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Maximillian Morch

@maxmorch.bsky.social
115 followers 245 following 10 posts

Humanitarian aid along the Thai/Myanmar border. Author of "Plains of Discontent: A Political History of Nepal's Tarai".

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Reposted by Maximillian Morch
Progressive Voice @pvamplify.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
#Myanmar's prisons have become tools of terror for junta. Political prisoners face torture, denial of health care, forced to cast advance vote & re-arrest after release. 🚨 Intl community must hold junta accountable & support former & current political prisoners. tinyurl.com/yupnr3hx
tinyurl.com
Prisons as a tool of terror - Progressive Voice
Since the attempted coup, prisons controlled by Myanmar military junta have become a place that crushes dissent and silences​ those who are voicing opposition to the junta’s violence and injustice. Ma...
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The Border Consortium @borderconsortium.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
TBC’s 2025 Jan–June Midyear Overview, highlighting our work, key developments for displaced communities, and the impact of funding disruptions, is now available in English. Local language versions will follow shortly. www.theborderconsortium.org/wp-content/u...
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Maximillian Morch @maxmorch.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Thrilled to see my book 'Plains of Discontent: A Political History of Nepal's Tarai' featured in Himal Southasian’s list of 'Six books to understand Nepal’s recent upheaval'. An honour to share the spotlight with Pratyoush Onta, Prashant Jha, Manjushree Thapa, John Whelpton and others.
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Maximillian Morch @maxmorch.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Earlier this month I sat down with Border Echo and the Karen Information Centre to discuss historic policy reforms in refugee support, the impact of funding cuts and the evolving situation for internally displaced people in southeastern Myanmar amid ongoing conflict. www.facebook.com/share/v/1Fp8...
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Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Retrospectively removing indefinite leave to remain would be immoral and economically damaging. It would tear families apart. Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point. Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.
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Shoaib M Khan @shoaibmkhan.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
You know why ethnic minorities in the UK always feel second-class as if they're never safe in this country and could be asked to leave at any time? This is why:
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Progressive Voice @pvamplify.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
🚨Event alert!🚨 17 CSOs including PV will hold an online press conference to launch a joint report on how #Myanmar civil society is strengthening local resilience. 📅 30 Sep 2025 ⏰ 3:00 PM (Bangkok time) 🔗 Register here: bit.ly/3HR90Xq ℹ️ More info: bit.ly/4nzWHxw
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Maximillian Morch @maxmorch.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
The recognition of refugee work rights is a historic step forward after 41 years of confinement to camps, but it’s only one part of a much broader process. Much more work is needed to ensure all refugees, not just those in camps, can live in safety and dignity.
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Himal Southasian @himalsouthasian.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
🎙️"For the Lhotshampa, this announcement of the Geluphu Mindfulness City is incredibly painful because it is just yet another erosion of the identity of the existence within Bhutan," @maxmorch.bsky.social #StateofSouthasia
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Maximillian Morch on the disquiet behind Bhutan’s Geluphu Mindfulness City: State of Southasia #29
Bhutan’s bold new urban venture, the Geluphu Mindfulness City, is being pitched as a landmark in values-based development. Envisioned as an economic hub rooted
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Himal Southasian @himalsouthasian.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
📣 🎙️ Coming up on State of Southasia, Maximillian Morch (@maxmorch.bsky.social) who researches Asia's borderlands talks to @nayantaran.bsky.social about the economic strife and the history of repression behind Bhutan's mega project – the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
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Himal Southasian @himalsouthasian.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
📣 🎙️ Coming up on State of Southasia, Maximillian Morch (@maxmorch.bsky.social) who researches Asia's borderlands talks to @nayantaran.bsky.social about the economic strife and the history of repression behind Bhutan's mega project – the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
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Maximillian Morch @maxmorch.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Bhutan’s new Mindfulness City is hailed as sustainable & values-based—but built on land once home to Lhotshampa refugees expelled in the 1990s. I speak on the State of Southasia podcast (@Himalistan) about what this project erases. www.himalmag.com/podcast/maxi...
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DVB English News @dvbenglish.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Today marks 2 years since the disappearance of Myanmar refugee activist Thuzar Maung, and her 3 children, from their home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. DVB continues its investigation #goneWithoutATrace #whatshappeninginmyamar #abduction youtu.be/5zTQi74156I
youtu.be
Gone without a trace: Myanmar refugee missing in Malaysia
YouTube video by DVB TV News
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kimjolliffe.bsky.social @kimjolliffe.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Incisive autopsy of the hidden narratives behind Crisis Group's post-earthquake analysis on Myanmar. Excellent writing. Follow Beyond Ah Na for regular dissection of the misleading and harmful narratives that underpin much mainstream analysis on Myanmar. ahnah.substack.com/p/who-owns-t...
ahnah.substack.com
Who Owns the Narrative After Disaster?
