Category: Unintended Consequences

So, the saboteurs are Belarusians who oppose the Russian puppet ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. That’s the definition of insurgency.

Belarus Rail Lines Carrying Trains With Supplies for the Russian Army Are Being Hit by Sabotage Attacks.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Belarus faces an organized sabotage campaign aimed at railroad lines carrying Russian troops and supplies into Ukraine.

The General Prosecutor of Belarus opened a criminal case into what it called an act of terrorism carried out by an organized group against infrastructure of the Belarusian Railway, according to TASS.

The general prosecutor added that signaling facilities and other transport equipment were rendered “unusable.”

The BYPOL group, which consists of former security officers who support the opposition in Belarus, said on Tuesday that a series of sabotage actions had targeted the railway system in Belarus, disrupting the movement of military trains in the country.

“Belarusians, today our country is drawn into a criminal and bloody war with the fraternal Ukrainian people on the side of the aggressor – the Russian Federation,” wrote BYPOL in a Telegram message. “It is our duty and in our power to do real things to stop it, free ourselves from the occupation of Russian troops and restore the good name of our ancestors. ‘Rail war’ is the knowledge that we inherited, this is what we can do and what each of us can do.”

To give you an idea of what is being discussed, this is a map of the Belarus rail net. As the border between Belarus and Ukraine is still in the hands of the Ukrainian Army, the main rail lines of concern are probably those entering Belarus from Russia terminating Gomel. Those lines resupply the troops attacking Kiev.

The problem is real enough that the Belarus railroad system has started paramilitary patrols of the rail lines to prevent damage (this is from a Ukrainian site quoting a Belarus site on Telegram).

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“People who don’t even buy guns are coming in and buying magazines just because they might buy a gun someday.”

Sales of high-capacity magazines brisk as bill banning them heads to Governor’s desk

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Business is brisk at this local gun shop, three days after a historic vote banning the sale of high-capacity magazines in our state.

The legislation cleared the Washington State Senate last Friday and is now headed to Governor Jay Inslee’s desk.

The bill bans all gun magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, making Washington State the 10th state to do so.

There is now a big demand for these magazines. A lot of people appear to be stocking up on them.

That has people here saying law-abiding gun owners are once again being penalized for the actions of criminals.

“These are all going to be banned,” said Tiffany Teasdale. “It’s a lot of our inventory.”

These are the waning days for Lynnwood Gun and Ammunition.

Teasdale and her business partner are closing shop after eight years. She says it is a coincidence that the Washington state legislature has voted to ban the sale of high-capacity magazines, just as she’s shutting down her business.

The vote is already impacting her store.

“People who don’t even buy guns are coming in and buying magazines just because they might buy a gun someday,” said Teasdale.

“Yeah, I think there’ll be a short-term impact where people go out and buy the ones that you can legally access,” said Sen. Marko Liias, the 21st District Democrat who sponsored the legislation.

He says his goal is to prevent mass shootings like what happened in his district in Mukilteo in 2016.

A 2015 Kamiak High School graduate killed three fellow graduates, including an ex-girlfriend, seemingly on impulse.

“And so, taking these products off the shelf means that folks who are disturbed like he was won’t be able to access that when they get into that, into that dark place,” said Liias.

Senate Bill 5078 will prevent anyone in this state from manufacturing, distributing, possessing, buying or selling high-capacity magazines — anything that holds more than 10 rounds.

Senator Liias says he believes the bill will save innocent lives.

“We know in states where they have passed a law like this, they see lower levels of mass shooting violence,” he said. “And that’s my goal.”

“They’re saying that this magazine is going to promote public safety,” said Tiffany Teasdale, holding a high-capacity magazine.

She says the bill will mostly penalize law-abiding gun owners.

“Just because they are banned for law-abiding citizens,” says Teasdale, “doesn’t mean criminals aren’t going to have them.”

She says a better deterrent is to adequately fund the police and prosecute the criminals they catch.

Senator Liias says if the governor signs the bill, it could become law in mid-June.

