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Shawn Sebastian

@shawnsebastian.bsky.social
319 followers 593 following 297 posts

Director of Organizing at RuralOrganizing.org. Formerly Senior Advisor at CFPB, People's Action, Working Families Party, Popular Democracy. Born and raised Iowan, Cyclone by birth, Hawkeye by matriculation.

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Reposted by Shawn Sebastian
Economic Speakers Bureau @econspeakers.bsky.social · 9h
Record-high diesel prices, sparked by Trump's war, aren't just squeezing truckers at the pump. They're raising your grocery bills, too. @gbenga-ajilore.bksy.social breaks down how fuel costs get passed through the supply chain, from the farm to your fridge, on @wcpo9news.bsky.social.
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Ian Smith @iankmsmith.ft.com · 13h
sorry we're doing this again Global bond sell-off resumes as 30-year Treasury yield hits highest since 2002 as.ft.com/r/03a0827b-2...
as.ft.com
Global bond sell-off resumes as 30-year Treasury yield hits highest since 2002
French, Italian and UK government bonds also come under pressure in volatile trading
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 13h
Black text on white background 
"This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.
 
The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them – all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.
 
Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.
 
To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity."
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Ok - Now what @ok-now-what.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Conservatives killed affirmative action with the argument that the (supposed) deviation from meritocracy harmed exactly these Asian American students. How surprising (lol) that they dropped that argument .0001 seconds after they got the result they wanted.
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Reposted by Shawn Sebastian
Collins Watch @collinswatch.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Sounds like the debate went quite badly for Susan Collins (we didn't watch) but anyway if she wins there's a good chance Trump gets to appoint a 40 year-old anti-choice MAGA acolyte to replace Alito for the next 40 years. If she loses he probably doesn't. Those are some of the stakes. #MEpolitics
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Joe Sudbay @joesudbay.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This is the essence of Collins. She must not be challenged. Ever. I saw it firsthand. Also extremely thin-skinned And I'm sure she finds it galling that Troy Jackson from the Allagash has the audacity to challenge her, the Republican senator who is part of Aroostook's landed gentry
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#TeslaTakedown @teslatakedown.com · 07/10/2026
In the last 24 hours, Elon added $5,423,645.66. New totals include: $13,131,789.48 vs @jamestalarico.bsky.social $6,308,848.86 vs @sherrodbrownoh.bsky.social $5,117,111.82 vs @abdulelsayed.bsky.social $1,991,872.98 vs @joshturek4iowa.bsky.social $1,176,301.42 vs @troyjackson207.bsky.social
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James Myall @jamesxmyall.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The rural health transformation fund is quintessential Susan Collins. She wants credit for an inadequate fix to a problem she helped to create. And then that inadequate fix becomes even worse because of the Trump officials she voted for #mepolitics
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 05/10/2026
Holy shit.
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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 06/10/2026
Fox News told viewers that most people held at Delaney Hall had final deportation orders. The data showed 84 percent did not. Thanks to @johnknefel.bsky.social and @mmfa.bsky.social for checking Fox's "worst of the worst" claim against the data. mediamatters.org/immigration/f…
mediamatters.org
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Reposted by Shawn Sebastian
Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 06/10/2026
This month in Tulsa, our CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social will speak at @aspenideas.bsky.social to ask what it takes to build a middle-class life today, as the affordability crisis exposes the structural inequalities holding back working families: Learn more: www.aspenideas.org/sessions/wha...
The image is a promotional poster for the Aspen Ideas Economy Tulsa 2026 Event Speaker. It features a person with short hair, wearing glasses and a purple blazer. The name "Elizabeth Wilkins" is displayed, with the title "President & CEO | The Roosevelt Institute" below. The background is a gradient of blue, pink, and orange.
