Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of 4th Amendment (Sort Of)

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-usa-police-gps-idUSTRE80M1E120120124

 

 

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that police cannot put a GPS device on a suspect's car to track his movements without a warrant, a test case that upholds basic privacy rights in the face of new surveillance technology.

The high court ruling was a defeat for the Obama administration, which had argued that a warrant was not required to use global positioning system devices to monitor a vehicle on public streets.

The justices unanimously upheld a precedent-setting ruling by a U.S. appeals court that the police must first obtain a warrant to use a GPS device for an extended period of time to covertly follow a suspect.

The high court ruled that placement of a device on a vehicle and using it to monitor the vehicle's movements was covered by U.S. constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures of evidence.

There are no precise statistics on how often police in the United States use GPS tracking in criminal investigations. But the Obama administration told the court last year it was used sparingly by federal law enforcement officials.

The American Civil Liberties Union rights group hailed the ruling as an important victory for privacy. "While this case turned on the fact that the government physically placed a GPS device on the defendant's car, the implications are much broader," Steven Shapiro of the ACLU said.

"A majority of the court acknowledged that advancing technology, like cell phone tracking, gives the government unprecedented ability to collect, store, and analyze an enormous amount of information about our private lives," he said.

SUSPECTED DRUG TRAFFICKER

The case began in 2005 when police officers went to a public parking lot in Maryland and secretly installed a GPS device on a Jeep Grand Cherokee used by a Washington, D.C. nightclub owner, Antoine Jones.

Jones was suspected of drug trafficking and the police tracked his movements for a month. The resulting evidence played a key role in his conviction for conspiring to distribute cocaine.

The appeals court had thrown out Jones's conviction and his

life-in-prison sentence, and ruled prolonged electronic monitoring of the vehicle amounted to a search.

All nine justices agreed in upholding the appeals court decision, but at least four justices would have gone even further in finding fault not only with the attachment of the device, but also with the lengthy monitoring.

In summarizing the court's majority opinion from the bench, Justice Antonin Scalia said attachment of the device by the police was a trespass and an improper intrusion of the kind that would have been considered a search when the Constitution was adopted some 220 years ago.

The administration argued that even if it were a search, it was lawful and reasonable under the Constitution. Scalia said his opinion did not decide that issue and some more difficult problems that may emerge in a future case, such as a six-month monitoring of a suspected terrorist.

Joining Scalia's opinion were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor.

Sotomayor wrote separately to say the case raised difficult questions about individual privacy expectations in a digital age, but said the case could be decided on narrower grounds over the physical intrusion in attaching the device.

LONG-TERM MONITORING

Justice Samuel Alito wrote a separate opinion that Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan joined. He wrote that he would have decided the case by holding that Jones's reasonable privacy expectations were violated by long-term monitoring of his vehicle's movements.

Alito said in recent years many new devices have emerged that track a person's movements, including video surveillance in some cities, automatic toll collection systems on roads, devices on cars that disclose their location, cell phones and other wireless devices.

"The availability and use of these and other new devices will continue to shape the average person's expectations about the privacy of his or her daily movements," he wrote.

One law professor said those four justices were clearly concerned about the potential impact of new technologies and believed extended monitoring likely required a warrant so law enforcement should "be on the safe side and get a warrant."

"This is an indication that there are justices who are recognizing that privacy norms are shifting but the fact that people's lives take place increasingly online does not mean that society has decided that there's no such thing as privacy anymore," said Joel Reidenberg, a law professor at Fordham University in New York.

The Supreme Court case is United States v. Antoine Jones, No. 10-1259.

(Reporting By James Vicini; Editing by Will Dunham)

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Ron Paul Supporters Are Angry and Rude

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So, I was listening to our local christian fascist news station, specifically the Russ and Lisa show on the Fox News Radio.  There was a caller that called in and voiced his support for Ron Paul.  Both Lisa and Lonzo on the show were rather upset that Ron Paul supporters were angry and rude.  Lisa went on to state the she has a few problems with Ron Paul.  One being his view on the war on drugs.  She stated that just because we aren't winning, we shouldn't give up.  Second, she's upset because he is running as a republican and not a libertarian.  Third, that his supporters are always angry and lack civility.  Finally, that Ron Paul doesn't care if Iran has nukes and wipes Isreal off the face of the planet.  

