Glenn: The essence of truth

July 23, 2013

Writer

Forget the Republicans, forget the Democrats - in order to restore America we have to get back to truth. Our currency says ‘In God we trust’ and people protest it. But what does that really mean? God is truth - and in order to gain the trust of the world again we have to value truth. Glenn explains in a stirring radio monologue today.

Read the full transcript of the segment below:

GLENN: You know what? Let me go in a surprising place and I'm not going to tell this story because I'll butcher it because I'm not a sports fan. But let me go to Ryan, is it Braun?

PAT: Yeah, Ryan Braun.

GLENN: Ryan Braun, this story from what I know of it is a story that, again, shows the health of our nation and the health of our citizens.

PAT: Yeah, you might think it's just about steroids, but it goes so far beyond that. Last year ‑‑ well, Ryan Braun is one of the best players in Major League Baseball. In 2007 he was rookie of the year. In 2011 he was NFL MVP. Last year I think the guy hit 43 home runs.

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: And he was accused of steroid abuse. And he was suspended, and he fought it vehemently and denied it. And on a technicality, because of the way his sample was handled, he had his suspension overturned and he came out and made this statement, really strong statement that he would stake his life, that he guaranteed with his life that he had never ingested steroids or any performance‑enhancing drug. I mean, it was one of the strongest denials I think I've ever seen. And you thought, well, okay, maybe this guy really was innocent. And I think a lot of people were convinced because ‑‑

GLENN: Liars, truth ‑‑ liars, deceivers, lovers of themselves and not the truth.

PAT: And so the arrogance with which he ‑‑ and it looks now like arrogance because he continued the steroid abuse, they found him out again and a second time, and this time he's been suspended for the rest of the season and has admitted it. Now he comes out and says, "Oh, yeah, look, I'm not perfect. As I've said in the past, I'm not perfect. I don't remember you ever saying in the past you weren't perfect. You said you had perfectly performed your duties as a baseball player by never ingesting steroids. You kind of did say you were perfect on this issue. Now he's saying, "Oh, I'm not perfect. I made a mistake. Sorry."

GLENN: Now let me ‑‑ let me go to ‑‑ let me take from this story where his teammates are saying, "Hey, he said he wasn't perfect. None of us are perfect. Let's get over it." The truth matters.

Let me take you to another story now. Let me take you to a story, a personal story of a hedge fund manager that I was talking to and said, you know, what do you think of ‑‑ what do you think of the economy? What do you think's coming? He said, Glenn, I know what you think, he said, and, you know, we disagree on a lot of things, he said, but on this one you're right. He said, but for different reasons because I see it from the inside. He said, we're no longer investing in America. We don't like investments in America now. I said, why is that? He said, "Because we don't believe any of the data that's coming out. We can't believe that any of the data that the corporations or the government is actually churning out is real." So if we don't know what the real metrics are, if we don't know what the data is, how are we going to invest in anything? We'd rather put our money overseas, someplace else, someplace in Asia because we at least know that those metrics, while they may not be as good as the metrics that are happening here in America, we don't believe these metrics. We just don't think these are real." He said, so a collapse is coming. A reset has to happen.

Okay. So let me tie these two stories together. On our money we always focus on the God part on "In God we trust." On our money it says "In God we trust." Gold was up again yesterday. It's now, what, 1360 an ounce? Remember I was a villain when it fell down to 1100 and I said, "Now would be the time to buy some more. Because when everybody else is selling, that's the time to buy." It's back up over 1300. It might go down again, but it will go up again. Why? Why?

Do you know that J.P. Morgan now has less unallocated gold than they have ever had. People are saying, "I want gold. I want gold. I want my gold. I want my gold." So unallocated gold. And this is after the Germans came and said to the Federal Reserve, "We want our gold." That caused more people to go to the bank and say, "I want my gold. I want gold." They have less gold on hand unallocated, less gold on hand than ever before in recorded history. Why again? "In God we trust" is on the money. "In God we trust."

