THE ABSURD TIMES
ILLUSTRATION: Latuff shows fascist wave in France.
LePen
defeated the opposition parties with her "Ultranationalist" party
recently. A good part of this is the
so-called "austerity" imposed by the European Union and the rest can be
attributed to the Socialist Presidents' inability to act like a Socialist. Most of his campaign promises are
unfulfilled, sort of like Obama here who has also been a disappointment. The only reason Obama doesn't look like a
complete fool is that he has the Republicans and their right-wing nonsense.
A good
example is the stupid Benghazi investigation.
I'd support investigating why the hell we invaded or attacked Libya in
the first place and whether that attack made it better. Another is the VA investigation. Most veterans who actually do get treatment
at the VA are pleased with the service and results, but that can be attributed
to the fact that it is a government run service, not a private, for profit,
venture. A better investigation would
be into the funding for the VA, who voted to increase its funding and who
wanted to cut it. The last point on
this is that we must realize that once a soldier is discharged, he is no longer
government property and part of a war effort and becomes simply a human being
in need of health care. Such are our
values.
We do
support the Fascist movement in Ukraine although the supporters of the Kiev
government, for the most part, have stopped carrying around flags with
swastikas on them. Still, more ultra
nationalism.
About the
only thing that keeps the U.S. from becoming totally fascist is its own
racism. It is difficult for most people
in the U.S. to think of the country in its entirety being made up of a
"Mater Race," when so many of its own "races" hate each other. It is simply too petty and selfish to become
classically fascist.
We do have
some other crazy things going on.
Feminists all over are screaming about this Elliott Rodger and all the
variant spellings of the first name when he at least had the affliction of
mental illness. Certainly, his attitude
towards women was idiotic, but out of frustration. There is a real problem with that attitude in males who do not
have that excuse, and far too many of the morons.
John Kerry,
Secretary of State, has blathered wildly the past few months about a variety of
subjects. Just recently, NBC, a
corporate media enterprise, interviewed Snowden to ask about a number of
things. It was a pretty far-ranging
interview and surprising in its quality, although it is about a year late. One of the things John Kerry has been saying
is that Snowden should "Man Up" and face trial in the U.S. I suppose he is implying that Snowden needs testosterone
shots?
Many are
saying he should come here and "face the music"? What music do they have in mind? Wagner?
Verdi? Beethoven? Knowing the culture here, I shudder to think
of what sort of "music" they have in mind.
I imagine
we might as well close with a note on Egypt:
A fair
trial? The law under which they want to
prosecute him precludes, as Snowden pointed out, his presenting any exculpatory
evidence whatsoever. Snowden is not
stupid enough to believe that a return would be in any way profitable for him
and would at the very least end with him in a prison.
I rather suspect that Kerry will have to find other uses for his
testosterone shots.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2014
Egyptian Regime Scrambles to Boost Low Turnout in Election Sealing General Sisi’s Grip on Power
Egypt’s presidential election has been
extended for a third day in an apparent bid to boost voter turnout. The outcome
is believed to be a foregone conclusion with former army chief Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi widely expected to win. But the conspicuously low voter turnout
threatens to undermine the credibility of the election and has led the
military-backed government to take desperate measures. On Tuesday, the
government declared a public holiday to encourage voter participation. It also
waived public transportation fares, encouraged shopping malls to close early,
and threatened to fine Egyptians who did not vote. Local politicians took to
the airwaves to repeat messages from Muslim and Christian leaders about a
"religious duty" to vote. If Sisi wins the election as predicted, he
will become the sixth military man to run Egypt since the army overthrew the
monarchy in 1952. He led the ouster of democratically elected President Mohamed
Morsi last year. Some Islamic and liberal political groups have urged Egyptians
to boycott the election, arguing that the vote is unfair and illegitimate. We
go to Cairo to speak with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in
its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to Egypt’s presidential election, which has
been extended for a third day in an apparent bid to boost voter turnout. The
result of the election is believed to be a foregone conclusion, with former
Army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi widely expected to win. But the low voter
turnout threatens to undermine the credibility of the election.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we go right to Egypt, where we’re joined
by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy
Now! correspondent in Cairo,
joining us from a polling place. Can you describe where you are, Sharif, and
the significance of the extension of the election and making yesterday a
national holiday so people would turn out?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Yeah, that’s right, Amy. I’m speaking to you in front of a
poll station in Dokki, a district in Cairo. As you can see behind me, there’s
very few people lined up. In fact, there’s no line outside the polling station.
