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Reading list for US intelligence Agent Lee Harvey Oswald, summer 1963 in New Orleans


Guest Robert Morrow

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Guest Robert Morrow

(Judyth Vary Baker wrote this piece on Lee Harvey Oswald's reading habits in New Orleans, 1963. I do believe that Judyth Vary Baker was Oswald's mistress in New Orleans at that time.)

Check out the reading list of US intelligence agent Lee Harvey Oswald while he was in New Orleans, summer 1963. He is reading Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn! Not exactly pro-commie. And John F. Kennedy's Profile in Courage, Isaac Asimov ... and a bunch of James Bond books that basically glorify Western intelligence agents (which he was one).

http://www.lee-harve...New_Orleans.pdf

Reading List for US Intelligence Agent Lee Harvey Oswald New Orleans summer 1963

http://www.lee-harvey-oswald.com/images/Lee_Harvey_Oswald_and_His_Reading_Habits_in_New_Orleans.pdf

Date Out/Title of Book/Full Title Author(s) Pub. 22 # Pages Date Returned

22 In the 1960s, public libraries usually purchased hardcover editions.

05/22 Biography (by a noted biographer)

Portrait of a Revolutionary: Mao Tse-Tung 1961 311 06/03

Robert Payne

06/01 Murder Investigation (respected Chicago-New Orleans journalist)

The Huey Long Murder Case Hermann B. Deutsch 1963 180 06/15

06/01 Documentary History (conservative writers)

The Berlin Wall Dean & David Heller 1962 ~223 06/15

06/12 Documentary History (author of popular books on US military history)

Conflict Robert Leckie 1962 448 06/26

Full title: Conflict: the History of the Korean War, 1950-53

06/17 Geography and economics textbook (US geographer and professor)

Soviet Potentials George B. Cressey 1962 262 07/01

Full Title: Soviet Potentials: A Geographic Appraisal

06/17 Expository textbook on Communism by husband-wife writing team in psychology & sociology: J. Edgar Hoover wrote recommendation. (The book was checked out for me: Oswald, a recent USSR resident, knew all this material. See Me & Lee for details)

What We Must Know Harry Overstreet 1958 348 07/01

About Communism (actual authors: Harry & Bonaro Overstreet)

Full Title: What We Must Know About Communism: Its Beginnings, Its Growth, Its

Present Status

06/17 Cerebral essays by Schweitzer, Huxley, Oppenheimer, Marcel, Sartre, etc.

This is My Philosophy Edited by Whit. Burnett 1958 378 07/01

(actual editors: Whitney, James & William Burnett)

Full Title: This Is My Philosophy: Twenty of the World's Outstanding Thinkers

Reveal the Deepest Meanings They Have Found in Life.

Date Out/Title of Book/Full Title Author(s) Pub. # Pages Date Returned

06/23 Science fiction: Hugo Winner by the author of 2001

A Fall of Moondust A. C. Clark 1961 224 07/12

(actual name: Arthur C. Clark)

(Why was this book estimated by the FBI to have been checked out by Oswald on

06/23, when it was returned four days later than Thunderball?)

06/24 James Bond spy novel, 9th in the series

Thunderball Ian Fleming (US) 1962 ~272 07/08

07/01 Biography by a noted author, also a Kennedy admirer and personal friend of JFK

Portrait of a President: John F. Kennedy 1962 ~266 07/15

John F. Kennedy (struck through: by Secret Service?)

