Small Nuclear Power Plants Can Help Solve The Climate Crisis (scam)

By William Teach November 15, 2023 – 7:15 am

Hey, if calling small Gen5 and Gen6 nuclear power plants a solution for global boiling, I’ll go with it, as long as they get built

U.S. Bets on Small Nuclear Reactors to Help Fix a Huge Climate Problem

Towering over the Savannah River in Georgia, the first nuclear reactors built from scratch in the United States in more than 30 years illustrate the enormous promise of nuclear power — and its most glaring weakness.

The two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant will join two older units to create enough electricity to power 2 million homes, 24 hours a day, without emitting any of the carbon dioxide that is dangerously heating the planet.

But those colossal reactors cost $35 billion, more than double the original estimates, and arrived seven years behind schedule. That’s why no one else is planning to build large reactors in the United States.

There were lots of reasons they took so long. The Wuhan Flu pandemic, lots and lots of lawsuits from nutters, too much rework, not enough workers with the necessary skill, since new reactors hadn’t been built in a long time.

We shouldn’t be building large ones: we should be building the latest generation ones, which are much smaller, and have been built in places like France

Instead, the great hope for the future of nuclear power is to go small.

Nearly a dozen companies are developing reactors that are a fraction of the size of those at Vogtle, betting that they will be quicker and cheaper to build. As the United States looks to transition away from fossil fuels that have underpinned its economy for 150 years, nuclear power is getting renewed interest, billions of dollars from the Biden administration and support from Republicans.

One reason is that nuclear plants can run at all hours, in any season. To those looking to replace coal and gas with wind and solar energy, nuclear power can provide a vital backstop when the air is calm or the sky is cloudy.

They would be much more efficient, less nuclear waste, and, from an air quality view, not a “carbon pollution” view, they would be much better than coal fired plants, especially as backups to wind and solar. Or, we could stop desecrating vast tracks of land with solar panels and wind turbines.

“The United States is now committed to trying to accelerate the deployment of nuclear energy,” John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, said in September. “It’s what we believe we absolutely need in order to win this battle.”

But the push to expand nuclear power, which today supplies 18% of electricity, faces enormous hurdles.

One of those hurdles is a very slow, slow, slow bureaucracy. Biden may want them, Kerry might want them, even some leading Warmists like Michael “Robust Debate” Mann might want them, but, there are tons of unhinged bureaucrats who despise them, and will slow walk them. Not mentioned in the very long, and well worth the read, NY Times article is that they will face lawsuit after lawsuit from the extreme-enviros, along with pressure from states and lawmakers.

Read: Small Nuclear Power Plants Can Help Solve The Climate Crisis (scam) »

Posted in Energy, Global Warming | 10 Comments | Trackback URL

Tens Of Thousands Of Israel Supporters Rally In D.C. Tuesday

By William Teach November 15, 2023 – 7:00 am

This must have made all the Progressive, Hamas supporting Democrat lawmakers and federal employees very upset

Tens of thousands of supporters of Israel rally in Washington, crying ‘never again’

Supporters of Israel rallied by the tens of thousands on the National Mall under heavy security Tuesday, voicing solidarity in the fight against Hamas and crying “never again.”

The “March for Israel” offered a resounding and bipartisan endorsement of one of America’s closest allies as criticism has intensified over Israel’s offensive in Gaza, set off by the bloody Hamas incursion on Oct. 7.

Overlooking a sea of Israeli and U.S. flags, the top Democrats in Congress — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jefferies — came together on the stage with Republicans Mike Johnson, the House speaker, and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa. They joined hands as Schumer chanted, “We stand with Israel.”

I heard Schumer was fantastic, and read a bit about his speech. It’s definitely not fair to condemn all elected Democrats, heck, most. It’s a small minority who are unhinged Jew haters

A succession of speakers took the stage to denounce the Hamas attack and what they said was a virulent spread of antisemitism internationally, “an embarrassment to all civilized people and nations,” in the words of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who addressed the crowd by video from the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

After “the largest massacre since the Holocaust,” he said, “let us call out together, never again.”

