The number of Australian adolescents referred to pediatric gender clinics has &#8220;skyrocketed&#8221; in recent years, according to a Daily Telegraph <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/number-of-australian-children-being-treated-for-gender-dysphoria-revealed/news-story/9d753eea9ff6155b05df9342d1b0a759" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation</a>.
New data from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request found that 2,067 minors were enrolled in public adolescent gender clinics in 2021, representing an 880% increase from 2014 when 211 minors were enrolled. The actual number of minors receiving treatment for gender dysphoria in Australia is estimated to be much higher, as this figure does not include children treated in private practice.
Puberty blocker prescriptions in Australia peaked in 2019, with 624 minors receiving the drug, up 12,380% from 2014 when only 5 children were prescribed blockers. This number reduced to 198 in 2021, which the Daily Telegraph speculated was &#8220;possibly due to COVID lockdowns.&#8221; 
In 2021, 204 adolescents were prescribed cross-sex hormones from pediatric gender clinics, a 656% rise from the 27 minors prescribed hormones in 2014.
Dr. Dianna Kenny, an Australian psychologist and retired professor of psychology at the University of Sydney, said the data obtained from the FOI request was likely a &#8220;gross underestimate&#8221; of the number of minors who are being socially and medically transitioned in Australia.
“These numbers show a trend and that is upwards,” said Dr. Kenny. “They don’t include figures from the private sector, where there’s been an explosion of private practitioners prescribing puberty blockers or cross sex hormones.”
Victoria and Queensland, both densely populated states in Australia, have seen the highest growth in pediatric gender clinic referrals. In 2021, 1,120 children were enrolled in public clinics in Victoria, and 635 in Queensland. 
Dr. Kenny has been an outspoken critic of &#8220;gender-affirming&#8221; care, which <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/142/4/e20182162/37381/Ensuring-Comprehensive-Care-and-Support-for">discourages</a> medical professionals from questioning a minor’s self-reported transgender identity or exploring possible underlying factors that may be causing their dysphoria. She believes social media has led to the explosion of adolescent females adopting a transgender identity. 
In a recent <a href="https://youtu.be/sZbEsaJMvRU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">episode</a> of the YouTube podcast &#8220;TERF Talk Down Under,&#8221; Dr. Kenny equated surgically removing the breasts of teenage girls to medical malpractice.
Philip Morris, the president of the National Association of Practicing Psychiatrists, has <a href="https://youtu.be/iEU00Ks1Qms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> for a &#8220;proper inquiry&#8221; into how to treat Australian children with gender dysphoria.
“The magnitude of the effects on a young person’s life, especially children and adolescents, is huge,” Dr. Morris said. “It involves ongoing medical treatment for the rest of their lives, loss of their fertility and sexual responsiveness. It’s absolutely essential to have a proper strategy as is happening in the UK, Sweden and Finland.”
After conducting systematic reviews of the evidence for the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in treating pediatric gender dysphoria, health authorities in <a href="https://segm.org/segm-summary-sweden-prioritizes-therapy-curbs-hormones-for-gender-dysphoric-youth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sweden</a>, <a href="https://genderreport.ca/finland-strict-guidelines-for-treating-gender-dysphoria/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Finland</a>, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/englands-national-health-service-abandons-gender-affirming-model-of-care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">England</a> have decided to abandon the “gender-affirming” model, finding the costs far outweigh the benefits.
Eloise Brook, a <a href="https://joy.org.au/wordforword/2015/06/call-me-eloise-trans-activist-eloise-brook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transgender activist</a> and board member of The Gender Centre in Sydney, revealed the clinic saw 347 children with gender dysphoria in 2021-2022, and believes the number will only increase.
&#8220;Because of the science we provided the appropriate care,&#8221; Brook said. &#8220;We are a frontline service. We help families, hold them together and make sure their kids stay alive.&#8221;
Brook, citing the debunked &#8220;<a href="https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/pediatric-gender-medicine-and-the" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affirm-or-suicide</a>&#8221; narrative, said that failing to affirm a child&#8217;s chosen identity will drive them to commit suicide. 
&#8220;Anything else is utterly unacceptable and barbaric,&#8221; said Brook. &#8220;This disingenuous argument that trans kids are not trans, it kills these kids.”
Brook is a strong proponent of the affirmative approach, which is also recommended by The Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH), an offshoot of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), an organization <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-declaration-launches-opposition-to-leading-transgender-health-association" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denounced</a> internationally by medical and mental health professionals for its “adherence to ideological views unsupported by evidence, its exclusion of ethical concerns, and its mischaracterization of basic science.”

