EPIC

Humor 2 Minutes

When I was 19, my aunt, my cousin, and I planned and hosted an awesome Halloween party.  My aunt and I worked together at the same factory, so our lunch times were spent planning and designing costumes, deciding on foods and decorations and the most important part—“games”.

We got a large oblong box from the shipping department and an empty cardboard roll from the fabric from the cutting room.  We shaped and painted the box into a coffin and painted the roll gold and attached it as a handle. (We planned to put this on the coffee table and fill it with tubs of ice and drinks.)

Next, I made a life sized, stuffed dummy and a black hooded robe.  For a face, I pulled a rubber skeleton mask over the head, then pulled the hood up.  We sat the dummy—nicknamed Mr. Bones—in a chair behind the wet bar in my aunt’s basement.  We planned to place him next to the stereo system and every time I changed the cassette (yup, that long ago!) I would playfully smack him and say, “Hey Mr. Bones!”

The night of the party, the basement was appropriately filled with cobwebs and flickering lights, hands crawling out from under the chairs and a cauldron in the corner with dry ice creating a little swirling mist.  Our guests did not disappoint with their costumes! One of my cousins was a Lipton tea bag…

Another was a classic nerd…

We also had cheerleaders, nurses, werewolves and vampires.

The height of the party was a scavenger hunt outside, with prizes for the top three scores.  The hunt, however, was just an excuse to get everyone out of the house, so we could pull a switch.  My boyfriend, who supposedly couldn’t make it to the party, waited till he saw everyone scatter outside with their flashlights.  He then snuck in the house.  We took the mask and robe off the dummy and he put them on.  Then he took Mr. Bones’ place behind the bar and waited.

Since we had a 30-minute time limit on the scavenger hunt he didn’t have to wait too long. We were amazed at the items the scavengers toted with them.  One had the neighbor’s welcome mat, another had a Beware of the Dog sign, and one even brought a High School sign with him.  (Which was amazing, since the clue was for a “sign” and we had over a DOZEN Happy Halloween signs in the front yard just for that reason.)

While we were tallying the scores to determine the winner of the scavenger hunt, I asked one of my friends to change the music behind the bar, so we could dance.  When she started to go around the bar, I said, “don’t forget to say hi to Mr. Bones!”  She tapped him playfully as I had done and said, “What’s up Mr. B?”

My boyfriend opened his eyes and hissed, “Happy Halloween Linda!”

She screamed and scrambled over the bar.  The rest of the group stood stunned, while my aunt, my cousin, my boyfriend and I cracked up.

It was EPIC. 

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Published by pat frederick

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103 thoughts on “EPIC”

    1. Good morning! What an awesome party planner!!!! I could never come up with such ideas! Sunny this morning and in the mid-50’s when I got up. Supposed to cloud up, tho, with some chances of rain tonight/tomorrow – then into the 40’s during the day with the high 20’s at night!

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Oh, yeah – just the Vinca’s, tho – next spring, 3 of those will be planted outside and I’ll just have one to bring in next winter. The rest in the pots were annuals except for the Moss Roses and those come back every year regardless. I periodically spread the seeds to make sure a goodly amount get dropped in the pots. I’ve got them growing all over my back driveway where I used to keep the 2 pots.

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  17. this is why they should NOT be issued driver’s licenses. SOS in Colorado accidentally sent out 30,000 register to vote card to illegals…
    entire article
    Around 30,000 non-U.S. citizens living in Colorado were mistakenly sent postcards late last month encouraging them to register to vote.

    Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office said the postcards were mistakenly mailed on Sept. 27 after department employees compared a list of names of 102,000 people provided by the Electronic Registration Information Center to a database of Colorado residents issued driver’s licenses.

    That Department of Revenue driver’s license list includes residents issued special licenses for people who are not U.S. citizens. But it didn’t include formatting information that normally would have allowed the Department of State to eliminate those names before the mailers went out, Griswold’s office said.

    The Colorado postcards, in English and Spanish, specify that residents must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years old to register. They tell recipients how to register but are not a registration form.

    Griswold’s office said it was unaware that any noncitizens who received the postcards in error had tried to register and that none will be allowed to register to vote even if they try.

    Her office is now sending notices to the roughly 30,000 people who aren’t citizens but who mistakenly received the postcards. It is also applying several efforts to prevent or reject anyone not eligible to vote from registering, including comparing Social Security Numbers required for each application, on a daily basis. County clerks also will refer suspect cases to local district attorneys for review.

    The incident is under investigation, it said. Colorado Public Radio News first reported the error. The news comes amid widespread distrust of voting integrity following the 2020 presidential election.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/colorado-secretary-state-says-accidentally-sent-30000-voter-registration-notices-noncitizens

    Liked by 1 person

  18. read the fine print…paypal has not backed down
    FTA
    The story was shocking: As PJM’s Rick Moran stated Saturday, “The financial services company PayPal announced a controversial policy to deduct up to $2,500 from the accounts of users who spread ‘misinformation.’” But as the news of this astonishing plan circulated far and wide, PayPal experienced a swift backlash in the form of a blizzard of account cancellations, and quickly backed down, claiming that the announcement went out “in error” and adding: “PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy.” That’s terrific, or would be if it weren’t for the fact that PayPal’s current Acceptable Use Policy still threatens $2,500 fines per infraction for promoting “hate” and “intolerance” — language the Left regularly uses to characterize (and demonize) speech that is critical of its insane policies.

    Eugene Volokh pointed out Sunday that PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy, which was last updated on Sept. 20, 2021, warns the unfortunate PayPal user that “you must adhere to the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy,” or else: “Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy constitutes a violation of the PayPal User Agreement and may subject you to damages, including liquidated damages of $2,500.00 U.S. dollars per violation, which may be debited directly from your PayPal account(s) as outlined in the User Agreement (see ‘Restricted Activities and Holds’ section of the PayPal User Agreement).”

