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Barton Lorimor

@bartonlorimor.bsky.social
922 followers 1.3K following 2K posts

Consultant, U.S. Media + Public Policy + Corporate Affairs / Former journalist + state government staff / Always Robin's and Myra's Dad. 📍 Springfield, Illinois USA BTL (at) FullStackStrats (dot) com he/him/his | ENFJ-T

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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
= The indictment is among a long string of pandemic-related fraud cases involving IDES, which was previously found to have paid out more than $5 billion in fraudulent or excessive claims over the first two years of the pandemic... = @jmetr22b.bsky.social for @chicagotribune.com >> #ILNews
CHICAGO TRIBUNE 
As part of her job, Wellington was given access to the agency’s “Pandemic Unemployment Assistance” records, a federally funded program that provided for up to 79 weeks of inflated benefits to people unable or unavailable to work due to the pandemic, the indictment stated.

Wellington was fired by Company B on Oct. 7, 2021, according to the indictment. Over the next month, Wellington and Easley accessed the IDES system without authority and “falsely and fraudulently” modified the wage histories of some 471 applicants for pandemic assistance, resulting in vastly augmented checks being disbursed to those individuals, according to the charges. Those recipients in turn kicked thousands of dollars back to Wellington and Easley, according to the indictment.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Obligatory.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Ostermeier's field before harvest in what is very likely the last season without MacArthur Blvd - Iron Bridge Rd traffic.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
...and a catch. 💜
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The "Church of Chill," bathroom cleaning chemicals, and this 10-point buck Myra and I saw a few weeks ago exploring one of the "secret paths" in Springfield, Illinois' Washington Park ✌️ #SilentSunday
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The full quote from @wglt.bsky.social >>
The notion that Kinzinger's actions could cost him his job was something he’d made peace with before he ran for office. His military service in Afghanistan and Iraq had made him keenly aware that a role in Congress would involve sending people to war.

“If I'm going to ask a 19-year-old to die for this country — like, the end of the movie — and I am unwilling to give up my career for this country, then I am unworthy of the job in which I am voting to send people to their death," he said.

That moral clarity was lacking, he said, in many of his Republican counterparts.

“What bothers me is that so many people agreed with everything I said, but then they would say things like, ‘Well, I can’t do that and win my re-election,’ or ‘I can’t say what you’re saying,’ and then, ‘you know, I’m worried about what’s going to happen to me,’” he told reporters before the event.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Full house at ISU Braden Auditorium in Normal, Ill., for home boy @adamkinzinger.substack.com film screening and interview with @wglt.bsky.social. In addition to #NeverTrump and #J6, the former U.S. Rep. spoke about support for Ukraine and how drone warfare has violently transformed battlefields.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Confirmed.
An interior column of the Springfield (Ill.) Public Library that has been painted green and afixed with white lettering, "BECAUSE WORDS HAVE POWER."
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We briefly stopped in Carbondale this weekend on our way home, so I went to visit a friend. It's sad enough that Ryan isn't here in-person to do the good work he was destined to do. His tree keeps growing, even though my memories of him are still of a 22-year-old.
A tree outside of the Communications Building on the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale with a memorial plaque at the base. The inscription reads that the tree was planted in memory of Ryan Rendleman, an undergraduate student from Batavia, Ill., studying photojournalism and working as a staff photojournalist at the Daily Egyptian student newspaper. Rendleman, 22, was killed in April 2008 in a traffic collison in rural Washingtin County, Ill. He was en route to O'Fallon, Ill., to meet the subject of a story he was reporting about Tay-Sachs disease when a tractor-trailor crushed his car, stopped in a construction zone near the Locust Creek bridge on Illinois Route 127.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Undisclosed location...but #GoDawgs.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I would describe that as a good thing, too.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
= [Iranian President Masoud] Pezeshkian did not acknowledge the many grievances other countries in the region have with Iran, including its arming of proxy forces in Arab countries such as Lebanon and Yemen... = @politico.com >> bsky.app/profile/poli...
POLITICO 

“They martyred, assassinated our scientists, our men, women and children — innocent children whom, in truth, had committed no crimes, no sins,” Pezeshkian said. As he spoke, the cameras showed a lone U.S. official at the American delegation’s desk inside the hall walking out.

Nonetheless, Pezeshkian ended the speech by saying that Tehran remains open to diplomacy. “Iran must be understood by Mr. Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” Pezeshkian said.

