Trump Says Iran Is ‘Standing Down’; Warns US Oil Exports Offer New ‘Options’ in Middle East

Ben Sellers
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‘As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Good morning…’

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) President Donald Trump addressed the nation—and the world—after Iran‘s recent missile-attack retaliation, offering overtures for de-escalation while standing firm on the possibility of greater force and sanctions should the rogue Islamic republic proceed on its current path.

Making sure that the left-wing media outlets present did not bury the lede in their articles, Trump began: “As long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Good morning…”

The president defended the decision earlier this week to take out top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, saying that his hands were “drenched with blood.”

Trump confirmed that Soleimani, who was killed by an airstrike near the Baghdad airport alongside a local militia leader, had orchestrated the weekend attack on the U.S. embassy in Iraq—one that drew parallels from many in the media to the shocking 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.

Some have speculated that Soleimani was also responsible for that attack, widely considered to be one of the major foreign policy disasters during Barack Obama‘s first term as president.

Trump also pinned responsibility for Iran’s current terrorist activities on the Obama administration’s decision to release more than $150 billion in frozen assets and other kickbacks with its controversial Iran nuclear deal.

Attacks on U.S. interests and allies in hot zones such as Yemen and the Strait of Hormuz—not to mention Iran’s funding of Palestinian terror groups against Israel—have been “paid for with the funds made available by the last administration,” Trump said.

“… Instead of saying ‘thank you’ to the United States, they [Iran] chanted ‘death to America,'” he continued.

Trump Says Iran 'Standing Down'; Warns US Oil Exports Offer New 'Options' 1
Donald Trump / IMAGE: NBC News via Youtube

The president, who quickly withdrew from the Obama deal and reinstated sanctions on Iran, said he planned to impose additional economic sanctions, although he did not specify what form those might take.

He also called on other nations who had signed the John Kerry-brokered Vienna accord—formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—to recognize its failure and “break away from the remnants of the Iran deal.”

In recent days, Iran has openly flouted the restrictions on uranium enrichment—although past evidence suggested that it was already doing so covertly, with few mechanisms in place to verify or enforce the terms of the deal.

“Today I am going to ask NATO to become much more involved in the Middle East process,” Trump said.

Despite being hamstrung by global pressure to maintain regional stability, Trump said that the U.S. energy independence achieved under his administration had opened the door to new options, making it no longer beholden to the price-gouging whims and fancies of OPEC.

Additionally, he said military preparations had led to new advancements, such as hypersonic artillery.

“Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal and fast,” Trump said.

However, he seemed to commend Iran for its apparent “standing down” in what some consider to be little more than a face-saving missile attack on a U.S. base in Iraq late Tuesday.

No casualties were sustained in the attack, and the base suffered “only minimal damage,” Trump reported.

Trump closed by seeking common ground with Iran, highlighting the possibility of cooperation in mutually beneficial areas such as the recent eradication of ISIS in parts of neighboring Syria, Turkey and Iraq.

“The destruction of ISIS is good for Iran, and we should work together on this and other priorities,” he said.

To the people and leaders of Iran, he said, “We want you to have a future. … The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.”

Ark. Court Rules Hunter Biden Fathered Stripper’s Child

Contributing Author
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Vice president’s son given visitation rights…must pay child support…

Court Rules Hunter Biden is 'Biological and Legal' Father of Arkansas Woman's Child
Hunter Biden/IMAGE: ABC News via YouTube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Hunter Biden is the “biological and legal” father of a child he fathered with Lunden Alexis Roberts, a former stripper, according to an Arkansas judge overhearing Roberts’s paternity lawsuit against Biden.

Biden, son of presidential candidate Joe Biden, had tried to deny he had fathered the child, but a DNA test proved “with near scientific certainty” that Biden is indeed the father, said Circuit Judge Holly Meyer.

As a result, Biden will be required to pay child support to Roberts, and he “shall have visitation with child as agreed between the parties,” Meyer ruled.

Roberts had originally asked for full custody of their child, claiming Biden wouldn’t even be able to “identify the child out of a photo lineup.”

There will be another hearing at the end of the month to address “temporary child support for the minor child and other matters,” Meyer said.

Roberts has accused Biden of trying to hide his financial dealings to get out of paying child support, and the Arkansas court ruled that Biden and his lawyers must hand over all his financial records, which are currently “past due.”

Meyer also dismissed the independent charges made against Biden by a private investigator, who found that Biden had stolen his deceased brother’s identity to hide his location and evaded federal taxes, along with a host of other criminal conspiracies.

