the clerk: h.r. 5385, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service -- service located at 55 grasso plaza in st. louis, missouri, as the sergeant amanda n. pinson post office. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. meadows, and the gentleman from vermont, mr. welch, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina. mr. meadows: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. meadows: i ask that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the legislation. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. meadows: i rise in support of h.r. 5385, sponsored by representative ann wagner of missouri, to designate the facility of the united states post office located at 55 grasso plaza in st. louis, missouri, as the sergeant amanda n. pinson post office. sernlt pinson died on march 15, 2006, while serving in operate iraqi freedom. she, along with a fellow soldiering were ki

you see, the united states postal service is ham strung. to shut down 82 processing centers in january. the country is going to be left with one-third of the locations we had a decade ago. the closures could cost over 7,000 jobs nationwide. congress is trying to cripple the postal service with the requirement to funnel their health care retirement 75 years into the future. no other business operates like this. but of course, it was a mandate from congress. now services across the country are going to be scaled back in rural america and going to hit some areas pretty hard. since 2012, 9,000 post offices have seen a reduction in hours. customers are compromised and workers are losing wages. this is the wrong direction and it is unnecessary. for more, let me bring in mark, the president of the american postal workers union. good to have you with us tonight. what is going to happen when these 82 facilities are going to be shut down. they are going to be reduced. congress didn't do anything about it. there were attempts by some to reverse this.

united states was a stamp collector. he had a lot of influence and stamp design. is here's a collection that on long-term loan to us from the united states postal service. postmaster wn as the general selection. it is a treasure trove. i've opened it up to show you here, too stamps that you may remember from the 1990's. these were big deal when they are issued in 1992 and 1994. the elvis presley stamp. maybe you remember standing in your favorite n design. finally, when it was all said and done, the design of the young elvis won. the stamp was issued in 1992. tell this issue was so popular two years later the stamps of hollywood were issued. that is one of the great things collection -- aand only has the artwork that was used, it also has the preliminary designs that were not used. a great resource for collectors and the public, people interested in pop culture -- a tremendous treasure trove. its underside, stands and stamp collecting is no different. this is a collection of fakes and forgeries. just with any collectible, fakes and forgeries are problem. whatever open up to show you here are two frames. everything in the two frames are either a

. >>> the holiday mail rush is on on this busiest day of the year for the united states postal service. the san jose facility will handle a million more pieces of mail than on an average day. 650million pieces of mail will pass through a post office today alone. you can still mail a package up to december 23 but the longer you wait the more it will cost. >>> mark is here now with sports. a rough weekend for the 49ers. >> it is going to be an interesting off season for the 49ers. jim harbaugh will not be with the team. third straight loss yesterday against seattle. and when you talk about the seahawks alone they won four connective games to them up in seattle. the 9ers are just 7-7 and this will be the first time under jim harbaugh that they will not be going to the post season. eliminated. now how do you get psyched up for the last couple games? >> a lot to play for. play like our lives depend on it. so play for a winning season. playing for each other. playing for the team. playing for the honor of the game. >> in fairness the 49ers did play a good game. gave seattle all they wanted.

the united states was a stamp collector and had a lot of influence in stamp esign. >> here is some selections from a remarkable collection that's on long-term loan to us from the united states postal service. this is known as the postmaster general's collection. and it's just a treasure trove of the original artwork from modern united states stamps, the proofs and models and all sorts of great things. and what i've opened it up to show you here are two stamps you may remember from the 1990s. these were a really big deal when they were issued in 1992 and 1994. the elvis presley stamp. maybe you remember standing on line to get one of these ballots in the post office so you could vote for your favorite design. the young elvis or the old elvis. the advertising campaigns in "people" magazine and on tv and radio. and finally, when it was all said and done, the design of the young elvis won the day and the stamp was issued looking very much like this. in 1992. the elvis issue was so popular that two years later, the usps launched the ledge ends of hollywood series and the first stamp in that series was marilyn monroe. here is some of the original artwork that was not used for that parti

post office, clues from one of the biggest and busiest united states postal service facilities in chicagonce" music for $400, please. ann. what is save the last dance for me? you got it. "dance" music for $600, please.