William Manchester

07/06 3rd in popular Napoleonic era quasi-historic adventure series by the noted author

Hornblower and the Hotspur C. S. Forester 1962 400 07/20

07/06 Soviet Prison Camp Life by (Nobel Prize) anti-communist Russian author

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch 1963 160 07/20

(Russian Title: Один день Ивана Денисовича) or 192

Alexander Solzihnitsyn

(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn)

07/10 Documentary History by the famed Russian-born anti-Nazi British journalist

Russia Under Khrushchev Alexander Werth 1962 ~342 07/24

07/10 1st volume (9 stories) of Science Fictions best, ed. by a noted scientist-author

The Hugo Winners Ed. Isaac Asimov 1962 318 07/24

07/15 History: exploration of the Nile by the renowned author & war correspondent

The Blue Nile Alan Moorehead 1962 ~368 07/29

Date Out/Title of Book/Full Title Author(s) Pub. # Pages Date Returned

07/15 Then-Senator John F. Kennedys account of 8 US Senators whose courageous political battles created a better America

Profiles in Courage John F. Kennedy 1954 272 07/29

07/18 Five full-length spy novels: The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim / Greenmantle by John Buchan / Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler / No Surrender by Martha Albrand / No Entry by Manning Coles

Five Spy Novels selected by Howard Haycraft 1962 757 08/01

07/30 Historical Fiction Description on the dust cover: At the head of the onrushing Hittite legions was Lord Marduk. He was young, he had great wealth, high rank and his wife, Arinna was the most beautiful woman in the empire, but her warped passions drove him to seek another woman's arms.23

23 By this time, Oswald and I had become lovers: both of us were unhappy with how our mates treated us. I am therefore intrigued by the description on this dust cover.

The Hittite Noel B. Gerson 1963 224 08/13

07/30 Science Fiction : 9 novelettes of life in the future

Mind Partner ed. H. L. Gold 1962 241 08/13

07/31 1976 Ed. listed in Bibliographies, AIS (Archeological Institute of America) p. 19

Everyday Life in Ancient Rome F. R. Cowell 1961 ~207 08/14

07/31 9 short stories, 2 comic poems by the great Asimov; re future computer dangers

Nine Tomorrows Isaac Asimov 1959 236 08/14

08/03 Science Fiction anthology: 15 stories

The Expert Dreamers ed. Frederik Pohl 1962 248 08/19

08/03 12 Science Fiction stories by the famed classic S-F writer

The Worlds of Clifford Simak Clifford Simak 1960 302 08/22

Date Out/Title of Book/Full Title Author(s) Pub. # Pages Date Returned

08/12 17 selections from the writings of Huxley, Wells, Poe, Jules Verne, etc.

The Treasury of Science Fiction Classics ed Harold Keubler 1954 694 08/26

08/22 5th in the famed series; one of JFKs 10 favorite books (Life Magazine: 03/17/61)

From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 253 09/05

08/22 Anthology: 16 Science Fiction and Fantasy stories

Portals of Tomorrow August Derleth 1954 371 09/05

Actual Title: Portals of Tomorrow: the Best Tales of Science Fiction and Other Fantasy

08/22 How to Write Science Fiction‖ and 11 other Science Fiction stories

The Sixth Galaxy Reader H. L. Gold ~1962 240 09/05

08/22 The famed novel, a Christian classic, by a revered US General

Ben Hur Lew Wallace 1961 510 09/23

Actual Title: Ben Hur a Story of the Christ

08/22 Considered the best Science Fiction anthologist by many.

Big Book of Science Fiction Groft (sic) Conklin 1950 187 09/23

Actual Title; The Big Book of Science Fiction (‗The‖ often dropped from its true title)

Actual Authors Name: Groff Conklin

08/22 Historical fiction. Trans.from French. Author a former Japanese prisoner of war.

The Bridge Over the River Kwai Pierre Boulle 1954 ~225 09/23

09/19 Science fiction: Huxleys vision of a brutal world after nuclear war, circa 2108

Ape and Essence Aldous Huxley 1948 207 10/03

09/19 Brave New World ranked 5th on The Modern Librarys Board list of the 100 best English language novels of the 20th century in 201024. Futuristic novel w/ science fiction.

24 http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html

Brave New World Aldous Huxley 193225 288 10/03

Edited by Robert Morrow
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(Judyth Vary Baker wrote this piece on Lee Harvey Oswald's reading habits in New Orleans, 1963. I do believe that Judyth Vary Baker was Oswald's mistress in New Orleans at that time.)

