An unusual cross-section of lawmakers has emerged against a TikTok ban, with usual ideological foes employing their own language to denounce what they say would be improper censorship. Leftist Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (NY-D a.k.a.: AOC) Congressional and Senator Rand Paul (KY-R) are both opposing the bill being advanced for the purported goal of banning TikTok in the U.S.A. For context, left-leaning Wikipedia defines a bill of attainer as follows. “A bill of attainder is an act of a legislature declaring a person, or a group of people, guilty of some crime, and punishing them, often without a trial.” That’s significant, says Senator Rand Paul, who asserts that the U.S. Constitution forbids bills of attainder. “In the United States, bills of attainder are unconstitutional as stated in Article 1 Section 9 and Article 1 Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution.” So says the Cornell University Legal Information Institute (LII) website.
Per left-leaning ABC News, as the evidence-backed column that follows explains, “Sen. Rand Paul (KY-R), is the latest to voice opposition to a total prohibition of the popular social media app — joining the ranks of progressive “Squad” members such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and others.
Paul effectively shut down an attempt Wednesday from his Republican colleague Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to get unanimous consent to ban the Chinese-owned app.
“If you don’t like TikTok or Facebook or YouTube, don’t use them,” Paul said in a 12-minute floor speech. “But don’t think that any interpretation of the Constitution gives you the right to ban them.”
Paul argued a ban would amount to violations of the First Amendment, adding, “The Constitution actually prohibits bills of attainder. You’re not allowed to have a specific bill against a person or a company.”
“So this fails on two egregious points,” he said, cautioning people should “beware of those who peddle fear.” The balance of the report from ABC News is found at this link here.
Given that background:
- Part I below is a fact-packed op-ed by Robert Romano, courtesy of the Daily Torch to MHProNews. Note the limited government backing Romano is apparently warning conservatives first, others who follow him second, about the risks in passing the RESTRICT Act.
- Part II is Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary in Brief.
- Part III is the Daily Business News on MHProNews market reports, which includes our time saving, insight generating left-right ‘market moving’ headlines snapshot.
Part I
The RESTRICT Act could be used to shut down Truth Social and Rumble, or any app that challenges the ‘reported result’ of an election
By Robert Romano
S.686, the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act (RESTRICT Act), contains language that could be used to shut down any website or app with more than 1 million users that challenges the “reported result of a Federal election” — threatening websites and apps that allow free speech on their platforms including Truth Social and Rumble, not just TikTok, the supposed reason for the legislation.
Specifically, Section 3(a)(1)(C) of the proposed legislation states, “The Secretary [of Commerce], in consultation with the relevant executive department and agency heads, is authorized to and shall take action to identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate, including by negotiating, entering into, or imposing, and enforcing any mitigation measure to address any risk arising from any covered transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States that the Secretary determines… poses an undue or unacceptable risk of… interfering in, or altering the result or reported result of a Federal election, as determined in coordination with the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Treasury, and the Federal Election Commission…”
The key words there are “interfering in, or altering the…reported result of a Federal election…” How does one “interfere” or “alter” the “reported result” of an election? By saying somebody else won the election and that it was rigged or corrupt.
That’s exactly what anybody, including former President Donald Trump in 2020 or former 2016 Green Party nominee Jill Stein or Al Gore in 2000 did by challenging the “reported result” of the presidential elections of 2020, 2016 and 2000, respectively, whether through lawsuits, television and print media or more recently, via social media.
There were efforts to remove Trump before he had even taken office in 2017, including by challenging the Electoral College and then again when Congress certified the electors in 2017, with false allegations that he had been some sort of Russian agent, leading to government surveillance, criminal investigations and special counsels, only to have Trump cleared of any conspiracy with Russia to hack the DNC and put the emails onto Wikileaks.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report stated, “In particular, the Office did not find evidence likely to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Campaign officials such as Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Carter Page acted as agents of the Russian government — or at its direction, control or request — during the relevant time period.”
Manafort was brought up on unrelated tax and bank fraud charges and Papadopoulos on a process crime related to his questioning. As for former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, per the Mueller report, “Cohen had never traveled to Prague…” And so, he very well could not have been there meeting with Russian intelligence officials, as had been alleged by the Clinton-paid dossier author, former British spy Christopher Steele. Page was not charged with anything. It was all fake.
Even with the Mueller report’s result, after it was released in 2019, a Reuters-Ipsos poll found 79 percent of Democrats remained convinced that “President Trump or someone from his campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election…” including 53 percent who strongly agreed.
Wasn’t that belief, widely reported by American news media outlets, challenging the “reported result” of the 2016 election?