The varying note was reminiscent of Trump’s speech Tuesday, in which the U.S. president also said he believed the countries could come to a diplomatic resolution, likely after the U.S. midterm elections in November.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
= Surely no sane member of the human race could discover victory in such desolation. Could anyone wish his name to be coupled by history with such human degradation and destruction? = - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower #USPols #Iran
A still frame from an archive video recording of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivering his "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations General Assembly, December 8, 1953.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
TBH: #ILikeIke POTUS speeches to the UN General Assembly better than what we got today: "Atoms for Peace" December 8, 1953 TRANSCRIPT: www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/defaul... VIDEO: youtu.be/2DxeLeginUQ
Should such an atomic attack be launched against the United States, our reactions would be swift and resolute. But for me to say that the defense capabilities of the United States are such that they could inflict terrible losses upon an aggressor -- for me to say that the retaliation capabilities of the United States are so great that such an aggressor’s land would be laid waste -- all this, while fact, is not the true expression of the purpose and the hope of the United States.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
POLITICO
“When this Court issues a decision, it constitutes a precedent that commands respect in lower courts,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote last year, assailing several lower-court decisions that he said conflicted with the Supreme Court’s positions in other cases. “Whatever their own views, judges are duty-bound to respect ‘the hierarchy of the federal court system created by the Constitution and Congress,’” Gorsuch added, joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
One last trip around the Lake. #LaborDay
The bow of a kayak pointed towards a small, open water lake, Labor Day 2026.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Happy Labor Day weekend to all who celebrate. #twill #uspols
All the makings of a good time.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
lol wut
A print screen of CNBC web page about trading patterns the morning of Friday, September 4, 2026. 

Dow falls after much stronger-than-expected jobs report: Love updates
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
#ILWX 00:43. Passed the State Fairgrounds and northend Springfield, IL. Over Leland Grove, Jerome, Southern View, Bradfordton. Heading for Chatham, New Berlin
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
The same storm at 00:24 #ilwx
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Some chop.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
St. Joseph / Benton Harbor, MI Five minutes ago. @lake-michigan.live
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Undisclosed location for a summer 2026 swan song... music.youtube.com/watch?v=47FR...
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Creatures of the night.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
@slkollmann.bsky.social **guttural laughter** Well done.


- Stephanie Kollmann - Thursday, Aug 6, 26 @ 1:18 pm:

my comment didn’t post (heh)
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
#Boston, #NewHampshire, #Portland, @altacadia.bsky.social, and #Bangor are absolutely gorgeous, indispensible treasures...but, it's good to be home. #America250 #SPI #Illinois
A still-photograph looking north at the exterior of the tomb of the sixteenth first family, sans Robert Lincoln, in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Souvenir of @mitpress.bsky.social: #NerdsForBetterUSA
A yellow backdrop and all capitalized, sans serif font that spells in American English, "NERDS FOR A BETTER AMERICA." Clip art of a desktop computer work station is to the right. The computer monitor shows Euler identity. 

This is an hommage to a student-made banner prominently displayed in February 1992 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The original banner, which is now on display at the M.I.T. Museum, was made to welcome attendees of the National Technology Initiative conference. 

More information about the banner is available from M.I.T.: ://mitmuseum.mit.edu/collections/object/1994.017.001
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Sharing for no particular reason a pic of the book I picked up yesterday @harvardbookstore.bsky.social. 😇 cc @willdriscoll.bsky.social
A book titled, "The International Criminal Court: Global Politics and the Quest for Justice," by the International Debate Education Association. Edited by William Driscoll, Joseph Zompetti, and Suzette W. Zompetti. 

#NeverTrump
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Citizens Club of Springfield will host speakers from local CBOs and #illinois SNAP administrators this Friday at 8 a.m. at the Hoogland CFTA. #SPI #ILNews #USPols
Citizens Club of Springfield 
Public Policy Forums 

POLICY FORUM 

Friday, July 24, 2026 

7:30 a.m. Coffee Reception 
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Program 
Hoogland Center for the Arts 
Club Room, 3rd Floor 

SNAP: The Impact on Our Neighbors
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
you but no face
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Evergreen.
Three images stacked horizontally. The first image is a still from the U.S. television show Seinfeld, featuring the character Jerry Seinfeld with an exaggerated facial expression, the character Cosmo Kramer, and a red glow coming from the apartment unit behind Cosmo. Jerry asks, "Kramer, what's going on in there?" The second image is a print screen of the New York Stock Exchange price board during active trading and indicating most all assests are dropping in price, which gives the board a lot of red color. The third image is again of Jerry and Kramer but with the latter responding, "It's the Art of the Deal, Jerry." 
#NeverTrump
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Tim Crawford, the play write behind the upcoming production of OUTRAGED: TERROR IN SPRINGFIELD, 1908, will be the guest speaker Friday at the Citizens Club of Springfield Policy Forum. #SPI #ILNews
Citizens Club of Springfield Public Policy Forums 


