Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Everybody saw this coming.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

White supremacy is terrorism.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Republicans do not pay their debts.

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70Comments

  3. 3.

    Jake

    I think this bears repeating:

    When we look at Barack, we see who we want to be.

    When we look at Hillary, we see who we are. And we’re douchebags.

  6. 6.

    Soylent Green

    I want to revisit something Thymezone said earlier today:

    John McCain is not going to win. Three months of listening to that dottering old fool whistle his way through a rehash of Bush policies and watching Barack Obama take him to school in the debates, will end up with him getting, as I have said all year, somewhere south of 40% of the popular vote.

    I hope that’s true, TZ, and that this year is the perfect storm for Democrats.

    But it can’t turn out that way if Democrats think that victory is a lock. They have to be afraid of losing. I don’t want people thinking their one little vote won’t be missed, so why bother taking time off, waiting in line, etc. They need to be mad as hell and determined to be counted.

    I don’t care what the polls and pundits say in October. I don’t care if during the debates McCain loses his temper and starts calling the moderators cunts and throwing punches. I don’t care if by election day McCain is in full-blown Alzheimer’s and can’t tell Barack Obama from Nancy Reagan. I don’t care if God smites all the Republicans’ first-born sons and throws in the other nine plagues just for kicks.

    On election day, I want Democratic voters vowing that nothing will stop them. I want them saying “you can cut off one of my arms before I get into the booth; I’ll just use the other.”

    Afterward, when rural Pennsylvanians are shooting their guns into the air and praising Jesus for delivering them from the GOP, then I’ll be confident.

  7. 7.

    t jasper parnell

    How about these apples. Putin excuses something like 4.5 billion of Libya’s debt for favored access to its oil, infrastructure, and weapons. Wasn’t there once another country that used, what was it called, some form of currency diplomacy maybe, to increase its influence?

  8. 8.

    t jasper parnell

    I should have mentioned that it is 4.5 billion US, so that is only, what twenty dollars Canadian.

  10. 10.

    scrutinizer

    I quit counting at 70 the google hits for this international scoop. What a country.

    This can only hurt Obama in November.

  12. 12.

    Krista

    I quit counting at 70 the google hits for this international scoop. What a country

    13 years is a damn good lifespan for a Chow. I’m not really a fan of them, though.

  13. 13.

    mikesdak

    Of course, Russia actually has something with which to work. I suppose we could offer to let China take Taiwan in return for some debt forgiveness.

  14. 14.

    Rick Taylor

    Hillary Clinton is going to be on the Colbert show tonight. That could be interesting; I could see him ribbing her about some of the tactics she’s been taking recently.

  15. 15.

    p.lukasiak

    I got nothing.

    as if that has ever stopped you before from using the blog to work out your psychological problems with women by trashing hillary

  16. 16.

    t jasper parnell

    as if that has ever stopped you before from using the blog to work out your psychological problems with women by trashing hillary

    So does this mean that all Obama criticism is racist? Or just anti-elitist?

  17. 17.

    nightjar

    as if that has ever stopped you before from using the blog to work out your psychological problems with women by trashing hillary

    Jesus pluk, your like a bad case of herpes.

  19. 19.

    Jon H

    Zimbabwe’s going to get uglier. The Guardian is reporting that a Chinese ship carrying a load of weapons for Zimbabwe has docked in South Africa, and is waiting to be unloaded. The South African dockworkers union is refusing to unload it, but the government says they can’t/won’t interfere with the delivery.

    Apparently the weapons were ordered three days after the election.

  20. 20.

    Tattoosydney

    Herpes outbreaks can be prevented…

    Pluk outbreaks seem to come back no matter what you do (even if it is in pie form).

  21. 21.

    Krista

    as if that has ever stopped you before from using the blog to work out your psychological problems with women by trashing hillary

    And evidently, John’s dislike of Dubya means that he has psychological problems with men! Yeah, that’s it! All that talk about incompetence, torture and whatnot…that was just a façade. I mean, the only REAL reason he could have such a dislike for GWB is ’cause he’s a misandrist.

