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The Washington Spectator

@washspectator.bsky.social
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Since 1971, the non-profit, reader-supported Washington Spectator has offered independent-minded readers behind-the-scenes insight into stories under-reported or ignored by corporate media. Learn more: linktr.ee/WashingtonSpectator

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Steven Pressman @stevenpressman.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
My latest @washspectator.bsky.social piece-- on the $5,000 #bribe proposed by Donald #Trump. Enjoy! washingtonspectator.org/trumps-5000-...
washingtonspectator.org
Trump’s $5,000 Election Bribe Would Benefit Only the Wealthy | Washington Spectator
Donald Trump again wants to bribe Americans, promising adults $5,000 if Republicans hold Congress. Anyone paying attention knows he won’t make good on it.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
In "Dancing in the Dark" series for The Washington Spectator, Mark Medish (Clinton's NSC Sr. Director) & Joel McCleary (Carter's deputy assistant) argue that this presidency isn't really organized around ideology or policy. It's organized around keeping power. washingtonspectator.org/its-the-powe...
washingtonspectator.org
It’s the Power, Stupid:<br />Dancing in the Dark, Part 4 | Washington Spectator
The enlargement of unchecked presidential power, with impunity and partly for personal profit, is the strategic objective of the Trump Presidency.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
We have rogue AI, and error-prone AI, so now naturally the Air Force is integrating AI into the command and control protocols of land-based nuclear missiles. washingtonspectator.org/ai-icbm-nuke...
washingtonspectator.org
AI + ICBM + Nukes = What Could Possibly Go Wrong? | Washington Spectator
While we leverage AI [Artificial Intelligence] and ML [Machine Learning] to expand decision space for senior leaders, we also remain committed to ensuring that these capabilities will not replace the…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
From our conversation with @rbreich.bsky.social, "I think people are so upset with feeling powerless that we are at a point in our nation’s history where they really do want agency." washingtonspectator.org/conversation...
washingtonspectator.org
Risks to American Democracy and Opportunities for Reform: A Conversation with Robert Reich | Washington Spectator
For our series Conversations on the State of Democracy, I sat down with Robert Reich near the Berkeley campus where he has spent a portion of his career. Reich was the Secretary of Labor in the…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
A teacher at leading universities for 45 years, @rbreich.bsky.social bemoans the decline in civic education. "Democracy depends upon people understanding it and valuing it and being willing to sacrifice for it."
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
We sat down with @rbreich.bsky.social - former Secretary of Labor under Clinton, and one of today's sharpest voices calling out the authoritarian drift of the #Trump era - for our series on the state of democracy. Here's what he told us:
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
#Trump has used claims of election fraud, domestic terrorism, foreign financing and organized political violence to recast the lawful administration of elections, political fundraising, protest against government abuses, and resistance as either threats to national security or actual crimes.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
How will Trump try to undermine the upcoming elections? Find the answers in "The Wrecking Ball Comes for the Midterms" by @jonathanmwiner.bsky.social in The Washington Spectator. washingtonspectator.org/the-wrecking...
washingtonspectator.org
The Wrecking Ball Comes For the Midterms | Washington Spectator
Last October, I wrote in The Washington Spectator that the Trump administration was constructing an integrated system to constrain voting and criminalize political opposition. Claims of election fraud...
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
What happened to the Venezuelan oil money? What is the connection to Freedom Fuel, the upstart discount gas dealerships in Philadelphia and South Jersey? @jonathanmwiner.bsky.social reports on Trump's Two Oil Mysteries in The Washington Spectator. washingtonspectator.org/trumps-two-o...
washingtonspectator.org
Trump’s Two Oil Mysteries: Freedom Fuel and Venezuelan Crude | Washington Spectator
Gasoline prices are rising again, adding to voter concerns about the cost of living. Yet in the Philadelphia region, a new company, Freedom Fuel, is suddenly selling gasoline substantially below its…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
"By limiting Congress’s ability to restrain the president, weakening voting protections and empowering the wealthy in politics John Roberts...has helped create conditions where the democratic process is increasingly hollow—superficially intact with respect to procedure, but substantively diminished"
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
...The Supreme Court ruled that a president has absolute criminal immunity for official acts done under core constitutional powers and presumptive immunity for other official acts, but no immunity for unofficial acts."
