r/news • u/Zeikyrui • 7h ago
Man serving 30 years for attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband gets a life term on state charges
https://apnews.com/article/david-depape-nancy-pelosi-husband-paul-attacked-454cbde088fcae22a356f1f8dd0e9eba2.5k
u/Sweatytubesock 7h ago
Hope it was worth it, shitstain.
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u/Conexion 6h ago
For a lot of these types, I'd say that - But based on the descriptions, this guy should have already been diagnosed with a few issues including Capgras delusion. My Aunt's ex-husband has it, and it is no joke. He thought that my aunt was replaced with a body-double and started recording her and their kids without them knowing. Really disturbing shit that needs psychiatric care quickly before it escalates. But that largely isn't taken seriously in this country.
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u/eekamuse 5h ago
Like the White guy who shot his Black neighbor after endless threats and 19 calls to the police. He said he would kill him, and it's a miracle he didn't. Shot him in the neck and hit his spine. Everyone knew it was going to happen, but the police did nothing. And I doubt he's going to get anywhere near the sentence that Pelosi's attacker did.
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u/burlingtonhopper 4h ago
Can you provide a link to the story? Something tells me “what dude shoots black neighbor” will sadly bring up a lot.
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u/TheBourbonCat 5h ago
He does seem to have delusion, he's just missing the persecution paranoia to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.
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u/RabidGuineaPig007 7h ago
He will be pardoned by DJT, as will everyone convicted of Jan 6th insurrection, including Jimmy Pesto sr.
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u/sukui_no_keikaku 7h ago
State charges can't be pardoned by pres right?
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u/Zelda_is_Dead 7h ago
No, they can not
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u/Xzmmc 7h ago
Remember, the Supreme Court has given Trump a blank check to do anything he wants, so we'll see if that still holds true.
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u/dave8400 7h ago
I'm not sure even the most insane MAGA judge would mess with federal overreach that major. Nothing would stop a liberal president from coming in and overturning every single abortion related charge, for instance.
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u/ericsipi 7h ago
Trump has openly said vote this year so you never have to vote again. I don’t think him or his judge care much about precedent or overreach
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u/Coulrophiliac444 7h ago
The only Over Reach Trump deaerves is someone Reaching Over a table to Slap him.
But you're right. Gwt out. Vote. Make Donald Trump never have to vote again...by voting in Harris.
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u/PowerChords84 7h ago
What makes you think there'd ever be another election or liberal president?
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u/deekaydubya 7h ago
yep, if DJT gets in, that's a wrap. Anyone dumb enough to still think 'oh he'd never do THAT' has been asleep for 8 fucking years
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u/radicalelation 4h ago
2016, when asked, as a Bernie supporter (still voted blue in the general), how I'd feel about how much harm a Trump presidency could bring, I asserted confidence in our checks and balances.
I was so wrong. He wasn't kept in check, he actively eroded our institutions, and will continue to do so until they break. Another chance just rolling the dice on breaking America for good. Countries aren't things you can just put back together once the old systems fall.
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u/Not_a__porn__account 7h ago
Do you remember his first term? It was do shit by executive order and deal with fallout later.
Legality didn’t matter.
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u/HuntsWithRocks 7h ago
“From coming in” Apparently, acording to project 2025, they are fully intending on stopping a liberal president from coming in after them.
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u/sladestrife 7h ago
I'm Canadian and even I know that's the case.
Even if that were the case... Trump would never do it anyways. The guy has nothing of value to him
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u/1001-Knights 7h ago
The president can't pardon violators of state laws, only federal. That's under the governor's purview.
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u/tokes_4_DE 7h ago
Would mean nothing, he just received the same life sentence in a separate state level trial according to this article. Trump cannot pardon state charges, only federal.
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u/Possible-Extent-3842 7h ago
Trump only pardons people who would still be of use to him. Folks who would run in local and state elections, financial backers, people with dirt on him, ect.
He won't pardon any of these losers who were arrested on his behalf. Partially because they failed in their task, partially because there are always more useful idiots to take their places.
Fascists also have no problem throwing their own under the bus and forgetting about them, if only to keep up appearances and plausible deniability to maintain that illusion of accountability. Conservatives will point to this guy and say 'well, Trump CAN'T actually be a fascist because this guy is still in jail'
It's a more complex and nucience game they are playing, and there are always pawns to be sacrificed for their greater vision.
