126 Comments

How is it possible that Trump can make so many decisions unilaterally, for example removing troops, withdrawing from WHO, etc, without approval from Congress?

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Yes. It is. One of many things that will have to be changed by the series of laws adopted to make the "norms" of our politics have the teeth of law, which will be known in history as "the Trump Laws."

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So along with Trump the Democrats with need a strong victory for the House and Senate to pass those laws.

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Without control of both houses of Congress, a Biden victory would be close to meaningless. With control of both houses, even a trump victory could be destroyed by a fresh impeachment and an impeachment of Pence & Barr for collusion. This election will probably be interpreted in future history books as a turning point of the great American experiment with democracy. One way or the other. Probably the most impactful since Lincoln was elected. Voting is utterly imperative. Even if I have to hold my nose to vote for Joe, hipster ennui or weltschmerz would prove to be disastrous for the very concept of democracy.

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I would really love to see Biden use the open letter sent to Trump, signed by Republican Members of Congress, as a campaign ad. No frills, not a lot of explanation needed. Just plaster it everywhere and show people Trump's traitorous nature. I do not understand how right wing, supposed patriots, countenance this man as president.

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The conversation between Obama and Biden that came out a few days ago, made me yell at my phone “YES!” several times! Obvious train of thought and reasoning. But I had a friend call me yesterday and say I don’t watch the news it’s all fake. That person said the covid numbers are fake, it’s all a hoax, I’m going on vacation and sit on the beach. I guess it’s a great place to bury your head!

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I think, now, he will do anything to inspire indignation in others. He's a spoiled brat who has been refused something. He's capable of announcing any senselessly destructive policy to enjoy the shocked headlines that he has the power to generate for all the people who "look down on him" and he despises. It's part of this "child's" revenge on the world and his perpetual pursuit of his fathers elusive approval.

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I believe that Stuart has hit the proverbial nail on the head here.

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I had a moment of “clarity” when reading today’s letter with regards to Putin. I believe that Putin has promised to make tRump a powerful “world leader”, with his help. tRump makes frequent calls to him to get instructions for his next move. tRump envisions a world where he and Putin rule together, side by side. What tRump doesn’t see is that, like the biblical parable of the snake, once he delivers everything that Putin needs to succeed, Putin will have no further need for him and will quickly cast him aside.

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Cathy, you may well be right. But I wonder whether it isn't the case that his narcissism--which is truly, literally, overwhelming, including to him--is such a disability such that he can't accomplish something as long-term as "envisioning" anything. Rather, his wily, reptilian brain simply does what it wants on the spur of the moment, something that feels good to him; and Putin, no slouch, whose goal at this time is disruption of orderly democratic process, is intuitively good at making him feel as though he's the king of the world and whatever he wants to do will inure to his benefit. Let's not forget that in his world of real estate development (which was on the fringes of that larger world, to say the least), one could just bully and push to the brink, not needing to play by the rules and always knowing that daddy thought he was great and bankruptcy processes were available if others didn't knuckle under.

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I got to hear interesting piece on mental illness through the lens of Kanye West illness yesterday and commentator pointed out that an untreated mental illness is characterized by impulsive reactions to perceived slights without the benefit of conscious behavioral intervention.

Another person today said that in light of Mary Trump’s book, we can also interpret “that-person’s” disdain for Fauci and Biden because they are like the brother — kinder, smarter, more liked — and he is thus blind to anything else about them.

Narcissism has a reflexive reaction to any and all slights — this is a result of the distorted sense of self.

So we need to remember that Trump is actually demonstrating his sickness and delusions MOST of the time.

And that is what is driving the rest of us mad because we can’t get the pattern. There is no pattern, this is it -- his context, nothing else is. All the handlers in the land can not contain this. And the enablers are tied in to thinking he will do their bidding. They end up discarded one by one, but not until they have destroyed what was on their agenda, because that is what this illness does -- enable destroying any common good.

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Speculating about trump’s motives or mental health are a waste of time, and completely irrelevant to the problem of getting him out of office. How to get more people to vote (even with the COVID dangers) is infinitely more important than whether he’s a psychopath or not. The simple fact is: There he is. And the question is: How do we make him go away? Does anything else even matter?

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I had the same thought. Putin becomes world leader, tRump is his stooge.

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Once Donald has delivered the U.S. to Putin Donald will disappear, literally and figuratively. He makes far to much noise and calls far too much attention to himself for Putin to put up with him or his family. I'd say a well engineered plane crash over an ocean is right up Putin's alley.