Nor was that belief suppressed by social media. And to my knowledge, there was no legislation ever proposed that would have restricted that kind of speech. Plenty dealing with the fraudulent investigation by the Justice Department, but none designed to squelch speech from 2016 election deniers or those who falsely believed the Trump campaign were Russian agents.
Returning to 2020, it just so happens that while YouTube, Twitter and Facebook were shutting down user accounts that dared to suggest that the narrow 2020 election — won by President Joe Biden by a scant 23,000 votes in Wisconsin, 10,000 in Arizona and 10,000 in Georgia — was actually won by Trump, apps like Truth Social and Rumble, friendly to Trump, do allow that kind of free speech to occur.
The legislation would apply to “any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States…” And it need not be owned directly by a foreign government, like China, or one of its organs, like the Chinese Communist Party. Instead, a controlling interest, or “covered holding” is defined as “regardless of how or when such holding was or will be obtained or otherwise come to have been held, a controlling holding held, directly or indirectly, in an ICTS covered holding entity by… a foreign adversary…”
Again, it states “directly or indirectly,” which opens the door for non-state-owned holdings.
The legislation currently has 13 Republican co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate, more than enough to put the bill over the 60 vote threshold needed to end debate assuming almost all of the Democrats vote in favor.
It can also further apply to any website or app that is found by the Secretary of Commerce to “undermine democratic processes and institutions or steer policy and regulatory decisions in favor of the strategic objectives of a foreign adversary to the detriment of the national security of the United States…”
That could be any speech that, say, opposes U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine to repel Russia’s invasion. You could even oppose it on grounds that in the words of Ronald Reagan that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought” because it poses an existential threat to humanity itself. Since that would technically “favor… the strategic objectives of a foreign adversary” though, it could qualify.
And so could any apps that allow that kind of speech, not just Truth Social or Rumble, but also Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. since opposition to escalation of the war in Ukraine does not violate the various companies’ terms of service — yet.
The point is that it is completely arbitrary. Obviously, as these are content-based restrictions, they clearly violate the First Amendment to the Federal Constitution that states, “Congress shall make no law…. abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”
There are always going to be close, bitterly fought elections and when they are particularly narrow, allegations of fraud or corruption are almost always going to arise. Trump’s opponents are no stranger to election challenges. And while the Justice Department and intelligence agencies, whose ill-founded investigations fostered the false belief that Trump was a Russian agent, should certainly be reined in via legislation, the American people’s speech must never be, even if it’s on an app the government doesn’t like, whether Truth Social, Rumble or any other. ##
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government. ###
Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary in Brief
Certainly, there are concerns about TikTok being a possible tool for spying, data collection, and otherwise influencing American society, not just elections. But Senator Paul’s and Romano’s points about not violating the U.S. Constitution to accomplish that goal is a valid one. Lawmakers, in their haste to ‘do something’ should not make matters worse for others who have no ties to either China, the Communist Party, or other foreign (and domestic) powers in creating so-called election interference.
There is a distinct difference between reporting or even commenting on election results, including claims of election fraud, which have been done by members of both major parties in the 21st century, as Rob Romano briefly reminded readers of above.
It is a vexing commentary on our politics and media today that one cannot routinely count on much of the ‘mainstream media’ to objectively and accurately report on a given issue. The left and right routinely ought to be double checked on important issues, common sense applied, and the timeless moral and constitutional standards ought to be used as trustworthy guideposts. But that has been going on for years, as these flashback quotes from Dr. Chrysalis Wright, Ph.D., reflect from a university professor who specializes in media issues.
As this column is being written, a survey of several headlines on the left-leaning Bing/MSN newsfeed suggest that former President Donald J. Trump is crashing in the polls. One, that seems improbable given his recent high fundraising haul in the wake of the indictment in New York City by what Wikipedia says of: “Alvin Leonard Bragg Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who serves as the New York County District Attorney, covering Manhattan.” A common feature of American news for years has been manipulating a large percentage of the population. Gaslighting and agenda-driven ‘reporting’ has been done in the 21st century during times when Democrats or Republicans sat in the White House.
