Harris Promoted Paper Ballots Before 2020 Election, but Democrats Now Push Back on Election Integrity

Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris promoted using paper ballots for elections the last time she was a presidential candidate, but since then, Democrats and the Biden administration have largely pushed back against election integrity laws that Republicans have promoted.

Five years ago, Harris was part of a bipartisan effort to encourage the use of paper ballots. However, since the 2020 presidential election, Democrats have called Republicans “election deniers” for promoting such election integrity measures, and the Biden administration is focusing on suing states with election integrity laws.

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Bureaucrats Worry Behind Closed Doors They’ll Be Sent Packing Under Trump

Donald Trump

Government workers are reportedly in a state of panic over the prospect of former President Donald Trump winning another term in office, according to E&E News.

Bureaucrats up and down the federal hierarchy are concerned that a second Trump administration could cost them their jobs and put an end to liberal programs they worked to implement under President Joe Biden, E&E News reported. Trump has, if elected, pledged to implement reforms that would allow him to fire up to 50,000 civil servants at will, with the former president singling out workers who are incompetent, unnecessary or undermine his democratic mandate.

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U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn Joins Push for Senate Judiciary Committee to Hold Hearing on Assassination Attempt of Former President Donald Trump

Sen. Marsha Blackburn

Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) was among the Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans who sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) requesting that he organize a committee hearing on the circumstances leading up to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump over the weekend.

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White House Signs Deal with Panama to Crack Down On Major Illegal Immigration Route to U.S.

Panama's president-elect, José Raúl Mulino

The Biden administration on Monday inked a deal with the Panamanian government to help stop illegal migration along the Darien Gap, a sign that the country’s new president is following through on a major campaign promise.

The White House announced a Memorandum of Understanding with Panama, an initiative that will deploy American screening officers to assist their government deport migrants who cross the Darien Gap, a vast jungle region between Panama and Colombia that hundreds of thousands of migrants trek across every year en route to the U.S. The announcement followed a pledge by then-presidential candidate Jose Raul Mulino to close Panama off to illegal immigration.

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Biden Admin Preparing Deportation Protection for Hundreds of Thousands of Haitians in America

Haitian Refugees

The Biden administration is planning on extending deportation protection for more than 300,000 Haitians living in the United States.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is rolling out new deportation protections for around 309,000 Haitian nationals, according to a Friday announcement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The maneuver involves giving Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to more recent Haitian arrivals, many of whom fled the island country amid government upheaval, and also extends TPS already designated to hundreds of thousands of other Haitian nationals.

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Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn Launches Bipartisan Inquiry into DHS Amid Reports of Dangerous Conditions for Children in CBP Custody

Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Georgia U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) launched a bipartisan inquiry with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about reports of children being abused, neglected, and even cases of death while in custody awaiting processing at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities.

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Feds Surveilling Thousands of Americans’ Mail Each Year

USPS Mailbox

The United States Postal Service (USPS) gave law enforcement thousands of names, addresses and other details from the letters and packages of Americans without court approval, The Washington Post reported Monday.

The USPS said it generally only granted information requests from law enforcement agencies when it aided in tracking down a crime suspect; however, records obtained by the Post showed that 97 percent of the 60,000 requests from law enforcement were approved over an eight-year period. Between 2015 and 2023, over 312,000 letters and packages were recorded without receiving judicial approval.

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In First Five Years, 79,000 of DACA Recipients Admitted to U.S. Had Arrest Records

DACA Rally

Within five years of a new program created to prevent deportation of minors brought into the country illegally by their parents, nearly 80,000 were released into the U.S. with arrest records. The majority were between the ages of 19 and 22 when they were arrested, according to the latest available data published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced he was expanding deportation protections and job opportunities for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by executive order by former president Barack Obama in 2012.

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Biden DHS Board Painted Trump Supporters, Military and Religious People as Potential Terror Risk, Docs Show

People Praying

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) advisory board characterized supporters of President Donald Trump, as well as those who are in the military and religious people, as posing potential domestic terrorism risks, according to internal documents obtained by America First Legal (AFL).

The board, called the “Homeland Intelligence Experts Group,” was created in September 2023 to provide DHS with “expert” analysis on subjects such as terrorism and fentanyl trafficking. The panel included former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former CIA Operations Officer Paul Kolbe, all of whom signed an October 2020 letter casting doubt on the legitimacy of the Hunter Biden laptop and suggesting its release was a Russian disinformation ploy.

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More Officials Issue ‘Imminent Terrorist Attack’ Warnings

Another member of Congress has warned a terrorist attack is imminent. This latest warning comes after a former CIA director argued that similar warning signs exist today that did before the 9/11 terror attack occurred.

U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, told CBS News’ Face the Nation Sunday, “We are at the highest level of a possible terrorist threat” resulting from Biden administration policies.

