9-30-25 - 8am - Comey Indictment and RTD Fast Tracks

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Michael, I think the acts or the artists that
play the halftime at the super Bowl, I think they
don't actually really get paid for that.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Dragon.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
I can look this up and correct me if I'm wrong,
but I think they actually have to pay in order
to play the halftime at the super Bowl. I don't know,
I could be wrong.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Bye.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
I know they don't get paid, but I've never heard
that they pay.

Speaker 5 (00:27):
There's a bit the wishy washy situation as to whether
or not who pays for the production. So the performer
themselves do not get paid, so Bad Bunny will not
receive a pay check. So whether or not the production
like having you know, the stages or whatnot, whether he
pays the NFL to have these stages built or if

(00:51):
it is the NFL that has these stages built.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Now you say it's why you say it's wishy washy.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Because we don't know as to what is what here.

Speaker 5 (01:00):
We don't know if Bad Bunny will pay for that,
or the NFL will pay for that, so or his.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
Record label or his production company or whatever might pay
for it. Yeah, but we know for a fact that
they they don't get paid. They've never gotten paid, correct, Yeah,
Which is why everybody wants to do it, because you
have an audience of one hundred and twenty seven million people. Correct.

Speaker 5 (01:19):
Yes, So the aspect of them possibly having to pay
to be the halftime performers could be a thing as
to whether or not they're production companies with them would
have to make the stages.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Well, you know who it was left that talk back,
don't you. I mean, come on, let let's face it.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
She's she's smarter than you.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
No, she's probably still hungover and she doesn't have a
clue what she was saying anyway, So you know it's
kind of sad.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
She just misses the dogg os.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
She does miss the dogs doggles miss her, I can
tell you that, and I don't want to. But compared
to what I'm paying now, moh my god, I used to.
I used to bitch about how much had to pay her.
Crap I get. I'd give anything to go back to
paying her again. She was cheap.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
That's why she had to get a real job. Mike, Oh,
that's right, you paid her a living wage.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
She'd still I always gave her a five dollar tip,
and I always did it in cash, so she'd had
to report the five dollars in taxes.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
It's more than enough for two giant lean exactly.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
You didn't think it was five dollars a dog, did you?
Good grief? No, I wouldn't do that. Some people you
miss and some people you don't. Who's calling me? Who's
calling me during the program?

Speaker 6 (02:38):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (02:39):
Uh oh?

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Possible scam?

Speaker 4 (02:42):
No?

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Jojo?

Speaker 4 (02:44):
No, Well that's that's possible. Let's see Jojo uh temper camera?
No university coloral hill you see? Hell?

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Uh oh?

Speaker 5 (02:56):
Hey your test results came back. No, you might stay
out of the room. I might be contagious. Okay, let's
talk about.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
Kmy for a minute, because I've been I've been doing
a lot of reading about Komy and this grand jury indictment.
I think a lot of people, including myself, when it
first came out, speculated that the charges related to a
nearly more than ten year old league that was made

(03:27):
right before the twenty sixteen presidential election. The Virginia Grand
Jury indicted comy On if you remember two counts, a
false statement to Congress and obstruction of Congress. They did
it last week. In fact, I think the statue limitations
either ran yesterday or the statues limitations ran today. So

(03:50):
that's why they got it done. In the indictment, the
prosecutors alleged that Comy did willfully and knowingly make a materially,
materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement by falsely stating to

(04:10):
a US Senator during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that
he had not authorized someone else at the FBI to
be an anonymous source in news reports regarding an FBI
investigation concerning Person number one, who was not named. The

(04:31):
indictment demenon in the second part to allege that Komi
had quote in fact, had authorized person number three to
serve as an anonymous source in news reports regarding an
investigation concerning person number one. I thought when I first

(04:55):
read it, and I'm on the record, I think it's
on the t they say. I thought person number three
was going to be former FBI Director Deputy Director Andy McCabe. Remember,
he was the subject of an internal Department of Justice
inquiry for his leak back in October of sixteen to

