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The Case Against Adnan Syed - HBO


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Serial Season 1 is the audio equivalent of True Detective Season 1. A very boring story told in an extremely interesting way. 

HBO could have swung a dead cat and hit a more interesting podcast, but this was the most popular landing spot. Yes the previews look interesting, but HBO made Tony Soprano drinking a cup of coffee look like he was about to get whacked. 

Please GAWD HBO do a special on the Long Island Serial Killer. One thousand times more interesting, and an open investigation. 

 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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Been looking forward to this for a while.  Not expecting much new info, but I did read that Jay’s baby mama is involved.  Curious to hear what she has to say about Jay.  

 Don just got a little more odd.  Disabled at 23? He worked at Lenscrafters. Wonder what happened there. Is he a scammer, or legit disabled? From that shot of him, he just looked fat. 

And trying to fuck Hae’s best friend, Debbie, a month after Hae died seems weird too. 

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8 hours ago, CurlyDumps said:

Been looking forward to this for a while.  Not expecting much new info, but I did read that Jay’s baby mama is involved.  Curious to hear what she has to say about Jay.  

 Don just got a little more odd.  Disabled at 23? He worked at Lenscrafters. Wonder what happened there. Is he a scammer, or legit disabled? From that shot of him, he just looked fat. 

And trying to fuck Hae’s best friend, Debbie, a month after Hae died seems weird too. 

yeah, wtf is up with this Donnie guy.  also, his fucking mom was his alibi. 

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So she has the phone number written down and then has Don written by it and 1000 times around it, then when the asian brother called the number he stated that it was Adnan that he spoke to?  

It would be great if they would have confirmed that in this....they just keep showing that page and that number, but from what I can recall they never verified it was Adnan's number.  

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1 hour ago, Scraps said:

So she has the phone number written down and then has Don written by it and 1000 times around it, then when the asian brother called the number he stated that it was Adnan that he spoke to?  

It would be great if they would have confirmed that in this....they just keep showing that page and that number, but from what I can recall they never verified it was Adnan's number.  

She also left school early to him the day she went missing.  

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2 hours ago, Scraps said:

So she has the phone number written down and then has Don written by it and 1000 times around it, then when the asian brother called the number he stated that it was Adnan that he spoke to?  

It would be great if they would have confirmed that in this....they just keep showing that page and that number, but from what I can recall they never verified it was Adnan's number.  

Adnan said right after that part that he had gotten a new phone and new number and that she had written it down somewhere. Not 100% that it was his number but pretty much assumed at that point. 

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Adnan said right after that part that he had gotten a new phone and new number and that she had written it down somewhere. Not 100% that it was his number but pretty much assumed at that point. 
Yeah thats true. I mean its not a big deal on the case i was just wondering.
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3 hours ago, victory88 said:

yeah, wtf is up with this Donnie guy.  also, his fucking mom was his alibi. 

This is what I understand:

Don and Hae worked together at the Owings Mills Lenscrafters.

Don's mom's girlfriend/domestic partner was manager at the Owings Mills Lenscrafters. Don's mom managed the Hunt Valley Lenscrafters. Don's mom and her girlfriend still lived together as of 3-4 years ago. 

The day Hae disappeared (1/13/99) Don was scheduled to work at the Hunt Valley Store.

Police called the Owings Mills store to confirm Don's alibi. Don's de facto Stepmom gave specific times he clocked in and clocked out.  She was just reading off his time card and wasn't actually with Don that day.

At the time of the investigation, police never discovered Don was related (more or less) to *both* of these managers, and never even called the Hunt Valley store to follow up on his alibi.  Either they never learned that Don was working at another store that day, or they didn't give enough of a shit to pick up the phone and call the other store. Cops also didn't bother to interview any of Don's co-workers.

Podcasters investigating this case uncovered a discrepancy in Don's timecard for the week Hae went missing. The time card has a different employee ID number than the one on all his other time cards.  Lenscrafters corporate confirmed that no employee should ever have two active employee ID's, and that this particular time card discrepancy suggests it was manipulated or falsified by a manager.

There could be innocent explanations for these coincidences that just happen to fall on and around the day Hae went missing - but to say the police didn't do their due diligence investigating Don is a massive understatement. I expect the doc to get into the time card stuff in these next 3 parts.

Edited by CurlyDumps
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almost always the detectives would start the case with the last person to see her alive, and then go from there - to where she was going next, which would be don's.  the case could have started and maybe ended there, but certainly should have started there.  but they hardly seem to be interested in him. if he wasn't available to answer question until 1:30 am, could it be because he was busy digging a grave perhaps?

