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Nine People Murdered over a Noose in a Bathroom
Topic Started: Aug 3 2010, 05:49 PM (1,961 Views)
Mason
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The headline on TV is that the Murderer was "racially harassed."

Maybe the shooting was over Beer - and not the Noose.



By STEPHEN SINGER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Singer, Associated Press Writer – 40 mins ago

MANCHESTER, Conn. – A warehouse driver who a union official said was caught on video stealing beer from the distributorship where he worked went on a shooting rampage there Tuesday, killing eight people and wounding two before committing suicide, authorities said.

Omar Thornton, 34, pulled a handgun after a meeting in which he had been offered the chance to quit or be fired, Manchester Police Chief Marc Montminy said.

The gunman, who was black, had complained of racial harassment and said he found a picture of a noose and a racial epithet written on a bathroom wall, the mother of his girlfriend said. Her daughter told her that Thornton's supervisors told him they would talk to his co-workers.

James Battaglio, a spokesman for the families who own the distributorship, said he had no immediate information about the allegations of racial harassment. And a union official said Thornton had not filed a complaint of racism with the union or any government agency.

Thornton had been caught on videotape stealing beer, Teamsters official Christopher Roos said.

"It's got nothing to do with race," Roos said. "This is a disgruntled employee who shot a bunch of people."

Thornton's girlfriend had been with him the night before the rampage and had no indication he was planning it, said her mother, Joanne Hannah.

On Tuesday morning, about 50 to 70 people were in the warehouse about 10 miles east of Hartford during a shift change when the gunman opened fire around 7 a.m., said Brett Hollander, whose family owns the distributorship. Adding to the chaos at the warehouse was a fire, which was put out. Montminy said he didn't know how the fire started, but didn't think it was set.

The shooting was over in a matter of minutes, Montminy said. The victims were found all over the complex, and authorities don't know if Thornton fired randomly or targeted specific co-workers, Montminy said.

After shooting his co-workers, Thornton called his mother, Hannah said.

"He wanted to say goodbye and that he loved everybody," Hannah said.

Thornton was alive when police got to the scene but killed himself before officers got to him, Montminy said.

Hannah said her daughter Kristi had dated Thornton for the past eight years. Kristi Hannah did not return calls for comment.

"Everybody's got a breaking point," Joanne Hannah said.

Hannah described Thornton as an easygoing guy who liked to play sports and video games. She said he had a pistol permit and had planned to teach her daughter how to use a gun.

Hollander's cousin, who's a vice president at the company, was shot in the arm and the face. Hollander said he thought his cousin would be OK.

"There was a guy that was supposed to, was asked to resign, to come in to resign and chose not to and shot my cousin and my co-workers," Hollander said.

Among the dead was Bryan Cirigliano, 51, of Newington, president of Teamsters 1035, according to the union secretary. The Hartford Courant identified another victim as Victor James, 59, of Windsor.

The rampage was the nation's deadliest since 13 people were fatally shot at Fort Hood, Texas, last November. A military psychiatrist is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in that case.

And in Connecticut, a state lottery worker gunned down four supervisors in 1998 before committing suicide, and six people were killed in 1974 in botched robbery at a bakery in New Britain. Two men were convicted of that crime.

On Tuesday, a few dozen relatives and friends of the victims gathered a few miles away at Manchester High School. Outside, people talked, hugged and cried. Others talked on cell phones.

Police officers from numerous agencies and police and fire vehicles surrounded the warehouse, on a tree-lined road in an industrial park just west of a shopping mall.

The Hollander family is widely respected in Manchester, said state Rep. Ryan Barry, a lifelong resident. He said the family-owned Hartford Distributors sponsors local sports teams and the family is civic-minded.

"Everybody knows the Hollanders as good, generous, upstanding people," Barry said. "They're embedded in the community. Everyone knows Hartford Distributors. They treat their employees very well and they're part of the fabric of the town."

In a statement, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell offered condolences to the victims' families and co-workers.

"We are all left asking the same questions: How could someone do this? Why did they do this?" she said.


Maybe if they could find some way to tie this the (ex) CEO of BP - then it would be the Perfect Story.

Geraldo and Oprah would be on a plane.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100803/ap_on_re_us/us_beer_distributor_shootings


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Mason
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I know Jesse Jackson's family owns a lot of beer distributorships, maybe they can get a comment from him as an Owner - as a profiteer.