Robert:

The question of Oswald's status as an agent is for another time and place, but the topic of Baker is in my wheelhouse. One of the principal characters of her story is David Ferrie, and I know a thing or two about Ferrie. A number of the claims she makes about Ferrie are inconsistent with what I have learned through years of primary research, some major, some minor. It would take a very long paper to list them all, but an example follows. I am left with the certainty that she cannot have ever even met Ferrie.

It follows that the portions of her story dealing with Ferrie must be untrue. And if the Ferrie material is untrue, how can the Oswald material be true? Why fabricate one and not the other?

I could (and will, if you want) give many examples, but here is just one: She vividly describes she and Oswald being driven all over the New Orleans area during the summer months in Ferrie's car. Not a rental or a loaner, but Ferrie's owned car, which she describes in colorful terms. But primary research shows that Ferrie did not have a car that summer. He had a car reposessed in March 1963 and he did not have another until he purchased one in November. Motor Vehicle records show that he did not have a car registered between March and November; there are contemporaneous documents specifically stating that he did not have a car; and several of his acquaintences whom I've interviewed recall that he had no car that summer. How can Baker recall a car which didn't exist? She describes a beat-up car in deplorable condition, just barely able to run. This sounds a lot like the car which was reposessed in March, which I told Baker about in the early 2000s. I cannot conceive of an innocent explanation for this.

I hope I don't offend anyone for saying this: Reading books is not research. The books may be wrong, or misleading or incomplete in some way. Errors are repeated from book to book. Reading books is OK to draw preliminary theories, but fact-checking by primary research is the ONLY way one can state conclusions in unequivocal form.

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My oh my...Oswald read 34 books in the brief time he was in New Orleans, and still

had time to romance both Judyth and Marina, work at Reily and with Banister, conduct

medical experiments with Ferrie, spend time at the public library, visit with Dr. Oshner,

go with Clay Shaw to visit a mental hospital, hand out leaflets at the Trade Mart, get

arrested and spend time in jail, spend time looking at gun magazines at the Crescent

City Garage, appear on a radio show and be recorded lecturing on Communism and

Marxism, have a fight with Carlos Bringuier, find a place for Judyth to live, make

streetcar rides over town, have secret love trysts with Judyth at hotels paid for by

the "romantic" Carlos Marcello...and those are only the things we "know" about.

Wow. What a busy guy!

This proves the theory of multiple Oswalds. One man, working alone, could not

do all these things in the alloted time.

Jack

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Guest Robert Morrow

My oh my...Oswald read 34 books in the brief time he was in New Orleans, and still

had time to romance both Judyth and Marina, work at Reily and with Banister, conduct

medical experiments with Ferrie, spend time at the public library, visit with Dr. Oshner,

go with Clay Shaw to visit a mental hospital, hand out leaflets at the Trade Mart, get

arrested and spend time in jail, spend time looking at gun magazines at the Crescent

City Garage, appear on a radio show and be recorded lecturing on Communism and

Marxism, have a fight with Carlos Bringuier, find a place for Judyth to live, make

streetcar rides over town, have secret love trysts with Judyth at hotels paid for by

the "romantic" Carlos Marcello...and those are only the things we "know" about.

Wow. What a busy guy!

This proves the theory of multiple Oswalds. One man, working alone, could not

do all these things in the alloted time.

Jack

Not everyone reads a book cover to cover. I don't. Especially back then someone might check out 2 or 3. Skim parts of 2 or 3; perhaps read the whole book of the favorite ones.

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My oh my...Oswald read 34 books in the brief time he was in New Orleans, and still

had time to romance both Judyth and Marina, work at Reily and with Banister, conduct

medical experiments with Ferrie...

Come on! You know he didn't finish Ben-Hur.

06/01 Murder Investigation (respected Chicago-New Orleans journalist)

The Huey Long Murder Case Hermann B. Deutsch 1963 180 06/15

I don't know how well this book addresses the possible Long assassination patsy, Dr. Carl Weiss, but for a couple of reasons, this is the most provocative selection on its face. Like Oswald, Weiss is argued to have not fired on Long, having been lured to the state capitol to be shot after Long's bodyguard killed its boss.