ဖိုင် 007: On Crisis Group’s quiet recentering of the junta after Myanmar’s deadliest earthquake in a century
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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
The em dash supposedly being a “tell” for AI generated text does sort of give away the game on the enormous amount of work stolen from journalists and news organizations that these things were trained on
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Himal Southasian @himalsouthasian.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
"A major failing of 'Enlightened Leadership' relates to its treatment of the Lhotshampa question: Bhutan’s mass expulsion of its Nepali-descent ethnic minority." @maxmorch.bsky.social‬ reviews the prime minister Tshering Tobgay’s memoir:
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Bland lessons and careful lies from Bhutan’s prime minister
BHUTAN IS famously known as the “Kingdom of Happiness,” a reputation built in part on its pioneering Gross National Happiness index, a novel approach to measuri
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Himal Southasian @himalsouthasian.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
"There is a recurring weakness: a lack of detail on how certain policy issues have been resolved. This is particularly glaring in a book written by a two-time prime minister." @maxmorch.bsky.social‬ writes:
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Bland lessons and careful lies from Bhutan’s prime minister
BHUTAN IS famously known as the “Kingdom of Happiness,” a reputation built in part on its pioneering Gross National Happiness index, a novel approach to measuri
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Maximillian Morch @maxmorch.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Bhutan brands itself a peaceful democracy, yet continues to deny rights to Lhotshampa and detain critics. PM Tobgay’s new book praises “enlightened leadership”—compassion he won’t extend to the displaced. For Himal Southasian, I explore the contradiction
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Asian Review of Books @asianreviewofbooks.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Today in the ARB: @maxmorch.bsky.social reviews “One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam” by Devabrata Das (Speaking Tiger) asianreviewofbooks.com/one-more-sto...
asianreviewofbooks.com
“One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam” by Devabrata Das
One More Story About Climbing a Hill: Stories from Assam is the latest book by renowned Assamese writer Devabrata Das. This collection of eighteen short stories, translated from the Assamese origin…
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Progressive Voice @pvamplify.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
"There can be no effective, ethical recovery if the architects of the suffering are allowed to control the [humanitarian] response while they continue to destroy lives through bombings and killings." says @khinohmar.bsky.social progressivevoicemyanmar.org/2025/05/03/a...
progressivevoicemyanmar.org
Aid Accountability Essential After Quake - Progressive Voice
One month after the devastating magnitude 7.7 and 6.4 earthquakes hit central Myanmar, international aid responses are failing to meet dire humanitarian needs and the junta is blocking, weaponizing, a...
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Stephen Campbell @stephen-campbell.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
My new article on increased police extortion of Myanmar migrants in Thailand since Myanmar's 2021 military coup: "Navigating Thailand's extortion regime."
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Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
God there were so many of these…
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Nay San Lwin @nslwin.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Khit Thit Media reports that when the earthquake struck during Friday prayers, at least 50 mosques were destroyed, and 300 Muslims lost their lives. The actual death toll may be significantly higher.
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Saw Htee Hser စၤထံဆၢ @sawhteecher.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Earthquake scrambles the already dire situation, but junta continues bombing; Kokang resist Chinese pressure to retreat; junta airstrike destroys a hospital & murders health workers. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Myanmar #Burma #Rohingya #China
open.substack.com
Burma Coup Resistance Notes March 29, 2025
Earthquake scrambles the already dire situation, but junta continues bombing; Kokang resist Chinese pressure to retreat; junta airstrike destroys a hospital & murders health workers.
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
27 pages. Of babies. Whose entire understanding of what Earth sounded like was bombs dropping & people screaming at the sky
Tweet from Sharif Kouddous:
"The health ministry has released a 1,516–page document listing the names of over 50,000 Palestinians confirmed killed in Gaza since Oct 7, 2023. There are a total of 474 pages listing 15,600+ children’s names. The first 27 pages the age is listed as 0 — children under 1 year old"
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The Border Consortium @borderconsortium.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Emergency Appeal: Refugees Need Your Help Now! Due to funding suspensions, The Border Consortium (TBC) can no longer guarantee food support for refugees. 108,000 refugees in nine border camps are at immediate risk. Please consider supporting refugees.