Astralian economy growth

New Data Reveals Pediatric Gender Clinic Referrals In Australia Have ‘Skyrocketed’

Australia

Health

Puberty blockers

Social Issues

Transgender

transgender surgery

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/harvard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harvard</a> astrophysicist is organizing an archeological expedition to the South <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pacific-ocean" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pacific</a> in search of a possible <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/aliens" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alien</a> probe.
Professor Abraham &#8220;Avi&#8221; Loeb <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/ive-got-news-for-you/podcast/addc2b261d7ffa5efaf36d1dc52803c0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Tuesday that he had received $1.5 million in funding to lead an expedition to Papua New Guinea (PNG), an island north of Australia, to scope the ocean floor for a 2014 meteor that crashed into the ocean which he suspects may be of alien origin.
“The fundamental question is whether it was an unusual rock from another star, or was it a spacecraft,” Loeb <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/11/16/harvard-professor-avi-loeb-to-search-for-crashed-alien-technology/?utm_medium=SocialFlow&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_source=NYPTwitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during an episode of the “I’ve Got News For You” podcast. “We’re planning an expedition to Papua New Guinea and scoop the ocean floor and figure out the composition of this object.”
Some believe that the object, which was officially identified as an interstellar meteor by the U.S. government, could be some kind of an alien probe. The object is said to be the first confirmed object known to have crashed into Earth from another solar system.
Loeb’s expedition to PNG, a former Australian colony, will head to the nation’s Manus Island, where the object went down in the waters around the island. Manus Island was also the location for many years of an Australian detention center for migrants.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_465165" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-465165" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-465165" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GettyImages-501828769-300x169.jpg" alt="Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea. It is covered in rugged tropical rain forest. Australian government has been relocating asylum seekers to the island between 2001-2004 and since 2012. " width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/GettyImages-501828769-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/GettyImages-501828769-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/GettyImages-501828769-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/GettyImages-501828769-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/GettyImages-501828769-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Manus Island: Credit: (c) HADI ZAHER via Getty Images.</div>
The trip will take place in March or April 2023 as the researchers hope to find the object in order to better understand its composition. They will be using giant magnets to comb the Pacific floor where the meteor is believed to have crashed.
In 2017, another object, known as the ​​Oumuamua, or “messenger sent from the distant past,” also exploded into flames near Portugal. At the time, it was the <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5vd4w/alien-hunting-astronomer-says-there-may-be-a-second-interstellar-object-on-earth-in-new-study">first known</a> interstellar object to pass through Earth — before speculation from Loeb and later confirmation from the government about the 2014 meteor.
“And then with my student a couple of years later, we found that actually four years before Oumuamua there was a meteor that was discovered by the U.S. government, which moved really fast at 28 miles per second, disintegrated in the lower atmosphere of the Earth about 100 miles off the coast of Papua New Guinea, and it came from outside the solar system,” he said.
Loeb, who is in charge of Harvard’s UFO-research dedicated Galileo Program, added that the light curve of the meteor demonstrated that it was composed of something stronger than iron and most other space rocks studied by the government.
<div id="attachment_465172" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-465172" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-465172" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/GettyImages-1093919982-300x200.jpg" alt="CAMBRIDGE, MA - JANUARY, 28: Avi Loeb, physicist at Harvard University, poses for a portrait in the observatory near his office in Cambridge, MA on January 29, 2019." width="300" height="200" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/GettyImages-1093919982-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/GettyImages-1093919982-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/GettyImages-1093919982-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/GettyImages-1093919982.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Adam Glanzman/For The Washington Post via Getty Images.</div>
Due to the fact that the nearest star to Earth is more than 25 trillion miles away and the fact it would take millions of years to reach the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, Loeb claims that any alien civilization would likely send a probe instead of attempting a journey itself due to the “hazardous conditions of space.”
“I call these AI astronauts and most likely we will see gadgets that are very intelligent; they might be well ahead of what we have,” he said. “It might take us a while to figure out what they really are doing here and what they’re seeking, but at the same time we can distinguish them from rocks, natural objects like meteors falling on Earth.”
The scientist added that he had promised to ensure that any “gadget” found at the bottom of the ocean would go to a museum, and not end up with the government. “Because it would represent modernity for us, even though it represents ancient history for the senders,” he said.
Speculation about otherworldly beings crashing near PNG is not the first time the island has been <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-03-12/png-hunts-giant-mystery-creature/150454" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shrouded</a> in mystery. In 2004, police scoured remote areas of the island with M-16s and machetes after locals reported a “dinosaur” sighting. The animal apparently had the tail of a crocodile and the head of a dog.

Meteorite Against Clear Sky At Night

‘AI Astronauts’: Harvard Professor To Lead Expedition To Locate Possible Alien Probe Off Of Remote Island

Harvard Professor To Lead Expedition To Locate Possible Alien Probe Off Of Remote Island

