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There is a foul odor emanating from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, and folks—it isn’t the party platform. This morning, just before the start of the convention, a police officer conversed with a dispatcher about the distinct smell of “rotten bananas and mildew” wafting out of the arena’s banjo-shaped stage. That back-and-forth, broadcast via police scanner, is captured above.

All New York-based reporters forced to suffer the indignity of this gut-wrenching stench are recommended to return to the city, where the mountains of trash bags fermenting in 90-degree heat have given our streets the pleasing smell of a homely candle shop.

Video by Tim Burke