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By John Gideon on 5/31/2006 10:03pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Riverside County Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore has decided to not follow directives from the SoS and not to post the results at the precincts. The reasons? For one, she said, there's nothing to keep people from walking off with the tallies. More importantly, observers might be able to deduce how particular people voted at polls where only a handful of voters cast ballots, violating a central principle of American elections, she said. It seems that no excuse is too small for Ms. Dunmore. Loraine and Cuyahoga Co.'s in Ohio report that they had to do what many counties in many other states have had to do and they "modified the machines, wiring them directly into elections computers to bypass the limited capacity in the machines' memory cards". Has anyone heard of ITA testing and federal certification? Arkansas continues to fail all around in their elections administration and with ES&S as their vendor....

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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Tells BRAD BLOG: 'Evidence Shows High-Level Republicans Succeeded in Scheme to Steal Election in Ohio'!
Mag to Hit Stands Friday, Internet on Thursday, Publicity Push to Accompany
By Brad Friedman on 5/31/2006 12:49pm PT  

A damning and detailed feature article, written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for Rolling Stone and documenting evidence of the theft of the 2004 Presidential Election is set to hit newstands this Friday, The BRAD BLOG can now confirm. The online version of the article will be posted tomorrow (Thursday) morning.

The article --- headlined on the cover as "Did Bush Steal the 2004 Election?: How 350,000 Votes Disappeared in Ohio" --- has been several months in development and will contend that a concerted effort was undertaken by high-level Republican officials to steal the Election in Ohio --- and thus the country --- in 2004!

Kennedy told The BRAD BLOG this morning that "the best evidence says the Republicans succeeded" in their plan.

He writes in the 10-page long article, and confirmed to us today, that evidence shows Ohio Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell was "certainly in on" the scheme, and there are indications that the effort went all the way up to the White House.

Kennedy, who is co-host of Ring of Fire, a weekend show on Air America Radio, is an environmental attorney and the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy. This is his first public foray into the realm of Election Fraud, Election Integrity, Electronic Voting and, in particular, the questionable results of Election 2004.

A major publicity push is currently in the works to accompany the feature story which is sure to get the attention of more than a few D.C. and Buckeye State pols in addition to the mainstream media who have, of late, begun reporting more frequently on the litany of concerns and now-documented evidence that new electronic voting machines are hackable through a number of means.

Several public appearances are currently being scheduled for Kennedy in the coming weeks, including an appearance on The Colbert Report currently scheduled for Monday, June 12. (UPDATE: RS contacts us to say there may be a schedule change for the Colbert appearance. We'll update with more details when available.)

========== ...MORE... ==========

Sources have told The BRAD BLOG that Kennedy "does not hold back in this article."

One of the election integrity advocates involved in research and development with Kennedy on the story told us a number of weeks ago that "[Kennedy] essentially says everything that those of us who have been contending there was massive chicanery in the '04 election were right, and the media and politicians who ignored it at the time were wrong."

We'll have more details and information shortly from the story which includes quotes from Democrats such as Howard Dean and John Kerry, as well as pollster Lou Harris who also questions the validity of the 2004 Presidential Election in Ohio according to the article...

========== ...MORE... ==========

A sidebar included with the article calls for an investigation into Electronic Voting machines prior to upcoming elections...More soon...

========== ...MORE... ==========

Keeping in mind that a mere 6 votes registered for Kerry instead of Bush at each precint in Ohio in 2004 would have given the state, and the Presidency, to Kerry, here's a few quotes from the article...

Howard Dean: "I'm not confident that the election in Ohio was fairly decided."

U.S. Congressman from Ohio, Rep. Dennis Kucinich: "The secretary of state is supposed to administer elections ? not throw them."

Pollster Lou Harris of the Harris Poll --- described in the piece as "the father of modern day political polling" --- says: "Ohio was as dirty an election as America has ever seen."

Despite Harris' comments, which may be amongst the most explosive in the article, Kerry himself brings up the rear...

John Kerry: "Can I draw a conclusion that they played tough games and clearly had intent to reduce the level of our vote? Yes, absolutely. Can I tell you to a certainty that it made the difference in the election? I can't. There's no way for me to do that. If I could have done that, then obviously I would have found some legal recourse."

