Watch: Footage Emerges of Shooting in France Involving Masked Men with AK-47s

By The Daily Wire. Video has emerged of the shooting that happened in Marseille, France on Monday that authorities are now investigating as a kidnapping and not a terrorist attack.

The video confirms initial reports of there being approximately three cars involved and several heavily armed men carrying and firing AK-47s. . .

(Read more from “Watch: Footage Emerges of Shooting in France Involving Masked Men with AK-47s” HERE)

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Marseille: At Least One Injured After Masked Gang Opens Fire in French City

By The Guardian. Hooded gunmen armed with AK-47s have opened fire near a group of young people on a housing estate outside the Mediterranean French city of Marseille before reportedly taking a man hostage.

At least one person was injured when the gunmen, all dressed in black, drew up in three vehicles, and began shooting near a cultural centre in the Busserine district.

The local newspaper La Provence reported that the armed gang appeared to be looking for someone and threatened locals before firing several times into the air. They then grabbed a youth and drove of . . .

According to a witness, one person was abducted in a car whose occupants shot in the air several times,” Tarabeux told local journalists.

A Marseille police officer said “numerous bullet casings” had been found at the scene. He added that the incident was not being investigated as a terrorist attack. (Read more from “Marseille: At Least One Injured After Masked Gang Opens Fire in French City” HERE)

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Restroom Slayer Could Sue Us If We Turned Him Away Today

Twenty one years ago, an 18-year-old man entered a women’s restroom at a business where I worked. If I had seen him enter the ladies’ room, I would have been expected to confront him and drive him out.

Nowadays, in certain jurisdictions, he could sue me and my employer for expelling him from a room where women and girls pull their panties down. He might be able to recruit government prosecutors to punish us, without hiring a lawyer of his own. And the policy of several faddish corporations is to leave such men to choose whichever restroom they prefer, no questions asked.

That man’s name is Jeremy Strohmeyer, and there is no reasonable prospect of him suing me in the future, because he is currently serving life without parole in a state penitentiary for the crimes he committed in that restroom on May 25, 1997.

He was preceded in the ladies’ room by seven-year-old Sherrice “Sherry” Iverson. She was mischievous and unsupervised, a handful. Her nearby father and teenage brother had no interest in following her around to protect her. Neither did anybody else. Strohmeyer was interested enough to follow her into the restroom, but not to protect her.

He raped her, strangled her in a stall and, when she nevertheless showed some signs of life, went back and snapped her neck. He stuffed her tiny body between the commode and the wall, and left her there for my co-worker to discover in the morning.

She would have been 28 this year, perhaps a young mother in the prime of life. Instead, there is no trace of her. Her father died within a few years of her murder. When a big-city newspaper published an article on the 20th anniversary of her killing, reporters couldn’t find her mother, and couldn’t find anybody who knew what became of her. She was surrounded by community organizers for a few years, stood in front of a few television cameras, then disappeared from the South Central Los Angeles ghetto in which she raised Sherry for seven years. And so there is nobody left to speak for Sherry, or about her.

Security personnel reconstructed the sequence of the crime later, based on video recorded by a surveillance camera mounted outside the ladies’ room. But there was an eyewitness inside, too. Strohmeyer’s traveling companion David Cash followed him into the ladies’ room and peered over a partition into the stall where Strohmeyer was muscling Sherry and stifling her screams by clenching her mouth.

When Strohmeyer seemed too preoccupied to engage in chitchat with Cash, he (Cash) left the restroom without intervening. He never notified security or police of the assault in progress. After Strohmeyer came out of the restroom and rejoined Cash, he told Cash he had killed the little girl. Cash never reported his friend to police.

Strohmeyer is spending the rest of his life in prison, but Cash never suffered any legal penalty for his indifference to the victimization of Sherry Iverson. Prosecutors said there was no law against what Cash failed to do. That has changed, but too late to prosecute him. Cash is apparently having a great life. He was accepted into Berkeley’s nuclear engineering program, graduated, and has had some very nice jobs in his native California, mostly in the public sector. He’ll be 40 next year.