    Click on that “Restricted Activities and Holds” section, and you’ll find a long list of “you must nots,” including the expected prohibitions of fraud, selling counterfeit goods, and the like. But included on the list of things you must not do is “Provide false, inaccurate or misleading information.” False, inaccurate, or misleading in the eyes of whom? Why, of PayPal’s Leftist hall monitors, of course, and no one else, including the person PayPal accuses: “If we believe that you’ve engaged in any of these activities, we may take a number of actions to protect PayPal, its customers and others at any time in our sole discretion.” No one else’s. You’ll have no appeal, no recourse, no opportunity to present your side of the story.

    And among the “Prohibited Activities” listed on the Acceptable Use Policy page, you’ll find forbidden “the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime.” No problem, eh? You have never engaged in or ever plan to engage in any promotion of hatred, violence, or intolerance, so you’re in the clear, right? Wrong. Leftists routinely accuse patriots of promoting hate: Wanting a secure southern border is promoting hate. Not wanting to see our schools become platforms for genuinely hateful and false race grievance propaganda is promoting hate. Disagreeing with the Leftist dogma that Islam is a religion of peace is promoting hate. Not believing that Jan. 6 was an insurrection or that Donald Trump is a traitorous Russian puppet is promoting hate.

    And so what PayPal’s still-in-force Acceptable Use Policy is saying is that at PayPal’s sole discretion, it can decide to start fining wrongthinkers and taking thousands of dollars from your account for the sole reason that you don’t toe the Left’s political line. PayPal backed down on fining you for spreading “misinformation,” but few people seem to have noticed at all that it still threatens to fine you for “hate” and “intolerance.” Don’t like drag queens sexualizing primary school children? If a PayPal wonk decides that’s “intolerance,” you could be out $2,500, and remember, that’s just for one infraction alone. If you dare to express your dissent more than once, you could be in to PayPal for tens of thousands of dollars.

    https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2022/10/10/paypal-did-not-back-down-still-threatens-2500-fines-for-promoting-hate-and-intolerance-n1635846

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are… pic.twitter.com/oAuTnxZldf

      — Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) October 11, 2022

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  20. Entire Article @ DCNF:

    “Republican Treasurers Pull $1 Billion From BlackRock Over Alleged Anti-Fossil Fuel Policies
    Jack McEvoy on October 10, 2022″

    UPDATE: This piece has been updated to include comment from a Louisiana State Treasury spokesperson.

    Republican state treasurers are withdrawing $1 billion in assets from BlackRock’s control due to the asset manager’s alleged boycott of the fossil fuel industry, according to the Financial Times.

    Republican South Carolina State Treasurer Curtis Loftus is pulling $200 million from BlackRock by the end of 2022, and Louisiana treasurer John Schroder said on Oct. 5 that he is divesting $794 million from the company, according to the FT. Utah treasurer Marlo Oaks said he removed $100 million in funds from BlackRock’s control, and Arkansas treasurer Dennis Milligan pulled $125 million from the company in March.

    The treasurers are removing state funds from BlackRock as they believe that the investment firm, which manages roughly $8.5 trillion worth of assets, is placing its climate agenda above its responsibility to its shareholders, according to the FT. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has previously pushed companies to reduce carbon emissions and invest in green energy.

    BlackRock is also committed to helping the world reach “net-zero emissions” by 2050 as the company seeks to minimize “investment risk” that could be caused by climate change, according to its website. South Carolina prevented BlackRock from managing a $41 billion fund because of concerns about its environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies, Loftis told the FT.

    “So much of it does not help the people it is supposed to help,” Loftis said of ESG investing. “That is why I have really gotten my back up.”

    “ESG investing is contrary to Louisiana law, which states that returns on investments must be top priority,” Louisiana State Treasury spokesperson Erin Cowser told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “If you are on the warpath against the oil and gas industry, you are working against the best interests of the citizens of Louisiana. We are already a state facing tremendous economic challenges and BlackRock wants to make it worse.”

    Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt and 18 other Republican attorneys general sent a letter to Fink in August, calling BlackRock’s climate stances into question and alleging that the investment manager was violating its fiduciary duty to its clients by refusing to invest in oil and gas companies. BlackRock responded to the letter in September, claiming that it never forced businesses to adhere to its climate targets and does not coordinate its investment decisions or shareholder voting with climate activist parties.

    West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore in late July banned JPMorgan, BlackRock and three other banks from doing business in the state due to the entities’ alleged boycott of oil, gas and coal businesses.

    BlackRock and the four Republican state treasurers did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.”

    https://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2022/10/10/republican-treasurers-pull-1-billion-from-blackrock-over-alleged-anti-fossil-fuel-policies/

    Liked by 1 person

  21. From InfoWars: “Sweden is refusing to share the preliminary results of its official investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline explosions with Russia, asserting that the information is “confidential.” Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said that the outcome of the inquiry into what severely damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in late September would not be revealed to Moscow. “In Sweden, our preliminary investigations are confidential, and that, of course, also applies in this case,” Andersson told reporters.

    The investigation found that the blasts were an act of sabotage, although the culprit has not been named. The Swedish leader said that Russia was free to conduct its own investigation into the incident, adding that Sweden had removed cordons from the area. “The Swedish economic zone is not a territory that Sweden disposes of,” said Andersson.

    President Vladimir Putin, who has accused the US and Britain of carrying out an “act of international terrorism” in targeting the pipelines, reacted to Sweden’s denial of access to the investigation by insisting, “We all know well who the ultimate beneficiary of this crime is.”

    As we previously highlighted, a former Pentagon advisor said the most likely culprits behind the Nord Stream pipeline blasts are the United States and Britain, and that the attack was carried out to prevent Germany from bailing on the war in Ukraine.

    Douglas Macgregor suggested that the motive behind the attacks was to isolate Germany after Berlin began “to give the impression that they were no longer going to go along with this proxy war in Ukraine.”

    According to a report by German magazine Der Spiegel, the CIA warned Berlin about a potential attack on gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea weeks before the explosions. However, Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin insisted that there was no evidence the US was behind the attack, but only because the Pentagon said so.

