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Michael Colborne

@colborne.bsky.social

28K followers 250 following 960 posts

@bellingcat.com journalist etc focused on the transnational far right. i give trainings. i take pictures of stickers. Signal: michaelcolborne.01

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 22d

Pro tip: if you're trying to hide the location of your latest far-right 'fight night' all the blurring and and tight shots won't help you if you host it in a place with bright orange walls (and also lie to the owner about why you're renting the place)

www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/09...

Geolocating an Active Club 'Fight Night' in San Diego

An orange wall helped Bellingcat identify the location of an annual far-right event attended by neo-Nazis and white nationalists.

www.bellingcat.com

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

Bellingcat @bellingcat.com · 21h

Satellite analysis by Bellingcat found that wildfires destroyed over a third of Namibia’s most visited wildlife reserve last month, impacting crucial grazing lands for endangered species, including black rhinos and elephants. www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10...

Wildfires Ravage One of Africa’s Largest Nature Reserves - bellingcat

Satellite analysis of the Etosha wildfires in Namibia has found that more than a third of the nature reserve was burned.

www.bellingcat.com

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 1d

home and away plus a new third jersey, with submissions from the public

Reposted by Michael Colborne

Jason Markusoff @markusoff.bsky.social · 1d

Coca-Cola Coke Zero

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 1d

watch me unsuccessfully attempt to pivot to ship tracking next week

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

Bellingcat @bellingcat.com · 2d

For this occasion, @colborne.bsky.social is making a quick detour from his usual far-right work to try out some maritime research. Want to see how he does? Join our livestream on October 15, 5PM CEST on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@bellingcato...

Bellingcat

Bellingcat is an independent investigative collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists brought together by a passion for open source research. Founded in 2014, we have pioneered...

www.youtube.com

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 2d

stricter laws in the UK on having this kind of material that wouldn’t necessarily be illegal in other countries even if it’d merit attention from authorities

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 2d

the casual understated bat flip

Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 2d

would be a lot better if these guys obsessed with satanism just really into gorgoroth or something instead of right wing terror

Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 2d

Candiani "accepted that he had a tattoo on his chest bearing the neo-Nazi symbol "88" - code for the phrase "Heil Hitler".

He also admitted applying to join a right-wing extremist group, Active Club, but said he got "cold feet"."

www.bbc.com/news/article...

'Satanist' actor guilty over right-wing documents

Declan George Candiani is found guilty of collecting information likely to be useful for terrorism.

www.bbc.com

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 2d

few things in this world give me as much satisfaction as watching the Yankees get absolutely pummelled

MLB (Bot) @mlbbot.bsky.social · 2d

VLADDY SLAM!!!!!!!!

#ALDS

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 2d

A mosque in East Sussex has been damaged in a suspected arson attack, which police are investigating as a hate crime

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Peacehaven: Fire at East Sussex mosque probed as 'hate crime'

Video appears to show two people in balaclavas at the mosque before a large blaze spreads.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 3d

I’ve received multiple death threats + doxing (including my home address) directly following harassment from Turning Point USA, Jack Posobiec, Andy NGO, + Fox News which called me an antifa ‘financier.’

I have been forced to move my classes online.

If journalists want to talk, DM me or reply here.

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

Shane Burley (Blue Sky Edition) @shaneburley.bsky.social · 3d

For those lucky enough to not know this is a neo-Nazi meme normally found on TRS and the Daily Stormer being shared by the official DHS account.

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 4d

fair - I do often see “populist” being used euphemistically a lot more than I’d like, regardless of the (un)popular nature of some of they do, which ends up eliding the (far) right nature of what they do. but it doesn’t mean “populist” is a term to completely throw in the trash

Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 4d

“When we use the term “populist”, we often create a semantic link between the word and “the people”. So when we allow the far right to be described as populist, we are incorrectly implying that they are tapping into what the people want or that they speak for the “silent majority””

Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 4d

This short piece co-authored with Alex Yates shows why the misuse of populism plays right in the hands of the far right

(Annoyingly, the app is not allowing me to tag colleagues, but follow them!)

theconversation.com/the-word-pop...