When asked in November whether he had a comment on the case, Joe Biden told Fox News: “No, that’s a private matter and I have no comment. Only you would ask that,” Biden said to the reporter. “You’re a good man. Classy.”

Leftists Blame Climate Change for Australia’s Wildfires, But It Was Arson

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More than 12 million acres torched…

Calif. Enviro Policy: Fuel Wildfires, Finance Toys for Rich, Blame Utilities
Photo by beltz6 (CC)

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Leftist celebrities and politicians have blamed climate change for creating conditions for wildfires currently ravaging Australia, but that nation’s officials announced this week that arson triggered the fires.

The New South Wales Police Force said it had arrested more than 180 people for bushfire-related offenses that spread and created the massive wildfires in Australia.

“Of note, 24 people have been charged over alleged deliberately-lit bushfires, 53 people have had legal actions for allegedly failing to comply with a total fire ban, and 47 people have had legal actions for allegedly discarding a lighted cigarette or match on land,” officials said in a press release.

Two Australian states, New South Wales and Queensland, have declared states of emergency, but the fires continue to spread and have now engulfed more than 12 million acres of land.

But many have ignored the man-made origins of the wildfires.

Even several Democratic presidential candidates have spread this narrative.

Bernie Sanders used his statement to blast “those who are delaying action on climate change,” and Elizabeth Warren claimed that climate change is “driving even more dangerous and destructive fires across the world.”

Chelsea Clinton Has Made $9M Thanks to Her Parents’ Status

Contributing Author
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Made millions on board run by Hollywood mogul Barry Diller…

Chelsea Clinton: Legalizing Abortion Created Trillions in Economic Growth
Chelsea Clinton (screen shot: The View/Youtube)

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Chelsea Clinton has made more than $9 million since 2011 as a board member of an Internet investment firm led by a friend of her parents, according to a new report.

The former first daughter has received an annual retainer of $50,000 for serving on the board of IAC/InterActiveCorp, which is controlled by Barry Diller, a television mogul and longtime friend and donor of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Chelsea Clinton has also received $250,000 worth of restricted IAC stocks on top of the retainer, according to Barron’s.

As of December, she had reported owning nearly $8.95 million worth of IAC stock.

Chelsea has profited from her parents’ political status in other ways, too. As a correspondent for NBC, she made more than $600,000 a year in 2013 and into 2014.

She was also named to the board of Expedia Group in 2017, a position that pays about $250,000, according to the Guardian.

This profiting is similar to that of Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden. Hunter Biden benefited from his father’s political position by being able to score business deals overseas — namely in Ukraine and China — and admitted as much in an ABC News interview in October.

“It is impossible for me to be on any of the boards that I just mentioned without saying that I’m the son of the vice president of the United States,” Hunter said.

Hunter served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian oil company, and “provided advice on legal issues, corporate finance, and strategy,” according to Reuters.

He resigned from the board in April 2019, shortly before his father declared his 2020 presidential candidacy.

But the former vice president’s son still made hundreds of thousands of dollars, which he at least partially attributed to the status of his father.

“If your last name wasn’t Biden, do you think you would have been asked to be on the board of Burisma?” he was asked by ABC News.

“I don’t know, I don’t know, probably not,” Biden admitted. “I don’t think that there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden.”

Records show that Burisma made monthly payments of $83,000 to Hunter’s firm, Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC, for the purpose of “consulting services,” over an 18-month span.

Biden also worked with a Chinese investment company, BHR, but he refused to say how much he made from the questionable business deal.

“One thing that I don’t have to do is sit here and open my kimono as it relates to how much money I make,” he told ABC News. “… But it’s all been reported.”

CNN Settles Lawsuit w/ Covington Catholic Teen Nick Sandmann

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‘Our students were placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening…’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) CNN has settled a lawsuit brought by Nick Sandmann, a Covington Catholic high-schooler defamed by the outlet early last year.

Sandmann filed a lawsuit seeking $275 million from CNN for its coverage of his confrontation with Native American activist Nathan Phillips. CNN described Sandmann as the instigator, accusing him of racism simply because he was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat in support of President Donald Trump.

Sandmann, who was attending the annual March for Life rally with his classmates from Kentucky, said he had purchased the hat as a souvenir.

The outlet’s reporters “without any reasonable investigation … took something straight off Twitter that had been in essence manipulated so that it told one story and they reported it as the truth,” Sandmann’s lawsuit states.

