August 2020

OB Planners: ‘Measure E’ to Remove Height-Limit in Midway, Street Vending Ordinance and Granny Flat on Pescadero – Wed., Sept.2

August 31, 2020 by Staff

The Ocean Beach Planning Board will hear a one-sided presentation about Measure E to remove the 30-foot height limit from the Midway area. It will be from “Yes on E” campaign co-chairs.

The Board will also “re-review” San Diego’s Street Vending Ordinance to either reaffirm their prior recommendations or make new ones in light of the pandemic.

Also, there is a project at 4838 Pescadero Avenue coming before the panel of volunteer community planners.

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Coastal Group Goes to Court to Protect 30-Foot Height Limit

August 31, 2020 by Staff

On Friday August 28, the coastal-preservation group, Save Our Access, took two court actions to protect the Coastal Height Limit. This voter-enacted San Diego 30-foot coastal height limit is under attack by Proposition E, which will be on the November ballot.

Save Our Access filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court, charging that the City of San Diego violated the California Environmental Quality Act by failing to properly consider the impacts of removing the 30-foot height limit in the Midway Area.

In a separate action, Save Our Access responded to a challenge to its ballot argument against Proposition E. The court approved the statement with minor revisions.

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Faulconer Chooses Developer for Sports Arena Complex

August 31, 2020 by Frank Gormlie

On Saturday, August 29, Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced that he had chosen Brookfield Housing and ASM Global to redevelop the Midway Sports Arena district – which has plans to build an entertainment district with a new sports arena, thousands of housing units, park space and retail businesses.

Sounding a tad like Trump, Faulconer gushed, “This project will be so incredible for this city for years to come.” Plus he said, “The vision for this property is for a world-class arena, park space and amenities. … A new arena has always been a priority of mine, and it’s the right time.” Faulconer wants to add this redevelopment as part of his “legacy” as he slides out of office here in San Diego in a couple of months. It’s been rumored literally for years that because Faulconer sees himself as “the New Type of Republican,” he’s planning a run for the governorship. The news conference was held at the Pechanga Area, the 48-acre site of the 54-year-old sports arena.

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Longtime Radio Show Host Jim McInnes Joins KPRI- Rez Radio

August 31, 2020 by Frank Gormlie

Here is an announcement from KPRI, Pala

KPRI, Pala is thrilled to introduce the newest member of the Rez Radio volunteer family, Jim McInnes and beginning in September, his new/old Saturday night show, “Vinyl Resting Place”. 47 years after he first hit the airwaves in San Diego on the original version of KPRI, JM is back in the PM on the FM. “Vinyl Resting Place”, a show Jim created for KPLN, The Planet early in the millennium is a rich journey through his personal music collection.

As a 28-year veteran on KGB FM during its peak of popularity in the 1970’s, 80s and 90s including producing most of that station’s Homegrown album series and hosting the Homegrown Show, a constant presence at local music venues, and a musician himself with the San Diego-based band The Shenanigans, Jim is uniquely qualified to offer up classic rock deep tracks and music from local artists you don’t hear on any other radio station … maybe not even on satellite or streaming services.

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What Rough Beast Slouches Toward the White House to Be Reborn? Thoughts on the Contemporary Republican Party and the Future of America

August 31, 2020 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller

It’s hard to know where to start. What did we learn from the GOP convention last week?

Nothing new.

We already recognize, to paraphrase Yeats, what rough beast is slouching toward the White House to be reborn. Other than heedless deregulation and reactionary white nationalism, Trump’s Republican party doesn’t actually stand for anything.

Of course those two things are of central importance for the shadow government of the radicalized rich who are the only real beneficiaries of the last four years

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Center for Reinventing Public Education – the Billionaires’ Advocate

August 28, 2020 by Source

By Thomas Ultican / Tultican / August 26, 2020

In 1993, Political Science Professor Paul T. Hill established the Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs on the University of Washington campus. The research group Hill founded is steeped in public school failure ideology. On their web site Hill let it be known “The Center has a definite point of view.” Among the points listed are:

“The ineffectiveness of big city public schools clouds the futures of millions of children.”

“Incremental efforts to improve urban public education without disturbing the school boards, unions, and central office administrators have failed, largely because roles, missions, and interests of those organizations are incompatible with effective schooling.”

