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Adelstein Challenges Noem to Stand Up to Trump on Family Separation

Donald Trump has signed an executive order reversing the egregious and nationally humiliating policy of family separation (also known as taking children hostage and torturing them), a policy Trump repeatedly denied having and could not reverse by executive action. (No policy, no choice, no collusion….)

Stan Adelstein tries to talk moral sense into Noem and Trump.
Stan Adelstein tries to talk moral sense into Noem and Trump.

Amidst the White House flip-floppery, former Republican State Senator (and sponsor of this blog) Stan Adelstein of Rapid City publicly challenged Congresswoman Kristi Noem yesterday to take action in Congress against our nation’s human rights abuses. Adelstein says he contacted Noem’s office Sunday, likening our caging of children to the treatment of his fellow Jews and calling on her to sign on to moderate Republicans’ discharge petition to debate an immigration bill, but received nothing beyond a canned reply. Adelstein comes to this conclusion about his party’s gubernatorial nominee:

It would seem to me that Ms. Noem is much more concerned with following our president’s inhumane action, to curry his favor, for some reason—or perhaps she agrees with his cruel choices.

What in the world has happened to my party nationally and, in her case, in our magnificent state in which most of us believe “under God the people rule”? [Stanford Adelstein, “It’s Time for Noem to Take Action for the Sake of Children,” A Way to Go, 2018.06.20]

Adelstein sounds a lot like former John McCain campaigner Steve Schmidt, who yesterday renounced his membership in the Republican Party, which he said is filled with “feckless cowards” whose support for “internment camps for babies” has “disgraced their country and brought dishonor to the Part of Lincoln.” Will any other honest South Dakota Republicans join Adelstein in speaking up against the human rights abuses of the Trump Administration?

51 Comments

  1. David Newquist 2018-06-21 09:05

    As someone who grew up in Illinois with a bust of Lincoln on a living room table, I was regaled daily with stories of why Lincoln represented those qualities of liberty, equality, and justice to which our better angels should aspire. My first voter registration was with the Party of Lincoln. But I soon witnessed a party that began a systematic refutation of everything Lincoln represented. I am not sure whether to break into laughter at the absurdity or simply shrug off the ignorance when the South Dakota GOP, any GOP for that matter, refers to itself as the Party of Lincoln. It is a desecration.

  2. owen reitzel 2018-06-21 09:18

    NOem will never stand up to Trump. She has gone all-in with him and Billie has to somehow show that to the people of South Dakota. At least the ones that can think on their own.

    Sutton can start by running a commercial showing NOem saying she’s pro-life and pro-family and then show pictures of the concentration camps in Texas.

  3. Porter Lansing 2018-06-21 09:42

    IMPOSTOR SYNDROME: Overmatched women like Kristi Noem, who’re suffering from “impostor phenomenon” (a term used by psychologists for the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills) make poor leaders.

    PS … Jackley won. South Dakota can collect taxes on Amazon sales.

  4. Rorschach 2018-06-21 10:09

    Nobody in the political arena should remain silent when our government pursues a policy of intentionally traumatizing small children. Silence by elected officials is complicity.

  5. Jenny 2018-06-21 11:22

    The Party of No Empathy.

  6. Roger Cornelius 2018-06-21 17:28

    Every Republican in this state should be disgraced by Noem’s shunning of Senator Stan on such a matter of national significance.
    As a elder statesman, the senator has made contributions to the state GOP and Republican candidates for office for years, what has Noem given to her party that has treated her so well?
    Noem has an obligation to answer Senator Stan unless her silence speaks for itself.

  7. Debbo 2018-06-21 23:12

    Every person in elected national or statewide office who has not spoken out in opposition to the monstrous kidnapping and traumatizing of small children ought to be forced to wear a very large white triangle pin, point up, with 2 eye holes, on their outer clothing at all times, so everyone knows who they are. We can use our Free Choice to shun them.

  8. Debbo 2018-06-22 00:02

    538 has a new section of their daily newsletter called “Secret Identity”, which will be focusing on identity politics and the first issue is about the GOP’s racism, my words, not theirs. Here’s the link:
    https://goo.gl/kzJUrD

    They try to make sense of the massively unpopular child abuse policy. “If you think of stopping the growth in the foreign-born population as the unifying goal — rather than strengthening national security or promoting law enforcement — then Trump’s immigration agenda hangs together more clearly.”