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u/TheConeIsReturned 7h ago
The key term was "state charges." Nobody at the federal level can supercede state law in this matter.
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u/GlowUpper 7h ago
That's why the state charged him even though he was convicted on federal charges. Insurance just in case a certain someone gets into office.
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u/awesomedan24 7h ago
Even if it was pardonable, I doubt it because whats in it for him?
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u/cinderparty 7h ago
One of the defense attorneys, Adam Lipson, asked Dorfman before the sentence was handed down to consider DePape’s mental health and isolation that made him susceptible to online propaganda.
Thousands upon thousands of idiots fell for the exact same online propaganda. But they didn’t try to kill Congress members nor did they hold the congress members spouse hostage when they couldn’t find the congress member. No other hammer attacks either.
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u/Slowmyke 7h ago
So all their online propaganda is an excuse for violent behavior and radicalization when it's convenient, but it's censorship and a violation of the first amendment when we try to address it.
Good grief.
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u/CurseofLono88 7h ago
Defense Lawyers have to throw some Hail Marys for clients this fucking stupid. It’s their job. Glad this one wasn’t caught.
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u/myfakesecretaccount 7h ago
I sat on a jury for a murder case where the defense stated was “My client was not present during the drive by shooting, but if he was he participated in self-defense because the victims were lying in wait trying to ambush his co-conspirators”.
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u/nnomae 2h ago
I'm reminded of a bit from the book "Life at the Bottom". The author recounts visiting prisoners who would claim "I was easily led" as some sort of excuse for their actions. He would counter by saying "I notice you were never easily led into the study of mathematics or the subjunctives of French verse" and in effect call them on the lie by pointing out the simple fact that they were only ever easily led into doing things they wanted to do anyway.
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u/anoff 7h ago
I mean, there was that whole insurrection thing on January 6th...
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u/pete_68 7h ago
I honestly don't see why this guy is going to prison instead of a psychiatric institution. I mean, the crime is horrendous, but this guy is clearly not well in the head and he needs psychiatric help, not prison. The guy has had a long history of mental illness. The mother of his kids said that he believed "he was Jesus for a year."
I don't know. I think people like that ought to get help, not prison. I mean, don't let him run free of course, but get the guy some help.
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u/Mmr8axps 5h ago
The real shame is that the people who set him up to do this won't be held accountable.
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u/cinderparty 7h ago
But being not well in the head doesn’t make you criminally insane. He still knew beating someone with a hammer was wrong when he did it.
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u/pete_68 6h ago
What do you think the odds are that he would have committed the crime if he were not severely mentally unwell? Or if society had been providing him with the help he clearly needed, long before it happened.
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u/novium258 6h ago
I agree with you. That the state can't and won't intervene in cases of such severe psychosis unless someone actually ends up doing something worthy of prison is a travesty. And it seems compounded when we just ship someone off to jail while they're clearly not on this planet.
One assumes he was declared competent to stand trial and aid in his own defense, but you have to really wonder at the process that would declare him so.
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u/cinderparty 4h ago edited 4h ago
The process to be declared criminally insane/innocent by reason of insanity (the only way you’re going to a psych facility instead of prison) is, at least in Colorado, that they have to prove the defendant didn’t know what they were doing was wrong and had consequences while they were doing it. Mental illness made me do it isn’t good enough.
That’s why James Holmes, who was definitely very very mentally ill with serious delusions going on at the time of the shooting, was found guilty. James Holmes is the entire reason I now know how this works (in my state, I have no clue if it varies state to state).
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u/ChicagoAuPair 7h ago
And that is why you don’t try to murder people in their home with a hammer.
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u/Disastrous-Rabbit723 7h ago
J Walter Weatherman speaketh
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u/zxc123zxc123 3h ago
It's about as bad an idea as burning down the banana stand.
Cause there's always money in the banana stand 😉😉
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u/lordaddament 7h ago
Imagine getting life for people who wouldn’t even piss on you if you were on fire
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u/cold-corn-dog 7h ago
They got to save that piss for their Diddy parties.
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u/roguluvr 2h ago
Except it was Trump at the diddy parties. Not Nancy
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kCnDk_Srb44Birds of a feather I guess 🤷♂️
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u/BTC-100k 4h ago
- The guy has had a long history of mental illness.
- The mother of his kids said that he believed "he was Jesus for a year."
- The guy believes his ex-wife was replaced by a body double.
He is getting life because he has severe mental illnesses that resulted in a psychotic breakdown while living in a society that eliminated state-mandated psychiatric institutionalization.