If I read about Weiss, had defected to Russia, and found myself assigned to the TSBD...I'd worry about being gunned down as a ready-made outsider. I wonder about the way Oswald's defection (or the defection attributed to the DPD Oswald) fit into his own conception of what he was doing in the TSBD. The DPD Oswald, as much as anyone imitating him, was such a persistent self-incriminator as a would-be communist organization infiltrator (FPCC, etc.) that I cannot imagine how he would not have tipped earlier that this was contributing to his ultimate setting-up in Dallas.

Perhaps, like Richard C. Nagell and other operatives, Oswald came to no longer find foreign association and residence unusual, and became oblivious to the ways that the press and other disinformationists could use it against him. Or perhaps we should consider the implications of Nagell's advice that Oswald was "in it up to his neck." Nagell said we should make no mistake about it.

Edited by David Andrews
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My oh my...Oswald read 34 books in the brief time he was in New Orleans, and still

had time to romance both Judyth and Marina, work at Reily and with Banister, conduct

medical experiments with Ferrie, spend time at the public library, visit with Dr. Oshner,

go with Clay Shaw to visit a mental hospital, hand out leaflets at the Trade Mart, get

arrested and spend time in jail, spend time looking at gun magazines at the Crescent

City Garage, appear on a radio show and be recorded lecturing on Communism and

Marxism, have a fight with Carlos Bringuier, find a place for Judyth to live, make

streetcar rides over town, have secret love trysts with Judyth at hotels paid for by

the "romantic" Carlos Marcello...and those are only the things we "know" about.

Wow. What a busy guy!

This proves the theory of multiple Oswalds. One man, working alone, could not

do all these things in the alloted time.

Jack

Just where was the NOLA Library where LHO checked out books? How far did he have

to go to get there? How many times did he go there?

Jack

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(Judyth Vary Baker wrote this piece on Lee Harvey Oswald's reading habits in New Orleans, 1963. I do believe that Judyth Vary Baker was Oswald's mistress in New Orleans at that time.)

Robert:

The question of Oswald's status as an agent is for another time and place, but the topic of Baker is in my wheelhouse. One of the principal characters of her story is David Ferrie, and I know a thing or two about Ferrie. A number of the claims she makes about Ferrie are inconsistent with what I have learned through years of primary research, some major, some minor. It would take a very long paper to list them all, but an example follows. I am left with the certainty that she cannot have ever even met Ferrie.

It follows that the portions of her story dealing with Ferrie must be untrue. And if the Ferrie material is untrue, how can the Oswald material be true? Why fabricate one and not the other?

I could (and will, if you want) give many examples, but here is just one: She vividly describes she and Oswald being driven all over the New Orleans area during the summer months in Ferrie's car. Not a rental or a loaner, but Ferrie's owned car, which she describes in colorful terms. But primary research shows that Ferrie did not have a car that summer. He had a car reposessed in March 1963 and he did not have another until he purchased one in November. Motor Vehicle records show that he did not have a car registered between March and November; there are contemporaneous documents specifically stating that he did not have a car; and several of his acquaintences whom I've interviewed recall that he had no car that summer. How can Baker recall a car which didn't exist? She describes a beat-up car in deplorable condition, just barely able to run. This sounds a lot like the car which was reposessed in March, which I told Baker about in the early 2000s. I cannot conceive of an innocent explanation for this.

I hope I don't offend anyone for saying this: Reading books is not research. The books may be wrong, or misleading or incomplete in some way. Errors are repeated from book to book. Reading books is OK to draw preliminary theories, but fact-checking by primary research is the ONLY way one can state conclusions in unequivocal form.

You have brought up an interesting point.

What documentation do you have regarding Ferrie's car being reposessed?

Did Ferrie have a driver's license during that time? If so, how can you dismiss the possibility that he was, for example, borrowing a car? Who was it who said Ferrie did not use a car that summer? More than one person? How did he get from place to place? Do you feel you have supported your assertion that Ferrie *could not* have had access to a car at that time?