    Both Joe Biden and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland asserted that Nord Stream 2 wouldn’t be allowed to operate if Russia attacked Ukraine. After the attack, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the development as a “tremendous opportunity” for Europe “to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy.”

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/sweden-refuses-to-share-results-of-nord-stream-pipeline-explosion-investigation-with-russia/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. not releasing the info means they are shielding someone…wonder who that could be?
      the investigation should have been done by a team of all interested parties to ensure nothing was manufactured or covered up in the findings

      Liked by 6 people

  22. Entire Article from Tom Renz:

    In my last article I asked what would be done about the creation of SARS-COV2. That article (read here) focused on political and public aspects of the question. I have and will continue to offer – for free – my assistance to any elected official that credibly wants to fight this but here am going to answer my own question on the private side of things. The answer to who and what will be done about the death and carnage released on the people of the world is that we the people will do things like this: Renz Files Lawsuit on the Creation of SARS-COV2, and we will keep doing it until there is real accountability.

    Let me begin this by telling you a bit about the case. First, please understand that this is a real lawsuit and so it must be treated with respect. My ability to comment on it is limited and it is far too important for us to fail to be careful. That said, we have filed this case in a state court in New York and it lists a handful of defendants that we allege were responsible for creating the disease that has, according to the WHO, killed over 6.5 million people globally. We also list “John and Jane Doe” because it may well be that as the case progresses there will be other “necessary defendants” that we will add to the lawsuit.

    Within the complaint we discuss the creation of the disease and the injuries it created in our plaintiffs. We then talk about the legal mechanisms (counts) by which we are basing the case. Even though we have not really publicized this much yet, I am already getting a lot of questions. I am glad the case is resonating and hope people keep asking. While I cannot answer most of the questions because it would disclose legal strategy, I can tell you that I have been working on this case for months and we have a TON of reasons for everything we did. No one knows what will happen when you file a suit like this but my team (thank you MAFA, Patty, and others) and I have done EVERYTHING we could to research every detail and ensure there are no holes in the larger litigation strategy.

    In terms of the accountability, please know that this is only the first step. On a personal level I do not know that I will ever fully recover from the hundreds or thousands of people I spoke to, begging for help, that ended up dying or losing loved ones because I simply could not make more time in the day. For my part, this simply cannot end until there is accountability for all involved and I have many more things I’m working on to ensure it. With that said, please understand that I am one person, with a small team, very limited funding, and cannot make more time in the day so this will not happen tomorrow. I pray frequently for strength to continue the fight and that God keeps me from deviating from the path (I would be honored by prayers from anyone reading this that is inclined to provide them).

    At the end of the day, the crime that was and is COVID-19 will be revealed. We will win this fight and there will be accountability. There will be accountability for the disease, the hospital murders, the jabs, the lockdowns, and everything else and we will do everything we can to ensure that EVERY single person that profited from this crime against humanity pays the price.

    I end this article with this: for all of you that have made the trillions of dollars off of the death and carnage that is COVID in ANY sort of corrupt way, know this, it may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but we the people are coming for you. We will not deviate from our peaceful path towards accountability and you WILL be held accountable. So enjoy your ill-gotten wealth for today but make sure you NEVER stop looking over your shoulders because the millions dead demand accountability and whether from me or my betters, you will pay.

    Please share and support our work. This post is public and we want everyone to see it.”

    https://tomrenz.substack.com/p/justice-accountability-is-coming

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Entire Article @ BB: “Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan doubled down on his comments from earlier in the year calling to “kill and confront” MAGA while specifically targeting J.D. Vance in his rhetoric during the debate on Monday night.

    In the heated debate between Ryan and his Republican opponent for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat, Ryan was confronted and asked to explain his comments earlier in the year when he told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that the “exhausted majority” needed to “kill and confront” the extremist Republican movement.

    Now, Ryan, during the debate — doubling down on his comments — included Vance in the group of people he labels as “extremists.”

    “Kill and Confront the extremist movement of which J.D. Vance, unfortunately, is a part of,” Ryan claimed. ”

    Ryan, trying to frame Vance for his past comments, added, “Who says that the president of the United States is intentionally trying to kill people with fentanyl? Who says that the election was stolen?”

    “Who runs around with Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida who wants to ban books? He runs around with Lindsey Graham, who wants a national abortion ban. You’re running around Marjorie Taylor Greene, who’s the absolute looniest politician in America,” Ryan said, looking to list off lawmakers Vance has come in contact with or commented on, on the campaign trail.

    “This is a dangerous group, and we do need to confront it, and that’s why I’m running to represent the ‘exhausted majority’: Democrats, Republicans, and independents, against the extreme,” Ryan finished.

    Vance, during the question before, also confronted Ryan for his past comments, saying, “Tim Ryan, who runs all these tv commercials saying that he wants to appeal to Trump voters, wants to appeal to Republicans also says that he wants to ‘kill and confront’ … the MAGA movement.”

    “That’s not exactly the rhetoric of a unifier,” Vance added.”

    Liked by 1 person

  24. EXCERPTS: “While President Biden’s Secretary of the Army has defended its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs this week as “important,” several current and former members of the U.S. military, who have put their lives on the line to ensure America’s security and defend its freedoms, are sounding the alarm over what they call a culture putting “wokeness” before training and combat effectiveness.

    Those service members, some of whom served with Special Operations Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, are blaming that culture for its recruiting challenges, which have risen to a level unseen since it was transitioned to an all-volunteer force.

    “The military is extremely woke,” one service member told Fox News Digitial recently.
    ——————–
    The service members, who remained anonymous so they could speak freely, almost universally shared a similar sentiment, with many noting that senior members who speak out on the issue risk their careers or retirement pensions. “Merely questioning the goals or methods used to promote ‘Equity & Diversity’ is punished and that punishment is swift, harsh, and public,” one service member said.