Aliens

Outer Space

Science

World

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/science" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Research</a> suggests that certain octopuses deliberately throw objects like silt, sand, and shells at other octopuses.
21 hours of film of Octupus tetricus, the common Sydney octopus, has captured over 100 instances of individuals gathering debris in their arms and then launching it away with a burst of water from their siphon — an organ octopuses also use to help them swim and steer.
While many of these “throws” appear to be used for cleaning out the octopuses’ den or chucking away shells, 53% of the 102 throws were made within two minutes of a previous interaction with another octopus, such as fighting, grappling, or even mating. About a third of those throws hit the other octopus. On a few occasions, one octopus would notice where the other was aiming and would duck out of the way.
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“The throwing — or propelling, or projecting — of objects that have been gathered and held is rare in the animal kingdom. To propel an object, even for a short distance, under water is especially unusual, and also quite hard to do,” Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith, the primary author of the study, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/nov/09/octopuses-throw-objects-at-one-another-researchers-observe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Octopuses are generally solitary and territorial creatures and have even been known to cannibalize one another. However, they are exceptionally intelligent animals — they have an unusually high brain-body ratio, although their brains are dispersed throughout their arms rather than located solely in their heads. Octopuses are capable of using tools and engaging in complex problem solving — octopuses have even been known to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/04/13/octopus-slips-out-of-aquarium-tank-crawls-across-floor-escapes-down-pipe-to-ocean/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">escape aquariums</a>, contorting their bodies so they can slip through even the smallest cracks; a 600 lb octopus can slip through a hole <a href="https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/boneless-600lb-octopus-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the size of a quarter</a>.
Octopuses are also able to modify the shape, color, and texture of their bodies to a remarkable degree, often as camouflage to avoid predators or ambush prey. Some researchers believe this variation in color could also reflect variations in mood or function as a kind of <a href="https://marybatessciencewriter.com/home/2015/07/15/octopuses-signal-each-other-with-body-posture-and-color-changes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social signaling</a>.
“Earlier work at this site has found that darker colours are associated with more aggressive behaviours,” the team write. Octopuses that hit other octopuses with projectiles were usually darker in color than most were when performing a normal “throw”; they also tended to hold the projectile differently and throw it with more force, further suggesting that the strikes were deliberate.
Throwing behavior is rare, however — while individuals of both sexes were observed lobbing various objects, two females accounted for 66 of the 102 total throws.
Furthermore, despite the seemingly aggressive nature of the behavior, none of the strikes escalated to a full blown fight between the animals or provoked any “return fire.”
“I think quite a lot of it is a bit like an assertion of ‘personal space,’” Godfrey-Smith said. “In quite a few cases, females have thrown material at male octopuses who have been attempting to mate with them … But in other cases, females throw and hit other females.”
The footage was collected in Jervis Bay, off the coast of New South Wales, Australia, by stationary cameras.

Octopus

New Research Shows Octopuses Using Projectiles

Octopuses Seen Using Projectiles

Animals

General

Pacific Ocean

A top Democratic lawmaker told an Australian audience this week that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-kills-trump-ban-on-tiktok-and-other-chinese-apps-accused-of-spying-instead-asks-for-further-investigation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">former President Trump</a> was right when he warned that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-responds-to-explosive-report-alleging-plans-to-track-locations-of-specific-americans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok was a tool of the Chinese</a> Communist Party.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-responds-to-explosive-report-alleging-plans-to-track-locations-of-specific-americans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Virginia Sen. Mark Warner</a>, who heads the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, offered rare praise to Trump, whose 2020 bid to ban the app was blocked by a federal court. Trump then tried to force the CCP-controlled company ByteDance to relinquish its ability to access U.S. users’ data, but the Biden administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-kills-trump-ban-on-tiktok-and-other-chinese-apps-accused-of-spying-instead-asks-for-further-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shelved that plan last year</a>.
&#8220;This is not something you would normally hear me say, but Donald Trump was right on TikTok years ago,&#8221; Warner said, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/trump-was-right-on-tiktok-threat-leading-democrat-20221024-p5bsd3.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Sydney Morning Herald</a>.
Warner, during a visit to fellow “Five Eyes” country Australia to meet with intel officials, political leaders, and business people, said the U.S. military bars service members from downloading TikTok’s app. Parents should be worried about the addictive platform being used by China to harvest data on their children, he said.
Warner listed the 1 billion-active-user social media platform as one of several Chinese-controlled tech companies that can be turned against users.
<div id="attachment_456169" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456169" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-456169 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GettyImages-1357716031-864x576.jpg" alt="Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, who heads the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, offered rare praise to Trump, who initially sought to ban the app, but in 2020 threatened to shut down its U.S. operation unless the CCP-controlled company ByteDance relinquished its ability to access U.S. users’ data." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/GettyImages-1357716031-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/GettyImages-1357716031-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/GettyImages-1357716031-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/GettyImages-1357716031-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/GettyImages-1357716031-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/GettyImages-1357716031-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/10/GettyImages-1357716031-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Virginia Democrat Sen. Mark Warner told an Australian audience former President Trump was right to be concerned about TikTok. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)</div>
&#8220;If your country uses Huawei, if your kids are on TikTok, if your population uses WeChat as a social media platform, the ability for China to have undue influence is, I think, a much greater challenge and a much more immediate threat than any kind of actual, armed conflict,&#8221; Warner said. &#8220;China having this kind of technology domination in a number of countries ought to scare the heck out of us because we’ve seen the kind of Orwellian surveillance state they&#8217;ve already created within China.&#8221;
Beijing requires companies and citizens by law to “support, assist and co-operate with the state intelligence work.”
In 2021, the Biden administration
The Biden administration is still trying to work out a deal to allow TikTok to operate in the U.S. but follow Trump’s demands that it seperate American users’ data and protect it from Chinese officials. Industry experts have expressed doubt that a workable deal can be reached.
&#8220;Unless they&#8217;re going to rebuild the system in the United States at great expense, sooner or later, when something goes wrong, there&#8217;s going to turn out to be only one engineer who knows how to fix it,” national security lawyer Stewart Baker <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-19/tiktok-security-deal-is-likely-to-leave-us-data-leaking-to-china?leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg">told</a> Bloomberg. “And he or she is likely to be in China.”