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You have brought up an interesting point.

What documentation do you have regarding Ferrie's car being reposessed?

Did Ferrie have a driver's license during that time? If so, how can you dismiss the possibility that he was, for example, borrowing a car? Who was it who said Ferrie did not use a car that summer? More than one person? How did he get from place to place? Do you feel you have supported your assertion that Ferrie *could not* have had access to a car at that time?

I don't know how to quote specific passages in this Forum. (Can somebody tell me how?)

Reposession: Southern Research Report March 1963 - investigators learned this from the finance company. Car described in deplorable condition.

License: Yes, valid Louisiana license.

Borrowing? Baker described it as Ferrie's car, in deplorable condition.

Who said...? Morris Brownlee, Layton Martens, but see also newsman Alec Gifford in CD75, based on neighbors' statements.

How did he...? Motorcycle. See Gifford, for example.

Supported? I didn't say he "could not have had access to a car." I said he didn't have his own car at the time, as Baker indicated

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Not to take this thread off-topic a bit, but I have numerous other Ferrie issues with Baker's story.

She has him (in April 1963) in a pilot's jacket and hat, apparently his Eastern Air Lines uniform. But Ferrie was suspended by EAL in September 1961, was officially terminated in March 1963, and was desperately trying to get his job back. Ferrie would be crazy to screw this up by wearing the uniform whan he was not authorized to do so. (And union steward Corny Kramer told me Ferrie's jacket was still in his locker when it was emptied in September 1963.)

She has him in New Orleans at a party when EAL records place him in Miami waiting for a morning flight.

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(Judyth Vary Baker wrote this piece on Lee Harvey Oswald's reading habits in New Orleans, 1963. I do believe that Judyth Vary Baker was Oswald's mistress in New Orleans at that time.)

I could (and will, if you want) give many examples, but here is just one: She vividly describes she and Oswald being driven all over the New Orleans area during the summer months in Ferrie's car. Not a rental or a loaner, but Ferrie's owned car, which she describes in colorful terms. But primary research shows that Ferrie did not have a car that summer. He had a car reposessed in March 1963 and he did not have another until he purchased one in November. Motor Vehicle records show that he did not have a car registered between March and November; there are contemporaneous documents specifically stating that he did not have a car; and several of his acquaintences whom I've interviewed recall that he had no car that summer. How can Baker recall a car which didn't exist? She describes a beat-up car in deplorable condition, just barely able to run. This sounds a lot like the car which was reposessed in March, which I told Baker about in the early 2000s. I cannot conceive of an innocent explanation for this.

Maybe Ferrie "gave the car back" in March, (to muddy the waters: tradecraft)and still drove it? If Ferrie wasn't driving this old car in that summer, why JVB is accurate in the description of that car? How she found out the condition of a car Ferrie never drove that summer as you claim?

Your blind faith in your sources is a bit naive.

KK

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I've had the pleasure of speaking with Stephen, and will let him defend himself, but will say he is extremely willing to back up any claim with first hand information. He is, indeed, the Ferrie expert.

He said above he was willing to provide more evidence if necessary, so calling him "Naive" is extremely condescending...and he hardly seems to be excepting info on Blind faith, when he pointed out he goes directly to first hand sources.

You could possibly do a search on this forum regarding his knowledge. It speaks for itself.

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Guest Robert Morrow

Not to take this thread off-topic a bit, but I have numerous other Ferrie issues with Baker's story.

She has him (in April 1963) in a pilot's jacket and hat, apparently his Eastern Air Lines uniform. But Ferrie was suspended by EAL in September 1961, was officially terminated in March 1963, and was desperately trying to get his job back. Ferrie would be crazy to screw this up by wearing the uniform whan he was not authorized to do so. (And union steward Corny Kramer told me Ferrie's jacket was still in his locker when it was emptied in September 1963.)