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Edited by Mason, Aug 3 2010, 05:54 PM.
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LTC8K6
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The guy was targeting white people, which hasn't been mentioned much yet...
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chatham
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This is the story from a Ct newspaper

MANCHESTER (AP) — A warehouse driver who a union official said was caught on video stealing beer from the distributorship where he worked went on a shooting rampage there Tuesday, killing eight people and wounding two before committing suicide. Read Story

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/08/03/news/doc4c58a534050fe069154448.txt

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Mason
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Killer of Eight, a Great Man:


10:23 PM EDT, August 3, 2010

EAST HARTFORD — Omar Thornton's family had heard he was having problems at his job at Hartford Distributors in Manchester. But he was so soft-spoken and laid-back that no one knew how much of an impact the problems were having on him.

"I never in a million years — I'm still waiting for someone to wake me up because I cannot believe this. Not him," said Theresa Billie, 32, who said she was his cousin.

Thornton, 34, went on a shooting spree at the family-owned beer and wine wholesaler Tuesday morning, killing eight of his co-workers and wounding several others before killing himself.

Cousins, aunts, uncles and other family members visited Thornton's mother, Lillie Holliday, at her apartment on Silver Lane in East Hartford on Tuesday. As they grieved the loss of a loved one, they also tried understanding what could have propelled Thornton to commit the acts they heard about in the news.

Holliday was too distraught to speak to a Courant reporter.

Thornton's sister, Mayshell Kinder, along with Billie and another cousin, said there was nothing about Thornton, whom they described as a "mama's boy," that could have foreshadowed such a deadly outburst. He was a hard worker. He didn't smoke. He didn't drink. He had never been in trouble with the law, they said.

"He was a really good person. I'm not a good person, but he was a good person," said Kinder, 40. "I would rather die first and have left my mom without me than without him."

The only clue that the family has about Thornton's motive for the shootings was his complaint that he was racially harassed at work.

A racial epithet and drawings of a noose had been left on the bathroom walls at Hartford Distributors, according to Darlene Hayles, 45, who said she was Thornton's cousin. He told family members that he complained to a supervisor about it, she said, but nothing was done.

A representative for Teamsters Local 1035 said Thornton never reported instances of racial discrimination.

"There has never been a racial discrimination complaint made to the union and there has not been one made to any state or federal office that I'm aware of," said Christopher Roos, secretary-treasurer of the union. "I never, ever, ever heard any complaint about that. Never."

John Hollis, the Teamsters' legislative representative at the state Capitol, said he was told Thornton had been caught on a video camera in the warehouse taking beer for himself. A meeting was scheduled Tuesday morning to confront him about the situation, Hollis said.

Hollis said in a phone interview that he had met Thornton at least a half-dozen times over the two years Thornton had worked there.

"The guy just seemed to be a good worker," said Hollis, who had worked for the company for 31 years as a driver before retiring eight years ago. Hollis said his son-in-law and Thornton "knew each other very well; they were very good friends."

Hollis said that as far as he knew, Thornton was the most recently hired driver at the company, having worked at first in a non-driving warehouse job.

"From my few meetings with him, he didn't stand out as one of those people who would do anything like this — just a co-worker to everyone," Hollis said.

Thornton filed for bankruptcy in 2000 at age 24, under the name Thornton Omar Sharriff. He reported $600 in the bank and nearly $16,000 in debts, including a car loan and student loans. At the time, he was a delivery driver in Middletown for Stericycle, a medical- and hazardous-waste disposal firm. A corporate official said the company would not discuss Thornton.

Thornton received a speeding ticket in February 2007 and another in December 2008 that led the state Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend his commercial driver's license for three months, according to DMV records.

He was hired at Hartford Distributors about two years ago and started working at the distribution center and worked his way up to driver, said Joanne Hannah, the mother of Thornton's girlfriend of eight years.

Hannah described Thornton as mellow and peaceful. He worked long shifts and sometimes worked weekends. Her daughter, Kristi Hannah, who was sharing an apartment with Thornton in East Windsor, was staying with a friend and did not want to speak publicly.

"She's just crying to me that she loved him and she can't believe he did this," Hannah said.

Thornton, who called his mother regularly, spoke to her Monday night and ended the conversation by saying that he loved her, Billie said. He called her Tuesday morning from Hartford Distributors. He told her he had shot some people, that he loved her and that he was sorry.

