The Clinton Foundation and its future

Bill Clinton’s plans to ensure the Foundation’s future.

It has been 11 years since Bill Clinton launched the Clinton Foundation. The substantial successes of the Foundation’s philanthropic programs and sustainable initiatives thus far is a testament to the former president’s hard work ethic and high-octane energy, and to his unparalleled talent in bringing people together in collaboration.

To understand how important the Foundation and this work is to Clinton, you need only look at the increasingly important role his daughter Chelsea Clinton is playing in the Foundation these days.

According to a variety of reports as well as comments from Clinton himself, President Clinton is grooming Chelsea to eventually head up the Foundation and putting substantial thought in to models that will ensure the Foundation’s many programs and efforts continue long after his demise.

One such model was to bring the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) out from under the Foundation’s umbrella to act as a standalone nonprofit separately funded by corporate sponsors and independent donors.

Getting daughter Chelsea to pledge her life to being the future face of the Clinton Foundation is likely a key part of BC’s overall strategy to ensure the rest of the programs and charitable work will go on.

Work like the Clinton Health Access Initiative that has greatly benefited underserved health populations in the U.S. by teaming up with the American Heart Association is a prime example. Knocking out childhood obesity in America by 2015 is the current commitment of the partnership.

Chelsea Clinton has been publicly active in CHAI’s efforts, such as this appearance at a California elementary school. Earlier in the year, she helped her father host the Humana Challenge.

She has also been traveling far more frequently with her father on various statesman-like trips, as when the Clintons went to South Africa to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s birthday.

Chelsea Clinton was a featured guest at the Foundation’s 2012 Millennium Network event, and has spoken on stage at the last two annual CGI Meetings. She is more accessible to the media, gives on-camera interviews and even blogs for the cause.

If Chelsea Clinton continues to accelerate at top speed, maintains that pace over the long run and loves every minute of it, she will fulfill her father’s wishes in becoming the highly capable head of the Clinton Foundation and ensure the continuation of her father's most valued life's work.

Frozen food safety

Will your frozen food survive a power outage?

With Hurricane Sandy still on the radar, many people on the east coast currently are or are about to deal with a power outage situation.  Once the power goes out at your house, the food stored in your freezer can only stay safe for a set amount of time.  But for how long exactly can the frozen food stay safe?

The amount of time that your frozen food can stay safe for your consumption will depend on a couple of different factors.  One of the main factors being how much food you currently have stored in your freezer.  That is because the more food you have in your freezer, the longer your freezer will stay cold in the event of a power outage.  If you have your freezer filled to the max, then the food can stay safe for up to about 48 hours.  On the other hand, the frozen food can only stay good for about 24 hours if the freezer is only filled halfway.

Another factor that can affect how long your frozen food stay safe during a power outage is whether or not you open your freezer during the power outage.  Every single time that you open your freezer, you are allowing some of that cold air to escape from the freezer.  Therefore, it is best to try to avoid opening the freezer once the power is out.  

Once power has returned to your house, you will want to check the safety of your frozen foods.  Use a thermometer.  Your freezer needs to be at a freezing temperature for everything to be safe to eat.

How long did your Sandy snacks last?

Many people are experiencing junk food gluttony remorse.

Hurricane Sandy is no laughing matter. But to those in its path, the topic of Sandy Food raised a few chuckles. In the hours leading up to Sandy's arrival, New Yorkers besieged local liquor stores, stocking up on beer, wine, and spirits (Oh, and bottled water too; why not?).

As the storm's outer edge began battering New York and the Jersey Shore, residents took to Twitter to confess that they had already eaten their Sandy snacks. As someone who lives in a storm-prone area, I can relate. It's a combination virtually guaranteed to ensure gluttony: you're stuck at home, with a house full of delicious stockpiled treats. Combine that with the anxiety of an impending large storm, and it's surprising any food remains in the house by the next day.

 
One of the best ways to combat this problem is to avoid stockpiling junk food. HA HA ONLY KIDDING. But it can help to buy junk food in portions that help encourage sensible rationing. For example, instead of buying one giant bag of Cheetos, buy three of the medium-size bags and mentally tag one of them for each day of your projected three-day confinement.
 