Illustration TikTok Logo

Top Dem Admits Trump Was Right About TikTok And Chinese Spying

Big Tech

Donald Trump

National Intelligence

Politics

TikTok

Australia&#8217;s new leftist government announced Tuesday that it was reversing the decision by the previous conservative administration to recognize Jerusalem as Israel&#8217;s capital city.
Australia&#8217;s Labor Party government <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/australia-says-no-change-to-2018-recognition-of-west-jerusalem-as-israels-capital/">said</a> that it would recognize Tel Aviv as Israel&#8217;s capital and demanded that Israel determine the city&#8217;s status in peace talks with the Palestinians. The capital of Israel is all of Jerusalem, not just the western part of the city.
&#8220;Today the Government has reaffirmed Australia&#8217;s previous and longstanding position that Jerusalem is a final status issue that should be resolved as part of any peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people,&#8221; Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/global-affairs/penny-wong-reverses-decision-to-recognise-west-jerusalem-as-capital-of-israel-with-the-australian-embassy-to-remain-in-tel-aviv/news-story/8a9d096976b207a89eff3d5598d15656">said</a> in a statement. &#8220;This reverses the Morrison Government&#8217;s recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.&#8221;
Wong claimed that Australia would not waver in its support of Israel even though the country was doing just that in announcing the reversal.
&#8220;I regret that Mr Morrison&#8217;s decision to play politics resulted in Australia&#8217;s shifting position, and the distress these shifts have caused to many people in the Australian community who care deeply about this issue,&#8221; Wong added.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid responded to the news in a statement questioning the very core of Australia&#8217;s government.
&#8220;In light of the way this decision was made in Australia, as a hasty response to an incorrect report in the media, we can only hope that the Australian government manages other matters more seriously and professionally,&#8221; Lapid said. &#8220;Jerusalem is the eternal and united capital of Israel and nothing will ever change that.&#8221;
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Prime Minister Lapid: &quot;Jerusalem is the eternal and united capital of Israel and nothing will ever change that.&quot;
&mdash; Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) <a href="https://twitter.com/IsraeliPM/status/1582231234754682880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Hours before announcing that Australia was no longer recognizing Jerusalem as Israel&#8217;s capital city, a spokesperson for Wong <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/australia-says-no-change-to-2018-recognition-of-west-jerusalem-as-israels-capital/">claimed</a> that there had been “no decision to change that has been made by the government.”
Yet hours later Wong was accusing former Prime Minister Scott Morrison of trying to manipulate the Jewish vote in Australia by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel.
“You know what this was? This was a cynical play, unsuccessful, to win the seat of Wentworth and a by-election,” she claimed without evidence.
The Jerusalem Post <a href="https://www.jpost.com/international/article-719854">reported</a> that Israel&#8217;s Foreign Ministry summoned Australian Ambassador Paul Griffiths to Jerusalem to be reprimanded over the matter.
&#8220;The timing of this morning&#8217;s cabinet decision was clearly media driven,&#8221; the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said. &#8220;The status of Jerusalem is an important foreign policy issue and it is demeaning for Australia to have its international position changed in such a shoddy manner&#8230;[It is] a gratuitous insult to a key economic and strategic ally, with no countervailing benefit for Australians. This is no way to treat an ally whose intelligence-sharing with Australia has prevented at least one terrorist attack against Australians that we know of.&#8221;

Israel, Jerusalem (Yerushalayim), old town, Temple Mount, Dome of Rock or Mosque of Omar

Australia’s New Leftist Government Reverses Recognition Of Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital, Israel Responds

Israel

Jerusalem

An Australian <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-facing-potential-massive-fine-from-u-k-watchdog-over-failure-to-protect-childrens-privacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transgender TikTok star</a> is facing a barrage of child sex abuse charges and authorities are examining the social media maven’s laptop to determine if more crimes against kids occurred.
Rachel Queen Burton, 44, known on the app as Rachel.queen8008, is accused of charges ranging from gross indecency to performing a sex act with a child, <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=AAWEB_WRE170_a_TCA&amp;dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.adelaidenow.com.au%2Ftruecrimeaustralia%2Fpolice-courts-sa%2Ftiktoker-rachel-queen-burton-faces-child-sex-abuse-allegations%2Fnews-story%2F204d7db2b300558bff14e590c8271b07&amp;memtype=anonymous&amp;mode=premium&amp;v21=dynamic-groupa-control-noscore&amp;V21spcbehaviour=append" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Adelaide Advertiser</a>. Burton, a biological male who lives in Coolalinga, has tens of thousands of followers on the app.
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Rachel Queen Burton, an Australian <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/trans?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#trans</a> TikTok star, has been charged with eight child sex abuse offenses in Adelaide. On Thursday, prosecutors asked for the case to be adjourned for 10 weeks to allow prosecutors to further do an electronic analysis of her laptop. <a href="https://t.co/oakzVVOcMr">pic.twitter.com/oakzVVOcMr</a>
&mdash; Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1578218813618798592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Rachel Queen a proud Trans Woman living my best life with no regrets,&#8221; reads Burton&#8217;s TikTok description.
Burton has been in jail since June. The suspect appeared before the Adelaide Magistrates Court Thursday via video link from prison, but has yet to enter a plea, the site reported. Prosecutors asked the case be adjourned for 10 weeks while they analyze Burton’s laptop computer.
Burton’s attorney opposed the delay request for prosecutors, saying Burton wants the case “moved as quickly and as fast as possible.”
Magistrate Simon Smart scheduled the case to resume in December.
The alleged crimes took place in 2019 at various locations in rural South Australia. They include gross indecency, directing a person to sexually manipulate, and producing child exploitation material.
None of Burton&#8217;s TikTok videos appear to be explicitly targeted to children, although the platform and its third-party content moderator, Teleperformance, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2022/08/18/tiktok-moderators-child-sexual-abuse-senate-scrutiny/?sh=558f8f3665e8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have come under fire</a> for their handling of child sexual abuse material. One criticism from U.S. lawmakers is that the company has used explicit images of child pornography to train moderators to root out such videos and pictures.
Burton has posted 545 videos to TikTok and has 36,100 followers. The account is still up, but the last video was posted on June 23. In it, Burton visits the house he lived in while identifying as a man, and describes having four children.
“This is where it all started,” Burton says in the video, which has been viewed over 90,000 times. “And then it ended, and started again.”