We also say "In the full faith and credit of the United States of America." Well, that's gone. There is no full faith and credit in the United States of America. And that's why it doesn't say that on our money. It says "In God we trust." And everybody always fights, "Oh, God, oh, God." Let me speak ‑‑ let me speak a language that everybody can accept. What is another name for God or another, another descriptive word for "God"? People will say, "Well, God is love." Well, yes, God is love, but what is love? When you boil it down to its essence, God is love, but love is truth. You can't be a parent and not tell your kids the truth. You can't ‑‑ and we've all done it. We know this to be true because we've all watched American Idol. And we've all said, where was their parent? Was there nobody that loved them enough to tell them the truth? "You suck!" Was there no one that loved them enough to tell them the truth? God is not love. God is truth. If you want to ‑‑ if you want to make yourself feel better because you hate God so much or you just think God is some sort of fable or whatever, every time you look at that, just replace the word "God" with "Truth." "In truth we trust." Whose truth? Universal truth. When we say "In God we trust," we're talking about the principles of the Ten Commandments. And I don't know anybody that won't give me seven out of the Ten Commandments. I'm the Lord thy God. There should be no other gods before me. Okay. "Well, I don't believe in God." All right. Great. What do you believe in? Because you do have a god. You serve something. You worship something. "Well, I worship reason." Okay. All right. That's your god. But let's get down to the essence of the ones that we can absolutely agree on. We all agree you can't murder people. It doesn't say thou shall not kill. It says thou shall not murder. We can all agree on that. You get into the thou shalt not kill, "Well, what about war?" Okay. Well, it doesn't say that. It says murder. Can we all agree we don't murder people? "Yes" is the answer. Thou shalt not steal, can we all agree on that? Can we all agree on "covet"? Do you know we're in society now where we can't even agree on coveting. We are a society built on covetness. We are doing nothing more than coveting all day. "They have something. Have you seen this? Have you seen what they have? They have the latest. They have the greatest. Have you seen what's out? I want that. I want that. I want that." My parents used to say there's a difference between need and want. You'll always have what you need, but you may not always get what you want. When's the last time you said that? When's the last time you heard another parent say that? When is the last time you heard that message coming from anybody of any kind of power? You may not always get what you want because life isn't fair. Well, we don't do that anymore because our society is built on covet. I will covet my neighbor's goods. I will even covet my neighbor's wife.

But in our heart of hearts and in our darkest moments and when we have really, truly found truth in our life, every single one of us would admit coveting someone else's stuff is not good. Lying is not good, cheating is not good, stealing is not good, murder is not good. That's the truth. And so when we go down to the basic, "In truth we trust," what it says on our money is we will not lie, we will not steal, we will not covet and because of that you can trust that the system will work.

PAT: I see what you're saying. You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find you get what you need. You'd get what you need.

GLENN: You know, if we were living in the 1960s, that would be so relatable but I just really, it's just really ‑‑

PAT: Still.

GLENN: We are living in a time that if we can restore the basic truth. Forget about the Republicans. Forget about the Democrats. Forget about all of that stuff. Forget about all the trappings and all the things that man has made. We have to boil it down to the essence of truth. And if we will just live those truths, we can restore things. But until you do, the hedge fund managers are not going to invest. They will invest someplace else because they don't believe that we won't lie, cheat and steal all the way to the top. All the way to the bottom. And baseball will go on because baseball is baseball and who really gives a flying crap if they are all on crack cocaine. I don't really care. But in the end our society doesn't make it. If we don't teach the truth matters. And I'm sorry. Sitting out for 65 games isn't a big enough punishment. Is there ever going to be anybody that says the truth matters, and if you won't tell the truth, we don't want you around. And if that means that we suffer for a while, I am convinced, I am convinced, and I know because I know the millennial ‑‑ what is the millennial choir? The ‑‑ jeez, I can't remember. It's the 2,000 voice choir and orchestra out of California and Arizona. These people are amazing. 2,000 you voices, all volunteer. How do you get people to volunteer and to really be that dedicated? 2,000 people, how do you get them to do it? By having standards. I'm convinced that if you just start having standards and people say, "You know what? I don't really care. If it's only five of us over here, it's only five of us, but we're going to live our lives this way," you are going to be the biggest success story of all time.

