THE FURTHER CORRESPONDENCES OF MARC SUSSELMAN PART 24

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23 April 2024

MS said:

I am compelled to take issue with my good friend s. wallertstein’s assertion, “The Palestinians also suffer from a collective trauma from the Nakba, which has been reactivated and increased by the merciless Israeli invasion of Gaza.” The so-called Nakba was of their own making. There would have been no Nakba had the Palestinians accepted the proposed UN partition of Palestine, which the Jews accepted. What about the trauma of the Jews, being faced with the declared objective of the so-called Palestinians and four Arab nations to drive the Jews into the sea? Moreover, the so-called Nakba has not been “reactivated and increased by the ‘merciless’ Israeli invasion of Gaza.” The invasion is the justified reaction of Israel to the October 7 slaughter committed by Hamas, an organization which the Palestinians in Gaza elected to govern them, and which they cheered in support of Hamas.

Regarding when will this conflict ever end, Piers Morgan gave the answer to this question on his show – it will end when two leaders emerge on both sides dedicated to making peace, as they did to end the troubles in Northern Ireland. Netanyahu and Abbas, and the leaders of Hamas, are not such leaders. It may take years, perhaps decades. Or it may never happen. But neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are going away.

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MS said: The students on college campuses protesting for Palestinian “liberation” would be very comfortable joining in this chorus:

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDuHXTG3uyY"

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MS said:

The central theme of the play and movie “Cabaret” is that during the Weimar Republic, as fascism and anti-Semitism were taking hold in Germany, the people were finding distraction in entertainment, at cabarets and elsewhere. Today, that entertainment is being provided to young people via Tik-Tok, Facebook, blogs and social media on the internet. They are being indoctrinated into believing that the Jews stole the land from the so-called indigenous Palestinians, and they are buying this entertainment hook, line and sinker.

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MS said:

Oral argument on Trump's immunity claim will be heard Thursday morning. This will be an historical oral argument, determining the survival of our democracy. It can be heard by going to the Supreme Court's website and clicking on oral arguments.

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MS said:

Judge Merchan has just held Trump in contempt of court for violating the gag order. Earlier, an observer in the court was taken away in handcuffs for disrupting the proceeding.

This reminds me of an incident I observed in a courtroom in Michigan in 1983, in which an attorney was requesting that his criminal trial before the judge be adjourned, because he had another trial in another court, in another county, scheduled for the same day and time. The other case had been filed earlier and therefore took precedence. The judge, who was known for his intemperance, refused to adjourn the trial. The attorney raised his voice and stated, “Your Honor, I cannot be in two places at the same time!” The judge held him in contempt and had the bailiff take him away in handcuffs. I was shocked! Judges have a lot of power in their courtroom – it is like their little fiefdom. Unfortunately, some judges abuse their power, and the only way to undo the harm is to appeal, which costs attorney time and money, which many litigants cannot afford.

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MS said:

The anthem of the student protesters at Columbia, Yale, NYU and Berkeley, sung to the tune of “Tomorrow Belongs To Me,” from Cabaret:

Oh Palestine, Palestine show us the sign, your terrorists have waited to see,

The morning will come, when Palestine belongs,

When Palestine belongs to me!

Oh Palestine, Palestine show us the sign,

When from the river to the sea, Palestine is Jew free,

And Palestine belongs, and Palestine belongs to me!



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24 April 2024

MS said:

More nonsense on Wolff’s blog claiming that Israel is an “apartheid state.” These people are too ignorant, or biased, to distinguish between policies enforced by law, and conduct of individuals which are not enforced by law, i.e., between de jure and de facto conditions. “Apartheid” is a term which was coined by the Afrikans government in South Africa to apply to its legislation which discriminated against the native African population in every aspect of their lives – where they lived, where they worked, and their role in government. There is nothing – NOTHING – comparable to this in Israel. And in the so-called “occupied” territory west of the Green line, the restrictions on the movement of the Palestinian “refugees” living there have been imposed after the two intifadas in order to protect Israelis from Palestinian terrorists bent on killing them. Does Wolff and his sycophants have to be remined that the “occupied” territories were obtained by Israel after the 1967 war, in which four Arab nations attacked Israel; and Israel has been trying for 55 years to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians which would enable Israel to give this land back to the Palestinians, who lost it in a war. But the Palestinians, under Arafat, and now Abbas, have rejected every reasonable offer of peace made to them. None of Wolff’s sycophantic acolytes who make this baseless charge have ever even been to Israel.