all of those things could be done in a trusted environment of the united states postal office. mark dimondstein is the president of the american postal workers union. (202) questions, call 737-0002 for republicans, call (202) 737-0001 four democrats, and call (202) 628-0205 for independent. you can also make your thoughts -- on twitter and facebook known on twitter and facebook. what things would you advocate within the postal service itself that accommodates for changes you are seeing? what would you support? guest: we think the post office array ofovide a larger financial services. some postal banking. many countries do it today. the postal service used to do it in the u.s. all the way to the 1960's. about 68 million adults in the country that do not have access to a traditional bank. 38% of the zip codes in the company do not have a bank. another 20% only have one bank. a worker who is earning $25,000 a year who get stuck in this payday loan cap -- check-cashing -- we call it legal loaning pays a $2500y -- and the network the previous speaker was talking about. eighth study o

across the country 640 million pieces of mail will pass through the hands of united states postal serviceorkers today. >> it is second nature to us. >> reporter: to get it on time they will be delivering on sundays this holiday season and dropping off packages on christmas day as well. in san jose, alex savage, ktvu channel 2 news. >> itturns out today is the biggest day of the year for fedex. you can see from these shots all of the boxes spread out all over the roadway. authorities say the driver swerved to avoid a tire in the road. he was treated for minor injuries. fedex sent teams to reload the packages so there wouldn't be delays. >>> thanking troops for years of service. >> america's war in afghanistan will come to a responsible end. >> why the president chose this place to make his announcement and how elvis presley is linked to the announcement. >> the first line of defense. on board one of the boats responsible for keeping debris out of the bay after a storm. >> new rooms for rent in san francisco. serving people who probably have no other options for staying in the marina. every

to fine the best deal shopping expert checked out rates for the united states postal service, federal and u.p.s. >>> we compared basic price to ship three-pound package from new york headquarters to texas. we shipped it three ways, standard overnight, second day, and ground shipping. >> the postal service was least expensive every time. for example, the rate for second-day delivery was $12. fedex and u.p.s. were more than $630. another gripe, valuable packages left outside happening to half and four in ten have had a, pa acknowledge go missing. >> if you ship valuable items consider insurance. with u.p.s. and fedex, you are automatically covered pore $100. >> the post office insures most priority maim express shipments for up to $100. >> you can always buy additional insurance if the item is really expensive. >>> a final complaint? 55 percent say a package want delivered when promised. don gives customers some simple advice. >> to get it on time, ship early. >> the postal service says to deliver by next the last deadline is december 23 for express service. >>> the morning news continu

. >> i want to say this though about that note thing, man, i utilize united states postal service to the fullest. check my mail log. it's on fire. i get a million letters a day from her. so i don't know if it was from me or what possessed her to do that because she knows that would jeopardize me. >> thank you mr. gore. >> yes, sir. >> after deliberating the disciplinary committee decides that gore will not spend time in segregation due to the bad write up and he is sent back to his general population unit. >> i feel like i won trial or something it's crazy. >> hopefully i won't see you again any time soon. >> that's only because they messed up the paperwork. otherwise you would have been doing time. >> i know. >> all right. let's try to stay out of trouble. >> but gore did not get off without consequence. he has been fired from his kitchen job which means he can no longer catch glimpses of or pass notes to his girlfriend but gore says he'll find a way to get his job back. >> listen, i was found not guilty so i broke no rules. my whole life i've always been a person to manipulate my s