You can also buy even smaller sizes and try to restrict your intake that way. But in my experience this has the opposite effect, and you end up lying semi-comatose on the couch, feeling bloated and gross, surrounded by piles of tiny Fun Size wrappers. I mean, so I would imagine.
 
Slate asks, "Did you stock up for Sandy like a kid or a grownup?" I'll tell you what I stock up on ahead of a big storm: a nice Camembert, fancy crackers, a selection of candy bars, and fresh fruit. I also authorize the removal of a bottle of wine from my wine cellar (by which I mean the Igloo cooler that otherwise would stand empty, which I have filled with bottles of wine I buy opportunistically on sale throughout the year).
 
One of the best Sandy snacks making the rounds is something that I intend to try out: a corn salsa made with one can of black beans, one can of corn, and one can of diced tomatoes or salsa, plus a tablespoon of mayonnaise (or one mayo packet). Scoop it up with corn chips like salsa. Sounds delicious! This is also a great trio of canned goods to keep in your cupboard for unexpected emergencies.
 

All the Young Royals Dudes ... Numbers

Five golden hitters ... four calling birds ... etc.

First off, why not the Mott the Hoople original?  Because it happens that '90s alternative rocker Matthew Sweet, who does the above cover with Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs, went to the same high school (Lincoln Southeast, Lincoln, NE) as Alex Gordon.  (Not at the same time.) So there.

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The request was for Wil Myers and Alex Gordon, but I figured if James Paxton is being dangled, then we might as well take a look at All the Young Royals.

And, yes, if you haven't been following at home, the Royals were ranked in 2011 as having the best set of top prospects in, perhaps, history.  They already had young Alex Gordon and Billy Butler in the majors, and super-stud prospects Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Wil Myers, when they acquired Alcides Escobar, Jake Odorizzi and change from the Zduriencik-stuffed Milwaukee farm for Zach Grienke.  Then later that year they snagged monster athlete Bubba Starling in the June draft.

So the hype is there, but are these guys any good?

For comparison, I included a few seasons of comparable Mariners prospects: Zunino's 2012, Montero's 2009 and Franklin's 2010 and 2012 (since folks are toying with whether Franklin would be untouchable).  I also included Kansas City's Jarrod Dyson as sort of a "control" -- a much more "average" prospect.

Here's where the numbers take us:

                                         
  Age Lev G PA AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS HR/PA BB/PA PP AP K/PA PI +/-
Zunino 2012 21 A-,AA 44 190 161 58 14 0 13 23 33 0.36 0.447 0.689 1.137 0.068 0.121 0.263 0.497 0.174 0.112 6.604
(Myers 2009) 18 Rk 22 96 84 31 7 2 5 9 18 0.369 0.427 0.679 1.106 0.052 0.094 0.240 0.476 0.188 0.150 3.571
Moustakas 2010 21 AA-AAA 118 534 484 156 41 0 36 34 67 0.322 0.369 0.63 0.999 0.067 0.064 0.208 0.467 0.125 0.161 3.979
Hosmer 2008 18 Rk 3 15 11 4 2 0 0 3 2 0.364 0.533 0.545 1.079 0.000 0.200 0.333 0.364 0.133 0.175 9.878
Gordon 2010 26 AAA-A+ 75 352 277 86 23 3 14 60 75 0.31 0.451 0.567 1.018 0.040 0.170 0.284 0.401 0.213 0.196 6.909
Butler 2007 21 AAA 57 256 203 59 10 1 13 43 32 0.291 0.412 0.542 0.954 0.051 0.168 0.262 0.369 0.125 0.199 9.413
Butler 2005 19 A+-AA 121 549 491 167 39 2 30 49 98 0.34 0.404 0.611 1.015 0.055 0.089 0.219 0.415 0.179 0.206 3.271
Gordon 2006 22 AA 130 576 486 158 39 1 29 72 113 0.325 0.427 0.588 1.016 0.050 0.125 0.245 0.405 0.196 0.208 4.849
Butler 2008 22 AAA 26 115 101 34 6 1 5 14 7 0.337 0.417 0.564 0.982 0.043 0.122 0.226 0.347 0.061 0.208 7.933
Hosmer 2010 20 A+-AA 137 586 520 176 43 9 20 59 66 0.338 0.406 0.571 0.977 0.034 0.101 0.224 0.371 0.113 0.213 4.890
Butler 2004 18 Rk 74 324 260 97 22 3 10 57 63 0.373 0.488 0.596 1.084 0.031 0.176 0.284 0.358 0.194 0.221 7.290
Myers 2012 21 AAA-AA 134 591 522 164 26 6 37 61 140 0.314 0.387 0.6 0.987 0.063 0.103 0.220 0.418 0.237 0.224 2.632
Gordon 2009 25 AAA-AA-Rk 30 133 104 34 7 1 5 23 24 0.327 0.451 0.558 1.009 0.038 0.173 0.271 0.356 0.180 0.230 7.584
Montero 2009 19 A+-AA 92 379 347 117 25 1 17 28 47 0.337 0.389 0.562 0.951 0.045 0.074 0.187 0.349 0.124 0.249 2.968
Myers 2010 19 A-A+ 126 541 447 141 37 3 14 85 94 0.315 0.429 0.506 0.934 0.026 0.157 0.257 0.311 0.174 0.264 6.151
Moustakas 2011 22 AAA 55 250 223 64 15 1 10 19 44 0.287 0.347 0.498 0.845 0.040 0.076 0.180 0.327 0.176 0.295 1.138
Moustakas 2008 19 A 126 549 496 135 25 3 22 43 86 0.272 0.337 0.468 0.805 0.040 0.078 0.169 0.296 0.157 0.307 1.585
Butler 2006 20 AA 119 535 477 158 33 1 15 41 67 0.331 0.388 0.499 0.887 0.028 0.077 0.168 0.270 0.125 0.315 1.827
Hosmer 2011 21 AAA 26 118 98 43 5 0 3 19 16 0.439 0.525 0.582 1.107 0.025 0.161 0.229 0.224 0.136 0.316 6.809
Franklin 2010 19 A,AA 130 578 516 146 25 7 23 51 124 0.283 0.354 0.486 0.841 0.040 0.088 0.183 0.316 0.215 0.316 0.655
Dyson 2012 27 AAA 15 71 63 21 3 3 0 4 5 0.333 0.373 0.476 0.849 0.000 0.056 0.141 0.238 0.070 0.328 0.507
Franklin 2012 21 AAA,AA 121 535 472 131 32 9 11 48 106 0.278 0.347 0.453 0.8 0.021 0.090 0.187 0.286 0.198 0.333 0.366
Moustakas 2009 20 A+ 129 530 492 123 32 2 16 32 90 0.25 0.297 0.421 0.718 0.030 0.060 0.155 0.272 0.170 0.336 -0.470
Moustakas 2007 18 Rk 11 47 41 12 4 1 0 4 8 0.293 0.383 0.439 0.822 0.000 0.085 0.191 0.268 0.170 0.336 0.084
Starling 2012 19 Rk 53 234 200 55 8 2 10 28 70 0.275 0.371 0.485 0.856 0.043 0.120 0.205 0.310 0.299 0.367 0.030
Myers 2011 20 AA 99 416 354 90 23 1 8 52 87 0.254 0.353 0.393 0.745 0.019 0.125 0.202 0.229 0.209 0.374 2.008
Escobar 2009 22 AAA 109 487 430 128 24 6 4 32 65 0.298 0.353 0.409 0.762 0.008 0.066 0.136 0.191 0.133 0.389 -0.628
Hosmer 2009 19 A-A+ 106 434 377 91 19 4 6 53 90 0.241 0.334 0.361 0.695 0.014 0.122 0.189 0.196 0.207 0.395 1.371
Dyson 2010 25 AAA-A+-Rk-AA 71 328 294 88 17 4 1 22 46 0.299 0.347 0.395 0.741 0.003 0.067 0.134 0.170 0.140 0.402 -1.041
Escobar 2008 21 AA 131 597 546 179 24 5 8 31 82 0.328 0.363 0.434 0.797 0.013 0.052 0.114 0.174 0.137 0.402 -1.642
Dyson 2011 26 AAA 83 369 319 89 10 3 3 35 47 0.279 0.356 0.357 0.713 0.008 0.095 0.138 0.129 0.127 0.417 1.007
Dyson 2006 21 Rk 51 189 161 44 4 6 0 18 30 0.273 0.358 0.373 0.731 0.000 0.095 0.148 0.161 0.159 0.417 -0.066
Escobar 2005 18 A 127 562 520 141 25 8 2 20 90 0.271 0.305 0.362 0.666 0.004 0.036 0.098 0.158 0.160 0.434 -3.932
Escobar 2007 20 A+-AA 125 528 494 151 13 7 1 18 71 0.306 0.331 0.366 0.697 0.002 0.034 0.074 0.103 0.134 0.453 -3.866
Escobar 2004 17 Rk 68 262 231 65 8 0 2 20 44 0.281 0.348 0.342 0.69 0.008 0.076 0.115 0.104 0.168 0.466 -1.636
Dyson 2009 24 AA-A 80 358 315 87 9 5 0 32 68 0.276 0.345 0.337 0.681 0.000 0.089 0.128 0.105 0.190 0.472 -1.710
Escobar 2006 19 A+ 87 386 350 90 9 1 2 19 56 0.257 0.296 0.306 0.601 0.005 0.049 0.080 0.083 0.145 0.473 -3.150
Dyson 2008 23 A+ 93 331 288 75 8 0 0 32 60 0.26 0.337 0.288 0.626 0.000 0.097 0.121 0.056 0.181 0.500 -1.276
Dyson 2007 22 A 10 39 37 10 1 0 0 2 12 0.27 0.308 0.297 0.605 0.000 0.051 0.077 0.054 0.308 0.600 -8.173