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Judge Denies Kumeyaay Injunction to Halt Border Wall on Ancestral Lands

August 28, 2020 by Source

By Kristina Davis / San Diego Union-Tribune / Aug. 27, 2020

A San Diego federal judge on Thursday denied a motion by a band of the Kumeyaay Nation to halt construction of a border wall being erected on ancestral land.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia said his decision to deny both a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction falls in line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in a similar border wall case, Trump v. Sierra Club. “I think the Supreme Court doesn’t always give us insight, and here they did,” Battaglia concluded, “and when they speak I think we are obligated to listen.”

The La Posta Band of Diegueno Mission Indians, one of 12 bands of the Kumeyaay people, filed the lawsuit against the Trump administration earlier this month, accusing the government of improperly funding the project and ignoring a duty to formally consult with the tribe on the impact to the land. Tribal members say the construction near Campo is disturbing sacred land where they believe cremated remains of ancestors may be buried.

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400 Point Loma Nazarene University Alumni Denounce Fellow Grad Natalie Harp’s RNC Speech

August 28, 2020 by Source

By Alejandra Molina / Religious News Service / August 27, 2020

Former students from Point Loma Nazarene University, a private Christian liberal arts college in San Diego, are denouncing a speech fellow grad Natalie Harp gave at the Republican National Convention on Monday (Aug. 24).

In her speech, Harp, a California entrepreneur, lauded President Donald Trump’s restrictions on travelers from China, which she said prevented further spread of the novel coronavirus. “Millions more would have been infected,” she said.

Point Loma Nazarene University alumni rejected her comments

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Straight-up With a Twist

August 28, 2020 by Source

By Edwin Decker

Dear Ed, recently my band was offered a lot of money to use one of our songs in a commercial for a new energy drink trying to crash the SoCal market. Half the band feels like this would be selling out and the other half say we need money more than we need dignity. Can you break the tie for us?

~The Keyboardist’s Left Hand

Thanks for the email KLH. I don’t think this is necessarily a choice between dollars and dignity. There is a big difference between selling out and simply selling and I do not see anything undignified about licensing a song to sell a product that doesn’t betray the moral sensibilities of the song in question. Now if, say, a vegan activist band sells their protest anthem, “Can’t You Hear the Baby Chickens Weep?” to Foster Farms—that would be selling out.

I’m reminded of when Tom Waits was asked why he doesn’t permit advertisers to license his music. He replied,

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Jesus Is On the Ballot

August 27, 2020 by Source

By Joni Halpern

You might have thought Donald J. Trump was on the ballot as the Republican candidate for President in the upcoming presidential election. You would be wrong.

Mr. Trump does inhabit the physical presence of candidacy, and it is his name on the ballot. But he is not running for President. Jesus is.

Donald Trump plans to eke out an election victory by duct-taping his base to the notion that he is Jesus’ choice for President. Apparently, there are some among the White Christian Right who believe Jesus wants the whole of America, regardless of the dictates of personal conscience, to fall into lockstep with Mr. Trump, to whom completely loyalty must be given, just as Jesus asked of his followers.

Of course, there are some big differences between the conduct of Mr. Trump and the conduct of Jesus:

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Should San Diego County Health Officials Tell the Public Where COVID-19 ‘Hot-Spots’ Are?

August 27, 2020 by Staff

There’s a debate going on in San Diego County on whether local health officials should be telling the public where COVID-19 hot-spots are. The editorial board of the San Diego Union-Tribune believes “the county is making a big mistake.”

Its decision to refuse to disclose specifically where outbreaks have occurred — instead offering generic descriptions of, say, a local business or a local restaurant — denies residents basic health-risk information that can shape their decision-making. Los Angeles County’s practice of specific disclosure allows residents to see patterns. On Thursday, for example, three of the county’s four outbreaks were in a single small city (Commerce).

County officials say that nondisclosure is a best-practices public health tactic that encourages businesses to provide information about outbreaks,

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California Fires: Want to Control Blazes? Start More, Experts Say

August 27, 2020 by Source

Why one of the most feasible solutions for worsening wildfires is doing more prescribed burns.

By Jill Cowan / New York Times / Aug. 26, 2020

As Californians brace for more bad news about what is already shaping up to be one of the state’s most intense fire seasons ever, and as we watch as firefighting capacity is stretched thin, I keep coming back to one question: What is California supposed to do?

This question isn’t new, and neither are many of the answers experts and policymakers routinely offer.

For one, they say, too many people are moving into the wildland-urban interface, the transitional zones between denser areas of human development and vegetation, which makes them more vulnerable to damage in the event of a wildfire.