CNN filed a motion in May to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing Sandmann’s accusations were subjective and thus couldn’t be proven false—a necessary condition under defamation laws.

It is not defamatory to say Sandmann and the other Covington students ““expressed support for the President or that he echoed a signature slogan of a major political party,” CNN’s motion read.

CNN Settles Lawsuit W/Covington Catholic Teen Nick Sandmann
Nick Sandmann / IMAGE: Today Show via Twitter

It’s not clear how much CNN has settled for, but Sandmann also has pending lawsuits against NBC Universal and The Washington Post. Sandmann’s lawyers are also considering lawsuits against The Associated Press, HBO and specific individuals, such as former comedian Kathy Griffin, who said Sandmann should be doxxed.

Sandmann’s lawyers said CNN “elevated false, heinous accusations of racist conduct” against Sandmann and disregarded “well-established journalistic standards and ethics” in its reporting.

Because of the false accusations, they said, Sandmann’s “character has now been determined by the lies” CNN floated.

After an independent report exonerated the Covington students of any wrongdoing, Roger Foys, the bishop of Covington Catholic high school, called it a vindication.

“Our students were placed in a situation that was at once bizarre and even threatening,” he said in a statement. “Their reaction to the situation was, given the circumstances, expected and one might even say laudatory.”

Rand Paul: Trump Listened to ‘Bad Advice,’ Should Not Have Taken Out Soleimani

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‘I don’t see an off-ramp. I don’t see a way out of this…’

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Rand Paul / IMAGE: Fox News via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., broke with President Trump over his decision to order the killing of Iranian General and terrorist Qassem Soleimani, arguing Trump must seek congressional approval before acting overseas.

Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican, has also signaled his support for a new War Powers Resolution, which would limit Trump’s ability to act, because “it’s now a certainty” that Iran will attack Americans in revenge.

“This is sad,” he told CNN. “I mean, the death of Soleimani, I think, is the death of diplomacy with Iran. I don’t see an off-ramp. I don’t see a way out of this.”

Trump listened to “bad advice” from former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Soleimani, Paul continued, arguing that killing the general was an “act of war,” no matter how “imminent” the threat posed by Soleimani.

“They’ve been complaining for years about Soleimani. I mean, most of the killings that are attributed to him are, I think, are from the Iraq War. You know, ten years ago or longer. And so, I think that saying this is ‘imminent’ and saying they don’t need the permission of Congress goes against the traditions of our Constitution,” Paul said. “You would have to be brain dead to believe that we tear up the agreement, we put an embargo on you and we kill your major general, and they’re just going to crawl back to the table and say, ‘What do you want, America?'”

Support for an act of war must be “overwhelming” for it to be justifiable, Paul contended.

“Whether it’s been a Democrat president, I’ve been a stickler that the way to make war rare is to make it to where you actually have to vote on it in Congress and that it has to be overwhelming,” Paul said. “There have been times—where we were attacked on 9/11, virtually everybody voted to go after those who attacked us. Same way with Pearl Harbor.

“But this is sort of a different situation where no one’s really proposing all-out war,” he added. “What we’re proposing is something that will fester and go on and on and dribs and drabs of intermittent violence for decades, if not generations.”

Immigration Expert Fact-Checks Biden’s ‘Moderate’ Claims on Border Policy

Ben Sellers
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‘His positions (at least on immigration) are well outside the mainstream…’

Biden Perpetuates Charlottesville Lie on 'Colbert' Show
Joe Biden / IMAGE: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert via Youtube

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) While left-wing operatives try to brand former Vice President Joe Biden as a center–right Democrat, hoping their highly-flawed 2020 front-runner might poach GOP votes if he advances past the nominating contest, Biden’s claim on the political middle has long been met with skepticism.

A recent analysis by a conservative think-tank, the Center for Immigration Studies, is helping conclusively to resolve the matter with a resounding NO.

“Biden is not the ‘moderate’ that he and the press purport him to be, because his positions (at least on immigration) are well outside the mainstream,” wrote CIS scholar Andrew R. Arthur in a piece published Monday titled “The Myth of Moderate Joe Biden.”

A notorious flip–flopper, Biden has been caught contradicting his own statements several times while campaigning in Iowa. Among the latest examples is his 180-degree reversal on whether he would comply with a Senate subpoena in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial—the answer to which still remains unclear.

