Episodes

  • Trump is Already Attacking the Election. The stupid arch vs Arlington & Vets. JD Vance Continues to Suck.

    Trump is Already Attacking the Election. The stupid arch vs Arlington & Vets. JD Vance Continues to Suck.
    Oct 28 2026
    MS Senate Race Tightens—the Indy is Ignored. Jay-Z for Super Bowl Halftime. Brewers Fever! We are less than one week from the most consequential election of our lifetime, and Trump is already attacking it. Paul Rieckhoff breaks down the three-plan playbook for election interference — the military (and why Chairman Dan Caine may say no), ICE at the polls, and plan C: a million-dollar bounty paid out to any 'wahoo' who claims to spot voter fraud. Bolsonaro is reportedly fleeing Brazil for Florida. Netanyahu may be next. Mar-a-Lago is becoming a safe harbor for strongmen, and right-wing podcasters are pre-loading the 'rigged' narrative in case Democrats win. From there: Trump's proposed 250-foot triumphal arch would darken 75,000 graves at Arlington Cemetery for 280 days a year — another unpopular move veterans will fight. JD Vance continues his 'why I should clearly never be president' tour. In Mississippi, independent veteran Ty Pickens is polling 6% in a Senate race the media refuses to acknowledge is a three-way. And a viral No Kings protest clip is a reminder that independent does not mean neutral. Anger alone is not enough — turn it into impact. Four independent veteran Senate candidates — Achilles, Bengs, Osborn, Bodnar, Pickens — need boots on the ground right now. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Check out the important work happening at Independent Voter News at IVN.us. -Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker. -Let Vets Vote: Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code INDEPENDENT to get $25 when you trade $25. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platformsRead more at SubstackSupport ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. And now part of the BLEAV network! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    25 mins
  • Can Obama close the deal? Lawler on the ropes. Cait Conley’s breakout ad. And why independents decide it all one week from now.

    Can Obama close the deal? Lawler on the ropes. Cait Conley’s breakout ad. And why independents decide it all one week from now.
    Oct 27 2026

    Seven days out. The marathon is almost over, and the 90 million independents who have been written off, condescended to, and told they don't really exist are about to decide every close race in the country. Paul lays out why this moment belongs to independents, why the Democrats need Barack Obama as their closer, and why Republican incumbent Mike Lawler is in genuine trouble in New York's 17th against combat veteran Cait Conley — whose breakout ad ran straight through the Giants game this weekend.

    From there, Paul connects the dots to Israel's election this week, where Netanyahu faces former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot in what looks increasingly like Israel's own referendum on extremism — a mirror of the test American voters face at home. He closes with a straight talk on the fake-work theatrics choking the final week — the McDonald's cosplay, the bus-driving photo ops, the pretend-to-dig-a-hole ads — and why voters want politicians who understand what it's like to only be able to afford McDonald's, not politicians who dress up to serve it.

    -WATCH full video of this episode here.

    -Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker.

    -Let Vets Vote: Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that.

    -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code INDEPENDENT to get $25 when you trade $25.

    -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off.

    -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months!

    -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here.

    -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

    Connect with Independent Americans:

    • Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platforms
    • Read more at Substack
    • Support ad-free episodes at Patreon
    • Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook
    Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

    -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.

    -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year.

    Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media.

    And now part of the BLEAV network!


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    24 mins
  • Hillary Clinton Stupidly Smears McConaughey. Sara Haines Follows Matthew’s Lead on The View.

    Hillary Clinton Stupidly Smears McConaughey. Sara Haines Follows Matthew’s Lead on The View.
    Oct 26 2026
    Hegseth Broke Eisenhower’s World. Bloomberg - $80M to Dems. Vance Sells Out Ukraine and Continues to Suck. The partisan machine is scared, and it's showing. In episode 658, Paul Rieckhoff goes solo to answer the growing chorus of independent-haters — from Hillary Clinton's smear of Matthew McConaughey on Kara Swisher's show to the online pundits recycling the tired "hidden partisan" talking point against the 45% of Americans who refuse to put on a jersey. Paul lays out why that smear falls apart the second you look at Nebraska, South Dakota, Idaho, and Montana, where a vote for the Democrat is the actual spoiler. He also celebrates Sara Haines doing on The View what McConaughey did on Kara Swisher — breaking the seal, giving millions of Americans permission to declare their independence out loud. From there it's a full media blitz: Pete Hegseth's staff physically broke General Eisenhower's World War II globe trying to haul it into the SecDef's office, Mike Bloomberg cut Democrats an $80 million check while independent candidates fight on fumes, JD Vance went on tape telling Ukraine to stop bombing Russian energy facilities, Steve Witkoff called Vladimir Putin a "humanitarian" to his face, and new reporting shows the GRU hacked Jared Kushner's phone and watched the money flow in from MBS and MBZ. Corruption is the story. Independents are the answer. And the duopoly's chokehold is dying faster than they want you to know. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker. -Let Vets Vote: Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code INDEPENDENT to get $25 when you trade $25. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platformsRead more at SubstackSupport ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. And now part of the BLEAV network! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    29 mins
  • Trump’s billion dollar ballroom vs $6 diesel. Dan Osborn vs.Pete Ricketts.