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Arizona Politicians and Stakeholders React to Biden’s Border Order

Joe Biden

President Joe Biden’s proclamation limiting the number of asylum seekers each day at the southern border sparked a range of reactions from politicians and groups in Arizona.

Biden said the United States will not allow people to claim asylum if the average daily number of those seeking asylum passes 2,500 average in a week, according to the White House. According to the Department of Homeland Security, some exceptions include those with “exceptionally compelling circumstances” such as a “victim of a severe form of trafficking,” those facing extreme medical or safety threats and “unaccompanied children.” DHS also says that those who use the CBP One app will also be considered exempt from the limit.

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Hunter Biden Told Congress He Didn’t Work on Visas for Burisma Boss, but Emails Suggest Otherwise

Hunter Biden in front of US Capitol building (composite image)

Hunter Biden told Congress earlier this year during his impeachment deposition that he would never have assisted his Ukrainian business partners in resolving their travel visa issues. But evidence newly obtained by Congress directly conflicts with that testimony.

In one email, in fact, Hunter Biden asserts he is working with someone to get visa issues resolved for Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of the Burisma Holding energy firm that hired the future first son on its board.

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Commentary: Deepfakes, Disinformation, Social Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence in the 2024 Election

Computer Programmer

Artificial intelligence (AI) and its integration within various sectors is moving at a speed that couldn’t have been imagined just a few years ago. As a result, the United States now stands on the brink of a new era of cybersecurity challenges. With AI technologies becoming increasingly sophisticated, the potential for their exploitation by malicious actors grows exponentially.

Because of this evolving threat, government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), alongside private sector entities, must urgently work to harden America’s defenses to account for any soft spots that may be exploited. Failure to do so could have dire consequences on a multitude of levels, especially as we approach the upcoming U.S. presidential election, which is likely to be the first to contend with the profound implications of AI-driven cyber warfare.

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Biden Administration Seeks to Speed Up Backlog of Asylum Seekers in Blue Cities

The Biden Administration is facing growing pressure to more quickly resolve asylum cases that are putting a strain on Democratic cities, announcing a new process that will ostensibly help accomplish this goal.

According to Fox News, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) jointly announced the creation of a “Recent Arrivals (RA) Docket process,” aimed at processing asylum cases for single illegal alien adults at a faster pace.

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Former Bush 43 Special Counsel: Hatch Act Could Be Used to Prosecute Biden DOJ and DHS Officials for 2024 Election Interference

Attorney Scott Bloch

Scott J. Bloch, Special Counsel of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) under former President George W. Bush from 2003 to 2008, told The Tennessee Star on Saturday that a a provision of the 1939 Hatch Act, now codified as 18 U.S.C. 595, could be used to prosecute Biden Administration Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security officials for election interference and affecting the 2024 election.

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Lack of Operational Control at Northern Border Poses National Security Threats

US Border Patrol

The northern border largely has been unmanned and understaffed for decades as federal reports issue conflicting conclusions about how much, or how little, operational control exists.

Some officials have suggested the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has just 1% operational control over the northern border after a 2019 General Accounting Office audit of U.S. Customs and Border northern border operations. But a December 2022 DHS report claimed, “The Border Patrol is better staffed today than at any time in its 87-year history,” noting no surveillance of extensive parts of the northern border existed prior to 9/11.

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Commentary: DHS’ Secrecy About ‘Disinformation’ Regulation Docs

Nina Jankowicz

Nearly two years after Nina Jankowicz briefly led the Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, she’s launched an organization demanding transparency and the public release of documents about the public debate on disinformation. An interesting move, likely without true transparency in mind.

My organization, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, has spent the same two years fighting DHS for documents on the federal board Jankowicz managed. We’re filing a second lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to fight continued government stonewalling of our requests. Thus far, DHS has refused to provide unredacted versions of documents that outline its purported authorities to regulate disinformation. Nor will the agency release more information about its work on misinformation related to “irregular migration” and “Ukraine” before the board was disbanded in August 2022.

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House Republicans Seek Transparency on Number of Foreign Nationals in U.S. Illegally

Alejandro Mayorkas With Immigrants

A group of 17 Congressional Republicans led by U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is calling on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to provide information on “the total number of illegal aliens currently residing within the United States.”

In a letter to Mayorkas, whom they voted to impeach in February, the Republican lawmakers argue, “The American people deserve an exact accounting of the number of illegal aliens residing in the country, especially if the federal government’s policies have caused that number to surge since the previous estimate.”

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Flight Docs Reveal Which Cities are Receiving Migrants Under Biden’s Parole Program

Passengers on a flight

Nearly 200,000 migrants from four countries have flown into America’s biggest airports under a Biden administration parole program, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents reveal.

