement exists for many US judges. Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are too old to be President. And Trump is just too dumb: Video: Robert De Niro on Trump Being “So F**king Stupid”. See Robert Reich: Seriously, again, how dumb is Trump? And: Trump’s Brain Is Not Okay. An expert’s view of Trump’s mental slide into dementia.
Generic Democrats
Return to top. Biden and Trump both underperform generic opponents, poll finds. A Plea to Biden: If You Truly Want to Prevent Trump Authoritarianism, Please Withdraw. Trump was not good for cannabis reform the last time around. We need more cannabis reform. That does not come from the Republican Party. Generic ballot : 2024 Polls | FiveThirtyEight. Biden needs to drop out. March 09, 2024 Newsweek report on poll: Joe Biden Voters Tell Him to Drop Out.
Gaza. Canada vs US
Return to top. Compare genocidal American politicians to Canada's politicians stopping military aid to genocidal Israel. Read EXCERPT: Bernie Sanders: "This bill also provides another $3.3 billion in U.S. military aid for Netanyahu’s right-wing government to continue this barbaric war. The Netanyahu government should not receive another penny from U.S. taxpayers."
Gallup Poll chart below showing US change from majority approval (Nov. 2023) to majority disapproval (March 2024) of Israeli military action in Gaza. Source: Majority in U.S. Now Disapprove of Israeli Action in Gaza. March 27, 2024 by Jeffrey M Jones. Gallup Poll.
Tax cuts for rich
April 15, 2024. Biden: "If Congress enacted President Biden’s tax plan, tens of millions of workers and families would have their taxes cut, nobody making less than $400,000 would pay a penny more in taxes, and the wealthy and big corporations would finally pay their fair share—which would fully pay for the President’s tax cuts and investment agenda."
Democrats who attack the rich do better in elections. The party should take notice. Republican dynasties created by regressive taxation: See: The poster child for the perils of dynastic wealth. By Robert Reich.
Trump's 2017 tax cuts for the rich. |
On average, taxpayers in the income groups highlighted in yellow will incur a net cost (shown as a positive figure as this reduces the budget deficit), due in part to reduced healthcare subsidies. Higher income taxpayers receive a benefit via tax cuts (shown as a negative number as this increases the budget deficit). The percent of taxpayers in each income group is also shown for the 2023 period. "Taxpayer" in the chart refers to a tax return, meaning it could represent one person or a married couple filing jointly, among other options. [42][43]. Commons source. |
Wealth inequality
Return to top. See: Wikipedia: Progressive tax. Mar 19, 2024: Sanders, UAW president press harder for shorter workweek. "Today, American workers are more than 400 percent more productive than they were in the 1940s. And yet, despite this fact, millions of our people are working longer hours for lower wages," they wrote. "In fact, 28.5 million Americans now work over 60 hours a week and more than half of full-time employees work more than 40 hours a week." After adjusting for inflation, American workers make almost $50 less a week than they did 50 years ago, they said.
Jan 24, 2024 article: $8.5 Trillion in Untaxed Assets: Data Shows Why 'We Need a Billionaire Income Tax'. EXCERPTS: analysis found that the wealth of America's billionaires and centimillionaires has exploded in recent years as Republicans have enacted massive tax cuts for the rich ... "The cumulative $8.5 trillion of unrealized capital gains held by America's billionaires and centi-millionaires in 2022 has jumped by more than half–or $3.2 trillion–just since the last Fed survey year of 2019," END.
USA. The sorry state of the nation.
US federal income tax rate on billionaires averages only 8.2%. Click image to enlarge. |
"Most taxpayers, including firefighters and teachers, average a federal income tax rate of approximately 13.3%." |
Minimum wage
Return to top. Beyond drug war, debt, and wealth concentration. To single-payer healthcare and progressive taxation. Simultaneous with the Republican-led drug war the GOP used the Senate filibuster to undemocratically severely restrict increases in the minimum wage at the federal level, and in GOP states.
US minimum wage would be $23 an hour in 2021 if it had kept up with productivity. |
Source article. [44]. |
- A $15 minimum wage would cost jobs, right? Probably not, economists say.
- There’s More Evidence That Raising the Minimum Wage Won’t Cost Jobs.
