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Contents contributed and discussions participated by leilamulveny

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leilamulveny

Mail Balloting Is Fueling Historic Early Voting in the 2020 Election - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...-the-2020-election-11602591220

mail voting politics

shared by leilamulveny on 22 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Several have topped 2016 numbers for mail ballots returned, even as in-person early voting is opening up in much of the country. Altogether in 2016, there were 58.8 million early votes.
  • In the presidential battlegrounds of North Carolina and Florida, registered Democrats have cast more ballots than registered Republicans so far. In North Carolina, independent voters have also cast more early ballots than registered Republicans.
  • Several battleground states are already seeing large numbers of requests for mail ballots. This could make for a long election night in states that prohibit the counting or processing of ballots before election day.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • And in Wisconsin, which starts counting on Election Day, polling places for early voting open Tuesday but already the state is nearing its 2016 early vote total due to a flood of mail-in ballots.
  • Mail balloting has produced fights over the use of special drop boxes and the need for witness signatures.
  • Signatures that don’t match voting records frequently get ballots disqualified, according to federal government data.
leilamulveny

Trump Urges Barr to Initiate Investigation Into Joe Biden and Son - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...-joe-biden-and-son-11603220876

trump investigation biden politics

shared by leilamulveny on 22 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • allegations stemming from New York Post articles suggesting the former vice president was involved in or benefited from his son’s overseas work.
  • The lawmakers also called on such a special counsel to investigate “any corresponding legal or ethical issues that might be uncovered from the former vice president’s 47 years in public office.”
  • During the 2016 election, Mr. Trump similarly attacked his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, leading chants of “lock her up” at his rallies and calling for her to be investigated.
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  • Mr. Barr had taken actions earlier this year to the benefit of Mr. Trump and his supporters, including personal interventions in several criminal cases related to Mr. Mueller’s Russia probe that Mr. Barr said had been poorly handled.
  • Mr. Trump had called the unmasking requests evidence of a plot by senior Obama officials to spy on Mr. Trump’s incoming administration.
  • On the CBS Evening News, anchor Norah O’Donnell said that Mr. Trump cut short a scheduled interview with Ms. Stahl. CBS said the White House said it would only tape the interview for archival purposes and said that the image of Ms. Stahl without a mask was immediately after the interview as she spoke to her producers.
leilamulveny

How Joe Biden's Tax Plan Could Affect You - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...n-could-affect-you-11603307433

joe biden tax plan politics economics

shared by leilamulveny on 22 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Counting both tax increases and tax cuts, the Biden plan would raise between $2 trillion and $3 trillion over a decade, according to recent estimates by the Tax Policy Center and the American Enterprise Institute.
  • It would send revenue as a share of the economy to near the levels it reached in the late 1990s.
  • the top 1% of households would see their after-tax income drop by 16% in 2022. That’s an average tax increase of $265,640.
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  • Also, the Biden plan—or some version of it—is likely to advance in Congress only if Democrats keep a majority in the House and take control of the Senate
  • they only want to repeal parts of the law and that they would focus those changes on corporations and households making more than $400,000.
  • For corporations, he would raise the tax rate to 28% from 21%, impose a new minimum tax and raise taxes on foreign income. For individuals, he would raise the top rate to 39.6% from 37%, create new limits on deductions and impose the 12.4% Social Security payroll tax on wages above $400,000. High-income owners of pass-through businesses that don’t pay the corporate tax would lose a break they got in 2017.
  • The middle 20% of households would get a tax cut worth 1% of after-tax income, or an average of $620.
  • But there are two main ways in which middle-income families could pay more. One is through Mr. Biden’s proposed reinstatement of the individual mandate to buy health insurance. The campaign, citing Trump administration language, describes that as a fee, not a tax. The payments are required by the tax code, and the Supreme Court has ruled that the penalty for failing to purchase health insurance is a tax.
  • So anyone owning stocks could be affected and eventually, companies may raise wages less than they otherwise would.
  • He would temporarily expand the child tax credit to $3,000 from $2,000 and add another $600 for children under age 6
leilamulveny