Here is what Kenneth Meshoe, a Black member of the South African parliament, who was born in Pretoria and experienced apartheid first-hand, has said about the claim that Israel is an apartheid state: “I know that nothing is happening in that country [Israel] that can be compared to apartheid in South Africa. We know what apartheid really was. What we suffered in South Africa is not being suffered by anyone in Israel. Non-Jews in Israel have everything that we non-whites in apartheid South Africa never shared with the white South-Africans. The charge that Israel is an apartheid state is a lie about Israel, and it is a lie about the real apartheid.”

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MS said:

Last night, I, with my wife and daughter, experienced a unique second night of Passover. We attended two seders. The first seder was sponsored by Ann Arbor’s Jewish Cultural Society, which represents the far-left of the Jewish spectrum of ideologies. It started at 6 P.M. and ended at 8 P.M. We used a special Haggadah written by the Society’s members before the recent events in Gaza, which included the following passage:

“The concept social justice is woven throughout the history of the Jews. It has taught us to hate oppression for others as much as for ourselves. For Pharoah is all tyrants of all times. There are people throughout the world today struggling under the yoke of slavery and oppression, poverty and ignorance. It is our obligation as Jews to actively support and affirm the rights of all people in their struggle for freedom and human dignity. Retelling the Passover story each year reminds us that there is work to do, and we all have a part in improving the world. We must never forget the words of Theodore Hertzl, ‘Eem Tirtzu – if you will it, it is no dream.’”

The second seder was with a modern Orthodox family in Ann Arbor, whose eldest daughter our daughter had met during her birth-right visit to Israel last year. They have become friends. Their father is a mathematics professor at the University of Michigan. The second service began at 9:00 P.M. and ended at 1:30 A.M. Since the family is vegen, there was no gefilte fish (which I sorely missed). All the dishes were various combinations of different vegetables. They conducted the entire seder, from beginning to end. All of the four daughters, each of whom have been bat-mitzzahed, read Hebrew fluently. In the course of the seder, we read the prayer for the hostages issued by the chief rabbi of Israel, which included the following passage:

“Please plant brotherhood, peace and friendship in the hearts of all, Remove envy and baseless hatred and spread over us the Sukkah of Your peace, And may we merit to soon sing before You a ‘New Song.’”

I was struck by the absence of any distinction in this passage between Israelis and Palestinians.

I asked the host, who was very knowledgeable regarding Judaism, when the protocol for the seder (which means “order”) had been established. He indicated it was about 600 C.E. So, I asked, the Last Supper which was celebrated by Yehoshua and his disciples did not include the Four Questions? Correct, he stated. The Passover seder had not yet been established, but Passover was still celebrated by Jews in Palestine every year, but not in the form we know today.

We also discussed current politics and the prospect of Trump getting elected. They all expressed utter antipathy for Trump, and even spoke about emigrating should he get elected.

It was a very refreshing and informative evening, all told. (And Wolff and his acolytes know none of this.)

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MS said:

Below is a link to live footage of the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. You can hear the students shouting, repeatedly, “Free, Free Palestine,” the hypnotic mantra accusing Jews of having enslaved the Palestinians. This is what American “education” has wrought – a bunch of ignorant, so-called humanitarian youngsters who know nothing of Judaism, of Jewish history, of the history of Islamic conquest, and of world history in general. These are our future government and business leaders. God help us. The only saving grace is that they have not been as disruptive as the students at Columbia, Yale and NYU.

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoklOnEBy9g"

My error. This may be the University of Texas, judging from the patches on the troopers' uniforms, but the message is the same.

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MS said:

Consider the following:

A gunman shoots a pedestrian, and kills him. The police exchange gunfire with the gunman, and he is shot and severely injured with life-threatening wounds. The gunman is rushed to the hospital for emergency medical attention. The state in which this has occurred has a law which states that if an individual is injured by the police after the individual has killed another person, the physicians are precluded from providing medical attention to the gunman, since murder by the gunman is illegal under the state law. Physicians who violate the law, and provide medical attention in violation of the law, will have their medical licenses revoked. The gunman dies. The physicians maintain that had they been allowed to treat the gunman, they would have been able to save his life. Does the gunman’s estate have any legal recourse against the physicians? Against the state?

