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Matt Motta

@mattmotta.bsky.social
10K followers 1.9K following 596 posts

Associate Professor of Health Law, Policy, & Management. Boston University School of Public Health. Author of Anti-Scientific Americans: a.co/d/7oSVhwP

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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In a world full of Lebrons... be a Wemby.
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Mike Finger @mikefinger.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Just asked Victor Wembanyama if he’d ever consider promoting a sports betting company. “Absolutely not. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it. .. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me.”
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Alessandro Nai @alessandronai.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
You know those (rare) papers that really make you proud? In new piece out at APR, we show that #AffectivePolarization likely spills onto other types of non-political polarization - notably, PREFERENCES FOR CATS VS. DOGS (aka “affective PAWlarization”) paper: tinyurl.com/jn48bypp data: osf.io/4p2zu
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Phil Klinkner @pklinkne.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I really love this chart. I'm guess that the correlation here (.85) is about as big as you would find for any other variable. Also, a less serious scholar than @tesler.bsky.social (namely me) would have made a crude Freudian reference to the slope of the line.
Chart shows a close positive relationship between Trump's 2024 vote and Google searches for testosterone boosters.
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The Great Pumpkin Papers 🎃🎃🎃 @professormusgrave.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
As a professor, most of what I do is log in to things
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sen. John Fetterman says he's a "lifelong Republican" before Major Garrett has to correct him
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ghpoliticspodcast.bsky.social @ghpoliticspodcast.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Our conversation w/ @busph.bsky.social @bostonu.bsky.social Prof Monica Wang about her new @beaconpress.bsky.social book The Collective Cure just dropped! @thrasherxy.bsky.social @madhupai.bsky.social @mattmotta.bsky.social @bucomresearch.bsky.social #publichealth podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 24/09/2026
MURRAY: The Trump admin falsely labeled birth control as abortion. Do you agree that an IUD is an abortifacient? OVERTON: If confirmed, I'll be fully briefed M: That's not an answer. The prospect of an FDA commissioner who doesn't know that birth control isn't an abortion is deeply alarming O: 😊
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ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 24/09/2026
86 point swing away from trump with independents. hot damn.
harry enten showing pure independent voters with a 86pt swing from trump
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
In ordinary times, these news updates would be the lowlights of an administration plagued by calamity. Today... it's just a Tuesday.
List of the day's events from NYT email briefing. List of the day's events from NYT email briefing.
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Dallas Morning News replicates the Houston Chronicle's reporting: a Chinese Communist Party affiliated real estate aggregator is one of Ken Paxton's leading campaign funders (after Elon Musk and the data center promoters). www.dallasnews.com/politics/tex...
dallasnews.com
Paxton made Chinese land deals a campaign issue. His donors have ties to it.
Paxton's campaign has taken in $40,000 from donors who work for companies that facilitate the foreign investments in Texas real estate, according to records.
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Midterm voters are more concerned about gas prices than vaccines. BUT, as I discuss with @usatoday.com, vaccines are becoming an increasingly important litmus test for figuring out which candidates will stand up to the Trump admin, and who will not. www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
usatoday.com
Vaccines become a 2026 midterm election issue amid measles outbreak
A measles outbreak and the Trump administration narrowing childhood immunization recommendations have made vaccines a midterm election issue.
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Oh it's in the top three or four of all time alright.....
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In 2024, JP Morgan (via affiliated groups) donated... 🔴 $1,156,272 to the RNC 🔴 $1,000,000 to MAGA Inc 🔴 $126,868 to Donald Trump 🔴 $500,000 to Turnout for America (MAGA-aligned mobilization group) They donated plenty to Dems too. But they sunk millions into the presidential ticket that did this.
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Do tech companies even use their own products? I feel like literally anybody who has had AI forced on them could tell you that this is exactly what it would do..... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/t...
nytimes.com
OpenAI Discloses Six New Incidents of ‘Concerning' A.I. Behavior
The artificial intelligence company also released a framework for reporting when its systems go wrong.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
BREAKING: SCOTUS denies the Trump administration’s request to enforce the new U.S. Postal Service rule for the 2026 elections. Justices Alito and Thomas dissent. More to come at Law Dork. www.lawdork.com
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 26A305
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, ET AL. U.
