23 thoughts on “News/Politics 7-13-19”

  1. Another swing and a miss from Dems and NeverTrumpers. 🙂

    ——————–

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/12/politics/trump-organization-federal-prosecutors/index.html

    “A federal investigation into whether Trump Organization executives violated campaign-finance laws appears to be wrapping up without charges being filed, according to people familiar with the matter.

    For months, federal prosecutors in New York have examined whether company officials broke the law, including in their effort to reimburse Michael Cohen for hush-money payments he made to women alleging affairs with his former boss, President Donald Trump.

    In recent weeks, however, their investigation has quieted, the people familiar with the inquiry said, and prosecutors now don’t appear poised to charge any Trump Organization executives in the probe that stemmed from the case against Cohen.”

    —————-

    Too bad, so sad. 🙂

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  2. Educating ignorant Democrats.

    —————-

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-ice-chief-thomas-homan-gives-fiery-defense-of-ice-and-border-patrol-agents-clashes-with-lawmakers

    “Former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan delivered a fiery defense of border agents during a House hearing where Democratic lawmakers just hours earlier had decried conditions at migrant detention centers — as he ripped into the agency’s congressional critics and said they should be “ashamed” of their conduct.

    “If you don’t like this, do your job. Fix it,” Homan testified before the House Oversight Committee, recalling in graphic detail his own experiences on the job seeing dead bodies in tractor-trailers as he underscored the severity of the border crisis.

    He said agents, amid this crisis, have been subject to “unprecedented attack and vilification” and “those men and women who chose a life of service to this nation deserve better, not only from the media but those in this committee and other members of Congress.”

    “As a 34-year veteran of law enforcement, it is shocking, shocking to see constant attacks against those that leave the safety and security of their homes every day, put on a Kevlar vest and put a gun on their hip and risk their own safety to defend this nation,” he said, at times appearing to get choked up as he defended his former colleagues.

    He appeared to be in part referring to accusations by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and others who have made a host of allegations against agents, including that migrants were made to drink from toilet bowls. Ocasio-Cortez blasted the Trump administration’s immigration policies and stood by her accounts from the border during testimony earlier Friday, alongside colleagues Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.

    “Those that attack the professional integrity of those that serve and blatantly throw unsubstantiated allegations against these men and women with zero evidence of guilt are wrong and should be ashamed,” Homan shot back.”

    ———————

    “He pointed to the more than 4,000 lives saved by Border Patrol agents last year, and said that it was “disheartening” that no one had mentioned that at the lengthy hearing.

    “No one talks about how these men and women bring toys from their homes and their own children to these facilities so the migrant children will have something to play with,” he said. “No one talks about the sickness of these migrants and how these agents take that sickness home to their own families because of that exposure.”

    He asked if any of the critics have attended a burial of a law enforcement agent killed on duty, or consoled a child or spouse of a fallen officer.

    “I have…too many times,” he said.

    Homan upset Democrats on the panel. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., denounced what he described as “equivocation” and screamed at Homan when he tried to object.

    “You’re not at the border, this is a hearing room, this is my time,” he yelled.

    Homan later blasted what he called “political grandstanding” and urged members of Congress to change the law if they don’t like the current law.

    “Don’t blame the men and women wearing the uniform doing the best they can, it’s outrageous,” he said. “This is political theater at its best.””

    Liked by 1 person

  3. More popcorn please!

    https://freebeacon.com/politics/congressional-black-caucus-slams-justice-dems-for-targeting-black-reps/

    “Congressional Black Caucus Slams Justice Dems for Targeting Black Reps

    CBC member compares Justice Democrats to the ‘Russian trolls of 2016’ sowing division in Democratic Party”

    “Democratic lawmakers in the Congressional Black Caucus expressed anger over Justice Democrats attempting to oust black lawmakers in the primaries, saying the group’s strategy is “a bunch of B.S.”

    Justice Democrats, a progressive group aligned with freshman representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), is publicly backing primary challengers to several CBC members, including Reps. William Lacy Clay (Mo.) and Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.). Reps. Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), Joyce Beatty (Ohio), Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.) and Anthony Brown (D-Md.) have also expressed concerns about potentially being targeted in future weeks and months, according to the Hill.

    Rep. Gregory Meeks, a senior CBC member and Queens Democratic Party boss, told the Hill it “seems strange” that “social Democrats seem to be targeting members of the Congressional Black Caucus, individuals who have stood and fought to make sure that African Americans are included and part of this process.”

    “I don’t know what that agenda is, but if they want to come after members of the Black Caucus, it’s two ways,” Meeks said.