    “I 100% believe the military is woke. I see daily minorities, overweight people and women not adhering to military standards,” another said. “Nobody corrects them due to the fear of being fired and labeled a racist or a sexist.”
    ——————-
    Another service member pointed to the military’s COVID-19 policies, noting the vaccine mandate has forced many members in good standing into difficult decisions. “Most of us who serve did so because we came from military families. Patriotism and American values are no longer appreciated or expected,” one service member said. “Troops themselves are largely treated as expendable and they don’t even pretend otherwise. Spending 15+ years in the military during wartime with multiple deployments risking their lives only to be tossed out like garbage. Losing the retirement they have worked years to earn because they didn’t want to take an experimental vaccine for an illness that was mild for fit and healthy people.”
    ——————–
    Many of the service members reached by Fox News Digital expressed similar concerns, with some saying they would not encourage their children to join the military. “I would not have my children join for the same reason they are in private schools vs. public schools,” one service member said.

    “I couldn’t allow my kids to join the military, and risk having them serve under commanders like I saw on deployments,” another service member said, citing the failures of leadership witnessed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

    “They’d be better off serving for one of our allies who are focused on defending their country and will come to our aid when our woke and unready force embarrasses itself,” another said.

    “Why would I have my kids join an institution who works every day to call them evil and diminish the contributions of their ancestors,” said another.”

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/service-members-speak-out-against-woke-military

    Liked by 1 person

  25. EXCERPT: “Oklahoma Republicans claim to have prevented their children’s hospital from using funds for trans procedures, but there is no enforcement or oversight. Conservatives celebrated the news from Oklahoma last month that the legislature and Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill to stop funding for transgender surgeries on kids under 16. Tweet after tweet and article after article hailed this move as a shining example of red state culture war virtue.

    My original investigation broke the story, and The Washington Post story about the Oklahoma bill featured my role, so many expected me to celebrate. But I’m not celebrating because the legislature’s bill was a façade.

    The Oklahoma Republicans used the naivete of conservative media to create a narrative of victory when, in fact, this was token legislation that distracts from the party’s shameful compromise with the transgender industrial complex.

    When I refused to join the premature merriment, I heard nothing but complaints from conservative influencers and thought leaders. “You don’t want a Democrat as governor, do you?” “We are moving in the right direction.” “Just take the win.”

    Prioritizing optics over policy has become a serious problem on the right. If we’re serious about protecting kids from this madness, we can’t give our leaders accolades for legislation that accomplishes next to nothing.

    Here are the facts: Republicans have prevented Oklahoma University Children’s Hospital from using American Rescue Plan funds, which they were slated to receive, for gender-bending procedures. But there is no enforcement or oversight within the OU hospital, and the legislature will be out of session when OU begins using the budgeted funds. Oklahoma could even have a different governor at that point.

    If the money is allocated to the hospital, it will be used to build a physical infrastructure — beds, staff, equipment — that can then be used for transgender surgeries later. Right now, they will call the line item “mental health facilities for children in crisis.” After the legislative tides change, they will use it as they see fit. The hospital staff are full-throated supporters of this ideology. Why are we rewarding them with our tax dollars?

    Thanks to the Republicans’ failure, now $39 million in taxpayer funds will go to OU Children’s Hospital to add a 70-bed “mental health crisis” expansion for children who have undergone the very procedures the Republican’s bill claims to prohibit. Oklahoma lawmakers and Gov. Stitt know for a fact that many of these surgeries and hormone infusions will just move across the street to private surgeons to provide the procedures and chemicals, which are now prohibited for only OU Health. Then, these medically abused children will return to OU Children’s Hospital to receive “mental health care” to guide them in their state-sanctioned underage transition.”

    Instead of immediately calling a special session to outlaw physicians from prescribing wrong-sex hormones and puberty blockers, and performing mastectomies and hysterectomies on children under the age of 18, or even passing a provision that would follow Florida in blocking Medicaid coverage for such procedures, Stitt and Oklahoma’s Republican super-majority decided to conflate details of the issue in the minds of the public in order to cash a federal ARPA check.”

    More: https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/11/naive-conservatives-celebrate-token-legislation-that-wont-really-stop-gender-surgeries-on-oklahoma-children/

    Liked by 1 person

  26. My SS will go up almost $110!!!!

    EXCERPT: “With inflation pummeling pocketbooks, the Social Security Administration is set to boost payments to retirees this week by 8.7%. That’s welcome news for some 70 million Americans on fixed incomes. The cost-of-living adjustment is being called the highest in the past four decades.

    The Senior Citizens League estimates this bump will increase the average retiree benefit of $1,656 by $144. The advocacy group also anticipated this raise and alerted seniors to do their own calculations to see just how much to expect in the coming year.

    “A COLA of 8.7% is extremely rare and would be the highest ever received by most Social Security beneficiaries alive today,” the organization added. “Without a COLA that adequately keeps pace with inflation,” the organization stressed, retirees would “purchase less and less over time, and that can create hardships especially as older Americans live longer lives in retirement.”

    https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/10/10/inflation-triggering-8-7-cost-of-living-hike-in-social-security/

    Liked by 1 person

  27. Entire Article @ BigLeaguePolitics:

    On October 4, 2022, the United States government sent Ukraine a military aid package of four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

    On top of that, the US government is sending Ukraine 16 155mm Howitzers and 105mm Howitzers, 75,000 155mm artillery rounds,1,000 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine Systems, 500 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds, 30,000 120mm mortar rounds, 200 MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, 200,000 rounds of small arms ammunition, obstacle emplacement equipment, and Claymore anti-personnel mines according to a TAAS report. The military gear was sourced from the Department of Defense inventories.

    It’s abundantly clear that the US and its satrapies want to continue funding a proxy war in Ukraine. The inevitable result will be an increased loss of life that could have been prevented in the first place. Russia holds escalatory dominance in this theater, which means that it will likely end up gobbling up further territories in Ukraine. On a balance of probabilities, nearly all of Eastern Ukraine will be under Russia’s control when it’s all said and done.