    There’s more and it’s well thought out, as is usual with 538.

  9. jerry 2018-06-22 11:38

    The asylum seekers from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are being forced out because of another terrorist, climate change. https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-refugees-trump-2580057839.html?utm_campaign=RebelMouse&socialux=facebook&share_id=3687303&utm_medium=social&utm_content=EcoWatch&utm_source=facebook

    We are causing this man made disaster much like we caused the Dust Bowl when we had to migrate. We left South Dakota in droves, including one set of my grandparents because there was no hope here. There was nothing, no safety net, no future, no nothing. They had to go to put food in their belly’s just like millions of others and they went to California.

    These asylum seekers are fleeing from violence as well as climate change. One thing different about these asylum seekers, they are Christian Catholics. They have children so they should be welcomed by the right to lifers as they show they do not believe in abortion. Instead, because of their religion and their skin color, being Christian does not matter. When the so called Religious Right goes to their churches this weekend, it probably would be a good thing, a Christian thing, to reflect on their hate and their lies.

    Mr. Adelstein is correct to question NOem about family separation. After all, we have seen this play out in the past with Native American children in the past as well as Jewish Children in concentration camps in the not so distant past. History revisited? Looks like it.

  10. leslie 2018-06-22 14:36

    Republicans elected a president who throws candy at Angela Merkel at G7. His wife who barely speaks English wears a jacket to TX to check out the 2000 “illegal” immigrant children in concentration camps. The jacket says “I don’t really care, do you?” Then Trumps say “don’t mean a thing”. Her own immigration status is questionable. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/melania-trump-immigration-donald-226648

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-21/melania-trump-visits-immigration-detention-centers-in-texas

  11. jerry 2018-06-22 18:00

    NOem strikes your pocketbooks yet again! NOem is a busy little beaver trying to screw South Dakotan’s on her way out of Washington.

    “Reducing improper government payments by 50 percent over a decade, saving $745 billion.

    Cuts to welfare and federal retirement programs saving $923 billion.

    Cuts to veterans programs intended to save $59 billion.

    Changes to student loan programs, intended to generate $231 billion.

    Changes to agricultural programs, which would save $23 billion.

    Overhauling medical liability lawsuits, assumed to save $33 billion.”
    https://www.heraldcourier.com/news/national/house-budget-would-direct-billion-in–year-spending-cuts/article_df356fe5-e3a6-5999-aa5a-91bef2c2d8d1.html

    One thing about NOem, she doesn’t give a damn on who suffers, screwing veterans..check Shafting Medicare…check Beating up on Social Security…check
    The list goes on, check it out. Fire up and get her and her whip out of Pierre.

    While Mr. Adelstein waits for a call, these are some of the other things that he may want to discuss.

  12. Porter Lansing 2018-06-23 08:30

    President Donald Trump and others have made false or misleading statements on several immigration issues:
    ~ Trump falsely claimed that the U.S. has “thousands of judges — border judges — thousands and thousands.” Actually, the U.S. has about 350 immigration judges.
    ~ Trump claimed — without any evidence — that only 3 percent of those who were released after being caught crossing the border illegally show up in court for their immigration hearings. Actually 75% show up at their hearings. Just slightly less than American citizens.
    ~ DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen accurately stated there had been a “314 percent increase” in adults trafficking or smuggling children to the border. But the actual number of suspected fraud cases is less than 1 percent of all family apprehensions.
    ~ Sen. Ron Johnson said the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was an “incentive” for unaccompanied children to try to cross the border illegally. But no one arriving after June 15, 2007, would be eligible for DACA.
    – FactCheck.org

  13. Debbo 2018-06-23 14:08

    Porter, pres Animal Sh*thole has upped his Liar Rate from 6.5 per day as Mueller gets closer to collaring the Orange Whore. He has to really work at it now. Nucking futz.