An uprising in Kherson

Putin’s theory of how Russia would pacify a conquered Ukraine appears to have been that Ukrainians would … just sort of pacify themselves. Russia can’t mount an effective long-term occupation of a country this large but it wouldn’t need to, provided that Ukrainians placidly accepted their fate and welcomed their integration into Russia.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Russia’s entire war strategy rested on that dubious assumption bearing out. If Ukrainians resisted and forced Russia to commit to a lengthy pacification effort, there’s no telling how long Moscow would be able to sustain it. Especially with western sanctions taking a wrecking ball to their economy.

To put it another way, Putin really, truly seems to have believed his own bullsh*t about Ukrainians greeting Russian troops as liberators. In a worst-case scenario, he may have imagined that Ukrainians would resist initially but then would roll over once their cities were occupied and all hope of expelling the invader was lost.

That theory was tested today in the southern city of Kherson, the site of Russia’s most significant victory to date. The Russian military seized it days ago and moved in to occupy it. If Putin is right that Ukrainians will reconcile themselves to their fate once they fall under Russian control, the first evidence should emerge in Kherson.

His theory looked shaky yesterday. Today it looks shakier:

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Modern high technology strikes again; with a swift kick to the seat of the pants.

Amazon’s outage just locked people out of their homes, scrambled their refrigerators, and shut off their Christmas lights.

Does aaaaaaanyone else find this to be, I don’t know, the least little teensy weensy bit concerning?

How Amazon Outage Left Smart Homes Not So Smart After All

The outage at Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud-computing arm left thousands of people in the U.S. without working fridges, roombas and doorbells, highlighting just how reliant people have become on the company as the Internet of Things proliferates across homes.

The disruption, which began at about 10 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday, upended package deliveries, took down major streaming services, and prevented people from getting into Walt Disney Co.’s parks.

Affected Amazon services included the voice assistant Alexa and Ring smart-doorbell unit. Irate device users tweeted their frustrations to Ring’s official account, with many complaining that they spent time rebooting or reinstalling their apps and devices before finding out on Twitter that there was a general Amazon Web Services outage. Multiple Ring users even said they weren’t able to get into their homes without access to the phone app, which was down.

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Lefties Freak out on Conservatives for Doing Exactly What They Told Them to Do

and someone asked for an example of the leftist echo chamber?

Using their own rule book against them.
Rule #5 “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage.”

Biden tormented by Republican guerrilla campaign and ‘I did it’ stickers

If you see Joe Biden’s picture on a gas pump these days, it’s not a tribute to his amazingly successful energy policy.

The stickers — with Biden pointing to the $3.50 a gallon gas price and saying “I did that!” — are part of a Republican guerrilla campaign to undermine the Democratic administration. They’ve gone viral online.
And it’s cheap and easy. A 100-pack of the stickers is going for just six bucks on Amazon. You might see the derisive stickers up in New Hampshire, the swing state Biden is set to visit on Tuesday to promote his $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that just passed Congress.

The Democratic president may not get the overwhelmingly positive reception he was hoping for, though.

New Hampshire is a blue state that’s in danger of going red in the 2022 mid-term election and, like the colorful leaves that fall before winter, it’s often a harbinger of chilly political winds to come. Biden’s approval rating in the Granite State is the same as it is nationally — abysmal. And the passage of the infrastructure bill won’t change that, no matter how much the Democrats and CNN celebrate it.

The gas pump stickers are similar tactics to what Democrats did to Republican presidents like Trump. Remember those “Not my President” bumper stickers? So in a way Republicans now are just returning the favor.
Biden opponents have also adopted the “Let’s Go Brandon” chant to taunt the president. It’s a PG way of saying something much more crude that has the same number of syllables, but it’s a clever tactic and it drives Democrats crazy.

This is what passes for grass roots political strategy these days. The “Let’s Go Brandon” chant and “I Did it” stickers went viral on social media platforms like TikTok.

New Hampshire is a hotbed of politics, because of the first in the nation primary. Voters have become accustomed to getting up close to presidents and candidates and aren’t afraid to confront them in person.