    An America First solution to this problem is for the US to stop sending economic and military aid, along with intelligence to Ukraine. Instead, the US should let Russia, Ukraine, and other European parties reach a negotiated settlement to this conflict.

    The current approach to this crisis will invariably lead to massive human losses and the increased potential for nuclear escalation between Russia and the US. In this scenario, nobody wins.”

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Entire Article @ RedWavePress:

    “In less than two years since taking office, President Joe Biden has issued 99 executive orders, greatly outpacing both the Trump and Obama administrations in the same time period — at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $1.5 trillion.

    Donald Trump issued 220 executive orders throughout his four-year presidency, while Barack Obama issued 276 over his eight years in the Oval Office, Fox News reported. Most Biden’s orders came his first year, when he issued more than any president since the 1970s.

    The budgetary impact analyses included with each order are vaguely worded and only show if the order will have no impact, increase or decrease federal costs, which makes it difficult to assign a specific dollar cost to each, Fox News noted.

    But a recent Penn Wharton Budget Model shows the recent student loan forgiveness executive order alone could cost up to $1 trillion, up from the original estimated cost of $500 billion. The Heritage Foundation’s Matthew Dickerson told Fox News that according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Biden’s earlier orders already cost taxpayers $500 billion.

    “So, it could be up to $1.5 trillion in cost to taxpayers just on executive actions, not legislation going through Congress and being signed into law and being debated,” he said. “All of this new spending that the executive branch is doing, that Biden is doing, is by fiat.”

    These executive orders could impact inflation. More printed money flooding the economy, financed by the Federal Reserve, fuels inflation, Dickerson noted. The U.S. Army recently suggested that soldiers take advantage of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — food stamps.

    Biden’s executive orders have expanded “the welfare state” and paid “people to stay out of the workforce,” Dickerson said. “So that’s only exacerbating the 3.3 million worker shortage that we see in the economy.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. one of the senators (i forget who) said when they get the majority, they should just refuse to fund these initiatives–they have the power of the purse…ultra maggot can say he’s giving erbody xyz and if congress doesn’t allocate the funds, it’s just empty talk…
      but that’s just words unless they find the balls

      Liked by 1 person

  34. Entire Article @ BB: “The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) shows over twice as many people were killed with knives and other cutting tools than were killed with rifles in 2021.

    The UCR shows that 447 people were killed with rifles, while 1,035 people were killed “with knives or cutting instruments.”

    The elevated number of stabbing deaths over homicides by rifle fluctuates by degree year to year, with knives and other cutting tools being used in homicides far more than rifles in recent years especially.

    For example, Breitbart News noted that the UCR also showed more than 3.5 times more people were killed with “knives or cutting instruments” in 2020 than were killed with rifles. The UCR showed that 454 people were shot and killed with rifles in 2020 while 1,732 were stabbed or hacked to death with “knives or cutting instruments.”

    In 2019, the FBI’s UCR indicated over four times as many people were stabbed to death in 2019 than were killed with rifles of all kinds. The figures for 2019 were 375 killed with rifles versus 1,525 stabbed to death with “knives or cutting instruments.”

    On September 30, 2019, Breitbart News reported that the FBI’s UCR for 2018 showed a similar finding, with over five times as many people stabbed to death with “knives or cutting instruments” than were killed with rifles.

    It is important to remember that the category of rifles includes all kinds of rifles — bolt action, pump action, break action, semiautomatic, and those semiautomatic, which Democrats label “assault weapons.” More people have been stabbed or hacked to death in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 than have been killed with all such rifle types combined.”

    Liked by 1 person

  37. EXCERPT: “Podcasting king Joe Rogan last week exposed how bad multi-millionaire Jann Wenner, the infamously left-wing founder of Rolling Stone magazine, actually is on the topic of free speech by pointing out the absurdity of Wenner’s views on Big Tech and big government censorship.

    Wenner, who reportedly has a net worth of $600 million, appeared on the “Joe Rogan Experience” Oct. 5 episode, and at one point during the discussion, the topic turned toward censorship. Both the magazine and its founder, of course, have been stolid supporters of the far left and the Democrat Party since the magazine’s inception.

    The magazine is so sold out to the left and hostile to the GOP that in May it even falsely claimed that the mass murderer who shot up a Buffalo, New York, grocery store was a “mainstream Republican” even though the killer expressly denounced Republicans in his rambling manifesto.

    Once censorship came up toward the end of Rogan’s discussion with the leftist publisher, a galling hypocrisy was revealed. Wenner said he loves the internet, but “like every other industry in the United States, it has to be regulated.”

    Rogan was quick to begin pointing out the logical flaws in Wenner’s argument. “But who regulates it?” Rogan asked. Wenner quickly replied, “The government.” Rogan was flabbergasted. “Do you trust the government to regulate the internet?” Rogan asked incredulous, to which Wenner stubbornly replied, “Absolutely.”

    Wenner clearly imagines that all the censorship that he approves of will be descending only on his political enemies. But the magazine he sold in 2017 but still helps run would be subject to similar government-imposed monitoring of content.

    After all, Rolling Stone was caught passing fake news about the drug ivermectin in Sept. of 2021. The magazine was called out so strongly, it even tried to offer a pathetic explanation of how it got the story so wrong. That is a perfect example of the sort of “fake news” that would be a prime candidate for censorship in an unbiased world.

    Rogan pounced, though, and revealed Wenner’s hypocrisy by brilliantly approaching the magazine publisher from the left side of the debate on government corruption.”

    More: https://www.westernjournal.com/watch-joe-rogan-absolutely-torches-rolling-stone-founder-propping-leftist-censorship/

    Liked by 1 person

          1. it’s never the criminal’s fault…notice that?
            it’s their mama, their lack of daddy, their race, their lack of education…never cuz the criminal is a criminal

            Liked by 1 person

  39. EXCERPT: “But thanks to the quisling GOP leadership, one last card remains in the hand of the desperate Biden regime. Is it beyond them to play it? They may already have put it down on the table. Two weeks ago, it is possible the administration made a calculated decision that it was worth risking nuclear conflict with Russia through an unprecedented act of energy terrorism and environmental depredation in order to shore up political support and suppress dissent at home.