(05:18):
the Wall Street Journal in which he confirmed an investigation
into the Clinton Foundation. Now, person number one, I don't
think any doubt is Hillary Clinton. The Inspector General Michael
Horowitz who I think is still there. In twenty eighteen,
determined that McKay misled investigators about his role in authorizing

(05:41):
the Elite to the Journal. Now, clearly McKay was trying
to save face following disclosures of his ties to the
Clinton allies. But remember McKay was never charged. Now, of
course that really pissed off Trump his supporters. So I
think the original assumption that mcabis person number three actually

(06:06):
might be inaccurate. Instead, I think person number three is
And this beginn This is based on some reading and
a couple of podcasts that I listened to that were
specifically dealing with this indictment. Might be Daniel Richmond. Remember,
he's the professor at Columbia Law School. He's a friend

(06:29):
of Komy, He's a crony of Kmy. He's a media
source to Pete. Know the media often runs too. Now
that relationship between Comy and Professor Richmond that first came
to light after Comy directed Richmond to disclose to reporters
the details of the conversation between Comy and Trump in

(06:54):
February twenty seventeen about the investigation into General Flynn. Comy
documented in the form of memos every single private conversation
with the president. Then he kept copies of those memos
at his home. Komy shared the memo about the Flynn

(07:16):
discussion with Richmond right after Trump fired Komy back in
twenty seventeen, and Comy instructed Professor Richmond go share this
with the New York Times. Comy said that he initiated
the leak, and that leak resulted in a bombshell New

(07:40):
York Times article back in May of twenty seventeen claiming
that Trump had asked Komy to stop the probe into
General Flynn and that was used to prompt the appointment
of a special counsel into the Russia Gates scandal. And
that's when Bob Mueller, the former director of the FBI,

(08:02):
was named special counsel the very next day. But that league,
I think represents only the tip of the iceberg in
this relationship between Komy, Professor Richmond, and the cabal, because
Richmond did more than simply feed the ego of his friend,

(08:23):
he actually acted as a stooge for Comy. He successfully
fed to reporters favorable portrayals of Komy and damaging stories
about Trump and his associates and I go back to
twenty fifteen, about the same time that DOJ opened an
investigation into Clinton's private email server. Coomy actually asked the

(08:46):
FBI to hire Richmond as a special government employee with
a top security clearance. That's all according to this tranch
of documents that's been released by the Department of Justice
and the FBI related to a separate and closed FBI
investigation about unlawful leaks. I think this is more about

(09:11):
the leaks because records pertaining to that investigation I briefly
mentioned this maybe a couple of weeks ago. That investigation
was code named Arctic Hays that was initiated during Trump's
first term, and that's what revealed the nature of the
Komi Richmond partnership. An internal memo in the Department of

(09:35):
Justice says this, This is from the Department of Justice.
This is an internal memo. Komy also hired Richmond Professor Richmond,
so Komy could discuss sensitive matters, including classified information, with
someone outside of the FBI's regular leadership. Comy also used

(09:55):
Professor Richmond as a liaison to the media. On several occasions.
Richmond spoke with the media without consultation with the FBI
or the Department of Justices Offices of Public Affairs Richmond
contacted is still According to the memo, Richmond contacted journalists
to correct stories critical of Comy the FBI and to

(10:18):
shape future press coverage. Professor Richmond did this both when
he was a special government employee and after he resigned
from the FBI as a special government employee. Now that
quote from that memo, I think that substantiates the DOJ's

(10:43):
allegation that Komy lied to Senator Cruz during that September
twenty twenty Judiciary Committee hearing reading back Comy's twenty seventeen
testimony where he claimed he had never authorized anybody at
the FBI. He never authorized anybody. This is an anonymous
source in stories about either the Trump investigation or the

(11:04):
Clinton investigations. That's when Cruz asked Comy if he stood
by his previous statements. So your tent will.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
To another topic.

