(Enlarge.)
... who seems to be making a very precise point. Look at his hands:
And let's get a closer look at those BP executives (BP CEO Tony Hayward, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP General Counsel Rupert Bondy):
Svanberg, especially, seems capable of overmatching the President's determination.
But, of course, they are all posing. Including the usually lethargic Janet Napolitano — at the right, turned from the camera, dressed in electric blue — who seems roused for action. Not as roused as Teddy Roosevelt and his horse... and think about how difficult it would have been for a horse to pose for a painting like that. It's all phony of course, all the way down to TR and the horse he rode in on.
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103 comments:
They're all hoping to keep their jobs.
Do any of them actually care what's happening, or are any of them actually thinking about what they can do to stop the leak?
I think they just want to keep their jobs, and are worried about their image.
Hopefully someone somewhere who actually has some input actually cares about the leak itself and what it is doing to the Gulf, and to all the nice fish.
Perfectly seamless segue from Janet Napolitano to a horse. My hat, Professor. ;)
God, could you imagine have to listen to Zero and not be able to leave? At least Bush could be entertaining with his mangled diction.
Pretty sure Biden's just napping.
Ok-- can someone with fashion sense answer my burning question?
Why are the women wearing such garish suits? Why not a black or grey suit with a colored camisole, if the need to make a splash?
The men are all dressed in serious tones-- the women look like escaped clowns....
The guys on the left look qualified and competent and no-nonsense, like they should be running our country. (Maybe they are?)
The folks on the right look weak and pathetic.
To paraphrase either Georges Clemenceau or Groucho Marx: Political theatre is to theatre what military music is to music.
Obama really has nothing when it comes to nails. I wonder if he trims them daily.
I do that. I hate hearing my nails click on the piano keys as I play.
As a former Federal employee, I noticed the name plates were made of the same folded card material used in countless meetings I attended. What's good enough for the frontline govnernment employee is good enough for the President of the United States and BP executives.
"It's all phony of course, all the way down to TR and the horse he rode in on."
All that posing by the assembled poseurs may be phony, but $20 billion definitely has the ring of reality to it. What's not phony are the calculations that led the O-Team to demand the cash pile, and the BP team to cough it up.
Don't put the woman in Turquoise at the head of the table..
His hand gesture may indicate precise (may be that is why he was gesturing like crazy during his speech two days ago) but his face says something else.. he is not even looking at the culprits and the Swede is saying "Bring it on." They know a weasel when they see one.
My office nameplate has Velcro on it.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
G - l - o - r - i - a.
Glo-o-oria.
This picture reminds me of Fed Ex commercial where the boss steals the employee's idea at a meeting.
"You just said the same thing I did except you did this"
"No, I did this"
The flashy image of 20 billion placed into escrow according to speeches and news headlines is phony too. It's 3 billion now. Later deposits may be made on a schedule, but 17 billion of the money is MIA and subject to any Bankruptcy that is filed.
Those don't look like hands of a person able to kick anyone's ass.
Those look like the fingers and nails of a metrosexual in full bloom.
It is a czar or a commission or both but never me.. because I am not an expert and I don't know what to do..
There were enough warnings!
From Jake Tapper during 2008 primary:
"And, well, and you start making mistakes," Obama said, "or you lose the big picture. Or you lose a sense of, I think you lose a feel-- " {misses teleprompter}
"Your feeling," interrupted Cameron. "And that is exactly what politics is all about. The judgment you bring to make decisions." {Cameron stands in for the teleprompter}
"That's exactly right," Obama said. "And the truth is that we've got a bunch of smart people, I think, who know ten times more than we do about the specifics of the topics. And so if what you're trying to do is micromanage and solve everything then you end up being a dilettante but you have to have enough knowledge to make good judgments about the choices that are presented to you."
BP Official: "How much money do you want right now?"
Obama: "About this much."
It's an interesting shot. The BP guys had already decided to take one up the keister, and you can see how much they are enjoying it. The One is gasbaggig, and you can see how much his team is enjoying it. The real fun starts after the photo op when the lawyers get their knives out. The BP Chief Counsel looks more than a match for Holder, but surely the DOJ found a competent team to stand up to the man eaters from BP.