There was considerable public outrage about the impunity of a man who casually shrugged off the horrific rape and murder of a child he could and should have protected. But how different are corporate executives and government officials who empower the potential Strohmeyers of 2018 enter women’s public restrooms at will? Like David Cash, they act on extravagant personal loyalty to friends and allies, and are utterly indifferent to the victimization of strangers. It was just Sherry Iverson’s tough luck that she lived outside Cash’s orbit of friendships, and it’s too bad for women and children that Target and Walgreen corporate executives and Liberal politicians are unmoved to protect them during their most vulnerable moments on company premises.

If a corporation wants to build lockable unisex restrooms for customers and staff, I have no firm opinion about that. I would rather not pay higher retail prices to fund the accommodation of sexual pathology, but at least it would protect women and girls from the menace of voyeurs and assailants. It’s a reasonable judgment call by management. That’s different from the reckless proposition of inviting men to share restrooms with women and girls, immunized against any intervention or questioning by security or retail staff.

“Sexual crimes are often crimes of opportunity,” wrote Christian activist Andy Parrish. “Allowing grown men in the girls bathroom increases the opportunity for sexual crimes. I choose my daughters’ safety over the convenience of shopping at Target.”

Over 1.4 million people have pledged to honor the American Family Association’s boycott against Target. But why do any Christians shop at Target or Walgreens anymore? It suggests that we have been compromised by materialism. In other words, we have subordinated our Christian values to our consumption, not vice versa. But it’s also because Liberals have been successful at framing the issue as a matter of compassion for pathetic transgenders.

When Christian activists published a list of 21 incidents in which male intruders victimized women and girls in public restrooms, Liberals replied that none of the 21 assailants and voyeurs were transgendered people. Even if we concede this is true, it would only vindicate the harmlessness of transgendered people in unprotected restrooms. It would not vindicate the safety of permitting adult or adolescent males to enter women’s and girls’ restrooms. The 21 incidents remain serious with or without absolutely autonomous transgenders circulating among the restrooms.

It may be true that transgenders are innocent of most violent attacks and voyeurism in ladies’ restrooms. But they and their Liberal allies are not innocent of making common cause with rapists and voyeurs in seeking restroom policies of mutual benefit. Of this, they are guilty.

My hat is off to Christian activist groups like One Million Moms and the American Family Association. But I don’t think U.S. consumer behavior is going to be shaped by inoffensive people following Marquess of Queensberry rules. Target and Walgreens and ilk need to face enormous photographs of young Sherry Iverson at their entrances every May 25. Bullhorns should greet stockholders as they arrive their annual meetings. Do you know how and when to request that your governor declare an annual Sherrice Iverson Day every May 25? If not, can you afford to hire a lawyer or a lobbyist to request it for you? It would be an opportunity to remember young Sherry, but also to remember Jeremy Strohmeyer and David Cash.

The depraved constituency for unprotected restrooms should have to earn it every year. An annual Sherry Iverson memorial would keep the issue fresh and correctly focused. The transgender restroom activists share David Cash’s indifference to unknown victims, and they should be identified as his disciples, year after year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqTdXOQmXrc

Whenever a municipal or state body takes up a proposal to give adult men free access to women’s restrooms, opponents should always refer to it as Strohmeyer’s Law. This would properly frame it as an issue of women’s and girls’ safety. Whenever officials or commentators are dismissive of safety concerns in deregulated women’s restrooms, they should be challenged to distinguish their position from David Cash’s position. What comes first for these people – their friendships and alliances with sexually confused men, or the protection of physically vulnerable women and girls?

Should men like Strohmeyer and Cash be allowed to enter your daughters’ restroom unchallenged? Liberals may hedge, but their policies most emphatically say yes.