  22. 22.

    jake

    Wasn’t there once another country that used, what was it called, some form of currency diplomacy maybe, to increase its influence?

    9/11 changed everything.

    In other news, D.C. seems to have survived Popeapalooza unscathed. The non-stop Gay Abortotronic Orgy continues unabated.

  23. 23.

    Rick Taylor

    Hillary Clinton is going to be on the Colbert show tonight.

    According to Jeralyn on Talk Left, Edwards and Obama will also be on it (Obama via a satellite).

  25. 25.

    t jasper parnell

    / John Cole Says:

    /yawn @ pluk.

    This is unfair and double plus ungood as never before has an argument been made with such care and detail; besides which you are only being vetted for the upcoming struggle with Red State.

  30. 30.

    The Other Steve

    This polygamy shit on TV is creaping me out.

    Is there any reason why we should not let Mexico have Texas back?

  31. 31.

    LiberalTarian

    You know, I’d like to see the citizens of this country get good and pissed off at the dickheads in DC and the infotainment media.

    I grew up in the good old days, when they raised us to believe we were smart because we studied, and we were happy because we worked for it. I am totally ready to see CEO’s that fail their companies lose their millions in severance pay as payment to the shareholders!!

    Beats the shit out of survivalism. Remember when a rising tide lifted all boats? Time for getting serious about holding our government to a high standard, and making sure our experts papers are written on proper bond (not toilet paper).

    Ah, nothing clears the tubes like a good rant. What other rabble can we raise here today??

  33. 33.

    PK

    If the terrorists are smart, they will give up on trying to attack us and just sit back and wait, because eventually our entire country is going to be so stupid that people will start sticking their tongues in wall sockets just to see what electricity tastes like.

    By the way more than half the country did stick its tongue/s in the wall sockets in 2000 and 2004, and boy have they found out what it feels like.

  34. 34.

    D0n Camillo

    I’d like to see John Edwards get this job.

    I’d like to see the folks responsible for our torture regime spend more time in prison than Martha Stewart. Let’s set that as a minimum benchmark as a way to remember poor old Paw Paw.

  35. 35.

    Fwiffo

    I’ve said a couple times that the pundits were wrong for thinking Americans were so stupid that they’d vote based on a candidates bowling handicap.

    I apologize for my error.

  38. 38.

    jake

    Call out the Counter Review & Analysis Patrol!

    The war in Iraq has become “a major debacle” and the outcome “is in doubt” despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon’s premier military educational institute.

    …

    The report carries considerable weight because it was written by Joseph Collins, a former senior Pentagon official, and was based in part on interviews with other former senior defense and intelligence officials who played roles in prewar preparations.

  39. 39.

    scrutinizer

    as if that has ever stopped you before from using the blog to work out your psychological problems with women by trashing hillary

    ph.uk’s spoofing myiq2x0? That’s just—sad.

  40. 40.

    scrutinizer

    This polygamy shit on TV is creaping me out.

    Stop watching TV? Nothing good can come of it.

  41. 41.

    Conservatively Liberal

    If the terrorists are smart, they will give up on trying to attack us and just sit back and wait, because eventually our entire country is going to be so stupid that people will start sticking their tongues in wall sockets just to see what electricity tastes like. That, or they will start licking metal poles in the dead of winter. Then the terrorists can invade while we are all stuck with our tongues hanging out.

    Improved slightly.

    But it can’t turn out that way if Democrats think that victory is a lock. They have to be afraid of losing. I don’t want people thinking their one little vote won’t be missed, so why bother taking time off, waiting in line, etc. They need to be mad as hell and determined to be counted.