Biden also backpedaled on his previously released shortlist of potential running mates. Although the list contained four far-left Democratic women (including failed Georgia candidate Stacey Abrams and disgraced ex-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates), Biden responded to a recent town-hall question by indicating that he would, in fact, consider a Republican.

Biden’s strategists went so far as to issue talking points in December, widely repeated by the liberal-media echo chamber, that he credibly hoped to court what his campaign labeled “reasonable Republican dads.”

Meanwhile, radicals on the party’s fringe, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-NY, have played along. Seeking to push the party leftward by attempting to normalize Biden’s positions, the freshman congresswoman and self-avowed socialist said this week that she and Biden did not even belong in the same party.

But despite Ocasio–Cortez’s claims, one area where the two leftists share a similar vision is their extreme agenda when it comes to immigration.

Like “AOC,” who has openly attacked border authorities, Biden has endorsed policies that would hamstring federal immigration agents from performing their sworn duties, Arthur said in his article.

“… From his rejection of Trump diplomatic initiatives that have slowed the massive influx of migrants from Central America, to his promises to effectively end immigration enforcement in the United States, and to his vow to push for amnesty ‘for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants’, Biden has staked out positions that are … not even ‘open borders,’ Arthur said. “They are ‘open America.'”

Such was the case under the Obama administration, Arthur noted, when the president issued executive orders refusing to enforce immigration law for certain types of illegal aliens—including unaccompanied minors.

The resulting flood at the border caused detention centers to be overrun with migrant children and teenagers—to which activist judges responded by declaring “catch and release” policies to be the law of the land.

Those loopholes, which originally prevented children from being detained more than 20 days if a guardian was there to claim them, have since been extended to entire families of illegal immigrants.

Trump’s efforts to undo his predecessor’s actions, restore law and order, and re-assert American sovereignty over its own borders have—unsurprisingly—been resisted tooth-and-nail by those same radical leftist judges, who have hindered his reforms at every turn by issuing injuctions.

But Arthur cautioned that electing Biden would assure a quick restoration of the prior lawlessness, reigniting the border crisis just as it has begun to show signs of abating.

“His proposals are essentially just a return to the ‘Obama–Biden Administration’ policies that created the mess that Donald Trump rode to the White House,” Arthur said.

In light of Biden’s history of making disingenuous statements, Arthur said some so-called ‘reasonable Republican dads’ might think Biden’s open-border-plus advocacy is just his way of pandering to progressives in the crowded Democratic primary.

In this case, however, there is no reason to doubt his sincerity.

“It would be easy to view ‘Uncle Joe’s’ immigration proposals as a sop to Democratic primary voters,” Arthur concluded, “but his history in the Obama administration would suggest that he means every word.”

AOC Named 'Porker of the Year' in Online Poll

Joshua Paladino
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Freshman NY congresswoman made quite an entrance into politics with $93 trillion Green New Deal proposal…

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Named 'Porker of the Year' in Online Poll
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez / IMAGE: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert via Youtube

(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) Citizens Against Government Waste declared Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the “Porker of the Year” for her rampant effort to spend and subsidize special interests.
Five other candidates—including Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, as well as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren—were also nominated for their participation in “plugging pricey policies, promoting earmarks and wasteful practices, and pushing a big-spending agenda,” CAGW reported.
Voters ultimately chose Ocasio–Cortez in an online poll conducted during the past month. She secured 54 percent of the vote.
Ocasio–Cortez previously won CAGW’s March 2019 “Porker of the Month” award for introducing the Green New Deal, a plan that would bankrupt America and ensure energy shortages.
Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, came in a distant second place with 25 percent of the vote, despite her big-money proposals for universal government-mandated healthcare, universal taxpayer-funded college tuition and a student-loan debt bailout.
Warren won the May 2019 “Porker of the Month” award for the proposals related to college debt and tuition.
Ocasio–Cortez’s Green New Deal would cost about $93 trillion over a 10-year period, according to the American Action Forum.
That’s about twice as much as the federal government would spend over the next decade on every other function, including the military, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Taxes would have to increase drastically and existing services would falter.
Notwithstanding the threat of a socialist takeover of the entire U.S. economy, the Green New Deal provided a few laughs, including its demand of “economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work.”
The policy proposal also called for the elimination of combustion engines, air travel and cow flatulence—though Ocasio–Cortez’s staff later admitted that they may not be able “to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.”