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
"Trump v. United States must be considered among the most preposterous, if not historically shameful interpretations of the Constitution in U.S. history...
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
"In a...series of Supreme Court decisions that are not just shaped but driven by Roberts, the Chief Justice is dismantling legal frameworks that, however imperfect, are intended to protect the voice and interests of citizens and enforce the limits of exec and economic power in the US."
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
As Stephan-Götz Richter and James Maxeiner observe in their new piece for The Washington Spectator, in many ways it constitutes a resurrection of the royal privileges that gave rise to the American Revolution in the first place.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Surely the most ironic feature of the celebration of the Declaration of Independence is that we are engaged at the same time in a massive expansion of the powers of the presidency. This development runs completely counter to the country’s founding principles. washingtonspectator.org/john-roberts...
washingtonspectator.org
John Roberts and the Unravelling of Democracy | Washington Spectator
The recent decisions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court have only reaffirmed that John Roberts, the Chief Justice, has been assiduously laying the groundwork for two fundamental changes in the…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Nor did the paper acknowledge that the skull and crossbones tattoo Platner wore on his chest, far from signaling some coded fealty with Nazi ideology, has been widely adopted by combat troops in militaries throughout the world.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The paper has done little in the way of original reporting on the debilitating and untreated PTSD Platner suffered after agonizing combat tours in Iraq and later Afghanistan.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
A co-author of the most visible of these Times articles had received AIPAC's 'Activist of the Year' Award while a student at Northwestern, an inconvenient fact that went undisclosed.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
To support these assertions, the paper turned to Platner's former girlfriend, an avowedly proud Zionist who worked for seven years at the Heritage Foundation, and co-founded Ladies for Kavanaugh—the organization credited with persuading Collins to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Platner is a former Marine who argues Israel has committed genocide against the civilian population of Gaza. The Times has recycled charges that Platner is a misogynist who harbors fascist sympathies.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
What's going on at the @nytimes.com? The paper has published multiple hit pieces on @grahamformaine.bsky.social the Democratic candidate for the Maine Senate seat held by Susan Collins, a contest that is seen as one of the keys to Democratic hopes of retaking the Senate.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
. . . because it really explains what is going on. I also feel a little better thinking that the progress from all that work post-Gingles has not been eliminated, even if we are going in a very wrong direction at the moment."  Anita Earls Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
The simple statement that results matter more than intent is something that has been missed in so many other commentaries.  I hope it gets wider attention . . .
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Look who showed up in our inbox this weekend: "Leslie J. Winner's current piece in The Washington Spectator — “The Roberts Court has Turned the Voting Rights Act on Its Head” — is a concise, logical, clear and incredibly persuasive explanation of why the Callais opinion is so wrong. . .
washingtonspectator.org
The Roberts Court Has Turned the Voting Rights Act on Its Head | Washington Spectator
I am the North Carolina lawyer who served as lead counsel for the Black citizens whose lawsuit led to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Thornburg v. Gingles. That case gave life to Congress’s…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Winner, who was lead counsel in Gingles, reminds us the Court also established that minority voters needed only to prove discriminatory results, and not racial animus. Congress then responded by amending Section 2 of the Voting Rights to reflect the findings of the Court.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
"I am distraught not because the work of my generation was wasted, but because the Callais decision makes me fear for the future of representative democracy in the United States," writes Leslie J. Winner.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
The result? Because of Gingles and the cases that followed it, North Carolina and this country spent four decades opening political doors that had long been shut. "For the first time in modern North Carolina history, Black representation in the legislature began to look like North Carolina itself."
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
In this new piece, Leslie J. Winner traces the Callais decision to Thornburg v. Gingles, in which the Court ruled that a North Carolina redistricting plan had illegally diluted the power of Black voters. washingtonspectator.org/roberts-cour...