Speaker 7 (11:17):
On May third, twenty seventeen, in this committee, Chairman Grassley
asked you point blank, quote have you ever been an
anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the
Trump investigation of the Clinton investigation? You responded, under oath quote,
never He then asked you, quote, have you ever authorized

(11:38):
someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source
in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton administration?
You responded again under oath No. Now, as you know,
mister McCabe, who works for you as publicly and repeatedly
stated that he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal
and that you were a directly aware of it and

(12:01):
that you directly authorized it.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Now, what mister McCabe is.

Speaker 7 (12:06):
Saying and what you testified to this committee cannot both
be true.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
One or the other is false. Who's telling the truth.
I just can only speak to my testimony.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
I stand by what the testimony you summarized that I
gave in May of twenty seventeen.

Speaker 7 (12:21):
So your testimony is you've never authorized anyone to leak.
And mister McCabe, when if he says contrary, is not
telling the truth.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Is that correct?

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Again, I'm not going to characterize Andy's testimony, but mine
is the same.

Speaker 7 (12:32):
Today, all right, I'm going to make a final point
because my time has expired. This investigation of the president
was corrupt. The FBI and the Department of Justice were
politicized and weaponized, and in my opinion. There are only
two possibilities that you were deliberately corrupt or willfully incompetent,
and I don't believe you were incompetent. This has done

(12:57):
severe damage to the professional and the honorable men and
women at the FBI because law enforcement should not be
used as a political weapon.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
And that.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
Now that exchange, going back and listening to it again
is a little muddied because what Senator Cruz, I think
in artfully did was he intertwined the mccab league with
his line of questioning. But when you do a plane

(13:31):
just a simple reading of Komy's twenty seventeen and twenty
twenty sworn testimony, it confirms he claimed he never authorized
anyone to league, and that is what is demonstrably false.
I never authorized anyone. Nobody ever said James Comy was

(13:53):
an idiot. In fact, as Cruse points out, he's competent,
no doubt he's competent. But you're probably corrupt. Now, Remember,
Professor Richmond held his special government employee status until February
of seventeen. He kept his security clearance longer, until July

(14:14):
of seventeen. There are other documents in this ARCT. Kase
pro that revealed the way in which the FBI, at
Comy's instruction, fed classified information to reporters, and Richmond, who
was interviewed as part of the arct k's inquiry, told
investigators that indeed he had been a source for New

(14:35):
York Times reporter Michael Schmidt dating back to two thousand
and eight. Now, the reason that's important is because Schmidt
is the author of a bunch of Russia Gate articles.
And oh, by the way, just happens to be married
to Nicole Wallace over at MSNBC. During a meeting back
in January twenty seventeen, Comy told Professor Richmond about weird

(14:58):
classified material related to former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Now,
if you remember, those two were often at odds, and
Cooney wanted to discredit Lynch because he was trying to
justify his Remember that bizarre handling of the Clinton investigation.
You know she may have done this, but you know,
no prosecutor's right mind wouldever go prosecutor Remember all of that. Well,

(15:23):
the FBI had received what was described as a Russian
intelligence document claiming that Loretta Lynch had promised a Clinton
campaign associate that the Department of Justice inquiring to Clinton's
email service or email server would not go very far.
And then a few days after that meeting with Komy,

(15:43):
Professor Richmond discussed the Lynch matter with the New York
Times reporter Schmidt. But Professor Richmond claims that Schmidt already
knew about the document, and then when pressed by the
investigators in this Arctic Hay's investigation, he already knew about

(16:08):
the document and oddly said that he was sure with
a discount that he did not tell Schmidt about the
classified information about Hillary Clinton. So the allegations about Lynch
were included in a lengthy New York Times article back
in April of seventeen. Here's a puff piece. Here's a

(16:31):
puff piece about Comy. Guess who co authored it, Schmidt,
the reporter who was getting the information from Richmond. The
title of that article was Comy tried to shield the
FBI from politics, then he shaped an election. That article,
if you go back and read it, offers a real

(16:54):
interesting behind the scenes detail about the midyear exam that
was the name given for the investigation into Hillary Clinton,
and that meets the person one criteria in the Komy indictment.
Now here's where it gets really weird. These people are.