    Trump’s billion dollar ballroom vs $6 diesel. Dan Osborn vs.Pete Ricketts.
    Oct 25 2026
    Something is cracking in the Midwest. Iowa farmers are staring at $1,000 fill-ups for their tractors, fertilizer costs through the roof, and a White House that only remembers rural America two weeks before an election. Meanwhile Donald Trump is spending $1.2 billion of taxpayer-adjacent money on an East Wing ballroom, a triumphal arch, a Garden of Heroes, and a plan to repaint the Eisenhower building because he thinks it should be whiter. Paul Rieckhoff joins Katie, Carrie Dan of the Cook Political Report, Mike Nellis, and McKay Coppins to connect the dots between the vanity projects, the $8 billion farmer bailout nobody trusts, and a corruption narrative that is finally landing with independent voters. The panel digs into Dan Osborn's independent run against Cubs part-owner Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, Tarek the wheelchair-dragging Iowa Democrat scrambling the governor's race, and why Trump is campaigning in the one Iowa district that isn't competitive. McKay Coppins unpacks the sea change in evangelical politics — how "Christian values" quietly became a political signifier instead of a religious one. And Paul lays out why eat-the-rich sentiment, the same force that just took down Orban in Hungary, is coming for an American political class that forgot who it works for. If you want to understand the terrain heading into the next cycle, this is the conversation. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker. -Let Vets Vote: Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code INDEPENDENT to get $25 when you trade $25. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platformsRead more at SubstackSupport ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. And now part of the BLEAV network! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    25 mins
  • Dead-Heat in Nebraska. Dan Osborn neck-and-neck with a $7M self-funder.

    Dead-Heat in Nebraska. Dan Osborn neck-and-neck with a $7M self-funder.
    Oct 23 2026
    93 counties, 200 events, and riding a wave McConaughey just supercharged. Iran, the USS Lincoln, and Christmas on a credit card. Plus: Friday Football picks. Dan Osborn is back for a record sixth appearance, and he's walking into the final stretch of the most-watched Senate race in the country. Running as a true independent against Pete Ricketts — a sitting senator from a billionaire family that owns the Chicago Cubs — Osborn has outworked, out-hustled, and out-organized a $50 million machine. Fourteen counties left on a ninety-three county tour. More than two hundred public events. Small-dollar donations from all fifty states. And a message that is cutting through: less than two percent of Congress comes from people who punch a clock, and that is exactly why nothing gets done. Paul and Dan dig into the mechanics of a dead-heat race, the Matthew McConaughey moment and what star power finally means for the independent movement, and the sucking chest wound of the Iran war — the USS Abraham Lincoln, the attempted suicides on board, service members paying their own way home, and a Congress of jellyfish refusing to invoke the War Powers Act. Dan also gets honest about the cost at home: Christmas on a credit card, groceries climbing, paychecks flat. Then Football Friday closes it out, because the man is a Nebraska guy and the Cornhuskers are back. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker. -Let Vets Vote: Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code INDEPENDENT to get $25 when you trade $25. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platformsRead more at SubstackSupport ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. And now part of the BLEAV network! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    36 mins
  • Trump’s 180 on Ukraine. Witkoff calls Putin a “humanitarian.”

    Trump’s 180 on Ukraine. Witkoff calls Putin a “humanitarian.”
    Oct 22 2026
    Musk’s Starlink shutdown blindsides Kyiv. Bodnar, Osborn, Achilles, Bengs & the indy vets shaking up the Senate. Media Blitz Pod Paul Rieckhoff joins Connell McShane on News Nation with retired Air Force Special Operations Commander Glenn Ignazio to call the Ukraine pivot what it is: a 180. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff addressed Vladimir Putin as a "humanitarian" — a word for a man who has indiscriminately killed civilians from Odessa to Bucha and is still shipping lethal aid to Iran. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports Elon Musk himself ordered the Starlink/Starshield throttle that blindsided Ukrainian forces mid-fight, a precedent Glenn calls unprecedented and dangerous: a civilian defense contractor unilaterally shutting off a battlefield capability. Zelensky is signaling openness to freezing the front lines to get to a ceasefire — not to surrender territory — but only if Putin stops the bombing and shows up to the table. Then Paul turns to the political front. Independents are now 45% of American voters, dwarfing registered Democrats, and a wave of independent veterans is making the 2026 Senate map real: Seth Bodnar surging in Montana, Dan Osborn neck-and-neck in Nebraska, Todd Achilles climbing in Idaho, Brian Bengs in South Dakota, Ty Pickens in Mississippi. Paul calls Matthew McConaughey's recent push the "McConaughey moment" — the breakout that cracks the rigged two-party system wide open. Whether you came up MAGA, Democrat, or neither, this one connects the dots between forever wars, gas prices at home, and why the parties don't want you to hear from the people actually running to fix it. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker. -Let Vets Vote: Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code INDEPENDENT to get $25 when you trade $25. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platformsRead more at SubstackSupport ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. And now part of the BLEAV network! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    18 mins
  • $7M vs $6,800. Independent Marine vet Matt Baker is taking on both parties in Va Beach.