And this has been the case for the past two days. There was a much
lower-than-expected turnout for this election, which had the authorities
desperate to boost people coming to the polls. So, initially, they extended
voting hours on Monday by an hour. Then they declared Tuesday a holiday for
both state and private employees. They closed the stock market. They suspended
fares for the train and the metro to facilitate people getting to the polls.
And they even had the Justice Ministry saying that people were going to get
fined if they didn’t go to vote. It also spurred many of the hosts
on—pro-military hosts on television, that dominate the airwaves, were in
hysterics last night, criticizing people for not turning out, having a lot of
elite disdain for the Egyptian people, one host calling people traitors for not
voting, another telling business owners to check their employees’ hands to see
if there was ink proving that they voted. So, there was really, I think, a lot
of shock by the authorities at the level of turnout.
Now, some of the
reasons for this lower-than-expected enthusiasm for this poll, there’s many,
but one may be voter apathy. I mean, we have seen three—seven elections. This
is the seventh poll in Egypt since the ouster of Mubarak just over three years
ago. None of the people in office right now have been elected by any of those
polls. And when those—when we did have elected officials, much of the political
elites spent their time discussing issues over identity rather than issues, the
deep—discussing the deep social and economic problems that plague Egypt. So,
the electoral process has been increasingly dissatisfying and alienating for
many Egyptian voters.
Another reason is, of
course, the certainty of the outcome of this election. Unlike the 2012 poll,
which had candidates from across the political spectrum, this election just has
two candidates, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahi, both of which espouse
different brands of the same ideology, Nasserism. And Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is a
candidate that’s backed by the state, he’s backed by the business elite, and is
widely expected to win. And so the certainty of the results may have played
into people not bothering to come.
And certainly, there
is an active boycott. We have to remember that the largest political group in
the country, the Muslim Brotherhood, is not taking part in this election.
They’ve been the subject of an incredibly harsh crackdown. Many of their rank and
file have been killed. Their leaders are jailed. And so they have refused to
take part, as have groups like the April 6 Youth Movement. So, again, officials
are saying the turnout is somewhere between—in the mid-thirties, but that is a
much lower turnout than we saw in the runoff that elected Mohamed Morsi in
2012, which had 52 percent.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Sharif, el-Sisi is so guaranteed to win that he
hasn’t even made one public appearance during his campaign?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: I’m sorry, could you repeat the question?
NERMEEN SHAIKH: That Sisi has not appeared publicly once himself during
this campaign, even though his images are ubiquitous throughout the country?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Sorry, Nermeen, it’s cutting a bit, but I—from what I
understand from your—what your question is, about Sisi’s campaign. He has run a
very, very controlled campaign. He has not had any public appearances,
preferring instead to meet people and officials at his campaign headquarters,
or do events by video link to other parts of the country. He’s done very few
media appearances, and those have been very managed, with very easy questions.
And he’s made very clear that he’ll have no civilian oversight of the military;
when he was asked bluntly this question, he refused to answer. And his
electoral program is shrouded in mystery. He has said that the crisis, or what
they call the war on terrorism, is his program.
AMY GOODMAN: Sharif, we’re going to have to leave it there. That does
it for the show. Sharif Abdel Kouddous reporting from Cairo.
The
original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org.
Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately
licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.
ILLUSTRATION: Latuff shows fascist wave in France.
LePen
defeated the opposition parties with her "Ultranationalist" party
recently. A good part of this is the
so-called "austerity" imposed by the European Union and the rest can be
attributed to the Socialist Presidents' inability to act like a Socialist. Most of his campaign promises are
unfulfilled, sort of like Obama here who has also been a disappointment. The only reason Obama doesn't look like a
complete fool is that he has the Republicans and their right-wing nonsense.
A good
example is the stupid Benghazi investigation.
I'd support investigating why the hell we invaded or attacked Libya in
the first place and whether that attack made it better. Another is the VA investigation. Most veterans who actually do get treatment
at the VA are pleased with the service and results, but that can be attributed
to the fact that it is a government run service, not a private, for profit,
venture. A better investigation would
be into the funding for the VA, who voted to increase its funding and who
wanted to cut it. The last point on
this is that we must realize that once a soldier is discharged, he is no longer
government property and part of a war effort and becomes simply a human being
in need of health care. Such are our
values.
We do
support the Fascist movement in Ukraine although the supporters of the Kiev
government, for the most part, have stopped carrying around flags with
swastikas on them. Still, more ultra
nationalism.
About the
only thing that keeps the U.S. from becoming totally fascist is its own
racism. It is difficult for most people
in the U.S. to think of the country in its entirety being made up of a
"Mater Race," when so many of its own "races" hate each other. It is simply too petty and selfish to become
classically fascist.
We do have
some other crazy things going on.
