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Nikki Columbus

@nikkicolumbus.bsky.social

540 followers 420 following 1.5K posts

Writer, editor, curator, queer mom, good-trouble maker. Rootless cosmopolitan but New York–born, –bred, and –based. (With a short stint in Cairo.)

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Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 13d

“In this story of cultural repression, we can also see the reorganization of society and the rise of a new far right. But we would do well to remember how it started: enforced by the liberal center and acceded to by the very people in a position to push back rather than roll over.” …in Germany & US.

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 15d

My primer on German cultural politics in the October issue of @thenation.com brings together stories first reported separately, but need to be understood in concert. It’s the companion piece to my text on the US art world. “Fascism repeats itself: first as antisemitism, then as anti-antisemitism.”

How Germany Silenced Its Artists to Support Israel

As Israel intensified its genocide in Gaza, Germany ramped up its long-simmering war on dissent, silencing Palestine solidarity while bolstering its own far right.

www.thenation.com

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 20m

Greenblatt is awful and is indeed an apologist for Nazis like Musk, etc. But here he is literally *criticizing* the Nazi comments (not strongly enough!) and thanking the (still shitty!) GOP politicians who criticized the comments (unlike Vance).

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 6h

Oh jeez, so it is. Sorry!!

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 6h

So you mean making demands of Dem politicians? Did the organizers say why they won’t? I get your point, but I also think they’re trying to harness something bigger and more inchoate. Also, I think the individual protests often bring up specific demands. Maybe they should encourage more of that.

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 6h

That’s great, but Soros funding doesn’t make something corporate, and choosing a date doesn’t make something top-down. And as you said, it’s not just Indivisible—there’s decentralized groups like 50501 and Rise & Resist/ACT UP. But if you prefer to march down the street by yourself, go for it! ;)

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 6h

I’m curious, what do you think the demands should be? Because I also have heard of people not wanting to go because Dem politicians are present and they don’t want the party involved.

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Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 6h

Lol this is not what “corporate” means. And “choosing a date” in order to get millions of people to march at the same time is not what “top-down” means either.

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 6h

Okay, tell me more! And how is it top-down?

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 6h

If you think marches are pointless, plug into this energy and direct it toward actions you think are worthwhile. But mocking “radlibs” and pretending that a decentralized group that encourages people to organize their own protests is “top-down” . . . is not activism.

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 7h

Widespread popular support ≠ corporate! And how are protests in towns across the US “top-down”? It’s disappointing that some people just want to complain about 5 million people protesting rather than viewing it as an opportunity. If they do protest & politics so perfectly, why are we in this mess?

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 7h

Can you link to the study? The brief overview linked to here suggests body-cams make matters worse. But people are right to distrust police accounts, as at times they contradict very clear video evidence—recorded by police body-cams or bystanders. That definitely erodes trust! I’d like to read more.

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Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 16h

Yes, I read your original thread. But what is the distinction between 50501 and No Kings? (That’s a genuine question, not rhetorical.) And what do you mean by they “don’t want to get in trouble”?

Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 16h

It seems like the argument got weirdly redirected, when a more appropriate response might have been: If you see 5 million people marching in big cities and small towns across the United States as something to mock rather than as an opportunity . . . you’re doing something other than activism.

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Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 16h

Isn’t Will just responding to this criticism? People are getting arrested all the time. Is her issue with non-violence?

talia jane ❤️‍🔥 @taliajane.bsky.social · 1d

it is no wonder that 50501, a movement of radlibs who are very upset but don’t want to get in trouble, would be boosting superficial activism.

superficial activism has its place, but if that place is front and center, it kills whatever movement it is skimming off the top of.

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Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 16h

No Kings is corporate supported? How so?

Reposted by Nikki Columbus

utopia deferred @utopia-defer.red · 1d

Another good way to think of this moment is that the American secret police are increasingly comfortable black bagging American citizens on camera and in broad daylight with no basis of detention. The mere act of criticism, no matter how petty and silly, is its own justification for brutality.

