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Audrey Stienon

@astienon.bsky.social
651 followers 1.3K following 278 posts

industrial policy at the Open Markets Institute • fascinated about how we shape industries and markets to serve the public interest • book nerd & recovering globe trotter • views are my own • 🇧🇪🇺🇸

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Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Dissent Magazine @dissentmag.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The investment community at large bent over backward to get a piece of SpaceX stock. People wanted in, and badly. The IPO was a mass delusion event of astronomical proportions.
dissentmagazine.org
The SpaceX Sham - Dissent Magazine
The chief scandal of the AI boom is not the secretive financial machinations of tech oligarchs, but how much money they have raised on the open promise of an automated, transhumanist future.
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Reposted by Audrey Stienon
David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The imminent landlord bailout, a settlement of litigation over the COVID-era eviction moratorium, is dominated by affiliates of Starwood Capital, a private equity firm that itself received direct and indirect federal assistance during COVID. Zachary Groz reports. prospect.org/2026/09/25/p...
prospect.org
Private Equity Landlords Double-Dipping in Imminent Bailout - The American Prospect
Companies like Starwood Capital Group, which benefited greatly from financial assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, want a federal bailout on top of that.
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David Sirota @davidsirota.com · 25/09/2026
🚨EXCLUSIVE: AI safety rules were about to be enacted - then $25 million from OpenAI's president was deposited in Trump's super PAC and the rule disappeared. @levernews.com unearths documents exposing how AI oligarchs got Trump to kill rules they now claim to support. A must-read - pass it on👇
levernews.com
AI Regulation Was Coming. Then Trump Killed It.
After a flood of tech industry cash, President Donald Trump killed a requirement that AI giants disclose their riskiest experiments to national security officials. Now lawmakers are scrambling to catc...
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Elizabeth V @geolizzy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I never get tired of letting people know that US Rare Earth is sketchy and that it’s Round Top project isn’t very good and that they have yet to do anything involving rare earths despite getting a bunch of US government $$$ www.mining.com/web/the-tiny...
mining.com
The tiny magnet maker that attracted $1.6 billion from Lutnick
USA Rare Earth's mine at Round Top Mountain is about 85 miles southeast of El Paso, Texas.
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The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 24/09/2026
A pro-Trump ad that said it was paid for by the U.S. government aired on Fox News in major TV markets. Ethics experts said it could violate federal law. on.wsj.com/4hm6XYW
on.wsj.com
A pro-Trump ad that said it was paid for by the U.S. government aired on Fox News in major TV markets. Ethics experts said it could violate federal law.
The unusual ad, which said it was paid for by the U.S. government, aired on Fox News in major TV markets.
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
@ariberman.bsky.social and @pemalevy.bsky.social have a damning new story about how the Roberts Court is reviving Jim Crow, relying on the same legal tactics used to undermine the Reconstruction. A must read to understand the stakes of this election. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Cover of Mother Jones issue on the new Jim Crow
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Polls show people expect AI to at least advanced science. Navier-Stokes, right? AI may throttle science instead! It doesn’t always advance understanding, its glut overwhelms filters for quality, and its methods don’t fit medical research. Gift link to my NYT essay. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/o...
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William Turton @williamturton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Even the defense contractor’s executives were surprised at how far their money went in D.C. “It was eye-opening for me, frankly. ‘Oh my God, all of it is for sale. It’s all for sale,’” one said. www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...
propublica.org
The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way
After the FBI caught a defense contractor’s CEO making illegal campaign contributions, it sought to launch a sweeping political bribery probe involving Collins and others. Then the second Trump admini...
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William Turton @williamturton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In 2024 the former CEO of a defense contractor made a stunning confession to two FBI agents. He alleged that was the ringleader of a massive pay-to-play operation, bribing senators with campaign contributions in exchange for govt contracts. www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...
propublica.org
The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way
After the FBI caught a defense contractor’s CEO making illegal campaign contributions, it sought to launch a sweeping political bribery probe involving Collins and others. Then the second Trump admini...