 

The spreadsheet is sorted by "Plausibility Index," and, you can see that Zunino's 2012 actually "wins" as the best season in that regard.  But there is plenty, plenty, plenty of Royals goodness on there.  As the "analysis" piece will explore.

Dealing with your ex

This is a tough subject for me.

One of the things that single women often complain about is the lack of responsibility their ex-husbands have. This is something I deal with too and it can be very hard for me to keep my mouth closed about it. There are so many times when I want to blurb out something negative about my children’s father.

I want to scream sometimes because of the things he does. For example, he will often call at the last minute to let me know that he will not be picking up the children. Does he think that I might have plans or a life other than just the kids? 

No, he doesn’t. I will admit that I don’t have much of a life outside of my kids, but I still have a schedule. I still plan things, and there are so many times where I am scrambling around trying to make my schedule work simply because he calls and cannot follow through with the things he says he is going to do.

This is a problem that often causes me to lose my cool; however, I also know that it is not appropriate to say negative things about him to my kids. This is actually something I strive not to do. He makes me upset, messes with my schedule and much more, and I have vowed to not go to this place. As a single mom, I have to make sure that my children do not earn a negative opinion of their father from me. If he does this to himself though, it is beyond my control.

The value of a note

My husband's love notes have left me feeling special!

In the past few weeks I have found several notes left for me by my husband. If he is reading this, I hope he knows how valuable these short letters are to me. One morning I walked over to my purse to grab something, and I saw a slip of paper sticking out. When I pulled the paper out of my purse, I discovered that it was a note from my husband and I was thrilled. 

As I read what he wrote, it made me feel very special. He told me what a great wife I am and how much he appreciates me. I felt so good after reading this and I immediately hung the note on the fridge so that I could see it often.

During the next few weeks, he left me two more notes. Each note said basically the same thing, but in different words and each one left me feeling very special. If there are men reading this, take note. Your wives love getting notes.

They do not have to be poems or written in a grammatically correct way, but they simply need to say how you feel. Men are not creatures that generally open up about their feelings very often and to have a hard copy of these feelings makes a woman feel very good.

Jim, my true love, has accomplished making me feel special through these notes, and I really hope that continues to do little things like this for me throughout our entire marriage.

Utilize your closet space

Spend time organizing your closets to get more use out of them.

Most of us feel like we do not have enough closet space in our home, but if you use the space you have in an effective manner, you probably do have enough space.