"They're coming," he said before ending the call, Billie said.

http://www.courant.com/community/east-hartford/hc-omar-thornton-story-0804-20100803,0,6332629,print.story

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Edited by Mason, Aug 4 2010, 02:41 AM.
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Mason
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He's 34 years old and the articles have been calling him a "Mama's boy."

Now, that is a very strange way to identify someone that murdered eight innocent people and is unmarried.

Usually we are told of these in relationship to the crime and profiling. Here, they use it to tell us, again, how great he is:



"Thornton, who called his mother regularly, spoke to her Monday night and ended the conversation by saying that he loved her, Billie said. He called her Tuesday morning from Hartford Distributors. He told her he had shot some people, that he loved her and that he was sorry."



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Edited by Mason, Aug 4 2010, 02:49 AM.
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Mason
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A Male family member is on TV saying that the Killer told his Mother that he killed the Racists that were bothering him.


This guy was called into a meeting - he already a gun on him. It's not like he was fired and came back to work. They were departing the meeting and he pulled out the gun.

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Mason
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The National News on the radio is leading with this story and they play the clip of a male family member saying that Thornton's last words were that he shot the racists.

It is irresponsible - the brief report didn't mention the countervailing facts. The TV news is grabbing onto the narrative too - he was a really nice, laid-back guy that was harassed by racists.

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Edited by Mason, Aug 4 2010, 04:59 AM.
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Mason
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Scroll down a little bit - and see CBS's headline:

Omar Thornton: "I Killed the Five Racists That Were Bothering Me"


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20012557-504083.html



According to one of his relatives....

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Edited by Mason, Aug 4 2010, 05:08 AM.
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Mason
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Don't blame the gunmen in this one.
They need a law named after Omar:


Workplace Bullying: An angry Omar Thornton lashed out against his employer
August 3, 9:20 PM NY Public Policy by Edward Nelson

Omar Thornton, a 34 year old African-American driver at Hartford Distributors, Inc. in Manchester, Connecticut, killed nine people this morning after being disciplined by his employer. M. Jodi Rell, Governor of Connecticut, is quoted as saying:

“’How could someone do this? Why did they do this? It was a senseless act of violence that has left us all shaken and reminds us just how precious and fragile life truly is.’”

These questions demand an answer. When unemployment has reached a historic apex and the job market is showing marginal growth, who would seriously consider terminating an employee on an assumption that s/he stole something? Being unemployed in America is a very serious issue. Recently, the New York State Legislature passed an Anti-bullying in the workplace bill that would prohibit employers from misusing their authority over subordinates. In fact, Mr. Thornton would have had an alternative option to exhaust his grievances and the nine individuals who needlessly lost their lives would be here today if the State of Connecticut had enacted an Anti-bullying law.

Reports are circulating that Mr. Thornton complained of racism and his employers did nothing to investigate his several complaints. Workplace bullying has a devastating psychological impact on those being oppressed. Unfortunately, today’s on-the-job shooting sheds light on one of the many dangers that workplace bullying can cause and how it could potentially affect innocent employees. David A. Paterson, Governor of New York, should sign the Anti-bullying in the workplace bill into law immediately to stop what seems to be a growing trend of violence emanating from the workplace. America does not want to create jobs by hoping that someone takes the life of fellow employees.

There are a number of employees who allege that Mr. Thornton had stolen beer and the incident was videotaped. However, we have yet to see the images produced in that videotape. This entire event is really awful and our hearts go out to the families of the injured and deceased. Governors Rell and Paterson should seriously consider signing a bill into law that prohibits bullying in the workplace. Unlike Governor Rell, Governor Paterson has a bi-partisan Anti-bullying bill on this desk. The New York State Senate and Assembly has done their part.

So, how can someone do this? It’s public knowledge that workplace bullying creates angry employees. Why did they do this? Since there are no laws prohibiting workplace bullying and no internal audits of control to assure that employees are being treated fairly in the workplace. As a result, superiors with authority are not impugned for their abusive behavior. We need something in place to hold our superiors accountable for their abuse.

http://www.examiner.com/x-48240-NY-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2010m8d3-Workplace-Bullying-An-angry-Omar-Thornton-lashed-out-against-his-employer

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Edited by Mason, Aug 4 2010, 05:13 AM.
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Mason
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Yet another editorial supporting the Gunman, blindly accepting what a family member said. No talk of the victims here - unless you call Omar the victim!