    Clay, who has represented his district since 2001, said it’s “insulting” to the intelligence of voters in Missouri for Justice Democrats to target him.

    “They are going after the wrong target. Instead of fighting Republicans and defeating Trump and holding on to our majority, they find it convenient to go after their own, which is to me a bunch of B.S.,” Clay told the Hill. He compared Justice Democrats to “Russian trolls of 2016,” saying they are sowing division in the Democratic Party.

    Rep. Donald McEachin (Va.), another CBC member, was also frustrated by the Justice Democrats, saying the black lawmakers the group targets have some of the most progressive voting records in the caucus.

    “I think challenging other Democrats in the primary when we’re trying to hold on to the majority is wrong unless the person is so far out of bounds, so far away from Democratic orthodoxy, but that’s not what’s going on here,” McEachin said.

    Meeks has called for a meeting between CBC leaders and Justice Democrats to figure out why they are being targeted in the Democratic primaries.

    “We have to find out who they are. Who is really running this show. We have to figure that out,” Meeks said.”

    ——————-

    You know who it is, but you won’t say it because then old George might cut off the cash.

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  4. In Post-Roe World, Pro-Lifers Equip Families to Succeed

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/07/12/in_post-roe_world_pro-lifers_equip_families_to_succeed.html

    “When you’re looking for perspective on how pro-life Americans see the world, rarely does one think to look to the New York Times, which recently opined that a “long, cruel history” marred those committed to helping both mother and child. “Abortion opponents don’t care what happens to an unwanted child, and they’ve never cared about the mother,” headlined the commentary, which included all the typical straw-men arguments easily set afire by abortion-centric rhetoric — a task made possible only because the reality of the pro-life community was ignored.

    Whether on the campaign trail running for office or on college and university campuses, both of us have addressed similar prejudices and answered similar questions usually hurled more as an accusation than an inquiry — questions like “If you’re pro-life, why don’t you care about babies after they are born? Why don’t you help women in need here and around the world?”

    The answer is, we do.

    Conservatives have a long history of defending the preborn, mothers, fathers and struggling families with policies designed to empower them. It’s an abortion mentality that throws in the towel, saying there is no hope, so get rid of the child. It’s pro-family conservatives who care enough to equip people with what they need to prosper.

    A piece in The Atlantic, titled “Do Democrats Make Better Neighbors?,” noted that economist Arthur C. Brooks found that there was a clear difference between governing philosophies. In his book “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism,” “Brooks made a data-driven case that, even after accounting for income differences, conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than liberals do, and that residents of red states volunteer more than those of blue states do.”

    The pro-life community responds to women in need through Pregnancy Care Programs, through community-based assistance, through personal services, and by offering everything from Moms Day Out services to food banks. Pro-lifers are often the ones serving as foster parents, adopting babies and, of course, running maternity homes and faith-based outreach of all kinds.

    But even beyond that kind of charitable help, as conservatives, we advocate – often in the face of partisan opposition – for all kinds of federal and state policies that can make a difference for struggling families.

    While governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker signed legislation that prohibited state and local health insurance programs for government employees from covering abortion, meaning that taxpayers would no longer pay for abortions for government workers. He also signed a predecessor to the federal Protect Life Rule, preventing abortion vendors from receiving Title X family planning funds so that funds were invested in life-affirming care.

    And at the same time, Gov. Walker also pushed for and signed pro-family policies that helped support people in a variety of situations, including reducing property taxes (which especially harm working families), creating a new per-child tax credit, increasing funding and support for mental health services, increased work opportunities for people with disabilities, and signed other legislation to address issues such as the drug and opioid crisis, homelessness, and health care. Thanks to Gov. Walker, Wisconsin now — for the first time ever — covers everyone living at or below poverty levels.”

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  6. It’s time for a harsh response.

    And yes, note as the video starts the American flag they tore down to replace with the Mexican flag is discarded and lying on the ground.

    These people are un-American scum.

    —————-

    https://denver.cbslocal.com/2019/07/12/protests-ice-aurora-immigration-raids/

    ” Hundreds of protesters gathered in Aurora on Friday evening to march to the ICE detention facility where illegal and undocumented immigrants are being housed. They also removed the U.S. flag, replaced it with a Mexican flag, and spray painted graffiti on a Blue Lives Matter flag before it was seen flying upside down on the flag pole.”

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  7. More lies from Democrats and some woman who put her kid’s life in danger who now wants the US to pay for her stupidity and breaking of our laws.

