Author | Lightnews

Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

@drracheldr.bsky.social

160 followers 83 following 500 posts

PhD in Cultural Studies. Currently researching Stranger Things (and always strange(r) things). Cat lover. Tasty food cooker and eater. Game player. Cryptid admirer. Podcast afficianado.

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Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 14h

Oh, this makes so much sense. Jesus.

Jacob Harris @jacobharr.is · 21h

All I want is one single reporter to ask him if he thinks people seeking asylum = means from insane asylums

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

O'DONNELL: Are we going to war against Venezuela?

TRUMP: I doubt it. They emptied their mental institutions and insane asylums into the United States of America

Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

Andy Famiglietti @afamiglietti.bsky.social · 1d

"Don't get lost in the facts"

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

BREAM: Schumer says Republicans are weaponizing hunger

MIKE JOHNSON: Absolutely absurd. Remember -- don't get lost in the facts

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Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 1d

I'm off! Like, a bunch of us are off!

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Jeffrey Cranor @happierman.bsky.social · 1d

well, google AI already knows this is going 18

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Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 1d

Me, every time someone brings up Midsommar: youtu.be/TdrL3QxjyVw?...

Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by LanaDelReyVEVO

youtu.be

Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 2d

Steven STEVEN got himself a tiny couch! (Well, @rotwag.bsky.social got it for him, really.)

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Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 2d

So true.

Joseph Fink, no longer spooky 🍂🦃 @planetoffinks.bsky.social · 2d

We watched One Cut of the Dead tonight (second time for me, first for Meg). Tough movie to introduce to people because the first 30 minutes are not great and you have to be like "this gets really really good and I can't tell you how or why, but sitting through this opening bit is part of it"

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Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 2d

Unless your birthday is mid-January.

Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 2d

Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 2d

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess...”

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 3d

Per Danny Kemp via press pool

Trump is at the Halloween party at MAL

“Official theme is Gatsby and ‘a little party never killed nobody’, we’re told.”

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KNinja @khrisnin.bsky.social · 3d

I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.

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Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock @warnock.senate.gov · 4d

The Trump admin is making a CHOICE to cut off SNAP. They think it gives them political leverage. I can’t think of something more craven and cynical than this.

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Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 4d

Slowly crashing out on his human's lap.

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Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 4d

These kinds of posts are the scariest because they're so coherent there's no way Trump actually wrote them.

Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 5d

New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people

www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...

Ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie G. Thompson said in a statement “Mobile Fortify is a dangerous tool in the hands of ICE, and it puts American citizens at risk of detention and even deportation.” He also said “ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenship—including a birth certificate—if the app says the person is an alien. ICE using a mobile biometrics app in ways its developers at CBP never intended or tested is a frightening, repugnant, and unconstitutional attack on Americans’ rights and freedoms.”

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Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 5d

“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.”

Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 5d

DOJ submits new, air-brushed sentencing memo for Taylor Taranto, scrubbing references to his role in Jan. 6 Capitol Siege and Trump's social media post that led him to go to Obama's neighborhood with weapons. Here's the first scrubbing
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Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 5d

I mean, it's functionally the same with a $100k cost, right? Legally and emotionally different. But no State U can afford a $100k visa.

Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 5d

The “hard men” Gondor leadership referenced

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Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 14d

By popular demand: I've opened a Kickstarter for a HOP T-shirt!

If I get 50 preorders I'll do a print run!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/201...

HOP Shirt

A T-shirt with the legendary Portland frog rendered in the style of Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama HOPE image

www.kickstarter.com

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Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 7d

🚨BIG changes happening -- ICE leadership is being purged tonight. The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Gregory Bovino's "Midway Blitz" style.

Think things are bad now? It'll get worse.

Bill Melugin
@BillMelugin_
BREAKING: Per four senior DHS & Trump admin sources, a mass removal of ICE leadership around the country is underway, with up to 12 ICE field office chiefs being removed & reassigned in an effort to increase deportation numbers. I'm told the move is spearheaded by Corey Lewandowski, and a handful of the ICE Chiefs will likely be replaced by Border Patrol & CBP officials, some of whom will be hand-picked by aggressive & controversial Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino. I'm told some of the ICE leadership removed from their positions include the ICE Field Office Directors in:

- Los Angeles
- Phoenix
- Philadelphia
- Denver
- El Paso
- San Diego
- Seattle/Portland
- New Orleans

Border Patrol officials taking over ICE leadership positions would be extremely significant, as Border Patrol and ICE do different things, and I've done numerous ride-alongs/embeds with both.