    I don’t care what the polls and pundits say in October. I don’t care if during the debates McCain loses his temper and starts calling the moderators cunts and throwing punches. I don’t care if by election day McCain is in full-blown Alzheimer’s and can’t tell Barack Obama from Nancy Reagan. I don’t care if God smites all the Republicans’ first-born sons and throws in the other nine plagues just for kicks.

    On election day, I want Democratic voters vowing that nothing will stop them. I want them saying “you can cut off one of my arms before I get into the booth; I’ll just use the other.”

    We have to work like we have a candidate that will make the difference that we are seeking, and only Obama will drive large numbers of people, many new to politics, to get out and make it happen. I can’t see this happening with Hillary. True, her hard core supporters will work for her, but I can’t see her inspiring the same numbers of people across the country like Obama already does. She is not inspiring in any way, and her ‘message’ is one of ‘attack the fellow party member’ and not one that is about her and what she offers the country.

    She tried that shtick (policy) out of the gate, and Obama beat her. So she has gone negative and she has not let up one bit. She shows no sign of wanting to do so any time soon either. And he is still kicking her ass in every metric there is; pledged delegates, super delegates, states won and the popular vote. What does she have left except for negativity? But that negativity comes at a cost to the party. It is going to drive party people away from her in the general, and there is nothing she can do now to stop it. The horse is out of the barn and there is no putting it back in.

    We have to want to win, and that drive has to be felt in as many people as possible. This is one of the most important reasons for Obama to be the winner. He will grow the party. He will bring all 50 states in to the fold so that they will feel more a part of the process. His is a positive message, yet couched in the reality that we are facing dire problems in right now, and it is only going to get worse until someone addresses them.

    Finally, Obama will bring in so many new party members/voters, that downticket Democrats will clean house in places that they have been dead in for years. If Obama has a successful first term, the party will be poised for phenomenal growth in the election of 2012.

    There are numerous reasons that Obama is far better for the party and the country than Hillary is. She does not ‘get it’, she does not have the empathy towards ‘regular’ people that people her husband was famous for. Obama is closer to us than she has ever been, and he comes across as someone who can relate to people and their situation. Hillary can only wish that she had the communication skills that Obama is gifted with.

    Obama is not perfect, and I only joined his bandwagon in early February of this year. I am not in complete agreement with many of his positions, but he comes across to me as someone who will at least listen and consider the arguments of another point of view. He won’t just ‘do it’ and then tell us to suck it up, like the jerk in office now. Hillary comes across as someone who would govern in the Bush II manner, and the last thing I want is to continue in that manner.

    Hillary had every advantage over Obama. She had ‘the name’ and the automatic backing of a popular former president (well, at least he once was). She had well placed ‘friends’ in the party, in the states, in the media and just about everywhere else. She started the primary with a huge lead in super delegates, and she was Mrs. ‘Inevitable’ in the news. She had huge support among the AA population at the start of the primary.

    Yet Obama, a virtual nobody in politics, has consistently beat her every single step of the way. With all that Hillary had going for her, how in the hell did this happen?! Wonder Woman was beat by a mere mortal! ;) That is not supposed to happen!

    Well, it did. And as I have said before, I dare the party supers to overturn the voice of the people. They can, but if they do it will be suicidal for the party. No doubt about it.

  42. 42.

    Martin

    ph.uk needs to stop taking the estrogen and accept that penis a bit longer. I think he’s suffering some nasty side effects.

  43. 43.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Is there any reason why we should not let Mexico have Texas back?

    The San Antonio Spurs. And. . . uh. . .

  44. 44.

    Svlad Jelly

    …eventually our entire country is going to be so stupid that people will start sticking their tongues in wall sockets just to see what electricity tastes like.

    It tastes like battery acid.

  46. 46.

    Bill Delyon

    For a really good laugh, head on over to ‘No Quarter’ (if you can stand to give Larry J a hit) and check you their latest outrage..

    Again (I’ve seen this posted 3 times this week) its Obama’s “Macaca” moment….

    These folks will reach for anything these days over there…..

    mercy…

  48. 48.