  14. Steve 2018-10-12 13:01

    Pres. Trump did not “separate families”. That is Leftist propaganda. Families at the border were also separated during the Obama admin as well, and that doesn’t seem to matter. Why?? This is all political pandering. The truth is, when you do something illegally, there are consequences. Democrats forfeit law and order in order to advance their agenda. It’s sick!

  15. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-12 21:19

    Um, Steve, it’s not propaganda or a lie of any sort to note that families crossed the border together, and that Trump endorsed the policy that separated them. Children were taken out of the care of their parents.

    Trump forfeits humanity to advance his agenda.

  16. Gilda Thury 2018-10-12 22:24

    The people including families (which is questionable in itself) coming across the border illegally should think about the consequences of breaking the law before subjecting their loved ones to detention and possible deportation not to mention parents sending small children alone with traffickers to illegally cross the border subject to all kinds of abuse. What kind of person does this to their children?
    Instead of pounding Trump and Noem you should blame the socialist and communist governments that these people are trying to get away from only to come to this country illegally and create a similar situation here with the help of you leftists and socialists that think Venezuela is a paradise that we should want to be like. Shame on you!

  17. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-13 06:33

    I don’t think Venezuela is a paradise.

    I do blame other countries, to some extent, for not providing the security and economic opportunity necessary to keep their people from experiencing such danger and desperation that they are willing to take the enormous risk of fleeing to the United States (although I must acknowledge that in some cases, like the U.S. flooding of the Mexican market with cheap agricultural goods and driving Mexican farmers out of business, or like Americans’ enormous demand for illegal drugs, our country bears some of the blame).

    But even as we blamed Brezhnev and Castro for oppressing their people and worked to undermine global Communism, we also welcomed refugees from those nations and did not tear their children from their arms when they crossed our border seeking America’s protection. Our openness and global moral leadership was part of why we beat the Soviet bloc.

  18. OldSarg 2018-10-13 07:26

    The children were separated from Adults who were not criminals and did not have proof the children were their own. Once that proof was obtained that the adult that was breaking the law was not a criminal and was, in fact, the parent the children were returned.

    A better questions would be: What kind of person wants stolen or abused children to remain in that situation?

    This is once again another sample of the ignorance of those who repeat what the talking heads on TV say as if it is sane. It is beyond stupid to support the kidnapping, abuse and killing of children irresponsibly put into a dangerous situation. The people crying about how horrible these policies have been should be shunned from normal society. Not even civil society but “normal” society.

  19. Steve 2018-10-13 07:37

    Cory, you make a false equivalency between the oppression of the Soviet Union and mass immigration to this Country. I think your emotions get in the way with reason and forethought. You want to seem to have compassion on these people, which we should, but real compassion does not come at the expense of our existing citizens that struggle or at the expense of law and order. We live in a democratic republic, not a system of raw democracy where a mob will end up ruling. Those on the Left are demonstrating signs of mob rule today whenever a vote doesn’t go their way. There is a difference between protesting and rioting, but I see the Dems and MSM blurring those lines.

  20. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-13 08:05

    Wrong, Steve. I simply state that we can recognize the sins of other nation while still showing compassion to people fleeing those countries and seeking shelter in our rich, safe, and inclusive country.

    After your first sentence, most of your comment devolves into talking points lifted from tangential media articles.

    OS, how often do government agents tear children away from parents in America just because the parents do not have proof that the children are theirs? I walk around Aberdeen all the time with my daughter without any documentation of my paternity.

  21. Dana P 2018-10-13 08:37

    Steve claims leftist propaganda, and that he hates it and its wrong. And he makes that claim based on GOP propaganda. (And I see Steve is also using the “mob” term, that the GOP has now started)

    I’m glad that Steve doesn’t like propaganda, and I would assume, he would prefer facts. Ok, let’s go to the facts about Obama/Trump family separation.

    https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2018/jun/19/matt-schlapp/no-donald-trumps-separation-immigrant-families-was/

  22. Steve 2018-10-13 10:53

    The problem with liberals is that they react according to emotions, not reason. They also do not distinguish between legal and illegal. Liberals also do what they do based on virtue signalling rather than genuine concern for the topic at hand. Take for example the Kavanaugh hearings. Liberals pretend they care about woman’s issues, but they’ll believe a woman with masters degrees and a phd talk like a 6yr old and have a testamony chock full of inconsistencies. Liberals set back woman’s issues by doing this and will make it difficult for woman that were truly oppressed. Liberals don’t care about woman’s issues, but only exploit them to promote political agendas. Same goes for immigration, minorities, or any other group they can turn into a victim.