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I never listened to Serial and know very little about this story.  But I listened to a speech from Rabia Chaudry -- Syed's childhood friend who is now a lawyer and who took his case to the Serial producer -- at a CLE about 3 years ago.  She spoke about bias in our justice system, and while Syed's case was mentioned from time to time, it was not the focus of her talk.  She was a great public speaker and I thought her speech was fascinating.  I need to watch this.

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Serial Season 1 is the audio equivalent of True Detective Season 1. A very boring story told in an extremely interesting way. 
HBO could have swung a dead cat and hit a more interesting podcast, but this was the most popular landing spot. Yes the previews look interesting, but HBO made Tony Soprano drinking a cup of coffee look like he was about to get whacked. 
Please GAWD HBO do a special on the Long Island Serial Killer. One thousand times more interesting, and an open investigation. 
 


I watched a 6 part docuseries on the LISK not too long ago. Can’t remember if it was Netflix or a network.

I’m at work but I’ll try and look it up later and post the info here.

It was really interesting and thorough; I didn’t know anything about prior to watching it and man, it’s fucked up.
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28 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

 


I watched a 6 part docuseries on the LISK not too long ago. Can’t remember if it was Netflix or a network.

I’m at work but I’ll try and look it up later and post the info here.

It was really interesting and thorough; I didn’t know anything about prior to watching it and man, it’s fucked up.

 

Thanks. 

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32 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

 


I watched a 6 part docuseries on the LISK not too long ago. Can’t remember if it was Netflix or a network.

I’m at work but I’ll try and look it up later and post the info here.

It was really interesting and thorough; I didn’t know anything about prior to watching it and man, it’s fucked up.

 

The Killing Season from A&E? 

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31 minutes ago, Bartles said:

Vox reviewer saw first three eps: "Serves up an agenda and little else"

There are some spoilers in the article, but even from episode one you can tell they spend a lot of time coloring in the backstories and not a ton of time analyzing the evidence or court proceedings.

So it basically continues Serial's mission. "There's no way Adnan could do this" nonsense. 

Sarah Koenig knows how to produce and tell a darned interesting story, I'm listening to Serial Season 2 on Bowe Bergdahl right now, but she quickly believes the accused's version of events.  She then builds the entire podcast around "what might have happened" without really questioning it. 

I believe Koenig spent all of one episode out of twelve that questioning Syed's story, and of course it was a half assed attempt at a counter investigation. Her obvious conclusion was that he was telling the truth. 

The story behind how Koenig even landed on creating a podcast for Syed is interesting. Koenig was on the courts beat for the Baltimore Sun. She wrote an article about Syed's first attorney Cristina Gutierrez disbarment. Syed's current attorney contacted Koenig and convinced her to create a podcast to tell his story. Then of course Serial went viral. 

I don't think we'll ever get the other side of the story. NPR/HBO have run with the Muslim got railroaded in court narrative. They have the much bigger microphone. Serial is one of the popular podcasts of all time, and I'm sure plenty of people are watching the documentary. 

Yeah he did it, doesn't make for very interesting television or podcast. 

 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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Shows how “who drew the dicks” on Netflix  was brilliant satire on the true crime docu series

9 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

So it basically continues Serial's mission. "There's no way Adnan could do this" nonsense. 

Sarah Koenig knows how to produce and tell a darned interesting story, I'm listening to Serial Season 2 on Bowe Bergdahl right now, but she quickly believes the accused's version of events.  She then builds the entire podcast around "what might have happened" without really questioning it. 

I believe Koenig spent all of one episode out of twelve that questioning Syed's story, and of course it was a half assed attempt at a counter investigation. Her obvious conclusion was that he was telling the truth. 

The story behind how Koenig even landed on creating a podcast for Syed is interesting. Koenig was on the courts beat for the Baltimore Sun. She wrote an article about Syed's first attorney Cristina Gutierrez disbarment. Syed's current attorney contacted Koenig and convinced her to create a podcast to tell his story. Then of course Serial went viral. 

I don't think we'll ever get the other side of the story. NPR/HBO have run with the Muslim got railroaded in court narrative. They have the much bigger microphone. Serial is one of the popular podcasts of all time, and I'm sure plenty of people are watching the documentary. 

Yeah he did it, doesn't make for very interesting television or podcast. 