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Reposted by Shawn Sebastian
Marty Lederman @martylederman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Samuel Alito: We won't overturn Obergefell because it's engendered reliance interests. Jan Crawford: Well, many people had organized their lives around Roe v. Wade. Alito: No, they didn't. Women merely had an "abstract" interest in "ideas about the kind of society that they were going to live in."
cbsnews.com
The Alito Court: A rare interview with the influential Supreme Court justice
Justice Samuel Alito discussed his opinion in the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the leaked draft and its aftermath, same-sex marriage rights and why he's not retiring yet.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A 10K contribution and a $900 million return. The scale of the graft in Homeland Security is a) off the charts and b) possible because no-one believes they will face any accountability
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Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Catastrophe In Brazil with the far right surging State races, senate and congress races all going for the far right Presidential race going to a second round thankfully with bolsonaro’s son under 50 percent www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 04/10/2026
“For all the claims Amazon makes about investing in carbon-free energy, it conveniently leaves out that it is constructing the single-largest source of climate emissions in the United States in Pecos, Texas" - @stand.earth arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
arstechnica.com
Amazon’s $1B plan to combat data center backlash draws more backlash
Amazon praised for ending NDAs but slammed for downplaying data center pollution.
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Monique Morrissey @moniquemorrissey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Better reposting @mtkonczal.bsky.social late than never: Can We Find Literally Any Sign Deportations Are Helping Native-Born Workers? [Cheat read: NO] braddelong.substack.com/p/mass-depor...
braddelong.substack.com
CROSSPOST: MIKE KONCZAL: Can We Find Literally Any Sign Deportations Are Helping Native-Born Workers?
Mike’s subheadline: “Shoot the moon! Ten hypotheses, ten charts, and no payoff for native-born workers”; the phantom deportation dividend as foreign-born complement, not substitute for, native-born...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 04/10/2026
“The ultimate goal was to create chaos and doubt in the vote-by-mail process,” said the American Postal Workers Union president. “You’re creating a rule to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.”
propublica.org
The Untold Origins of Trump’s Plan to Sharply Restrict Mail-In Voting
ProPublica’s reporting reveals for the first time the extent of the White House’s role in trying to dictate how mail-in ballots are processed, spurring behind-the-scenes drama that played out for near...
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 04/10/2026
"Absent policy steering, AI’s modeled effects increase the carbon intensity of the global economy and reinforce fossil fuel incumbency—outcomes that current analytical and governance frameworks do not fully capture."
nature.com
AI-driven productivity gains enable more CO₂ emissions than they avoid in a global energy–economy model - npj Climate Action
npj Climate Action - AI-driven productivity gains enable more CO₂ emissions than they avoid in a global energy–economy model
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Gernot Wagner @gwagner.com · 04/10/2026
The scariest straight line you'll see all day, via @financialtimes.com no less
Global sea level rise has a accelerated during the past decade
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Mr. Dan Zak @mrdanzak.com · 04/10/2026
A Haitian man legally immigrated to Ohio, then was given an ankle monitor bc Trump withdrew his status. He threw himself in front of truck. The trucker, who voted for Trump, is haunted. “Pierre was doing what he was supposed to do. We did not do right by him.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
theatlantic.com
A Reckoning in Springfield
A truck driver out on his route confronts what the country has become.
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JLRay @jlray.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The case is laid out with such care and detail I almost feel like people are missing what a straigthtforward case of "a US Senator took bribes from the defense-industrial complex under the knowing protection of a morally compromised president and FBI" this is www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqyi...
youtube.com
We Uncovered Bribery Allegations Against Susan Collins
YouTube video by ProPublica
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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
A key reason why court reform post-Trump will have to include the lower courts and not just the Supreme Court: www.politico.com/news/2026/10...
politico.com
Trump is putting a generation of young judges on the bench — for life
Trump has nominated at least 33 people in their 30s to lifetime federal judgeships.
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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 28/09/2026
NEW: After we published an investigation into Brown Brothers Media, a company that buys struggling news sites and turns them into AI-powered content mills, we got a tip that completely gobsmacked me: one of the brothers has extensive connections to Ghislaine Maxwell futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
You Know Those Three Brothers Who Buy Struggling News Sites and Turn Them Into AI-Powered Content Farms? It Turns Out One of Them Has Extensive Connections to Ghislaine Maxwell
Ideapod, a cornerstone brand of Brown Brothers Media's AI empire, has deep ties to convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 03/10/2026
Just as the post-war world made millions comfortable, educated and happy by putting them to work clearing the rubble and building something better, a post-oligarch, post-American world can offer us all all the hard, rewarding work we want, performing the essential work of care and rebuilding.