Ed note: Glad to have so many of you folks stopping by to check out this story. While waiting for RFK Jr.'s story which focuses largely on what happened in 2004, please check out BRAD BLOG's front page for a list of just a few of our "Hot Stories" (links at top of page) covering our crumbling electoral system in 2006! Including more scandalously under-reported stories than you can shake a stick at! From Diebold's now-proven hackable election systems to Ann Coulter's own felonious voting fraud to ES&S's complete electoral meltdown so far this year to Bob Ney and Jack Abramoff's dirty hands in the creation of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which has brought about the rise of these god-forsaken machines to the tune of 4 billion tax-payer dollars. Also, much more to come from Kennedy as well on the mess we face in 2006 as well, by the way, in the not too distant future. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 7/1/06: Rolling Stone issues a press release on the article with more details. Online posting a full article to come soon today.

EXTENDED EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLE, INCLUDING NEW EVIDENCE SUGGESTING A STOLEN ELECTION NOW AVAILABLE HERE...

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An Exclusive BRAD BLOG Interview with a Democratic Congressional Candidate Who's Not Afraid to Stand up for America, Even if it Means Standing Up Against Another Democrat (and a very powerful one at that!)
By Jim Cirile on 5/31/2006 11:23am PT  

Guest Blogged by Jim Cirile

"No recounts? I mean, why bother even having elections? Bring in these electronic voting machines, hire a few people to flip the votes, outlaw recounts. You'd save a lot of money by outlawing elections!"

"We conducted a mock arrest at the Secretary of State's office. We went over with our 10-foot high arrest warrant for grand voting theft which we issued to McPherson for certifying those evil machines --- the TSx --- with a 30% failure rate and announcing the certification on a holiday weekend when nobody was paying attention."

-- Marcy Winograd, Candidate U.S. House of Representatives, CA 36th District

Marcy Winograd "was tired of our leaders not listening to us." So she decided to run against one of them --- Jane Harman, another Democrat --- who she felt wasn't listening.

You may not have heard of Winograd yet. But it's time you do.

Winograd hopes to represent California's 36th congressional district (West and Southwest Los Angeles). On June 6th she faces off in the California primary election against the powerful incumbent Harman --- a six-term Democratic U.S. Congresswoman who Winograd describes as a "Bush Democrat".

A 12-year board-certified teacher and activist, Winograd received the 2004 Los Angeles Democrat of the Year award. She's been making waves in the progressive community with her grassroots assault on the incredibly well-financed, pro-war Harman, who has a record of voting consistently with the Bush administration.

Drive around the west side of Los Angeles and you'll see plenty of signs for both Harman and Winograd on telephone poles --- but on people's lawns, you only see Winograd signs. She's making waves?and even Harman's beginning to listen.

Winograd is part of the Impeach Team --- three congressional candidates who have made impeaching George W. Bush and Dick Cheney part of their platform.

She's also a staunch defender of election protection issues and has been fighting tooth and nail to prevent the hostile takeover of California's elections by the right. Unlike so many Democrats, she's unafraid to talk about issues of election integrity --- and she's got a plan in case there's any whiff of chicanery at the ballot box. Okay, so now she's got us listening too.

She recently gave The BRAD BLOG at least an hour of her time for an exclusive interview on everything that actually matters to America right now. We thought that was a refreshing change of pace for a Democrat. So we like her. A lot. And think you will too?

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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By John Gideon on 5/30/2006 5:15pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

It seems that officials in Arkansas are headed for the "worst election administration" award for the year. They clearly ignored scores of voters in the primary who went to the polls to vote but found that there was no paper ballots left to vote on so they were sent home without voting. Essentially they were disenfranchised. All of this on the top of a complete failure by ES&S to support their elections. Now, just one week after the state's primary election they are beginning early voting for their run-off elections. Some counties just finished counting from the primary. There has been no time for ballot programming, ballot printing, etc. How could they have ignored the fact that it takes time to get ready for an election? This state has to be at or near the top of any list of the worst states for elections administration. I feel sorry for the local elections officials who are under the gun and have no support from the state or the state's choice of voting machines....

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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Admits: 'Originally Dismissed as Exaggerations, Criticisms Now Viewed With Increased Gravity'
Otherwise, Article Creates a False 'Balanced Debate' Where There is None...
By Brad Friedman on 5/30/2006 3:06pm PT  

Again, we're always happy to see coverage of the mess concerning Diebold's proven and severe security vulnerabilities as well as the hackable electronic voting machines made by their compatriot (competitor) companies. All of that, as our electoral democracy crumbles out from under us while very few are paying attention or giving a damn even if they are.

So, we're happy to see the issue brought up again in today's Washington Post "A section" in a "special to WaPo" by Zachary A. Goldfarb who has done some decent coverage on these issues in the past.

Not as happy, however, to see this report as yet another indication that the Fox "News"-ization of WaPo seems to be complete.