    Conservatively Liberal

    Oh god, the harpies at Hillaryis44 have caught on…

    Yes! He TOTALLY gave HRC the finger! WHY IN THE WORLD HASN’T THIS BEEN REPORTED? SEND TO HANNITY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Hey! All he was doing was subliminally signaling that she is #1 in his book!

  49. 49.

    Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill

    With all that Hillary had going for her, how in the hell did this happen?!

    Deciding that only big states matter in a primary season was, by far, her biggest mistake. Whoever decided that depending on Super Tuesday, and then Ohio and Texas, was a great strategy needed to be fired.

  50. 50.

    montysano

    While we’re linking to Tbogg, here’s one that shows just how upside down we are here in the USA! USA! The Gay Patriot thinks Jimmy Carter needs a little R&R at Gitmo.

    BTW: I just made my first sojourn over to HillaryIs44. Holy shit! When HRC loses, those folks are gonna grab the long knives and the Xanax and head for the streets. There’s actually several comments in the vein of “Hannity ain’t such a bad guy; at least he speaks the truth about Hussein Osama!@!1”.

    Yeah……. you read that right. I’m talkin’ Democrats who are looking to Sean Fucking Hannity to help their cause.

  51. 51.

    Bill Delyon

    I’ve also seen No Quarter put up not one, but TWO Rove videos to further their (batshitcrazystupid) Obama bashing points….

    Amazing…

  53. 53.

    Redhand

    Here’s one for ya: Pentagon institute calls Iraq war ‘a major debacle’ with outcome ‘in doubt’. As a friend of mine noted, “this isn’t from anybody’s party, but from the Pentagon’s NON-political think tank.”

    By Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott, McClatchy Newspapers
    Thu Apr 17, 8:38 PM ET

    WASHINGTON — The war in Iraq has become “a major debacle” and the outcome “is in doubt” despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon’s premier military educational institute.

    The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush ‘s projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions.

    The report carries considerable weight because it was written by Joseph Collins , a former senior Pentagon official, and was based in part on interviews with other former senior defense and intelligence officials who played roles in prewar preparations.

    It was published by the university’s National Institute for Strategic Studies , a Defense Department research center.

    “Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle,” says the report’s opening line.

    At the time the report was written last fall, more than 4,000 U.S. and foreign troops, more than 7,500 Iraqi security forces and as many as 82,000 Iraqi civilians had been killed and tens of thousands of others wounded, while the cost of the war since March 2003 was estimated at $450 billion .

    “No one as yet has calculated the costs of long-term veterans’ benefits or the total impact on service personnel and materiel,” wrote Collins, who was involved in planning post-invasion humanitarian operations.

    The report said that the United States has suffered serious political costs, with its standing in the world seriously diminished. Moreover, operations in Iraq have diverted “manpower, materiel and the attention of decision-makers” from “all other efforts in the war on terror” and severely strained the U.S. armed forces.

    “Compounding all of these problems, our efforts there (in Iraq ) were designed to enhance U.S. national security, but they have become, at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to expand its influence throughout the Middle East ,” the report continued.

    The addition of 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq last year to halt the country’s descent into all-out civil war has improved security, but not enough to ensure that the country emerges as a stable democracy at peace with its neighbors, the report said.

    “Despite impressive progress in security, the outcome of the war is in doubt,” said the report. “Strong majorities of both Iraqis and Americans favor some sort of U.S. withdrawal. Intelligence analysts, however, remind us that the only thing worse than an Iraq with an American army may be an Iraq after a rapid withdrawal of that army.”

    “For many analysts (including this one), Iraq remains a ‘must win,’ but for many others, despite obvious progress under General David Petraeus and the surge, it now looks like a ‘can’t win.'”

    The report lays much of the blame for what went wrong in Iraq after the initial U.S. victory at the feet of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld . It says that in November 2001 , before the war in Afghanistan was over, President Bush asked Rumsfeld “to begin planning in secret for potential military operations against Iraq .”