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The American Dream Is Dead

. . .Most of the nation’s economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top 0.1%. Inequality is now approaching the extreme level that prevailed prior to the Great Depression. . .

In fact, inequality is so high that a third of the population has no wealth at alland the top 0.1% owns as many assets as the bottom 90%.

Raw statistics are perfect tools for transmitting the truth of facts but they lack the emotional baggage that a story can deliver. There’s nothing better than tears, blood and immersive storytelling to mobilise people.

I’m unfortunately not very good at that, but I can still rephrase the statistics: if the US was a village of 1000 people, there’s 1 guy that has more money than 900 other villagers combined…

We can manipulate numbers and discuss hypotheses as much as we’d like: the reality is staggering. Research centers, in their vast majority and coming from all political backgrounds, have drawn the very same conclusion: the US is — by far — the most unequal society in the developed world. And things are getting worse every year. . .

Now a lot of us can cope with that if there are good chances of improving our situation. If my household’s finances are better than my parents’, the society I’m living in would have enhanced my well-being.

That’s actually one of the cornerstones of modern capitalism: inequalities are accepted as long as the possibility of betterment exists. We tolerate unfairness as long as there are good chances of improving our condition. (Read more from “The American Dream Is Dead” HERE)

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Evidence: Cell Conversations are Being Intercepted and It May Not Be the Deep State

Rogue unknown cell-site simulators are being actively used in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia according to News4 I-Team who worked with a mobile security expert to determine the usage of the devices.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it had seen activity in Washington, D.C., of what appear to be rogue surveillance devices that could be used to hijack cellphones, listen to calls and read texts. The devices are otherwise known as International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers or stingrays, NPR reported.

The devices work by tricking mobile devices within a determined radius into connecting onto them instead of legitimate cell towers, revealing the exact location of a cellphone. More sophisticated versions of the device can even eavesdrop and intercept calls by forcing phones to use 2G wireless technology. Some even attempt to plant malware on the devices that are being targeted.

The devices can be mounted in vehicles, drones, helicopters, and airplanes, allowing police to gain highly specific information on the location of any individual phone, down to a particular apartment complex or hotel room. But where police can use them, so can anyone else with knowledge to build them or where to buy them.

IMSI catchers can cost anywhere from $1,000 to around $200,000. They are the size of a small briefcase; some are as even as shockingly small as a cellphone. However, according to the EFF, “anyone with the skill level of a hobbyist can now build their own passive IMSI catcher for as little as $7 or an active cell-site simulator for around $1000.”

The agency added that it believes “the malicious use of IMSI catchers is a real and growing risk.” Senator Ron Wyden wrote to DHS asking for information about the use of IMSI catchers by foreign intelligence agencies.

DHS has warned rogue devices could prevent connected phones from making 911 calls, saying, “If this type of attack occurs during an emergency, it could prevent victims from receiving assistance.”

D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh said that the spy technology should be a concern for all who live and work in the District.

The I-Team’s test phones detected an absurd 40 potential locations where the spy devices could be operating while driving around for just mere hours.

The DHS hasn’t disclosed how many IMSI catchers it found or where those “rogue surveillance devices” were detected. The agency also said it did not determine who was operating them.

According to NBC the devices are operating in Langley, the Pentagon and Fort Myer to name a few places where they were found.

Although NBC tries to dismiss the devices as “rogue technology,” stating they are likely used by law enforcement, it’s worth noting the DHS has stated previously they don’t know who is operating this tech.

“The good news is about half the devices the I-Team found were likely law enforcement investigating crimes or our government using the devices defensively to identify certain cellphone numbers as they approach important locations,” Aaron Turner a mobile security expert, said.

Further, even if the technology was used by law enforcement, its usage is violating privacy and is illegal without a warrant as it scoops up all the data collected by cell phones in the area without discrimination; which violates constitutional protections, according to the EFF. And what if it’s being run by a rogue police force, like the one that operated at Norfolk, Virginia, Naval Shipyard for 12 long years before being caught, as Activist Post reported on?