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Joe Heaver @joerosheav.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
"What was less surprising, but intensely revealing, was how international actors immediately shut down. They closed clinics and froze funding. In contrast, local groups have continued delivering life-saving assistance, often now as volunteers, drawing on donations" odi.org/en/insights/...
odi.org
Myanmar: a microcosm of aid cuts and humanitarian choices
The humanitarian crisis proliferating at the Thai-Myanmar border is acutely evident – but so is the resilience of those fighting injustice despite overwhelming challenges.
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AmnestyRedhill @amnestyredhill.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Maximillian Morch from the Thai Border Consortium (TBC), which provides food and cooking fuel to all the nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, said they were trying to get approval for a life-saving waiver from the US government but had no confirmation yet. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Myanmar
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Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) @karenhrg.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
📢This International Women's Day, KHRG demands bold action for gender equality. It’s time to dismantle the barriers and biases holding women back. We’re grateful to all those raising their voices for change. Let’s create a world where every woman thrives—without exception. 🌍 #IWD2025 #KHRG
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Asian Review of Books @asianreviewofbooks.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Today in the ARB: @maxmorch.bsky.social reviews “Enchanted Modernities: Ancestral Vitalizations in the Upper Mekong” by Micah F Morton @uwiscpress.bsky.social asianreviewofbooks.com/enchanted-mo...
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Mizzima News @mizzimadailynews.substack.com · 03/03/2025
Revolution and tea leaf salad: The story of Mizzima Media In 1990, Myanmar dissident Soe Myint and another student hijacked a Thai Airways flight to Yangon, forcing the plane to divert to Kolkata to highlight their demands for an end to military rule in Burma. www.facebook.com/events/34141...
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DVB English News @dvbenglish.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
The US has a moral and strategic imperative to support Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. The failure to act decisively would not only embolden the regime but also allow authoritarianism to take deeper root, writes Harry Myo Lin english.dvb.no/why-the-trum... #WhatsHappeninglnMyanmar
english.dvb.no
Why the Trump administration in the US must act on Myanmar - DVB
Guest contributor Harry Myo Lin The struggle for democracy in Myanmar represents one of the most urgent human rights crises of our time. Since the military coup in February 2021, the regime in Naypyid...
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Xun-ling Au 歐迅灵 🏴 @xunlingau.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
For decades the border between India & Myanmar has been soft with indigenous peoples able to move freely between the two as land was divided by arbitrary colonial line. However India has been hardening it, dividing communities, villages, houses. Defend free movement. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar
apnews.com
In northeast India, a border fence could cut through villages, houses and lives
An international border fence may soon split the village of Longwa in two. In the extreme northeast of India live the Nagas, an indigenous people whose traditional land stretches into Myanmar.
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Xun-ling Au 歐迅灵 🏴 @xunlingau.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Good article on the use of starlink by scam centres on the Myanmar/ thailand border, enabling the criminal enterprises. However a blanket shut off of starlink in Myanmar would be a big problem as many resistance forces & CSOs also use the tech to counter widespread Internet shutdowns & surveillance
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ND-Burma @ndburma.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
The US funding cuts have had immediate impacts on refugees and #IDPs. @borderconsortium.bsky.social says the food in the camps is quickly running out: "Nobody knows what could happen if there are no more funds at the end of March." www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/f...
irrawaddy.com
Food Running Out for 100,000 Myanmar Refugees After US Aid Freeze
TBC, which has been providing food and cooking fuel to refugees on the Thai border, says it only has enough funds left until the end of March, but some healthcare services resume for now.
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Maximillian Morch @maxmorch.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Refugees must have the power to shape their own future—one that is not held hostage by the fluctuations of global humanitarian aid.
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Saksith Saiyasombut | ศักดิ์สิทธิ์ ไสยสมบัติ @saksith.news · 27/02/2025
Thai media outlet @prachatai.com reports that several trucks with detainees left Bangkok’s infamous Immigration Detention Center at 2.30am (Thu). No confirmation if the 43 Uyghurs that have been held since 2014 are among them, as fears of a forced deportation to China have been mounting this week.