That’s why Biden’s visit contains some risk, although he’ll be protected in his trip to Woodstock, far out of major cities like Nashua and Manchester.
Biden is also planning to spend some quality time in the little middle class enclave of Nantucket over the Thanksgiving holiday. Nothing like going to an ultra exclusive vacation island to showcase how the infrastructure bill will help the little people in the middle of an economic crisis.

Air Force One is expected to fly right into Nantucket’s tiny airport, and Secret Service will be crawling all over the island, which I’m sure the locals will appreciate.

Portland Police Struggles to Recruit Officers to Combat Rising Murder Rate

Recruitment for Portland police’s revived Gun Violence Reduction team is at a dismal level as violent crime continues to surge in the riot-torn city.

The revelation comes on the heels of the June 16 resignation of the Portland Police Bureau’s entire Rapid Response Team, known commonly as the “riot squad” responsible for policing riot-related violence, after an officer was indicted.

According to the Wall Street Journal, retirements and resignations are also rising at local police departments across the country. There was an 18 percent increase in resignations and a 45 percent increase in retirements from April 2020 through March 2021 compared with the same period one year ago, according to a June survey by DC-based think tank Police Executive Research Forum.

And, in the Rose City itself, since 14 job openings were announced in May, only four police personnel have applied to work with Portland’s new version of the Gun Violence Reduction Team. The unit was disbanded in 2020 amid an effort to defund the police and has recently been reinstated, although there have been several changes which appear to be unappetizing for prospective job applicants.

“Portland officers say such positions, once considered prestigious, are now less desirable, given the increased scrutiny that accompanies them,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “The new unit has its own citizen-advisory board, instituted after the old unit was criticized by city leaders for racial profiling. A job description says qualifications include the ability to fight systemic racism.”

Daryl Turner, the person in charge of the union representing Portland police officers, stated: “They’re demonizing and vilifying you, and then they want to put you in a unit where you’re under an even bigger microscope.”
Following calls to defund the police, the Portland City Council last summer voted to slash $15 million from the city’s police department, including the 38-person gun violence reduction team, which was criticized for alleged racial profiling.
In 2019, 52 percent of the team’s stops were of black people, who make up 5.8 percent of the city’s population. After the team was disbanded, homicides rose. Portland police officials then proposed creating a new team in spring 2021.
There have been 53 homicides so far in 2021 and Portland is on pace to surpass its all-time high of 70 homicides in 1987, according to Portland police officials. The trend is unraveling Portland’s decades-long history of having one of the lowest homicide rates among major American cities, the Wall Street Journal reported.

With Its Power Grid Under Pressure, California Asks Residents to Avoid Charging Electric Vehicles.

Amid a West Coast heat wave that includes triple-digit temperatures, California’s power grid operators have called on residents to not use as much electricity so as to put less strain on the state’s beleaguered grid.

In the past week, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) told residents several times to voluntarily conserve energy, including asking them on social media to stop charging their electric vehicles (EVs) during peak usage times. The operator also warned users to “[avoid] use of large appliances and turning off extra lights.”

“This usually happens in the evening hours when solar generation is going offline and consumers are returning home and switching on air conditioners, lights, and appliances,” wrote the ISO.

And on June 18, the California Flex Alert Twitter page wrote that “now is the perfect time to do a load of laundry,” and urged residents to “remember to use major appliances, charge cars and devices before #FlexAlert begins at 6 p.m. today.”

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AhhhhhhHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Atlanta councilman Antonio Brown, who voted to defund police, has car stolen

An Atlanta mayoral candidate who voted to defund millions of dollars from the local police department’s budget reportedly had his car stolen by a group of young thieves this week.

City Council Member Antonio Brown had just gotten out of his white Mercedes coupe to speak to fellow community leader Ben Norman in northwest Atlanta’s Dixie Hills community Wednesday when he spotted four or five kids — the youngest only 6 or 7, WAGA-TV reported.

The children were walking around a store — and within seconds were inside Brown’s car, he said.