Screen Shot 2022-10-07 at 8.30.04 AM

Prosecutors Scour Computer Of Trans TikTok Star Accused Of Molesting Children

Prosecutors Scour Computer Of TikTok Star Accused Of Molesting Children

Child Sex Abuse

Crime

On January 8, 1982, Lynette Dawson’s mother called to make lunch plans with her daughter for the next day, but Lynette, a 33-year-old mother of two, failed to show up.
Six weeks later, on February 18, Lynette’s husband, Chris, reported her missing.
Chris and Lynette met in 1965 when they were 16 years old. Pat Jenkins, Lynette’s sister, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/timeline-of-the-disappearance-of-lynette-dawson-20181205-p50kbk.html">described</a> them as “a good-looking couple.” The high school sweethearts married five years later, on March 26, 1970, and went on to have two children together.
Chris and his twin brother, Paul, were both professional rugby players and part of the New South Wales Rugby League Club Championship winning team in 1973. When they ended their rugby careers, the two brothers began teaching physical education at public high schools near Sydney, Australia. In 1979, Chris started teaching at Cromer High School, where he met and took an interest in 16-year-old Joanne Curtis.
Joanne came from a broken home with an abusive stepfather, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/australia/australia-chris-dawson-wife-murder-verdict-intl-hnk/index.html">reported</a>, and was taken by Chris’ attention. In 1980, she started babysitting for the Dawsons and Chris also started giving her driving lessons. It was during one of those lessons that he professed his love for her and kissed her, CNN reported. A week later, the two had sex, which continued regularly even though Chris was married. At one point, Joanne moved in with the Dawsons while Lynette was still in the home. She told authorities that she and Chris would have sex when Lynette was in the shower or asleep.
Two days after Lynette went missing, Chris moved Joanne into his home permanently and she began wearing Lynette’s clothes and jewelry. In 1983, Chris finalized a divorce from Lynette; a year later, he married Joanne  — however, they would go on to also get divorced in 1993.
For almost 40 years, suspicion surrounded Chris regarding his first wife’s disappearance, but he consistently denied any involvement and insisted she had abandoned her family over financial disputes. His denial included claims that Lynette had called him several times after she disappeared and had used her bank card.
In 2001, nearly 20 years after Lynette disappeared, a coronial inquest was held, with Deputy State Coroner Jan Stevenson concluding that Lynette must have been murdered — and by someone she knew. Stevenson recommended charges against Chris, but then-Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery refused, saying there wasn’t enough evidence, The Sydney Morning Herald <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/timeline-of-the-disappearance-of-lynette-dawson-20181205-p50kbk.html">reported</a>. In 2003, a second coronial inquest was held and charges were again recommended against Chris, but none were filed.
The case went cold again for more than a decade. Then, in 2015, the New South Wales Police Force’s cold case unit reinvestigated Lynette’s disappearance. Three years later, police dug up the property Chris and Lynette owned but found no trace of Lynette’s body.
Despite the absence of a body or direct evidence that Lynette was dead, Chris was finally arrested on December 5, 2018, and charged with murdering his wife.
“I’m shaking. There is a long road in front of us in bringing Lyn home, but this is a big step,” David Jenkins, Lynette’s nephew, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Chris requested a judge-only trial, arguing that the publicity surrounding the case would make it impossible to find an impartial jury. On August 30, 2022, Justice Ian Harrison convicted Chris, now 74 years old, of killing Lynette.
“The whole of the circumstantial evidence satisfies me that Lynette Dawson is dead, that she died on or about 8 January 1982, and that she did not voluntarily abandon her home,” Harrison <a href="https://lite.cnn.com/en/article/h_a22b4846d812fd41656eb6719e005cfc">said</a>. “I’m satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the only rational inference that the circumstances enable me to draw is that Lynette Dawson died [on or] about 8 January 1982 as the result of a conscious and voluntary act committed by Mr. Dawson with the intention of causing her death.”
Harrison determined that Chris had lied about speaking to Lynette in the weeks after her disappearance, saying the claim “defies common sense.” The justice said it was unlikely that a woman “supposedly desperate to leave her marriage” would call her husband multiple times to give him updates on her whereabouts. Harrison also determined that allegations Lynette had used her credit cards after her disappearance were untrue.
Joanne’s testimony also helped seal Chris’ fate, though he tried to pass her off as an aggrieved ex-wife. Justice Harrison, however, determined that Chris’ obsession with Joanne was the motive for him to murder his wife.

