[ Reader Comments: GOP Rot at the Top; Florida Lies; MAGA
PRESENTS: The Three Scamigos; Nabka at 75; 75 Years of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights; African American Singing Traditions;
Cartoons; more....]
[[link removed]]

TIDBITS – MAY 18, 2023 – READER COMMENTS: GOP ROT AT THE TOP;
FLORIDA LIES; MAGA PRESENTS: THE THREE SCAMIGOS; NABKA AT 75; 75 YEARS
OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS; AFRICAN AMERICAN SINGING
TRADITIONS; CARTOONS; MORE…  
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May 18, 2023
xxxxxx
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_ Reader Comments: GOP Rot at the Top; Florida Lies; MAGA PRESENTS:
The Three Scamigos; Nabka at 75; 75 Years of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights; African American Singing Traditions; Cartoons;
more.... _

Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, AND cartoons -
May 18, 2023, xxxxxx

 

* FLORIDA CURRICULUM  --  CARTOON BY MIKE LUCKOVICH
* THE ROT STARTS AT THE TOP
* RE: BIDEN ANXIETY  (SHARON DOUBIAGO)
* THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS ALABAMA’S RED STATE POLITICS
OF FEAR  --  CARTOON BY J.D. CROWE
* RE: TRUMP’S CNN TOWN HALL WAS A MESS OF LIES – AND IT WAS
UTTERLY PREDICTABLE  (ROBERT LAITE)
* RE: FLORIDA TEACHERS BESIEGED BY DRACONIAN LAWS  (DAVID BENTON)
* MAGA PRESENTS: THE THREE SCAMIGOS!  --  CARTOON BY LALO ALCARAZ
* RE: HOMEVESTORS PRAISED PROPUBLICA’S REPORTING, THEN TRIED TO
“BURY IT”  (E BETH DAVIS)
* RE: ECONOMISTS HATE RENT CONTROL. HERE’S WHY THEY’RE WRONG
 (NORM LITTLEJOHN)
* RE: BIG WIN FOR VICTIMS OF RACIST RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS  (STAN
NADEL)
* NABKA AT 75  --  JEWISH SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE
* RE: DEEPENING MOTHER’S DAY  (MIM HABIB)
* RE: FIREARMS CLASSES TAUGHT ME, AND AMERICA, A VERY DANGEROUS
LESSON  (GEORGE LESSARD)
* ANOTHER REGRETTABLE INCIDENT  --  CARTOON BY TOM TOMORROW (DAN
PERKINS)
* RE: CHILE HAS ENTERED ITS THERMIDORIAN PERIOD  (DAVID MIRTZ; SAM
WEBB)
* RE: MICHAEL A. LEBOWITZ -NOV 27, 1937 – APRIL 19, 2023  (CIANO
MAC)
* RE: WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS IS A HILARIOUS TAKE ON THE WATERGATE
BREAK-IN  (MARILYN ALBERT)
* HISTORICAL MARKER FOR ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN IN CONCORD, N.H., HAS
BEEN REMOVED  (STEVEN PORTER IN THE BOSTON GLOBE)

 

Resources:

* 75 YEARS OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS  (ROSA
LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

* NEW CAMPAIGN & HISTORIC LEGISLATION IN NEW YORK STATE TO STOP
FUNDING TO ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS  (CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS)  
* AFRICAN AMERICAN SINGING TRADITIONS - PEOPLE'S MUSIC NETWORK
SUMMER GATHERING, GROTON, MA - MAY 26-28

FLORIDA CURRICULUM  --  CARTOON BY MIKE LUCKOVICH

Mike Luckovich
May 17, 2023
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
[[link removed]]

THE ROT STARTS AT THE TOP

Post on Facebook

RE: BIDEN ANXIETY  

Trump's age is never mentioned....?

Sharon Doubiago [[link removed]]

THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS ALABAMA’S RED STATE POLITICS OF
FEAR  --  CARTOON BY J.D. CROWE

Lions, tigers, bears, drag queens, CRT, women’s rights and
‘woke’ book learnin’, oh my!

Alabama and our tribe of red state lawmaker snowflakes wanna ban books
and pass laws against anything and everything they don’t understand.
It’s a smokescreen. They’re looking for a punching bag to take our
eyes away from the real problems they refuse to address.

