Speaking at an event at the Institue of Peace on October 8, President Donald J. Trump remarked "but we have an extremely high IQ audience for a change. For a change. It's very nice."
Two days later, it was a different audience but same message. While the President spoke on October 10 at a rally in Clarksville, Tennessee in behalf of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Hagerty and US Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn
“I could say the stupidest things and you’d clap.” The
audience responded by laughing--and clapping. “It’s true,” Trump said.
Perhaps realizing how that statement might play on social
media, the president quickly added “but we don’t say the stupidest things, we
say things of common sense. We say things that make sense, and probably are
mostly conservative. But it’s not really conservative, it’s the things of
common sense.”
Trump: I could say the stupidest things and you'd clap https://t.co/9LLyA30UzI
I'd say the stupidest things and you'd clap, remarks the individual with contempt Americans. Lest we forget, on July 16, 2025 we learned
Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey
Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this "bull——,"
hook, line, and sinker," Trump wrote Wednesday on his Truth Social site,
using an expletive in his post. "They haven't learned their lesson, and
probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long
years."
"Let these weaklings continue forward and do the
Democrats work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and
unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore! Thank you
for your attention to this matter," he went on.
And these are his supporters. Fifteen months ago, they were "weaklings" who "haven't learned their lesson." They "bought into this bullshit, hook, line, and sinker", "haven't learned their lesson and probably never will"even after being "conned" for "eight long years".
Four months prior to that, at the first Cabinet meeting of this term, President Trump maintained that Americans generally are "bloated and fat and disgusting". On a positive note, at least then Trump did not single out his supporters, nor veterans, a favorite target of his.
This is just a guy who really, really does not like anyone in his social class. And given that he has stratospheric wealth and tastes to match, that includes virtually everyone in a country he really, really does not like.
On Thursday, October 8, Vice President Vance was asked about the upcoming execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan, who murdered thirteen individuals and wounded at least 31 other people as he attacked Fort Hood Army base inTexas in 2009. earlier in the day, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated
that Nidal
Hasan's death by firing squad would be public and available to watch. The
announcement prompted intense backlash, including from several Republicans in
Congress.
On a trip to Ohio, a reporter asked Vance, who is Catholic,
how the plan to livestream the execution meshes with his faith.
"Well, first of all, I've seen this announcement,"
said Vance. "I don't know that that's actually going to happen"...
"So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people," Vance said. "Now that said, I mean, look, if it's ultimately livestreamed, I'm not going to be watching it."and policies that are broadly acceptable to the public at any given time.)
The good news is that Vance's priorities do not include blood lust. The bad news is that the execution still may be livestreamed.
Many Americans would enjoy watching it. Decades ago, before I stopped watching movies for unrelated reasons, some of the films I would attend would feature bad guys and good guys, of whatever sort. There would come a time when the bad guys would be killed by the good guys, and the theatre audience would erupt in applause. That was expected, arguably normal, but disquieting.
And now we have an Administration which routinely inflicts cruelty for the sake of cruelty. It may be destroying food intended for hungry and dying people abroad, immigration enforcement seemingly intended to separate children from their parents, firing federal workers so that they can be "traumatically affected," or.... well, there isn't enough time in the day to go down the list.
Hegseth boasts "we'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public, because people need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things."
Execution of Hasan- a terrorist, remember- would be the news of the day, perhaps of the week, even if not livestreamed or televised. That would be the case unless President Trump diverts our attention with something else outrageous in the hours afterward, which would be defeating the purpose of encouraging individuals to view it.
There is not a snowball's chance in hell that the primary objective of Hegseth/Trump in turning the execution into a spectacle would be to deter other acts of murder, terroristic or not. Most likely, the production would have little or no effect on violent acts, and "little" is on its way out the door. If there were any impact, it probably would be in the opposite direction. Individuals contemplating violent crime might savor the possibility of becoming famous, even though they wouldn't be around to enjoy the full effect of the social media high. Notoriety in death would be an incentive- not to many, but to enough as to overwhelm whatever trivial deterrent effect there might be.
