Tweets Of The Day

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Deborah from Portsmouth, NH is saving $550/month on coverage —> go.wh.gov/hkP6CV #GetCovered

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 04, 2013

It's time for Congress to work w/ @WhiteHouse to reduce inequality, build middle class, provide more ladders of opportunity. #ABetterBargain

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Governor Dan Malloy (@GovMalloyOffice) December 04, 2013

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“I know people call this law #Obamacare, and that’s ok, because I do care. I care about you.” —President Obama

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 04, 2013

Obama to Congressional Republicans: "You owe it to the American people to tell us what you are for, not just what you’re against."

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The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 04, 2013

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Obamacare: A Fact or Fifty

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1. Starting now and on October 1st you can go to healthcare.gov or call (1-800-318-2596; TTY: 1-855-889-4325) to compare options and select health coverage.

2. Thanks to ObamaCare, insurance companies must cover mental health, substance-use disorder, alcohol misuse screening, domestic violence screening, depression screening, etc. under “essential health benefits.”

3. ObamaCare will increase the need for doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, medical assistants, health information specialists, medical billers, medical sonography, home-care aides, lab technicians, etc. Now, that’s job creation!

4. 360,000 Small Businesses have taken advantage of the Small Business Healthcare Tax Credit to insure 2 million workers.

5. ObamaCare will change work and retirement by tilting power from employers to employees.

6. Young Americans (18-34) are eager to purchase health insurance through ObamaCare.

7. ObamaCare saved 6.8 million consumers $1.2 billion on health insurance premiums in 2012.

8. An easy and informative Twitter list of ObamaCare health insurance exchanges.

9. 63% of young adults who identify as Republicans enrolled in their parents health plans under ObamaCare.

10. Health insurance premiums will cost dramatically less under the ObamaCare exchange marketplace.

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White House – Health Reform

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11. 8.5 million Americans from the 19 states already operating health insurance exchanges will use ObamaCare to purchase insurance. It far outstrips the government’s estimate of 7 million new customers in all 50 states.

12. CDC predicts that 200,000 heart disease related deaths per year could be prevented because of ObamaCare.

13. Thanks to ObamaCare, 6.4 million Americans will be able to purchase insurance for $100 a month or less.

14. A fun quiz that tests your ObamaCare knowledge and helps correct confusions and lies.

15. Five great ways ObamaCare helps small businesses.

16. Eight ways ObamaCare benefits Americans.

17. A typical average family buying insurance on their own will save thousands of dollars thanks to ObamaCare.

18. Thanks to ObamaCare, you can use a subsidy calculator to calculate health insurance premiums.

19. Questions about ObamaCare? There are answers.

20. Annual checkups, colonoscopies, contraception, vaccinations, mammograms, HIV counseling, prescription services, ObamaCare covers all of that.

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White House – Health Reform

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21. Confused about the health insurance exchanges? ObamaCare has a breakdown.

22. You own a business or know someone who does? ObamaCare has a website for you.

23. Thanks to ObamaCare, healthcare costs rose at the slowest rate in 50 years.

24. ObamaCare is not abstract. It helps people.

25. 2014 is around the corner and thanks to ObamaCare, being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition.

26. Major drops in hospital infections? New Jersey credits ObamaCare for that great news.

27. Thanks to ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion, 1.3 million uninsured veterans and their families will have health insurance.

28. Doctors are excited about ObamaCare and here’s why.

29. Insurance companies don’t see ObamaCare as a threat. Sorry, GOP!

30. ObamaCare makes it easy for low income Americans to purchase insurance by making sure insurance companies accept cashier’s checks, re-loadable pre-paid debit cards, and money orders.

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Healthcare.gov

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31. ObamaCare helps doctors improve patient quality while saving $1.9B on the cost of care.

32. Seniors concerned about Medicare? ObamaCare has an answer for that.

33. Thanks to ObamaCare, if insurance companies don’t spend 80% of your premiums on your medical services, they owe you a rebate check.

34. Since the ObamaCare “80/20 Rule” for insurance companies went into effect in 2011, Americans have received over $1.5B in insurance rebates.

35. Dealing with mental health issues? ObamaCare has you covered.

36. Thanks to ObamaCare, 3.1M young Americans have health coverage and saved $147M in high medical bills in 2011.

37. Thanks to ObamaCare, 17 million children with pre-existing conditions are no longer denied coverage or charged more.

38. ObamaCare’s insurance application form is simpler than others currently on the marketplace.

39. Thanks to ObamaCare, the average premium increase in 2012, was 30% lower than in 2010.

40. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that $200B will be saved on federal spending for healthcare.