“No one will break us,” he vowed. “We will rise again. … There is no greater and just cause than this.”

Ernst said Hamas’ brutality cannot be overstated. “They murder babies,” she said. “They rape women. They abuse the elderly. How anyone in America could sympathize with these terrorists is unfathomable.”

Yet, a goodly chunk of the hard left, especially the younger ones, along with a huge chunk of imports from Muslim nations, not only sympathize, they advocate for the Jews haters, because they hate Israel and Jews.

Did AOC happen to view the intelligence released that shows Hamas tunnels and weapons linked to hospitals in Gaza? Meh, she’ll probably say it’s fake, if she bothered. Of course, Ilhan Omar is doing her thing, calling for a ceasefire, but, only from Israel’s side. No mention of the Hamas terrorists.

And here are at least 500 US officials who need to be terminated for going against official Executive Branch policy and siding with a State Department designated terrorist organization. Especially the State Dept employees. Should be sacked ASAP.

Read: Tens Of Thousands Of Israel Supporters Rally In D.C. Tuesday »

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Washington Post Wonders How Fast You Have To Buy EVs And Heat Pumps To Avoid Climate Doom

By William Teach November 14, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Interestingly, nowhere in this Washington Post piece do the authors, Michael J. Coren and Niko Kommenda, mention themselves making any of these changes, nor that the Washington Post is doing this for their offices (non-paywalled here)

How fast do you have to buy EVs and heat pumps to avoid the worst effects of climate change?

Judging by the surging sales of green technology, U.S. households appear to be on the verge of a low-carbon future. Millions of Americans are buying electric vehicles, heat pumps and induction ranges.

But those numbers belie a starkly different present. Just about 3 percent of Americans, for example, reported owning an induction stove in 2022.

That’s close to the share of the U.S. population that owned a cellphone in the late 1980s, a few years after the first models came out. It took more than two decades for wireless technology to eclipse home landlines.

There are a whole bunch of whys for taking that long, such as cost and coverage, but, the most important thing is that Government wasn’t forcing people to get a mobile phone and get rid of their landline. And, why is this anyone’s business what kind of stove you have? Or car? Or heating/cooling system?

Time is tighter for the climate. To meet net-zero emissions targets, and avoid the worst effects of warming, most households will need to embrace a new suite of low-carbon technologies by 2050, says the electrification nonprofit Rewiring America.

To make it happen, they’re betting on the “S-curve.”

Virtually every major technology over the past two centuries has followed the same swooping S from virtual obscurity to near-ubiquitous adoption. Economists can now predict this basic shape with surprising accuracy, though the exact nature of the curve or slope change varies by product.

And almost none of the major technologies required governmental force to make citizen purchase and use. Your computers, 4K TVs, streaming devices, WiFi, seriously, all this stuff I’m looking at while sitting here typing was not forced by government. Heck, some things just work great. The design of my guitars and fishtank have barely changed in decades, because they’re fine.

How fast Americans reach that point with green technologies is up to early adopters, about 15 to 20 percent of the population. They set the stage for this exponential growth by trying products before others do.

Take the thousands of die-hards who leased the first modern electric car, the EV1, released by General Motors in 1996. It had a 74-mile range at a time when drivers had virtually nowhere to charge except their garage.

They purchased those because they wanted to. Not because they were made to. Right now, the majority getting EVs are getting them because they want to, and typically make between $150k-$300K. Those who aren’t switching might consider in the future, but, it needs to be their choice, not the government’s.

Americans are on track to meet those goals, but reaching higher levels of adoption will require overcoming barriers such as high costs and a limited number of available models.

Which is government force. Mandates. For EVs, heat pumps, home solar panels, stoves, and heat pump water heaters, all mentioned in the screed. The only way they get there is by government regulating away what people can purchase and use. All of which are much more expensive. One way to get people to do this is by making the established devices much more expensive. They changed the standards for AC systems this year, making them thousands more. Or, they just refuse to approve, or say no more natural gas stoves and heating systems and water heaters.

In the early 1980s, AT&T asked consultants from McKinsey to estimate how many wireless customers it might have at the turn of the century, according to a report in the Economist.