    On Monday September 26, the Nord Stream pipeline was blown apart in international waters off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden in what EU officials called an act of deliberate sabotage. Already facing a winter of skyrocketing fuel costs and energy and food shortages due to the senseless Russia-Ukraine conflict, now the prospect of catastrophe in the coming months has increased immeasurably.

    Coincidentally, on September 28 (barely a day after the sabotage of Nord Stream was discovered) U.S. and EU officials announced the opening of the the Baltic Pipe natural gas pipeline from Norway to Poland via Denmark and the Baltic Sea, hailing the new gas link as a crucial move to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. No credible analyst, however, believes the supply will be enough to curtail severe shortages.

    The number of “coincidences” one needs to entertain in order to subscribe to the official media and government narrative that Putin blew up his own pipeline (in the process destroying any possible leverage he had over European support for his Ukrainian foes) requires a truly Homeric suspension of disbelief. One has to ignore the fact that both Biden and longtime neocon warmonger Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland explicitly threatened Nord Stream operations in early 2022 should Russia invade Ukraine. One must further ignore the fact that Defense Department Spokesperson John Kirby bragged that the destruction of Nord Stream presented a “tremendous opportunity for years to come” to reduce dependence on Russian gas and oil, while disavowing U.S. responsibility for creating such good fortune. Above all, one must ignore the fact that Putin and Russia gain precisely no strategic advantage from destroying an expensive investment they were effectively using as political leverage over Europe. Putin, we are told, is mentally unbalanced and increasingly unstable due to cognitive impairment (unlike the current occupant of the White House).

    So, in traditional realpolitik analysis, cui bono? The answer is obvious. A regime facing devastating electoral losses in just over a month. A desperate regime that has failed to prolong the panic over COVID (or to create a new panic over Monkeypox) in order to credibly suspend in-person voting on what was once known as Election Day. A regime with far too much to lose should the GOP gain congressional oversight as a result of inevitable revelations related to 1) government collaboration with Big Pharma and media to perpetuate vaccine fraud; 2) the use of intelligence agencies and their social media lackeys to target political opponents; 3) the coordination by Biden political operatives of election fraud in 2020, and, especially; 4) the Biden crime family and its operations in both China and Ukraine.”

    https://amgreatness.com/2022/10/10/has-a-quisling-gop-enabled-a-desperate-october-surprise/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “Of course, provoking foreign crises in order to suspend civil liberties (including elections) and crack down on political opponents at home with the use of “wartime emergency powers” has long been a favorite page in the playbook of totalitarian regimes all over the world. And the events of the past week should leave no doubt that the Biden regime is contemplating, if not on the verge of implementing, just such a contingency.

      The big question now is not whether the Biden regime is prepared to risk everything to prevent devastating electoral losses and congressional investigations. The real question is why have Republicans been complicit in, nay enthusiastic supporters of, this disastrous proxy war that has already resulted in the energy and food supply disruptions roiling Europe and about to roil the United States?

      Normal American voters, who regard it as madness to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into a war defending the ostensibly sacred borders of Ukraine while allowing an illegal invasion of millions over our own nation’s porous southern border, can be forgiven for wondering who in Washington is sticking up for their interests. They may soon be wondering why Republicans went along with a ruinous, provocative policy of nuclear gamesmanship that allowed the Biden Administration to divert attention from its own abject policy failures with a choreographed foreign crisis, giving them an excuse to use emergency powers to step up persecution of their political opponents at home. And perhaps to disrupt an election.”

      Liked by 1 person

  40. Entire Article: “KING SALMON, Alaska (WHNT) — The final day of voting has arrived for Fat Bear Week 2022, and it’s time to meet the final contenders! In this finale, Bear 747 (affectionately referred to as Jumbo Jet and King of Chonk by some fans), is up against Bear 901.

    The Fat Bear Week competition pits bear against bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park & Preserve. You can see the full bracket here. 901, an adult female, was first identified as a 2.5-year-old in 2018. According to Explore.org, it is possible she may have conceived earlier in the year and could emerge in the spring with a few babies.

    747, a fan favorite very large adult male, has a blocky right ear and was first identified in 2004. Since then, he has matured his way into the title of one of the largest brown bears on Earth, possibly weighing nearly 1,400 pounds.”

    Explore.org encourages voters to take several factors into account when casting their vote, explaining that Fat Bear Week is a subjective competition. Especially in younger bears, who experience growth spurts and can grow more than the adults; while other adult bears, such as mothers or older bears, might face obstacles that make their weight gain more noteworthy.

    Officials suggest campaigning for your favorite candidate using #FatBearWeek on social media and downloading a blank bracket to predict the winner. Voting is held online and the only requirement for voters is an email address.”

    https://whnt.com/news/national/fat-bear-week-final-voting-for-two-grizzly-competitors/

    Liked by 1 person

  41. HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — A horticulture teacher from Minnesota set a new U.S. record Monday for the heaviest pumpkin after raising a giant gourd weighing 2,560 pounds. Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota set the new record and won an annual pumpkin-weighing contest in Northern California.

    “Minnesota has a great midyear, but our spring in our parts is really, really tough. So to do it in Minnesota, it just shouldn’t happen,” Gienger said. “It’s like winning the Tour de France on a big wheel. You know, you can only hope, but it worked.”

    Liked by 1 person

  42. EXCERPT: “ATLANTA—”Unemployment benefits have expired, rent is due today, and many Georgia families are at risk of eviction in the middle of a pandemic,” Sen. Raphael Warnock (D., Ga.) wrote in a tweet in August 2020, charging that by failing to act, his political opponents were “clearly only concerned with serving their own interests.”