My guess is that we got schtupped. Liguidity for now, is not a problem for BP, and no one knows the fine print on the escrow deal. It's plain that the pols will steal as much as possible, especially Chicago pols. This will not end well.
His precise point is that he needs to use more words than anyone else to prove that he's in charge. The BP guys are thinking, "What an ass." And he is, you know.
I had a boss like him once. The guy liked being in charge but if we ever needed anything from him, we were punished for it...and he held a grudge like nobody's business. He also liked to identify a whipping boy and we all knew that we could blame everything on that person, and the boss would be okay with that. O does the same--tries to keep us on his side by constantly reminding us who the bad guy is this week.
What's supposed to be the source of Obama's authority to mulct BP for damages? I'm used to thinking of that as a judicial function.
His hands aren't quite as wrinkled as Angelina Jolie's.
Must be the golf and arugula.
Hands unsullied by manual labor.
You know how you can see a "light bulb" in the eyes of smart people? I never see that in Napolitano nor Salazar.
For those who missed it, The Zero was in that meeting for all of 20 minutes, probably just for the photo op.
But to Ann's point about posing. Take a look at Svanberg and Halo Joe. Joe is saying something fatuous or stupid or condescending (maybe all of the above) and it's obviously hit a nerve with Svanberg. That's no pose, that's pure hate. If I were Joe or The Zero, I wouldn't go into an alley with that guy.
PS Julius, I have to agree with most of what you said.
PPS The painting, if I'm not mistaken, is Frederic Remington's portrait of TR. Few people painted horse as well, so the attitude of the horse is probably authentic.
Ann is making a point about poses, but I'm sure she knows about the painting.
Teddy Roosevelt is a faded image of military readiness...and think about how difficult it would have been for a horse to pose for a painting like that.
Tade Styka painted the portrait in 1909, the year Teddy left the White House. Back in the day, artists were familiar with what horses looked like in various poses.
Ha ha yes, it's all posturing, the $20 billion in liability-unlimited escrow funds will be paid out in monopoly money and oily sea life.
Wait, you say it's real money?? And the president secured it with BP having no obligation to do it?? What the...
Whenever I see one of these "corporate heads 'come to Jesus' meeting with administration" I'm reminded of this scene from "The Killing Fields" (start at 6:45)
Onka forgives you
PS Svanberg is squinting at
the little people
It could be a stuffed horse. Roy Rogers had Trigger stuffed.
Taxadermy is cool and only Republicans have the "guts" to do it.
When Congress decided to look at organized crime they put the hearings on this new fangled thing called television. They were interviewing the capo di tuti capo of the day in the "Prime Minsiter" the one and only Frank Costello. He refused to allow himself to be photographed and for some reason it stuck. So they only televised his hands which he twisted and turned as he tried to talk his way out of the questions and not give up anything he could be prosecuted for by the feds.
Every that's old becomes new again.
O/T (breaking now):
"More than 500 decisions by the leading federal agency that referees disputes between labor and management will have to be reopened after the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the five-member board had operated illegally when its membership dwindled to two."
Excellent call!
Plus the real problem with the painting is getting the horse back in the same pose every morning after Teddy spent the night banging that Indian chick.
Trooper, no SJP reference?
Janet at the Obama State of the Union Address.
......the usually lethargic Janet Napolitano...... Zzzzzzzzzzz
Ha, ha, ha.
Sandman
How 'bout some of that coffee for Janet.
Bringing Holder was a tactical mistake. The garish suits that the three women are wearing are fashion mistakes. Napolitano is a mistake, period.
You might be impressed by Svanberg's expression, Professor, but I like Bondy's expression in the same image. He looks to me like someone who is sizing up the opposition, and thinking he can take them.
Just noticed Althouse cattily dissing the fashion choices of the women in the room, like she criticizes the WaPo for doing all the time. Nice.
The BP Chief Counsel looks more than a match for Holder, but surely the DOJ found a competent team to stand up to the man eaters from BP.
I'm rooting for the BP lawyers.
I mean c'mon, does anyone really think that $20 billion will be used the way it should? Payoffs to libtard constituent groups is more likely.