In the name of phony "balance" (the word Fox "News" has perpetrated on a gullible public and a terrified mainstream media in order to level decidedly unlevel playing fields to the advantage of the bad guys), today's report, headlined "Debating the Bugs of High-Tech Voting," creates a completely false sense of "balance" in an otherwise unbalanced "debate."

Aside from the article appearing in WaPo at all, the biggest upside to it is this admission in the following graf:

Many of the criticisms of voting technology were originally dismissed as exaggerations promulgated by partisans displeased with election results. But the criticisms have been viewed with increasing gravity as prominent computer scientists have rallied behind them.

Beyond that, however, the article sets up a phony "level playing field" between Computer Scientists, all of whom now criticize the Diebold electronic voting machines --- even folks like Prof. Michael Shamos of Carnegie Mellon who had previously been a major defender of e-voting --- Goldbarb then goes on to frame things as if the points of the defenders of E-Voting (those who have a financial stake it in) are somehow equal to those who have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that that the defenders were lying and/or wrong about E-voting.

With E-Voting vendors and Elections Officials on one side and Computer Scientists and Election Integrity activists on the other, the appearance of a Fox "News" style one side versus the other side debate is created.

Goldfarb even manages to define Elections Officials as "strik[ing] a middle ground" between the vendors and the Election Integrity advocates when he then goes on to quote a spokesperson from CA Sec. of State Bruce McPherson's office repeating precisely what Diebold has said publicly about the latest huge security vulnerability discovered in Diebold systems [emphasis ours]:

"There certainly are potential security vulnerabilities that have arisen," said Jennifer Kerns, a spokeswoman for California's secretary of state. "But you have to be realistic about it: When you're administrating elections, there's a very low risk of any" tampering.

That ain't a "middle ground", that's Diebold propoganda.

Here's a quote from a letter sent by Diebold to states after they could no longer conceal the vulnerability problems from the public. Note the similarities to Kerns quote above:

The probability for exploiting this vulnerability to install un-authorized software that could affect an election is considered low.

You can see the full Diebold letter, and the nearly identical (word-for-word!) "Directive" from Pennsylvania officials, who struck that same "middle ground" when they had to deal with the problem just days before their recent primary elections right here.

Beyond that, the article goes on to quote Diebold spokesman/known-liar, David Bear, repeating his same old "there are no evil election officials" canard, while otherwise doing a nice job, at least, of pointing out Shamos' apparent about-face concerning the security on these machines, after he had once been an ardent supporter/defender of e-voting.

Bottom-line, however: This is not an even debate. Nor even a "debate" at all!

The Computer Scientists and Election Integrity Advocates have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Diebold voting machines, both optical scan and touch-screen, are hackable and unsecure. They have also been federally certified despite violating federally created standards for certification. They should be decertified immediately at the federal level on that basis alone.

The other side is not debating. They are spinning in an attempt to downplay the issue as "not all that important."

That's not a debate. That is FACT versus SPIN and coverage of these issues ought to be clear on that. Especially from Washington Post where we'd expect them to be a bit more honest than Fox "News". But perhaps it's time to simply do away that expectation once and for all.

UPDATE: While WaPo misses the point (or chooses to), the smaller papers, such as the Lakeland Florida Ledger get it right anyway...

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Haditha is 'as bad or worse than My Lai' Massacre in Vietnam
By David Edwards on 5/30/2006 11:37am PT  

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com


Video in Streaming Flash format...
Video in Windows Media format...

Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha appeared on CNN America Morning where he expressed outraged at the military's handling of the massacre of innocent Iraqis by Marines in Haditha, Iraq. It's been over 6 months since the incident occurred, yet the investigation is still not complete. The Pentagon refused to drop their cover story until Time Magazine published an article in February of this year. If it were not for that article, the military would have never publicly recognized the atrocities in Haditha.

Murtha said that, even now, the Military was trying to spin the report by telling the press that the incident happened during a combat situation. According to Murtha:

I think is just as bad if not worse than the My Lai massacre [during the Vietnam conflict]. In My Lai... they were out in the field and they killed civilians and they used the excuse that they looked like they were enemy. Here [in Haditha], there were no shots fired. There was no enemy action at all. A taxi drives up, they kill everybody in the taxi and then they go into the homes and pull the people out.

The stories keep getting worse and worse. Then they try to cover it up by saying they were killed by an IED to confuse the message. They're still trying to confuse the message.
...
Today, I was talking to Charlie Johnson, ABC News, and he says "the military says this, the military says that." Look, this happened 6 months ago, this happened Nov. 19th. They knew the day after what had happened. They keep spinning it to make it look like it was something that happened during [combat] action.