  23. mike from iowa 2018-10-13 12:28

    Steve believes all the women with documented abuse cases against Drumpf are all paid liars. That advances women’s rights how?

    Stoopid effing wingnuts believe a woman can’t think for herself, can’t possibly know what is in her best interest when it comes to autonomy or reproductive rights.

    He thinks women aren’t worth paying as much as the boys because. Yeah, he is all in for women if you think the past 200 years were good for them.

  24. mike from iowa 2018-10-13 12:30

    Drumpf just hit 41% popularity. That is not a milestone. More like a millstone.

  25. bearcreekbat 2018-10-13 13:36

    Although I am not one of Steve’s demonized liberals (although he might disagree even though he does not know me personally nor anything about my life history), I must confess that I too “react according to emotions,” although I posit that my emotional reactions are based on reason and are no way irrational.

    I find it emotionally upsetting when children are needlessly ripped from their parents by government employees with no regard for the immediate and long term emotional damage caused to these children, as well as their parents, by such cold hearted actions.

    I find it emotionally upsetting when people who live in relative safety marginalize and diminish other human beings facing violence or economic insecurity, simply because of an accident of birth, who only ask America for help or seek better lives for their kids.

    I find it emotionally upsetting when people who have broken laws and consistently break laws (such as South Dakotans who have failed, and continue to fail, to file use tax returns – a class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, or commit, ignore or excuse so many traffic offenses – many that threaten the safety of other drivers (like Bill Janklow and Kristi Noem’s frequent speeding), among a myriad of other laws), hypocritically and disingenously use sancity of the law as an excuse to attack other people for much less dangerous and less serious transgressions (such as crossing the border without papers – a non-violent misdemeaor harming and threatening no one, or not renewing a visa – not even a crime).

    I find it emotionally upsetting when people disregard the individual situations and needs, some incredibly tragic, of women who simply want to be allowed the privacy to decide whether to have a family or seek medical help when problems arise in a pregnancy.

    I find it emotionally upsetting to hear purported leaders, such as Trump, repeatedly and publicly lie about so many facts for his own personal political gain with no apparent regard for the damage such lying causes to others, including children who look to our leaders as role models.

    I find it emotionally upsetting when so many folks let their personal greed and selfishness trump society’s moral responsibility to help people in need, or contribute to the betterment of all.

    These are but a few examples of my “emotional” reaction to events surrounding all of us in this day and age. Although I believe my reactions are rational, if I am incorrect and my emotional reactions are instead irrational, so be it. I would rather experience irrational empathy with others than cold hearted distain for people who deserve much better from us.

  26. jerry 2018-10-13 13:59

    Steve, pot meet kettle. Take a look at a trump rally and tell me about emotions. Mention a woman’s name like Hillary or now, Diane Feinstein and you get the primal screams. Go for something racist, and you get the same. trump just asked the blacks to vote republican and then praised Robert E. Lee to the cheers of this frothers.

    Liberals only are emotional on real issues, you nut cakes on fake issues. See, there is a difference.

  27. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-13 14:08

    See, and now Steve isn’t even talking about family separation any more, perhaps because he realizes that the guy who provoked this post, Stan Adelstein, who refutes Steve’s assertion by saying Trump separated families and that such policy is “inhumane,” isn’t the leftist liberal Steve thought he was attacking. But Steve didn’t come here to discuss the actual issue; he just came to get his rocks off by reciting the arguments he heard on conservative talk radio about liberals and emotion. How tedious and unenlightening.

    Notice that I’m not using any emotional arguments. I’m simply pointing out the words used and Stan Adelstein’s publicly known political position.

  28. mike from iowa 2018-10-13 14:26

    I vote bcb emeritus of DFP forever and always.

  29. Debbo 2018-10-13 16:22

    Mikey, I second that emotion.