    It may be good political rhetoric, but Warnock’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the senator serves as senior pastor—drawing a salary as well as a generous $7,417 monthly housing allowance—has moved to evict disadvantaged residents from an apartment building it owns, one of whom it tried to push out on account of merely $28.55 in past-due rent.

    The church is the 99 percent owner of the Columbia Tower at MLK Village in downtown Atlanta, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, which describe the building as a home for the “chronically homeless” and those with “mental disabilities.”

    A dozen eviction lawsuits were filed against Columbia Tower residents over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the first one in February 2020 and, most recently, in September 2022. The total sum of past-due rent cited in the lawsuits is just $4,900, a figure that could have been covered by one of Warnock’s monthly housing stipends from the church.

    The lawsuits were filed by Ebenezer Baptist Church’s business partner, Columbia Residential, the 1 percent owner of the building, which manages its day-to-day operations. The revelations threaten to undermine Warnock’s efforts to cast himself as an ally of struggling Georgians working to meet rent in the face of pandemic-era challenges.

    Ebenezer is not hard-up for cash—audited financial statements obtained by the Free Beacon show that Ebenezer closed out 2021 with cash and “cash equivalents” exceeding $1.2 million—and it is unclear why Columbia Residential moved so aggressively to evict its tenants.

    Columbia Tower residents, who told the Free Beacon they were unaware that Ebenezer Baptist Church owns their building, described living under the rule of landlords who don’t hesitate to go to court to evict them and their neighbors, even if they’re just a few days short on rent.

    “They treat me like a piece of shit. They’re not compassionate at all,” said Columbia Tower resident Phillip White, a 69-year-old African American who says he served in Vietnam and received an eviction notice on Sept. 20 for failure to meet a $192 rent payment. It was Columbia Tower’s second attempt to evict White, who received his first eviction notice in September 2021 for $179 in past-due rent. That case was dropped after White paid up, plus an additional $325 in fees, he told the Free Beacon.”

    More: https://freebeacon.com/democrats/raphael-warnocks-church-pays-for-his-home-its-also-trying-to-evict-the-poor-from-theirs/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Entire Article @ FB: “Republican Herschel Walker said on Tuesday morning that he will pay rent for those facing eviction at a property owned by Democratic Georgia senator Raphael Warnock’s church, which according to a Washington Free Beacon report filed numerous eviction lawsuits against poor residents throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

      “I have never known a preacher that likes abortion even after birth, won’t pay his child support and evicts poor people to the street. I will pay the $4500 in past due rents,” Walker said Tuesday in response to the report.

      At the height of the pandemic, Warnock scolded Senate Republicans for not supporting COVID-19 eviction protections. In a report Monday, the Free Beacon found that the church he leads as senior pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church, filed a dozen eviction lawsuits against its residents at Columbia Tower at MLK Village, an Atlanta apartment complex for the “chronically homeless” and those with “mental disabilities.”

      The Walker campaign told the Free Beacon that Walker is serious about his offer and plans to follow through on it.

      The former NFL running back and political newcomer is battling Warnock in a closely watched race that could determine control of the Senate. RealClearPolitics categorizes the election as a tossup race.”

      Liked by 1 person

  43. Entire Article @ FB: “On the campaign trail, Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic Senate candidate in Ohio, likes to tell voters about his work as co-chair of the Congressional Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus and to attack pharmaceutical companies for profiting from “getting so many millions of Americans hooked on opiates.” None of that stopped him from accepting money from a political action committee funded by an opioid distributor whose executives mocked addicts as “pillbillies,” a Washington Free Beacon review of campaign finance documents found.

    The $1,000 donation came from AmerisourceBergen PAC in November 2019. Emails revealed in 2021 during a lawsuit against the company for its alleged role in the opioid crisis showed AmerisourceBergen’s executives expressing broad contempt for poor whites suffering from addiction, which at the time was largely fueled by pharmaceuticals such as OxyContin.

    In one exchange, a senior AmerisourceBergen executive circulated a parody song containing references to “hillbilly heroin,” “a bevy of Pillbillies” and a reference to Kentucky as “OxyContinville.” Another email shared between executives joked about how crackdowns against so-called pill mills—doctors who illegally prescribe opioids to customers—in Florida will lead to a “max [sic] exodus of Pillbillies heading north.”

    The donation could prove to be a political liability for Ryan, a Democrat running in a state that has been inordinately impacted by the opioid crisis. The Associated Press reported earlier this month that opioid distributors donated at least $27,000 to Ryan’s political campaigns since 2007.

    At the same time, the AP found, Ryan voted against bills meant to increase funding for anti-opioid initiatives, such as spending packages for addiction treatment. In a statement to the AP, Ryan’s campaign said one of the donors, Cardinal, is a large employer in Ohio.

    The Ryan campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

    Ohio recorded more than 5,200 overdose deaths in 2020. That figure was largely attributable to the rise in the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which state data show was involved in 81 percent of overdose deaths in 2020.

    Ryan’s Republican opponent J.D. Vance rose to prominence for his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which gave an inside look at the drug crisis in Appalachia. Vance has cited the experience of writing the book as an inspiration for seeking political office.

    On the campaign trail, Vance’s message often focuses on his time growing up in Ohio as the son of a mother who battled addiction. In response, Ryan has attacked Vance’s dormant nonprofit Our Ohio Renewal, which focused on helping solve Ohio’s opioid crisis.

    Although Ryan has called Our Ohio Renewal “a charade” created to “further [Vance’s] political ambitions,” former employees told the Free Beacon they were proud of what the organization accomplished in a short period of time. Among those accomplishments, former staff say, is the “Kinship Care Research Project,” which posited that state governments should focus on providing the children of addicts with stable homes.

    Ohio Republican governor Mike DeWine signed an executive order expanding financial benefits to kinship caregivers—extended family members who are legal guardians of children with absent parents—in December 2020. The following year, the Ohio state government implemented a service that allows social workers to help pair foster children with extended family members.