CNN's Pentagon official ass-kisser correspondent reviewed the timeline of events originally compiled by Time Magazine. After a roadside bomb killed one soldier, the Marines killed four teenagers in a taxi. The taxi driver was also killed. In the first house, Marines killed 7 people, including women and children. In the next house, 8 were killed, including 6 women. The third house was spared. In the fourth house, however, 4 were killed.

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Exclusive Audio Passages from 'Chasing Ghosts' as Read by the Author, Paul Rieckhoff
By Brad Friedman on 5/29/2006 1:08pm PT  

Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA, formerly OpTruth) sends The BRAD BLOG a few exclusive passages, as read by the author, from his new book Chasing Ghosts --- documenting his extraordinary experiences in Iraq.

Paul was kind enough to send to us a copy of the book recently which we hope to be able to read in full some time this summer, if the gods ever lend us a few quiet hours.

The title of the first chapter alone, however --- "George Bush Had Better Be Fucking Right" --- should highly recommend this book to anyone.

Here's Paul reading a few passages from the book, which we're honored to run on Memorial Day, as just part of our thanks to those American troops fighting on our behalf...whether many of them like it or not. We particularly appreciate those like Reickhoff, and all of the tremendous folks at IAVA, who have had the courage to speak out about where this Administration and this Congress is letting them down and where they are abysmally failing to adequately support our troops.

Our thanks to Paul for all of the above. Please enjoy the audio clip, and please consider buying the book. The Chasting Ghosts website is right here...

-- Audio in MP3 Format...

ADDENDUM... Rieckhoff recently appeared as a guest on Steven Colbert's show, just days after Colbert's infamous appearance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. He talked about the book, and otherwise held up under Colbert's "nailing" as well as I've ever seen anybody. Check out the video of Rieckhoff's appearance on Colbert if you didn't catch it when it aired.

UPDATE: Broken links in this item now corrected. Sorry about that!

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Karen Meredith Remembers Her Son, Kenneth Michael Ballard, KIA in Iraq on May 30, 2004...
By Brad Friedman on 5/29/2006 10:58am PT  

We first met Karen Meredith in Crawford, Texas last Summer where she was one of many Gold Star family members standing with Cindy Sheehan who'd also lost her only son in Iraq. We interviewed Karen live [mp3] from Camp Casey on The BRAD SHOW about her son, Kenneth Michael Ballard, and her courageous stand against this war. We continue to both wear and cherish the duplicate dog tag of Ken's that she gave us while we were there, and think of both of them often.

On September 9, 2005, nearly a year and a half after she learned of the death of Ken in Najaf, the Army informed her that her son's death was an accident. They had known for a year, but failed to tell her. We blogged about that here.

What follows, is a letter Karen shared with us, as written to mark the occasion of yet another Memorial Day spent without her son. We're pleased to share it with you on yet another Memorial Day as our troops continue to fight and die by the thousands in this continuing, senseless war...

An Open Letter to Members of Congress and the Senate

On Memorial Day, we raise our flags; we want to show our patriotism. We have a holiday from work and we have BBQ's with our friends and families. For some, it is a day to save some money at the mall- 15% off- Memorial Day sale! When we celebrate those events, we ignore the origins of Memorial Day. Memorial Day is the day that we, as a country pay our respects and remember those soldiers who were killed or who died in service to America. For politicians it is a day to participate in civic activities and to visit cemeteries. Politicians articulate our sorrow as a nation.

I want to tell you about one soldier that will be remembered this Memorial Day. 1Lt Kenneth Michael Ballard of Mountain View, California was 26 years old when he was killed in a fierce battle in Najaf, Iraq on 5.30.04. His gravestone at Arlington National Cemetery is plain. That headstone in Section 60, Site 8006 tells when he was born and when he died. It describes his valor and heroism with his medals, his 3 Bronze Stars, 2 with valor and his Purple Heart.

But you need to know more than that about Ken. You need to know this because you sent my only child to his untimely death. You are keeping our members of the military in harm's way in Iraq and you have the power to bring them home and to stop this senseless killing...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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Jesse Dyen's Camp Casey Tune, Released as a Beautiful Video...
By Brad Friedman on 5/28/2006 9:00pm PT  

One of our favorite tunes to come out of Camp Casey in Crawford, TX last summer was Jesse Dyen's "Sons & Daughters". We interviewed Jesse [MP3], who sang it for us live on air when we were there for our special "Project Noble Cause" broadcasts of The BRAD SHOW. The moment Jesse began singing, a mighty wind blew through the big tent, perhaps on the leading edge of Katrina, on one of our last days there, on August 29, 2005. As ever, the mighty denizens of Camp Casey swung into action during the live broadcast with trashcan lids and cardboard and bodies to protect Jesse, and the live microphone, from the sudden gust during his song. Yet another memorable moment.