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“Cast him aside” could be a painful death coming from Putin!

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One rumor is that Putin dangles a huge Moscow based Trump Tower to be built when the time is right. It seems that is Trump's greatest desire...tall buildings with his name very prominent, throughout the world.

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Then Putin would hold him incommunicado and under house arrest in his very own trump tower. Perfect.

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All interesting scenarios, but if any of them come to pass we’ll be patting the back of whoever was right from behind rows of razor wire in one of the concentration camps erected for the enemies of the state. Which is us! Our comments on this forum will be used in evidence.

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Yeah, you're probably right.

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If there was any question remaining about Trump’s fidelity to Putin, it’s gone now. Where are the Republicans who could stop this country’s ruin?

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Stunned again by yet another series of events orchestrated by Trump to destroy this country and empower Russia. Rhetorical question but, HOW CAN ONE PRESIDENT have this kind of power to betray our country and its principles? Pulling our troops out of Germany, ignoring the pandemic crisis and rising death toll, revoking the anti-segregation housing rule, showing no leadership or care for the millions who have been economically impacted by covid-19, and the list goes on... heartbreaking and frightening. Our country's future looks bleak. And inexplicably, he supports Russia in all matters. So sad, how one corrupt man is allowed to get away with this.

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It's a combination of too much power in the presidency, too much power in the majority leader of the senate, and the total corruption of both of them and their colleagues. Trump has also spent much of his time in office removing ethical civil servants and replacing them with lackeys. If the designated lackeys turned out to have even one principle more important to them than loyalty to Donald, he replaced them.

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Hitler did not do it alone, neither is tRump. He has Barr and McConnell licking his boots.

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How, indeed, is one person allowed to have the power to do these things?!!?!?!

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Sigh...... All this tRump nonsense takes the air out of 150,000. I had a meltdown yesterday listening to a story of a 9 year old who died from Covid-19. How can the goon squad sit and let this happen? "We don't care" says it all, I guess. It's just a matter of time before those of us who do care will stand up and say "ENOUGH" I'm not sure we can wait until November to do that.

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I would like to see an ad for Biden that uses FACTS, pictures of real life for the struggling masses (most of us), and the words “We don’t care!” blazoned across the screen with each visual or fact statement. Silence would be the background music. Nothing altered; nothing embellished, stark reality: WE NEED TO SEE AND ABSORB IN ORDER TO TRANSFORM!

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Biden has to be very, very careful about the using the phrase "We don't care" in written form in any print or media advertising. Those words cannot appear in a form that could could be twisted to infer that Biden doesn't care. If one see's those words in print on a Biden ad one's mind will connect that sentiment to Biden not Trump.

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Yes, it would have to be Trump's voice, perhaps along with Melania's jacket.

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How right you are! Give trump half a chance to twist a truth into a lie he’ll jump on it like it was a bucket of chicken wings and a case of Diet Coke. Or a porn star he can buy off later.

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I had the same weeping reaction to that story which I saw on Nichole Wallace’s show yesterday.

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"They Refused to Wear Masks" should be the title of a book about the malignant soul of the Republican Party... AKA the Grand Old Plague. Fifty years ago, this group would have sprayed DDT on Bald Eagle nesting sites just to prove to themselves how mighty they were.

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And now Herman Cain has died of Coronavirus. He and his family were so happy and proud to be part of the Tulsa Trump rally.

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I forgot he was there! Too bad this won’t make people take it seriously.

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Good riddance to bad trash. The world’s a better place without him! Now if only the "plandemic" MAGA morons would follow suit, we could march laughing all the way to a real democratic republic.

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Heather's column today-- that the Republicans have lowered the bar below the Willie Horton ad in every media possible-- is frightening. I went to directly to read John Lewi's last opinion piece published in the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html.

Let not read Heather and John and weep. Lets do something. Citizen's Against Racism in Campaigns.

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I heard the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an old radio. He was talking about the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence. He said we are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. He said it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. He said each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself. John Lews

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It is past time for Democrats to start using the power of the purse to punish this administration and their policies. Not warning shots across the bow, but serious, attention commanding curtailments to Trump’s most precious programs and political appointees.

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The overload of awfulness is a deliberate tactic. I keep going back to the early morning of the day after the 2016 election. I sat on the cold floor of my bathroom, not wanting to wake my husband. I checked Nate Silver‘a blog on my phone for confirmation of what I’d suspected before I took to my bed the night before, and cried. And it’s actually as bad - if not worse- than I actually imagined. Truly, truly grateful for your voice in the wilderness.

