When President Gillibrand enters office in 2020 with 60 Democratic Senate seats and 250 House seats, we are all going to look back and say we’re proud we didn’t give up in 2017.
Update. Epic first comment.
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Baud
Let me be the first to say she’s worse than Trump. She sold us out!
Doug!
@Baud:
FTW
Trentrunner
I don’t think we’re ready for an emotionally impulsive president.
JPL
hahahahahahahahahahhaha
The repubs are now owned by the billionaires and will continue to buy elections. They welcome Russian interference.
Jeffro
@Baud: Are you saying her election was…rigged?
Major Major Major Major
Assuming we survive the 2020 primary.
@JPL: we’ll just have to outvote them then.
Jeffro
@Major Major Major Major: You’re anticipating problems? That’s odd. I mean, this is the Democratic Party we’re talking about here…
dedc79
Hope you guys enjoy it. My remains will be scattered dust in the giant radioactive crater that used to be Washington, DC.
DH
Sorry Doug, but she lost my vote with her Clinton switch. I lived thru impeachment over a blow job, and it was and remains ridiculous. I am sure that there are better nominees than her. Elisabeth Warren, for one.
Hunter Gathers
@Major Major Major Major: I look forward to Wilmer smearing her as a corporate sell out and Susan Sarandon telling us she’s no better than President Ryan.
Jeffro
My only question is, as a first piece of legislation, do they institute a 99% tax rate on the 1%, or a 99.9% rate?
mike in dc
@Baud:
#tulsiwouldawon
#brosistance
Roger Moore
@Hunter Gathers:
I look forward to Wilmer being indicted by Mueller when it becomes obvious he was also a Russian stooge.
Major Major Major Major
@DH: Clinton switch?
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
I think we need to have a 100% tax on estates above $1 billion, and then expedite collections.
mike in dc
@Jeffro: 99.999% on the .001%.
Hunter Gathers
@Roger Moore: What do you mean by when?
Omnes Omnibus
@DH: Going purity already?
Emma
I am beginning to think we should switch targets in the coming election. Sample commercial:
Billionaire (insert name here) gave Senator (insert name here) over ($$$$) in donations over the last (years). In exchange Senator ( ) gave Mr. ( ) a tax break that saved him ($$$$$) in taxes while destroying our middle class. By (year) you will be paying (%) more in taxes. Your children will not be able to afford college and your parents will not have social security or medicare. Why don’t we let Senator ( ) know how we feel about his dealings with Mr. ( )?
Fine tune as needed.
Roger Moore
@Hunter Gathers:
I mean when there’s evidence that will stand up in court.
kindness
I like Gillibrand but I wish she wouldn’t bag on Bill Clinton’s presidency so. Republicans throw enough shit for everybody.
Yarrow
@Emma: Senator X did Billionaire Y’s bidding by voting for him to get a huge tax cut and make you pay for it.
Baud
@kindness: Warren lost my primary vote with her rigged primary gambit. Looks like the ball’s in Kamala Harris’s court.
Baud!/Harris! 2020!
DH
@Major Major Major Major:that President Clinton should have resigned. No, he shouldn’t have. Ken Starr was Inspector Javert reincarnated.
cain
I hope we still have a country by then.
msdc
@DH: I’m sorry, but Baud beat you to the punch.
Baud
@msdc: Wait, what did I do this time?
Major Major Major Major
@DH: I’m willing to give a politician a pass for saying that especially in the current climate.
Yarrow
It really is as bad as we think.
DH
@Omnes Omnibus: Nope. Just stating my feelings about it. I will gladly vote for Warren, as I said.
TenguPhule
@mike in dc: Oh now don’t you start with that.
TenguPhule 2020: Out of Fucks to Give!
Hunter Gathers
@Roger Moore: He’ll have retired to a nice sinecure in Moscow by then.
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: wait, like, it names the school? Wow.