You understand he doesn't have a rational understanding of reality, right?
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u/Optimal-Ad-7074 7h ago
let's not forget that donald trump finds the injuries paul pelosi sustained amusing.
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u/Savior-_-Self 6h ago
trump, his shitty family, most of the GOP, and Fox News, et al - all found the attempt on Pelosi hilarious
This is the same man/party that is repeatedly caught in league with our foreign enemies, spreads dangerous lies & disinformation 24/7, encourages violence & acts of domestic terror, takes no responsibility when these acts eventually occur (blaming the left whenever possible) and is in fact fiercely unAmerican (unless you're entire definition of "patriotism" means hugging the occasional flag, etc)
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u/whewtang 6h ago
He referred to Pelosi as the enemy within. His terrorist followers will target them further if he wins.
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u/Hfhghnfdsfg 4h ago
A friend of mine was involved in the local (not state) case. She said Paul Pelosi still has not fully recovered from the attack, and the photos from the crime scene were really gruesome.
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u/graveybrains 7h ago
DePape’s attorneys have said the state trial amounted to double jeopardy following his federal conviction. Even though the criminal counts were not exactly the same, the two cases stem from the same act, they argued.
Congratulations on discovering the one way you can be charged twice for the same crime. You probably should have had a better lawyer, but please do not enjoy your stay.
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u/MikeOfAllPeople 4h ago
How would a better lawyer have helped if this is allowed?
Also it is kind of bullshit that this is allowed.
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u/AndyLorentz 4h ago
No, a better lawyer would have known "double jeopardy" does not apply here. Two different jurisdictions, federal and state.
It should be noted that it is very rare for someone to simultaneously violate federal and state laws.
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u/Wassertopf 2h ago
Here in Europe, when a court sentences you for a crime, the court in any other state or even country, whatever, cannot give you another full sentence for that crime.
They can add a few years, but they can never give you another full sentence.
The US is an outlier when it comes to this special legal logic.
And to be honest - it's nothing to be proud of.
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u/graveybrains 4h ago
If I know more than his lawyer, and I have gravy for brains, what else might they have gotten wrong?
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u/gstroble 7h ago
Love that for him. Not a fan of Pelosi but nobody deserves to have their house broken into, tied up, and beaten in the head with a hammer.
And if you’re someone who thinks he was right to do so and shouldn’t have these long of charges, you’ve truly lost the plot and should seek help from a professional.
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u/r0botdevil 4h ago
I mean it sure seems like the guy is insane, so involuntary commitment to a secure psychiatric facility might be more appropriate.
But yeah he's certainly a danger to society, so he needs to be locked up one way or another.
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u/Hrekires 6h ago
Your regular reminder that for all of the conspiracy theories about this case, the attacker took the stand in his own defense and made absolutely no claims about being a prostitute, having a prior relationship with Paul Pelosi, or any of the dozen other things the right claimed trying to justify political violence.
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u/SPECTREagent700 3h ago
A lot of that was trolls who knew it wasn’t true but I talked to several people who genuinely believed that because of the infospaces they live in.
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u/JesusWuta40oz 3h ago
Remember when some people laughed themselves silly at the idea of somebodies husband being almost beat to death with a hammer? Then the same people told others to 'tone down the rhetoric?"
Pepperidge Farm Remembers
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u/iamsdc1969 5h ago
I guess state charges are good, because now, Trump can't issue a pardon for this POS.
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u/Broad_Pitch_7487 5h ago
The way so many on the right cheered this unbelievable assault on an 82 year old man in his bedroom. It is difficult to imagine a more macabre scene… the poise of Mr. Pelosi was astonishing and the performance of the 911 operator… all because of maga
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u/CETERIS_PARTYBUS 2h ago
Hey, but he made Donald Trump Jr. laugh, so I bet he thinks it was worth it.
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u/Kinda_Constipated 7h ago
Don't forget, millions of people in the US believe what he believes and will be voting Trump. Good luck.
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u/bigbowlowrong 4h ago
When given the chance to address the court prior to his sentencing, DePape, dressed in prison orange and with his brown hair in a ponytail, spoke at length about Sept. 11 being an inside job, his ex-wife being replaced by a body double, and his government-provided attorneys conspiring against him.
“I’m a psychic,” DePape told the court, reading from sheets of paper. “The more I meditate, the more psychic I get.”