Obama Hitting Trail for Biden, Setting Up Clash With Trump - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...p-clash-with-trump-11603305923

obama biden wsj pandemic politics

shared by leilamulveny on 22 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Mr. Obama said the president had failed to deliver on the most basic responsibilities of the presidency: The health and safety of the nation
  • “Tweeting at the television doesn’t fix things. Making stuff up doesn’t make people’s lives better. You’ve got to have a plan.”
  • Mr. Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic was “rounding a corner,” as new cases are rising in the United States.
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  • And he said Mr. Biden would raise people’s taxes. Mr. Biden’s tax hike plan would affect those making $400,000 and above.
  • More than 40 million people have already voted, according to data compiled by the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida.
  • He said the pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 Americans, would have tested any president, “but this idea that somehow this White House has done anything but completely screw this up is just not true.”
  • In recent days, Mr. Trump has renewed his criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert
  • Hunter Biden has denied any wrongdoing but said he exercised poor judgment by joining the board of an Ukrainian energy company while his father’s vice presidential duties included Ukraine. A recent investigation by Republican senators didn’t demonstrate that the former vice president sought the removal of Ukraine’s top prosecutor in 2016 to protect the company, Burisma Holdings, from investigation.
leilamulveny

Where Trump and Biden Stand on the Middle East - WSJ - 1 views

www.wsj.com/...on-the-middle-east-11603371604

trump biden middle east wsj politics policy

shared by leilamulveny on 22 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • If Mr. Trump wins re-election, he may find his closeness with Riyadh insufficient to persuade Saudi King Salman to take the bold and domestically controversial step of establishing full diplomatic relations with Israel, former officials and Middle East analysts said.
  • The former vice president has promised tougher scrutiny of Saudi Arabia’s human-rights record and Yemen war, which also could limit his leverage with the kingdom, the analysts added
  • Mr. Trump has voiced hope a new agreement might be negotiated if he is re-elected.
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  • Forging Middle East peace has been a perennial goal for U.S. presidents, leading to historic breakthroughs such as the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, but also repeated failures to break through entrenched positions, particularly between Israel and the Palestinians.
  • Mr. Biden has said he would return to the 2015 agreement if Iran comes back into compliance with its limits, and would then try to negotiate longer-term and more stringent constraints on Tehran’s nuclear program
  • the importance of maintaining Israel’s military edge, limiting U.S. troop deployments to the region and cultivating efforts to foster ties between Israel and its neighbors.
  • backing a two-state solution along widely internationally accepted parameters and opposing any Israeli efforts to annex territory and build settlements.
  • While maintaining strong support for Israel, he would also seek to rebuild ties with the Palestinians.
leilamulveny

Trump's Campaign Saw an Opportunity. He Undermined It. - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...trump-virus-campaign.html

politics pandemic Trump us crisis

shared by leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • If Mr. Trump recovered quickly from his bout with the coronavirus and then appeared sympathetic to the public in how he talked about his own experience and that of millions of other Americans, he could have something of a political reset.
  • While that was the hope, it was severely undermined over the last few days by the president’s own behavior — no more so than Monday when he tweeted to the nation “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life!” without acknowledging that, as president, he gets far better care than the average citizen. His comments signaled a far likelier reality: that the erratic handling of his illness by Mr. Trump and his aides will remind voters of his administration’s failures and efforts to play down the deadly pandemic for six months.
  • almost immediately ripped off his mask for the cameras once there. He then filmed a campaign-style video from the balcony, saying that he was “better” and that “maybe I’m immune, I don’t know” to the ravages of the virus.
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  • Mr. Buck said the president’s approach was not necessarily helpful to him politically because it “didn’t pass the laugh test for a super serious situation that has ruined millions of people’s lives.” But he said it was still concerning because “half the country takes their cues from him.”
  • the hope was that discussing his own experience would help him manage the pandemic going forward, and could have political benefits.
  • It is hardly the first time Mr. Trump has undermined the desires of his aides. He has contradicted them on issues ranging from China policy to preparation for the debate last week.
leilamulveny

The V.P. Debate Between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris: What Time to Watch and Key Issues... - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...tch-and-key-issues-11601987031

debate mike harris politics us policy

shared by leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • “That continuity of government is always in place,” the speaker said later. The
  • debate gives both Mr. Pence, 61, and Ms. Harris, 55, a chance to talk about how they view their roles given the advanced age of the men at the top of their respective tickets. Mr. Trump is 74; Mr. Biden, if elected, would be 78 at his inauguration—making him the nation’s oldest president.
  • Republican and Democratic strategists say one of Ms. Harris’s most defining characteristics may be that she is hard to pigeonhole: at one time a hard-charging prosecutor, and at another, a champion of progressive causes.
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  • Unlike Mr. Pence, whose record has been intertwined with Mr. Trump’s for the past four years, the debate offers Ms. Harris her most high-profile test to defend her running mate.
  • “This time it will be about, you know, requiring some level of knowledge—if not mastery—of Joe’s record; the vice president, Mike Pence’s record; Trump’s record; and then, of course, defending my own record.”
  • The task for Ms. Harris is to make clear that Mr. Biden is the leader of the party while keeping energized the many voters who are inspired by her historic vice-presidential candidacy.
leilamulveny