. >> about that note thing, united states postal service to the fullest. my mail log is on fire.i get a million letters a day from her. i don't know what possessed her to do that because she knows that would jeopardize me. >> okay, thank you, mr. gohr. >> yes, sir. >> after deliberating, the disciplinary committee decides will not spend time in segregation because it was a bad write-up. >> all the charges were not guilty. >> that's because they messed up the paperwork. otherwise you would have been doing time. >> i know. i got to stop and change my ways, i swear. >> all right. gohr, let's try to stay out of trouble. >> absolutely will. >> gohr did not get off without consequence. he's been fired from his kitchen job which means he can no longer get glimpses of or pass notes to samantha agee but said he'll find a way to get his job back. >> i was found not guilty. i broke no rules. my whole life, i've been a person to manipulate my surroundings, like, make things work. >> i think he got fired but i'm not sure. we'll find out if he's here for dinner or not. i'll see if he brings th

. >>> officials say substantial amount of mail was damaged yesterday after fire involving united states postal service truck. big rig was traveling south bound on 280 in hayward when the trailer carrying the mail caught fire. crews worked for hours to remove the mail from the truck. nobody was hurt. cause of the fire is still uninvestigation. >>> well it is a video of police making arrest tonight that has a lot of people asking questions. >> if leave him alone. >> from the stadium tonight. fresh example of police take down tactic. what officers say happen that's next. >> and what really happened after 9/11? the controversial report due out tomorrow causing global security concerns. >> and billboard message. why it has so many people talking tonight. it has so many people talking tonight. >> 7 news at 9:00 will be right (vo) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's wha

. >>> united states postal service police broke up an encampment outside the main berkeley campus. the postal service announced plans to sell the building to a private developer. the campers say the building should go to the city for public use. today police told them they had to go. they also removed the belongings of some of it people who weren't -- belongings of some of the people who weren't there. >> does that give somebody the right to take my stuff because i am not there? that is the logic. if you are not here we will load it into that truck over there. >> last month the city of berkeley got a restraining order blocking the sale of the post office. >>> san francisco construction crews are racing against the clock to repair a giant sink hole that opened up yesterday morning. for a while that meant no water for some residents who found access to their homes limited. ktvu's david stevenson is at the site. the city is saying this work isn't going to be done for several more days now? >> reporter: that's right. the work is continuing till 8:00 p.m. tonight. this is one of four si

joining me is the vice president of area operations for the united states postal service.k, with welcome to you and we appreciate this time. i know the post office has closed 141 locations in both 2012 and 2013. why is it we are seeing such drastic changes? >> well, what we are seeing over time is that we are seeing a dramatic decrease in the amount of first class mail that the american public is mailing because of online and e-mail traffic, and because of that we have too much capacity in the postal service, and we have had to shut down some of the facilities across the country. >> well, as you know congress returns from the holiday break on january 6th, a day after the changes are supposed to take effect, and is there anything congress can do to fix the problem, or what can the post master general do? >> we put together a lot of plans and shared some of our ideas on what we can do going forward here, you know, some of the things that we have talked about, of course, is some of the prefunding that we are burdened with here. give us more flexibility with products out there

ray is with the united states postal service, they're here, to tell us more about it this morning.great day. this is a special day. >> what does it take, tell us about the criteria to be on a postal stamps? >> re we we rely on the stamp committee, appointed by the post master general, ten to 15 on a committee, they get over 40,000 suggestion as year for subject to be considered for a stamp. so they have to take it down to about 25 topics that they'll recommend to the post master general for a preview. >> tell us about the process, because this is long time coming. you mentioned this to me few years ago. >> right. >> then it seems like time has passed. wilt and on the stamp. >> it took six years from the time i wrote the column in the philadelphia tribune to where it is today, and it was a long time coming but during that time we will to form a committee to monitor all of the response -- >> we had had petitions, exactly, ukee, we had petition that is we sent down to the citizen stamp advisory comet owe, sent down more than 55,000 names on petition. >> nice. >> in addition to that, b