washingtonspectator.org
The Roberts Court Has Turned the Voting Rights Act on Its Head | Washington Spectator
I am the North Carolina lawyer who served as lead counsel for the Black citizens whose lawsuit led to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Thornburg v. Gingles. That case gave life to Congress’s…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
#Trump is convening #ChristianNationalist allies this Sunday. We’re fighting back with counterprogramming @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social Join for a screening of @badfaithdoc.bsky.social 2026 followed by a live talk with Rev William Barber II & more 📅 Sun 5/17 4-6PM ET 📺 youtube.com/@SaveAmericaMvmt
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Anxiety about the cost of raising a child is soaring. The US fertility rate has dropped almost 50% since WWII. Republicans gutted child tax credits, childcare & education aid while handing tax breaks to the wealthy. Economist @stevenpressman.bsky.social offers fixes in @washspectator.bsky.social
washingtonspectator.org
Republicans Made Children More Expensive: Here’s How to Fix the Problem | Washington Spectator
It has gotten more expensive for middle-income families to raise a child due to Republican tax policies. There are ways to fix the problem.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Thank you @tombedsall.bsky.social for building on and acknowledging the recent reporting by @jonathanmwiner.bsky.social and memos on the subject authored recently by Joel McCleary, co-author with Mark Medish of the "Dancing in the Dark" series, all in @washspectator.bsky.social
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Excellent analysis from @tombedsall.bsky.social in the @nytimes.com on the potential use & abuse of emergency powers (PEADs) by the #Trump administration. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | ‘When You Think of It, We Shouldn’t Even Have an Election’
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Secret emergency powers. Restrictions on voting. Federal intervention. The 2026 midterms are under threat, but there is still time to act. Read the full story in The Washington Spectator here: washingtonspectator.org/emergency-pl...
washingtonspectator.org
Emergency Planning: The President Is Preparing to Challenge 2026 Midterms. The Country Can Still Act to Protect Them. | Washington Spectator
Each president since Eisenhower has prepared secret Emergency Authorities intended for use under extreme circumstances, such as a nuclear attack or domestic upheaval. These unlimited powers have never...
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The Steady State @thesteadystate.org · 30/04/2026
Read this article by Steady State’s Jonathan Winer that argues Trump’s election actions and potential use of emergency powers could undermine or nullify a Democratic midterm victory. zurl.co/pelRK
washingtonspectator.org
Emergency Planning: The President Is Preparing to Challenge 2026 Midterms. The Country Can Still Act to Protect Them. | Washington Spectator
Each president since Eisenhower has prepared secret Emergency Authorities intended for use under extreme circumstances, such as a nuclear attack or domestic upheaval. These unlimited powers have never been invoked.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
@jonathanmwiner.bsky.social outlines a chilling scenario: Trump declares the 2026 election “rigged,” seizes ballots, rejects the results, and moves to seat Congress anyway. Courts stall. Protests erupt. Federal crackdowns follow. From there: emergency powers.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Have you heard of the Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs)? It's a set of secret limitless powers which administrations since Eisenhower have created for use in cases of national emergency. And #Trump may deploy these powers to overturn a Democratic win in the 2026 midterm #elections.
washingtonspectator.org
Emergency Planning: The President Is Preparing to Challenge 2026 Midterms. The Country Can Still Act to Protect Them. | Washington Spectator
Each president since Eisenhower has prepared secret Emergency Authorities intended for use under extreme circumstances, such as a nuclear attack or domestic upheaval. These unlimited powers have never...
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Hamilton Fish @hamiltonfish.com · 19/02/2026
As this account from @dwickham.bsky.social reveals, Clarence Thomas lied to the leadership of the Civil Rights community to prevent them from derailing his nomination both to the Appeals Court and later to the Supreme Court.
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Steven Pressman @stevenpressman.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
The gvt announced today that the US #tradedeficit was >$900 bil in 2025, one of the largest ever (in percentage terms). To understand why Trump's #tariff policy failed, check out my recent @washspectator.bsky.social piece. washingtonspectator.org/tariff-man-t...
washingtonspectator.org
Tariff Man Tumbles, Fumbles and Bumbles on Trade | Washington Spectator
When it comes to economics, we know two things about Donald Trump. He is obsessed with the US trade deficit. And he thinks tariffs, or import taxes, will solve the trade deficit problem.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Thanks to @thebradblog.bsky.social for showcasing @artl7.bsky.social's terrific behind the scenes investigation, "Inside the #MAGA Meltdown" in The Washington Spectator. Full report here: washingtonspectator.org/inside-the-m...