Judge Hands Down Verdict In Chris Dawson Murder Trial

TRUE CRIME: A Disappearance, A 4-Decades-Old Cold Case, And A Conviction Finally Delivered

Missing Person

Readers Pass

True Crime

One of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/australia">Australia</a>’s oldest cold cases has finally come to an end, with a former high school teacher found guilty of killing his wife in 1982.
Chris Dawson, now 74, was convicted on Tuesday of murdering his wife Lynette forty years ago so he could run off with his 16-year-old student, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/australia/australia-chris-dawson-wife-murder-verdict-intl-hnk/index.html">reported</a>. Dawson’s trial lasted two months and included four decades’ worth of evidence. The conviction came despite Dawson’s claims of innocence.
Dawson has for decades insisted that his wife left him and their two young children over financial issues, yet he was always suspected of killing her. The suspicions began after it took Dawson six weeks to report his wife missing and the fact that his 16-year-old student, Joanne Curtis, moved into the Dawson family home just two days after Lynette disappeared. Dawson and Curtis married one year after Lynette vanished.
Curtis came from a broken home with an abusive stepfather, CNN reported, and “was understandably attracted to any relief she could obtain from a less than perfect domestic situation,&#8221; Judge Ian Harrison said in his ruling.
Curtis began babysitting for the Dawsons in 1980, and Chris gave her driving lessons. It was during those lessons that he professed his love for her and kissed her, CNN reported. A week later, the two had sex, which continued regularly even though Dawson was married. At one point, Curtis moved in with the Dawsons while Lynette was still in the home and told authorities that she and Dawson would have sex when Lynette was in the shower or asleep. She moved in permanently after Lynette disappeared.
Judge Harrison found Dawson guilty during a judge-only trial. It had been determined the publicity of the case would make finding an impartial jury impossible.
&#8220;The whole of the circumstantial evidence satisfies me that Lynette Dawson is dead, that she died on or about 8 January 1982, and that she did not voluntarily abandon her home,&#8221; Harrison said. &#8220;I&#8217;m satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the only rational inference that the circumstances enable me to draw is that Lynette Dawson died or on about 8 January 1982 as the result of a conscious and voluntary act committed by Mr. Dawson with the intention of causing her death.&#8221;
Harrison determined that Dawson had lied about speaking to Lynette in the weeks after her disappearance, saying the claim &#8220;defies common sense.” Harrison said it was unlikely that a woman &#8220;supposedly desperate to leave her marriage&#8221; would call her husband multiple times to give him updates on her whereabouts. Harrison also determined that allegations Lynette had used her credit cards after her disappearance were also untrue.
Curtis’ testimony also helped seal Dawson’s fate, though he tried to pass her off as an aggrieved ex-wife. Their marriage ended in 1991. Judge Harrison, however, determined that Dawson’s obsession with Curtis was the motive for him to murder his wife.
Lynette’s body has never been found.

40-Year-Old Australian Murder Mystery Comes To An End

Chris Dawson Convicted Of Murdering His Wife Lynette In 1982, Ending One Of Australia's Longest-Running Cold Cases

Murder

Two kangaroos at the Mount Taylor Nature Reserve in Canberra, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/australia">Australia</a>, put on a fight worthy of a Pay-Per-View slot in a video captured by a passerby and posted to social media Thursday.
The kangaroos spun around while duking it out for a few seconds before one finally got the upper hand and shoved his opponent through a nearby fence. A loud crash is heard as the kangaroo flies through the metal fence, and the victor stands beside the destruction, staring at the gaping hole it created.
WATCH:
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Julian Doak was out at Mount Taylor Nature Reserve when he came across the sparring kangaroos and captured the fight on camera.
Watch more videos from Sky News: <a href="https://t.co/8xyWy1V0ro">https://t.co/8xyWy1V0ro</a> <a href="https://t.co/k2QXNk4w2U">pic.twitter.com/k2QXNk4w2U</a>
&mdash; Sky News (@SkyNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1562794424119111680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Neither of the kangaroos appeared to be hurt in the dustup. The kangaroo that was thrown through the fence was later seen hopping down the road perfectly fine, TMZ <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2022/08/25/kangaroo-fight-brawl-metal-fence/">reported</a>.
Kangaroos are known for their exceptional boxing skills. Males often fight for dominance and access to females, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCcLMNcWZOc&amp;t=45s">according</a> to BBC Earth. A young kangaroo will even begin practicing his fighting immediately after leaving his mother’s pouch.
The animals have also grappled with people. In June, Newsweek <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/man-fights-attacked-kangaroo-australia-1711987">reported</a> on a video showing an Australian man, Cliff Des, wrestling with a kangaroo after the creature came running after him. Des grabbed a stick off the ground to help fend off the attacking kangaroo before finally pinning it to the ground to calm it down.
Des explained to Australia’s “Today” show that he saw the six-foot kangaroo in the garden “trying to rip [his] little dogs out of the yard.”
&#8220;I went near it, about 30-foot away to try to shoo it away, but it didn&#8217;t want to go away,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I thought this guy means business, he was going to mongrel me if I didn&#8217;t, I took him to the ground.&#8221;
While Des eventually subdued the animal, the kangaroo bit his fingers and clawed his head and legs.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Man attacked by kangaroo" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K_4xkrbhXRw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Kangaroos