This tweeter, "a 9/11 widow" whose "husband was murdered by terrorists in the South Tower," understands fully. In part, she explained
Nidal Hasan murdered 13 people and wounded more than 30 others at Fort Hood. He was convicted by a military jury and sentenced to death. He should be held accountable under the law.
My objection is to turning his death into entertainment or political spectacle.
I don’t need to watch a man die. I don’t need to cheer it. And I certainly don’t need to do either to prove that I am strong, patriotic, or tough on terrorism.
After 9/11, our country made choices in the name of fighting terrorism, including torture,that had profound consequences for the pursuit of justice. 25 years later, the men accused of planning the attack that murdered my husband still have not gone through a completed trial.
That experience has made me more committed to the rule of law, not less.
You can support the lawful punishment of Nidal Hasan and still believe that an execution should not become a public spectacle. Those positions are not contradictory.
And you can believe in compassion and human dignity without being weak.
I have lived with the consequences of terrorism for 25 years. I will not allow anyone to tell me that refusing to celebrate another human being’s death makes me weak.
Hey, everybody! Let's make it more painful! Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City starts his tweet of three years since Hamas Genocide Day by noting "This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7." Then he goes profoundly downhill from the sewer in which he lurks.
This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.
The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them – all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.
Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.
To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.
Eight days after the attack, Robert Satloff of The Washington Institue for Near East Policy noted that it
killed more than 1,300 Israelis and third-country
nationals, including at least 29 Americans, in a country whose population is
less than 10 million. In America, that would be equivalent to killing nearly
40,000—13 times more than the number of Al Qaeda victims on 9/11....
As terrible as 9/11 was, tens of millions of Americans woke
up the following morning in our vast country not knowing any of the victims or
their families. In Israel, a country whose width is less than the daily commute
of many Americans, not a single family was untouched by the attack, either
directly, through a neighbor, friend or classmate....
Americans sadly recall how the taking of a much smaller
number of hostages—diplomatic personnel at the American embassy in
Tehran—paralyzed the U.S. government and dominated daily life in our country
for 444 days. Obviously, the hostage factor was never a component of 9/11.
And yet, Zohran Kwame Mamdani decided to celebrate the massacre of October 7, not only by repeating the debunked charge of "genocide" but by going on in detail about the suffering of Palestinians he blames on the Israeli government. Though mentioning (once) Hamas, the mayor did not acknowledge that none of the death and destruction he claims to be distressed by would have taken place without the terrorist group. The word "terrorist," nor any derivative, escapes his lips, nor does "Jew" or any of its derivatives. Yet, he wields the term "Palestinian" with no concern about any Palestinian outside of Gaza. Hatred is made no more credible mixed with ignorance.
If Mamdani had any sense of decency, any denunciation of Israel would have been suspended for days- or at least one. When a human being dies, there is no public criticism of the deceased before, nor during, the day of the funeral. When grieving on the anniversary of the death, out of respect, no one airs grievances against the person.
The best thing, given the mayor's hostility to Jews, would have been for him to say nothing on this anniversary. I checked- it's legal. Admittedly, in the age of individual self-absoprtion, he would have been denounced. So he could have issued a minimalistic statement, including the first four sentences of his tweet and ending with "we now must redouble our pursuit of peace and justice for all peoples of the Middle East". The statement would not have been much dissimilar to that issued by the governor of New York State.
There has been much speculation as to why Mayor Mamdani and President Trump appear to like each other personally. It's now clear that they see some of themselves in each other. Lack of character is a defining feature of both men.
There is a time and place for most things, and the time for condemnation of Israel on October 7 is not the time. Not the time, that is, for any decent person, which leaves Zohran Kwame Mamdani out.
Remember: Donald Trump is not a bad guy. Jared Kushner is not a bad guy. The Saudis are not bad guys.