    This is her fault, and no one else’s.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yazmin-juarez-migrant-mom-gives-wrenching-testimony-about-childs-death-2019-07-11/

    “With tears in her eyes, a young Guatemalan mother on Wednesday recounted the death of her 21-month-old daughter after they were both released from U.S. custody, offering a scathing rebuke of conditions in migrant detention centers and bringing some lawmakers to tears with her heart-wrenching testimony.

    As Yazmin Juárez, 21, described her love for her daughter Mariee — who died in May 2018 after being released from the Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dilley, Texas — a visibly emotional Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York placed her hand on her face and began to cry.

    “We came to the United States, where I hoped to build a better and safer life for us,” JuĂĄrez told the subcommittee in Spanish. “Instead, I watched my baby girl die slowly and painfully — just a few months before her second birthday.”

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  9. Democrat Congressman JesĂșs Garcia is a reprehensible ass. Thank you Former Director Homan for pointing it out and speaking some truth to these liars.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. While Homan calls out liars in our govt., Pence was busy with the complicit media.

    ——

    https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/13/mike-pence-cnn-migrant-detention-facility/

    “‘So Dishonest’ — Pence Blasts CNN For Refusing To Tell The ‘Whole Story’ On His Migrant Detention Facility Visit”

    “Vice President Mike Pence criticized CNN on Friday night for not telling the “whole story” in its coverage of his visit to a border migrant detention facility.

    Pence’s trip to the McAllen, Texas facility with Republican lawmakers and reporters included a tour and a roundtable discussion with agents, Fox News reported. He also used a translator to ask migrant children how they were being treated.

    However, when “Anderson Cooper 360” aired CNN senior White House correspondent Pamela Brown’s interview with the vice president, the network featured split-screen footage of a temporary facility built for adult male migrants only and nothing of the family facility or Pence visiting children.”

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  11. Democrats built this. They own it.

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    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/tacoma-police-armed-man-throwing-incendiary-devices-shot-outside-ice-detention-center/?amp=1&__twitter_impression=true

    “A protest outside the federal immigration detention center in Tacoma last year drew headlines when a 68-year-old man wrapped his arms around a police officer’s throat and shoulders in an apparent attempt to free another protester.

    When police got the man into handcuffs, they found a collapsible baton and knife in his pocket, leading to criminal charges.

    Early Saturday morning, that man, Willem Van Spronsen of Vashon Island, returned to the Northwest Detention Center, the holding facility for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, this time armed with a rifle and incendiary devices, according to Tacoma police.

    Police said Van Spronsen tossed lit objects at vehicles and buildings, causing one car fire, and unsuccessfully tried to ignite a propane tank.

    Officers were called by an ICE employee who saw the rifle. Soon after they arrived, officers reported “shots fired,” said Tacoma police spokeswoman Loretta Cool, although it is unclear who fired first or if Van Spronsen fired at all. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office classified his death as a homicide.

    The four responding officers all opened fire and then took cover, uninjured. After medical aid arrived, officers found Van Spronsen dead. He had multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s office. ”

    Immigration is increasingly a flashpoint American politics, and Van Spronsen’s death came on the eve of Sunday’s planned national raid by ICE targeting thousands of undocumented immigrant families who the government said missed court hearings or who had received removal notices. Seattle is not among the 10 cities being targeted in the raids.

    Deb Bartley, a friend of Van Spronsen’s for about 20 years, described him as an anarchist and anti-fascist, and she believes his attack on the detention center was intended to provoke a fatal conflict.

    “He was ready to end it,” Bartley said. “I think this was a suicide. But then he was able to kind of do it in a way that spoke to his political beliefs 
 I know he went down there knowing he was going to die.”

    ——————-

    By Monday the media will be telling you he was a Trump supporter.

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  12. If Trump keeps his appointments up, the 9th Circuit may actually stop being a joke of judicial activism.

    https://freebeacon.com/issues/appeals-court-allows-trump-administration-abortion-funding-ban-to-go-into-effect/

    “The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will allow a Trump administration ban on Title X funding for abortion providers to go into effect on Thursday after abortion advocates and a group of states sought an emergency stay for the policy. The administration’s policy would prevent abortion providers from obtaining federal funding.

    Last month, a three judge panel temporarily allowed the policy to go into effect pending the outcome of an appeal to the Ninth Circuit. The panel’s decision came a few months after an Oregon judge issued a nation-wide preliminary injunction preventing the ban from taking place. A Washington state judge followed suit.

    The decision requires health care clinics to be physically and financially separate from abortion clinics and forbids clinics that receive federal funding from recommending patients pursue abortions.