Their answer — 900,000 subscribers — turned out to be the number of new customers joining mobile phone services every three days by 2020.

No one made citizens get them. No one mandated that people could not have wireline phones at home or the office. Construction typically has landlines (it’s usually required by government in new construction. Also, landlines tend to be one of the last things that go down during storms. I have a cheapo in the bedroom. I have no service, but, it will work if I call 911). Government did not require people to give up their flip and candybar phones and get a smartphone. Private companies incentivized people to do that. Private companies moved from WAP (wireless access protocol) running at 14.4kbs to 5G. Private companies put up towers to provide coverage.

And these climate cultists are pushing people to do things they mostly aren’t doing themselves, all for an authoritarian scam.

Read: Washington Post Wonders How Fast You Have To Buy EVs And Heat Pumps To Avoid Climate Doom »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach November 14, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…are evil carbon pollution Bad Weather clouds, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is American Elephants, with a post noting the death toll on Maui keeps changing.

Read: If All You See… »

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People’s Republik Of New York Spying On Citizens To Stop “Hate Speech”

By William Teach November 14, 2023 – 10:30 am

It’s rather shocking that the ACLU, especially the ACLU of NY, hasn’t jumped in to protect the citizens of NY from this un-constitutional attempt by government to monitor free speech. And protections are for speech you do not like, because the next person who could be on the hit list for “mean speech” could be you

Hochul Says NY Is Conducting Social Media ‘Surveillance Efforts’ To Monitor ‘Hate Speech’

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday that the state is “very focused” on collecting data from social media platforms as part of an effort to counter online “negativity” and “hate speech” after a rise in antisemitic attacks.

Following a meeting with the state’s Jewish leaders, local law enforcement and federal authorities, Hochul spoke to the media to discuss the state’s efforts to combat hate crimes.

“It’s painful to me as the governor of this great state — that has been known for its diversity, and how we celebrate different cultures, different religions, different viewpoints — it’s painful to see the cruelty with which New Yorkers are treating each other. Everywhere from college campuses, to our streets, to schools, to playgrounds; even as they’re entering their houses of worship,” Hochul said, noting that she “immediately deployed the State Police to protect our synagogues and yeshivas and mosques and any other place that could be susceptible to hate crimes or violence.”

It’s great that she’s protecting Jews from her Democratic party voters, but, calling for death to Jews isn’t, and hasn’t ever been, free speech. Nor is attacking them or places like synagogues

The New York governor went on to detail the state’s plan “to catch incitement to violence” and “direct threats to others” by monitoring social media activity.

“We’re very focused on the data we’re collecting from surveillance efforts – what’s being said on social media platforms. And we have launched an effort to be able to counter some of the negativity and reach out to people when we see hate speech being spoken about on online platforms,” Hochul said, insisting that no New Yorker “should feel they have to hide any indications of what their religious beliefs are.”

Will NY go after all those on social media who are Hamas supporters? Who are Islamists and Islamist supporters calling for the destruction of Israel? That is a very dangerous path when the government starts surveilling citizens online. We’ve seen this happen in England. But, they do not have a 1st Amendment. And you know that the NY government will use this all as an excuse to go after citizens who are against the Democrat government. Article 1 Section 8 of the NY Constitution is pretty darned clear about government interfering with freedom of speech and the press.

Read: People’s Republik Of New York Spying On Citizens To Stop “Hate Speech” »

Posted in 1st Amendment, Democrats | 19 Comments | Trackback URL

Good News: More Oil, Gas, And Coal Is Coming

By William Teach November 14, 2023 – 7:15 am

This has made the climate cultists at the NY Times very upset

Coming Soon: More Oil, Gas and Coal

electric vehicleIt’s no secret that fossil fuels are still going strong, as we discussed last month. But a new United Nations-backed report paints an alarming picture of how dramatically coal, oil and gas production is expected to grow in the coming years.

If current projections hold, the United States will drill for more oil and gas in 2030 than at any point in its history, our colleague Hiroko Tabuchi reports. So will Russia and Saudi Arabia.