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Fanita Ranch Developer Postponed Hearing Amid Santee Residents’ Concerns

August 26, 2020 by Source

By Karen Pearlman / San Diego Union-Tribune / Aug. 25, 2020

A long-awaited vote on a highly contentious East County housing project has been delayed at the request of the developer, who apparently sensed the 3,000-home development faced some headwinds on the Santee City Council.

Home Fed Fanita Rancho LLC, the applicant for the latest version of the plan for housing off Fanita Parkway above Santee Lakes, asked the city last Thursday to cancel a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday. Jeff O’Connor, HomeFed vice president of community development, said the decision to pull the item after years of planning was made to satisfy concerns about traffic and to free up Councilman Rob McNelis, who could have been barred from voting on the original submission.

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Free Health Care Returns to Ocean Beach – on Wed., Sept.2

August 26, 2020 by Staff

Here is some good news. Free health care is returning to Ocean Beach and will be available for the uninsured at two clinics beginning Wednesday, September 2.

The group, Southern California Care Community, is reopening their free medical clinics in OB. One will be the OB1 Clinic at the First Baptist Church on Santa Monica and the other will be the ECC Clinic at the Episcopal Church Center on Sunset Cliffs Blvd.

A whole of medical services will be provided, including adult and pediatric care, chronic disease management, prescription assistance and laboratory services. Each clinic will be open one to two days each weekday to serve unsheltered persons as well as individuals who do not qualify for health insurance.

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One of OB’s Greatest Characters Was Clint Carey – the ‘OB Spaceman’

August 26, 2020 by Source

spaceman002

Originally posted Sept. 27, 2010, brought back by popular demand

By Warren Patch

Ocean Beach has always been a colorful place. The Hippies seem to perpetually reinvent themselves there; long hair, short hair, dread hair, dirty hair, blue hair, no hair, it’s all cool. And tie-dye is still vogue. I buy mine at Sunshine Daydreams on Newport Avenue.

One of the all-time great characters of OB was Clint Carey, alias OB SPACEMAN. He used to sell plots of land on the moon. And he was the only OB’cean who had personally met the “Outer Space People” when they came visiting, and he alone was authorized to sell tickets for spaceship rides when they returned.

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Peninsula Planners: Good News for North Chapel, Land Use Changes Opposed, and Crosswalk at Voltaire and Froude?

August 26, 2020 by Source

By Geoff Page

The Peninsula Community Planning Board held its regular monthly meeting Thursday, August 20, on-line, which is how almost every organization is now meeting. The format works well, the only drawback is the requirement to pre-register on-line. It is necessary to visit the PCPB website at pcpb.net where the on-line registration instructions are prominent.

The PCPB is not the only group that requires pre-registration, this function is being used to prevent unwanted hacking and interruptions of the meetings. There is a significant benefit to the on-line forum in that the meetings are fully recorded and posted on You Tube . Subcommittee meetings are also recorded and posted.

Planning Department Rep – where are you?

One of the first orders of business was supposed to be an appearance by Tony Kempton from the Planning Department.

Liberty Station North Chapel

One of the most interesting meeting subjects came up in non-agenda public comment.

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Mara Elliott and Cory Briggs at Tonight’s Ocean Beach Town Council Facebook Live Meeting – Wed., Aug.26

August 26, 2020 by Staff

Join the Ocean Beach Town Council monthly meeting tonight, Wednesday, Aug. 26 and hear from current San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott and candidate for San Diego City Attorney Cory Briggs.

The public meeting will be held on Facebook Live, at 7:00 pm, and will be an interactive Q&A. Participants will have the opportunity to leave comments and suggestions. If you have a specific question for the Mara Elliott or Cory Briggs please share it with the OB Town Council before the meeting at info@obtowncouncil.org.

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The Final Season of the Donald Trump Show – Or Not?

August 25, 2020 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

A blockbuster, a disaster-filled melodrama, a much-anticipated showdown between the caped marvels of good and evil; or a horror show in real time or an alternate universe. Something to rival the Matrix or the “Who Shot JR?” summer in Dallas.

Could this really be the final episode of the final season of the Donald Trump Show? Doubtful.

This binge-worthy season just kicked off. So much so, that it has erased the memories of the first three years.

Remember the campaign? The escalator?

Or how about the allegations of Stormy Daniels and 17 other women? And her handsome, fearless attorney, Michael Avenatti?