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 21/09/2026
for your future voting knowledge, Gavin Newsom was central in pressuring the AGs to settle their antitrust lawsuit against Paramount:
deadline.com
Done! Paramount Settles Antitrust Suit, Set To Seal Deal For Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount agreed to settle an antitrust suit by a dozen State Attorneys General led by California's Rob Bonta, the last obstacle to its merger with WBD.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
NEW: @apnews.com confirms that ICE has begun electronically "disappearing" people in the agency's custody who have final orders of removal. As of last week, anyone jailed by ICE with a final order of removal will NOT appear in the ICE Online Detainee Locator System, making them effectively vanish.
apnews.com
AP Exclusive: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding most detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, in a move that has made it harder for lawyers an...
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Washingtonian @washingtonian.com · 19/09/2026
Is the US actually barreling toward a constitutional crisis over the lettering on an arts complex's façade?
washingtonian.com
If Trump Demolishes the Kennedy Center, We Have Problems - Washingtonian
Is the US actually barreling toward a constitutional crisis over the lettering on an arts complex's façade?
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Revolving Door Project @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Chuck Schumer killed the oversight legislation “feared most” by Big Tech while his daughters were employed in marketing at Meta and lobbying for Amazon.
commondreams.org
What OpenAI Having Chuck Schumer's Daughter as a Lobbyist Tells Us | Common Dreams
The compute giant’s hiring spree throws up a roadblock for Democrats’ ability to run against AI and corruption.
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Audrey Stienon @astienon.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Oh, look! Singapore's Speakers Corner made a friend. www.nparks.gov.sg/speakers-cor...
nparks.gov.sg
Speakers Corner
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Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 17/09/2026
“The human becomes the bottleneck.” - former Palantir employee giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
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Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
NEW: Brown Brothers Media is the most successful media company you've never heard of. For years, its success was fueled by AI, fake writers, and fake reporting. When we started asking questions, BBM started mass-deleting content. Somehow, what came next was even worse. futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month
Brown Brothers Media is a media empire raking in millions of clicks with AI, fake writers, and plagiarism.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 16/09/2026
IMO billionaires should not be able to decimate industries & disrupt tens of thousands of families based on pique over regulatory decisions.
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Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Wow: The National Guard has signed a $292 million contract to house thousands of troops deployed to D.C. in 2,000 apartments in the city, instead of in hotels or other places where they've been put up. www.notus.org/defense/nati...
notus.org
National Guard Signs $292M Housing Contract for Troops in Washington, D.C.
The deal would provide 2,000 “apartment-style lodging units” for service members deployed in the city.
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 15/09/2026
ICE is arresting a record number of pregnant women and teenagers, according to government documents obtained by the Guardian. At the same time, the agency appears to have lost count of how many suffered a miscarriage. 🧵
Two charts side by side. The first shows the number of pregnant people in ICE detention, which peaks in November 2025. The second shows the number of miscarriages recorded by ICE, until October 2025, when ICE said it has no updated information on the number of miscarriages.
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Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network @domesticemployers.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"You feel stuck... The four walls of your room become like a jail." – HiH member Ligia Andrade Zúñiga, on life without a caregiver. The federal government froze $1.7B meant for CA's homecare program, citing fraud it can't prove. Real people pay the price. www.washingtonsun.com/healthcare/a...
washingtonsun.com
The Push Toward At-Home Care Is Caught in Trump’s Anti-Fraud Crusade
The Trump administration is holding more money from California’s home-care program than anywhere else.
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Free Press @freepress.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The same Big Tech billionaires building AI tools we didn't ask for are devouring TV networks, movie studios, and major newspapers. They want to watch us AND control what we watch. A 🧵 on the intersection between media consolidation and the growing surveillance state >>>
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Audrey Stienon @astienon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"These firms manage $7.3tn in assets of all kinds, affording them the ability to shape the pace of the transition away from fossil fuels." Even as some PE firms pose as "climate conscious" to attract investors, their record is fundamentally at odds w/ the claim www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
World’s top 20 private equity firms produce more greenhouse gases a year than most countries, report finds
Firms manage $7.3tn in assets and could afford to transition away from fossil fuels yet invest in natural gas and coal-fired plants to power datacenters
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Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Michelle Goldberg @michellegoldberg.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/o...