Hartford Distributors Shooting about Race

Omar Thornton, the Hartford Distributors, Manchester, Ct shooting suspect was reported to be "not violent" according to his former girlfriend Kristi Hannah. She also said he was the target of racism at the workplace.

That does not in any way excuse what Omar did, but it serves as a warning sign regarding what can push a person to the edge. If it was racism that pushed Omar, then that should be studied so that such a climate is not allowed to exist in the workplace.

Reportedly offered the chance to quit or be fired from the beer distributor because he was an alleged discipline problem according to a Teamsters Union Official, 34-year-old Omar Thornton opened fire and hit eight people, seven have died and one was critically injured according to news updates.

Thornton was the last to die, and according to HLN on television, he called his mother to say "goodbye" after he shot the employees (UPDATE: CBS reports he said to his mother he "killed the five racists who were bothering" him). But how he died is still a source of conflicting reports: some say he was killed by police officers when he refused to drop his gun and others claim that Thornton turned the gun on himself.

Whatever the case, it's clear Omar Thornton snapped. His former girlfriend said he was not a violent person. While he purchased two guns, Omar Thornton had a legal gun permit, and was going to teach his girlfriend how to use guns, according to the Associated Press.

Teamsters official Christopher Roos is wrong about race

Teamsters official Christopher Roos said the shootings had nothing to do with race because Omar Thornton never filed a complaint with the union or any government agency. But what Mr. Roos didn't consider is that some people don't know where to go to file a complaint of racism.

Teamsters official Christopher Roos' statement that "it had nothing to do with race" is both cowardly and irresponsible and wrong. What's the fear in saying that it did have to do with race, when apparently it did? To avoid the chance that maybe they did something to make Omar Thornton snap? Saying that what Omar Thornton did was awful is obvious. But there's a less to be learned here that's being covered up thus far.

Thornton's girlfriend said that he, to quote the Houston Chronicle, "complained of racial harassment and said he found a picture of a noose and a racial epithet written on a bathroom wall." When that happens at work, some people don't know what to do. Perhaps that was the case with Thornton.

But obviously Thornton had also not been instructed on how to deal with race. If he were made to be a mentally stronger person, this story would not have happened. African Americans have been the victims of racism for centuries, but we're not known for killing anyone as a reaction to it. This is disturbing.

There's is much to know, still. What was the discipline problem (on HLN the allegation was theft)? Did he have any friends within the ranks of the Hartford Distributors beer distributor company? Why did he break from his girlfriend of eight months?

A very sad story of a person who went on a rampage and killed people he worked with.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail??blogid=95&entry_id=69320#ixzz0vY5yaVtc
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Mason
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The New York Times can't find it in them to mention the victims - none of them.

We can see who the victim is here - and it's not the eight being buried.



A Bumpy Life Ends in a Fatal Rampage
By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY and NATE SCHWEBER

He was bankrupt by age 24, when, court filings show, his only worldly possessions were $250 worth of clothing and $600 in a checking account. Debt collectors hounded him for years.

In the last two years, he landed a job as a driver for a beer distributor. He lived with a longtime girlfriend in a bumpy relationship that ended, at least temporarily, in the spring. On Facebook, he wrote of his interest in exercise supplements and guns.

None of this adds up to explain why Omar S. Thornton, 34, walked into Hartford Distributors, where he worked, in Manchester, Conn., on Tuesday morning and opened fire, killing eight people and taking his own life; the facts that first trickle in after a catastrophic crime rarely do.

But as the hours passed, the police and the public sifted through the particulars of Mr. Thornton’s life for any clues about what had prompted the deadly rampage.

The story that emerged on Tuesday began in East Hartford, a working-class town across the Connecticut River from Hartford, where Mr. Thornton grew up, the youngest of three siblings. “He was the baby,” said his aunt, Rosetta Billie.

Ms. Billie recalled that Mr. Thornton, as a child, trailed her around at her Pentecostal church every Sunday. “He was a good kid,” she said. “He never had been in trouble a day in his life. He never had been to the jailhouse a day in his life.”

Mr. Thornton graduated in 1996 from East Hartford High School, where he left little impression on several classmates contacted Tuesday. He continued his education, although it is not clear where; public records show that he owed $2,500 in student loans.