In fact, almost all of the top 20 fossil fuel-producing countries plan to produce more oil, gas and coal in 2030 than they do today. If those projections hold, the world would overshoot the amount of fossil fuels consistent with limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius — the level scientists say would result in vastly more life-threatening heat waves, drought and coastal flooding.

So, what happens if all that production happens and the Earth doesn’t “overshoot” the magical 2C limit? Who loses their job over the failed prognostication? Oh, who am I kidding, the cultists will simply find a way to deflect say it didn’t happen do to something or other?

Saudi Arabia, as Hiroko reported last year, has an “aggressive long-term strategy to keep the world hooked on oil for decades to come and remain the biggest supplier as rivals slip away.” The country plans to increase production by up to 47 percent by 2050.

Let’s face it, most people want fossil fuels, which are inexpensive, reliable, and dependable, as well as easily obtained. Even the average Warmist is unwilling to give up their own use of fossil fuels. When does the NY Times forgo the supplied power and put solar panels on the roof? Since almost 50% of the energy in the state comes from natural gas.

“COP28 must send a clear signal that the fossil fuel age is out of gas — that its end is inevitable,” Gutteres said. “We need credible commitments to ramp up renewables, phase out fossil fuels, and boost energy efficiency, while ensuring a just, equitable transition.”

Why? Because you and the other Elites say so? You folks aren’t even giving up your own massive use of fossil fuels. Did the UN restrict the use of private jets to COP28?

Read: Good News: More Oil, Gas, And Coal Is Coming »

Posted in AGW Socialism, Global Warming | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

Hamas Supporter Ilhan Omar To Introduce Legislation Blocking Weapons To Israel

By William Teach November 14, 2023 – 7:00 am

Who’s surprised?

Exclusive: Rep. Ilhan Omar To Introduce First Bill To Block U.S. Weapons For Israel Since Gaza War Began

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) will this week introduce legislation to disapprove of a multimillion-dollar package of bomb equipment for Israel proposed by the Biden administration, a source familiar with her plans told HuffPost ? posing the first congressional challenge to the U.S.’s policy of uninterrupted and expanding military support for Israel amid its deadly campaign in Gaza.

Omar will by Wednesday file a bill known as a “resolution of disapproval” targeting a $320 million sale of gear for precision guidance kits for bombs, the source said, likely with a group of fellow Democratic lawmakers as co-sponsors. If the House of Representatives and the Senate both pass such a resolution, the administration would not be able to transfer the bomb equipment unless President Joe Biden vetoed the bill.

A spokesperson for Omar did not immediately provide comment for this story.

The Biden administration and Israel agreed on the arms deal earlier this year ? before the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group Hamas sparked the current fighting with a brutal attack inside Israel on Oct. 7 ? and Congress did not express objections then. But on Oct. 31, after Israel’s offensive in Gaza had already killed thousands, the administration told Congress it would begin transferring the gear, which helps makes bombs more advanced, The Wall Street Journal revealed.

For now, there is no guarantee Omar’s bill would come up for a vote: That depends on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which would need to pass it before it is considered by the full House. Committee chair Mike McCaul (R-Texas) and other Republicans, who control a majority in the House, overwhelmingly back military aid to Israel.

Actually, the Republican majority in the House should bring it up for a vote, making Democrats go on the record, either showing their support for Israel or for Hamas. Which one will pull the fire alarm in an attempt to stall the vote? Seriously, this is politics: you make people go on the record and vote. And you know that most who refuse to vote Yes or No are mostly taking the side of Hamas. The GOP needs to play hardball, otherwise known as Politics 101.

Europe’s integration failures are a warning to America

After the unimaginable violence committed by Hamas on October 7, with waves of terrorists invading Israel to burn, rape, mutilate, torture, kidnap and murder innocent people because of their Jewish faith, many conservatives were shocked to witness an explosion of bloodthirsty anti-Semitism on the streets of European cities.