J.D. Crowe
May 1, 2023
AL.com
[[link removed]]

RE: TRUMP’S CNN TOWN HALL WAS A MESS OF LIES – AND IT WAS UTTERLY
PREDICTABLE  

For the life of me I don't understand why they don't cut the feed when
he starts spewing verified lies. He lives for this kind of attention.
The only way to make even a dent in his crap is to stop it when it
starts.

Robert Laite
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

RE: FLORIDA TEACHERS BESIEGED BY DRACONIAN LAWS

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

If DeSantis ever gets elected president our democracy will be
destroyed and we will be subjected to the whims of a right wing
Christian nationalist.

David Benton
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

MAGA PRESENTS: THE THREE SCAMIGOS!  --  CARTOON BY LALO ALCARAZ

Lalo Alcaraz
May 10, 2023
Pocho.com [[link removed]]

RE: HOMEVESTORS PRAISED PROPUBLICA’S REPORTING, THEN TRIED TO
“BURY IT”  

Housing is under attack from many sides in this country, from private
equity firms buying entire streets and neighborhoods to companies who
target low income homeowners and especially seniors, to fleece them
out of their homes for Pennie’s on the dollar by manipulative and
deceitful practices and no one in congress is doing a damn thing to
stop it.

E Beth Davis
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

RE: ECONOMISTS HATE RENT CONTROL. HERE’S WHY THEY’RE WRONG  

“As recent empirical work has shown, the neoclassical account’s
core assumptions—one, that rent control restricts the supply of new
housing; and two, that it misallocates existing housing, thereby
causing an irrecoverable collective loss—fail to hold when it comes
to the real world.”

Norm Littlejohn
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

RE: BIG WIN FOR VICTIMS OF RACIST RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS  

While this article is mostly excellent and on point, there is a
problem with its historical analysis. While there is a single brief
mention of Jews in a grab bag list of others, the presentist focus of
the article basically ignores the fact that many (and probably most)
restrictive covenants restricted sales & rentals to "white Christians"
and were explicitly intended to exclude Jews as well as (other)
non-whites.  I would suggest that this is another example of "Jews
don't count."

Stan Nadel

NABKA AT 75  --  JEWISH SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE

RE: DEEPENING MOTHER’S DAY  

Thanks for posting this. I sent it out to friends and family. Very
Meaningful

Mim Habib

RE: FIREARMS CLASSES TAUGHT ME, AND AMERICA, A VERY DANGEROUS LESSON
 

“… The classes I attended trained students to believe that their
lives are in constant danger. They prepared us to shoot without
hesitation and avoid legal consequences. They instilled the kind of
fear that has a corrosive effect on all interactions — and beyond
that, on the fabric of our democracy.…”

George Lessard
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

ANOTHER REGRETTABLE INCIDENT  --  CARTOON BY TOM TOMORROW (DAN
PERKINS)

_[Tom Tomorrow (Dan Perkins) is the creator of This Modern World, a
weekly cartoon of political and social satire which has been a
mainstay of the alternative press for more than two and a half
decades. His work has also appeared in publications including The New
York Times, the New Yorker, Esquire, Spin, Mother Jones, US News and
World Report, the Economist, and many others. He is a two-time
recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the 2013
recipient of the prestigious Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning,
and a 2015 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.]_

Tom Tomorrow (Dan Perkins)
May 16, 2023
The Nib [[link removed]]

RE: CHILE HAS ENTERED ITS THERMIDORIAN PERIOD  

Seems a lesson in the dangers of over-reaching.

David Mirtz
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

      =====

Yes ... that's what I thought too

Sam Webb
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

RE: MICHAEL A. LEBOWITZ (NOV 27, 1937 – APRIL 19, 2023)  

'Lebowitz worked at FPE [Federal Pioneer Electric] during the day at a
time when the electrical products industry was engaged in price fixing
and allocation of market shares while at night at NYU he was taught
all about how prices were determined by competition in the free
market.[2] As a result of this disparity, he began to study Thorsten
Veblen and Karl Marx, critics of mainstream theory, and to collaborate
with Labor Research Associates, contributing several articles (as "an
economist friend") in Economic Notes.'

