Category: Justice

Police May Not Finish Covenant School Shooting Investigation by January 1 Goal as MNPD Spokesman Says ‘No Hard Date’

Tom Pappert
John Drake

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) may not meet its “goal” of completing the Covenant School shooting investigation by January 1, 2025, according to spokesman Don Aaron, who told The Tennessee Star on Tuesday he was unable to offer a firm date or time for the lead detective to finish documenting the case.

Aaron previously told The Star in November that “some work” was necessary to complete the documentation phase of the investigation early last month, then on November 12 confirmed it was “the goal” of the department to finish the investigation before the end of this year.

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Fani Willis Dealt Twin Losses as Judge Defaults D.A. in Judicial Watch Case, Jury Lets YSL Defendants Walk

Tom Pappert
Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was dealt two losses on Tuesday after a Georgia judge found her in default in the freedom of information case case brought against her by Judicial Watch and her Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) case against Young Slime Life (YSL) ended with acquittals for the final two defendants.

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton first announced the organization’s victory in a post to the social media platform X, confirming a favorable judgment in their effort to obtain any evidence of communications or collusion between Willis’ office and Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought a federal case against President-elect Donald Trump that legal pundits said bore striking similarities to her own case against Trump.

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Bar Complaint Filed Against Liz Cheney for Communicating with J6 Witness Represented by an Attorney

Rachel Alexander
Former Rep. Liz Cheney

Representing Donald Trump’s former head ethics deputy counsel Stefan Passantino, America First Legal (AFL) filed a bar complaint recently against former Rep. Liz Cheney for secretly communicating with a key J6 witness. Passantino represented Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who Cheney held secret discussions with over the encrypted messaging app Signal, despite the fact she was represented by Passantino in J6 matters. 

House Administration Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk released a report on October 15 that prompted the complaint. He said, “[A]ccording to text messages between Hutchinson and Farah Griffin obtained by the Subcommittee, Cheney agreed to communicate with Hutchinson through Farah Griffin. However, it appears that Cheney knew communicating with Hutchinson while Hutchinson was represented by an attorney and a subject of the Select Committee’s investigation without going through Hutchinson’s attorney would be unethical. This is evident by Farah Griffin’s test of Hutchinson that Cheney’s ‘one concern was so long ad [sic] you have counsel, she can’t really ethically talk to you without him.’” 

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Judge Upholds Decision to Invalidate Elon Musk’s Tesla $56B Compensation Package, Tesla Responds

Daily Caller News Foundation
Elon Musk

A Delaware judge upheld an earlier decision Monday requiring Tesla to cancel Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar compensation package.

Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick dismissed a motion from Musk and Tesla’s board members to overturn her previous mandate that rescinded Musk’s lucrative deal. McCormick also denied a request for legal fees from the plaintiff’s attorneys as they sought Tesla stock valued at over $5 billion but will receive $345 million instead.

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Minnesota Republican Lawsuit Seeks New Election in House Seat That Could Decide Majority

Alpha News

Minnesota House of Representatives candidate Aaron Paul, a Republican, filed an election contest lawsuit on Friday that seeks to bring a new election in House District 54A.

The election in District 54A proved to be one of the closest elections in Minnesota this year. After a recount was conducted last week, State Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee, led Paul by just 14 votes in the race for the Scott County legislative seat.

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YSL Defendant Stabbed in Fulton County Jail as D.A. Fani Willis Seeks to Conclude Trial

Tom Pappert
Yak Gotti

One of the remaining defendants in the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ racketeering trial of musical artists associated with Young Slime Life (YSL) and Young Thug was reportedly stabbed at the Fulton County Jail on Sunday as the district attorney seeks to conclude the trial.

Young Slime Life co-defendant Deamonte Kendirck was stabbed at the Fulton County Jail by another inmate, WABE reported his attorney revealed Monday after the rapper, who performs using the stage name Yak Gotti, appeared in court with multiple staples in his head on Monday.