We know that because the "progressive" left has told us that, indirectly. This guy was sensible until "you're bombing Iran because Israel told you to.
North Korea has nukes and ICBMs that can hit the entire U.S. Iran has neither.
If nukes were the point, you'd be bombing North Korea. You're bombing Iran because Israel told you to.
When in late February President Trump launched an attack on Iran, The Washington Post reported that it was
after a weeks-long lobbying effort by an unusual pair of U.S.
allies in the Middle East — Israel and Saudi Arabia — according to four people
familiar with the matter, as Israeli and U.S. forces teamed to topple Iranian
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei after nearly four decades in power.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made multiple private
phone calls to Trump over the past month advocating a U.S. attack, despite his
public support for a diplomatic solution, the four people said. Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, continued his long-running public
campaign for U.S. strikes against what he views as an existential enemy of his
country.
The combined effort helped lead Trump to order a massive
aerial campaign against Iran’s leadership and military, which in its initial
hour led to the death of Khamenei and several other senior Iranian officials.
That was Israel and Saudi Arabia. It seems that Donald's son-in-law and leading mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks, oligarch Jared Kushner, probably helped persuade Donald given that he
has an indirect financial
connection through his private investment firm to a series of companies
supplying weapons and equipment to the IDF, according to a CNN investigation
published on Thursday and based on Israeli financial documents and Israeli
transparency regulations.
According to the investigation, Kushner-owned Affinity
Partners is the largest shareholder in Phoenix Financial. Documents reviewed as
part of the investigation indicate that Phoenix has investments in nine
companies connected to Israeli military activity, including manufacturers of
ammunition, drones, vessels, and engineering equipment.
The most significant investment is in Elbit Systems, valued
at at least $265 million. Other investments include more than $68 million in
NextVision, which manufactures cameras for drones, and at least $40 million in
Reshef Technologies, which manufactures electronic fuzes for shells. The list
also includes Israel Shipyards, Ashot Ashkelon, Boeing, and Caterpillar.
Kushner does not directly own shares in the nine companies,
but Affinity may indirectly benefit from their profits through its investment
in Phoenix. According to CNN, the company sold about a quarter of its holdings
in July for more than $340 million, generating a return of more than five times
the original purchase price of the shares it sold.
Following the sale, Affinity remained Phoenix's largest
shareholder, with a 7.4% stake valued at more than $1 billion.
The investigation raises questions about the intersection
between Kushner's diplomatic activity and his private business interests.
Kushner is carrying out his work on behalf of the president on a voluntary
basis and does not hold an official government position. Alongside the
diplomatic negotiations, he has presented a plan for Gaza's reconstruction that
includes the development of tourism areas and opportunities for private
investment.
The Iraq war has been very good business indeed for Jared Kushner. He has been given nearly a free pass, and Saudi Arabia a completely free pass, in parceling out blame for the destructive and unpopular war Jared's father-in-law and the Kingdom's friend has been waging in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has been given a free pass, and Jared Kushner nearly a free pass Nor has President Trump, in some quarters, assumed to have agency. The "Zionism is racism" crowd is glad to exempt the American president, his son-in-law, and the Saudis from responsibility for a chance to claim genocide, which these folks don't understand, or Zionism, which these folks don't understand.
"Woke 1 was crazy", Representative Alexandria Ocasi-Cortez acknowledged while smugly giggling. Welcome to Woke 2, its more dangerous sibling.
In August, Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian noted
that United States Representative Alexandria-Cortez in an interview with ABC’s
Jonathan Karl
As Karl pressed Ocasio-Cortez — “You briefly supported the
idea of defunding the police” — she wriggled.
“During this time,” she said, “especially during COVID,
there was a huge opening of the Overton window… And I think that the doors were
really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get
us to a better place.” (The Overton window refers to the range of ideas and
policies that are broadly acceptable to the public at any given time.)