She has him in New Orleans at a party when EAL records place him in Miami waiting for a morning flight.

Stephen, have you read the spectacular book Barry and the Boys about Barry Seal. He was in the Civil Air Patrol as was Oswald. I think this is one of the most important US politics books written in the past years because it ties together so many stories and political players:

http://www.amazon.com/Barry-Boys-Americas-Secret-History/dp/0970659105

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Stephen, have you read the spectacular book Barry and the Boys about Barry Seal. He was in the Civil Air Patrol as was Oswald. I think this is one of the most important US politics books written in the past years because it ties together so many stories and political players:

http://www.amazon.com/Barry-Boys-Americas-Secret-History/dp/0970659105

An extension of my earlier comments to you, offered in respect:

Jim Marrs opened his classic "Crossfire" with "Don't trust this book," admonishing readers to always seek corroboration in primary sources. Sage advice.

My first reaction in reading Barry and the Boys was that there were a number of errors dealing with Ferrie, but mostly minor. Then I dug a little deeper. One of his central claims is that Barry Seal attended a CAP bivouac at Barksdale in 1955 with Ferrie and Oswald. However...

1) Ferrie was not officially in the CAP on July 23, 1955. Having been essentially kicked out of the larger CAP squadron at Lakefront Airport at the beginning of the year, he was a volunteer lecturer at the smaller squadron at Moisant Airport during the summer of 1955. There is no record of Ferrie attending/not attending Barksdale, but not being a staff member suggests that he might not have attended. On the other hand, Ferrie might have met Seal (who was in the Baton Rouge squadron) at some other CAP event. (Info on Ferrie's CAP status: FBI interviews with Moisant Commander Joe Lisman, and cadet leader Gladys Durr)

2) Oswald didn't even join the Moisant group until July 27, 1955, a few days too late. Could he have attended anyway? Colin Hamer (mentioned in the HSCA report, later the NO librarian) was the cadet coordinator for the event, and he retained the listings of cadets who attended. Oswald's name does not appear on the list. So we have no way of knowing if Ferrie attended, and we can be pretty sure Oswald did not.

3) Both before and after Barry and the Boys, I interviewed some of the same people as Hopsicker did, and several of them were pretty mad at how he misquoted them. Specifically, among others, FBI agent Del Hahn, Colin Hamer and Gordon Novel.

So at the least, I regard Hopsicker's book with a strong dose of caution. There are a few interesting nuggets in there, but I try to confirm them with the source. This is what I mean about going beyond assertions in books.

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Maybe Ferrie "gave the car back" in March, (to muddy the waters: tradecraft)and still drove it? If Ferrie wasn't driving this old car in that summer, why JVB is accurate in the description of that car? How she found out the condition of a car Ferrie never drove that summer as you claim?

Your blind faith in your sources is a bit naive.

KK

1) The car was in the possession of General Finance Corp. when the March 1963 report was written.

2) Back in the early 2000s, I had an exchange with Baker about the car, and I described it as written in the report, deplorable, etc. It was long after that, when her first book was published, that she described it in similar terms.

3) As for sources, there is a false equivalency here: One one side: the March 1963 report, a 1963 FBI interview with a reporter who heard this from Ferrie's neighbors, my interviews with his known acquaintances and the Louisiana DMV records. On the other hand: A late-arriving unproven claim from a person who has never offered evidence to prove an acquaintance with Ferrie. Is it naive blind faith to apply more weight to one than the other?

Edited by Stephen Roy
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I've had the pleasure of speaking with Stephen, and will let him defend himself, but will say he is extremely willing to back up any claim with first hand information. He is, indeed, the Ferrie expert.

He said above he was willing to provide more evidence if necessary, so calling him "Naive" is extremely condescending...and he hardly seems to be excepting info on Blind faith, when he pointed out he goes directly to first hand sources.

You could possibly do a search on this forum regarding his knowledge. It speaks for itself.

Thanks, Steve. I'm not beyond making mistakes or learning new things, but it seems silly to take a pretty clear contradiction and try to nitpick it.

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