  30. mike from iowa 2018-10-13 16:31

    Hey, Debbo. Glad yer back. Got caught in a raging blizzard yesterday moving from my mountain to my winter headquarters. Dang near sweated to death packing supplies down and my old legs paid the price last night. I noticed how much warmer my winter home is than the summer one, too. :)

  31. Debbo 2018-10-13 16:35

    Glad to be back. 😁 Mountaineering is hard work! Glad you got it done before you turned into a popsicle.

  32. Steve 2018-10-14 23:26

    Mike from Iowa, you pretend you care about woman and their rights while advocating it’s okay to kill an inconvenient baby because it’s not fair to be held accoubtable for one’s actions. Hypocrites!

  33. jerry 2018-10-14 23:51

    Steve, back in the bag I see, the word you are looking for is hippopotamus’s! That rot gut will get ya man when you are trying to use spell check.

  34. Steve 2018-10-15 06:49

    Good post “oldsarg”.
    Over 90% of these “immigrants” vote democrat. This is the real reason. They don’t give a crap about the kids, outside of they are future dem voters. Law and Order be damned if it hinders Leftist agenda.

  35. mike from iowa 2018-10-15 08:14

    Steve, you ignorant slu…..immigrants are not allowed, by law, to vote in elections except in California they can vote in school elections.

    And, like usual, yer post at 23:26 makes absolutely no sense. But that is to be expected from dizzy wingnut trolls- hypocrites. You be hopelessly confused. I do not approve or disapprove of abortions. I support a woman’s CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to autonomy over her own body! Have a bad day.

  36. jerry 2018-10-15 09:34

    Steve is a proud boy racist, simple as that mfi. Of course, the irony is that Steve’s people came here as immigrants to use the social networks that had been in place for them that were paid for by those before them.

  37. jerry 2018-10-15 09:43

    Steve, pull your head out and check this out. trump had said he would pay to charity, 1 million dollars if Elizabeth Warren could prove she had Native American blood, turns out she does and just proved it with genetic testing, bah zing!!. So by now calling her “Pocahontas”, he shows he is like you Steve, a proud boy white nationalistic racist.

  38. jerry 2018-10-15 09:50

    House republican leader Kevin McCarthy though did lie about Native blood lines to get federal contracts! Crooked and dirty, just like NOem.

    “A company owned by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s in-laws won more than $7 million in no-bid and other federal contracts at U.S. military installations and other government properties in California based on a dubious claim of Native American identity by McCarthy’s brother-in-law, a Times investigation has found.” http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-na-pol-mccarthy-contracts-20181014-story.html

    As the Des Moines Register says, vote them out. They do not deserve to represent us with all of their crooked ways. Vote Democratic!

  39. Debbo 2018-10-15 11:24

    “Steve, you ignorant slu. . .” Yeah, I know where you were going with that. Perhaps he really is, rather than one of Pootie’s Cuties.

    I doubt if Horror-in-Chief knows or cares that the deep, life long personal nightmare he is inflicting on each one of these innocent children will haunt this country for years to come. Children who’ve been so severely traumatized suffer many consequences that count up in earnings lost, contributions to society stifled, creativity in sciences and arts crushed, more and more severe health conditions, more legal problems, behavioral issues, etc.

    None of this is news and it lasts a lifetime unless sound and costly interventions are made. The first is to Get Them Out Of Those Prisons!

    None of that enters the sick mind of Pootie’s Butt Buddy. He’s just horrifically cruel, enjoys hurting people, especially POC, and has surrounded himself with similar sick monsters.

  40. bearcreekbat 2018-10-15 13:37

    The Trumpist republican position regarding immigration enforcement seems oddly self-contradictory. Trumpists seem to include virtually all people who advocate for no restrictions on their right to possess and use guns and weapons that they say are needed to fight against the danger of an oppressive government.

    Yet these same folks seem to support funding and expansion of ICE, a governmental unit designed to seperate children from their parents, go from home to home, or from business to business, or from farm to farm, and seek out people who are simply minding their own business, round them up and incarcerate them in government established prisons or interment camps. Our ICE agents, dressed in military style uniforms and often heavily armed, are directed by the Trump adminstration to grant no mercy to relatively helpless targeted men, women and children.