Glenn: The most important warning of your lifetime—AI is coming for you

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Artificial intelligence isn’t coming. It’s here. The future we once speculated about is no longer science fiction—it’s reality. Every aspect of our lives, from how we work to how we think, is about to change forever. And if you’re not ready for it, you’re already behind. This isn’t just another technological leap. This is the biggest shift humanity has ever faced.

The last call before the singularity

I've been ringing this bell for 30 years. Thirty years warning you about what’s coming. And now, here we are. This isn’t a drill. This isn’t some distant future. It’s happening now. If you don’t understand what’s at stake, you need to wake up—because we have officially crossed the event horizon of artificial intelligence.

What’s an event horizon? It’s the edge of a black hole—the point where you can’t escape, no matter how hard you try. AI is that black hole. The current is too strong. The waterfall is too close. If you haven’t been paying attention, you need to start right now. Because once we reach Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI), there is no turning back.

You’ve heard me talk about this for decades. AI isn’t just a fancy Siri. It isn’t just ChatGPT. We are on the verge of machines that will outthink every human who has ever lived—combined. ASI won’t just process information—it will anticipate, decide, and act faster than any of us can comprehend. It will change everything about our world, about our lives.

And yet, the conversation around AI has been wrong. People think the real dangers are coming later—some distant dystopian nightmare. But we are already in it. We’ve passed the point where AI is just a tool. It’s becoming the master. And the people who don’t learn to use it now—who don’t understand it, who don’t prepare for it—are going to be swallowed whole.

I know what some of you are thinking: "Glenn, you’ve spent years warning us about AI, about how dangerous it is. And now you’re telling us to embrace it?" Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. Because if you don’t use this tool—if you don’t learn to master it—then you will be at its mercy.

This is not an option anymore. This is survival.

How you must prepare—today

I need you to take AI seriously—right now. Not next year, not five years from now. This weekend.

Here’s what I want you to do: Open up one of these AI tools—Grok 3, ChatGPT, anything advanced—and start using it. If you’re a CEO, have it analyze your competitors. If you’re an artist, let it critique your work. If you’re a stay-at-home parent, have it optimize your budget. Ask it questions. Push it to its limits. Learn what it can do—because if you don’t, you will be left behind.

Let me be crystal clear: AI is not your friend. It’s not your partner. It’s not something to trust. AI is a shovel—an extremely powerful shovel, but still just a tool. And if you don’t understand that, you’re in trouble.

We’ve already seen what happens when we surrender to technology without thinking. Social media rewired our brains. Smartphones reshaped our culture. AI will do all that—and more. If you don’t take control now, AI will control you.

Ask yourself: When AI makes decisions for you—when it anticipates your needs before you even know them—at what point do you stop being the one in charge? At what point does AI stop being a tool and start being your master?

And that’s not even the worst of it. The next step—transhumanism—is coming. It will start with good intentions. Elon Musk is already developing implants to help people walk again. And that’s great. But where does it stop? What happens when people start “upgrading” themselves? What happens when people choose to merge with AI?

I know my answer. I won’t cross that line. But you’re going to have to decide for yourself. And if you don’t start preparing now, that decision will be made for you.

The final warning—act now or be left behind

I need you to hear me. This is not optional. This is not something you can ignore. AI is here. And if you don’t act now, you will be lost.

The next 18 months will change everything. People who don’t prepare—who don’t learn to use AI—will be scrambling to catch up. And they won’t catch up. The gap will be too wide. You’ll either be leading, or you’ll be swallowed whole.

So start this weekend. Learn it. Test it. Push it. Master it. Because the people who don’t? They will be the tools.

The decision is yours. But time is running out.

The coming AI economy and the collapse of traditional jobs

Think back to past technological revolutions. The industrial revolution put countless blacksmiths, carriage makers, and farmhands out of business. The internet wiped out entire industries, from travel agencies to brick-and-mortar retail. AI is bigger than all of those combined. This isn’t just about job automation—it’s about job obliteration.

Doctors, lawyers, engineers—people who thought their jobs were untouchable—will find themselves replaced by AI. A machine that can diagnose disease with greater accuracy, draft legal documents in seconds, or design infrastructure faster than an entire team of engineers will be cheaper, faster, and better than human labor. If you’re not preparing for that reality, you’re already falling behind.