    $7M vs $6,800. Independent Marine vet Matt Baker is taking on both parties in Va Beach.
    Oct 21 2026
    The Iran forever war, the McConaughey moment, no debates and a rigged fight by design. Paul Rieckhoff sits down with retired Marine Colonel Matt Baker, the independent veteran running for Congress in Virginia's 2nd District — a shipyard-and-base-heavy stretch of coastline where readiness is being ridden into the deck and families are watching their sailors cycle in and out of the Iran war. Baker is a Naval Academy grad, a combat veteran of Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and a battalion commander in Afghanistan who's now running against a Republican incumbent and a Democratic former Navy commander — two candidates with roughly $7 million each. Baker's campaign has $6,800. The local paper didn't bother to mention him. There has been exactly one formal debate across all 12 Virginia congressional races. By design. This is the Matthew McConaughey moment made concrete. Paul and Matt get into the readiness crisis in Norfolk, why families won't talk about Iran out loud, the mechanics of a two-party system that functions as a cage match, and why Baker refuses to play kingmaker for either side. They also get into what it means to run as an independent when the players are also the referees — and why a 34% path to victory in a three-way race is the kind of fight a Marine infantry officer actually welcomes. If you want to understand what the independent movement looks like at the district level — not as theory, but as $6,800 and a pair of boots — start here. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker. -Let Vets Vote: Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code INDEPENDENT to get $25 when you trade $25. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platformsRead more at SubstackSupport ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. And now part of the BLEAV network! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    43 mins
  • McConaughey 2028? The Hollywood star’s independent moment. Bengs ties Rounds in S Dakota. Musk asked Trump to throttle Starlink.

    McConaughey 2028? The Hollywood star’s independent moment. Bengs ties Rounds in S Dakota. Musk asked Trump to throttle Starlink.
    Oct 20 2026
    The independent movement had a breakout weekend, and Paul Rieckhoff walks you through every piece of it. Matthew McConaughey went public with a message that lit up phones across the country — a Hollywood heavyweight planting a flag for the plurality of Americans who refuse to put on a jersey. In a deep-red state most pundits wrote off, independent veteran Brian Bengs is now tied with GOP Senator Mike Rounds at 43-42. And a new report says Elon Musk personally asked Donald Trump to throttle Starlink speeds in Ukraine — hampering drone defenses while Ukrainian kids were dying. If true, it's treasonous. Full stop. Paul connects the dots between a rising independent slate — Bengs, Osborn, Bodnar, Achilles — and the cultural permission structure a figure like McConaughey can unlock for a 2028 run that could rival Ross Perot's 20%. He breaks down the ex-press secretary disaster that captured the Trump administration in one clip, the real story behind Coast Guard recruiting numbers nobody is telling you, and finishes on something genuinely inspiring: Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade carrying out the first unmanned ground drone evacuation of a wounded soldier in combat history. Righteous anger, patriotic hope, and a movement that is finally being heard. -WATCH full video of this episode here. -Track the IVA candidates on our poll tracker. -Let Vets Vote: Millions of American veterans are being locked out of primary elections in the country they served. See what we’re doing to change that. -Visit Kalshi and trade on anything. Use code INDEPENDENT to get $25 when you trade $25. -Head to cozyearth.com and use the code AMERICANS for an exclusive 20% off. -Join Noble Mobile today and get a $100 bonus when you use code PAUL and stay a member for 2 months! -Learn more about American Veterans for Ukraine here. -Learn more about The Headstrong Project for Veterans, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and Department of Veterans Affairs resources in your area. Seeking support is not a sign of weakness. It’s a show of strength. If you or a loved one are in immediate crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Connect with Independent Americans: Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all podcast platformsRead more at SubstackSupport ad-free episodes at Patreon Connect: Instagram • X/Twitter • BlueSky • Facebook Follow on social: @PaulRieckhoff on X, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky -Join the movement. Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power. -And get cool IA and Righteous hats, t-shirts and other merch now in time for the new year. Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. And now part of the BLEAV network! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    29 mins