Abcarian pointed out that among pundits, “some were offended
that she seemed to be laughing off an important struggle. Some demanded
contrition for broken careers and shattered lives.”
Nonetheless, virtually everyone assumed that (for
the time being) “woke” was over, at least as one of its main proponents, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, saw it.
The Portland Trail Blazers hired then on the same day fired
Braiden Bell as their play-by-play announcer after a series of inappropriate
social media posts from when he was a teenager came to light.
"The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for
racist, sexist, or harmful comments," the team said in a social media
statement Thursday announcing Bell's dismissal. "Social media posts made
by our recently announced play-by-play broadcaster are in clear violation of
team and league policies, as well as our values and expectations. Therefore, we
will not be moving forward with this broadcaster."
Among the insensitive comments, as found by a reporter for
KGW in Portland, were Bell saying he was "not racist" but "Asian
people piss me off" and a number of misogynistic posts, including him
shouting out "big girls" and "closet whores." The posts
were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years
old.
Oh, dear Lord, that was 14 years ago. Braden was only 15 years old.
"Woke" is not over; not by a long shot. It has served nearly everyone's purpose to claim that it has ended. The left, such as Ocasio-Cortez, wants to reassure the right and the center, so as not to alarm and alert them; the right wants to take a victory lap.
Every time you hear someone say "they" when they clearly mean "he" or "she," you know woke is thriving. The cultural left has been arguing tht there are not merely two genders (sexes) and began several years ago defaulting to "they," and the mainstream has largely followed suit.
Queried on use of illegal drugs, then-governor George W. Bush of Texas would typically answer "when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible". The clever response would typically shut down questioning.
That reflected a failure of journalists who were talking to a guy who would become the 43rd President of the USA. However, it was understandable because it reflected a sane reality. When an individual is young, he (especially a "he") does things that he would not do when older.
Moreover, that was the explanation for some very bad behavior. Bell evidently made some very bad statements. And obnoxiousness which was O.K. for a presidential candidate- Bush's remark satisfied almost everyone- is now not O.K. for a sports broadcaster.
It should be. Although there was scant, and insufficient, scrutiny of the past actions of the 2000 G.O.P. presidential candidate, people do grow out of things. (Bush, for instance, has not been an active alcoholic in decades.) His past was accepted not only because of that but also because, to a degree, that's what is done by young men, a message that GEICO pushed in a series of commercials:
The mid-term elections- aside from a little early voting- haven't even taken place yet, so we don't know how the Republican presidential nomination process will work itself out in 2028. We know even less about the party's vice-presidential nomination. Still, we know a little more than we did a week ago, and one border state hopeful did himself/herself some good, and the other a little harm.
And so it was that former Special Counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee
in a hearing focused on his investigations into President Donald
Trump. He went so far as to say he’d uncovered “proof beyond a reasonable
doubt” that the commander in chief “engaged in serious crimes against our
nation.”
(Missouri Republican) Schmitt wasn’t having any of it. He claimed Smith had
secretly traveled to Atlanta in 2024 to meet with Fulton County District
Attorney Fani Willis, who led her own investigation into Trump. Schmitt cited
text messages he said placed Smith at an Atlanta Hawks game and accused him of
lying about his whereabouts, calling him a “total dirtbag.”
Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar noted that the Senator evidently had confused the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Also, video proof:
This is priceless.
Check out how local news is reporting on Sen Eric Schmidt’s clown-show grilling of Jack Smith.
They found Jack Smith at the game…
“Top corner, section 109, row 1. In fact, that seat doesn’t even exist in Atlanta.” pic.twitter.com/CDyPrKkNgQ
Schmitt didn't just get his facts spectacularly wrong, he
got his facts wrong on the subject of sports, something millions of Americans
care about and understand in detail. Normal Americans care about sports. Top
reporters and pundits in the still male-dominated world of political journalism
care about sports. This is an embarrassment Schmitt will take to his grave. It
won't be forgotten.