WATCH: Kangaroo Goes Flying Through Metal Fence In Fight

Kangaroo Goes Flying Through Metal Fence In Fight

Fight

NBA legend <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/shaq-denounces-celebrity-status-celebrities-are-going-freaking-crazy-and-i-dont-want-to-be-one/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shaquille O&#8217;Neal</a> said during a recent interview that he was not ready to rule out the possibility that the earth might be flat.
<a href="https://dailywire.com/news/extremely-generous-shaq-reportedly-foots-25000-tab-for-entire-restaurant/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">O&#8217;Neal</a> joined Australia&#8217;s popular morning show &#8220;The Kyle and Jackie O Show,&#8221; and the conversation spanned a number of topics — from his most recent extravagant purchase to his beliefs about science.
WATCH:
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Shaq Explains Why He Doesn&#39;t Dismiss the &#39;Flat Earth&#39; Conspiracy Theory H/T: Chief Nerd 🇺🇸Join Us👉 <a href="https://twitter.com/Sgtnewsnetwork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SGTnewsNetwork</a> <a href="https://t.co/vhLLe703OS">pic.twitter.com/vhLLe703OS</a>
&mdash; Willem (@NerumWim) <a href="https://twitter.com/NerumWim/status/1562916457012498432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;I did hear a podcast once where you were fighting with someone and claiming that you thought the world was flat and that there&#8217;s no way it was round,&#8221; host Kyle Sandilands prompted. &#8220;Was that a joke or is that what you think?&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s a theory,&#8221; Shaq said simply.
&#8220;So neither,&#8221; Sandilands replied.
&#8220;No, I mean —&#8221; O&#8217;Neal started to explain when Jackie O. jumped in, adding, &#8220;No, it&#8217;s a theory.&#8221;
&#8220;No — it’s just a theory,&#8221; O&#8217;Neal said again. &#8220;You know, they teach us a lot of things, it&#8217;s just a theory. For example, I flew 20 hours today. Not once did I go this way?&#8221;
The basketball legend waved his hand in a circle to illustrate his point.
&#8220;I didn’t tip over and didn’t go upside down. So, but it is just a theory,&#8221; he said again.
Sandilands pushed back a bit, arguing, &#8220;No, you — cause if you left New York, you can fly that way to Australia. And if you left out of Los Angeles, you can fly that way. So how does that work?”
&#8220;But it’s still a straight line,&#8221; O&#8217;Neal protested. &#8220;You don’t go under, it’s just a theory. And then, you know, another theory — how they say the world is spinning. I’ve been living on the house on the lake for 30 years. Not once did the lake rotate to the left or rotate to the right.&#8221;
&#8220;I’ve thought of that, too. I’ve thought, if we’re spinning so fast, why aren’t we dizzy?” Sandilands asked.
O&#8217;Neal also informed the hosts that he had recently splurged on a 70-foot animatronic dinosaur for his home — which he referred to as a &#8220;brontosaurus rex.&#8221;
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RICH AF basketball legend <a href="https://twitter.com/SHAQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SHAQ</a> shares with us his latest ballin&#39; purchase!!! 🦖 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShaquilleONeal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ShaquilleONeal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Shaq?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Shaq</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KJShow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KJShow</a> <a href="https://t.co/BNbAUG3V65">pic.twitter.com/BNbAUG3V65</a>
&mdash; Kyle and Jackie O (@kyleandjackieo) <a href="https://twitter.com/kyleandjackieo/status/1562226359275253760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The former NBA star has addressed the topic <a href="https://ew.com/tv/2017/03/24/shaq-jimmy-kimmel-live-flat-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously</a>, making several similar arguments during a 2017 conversation with late night host Jimmy Kimmel — after which he clarified, &#8220;I&#8217;m just joking, relax!&#8221;