Feminists all over are screaming about this Elliott Rodger and all the
variant spellings of the first name when he at least had the affliction of
mental illness. Certainly, his attitude
towards women was idiotic, but out of frustration. There is a real problem with that attitude in males who do not
have that excuse, and far too many of the morons.
John Kerry,
Secretary of State, has blathered wildly the past few months about a variety of
subjects. Just recently, NBC, a
corporate media enterprise, interviewed Snowden to ask about a number of
things. It was a pretty far-ranging
interview and surprising in its quality, although it is about a year late. One of the things John Kerry has been saying
is that Snowden should "Man Up" and face trial in the U.S. I suppose he is implying that Snowden needs testosterone
shots?
Many are
saying he should come here and "face the music"? What music do they have in mind? Wagner?
Verdi? Beethoven? Knowing the culture here, I shudder to think
of what sort of "music" they have in mind.
I imagine
we might as well close with a note on Egypt:
A fair
trial? The law under which they want to
prosecute him precludes, as Snowden pointed out, his presenting any exculpatory
evidence whatsoever. Snowden is not
stupid enough to believe that a return would be in any way profitable for him
and would at the very least end with him in a prison. I rather suspect that Kerry will have to find other uses for his
testosterone shots.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2014
Egyptian Regime Scrambles to Boost Low Turnout in Election Sealing General Sisi’s Grip on Power
Egypt’s presidential election has been
extended for a third day in an apparent bid to boost voter turnout. The outcome
is believed to be a foregone conclusion with former army chief Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi widely expected to win. But the conspicuously low voter turnout
threatens to undermine the credibility of the election and has led the
military-backed government to take desperate measures. On Tuesday, the
government declared a public holiday to encourage voter participation. It also
waived public transportation fares, encouraged shopping malls to close early,
and threatened to fine Egyptians who did not vote. Local politicians took to
the airwaves to repeat messages from Muslim and Christian leaders about a
"religious duty" to vote. If Sisi wins the election as predicted, he
will become the sixth military man to run Egypt since the army overthrew the
monarchy in 1952. He led the ouster of democratically elected President Mohamed
Morsi last year. Some Islamic and liberal political groups have urged Egyptians
to boycott the election, arguing that the vote is unfair and illegitimate. We
go to Cairo to speak with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in
its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to Egypt’s presidential election, which has
been extended for a third day in an apparent bid to boost voter turnout. The
result of the election is believed to be a foregone conclusion, with former
Army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi widely expected to win. But the low voter
turnout threatens to undermine the credibility of the election.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we go right to Egypt, where we’re joined
by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy
Now! correspondent in Cairo,
joining us from a polling place. Can you describe where you are, Sharif, and
the significance of the extension of the election and making yesterday a
national holiday so people would turn out?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Yeah, that’s right, Amy. I’m speaking to you in front of a
poll station in Dokki, a district in Cairo. As you can see behind me, there’s
very few people lined up. In fact, there’s no line outside the polling station.
And this has been the case for the past two days. There was a much
lower-than-expected turnout for this election, which had the authorities
desperate to boost people coming to the polls. So, initially, they extended
voting hours on Monday by an hour. Then they declared Tuesday a holiday for
both state and private employees. They closed the stock market. They suspended
fares for the train and the metro to facilitate people getting to the polls.
And they even had the Justice Ministry saying that people were going to get
fined if they didn’t go to vote. It also spurred many of the hosts
on—pro-military hosts on television, that dominate the airwaves, were in
hysterics last night, criticizing people for not turning out, having a lot of
elite disdain for the Egyptian people, one host calling people traitors for not
voting, another telling business owners to check their employees’ hands to see
if there was ink proving that they voted. So, there was really, I think, a lot
of shock by the authorities at the level of turnout.
Now, some of the
reasons for this lower-than-expected enthusiasm for this poll, there’s many,
but one may be voter apathy. I mean, we have seen three—seven elections. This
is the seventh poll in Egypt since the ouster of Mubarak just over three years
ago. None of the people in office right now have been elected by any of those
polls. And when those—when we did have elected officials, much of the political
elites spent their time discussing issues over identity rather than issues, the
deep—discussing the deep social and economic problems that plague Egypt. So,
the electoral process has been increasingly dissatisfying and alienating for
many Egyptian voters.
Another reason is, of
course, the certainty of the outcome of this election. Unlike the 2012 poll,
which had candidates from across the political spectrum, this election just has
two candidates, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahi, both of which espouse
different brands of the same ideology, Nasserism. And Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is a
candidate that’s backed by the state, he’s backed by the business elite, and is
widely expected to win. And so the certainty of the results may have played
into people not bothering to come.