This pattern of ‘mainstream’ media being used as a propaganda tool for apparent political ends is, say several experts and pundits, a profound sort of election and political interference. That in turn drives decisions to push legislation – like the RESTRICT Act – or to fund, press, or ignore existing laws or programs as deemed best in the eyes of lawmakers or bureaucrats. The power of that gaslighting-propaganda is so great that once popular – before he began his ran for the White House in 2015 – Donald J. Trump has been turned into a toxic figure by his political opponents for tens of millions of Americans who may not pause to think of why this anti-Trump agenda exists in the first place. But in this context, Trump is merely an example. There are headlines that proclaim that Trump is ‘crashing’ in opinion polls, while on this same date the Morning Consult poll says his lead in the GOP primary is the biggest yet. Clearly, those two things can’t both be true at the same time and in the same respect. Now apply that principle to manufactured housing. The mainstream media has that same ability to shape the views of millions of Americans about our industry too, through ‘storm’ watches, for instance, where ‘mobile homes’ are painted as being more vulnerable. Nor is this media influence a merely 21st century phenomenon. MHProNews has periodically reminded readers of the views of controversial civil rights activist Malcom X on the media’s power over the culture in the U.S. that dates back some 6 decades.
Senator Paul has an apparently valid point on the constitutional issue side of this RESTRICT Act, which if not remedied, could cause the bill to be struck down if it ever became law. That noted, one would think that a different method – one which could pass constitutional muster and not have the flaws this proposed RESTRICT bill does. A new and properly worded bill might be used to go after a foreign owned entity with apparent ties to the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) that is purportedly using the popular ap for nefarious data collection or manipulation purposes, without risking shutting down the free speech rights of Americans.
The cure for bad speech is, in the American Constitutional view, is more good speech.
The cure for demonstrably illegal activity is to enforce laws that have made a given activity illegal. India is one of several foreign nations that has taken steps to ban or restrict TikTok over security concerns. Australia, the European Union, Canada, New Zealand and Afghanistan are among those nations who have acted to restrict or ban the ap, as have our federal and various American states, according to the Associated Press (AP). That noted, are we really to believe that if TikTok is as a serious security concern as an array of nations claim that a remedy can’t be approached domestically through a variety of existing legal means?
Thus, the concerns voiced over the RESTRICT Act should not be ignored, nor used as a reason to violate the rights of Americans. There are too many documented cases of public officials interacting with media, be it big tech or big press, to accomplish what is essentially a propaganda purpose.
The white hats in our profession should care deeply about accurate information because part of what is keeping our manufactured home industry at bay is widespread inaccurate information. It routinely takes more words to correct an error than it does to spread a falsehood or paltering. The case can be made that fact checks of third-party reports on MHProNews are popular precisely because no one else in MHVille is doing them, either at all, or with a similar level of accuracy. ##
Part III Daily Business News on MHProNews Markets Segment
The modifications of our prior Daily Business News on MHProNews format of the recap of yesterday evening’s market report are provided below. It still includes our signature left (CNN Business) and right (Newsmax) ‘market moving’ headlines. The macro market moves graphics will provide context and comparisons for those invested in or tracking manufactured housing connected equities.
In minutes a day readers can get a good sense of significant or major events while keeping up with the trends that are impacting manufactured housing connected investing.
Reminder: several of the graphics on MHProNews can be opened into a larger size. For instance: click the image and follow the prompts in your browser or device to OPEN In a New Window. Then, in several browsers/devices you can click the image and increase the size. Use the ‘x out’ (close window) escape or back key to return.
Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business – from the evening of 4.11.2023
- Demand for second-hand
- The most-wanted clothing brands at resale are probably hanging in your closet
- Whole Foods closes San Francisco flagship store after one year, citing worker safety
- Fed official: Central bank should be ‘cautious’ in wake of banking turmoil
- Leon Levine, discount store pioneer, dies at 85
- Dominion can’t bring up January 6 at Fox News defamation trial, judge rules
- Yellen: ‘Not anticipating a downturn’ in the US economy
- IMF: Banking crisis boosts risks and dims outlook for world economy
- Wall Street has found something else to worry about
- Elizabeth Holmes must report to prison this month while waiting out her appeal, judge rules
- Some customers are complaining the new olive oil-infused Starbucks drink is making them run to the bathroom
- See the Chipotle of the future
- Former Twitter executives sue company to recover over $1 million in legal fees
- Hollywood writers hold strike vote Tuesday
- Shares in Regal Cinemas’ owner hit all-time low
- Head of top UK business lobby fired over misconduct claims
- Alibaba unveils its ChatGPT-style service
- Sky News Australia quits TikTok, says security risks ‘too great’ for media
- Three major risks that have the banking industry on edge
- Juul settles lawsuit with West Virginia for $7.9 million
- Elon Musk’s weekend antics could only further crumble Twitter’s brand value
- Lawmakers seek details on ‘unusually cozy’ ties between tech executives and SVB
- Tupperware stock plunges after warning it could go out of business
- Consumers feel credit is getting harder to come by, Fed survey shows
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See the instructions below the graphic below or click the image and follow the prompts.