    Rumsfeld, who was closely allied with Vice President Dick Cheney , bypassed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the report says, and became “the direct supervisor of the combatant commanders.”

    ” . . . the aggressive, hands-on Rumsfeld,” it continues, “cajoled and pushed his way toward a small force and a lightning fast operation.” Later, he shut down the military’s computerized deployment system, “questioning, delaying or deleting units on the numerous deployment orders that came across his desk.”

    In part because “long, costly, manpower-intensive post-combat operations were anathema to Rumsfeld,” the report says, the U.S. was unprepared to fight what Collins calls “War B,” the battle against insurgents and sectarian violence that began in mid-2003, shortly after “War A,” the fight against Saddam Hussein’s forces, ended.

    Compounding the problem was a series of faulty assumptions made by Bush’s top aides, among them an expectation fed by Iraqi exiles that Iraqis would be grateful to America for liberating them from Saddam’s dictatorship. The administration also expected that ” Iraq without Saddam could manage and fund its own reconstruction.”

    The report also singles out the Bush administration’s national security apparatus and implicitly President Bush and both of his national security advisers, Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley , saying that “senior national security officials exhibited in many instances an imperious attitude, exerting power and pressure where diplomacy and bargaining might have had a better effect.”

    Collins ends his report by quoting Winston Churchill , who said: “Let us learn our lessons. Never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. . . . Always remember, however sure you are that you can easily win, that there would not be a war if the other man did not think that he also had a chance.”

    To read the report:

    http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Occasional_Papers/OP5.pdf

    The Bush Administration: Worst Presidency Ever.

    Thanks a lot for “protecting the American People after 9/11, Assholes.

  54. 54.

    Conservatively Liberal

    Last night, there was a front page post at Kos that had quotes from Hillary, McCain and Hannity. The challenge was to try to figure out who said what. If you did not hear them specifically say it, it would be impossible to tell who said what. Yes, what Hillary has been saying is indistinguishable from what Hannity and McCain have been saying.

    Hillary is not a Democrat, and her more rabid supporters are not either. I would not be surprised to see that if she ‘won’ the primary and some of her most ardent supporters step up and declare that they were really Republicans out to defeat Obama.

    It would not surprise me one bit, and it sure would explain a lot of the crap that they have been spewing at Obama.

  55. 55.

    mikefromtexas

    In regards to tbogg’s remark, has anyone read ‘The Marching Morons’ by C.M.Kornbluth?

  57. 57.

    Conservatively Liberal

    You want to know something interesting that I have noticed at Kos? There have been numerous ‘first timers’ on the rec list since “The Strike” was announced. Over the last few years, I never observed this many first timers making it there. It always seemed that there was a certain group of people who have capitalized on the rec list, and their supporters made it difficult for first timers to get their shot at it fairly.

    I used to post at Kos, and I got sick of the troll ratings for stating anything that was ‘out of line’. I got troll rated for inane shit, mostly from people who have no sense of humor. It was not often, but often enough to piss me off. I never had any of my comments ‘disappeared’, but I saw it happen to many others. Some of whom I agreed with, and others that I did not. But in both cases, the hiding was stupid and not something that I can tolerate in a party who says that they are ‘the big tent’ and want to hear all opinions.

    The PC crowd pisses me off, and Hillary’s supporters are reminding me of why I quit the Democratic party in ’92. I still voted for Clinton, but I wanted to register my anger at the PC direction the party was taking. I am a Denis Leary type of personality, I don’t do PC.

    I did a mild GBCW giving my opinion like above, and I have never posted there since. I do have to say that it is refreshing to see some new blood over there, and I notice that they are being much more tolerant of opinions now. The Hillary people may not like it, but Kos is not Hillaryville, and it never has been. She has consistently polled at the bottom among members there, and her ‘support’ there was shallow but loud. The problem for Hillary is that she represents everything that Kos has been fighting against. Everything.