What does this mean for you? It means constant adaptation. Every three to five years, you will need to redefine your role, retrain, and retool. The only people who survive this AI revolution will be the ones who understand its capabilities and learn to work with it, not against it.

The moral dilemma: When do you stop being human?

The real danger of AI isn’t just economic—it’s existential. When AI merges with humans, we will face an unprecedented question: At what point do we stop being human?

Think about it. If you implant a neural chip that gives you access to the entire internet in your mind, are you still the same person? If your thoughts are intertwined with AI-generated responses, where do you end and AI begins? This is the future we are hurtling toward, and few people are even asking the right questions.

I’m asking them now. And you should be too. Because that line—between human and machine—is coming fast. You need to decide now where you stand. Because once we cross it, there is no going back.

Final thoughts: Be a leader, not a follower

AI isn’t a passing trend. It’s not a gadget or a convenience. It is the most powerful force humanity has ever created. And if you don’t take the time to understand it now, you will be at its mercy.

This is the defining moment of our time. Will you be a master of AI? Or will you be mastered by it? The choice is yours. But if you wait too long, you won’t have a choice at all.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TheBlaze.com.

Trump's Zelenskyy deal falls apart: What happened and what's next?

SAUL LOEB / Contributor | Getty Images

Trump offered Zelenskyy a deal he couldn’t refuse—but Zelenskyy rejected it outright.

Last Friday, President Donald Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington to sign a historic agreement aimed at ending the brutal war ravaging Ukraine. Joined by Vice President J.D. Vance, Trump met with Zelenskyy and the press before the leaders were set to retreat behind closed doors to finalize the deal. Acting as a gracious host, Trump opened the meeting by praising Zelenskyy and the bravery of Ukrainian soldiers. He expressed enthusiasm for the proposed agreement, emphasizing its benefits—such as access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals for the U.S.—and publicly pledged continued American aid in exchange.

Zelenskyy, however, didn’t share Trump’s optimism. Throughout the meeting, he interrupted repeatedly and openly criticized both Trump and Vance in front of reporters. Tensions escalated until Vance, visibly frustrated, fired back. The exchange turned the meeting hostile, and by its conclusion, Trump withdrew his offer. Rather than staying in Washington to resolve the conflict, Zelenskyy promptly left for Europe to seek support from the European Union.

As Glenn pointed out, Trump had carefully crafted this deal to benefit all parties, including Russia. Zelenskyy’s rejection was a major misstep.

Trump's generous offer to Zelenskyy

I believe Trump is playing 4-D chess with Zelenskyy. pic.twitter.com/L19RtQdCF6
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck)
March 3, 2025

Glenn took to his whiteboard—swapping out his usual chalkboard—to break down Trump’s remarkable deal for Zelenskyy. He explained how it aligned with several of Trump’s goals: cutting spending, advancing technology and AI, and restoring America’s position as the dominant world power without military action. The deal would have also benefited the EU by preventing another war, revitalizing their economy, and restoring Europe’s global relevance. Ukraine and Russia would have gained as well, with the war—already claiming over 250,000 lives—finally coming to an end.

The media has portrayed last week’s fiasco as an ambush orchestrated by Trump to humiliate Zelenskyy, but that’s far from the truth. Zelenskyy was only in Washington because he had already rejected the deal twice—first refusing Vice President Vance and then Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It was Zelenskyy who insisted on traveling to America to sign the deal at the White House. If anyone set an ambush, it was him.

The EU can't help Ukraine

JUSTIN TALLIS / Contributor | Getty Images

After clashing with Trump and Vance, Zelenskyy wasted no time leaving D.C. The Ukrainian president should have stayed, apologized to Trump, and signed the deal. Given Trump’s enthusiasm and a later comment on Truth Social—where he wrote, “Zelenskyy can come back when he is ready for peace”—the deal could likely have been revived.

Meanwhile, in London, over a dozen European leaders, joined by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, convened an emergency meeting dubbed the “coalition of the willing” to ensure peace in Ukraine. This coalition emerged as Europe’s response to Trump’s withdrawal from the deal. By the meeting’s end, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a four-point plan to secure Ukrainian independence.