I'd like to take a look at these three things.  First, being the war on drugs.  What she meant to say was our domestic war on our own citizens.  The war on drugs is not a war on drugs.  It's a war on people who use drugs, and we don't have a problem with as we see with alcohol and tobacco, but it's only certain drugs that are deemed worthy as being illicit.  Let's not forget that.  If she truly cared about the harm that drugs cause, I think that she should take a different approach then incarceration.  I fail to see how that elevates anyone out of the cycle of poverty and drug abuse.  I would venture that the majority of the time, prison ruins one's chances at pulling themselves out of that mess.  She went so far as to state illegal drug use is the problem.  Not drug use, just illegal drug use.  

Second, Ron Paul is running as a republican when he should be running as a libertarian.  I think that is very telling.  Ron Paul believes in liberty, and because of that, he should not run as a republican.  That means that liberty is not at the forefront of the republican party's agenda.  Aren't the republicans the ones who always tout that this is the nation of the free and that they believe in the constitution?  Oh wait, that's right, it's only when it applies to their view of morality.  If it doesn't fit with their morality, then the constitution doesn't mean anything.  

Third, Ron Paul supporters are angry.  You're damn right I'm angry.  We have two different sides of our political divide trying to tyrannize our country.  I have two political parties stealing my money and using it for shit that I am morally opposed to.  You're damn right I'm angry about that.  How about both parties just leave people alone and intervene when someone has harmed another human being?  I think you were right MD.  When listening to the radio and mainstream news, I get the sense that the rest of this country is full of troglodytes.  If you can stand it, listen to the hour that I linked to below.   

Finally, I don't know a whole lot about the Isreal situation, but I know that we're a bit hypocritical about telling others who can have nukes and who can't.  Maybe someone else can enlighten me about the Isreal situation? 

http://www.newsradioword.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=5647688

 

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Mark Levin Calls the White Teapot Black

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I try to avoid it but last night (January 18th) I happened upon his show and he proceeded to call Ron Paul a necon.

 

Let me repeat that:

 

A confirmed neocon referred to Ron Paul as a neocon amongst a litany and aggravated hypocritical hyperbole.  I can see why idiots like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity refer to Levin as the great one.  He's the king of the buffoon mountain.

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The Line-Up For My Final Undergraduate Semester

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  • The American Presidency
  • Civil Rights - US Constitution
  • Film in Politics
  • African-American Studies

 

What I expect from them respectively:

 

  • American Tyranny
  • Rights are Derived from Law
  • The Manchurian Candidate
  • You Can Only Be Racist if You Are White
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Republicans Boo the Golden Rule

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Edgar the Exploiter: From the Maker of George Ought To Help

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Edgar the Exploiter

by Tomazs Kaye

Brought to you in part by a contribution from this very website, your favorite website (look for the URL at 6:49).

It's simple yet precisely explicative.  Just enough information clearly presented without overburdening the viewer.  Tomasz has done an amazing job here, he's created a tremendous tool for educating people on the value of liberty.

 

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How Uncivilized!

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I can't help but notice the world wide outcry about this incident.  However, I can't help but feel that everyone is clearly missing the point.  We're so upset that these soldiers urinated on these dead men, but where is our outcry about the tens of thousands of civilians killed by our forces?  I've seen pictures of the dead civilians.  That is horrific.  Clearly this incident is shameful, but why are we not outraged at the war itself?  I'd say taking someone's life is a much more aggregious act then urinating on them.  Also, what do people think that we are doing over there?  Why are we surprised that we are dehumanizing our enemy?  In order to make it easier for people to take a person's life, the first step is to dehumanize them.  This is pretty mild stuff compared to what actually happens in war.  These men were dead when these acts were perpetrated upon them.  Many aren't so lucky to be dead and only be urinated on.  This is war and it's an ugly thing when we get a real glimpse of it.  

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Ron Paul voting record

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I'm back!


So with MLK day around the corner the new scandal of the hour is that Ron Paul voted no on making MLK day a holiday.


This is both true and false, and the reason for my post, because I'm short some information.


When H.R. 5461 came to the floor back in 79, a motion to suspend the rules and consider was made on it. Ron Paul voted "no" against it, and the bill lost. However, a rule was made so that the bill could be brought back to the floor. Enter House vote #624, which changed the date of MLK day from the 15th to the 3rd monday of January. Paul voted yes, and the measure passed, keeping H.R. 5461 alive just long enough to be tabled by the Senate.


Next session saw the introduction of H.R. 3706, which amendment the U.S. code to include MLK day as a holiday every 3rd monday of January. Like 5461, a motion to suspend was made, only this time it was to suspend and pass. Paul voted "no", but the legislation passed anyway.