The House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday publicized documents, obtained through a subpoena to DHS, that identifies over 50 airport locations used by the federal government to process hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals via a parole program between January-August 2023. About 200,000 foreign nationals were processed under the program — known as the Humanitarian Parole for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, or CHNV — which was initially launched in October 2022 and grants a two-year parole period as well as work authorization eligibility.

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Biden Admin Used Border Wall Funds on ‘Environmental Planning,’ Government Watchdog Says

Joe Biden with CBP agents

The Biden administration spent taxpayer dollars meant to fund a border wall to pay for “environmental planning,” according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

At the request of Republican Reps. Jack Bergman of Michigan and Jodey Arrington of Texas, the GAO investigated whether the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) broke the law when it effectively blocked the use of taxpayer dollars to build a wall along the southern border. While GAO’s final report clears the DHS of breaking the law, it confirmed that DHS used congressionally-appropriated funds meant for the wall to pay for “environmental planning” and efforts “to remediate or mitigate environmental damage from past border wall construction.”

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Ex-DHS Disinformation Chief Starts ‘Bipartisan’ Watchdog, Accuses GOP of Sexist Investigations

Nina Jankowicz

The Mary Poppins of misinformation has started a new band outside the Department of Homeland Security, and this  department of tortured poets is testing fresh material about the bad blood stemming from her brief leadership of the slightly longer-lived Disinformation Governance Board.

Nina Jankowicz, whose Hunter Biden laptop trutherism and chirpy songs about “information laundering” immediately made the DHS board a punch line, cofounded a nonprofit watchdog this month with former feds, D.C. think tankers and social media executives whose mission is “increasing the cost of lies that undermine our democracy.”

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Laken Riley’s Illegal Alien Killer Was Released into U.S. Under Mayorkas’ Power of Parole, According to DHS File

The criminal illegal alien accused of killing Laken Riley was released into the U.S. in September of 2022 because the Department of Homeland Security lacked detention space, according to his immigration file.

Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan national charged with murdering Riley in February, was released under DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ power of parole, which is only supposed to be used “when there is an urgent humanitarian need or a significant benefit to the public,” the Washington Times reported.

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Tennessee Pornographic Website Age-Verification Bill Shifts Enforcement to AG

Kid on Phone

A bill that would require adult pornographic websites to verify the age of those viewing the website in Tennessee advanced in the Senate on Tuesday after a change to lower the costs of its implementation.

Senate Bill 1792 initially had a fiscal note saying it would cost the state more than $4 million in the first year and then $2 million each year after that.

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Over 256,000 Illegal Border Crossers in February, Highest for the Month in History

Illegal border crossers apprehended

The number of illegal border crossers has increased significantly since Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas implemented a range of policies he said were designed to reduce “irregular migration” and create a “legal pathway” for foreign nationals to come to the U.S.

February of this year broke a record of 256,094 total illegal border crossings nationwide, the highest for the month in U.S. history.

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Biden Administration ‘Paroled’ More Illegal Aliens than Issued Visas to Legal Immigrants

Intake of Illegal Border Crossers

According to report from the Federation on American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the President Joe Biden’s administration paroled more illegal aliens into the United States during the first nine months of Fiscal Year 2023 than it accepted legal immigrants through visa programs. 

Parole for illegal aliens entails a government acknowledgement that a person is present in the country illegally, but that they have permission to stay here for various reasons. 

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Mayorkas, DHS Get Massive Funding Boost in House’s Newest Spending Bill

Alejandro Mayorkas speaking with border officers

The House of Representatives’ second consolidated spending bill for fiscal year 2024 includes significant increases in funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and to the office of its secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.

The 2024 fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2023 — by which the appropriations process was supposed to be completed — but political disagreements in Congress led to the enactment of four continuing resolutions to avoid a government shutdown and preserve funding at the previous year’s levels. After Congress completely passed its first permanent spending bill for the year on March 8, the House on Thursday released its second permanent bill, a consolidation of six constituent bills, which includes an increase of $19 million to the Office of the Secretary over fiscal year 2023 levels, for a total of $404 million until Sept. 30, 2024. 

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Biden Border Policy Critics Lament ‘Migrant Crime Wave’

Congressman Mark Green at U.S. border

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark E. Green blasted President Joe Biden for the wave of illegal immigrants entering the U.S., saying a “migrant crime wave” is sweeping the country.

Green’s office said “President Biden and now-impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ refusal to secure the border has helped unleash a new wave of crime across the nation.”

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Analysts: Policymakers Must Confront Weaponized Migration to Address Border Crisis

Illegal migrants at a border fence

Unless Congress and policymakers understand how weaponized migration is being used against the U.S., they won’t be able to solve the problem, foreign policy analysts warn.