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Health Reform Map

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41. Thanks to ObamaCare, businesses with 50 or more employees will be fined for not providing health insurance.

42. Republican Governors in Ohio, Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Mexico, and North Dakota will expand Medicaid.

43. Thanks to ObamaCare, 6.1M Older Americans have saved more than $5.7B on their prescription drugs.

44. ObamaCare could eliminate cost barriers for 40 million people seeking addiction treatment.

45. Thanks to ObamaCare, primary care providers in Medicaid will get a 73% raise.

46. ObamaCare makes sure insurance companies offer a four page summary of your benefits and coverages in easy to understand terms.

47. You’re a woman? ObamaCare has your back.

48. ObamaCare strengthened and lengthened Medicare’s lifespan.

49. Want a fact sheet on healthcare? ObamaCare has that.

50. Thanks to ObamaCare, community health centers received $728M to expand services and provide for more patients.

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Essential Links:

HeathCare.gov

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ObamacareFacts.com

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ObamacareByZipCode.com

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KFF.org

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GetCoveredAmerica.org

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FamiliesUSA.org

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DrsForAmerica.org

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WebMD.com

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What has Obamacare done for me lately?

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Walgreens.com

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CVS.com

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Get Covered!

Rise and Shine

President Barack Obama participates in a high level meeting on Libya at the United Nations in New York, N.Y., Sept. 20, 2011. Pictured with the President, from left, are: Ambassador Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations; National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Presidential Daily Schedule (All Times Eastern)

11AM: VP Biden delivers remarks highlighting the launch of the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue at the Ministry of Foreign of Affairs.

11:30AM: VP Biden attends the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue.

12:20PM: Pres. Obama arrives in Kansas City, Mo

1PM: First Lady Michelle Obama hosts a luncheon at the White House in honor of the winners of the 2013 National Design Awards.

1:50PM: Pres. Obama delivers remarks at the Ford Stamping Plant.

2:55PM: Pres. Obama departs Kansas City, Mo., enroute to Washington.

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All the laws Americans wanted GOP blocked http://t.co/Pl3xAak6LM #p2 #uniteblue

—
ProgressiveHelp PhD (@CallOut4) September 17, 2013

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NYT: Administration Presses Ahead With Limits On Emissions From Power Plants

A year after a plan by President Obama to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants set off angry opposition, the administration will announce on Friday that it is not backing down from a confrontation with the coal industry and will press ahead with enacting the first federal carbon limits on the nation’s power companies.

The proposed regulations, to be announced at the National Press Club by Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, are an aggressive move by Mr. Obama to bypass Congress on climate change with executive actions he promised in his inaugural addressthis year.  In her speech, Ms. McCarthy will unveil the agency’s proposal to limit new gas-fired power plants to 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per megawatt hour and new coal plants to 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to administration officials who were briefed on the agency’s plans. Industry officials say the average advanced coal plant currently emits about 1,800 pounds of carbon dioxide per hour.

More here

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I remember how the folks on food stamps cost our country trillions by selling bets on bad mortgages to suckers. Glad they're being punished!

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  (@LOLGOP) September 20, 2013

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Working America Blog: Actual Accountability: CFPB Fines JP Morgan Chase For Fraud

Great news from the Consumer Financial Protection Board today. JP Morgan Chase, a major credit card issuer, has been hit with a $309 million fine for defrauding customers. More than 2 million customers will get refunds for unfair fees imposed by JP Morgan Chase. In addition, JP Morgan Chase will be required to audit its own procedures and present evidence to the CFPB that it has stopped the practices that led to the fine—specifically, billing customers for services they weren’t being provided.

This is precisely why the CFPB exists. JP Morgan Chase was breaking the law and getting away with it. The amount of money being taken through these fees was small enough to not be worth suing over individually, but in the aggregate, it represented a big transfer of money—illegally!—from customers to their credit card company. There was a time when, even if they noticed it happening, customers wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it.

More here

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Pres. Obama will enact the 1st federal carbon limits on natural gas & coal-fired power plants. nytimes.com/2013/09/20/us/… talkingpointsmemo.com/news/obama-to-…

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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) September 20, 2013

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Jonathan Bernstein: No More Magical Thinking About The Presidency

It’s an annual ritual: we get to late summer, something goes wrong for Barack Obama, and the press piles on. This time it’s Syria — Obama is getting widely criticized for vacillation and changes of course. Here’s a rule of thumb: If you want to criticize Obama’s handling of process, then make sure you do it right. Don’t turn process criticisms into an excuse for mind-reading or magical versions of the presidency.