Debate Showed Trump Hasn't Settled on Main Message Against Biden - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...sage-against-biden-11601550000

debate biden politics culture trump

shared by leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Mr. Trump’s debate performance on Tuesday against Democratic nominee Joe Biden, GOP campaign strategists said, encapsulated his struggle to frame the race in the same consistent and persuasive way he did in 2016, as he spent the night ticking through multiple attacks he and his campaign have rotated through for most of the past year.
  • Mr. Biden has maintained a consistent lead in public surveys
  • Mr. Trump criticized Mr. Biden’s time in government and called him an avatar for much of the liberal wing of the party. He questioned the former vice president’s health, attacked his son and tried to paint Mr. Biden as ill-equipped to stem the violence that has erupted at times alongside civil rights protests during Mr. Trump’s fourth year in office.
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  • Mr. Trump sent mixed messages in his own day-after analysis. During the debate, Mr. Trump said Mr. Biden was beholden to the most liberal members of his party, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and a group of four female House members, known as The Squad, which includes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D., N.Y.). But Wednesday, Mr. Trump said on Twitter that Mr. Biden was in fact not listening to the Left, and that he had spent the debate “throwing Bernie, AOC PLUS 3, and the rest, to the wolves!”
  • But Mr. Trump’s inability to convey a central argument for his candidacy also contrasts with the past two successful presidential campaigns.
  • But Mr. Trump sometimes overlooked his own record.
  • During the portion of the evening focused on the economy, Mr. Biden promised to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%. Mr. Trump interjected, “Why didn’t you do it before, when you were vice president with Obama?” “Because you, in fact, passed that,” Mr. Biden responded, referring to the 2017 tax law cutting the rate to 21%. “That was your tax proposal.”
leilamulveny

Why Biden Would Start Tax Increases at $400,000 a Year - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...-at-400-000-a-year-11601730000

biden tax increases trump politics economics policy

shared by leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • The dividing line is no accident: It was intentionally set to far exceed any definition of the middle class. And it spares much of the coastal professional class that is an important part of the Democratic coalition.
  • “Anyone making over $400,000 can comfortably be classified as a group that can afford to pay a bit more,” said Ben Harris, a campaign economic adviser.
  • the U.S. can expand government programs without imposing a burden on most voters. Republicans counter that Mr. Biden’s plan to raise taxes on companies would also harm many middle-income households and question whether he would really keep this pledge
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  • The $400,000 threshold spares all but 1.8% of households, a group projected to earn 24.8% of adjusted gross income in 2021, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model.
  • In the long run, adhering to such political limits on U.S. taxing capacity might prove challenging as the country faces persistent budget shortfalls. But in the short term, in a weak economy with low interest rates, deficit financing for stimulus efforts is widely supported by lawmakers in both parties.
  • The former vice president is proposing between $3 trillion and $4 trillion in tax increases over a decade, aiming to generate enough money to cover the cost of his permanent policy initiatives in areas such as education and climate change. Much of his agenda won’t happen unless Democrats also retake the Senate.
  • The $400,000 threshold would impose a limit tighter than some Democrats want. The party’s leading proposals for paid family leave and Social Security expansion both feature broad payroll-tax increases that would
  • affect people below that level and would have to be reworked to meet the test.
  • In addition, the Biden campaign talks only about “direct taxes,” which exclude the corporate tax increases that generate more than 40% of the revenue in the Democratic presidential nominee’s plan.
leilamulveny

Where Trump and Biden Stand on Climate and Energy Policy - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...-and-energy-policy-11601809200

