Author | Lightnews

Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 3h

Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 14h

In all its captivating soullessness

Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 1d

This is really something. Grateful for this guy and feeling better about the future than I have all year!

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

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Antifascist Art PDX @antifashpdxart.bsky.social · Aug 13

I spent an unreasonable amount of time here on the differences between modern fascism and what people are referring to when they say fascism 1.0 2.0 and 3.0:

A picture that reads "same hate new look" with pictures of fascism 1.0 2.0 and 3.0

image of person with covered in tattoos with a shaved head and black boots. the red laces match the red suspenders, and the person is holding a baseball bat.

Text: Fascism 1.0 originated in the late 70s and reached its peak in the 80s and 90s. It consisted of boneheads (racist skinheads), a resurgence of the KKK, Christian Identity, and private far-right militias. Unlike other fascist movements in the US, this movement was more explicit and outspoken in their white supremacist messaging, symbolism, and use of violence. They relied on their reputation for violence through an overt display of fascist symbols and group affiliations to convey fear and recruit those in support of their goals. They primarily recruited in person, centering around music, religion, or subcultures, and also utilizing printed publications. While the urban environments were marred by youth gangs of boneheads violently attacking minorities, the rural environments included KKK and militias focusing more on anti-government rhetoric and actions.
Notable People: David Duke, Tom Metzger, Don Black, Ian Stewart Donaldson, David Lane, Richard Butler

Image of a person with a haircut shaved on the sides and long on top, wearing a button up shirt and khakis and carrying a tiki torch.

text: Fascism 2.0 came around in the late 2000s as the alt-right came into existence. There was a social push within fascism of "boots to suits," which referred to trading in one's combat boots and covering tattoos (or not getting any in the first place) to present a more clean-cut, professional appearance. The purpose of this social push was for fascists to infiltrate the military, police, FBI, politics, and other aspects of government and respectable society that they otherwise would not be able to get into. This infiltration had the goals of either co-opting existing power structures, or waiting for future social upheaval to leverage those positions and establish a fascist society. The rhetoric surrounding 2.0 started to include more of both intellectual, academic arguments, and the edgy shock humor of memes. Unique to 2.0 was the recruiting of various minorities into key positions for the purpose of optics, hiding their hate behind the identities of these few token minorities. This period of rebranding fascism included a shift from in-person interactions to online recruiting, retention, and spreading propaganda via memes, forums, and social media.
Notable People: Richard Spencer, Milo Yiannopoulos, Steve Bannon, Matthew Heimbach

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 4d

Chicago Auxiliary Bishop José María Garcia-Maldonado at ICE detention facility: “Being here is an act of holiness…soon we will seek access to the facility to bring the Eucharist to our brothers and sisters; if they say no again, we will keep praying.”

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 5d

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

My 11-year-old sitting with her pile of Halloween candy, sorting it into a bar graph

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Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 6d

The words and intent are not the issue. The issue is: how will it be enforced? If Trump is polling well and gets on the ballot for the primary in enough states, it’s hard to see who would have standing to stop him. The Constitution says he can’t be “elected” - but try telling that to his voters

Reposted by Rick Neal

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 8d

Some see the mass appeal of today's rightwing politics in status anxiety, as formerly dominant groups resent their relative decline. It's illuminating to extend Du Bois's "psychological wage" to capture how right populists generate both demand for this wage & give themselves a monopoly to supply it.

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Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 9d

This is amazing. And it’s truly the stuff of nightmares.

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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 11d

this decision to do a hard pivot on gender is very closely intertwined with dismissing previous and ongoing opposition to trump as somehow embarrassing and ineffective, because it wasn't led by men in hard hats www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

That movement’s on-the-ground organizing proved to be quietly, but strikingly, effective. The early phase of the opposition to the first Trump administration—before the racial-justice protests following George Floyd’s murder, in 2020—was largely led by white, college-educated, suburban women, and many of them, yes, wore pink “pussy hats” and T-shirts with slogans such as It’s Mueller Time! But they helped secure the “blue wave” midterm victory in 2018 that flipped the House of Representatives for Democrats and allowed the party to begin clawing back Trump’s power through legislative oversight. And though that congressional response had its limitations—neither impeachment of Trump, after all, successfully barred him from office—the Resistance notched continued successes at a local level in countering efforts to pull books from school shelves and restrict access to reproductive health care after Roe v. Wade was overturned. And, of course, a Democrat won the White House in 2020.