Against the physicians, I would say No. They were prohibited by state law from treating the gunman. They were simply following the law.

Against the state, I would say Yes. The state law is unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, because it deprives a citizen of the U.S. of his right to life.

This is how I see the Idaho law which prohibits physicians from providing emergency abortions to women in extremis, since abortions are illegal in Idaho, under any circumstances. The law, in my opinion, is unconstitutional, and therefore the federal law which requires that the physicians in Idaho provide the abortion is in opposition to the Idaho law, which in these circumstances is unconstitutional. This is how I believe the U.S. Supreme Court should rule on the case which was heard in the Court today. Whether that is how they will rule is anyone’s guess.

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MS said:

Post=script: Mark your calendars. Tomorrow the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on Trump's claim of presidential immunity. It should be historic.

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MS said:

So now MAD, in his limitless hubris, takes aim at Saul Bellow, a Nobel Prize winner in literature, for purportedly dismissing evidence when Bellow characterizes critics of Israel as ignorant, self-ingratiating gnomes. Bellow’s evidence? His knowledge of Israel and Judaism, and his keen sense and observations of human nature, as demonstrated in his excellent novels.

And MAD obviously knows little about Christopher Hitchens, who, in his later life became a scathing critic of the Islamic State and its campaign against Israel, stating of anti-Semitism., that it is “[T]he common enemy of humanity, and one had always regarded it as such, as much as by instinct as by education.” MAD proves, once more, that he is an ignorant fool.

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MS said:

And now Pillette chimes in to take pot shots at Hitchens and Bellow, as if his puny intellect could compete with either of them. Wolff’s blog is full of mental midgets who have grandiose views of their rhetorical and cognitive abilities, when they are barely cogent.

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25 April 2024

MS said:

I just learned that Harvey Weinstein's conviction for sexua harassment has been oveturned by the New York Court of Appeals, and a new trial has been ordered. Stunning.

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MS said:

For those of you who may be dismayed and/or angered by the New York Court of Appeals’ reversal of Harvey Weinstein’s conviction, the reversal reaffirms a well-established, and rational, rule of evidence – that a defendant, particularly in a criminal trial, may not be found guilty based on evidence of prior similar incidents that have not been charged in the indictment. To use a simplified example, if you are criminally charged with running a red light, you would not want the prosecutor to be able to introduce evidence that you ran the red light beyond a reasonable doubt based on evidence that you had run red lights on 4 previous occasions, and/or that he had been caught speeding on 4 previous occasions. You would want your guilt or innocence to be based on eyewitness evidence that you were seen running the red light on this specific occasion.

In criminal law there is a narrow exception to this rule. Evidence of prior similar acts is admissible if it demonstrates a unique “modus operandi” which helps identify the defendant as the culprit in this particular case. For example, if there is evidence that the defendant on several prior occasions was wearing a red bandana, used a particular kind of knife, and threatened his victim with the use of a particularly worded threat, then this evidence would be admissible to identify the defendant as the same culprit in this particular case by the victim’s testimony that her assailant was wearing a red bandana, used the same kind of knife, and made the same threat to her as the defendant had used in other sexual assaults.

Here, the prosecution offered testimony by women, not named in the indictment, who testified that Weinstein had sexually assaulted them. The Court concluded that the manner in which these women testified that Weinstein assaulted them was not sufficiently similar to the way that the two women who were named in the indictment testified he had sexually assaulted them to come within the “modus operandi” exception to the exclusion of similar past acts. I believe this is a just and correct ruling, which preserves the presumption of innocence for all of us.

What may happen in a retrial? The prosecution will have to depend on the credibility of the two women who were named in the indictment to convince a jury that Weinstein, beyond a reasonable doubt, sexually assaulted them. It is a high bar, but it is a bar that is essential to our criminal justice system.

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26 April 2024

MS said:

Watch the video below. It is sickening. Even during the Vietnam war protests in which I participated in the 1960s, I never heard students yelling “Death to America!”