Liberal Activists Seek Ethics Probe Into Lindsey Graham Over Impeachment

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‘I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind…’

Sen. Lindsey Graham Says NBC is a 'Co-Conspirator' in the 'Destruction' of Kavanaugh
Lindsey Graham/IMAGE: Fox News via YouTube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) A liberal activist group asked the Senate Ethics Committee to launch an ethics probe into Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-SC, because of his remarks defending President Donald Trump against the Democrats’ impeachment efforts.

In a Dec. 17 letter to the committee, the American Democracy Legal Fund said that Graham’s public comments on impeachment reveal that he has already “made up” his mind and that he is “not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.”

“In Senator Graham’s own words—he is not even going to pretend to follow his constitutionally required oath of impartiality,” ADLF President Brad Woodhouse wrote in the letter.

“This statement not only indicates Senator Graham’s clear intention to violate a sworn oath, but further calls into question the integrity of any impeachment trial that is held in the U.S. Senate.”

Democrats filed the long-sought articles of impeachment in December but did not charge Trump with any unlawful or demonstrably improper conduct—opting instead for a vague “abuse of power” charge, along with “contempt of Congress.”

No Republicans supported the politically motivated impeachment measures in the House, although four Democrats refused to vote for them. One Democratic congressman, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, immediately switched parties as a result.

Late last year, Graham predicted that the Democrats’ impeachment case would “die quickly” in the Senate and that most Senate Republicans would vote to acquit Trump.

“This thing will come to the Senate, and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly,” he told CNN.

When asked if it was appropriate for him to be voicing his opinion before the articles of impeachment reach the Senate, Graham said: “Well, I must think so because I’m doing it.”

Graham said the partisan spectacle advanced by the House warranted a partisan response and nothing more.

“I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here,” Graham continued. “What I see coming, happening today is just a partisan nonsense.”

Thus far, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has refused to validate the impeachment by submitting the articles to the Senate. But that didn’t stop leftists from working the refs by trying to attack one of the Senate’s leading critics.

Graham’s comments were proof that he is “clearly incapable of following Senate rules or complying with his ethical duties as a member of the U.S. Senate,” Woodhouse claimed in a statement.

“We are therefore demanding a thorough investigation into his misconduct by the Senate Ethics Committee,” Woodhouse said.

It is unlikely that the Ethics Committee, chaired by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., will consider an investigation of Graham based on the activists’ complaint.

INVESTIGATOR: Hunter Biden Used Deceased Brother’s AG Badge to Hide Rehab Visit

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Suspicious items included the phone of an associate named Puma St. Angel, as well as his brother’s Delaware attorney general’s badge…

Hunter Biden Admits 'Mistake' but Denies Wrongdoing: 'This Isn't Real Stuff'
Hunter Biden / IMAGE: ABC News via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Hunter Biden, son of presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden, allegedly stole his deceased brother’s identity to hide his location, according to a private investigator.

The investigator, Dominic Casey, gave his report to an Arkansas court hearing a paternity lawsuit made against Biden by Lunden Alexis Roberts, a former stripper.

Roberts, who says Hunter Biden privately acknowledged fathering her child, has accused him of “multiple criminal probes involving fraud, money laundering, and a counterfeiting scheme.”

In the investigator’s filing, he said that evidence obtained by police indicated Biden had used false identification to hide the fact that he had checked into an Arizona rehabilitation facility. The fraudulent documents were found inside Biden’s Hertz rental car on Oct. 28, 2018.

“A bag containing the suspicious items, a cellular telephone (Apple) belonging to Shauna Stanglr, who is also known as Puma St. Angel, and a Delaware attorney general badge belonging to Hunter Biden’s deceased brother Joseph R. Beau Biden III were provided to the police officer,” the filing states.

A web search revealed that St. Angel presently runs a lifestyle center in Sedona, Ariz., that provides “colonic hydrotherapy.”

Roberts is demanding sole custody of their child in court, claiming Biden wouldn’t even be able to “identify the child out of a photo lineup,” according to court papers filed in Independence County.

Biden’s lawyers have dismissed the private investigator’s finding as “a scheme by a non-party simply to make scandalous allegations in the pending suit to gain some quick media attention.”

However, some of the details provided already were public knowledge, having emerged in a New Yorker profile published last July.

Biden has a history of well-documented issues, including problems with drugs, such as cocaine-laced cigarettes and crack, alcohol binges, and most recently, tax evasion.

According to the Daily Caller, Biden had $112,805 in unpaid taxes for the year 2015, resulting in a lien from the IRS. He also used his father’s political connections to secure millions of dollars in “consulting” fees and shady business dealings with foreign countries, such as Ukraine and China.

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