    The 7-4 decision split the judges along party lines: the seven judges in the majority were appointed by Republicans, while the four judges in the minority were appointed by Democrats.

    Twenty states, the District of Columbia, and a group of abortion-rights advocates including Planned Parenthood unsuccessfully pushed for an emergency stay to the panel’s decision. Planned Parenthood called the decision “devastating news.””

    ——————–

    Babies everywhere call it fantastic news. 🙂

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  13. And another Trump win, from the 9th Circuit.

    Residents of sanctuary cities are about to pay higher taxes for their politics.

    Good.

    https://www.redstate.com/streiff/2019/07/13/president-trump-wins-victory-sanctuary-cities-ninth-circuit/

    “Will wonders never cease.
    One of the most dysfunctional elements in our notoriously dysfunctional immigration system is the ability of municipalities to declare themselves “sanctuary cities.” In essence, this means that cities refuse to cooperate with efforts by ICE to apprehend and deport illegal aliens, even criminals, because OrangeManBad. While I think that this is patently illegal and folks should be indicted for this–name another federal law enforcement issue where anyone puts up with this @#$%$#$%, is there a sanctuary city for automatic weapons?–my bottom line opinion is that if the citizens of those cities want to live in a Third World #$@% hole overrun by a criminal population, then they should be allowed to vote to make that happen. Where my line is drawn is when these goons demand that the federal government take my money to support their effort. That was the issue in a case called City of Los Angeles vs. William Barr that was decided yesterday in the Ninth Circuit.

    The Justice Department awards several billion dollars in grants each year targeted towards particular outcomes. One of the major ones is via Community Oriented Policing Services. The process works like this. A municipality submits a grant proposal. DOJ scores the grant against criteria published in the grant application. The scores are rank ordered. Projects are funded in rank order until funds are exhausted.

    In 2017, Los Angeles applied for a grant, it had received money in just about every year since the program started and thought it was a gimme. In the 2017 application, one of the items scored by DOJ was cooperation with immigration enforcement. Los Angeles, a sanctuary city, got a big, fat goose egg in that area. That loss of points placed LA below the cut line. So they did what any other leftist does when they lose, they went to a friendly judge and filed a lawsuit. And, because this was California, the judge in the case (a Lyndon B. Freakin Johnson appointee) decided that he was Galactic Commander.

    A federal judge in California ruled Wednesday that the Justice Department cannot withhold grant funding from cities and counties that do not comply with its immigration policies, and imposed a nationwide injunction on the feds’ actions.

    Los Angeles officials called the injunction a “complete victory” and a “dagger” in the Trump administration’s tactics to use federal funding as a weapon against cities that do not comply with its immigration policies.”

    —————

    “The administration appealed. The ruling came down yesterday.

    A federal appeals court on Friday gave President Trump a rare legal victory in his efforts to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities, upholding the Justice Department’s decision to give preferential treatment in awarding community policing grants to cities that cooperate with immigration authorities.

    The 2-to-1 opinion overturned a nationwide injunction issued last year by a federal judge in Los Angeles. The appeals court said awarding extra points in the application process to cities that cooperate was consistent with the goals of the grant program created by Congress.

    “The Department is pleased that the Court recognized the lawful authority of the Administration to provide favorable treatment when awarding discretionary law-enforcement grants to jurisdictions that assist in enforcing federal immigration laws,” the Justice Department said in an emailed statement.

    The judges in the majority were both Bush appointees, the dissent was a Clinton appointee, for those of you keeping score and believe that Chief Justice Roberts was huffing Lysol when he claimed “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.”

    The great thing about this decision, in addition to merely being sane and coming from the Ninth Circuit, is that it lays out a clear road map for the Trump Administration to begin choking off the flow of federal cash to municipalities that are at war with the nation’s immigration policy. You can nearly bet that the 2019 round of grants will be full of these conditions.”

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  14. Never mind the facts!

    We have a Republican President to blame dang it!

    And Al Roker isn’t a meteorologist, he just plays one on TV. Maybe he should have asked a real local meteorologist and reporters. They seem to have it right. It’s the MSM that’s lacking, as usual.

    https://www.bayoubrief.com/2019/07/12/national-news-coverage-of-tropical-storm-barry-is-its-own-disaster/

    “National News Coverage of Tropical Storm Barry Is Its Own Disaster”

    “Yesterday, “America’s weatherman,” Al Roker, provided some unsolicited advice to the good people of New Orleans: If he lived here, he would “make plans now” to evacuate. It’s a good idea to be prepared to evacuate any time you find yourself located within a potential hurricane’s “cone of uncertainty.”