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Progressive Voice @pvamplify.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Junta’s airstrike on a wedding in Myaing, Magwe killed at least 9, hitting a monastery where the ceremony was held. Another deliberate attack on people at their most vulnerable. 🚨 The world must effectively enforce sanctions on aviation fuel to end junta airstrikes. myanmar-now.org/en/news/at-l...
myanmar-now.org
At least nine killed in airstrike targeting wedding of Myanmar resistance fighter
The attack took place Tuesday morning near a resistance-held oilfield in Magway Region’s Myaing Township
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DVB English News @dvbenglish.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
The Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM) told DVB on Tuesday that two political prisoners died at Obo Prison in Mandalay on Feb. 10 and 18. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Mandalay Read more: english.dvb.no/regime-plans...
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The New Humanitarian @newhumanitarian.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Myanmar junta’s forced conscription – after being repatriated – of potentially thousands of young men could constitute a war crime, rights activists say.
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Myanmar migrants forced to join junta forces after deportation from Thailand
The junta’s forced conscription – after being repatriated – of potentially thousands of young men could constitute a war crime, rights activists say.
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Progressive Voice @pvamplify.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
🚨#Myanmar junta’s claim of providing aid to IDPs is nothing but propaganda. Displaced ppl continue to suffer junta’s war & aid weaponization. Junta has manipulated aid that goes thru it, ensuring aid doesn’t reach ppl it attacks. ✊ Aid must go thru local responders! eng.mizzima.com/2025/02/24/1...
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ATHAN @athan-info.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
"Violation of Free Speech in January 2025" In January 2025, the #Myanmar military-controlled newspaper Myanma Alin reported the arrest of at least four ordinary citizens and the imprisonment of one retired army major for exercising their freedom of speech. Read more: tinyurl.com/yc7xc7zp #athanmm
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DVB English News @dvbenglish.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
The authorities in Thailand shut down the office of the Aid Alliance Committee (AAC) on Thursday. This comes two days after local authorities inspected the AAC office in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon Province of Thailand. Read more: english.dvb.no/talks-betwee... #WhatsHappeninglnMyanmar
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Josh Sheehan 🪷🌳🏳️‍⚧️🎸🐕🧡 @sheehanistan.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Myanmar: WANT. "To mark a milestone in the life of this leading independent news service, a book has been released entitled: “Resisting Military Rule in Burma (1988-2024) Story of Mizzima Media: Born in Exile, Banned in Myanmar” by Nandita Haksar & Soe Myint." eng.mizzima.com/2025/02/04/1...
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Thin from Thin Ink @thinink.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
My analysis for The New Humanitarian. There're many foreign experts on #Myanmar who I respect, but I made a conscious decision to champion Burmese (not Bamar) voices for this story. Thanks for trusting me with your thoughts. You know who you are. #Burma www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/202...
thenewhumanitarian.org
Myanmar in “polycrisis” as US aid freeze compounds long-term donor neglect
Conflict, disease, and poverty are driving unprecedented needs as junta rule enters a fifth year. So why is humanitarian assistance shrinking?
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Maximillian Morch @maxmorch.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
For over four years, I have been writing for the Asian Review of Books, which has now joined the Royal Society for Asian Affairs. Sharing my latest review: In Praise of Floods: The Untamed River and the Life It Brings by the late, great James C. Scott. asianreviewofbooks.com/in-praise-of...
asianreviewofbooks.com
“In Praise of Floods” by James C Scott
In Praise of Floods is the final book by James C Scott, a renowned anthropologist and political scientist, published posthumously after he died in 2024. Much of Scott’s earlier work has focused on …
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Progressive Voice @pvamplify.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
📌 One hour to go! Stay tuned and join us at 9.30 am (YGN Time) for our press conference: Global human rights network @Ganhri1 removes junta-controlled MNHRC ✊ Insights from panelists from PV, Generation Wave & Athan! Register ⤵️ bit.ly/4hUgWDn
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Asian Review of Books @asianreviewofbooks.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Today in the ARB: @maxmorch.bsky.social reviews “In Praise of Floods: The Untamed River and the Life It Brings” by James C Scott @yalepress.bsky.social asianreviewofbooks.com/in-praise-of...
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ATHAN @athan-info.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
📜Repression of Communication and Digital Rights Situation in Myanmar: The military junta has increased its efforts to suppress the internet, communication, and digital rights, including freedom of expression, through a systemic use of technology In 2024. Read full report >> tinyurl.com/2s3wavsp
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Maximillian Morch @maxmorch.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Over 106,000 refugees in nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border depend on food assistance, but funding is increasingly uncertain. I spoke with BBC Burmese about why sustaining this support is more critical than ever. www.facebook.com/share/p/18sg...
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