Hunter Gathers
Gillenbrand/Harris 2020: With a Pair of Pliers and a Blowtorch
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@DH: Warren already fucked that up by agreeing with the bogus claim that the primaries last year were rigged. Oh and she has no interest in becoming President.
CarolDuhart2
In the mean while, look at what states can do to mitigate the damage. We got into this because we loaded everything onto the Federals and had no real backup. My city has allocated funds for the elderly and health care, long before the ACA. And demand repeal of the parts we can.
Also, this isn’t law until it reaches the Donald’s desk, so call your Representatives. Mine is a Republican toady, but they are coming up next year, and a lot of these seats were/are won by surprisingly small margins. They may still want to be Representatives or move to higher office: losing isn’t a way to do that.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m not. And I was in her corner completely until that. Fuck her. And fuck Elizabeth Warren, too. No way I’d back either of them. They fold at the drop of a hat. I want a fighter. They don’t qualify.
Baud
@Yarrow:
In before “why won’t the Dems say anything about this”?
divF
@Jeffro:
I think that the first piece of legislation passed is to increase the size of the House of Representatives to the 800 or so that it takes to get proportional representation on a state-by-state basis.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: No it does not specifically name Hillsdale. Rather it creates a special tax carve out for a class of colleges that includes only one college: Hillsdale. So almost as egregious.
MP
@Yarrow: Wake me when a fellow Senator beats McConnell with a cane.
lamh36
Baud
@MP: Tester looks like he wants to.
B.B.A.
@Adam L Silverman: Hillsdale is already in the very special class of colleges that reject all federal funding and are thus exempt from the Higher Education Act. But there’s at least one other school in that class (Grove City) so the bill has to be narrower than that. (Though Grove City is also wingnut as fuck, so why don’t they get the tax break?)
mdblanche
Today has been the best of days, it’s been the worst of days, it’s been a day of wisdom, it’s been a day of foolishness, it’s been the season of Light, it’s been the season of Darkness, it’s been the spring of hope, it’s been the winter of despair, we’ve had everything before us, we’ve had nothing before us, we’ve all been going direct to Heaven, we’ve all been going direct the other way – in short, today has been one of the longest years of all our lives!
lowtechcyclist
So, after we subject every potential Dem 2020 Presidential candidate to every faction’s purity tests, will we have anybody left that we can run?
Didn’t think so.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist: Ahem.
ETA:. BTW, all of us are talking about the primary vote. We’re not voting third party in the general.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Who had Neera Tanden on the late local news with a chain saw at Wal-Mart in the Clinton campaign staffers go off the reservation pool?//
MP
@Baud: Given how unpopular this bill is, I think he could get off on jury nullification.
Snarki, child of Loki
I can only hope that the Gillibrand Administration doesn’t do that silly “look forward, not back” thing, and push forward the treason trials and executions.
I demand HEADS ON STICKS.
Adam L Silverman
@B.B.A.: Either it covers both or they made it so Hillsdale specific that Grove City doesn’t count.
Major Major Major Major
@geg6: i guess I tolerate more from my politicians. Having an opinion I disagree with about something irrelevant (and in an emotionally charged environment) from twenty years ago isn’t a dealbreaker for me.
mdblanche
@TenguPhule: I like your style.
chopper
@DH:
wait, gillibrand pisses you off over her comments on bill clinton but liz warren doesn’t over her comments on how hillary clinton stole the primary? the fuck?
gene108
@Baud:
She is literally in bed with Wall Street. Hubby is a finance type guy, making lots of money doing finance things.
Adam L Silverman
@lowtechcyclist: That annoying guy that keeps trying to replace Nancy Pelosi with himself. He’s pale, rested, and ready.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: “this shall amend section 123.xyz to begin with ‘All institutions beginning with ‘H’ that…’”
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@B.B.A.: Ah Grove City. Only famous for being where Ohioans go for the outlet stores there to avoid sales tax
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: I have no idea. I’ve pinged my friend who is the expert on Congress. If I hear back I’ll let you know.
gene108
@Major Major Major Major:
We out voted them in 2016. Just not in the right locations.