POLICY FORUM



Friday, June 26, 2026



7:30 a.m. Coffee Reception

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Program

Hoogland Center for the Arts

Club Room, 3rd Floor


Outraged: Terror in Springfield 1908, A Playwright’s Journey
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Lincoln.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Should be an interesting view out the window today on the Northbound Texas Eagle between Springfield and Chicago.
Northbound Amtrak Texas Eagle train arrives at the Third Street train station in Springfield, Illinois, USA. Ominous storm clouds loom over the train's path.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
More severe thunderstorms and high winds are en route to Illinois, but especially Peoria and Springfield #ILWX
Looking southwest from the 3rd Street Amtrak train station in Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 2026, 09:20 CDT. The first rain clouds of a severe thunderstorm front moving west across the Midwestern United States today are seen approaching the dome of the Illinois State Capitol, the Illinois State Armory Building, the Statehouse Inn hotel, and Isringhausen Imports. A sign at the train platform reads, "Welcome to Springfield, IL
Home of Abraham Lincoln 
Misty Buscher
Mayor"
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Putting the first of months worth of debris collected today to good use. Alderman Brad Carlson says through Meta that City of Springfield curbside pickup will begin immediately. TGIF
A fire in a round patio pit.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
A lot of electric is out tonight in #SPI after a second bout in 24 hrs of heavy rain and 60 mph winds. Sirens sounded. Outages are throughout the city and neighboring communities. State highways around the Fairgrounds are rerouting through Northend neighborhoods. Public Works, CWLP, Co-ops are out.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
The most incredible sunset light through the severe thunderstorm clouds as they moved out of Springfield. #ILWX
Yellow and voluminous range of orange sunlight passes through passing cumulonimbus clouds at around 20:30 CDT June 11, 2026.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
ICYMI
 Trump adamant he 'didn't guarantee no war' - Trump says he 'didn't guarantee no war' after pledging not to start wars
June 10, 2026 | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Author/Byline: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY | Page: 12A | Section: News
758 Words | Readability: Lexile: 1210, grade level(s): 11-12

WASHINGTON - On the night he won his 2024 presidential comeback bid, Donald Trump reminded his supporters that he never started a war during his first term and pledged not to start one over the next four years either.

"They said, 'He will start a war.' I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars," Trump said during his Nov. 6, 2024, victory speech, reciting a line he used frequently on the campaign trail.

Yet now, as the U.S. remains in a months-long conflict with Iran, Trump denies he made the pledge, telling NBC's "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker in a contentious interview that aired Sunday, "I didn't guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?"
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren reportedly says a stadium in Hammond is the "focus" and looks "forward to further discussion" with Illinois legislative sponsor, via @capitolfax.bsky.social >> capitolfax.com/2026/06/05/b... Which Indiana plan?
…Adding… I asked the Senate’s top Bears negotiator Sen. Bill Cunningham if Warren had called him. Cunningham’s response…

    Yes, heard from Warren this morning. He said they’d be putting out a statement about moving forward with Indiana. Also said he looked forward to further discussion with me.

    I’d point out, the statement they released today is not fundamentally different from the statement they issued February 19th after the Indiana bill passed.

Emphasis added.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
From @heathercherone.bsky.social for @wttw.bsky.social when NetChoice v. Chicago was filed: news.wttw.com/2026/03/13/t...
“We are not afraid of taking on Big Tech giants to fund free mental health care for Chicago,” Johnson told reporters in October.

However, a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court decision prohibits governments from taxing news organizations based on their audience size as well as a federal law passed in 2015, according to NetChoice’s complaint.

If the tax is upheld, Chicago businesses will have to pay more to advertise online, as companies pass on the cost of the tax, according to NetChoice’s complaint.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Some of my Dad's cousins recently visited Holland, including this field where on Sept. 18, 1944, a military plane piloted by their uncle, the late Capt. Fred O. Lorimor, was brought down by German flak. #MemorialDay #WW2
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
A young person sitting against a tree and playing a guitar. The caption reads, "Here's a little song I wrote called "Wake the fuck up or we're all going to die"."
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Shaw Media (@herald-news.bsky.social, @news-tribune.bsky.social, @northwestherald.bsky.social) also bid for the @dailyherald.com. The offer from Alden Capital, which owns @chicagotribune.com, now goes to Paddock private stock holders for approval >> www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/21/c...
CHICAGO TRIBUNE 

Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but the board said it would send out an information packet to Daily Herald employees in the next few days detailing the offer. The employee stockholders of the 150-year-old, formerly family-owned newspaper will then vote on whether to approve the offer, according to the Paddock email, which was obtained by the Tribune.

“This has been a long and arduous road, beginning more than a year ago with an unsolicited offer from Shaw Media to purchase the Daily Herald,” the Paddock board said in the email. “While a special committee of Paddock’s Board of Directors and the board itself were reviewing the offer, the Chicago Tribune announced that it would also make a bid.”
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Good morning from downtown! We're setting up the Book Sale for Beta Club service hours!
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
No click. Just 🙄.
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
We need a record scratch, "you're probably wondering how I got here" for this champ. I mean, really, WTH is he looking at?!
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Barton Lorimor @bartonlorimor.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
You even beat TEGNA.
TEGNA.com 

Thanks for visiting. 

TEGNA, Inc. is now part of Nexstar Media Group, Inc. 

Click here to learn more. 

For TEGNA investor information, click here.
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