And certainly, there
is an active boycott. We have to remember that the largest political group in
the country, the Muslim Brotherhood, is not taking part in this election.
They’ve been the subject of an incredibly harsh crackdown. Many of their rank and
file have been killed. Their leaders are jailed. And so they have refused to
take part, as have groups like the April 6 Youth Movement. So, again, officials
are saying the turnout is somewhere between—in the mid-thirties, but that is a
much lower turnout than we saw in the runoff that elected Mohamed Morsi in
2012, which had 52 percent.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Sharif, el-Sisi is so guaranteed to win that he
hasn’t even made one public appearance during his campaign?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: I’m sorry, could you repeat the question?
NERMEEN SHAIKH: That Sisi has not appeared publicly once himself during
this campaign, even though his images are ubiquitous throughout the country?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Sorry, Nermeen, it’s cutting a bit, but I—from what I
understand from your—what your question is, about Sisi’s campaign. He has run a
very, very controlled campaign. He has not had any public appearances,
preferring instead to meet people and officials at his campaign headquarters,
or do events by video link to other parts of the country. He’s done very few
media appearances, and those have been very managed, with very easy questions.
And he’s made very clear that he’ll have no civilian oversight of the military;
when he was asked bluntly this question, he refused to answer. And his
electoral program is shrouded in mystery. He has said that the crisis, or what
they call the war on terrorism, is his program.
AMY GOODMAN: Sharif, we’re going to have to leave it there. That does
it for the show. Sharif Abdel Kouddous reporting from Cairo.
The
original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org.
Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately
licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.
ILLUSTRATION: Latuff shows fascist wave in France.
LePen
defeated the opposition parties with her "Ultranationalist" party
recently. A good part of this is the
so-called "austerity" imposed by the European Union and the rest can be
attributed to the Socialist Presidents' inability to act like a Socialist. Most of his campaign promises are
unfulfilled, sort of like Obama here who has also been a disappointment. The only reason Obama doesn't look like a
complete fool is that he has the Republicans and their right-wing nonsense.
A good
example is the stupid Benghazi investigation.
I'd support investigating why the hell we invaded or attacked Libya in
the first place and whether that attack made it better. Another is the VA investigation. Most veterans who actually do get treatment
at the VA are pleased with the service and results, but that can be attributed
to the fact that it is a government run service, not a private, for profit,
venture. A better investigation would
be into the funding for the VA, who voted to increase its funding and who
wanted to cut it. The last point on
this is that we must realize that once a soldier is discharged, he is no longer
government property and part of a war effort and becomes simply a human being
in need of health care. Such are our
values.
We do
support the Fascist movement in Ukraine although the supporters of the Kiev
government, for the most part, have stopped carrying around flags with
swastikas on them. Still, more ultra
nationalism.
About the
only thing that keeps the U.S. from becoming totally fascist is its own
racism. It is difficult for most people
in the U.S. to think of the country in its entirety being made up of a
"Mater Race," when so many of its own "races" hate each other. It is simply too petty and selfish to become
classically fascist.
We do have
some other crazy things going on.
Feminists all over are screaming about this Elliott Rodger and all the
variant spellings of the first name when he at least had the affliction of
mental illness. Certainly, his attitude
towards women was idiotic, but out of frustration. There is a real problem with that attitude in males who do not
have that excuse, and far too many of the morons.
John Kerry,
Secretary of State, has blathered wildly the past few months about a variety of
subjects. Just recently, NBC, a
corporate media enterprise, interviewed Snowden to ask about a number of
things. It was a pretty far-ranging
interview and surprising in its quality, although it is about a year late. One of the things John Kerry has been saying
is that Snowden should "Man Up" and face trial in the U.S. I suppose he is implying that Snowden needs testosterone
shots?
Many are
saying he should come here and "face the music"? What music do they have in mind? Wagner?
Verdi? Beethoven? Knowing the culture here, I shudder to think
of what sort of "music" they have in mind.