This is America. Nothing trumps sports in importance. Further, if Schmitt thinks "total dirtbag" would go down well with the general public, he fails to realize that abject crudity ultimately works well with most voters only if one's initials are D.J.T. Trump has the secret sauce, and no one else does. He is a unicorn.
Schmitt of Missouri was stupid. it has been fairly clear that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not. The "Huckabee" is for the voters of Arkansas, reminding them that she is the daughter of the state's former, popular governor, Mike Huckabee. The "Sanders" reminds voters in that extremely conservative state that she still believes in the tradition of a woman taking on the husband's surname.
The day before Eric Schmitt swung and missed at the Senate Judiciary Committee, Governor Sanders, reportedly running for reelection touting new welfare work requirements released an ad which
follows a fictional character named "Brad," who is portrayed as an able-bodied White man spending his days playing video games, lounging on the couch and avoiding work while relying on taxpayer-funded benefits. Huckabee Sanders argues her proposal would require able-bodied adults without dependents to work, train for a job or volunteer in order to continue receiving assistance.
"Meet Brad," Huckabee Sanders starts the ad. "Brad has turned relaxing into a full-time profession. But you – you actually work hard. You pay taxes to cover welfare for guys like Brad who just choose not to work.
"
She faced considerable backlash as
"Great policy," Co-founder and CEO of The Federalist Sean Davis argued. "Terrible ad that is so dishonest and insulting that it will entirely overshadow the genuinely great policy."
"This is a massive own goal, [Sarah Huckabee Sanders], and you should fire the consultants who made this ad," Will Chamberlain, the Article III Project senior counsel, posted on X. "Do not portray your core voting bloc as losers, period. "
"White males are the Republican Party's voting base and yet they are the group the Republican Party sh—s on at every possible opportunity," responded Daily Wire's Matt Walsh. "Meanwhile, back in reality, women are significantly more likely to be on welfare than men. And black people are astronomically more likely to be on welfare than white people. So the number of single young white male 'Brads' abusing the welfare system is minuscule."…
"Attacking white (specifically Christian) young men is the most acceptable political tactic in America thanks to the evils of liberalism," said the American Principles Project's Caleb Pascoe. "It's staggering how much even the majority of GOP politicians feel safe attacking white young men, instead of communicating the truth of welfare, because they might get called 'racist' or whatever."
Always a white male villain in these ads," another conservative account wrote. "I hate the GOP so much it’s unreal"...
"Your ad targeted and mocked the one demographic—young white men—that is least likely to be on welfare and yet the most likely to be illegally locked out of the job market," Davis added in a follow-up post. "Why?"
There is no indication that Sanders will run for the top job. However, if she is tapped for Vice President, the right will fold like a cheap tent and back her unconditionally.
That's not only because conservatives (and other Republicans) will support whatever individual the presidential nominee taps. It's also because most Republicans tell themselves that their opposition to lazy men has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. The ad validates their hostility to young guys playing video games, laying about, and getting handouts from taxpayers as having nothing to do with race.
And Republicans fear being called "racist". It was the edge candidate Barack Obama had. Individuals could vote for him and assuage guilt they felt over racial animus.
If Sarah H. Sanders determines he wants to promote herself as a national candidate, she could pivot to a race-hostile appeal if she chooses. For now, she subtly distances herself from race and almost completely avoids the condemnation she otherwise would have gotten from center and left media- and from Democrats (which would trigger criticism from the media), who are fine with young white men being stereotyped.
Most Republican and conservative voters will applaud this ad. After all, it's not they, their immediate family, or their close friends who are targeted- it's those others. Americans believe many Americans are lazy- as long as it's not their own people. If it's others, white will do.