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Thoughts About ‘Being Black in Tucson, AZ’

August 25, 2020 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

I’ve been a member of our group, “Being Black in Tucson, AZ,” for a little while now, commenting on a thing or two, but I’ve never introduced myself to you.

That being said I’m an 82-year-old dude who spent the first 24 years of his life “Being Black in Tucson, AZ.” Since then I’ve lived in San Diego which is just an hour away by plane and five hours away by car. I didn’t want to go too far. Because I dearly love my hometown.

For its physical beauty and power that make it a spiritual place for me: hiking trails in Sabino Canyon above refreshing pools and streams; powerful Sonoran winds that you can lean against; frightening monsoons that give the Santa Cruz River a chance to roar; majestic saguaros with their lovely blossoms.

For how far it has come since the Jim Crow days of my youth when people like me were limited as to when we could

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OB Resister Sisters on GOP Convention

August 25, 2020 by Source

The OB Resister Sisters were out hanging their latest sign Monday morning, over the 163 in beautiful Balboa Park.

Their motto is a famous quote from Edmund Burke …

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OBceans Rally to Save the Post Office

August 24, 2020 by Staff

It was hot and humid Saturday in Ocean Beach but still fifty people came out and demonstrated their support for the OB Post Office – and all other Post Offices – against the attacks on our democracy by Trump and postmis-master Louis DeJoy, his hand-picked sycophant.

Organized by Susan Sratton and Frank Gormlie in just a couple of days as part of a national campaign to save the post offices, everyone had masks on and practiced social-distancing.

At one point, most of the demonstrators moved over to the intersection of Sunset Cliffs Blvd and Santa Monica to take advantage of its visibility to passing motorists. Demonstrators with signs stood on every corner of the intersection. There were many thumbs up and horn honking in support.

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Tribute to a Warrior for Her Community

August 24, 2020 by Source

By Joni Halpern

As a resident of San Diego County, you should be introduced to a woman more important than the President of the United States, more relevant than any celebrity, more powerful than any person of riches.

Her vast talents could not be purchased. Her dedication to excellence, even in the smallest of tasks, was relentless. Her loyalty could only be earned. But if you were the target of injustice, the person who suffered from the unwarranted, heedless acts of those who thought you had no advocates, she was the best friend you could ever have.

She came from humble beginnings, a little place near Guadalajara, working from youth in a home-operated business preparing the foods her mother sold. She had a keen intellect, but she was never allowed to proceed very far in school. Instead, she went to work, turning over her earnings to her mother, keeping only enough for transportation and a few necessities. She could see her future, dismal and uninterrupted by even the smallest surprise of opportunity young people crave. She married, and only months after the birth of her first child, necessity forced the new family to enter the United States without papers.

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Restaurant Review: Soi-OB-Thai Street Food in Ocean Beach

August 24, 2020 by Judi Curry

Restaurant Review

Soi-OB-Thai Street Food
1916 Cable Street
Ocean Beach, CA 92107
619-230-5885
www.SOIOB.COM

By Judi Curry

Hitomi and I had heard a lot about the Soi-OB-Thai since they opened. I like to give a restaurant a chance to get out the “kinks” before I eat there and review it. However, today Hitomi could wait no longer and so we went to the computer and looked up their menu. (She had heard about their North Park location so convinced me that they knew what they were doing.)

There is a very extensive menu, including starters, a variety of soups, pan fried noodles, curries, salads, rice dishes and SOI specials. They have one dessert listed – “mango and sweet stick rice.” It is seasonal, so not always available.

We decided to start with an appetizer, and selected an order of “Shrimp Wraps.” ($7)

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A Tale of Two Convention Weeks: Biden Acceptable Under the Circumstances?

August 24, 2020 by Jim Miller

By Jim Miller

As we gear up for the horror show that will be the Republican National Convention, a few thoughts on last week’s Democratic affair.

Those of us who, like me, think it is imperative to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election, breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when Joe Biden delivered the speech of his lifetime and signaled that he might just see himself as a candidate on the cusp of a New Deal moment. Clearly, he is right to view the COVID-19 crisis and the subsequent economic disaster as a moment of profound threat and opportunity.

Biden is similarly spot on to point to the climate crisis and what we need to do to address it

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Nearly 700 Protests Planned for Saturday at Post Offices Across Country – Including Ocean Beach

August 21, 2020 by Source

As of Friday afternoon, more than 650 demonstrations were planned as part of “Save the Post Office Saturday,” a national day of action in which people across the U.S. will demand that President Donald Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy end their assault on the U.S. Postal Service. Demonstrations will begin at 11:00 am local time.