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Alleged Abuse of Arizona School Choice Program First Flagged by State Superintendent, Given to Attorney General

Tom Pappert
Classroom

Tom Horne, the Arizona State Superintendent of Education, reportedly stated Monday that the alleged abuse of the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) system by two Colorado residents was first flagged by his office, which reported it to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for possible criminal prosecution.

Mayes announced on Monday that a grand jury indicted Johnny Bowers and Ashley Hewitt with filing fraudulent applications for 50 students to receive scholarships that help families send students to a school of their choice.

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn Predicts Kash Patel Will ‘Release Epstein’s Flight Logs and Black Book’ as FBI Director

Tom Pappert
Kash Patel

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Sunday predicted Kash Patel will release both the flight logs and client list kept by Jeffrey Epstein, the sex trafficker who allegedly committed suicide in a New York jail in 2019, after he was appointed to serve as FBI Director by President-elect Donald Trump.

Blackburn said during an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” that Patel had a unique level of experience working in government that qualify him for the position, then expressed optimism he would help secure the release of Epstein’s client list and flight records.

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Wisconsin Judge Enforces Subpoena Against ActBlue, Opening New Front in Democrat Fund-Raising Probe

Just the News
ActBlue Fundraising app

For the first time, a Wisconsin court has approved a subpoena to the massive Democrat fund-raising platform ActBlue, saying it owes an explanation to a Republican whose email identity was used to make liberal donations he did not authorize.

“Something is not right,” Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad D. Schimel declared as he approved a limited demand for documents and opened a new front into a widening fund-raising probe begun earlier this year by Congress and 19 attorneys general.

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Tennessee U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty Urged Trump to Nominate Kash Patel for FBI Because ‘Entire Agency Needs to be Cleaned Out’

Tom Pappert
Sen. Bill Hagerty of Meet the Press

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on Sunday revealed he urged President-elect Donald Trump to nominate Kash Patel to serve as the next FBI Director out of a desire to see the agency “cleaned out” by the next administration.

During his appearance on “Meet the Press,” Hagerty confirmed he will vote to confirm Patel to lead the FBI after the former Trump administration official was nominated on Saturday to lead the agency. The senator also revealed he urged Trump to include Patel in his administration.

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Kash Patel Argued FBI Director Should Release Full Covenant Killer Manifesto, Epstein Client List

Tom Pappert
Glenn Beck interviews Kash Patel

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, said in a recently resurfaced interview that the FBI Director has the power to release major classified documents, including the manifesto left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale and the client list once kept by disgraced financier-turned-sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and urged Trump to promise full declassification upon entering office.

Patel made the remarks in a December 2023 appearance on “Glenn TV,” when he told host Glenn Beck that the FBI Director has the authority to declassify both the “black book” used by Epstein and the ten or more notebooks full of writings left by Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023.

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Tennessee Tax Preparers Allegedly Defrauded $65 Million in COVID-19 Relief Funds for Clients, Kept Commissions

Tom Pappert
Renata Walton

Two Mississippi women were indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) after they allegedly helped their clients obtain $65 million in pandemic relief funding, collecting commissions in the process, through their West Tennessee tax preparation business.

The DOJ announced on Wednesday that a Memphis grand jury returned a 53-count indictment charging Renata Walton and Nicole Jones, who both live in Olive Branch, Mississippi, with falsifying business and personal tax returns to obtain significant payments of relief funds designed for individuals and employers during the COVID-19 pandemic through their company, R&B Tax Express, in Moscow, Tennessee.

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Kimberly Gardner Was the Prototype for Soros Prosecutors, Then Ethics and Illegality Crashed Her Career

Just the News
St. Louis City Prosecutor Kimberly Gardner, 2017

When she was elected chief prosecutor in St. Louis in 2016 with the backing of far-left megadonor George Soros, Kimberly Gardner was the prototype for a new era of progressive lawfare: unabashedly liberal, the first black female to hold the job and eager to make her mark with headline-grabbing cases.