Governor Sanders, likely to win re-election in Arkansas, would not have the advantage of being from a swing state if she makes herself available for the veep nomination. However, she was press secretary for Donald Trump in the latter's first term, thus earning herself some admiration from fellow Republicans, as well as learning how to attack GOP enemies and lie effortlessly. She's looking good at present, at least compared to the clown from Missouri.
On the "New Rules" segment of Real Time with Bill Maher Friday night, the host praised the decline in Fetanyl use and death from the drug, attributing it to action taken by each party. He commended President Trump for closing the border and then-President Biden and other Democrats for "fast-tracking" Narcan and Republicans for "closing the border and deporting gang bangers and disrupting supply." There is some truth to that. However, the drop in both supply and demand has many causes.
Trump’s border policies are SAVING LIVES! Fentanyl deaths are down 55%, meth down 34%, and heroin down 89%. Even Bill Maher had to admit that closing the border, deporting gangbangers, and disrupting drug cartels worked! Secure the border, protect the kids! 🇺🇸…
Supply declined beginning in early 2024 because, as this news organization explained
Both the first Trump administration and the administration
of former U.S. president Biden had pressured the Beijing government to attack
the illegal precursor trade, leading to a formal agreement in November 2023.
Many experts initially doubted China’s ability to corral thousands of precursor
producers. Now, some theorize its government may have decided that disciplining
such manufacturers— a tiny part of its economy—could have outsized benefits in
its relations with the United States....
Fentanyl killed off many of its customers. Meanwhile, young
people in their 20s don’t appear to be taking up fentanyl the way older
Americans did. They may be more aware of its dangers, highlighted in news
reports and public-health campaigns.
Sometimes an enforcement action yields benefits years after
it occurs. Starting in the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies introduced
painkillers like OxyContin that addicted millions of Americans. When
authorities tightened access to those pills a few years later, they
inadvertently triggered a new round of the crisis, as desperate users turned to
other opioids—first heroin, then fentanyl. But the stricter controls on
prescription drugs ultimately had another effect. Many people didn’t even start
using them, and so never got to fentanyl. “Fewer people have been exposed to
prescription opioids in recent years, potentially curbing the development of
opioid use disorder,” said a recent analysis in The Lancet Regional Health –
Americas, a medical journal, by drug specialists at the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers point to other possible factors in declining
demand. Fentanyl vendors have increasingly adulterated the opioid with less
lethal substances, such as the animal tranquilizer Xylazine. That reduces
overdoses but also demand: Xylazine puts users to sleep, keeping them from
injecting as often. Public-health initiatives also ramped up in recent years,
with the Biden administration increasing federal funding for addiction
treatment by tens of billions of dollars. Federal and local governments, as well
as local harm-reduction groups, have widely distributed the medication
naloxone, which quickly reverses overdoses.
And then there are the factors which are speculative. Evidently
Scientists and law-enforcement officials acknowledge there’s
still a lot they don’t know. One senior U.S. drug enforcement official said
fentanyl seizures may have fallen, in part, because the Trump administration
has reassigned thousands of FBI, DEA and Homeland Security Investigations
agents from narcotics work to arresting immigrants in the country illegally.
“Yeah, seizures are down,” said the official, speaking on the condition of
anonymity. “But we’re not looking anymore.”
This is a far cry from President Trump claiming full credit. Maher noted the decline in deaths from other illicit drugs- cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine- and accurately remarked
Part of it is reasons beyond politics.... But mostly, it's because Democrats did some things and Republicans did other things. And by not actually working together, they stumbled upon positive change or as Trump put it, "it was all me".
Circumstances for a plunge, though more intentional than serendipitous, amounted to a reversal of a perfect storm. The Chinese recognized their self-interest and negotiated a deal with the Biden Administration; Mexican cartels turning their attention inward; stricter controls on legal drugs; adulteration of opioids by Fetanyl vendors; increased spending by the Biden Administration for drug treatment; shutting down the border by the Trump Administration. These are reasons both of "politics" and beyond politics, and may continue well into the future. Or not.