Headlines from right-of-center Newsmax 4.11.31.2023
- DA Bragg Sues House Judiciary Panel to Block GOP Probe of Trump Case
- Trump’s Legal Issues
- Trump Due Back in N.Y. Over AG James’ Fraud Suit
- Dershowitz: Trump’s N.Y. Judge Should Step Down | video
- Van Drew: Field Hearing Calls On Bragg ‘Victims’ | video
- Trump Appeals to Block Pence’s Special Counsel Testimony | video
- House Judiciary to Hold ‘Field Hearing’ in NYC
- Trump Lawyer: DOJ ‘Desperately’ Seeks Obstruction Charge
- Trump: Dems Rigging 2024 With ‘Boxes Hoax’
- Dershowitz: Bragg Case ‘a Scandal,’ ‘Travesty of Justice’ | video
- Lawyer: Trump Has No More Classified Documents
- Newsmax TV
- Hunt: Biden’s Blaming Is ‘Opposite of Leadership’
- Biggs: Mayorkas Lying About Border Security | video
- RNC’s Alvarez: Biden Not Ready to Work on 2024 | video
- McCormick: Biden Blaming Trump for Own ‘Debacle’ | video
- Paxton: Evidence Withheld in Perry Case | video
- Van Drew: US ‘on Precipice’ From Biden, Dems | video
- Murray: Military’s Pastoral Care Cuts ‘Unconscionable’ | video
- Newsfront
- Stefanik Rips WH Amid Claim It Granted Trump Raid
- An investigation into the pretext of the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago revealed President Joe Biden’s White House issued a “special access request” to the Justice Department, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is responding with indignation…. [Full Story]
- Newsmax Magazine’s April Issue Reveals ‘Real Face of Jesus’
- New scientific and forensic evidence examined by Newsmax Magazine in [Full Story] | video
- Newsmax Premieres ‘Carl Higbie Frontline’ Show Tonight
- Newsmax is launching a new 5 p.m. ET show with commentator and host [Full Story]
- FEC Commissioner: No Violation in Trump-Daniels Case
- A Federal Election Commission member rejectedthe premise behind [Full Story]
- Biden Stresses He Opposes Abortion Pill Suspension
- President Joe Biden on Tuesday firmly denounced a Texas judge’s [Full Story]
- US, Philippines Holding Large War Drills
- The United States and the Philippines on Tuesday launch their largest [Full Story]
- Related
- China Ends Taiwan Drills After Practicing Blockades, Precision Strikes
- Experts Unveil Blueprint for ‘Winning’ Cold War With China |Platinum Article
- Russia: China Has Right to Conduct Taiwan Exercises
- Ukraine Cities Pounded as US Seeks Source of Leaks
- Russian forces pounded frontline cities in eastern Ukraine with air [Full Story]
- Related
- UN: Nearly 8,500 Civilians Killed in Ukraine Invasion
- Pentagon Leaks: US Doubts New Ukraine Offensive
- Probe Launched Into Leaked Classified Documents
- An interagency investigation into the major leakof classified [Full Story]
- Related
- Officials Work to Reassure Israel About Leaked Documents
- Morning Consult Poll: Trump’s Primary Lead Biggest Yet
- While Democrats and anti-Trump forces are relentlessly attacking, [Full Story]
- American ‘Suffering’ in Russian ‘Gulag’ Being ‘Ignored’
- American citizen and professional musician James “Jimmy” Wilgus has [Full Story] | Platinum Article
- McCarthy, Jeffries Israel Trips Come at ‘Crucial’ Time
- A pair of upcoming trips to Israel by the top House Republican and [Full Story] | Platinum Article
- NYPD Unleashes Robots to Battle Crime
- The New York City Police Department will use robots to battle crime. [Full Story]
- Melania Trump Pushes Back on ‘Assumptions’ About Her
- Melania Trump is pushing back on media “assumptions” about her amid [Full Story]
- CDC: Sexually Transmitted Infections Reach Record High
- Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are surging in the United [Full Story]
- Texas Rally Set Up to Demand Border Law Enforcement
- Convention of States President Mark Meckler is organizing a rally to [Full Story]
- Poll: 51% Say No Benefit to Middle Class From Biden
- A 51% majority say the American middle class has not benefited from [Full Story]
- Yellen Doesn’t Foresee a Downturn in US Economy
- S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said the outlook for [Full Story]
- Biden: WSJ Reporter’s Detention by Russia ‘Totally Illegal’
- President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Russia’s detention of Wall [Full Story]
- Pompeo: Macron Gives China a ‘Propaganda Victory’
- Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ripped into Emmanuel Macron’s [Full Story]
- Haley Campaign Rips Trump: ‘Consumed’ by ‘Grievances’
- Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential campaign is trashing former President [Full Story]
- Riley Gaines to Megan Rapinoe: You’ve Nothing to Lose
- Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines called out Megan Rapinoe early [Full Story]
- Trump to Send Golden Golf Club to National Archives
- Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he will send a [Full Story]
- Former FTC Advisers: Take Quick Control of AI ‘Hype’
- Two former advisers to the Federal Trade Commission want regulators [Full Story]
- Twitter Merges With X Corp., ‘No Longer Exists’
- Twitter has merged with newly formed shell company X Corp., thus [Full Story]
- Report: Trump Buys $100K in Ads on Google, Facebook
- Former President Donald Trump and his political action committee [Full Story]
- Citadel CEO Donates $300 Million to Harvard
- Citadel CEO and founder Ken Griffin has donated $300 million to [Full Story]
- Whole Foods in San Francisco Closes Due to Crime, Drugs
- Whole Foods in San Francisco Closes Due to Crime, Drugs
- A Whole Foods store that opened a year ago in downtown San Francisco [Full Story]
- Judge Denies Theranos Founder Holmes’ Freedom During Appeal
- A U.S. judge on Monday denied Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ [Full Story]
- Tupperware Brands Boxes Itself Into a Corner
- Tupperware Brands’ options are looking less airtight. The U.S.-based [Full Story]
- Truck Hauling East Palestine Derailment Soil Overturns
- Truck Hauling East Palestine Derailment Soil Overturns
- A commercial vehicle hauling 40,000 pounds of contaminated soil from [Full Story]
- Leaked Docs: Egypt to Send 40K Rockets to Russia
- Leaked Docs: Egypt to Send 40K Rockets to Russia
- A leaked U.S. intelligence document said that ally nation Egypt is [Full Story]
- Rare Photos Show Us Who Meghan Markle Really is
- Finance
- OPEC’s Share of Oil Production to Shrink This Year
- Non-OPEC countries will account for a higher percentage of oil production gains this year and next, a reversal of the last two years, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted Tuesday…. [Full Story]
- OpenAI to Offer Users up to $20,000 for Reporting Bugs
- George Mentz: Trump 2.0 in 2024 – New, Innovative Ideas & Platform
- S&P 500 Inches Higher Ahead of Inflation Data
- WeightWatchers Jumps on Obesity Drug Foray
- More Finance
- Health
- Fasting Beats Low-Calorie Diet at Preventing Diabetes
- Intermittent fasting is all the rage due to its laundry list of potential health benefits — from weight loss to longevity. Now, new research suggests that it may beat low-calorie diets when it comes to preventing Type 2 diabetes in high-risk people. Folks who only ate… [Full Story]
- ‘Green’ School Buses Could Boost Kids’ Attendance
- Therapy May Improve Income Along With Mental Health
- Survey: 1 in 5 Americans Has Relative Killed by a Gun
- Some States Stockpile Abortion Pill After Court Ruling
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2022 was a tough year for many stocks. Unfortunately, that pattern held true for manufactured home industry (MHVille) connected stocks too.
See the facts, linked below.
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Updated
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- NOTE 1: The 3rd chart above of manufactured housing connected equities includes the Canadian stock, ECN, which purchased Triad Financial Services, a manufactured home industry finance lender.
- NOTE 2: Drew changed its name and trading symbol at the end of 2016 to Lippert (LCII).
- NOTE 3: Deer Valley was largely taken private, say company insiders in a message to MHProNews on 12.15.2020, but there are still some outstanding shares of the stock from the days when it was a publicly traded firm. Thus, there is still periodic activity on DVLY.
- Note 4: some recent or related reports to the REITs, stocks, and other equities named above follow in the reports linked below.
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2023 …Berkshire Hathaway is the parent company to Clayton Homes, 21st Mortgage, Vanderbilt Mortgage and other factory-built housing industry suppliers.
· LCI Industries, Patrick, UFPI, and LP each are suppliers to the manufactured housing industry, among others.
· AMG, CG, and TAVFX have investments in manufactured housing related businesses. For insights from third-parties and clients about our publisher, click here.
Disclosure. MHProNews holds no positions in the stocks in this report.
· For expert manufactured housing business development or other professional services, click here.
· To sign up in seconds for our industry leading emailed headline news updates, click here.
That’s a wrap on this installment of “News Through the Lens of Manufactured Homes and Factory-Built Housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, stock, investing, data, metrics, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship along with numerous awards in history. There have been several awards and honors and also recognition in manufactured housing. For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