Here's where I get confused. Pretending for a second that Ron Paul DIDN'T want MLK day as a holiday, why did he vote "yes"; on a measure to bring that legislation back onto the floor for another vote? If he wanted MLK day as a holiday, as you would gather from him claiming to vote "yes" on it, why wouldn't he vote "no"; on two different pieces of legislation creating the day?


There are only two possible conclusions I can draw from this. First, Ron Paul knew the legislation would be tabled, so he voted "yay" knowing it wouldn't make a difference. Jumping into the realm of conspiracy theory, he planned the "yay" vote as a way of claiming he supported MLK day if the legislation passed. That just sounds kooky, but I can think of a Paul hater or two who'd buy it.


The other possibility, but the one I'm unsure of, has to do with the cost and the suspension. The holiday would cost about $20 million or so. The suspension only gave 40 minutes of debate (20 for, and 20 against). I'm curious about Paul's record when it comes to voting on legislation with suspended rules. Does he normally vote "no"? Is it possible the suspension and cost is what made him vote "nay", yet still make an attempt to keep the other bill alive for that session?


If anyone else is better aquainted with Paul's record, I'd sure be thankful for some input.

 

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Ron Paul Takes Second in New Hampshire

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People are coming out of the polls saying that the deciding factor in their choice for the Republican candidate is "electability."  They say that Romney's "moderate" politics has the opportunity to draw on Democrats.  What this really means is that Romney is merely a pure statist with statist opinions held by both sides.  This relates well to an article I wrote awhile back:

The True Moderates: How the Only Measure of Extremism is in Force

There is no such thing as a "moderate" criminal, either you wish to do harm to your neighbor or you do not.  For a criminal to be moderate, he would need to be no criminal at all.

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I Just Finished Reading Frederic Bastiat's "The Law"

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First of all I must say that I am very surprised that this was written in 1850.  What a revolutionary.   I am reminded of something MD wrote, and I apologize if I misquote you here.

Freedom runs deepest in the veins of Americans.

I would posit that, after reading "The Law", freedom runs deepest in the veins of humans.  Through skilled trickery, the political class of societies have fooled the vast majority of people that the law is an instrument of justice when it is used for things other then the protection of life, liberty, and property.  Only in it's application to protect life, liberty, and property can it be an instrument of justice.  I think I already knew that before reading "The Law", but it has now been crystallized for me.  

I'm going to read "The Theory of Money and Credit" by Ludwig Von Mises next.  Any other suggested reading after that? 

 

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Post Pics Of Your Pets

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So, with all the serious talk, I think we need to break things up a bit.  Let's see some pics of your awesome pets!  

 

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What I am After

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I will clarify what I am after.

Capturing or punishing several religious leaders is not my goal. 

Killing several terrorists or jihadists  is not my solution.

Insulting several Christians or Jewish leaders is not my mission.  

As long as cults [cult and religion are the same thing] prosper, fundamentalists or terrorists (they call them martyrs) are bound to come into being.

Christian god, Jewish god, Muslim god, Marxists’ god are fundamentalists.  There is no reconciliation or coexistence in the dictionary of these gods. Gods are abettors and scriptures are the fundamentalists training manuals.

But in fact gods are innocent. The words of god in the scriptures are in facts the personal opinions of the religious founders themselves who were megalomaniac totalitarian dictators.   

The goal of each religion is to make all followers fundamentalist warriors against all humanity.  This kinds of philosophies cannot but produce crusaders or jihadists (they call themselves martyrs). These people make conflicts and wars or even invite the last days of humanity in the name of God or People.  

Non-fundamentalists are simply those who do not do as their God orders. But non-fundamentalists support fundamentalists when it comes to religious conflicts. In this respect, non-fundamentalists are not totally innocent. They are accomplices. They want or help fundamentalists do their duty. 

It is the head of the serpent that bites.  The rest of the body of the serpent does not bite.  But it is not that only the head is dangerous and the rest of the body is benign. The entire body of the serpent cooperates when the serpent bites man.  All religious terrors or jihads happen this way.

Fundamentalists are rare and far-between. This does not prove that most religionists are benignt. All Muslims, all Christians, all Jews, all Marxists are latent terrorists against the whole humanity.

My goal is to publicly prove that organized religions are based on “thoroughly ungrounded lies and highly dangerous delusion.”   This is what I am after.