(17:21):
DC is just a filthy, despicable place, Richmond. Professor Richmond
was not the only source for that puff piece about
Koy back in April twenty seventeen. There were a couple
of others, a couple of love birds. Michael.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
You mentioned how lawyers practice and practice some practice so
they know exactly what to say and when to say it.
And with regard to Comy, when he was questioned saying
I don't recall.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
I don't remember.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
This reminds me of certain Kellary Clinton back and was
it Whitewater said the exact same things, I don't recall,
over over and over and over.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
Questionable at best?

Speaker 4 (18:09):
Do you think questionable? It's Hillary Clinton? Of course she recalls,
and of course, how do you child, how do you
ever challenge it? I don't remember unless you can get
herroborating evidence from another witness that says, oh, she may
not recall today, but she told me, you know, wouldn't

(18:31):
be hearsay because it's direct. Then you kind of get
in trouble. So you gotta be careful when you claim
that you don't remember. So going back to Professor Richmond
and this puff piece in the New York Times in
twenty seventeen. How about a wonderful guy, James Comey is
Remember Peter Stroke and Lisa Page, how they were a

(18:53):
couple of lovebirds. Well, apparently they provided three investigators level
briefings to The Times The New York Times in March
and April of that same year, twenty seventeen, at the
request of Comy, So again he lied to Senator Cruz,

(19:19):
even though Cruse may have money the water a little
bit about using McCabe. Comy's too smart by half by
claiming that he never asked anyone, that he stood by
his testimony that I never ask anyone. During one briefing,
according to the Artik's documents and unidentified Times reporter, told

(19:42):
those two they had the classified information on Lynch. And then,
while Peter Stroke told the investigators he did not, to
your point, recall the Times, having that we'll write a
Lynch information, Page said that she did. I recall that disclosure,
even asking for a break from the media briefing so

(20:06):
she could go outside and talk to her love bird.
Peter stroked about, Oh remember, don't you remember? Yeah, Uh,
Jim told us to do this. Jim told us leak thistor.
Oh yeah, hm, lovers contradicting one another, which is of course,
now begs the question. Could a superseding indictment against Comy

(20:31):
or even separate conspiracy charges now envelop Peter Stroke and
Lisa Page, the couple that the President actually referred to
as lovebirds. What prompted all of this is Over the weekend,
Devin Nunez suggested that there was a grand conspiracy involving
at least two dozen former officials at the FBI that

(20:55):
could be in the works now. If Comy did direct
Stroke and Lisa Page to share classified information related to
the Clinton investigation with The New York Times, there would
be another cover your ass effort to restore his TRD
reputation among Democrats and Republicans for that matter, because he
most certainly lied about it under oath, not once, but

(21:17):
probably twice. Go back to the rctk's investigation for a minute.
If that was shut down in September of twenty twenty one,
no charges were ever filed, but in heavily redacted DOJ
memo dated September twenty twenty one, the month that the

(21:39):
investigation was shut down, an unnamed FBI agent with the
Counterintelligence Division said that quote, the investigation does not yield
sufficient evidence to criminally charge any person, including Comi or Richmond,
with making false statements or with the substantine offenses under investigation. Well,

(22:02):
that may now turn out to be a false statement also,
so we may have another FBI agent involved in this
cover up. I don't think any of us should be
surprised that loyalists in the bureau loyalist to colle me,
not to a mission, if you know, not even putting

(22:23):
our toes in the water about Biden's DJ We shouldn't
be surprised at a refusal to charge a longtime nemesis
of Donald Trump. At the time, the FBI and the
DOJ figured Trump's political career was over and that he
was going to get in, you know, he was going

(22:44):
to be behind bars at some point. I think they
figured wrong. I think once the ARCT decays, all the
documents gathered up by Cash Battel and Dan Bongino as
everything they could find here, we found a separate room
found all these boxes of all this stuff. We're turning