As the reference to hysteria suggests, it’s difficult to fully disaggregate the substance of this critique from gender politics, especially because of the predominance of older women in Resistance organizing during Trump’s first term. Liberal politics, the humor writer Clare Haber-Harris assessed in early 2025, had become “middle-aged-women coded” and therefore “uncool.” These Resistance aesthetics contrasted with the macho energy of Trump’s second term, itself a promise that Americans wouldn’t have to listen to those hectoring women anymore.

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Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 11d

This still holds up, and has only gotten worse since the election.

Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · Jul 5

Which of these people is a working-class voter?

Which is an identity politics voter?

The conventional wisdom's answers to those two questions is the root of much confusion about electoral politics in the US and Europe these days.

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Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 12d

I might guess AI donors wanting access to data in exchange

Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 12d

This is outrageous. This is no way to run a country. We no longer have a functioning government.

Adam Cancryn @adamcancryn.bsky.social · 12d

New: The Pentagon confirms to CNN it will funnel $130M from an anonymous Trump “friend” toward military pay.

Asked about the donor’s identity and any foreign or domestic entanglements, the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...

Pentagon to use $130 million donation from anonymous Trump ‘friend’ to pay military members | CNN Politics

The Trump administration plans to funnel a $130 million donation from an anonymous ally of President Donald Trump toward paying military service members during the government shutdown, the Defense Dep...

www.cnn.com

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Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 13d

Just waiting for Congress to approve funding for a large golden statue of him in the middle of the Mall

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Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 13d

Trump’s such an asshole

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 13d

The White House East Wing has been completely demolished. The demolition is basically at the main White House walls.

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Point Blank Sandwich Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 14d

I for one think the Epstein Ballroom will be magnificent. I love the decor theme of “what if Uday Hussein ran a Ramada Inn.” And giving it a theme song everyone will associate with it is a stroke of brilliance! “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” is very catchy.

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Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 15d

bsky.app/profile/anda...

Andrew Arkills @andark.bsky.social · 16d

I’m sure this is fine and that every precaution is being taken to ensure that the security of the PEOC isn’t compromised, right?

Right?

This isn’t the behavior of an administration that:
a) cares, and
b) ever intends to leave.

Aerial view of the East Wing, pre-Trump Ballroom construction.

Text which reads:
“The East Wing of the White House in 1992
In September 2025, work began on a state ballroom expansion. During the construction, the East Wing is planned to be "modernized."[1]
[2][3) Social and touring visitors to the White House usually enter through the East Wing.
The East Wing was built on top of the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a secure emergency underground shelter for the president. 4) As part of a major renovation project, demolition of the east wing began in October 2025 to accommodate the addition of a new state ballroom.
Visitors touring the White House entered through the wood-paneled lobby, where portraits of presidents and first ladies hung.
They went through the Garden Room and along the East Colonnade, which had a view of the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, past the theater to the Visitors' Foyer.”

Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 15d

The PEOC - the bunker where the president is taken in case of attack - is under the East Wing somewhere. And now Trump is building his ballroom on top of it? I’d think there’d be some #natsec implications here - wondering if I could get @pwnallthethings.bsky.social or @lawfaremedia.org to comment

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 15d

NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.

Photograph of ongoing demolition of the East Wing of the White House.

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Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 18d

Outrageous. Driver runs over woman at a No Kings rally here in Ohio

Erin Gallagher @3r1ng.bsky.social · 18d

A pickup truck drove into a #NoKings protest and hit a woman. “Witnesses told Massillon Independent photographer Kevin Whitlock that the motorist deliberately drove onto the grass where they were gathered, and struck the woman, who was sitting, before fleeing” www.cantonrep.com/story/news/a...

Screenshot from article linked in post. Text: “"It was defintely on purpose," she said. "He went up on the curb. She took a direct hit. It could have been a lot worse. She put her fist in the air and said 'I'm all right,' but I think she might have broken her leg."

With a photo of some protesters and an inflatable eagle.

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Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 18d

www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/s...

This is so epic! Legend Charlie Slisher on the bagpipes I love this!

From the Columbus community on Reddit: Dance of the Antifa - No Kings Columbus 10/18/25

Explore this post and more from the Columbus community

www.reddit.com

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Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 18d

bsky.app/profile/ohwe...

Katie @ohweebeasties.bsky.social · 18d

No Kings Columbus was really good!

Rick Neal @rickneal.bsky.social · 18d

bsky.app/profile/pwna...

Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 18d

It is true every day, but days like today just are huge reminders that for all it's many and varied faults this country was always great and it deserves better than what it's political branches give it in return