More than 11 million foreign nationals, including gotaways, illegally entering the U.S. from all over the world is not an accident, military and foreign policy experts have warned. It’s called migrant warfare, The Center Square first reported. The European Commission, United Nations, NATO, and foreign policy institutes have identified hybrid warfare being used in Europe, including migrant warfare, to shape national and international policies.

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Taxpayers to Pay $3 Million for Mayorkas Impeachment Defense

Alejandro Mayorkas

The Department of Homeland Security so far has spent $3 million of taxpayer money to defend embattled Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas against impeachment by the House of Representatives, according to documents obtained by The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project.

The DHS contract with a law firm was to cover the cost of a failed attempt to stave off a House impeachment, as well as to defend President Joe Biden’s homeland security secretary in a possible Senate trial.

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Tennessee Bill Would Require Enforcement of Immigration Law

ICE Arrest

A bill being debated in the Tennessee General Assembly would require law enforcement agencies to follow the proper protocol of reporting illegal alien arrestees to federal authorities. 

HB 2124 “requires, rather than authorizes, law enforcement agencies to communicate with the appropriate federal official regarding the immigration status of any individual, including reporting knowledge that a particular alien is not lawfully present in the United States or otherwise cooperate with the appropriate federal official in the identification, apprehension, detention, or removal of aliens not lawfully present in the United States.”

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Todd Bensman with the Center for Immigration Studies: ‘The Biden Administration has Industrialized Parole Authority’

Illegal Immigrants

Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the Biden administration has “industrialized parole authority” through its program that has flown 320,000 inadmissible aliens into 43 American airports over the past year.

“[The migrants] are coming in on an authority called parole. That’s supposed to be for two or three immigrants a year on a case by case basis, like an emergency medical treatment or, they need somebody to testify in an important case, and then they turn them right back,” Bensman explained on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show. “The Biden administration has industrialized parole authority. Now they’re just letting hundreds of thousands in all at once instead of two or three as the law says on a case by case basis.”

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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green Sends Letter to DHS Demanding Information Related to Murder of Georgia Medical Student

Mark Green DHS

Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding information to assist the committee in its investigation into the murder of 22-year old nursing student Laken Riley.

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Department of Homeland Security Admitted in Emails It Fails to Track Illegal Immigrants Released into U.S. Interior

Illegal Immigrants

Newly uncovered emails between Department of Homeland Security officials and journalists show the agency tasked with protecting U.S. border and domestic security admitted it is not tracking illegal immigrants after they were released from federal custody into the interior of the country.

In the emails obtained by the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust in a Freedom of Information Act request, one DHS official told a Washington Post reporter off the record he could not say how many immigrants are settling in Northern states via border state busing programs because the agency does not track those released from their custody.

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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green Calls on the Senate to Hold a Trial and Convict DHS Secretary Mayorkas

In one of his last actions before announcing his retirement from Congress, Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) urged lawmakers in the U.S. Senate to hold a trial and convict Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“Last night, the House of Representatives voted to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for high crimes and misdemeanors, specifically for his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and his breach of public trust. This action—the culmination of nearly a year’s worth of investigations and hearings—was necessary to deal with a rogue DHS secretary whose lawless actions have caused and perpetuated the worst border crisis in American history,” Green said during a press conference with House Republican leadership.

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Rep. Ogles Blasts Biden Administration About Illegal Aliens Coming to Tennessee

Andy Ogles

A Tennessee congressman blasted the Biden administration after it was revealed last week that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) knew that nearly 600 illegal aliens planned to travel to Middle Tennessee after they were released from detainment.

“Joe Biden’s efforts to transport illegal aliens into Franklin, Davidson County, and Mt. Juliet are reprehensible,” said Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) on X. “Middle Tennessee deserves answers. That’s why I’ve sent a letter to [DHS Secretary] Mayorkas demanding responses to all my questions regarding this troubling incursion into our community.”

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Nearly 600 Illegal Aliens May Be Transported to Middle Tennessee, DHS Notice Says

A notice from last September by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that a total of 573 “noncitizens” from Guatemala, Venezuela, Honduras, and Mexico intended on traveling to Franklin, Nashville, Davidson County, and Murfreesboro following their release from DHS custody.

The notice, dated as the week ending September 16, 2023, is titled “Intended Destination of Noncitizens Processed at the Southwest Border.”

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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green Says He’s ‘Working Hard’ to Secure the Votes to Impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas

Rep. Mark Green

Tennessee U.S. Representative and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Mark Green (R-TN-07) joined Thursday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss his efforts in the impeachment process of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Green, who led his Republican colleagues in voting to advance two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas out of committee on Wednesday, told Leahy that Mayorkas not only refused to enforce the law himself, but directed his staff to do the same.

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