. >>> after a long stretch of budget gaps and cutbacks, the united states postal service says it is actually having one of its happiest holiday seasons ever. why this year is different than any other. >> plus, taking the word of god with you wherever you go. literally. this new testament no longer than a fingernail. who just developed this and what you could do with it and of course we continue to watch the roads for you tonight as this nor'easter creates some dangerous conditions. here's a look at route 30 in downingtown, chester county. we'll continue to watch for any trouble throughout the newscast. ♪ >> cam newton is in the hospital tonight after a serious car crash in charlotte north carolina it happened earlier this afternoon a block from the panthers stadium. authorities say newton's injuries are not life threatening but they do say he suffered fractures to his lower back. >> outgoing secretary of defense chuck hagel is in baghdad tonight. his final visit as pentagon chief. hagel is meeting with troops and government officials on ways to defeat isis terrorists in iraq and in syria. ha

the major strength of the united states postal service is its significant network that can reach every community in america. whether you're in an urban city like milwaukee, wisconsin, or a rural town like prentiss, the postal service reaches these wisconsin communities. but by continually chipping away at the substantial service network, the postal service is developing into an urban package delivery system at the expense of rural americans and rural wisconsinites. you know, the preponderance of this idea of closures and consolidations say it's counterproductive to delay these closures because they should happen as soon as possible. they say that congress has failed to act and that the postal service has been left with no alternative but to close more processing facilities. well, i agree on one point, and that is that congress has indeed failed to act. and we must. congress has failed to act, and i don't know how many have sort of heard this in relation to bills to try to fix problems. have you ever seen somebody presented an idea and they say, well, look, everybody who's a stakeholder

the clerk: h.r. 4030, an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 18640 northwest second avenue in miami, florida, and so forth. the presiding officer: is there objection to froaght measure? -- proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. pryor: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and pass and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. pryor: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of the following bills, en bloc: calendar number 131, s. 684, and calendar number 513, s. 1800. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report the titles of the bill en bloc. the clerk: calendar number ^13 1, s. 684, a bill to amend the mini-cichoni act of 1948 and so forth and for other purposes. calendar number 513, s. 1800, a bill to require the secretary of the interior to submit to congress a report on the efforts of the bureau of reclamation to manage its infrastructure assets. mr

the clerk: h.r. 5687, an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 101 east market street in long beach, california, and so forth. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? if not, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. carper: mr. president, i further ask the bill be read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: and, mr. president, that's all i have at this time. i see we've been joined by the senior senator from the state of hawaii. aloha. and i'm happy to yield the floor to senator hirono. mr. sessions: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: i have been -- i have indication that if i were here on the floor that i be recognized. i don't know if there is any agreement on that or just an informal understanding. the presiding officer: there is no order to that effect. mr. sessions: well, mr. president, i believe i have

united states of america. god bless you. thanks. appreciate it. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house an enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 1391, an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 25 south oak street in london, ohio, as the london fallen veterans memorial post ffice. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from illinois, mr. rush, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. rush: i want to thank you, . speaker, and i want to congratulate the previous speaker, my friend from michigan , mike rogers, for his distinguished service to this nation and to this congress. i had the privilege of meeting mike when he first became a member of this house and i to ber his exuberance nything he displayed the hopeful look in his eye, and i atched him as he has matured into a great legislative leader and a leader for the nation. paradox of our in on is probably existed i was kind of inerested, to say the least, finding that mike rogers was a former c.i.a. agent. and just -- i had to process that in a rather unique way. i had not known many f.b.i. agents prior to shaking hands

the united states postal service is also gearing up its busiest day of the year.he usps predicts it will process 640 million cards, letters and packages today. that's up significantly from 607 million last year. quickly take a look at the fedex shares up 23% this year. >> ten days until christmas, seema. isn't that exciting? >> so exciting. >> i can't wait. now, moving on, sony is playing damage control over the recent hack attack reporting news medias not to publish the leaked documents. let's go to landon with more. >> a you remember in of news organizations have been warned not to use any information revealed from last month's hacked not only does the permanent lawyer advice against leaking any information going forward, he said anything previously obtained should bedestroyed. you cannot view, upload, download or make any use of the information being released. among the information that he considers stolen are e-mails, social security numbers, health records, salary information and more. while the hack was initially reported 20 days ago, the new information is

to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 101 east market street in long beach, california, as the juanita millender-mcdonald post office. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on adopting the resolution will be followed by five-minute votes on suspending the rules and passing s. 1000 and agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 231. the nays are 189. the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion from the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, to suspend the rules and pass s. 100, on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill.