“One kid was in the driver’s seat,” Brown told the outlet. “Ben attempted to open the door to get him out of the car. He fought with Ben. I then engaged and tried to get him out of the car. The three other kids were trying to figure out how to get in the car or stay out of the car. He started to hit on the gas. Ben let go.”

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‘Pretextual stops’ were deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court. Almost anywhere else, the stops are usually used as a pretext to search for drugs since the gun laws in most states are nowhere as strict as in NY City.

Up in smoke: New weed law leads to drop in gun busts, NYPD sources say

New York’s recent decision to legalize weed has led to an alarming drop in gun arrests — at the same time shootings are surging across the Big Apple, The Post has learned.

Under NYPD enforcement guidelines outlined in a March 31 memo that cited the new pot law ban, cops are banned from searching a vehicle’s trunk just because they smell pot during a traffic stop.

The “sweeping changes” — which took effect immediately — also prohibit cops from searching anyone just for toking up “almost anywhere that cigarette smoking is allowed.”

But large numbers of gun busts have typically been made by cops who smell fresh or burnt marijuana after pulling over a car, according to NYPD sources.

Last year, 33 percent of all gun-possession arrests resulted from vehicle stops, with a majority of those also involving weed, a source familiar with the matter said.

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So, either they were working on a big firecracker for the 4th, or, they were working on an IED. Just to point out that more than a few people doing one or the other have occasionally missed a step and detonated the thing a leeeetle too early.

3 Dead After Black Powder Device Explodes Near Illinois Park

The three died from injuries they received in the explosion, LaSalle County Coroner Rich Ploch said. Autopsies were planned.

Three people have died after a black powder device exploded along a bank of the Illinois River in the northern part of the state, authorities said.

First responders were called to an area west of the Starved Rock State Park boat ramp where they they discovered three dead males around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, authorities said.

“With assistance from the (Illinois) State Police, the Kane County Bomb Squad Unit & the FBI, it was determined that the individuals appeared to have ignited a type of black powder substance along an area near the river bank,” LaSalle County Coroner Rich Ploch said…

With all the past history of the same thing happening every time a demoncrap does crap-for-brains idiocy like this, I’m starting to wonder if ‘unintended consequences’ really fits anymore.

Thousands attend gun show in Jacksonville after Biden orders gun control actions

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Thousands of people attended the North Florida Gun and Knife Show over the weekend at the Duval County Fairgrounds.

The two-day event was held after President Joe Biden announced a half-dozen executive actions to combat gun violence. The president also called on Congress to pass legislation to reduce gun violence after recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Colorado and South Carolina.

“Anytime something comes out of Washington and they say the word ‘gun,’ everything goes up,” said Victor Bean, the owner of Southern Classic Gun and Knife Shows.

This weekend’s event attracted firstcomers and gun enthusiasts.

“Just a good selection of firearms, and today is my birthday, so maybe I will get myself a good birthday present,” Chris Carroll, who lives in Clay County, told News4Jax on Sunday.

Mike Chance, a Jacksonville resident, said he was looking forward to looking at ammunition.

“Well, it’s millions and millions of dollars’ worth of guns and ammo,” Bean said.

More than 283 vendors and 386 displays were at the show in Jacksonville, according to Bean.

“Everybody wants the self-defense right now, and the high-capacity mags, of course, they are talking about legislation right now,” Bean said.

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Gun Control Laws Result In Police Selling Guns To Public

California Provides Multiple Examples
In Mexico, one of the most common sources of firearms, both for criminals and for people who simply want to protect themselves, are police officers.  Obtaining firearms legally is nearly impossible, creating a money making opportunity for cops, who can easily buy firearms and resell them.

Ironically, the same thing is happening in the state of California.  For decades, California has required an increasing list of features of handguns placed on the “approved list” of handguns that may be sold in the state.  Originally, this was done to drive to cost of handguns up, so that poor minorities could not afford them – and yes, the Democratic authors and supporters of the bill actually said this.  More recently, the state has required “micro-stamping” of fired cases – something that no gun maker has been able to accomplish.  This has resulted in an ever shrinking list of guns legally available for retail sale in the state.