Zelenskyy, however, appears less than confident in the coalition’s plan. Recently, he has shifted his stance toward the U.S., apologizing to Trump and Vance and expressing gratitude for the generous military support America has already provided. Zelenskyy now says he wants to sign Trump’s deal and work under his leadership.

This is shaping up to be another Trump victory.

Glenn: No more money for the war machine, Senator McConnell

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Senator McConnell, your call for more Pentagon spending is as tone-deaf as it is reckless. The United States already spends more on its military than the next nine countries combined — over $877 billion in 2023 alone, dwarfing China ($292 billion), Russia ($86 billion), and the entire EU’s collective defense budgets. And yet here you are, clamoring for more, as if throwing cash at an outdated war machine will somehow secure our future.

The world is changing, Senator, and your priorities are stuck in a bygone era.

Aircraft carriers — those floating behemoths you and the Pentagon so dearly love — are relics of the past. In the next real conflict, they’ll be as useless as horses were in World War I. Speaking of which, Europe entered that war with roughly 25 million horses; by 1918, fewer than 10 million remained, slaughtered by machine guns and artillery they couldn’t outrun.

That’s the fate awaiting your precious carriers against modern threats — sunk by hypersonic missiles or swarms of AI-driven drones before they can even launch a jet. The 1950s called, Senator — they want their war plans back.

The future isn’t in steel and jet fuel; it’s in artificial intelligence and artificial superintelligence. Every dollar spent on yesterday’s hardware is a dollar wasted in three years when AI upends everything we know about warfare. Worse, with the Pentagon’s track record, every dollar spent today could balloon into two or three dollars of inflation tomorrow, thanks to the House and Senate’s obscene spending spree.

We’re drowning in $34 trillion of national debt — 128% of GDP, a level unseen since World War II. Annual deficits hit $1.7 trillion in 2023, and interest payments alone are projected to top $1 trillion by 2026.

This isn’t sustainable; it’s a fiscal time bomb.

And yet you want to shovel more taxpayer money into a Pentagon that hasn’t passed a single audit in its history? Six attempts since 2018, six failures — trillions unaccounted for, waste so rampant that it defies comprehension. It’s irresponsible — bordering on criminal — to suggest more spending when the DOD can’t even count the cash it’s got.

The real threat isn’t just from abroad, though those dangers are profound. It’s from within. The call is coming from inside the house, Senator — and not just the House, but the Senate too. Your refusal to adapt is jeopardizing our security more than any foreign adversary.

Look at China’s drone shows — thousands of synchronized lights painting the sky. Now imagine those aren’t fireworks but weaponized drones, each one cheap, precise, and networked by AI. A single swarm could cripple our planes, ships, tanks, and troops before we fire a shot. Ukraine’s drone wars have already shown this reality: $500 drones taking out $10 million tanks. That’s the future staring us down, and we’re still polishing Cold War relics.

Freeze every bloated project.

Redirect everything — every dime, every mind — toward winning the AI/ASI race. That’s the only battlefield that matters. We’ve got enough stockpiles to handle any foreseeable war in the next three years and a president fighting to end conflicts, not start them. Your plea for more spending isn’t just misguided — it’s a betrayal of the American people sinking under debt and inflation while you chase ghosts of wars past.

Or is it even that senator? Perhaps I have buried the lede, but I am not sure if the following stats will help people understand why this op-ed might have been written by someone in your office.

Your state, Kentucky is:

45th in GDP Per Capita
44th in Employment
42nd in High School Diplomas

And 11th in Defense-related defense contract spending

Who are you actually concerned about, Senator? The safety of the American people or your war machine buddies?

Thanks, but no thanks.

'MAD AS HELL': Here's what happened with the Epstein Files and what's next

Andrew Harnik / Staff, SAUL LOEB / Contributor, Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images

Jeffery Epstein's despicable low-life clients escape justice yet another day.

If you followed last week's commotion surrounding the release of the Epstein Files closely, you likely came away from the situation feeling frustrated and confused. Many anticipated the full release of Epstein's damning evidence, with names and details that would bring the hammer of justice down on those who indulged their wicked desires on that infamous island. Instead, we were dealt another disappointment, vexed once more by the swamp creatures Trump swore to destroy.