There is really nothing you can do about a lack of closet space in your home, unless you are willing to remodel it. This is not an option for most of us, so we must deal with the space that we have and use it the best we can. If you take a look inside most of your closets, you may see a cluttered mess. This is normal and most people have this problem. The thing is though, you can change this. It is not extremely costly to do this, and it can make a huge difference.

What you need to do is come up with a plan. Start with one closet that you have and develop a plan. Think about the use and purpose of the closet and then determine if that is what you are using it for. Begin looking around at closet organizational systems or shelving units. If you shop around at dollar stores or discount stores, you can find great shelves or other organizational items to use in your closets.

After purchasing the necessary items, reorganize the closet and move on to the next. You can do this without spending a lot of money, but it will take time. It is important to focus on one closet at a time and don’t move on to the next one until the previous one is finished completely.

Giving thanks

November is a great month to count your blessings.

As we are approaching the end of October, the next month we will enter is November. When people think of November, they often think of Thanksgiving. This is my favorite holiday, next to Christmas, and I love it for many reasons.

One of the main reasons I love Thanksgiving is because it is a great time to think about all of the things I am thankful for. On top of this, I always like to think about the reason why I am so blessed in life. It is because of God that I have these things, but I often take this for granted and I think many of us do. God blesses each of us with so many things, and the month of November is a great time to remember this.

One of the activities that I have done in the past during November is to make a list of things I am thankful for. A great way to do this is to do it on a daily basis. Each day, starting with the first of the month, you can choose one thing you are thankful for.

You can write it in a notebook or post it on a social media site. As you do this, reflect on this one item each day and really think about how it affects your life. Thank God for this particular thing and remember that it is because of Him that you have this. Although this is an activity that we should do daily, it is something that many us fail to do. Make November an entire month of thankfulness and watch how God will use this to bless you.

Reading Pile: 10/30/12

Bravest Warriors, Avengers & Godzilla

Bravest Warriors #1-If you’re a fan of Adventure Time then you’ll pretty much love this book. It’s the same style of humor and just as strange with plenty of nice little touches (make sure to read the bottom of the pages for hidden notes). It’s also full of awesome things like cupcake death battles, space sharks, and laser tag. Also, check out the original short that kickstarted the entire project. A

Avengers #32- Well that’s nice. Way to completely destroy any relevance to anything that’s happened in the past few years of Marvel. It’s not like I wanted the Wasp to die in the first place as that was a waste of a character for bad storytelling, but undoing her death in a fairly anti-climactic fashion just reeks of bad editorial decisions in an effort to clean house on Bendis sub-plots. Also, Mike Mayhew draws a horrible Red Hulk. Just sayin’. C-

Godzilla The Half-Century War #3- Even if you don’t like Godzilla (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU), you should still pick this up for the amazing artwork. It just so happens that there is a great story here as well, so it’s sort of a total package of win. But really, why are you reading this blog if you don’t like Godzilla? A-

Avengers Assemble #8- I think I’ve made it perfectly clear about how I feel about Bendis writing the Avengers, but let’s just make it crystal clear for any new readers; he is one of the most horrible people to write the Avengers and anything cosmic in the Marvel Universe. Bendis has no sense of scale, no talent in handling a large cast of characters, and has no respect for anything that came before him. It’s like he read the cliff notes on Thanos, the Elders of the Universe, and of the Cancerverse and just decided to go willy nilly on the whole damn lot and screw it all up. It’s embarrassing is what it is. Keith Giffen and Abnett & Lanning poured a lot of hard work and character development into Thanos and the Guardians of the Universe over the past few years and this is the equivalent of taking a huge steaming dump on all of that work. This is like if after the Nolan trilogy of Batman films the next director decided to base the franchise on the Joel Schumacher movies. It’s not just a couple of steps backwards, it’s like setting something amazing on fire and kicking it down a bottomless well of idiocy. And taking Bendis off of the Avengers and then moving him onto a Guardians of the Galaxy title? That’s like taking the dagger out of my back, allowing me a moment’s respite and the opportunity to heal, and then dipping the dagger into lemon juice and stabbing me even deeper in the old wound. WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH MARVEL??!?! D-

Welcome to the Party, Pal ! Dept.