Ciano Mac
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

RE: WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS IS A HILARIOUS TAKE ON THE WATERGATE BREAK-IN

(posting on xxxxxx Culture
[[link removed]])
 

Astonishing performance by Kathleen Turner in most recent episode.

Marilyn Albert
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

HISTORICAL MARKER FOR ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN IN CONCORD, N.H., HAS
BEEN REMOVED  (STEVEN PORTER IN THE BOSTON GLOBE)

Republican officials fiercely objected to the sign honoring labor
leader and feminist organizer Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, citing her
leadership role in the American Communist Party. Two weeks after the
marker was unveiled, it was taken down.

At left: a portrait of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the American political
radical circa 1913. At right: a historic marker erected in her
birthplace of Concord, N.H.  (Left: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis,
Right: Steven Porter/Globe Staff)

By Steven Porter
Updated May 15, 2023
Boston Globe
[[link removed]]

CONCORD, N.H. — Elizabeth Gurley Flynn spent her life fighting and
agitating for the rights of workers, women, and immigrants on the
margins of society.

Now, nearly 60 years after her death, she’s still whipping up
controversy.

High-ranking Republicans in New Hampshire expressed outrage
[[link removed]] in
early May after the state installed a new historical marker near
Flynn’s birthplace in Concord. The early 20th-century labor leader
and feminist had joined the American Communist Party in the 1930s, and
served as its national chairwoman in the 1960s. They called her
communist ties an offense to veterans.

Less than two weeks later, the marker was gone. State officials
confirmed that they decided to have it removed, after consulting with
Governor Chris Sununu.

Read full story here
[[link removed]]  

Communist Party members from left; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Marion
Bachrach, Claudia Jones, and Betty Gannett sat calmly in a police van
as they left federal court in New York City, June 20, 1951, en route
to the Women's House of Detention after arraignment on charges of
criminal conspiracy to teach and advocate the overthrow of the
government by force and violence.  (Associated Press)

75 YEARS OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS  (ROSA
LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG)

 

AS AN ORGANIZATION COMMITTED TO SOCIAL JUSTICE, DEMOCRACY AND
SOLIDARITY, THE ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG RECOGNIZES THE PIVOTAL ROLE
OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN UPHOLDING THESE
VALUES. ADOPTED ON DECEMBER 10, 1948, BY THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL
ASSEMBLY, THE DECLARATION REMAINS A CORNERSTONE OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN
RIGHTS LAW AND A BEACON OF HOPE FOR PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD. ON THIS
WEBSITE, THE ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG INVITES YOU TO JOIN THEIR TEAMS
IN REFLECTING ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF
HUMAN AND ITS ONGOING RELEVANCE TO THE STRUGGLE FOR A MORE JUST AND
EQUITABLE WORK. 

On December 10, 2023, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will
be 75 years old. In order to commemorate its importance the Rosa
Luxemburg Stiftung’s offices based in New York and Geneva decided to
collaborate on the creation of a new website featuring all the work
they do around global struggles for human rights. These two offices
are located in the two biggest United Nations cities in the world and
many of their projects revolve around analyses on how progressives
activists can utilize the UN as a means to achieve a better world. It
made sense for the teams to bring together their forces and knowledge
on a shared project.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document in
the history of human rights. It was proclaimed by the United Nations
General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 as a common standard of
achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the
first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and
its adoption recognized human rights to be the foundation for freedom,
justice and peace.

This website will be updated regularly with contents in different
mediums, such as articles, videos and podcast episodes. You can also
check out the websites of the New York and Geneva offices to access
the rest of their work.

The site will featured articles, videos, events, and a podcast
specially produced by RLS on this topic (coming soon!) and will be
updated regularly. Content will be produced in English, German,
French, and Spanish by scholars, activists, UN experts, and
organizations from around the world. Join us in reflecting about this
milestone document and building new and expanded view of universal
human rights. The legacy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
is not yet complete.