climate trump biden energy policy politics

shared by leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • The 2020 presidential election pits one candidate making climate change integral throughout his platform against another who dismisses its importance and pledges to keep pushing a deregulatory agenda.
  • Mr. Biden calls climate change an urgent crisis and has proposed the most aggressive climate agenda of any major presidential finalist ever, analysts say. He proposes to marshal vast government resources, with $2 trillion in spending and plans to make environmental policy and climate change a driving force in decisions on the economy, infrastructure, transportation, social justice, foreign relations and more.
  • Mr. Trump has challenged the science documenting global warming and cast Mr. Biden’s strategy as a threat to U.S. businesses.
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  • the 2015 Paris climate accord to cut global greenhouse-gas emissions. Mr. Trump wants no part of it, while Mr. Biden and his party have promised to keep the U.S. in the pact.
  • Mr. Biden last month, in the second of two major climate speeches he gave this summer, said it is important for the U.S. to show international leadership on climate. As part of a recommitment he would make to the Paris pact, he would push other countries to further cut emissions.
  • One of the few mentions the Trump campaign agenda makes of environmental issues is joining “with Other Nations to Clean Up our Planet’s Oceans.”
  • The power sector would go first and end its emissions by 2035, with the government’s help. In contrast to Mr. Trump’s skepticism of climate science, Mr. Biden’s goals mirror the emissions-reduction path recommended by a U.N. scientific panel in 2018.
  • the Biden campaign has proposed a mix of financial incentives, regulatory mandates and new laws that may face a stiff challenge in Congress.
  • Mr. Trump says deregulation is the way to help companies create jobs, and his appointees have spent years making industry-friendly changes to rules governing coal, oil and natural-gas production.
  • Mr. Biden has tried to counter charges of overregulation by making his climate policy largely about infrastructure and investment. His proposal to spend $2 trillion over four years aims to ease global warming and harden infrastructure for what extreme weather can’t be avoided, but also to help revive the economy.
  • They promise a nationwide expansion of mass transit in every city of more than 100,000 people, with an emphasis on emissions-free systems. They would upgrade more than four million buildings to improve efficiency, and boost research and development on clean-energy technology, including commercial battery storage and advanced nuclear power.
  • Mr. Trump favors oil, gas and coal interests, and they need more interstate pipelines and export terminals to keep growing, Mr. McKenna said.
leilamulveny

Biden Scores 14-Point Lead Over Trump in Poll After Debate - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...-poll-after-debate-11601816400

trump biden debate poll wsj politics

shared by leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Mr. Biden, the Democratic nominee, leads the president, 53% to 39%, among registered voters in the new poll, which was conducted in the two days following the debate but before news emerged that Mr. Trump had tested positive for Covid-19. Mr. Biden’s 14-point lead compares with an 8-point advantage last month and 11 points in July, which was his largest of the campaign at that time.
  • evidence that an individual news event—the debate—is having a material effect on Mr. Trump’s political standing, at least for now
  • His support has never before fallen below 40% on the ballot against Mr. Biden.
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  • support for Mr. Trump has softened among some of his most loyal groups, such as white, working-class men.
  • About three-quarters of voters said the event made no difference to their vote. But among the other 25%, a bigger share said the debate made them more likely to support Mr. Biden than Mr. Trump.
  • While 84% of Democrats said Mr. Biden did a better job in the debate, 54% of Republicans said so of the president. Overall, half of voters said Mr. Biden performed better, with a quarter saying Mr. Trump did. Some 17% said neither candidate did well.
  • voters by a two-to-one margin said Mr. Biden was better at displaying “the right temperament to be president,” 58% to 26%.
  • Mr. Biden leads two-to-one on which candidate can best handle race relations, and he holds single-digit leads on handling crime and making Supreme Court nominations, the poll found.
  • Mr. Trump’s bout with the virus will likely keep the public focused on the pandemic, an issue that voters believe Mr. Biden would be better at handling, 52% to 35%.
  • The survey of 800 registered voters was conducted on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
leilamulveny

Coronavirus Surge in Mail Voting Likely to Lead to More Rejected Ballots - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...e-rejected-ballots-11601827201