Crowds immediately gathered in support of Hamas’s attack, with calls for “jihad” in London, protesters outside the iconic Sydney Opera House chanting “gas the Jews” In the days and weeks following the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, the scope of support for the destruction of Israel and the actions of Hamas has expanded to include pro-Palestinian mobs surrounding Jewish students on university campuses, the widespread tearing down of missing posters for Jewish civilians held captive in Gaza, and the vandalisation of war memorials.

Such behavior demonstrated by hundreds of thousands of protesters across the Western world should not only forever dispel the ridiculous defense claimed by anti-Semites that their open Jew-hatred is simply anti-Israel or anti-Zionist in nature. Indeed, as the late Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks put it, this “contemporary anti-Semitism” is nothing other than the latest mutation of an ancient bigotry.

Even still, it’s worth dwelling upon the appeals to allow these increasingly fraught pro-Palestine demonstrations to continue on the grounds of free expression, a value hardly shared by Hamas leadership. We are witnessing the suicide of the West under the false banner of multiculturalism – doomed not by the mere presence of multiple cultures within a single society, but the stubborn insistence that all cultures, by virtue of their difference, are inherently virtuous.

It’s rather shocking to see this kind of thing in a newspaper, even the UK Telegraph. And they’re right. You look at Omar: the U.S. brings her in, and she shows she shares zero American values. A goodly chunk of her district is made up of the exact same type of people, imported from Somalia and unwilling to assimilate, and demanding that America change to their 3rd World Islamic extremist values.

Read: Hamas Supporter Ilhan Omar To Introduce Legislation Blocking Weapons To Israel »

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Climate Cult Demands To Spend $266 Trillion To Solve Climate Scam

By William Teach November 13, 2023 – 3:00 pm

Sadly, the paywall for Bloomberg is pretty strong, much like that at the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg rarely gets picked up by Yahoo News, so, can only see a little bit of the screed

$266 Trillion in Climate Spending Is a No-Brainer
Without the investment, the alternative is $2.3 quadrillion in accumulated damage by the end of the century.

Humanity largely agrees climate change is an existential threat to civilization. You can bet global leaders will harrumph as much again at the big United Nations climate confab in Dubai this winter. At the same time, these leaders also lavish roughly four times more on the fossil fuels heating the planet than they spend fighting the existential threat. Maybe our priorities are just a bit skewed?

Unfortunately, though we’ve spent 2023 suffering from one climate-fueled disaster after another amid the hottest 12 months in recorded human history, we’re still not treating this as the emergency it is.

Climate financing might climb to $1.8 trillion this year, the International Energy Agency estimates. That’s still not enough. Adjusted for inflation, it’s almost unchanged. It’s little more than 1% of global GDP.

CPI estimates we’ll need to invest $266 trillion between now and 2050 to limit and adapt to climate change.

That’s the most I can pull beyond the headline and subhead. They want to drag $9.85 trillion from taxpayers for their scam. Let them pay for it on their own if they’re so worried.

Global: Agreement at COP28 to phase out fossil fuels is vital to prevent a climate and human rights catastrophe

An agreement at the COP28 summit to end the production and use of fossil fuels is vital to prevent a global climate catastrophe and stop an unprecedented human rights crisis which threatens the rights of billions of people from escalating, Amnesty International said today.

In a briefing titled, Fatal Fuels, Amnesty International calls for parties at COP28, which starts later this month, to agree to a full, fair, fast and funded phase out of fossil fuels and a human rights compliant transition to renewable power which facilitates access to energy for all.

Have the folks at Amnesty International given up their own use of fossil fuels? How will they travel around the world doing what they think is helping people without them?

Read: Climate Cult Demands To Spend $266 Trillion To Solve Climate Scam »

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If All You See…

By William Teach November 13, 2023 – 1:00 pm

…is horrible McMansion contributing vastly to climate doom, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Not A Lot Of People Know That, with a post on heat pumps being too noisy.

Read: If All You See… »

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Washington Post Notes Restaurants Are Having Big Problems Amongst Crime In D.C.