CALIFORNIA, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR STAY
[September 14, 2026]
The application for stay presented to JUSTICE JACKSON and by her referred to the Court is denied. The Government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the District Court's preliminary injunction. And the equitable factors applicable for obtaining emergency relief from this Court do not favor a stay.
JUSTICE KAVANAUGH, concurring.
In my view, based on the briefing the Court has received at this interim stage, there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Service's statutory authority. See 39 U. S. C. §401(2). But applying the rule in the 2026 elections would be arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act because state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections. See 39
U. S. C. §3001(m); 5 U. S. C. §706(2)(A). For that reason, I concur in the denial of the application for stay.
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Trump's CDC is dusting off the admin's COVID playbook. When you're out of arguments... simply deny the diagnoses and causes of death. This is politically-motivated data manipulation from the CDC, plain and simple.
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Annenberg Public Policy Center @appc.upenn.edu · 09/09/2026
Public confidence in Fauci has declined since spring, but still exceeds that of RFK Jr. www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/public-confi... - Even *after* Fauci appeared before a Senate committee hearing, public confidence in him stands at 50%, vs. 38% for RFK Jr.
annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org
Public Confidence in Fauci Declines Since Spring, But Still Exceeds RFK Jr. | The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
Confidence in Dr. Anthony Fauci as a source of trustworthy public health information declined since the spring but remains higher than RFK Jr.
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Kristen V. Brown @kristenvbrown.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Only 14% of women with menopause actually had it documented in their electronic health record. That seems like a pretty big ommission! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
eurekalert.org
Menopause is missing from most electronic health records, study finds
Menopause is frequently missing from women’s electronic health records, according to a University of Colorado Anschutz study of nearly 396,000 women participating in the National Institutes of H...
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Georgy Tarasenko @tarasenkogeorgy.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Once we audit those channels, the acoustic signal is real - but we don’t find convincing evidence that it measures concealed dissent. A much simpler measure does better: how long someone takes on the sensitive item relative to their own pace on ordinary survey questions.
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G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 02/09/2026
This (from Tom Wood) suggests more than just the typical thermostatic backlash is happening right now. In sixteen months, Trump and Republicans have turned the GOP’s largest party ID advantage this century into a tie for its biggest deficit
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Santos was always the odds on favorite... www.wired.com/story/george...
wired.com
George Santos Just Got Hit With Kalshi’s First-Ever Lifetime Ban
The former US representative was also fined more than $71,000 for allegedly attempting to manipulate the prediction market.
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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 31/08/2026
NEW: A Texas judge paused a lawsuit seeking to revoke FDA approval of the abortion drug mifepristone until December 1—or FDA finishes its sham mife "review." Judge Reed O'Connor said Texas and Florida *can challenge drug's original approval* @autonomynews.co storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
WICHITA FALLS DIVISION
Civil Action No. 7:25-CV-00126-O
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, ET AL., 
Plaintiffs,
v. 
U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, ET AL.,
Defendants. 

OPINION & ORDER
Before the Court are Defendants Food and Drug Administration, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr,
Martin A. Makary, Richard Pazdur, and Department of Health and Human Services’ (“Government Defendants”) Motion to Stay or Alternatively to Dismiss (ECF No. 20); Danco Laboratories, LLC and GenBioPro, Inc.’s Motions to Dismiss (ECF Nos. 52, 54); The State of
Florida and the State of Texas’s Consolidated Response (ECF No. 56); and Defendants’ Replies (ECF Nos. 57–59). Having considered the Motions, briefing, and applicable law, the Court DENIES Danco Laboratories, LLC and GenBioPro, Inc.’s Motions to Dismiss and GRANTS in part Government Defendants’ Motion to Stay.

full docket:
www.courtlistener.com/docket/72012984/the-state-of-florida-v-us-food-and-drug-administration/?order_by=desc
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🏳️‍⚧️ UNBAN LINK @biancamack.co · 30/08/2026
Love a direct, to the point queen. Say it plainly and leave no space for bad-faith bullshit.
Asked why the WNBA continues to experience these heightened distractions, Cloud said, "Men."