At Columbia, opposition to the insanity and essential reporting on it* has come from sophomore David Lederer. David got the attention of the media when he posted on X the results of a "social experiment": He took an American flag to a New York "pro-Palestine" rally to see what reaction he would receive. See for yourself what happened.**

* "https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/04/23/jewish-student-columbia-university-david-jonah-lederer-nn-digvid.cnn?utm_source=tikvah_lists&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Tikvah%20Campus%20Email%20%284.26.24%29&_kx=KqWbbh6LEFmujNnjZBEgNTaW16PKtFkW5CcuCiGQemo.LFdrfw"

** "https://twitter.com/Davidlederer6/status/1780143103048888493?t=4gr-L5PflT6VHD5kVEgQhw&s=19"

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27 April 2024

MS said:

More utter historical nonsense from MAD:

“In the foundations of Brith Shalom one of the determining factors was that the Zionist aim has no equal example in history. The aim is to bring the Jews as second nation into a country which already is settled as a nation - and fulfill this through peaceful means. History has seen such penetration by one nation into a strange land only by conquest, but it has never occurred that a nation will freely agree that another nation should come and demand full equality of rights and national autonomy at its side. The uniqueness of this case prevents its being, in my opinion, dealt with in conventional political-legal terms. It requires special contemplation and study. Brith Shalom should be the forum in which the problem is discussed and investigated.”

When Jews began emigrating to Palestine in the 19th century, “Palestine” was not a nation – it was colony of the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, there were thousands of Jews already living there, Jews who remained there after the Roman expulsion, and had been living there for centuries. And what is MAD saying, that subjugation of a country by conquest is more moral than by peaceful immigration? He has a twisted mind, indeed.

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MS said:

I wish to take issue with my good friend s. wallerstein’s specious attack on my other good friend, Michael Llenos. Those who were on the Un-American Committee’s black-list in the 1950’s were members of the American Communist Party who were exercising their freedom of speech and freedom of association under the First Amendment. They never chanted, “Death To America!” and did not burn the American flag. In fact, in several decisions by the United States Supreme Court, the freedom of speech of members of the Communist Party was upheld, see, e.g., Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589 (1967), which held that a requirement by the State University of New York that professors take a loyalty oath violated the First Amendment. Screaming “Death To America!” in a crowd, however, is not protected as free speech under the First Amendment, because it comes within the exception for speech intended to arouse insurrection and/or the exception for what is referred to as “fighting words.”

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MS said:

This is what a well-intentioned Jewish student at Yale says the Talmud teaches us:

“Indeed, Yale Jews for Ceasefire exists because of — not in spite of — our Jewish values. On the issue of divestment, for example, the Talmud teaches us that we may not sell weapons to those we suspect of using them criminally. Therefore, we have a duty to disrupt the manufacture and sale of military weapons that kill others, including those killing Palestinians.”

"https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/27/opinions/yale-student-palestinian-protests-berlin/index.html"

Where is the flaw in his thinking? The flaw is in his failure to appreciate the use of the phrase, “those we suspect of using them criminally.” More than a mere “suspicion” should be required in deciding whether to deprive people who, rather than allegedly using the weapons “criminally,” are using them in self-defense to prevent their extermination. It is sloppy analytical thinking such as this, by Jews and non-Jews alike, which disgusts me.

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MS said:

"https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/04/26/columbia-university-student-protest-apology-marquez-lead-dle-digvid.cnn"

If Zionists “do not deserve to live,” what do the descendants of the Muslim Arab hordes which conquered all of North Africa, and the countries in the Byzantine empire, at the point of the sword, and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people living there peacefully before the hordes descended on them, and their being subjected to forced conversion to Islam deserve?

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MS said:

Bravo! LFC sets MAD straight.

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MS said:

An academic speaking some uncommon sense:

"https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2024/04/27/smr-galloway-on-student-protests.cnn"

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MS said:

Donald Trump took Scott Galloway's advice early in life. He found that his talent was lying and cheating people, so he made that his life's passion.

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MS said:

President Biden hit it out of the park.

"https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/27/politics/video/biden-jokes-white-house-correspondents-dinner-trump-age-digvid"

And so did Colin Jost.

"https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/27/politics/video/colin-jost-grandfather-story-biden-vote-digvid"

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The United States is a Christian nation. This woman says so.

