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Dispatches From the Culture Wars — October 21, 2025

Doing the Time Warp again

Christopher Shields, Fight the Fire
  1. The FU Heard Round the World
  2. The New Red Scare
  3. How Republicans Manufacture Anti-Abortion Panic
  4. Pearl-Clutching Over Mamdani
  5. More Grassroots Resistance to ICE
  6. First Amendment vs Second Amendment
  7. How to Defend Union Members from Politicized Firings
  8. Cold War on Campus
  9. Winona LaDuke on Winning
  10. Rocky Horror Has NOT Left the Building

 

The FU Heard Round the World 

USA Today

Photos from No Kings USA.

The New Red Scare

By Natasha Lennard
The Intercept

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Trump and his acolytes have pulled an array of repressive proposals from a cartoonishly blatant playbook of fascist scapegoating — conspiracies of Jewish dark money and all. They will likely fail to bring successful prosecutions against various left and liberal groups. But we are long past the point of pretending the administration will be bound by law, or tethered to factual reality.

How Republicans Manufacture Anti-Abortion Panic

By Jessica Valenti and Kylie Cheung
Abortion, Every Day

Anti-abortion extremism is a far-right, fascist ideology—and wildly racist, sexist men are exactly the kinds of people who make up their movement. In South Carolina, a monster abortion ban up for enforcement threatens patients with the death penalty and could outlaw certain forms of birth control. There’s no overstating how extreme this legislation is.

Pearl-Clutching Over Mamdani

By Kevin T. Dugan
Wall Street Journal

New York’s richest residents can’t stop talking about Mamdani, the Democratic nominee. To many of the city’s uber-wealthy, his sustained popularity has been a shock. The 33-year-old, self-described Democratic Socialist is the overwhelming favorite to win City Hall next month, on a platform that includes free buses and free child care—programs that, as the moneyed are well aware, somebody needs to shell out for.

More Grassroots Resistance to ICE

 • Los Angeles   By Kelvin Villegas, America

 • Chicago   By Sarah Conway, New York Magazine

 • Washington DC   By Zach D. Roberts, The Progressive
 

First Amendment vs Second Amendment

By Gregory P. Magarian
The Conversation

People in a democratic society need freedom to make harsh, even extreme political statements with a minimum of cultural editing. The Second Amendment protects access to lethal weapons. This combination of free speech and gun rights makes the growing problem of political violence much harder to solve.

How to Defend Union Members from Politicized Firings

By Bill Barry
Labor Notes

Can a worker be fired simply for expressing an opinion that the boss or a political group finds objectionable? These days online attackers often campaign to pressure employers to fire workers for political speech—even speech that took place on their private social media pages. Stewards have a number of tools at their disposal to defend members from these attacks.

Cold War on Campus

 • Take This “Compact” and...   By Phil Helsel, NBC News

 • Rutgers   By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Truthout

 • Columbia   By Alice Speri, The Guardian

 • CUNY   By Ari Paul, Jacobin
 

Winona LaDuke on Winning

By Winona LaDuke
Barn Raiser

This is a story about how sacred places, and sacred beings, remain protected through the work of people. This is a celebration of the protection of Mother Earth, from the freedom of the Klamath River to the shores of Mole Lake and the fertile estuary of life known as Coos Bay in Oregon.

Rocky Horror Has NOT Left the Building

By Will Tooke
HuffPost

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” the 1975 movie musical, occupies a unique space in pop culture, thanks to an arch-camp aesthetic, killer songs and knowing performances. It is what too many movies today are scared to be: gloriously weird. It found its audience at midnight showings that continue to this day, making “Rocky Horror” the longest-running theatrical release in history.