    The Washington Free Beacon in September reported on another donor-related headache for Ryan. Last month, Ryan jetted to Los Angeles to attend a fundraiser cohosted by a high-powered litigator who previously worked to minimize financial damages available for young victims sexually abused by former U.S. Olympic doctor Larry Nassar. “

    Liked by 1 person

  44. Entire Article @ FB:

    “As a corporate attorney, Rep. Susan Wild (D., Pa.) represented a children’s psychiatric hospital after one of its counselors sodomized a teenage patient, arguing that the attack was a “medical incident” that should be covered by insurance. Earlier this year, Wild sought $1 million in congressional funding for the organization, which has had numerous other sexual assaults, homicides, and suicides at its facilities over the years.

    Wild, who was recently appointed chair of the House Ethics Committee, represented the Pennsylvania-based KidsPeace in a 2005 lawsuit with the nonprofit’s insurance company over a settlement with a 15-year-old patient raped by his counselor, according to court records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The patient, Matthew Craft, said counselor Dean Sine imprisoned and raped him in a facility bathroom. After the rape, according to Craft, KidsPeace staff treated him for constipation.

    Craft sued KidsPeace for negligence, saying the company knew of Sine’s propensity for violence stemming from a 1993 incident in which he was charged with manslaughter after suffocating a 12-year-old KidsPeace patient. Wild asserted that KidsPeace’s insurance company, and not KidsPeace, was on the hook for a $700,000 settlement payout to Craft because the rape was a “medical incident” covered under its insurance policy. She also claimed that KidsPeace could not have “prevented [Sine’s] malfeasance” without a “crystal ball,” and thus was not negligent.

    In April, Wild asked the House Appropriations Committee to give $1 million to KidsPeace to repair its Orchard Hills campus in Orefield, Pa. Wild said in a letter to constituents that she would “likely receive hundreds of applications” for funding through the Community Funding Program, but would be able to pick just 10 projects for consideration by the House Appropriations Committee that “fill a clear and present need in the community” and have “proven, widespread, and robust support from the community.”

    “Our organization is a constituent of Congresswoman Wild,” KidsPeace spokesman Robert Martin told the Free Beacon. “As such we have worked with her office on exploring funding possibilities for our operations in the 7th Congressional District.”

    Wild’s lobbying on behalf of a former client, especially one with a controversial track record, could provide a line of attack for Republicans in a tight contest that could determine which party controls the House. Wild is facing Republican Lisa Scheller, who she beat by just 14,000 votes in 2020. Wild’s challenger in 2018 ran an ad referencing Wild’s representation of KidsPeace, but it has so far not been brought up in the 2022 race.

    Wild represented KidsPeace in other litigation related to sexual assault at its facilities. She represented KidsPeace’s Mesabi Academy in Minnesota in a 2007 insurance dispute after a youth care worker was raped by a patient. As with the case in Pennsylvania, Wild argued that KidsPeace’s insurance company should have to pay a $2 million settlement to the woman after she sued for negligence. Years after the case, an independent investigator found that the facility “had far more complaints than any other corrections-licensed juvenile facility” in the state, according to reports. Seventeen families who alleged abuse and negligence against Mesabi Academy settled with the organization last year for $1.5 million.

    Wild said in her request to the House Appropriations Committee she does not have a financial relationship with KidsPeace, though she has maintained a close working relationship with the organization since joining Congress. In August 2019, she toured the KidsPeace Orchard Hills facility with KidsPeace lobbyist Caren Chaffee. Chaffee has lobbied Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services for funding for KidsPeace facilities and its program to house unaccompanied children brought to the United States, according to lobbying disclosures.

    Wild praised KidsPeace in 2019 after visiting a facility to check on more than 112 Central American refugees in the organization’s care. She said she “was relieved to see that the children at KidsPeace appear to be housed in a safe, clean, and comfortable setting” and that the organization was “experienced in caring for children and adolescents with behavioral and mental health challenges.”

    The Department of Health and Human Services, which funds the unaccompanied minor program, has awarded more than $81 million in funding to KidsPeace since 2017, according to a federal spending database.

    While the case Wild handled is perhaps the most prominent case of abuse at KidsPeace, the organization has been at the center of multiple other scandals over the years. Sine was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 1993 death of 12-year-old KidsPeace patient Jason Tallman. Sine sat on the 85-pound boy for 10 minutes as he struggled to breathe before dying from asphyxiation. Sine went to trial but was acquitted of charges in 1994. KidsPeace settled with Tallman’s family for $1 million. Sine was convicted in 2003 for molesting a 14-year-old boy in a case unrelated to KidsPeace.

    In 1998, KidsPeace patient Mark Draheim died after being restrained by three counselors at the Orefield, Pa., facility. Draheim’s mother said after his death that she tried to remove her son from the facility after he said he was raped numerous times by another patient. Police disclosed they had opened an investigation into the abuse before Draheim died, and that evidence was found during his autopsy that he was “anally raped,” according to reports at the time.

    In 2000, a KidsPeace counselor alleged in a lawsuit that he was fired for reporting an attack he suffered from a patient. The counselor, Jeff Wimmer, alleged that KidsPeace officials were upset by the report because it resulted in a loss of revenue for KidsPeace after the patient was transferred to another facility.

    Wild recklessly joined a Zoom call while swerving through traffic in May, the Free Beacon reported. Her office did not respond to a request for comment about the past litigation or the congressional funding request.”

    Liked by 1 person

  46. from wolf’s…i never noticed her nails

    Gingersmom2009Offline
    Coyote
    October 11, 2022 11:31

    Part of a group bused to NYC from Texas. Nothing says destitute refugee like custom acrylics with artwork.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Know what I think is weird? The way “duct tape” has been changed to “duck tape.” Makes no sense!

    “1978: Manco, Inc. undergoes a complete package redesign to the green brand color that is recognized today and becomes the first company to package duct tape for retail.”

    “1980
    Jack Kahl officially creates a branded duct tape under the Duck® and Duck Tape® trademarks and becomes the first company to offer Duck Tape® colors.”

    https://www.duckbrand.com/about

    Like

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