the clerk: h.r. 78, an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 4110, almeda road in houston, texas, as the george thomas mickey leland post office building. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, ms. spear, for 30 minutes -- ms. speier, for 30 minutes. ms. speier: mr. speaker, i thank you. one of the great privileges of serving in this body is that occasionally we walk among giants. most of us, most of us 435 members are ordinary. but among us are a few extraordinary citizens who become members of congress and serve this great country. we are saying good-bye this week to one of those giants. john dingell, after serving some 59 years in this chamber, is leaving us. and leaving us with a legacy of legislation that is truly astonishing. the endangered species act, the 1990 clean air act amendments, the safe drinking water act, and legislation to create the first international wildlife refuge in north america. not to mention the civil rights act or the afforda

postal service's ability to deliver the mail, yet somehow we believe the united states can deliver democracy in a foreign country where we don't speak the langua language. another thing that i was struck by in reading kim's series of articles is this notion about state failure and the need to rebuild failed states. and they hasten to add, this isn't nation building. well, then what it is it? if we're going to fix failed states or make them stronger, that's nation building, and i think many conservatives and libertarians have skepticism how this can work. how you call it the fatal conceit. so i do think there is a tension there between kind of a confidence in the u.s. government's ability to do great things abroad, even as they retain their skepticism about them doing great things here at home. >> let me ask you. how do we balance between our values and our interests. we talked a little bit about the arab spring. should we have stayed with mubarak because he was kind of our guy? or should we have sided with those who wanted to at least in the beginning move toward democracy? >> well, i hate t

postal deliver theility to mail and we believe the united states can deliver democracy in a foreign country where we don't know the culture and aren't really welcome. , not all theime time. but reading the series of articles, this notion about state failure and the need to rebuild failed states. what is it? avert theiring to decline or make them stronger, that is nationbuilding. i think many conservatives and libertarians have some skip the schism -- skepticism. therek there is a tension between the confidence in the u.s. government doing great things abroad even as they retain their skepticism about them doing great things here at home. how do we balance between our values and our interests get co should we have state -- interests? should we have stayed with mubarak? thatose at the beginning wanted to move toward democracy. >> there is a simple answer or doctrine or philosophy that can guide us because you have to look on a case-by-case basis. it will have our own particular interests we're going to have to weigh. to that extent, i see a need for realistic values and interests. the point i

the united states to remove the obstacles hindering or restricting ties between our people, families, and citizens of both countries, particularly those restrictions related to traveling, direct postal service, and telecommunications. the progress that has been made in our exchanges shows that it is possible to find solutions to many challenges as we have reiterated, we need to learn the art of coexisting in a civilized manner with our respective differences. we will continue to talk about these important issues at a later date. thank you very much. >> florida republican senator obamarubio opposes the administration's changes in policy toward cuba saying the u.s. should not normalize relationships with cuba until it is democratized. he spoke for toy five minutes at a capitol hill news conference shortly after the president's address. >> thank you for being here. as a cuban immigrant -- one of my greatest hope is to see the nation of cuba and its people become free and open and democratic. that is exactly why today's announcement from the white house is so profound a ly disappointing. it is a victory for the oppressive cuban government but a serious setback for the repressed cuban pe