Soon, she went big-game hunting by indicting Missouri’s new Republican governor, a Navy SEAL and rising political star named Eric Greitens, by claiming he tried to blackmail his female hairdresser lover.

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Leftist Group Provided Legal Blueprint for Attorney General Kris Mayes to Prosecute Arizona’s 2020 Alternate Electors for Trump

Rachel Alexander
Kris Mayes

The far-left States United Democracy Center (SUDC) provided a 47-page legal memo to Attorney General Kris Mayes on July 25, 2023, the Daily Signal reported last week, outlining a plan for her to prosecute the alternate electors for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election and a few others associated with the effort.

Mayes is currently prosecuting most of those listed in the memo. Despite President-elect Donald Trump winning the 2024 election earlier this month, Mayes said she will not stop the prosecutions, unlike some other prosecutors who are backing off on their Trump-related prosecutions.

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Arizona Man Arrested for Profanity-Laden Death Threats to Donald Trump and His Family

Rachel Alexander
Police with ATF

An Arizona man was arrested by federal authorities Monday for posting threats online against Donald Trump and his family. Prosecutors charged Manuel Tamayo-Torres on Tuesday with one count of Threats Against President and Successors to the Presidency and four counts of False Statement During the Purchase of a Firearm. Tamayo-Torres attempted to purchase a firearm as a convicted felon with a restraining order. 

According to the charging documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Tamayo-Torres said in a profanity-laden video posted on Facebook a few days ago that the “the former president and current president-elect,” his son and family are “gonna die … I’m going to put a hole in your face.” He also threatened to torture Trump. “I’m going to f****** kill you motherf*****,” he said. “I’m going to tear your motherf****** face out, your whole motherf****** face.” 

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‘Absolutely Unconvincing’: Courts Uphold State Bans on Transgender Procedures for Kids

Just the News
Doctors Surgery

In the weeks before the Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical interventions for gender-confused minors, federal and state courts have upheld similar laws against so-called gender affirming care for children as a proper exercise of legislative power over medical practice.

It’s a worrying sign for transgender activists and allies now reconsidering their strategy in light of pending Republican control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, likely affected by the Biden administration’s imposition of gender identity over sex in federal regulations and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’s support for taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for inmates.

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Judge Allows Wedding Barn Lawsuit over Wisconsin Liquor Law to Continue

The Center Square
Farmview Event Barn

A liquor lawsuit filed against the Wisconsin Department of Revenue by two small business owners will continue after a judge denied DOR’s attempts to dismiss it.

The case, brought by Farmview Event Barn LLC and Monarch Valley Weddings and Events LLC with legal aid from law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, has argued recent changes in Wisconsin liquor laws pertaining to event venues are unconstitutionally burdensome and essentially regulates the businesses out of existence.

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Conservative Florida Attorney Chris Crowley Continues Battling Suspension of His Law License over Political Speech

Rachel Alexander
Florida Attorney Chris Crowley

Florida attorney Chris Crowley filed a Cross-Answer/Reply Brief with the Florida Supreme Court earlier this month in his appeal challenging the suspension of his law license for 60 days.

A Referee for the Florida Bar disciplined him for engaging in political speech while he campaigned for the state attorney’s office in Florida’s 20th Judicial Circuit due to referring to his opponent as “corrupt” and “swampy” and for observing that she had “close family ties to the [Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)] terrorist organization.”

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State AGs Sue Three of the World’s Biggest Asset Managers for Allegedly Violating Antitrust Laws

Just the News
Ken Paxton

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading 10 other GOP state attorneys general in a lawsuit against BlackRock, State Street Corporation and Vanguard Group, three of the largest asset managers worldwide, for allegedly violating antitrust laws.

The firms allegedly conspired to use anticompetitive trade practices to artificially constrict the coal market, according to Paxton’s office. They acquired substantial stockholdings in all significant, publicly held coal producers in the U.S., allowing them to have the power to control coal company policies. These asset managers pushed for reduced coal output by more than half by 2030.