Pretty sure Biden is sleeping. Is the BP guy the one that Obama said he would have fired if he was working for Obama? What are the chances that Obama (outside of politics) would ever be at a point where he was the boss of a CEO? Anywhere?
"Ha ha yes, it's all posturing, the $20 billion in liability-unlimited escrow funds will be paid out in monopoly money and oily sea life."
Ha Ha yes, nothing like bypassing rule of law to extort money from anyone is there? What the hell, he's the president! He can do anything he wants and Montagne is right behind him.
Svanberg:
"I can't believe that this prissy *** is the president."
Sort of like Steve Urkel without the balls.
It's all phony of course, all the way down to TR and the horse he rode in on.
The love that rode him in to the WH is slowly leaking out the Gulf, a Valdez size tanker, every seven to ten days.
We cant talk a leak into submission Mr President.. We are going to have to DO something.
It's funny that there is a name plate for "The President."
Shhhh.....Janet's Sandman Dream .
Naughty puss!
Payoffs to libtard constituent groups is more likely.
Rep. Barton's point, phrased in a more pithy fashion.
Obama sized them up, and then decided he couldn't kick any of their asses.
Whats Eric Holder doing there?
Is he going to subpoena the leak?
The clock on the mantle in the first act goes off in the third.
I am sure the most transparent admin ever will create a website with sortable data so anyone can see who gets paid with the $20 Billion and exactly how much each claimant got paid.
O/T (but absolutely MUST be shared):
Aw: Olbermann quits Daily Kos after taking heat for ripping Obama’s speech
Is the BP guy the one that Obama said he would have fired if he was working for Obama?
Well based upon his current performance, I'd say the electorate is gearing up to fire him come November.
The women look marginalized and unserious. I mean, you dress differently for a big meeting than for just another day in the office. And when you're getting stuck on the end anyway....
That's not a fashion choice. It's a business etiquette choice.
> who seems to be making a very precise point.
No, no, he is saying he cares about the small people and he is showing us just how big he really thinks they are.
Rep. Barton's point, phrased in a more pithy fashion.
There's no way in Hell anyone should be apologizing to BP for the fiasco of BP's own making.
In some future business course, do you think BP's response will be cited as something that evolved in a way that is favorable to the Company?
Of course if the Republicans had been in charge they would have been giving money to BP while making apologies because they always look out for the small people!
Isn't the shelf above the fireplace called a "mantel" and a cloak or cape called a "mantle"?
Teddy, of course, would have commanded the fleet to the scene and by executive order initiated the construction of the berms. He would have commissioned every fishing boat from Port Aransas to Apalachicola. He would have called in the Chairman of BP within the week. He would have called for prisoners to rake the beaches. He would have recognized that until the well was capped or circumvented that the war was against the oil on the surface of the Gulf and he would have done everything in his power to keep it from our shores. He would not have consulted a lawyer. He might have failed, but he would have done so in a spectacular way that would have resulted in cheers and not sneers.
How humiliating for him to look down at this crowd.
Isn't there a tradition about portraying famous men on horses? Where if the horse is standing on all fours, the man died of natural causes, or if the horse is up on its hind legs, the man died in battle? Is that a statue-only thing, or did T.R. decide to ignore that tradition as well?
There's no way in Hell anyone should be apologizing to BP for the fiasco of BP's own making.
Nor is there any way in Hell that people are going to let Obama off the hook for the fiasco of Obama's own making.
USC TITLE 33 > CHAPTER 26 > SUBCHAPTER III > § 1321:
(a) Definitions
For the purpose of this section, the term—
(1) “oil” means oil of any kind or in any form, including, but not limited to, petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged spoil;
...
(11) “offshore facility” means any facility of any kind located in, on, or under, any of the navigable waters of the United States, and any facility of any kind which is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and is located in, on, or under any other waters, other than a vessel or a public vessel;
...
(b)(1) The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of the United States that there should be no discharges of oil or hazardous substances into or upon the navigable waters of the United States, adjoining shorelines, or into or upon the waters of the contiguous zone, or in connection with activities under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act [43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.] or the Deepwater Port Act of 1974 [33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.], or which may affect natural resources belonging to, appertaining to, or under the exclusive management authority of the United States (including resources under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act [16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.]).