It is all about location. Just like a restaurant or retail.
Corner Stone
@Yarrow: It’s even creepier than you thought since he appears to have a time machine. Did he borrow Obama’s?
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
Tim Ryan? He’s my rep unfortunately. I never knew how bad he was until this year.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@gene108:
The conditions that surrounded the 2016 election won’t be the same and the margin was very slim. It can be overcome.
different-church-lady
@DH: how many times must Warren say she’s not interested before you believe her?
Adam L Silverman
Shabbat Shalom!
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I know. But you’ve got to have someone running in the primary.
Omnes Omnibus
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: It’s also Rich Cordray’s hometown.
Baud
@different-church-lady: I didn’t know that. I know she wasn’t interested in 2016, but I didn’t realize she had said she wouldn’t run in 2020.
Corner Stone
@lamh36: That isn’t going to do it. If we wait we will fail. We need some South Korean Parliament action.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: I posted that in a previous thread and hoped you’d weigh in on it.
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Yep, that’s him.
Matt McIrvin
@DH:
Elizabeth “yes, the primary was rigged” Warren? That wasn’t enough of an offense to keep me from voting for her reelection; she’s been great on policy; but to my mind it was dumber than anything Gillibrand said. I don’t think Warren is actually that great a campaigner.
gene108
@Roger Moore:
I have been thinking the same thing, but I will take it one step further.
If you bitch and complain $1 billion is not enough, you will be found mentally incompetent to handle the money you have.
Be committed for some time
And then released on SSI and a Section 8 voucher
Major Major Major Major
@Matt McIrvin: between the two I think what Warren said is far far worse.
mdblanche
@different-church-lady: “Senate Majority Whip Warren was the first to congratulate President Gillibrand after taking the oath of office, which raises the question: Is Warren going to run in last year’s election?”
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
Couldn’t happen to a nicer asshole. Fuck you Bibi and your fascist ethnostate ambitions too.
How do you see this going down, Adam? Will he go quietly?
Baud
@Major Major Major Major: I agree.
Emma
Folks, let’s put it this way. Any Democrat — and I mean freaking Democrat! — that gets through the primary process gets my vote unless and if I smell real trouble. And by real trouble, I mean a “reach across the aisle” type. Obama tried, and they spit on him. No more of that crap.
Yarrow
@Matt McIrvin: Warren isn’t that great of a campaigner. She gives kind of meh speeches. She’s good on policy. I hope she really means it when she says she wants to stay in the Senate. I like her there and we need good people in Congress. Not everyone should run for President. I wish we had more Dem Governors who could run for President. Kind of a shortage of those.
different-church-lady
@mdblanche: You must go on. I can’t go on. I’ll go on.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: I went out to grab a bite.
All I can say is that Mueller guy is really effective!//
More seriously, Bibi’s toast. Unfortunately whoever replaces him will be worse.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
That’s too much IMHO. She can stay a Senator.
Major Major Major Major
@Emma:
I see what you did there.
magurakurin
@Major Major Major Major: me, too. I’m thinking that when this is all said and done the job of “prosecutor” is going to be elevated to hero status. My early money is on Kamala Harris. Fantasy football stuff, of course, but Harris/Kennedy could be a very strong ticket.
gene108
@divF:
This, but more Reps.
435 was reached after the 1910 census in the Congress in 1911. We had a third of the current population
It would flip the script from why can’t Dems win in rural areas to why can’t Republicans win in urban areas.
Plus it would balance out the rural favoratism in the EC.
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: No, he will not go quietly. Unfortunately whoever replaces him on a right of center coalition will actually be worse than he is. The center left to left of center in Israel doesn’t appear to have the ability to actually challenge the current right of center coalition or potential right of center coalitions. This is partially the result of Bibi stealing the government from Tzipi Livni about a decade or so ago.
germy
randy khan
@geg6:
Gillibrand is the only – yes, only – Democratic Senator to vote against every one of Trump’s nominees. If I have to weigh that against her saying that Bill Clinton should have resigned 20 years ago (give or take), when he’s been out of office for 16 years, I know which counts more in my book.