"The men now that are like 'Oh, we need to protect the WNBA,’ y'all were the same ones saying we shouldn't be paid," Cloud continued. "Y'all were the same ones saying we shouldn't have been invested in, saying we're a joke, the same ones that don't respect Black women. So, if you're going to protect women, that means all women. That includes Black women, trans women and the list goes on."
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
And that's *before* the start of the NFL season. www.cnn.com/2026/08/28/b...
cnn.com
Young adults under 21 traded $5 billion on Kalshi this year, amid prediction market frenzy | CNN Business
Young adults between 18 and 21, who are legally barred from most gambling in the US, have traded an estimated $5.4 billion so far this year on the Kalshi prediction market, according to a new CNN anal...
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
An important step in the right direction.
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
As expected, DOJ is appealing Judge Talwani's TRO to the First Circuit, and will (almost certainly) go to #SCOTUS if/when the court of appeals refuses to stay it pending appeal. TL;DR: Mail-in ballots will be back before the justices by as early as the middle of next week...
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Mickey Gasper was in Worcester two weeks ago. Now he's playing like his next stop is... Cooperstown???
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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"Even with tonight’s [Supreme Court] stay, section 3 [of the Executive Order on mail-in ballots] remains blocked; the USPS Final Rule remains frozen." Always grateful for the clear-eyed and lightening fast analysis by @stevevladeck.bsky.social. www.stevevladeck.com/p/246-making...
stevevladeck.com
246. Making Sense of the Mail-in Ballots Ruling
The Supreme Court’s grant of a stay in one of the mail-in ballot cases is deeply wrong, but it’s also not the main event over whether Trump’s patently unlawful executive order can take effect.
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Matthew Gertz @mattgertz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Entire generations of voters, political operatives, policy wonks, and politicians do not remember this.
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Thomas [DARK MODE], DO @tom.medsky.social · 18/08/2026
Earlier today I went to give a toddler the MMR vaccine and our nurse grabbed my arm and said "Doctor! That's not MMR, that's a Diet Coke!" Thank goodness. You can understand the confusion.
A plastic coke bottle on the left. The MMR vaccine (Priorix™️ GSK) on the right. The vaccine is a small glass syringe and a vial with a light green cap.
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Easy: AI is the author. I hope that clears things up!
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
This downward trend isn't just about states rolling back vaccine mandates. Several have tried. Most have failed. Immunization rates are falling in part because the Trump administration is *encouraging* people not to vaccinate. The call is coming from inside the house.
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Wesleyan Media Project @wesmediaproject.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
💥NEW WMP report: Immigration & police top concerns for both parties in Senate races. Ad spending in the cycle to date approaches $3 billion. Report: mediaproject.wesleyan.edu/releases-081... @tnridout.bsky.social @efranklinfowler.bsky.social @mikefranz.bsky.social @wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social
mediaproject.wesleyan.edu
Immigration and Police Top Concerns for Both Parties in Senate Races - Wesleyan Media Project
In House, Dems focus more on cost of living; GOP discuss crime and taxes (MIDDLETOWN, CT) August 13, 2026 – Ads supporting Republicans and Democrats running for Senate this year have converged on the ...
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
A complete lack of respect for the rule of law. Decreeing that the ACIP's efforts to overhaul the vaccine schedule were lawful (despite courts' insistence otherwise) does not make it so. Full stop. This executive order -- should HHS act on it -- is as unlawful as it is misguided and dangerous.
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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 09/08/2026
Trump 2.0 has blown up US scientific research in a way that will take decades to roll back. Labs that took years to build have closed, young people have left science. NYT Mag published a long report on Dismantling Cancer Research. Why does Ross Douthat lie like this?
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
“This is an extraordinarily good way to distract people from the very deliberate destruction of the US public health system”. Great quote by @gavinyamey.bsky.social in a great article by @melodyschreiber.com.
theguardian.com
Why making Anthony Fauci the enemy will harm US public health for years
Republicans are trying to scapegoat the infectious disease expert, even as they have gutted healthcare amid outbreaks of measles, cyclosporiasis and Ebola
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
"Nobody knows" can always be directly substituted for "I did not know."