voting wsj trump politics policy crisis us

shared by leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Around 1% of them were rejected nationally in the 2016 general election, according to the federal U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Common reasons include ballots being received after the deadline or voters not signing the ballot envelope or supplying a signature that doesn’t match state records.
  • The state’s Supreme Court ruled last month that those mailed without the secrecy envelope, also called “naked ballots,” should be disqualified.
  • In North Carolina, more than 300,000 people have already successfully cast ballots by mail in the general election through Thursday, more than the total cast by mail in 2016. Still, around 3.4% of ballots returned had errors, so far slightly higher than four years ago, the State Board of Elections said.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • “Many voters are casting their ballots by mail for the first time, so some mistakes are expected,”
  • North Carolina, along with more than 30 other states, offer voters who make certain errors that would invalidate their ballots—such as missing or mismatched signatures—a chance to correct them.
  • . For the presidential race, the Trump and Biden campaigns have vowed full-scale efforts to monitor voting and ballot counting
  • Republican and Democratic parties are engaged in legal battles in many states over voting rules.
  • In the June primary in New York City, thousands of ballots were rejected for not being postmarked on time, for voters failing to sign the backs of envelopes and for other reasons, according to candidates
  • Mr. Smith’s research has found mail-in ballot rejections tended to disproportionately affect younger or inexperienced voters and racial minorities in previous elections. Those voters generally lean Democratic.
  • For the general election, voters have already cast 2,105,553 mail-in ballots and 94,338 early in-person votes, based on data from 22 states collected by the Associated Press as of Friday.
  • Democrats are urging voters to vote early, whether by mail or in person. “Ensuring voters know all the multiple options for voting—in person and by mail—is a central focus down the stretch,” said Biden campaign spokesman T.J. Ducklo.
  • Academic studies—such as ones from Dartmouth College and New York University’s School of Law—have found no evidence of widespread fraud in recent U.S. elections.
  • estimated in a publicly released letter to state lawmakers that 100,000 voters statewide could be disenfranchised this election over these “naked ballots.”
leilamulveny

How Coronavirus Changed the Retail Landscape - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...e-retail-landscape-11601976600

pandemic us crisis economics wsj

shared by leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Online credit-card transactions soared. E-commerce sales in the second quarter rose by 44.5% compared with the same period in 2019 and they now make up 16% of all U.S. retail sales, according to the Commerce Department.
  • Consumer spending has picked up since many cities and states began lifting lockdown restrictions and allowing stores to reopen in May, but only some sectors have regained lost ground.
  • Online transactions with credit and debit cards have increased an average of 88% each month since the beginning of April, according to weekly transactions collected by financial-data firm Facteus.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • In August alone, almost 2,200 retail stores closed while only 14 opened.
  • Initial claims for jobless benefits held steady at 870,000 last week, revealing a loss of momentum in the recovery of the labor market. Retail is one area where job losses could be permanent.
  • managed to boost profitability despite the higher costs of operating in a pandemic
leilamulveny

Trump to Isolate at White House as Covid-19 Recovery Continues - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...recovery-continues-11601984725

recovery wsj trump pandemic

shared by leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • Doctors say his condition is improving but declined to detail additional measures put in place at the White House to protect staff.
  • Now that the president is back in the White House, the question of when he will seek to return to the campaign trail remains.
  • Those who test positive can remain contagious until 10 days after the onset of symptoms, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Dr. Conley said Monday it was possible the president would no longer be contagious before the 10-day period ends.
  • The president has repeatedly played down the threat of the virus, which medical experts say is very real, especially for older people and people with pre-existing health problems. After returning to the White House on Monday from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Mr. Trump stood on a White House balcony, removed his mask and flashed two thumbs up.
  • Biden said that he was glad Mr. Trump “seems to be coming along pretty well” but that he hoped the president would “communicate the right lesson to the American people: Masks matter.”
  • including Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s experimental antibody drug cocktail
  • Mr. Trump’s physicians declined to answer several questions about the president’s case
  • “That’s crucial information,” he said. Without it, he said, it isn’t clear how badly the illness has affected him, particularly whether he contracted pneumonia. Mr. Trump’s early treatment with dexamethasone, which is typically given to people with more-severe breathing problems who are further along in the illness, raised questions, Dr. Chin-Hong said.
  • leilamulveny on 06 Oct 20
     
    Details the President's alleged recovery, and inconsistencies with provided information. 
leilamulveny

Oracle Deal With TikTok to Undergo U.S. National Security Review - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...al-security-review-11600097811

politics us trump policy

shared by leilamulveny on 15 Sep 20 - No Cached
  • leilamulveny on 15 Sep 20
     
    President Trump signed an executive order implementing a 45-day deadline for an American company to purchase Tik Tok's US operatives. Current arrangements are with the business software provider - Oracle (currently lags behind behind Amazon and Microsoft in terms of "cloud" leaders) For Oracle the Arrangement could give a jolt to the Silicon Valley stalwart's efforts to transform its staid database business into a major player in cloud computing. However, this deal could draw scrutiny in Beijing as both governments have disrupted negations over Tik Tok's fate in recent weeks. A month ago China imposed export restrictions on the kind of AI algorithms that underpin Tik Tok. The Chinese government is calling this deal an abuse of power under the pretext of national security. Overall, I found this article appealing to our current discussions in the GP course because it represents different perspectives on the issue of President Trump's executive order (a new method to develop different ways to think). Also, this unit is dedicated to how politics relates to oneself and I think that this issue hits close to home for many high school students.
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