A protest rally to save the OB Post Office is one of them. It begins also at 11 am. People are asked to wear masks, employ physical distancing – and to bring signs and banners.

The number of planned protests at hundreds of post offices grew as DeJoy testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday, telling lawmakers he has “no intention” of returning hundreds of mail sorting machines that have been decommissioned in recent weeks, severely cutting postal workers’ ability to deliver mail quickly. The postmaster general claimed the machines are not needed.

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John Moores’ Hidden Hand in Sports Arena Redevelopment

August 21, 2020 by Source

Editordude: Matt Potter over as San Diego Reader reminds us that John Moores, the former Padres owner and super-rich San Diego developer, has a hand in one of the proposals before the city in the redevelopment of the the Sports Arena / Midway area.

By Matt Potter / SD Reader / Aug. 19, 2020

How much would a brand-new Midway sports arena cost San Diego taxpayers?

The answer hasn’t yet been made public, but leaks and news releases emerging from city hall indicate a closed-door deal for a costly new sports palace may be just around the corner.

It comes as no surprise to city insiders that a key covert player in the potential giveaway is John Moores, the ex-Padres owner. The super-rich Rancho Santa Fe denizen got himself a ballpark and millions of dollars in taxpayer-financed downtown development rights after showering then-city councilwoman Valerie Stallings with undisclosed gifts back in the 1990s.

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News from Ocean Beach and Point Loma – August 2020

August 21, 2020 by Frank Gormlie

OB’s Own Laura Dennison Recognized for Her Library Work

In the Thursday, August 20, issue of the SD Union-Tribune, OB’s own Laura Dennison is recognized for her volunteer work with the Friends of the OB Library. Here’s a telling quote from the article, “Someone San Diego Should Know,”:

Point Loma Lighthouse Commemorates 100th Anniversary of 19th Amendment Ensuring Women’s Right to Vote

Starting today, Friday, Aug. 21, the Old Point Loma Lighthouse at the end of the Peninsula and at the National Monument will be illuminated with purple and gold lights to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Starting at sunset each night from Aug. 21-23, and also on Aug. 26, the park will be open from sunset until 8:30 p.m.

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The Sports Arena Will Flood Later this Century – Is Anyone Planning For It?

August 20, 2020 by Source

Two developers submitted dueling bids for the right to revamp Pechanga Arena and the area around it. But whatever stands there in the end could be up to its ears in seawater in the second half of this century.

By MacKenzie Elmer / Voice of San Diego / August 19, 2020

The city of San Diego is choosing between flashy proposals to redevelop Pechanga Arena area, but has said little about its very real vulnerability to flooding from rising sea levels. Though the city’s planning department recently studied how sea level rise will affect its most precious assets, the threat hasn’t featured prominently in public discussion of the redevelopment plan.

Two developers submitted dueling bids for the right to revamp a 48-acre triangular stretch of land off Sports Arena Boulevard in San Diego’s Midway District.

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Save the Ocean Beach Post Office From Trump – Saturday, Aug. 22, 11 AM

August 19, 2020 by Frank Gormlie

Save the Post Office Saturday

OBceans are joining residents across San Diego County to stand in support of their neighborhood post office this Saturday, August 22, 2020 from 11:00 a.m. to noon. Join others with like minds at the OB Post Office, 4833 Santa Monica Avenue. We will rally peacefully for one hour, using masks and practicing safe distancing. Bring signs and posters and your spirit.

This is part of a national campaign organized by groups including Indivisible, the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, MoveOn, NAACP, RuralOrganizing.org, Service Employees International Union, Vets for the People, Sunrise Movement San Diego and the Working Families Party and promoted locally by San Diego County Indivisible groups.

So far, groups will stand at post offices in University City, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, and Hillcrest.

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Congressional Candidates and Voters Sue to Stop Trump’s Sabotage of the Post Office

August 19, 2020 by Source

By Marjorie Cohen / TruthOut / August 19, 2020

A lawsuit that promises to be one of many was filed yesterday to stop Donald Trump’s sabotage of the mail leading up to the presidential election.

Mondaire Jones et al. v. U.S. Postal Service, Postmaster General, and Donald Trump was brought by Democratic candidates for national and state congressional seats, as well as voters who cast mail ballots to protect themselves against the COVID-19 pandemic. Several state attorneys general are expected to file litigation this week.

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