I imagine
we might as well close with a note on Egypt:
A fair
trial? The law under which they want to
prosecute him precludes, as Snowden pointed out, his presenting any exculpatory
evidence whatsoever. Snowden is not
stupid enough to believe that a return would be in any way profitable for him
and would at the very least end with him in a prison. I rather suspect that Kerry will have to find other uses for his
testosterone shots.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2014
Egyptian Regime Scrambles to Boost Low Turnout in Election Sealing General Sisi’s Grip on Power
Egypt’s presidential election has been
extended for a third day in an apparent bid to boost voter turnout. The outcome
is believed to be a foregone conclusion with former army chief Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi widely expected to win. But the conspicuously low voter turnout
threatens to undermine the credibility of the election and has led the
military-backed government to take desperate measures. On Tuesday, the
government declared a public holiday to encourage voter participation. It also
waived public transportation fares, encouraged shopping malls to close early,
and threatened to fine Egyptians who did not vote. Local politicians took to
the airwaves to repeat messages from Muslim and Christian leaders about a
"religious duty" to vote. If Sisi wins the election as predicted, he
will become the sixth military man to run Egypt since the army overthrew the
monarchy in 1952. He led the ouster of democratically elected President Mohamed
Morsi last year. Some Islamic and liberal political groups have urged Egyptians
to boycott the election, arguing that the vote is unfair and illegitimate. We
go to Cairo to speak with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in
its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to Egypt’s presidential election, which has
been extended for a third day in an apparent bid to boost voter turnout. The
result of the election is believed to be a foregone conclusion, with former
Army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi widely expected to win. But the low voter
turnout threatens to undermine the credibility of the election.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we go right to Egypt, where we’re joined
by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy
Now! correspondent in Cairo,
joining us from a polling place. Can you describe where you are, Sharif, and
the significance of the extension of the election and making yesterday a
national holiday so people would turn out?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Yeah, that’s right, Amy. I’m speaking to you in front of a
poll station in Dokki, a district in Cairo. As you can see behind me, there’s
very few people lined up. In fact, there’s no line outside the polling station.
And this has been the case for the past two days. There was a much
lower-than-expected turnout for this election, which had the authorities
desperate to boost people coming to the polls. So, initially, they extended
voting hours on Monday by an hour. Then they declared Tuesday a holiday for
both state and private employees. They closed the stock market. They suspended
fares for the train and the metro to facilitate people getting to the polls.
And they even had the Justice Ministry saying that people were going to get
fined if they didn’t go to vote. It also spurred many of the hosts
on—pro-military hosts on television, that dominate the airwaves, were in
hysterics last night, criticizing people for not turning out, having a lot of
elite disdain for the Egyptian people, one host calling people traitors for not
voting, another telling business owners to check their employees’ hands to see
if there was ink proving that they voted. So, there was really, I think, a lot
of shock by the authorities at the level of turnout.
Now, some of the
reasons for this lower-than-expected enthusiasm for this poll, there’s many,
but one may be voter apathy. I mean, we have seen three—seven elections. This
is the seventh poll in Egypt since the ouster of Mubarak just over three years
ago. None of the people in office right now have been elected by any of those
polls. And when those—when we did have elected officials, much of the political
elites spent their time discussing issues over identity rather than issues, the
deep—discussing the deep social and economic problems that plague Egypt. So,
the electoral process has been increasingly dissatisfying and alienating for
many Egyptian voters.
Another reason is, of
course, the certainty of the outcome of this election. Unlike the 2012 poll,
which had candidates from across the political spectrum, this election just has
two candidates, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahi, both of which espouse
different brands of the same ideology, Nasserism. And Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is a
candidate that’s backed by the state, he’s backed by the business elite, and is
widely expected to win. And so the certainty of the results may have played
into people not bothering to come.
And certainly, there
is an active boycott. We have to remember that the largest political group in
the country, the Muslim Brotherhood, is not taking part in this election.
They’ve been the subject of an incredibly harsh crackdown. Many of their rank and
file have been killed. Their leaders are jailed. And so they have refused to
take part, as have groups like the April 6 Youth Movement. So, again, officials
are saying the turnout is somewhere between—in the mid-thirties, but that is a
much lower turnout than we saw in the runoff that elected Mohamed Morsi in
2012, which had 52 percent.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Sharif, el-Sisi is so guaranteed to win that he
hasn’t even made one public appearance during his campaign?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: I’m sorry, could you repeat the question?
NERMEEN SHAIKH: That Sisi has not appeared publicly once himself during
this campaign, even though his images are ubiquitous throughout the country?
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Sorry, Nermeen, it’s cutting a bit, but I—from what I
understand from your—what your question is, about Sisi’s campaign. He has run a
very, very controlled campaign. He has not had any public appearances,
preferring instead to meet people and officials at his campaign headquarters,
or do events by video link to other parts of the country. He’s done very few
media appearances, and those have been very managed, with very easy questions.
And he’s made very clear that he’ll have no civilian oversight of the military;
when he was asked bluntly this question, he refused to answer. And his
electoral program is shrouded in mystery. He has said that the crisis, or what
they call the war on terrorism, is his program.
AMY GOODMAN: Sharif, we’re going to have to leave it there. That does
it for the show. Sharif Abdel Kouddous reporting from Cairo.
The
original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org.
Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately
licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.