Robby Roadsteamer @roadsteamer.bsky.social · 1d

🚨 *Breaking News* Robby Roadsteamer has been detained by ICE Portland after singing Rod Stewart with the Portland Frog! We need your help!

Please support Robby's campaign and lawyer fees at robbyroadsteamer.com link on bio 💙🦒🦒🦒

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Jeff Yang @originalsp.in · 1d

ICE arrested comedian Robby Roadsteamer for singing a parody of Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” in a Jeffrey Epstein the Giraffe costume outside their facility.

He sings “If you hate brown people / and you are a Nazi” and ICE thugs grab him and drag him into detention. No violence—just speech.

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Jeff Yang @originalsp.in · 1d

Korol is a US citizen. Her family hasn’t heard from her since she was taken, public charges haven’t been released—what crime did she even commit? 2nd-Degree Woodwinding?—and there has been no explanation for her “renditioning” across state lines.

We’ve moved into a new phase of Trump lawlessness.

Jeff Yang @originalsp.in · 1d

A musician, Oriana Korol, was peacefully playing clarinet with her protest band outside ICE facilities in Portland, OR.

When the band started playing “Ghostbusters,” ICE thugs suddenly poured outside, slammed her into the mud, arrested her and took her to a jail 9 miles away in Vancouver, WA.

Musician playing ‘Ghostbusters’ outside ICE facility is arrested by agents

‘Taking us citizens out of state to detain them without charge is a new action from the Feds and should be opposed,’ her band said

www.independent.co.uk

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Nikki Columbus @nikkicolumbus.bsky.social · 2d

Bending over to accept authoritarianism: “Please, sir, may I have some more?”

Reposted by Nikki Columbus

David_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · 2d

It is tacky for really famous people to be in TV commercials for products. Their gambling debts/boat repairs are not my problem, those roles should belong to actors like the Time To Make The Donuts guy and the actress who said "who are you calling a cootie queen you lint licker" in that Orbit ad.

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 2d

This is the response I received from ICE when I inquired about the 13-year-old they abducted from Everett, Mass. on Friday:

Good afternoon, Marisa.
Please see the below from DHS on the 13-year-old alien.
Please feel free to direct any questions to them.
Respectfully,
James

Tricia McLaughlin
@TriciaOhio • 6h
S...
Here are the facts: he posed a public safety threat with an extensive rap sheet including violent assault with a dangerous weapon, battery, breaking and entering, destruction of property.
He was in possession of a firearm and 5-7 inch knife when arrested.

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Ruth Delgado @heylookitsruth.bsky.social · 2d

A mom in Houston reported her 15-year-old son with autism missing. She spent 6 days terrified, searching for him. The whole time, Houston police knew exactly where he was since they helped ICE place him in a refugee facility.

This is beyond cruel.
www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Missing teen with autism transferred to refugee facility by HPD

He is currently being held at an Office for Refugee Resettlement facility.

www.houstonchronicle.com

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Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 3d

There were at least two ceasefires under Biden! In which more than five times as many living Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinians! Has everyone forgotten this?

Coffee Indiana @coffeeindiana.bsky.social · 3d

Also, ceasefires have happened under prior Presidents! The day he gets Palestine their own country he can be told he's the most special boy deserving of a shiny prize.

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 3d

Promoting the editor-in-chief's personal side project. Zero named sources in a story that promotes the editor-in-chief's personal political position. Misspelling the subject's name. It took one day for CBS News to become a conservative blog.

www.cbsnews.com/video/some-n...

CBS News: Some NYPD officers worry about Mandani becoming NYC mayor the Free Press reports.

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Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 3d

ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...

Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility
By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago

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A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo.

The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview.

“My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese.

From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett.

The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.

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Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” @ryanjreilly.com · 5d

PORTLAND, Ore. — A small group of federal agents in camouflage and face masks watched from atop the immigration processing center Thursday night as a unicorn, peacock, dinosaur and raccoon danced to Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time.” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Costumed protesters in Portland defy description of the city as a 'war zone'

Dancing frogs, peacocks and unicorns outside the federal immigration building present a joyful contrast to the Trump administration's portrait of the Oregon city, they say.

www.nbcnews.com

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