Major Major Major Major
@Yarrow: I really don’t get her appeal as a speaker.
Amaranthine RBG
Yes Gillbrand and Warren are insufficiently pure as are the NYT and the WaPo.
Some of you folks need to pull your head out of your ass
B.B.A.
@Emma: So not Andrew Fucking Cuomo, then? I’m on board with this.
Anyone but Cuomo 2020!
oldgold
Charitable entities are going to be destroyed by this tax bill.
Annual giving is going to be significantly reduced by the increase in the standard deduction and the significant narrowing of expenditures that qualify for an itemized deduction.
Large gratuitous gifts will be dramatically reduced by the elimination of the estate/ gift tax.
Ithink
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
Hear, hear! I agree totally. Can’t want until its our current President.
magurakurin
@Major Major Major Major: me, neither. Warren just isn’t all that. I would support Gillibrand over Warren and Harris over both.
geg6
@Matt McIrvin:
They both suck. Gimme something better. I will work my ass off for for anyone other than them. We can do better.
Major Major Major Major
@randy khan: Gillibrand voted for Shulkin and Haley.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@germy: This is a tough day for “True Progressives” like Matt Taibbi who stubbornly maintained during the past year that there was nothing to TrumpRussia.
Adam L Silverman
@geg6: @randy khan: Given who has mentored and helped Senator Gillibrand’s career over the years, I guarantee she checked with Secretary Clinton before she made that statement. She’s too good a politician not to have done so.
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
I would say it couldn’t happen to a more deserving world leader, but we all know there’s at least one closer to hand who’s more deserving.
geg6
@magurakurin:
Sounds good to me. Even in reverse order.
Matt McIrvin
@Yarrow: She’s doing a pretty good job drumming up outrage today, not that it needed additional drumming.
germy
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Has GG weighed in?
Baud
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: There was a big push in the early days to treat Russia as a distraction. Thank God the Dems kept pushing.
Peale
@Adam L Silverman: ??? So is this a good thing? Or one of those things where there’s someone even more repulsive that Bibi waiting to take over?
Adam L Silverman
I see they were pumping lithium into the West Wing and the Old Executive Office Building this afternoon:
Adam L Silverman
@Adam L Silverman: Glad CNN asked an expert for clarification!
Honus
@kindness: Clinton took office in the midst of a deep recession, with huge deficits predicted as far as the eye could see. Passed a modest tax hike with Al Gore’s vote that was predicted to completely destroy the economy. Left office with full employment, no war, North Korea’s nuclear program stopped and under international monitoring, a trillion dollar surplus, and gasoline under $1.00 a gallon. But yeah, DADT and a consensual blow job. So fuck him.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: It was Sasha!
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@gene108:
But think of the rural voters! Their votes won’t effectively matter if all the city-dwellers can outvote them?!
That reminds me of the BS of the Electoral College. The counter-argument always goes if it were abolished and presidents directly elected then politicians would have to pander to high-population states and areas like California, horror of horrors.
Baud
@Honus: DADT was progress at the time. If you want to criticize him in that issue, use DOMA.
germy
Absolutely nothing in The Intercept about Flynn.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Lithium? I call ether.
magurakurin
@geg6: If it be so, then yes. The primary will decide. In my opinion though, Harris/Kennedy is the stronger ticket. Something about putting the younger man in front of the older woman…doesn’t seem right. It’s all just wild dreaming of course. We have to make it to 2020. 2018 will be a very important election.
One thing I am completely solid on…Never Sanders.
MJS
@Adam L Silverman: Good, all the fat old fucks who think they’re tough guys are going down.