Generally speaking, ICE typically conducts very targeted operations, largely going after criminal illegal aliens or those with deportation orders, but almost always knowing who they are targeting for arrest, often conducting surveillance to learn their schedules before and waiting hours before arresting them if needed.

Border Patrol, under Trump 2.0, while sometimes doing their own targeted operations, has been extremely aggressive and has been at the forefront of some of the most controversial immigration enforcement operations we've seen so far, carrying out roving patrols in Los Angeles, Chicago, etc, often at Home Depot, car washes, flea markets etc, leading to a handful of federal judges around the country issuing injunctions against them. A majority of the viral videos you see online are Border Patrol agents, including the use of a Trojan horse style Penske moving truck at a Los Angeles Home Depot, an operation organized by Bovino.

ICE often gets blamed for what Border Patrol does, as the media and activists often cannot tell the difference between federal agents, and everyone is called "ICE". I'm told there are growing concerns about the political and PR fallout associated with some of the roving patrols Border Patrol is conducting as lawsuits continue to stack up and mid-terms approach next year.

I'm told there is significant friction within different wings of DHS and the administration, with Border Czar Tom Homan & ICE Director Todd Lyons preferring to prioritize targeting criminal aliens & the "worst of the worst" or those with deportation orders, while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and BP Commander Bovino prefer to use aggressive tactics to arrest anyone in the US illegally, including but not limited to criminals, to ramp up deportation numbers and achieve President Trump's promises of mass deportations.

I am hearing from both sides of this friction.

One senior DHS official tells me:

"ICE started with the worst of the worst, knowing every target they are hitting, but since Border Patrol started in LA in June, we've (DHS) lost our focus, going too hard, too fast, with limited prioritization. It's getting numbers, but at what cost?".

Border Patrol agents I've talked to defend their tactics, with one telling me:

"What did everyone think mass deportations meant? Only the worst? Tom Homan has said it himself, anyone in the US illegally is on the table."

It's quite a situation, as both sides of this are on the same team, with the same end goals, but different perspectives on how to get there.

Another DHS official confirmed the personnel changes to me on deep background, adding that the moves are based on performance and doing what is needed to achieve the best results.

Official statement to
@FoxNews
via
@TriciaOhio
:

"While we have no personnel changes to announce at this time, the Trump Administration remains laser focused on delivering results and removing violent criminal illegal aliens from this country."
7:57 PM · Oct 27, 2025
·
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Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

Jordan Morris @jordanmorris.bsky.social · 6d

The folks at BOOK RIOT included YOUTH GROUP by me n' @bonesbunns.bsky.social on their list of graphic novels about demon hunting! It does not feature any K-pop but it DOES have a Christian parody of the Ace of Base classic I SAW THE SIGN, which I think is just as good. bookriot.com/graphic-nove...

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Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock @warnock.senate.gov · 7d

The President has been promising a new health care plan since 2015. 10 years later, there’s still no plan besides gutting Medicaid, attacking the ACA, and doubling premiums for millions of people.

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Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her) @drracheldr.bsky.social · 7d

Hustling my way through Buffalo Hunter Hunter before my book club tonight. It is a delight to read. So different than Indian Lake Trilogy or Only Good Indians.

Reposted by Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (She/Her)

WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 7d

My goodness. Please don’t send in ghosts. They are very frightening. We only rate dogs. Thank you... 12/10 (IG: theodore.goldenvelt)

ahh! a small fluffy ghost sits on a hardwood floor staring directly at us. but actually... the longer we take it in, the more cute the ghost becomes. one could even mistake this little guy for a golden retriever puppy wearing a sheet with eye, ear, and mouth holes cut out of it. even though he gave us a fright, we would still pet this ghost puppy.

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