There are, however, two legal sources of pistols not on the approved list.  The first is private purchase from an average resident who either bought the gun before the law took effect, or before the handgun was dropped from the list, or before moving into the state.  The second is police officers – who can but any handgun they wish. Private citizens can sell their guns privately to anyone able to pass a background check.  Police used to be able to do so in the same way, although this has changed in recent years.  The idea was that if a cop bought a gun and did not like it, they could sell it privately, buy something else and not be in violation of state laws.

However, more than a few cops have seen a money making opportunity.  They bought guns using their police exemption and then sold them privately.  They were typically careful to conduct the sale through a dealer with a background check as required by state law.  However, in many cases, the state found out – and although they may have been in the clear as far as state laws were concerned, they still were in violation of federal law.  Since they were buying guns with the intent of reselling them, they were “in the business of selling firearms” without the required federal firearms license (FFL).  The state simply contacted the feds and they brought charges.

I would point out that if these cops had not been concerned about following state laws, and had simply sold the guns without a background check, it would have been much, much harder to catch them.  This is exactly what happens every day in Mexico.  It is also what likely is happening right now in California, to at least some degree.

As a pastor, I worked with many people in recovery from drug addiction.  I never once had an addict tell me, “I wanted to get high, I had money to buy drugs, but could not find anyone to sell them to me.”  Not one.  I don’t like drugs – I don’t even touch alcohol – but I have to conclude that drug laws do not keep people from getting drugs.  Instead, they corrupt our police and turn otherwise law abiding people into criminals.  Why should we think that gun bans will be any different?

Gun bans around the world have exactly the same effect – and we are beginning to see it happen right here in America.  Passing more gun bans will only make it much worse.   Supply will rise to meet demand.  Guns will be smuggled in from other countries, diverted from the military, made in underground factories and yes, diverted and sold by police.

Rev. R. Vincent Warde

News From the Soft Secession

WOW: North Dakota House Passes Bill Making Mask Mandates ILLEGAL, Bill Sponsor Calls Mandates ‘Diabolical Silliness’

The North Dakota House of Representatives has passed a bill that will make any future mask mandates illegal in the state.

Monday’s vote passed 50-44 and is now heading to the state senate.

“Our state is not a prison camp,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jeff Hoverson, said.

The state’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum had put a mask mandate in place three months ago, but had previously expressed doubt about if mandates were really the way to go.

They aren’t.

Sheriffs Given Powers to Arrest Feds Who Violate Citizens’ Gun Rights in Missouri | Neon Nettle

The Newton County Commission in Missouri passed an ordinance that criminalizes the enforcement of any federal law that infringes upon the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

To further justify the legislation, the “Second Amendment Preservation Act of Newton County Missouri” cites the state’s own constitution:

“All federal acts, laws, orders, rules, and regulations passed by the federal government and specifically any Presidential Administration whether past, present, or future, which infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 23 of the Missouri Constitution shall be invalid in the county,” the act reads.

The Newton County Second Amendment Preservation Act will nullify any unlawful federal restrictions on firearms that may be passed under Joe Biden’s administration.

The legislation also stipulates that “any and all federal agents trying to enforce the regulations listed in Section (1) shall be subject to arrest by the Newton County Missouri Sheriff’s Department,” and “the Newton County Missouri Sheriff’s Department shall be given the full authority to make the arrest of any and all federal agents that violate state laws and enforce the regulations listed in Section (1).”

I’ve mentioned these actions before, but I’m doing so again because they are important.  We will have to remove as much of America as we can from the federal power, which has become a tyranny operated by oligarchs and communists.  And we have to start doing so from the very lowest levels.

Push your local representatives to represent your wishes.  If those wishes contravene the federal tyranny, all the better.  Secede from their laws.  Nullify them.  Let your battle cry be, “I will not.  And you can go fuck yourself.”