postal service's ability to deliver the mail and we believe the united states can deliver democracy in a foreign country where we don't know the culture and aren't really welcome. much of the time, not all the time. but much of the time. is -- there is a real disconnect there. another thing i was struck by when reading kim's series of articles, this notion about state failure and the need to rebuild failed states. this isn't to add nation building. the idea that this is not nationbuilding. well, what is it? if we are going to avert their decline or make them stronger, that is nationbuilding. i think many conservatives and libertarians have some skepticism. i call it the fatal conceit. i think there is a tension there between the confidence in the u.s. government's ability to do great things abroad even as they retain their skepticism about them doing great things here at home. >> how do we balance between our values and our interests. like we talked about the arab spring. stayed withve mubarak or should we have sided with those who wanted to at beginning move toward democracy? >> i hat

labor standards act in its history has been the united states governme government, and indeed as i'm sure david knows, in 1978 or '79, he sued the postal service under the recovered half a billion dollars. and government itself is frequently a violator. so the governments need to get their house in order with regard to them as well. but now to my question. it is that the secretary talked about the department's partnership with a private attorney general. frankly, i hadn't heard that term used in awhile, and i know that the department and maybe some of the states represented here do work with private attorneys because there are far more flsa cases in the courts. tens of thousands of cases brought by thousands of lawyers against employers alleging violations of fair labor standards act for thousands and thousands of employees. so perhaps david could talk about the partnership with the private bar and how -- what it's like and can it be improved. >> sure, let me say a couple but i could also defer to my colleagues from the state. first of all, the flsa give private rights of action. if we didn't have that, i wouldn't claim that we are the

the government oof united states to remove the obstacles hindering or between our ties citizens amilies, and of both countries. those restrictions related to traveling, ddirect postalrvice, and telecommunications. that has been made that it xchanges shows solutions e to find as we have llenges, reiterated -- we need to learn the art of coexisting in a civilized manner with our respective differences. we will continue to talk about these important issues at a later date. thank you very much. president also spoke yesterday about restoring relations with the u.s. in a televised speech before the u.s. parliament, saying this is a newchapter in u.s. cuban relations. but he also confirmed that cuba relations were not and the communists ruling in cuba. and that all issues would be on the table and reestablishing diplomatic ties. you can read more on this from the "new york times". and on fox news sunday this morning, senator ben cardin was asked about castro speech. you that i can assure we will ccontinue to point out the faults of the cuban system. and we will speak out against human rights. is clear, the more that americans interact with humans, the more the cubans will

of they're all we have the united states post office on monday to 6.2 million packages that is the most ever delivered in a single day and to lead a 37 year distich of the postalous record set back the week prior online shopping this entity over $89,000,000,000.30 percent increase over last year. >> james: aaa sale hundred million people will be doing some type of travel over the christmas holiday. no gas for a suitable step #has fallen 89 consecutive days that is a longer streak on record. the classified stand the $2.35 here the average price of around the bay with a snarl of a more extensive san francisco to 87 down 2¢ from yesterday opened down 2¢ from yesterday to 72 we have the evidence san jose and becoming a $2.73. >> james: we're watching your christmas eve for fast because we are expecting rain this afternoon erika will explain. >> james: we're back taking a look here at what is happening in talk of this would to an extent tear for the christmas holiday traditions at kirkwood the fantastic. the national weather service said the strong cold front will move into the sierra tonight. the heavy snows of the head of the for this evening it could be a consen

the united states to remove the obstacles hindering or restricting ties between our people, families, and citizens of both countries, particularly those restrictions related to traveling, direct postalvice, and talk indications. -- and telecommunications. the progress that has been made in our exchanges shows that it is possible to find solutions to many challenges as we have reiterated, we need to learn the art of coexisting in a civilized manner with our respective differences. we will continue to talk about these important issues at a later date. thank you very much. >> senators patrick leahy of vermont and chris van hollen of maryland were on the plane that carried allen gross back to the united states from cuba. they spoke about that experience and their support for normalizing relations with cuba during a capitol hill news conference. this is 15 minutes. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> good afternoon. we are here primarily to answer your questions. but before we do, i would like to note that the three of us went do