Another problem arises when analysts get process completely wrong. See, for example, a Politico article called “What’s Wrong With President Obama?” We get process criticism on Syria and on the Fed chair choice with a bald assertion that if only Obama was tougher, something would have been better (it’s not clear exactly what, or how).

For another example of getting process wrong, see Matt Miller’s column yesterday. Miller is explicit about some of his policy preferences: for gun control; against the Bush tax cuts; for a jobs bill. But he manages to attack not the opponents of those policies (that would be mainly Republicans in Congress) but Obama for “blinking” and “losing his nerve” in trying to get them done. But it’s nonsense to claim gun safety legislation failed in the Senate because Obama lost his nerve. It lost because the votes weren’t there. This is just magical presidency thinking, where it’s assumed that any president can get any policy he wants simply by wanting it enough.

More here

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Thanks @IAmKidPresident for inspiring teachers and students to make the world more awesome! youtu.be/RwlhUcSGqgs –mo

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  (@FLOTUS) September 19, 2013

HUGE thank you to Mrs. @FLOTUS for sharing the student & teacher pep talk!! WOW! But thank you most of all for believing in kids every day.

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Kid President (@iamkidpresident) September 19, 2013

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Greg Sargent: Really?

Another key finding from this week’s Washington Post/ABC News poll: Do you think the Republican leaders in Congress are doing too much, too little, or about the right amount to compromise with Obama on important issues? Too much: 10. Too little: 64. About the right amount: 23. An astonishing 72 percent of independents say Republican leaders are doing too little to compromise.

Does anyone imagine Republicans won’t be seen as the unreasonable party here? Things will probably look even worse after the government shutdown fight. But then we’ll only be gearing up for another one in which the threat to the economy is far more serious, and the demands even crazier. Really? This is how it’s going to go? Okay.

More here

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PHOTO: VP thanks @MedStarWHC doctors and nurses who care for patients injured Monday at the #NavyYard http://t.co/7bh2Q4lNry

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Office of VP Biden (@VP) September 19, 2013

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President Obama has nominated a Native American woman, Diane J. Humetewa to the U.S. District Court for Arizona. indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/19/oba…

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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) September 20, 2013

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Rob Capriccioso: Obama Nominates Native American Woman To Federal Bench

The president announced September 19 that Diane J. Humetewa is a nominee for the U.S. District Court for Arizona. She is a Hopi citizen, and from 2002 to 2007 she served as an appellate court judge for the Hopi Tribe Appellate Court. Obama has previously nominated one tribal citizen to serve on the federal bench, Arvo Mikkanen, of the Kiowa Tribe, but Republican senators successfully blocked that nomination during the president’s first term.

If Humetewa can pass muster with the Senate Judicial Committee and Arizona’s senators, then she will have the distinction of being the first Native American appointed and confirmed to the federal bench by Obama.

More here

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President Barack Obama participates in the CNBC Town Hall Discussion on Jobs with John Harwood at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Dudette’s Rockin’ Birthday!

Some music for our resident DJ. Happy Birthday Dudette!

Chat Away Into The Night

Red and Blue United. No, Seriously.

I always thought it more likely that Republicans would cooperate with President Obama, for the good of the country, than it would be for Manchester United and Chelsea supporters to work together.

I was wrong.

Drum roll please:

As of today, UTAustinLiberal – also known as @NerdyWonka – is a completely and totally official TOD ‘Administrator’.

What does that snazzy WordPress term mean?

Well, the main thing is that she can now access all the inner workings of the blog, so she can actually edit my posts and insert Chelsea photos and similarly horrible things. 😕

But, other than that, nothing changes hugely around here because UT was already contributing so much, it just means that Chelsea Girl is now, officially, the joint runner of our teeny little corner of cyberspace.

And that’s ridiculously fabulous.

Her taste in soccer/football might be shocking….

…. but she has brought sooooooo much to this place with her posts and highlighting of issues, like women’s rights in Texas and the benefits of ‘ObamaCare’, so it’s a very, very lovely honor to have her team up in this way.

It also means that if I, say, disappear after kidnapping Wayne Rooney to stop him from signing for Chelsea, UT will be here to keep things going while international law enforcement agencies track me down.

So, that’s good.

Meanwhile, we’ll always be thrilled and hugely grateful to have the other blog tyrants contribute here, and any other regulars who have something they’d like to say – this place is, and will always be, open to you all.