FIGHTING FOR OUR RIGHTS: RLS AND THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS

What are human rights? This is a loaded question. It is a loaded
question now, and it was a loaded question in 1947, when the newly
formed Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations
established the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Drafting
Committee. Chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, the committee spent nearly
two years debating the nature of human rights and drafting the 30
articles that comprise the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
[[link removed]] (UDHR),
which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948.

A rather progressive document for the time, the UDHR remains a
cornerstone document in the ongoing fight for human rights around the
world. A secular document that was agreed to at the multilateral
level, the Universal Declaration acknowledges that all humans are born
free and equal regardless of their “race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status.” Many states have since gone on to
codify the rights contained within the Universal Declaration into
their constitutions. 

Read full document here
[[link removed]]

The Rosa Luxemburg Stiftun [[link removed]]g is one of the
six major political foundations in the Federal Republic of Germany,
tasked primarily with conducting political education both at home and
abroad. The foundation is closely linked to Die Linke, a democratic
socialist party in the German parliament.

This project is a joint effort between the New York City
[[link removed]] and Geneva offices of the Rosa Luxemburg
Stiftung.

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung — New York Office  [link removed]
275 Madison Ave., #2114
New York, NY 10016
United States
[email protected]

NEW CAMPAIGN & HISTORIC LEGISLATION IN NEW YORK STATE TO STOP FUNDING
TO ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS  (CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS)

Legal and Grassroots Groups Back Bill to Stop NY State From
Subsidizing Illegal Israeli Settlements in Palestine

A coalition of legal and grassroots organizations is rallying behind
groundbreaking legislation that would stop New York State from
subsidizing illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine. Under the bill,
the Not on Our Dime! Act, New York-based organizations with charitable
status would be prohibited from funding the Israeli settler
organizations that are forcing Palestinians out of their generational
homes, stealing their land, and committing a range of other human
rights abuses. 

“Israeli settler violence against Palestinians has reached alarming
levels, and we can't let U.S.-based charities be used as fronts for
illegal settlement construction on Palestinian land,” said SUMAYA
AWAD, Director of Strategy at the Adalah Justice Project. “New
Yorkers are becoming increasingly critical of support for Israeli
apartheid. It's long past time our state government caught up and took
action to end funding for violence perpetrated against
Palestinians.”

New York-based nonprofits raising money in New York are a major source
of funding for Israeli settler organizations. These settler
organizations work in tandem with the Israeli military, rely on
discriminatory laws, and often deploy outright brutality to push
Palestinians off their ancestral lands. One New York-registered group
operating as a charity, the Central Fund of Israel (CFI), has raised
almost $50 million annually for Israel and its illegal settlements,
and is a funder of some of the major Israeli settler groups. 

“Aiding and abetting war crimes is not charitable, period. This bill
goes a long way toward ensuring that New York is not inadvertently
subsidizing war crimes, but rather creating paths for
accountability,” said VINCE WARREN
[[link removed]],
Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

In addition to Adalah Justice Project and the Center for
Constitutional Rights, the coalition of organizations backing the bill
includes Jewish Voice for Peace - New York City, Syracuse Peace
Council, Palestine Youth Movement, New York City Democratic Socialists
of America, and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. They have
launched a campaign, Not on Our Dime!
[[link removed]], to mobilize support for the
legislation. 

Introduced in the State Assembly by Zohran Mamdani (Queens) and in the
Senate by Jabari Brisport (Brooklyn), the bill arises amid rapid
growth
[[link removed]] in
settlements enabled by the ultra rightwing government of Israel, which
includes former leaders of settler organizations. Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich, for example, co-founded Regavim, one of the
expansionist – and overtly racist 
[[link removed]]–
groups that has received well over a million dollars from New
York-registered nonprofits. Earlier this year, in a move condemned by
even its closest allies
[[link removed]],
the Israeli government authorized construction of 10,000
[[link removed]] housing
units in the West Bank.

“Charitable status is supposed to help organizations that are doing
good in the world. It should be obvious that demolishing homes,
destroying villages, and ethnic cleansing are not charitable. We are
glad this law finally recognizes that,” said JONATHAN BRENNEMAN of
the Syracuse Peace Council.