Indiana, which already has a reasonably liberal concealed carry law, is now pushing toward statewide constitutional carry.  I’ve contacted my state senator and representative already, and I am going to try to organize some sort of get together locally where my friends and neighbors can also express their wishes on the matter.

Do this everywhere you can, or at least support those who are trying to do this.

UPDATE:  When I say “nullify them,” I also mean using jury nullification as it was constitutionally intended:  As a bulwark against tyranny and tyrannical laws.  If you are seated on a jury to try some patriot for resisting a tyrannical law, never vote to convict.  Try to achieve an acquittal, but at least get a hung jury.  Don’t tell anybody what you are doing or why you are doing it, just do it.  Don’t attempt to avoid jury service.  It is one of our most basic protective rights.  Use it.

Lets do some arithmeticking, shall we?
There were a total of just 74,222,958 votes cast in the last election for Trump.

Lets round down to 74,000,000 to keep things conservative.
My calculator (check yours out to see if you get the same result) shows 45% of that to be 33,300,000, Thirty Three Million Three Hundred Thousand.

Think on that. Somewhere about 20 % of the voting population is just fine and dandy with letting Congress & the rest of TPTB in D.C. be told exactly where to go and how to get there.

Lets go with the old “3%”  Revolutionary War conjecture of Mike Vanderboegh and that gets you just under One Million (999,000) who might be of the age, physical condition and with the intent and resolve to actually be on the pointy end of the stick with millions more in support positions.

With yesterday’s kinetics, the new administration tries much of anything and there’s a high probability that events can spin off everywhichway imaginable.

We do live in interesting times.

45 Percent of Republican Voters Support Storming of Capitol Building: Poll

Almost half of Republicans support the pro-Trump protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, putting them at odds with Democrats who largely oppose the actions of the demonstrators, a poll has found.

The survey released by YouGov on Thursday morning found that 45 percent of Republican voters backed the attack on the Capitol building, while 43 percent said they “strongly or somewhat” opposed the protesters’ behavior.

Six percent of Republicans were unsure while a further 6 percent said they were unaware of the events.

Enough with the outrage.

Like pretty much all conservatives, I have consistently criticized riots and other forms of political violence for many years. That includes yesterday’s Washington, D.C. riot. You can’t say the same about liberals, however. Until yesterday, one might have thought that liberals consider rioting and other forms of political violence to be as American as apple pie.

You could write a book in support of that proposition, but for now let’s cite just a few examples. Do you remember when President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017? Leftist Democrats rioted in Washington that day. That riot was arguably worse, more violent and more destructive, than what happened in D.C. yesterday. The liberal rioters destroyed stores, set vehicles on fire and battled with the police. Six police officers were wounded.

I don’t recall a single Democratic office-holder denouncing the Democrats’ Inauguration Day riot, and the Associated Press came perilously close to praising the rioters.

Over the ensuing four years, Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioted countless times, bringing devastation to cities like Portland, Seattle, Kenosha and Minneapolis. Did any Democrats denounce these riots? Not that I remember. Many Democrats endorsed them, or seemed to do so. Kamala Harris, for example, said about the riots in June:

They’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop. This is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not gonna stop. And everyone beware because they’re not gonna stop. They’re not gonna stop before Election Day and they’re not going to stop after Election Day. And everyone should take note of that. They’re not gonna let up and they should not.

This was after 12 people had been killed in Democrat-sanctioned rioting, and billions of dollars in destruction committed. Have any Democrats denounced Black Lives Matter for its role in the riots? Not one. Has any Democrat denounced Antifa? Not that I know of, and some, like Keith Ellison, have specifically endorsed Antifa’s political violence.

Democratic Party journalists have joined the party’s politicians in excusing riots. The New York Times, for example, published an admiring profile of Antifa. The Washington Post, likewise, has carried water for Antifa.

The litany could go on for a long time. Yesterday’s assault on the Capitol was outrageous, but let’s not forget that last time out-of-control demonstrators interrupted business at the Capitol, shouted down senators and pounded on the doors of the Supreme Court, it was Democrats objecting to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

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