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Trump Cabinet Nominees, Administration Appointees Threatened, Swatted: Transition Team Spokesperson

Just the News
Donald Trump

Several of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees received bomb threats and were swatted Wednesday morning and Tuesday night, according to his transition team’s spokeswoman.

“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” Trump-Vance Transition Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. 

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Nashville Mayor Admits Metro Police Is ‘Aware’ of Venezuelan Gang Presence, Refuses to Provide Answers on Arrests

Kaitlin Housler
Freddie O'Connell

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said his office and the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) are aware of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua’s “presence” within the city; however,  he refused to provide specific information regarding arrests or activity related to the gang.

On Tuesday, O’Connell was pressed by Fox 17 reporter Kylie Walker on his knowledge of the Venezuelan gang’s presence in Nashville after a member of the same gang was arrested in Hamilton County on human trafficking charges the day prior.

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Legal Expert Lays Out Why Trump’s Legal Cases Will Not Return After He Leave Office in Four Years

Daily Caller News Foundation
Elie Honig, CNN clip

by Nicole Silverio   CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said Tuesday that the dismissed legal cases against President-elect Donald Trump will not return once he leaves office in January 2029. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request Monday to dismiss the election subversion case he brought against President-elect Donald Trump to align with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) precedent of not prosecuting a sitting president. Honig said while the case was dismissed without prejudice, there are many strategies the Trump administration can adopt in order to ensure the case is never revived. “Yes, technically the cases were dismissed without prejudice, which means technically someone could come back in 4 years and reinstitute these charges. But that’s correct in the same sense that the New York Jets could technically make it to the Super Bowl this year,” Honig said. “It’s not mathematically eliminated. That’s not gonna happen for a lot of reasons. First of all, four years from now is an eternity. Whoever the next president is in 2029, the next attorney general is gonna have no appetite in bringing this case back and you’re right, Jim [Acosta], there are moves Donald Trump’s DOJ could make. They can go back…

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Report: Minnesota Criminal Justice System ‘More Favorable’ to Black Criminals than White Criminals

Alpha News
Person Arrested

A newly released report from the Center of the American Experiment (CAE) challenges the narrative that Minnesota’s criminal justice system is racially biased against black offenders.

According to the report, titled “Case Closed: Minnesota’s Offender Outcomes Devoid of Racial Bias,” black offenders reportedly face more favorable outcomes in the system compared to white offenders across various stages, including incarceration.

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Virginia Election Official Wasted $500,000 on Alcohol, Private Security, and Remodel of Leased Office Space: Report

Tom Pappert
Keith Balmer

The top election worker in Richmond, Virginia allegedly wasted nearly $500,000 on a combination of alcohol, private security and efforts to create his own security staff, and the remodel and purchase of new furniture for leased office space, a report from the city’s watchdog agency claims.

The Richmond Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report Monday revealing Richmond General Registrar Keith Balmer is accused of wasting nearly $500,000 in taxpayer resources through a pattern of behavior that apparently began in 2023.

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Commentary: The Undercounted Statistics of Illegal Immigrants

RealClearWire

In June, Victor Martinez-Hernandez was charged with the murder of Rachel Morin, a mother of five in Maryland. Police in Oklahoma tracked the accused repeat offender down with a sample of his DNA recovered from a Los Angeles home invasion in which a nine-year-old girl and her mother were assaulted. Police say he came to the U.S. illegally to escape prosecution for at least one other murder in his native El Salvador in December 2022. 

“That should never have been allowed to happen,” said Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, referring to the numerous missed red flags the case presented. His office apprehended Hernandez in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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Wisconsin Senator Threatens Legal Action to Get COVID-19 Vaccine Data

The Center Square
Vaccine

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has threatened to issue a subpoena when he becomes chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations if three federal health agencies continue to withhold data on the adverse health effects wrought by the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a letter addressed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services, Johnson demanded that the agencies preserve all records referring to the development, safety, and side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, and to produce the records without redactions by Dec. 3.