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Me too! Several friends at work came to me through out the day after the election and we commiserated. A coworker asked how bad can it get? Well This! This is how bad. A Vet told me I had to accept it. I said I will never accept it! Another said you have to take the good with the bad. I told her to never say that again! ... My worst nightmare is coming full circle. Except I have to go back to the classroom. Never imagined I’d think that was a bad thing. March, vote, pray! 💙

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Do not lose hope; there are many who stand together against this affront to democracy. In the end justice and truth—love—will hold together the cracked state of our union.

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America's slide into a banana republic - fueled by a narcissist who has no idea how to govern but wants to run the government anyway, supported by a complicit Republican Party that won't wear masks but also won't condemn federal troops invading American cities - is gaining speed and momentum. And that is terrifying.

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I am heartsick, angry and frightened. We are in a state of utter chaos.

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Trump is blaring his fear. He knows he will be crushed on Nov. 3, barring something unprecedented happening. In fact, he's clearly more unhinged than usual today. Even his sycophants in Congress like Lindsey Graham know the law allows for no election delay and are rolling their eyes.

Today's outburst of nonsense is just as nuts as his embrace earlier this week of a deluded doctor's belief in coronavirus-spreading "orgiastic dream demons.” And the backdrop for this nonsense is, as Heather points out, the extraordinary human and economic toll of COVID-19 that Trump is ignoring.

It's safe to say that a president uttering such rantings and to blame for a runaway pandemic, which caused the economy to shrink 32.5% in the last quarter, is headed for the exit. The only questions are when and how.

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Don’t count on it. This country is full of uneducated morons who believe in all manner of crazy shit. Trump could still win this thing by making something up that preys on the fears and doubts of just enough people, and too close to the election to verify. Especially with a compliant senate. VOTE VOTE VOTE!!! Then do it again!

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We need to ignore the polls and show up in mass to vote. Each of us probably know at least one person who didn't vote in 2016 because polls showed that Clinton would easily win. I still remember watching CNN's John King in the run up to the election, doing his version of John Madden with the digital screens saying over and over "there's no path for Trump". He emboldened Trump supporters to go to the polls and gave Clinton supporters an excuse to not go to the polls if they were too busy. John King wasn't the only one, but I remember watching the results that evening listening to him. That can't happen again.

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You’re absolutely correct! I hate to say it, but I was one of those people who didn’t vote for Hillary because she never saw a war she wouldn’t sign up for, or a banker she wouldn’t grovel before. And I couldn’t believe trump could get elected after the whole pussy grabbing comment. But then I never watch "reality" tv either. Nor did I even dream that trump could be so awful. I’ve learned my lesson though. Even if my vote would’ve mattered in the San Francisco community I was living in.

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Actually, it’s his educated supporters who scare me.

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Meaning the ones working for him (lol)? I don’t normally draw distinctions between different types of stupid people and they ALL scare me!

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In your earlier post you mentioned uneducated morons.

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You’re correct. They are the majority of his supporters though. If you’ve ever seen “The Daily Show’s" canvassing of trump supporters at one of his rallies (scary funny), the educated people seem absent entirely. The truly scary ones are the Tucker Carlson types who twist reality with whataboutisms and fake sincerity that suck in the gullible and the fearful. Don’t all conservatives live in fear of change overtaking them? Or the boogie man in the closet? Or commies, queers, foreigners, and anything different than them? I’ve never been afflicted with conservatism so I’m only making an educated guess. I’m willing to listen to other theories though.

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💙

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The bad news just keeps on rolling this morning.

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In Oregon we have used mail-in voting for years. It is effective and efficient. Our county also sends us a test message when our ballots are mailed and another text message when our ballots are received. I wish every Governor would tell our president that they and their Secretaries of State are in charge of elections in their state.

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Upon research, I stand corrected. While states can set their own primary days, the federal general election is set by federal statute as the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. This date cannot be changed by a state nor by the President.

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Has to be an act of congress, and House will never do it. Stop acting like Chicken Little, people. It's another "shiny object" to divert us from finishing him off. There's going to be many more. 96 days!

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True, Congress has to vote to change the date, but the mere fact that 45 even mentioned the possibility is deeply disturbing.

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How many times in the past three years have we said, “That will never happen, he could/would never get away with that?” We need to stay watchful as we change the narrative and GOTV.