DHS acting undersecretary, Christopher Krebs, the top official in the National Protection and Programs Directorate, noted in a response letter to Wyden that the DHS lacks the equipment and funding to detect Stingrays even though their use by foreign governments “may threaten U.S. national and economic security.”

Krebs wrote, “Use of IMSI catchers by malicious actors to track and monitor cellular users is unlawful and threatens the security of communications, resulting in safety, economic, and privacy risks. … Overall, DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate believes the malicious use of IMSI catchers is a real and growing risk.” The agency added that NPPD “has observed anomalous activity in the Nation Capital Region that appears to be consistent with IMSI catchers. NPPD has not validated or attributed such activity to specific entities or devices.”

After the DHS admission, three House members sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, demanding that the FCC “take immediate action under federal law to address the prevalence of what could be hostile, foreign cell-site simulators—or stingrays—surveilling Americans in the nation’s Capital.”

Last month, Senators. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called on the DHS to release an unclassified PowerPoint presentation detailing the threat, The Hill reported.

The presentation was given by a DHS official at the Federal Mobile Technology Forum in Mclean, Va., in February, according to the four lawmakers.

The PowerPoint presentation was described as “detailed,” but gave no other information about what it may reveal.

“The American people have a legitimate interest in understanding the extent to which U.S. telephone networks are vulnerable to surveillance and are being actively exploited by hostile actors,” they wrote in a letter to DHS official Christopher Krebs.

The EFF states that the “problem is law enforcement and the intelligence community would surely agree that these technologies are dangerous in the wrong hands, but there is no way to stop criminals and terrorists from using these technologies without also closing the same security flaws that law enforcement uses.”

In that respect, that means in order to stop rogue potential criminal activity the security flaws would have to be fixed and the holes patched; but if that’s done, then law enforcement wouldn’t be able to use it either. This reporter must be the only one who is okay with that? (For more from the author of “Evidence: Cell Conversations Are Being Intercepted and It May Not Be the Deep State” please click HERE)

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U2 Betrays Babies

Like a lot of generation Xers, I’m a huge U2 fan. They’re the closest thing my generation has to The Beatles. That’s why I was tremendously disappointed to see the popular band, which has Christian roots and whose lead singer even appeared on “Focus on the Family” a few years ago to share his faith, come out and urge voters in their native Ireland to repeal the nation’s pro-life law.

For a band that has been open about Christianity in song and deed, fighting for the downtrodden worldwide in numerous causes while infusing song lyrics with Christian themes and imagery over the years, it’s inexcusable for the band to urge Ireland to reject basic human rights for the most vulnerable among us — unborn children in the womb.

One of the band’s first hit songs, “Pride (In the Name of Love),” refers to Jesus Christ being “betrayed with a kiss.” Now the band has betrayed innocent children from their native country with a tweet in support of state-sponsored ritualistic killing. This has prompted some swift and harsh responses by their legions of pro-life fans who feel the band betrayed them as well.

Daniel Darling of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for the Southern Baptist Convention put it this way: “After having poured out his voice for the vulnerable, [U2 frontman Bono] is turning his back on those precious souls who have no voice.”

Lest anyone think my associating the band with Christianity is another example of believers desperate for mainstream cultural acceptance so that they glom onto any celebrity who says something spiritual once, one website cited 79 specific Biblical/religious references in the band’s music catalogue. U2 also isn’t a case of some up-and-coming band whom people pinned some subtle religious hopes upon; the group just wrapped up the 30th anniversary tour of perhaps their greatest album, “The Joshua Tree,” in 2017.

Two of that album’s most famous songs are titled “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” They have lyrics with explicit Scripture references like “I have spoken with the tongues of angels” (1 Corinthians 13:1) and been “beaten and blown by the wind” (James 1:6).