...
(c) Federal removal authority
(1) General removal requirement
(A) The President shall, in accordance with the National Contingency Plan and any appropriate Area Contingency Plan, ensure effective and immediate removal of a discharge, and mitigation or prevention of a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance—
...
(d) National Contingency Plan
(1) Preparation by President
The President shall prepare and publish a National Contingency Plan for removal of oil and hazardous substances pursuant to this section.
(2) Contents
The National Contingency Plan shall provide for efficient, coordinated, and effective action to minimize damage from oil and hazardous substance discharges, including containment, dispersal, and removal of oil and hazardous substances, and shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
...
(B) Identification, procurement, maintenance, and storage of equipment and supplies.
...
(F) Procedures and techniques to be employed in identifying, containing, dispersing, and removing oil and hazardous substances.
...
(M) A fish and wildlife response plan, developed in consultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other interested parties (including State fish and wildlife conservation officials), for the immediate and effective protection, rescue, and rehabilitation of, and the minimization of risk of damage to, fish and wildlife resources and their habitat that are harmed or that may be jeopardized by a discharge.
Considering the cumulative damage being done to our country by the Harvard grads [seated on the right side of that table], can we get Harvard to set aside $50 Billion or so to compensate us?
Just walked past a TV and caught a few minutes of Hayward in the hotseat. He looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. It must be hard to sit there, knowing that BP screwed up enormously on his watch, knowing that he is being held personally responsible...and still thinking, "If that prick Obama had just called me on day 3 and offered to work with me on this..."
Because O--with all his finger-pointing and "they'll pay" bluster in between rounds of golf--has made it all about Tony Hayward. Once O noticed that something happened in the Gulf of Mexico (when was that? how many weeks in?), he must have realized that he would take heat for it...and took the pissant approach of blaming Hayward instead of the American approach of offering assistance, concern, compassion.
I cannot think of a single instance when I thought O was feeling something close to compassion.
So who or what is Obama looking at? It does not appear to be the people sitting around the table. Could it be the door, hoping that the meeting is over and he can go have lunch?
Kirby Olson said...
"They're all hoping to keep their jobs."
That was my first reaction too. A bunch of people who richly deserve to have their jobs in danger.
Beyond that, the BP people are trying to figure out how to keep their company in existence.
Obama is just trying to retain power. A meeting-mugging like this gives Obama the illusion that he has power. But like BP's well his power is gushing uselessly, spreading thin over a delusively calm surface, destroying, choking the life and spirit not of a region but of the entire nation.
A new CNN poll taken a day after Barack Obama’s Oval Office speech delivered more bad news to the White House. The poll shows 59% disapproval over Obama’s handling of the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, an increase of eight points since May 21-23 survey. Approval has dropped from 46% to 41%, making an 13-point shift in approval in three weeks. The result shows that Obama’s speech failed to repair his damaged position and build his credibility on his competence.
Huh. Well, whaddya know.
Looks like you really can't fool all of the people, all of the time, after all.
"think about how difficult it would have been for a horse to pose for a painting like that"
It's harder for Obama--he is trying to hold a pose for four years.
So who or what is Obama looking at?
Obama isn't the kind of guy who looks a person in the eye unless he knows that person will agree with him. Pusillanimous is the perfect work for him. So is prick.
The energy industry could dig every well as if digging to the center of the Earth, using only the finest materials and components. Then we could pay $10 a gallon for gas.
Michael said...
Teddy, of course, would have commanded the fleet to the scene and by executive order initiated the construction of the berms. He would have commissioned every fishing boat from Port Aransas to Apalachicola. He would have called in the Chairman of BP within the week. He would have called for prisoners to rake the beaches. He would have recognized that until the well was capped or circumvented that the war was against the oil on the surface of the Gulf and he would have done everything in his power to keep it from our shores. He would not have consulted a lawyer. He might have failed, but he would have done so in a spectacular way that would have resulted in cheers and not sneers.
That's what he meant when he spoke these words.
former law student said...
Tade Styka painted the portrait in 1909, the year Teddy left the White House. Back in the day, artists were familiar with what horses looked like in various poses.
I stand corrected.