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 03/10/2026
A post-oligarch, post-American world could be a post-*austerity* world, one where we recognize that the limiting factor on public investment isn't *money*, but *resources*: energy, material, labor, expertise: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FATQ...
youtube.com
Stephanie Kelton: The big myth of government deficits | TED
YouTube video by TED
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 03/10/2026
In *Capital in the 21st Century*, Thomas Piketty and his students analyzed painstakingly assembled records of 300 years' worth of capital flows, showing that wealth tends to pool in the hands of the already-wealthy.
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rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
right, exactly. i am adjacent to rationalists because i have worked alongside rationalists for a decade. some are very earnest EA monks who more or less give away the huge amount of money they make. some are neoreactionaries with essentially Satanic values. the monks and neoreactionaries get along.
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"In other words, the people who are the most 'polarized' in the U.S. electorate are those who are racist and sexist, and those who oppose racists and sexists."
Screenshot of article which reads: These numbers are relatively similar between Democrats and Repub-
licans, which often leads political pundits to claim this is more evidence 
of “polarization,” and that both sides are equally to blame. However, 
a closer look tells a more interesting story. The people who are most 
likely to vilify and dehumanize their partisan opponents are Republicans 
who are high in racism and sexism and Democrats who oppose racism 
and sexism. The people who are least likely to vilify and dehumanize 
their political opponents are Republicans who are low in racism and sex-
ism. One explanation for these patterns is that those Republicans who 
are racist and sexist vilify and dehumanize Democrats because they see 
the Democratic Party as a party of racial minorities and women; and 
Democrats who score low in racism and sexism will vilify and dehu-
manize Republicans because they consider Republicans to be racist and 
sexist. In other words, the people who are the most “polarized” in the 
U.S. electorate are those who are racist and sexist, and those who op-
pose racists and sexists.
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Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW: DHS agents tracked people observing ICE arrests, photographed them, ran their plates, pulled personal information, and added them to a Palantir database, according to newly unsealed court filings. w/ @regret.bsky.social
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
And so it continues... Our economic debates seem utterly disconnected from the reality. That reality: This is an economy mostly creating healthcare jobs, and it does so month after month, and everything else is just noise.
Line chart titled "Effectively all of the net job creation has been in healthcare and social assistance, and jobs are shrinking in the rest of the economy" showing change in non-farm payrolls since January 2025 through September 2026. Healthcare and social assistance added 998,000 jobs with consistent growth throughout the period, while the rest of the economy lost 222,000 jobs, meaning all net job creation came from healthcare. The rest of the economy showed particular weakness from May through August 2025 when losses reached 218,000 jobs. This striking divergence reveals an unusual concentration where one sector's growth of roughly 48,000 jobs per month has offset persistent contraction across all other industries combined.
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I'm not sure who saw this coming, but so far nearly all the jobs created during the second Trump administration have gone to women.
Line chart titled "So far during Trump's second term, just 8% of all job growth has gone to men" showing change in employment by gender since January 2025. Total nonfarm employment grew by 776,000 jobs through September 2026, with women gaining 711,000 positions (92% of growth) while men added only 65,000 jobs (8% of growth). Women's employment gains accelerated sharply through 2026, reaching 711,000 by September, while men's employment growth remained flat with brief periods of decline, including a drop of 96,000 jobs in February 2026.
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Elise Gould @elisegould.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Notable weakness in today's #jobs report for this morning. Payroll employment grew by 29,000 while downward revisions to both July and August totaled 60,000. July is now recording losses. The job growth in September (29,000) is slower than the prior 12 months (45,000). #EconSky
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
if you've been wondering how thin the commitment to the cultural is as an. 'alternative' to explicit racism of the more clearly segregationist sort, consider the implications of "the mere fact of us being able to notice" that someone is of South Asian heritage as ruling our assimilation
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Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
New: Chris Rufo & his co-host devoted a podcast to "The Indian Question," framing Desi people as a problem to be solved. Their "solution?" Mass expulsion. For those allowed to remain: an “assimilation hazing process” w/ instances of “vulgar, defamatory racism" talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chris-r...
talkingpointsmemo.com
Chris Rufo — Known For ‘DEI’ and ‘CRT’ Panics — Tries to Make ‘the Indian Question’ a Thing
To the degree that a “respectable” or “moderate” right exists today in...