So this is not a band ignorant of the Word of God. Far from it. Given U2’s immense popularity as one of the most successful bands of all time, it could be argued the group has dropped more Bible verses than anyone not an explicit evangelist worldwide over the years. Therefore, I don’t think we should treat them as just another rock band that signs up for total depravity. We should treat them as Christ commands us to treat the brethren who have lost their way. I pray there is someone in their inner circle who can go to them. If not, perhaps clergy they hold themselves accountable to who will confront them.

I certainly haven’t wholly agreed with the band’s politics over the years, but this is an example of directly contradicting the Word of God they have used to inspire much of their best and most profitable music for decades. And since long before I became a believer, they shared the Scripture with me when I first fell in love with “The Joshua Tree” when I was 14 years old, now, as a believer, allow me to return the favor to them:

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. ~Proverbs 6:16-19

(For more from the author of “U2 Betrays Babies” please click HERE)

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Pro-Trump Professor Sues University for Wrongful Termination

A pro-Trump professor sued New Mexico State University Friday after the school fired him when he refused to return to work after the school rescinded his leave of absence.

Former NMSU business law professor Gavin Clarkson sued the school for wrongful termination, defamation, denial of due process, breach of contract, production of a hostile work environment and discrimination because of his conservative politics, according to a press release obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Without the basic due process rights that are the cornerstone of western civilization, it’s really just a kangaroo court,” Clarkson said. “While litigation should never be the first option, it’s the only way forward at this point to make sure justice is done in this situation, which is a transparent political hit job.”

NMSU granted the former professor a leave of absence in June 2017 when Clarkson told NMSU he had accepted an appointment as deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic affairs at the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. In its letter granting the leave, NMSU does not explicitly state that the leave hinged upon the professor’s employment at the Department of the Interior.

Clarkson stepped down from his deputy assistant secretary post in December 2017 to pursue a seat in New Mexico’s Congressional District No. 2. The former professor announced his candidacy on Jan. 8, 2018. On Jan. 12, the school ordered him to return to teaching Jan. 16. (Read more from “Pro-Trump Professor Sues University for Wrongful Termination” HERE)

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Christian Therapist Fired over Traditional Marriage Stance

A longtime licensed clinical social worker who was ordered to be a “social worker first, Catholic second” and then fired because of her biblical beliefs about marriage is suing the agency that dismissed her. . .

Lorentzen had asked permission from her former employer, HealthSource Saginaw in Michigan, for permission to refer a homosexual duo to another counselor for “marriage” counseling.

She then was fired. . .

She wanted to refer them to someone else, because seeing them on that issue “would violate her religious beliefs and practices regarding the sanctity of marriage as the union between one man and one woman.” . . .

“Federal civil rights law generally requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs so long as doing so would not impose an undue hardship. In this case, the couple could have easily been referred to another therapist.” (Read more from “Christian Therapist Fired over Traditional Marriage Stance” HERE)

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Pope to Gay: ‘God Made You like That’

By The Telegraph. The Pope made the remarks, which went significantly beyond his previous tolerance for homosexuality, during a meeting three weeks ago with a Chilean man who had been sexually abused by Catholic priests.

The Pope offered a heartfelt apology to Juan Carlos Cruz, who was a victim of Chile’s most notorious abusive priest, Fernando Karadima.

Mr Cruz, who is gay, said the conversation moved on from the abuse crisis to the nature of homosexuality.

“He told me ‘Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like that and he loves you like that and I do not care.

“The Pope loves you as you are, you have to be happy with who you are,’” Mr Cruz told El Pais, the Spanish newspaper. (Read more from “Pope to Gay: ‘God Made You like That'” HERE)

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Pope Francis Reportedly Tells Gay Man, ‘God Made You That Way and Loves You’

By Fox News. . .The Los Angeles Times reported that the Vatican did not confirm the pope’s comments given that it was a private conversation.

The pope has upheld Catholic teaching on homosexuality, reiterating the church’s opposition to same-sex relationships.