    The justification – these people are accused of either commiting a non-violent misdemeanor by crossing the border without papers or transgressing an administrative rule by neglecting to update a visa.

    Meanwhile, most Americans probably commit equal or worse misdemeanors and administrative transgressions every day. This raises the question of whether our Trumpist pro-gun, anti-government folks would support a similar national effort to create a governmental police/military unit to seek out our Country’s non-violent misdemeants, in their homes, work, schools, or wherever they could be found and round these non-violent folks up for incarceration or interment as does ICE.

    Somehow, I doubt that our militant pro-gun anti-government Trumpists would think such a use of government power would be appropriate, especially when focused on misdemeanors and administrative errors, rather than serious or violent crime.

    If this is correct, then there is an obvious contradiction since these folks not only refuse to object to ICE doing this to so many harmless people, they cheer ICE on. I sure hope their rational is neither racist nor based on any other immutable characteristic over which the non-violent victims of such government aggression have no control similar to skin color, such as where their mother happens to give birth.

    While we are all accountable for our transgressions, it seems over the top to encourage government agents to actively and regularly search our homes, schools or work sites, and then tear apart families, all for a simple non-violent misdemeanor or for non-compliance with a bureaucratic rule. I would think antigovernment pro-gun Trumpists might see this as a true “slippery slope.” After all, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

  41. o 2018-10-15 13:54

    bearcreekbat, it may not make “sense” in terms of reasoning, but it makes sense for profit and politics: create discord and sell arms to both sides of the conflict.

  42. mike from iowa 2018-10-15 14:13

    They don’t give a crap about the kids, outside of they are future dem voters. Law and Order be damned if it hinders Leftist agenda.

    Please tell me, dear dimbulb, how treating innocent children the wingnut way endears either the children or their relatives to vote for Gestappo tactics?

    You are not only destroying the lives of innocent non-American kids you are poisoning the minds of millions of American kids who see your actions and think that is the way to treat POC.

  43. bearcreekbat 2018-10-15 14:20

    o, Good point, yet I wonder what percentage of anti-government pro-gun Trumpists realize any benefit from our private prisons and arms sales. I would speculate that the majority gain no wealth from these policies, rather, their earnings are actually part of the loot in many respects.

    mfi, unfortunately I suspect you are correct in recognizing damage to all children, including the kids of our Trumpists.

  44. Debbo 2018-10-15 14:28

    I would guess that costs to the government -us- are high, while profits go to the private prison corporations and are very high.

    That is Pootiepublicans’ and Noem’s economics.

  45. Steve 2018-10-17 05:54

    Hey Debbo, you need to lay off the sauce. It is making you quite hysterical.

  46. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-10-17 06:05

    Steve offers an inconsiderate insult not rooted in any direct knowledge or fact that signals his inability to respond with logic or evidence to the statement Debbo made about a real problem. Steve owes Deb an apology for his disrespect.

  47. Debbo 2018-10-17 11:45

    Thanks Cory. I take Steve’s response to mean he has nothing of substance to offer in relation to my comment and no manners.

  48. mike from iowa 2018-10-17 11:58

    bcb, I’m not convinced wingnuts consider poisoning their children’s
    mind is a bad thing.T hey can always blame the damage on Ma and Pa’s crusade against everything Liberal/Socialist.

    The Liberals made me do it.

  49. bearcreekbat 2018-10-17 14:31

    mfi, if you are correct about some folks current attitudes concerning raising kids this reminds me of how children were raised in Orwell’s “1984” and under the German Reichstag, which seems to be a model for countries like North Korea. It truly would be a shame to see the USA move in that direction.

  50. mike from iowa 2018-10-17 14:54

    Since Drumpf got into the Kremlin Annex, bcb,I am not sure America has any shame left. Why are people like Schoenbeck ragging on Libs when they have the 800 pound gorilla in their midst and he has no social graces at all. He only seems to treat women one way- HIS, which I would not recommend anyone emulate.

    I wonder how his youngest will turn out? Who ever thought America could fall this far this fast?

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