- The U.S. has one of the stingiest minimum wage policies of any wealthy nation. Washington Post.
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Global warming
Return to top. World Population Clock: 8 Billion People (LIVE). We need more trees and less people. More oxygen, less carbon dioxide. To slow down global warming. "Assuming no net migration and unchanged mortality, a total fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman ensures a broadly stable population." - Fertility rates. OECD Data. See country graphs. Also, inflation comes from an increasing population sharing one planet's resources.
Many US Republican leaders oppose birth control and abortion rights (even early abortion). Another reason besides their backward cannabis laws to vote them out. Birth control and abortion (especially early abortion) is legal (even free) in many countries. That needs to expand further.
We need the lowest curve below, by lowering the birth rate.
Immigration
Return to top. The US and Europe can't import all the overpopulation of the world. Europe, especially, is already too densely populated. US Democrats and progressives in Europe need to limit immigration, or they will lose power, and cannabis policies will stagnate under right wing rule. Taxes on the rich will be cut yet more, which by definition means middle class taxes will go up, or stay up, to pay for it. Wikipedia: List of countries and dependencies by population density.
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Roswell. Warming
Share link: Roswell UFO. Much UFO technology has been back engineered, and its carbon-free energy could end global warming. See Stephen Greer playlist. [45][46][47][48][49] [50][51][52][53] [54][55]. Wildest: [56][57]. See also the David Grusch disclosures at July 26, 2023 House hearing about US possession of aliens, alien bodies, alien craft, and back engineering: [58][59][60][61] [62][63][64][65][66] [67][68][69][70]. See History channel: [71][72][73][74]. National Geographic: [75][76].
See the July 8, 1947 Roswell Daily Record below. Image info. Click image to enlarge. Full-size is readable. See full text of saucer article. [77]. U.S. Army officer Walter Haut issued the initial "flying disc" press release. His 2002 notarized affidavit said there were 2 crash sites, and that he had seen a craft, alien bodies, and handled wreckage material. (see page 14 of pdf). It was released in a 2007 book after his death in 2005.
Affidavit is on pages 239-242 of the 2022 edition: Witness to Roswell, 75th Anniversary Edition: Unmasking the Government's Biggest Cover-up (more eyewitnesses). 36 pages previewed in Google Books. Click "preview" button and scroll down to pages 239-240. Search within the book. There is an inexpensive Kindle ebook. Moonwalker Dr. Edgar Mitchell wrote the foreword. The 20 paragraph affidavit is online here: [78] (page 14). [79][80].
Haut's daughter, Julie Shuster, in 2002, 3 years before his death, "verbally discussed each and every sentence" of the affidavit with him. She said it was not a deathbed confession. See Sept 2007 MUFON UFO Journal. Issue 473. Page 15. And this article from Special Broadcasting Service. Archived. See Julie Shuster on IMDb.
Google search: Walter Haut 2002 Roswell affidavit. Articles about Haut:
30 June 2007: Roswell officer's amazing deathbed admission raises possibility that aliens DID visit. By Nick Pope. Same article also published here and here. Archived here and here.
5 June 2022: Roswell officer's deathbed confession about theory of alien cover up. By Declan Carey. Archived here.
14 May 2021: Ex-Army officer ADMITS he saw ‘alien the size of a 10-year-old child’ after famous Roswell UFO crash in incredible video. By Emma Parry. Archived here. This article has a short excerpt of the video.
May 2021: Roswell Officer Speaks From the Grave: Video Released, Confesses that Alien was "the size of a 10 year old". By Anthony Bragalia. Archived here. From article (emphasis added): "This video clip is part of a memoir video / oral history over two hours in length that covers many personal and professional aspects of Haut's life. The video was taken at the Roswell Museum in 2000 with friends Dennis Balthaser and Wendy Connors."
Galactic Pot March
Return to top. See 2024 GMM-420 on Fandom and on Shoutwiki. Note: See the sections at the bottom of many pages: Beyond drug war, debt, and wealth concentration. To single-payer healthcare and progressive taxation.
2024 talk page (no need to log in) for event links, and especially compilations.
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Full site / Mobile. Weed War. 2023. 2024. Years. Home. Republican states. Canada. Portugal. End.
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