 

 

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Just caught the first episode, I'm hooked. Have never heard of this story

And fuck HBo for not letting me binge this shit! When do the next episodes come out?
No shit. Couldn't they at least have done this on 4 consecutive nights? 4 weeks to watch this shit? It's 2019 man.
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2 hours ago, cabowabo said:
On 3/12/2019 at 7:13 PM, Bobby Light said:
Just caught the first episode, I'm hooked. Have never heard of this story

And fuck HBo for not letting me binge this shit! When do the next episodes come out?

No shit. Couldn't they at least have done this on 4 consecutive nights? 4 weeks to watch this shit? It's 2019 man.

if you're a game of thrones fan, i have some more bad news for you.

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19 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

So it basically continues Serial's mission. "There's no way Adnan could do this" nonsense. 

Sarah Koenig knows how to produce and tell a darned interesting story, I'm listening to Serial Season 2 on Bowe Bergdahl right now, but she quickly believes the accused's version of events.  She then builds the entire podcast around "what might have happened" without really questioning it. 

I believe Koenig spent all of one episode out of twelve that questioning Syed's story, and of course it was a half assed attempt at a counter investigation. Her obvious conclusion was that he was telling the truth. 

The story behind how Koenig even landed on creating a podcast for Syed is interesting. Koenig was on the courts beat for the Baltimore Sun. She wrote an article about Syed's first attorney Cristina Gutierrez disbarment. Syed's current attorney contacted Koenig and convinced her to create a podcast to tell his story. Then of course Serial went viral. 

I don't think we'll ever get the other side of the story. NPR/HBO have run with the Muslim got railroaded in court narrative. They have the much bigger microphone. Serial is one of the popular podcasts of all time, and I'm sure plenty of people are watching the documentary. 

Yeah he did it, doesn't make for very interesting television or podcast. 

 

Koenig does not take a side or attempt to prove Adnan is innocent in Serial. She actively avoids taking a side and never draws any obvious conclusions - especially not that Adnan was "obviously telling the truth." She questions everything throughout all the episodes, including Adnan's story, and the podcast ends with her just as confused and uncertain as she was in the beginning. Are you sure you listened to the right "Serial?"

You're also wrong about the origins of Serial season 1. It was basically an email exchange between Rabia and Koenig.  Not particularly interesting btw.

 

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1 hour ago, CurlyDumps said:

Koenig does not take a side or attempt to prove Adnan is innocent in Serial. She actively avoids taking a side and never draws any obvious conclusions - especially not that Adnan was "obviously telling the truth." She questions everything throughout all the episodes, including Adnan's story, and the podcast ends with her just as confused and uncertain as she was in the beginning. Are you sure you listened to the right "Serial?"

You're also wrong about the origins of Serial season 1. It was basically an email exchange between Rabia and Koenig.  Not particularly interesting btw.

 

How recently did you listen to Season 1? I just finished listening to it. 

Koenig states repeatedly, Adnan is such a  nice guy, there’s no way he could have done this. She begs Syed repeatedly to try and remember what happened that day, and seems crestfallen when he can’t. 

Her investigation into the facts of the story is weak. She spends most of her time interviewing his friends.

Does that seem like neutral reporting? 

I thought Koenig’s  prior connection to Syed was interesting. I mean what are the chances a beat reporter at Baltimore Sun goes on to create the most popular podcast of all time? 

 

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15 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

How recently did you listen to Season 1? I just finished listening to it. 

Koenig states repeatedly, Adnan is such a  nice guy, there’s no way he could have done this. She begs Syed repeatedly to try and remember what happened that day, and seems crestfallen when he can’t. 

Her investigation into the facts of the story is weak. She spends most of her time interviewing his friends.

Does that seem like neutral reporting? 

I thought Koenig’s  prior connection to Syed was interesting. I mean what are the chances a beat reporter at Baltimore Sun goes on to create the most popular podcast of all time? 

 

 

Quote

Koenig states repeatedly, Adnan is such a  nice guy, there’s no way he could have done this. She begs Syed repeatedly to try and remember what happened that day, and seems crestfallen when he can’t. 

Couple quotes from a transcript of episode 7:

 

Quote

I go up and down, I go up and down! Sometimes I am totally with him and then other times I am like, “I don’t know dude, this doesn’t, why can’t you remember anything? Why does nothing, I don’t know and that I just go back to why can’t you account for this day, of all days. You knew it was an important day, you got a call from a cop that day, asking where your ex-girlfriend was. Surely, you must have gone over it, before six weeks had passed, surely.” You know?

Quote

Yeah...and then I am just aware of, “what if he is this amazing sociopath?” and I’m just being played, you know? I don’t get that sense, but he’s really charming. He’s really smart. He’s really. He’s funny and he could totally be a sociopath.