Is anybody else shocked that JAMIE GORELICK is involved in this event? Amazing!!!
The woman is Zelig.
Can't help but pine for some adults to be sitting across the table from the BP execs. Re-imagine the picture with Bush and Cheney. Suddenly it looks like a picture of people solving a problem instead of a photo op. (Of course, then you'd also have to imagine the picture being taken several weeks ago.)
Nothing at all about the right half of that picture demonstrates anything about America's love of affirmative action. Nothing at all.
"Is anybody else shocked that JAMIE GORELICK is involved in this event? Amazing!!! '
She screwed up intelligence gathering in the 90's and helped precipitate 9/11, ushered Fannie Mae towards the financial precipice in the 00's, and came away richer and more influential. It seems only right that she's on site for this mess.
BP's official Democratic Party fixer.
Look at his hands:
If only those attractive hands had gone into hand modeling instead of politicking.
BPs official Democratic party fixer...
You would think Billy J would be lurking around the edges of this as well. There is a well lubricated hole involved after all.
Jamie Gorelick went to Harvard too.
"Jamie Gorelick went to Harvard too."
F***! That figures!
We're in the best of hands.
Re-imagine the picture with Bush and Cheney.
I notice you didn't say McCain and Palin. :)
Richard Dolan said,
"All that posing by the assembled poseurs may be phony, but $20 billion definitely has the ring of reality to it. What's not phony are the calculations that led the O-Team to demand the cash pile, and the BP team to cough it up."
$2o Bilion doesn't even begin to cover it, and a third of that will be eaten by lawyers, so it's a nice payday for Obama's buddies who will be coming to the trough for dinner soon.
Do note that the agreement is that BP will be funding the escrow account over 4 years at $5 billion per year.
This escrow account isn't even what is being claimed.
I don't get it. Obama jawbones $20 billion out of a company responsible for only $75 million, and the Althousians are still bitching and moaning about him.
Sorry, Freeman, nothing personal:
Can't help but pine for some adults to be sitting across the table from the BP execs. Re-imagine the picture with Bush and Cheney. Suddenly it looks like a picture of people solving a problem instead of a photo op.
If it's Bush and Cheney the people on the other side of the table work for ExxonMobil.
4 years at $5 billion per year.
What's the present value of this cash flow?
$19.995 billion?
I hope they aren't discussing this , at the table in these pics, a theory posted over at the Oil Drum blog.
All of these things lead to only one place, a fully wide open well bore directly to the oil deposit...after that, it goes into the realm of "the worst things you can think of"... [...] the very least damaging outcome as bad as it is, is that we are stuck with a wide open gusher blowing out 150,000 barrels a day of raw oil or more.
Gulp.
FLS: I am not sure "jawboned" is the right term. "Extorted" might be a better fit, but I wasn't there. I can only conclude that BP determined that for PR and general liability reasons they should capitulate to this stupid "fund" that will be overseen by some guy that Obama appoints. The devil, of course, will be in the details which we probably will never see. I certainly want BP to do the right thing, but I am not happy if that means that if we are in business we have to warrant that accidents will never happen and that the laws placing dollar liability on accidents have no meaning.
Shut up. This guy is community-organizing his ass off and what do you do? -- complain, complain, complain. I'm tell'n ya, a guy gets no respect around here, I said "get me a photo op that makes me look like T. Roosevelt on a horse," and they stick me on top of Janet Napolitano.
"... and the grim ladies in coral and turquoise look to their leader, Barack Obama..."
It's the Michael Scott presidency, and that's his party planning committee.
This is probably the closest The Oil Drum will ever come to admitting there's still some oil down there.
Garage:
Any idea what the average offshore oil well produces per day? I have not seen that figure anywhere and thought it could be handy to use for a resonableness check when we get all these estimates thrown around.
AJ
Sorry no idea. They think there are roughly 2 billions barrels of oil in the reservoirs under the Horizon site though.
@kent: "Perfectly seamless segue from Janet Napolitano to a horse. My hat, Professor. ;)"
That's an instance of "going to see a man about a horse" if ever I saw one!
Garage:
2 billion barrels at 150,000 barrels a day is only 13,333 days or about 36 years! Piece of cake heh!