Governors Ball 2022

Shaq Can’t Rule Out The Possibility The Earth Is Flat

Shaquille O'Neal Can't Rule Out The Possibility The Earth Is Flat

Air Travel

Shaq

Shaquille O'Neal

Bank <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a> will no longer offer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/banks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">loans</a> for new gas-powered cars and is encouraging customers to buy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/electric-cars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electric vehicles</a>, the company announced on Friday.
The customer-owned bank, which has roughly $5 billion in assets under management, will implement the policy beginning in 2025 as part of its commitment to achieving net zero <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carbon</a> emissions by 2035.
“By ceasing car loans for new fossil fuel vehicles, we are sending a signal to the Australian market about the rapid acceleration in the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles we expect to see in the next few years,” Bank Australia Chief Impact Officer Sasha Courville said at a recent summit, according to a <a href="https://bankaust.com.au/blog/bank-australia-to-cease-loans-for-new-fossil-fuel-cars-from-2025">press release</a>. “We’ve chosen 2025 because the change to electric vehicles needs to happen quickly, and we believe it can with the right supporting policies in place to bring a greater range of more affordable electric vehicles to Australia.”
Noting that many consumers are not yet able to afford an electric car, Courville specified that Bank Australia would “continue to offer loans for second hand fossil fuel vehicles until there is a viable and thriving market for electric vehicles.”
Roughly 7% of Australia’s total energy consumption came from renewable sources as of 2019 and 2020, according to <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/data/renewables">data</a> from the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Beyond renewables, oil, coal, and gas respectively account for 37%, 28%, and 27% of energy use. Australian policymakers, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, have <a href="https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/media-centre/driving-the-nation-ev-bowen-king">endorsed</a> higher rates of electric vehicle adoption, with the Labor Party vowing earlier this year to construct a national network of charging stations.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and other White House officials have come under fire for suggesting that renewable energy subsidies will help the middle class contend with higher inflation, particularly with respect to fuel prices.
“If you are low income, you can get your home entirely weatherized through the expansion from the bipartisan infrastructure laws,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-dont-know-how-they-sound-critics-roast-energy-secretary-for-telling-poor-people-to-buy-solar-panels">said</a> this weekend on Fox News. “If you are moderate income, today you can get 30% off the price of solar panels. Those solar panels can be financed, so you don’t have to have the big outlay at the front … If you don’t qualify for the weatherization program, you will be able to, starting next year, get rebates on the appliances and equipment that will help you reduce your monthly energy bill by up to 30%. That is all about reducing costs for people.”
Critics noted that a 30% tax credit would leave struggling homeowners liable for 70% of an expense that they are by no means able to afford. A recent analysis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-how-much-inflation-is-costing-you-each-month">found</a> that inflation cost American families an average of $717 in the month of July alone.
Granholm has nevertheless said that the “only way out” of “boom-and-bust cycles” in energy prices is higher renewable energy adoption.
“The real truth is that as long as our nation remains overly reliant on oil and fossil fuels, we will feel these price shocks again,” Granholm <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/energy-secretary-lays-out-the-only-way-to-avoid-high-gas-prices-and-its-not-producing-more-oil?fbclid=IwAR1Cc9CsrYptSBtkmkYmredgSlRdFYFiX554Ytn9VTLPAxFihVOXh2biE5Y">argued</a> earlier this summer. “This is not going to be the last time. The next time there’s a war, the next time there’s a pandemic or another hurricane, these extreme weather events we are experiencing — they will impact the access that we have to fossil fuels.”
The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed last week, offers $7,500 electric vehicle tax credits. The policy, however, went into effect as automakers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-inflation-bill-made-7500-electric-vehicle-tax-credits-ford-and-gm-just-raised-their-prices-by-the-same-amount">hiked their prices</a> by approximately the same amount.
Virginia Kruta contributed to this report.

Electric Vehicle

Australian Bank To End Loans For New Gas Cars, Pushes Electric Vehicles Instead

Banks

Climate Change

Electric cars

An Australian workers’ union that represents 250,000 employees is <a href="https://7news.com.au/news/workers-union-lodges-250m-claim-against-fast-food-giant-c-7851196">suing McDonald’s,</a> claiming they were refused paid rest breaks.
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) spent two years conducting an investigation and now is targeting McDonald’s and 323 of its operators, claiming roughly 1,000 McDonald’s franchises ignored in a “systematic and deliberate” manner the mandatory 10 minute break for working four or more hours in a row. The union is seeking damages of $250 million.
“I felt that our health and safety at work was being ignored,” a former McDonald’s shift supervisor stated. “When a few workers spoke up about this, they were essentially told by management, ‘It is what it is.’”
The lawsuit also alleges that the parent company “aided and abetted” the franchisees.
McDonald’s Australia told 7NEWS.com.au it will counter the suit.
Although SDA secretary Gerard Dwyer declared, “The SDA has sought to fix this issue with McDonald’s and they’ve refused to resolve it, let alone admit any wrongdoing,” a McDonald’s spokesman countered:
<blockquote>Those arrangements have been known to the SDA for many years. The manner of taking breaks has not been challenged or raised by the SDA as a matter of concern throughout successive enterprise bargaining processes for new industrial agreements. We value our employees highly and the great contribution they make to the success of the business.</blockquote>
Despite inflation, McDonald’s has remained resilient; its global comps advanced 9.7% in the second quarter of 2022, its sixth consecutive quarter of comps growth, Nasdaq.com <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/heres-why-investors-should-retain-mcdonalds-mcd-stock-now-0">reported</a>, adding, “In the past year, shares of McDonald&#8217;s have gained 9.6% against the <a href="https://www.zacks.com/stocks/industry-rank/industry/retail-restaurants-160">industry</a>’s fall of 13.2%.”
Last November, McDonald’s tested its meat-free McPlant burger in eight restaurants across the U.S. In mid-February, it tested it in 600 more locations.
According to industry analysts, consumers weren’t interested in the meat-free burger. BTIG analyst Peter Saleh said franchisees informed him McPlant sales did not meet higher expectations. He was echoed by J.P. Morgan analyst Ken Goldman, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/28/beyond-meat-stock-falls-after-conclusion-of-mcdonalds-mcplant-test.html">CNBC</a> reported.

McDonald’s

Workers’ Union Sues McDonald’s, Seeks $250 Million

Labor Unions

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