Each religionist argues that his/her religion is true and benificial.  But I have accumulated sufficient and indisputable evidence in my four volume of books that religions are neither true nor beneficial.  The comofort religions alledgedly give is the sort ostrich earns by burying their heads in the sand.  The good works and charity religions exercise are more for more donation and supports from gullible people. Even bin Laden and Kim Jong-Il  did this kinds of good works and charities.  Many followers praise these human devils for that.  

The method of telling each religionist that his/her religion is groundless lies does not work at all. This is psychologically ineffective.  Few persons want to be proven wrong by a nameless person. If I tell a person that he/she is wrong, he/she would defend him/herself even harder inwardly, if not outwardly.   This is the limitation of man-to-man approach.

The only possible solution left is to bring, not drag, important religious leaders to court “courteously” and let them freely confess that their religions are lies, not by force but by presenting sufficient and indisputable evidence.  This kind of trial can earn world-wide attention. The whole world would watch the trial or read the trial-related papers /books to see what is wrong and who is right.   

Thanks to highly developed communication technologies, the historical religion trial will be watched and scrutinized by seven billion people.  This is to let the whole world be judge. 

I am only a nameless person. No body would listen to what I am saying.  But the judgment made through the world-wide public trial would not be ignored.  This kind of judgment would be accepted as authentic and authoritative by the majority.  This is the reason I am planning the Historical Religion Trial (HRT).

The HRT is the last measure I thought of after I fought religions for 25 years alone. As far as I know, there is no solution other than the HRT. If other better solution is found, I will be all for that.

Religion is what we humanity should overcome eventually. The sooner the better. It is rather too late.  As stone tools and bronze axes are no loner in use, religion should be gone. Religion is not the tool that solves our problem. 

Bronze age norms simply does not fit our modern civilization. They only suffocate and strangle our freedom and happiness. I would not object stone tools if individuals prefer these to modern method in private level.  But we should not allow those who attempt to enforce stone tools on all humanity. 

I do not agree with the ideology that man should not influence others. All studies and all human efforts are to better our lives. We all want betterment and progress of all.  Religionists, Marxists, socialists are no exceptions. The problem is whether their prescriptions are truly effective and beneficial.  

If a person wants not to influence others whatsoever, I would regard such a person as a corpse. Only corpse does not influence others.  I do not buy the principle of nonresistance or non-violence or non-intervention. Man should resist or intervene or be aggressive when necessary.  I am not against the commandment “Do not kill.” I am ready to kill others when needed.  

Most citizens are safe even if they do not kill others for their safety. This is not because god protects them but because law-enforcers and soldiers protect them. Law-enforcers and soldiers are meant to be killers when necessary.  These are only commonsense. Many people try hard to be nonsensical.   

Most people have treated me as an insane person and would not read my books/manuscript. They do not try to hear or understand what I am trying to say.  Man-to-man approach is this hard and futile.   Hoping that humanity would be cure of their nonsense on its own is hopeless dream. If left alone, bad viruses would prosper much faster than vaccine program. World-wide urgent vaccination is called for.

My home country and America is crumbling by “equality religion” before my eyes.  I have seen this for 25 years.  Yet no one would listen to my word seriously. This made my temper burst.

Right or wrong is not the matter of personal opinion.

Fact or non-fact is not the matter to be decided by majority rule.

Whether or not the Holocaust was a historical fact is not the matter of personal opinion.   

Whether Jehovah or Jesus or Allah or all of these are the creator of the universe is not the matter of personal belief.  

Whether capitalism is better than communism socialism is not the matter of personal decision.  

Please give any critique. I am not an inerrant guy.

 

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Bring Religions to Justice

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Bring Religions to Justice  

Organized religions are the worst crimes man has ever committed against man.  This is the conclusion I made after I studied the history of religions for 25 years.  

I define religion as any delusional thought system that believes in absolute dogmas, all-powerful or all-solving agent, and utopia. In this respect, not only traditional religions but Marxism/ socialism are religions.  (In this article, I will call organized religions simply "religions" for conveniences’ sake.)    

Religions have started the war against humanity; thus reason, freedom and prosperity are on the verge of collapse.  We freedom and reason lovers have only two alternatives; we fight back and win or we perish.

There will be no status quo or peaceful coexistence with religions because religions recognize neither of these. So in fact there is only one way for us to chose; that is, we fight back and win. The problem is how. Most people doubt whether humans ever can overcome religions.  I, for one, think we should try.  And I think it is not that impossible.  