Anyway...Jesse recently let us know about a video of the song that's just been released on the Internet, using footage taken at Camp Casey by videographer Chun Pan.

We never tire of the song and, of course, the footage brought back memories for us. Memorial Day Weekend seems an apropos time to share the link with you. Please give it a look, a listen, and enjoy...

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By John Gideon on 5/28/2006 5:23pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

There are still problems being reported from Arkansas and there probably will be a lot for the foreseeable future as they begin early voting again next Tuesday. To be fair, there is no way most of the counties in the state could have gotten complete with their primary last week and then get the ballot-programming done to support another election this week. It is a little confusing, however, as to how they mailed ballots to military voters already. Or do they just ignore the overseas and military voters? It's something to think about on this Memorial Day Weekend....

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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Speaking to Culver City Dems on Election Integrity...
By Brad Friedman on 5/28/2006 2:47pm PT  

The fine new video blogger calling himself "Hot Potato Mash" has posted a few video excerpts from a talk I recently gave at the Culver City Democratic Club about two weeks ago. He's posted about about 8 minutes from the 30 or so I yammered on about in re: Election Integrity back on May 10th in an evening that also included the lovely Arlene Pinzler from Sen. Debra Bowen's office (have I mentioned lately that Bowen is running for Sec. of State of California in a really important election for all of America and could use your support before next week's primary?)

Please check out the video linked above and let us know what ya think. (NOTE TO CULVER CITY REPUBLICANS --- OR ANY OTHERS: I'll be happy to come and speak to you too! Just let me know when you'd like me to be there!)

While you're at The Mash, you may also want to check out this short video clip in which we learn about what's really important to American voters. Or atleast, what's important to them when the media bothers to cover it several hours a week during prime time.

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A Big Win for the Investigative Bloggers!
By Brad Friedman on 5/27/2006 5:54pm PT  

Score another one for the home team. Especially for those of us who call California home.

From AP yesterday...

Appeals Court Rejects Apple Computer's Bid to Identify Sources of Leaked Product Information

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A state appeals court on Friday rejected Apple Computer Inc.'s bid to identify the sources of leaked product information that appeared on Web sites, ruling that online reporters and bloggers are entitled to the same protections as traditional journalists.

"In no relevant respect do they appear to differ from a reporter or editor for a traditional business-oriented periodical who solicits or otherwise comes into possession of confidential internal information about a company," Justice Conrad Rushing of the 6th District Court of Appeal wrote in a unanimous 69-page ruling.

"We decline the implicit invitation to embroil ourselves in questions of what constitutes 'legitimate journalism," he wrote. "The shield law is intended to protect the gathering and dissemination of news, and that is what petitioners did here."

The online journalists are thus entitled to the protections provided under California's shield law as well as the privacy protections for e-mails allowed under federal law, the court ruled.

This is all rather important to us, as you may have guessed, at The BRAD BLOG, considering the kind of work we do here.

In fact, we were quoted by the NY Times last March concerning this very case and appeared on ABC News to discuss it as well that day.

Thanks, and a big congrats, go to the EFF for standing up for us on this one!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation called the ruling "a huge win."

"Today's decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large," said the group's staff attorney Kurt Opsahl, who argued the case before the appeals court last month.

Right on.

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By Brad Friedman on 5/27/2006 4:54pm PT  

(Hat tip John Gideon!)

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By John Gideon on 5/27/2006 4:46pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania is admitting to 16 more voters voting on optical scan machines and 24 on iVotronics than ballots counted. Lonoke Co., Arkansas hoped to finally begin counting votes yesterday as ES&S may have fixed their software finally. White Co., Arkansas has announced they will go back to punch-cards for their early voting in the run-off elections....

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By John Gideon on 5/26/2006 5:23pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Votes in some Arkansas counties are still being tallied. Meanwhile early voting is supposed be begin next Tuesday for run-off elections on June 13. Needless to say some counties in the state will not be ready for early voting. A good example of how the inept work of ES&S affects more than just one election. Also in Arkansas the SoS has announced that they have hired InfoSentry to analyze the work done by ES&S. Boyd County Kentucky announced that a recanvass found no major changes in elections results. They also announced that the machines from one complete precinct were never counted in the original count. And, members of the NASED Voting Systems Board admit in emails that NASED certifies voting systems even with the knowledge that they must be modified in order to be used and, therefore, are no longer certified....

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