I notice you didn't say McCain and Palin. :)
Heh. You caught that, eh?
Heh. We're applying exegesis to this photograph like it's Da Vinci's Last Supper...and, in a sense, it is, at least for BP.
AJ
This natural gas vent in Turkmenistan has been burning for 35 yrs after a drilling rig collapsed.
Oh, and:
Dead Julius: "The guys on the left look qualified and competent and no-nonsense, like they should be running our country."
There's a reason why 90% of executive positions are held by middle-aged men over six feet tall. It's because they trip all those father-figure nerves for people like Dead Julius. They make Dead Julius feel safe and secure, which is why we're willing to pay them forty million dollars a year to turn good ideas and hard work into dogshit through mismanagement.
Halojones-fan: Wont' that be great if we put BP and those fat cat execs out of business? Won't that be cool? Then all the people who work on the rigs and in the refineries and in the gas stations and that drive the gas to and fro can all get really good jobs in the green energy business, building and repairing windmills. And the investors, well they are like investors, fat cats right? Tough titty to them.
It is going to be so cool. Because we can't have accidents in Obama's world and there are no accidents in the green energy world. No accidents period in the new world. Because when you have accidents you had bad management: post hoc ergo propter hoc. Because the guys in that room, the guys who run the fourth largest corporation in the world, should have known this was going to happen but they wouldn't stop it.
You know what? It isn't up to Obama to decide who pays what and how much. We are a country of laws and due process (at least if you are a freaking Muslim bomber)and I am disgusted that this thug takes pride in himself becoming the law.
I see that Barton has 'apologized'. That was fast.
Still, if I was running against him, I would absolutely drill that quote into the minds of every single voter in the district. Is you Representative working for you, or are they working for BP, despoiler of beaches?
Little did the voters know in voting for Obama that they were getting Al Sharpton's Politics of Shakedown.
I will personally see Tony Hayward's head on a pike for caving in to this.
I am a BP Shareholder (via Amoco for 40 years). We F*d up so we will need to make it right. But handing over the money needed to make it right to the most unethical administration ever was a major blunder. It will not serve the people of the Gulf well nor will it serve BP.
And yes, the business climate in this country does matter if you want jobs. Ignoring the rule of Law and having congres speople threaten to pass retroactive legislation does a lot of damage to people's willingness to take a risk in return for a reward.
working out tonite I thought of a clinical analogy. When running a code arrest on a patient two of the many UNHELPFUL things to do was
1) spend time trying to figure out who f'd up to lead to the arrest
2) run around like chicken with its head cut off screaming OMG,OMG!!!
Lets resuscitate the patient and then we can go for righteous anger
It's like watching adults at the childrens table. God, what an embarrassment this administration is. It's not even on the level that leftards claimed Bush as being stupid. This is just a whole new level of felony dumb.
It's not even on the level that leftards claimed Bush as being stupid.
Right. Here Obama succeeded in (partially) righting a wrong. The comparable success for Bush would be an image of Bin Laden in handcuffs.
enSo Obama shakes down a corporation for a $20B slush fund. You want to see corruption? Wait and see how this money gets doled out. Teddy is rolling in his grave.
Remember that the BP execs can't blame the government for letting them cut corners, because they want the U.S. to continue to look away.
This doesn't mitigate the responsibility BP has for the disaster. (Frankly, I think the chairman and CEO should be put in jail; that's the only thing that'll get their attention).
But the federal government, for 18 months under Obama, is just as responsible, because they continued to give exemptions to BP (and the other oil companies) that led to this disaster.
But you'll never hear that from oil company executives, and you sure has hell won't hear any politician saying it, either.
Of course, that just leaves the media. I'm sure they'll bring up the point.
"Right. Here Obama succeeded in (partially) righting a wrong. The comparable success for Bush would be an image of Bin Laden in handcuffs."
1) That's "partial" as in "partial-birth abortion".
2) No credit for Iraq? No credit for hundreds, if not thousands, of dead terrorists? No credit for no more planes hitting buidings, or bombs going off on US soil? Noooo, can't have that...
And I think Obama is saying in that photo, "If you don't fork over that $20B, I'm gonna give you such a pinch..."
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