And one from Episode 11:

Quote

Could Adnan initially have been in some state of amnesia and denial and then supplanted that with actual lying? It’s possible. Could he have had simmering feelings of anger and resentment that then boiled over in a not-quite-by-accident way? It’s possible. Could he be truly innocent? It’s possible.

End of the last episode:

Quote

If you ask me to swear that Adnan Syed is innocent, I couldn’t do it. I nurse doubt. I don’t like that I do, but I do. I mean most of the time I think he didn’t do it. For big reasons, like the utter lack of evidence but also small reasons, things he said to me just off the cuff or moments when he’s cried on the phone and tried to stifle it so I wouldn’t hear. Just the bare fact of why on earth would a guilty man agree to let me do this story, unless he was cocky to the point of delusion.

In the first episode of this documentary, Rabia C. talks about how she was frustrated with the ambiguity of Serial, which propelled her to start her own podcast.  

 

Quote

Her investigation into the facts of the story is weak. She spends most of her time interviewing his friends.

Well, she is a journalist, not an investigator.  Yeah, her focus was the human element. And the friends were who she had access to. I'm sure would have loved to talk to cops or prosecutors, but they haven't spoken publicly at all, except for one interview with The Intercept.  If you were expecting her to get into the weeds of the investigation I can see why you were disappointed. There also aren't a whole lot of facts to investigate.

Quote

Does that seem like neutral reporting? 

It was not neutral reporting, and it was never meant to be. Koenig wasn't trying to report on the case.  Her goal was to create a good story. She made herself a part of the story.  She shared private thoughts, feelings, opinions. Pretty much the opposite of what a neutral reporter does. In the very beginning she says, "And I'm not a detective or a private investigator. I've not even a crime reporter." 

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18 hours ago, CurlyDumps said:

Koenig does not take a side or attempt to prove Adnan is innocent in Serial. She actively avoids taking a side and never draws any obvious conclusions - especially not that Adnan was "obviously telling the truth." She questions everything throughout all the episodes, including Adnan's story, and the podcast ends with her just as confused and uncertain as she was in the beginning. Are you sure you listened to the right "Serial?"

You're also wrong about the origins of Serial season 1. It was basically an email exchange between Rabia and Koenig.  Not particularly interesting btw.

 

Was about to reply with this.

I know it's been a few years since I listened to it, but I recall Koenig going out of her way to not have an agenda/draw conclusions. I remember I would change my mind about whether or not Adnan was guilty seemingly every episode... I believe that was a fairly common reaction...  if her "agenda" was to prove him innocent, I (and others) wouldn't have had that reaction.

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2 hours ago, CurlyDumps said:

 

Couple quotes from a transcript of episode 7:

 

And one from Episode 11:

End of the last episode:

In the first episode of this documentary, Rabia C. talks about how she was frustrated with the ambiguity of Serial, which propelled her to start her own podcast.  

 

Well, she is a journalist, not an investigator.  Yeah, her focus was the human element. And the friends were who she had access to. I'm sure would have loved to talk to cops or prosecutors, but they haven't spoken publicly at all, except for one interview with The Intercept.  If you were expecting her to get into the weeds of the investigation I can see why you were disappointed. There also aren't a whole lot of facts to investigate.

It was not neutral reporting, and it was never meant to be. Koenig wasn't trying to report on the case.  Her goal was to create a good story. She made herself a part of the story.  She shared private thoughts, feelings, opinions. Pretty much the opposite of what a neutral reporter does. In the very beginning she says, "And I'm not a detective or a private investigator. I've not even a crime reporter." 

A very reasoned, well thought out response with citations. I might have to go back and give Season 1 a listen. I still took Koenig's tone as very pro-Syed. 

I think Koenig's investigative and interview skills improved in Season 2 on Bergdahl. Excellent, honest interviews with military/intelligence officials that directly worked on Bergdahl's case. She's Team Bowe, but it's more of a sympathetic thing. Bergdahl was and possibly still is, not well mentally. 

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That episode was a lot more interesting than the first one. It sure seems to me like Jay & Adnan did it after watching that. Damn it Adnan, you remember everything about that day until track practice and then your mind just goes blank? 

And it’s kind of funny to see people so perplexed at why/how admitted potheads are having a hard time remembering things. 

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13 hours ago, victory88 said:

Is there any doubt Jay did this 

Yes, because Hae never made it to pick up her cousin at school at 3:15 or 3:30pm. So she had to have encountered her killer sometime between 2:15pm and 3:15 pm.  Jen and Jay both say Jay was at Jen's house playing video games with Jen's brother until 3:30 or 3:45pm.  This is one story point they both actually agree on, that hasn't changed multiple times, so it seems truthful.  Jay has a pretty solid alibi for that window of time. For some reason though, the cops never interviewed Jen's brother. BPD gonna BPD.