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 14/09/2026
When Republicans tried to repeal a law voters passed to ban gerrymandering, Utah’s women spoke up. The state's male politicians have punished them, but the women so far are unbowed. nyti.ms/3UTwX6r
Five conservatively dressed women sit for a portrait in front of paintings. Photo by Kim Raff for The New York Times
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Elizabeth Wilkins @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
We have tools, like the DPA, that can allow for government supervision. We have a Congress whose job it is to protect us. We have state legislatures, AGs, and civil society who can provide a counterweight to the labs. 5/
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PoPville @popville.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
“Many National Guard just moved into a luxury apartment complex in SW DC.” - A resident reports: www.popville.com/2026/09/nati...
popville.com
“Many National Guard just moved into a luxury apartment complex in SW DC.” - PoPville
"Dear PoPville, Wanted to share that many National Guard just moved into a luxury apartment complex in SW DC. They have rental furniture that was brought several weeks ago. Unsure if they each get the...
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 14/09/2026
Some details: Kremlev, the Russian who sponsored Don Jr's wedding, is a former member of the Night Wolves biker gang, went to China with Putin and is personally sanctioned by Ukraine for his role in abducting children www.propublica.org/article/dona...
propublica.org
Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 11/09/2026
25 years ago, terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people, including 2,753 New Yorkers. As we remember that terrible day, let us also remember the first responders, office workers and strangers who ran toward danger to help each other.
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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
CDC’s 9/11 world trade center health program was one of the first things this regime purged. just something to remember when republicans get really into the performative nationalism this week
abcnews.com
New York Republicans scold Trump for CDC cuts that affect 9/11 responders
Critics say the Trump administrations cuts to CDC staff will negatively affect a health fund for 9/11 first responders.
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Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Flew under the radar last week, but the Trump administration rolled back a rule for federal contractors that at least 7% of workers within each job group in their workforce are people with disabilities. www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/08/31/l...
disabilityscoop.com
Labor Department Rescinds Disability Hiring Mandate
A decade-old federal rule designed to increase employment of people with disabilities will soon be no more.
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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 04/09/2026
i don't think we should be listening to the Please Don't Prosecute The Tech Billionaires lobby on the subject of who to prosecute
Blue Horizon Project

The Blue Horizon Project is a new initiative from Chamber of Progress to restore tech optimism in the Democratic Party and reset the relationship between Democrats and the technology sector.
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The Citizens @the-citizens.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
repeat after me: a settlement isn’t change if the business model stays intact citizensreunited.substack.com/p/metas-17b-...
citizensreunited.substack.com
Meta’s ($17b) Cost of Doing Business
Plus: Burning Up
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 03/09/2026
"Data centres do not constitute sovereign AI capability. Countries may host facilities but dispersion of hardware does not equal decentralisation of power." giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 03/09/2026
Who should have more influence: organized labor or organized capital? news.gallup.com/poll/713936/...
news.gallup.com
Record-High 47% Want Unions to Have More Influence
Support for labor unions is at its modern-day peak in the U.S., both in approval and in Americans' desire for unions to gain influence.
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Open Markets Institute @openmarkets.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
In @dissentmag.bsky.social, OMI's @clairek.bsky.social & Sandeep Vaheesan lay out what a real affordability agenda should look like: rein in corporate power, invest in public goods, and raise workers’ incomes. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...
dissentmagazine.org
The Fight Over Affordability - Dissent Magazine
We’re living in a period of excess business pricing power, not overbearing workers.
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Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 02/09/2026
President Trump, never one to pinch pennies on anything shiny and new, has spent millions of taxpayer dollars on pet construction projects around Washington, D.C. They’re not going well.
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 01/09/2026
Private equity’s housing model can turn homes into vehicles for extracting returns. At Syracuse’s Nob Hill, investors bought the complex with little of their own capital, maintenance was deferred, conditions deteriorated, and tenants bore the consequences.
nytimes.com
How a Private Equity Group Drove an Apartment Complex Into the Ground
After decades as a coveted address in Syracuse, N.Y., the sprawling Nob Hill complex descended into neglect, squalor and death. One family paid a terrible price.
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The Lever @levernews.com · 01/09/2026
Opioid settlement money was supposed to help communities recover from an addiction crisis. Instead, 19 law enforcement agencies spent nearly $1 million of it on Flock cameras and other automated license-plate readers, according to Mother Jones.
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Adam Parkhomenko @adamparkhomenko.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The iconic weeping willow trees outside the Kennedy Center have been cut down by Trump.