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Austin Frerick @austinfrerick.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Check out this new interview I did on Freakonomics, where I'm the lone voice saying the big meatpackers aren't so great. "FRERICK: You shouldn’t be allowed to keep a dominant market position through bribery, yet they have."
freakonomics.com
Here’s Why Your Hamburger Just Got So Pricey - Freakonomics
Here’s Why Your Hamburger Just Got So Pricey - Freakonomics
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 02/10/2026
DUN DUN DUN -- Fox Business on the September jobs report: "The numbers do not look good. I'm looking at 29,000 jobs added. That is well below expectations for 90,000, and our unemployment rate jumps up to 4.2%. A significant slowdown."
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 02/10/2026
How does recent growth compare to recent years? Economy added 0.5 million jobs over 12 months to Sept 2026. Slowest growth in many years outside COVID.
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Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT @mikezaccardi.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Why "weak" payrolls are no longer weak: With plunging immigration and Boomer retirements, breakeven job growth has collapsed from 200k/mo to near zero. Strong labor + sticky inflation = rates stay higher for longer. 🛑📈 T at Apollo
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 01/10/2026
I recommend people read this to get a sense of the president's grave cognitive impairment. Trump is either unwilling or unable (or maybe both) to answer the questions he's actually asked, so he just rants and raves while the interviewers do their best to provide structure to his random brain firings
time.com
Read TIME’s ‘What Trump Has Built’ Interview Transcript
The U.S. President discussed the war in Iran, press freedom, AI, and more ahead of the midterm elections.
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Agathe Demarais @agathedemarais.com · 02/10/2026
Chinese firms dominate market for battery energy storage • Ten largest firms in the field are Chinese; combined, they account for 83% of global shipments • China’s battery storage capacity expanded from 2.4GW in 2020 to more than 140GW at end-2025 www.ft.com/content/b847...
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Josh Turek @joshturek4iowa.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
BREAKING: A brand new FOX News poll shows us leading this race! Iowans are ready for a senator who fights for them, not billionaires and big corporations. In 33 days we're going to win this race and Push for Change.
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Terri Gerstein @terrigerstein.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Today: Lyft pays $272M for underpaying CA drivers 2016-2020. Last week: DoorDash pays $131M for underpayments in NYC. The scale of the grift is huge: this is just 2 companies in 1 state/1 city over a few yrs. My big Q: what’s happening everywhere else?? (1/3) talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/whats-m...
talkingpointsmemo.com
What’s Missing From Coverage of the Massive DoorDash Worker Settlement
This op-ed is part of Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. Last...
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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 01/10/2026
Ahead of a pivotal midterm election defined by concerns around surging rent and gas prices, student debt is emerging as an affordability issue some voters say is being overlooked.
bloom.bg
Soaring Student Loan Bills Add to Voters’ Affordability Squeeze
More than 9 million Americans are at least one year behind on their payments.
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Pete is lost in terms of modern war. I use the example of this outgunned Ukrainian army officer who successfully terrorized a Russian unit for weeks because she "did the math." At the time, someone commented, "yeah, in combat, 'I did the math' beats 'I can do 100 pushups' every time."
Ukrainian female soldier: Okay, I said the idea is this: There is enough time to empty one full can of 32 grenades and be gone by the time the return mortar fire reaches us. I did the math.
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Public opinion doesn't DO anything and is not correlated with policy. BUT it can be a resource if people want to organize.
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Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Most TV is just this now.
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Semafor @semafor.com · 30/09/2026
Visitors to the US are on track to drop by almost two million year-on-year. “We’re the only major country in the world losing visitation,” the head of the US Travel Association said. “It’s mind-boggling.” www.semafor.com/article/09/2...
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Olivia Messer @oliviamesser.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This 33-year-old nurse told the FBI she knew she was “going to set him free” after border patrol agents brought in a man whose face was bloodied and seriously injured. She treated him and helped him escape, and she faces charges now. He got away, and they never relocated him.
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Scoop — I've ID'd the two men sitting behind Sen. Eric Schmitt during his botched attack on Jack Smith this morning. Ethan Harper (left) is Chief Counsel to Schmitt, and Andrew Ceonzo (right) is Counsel to Schmitt and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This has to be reported to the FEC as an in-kind contribution to Josh Turek's campaign
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