Adam L Silverman
@Peale: Taking Bibi off the board is a good thing. However, every right of center to far right politician in Israeli politics are worse than he is. The difference is almost none of them have relationships with the GOP leadership and politicians or the neo-Cons that Bibi has because Bibi grew up here and went to school with those guys and gals.
O. Felix Culpa
@different-church-lady:
Nice.
We are all born mad. Some remain so.
geg6
@Adam L Silverman:
Fuck her. I don’t give a shit. I want a fighter for my side, not someone willing to shiv anyone to boost her brand. Nope, I was totally with her up until that. No more of this. Unless we are willing to just cede it all to the wingnuts, we have to stick together and she is obviously not willing to do that. And I don’t believe for a minute that Hillary is okay with this. And if you do, you don’t know Hillary.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
The problem with Gillibrand is she accepted a lot of money from Goldman Sachs.
It doesn’t bother me because she voted the right way on regulations. But it will be demagogued during he primaries by the “heighten the contradictions” crowd and by the white nationalists in the general election.
B.B.A.
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: One acre, one vote. A time-honored system.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Amaranthine RBG:
Hey, nobody ever said they’d never vote for Gillibrand or Warren if one of then become the nominee. Gillibrand’s fumble isn’t nearly as bad as Warren’s imo. And keep fucking that chicken re: “Nazis are people too!” NYT article.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Ether way!
What?
Roger Moore
@gene108:
I don’t think you understand what I mean by expediting collection of estate taxes.
Jeffro
@Baud: Harris/Gillibrand or Gillibrand/Harris or really any combo of fresh Dem faces. Truly.
geg6
@magurakurin:
Completely agree.
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: This might help:
Duane
As news about Flynn broke, the stock market dropped. When it appeared the rotten ship wasn’t sinking today, the market rallied and closed with gains.
Wall Street’s okay with a traitorous government, just get those precious tax breaks.
Tumbrels won’t be enough. We’re going to need buses.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@germy: He’s waiting for instruction from his KGB handlers.
randy khan
@Major Major Major Major:
Haley’s not a Cabinet officer. I was unaware of Shulkin.
Honus
@Adam L Silverman: it’s an old legislative legal tactic/fiction, germane, though not exclusively for tax bills. You can’t write a bill specifically for one person or institution or locality, so you write a description that includes only thart single entity.
Just One More Canuck
@lowtechcyclist: Poco
germy
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
“Streets flooded. Please advise.”
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Makes ya wonder.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: Well why wouldn’t Obama have authorized Flynn to sell out the country to the Russians? Obama had already led us into that disastrous Iraq War and let New Orleans drown (and then was playing golf through the entirety of the Great Recession)
geg6
@Jeffro:
Cool with Harris. Fuck Gillibrand.
gene108
@Honus:
Never quite got the liberal hate with it.
Gays went from being totally barred from being in the military to at least legally being able to serve
It was progress
Bill fought with Sam Nunn and the Joint Chiefs, who were dead set against any change, to accept this
It didn’t win Bill a popularity contest in GA, which he won in 1992.
It cost he and later Gore votes in the South
Another Scott
@Jeffro: Terry Mac supposedly is ‘obviously’ running for President in 2020. Also, too.
Terry’s been a good Governor, given the hand he was dealt. Dunno if I would vote for him in a Presidential primary – it’s still very, very early.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Honus: I’m aware.
gene108
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
Rural voters will dtill have the Senate. The House was not meant be another sop to rural states
It is not how the Constitution is designed
Roger Moore
@gene108:
Hell yes. My thought is that we should set the number of representatives by taking the population of the smallest state, dividing by 3, and saying we should have one representative for that many people*. That would give about 1800 Representatives.
My understanding is that the number 435 was chosen because it was the most they thought they could fit comfortably into the House chamber. That is an incredibly stupid reason for limiting the size of the House. We could spend a billion dollars building a fancy new Capitol building to house the new, larger House of Representatives, and it would be a drop in the bucket of the overall federal budget. Even better, we could start thinking about not requiring Representatives to be physically present in the House chamber to vote; we certainly have technology that would make it possible.