By 1999, he was making deliveries for Stericycle, a medical waste disposal company in Middletown, and making $24,000 a year, according to court papers.

But the following year, Mr. Thornton filed for bankruptcy. At the time, he owed a dozen creditors, including American Express and Sprint, a total of more than $15,000. His case was resolved by April 2001, records show.

For a while, Mr. Thornton’s fortunes seemed to improve. Eight years ago, he started dating Kristi E. Hannah. A year into their relationship, he moved into the house where she was living in Enfield, about 23 miles north of Hartford.

The couple had two roommates. One, Clayton Mack, 53, said Mr. Thornton was rarely around because he was usually working. Mr. Thornton, he said, told him that he was self-employed at the time.

But the financial troubles resurfaced. About three or four years ago, Mr. Mack said, Mr. Thornton started receiving calls from debt collectors. Not long afterward, Mr. Mack recalled, he saw Mr. Thornton sitting at the kitchen table with Ms. Hannah as they shopped for a handgun on the Internet. Mr. Thornton said that he wanted the gun “just for protection,” Mr. Mack recalled.

Mr. Mack, a member of the National Rifle Association, said he cautioned Mr. Thornton about buying a gun. “I told him you have to be careful about where and how you buy it,” Mr. Mack said.

Ms. Hannah’s mother, Joanne Hannah, said Mr. Thornton owned several guns, and wanted to teach Kristi how to shoot.

Joanne Hannah said she and Mr. Thornton, who was black, once had an argument in which she used a racial epithet to describe him; he, in turn, called her a racist. “He was sick and tired of people being racist to him,” Ms. Hannah said.

Mr. Thornton’s relationship with Kristi Hannah was an “on-and-off deal,” said her great-uncle, Richard Hannah. When the couple had a rift in the spring, Mr. Mack said, Mr. Thornton moved out of the Enfield house, and Ms. Hannah left about two weeks later.

Still, Mr. Thornton remained close to Ms. Hannah. He told her that things were not working out at his job, Joanne Hannah said; he complained that co-workers at Hartford Distributors were aiming racial insults at him. “Things were being put on the bathroom walls,” Ms. Hannah added — a racist slur “and a hangman noose.”

Joanne Hannah said Mr. Thornton spent Monday night at her daughter’s apartment in East Windsor. Mr. Thornton left work at 9 p.m., brought home some sandwiches and played the video game Madden with his girlfriend’s 13-year-old brother, Ryan Conway, until about midnight. The boy, who slept on the couch, woke the couple on Tuesday morning. Ms. Hannah said Mr. Thornton left for work in a hurry.

He arrived at 7 a.m. for a meeting with his union representative to discuss what a union official, Christopher Roos, called “a question of theft.” Mr. Roos said he was asked to review a videotape and answer questions. Afterward, Mr. Thornton opened fire.

Kristi Hannah and her brother heard about the shooting on television at her mother’s house. About 9 a.m, her mother said, detectives arrived looking for Mr. Thornton and Kristi threw herself on the floor and cried, “ ‘Oh my God, Omar, tell me this isn’t you.’ ”

Hours later, Mr. Mack said, in the house they had shared, a creditor called for Mr. Thornton.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/nyregion/04gunman.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

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Edited by Mason, Aug 4 2010, 05:41 AM.
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A Post on the Yahoo blog:

" Terron Coleman

One good thing about this is it will be 8 less votes for Sarah Palin in 2012

Reply

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LTC8K6
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Mason
Aug 4 2010, 05:57 AM
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A Post on the Yahoo blog:

" Terron Coleman

One good thing about this is it will be 8 less votes for Sarah Palin in 2012

Reply

Was that a media rep?

http://bigjournalism.com/amarlow/2010/08/04/caught-on-video-couric-mocks-palin-on-day-shes-named-running-mate/
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chatham
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The freakin guy was caught on video stealing beer. He was freakin called in on that. He knew he was going to get fired or at the least reprimanded, so he carried a gun with him to the meeting. There never was a freakin racist involvement with this case. The freakin Union said there was never a racist component. No one at work is saying there was a racist component. This is just his family's way of shifting responsibility for the murders onto other people and the white racists. Thats what obama has done twice, so far, so why not follow the leader.

The MSM is a freakin mess.
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