Let us bring religions to justice. Let us take the bull by the horns. Does it sound insane?  (In these days of turmoil, everything is upside down. So what sounds insane may indeed be sane. So let me finish what I have to say. )

I think there is no other ways to save reason and freedom than we bring religions to justice. For this end I wrote four books –Salvation from Religion, vols. 1, 2, 3, and 4 (not published)--in which I accumulated sufficient and unequivocal evidence that religions are the worst lies and crimes.  

Many socialist atheists wrote books against religions. But I think my books are better than socialists’ books in the point that my books better deal with the history and nature of religions and the nature of good and evil.  Socialists are but religionists who need disillusionment.   

There are two reasons that we should make a lawsuit against religions:      

Reason #1: We cannot overcome religions with debates or discussions. Crimes are not the things we just sit and discuss or debate on. Crimes are what we should bring to court for judgment. No doubt religions are the worst crimes ever committed against man. If we do not bring religions to justice, what else shall we bring to justice?  

Reason #2: Religionists are also the victims of their own delusion. Religionists are wretched victims even though they boast that they the only enlightened and happiest people on earth. Religionists are the very ones who need enlightenment and salvation. If we do not save these people from delusion, we humanity will be doomed.   

We cannot save religionists by man-to-man style of approach. This method (man-to-man approach) would take forever and is ineffecive.  Instead, we bring several important head leaders of religions to court and let them formally confess that their religions are lies and crimes.  I think my forth book—Salvation from Religion vol. 4--is sufficient for this purpose. This book (manuscript) is 350 pages with total 124 chapters (pages and chapter number may change).

Once this book is published, I think this book would earn enough attention and money to make a lawsuit.  (I hope the other three books can be published subsequently.)  We (non-religious pro-free marketers) are very small in number.  But small number does not matter much.  Historical facts and truths do not depend on the number of supporters/ believers.  We will prevail and win in the court.

The concept of good, evil, crime, morality, justice, truth, etc. are subject to changed over time as human understanding progresses.  We cannot let bronze-age norms suffocate and destroy our reason and freedom any more. Enough is enough. Now, It is a life and death matter of human civilization.  

I suggest that we make the job of bringing religions to justice our new-year’s project. I hope M.D.R. would take the leading role of this project, if he does not object, with the help of other like-minded friends after you guys assess the content of my manuscript. I will introduce major chapters in this site.  Our project needs not cost fortune. Book publishing is not a big deal in these days. But we need lot of brainstorm.   

We need to gather good ideas, tactics, articles, and books.  The more good ideas, papers, and books the better.  The point is that we make world-shaking news—the “Historical Religion Trial [HRT]” in the Supreme Court of the U.S.A.  In this way, we will be able to earn word-wide attention, supports, and victory and we shall reap huge benefit.  Let us make this happen.  (All seemingly impossible achievements came from ideas. So let us try our ideas.) 

We may allow private act of worship or unorganized religions.  We can tolerate private delusions.  But the act of propagating lethal delusion to the masses should not be allowed. 

Organized religions are far more harmful and dangerousthan smoking or street gang.  Organized religions should not be better treated than public smoking or street gang.  Government workers and public workers (including teachers and professors) should not subscribe to any organized religion.  If violated, offenders should be fired.   

What is more important than we make anti-religion law is that we teach our children the history and nature of religions in school. We should teach our children what religions are, not by cramming but by helping them think critically and rationally.  

Education of the history and nature of religion is more important and urgent than math and English.  We do not want our children to grow only to be good English speaking precision bombs (freedom destroyers). See there are bunch of walking bombs (freedom-destroyers) in Washington. 

 We do not need to make a new religion. We are not the servants of invisible dictator. We are not mere dust. We all deserve freedom and the maximum possible happiness depending on our efforts and ability. We will take care of the less-able with rational law and social system.     

But let us not pursue equal happiness of all.  Equality is not the principle of existence of things. Diversity is the principle of existence of things. Diversity is the principle of freedom, prosperity, beauty, viability, and evolution of life.  If we pursue equal happiness of all, we will invariably kill freedom, prosperity, and diversity, and we would make the less-able even unhappier. This is what history has proved. 

------------

 My intermediate goal is to defeat William Lane Craig, one of the most cunning Christian apologetics. For this goal I wrote “Does William Craig’s God Exist?”  This is somewhat long (word count: 4,800). I will post this article. This is an open challenge not only to Craig but also to all religionists. Please give me any critique/help to improve the content before I (we ) formally present this treatise to Craig and other religious leaders.  

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2012 = 1984

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http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/why-2012-is-starting-to-look-like-1984/

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China's Black Market

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http://reason.com/archives/2011/11/15/chinas-black-market-city/singlepage

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