*i.e. Total Representatives = 3 * National Population/Population of smallest state
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@gene108: Exactly. The Senate is always my counter. Smaller states will still have equal representation in the Federal government in the US Senate.
germy
Adam L Silverman
Quid, Pro, and Quo!
Shalimar
@Yarrow: Coincidentally, a Hillsdale professor thought it was a wonderful plan for poor people last month
magurakurin
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
I don’t wonder at all. Sanders is a fraud. The chances that his campaign had contact with the Russians remains high in my mind. Sanders is not an ally.
Honus
@Baud: sorry forgot to use the snark font. Given what Clinton had to work with, and what he accomplished, I brook no serious criticism of his administration. The alternative was a second bush term and bob dole.
His appointment of Ruth Ginsburg by itself is enough of a legacy for me.
magurakurin
@Jeffro: double down on women on the ticket. I can get behind that.
Honus
@gene108: I agree. As I said in my response to baud, I forgot to use the snark font.
Honus
@Another Scott: I don’t know about Terry but I’d crawl over broken glass to vote for Tim Kaine
Jeffro
@Another Scott: Too old, too Clinton-connected, not female…pass.
Jeffro
@Honus: Amazing guy. Great governor. Outstanding senator. And I hope he stays there for the same reasons noted in #149. Fresh faces please.
ms_canadada
@Baud:
Will you marry me?
Another Scott
@Jeffro: I like the idea of a Democratic woman running and winning, too.
I was just trying to indicate that it’s still very early, and even successful politicians (like Terry in VA) can make strong Democrats angry (as illustrated by the link to BlueVirginia). Lowkell would crawl over broken glass to elect Terry over any Republican, but is still furious at him for some of his decisions.
Cheers,
Scott.
Duane
@Shalimar: that editorial by the Hillsdale economic professor was the biggest load of trump ever. Indicative of the education they offer. Worse than worthless.
Citizen Alan
@Amaranthine RBG:
The nyt should be burned to the ground and the Earth where it stood salted. I’m pretty much fine with the other three.
Heidi Mom
@Honus: As would I. And I think he’s still a relatively fresh face on the national scene, despite his many years of experience. Kaine/Harris? I definitely want to see a person of color on the ticket. We’re the Obama Coalition, let’s reflect that.
marv
Just wanted to send a shout out to Bob Mueller, Saw somewhere his investigation to date has cost five million dollars. Reminds me of this great Bob Marley song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia6Tvpj6dPw
Omnes Omnibus
@marv: Wow. A really early version. Damn.
ETA: I never heard that version before.
SFAW
@geg6:
Since you apparently do, perhaps you can ring her up and get her to tell us that, so we don’t have mistaken impressions?
SFAW
@marv:
Kind of depressing to think about how long he’s been gone.
Regnad Kcin
@O. Felix Culpa: Another happy day.
AnotherBruce
@Honus: Thank you, I don’t get the urge to re-litigate The Bill Clinton years. They were litigated enough during his time in office.
Karmus
Baud for the Front Page 2018.
Ruckus
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
No, it really doesn’t. He’s acted like he’s in on it from the beginning. I’d be far, far more surprised if he isn’t in it up to the tippy top of his old white head.
Seanly
I am perfectly fine with Gillibrand publicly denouncing Clinton. Otherwise, Republicans will just paint her as a second coming of the Shillary since she was a protege.
And mark my words, as much as I like Warren, the whole Native American blood thing will be used ENDLESSLY as a cudgel against her from now until the end of the Republic. In 2234 there will be some worthless Republican caught making up that he fought off an entire division of mutant North Koreans in the 2212 and the Republicans will bring up that Robert Byrd was once in the Klan and that Elizabeth Warren said she had Native American blood.
Stan
If Gillibrand wins, boy won’t that be the ultimate triumph of the corrupt O’Connell-Corning Albany machine. Holy crap.