    I am not heading back there, but I can say that Kos is much more enjoyable than it used to be. The infusion of new blood is helping.

  58. 58.

    Bill Delyon

    “Fingergate”….

    As I said, those clowns at NQ have degenerated into a ‘batshitcrazystupid’ Obama attack site..

    mercy….

  59. 59.

    nightjar

    No, I don’t jest

    From a No Quarter commenter on FINGERGATE

    Now, that was a very presidential thing to do, right??? This guy is despicable!!! He should step down from the race and resign his senate seat as well!!! STOP OBAMA NOW-YES WE CAN!!!!

    The Senate Ethics commitee had better hold a hearing right now and haul Obama’s ass in front of it and demand an immediate apology to Senator Clinton and demand Obama resign immediately!

    Well I guess we tracked down the source of insanity afflicting mr. puk.

  60. 60.

    Conservatively Liberal

    You know what makes me think Obama was deliberate in his actions regarding ‘The Finger’? The fact that just before he did ‘it’, he scratched the side of his nose with the pinky of the same hand. Then he follows it with the ‘temple scratch’. ;)

    If he did it, more power to him. Unlike Hillary and her actions, his has what is famously referred to as ‘plausible deniability’. You can’t prove he did it deliberately. I have scratched my face using every finger and thumb on both hands, and I bet everyone else has at one time or another.

    Get over it bitches! :D

  61. 61.

    Rick Taylor

    “Fingergate”….

    Well to be fair, some posters at Daily Kos went similarly crazy when they started proclaiming the Clinton campaign had artificially darkened Obama’s skin in their commercials, so the insanity hasn’t been limited to one side. I sure am ready for the primaries to be over.

  62. 62.

    Conservatively Liberal

    They may have gone nuts over the picture drama, but I never saw any of them suggesting that they spread the meme at right wing web sites like the Hillbots do.

    They luvs them VRWC vittles!

  63. 63.

    Pb

    I do have to say that it is refreshing to see some new blood over there, and I notice that they are being much more tolerant of opinions now.

    Having been there for a while, one thing that I noticed is that quite a few of the people I’ve disagreed with whose attitudes can tend towards censorship and “troll hunting” and party purity or what have you also tend to number amongst the early supporters of Obama. I’m not quite sure what that means, but it’s interesting. And perhaps for as long as we’re all rallying around Obama together, we’ll end up with a somewhat more civil environment just for that reason. As for many of the prominent Clinton supporters that left–well, I can’t think of any of them that I really miss, but I think a lot of them were also early Clinton supporters. I, of course, am in that third category of everyone who wasn’t already supporting Clinton or Obama early on.

    when they started proclaiming the Clinton campaign had artificially darkened Obama’s skin in their commercials

    Which, you know, they did. They didn’t darken just his skin, they messed with the entire image, but it did have that effect.

  64. 64.

    Conservatively Liberal

    Someone started an “I will not vote for Obama” petition, and I just had to go sign it. I signed as “Ivan Fookinov” of Dokie, OK, and my message was:

    Can you please help these poor souls who have signed this petition? They are nailing themselves up on crosses and are having problems pounding the last nail in. Oh the humanity!

    I hope they get the help they so richly deserve.

  65. 65.

    4jkb4ia

    The problem for Hillary is that she represents everything that Kos has been fighting against

    This cannot be said enough. I am so proud of Markos that he did not endorse Hillary and proved MSOC wrong, because I SAID he would never do it. I am also tickled pink that Hillary is very far from inevitable as of this moment, and dKos never believed that she was.


    Priceless article    . The strategy of damaging Obama with the Supers is not working yet. Cough.

  66. 66.

    4jkb4ia

    I belong to no organized political party; I’m a Democrat. If you are not a sitting vice president you don’t get a coronation.

  68. 68.

    Svensker

    If you are not a sitting on a vice president you don’t get a coronation.

    There, that reads better now.

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