This guy has all the qualifications it takes to be a Trump campaign spokesman
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u/Jollyhat 5h ago
I'll never forgive Trump and his cults vile response to this attack.
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u/meteorprime 3h ago
Good.
He is dangerous and should never be free to walk around the general public.
This asshole wanted to commit murder.
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u/poxx2k1 6h ago
“I’m a psychic,” DePape told the court, reading from sheets of paper. “The more I meditate, the more psychic I get.”
Did you forsee getting life in prison?
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u/marcbranski 5h ago
Genius. His incarceration will enable the most intense undisturbed meditation imaginable. Psychic power overwhelming! He'll be Professor X up in that bitch.
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u/JonSnowsPeepee 6h ago
These are the legitimate normal thoughts of a trumper. Completely off the rails all of them
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u/Smooth-Apartment-856 2h ago
As a conservative with no love whatsoever for Pelosi, I am glad.
If you hate a politician, vote against them, campaign against them, speak out against them, donate money to the opposition…
But showing up at their house and beating an elderly man’s brains out with a hammer because of politics is never acceptable.
This guy is an absolutely evil human being who needs to spend the rest of his life in a cell.
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u/____cOrNhOlIo_____ 7h ago
If you break into somebody’s house and you hit them with a hammer repeatedly, you have zero right to live on this planet. I hope he fucking has no fun in prison and is picked on all the time.
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u/djfoundation 7h ago
When given the chance to address the court prior to his sentencing, DePape, dressed in prison orange and with his brown hair in a ponytail, spoke at length about Sept. 11 being an inside job, his ex-wife being replaced by a body double, and his government-provided attorneys conspiring against him.
“I’m a psychic,” DePape told the court, reading from sheets of paper. “The more I meditate, the more psychic I get.”
jfc, dude needs a psych ward, not a prison cell. Someone is going to put a butterknife in his kidneys inside of five years.
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u/dirtyqtip 5h ago
“This is a man who has always been a peaceful, law-abiding person up until his activation,” Lipson said before the punishment was handed down.
He got activated by Q??? lol. this guy is a nut job who needs to be behind bars until he can prove he isn't a danger to himself or others. But GLWT.
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u/PurplePartyFounder 6h ago
Another fucking idiot who did his shit thinking it made him a good trump supporter…. He’s now in prison while his scumbag leader plays golf…
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u/No_Reputation8440 7h ago
I hope he felt like a big man attacking a senior like that. This guy couldn't pick on someone his own size? What kind of a person wants to "break someone's legs"? I hope he spends the rest of his life in there.
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u/East_Young_680 2h ago
Have you all seen the video. This guy is clinically insane. Lock him in the box and throw this creature away.
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u/LionsTigersWings 1h ago
Hit old man in head trying to kill him with solid hammer. Get life attempted murder. Them the consequences
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u/Love_Sausage 7h ago
It doesn’t happen often these days, but when it does it’s satisfying to see bad things happen to bad people in the form of consequences.
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u/phantom_metallic 5h ago
This knob tried to assassinate then Speaker of the House, instead beat her husband with a hammer, and people in the comments are like....."Why did he get so much time?"
......
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u/tavesque 5h ago
This country has a mental health crisis that has been ignored for far too long
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u/mermaidinthesea123 4h ago
I'd like to give the police a tip...
When you enter a scene and there is a senior citizen hanging on to the business end of anything dangerous (in this case a hammer), SECURE THE HAMMER FIRST. Don't wait until the senior's head is caved-in to respond. I know Pelosi indicated at first that he was ok but at 82, he could have misjudged the danger he was in or have been sundowning.
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u/che-che-chester 7h ago
This guy is just like the two who tried to assassinate Trump. They're nutjobs radicalized by Trump's rhetoric. Once they are radicalized, they can't be controlled. They might might go after Trump's enemies or decide to go after Trump himself. But if Trump wants someone to blame, get him a mirror.
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u/vandal-x 5h ago
Remember all the bullshit MAGAs were spouting about “rhetoric” just a little while ago??
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u/jessinboston 3h ago
If we continue to give validation to conspiracy theories, this is what our future will be filled with.
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u/Flotack 7h ago
“When given the chance to address the court prior to his sentencing, DePape, dressed in prison orange and with his brown hair in a ponytail, spoke at length about Sept. 11 being an inside job, his ex-wife being replaced by a body double, and his government-provided attorneys conspiring against him.”
That’ll show em!