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
New at PLS: I describe how federal & state policymakers are taking action to stigmatize mRNA vaccine technology. While mRNA vaccine stigmatization hasn't yet "spilled over" to shape public vaccine sentiment, I discuss why it might -- and what we can do about it. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
The potential public health consequences of “mRNA vaccine stigmatization” in the US | Politics and the Life Sciences | Cambridge Core
The potential public health consequences of “mRNA vaccine stigmatization” in the US
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
First, it was the tidal wave of GLP-1 ads on TV & social media. Next, we could be flooded with ads for compounded peptides... share.google/6JmCxge7Axkh...
share.google
FDA advisers narrowly vote to add 6 peptides to a drug compounding list. What's next?
An advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration has narrowly voted to add six peptides to a drug compounding list.
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Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Key. 👇 ‼️ Political polarization drives surge in anti-vaccine legislation across the US www.news-medical.net/news/2026071... @mattmotta.bsky.social: "Our work shows that state lawmakers affiliated with the Republican party are responsible for the overwhelming majority of antivaccine bills..."
news-medical.net
Political polarization drives surge in anti-vaccine legislation across the US
Despite overwhelming evidence on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine hesitancy intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic and has fueled skepticism towards other life-saving vaccines f...
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 25/07/2026
This is another step towards a one-party state: only give government grants to your political friends www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (Gift Article)
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 25/07/2026
Admirable clarity @science.org
The Trump administration hates academic science funding, full stop. They hate where that money goes, and they hate who it goes to. They want to keep all that money for themselves, to hand out to favored cronies who can help them get elected and to steer yet more money and more power back into their hands.

That’s it. That’s the story
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23/07/2026
cult shit at the White House as Trump's cronies give him a standing ovation for minutes on end. Note how nobody wants to be the first to stop clapping.
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Here's is an incomplete timeline of the (many) times Pres. Trump promised that this "little excursion" would be over before today. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...
pbs.org
A timeline of Trump's shifting statements about how long the Iran war will last
Since the U.S. and Israel launched the strikes against Iran Feb. 28, President Donald Trump has made contradictory statements about the timeline to end the war. He has repeatedly declared victory and ...
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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
it does actually sound like taylor farms and the white house teamed up to try and blame taco bell for the outbreak. unprecedented corruption
Within hours, the White House agreed the patient surveys painted a clear picture, the people said. In an internal call, the White House aides approved statements from the public health agencies for public release — though they still only identified Taco Bell as linked to the outbreak, without naming Taylor Farms specifically.
Taco Bell moved first, releasing a statement. While it did not explicitly name Taylor Farms it said it believed "public health is a shared responsibility among restaurants, their suppliers, and authorities, and we are proud to have consistently acted quickly and proactively to protect our guests."
The agency updates on the outbreak were finally posted after 10 p.m. New York time - hours behind schedule - and also omitted directly naming Taylor Farms or saying if the company would recall products.
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Sarah Karlin-Smith @sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Medicare is negotiating the prices of 15 drugs. Pharma cos. raised prices for all the drugs faster than the rate of inflation over abt a decade & at more than double the rate of inflation for 13/15 drugs. During that time nearly half the drugs doubled in price. We must negotiate prices at launch.
healthaffairs.org
Why Medicare Must Negotiate Drug Prices At Launch | Health Affairs Forefront
Negotiating drug prices at launch would ensure that patients and health programs get fair prices on prescription drugs at the outset, instead of first facing nearly a decade or longer of excessive pri...
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FactsOverFeelings @thunderstorming.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
@rbreich.bsky.social makes yet another great point.
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Matt Motta @mattmotta.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Beyond the stock market, I think we need to watch for prediction market manipulation. The same Trump admin imposing tariffs at will (in defiance of Congress) is also heavily invested in a prediction market industry that...allows people to bet on tariffs. How on earth is this this still allowed?!
Image of a Kalshi prediction market where users are allowed to bet on which industries Trump wil tariff this year.
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Verasight @verasight.io · 20/07/2026
The Verasight MPSA 2026 omnibus survey report is out. Conference participants contributed 131 questions, fielded to the Verasight panel of 300,000+ verified Americans. Key findings and full report below. 1/n
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