"https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/26/business/video/misinfo-nation-god-constitution-donie-osullivan-the-whole-story-tws-digvid"

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MS said:

Last night, I sent the following email to the Office of PM Netanyahu.

Does PM Netanyahu feel any responsibility or guilt for how his actions, and inactions, have fucked up Israel’s reputation in world opinion? One day he is going to die, and he is going to have to account to Hashem for his incompetence, his neglect, his oversized ego, and the damage he has done to Israel and to the Jewish people, worldwide.

Marc Susselman

Attorney at Law, and a once proud supporter of Israel

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MS said:

Friday night, my wife and I attended a Shabbat service at the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist congregation. After the service, during the Oneg, I sat at a table with a couple who grew up and lived in Israel for several decades. They left Israel so that their two sons would not have to serve in the IDF. I asked them about s. wallerstein’s claim that Palestinian children in Israel do not attend the same schools as Israeli children. They said that West of the Green line, this is not true. They indicated that while many Palestinian children attend Arabic only schools, Israel has public schools which have teachers who speak in Hebrew and Arabic, and are attended by both Jewish Israeli and Arab Israeli children.

One thing they told me surprised me. I asked them what Jewish denomination did they belong to when they lived in Israel. They said that there are essentially only three Jewish denominations in Israel: The ultra-Orthodox; the Orthodox; and secular Judaism. They indicated there are no established Conservative or Reform Jewish congregations in Israel. They were secular Jews.

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28 April 2024

MS said:

I just learned that Mike Pinder, keyboardist for the Moody Blues, has passed away, at the age of 82.

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxKJ8ZV9FRk"

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MS said:

I must say, John Pillette's most recent comment makes a cogent observation.

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MS said:

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUbLa6qspIw"

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29 April 2024

MS said:

I am going to go out on a limb here and come to John Pillette’s defense. My friend (?) s. wallerstein observes that while student protests don’t guarantee success of the movement which the protesters advocate for, history has shown some of those protests have been successful in advancing the movement – the protests against the Vietnam War, for women’s rights, for gay rights, for example. But the success of such protests is a function of the persuasiveness and legitimacy of the protest. In the case of the current protesters’ condemnation of Israel and its role in the war against Hamas in Gaza, laced with anti-Semitic slurs (“From The River To The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free”; Go Back To Poland, etc.), persuasiveness and legitimacy are sorely lacking. Pillette is both pointing out the speciousness of the protests, and their hypocrisy – law school protesters clamoring for aid to the Palestinians and the wretched of the Earth, while they apply for high-paying jobs at corporate and insurance company law firms.

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MS said:

Vietnam protesters never did anything like this.

"https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/29/us/video/ucla-student-pushback-protests-gaza-encampment-digvid"

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MS said:

I never thought I would say this, but I must applaud John Pillette for his spirited criticism of the college protesters and their naïve endangerment of the survival of our democracy by improving Trump’s chances of getting elected. They and their ilk already undermined the right of women to control their own bodies by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. If their protests help defeat Biden, do they think Trump will allow them to camp out on college campuses? Utter stupidity.

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30 April 2024

MS said:

Re “Journalism professors urge review of NYT story on Oct. 7 sexual violence,” I find it interesting that these same professors, who presumably are pursuing truth in journalism, have not simultaneously requested a review of the NYT’s stories reporting Hamas’s statements about how many Palestinian civilians, as distinguished from Hamas combatants, have been killed by the IDF.

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MS said:

As long as we are talking about jokes:

"https://www.tiktok.com/@joewongstandup/video/7228668164106800430?lang=en"

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Michael said:

The joke was funny, but it can be seen as offensive by a Christian in three different ways. (1) It doesn't give proper reverence to Jesus. (2) If you're an evangelical Christian it makes their methods shown in a bad light. & (3) In finding the joke funny by some Christians, & not others: some Christians will insult other Christians because of their different religious backgrounds.

However, to use Thomas Aquinas' method I'll refute all 3 points. (1) I shouldn't pass judgement so harshly or quickly on such a joke in not giving Christ reverence when I disrespect God & Christ all of the time. (2) Evangelical Christians sometimes make fun of the Catholic Church. And some Christians need less pride and more humility & less of a feeling superiority towards other Christians and non-Christians. And (3) Christians still have no right to insult other Christians based on their sect's background & history.

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The End.