(23:05):
it all over to Chairman Grassley on the Senate Judiciary Committee,
and that's where all this stuff is starting to break loose,
and I really think what's going to happen is we're
going to see, uh, Commy's probably just the tip of
the iceberg. Peter Stroke, Lisa Page, whoever this unnamed investigator

(23:25):
is that was looking into the counterintelligence officer that was
looking into this and said, oh, no, we can't find
any false statements made anywhere he that may be a
false statement. I guess the point of this entire segment
is deep breath. There could be in the not dear,

(23:48):
in the not too distant future, superseding indictments against Tomy.
Then there could be separate conspiracy charges against Stroke and Page.
There could be. Now, I don't find anything in any
of my digging that Professor Richmond has done anything illegal,

(24:08):
other than you might have the possibility of leaking classified
information now just because your friend happens to be the
director of the FBI. He unless that particular information he
had authority to declassified and be proven he did, then
Professor Richmond may escape some liability too. But I don't

(24:31):
think why indicte him when you can keep him as
a non hostile witness about all of the other cover
ups that were going on with this unnamed counterintelligence agent
stroke page tomy, and the most ironic part of all

(24:54):
of it, well two two ironic things. One is his
answer to Senator Cruise and giving that answer via zoom
or however, they were doing it from his home in Virginia,
which means he did not get the benefit of the
DC trial court, which would heavily favor any Democrat, and

(25:15):
insteadus in Virginia, where I mean there's still some Democrat
prone federal judges in Virginia, but not all of them.
And suddenly you've got four indictments instead of just won.
This is, as the kids like to say, this is

(25:37):
what I voted for and for everybody screaming about how
Donald Trump is being a tyrannical dictator by indicting James Comy,
I think we're just beginning to see the tip of
the iceberg. I think there really was a cover up.
I think that James Comy really did lie the Senator Cruz,
and I think he was trying to be too smart

(25:58):
by half by claiming that well, I never I never
ordered anybody. He should have stuck to mcabe. I mean,
I think he still could have been indicted based on McCabe,
but I think now it's actually wider than McCabe. I
think it's Stroke, I think it's Page. I think it's Richmond.
I think it's this counterintelligence person. And if they if

(26:18):
they proceed as obviously they're going to, and if you
see anywhere in the near future a superseding indictment against
Comby on separate conspiracy charges, mark my words, that will
probably envelop those other three stroke Page and that unnamed
counterintelligence agent. So person number three, Yeah, I think it's

(26:44):
Professor Richmond, and I think Professor Richmond. Now this part
is pure speculation on my part. I think Professor Richmond
maybe talking a lot to the US attorney, maybe squealing
because he wants to keep Oh yeah, I'd lead some stuff.
I did this, I did that, But you know what,

(27:06):
I want to come clean. So every time you hear
Democrats claiming that Trump's acting as a tyrant by going
after the former FBI director, no, he's cleaning up the FBI.
Give Patel, give Bongino time. They did it the right way.

(27:29):
They turned it over to the Justice They turned it
over to the Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee made a
referral to the Department of Justice, and what I like
about that is everybody's following the procedure point by point
by point. Who the next year might be pretty fascinating

(27:53):
right back.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
So Michael, can you tell us does James call me
have to fund his defense himself or does the government
do that?

Speaker 3 (28:05):
And how could he possibly.

Speaker 7 (28:06):
Afford at that's got to cost several hundred thousand dollars.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
He'll fund it himself. I would have said he had hired. Uh, well,
I'm not sure who he'll hire, but he'll hire some
Democrat operative and the Democrats will step up and they
will fund it for him, and he'll pay some out
of pocket himself, I'm sure, so that he can claim
that I'm paying for my lawyer. But what happens nobody

(28:38):
did it for me. What happens is people will step
up and they will get groups together to fund the lawyer.
It won't be a gofund me like that, but big
Democrat donors will. Yeah, I'll you know, send me and

(28:59):
they I'll pay this month's invoice, I'll pay next month's invoice,
or we'll just bundle the money together and we'll pay
for the retainer whatever. But yeah, it'll get paid for.
It's do the mafia guys that ever get jailed, Do
they ever pay for their own lawyers?