Francis uttered his “Who am I to judge?” comment during his first airborne press conference in 2013, signaling a new era of acceptance and welcome for gays in the church. Francis followed up by meeting with gay and transgender faithful.

Fr. James Martin, the author of “Building a Bridge,” told The Times that Francis’ reported comments are a “big deal” because it is likely the first time the pope made a comment “about gay people being born that way.”

Martin told the paper that the pope made the reported comment in private and not on the record, which is a big difference. (Read more from “Pope Francis Reportedly Tells Gay Man, ‘God Made You That Way and Loves You'” HERE)

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Deep State Desperate, According to Clinton Pollster

The “deep state” is in a deep state of desperation. With little time left before the Justice Department inspector general’s report becomes public, and with special counsel Robert Mueller having failed to bring down Donald Trump after a year of trying, they know a reckoning is coming.

At this point, there is little doubt that the highest echelons of the FBI and the Justice Department broke their own rules to end the Hillary Clinton “matter,” but we can expect the inspector general to document what was done or, more pointedly, not done. It is hard to see how a year-long investigation of this won’t come down hard on former FBI Director James Comey and perhaps even former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who definitely wasn’t playing mahjong in a secret “no aides allowed” meeting with former President Clinton on a Phoenix airport tarmac.

With this report on the way and congressional investigators beginning to zero in on the lack of hard, verified evidence for starting the Trump probe, current and former intelligence and Justice Department officials are dumping everything they can think of to save their reputations.

But it is backfiring. They started by telling the story of Alexander Downer, an Australian diplomat, as having remembered a bar conversation with George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign. But how did the FBI know they should talk to him? That’s left out of their narrative. Downer’s signature appears on a $25 million contribution to the Clinton Foundation. You don’t need much imagination to figure that he was close with Clinton Foundation operatives who relayed information to the State Department, which then called the FBI to complete the loop. This wasn’t intelligence. It was likely opposition research from the start.

In no way would a fourth-hand report from a Maltese professor justify wholesale targeting of four or five members of the Trump campaign. It took Christopher Steele, with his funding concealed through false campaign filings, to be incredibly successful at creating a vast echo chamber around his unverified, fanciful dossier, bouncing it back and forth between the press and the FBI so it appeared that there were multiple sources all coming to the same conclusion. (Read more from “Deep State Desperate, According to Clinton Pollster” HERE)

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Hahahaha! Wash Post, NYT: FBI Embedded Informant in Trump Campaign to Protect Him

. . .Throughout the last week, stories exploded about the Obama FBI embedding an informant inside the campaign of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump called the reports “bigger than Watergate” and the “all-time biggest political scandal!”

But not to the Washington Post and the New York Times. Over the weekend, both stellar news agencies wrote stories saying the insertion of an informant was simply to protect Trump.

“The FBI didn’t use an informant to go after Trump. They used one to protect him,” read the Post’s headline.

“Trump and his backers are wrong about what it means that the FBI reportedly was using a confidential source to gather information early in its investigation of possible campaign ties to Russia. The investigation started out as a counterintelligence probe, not a criminal one. And relying on a covert source rather than a more intrusive method of gathering information suggests that the FBI may have been acting cautiously — perhaps too cautiously — to protect the campaign, not undermine it,” wrote Asha Rangappa, a “lecturer” at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University and a former FBI agent.

As a former FBI counterintelligence agent, I know what Trump apparently does not: Counterintelligence investigations have a different purpose than their criminal counterparts. Rather than trying to find evidence of a crime, the FBI’s counterintelligence goal is to identify, monitor and neutralize foreign intelligence activity in the United States. In short, this entails identifying foreign intelligence officers and their network of agents; uncovering their motives and methods; and ultimately rendering their operations ineffective — either by clandestinely thwarting them (say, by feeding back misinformation or “flipping” their sources into double agents) or by exposing them.

(Read more from “Hahahaha! Wash Post, NYT: FBI Embedded Informant in Trump Campaign to Protect Him” HERE)

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