I was interested in seeing Jen for the first time. I think she fudged her story to police for Jay.  I don't think Jay said anything about the murder the night of the 13th. I think Jay started talking to Jenn about the murder after he was already talking to police.

There's a portion  of Jenn's police interview that will make your head spin.  She tells the cops a story about being at a sports bar with Jay toward the end of January. She's not sure of the date but it's probably a week or two after Hae's disappearance. She says Jay came up to her while she was dancing, and tells her he just saw a news report on TV about Hae's disappearance.

Quote

 

Jen: "He um he seemed a little you know like concerned maybe or shocked maybe or (inaudible) body's missing. I guess he was concerned because he knew the information about Adnan and I guess that's why he was concerned and that was when I found out she had been missing."

Ritz: Well you knew on the 13th that she was

Jen: Well yeah, I knew that she was dead.

Ritz: That she was dead, why would you be so shocked that now the news is reporting her, she's missing, she hasn't been seen or head from?

Pusateri: Um, I don't know. I guess I was just surprised, I don't know, I don't know, maybe I wasn't surprised maybe I was just like "what do we do now?" Maybe it was more like "oh no, what do we do now" than surprise I guess.

 

She literally says this is when she found out Hae was missing.  And she doesn't say "we" knew.  She says "he" knew. She says "he" was concerned.  The fuck? So, he was concerned but you weren't? How does Jen suddenly forget she knew about the murder? I think this is leakage. I think Jen slipped up and told the truth. 

Here's another Jen head-scratcher:

Quote

Jen: I don't think that Jay would lie to me first of all and like I don't know. Unless Adnan paid Jay a good sum of money, I really don't see Jay helping him.

So Jen says she drove Jay to a dumpster to wipe his prints off a shovel (but didn't see anything), the next day drives Jay around to get rid of clothes (during that really bad ice storm with horrible driving conditions), but she doesn't think Jay helped him?

She also says this toward the end:

Quote

Jen: I love Jay as a friend. I mean with all my heart. Jay is like, I trust Jay with my life

Some comments from her interview in the doc that stood out to me:

- "I really thought that everything I knew was like hearsay. Cause I didnt see anything and i didn't experience anything.  Everything was told to me by someone else." IOW, everything she knows was told to her by Jay. This is a telling statement to me - Jen just parroted what Jay told her in her interviews, and at trial. And if she didn't know Hae was missing until days or more  - she's fudging her story. She's distancing herself from her statements, and Jay, as much as possible. A sign of deception.

-  "He was a good storyteller. He would make you believe his shirt was green if it was blue."  Sounds like someone who could convince you you drove him to a dumpster when they never actually happened.

- "Jay obviously picks and chooses what he wants to tell to..." then she trails off. "Me" is what she wanted to say there. 

- "And at this point, it's created such a mess." Mess - interesting choice of words.

 

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25 minutes ago, CurlyDumps said:

Jen and Jay both say Jay was at Jen's house playing video games with Jen's brother until 3:30 or 3:45pm.  This is one story point they both actually agree on, that hasn't changed multiple times, so it seems truthful.  Jay has a pretty solid alibi for that window of time.

If you believe Jen and Jay are lying (which the inconsistencies throughout their statements would suggest), it's not that solid of an alibi.

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Yeah, there are so many shady characters in all of this and this includes Adnan. Why the fuck would you give your cell phone and car to Jay if you’re not that great of friends with him as this previous episode suggested.  I’m on the fence still.  After serial, I still thought Adnan was guilty as fuck.  As they do more of these interviews and find more evidence, none of this makes sense or ties together.  Jay and Jen look like fucking meth heads and jay has been arrested multiples times for assault.  Those two seem like the least credible people in this whole case, yet they take their testimonies as proof.  This whole case is fucked because of the cops.  I don’t know if he did it or not, but that guy deserves a fair fucking trial.  What an absolute shitty situation if he’s actually innocent in all this.  Our justice system is beyond fucked.

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I just finished Serial/S1. I think that Adnan probably killed her, but I also don't know if the state provided solid enough evidence to convict. I'm pretty much in the same boat as Sarah. Now, could that be an influence of just listening to her present the case? Very possible.

Don't let the docuseries fool you. It is very much pro-Adnan and will bend the narrative to support that. Rabia is the source behind this, and she represents Adnan.

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