Many have turned their frustration towards the ensemble of new media representatives, including Glenn's friend and BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler, who was among those chosen to break the story. But don't shoot the messenger, if you take a moment to hear Wheeler's side of the story as Glenn did on radio, it's clear that the party at fault is the same enemy we've been fighting the whole time: the Deep State.

— (@)

While Trump has won back-to-back victories during his first few weeks in office, he hasn't even been president for two months yet. It should come as no surprise that the swamp is still full of monsters, and they are starting to fight back. The events surrounding the release of the Epstein Filesprove there is still a lot of work left to do.

What happened?

JIM WATSON / Contributor | Getty Images

To fully understand last week's events, we need to go back to an interview Trump's new attorney general, Pam Bondi, did with Fox on Wednesday, February 26th. On the night of the 26th, Bondi sat down with Fox News host, Jesse Watters, where she first announced that the next day, Thursday the 27th, she would be releasing the long-awaited Epstein Files, and even made hints that the contents would be of interest, saying they would "make you sick."

The next morning, Liz Wheeler and other "new" media hosts were summoned to the White House, though they did not know why at the time. No mainstream reporters were present and Wheeler speculates that the purpose behind that was to deny them this story in retribution for Trump's poor coverage. Then Bondi and Kash Patel, the new director of the FBI, came in with the now-infamous binders, along with a letter Bondi had written to Patel and informed the reporters of the bad news. They told them that the binders contained what they had previously believed to be the full Epstein Files, until Bondi received information from a FBI whistleblower. This allegedly happened after her interview on Fox, and revealed that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the FBI had withheld large portions of the Epstein Files from both Bondi and Patel.

After this meeting, the reporters were let out of the White House where they were ambushed by the mainstream media. Believing that they were going to immediately break the news, the new media reporters smiled and waved, gloating their exclusive access to the story while their antiquated counterparts took photos. Then the new media reporters learned that the White House forbade them from breaking the news until 3:30 pm EST, to avoid Trump's conference with the UK Prime Minister from being focused solely on the Epstein Files story. This explains why Liz Wheeler and her fellow media representatives were silent for so long. It was a bait-and-switch that they never intended.

What did we learn?

SAUL LOEB / Contributor | Getty Images

While initially this seems like a complete bust, there is new information we learned from this fiasco.

First, there was some new information in the binders, although a large portion of it was information we already knew. There was a copy of Epstein's Rolodex, essentially his contact list, which contained many of the same names we already knew had associated with Epstein in some capacity, though it's certainly not proof of any wrongdoing. The biggest reveal was a long list of known victims of Epstein and his degenerate client, although it was entirely redacted to protect the privacy of those on the list. This list was, allegedly, what Bondi was referring to on the Wednesday Fox interview, although Bondi's exact timeline is unclear and potentially suspicious.

The real takeaway from yesterday came from the letter Bondi sent Patel in response to the FBI leak. Not only did it prove our suspicions right, that this story is much deeper than we are being led to believe, but it reveals blatant betrayal within the government. The letter from Bondi orders Patel to knock some heads, get the real files, and compile a report highlighting who is hiding these files from Trump, Bondi, Patel, and the American people.

There are Deep State swamp creatures that are actively working against President Trump and his administration. Glenn likened this to aninternal Civil Warand encouraged Trump to take an axe to the whole system. We need to pull out this corruption root and stem.

What needs to happen next?

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The next step is learning what Kash Patel found when he started knocking heads. According to Bondi's letter, the full Epstein Files and Patel's report were due on her desk by 8:00 AM February the 28th. The American people need to know what he found and soon. We have waited long enough.

There also needs to be immediate and hard-hitting action taken against SDNY, the corrupt FBI agents, and whoever else seeks to undermine Trump's presidency. Really, this should not come as a surprise, Trump has been in office for less than two months. That is a very short time to completely uproot the Deep State which has been twisting its corruption around every branch of our government for the better part of a century.

This is the first major hiccup of Trump's second term, amid nearly two months of victory after victory, and if anything proves the validity of DOGE's work gutting the government. While we can't let this slide, now is not the time to abandon hope, now is the time to double down and demand answers.

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