Under current New York law, the Attorney General already has the
authority to ensure that registered charities do not fund illegal
conduct. The legislation clarifies that funding of Israeli settlements
by charities is unauthorized and allows the Attorney General to fine
such organizations no less than $1 million. It would also enable
Palestinians harmed by war crimes funded by New York-registered
charities to sue the groups in New York courts. 

“Israeli settlers are seizing Palestinian land, demolishing homes,
burning olive groves, and terrorizing families with ever-increasing
intensity and impunity. This is not a far-away issue – much of the
funding for this rampant brutality is coming through New York State,
through groups masquerading as charities and enjoying tax breaks, all
while funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to ethnic cleansing.
Jewish New Yorkers demand that our elected officials refuse this
charade and stop subsidizing these atrocities,” said ELENA STEIN,
Director of Organizing Strategy, Jewish Voice for Peace.

“We do not accept that supposedly charitable organizations should be
able to operate with complete disregard for the Geneva Conventions and
the most basic of international norms. We’re glad that our
legislators are finally calling the question on this practice. This
bill offers a unique opportunity to end New York State’s complicity
in the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine,” said DYLAN
AWALT-CONLEY, a member of the New York City Democratic Socialists of
America.

While this bill is the first in the country that would stop the flow
of money from U.S. charities to settlement groups, it emerges from an
effective Palestinian-led call to stop the various financial sources
upholding Israel’s occupation and apartheid system: whether in the
form of U.S. military funding, or private money. As the Israeli
government takes ever more extremist and anti-democratic turns,
national lawmakers
[[link removed]] are increasingly
[[link removed]] willing
to ponder cutting off, conditioning, or limiting U.S. funding to
Israel. 

“A variegated system of government and private money is used to
dispossess Palestinians of their lands and homes. Today, we demand its
end,” said KALEEM HAWA, a member of Palestinian Youth Movement –
NY Chapter. “The funneling of millions of dollars to settlements
from New York-registered charities amounts to a subsidy of
Palestinian dispossession by American citizens. It’s time we stop
New York’s funding of Zionist settler terror.”

“We’re grateful that New York State legislators are working toward
setting precedent across the movement for Palestinian human rights. We
know the U.S. has actively enabled Israel’s military occupation and
settlement expansion over the Palestinian people, but we also know
that this complicity does not have to continue. Today, we remind the
people across New York that they have the opportunity to help end this
brutal occupation so the Palestinian people can remain on their native
land,” said IMAN ABID, Director of Advocacy and Organizing, US
Campaign for Palestinian Rights.

Contact: [email protected]

AFRICAN AMERICAN SINGING TRADITIONS - PEOPLE'S MUSIC NETWORK SUMMER
GATHERING, GROTON, MA - MAY 26-28

[[link removed]]

Watch video here [[link removed]]  

The 2023 People’s Music Network Summer Gathering takes place at at
Camp Grotonwood in Groton, MA from May 26-28, 2023. It includes:

* Music to inspire dreams for a better world.
* Traditions that strengthen social justice struggles.
* A welcoming community of singers, activists, songwriters, spoken
word artists, and allies committed to using the arts as catalysts for
peace and justice.

On Saturday and Sunday (May 25 & 26, 2023), we’ll have participatory
workshops and songswaps, mentoring sessions, and a Saturday night
“Round Robin” – all highlighting the role of music in
progressive social change.  Expect numerous opportunities to share
music, sing together, and to join efforts to bring music into the
heart of struggles for justice and freedom today.

People's Music Network held a Summer Gathering every year from 1977 to
2018. We'll be intermeshing the network PMN built throughout these
years with the network we've been building more recently during the
pandemic.  We'll also be remembering the members who have passed on
in the last four years.

REGISTER HERE [[link removed]]  

PEOPLE'S MUSIC NETWORK FOR SONGS OF FREEDOM AND STRUGGLE  -- 
 WWW.PEOPLESMUSIC.ORG [[link removed]]

[email protected]

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* Debt Ceiling
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* 14th amendment
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* Florida
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* Nabka
[[link removed]]
* Israel
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* Palestine
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* Israeli settlements
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* apartheid
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* Occupied Territories
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* Chile
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* Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
[[link removed]]
* McCarthyism
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* Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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* Music
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* Songs
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* African American music
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* resources
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* Announcements
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INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

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