Speaker 3 (29:19):
Really?

Speaker 4 (29:20):
No, it gets money's fungible, it comes elsewhere real quick.
They just to give you an idea. We've talked about
the budget, and we've talked about budget priorities and how
we spend money, all the wrong things. This was I
didn't see it live last night, but it was in
my inbox this morning. Unfortunately, you don't have to listen
to Kyle Clark has somebody filling in for him. But

(29:42):
last night nine News told us this about RTD.

Speaker 8 (29:46):
County could really come in handy on a night like
tonight when the Denver Broncos played. Actually, hang on a second,
I want to show you something. Recognize this. RTD's trained
to Boulder and long want can now be just three
tho or so days away.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
This is Kyle's prop, not mine. Going to do my
very best here.

Speaker 8 (30:05):
Three thousand that's not a bad number, right. New report
from r TV claims the unfinished portions of fast Tracks
could be now complete by twenty thirty four twenty thirty four,
including the train to Boulder that was promised more than
twenty years ago. What's the catch here, though only one
and a half.

Speaker 4 (30:20):
Wait a minute, it was promised more than twenty years ago,
and it's not going to be ready for another what
three thousand days? So you know, ten years maybe, and
then that's today's estimate.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
And then the cost billion more dollars.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
Oh and just a billion more dollars.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
Wow, here's Marshall Zellinger.

Speaker 6 (30:42):
Okay, class if a train is approved to leave Denver
in two thousand and four, but.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
Still, did you ask me that live?

Speaker 3 (30:48):
No, that was just to you.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Okay, you wouldn't ask that question. You asked that question alive. Sure, Yeah, what.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
This isn't satire? No, they're serious, they're serious.

Speaker 6 (31:00):
Bill isn't built to Boulder in twenty twenty five? How
much will it cost to still complete a promise made
the voters in order for us to prioritize it and
get it done in the next ten years.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Like the legislature blacks too, we need help from others
to do it.

Speaker 6 (31:14):
RTD's Bill Siroy is explaining a new report on fast
tracks the two thousand and four voter approved passenger.

Speaker 4 (31:20):
Rate two thousand and four, that's twenty one years ago.

Speaker 6 (31:24):
Bill program funded by a metro area sales tax one
that Boulder County residents pay, but without a promised passenger train.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
That's a commitment.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
You're paying for it, but you ain't getting squat for it.
We made so we are we are honoring that commitment.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Is this the matter when we can afford to do it?

Speaker 6 (31:40):
The report was required by state lawmakers who are pushing
RTD to finish the promises of fast Tracks. Fast Tracks
was supposed to cost four point seven billion dollars. RTD
has spent five point five billion and still does not
have a train going through Lewisville and onto Boulder and Logmont,
as well as three other rail extensions that are unfinished.
To complete those four projects promised in fast Tracks, RTD

(32:04):
needs another one point six billion dollars.

Speaker 4 (32:07):
It all depends. Oh yeah, so we spent five point
five billion, we don't have anything to show for it,
and they want a billion dollars more. And you think
that we're not as bad as California. I think we're
in a neck and neck race with California who can

(32:29):
be the biggest crap hole state in the Union done money?

Speaker 3 (32:32):
And what we're saying is we don't have money.

Speaker 6 (32:35):
Well, if the topic sounds ominous, it's plagued each Boulder
mayor for years.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Zeus has an opinion on this matter.

Speaker 6 (32:43):
Aaron Brockett is the current Boulder mayor who sees the
lights at the front of the train.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
I do think that our best promise in Hope.

Speaker 4 (32:50):
Yeah, the light at the front front of the train
is about to run you over in Boulder, but I
wouldn't worry about it. You can lay on the tracks
or where the tracks are going to be, because there
ain't nothing coming by right now anyway, so don't worry
about it. You talk about misspent priorities, all all for
the holy grail of light rail. Good. We are some

(33:13):
kind of stupid