We partied over our 20 million hits only a little while ago, and we’re already up to 20,311,000 – and that’s largely down to the contributions of UT, LL, LP and Zizi, whose posts have attracted huge traffic.

Together, we’ve created a really lovely community, with so many smart and powerful voices, and I’m thrilled beyond description that UT has agreed to team up and run it all.

So, say hello to your new half of TOD, the legend that is: UT Austin Chelsea Nerdy Liberal Wonka Girl.

Wayne sends his best:

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PS How lovely is this?

2 must-follows unite “@TheObamaDiary: Say Hello To The Shiny New Official Other Half of The Obama Diary: @NerdyWonka http://t.co/DarxJwUNkK”

— sfpelosi (@sfpelosi) July 22, 2013

Night Owls: Haunting Lyrics

There are some songs that stay with you forever because the lyrics are chilling yet underneath have beautiful meaning. It really is true that sometimes it takes a disturbed yet gifted mind to create what we call music. Tell us the lyrics that have stuck with you.

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You Cannot Give Up

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by UTAustinLiberal / @NerdyWonka

Shock. Anger. Grief. Confusion. These are all the emotions that ran through peoples minds when a jury of white women told the world that in their belief system, it is perfectly okay for a white man to stalk, attack, and murder a black child. The same emotion that ran through peoples minds when Troy Davis was executed even though the evidence was murky. We’re back here again. How could a jury of mothers not understand the fear Trayvon Benjamin Martin felt when a stranger with a gun accosted him on a dark rainy night for no reason except for the color of his skin? How could a black woman who fired shots into her ceiling because she felt threatened but didn’t kill anyone get 20 years in prison while George Zimmerman walked away with no consequences due to the “Stand Your Ground” law? How does a man who was told to stay in his car and not follow Trayvon Martin walk away free? The simple answer? Sanford, Florida is 80% white conservative gun owners. The other answer? Society doesn’t value a black life as they do a white one and it seems to want to break black people down every single time by saying “hey, you’re inferior….hey you’re worthless….hey the President of the United States is black and you will pay for it every single time you step out of your home because you share the same color of skin as he does.”

That’s what they want black people to believe. That’s what they want society to believe. From Sanford to Newtown they want us to believe that children’s lives have no value. They want us to believe that human life has no worth. That guns are more valuable than a living, breathing, full of possibilities human being. That the color of your skin should damn you for life. It hurts. It is painful. It makes my heart bleed that we are here once again. It makes me scream WHY!!! Why are we here again? Why is it a constant struggle for society to see black people as human beings? Why do we always have to prove our worth every second of every day? Why can’t society see that a black child deserves the same protections as a white child? That a black child deserves the same bountiful life as a white child? That when you look at a black child you see a child first because that is who he or she is and not a thug? It makes one want to throw up hands in the air and say I’m done. This is it. Why should I fight for your rights when you won’t fight for mine? Why should I regard you as a human being when you look upon me as a thing? Why should I continue to have hope?

The Fight For The Future Of Texas Has Begun

So the people of Texas (well within their rights) peacefully showed up at the Capitol to make their objections known about the horrific HB2 bill that would destroy thousands of women’s lives.

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Then the misogynistic TX Lege GOP thought they would shame women by forcefully taking away their tampons and pads. They only succeeded in exposing themselves to the scorn and mockery of the world.

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#TXLege GOP Madness: State troopers searching all bags and confiscating tampons and pads but you can bring a GUN into the gallery. #HB2 #SB1

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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) July 12, 2013

#TXLege Republican Madness: Tampons forbidden because they pose a security risk but GUNS allowed in the Senate Gallery. #SWTW #HB2

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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) July 12, 2013

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@scATX

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Pro-lifers claim to care about human life yet support cuts in food subsidies, healthcare, education, childcare and social programs. #HB2

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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) July 13, 2013

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This cretin doesn’t cry because thousands of women will die and thousands of women will have their lives destroyed due to his bill; nooo…he cries while watching Disney movies.

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TexasTribune

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Hegar doesn't cry for the thousands of women whose lives will be destroyed due to #HB2. He cries watching Disney movies. This is the GOP.

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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) July 13, 2013

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The amazing Sen. Wendy Davis challenging Sen. Hegar for his non-factual testimony on HB2. Hegar’s response? “Umm..I don’t know..I really don’t know.” Wendy’s response: “I would suggest that you read a little bit.” Message to all Republican men.

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Texas Tribune

Night Owls: Love Is Complicated

First you fall in love

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Then you realize it takes work to make love work

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