Fans' hearts swell with courage at the Giants' Series sweep

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=== All Apologies ===

When there's anything going on the Land Of Rocking Horse First Basemen and Broken Bat Ties, Dr. D reads ... not much.  Usually he hits the Bakery, and often he reads Lookout Landing, and he's not completely unfamiliar with Prospect Insider.  Mariner Central is an old friend we check in on.  Nowadays Bill James Online serves a Brendan Ryan-esque throwback function of addicting Dr. D.  His skin feels itchy if he misses anything over there.  Once a month he gets lost among the trees at Tango's site.  Fangraphs op-ed pieces are interesting if over a month old.  MLB Trade Rumors in December or June.

With nothing goin' on in late October early November, Dr. D is dangerously liable to Low Ride over to just about anyplace, up to and including hot spots like this one.  His own taco truck does better when serving its own original fare, so it's best if he just writes his shtick up first thing on computer boot-up.  But once in a while he gets caught up in the raging rapids of the current Seattle discussion.

It's not expedient, but it's what I feel like doin'.  You're welcome to try and stop me.  I've been in smaller rooms with bigger men.

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=== Giants 2012, Talking Points ===

1.  San Fran has been a fave SSI sister city --- > since the Tim Lincecum draft at least.  At SSI, we noodle around talking about the G'ints all the time.  Whatever San Fran can do, we can do.  

The M's following on the Giants? :: John McClane chucks perp carcass out the window onto hood of car :: WELCOME TO THE PARTY, PAL!

:: Anthony Hopkins winning smile ::

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2.  Commendable that this article would argue that its last three years' worth of offseason Honda Civics plans were feasible.  That's a rather less ambitious debate proposition to sign, than all the ones that argued the opposing propositions were (1) incorrect and (2) worthy of ridicule.

The question is whether past Big Blogs Offseason Plans were feasible?   The answer is, Yes They Were.  Wow.  Sometimes the threat of a really healthy state of discussion around here seems perfectly serious.

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3.  Odd to title an Offseason Plan something like "A Championship Offseason" and then deploy the 2012 San Francisco Giants as a QED.  "Here's how you can aim at a CHAMPIONSHIP team."

SSI denizens note well.  The 2012 Giants weren't very good - at least, they weren't [a Championship Team In Principle And Execution].  They had a 95 team pitching staff and a 107 offense.  They would have won 88 games if they'd been true to Pythag -- and that was only due to a handful of fluke circumstances like Buster Posey outhitting Babe Ruth and Melky Cabrera outhitting Albert Pujols.  The 2012 Giants weren't anything you'd want to aim at as your best-case scenario.

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=== 4th and 2 from the Enemy 35 Yard Line.  YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO, POKEY ===

That's about 10 degrees off subject, though.  Let's get our sense of proportion here ....

Do the 2012 Giants prove that the 2013 Mariners shouldn't punt their season, which is the thematic appeal of this fine LL article?  They are a compelling picture that is worth 1,000 words, ya youbetcha.  

:: John McClane WELCOME TO THE PARTY, PAL! ::  Fact is that we've had 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit worth of heat over the question of whether past Mariner teams should have punted their seasons.  Present LL company emphatically excepted.

Remember the Erikkkk debates?  Wrong team, wrong time, remember?  This 3rd-and-12-quick-kick strategy took eleventeen different forms.  Gotta build an A-W-E-some team and THEN go add the last expensive piece... as the finishing touch on a masterpiece.

The arguments are just about over, praise the hallowed name of Bud Selig.  In Seattle we've climbed over the last mountain peak and found Bill Bavasi sitting there with a lozenge-shaped cranium, grinning at us.  

A GM has the right to try to win.   BRAVO!  

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Do the 2012 Giants single-handedly validate the M's Honda Civics model that has been finishing with 90+ losses, as is the thematic appeal of the other article?  Ummmmmmm ..... we're not going to point to one playoff club, one year, as validating or invalidating any roster theory.  You wouldn't point to one bunt play that worked, or didn't work, as validating or invalidating any macro offensive strategy.

But ....

NEXT

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