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Commentary: Pam Bondi Needs to Root Out Corruption in DOJ

Daily Caller News Foundation
Pam Bondi and Donald Trump

When she becomes attorney general, Pam Bondi should follow the law wherever it leads her to root out corruption within the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and those acting as proxies for the hidden hand of the administrative state.

She is a highly qualified nominee, bringing two decades of experience as a prosecutor, including eight years serving as attorney general of Florida.

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Arizona State Sen. Jake Hoffman Responds After Tourism Director Resigns Following Demand to Probe $700,000 Logo Redesign

Tom Pappert
Jake Hoffman

Arizona State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) told The Arizona Sun Times that any cabinet member unwilling to undergo an “in-depth, thorough, accurate, and honest” vetting process by the Arizona Senate should resign.

The state lawmaker made the comments to The Sun Times after Arizona Tourism Director Lisa Urias resigned her position effective December 4, announcing the decision shortly after Hoffman led Republicans questioning the Arizona Office of Tourism’s $700,000 campaign to refresh its public image, which included a $15,225 logo redesign from the brother of the person running a marketing company Urias owns, as was first reported by Arizona Agenda.

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Two State Legislators Challenge Sedona’s Ordinance Banning Firearms on ‘Any Trail or Open Space Area’

Rachel Alexander

State Rep. Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott) and State Rep. Selina Bliss (R-Prescott) are challenging an ordinance in Sedona which bans firearms on “any trail or open space area.” The legislators believe the law infringes on the right to keep and bear arms, since Arizona has some of the most Second Amendment-friendly laws in the country. They submitted a request to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) to investigate, known as an SB 1487 request for investigation, which prompted Sedona city officials to put it on the agenda for the December 10 city council meeting. 

Nguyen, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and has held positions with the Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Club, said in a joint statement with Bliss after submitting the 1487 request, “I urge the City of Sedona to review Ordinance 12.30.090 to ensure it complies with Arizona law. It’s important that local ordinances do not infringe upon the constitutional rights of Arizonans or conflict with state statutes.”

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Mike Benz Explains Why He Is ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About President-Elect Trump’s Nomination of Pam Bondi as Attorney General

Kaitlin Housler
Pam Bondi and Donald Trump

Mike Benz, a former Trump State Department official and current executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, said he is “cautiously optimistic” about President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to serve as U.S. Attorney General, given Bondi’s shortcomings while she served as Florida’s chief legal officer.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump announced his nomination of Bondi as attorney general just hours after the president-elect’s initial choice, former Florida U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, withdrew his nomination.

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Reporter Tom Pappert: DOJ in Panic Mode to Destroy Documents Before Trump Administration Is Sworn In

Kaitlin Housler
MPL and Pappert

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said employees at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) appear to be in a panic mode to destroy evidence that could become problematic under the incoming Trump administration in an effort to save themselves from being terminated or possibly from facing prosecution.

On Tuesday, the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project found a document and product destruction truck outside of the DOJ’s headquarters in Washington D.C. – just days after the Justice Department reported a “division-wide system outage” that prevented its access to certain network files.

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Tren de Aragua Moves Throughout Tennessee Cities in Human Trafficking Operations, TBI Director Warns

Tom Pappert
Bluff City Blues joint operation

After two Tennessee law enforcement agencies that serve Knoxville contradicted the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations (TBI), which last week warned the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is present in all major Tennessee cities, the agency pointed The Tennessee Star to a media advisory explaining local law enforcement may not be aware of the gang’s human trafficking operations.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office stated last Saturday that Tren de Aragua members are the subjects of any investigations, and no associates of the gang are in its correctional facilities. Two days later, the Knoxville Police Department Chief Paul Noel said the department is aware of the gang, but is “not aware of any active members of Tren de Aragua in Knoxville.”

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