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My stomach dropped to the floor. I know this idea has been tossed around as a theoretical for the last few months, but could this actually really happen?!?!?

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I'm trying to understand how this would work. Maybe Heather will explain it to us!

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To change the election date legally, would require Congress to pass, and the President to sign, a law changing the date.

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I’m not old enough to remember anything before Obama but like there’s no waaaay any of this would fly in any other generation! Insane if you think about the fact that other countries are literally waging psychological warfare on Americans through the Internet. There is no way that any significant number of Americans would accept the current reality unless they didn’t believe in that reality at all. This is really the beginning of the scary Internet age. I wonder if the United States being the first country to develop the Internet + the uniqueness of our free speech culture (and other factors) is what makes it so vulnerable for exploitation from other countries.

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My father’s generation went to war against this! The similarities to Hitler coming into power legally and continuing down his insane path of destruction make this all sickening! Europeans can’t believe it’s literally happening again. Hitler supporters said well he’s saying crazy things but he’ll become more reasonable (presidential) after he’s elected. You have a good point about the internet! Probably!

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My Dad, too. When he saw the so-called Patriot Act under Bush 43, he said "they are ruining this country." Much as I miss my father (which is a lot), I'm glad he is not here to see what has happened to the country he and his friends fought for.

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At least he taught you the important lessons, and I for one, am glad that you took them to heart!

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My father did, too.

Can anyone recommend a good history of the rise of Hitler? My son & daughter in law aren't seeing the parallels. He's in law enforcement & has absorbed some of that mindset.

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"The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic" by Benjamin Carter Hett

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I found memoirs good for getting the common person’s ground level experiences. The theme of Holocaust survivors, resistors, and Germans was how the restrictions and losses of liberty—and for the Germans, the ideological indoctrination—were so incremental. By the time you got what was going on, it was too late.

Here are a few boys’ stories your son might relate to:

https://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-Symphony-Bernard-Hellreich-Ingram-ebook/dp/B00AHZRESO

https://www.amazon.com/Flakhelfer-Grenadier-Memoir-Soldier-1943-1945-ebook/dp/B00WQ4QU3Y

As I get more and more mad at Amazon monopoly, note that these links are only for ease of reference.

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"The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic" by Benjamin Carter Hett

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A thoughtful, important question to consider!

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Today I received an election postcard in the mail that exhibited barely hidden antisemitism. Jim Linderman is the Republican running for re-election as Emmet County, Michigan, Prosecutor. His opponent, also a Republican, is Jewish. In my area of rural Michigan, we have few Democratic candidates even showing up on the ballot.

The card features a picture of a baby, with the words "Vote Life. Vote Christian Values. Vote Family. Vote Linderman." On the flip side, it says, "Jim Linderman, a Candidate for Emmet County Prosecuting Attorney is truly a CHRISTIAN" (emphasis in the original).

I have pointed this out on a Facebook post because I think in this area of the country, which is monocultural with few minorities, my neighbors and friends don't recognize antisemitism when it stares them right in the face.

I just don't understand how we got here so quickly. I feel like I've blinked and my world has changed. I expected this kind of thing from Trump and Trumpism, but "normal" Republicans? This is why their winner-take-all mentality is so dangerous. Once they've won, which they will blithely cheat to do, they become despots, and the people they rule have no idea what they are living under.

I'm losing hope that we can change this....

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I have spent this week wrapped up in the back and forth decisions of my school district! We have to open our schools, or not get funding! Governor Abbott went against Attorney General Ken Paxton, and TEA Mike Morath to say each district could make their decisions on going virtual. And Monday Paxton and Morath said no schools have to open to get the economy going. Teachers and children are pawns in this struggle and I’m afraid of the impending outcome. Worried for my own health and safety! These politicians that won’t meet in person are requiring me to be around 715 children a week! So I really appreciate this, Heather, for wrapping my head around the bigger problems! I hear it all, but can’t take it in and translate it especially right now! Thank you! 💙

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My compassion for your situation is almost limitless. You deserve so much better from your government. After all, people like you are responsible for shaping the minds of future generations. Very few jobs are more important and you do it for a pittance. I wish you the best of luck and health!

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Thanks! I love it! But starting to look at other options.

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Please stay safe.

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That’s the goal! I’ve lost students before and it’s heart wrenching! The estimate is 14,000 children will die nation wide. I can’t wry head around it. Barron trump’s private school is closed.

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