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Before Roe fell, notification requirements and gag rules chipped away at abortion rights, while speech claims, buffer zone rulings, and procedural narrowing whittled down clinic access. Roberts' ubiquitous role in the pre-Dobbs erosion is essential context for where we are now.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
The right-wing playbook included judicial grooming, model bills, handpicked plaintiffs, stolen Court seats, misleading testimony, and a 6–3 Court tailored and captured by religious extremists.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Chief Justice John Roberts has overseen the dismantling of reproductive freedom—not just through the headline Dobbs decision, but through a decades-long legal and political strategy that Roberts helped build, conceal, and ultimately execute. Read the full article by @thelisagraves.bsky.social
washingtonspectator.org
The Roberts Court and the Attack on Reproductive Freedom in America | Washington Spectator
One of the first major decisions of the Supreme Court under John Roberts’s tenure as Chief Justice came in 2007 in Gonzales v. Carhart, a landmark case that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Steel #tariffs make it more expensive to produce cars in the US, leading Americans to buy foreign-made cars. Tariffs on iPhones assembled in China hurt US workers more than their Chinese counterparts. The US trade deficit keeps growing. @stevenpressman.bsky.social
washingtonspectator.org
Tariff Man Tumbles, Fumbles and Bumbles on Trade | Washington Spectator
When it comes to economics, we know two things about Donald Trump. He is obsessed with the US trade deficit. And he thinks tariffs, or import taxes, will solve the trade deficit problem.
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Few on the right have dared to call out the Trump administration’s extensive ties to neo-Nazis. Conservatives have acted as if they were shocked to discover antisemitism within their ranks – akin to Captain Renault in Casablanca learning that there was gambling in Rick’s Café. @artl7.bsky.social
washingtonspectator.org
Inside the MAGA Meltdown Over Antisemitism | Washington Spectator
In front of over 30,000 young Christian devotees at the Turning Point USA America Fest held last December in Phoenix, a high-profile firefight broke out among far-right MAGA influencers—including Ben…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
This is the story of how Justice Thurgood Marshall, who helped break the back of Jim Crow and win passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, was succeeded by Clarence Thomas, the GOP political appointee devoted to unraveling the achievements of his predecessor. @dwickham.bsky.social
washingtonspectator.org
How Clarence Thomas Bamboozled His Way Onto the Supreme Court | Washington Spectator
Thirty-six years ago, the NAACP had an opportunity to block Clarence Thomas’ path to the Supreme Court. But after a secret meeting between the Black Republican rising star and Althea Simmons…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
“The raw antisemitism of once-fringe figures such as Nick Fuentes and Myron Gaines has been mainstreamed into the heart of the Trump administration”-Inside the MAGA Meltdown @andreachalupa.bsky.social @johnfugelsang.bsky.social @melissagiragrant.com @attackerman.bsky.social @thebradblog.bsky.social
washingtonspectator.org
Inside the MAGA Meltdown Over Antisemitism | Washington Spectator
In front of over 30,000 young Christian devotees at the Turning Point USA America Fest held last December in Phoenix, a high-profile firefight broke out among far-right MAGA influencers—including Ben…
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Even as Trump is using #antisemitism as a cudgel to bend American universities to his will, he is tacitly encouraging leading antisemites on the Right to stoke the passions of his base. @yair-rosenberg.bsky.social @normornstein.bsky.social @mjtoma.bsky.social @timothysnyder.bsky.social
washingtonspectator.org
Inside the MAGA Meltdown Over Antisemitism | Washington Spectator
In front of over 30,000 young Christian devotees at the Turning Point USA America Fest held last December in Phoenix, a high-profile firefight broke out among far-right MAGA influencers—including Ben…
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Art Levine @artl7.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
bsky.app/profile/artl... fyi @mjtoma.bsky.social we credit the great reporting in your magazine on extremism and the hypocrisy of the Trump administration's crackdown on #antisemitism in an article that I think you will find interesting with fresh reporting. washingtonspectator.org/inside-the-m...
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
The default Republican #antisemitism position according to JD Vance: "President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless self-defeating purity tests” @willsommer.bsky.social @benlorber8.bsky.social Foer @theatlantic.com @ericlevitz.bsky.social
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The Washington Spectator @washspectator.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
“Antisemitism permeates so many of the far-right ideas held by this administration.” — @cassiemiller.bsky.social @splcenter.org
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