    It’s a bad idea for people in New Orleans to listen to Al Roker instead of the actual experts on the ground in Louisiana, and it’s an even worse idea for people like Al Roker to imply, as he did, that they have a better understanding of the situation than Mayor LaToya Cantrell or Gov. John Bel Edwards.

    Right now, as Barry marches on its path toward Morgan City, the wind is beginning to pick up in New Orleans, but the only people who want us to panic seem to be those who think the main lesson of Hurricane Katrina was that the city should have evacuated more quickly.

    New Orleans, of course, did not flood in 2005 because it was hit by a hurricane. It flooded because the federal government’s levee protection system failed. The catastrophic flooding began after Katrina left.

    Both CBS and CNN have emphasized the possibility of Barry being a bigger rain event than Katrina. But rain didn’t cause the city to flood; levee failures did.

    If New Orleans is decimated by a slow-moving tropical storm, it will have absolutely nothing to do with the reason Al Roker thinks. Ironically, the flash flooding that occurred on Wednesday- more than seven inches of rain in an hour- ended up proving the city’s pumping system is performing well, which should be reassuring and not a reason to panic.”

    ——————–

    “Al Roker is not a meteorologist.

    Al Roker has never lived anywhere even close to the Gulf of Mexico. He is, however, second cousins with Lenny Kravitz, and Lenny Kravitz once owned a house in the French Quarter.

    I’m singling out Roker because he calls himself a weatherman, but he isn’t the only national reporter who has completely misrepresented the on-the-ground reality.

    This morning, MSNBC reported that New Orleans was “already underwater.” Not true. And it’s not just standard sensationalism.

    No one is predicting the levees will breach, but, once again, the Army Corps of Engineers hasn’t been inspiring confidence. And the confusion and ambiguities they created are the pretense currently being used by the national press to still cite the wrong numbers.

    No y’all. No one thinks the water could rise to more than 20 feet.

    Thus far, though, the Washington Post failed the most spectacularly, publishing a brazenly false story that suggests some sort of mass exodus is currently underway. Their story was so egregious that it merited a response from the City of New Orleans:”

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  15. DJ Saturday 3:54……..

    “Smart political messaging to gain friends and supporters clearly isn’t their forte”

    Clearly. 🙂

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/07/co-anti-ice-open-borders-protestors-raise-mexican-flag-upside-down-american-flag-at-ice-facility/

    “CO: Anti-ICE Open-Borders Protestors Raise Mexican Flag, Upside Down American Flag At ICE Facility

    Winning hearts and minds . . . for #Trump2020”

    “In response to the news that there were going to be ICE raids and deportations of illegal aliens who have already been issued deportation orders, leftists in Colorado chose a uniquely infuriating way to protest the move.

    They illegally entered federal property, took down the American flag, defaced it, raised it (upside down), and raised a Mexican flag at the same height as the defaced, union-down American flag. They also raised some sort of anti-police/Blue Lives Matter flag in place of the Colorado state flag.”

    The American flag was defaced with the words “Abolish ICE” and raised with the union down:”

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  17. The left seems to be getting more tone deaf as the movement becomes so full of itself. The open feud between the congressional youngsters and Nancy P is the latest in what’s becoming a very interesting twist among the Democrats. While it is interesting to speculate on what will become of the GOP, I think the bigger show now unraveling will be what happens to the Democrats in the months and years to come.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Don’t go away mad, just go away.

    ————-

    ————

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  21. DJ,

    Need some popcorn? 🙂

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/nancy-pelosi-netroots-192943694.html

    “Nancy Pelosi Emerges As Unexpected Villain At Netroots Nation”

    “The chatter at Netroots Nation, a progressive gathering that attracts thousands of people each year, was expected to be on the rising influence of the left on the 2020 presidential election. But frustration with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, once considered an avatar of San Francisco liberalism, has emerged as a constant theme ― centered on her recent criticism of progressive members of her caucus.

    “She doesn’t act this way when Blue Dogs say stupid @#$% about other Democrats and about the party and constantly criticize the party,” said Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the popular liberal blog Daily Kos, referring to a group of conservative House Democrats. “For some reason, she’s singling out these four for a special brand of conflict. It doesn’t make any sense.”

    Progressive discontent toward the California Democrat has been simmering for months, with the feeling that the speaker has been putting the interests of the more conservative members of the caucus over the priorities of the left. She has pushed off pursuing impeachment of President Donald Trump and been slow to embrace ideas like the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All.”

    But it burst into the open when Pelosi gave an interview to The New York Times, dismissing the power of four of the biggest progressive stars in the House: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.).”

    Like

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