By William Teach November 13, 2023 – 10:30 am

This is our nation’s capital. The seat of our federal government. The place schoolkids and others go to visit to see the history. To see the museums and monuments. Where foreign dignitaries come to meet with elected officials. And now a place where you have a 1 in 24 chance of being the victim of a property crime

Restaurants are still struggling, and crime isn’t helping

Cedric Maupillier was in the kitchen during a busy Saturday night at Convivial on Oct. 21. The chef didn’t hear the shots when several men exited a vehicle and opened fire at the Giant supermarket across the street in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

But his guests did.

They immediately sought cover inside the restaurant at the corner of Eighth and O streets NW, with its picture-window views of the neighborhood. Diners and employees, Maupillier said, feared an active shooter was nearby. Customers hid under tables; one group turned over theirs to create a shield, sending plates, food and glasses crashing to the floor.

No one was hurt inside the restaurant, though one man was injured in the gunfire outside the supermarket, according to a Washington, D.C. police report. This wasn’t a random act of violence, like the mass shooting on Oct. 25 at a bar and grill in Lewiston, Maine. This was part of a chronic neighborhood problem: It was the fourth time in the past few months someone had fired a gun within earshot of his restaurant, said Maupillier, who opened Convivial eight years ago in Shaw, which was then experiencing a revitalization.

It’s just normal in the Democratic Party run city of D.C. That’s a word mentioned nowhere in the article: Democrat. There’s no mention of who created the policies that allows crime to run rampant and fester

Maupillier is not alone in his anger about crime in America’s cities and its effect on business. Crime, chefs and proprietors say, has hit their sector particularly hard, arguably at the worst time, as many restaurants are still trying to emerge from a global pandemic.

Margins are already parchment-paper thin, and restaurants have struggled to remain profitable amid a crush of issues: the rising price of ingredients, changing dining habits, debt obligations and increased labor costs as some jurisdictions begin to phase out the tipped minimum wage or owners shell out more money to attract and maintain a stable crew.

Why would anyone go to a restaurant in an area with lots of crime? The WP article also mention issues in San Francisco, Chicago, and NYC. Who runs those cities?

You can also drill down and review local crime stats. Some cities, such as Washington, D.C., Chicago and Oakland, have online portals in which you can see the number of reported crimes around a selected address. You can, for instance, type in the address for Bella Notte in Chicago and see dozens of crimes committed on the streets around the closed restaurant. (As in many cities, Chicago’s crime rates vary: Some, such as robberies and aggravated assaults, have spiked in the past year; others have fallen, including homicides.)

Neighborhood Scout ranks D.C., the nation’s capital, as a 2. Only cities ranked a 1 are worse. For violent crime, there’s a 1 in 102 chance of being a victim. Is this where you want to take your kids these days? Interestingly, most of the cities around D.C. are not that bad. Arlington is a 28 (100 is the safest). It has zero murders. Why is it so different?

Yet if you talk to restaurateurs and chefs, they’ll tell you that many of the crimes they deal with are never reported. They’ll tell you that graffiti, burglaries and the problems associated with homelessness – such as destruction of property – can cause thousands of dollars in damages. The money to repair the damages, they say, often comes out of their own pocket – for one simple reason.

“If you report too many crimes or burglaries, then the insurance company may drop you or even increase your rates,” says Nigel Jones, chef and owner of Calabash in Oakland, where violent crime this year is up by 22 percent over the same period in 2022, according to recent police statistics.

And if they report them, at best all that’ll happen is the police eventually show up to take a report, but, they do not have the time to investigate.

I have to wonder, how many of these restaurant owners and employees voted for Democrats in D.C., Oakland, San Fran, Chicago, etc? People have the right to vote for whoever they want, but they also have to accept responsibility for the society that results from their decisions. Those complaining about poor prosecution and a shortage of police to deal with the crime and homelessness so often vote for the policies that result in these conditions. D.C. resident overwhelmingly voted for extreme Democrats who support soft on crime policies and went all in on BLM and their scam, meaning the police have to leave black people alone, who are responsible for a goodly chunk of the D.C. crime.

Read: Washington Post Notes Restaurants Are Having Big Problems Amongst Crime In D.C. »

Posted in Dems in Charge: Now What? | 13 Comments | Trackback URL
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