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Economic Policy Institute @epi.org · 31/08/2026
There’s an entire hidden industry built to stop workers from unionizing. We uncovered it. U.S. employers spend roughly $1.7 BILLION PER YEAR on union-avoidance consultants and law firms to prevent workers from organizing and bargaining for better pay and working conditions. #econsky #laborday 1/3
epi.org
U.S. employers spend more than $1.5 billion annually on union avoidance
Key takeaways Many U.S. employers hire union avoidance consultants to keep their workers from organizing and bargaining for better pay and working conditions. We estimate that employers spend roughly ...
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
This quote is from last February. Good work sir!
"Regulations, basically, should be default gone," Musk said. "Not default there, default gone. And if it turns out that we missed the mark on a regulation, we can always add it back in."
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Paul Rosenberg @paulrosenberg.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
THIS IS HOW WE LOSE: "Anna O. Law, a political scientist who studies constitutional law and immigration at CUNY, told me she had been scheduled to join two news broadcasts to discuss the ruling. Once the Court decided against Trump, both canceled because, as one put it, 'the danger has passed.'” 1/3
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Open Markets Institute @openmarkets.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Today we are revisiting our report on repair markets: www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...
openmarketsinstitute.org
Report | Fixing America: Breaking Manufacturers’ Aftermarket Monopoly and Restoring Consumers’ Right to Repair — Open Markets Institute
This Open Markets Institute report analyzes the history of repair markets in the United States, the tactics that manufacturers use to restrict repair, the consequences of restricted repair markets, an...
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Reposted by Audrey Stienon
The Lever @levernews.com · 28/08/2026
Read how the gas industry is exploiting affordability fears to push Democrats right — and which states it plans to target next: www.levernews.com/a-natural-ga...
levernews.com
A Natural Gas Astroturf Group Says It Flipped NY Gov. Hochul
How a front for fossil fuel is using affordability fears, former Democratic officials, and dubious polling to turn establishment Democrats against the climate left.
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Inequality.org @inequality.org · 28/08/2026
“The unfairness of how corporate wealth is distributed is off the charts and people want action to change that,” said @sarahanderson.bsky.social of @ips-dc.org. “I think we could be seeing the beginning of a serious backlash.” www.ft.com/content/6f3a...
ft.com
US corporate profits surge to record as worker payouts wilt
Pre-tax earnings hit highest share of national income since aftermath of second world war
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democracydefendersfund.org @democracydefendersfund.org · 27/08/2026
BREAKING: We and partners are suing the Pentagon to stop the retaliatory firing of three Stars and Stripes journalists. They reported on conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and spoke out against Pentagon interference in their newsroom. Now they’re being fired. We’re fighting back in court.
democracydefendersfund.org
Stars and Stripes Journalists Sue Pentagon to Halt Retaliatory Firings 
Democracy Defenders Fund, Lawyers For Good Government, Government Accountability Project and the Yale School Media Freed
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Oz is claiming that the two measles deaths in Pennsylvania might have “had another condition that was already attacking them and they happened to get measles at the same time”. This implies that 1. It’s okay if kids with comorbidities die of measles. 2. That they would have died anyway so nbd.
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COURIER @couriernewsroom.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
In this week's Below the Belt(way), @camaron.bsky.social reports on how community pushback killed 22 of 23 Trump admin detention warehouse sites — including the largest, in Socorro, Texas. bit.ly/3SfIT1z
bit.ly
Only one warehouse remains from Trump admin’s mass detention camp plan
All but one of the 23 detention campsites abandoned or paused indefinitely as a result of swift, visceral opposition from local residents.
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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
4 days ago The Pentagon fired the editor in chief of Stars and Stripes. Yesterday they broke the story of Elsie Dominguez, a civilian engineer who was raped repeatedly by the Captain of a Navy ship she was on. They keep trying to silence the press & quash the truth. Elsie’s story must be told:
stripes.com
Lawsuit over sexual assault aboard Navy transport ship dismissed as worker’s comp issue
The order handed down this month closed an attempt by a civilian engineer to get justice for an assault she said threw her life into shambles.
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James Goodwin @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I studied Project 2025 and other policy blueprints for this administration as much as anyone. I thought I could fully anticipate everything Trump would do if the worst happened. Probably the single biggest thing I didn't anticipate was its relentless attacks against the disabled community.
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