The word ‘populism’ is a gift to the far right – four reasons why we should stop using it

Extremists benefit when we use euphemisms that confer on them an air of legitimacy.

theconversation.com

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 4d

“…we had 30 people that were down here associated with rightwing Twitter accounts or rightwing YouTube channels….there is a clear desire to get somebody reacting in a way that they can frame as a justification for what they are doing. And Portland just isn’t giving them what they want.”

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 4d

Nature, books and naked bike rides: Portlanders refute Trump claims they are ‘living in hell’

On the ground in the Oregon city, with rich fall colors and leafy hiking trails, things look different than on Trump’s TV

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 4d

Everything is becoming spectacle. I read a solid paper last week (can’t recall the author) that framed militarized protest policing as tactically staged spectacles, operating alongside the more familiar strategies like negotiation and incapacitation.

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 4d

The messages show high-level officials in the Trump administration discussing the possible deployment of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an infantry force that has dropped into combat zones in both World Wars, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Trump officials discussed sending elite Army division to Portland, text messages show

A high-ranking White House official was indiscreetly texting about the Portland, Ore., planning last weekend, according to messages shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

bit.ly

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Bjørn Ihler @bjornih.bsky.social · 5d

The world of counterterrorism and countering extremism is undergoing unprecedented changes. In this world, independence and integrity are key in any work to accurately assess threats and mitigate harm.

Read more about the recent developments and our approach here.

revontulet.co/insights/sol...

Solving for Bias - Data Driven Approaches and the Current Threats to the Counterterrorism Field — Revontulet

One of the most significant pitfalls in addressing any threat is falling into the trappings of defining your enemies based on your own ideological biases. That is perhaps especially true when it comes...

revontulet.co

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 4d

hate factory sounds like a band somewhere on the website

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 4d

New from 404 Media: Google removed an ICE-spotting app too. Called Red Dot, an immigration support group on the ground in Chicago told me it was using it. Google now removed, just like Apple did with ICEBlock after DOJ pressure. Google calls ICE vulnerable group
www.404media.co/google-calls...

Google Calls ICE Agents a Vulnerable Group, Removes ICE-Spotting App ‘Red Dot’

The move comes as Apple removed ICEBlock after direct pressure from U.S. Department of Justice officials and signals a broader crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · 5d

💥🔎 On X/Twitter, Visegrád24 became famous for its anti-Muslim and anti-migration stance as well as waves of disinformation. A recent report brings to light people, funding and political actors tied to their Central Europe-based but international network. @vsquare.bsky.social

Unmasking Visegrád24: Tracing the People, Money, and Political Connections - VSquare.org

Visegrád24 became famous for its anti-Muslim and anti-migration stance as well as waves of disinformation. A recent report by the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa (CINIA) brings to light a p...

vsquare.org

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Michael Colborne @colborne.bsky.social · 5d

I’m late to pointing this out ie not the first to point this out, but Telegram is still very much available on the App Store, for comparison

404 Media @404media.co · 5d

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’

🔗 www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’

Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 5d

On a positive note, CBC's Ombudsman found a segment on a 2023 anti-LGBTQ+ rally did not violate CBC's journalistic standards

The review concluded that yes, you can interview trans people about the impact of discrimination against their community without giving equal airtime to "the other side"

cbc.radio-canada.ca

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Reposted by Michael Colborne

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 5d

“Fuck them kids.”

That’s literally what an ICE agent said when ICE, the FBI et al. raided an apartment in Chicago, including with a Blackhawk helicopter, separated children from their parents, and zip-tied them to each other.

abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...

bangs.

"They was terrified. The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other," Watson said. "That's all I kept asking. What is the morality? Where's the human? One of them literally laughed. He was standing right here. He said, 'f*** them kids.'"

Watson said trucks and military-style vans were used to separate parents from their children. Other neighbors said agents destroyed property to get in the building.

"They had a big, 15-inch chainsaw with round blade on it, cutting this fence down," said witness Darrell Ballard. "We're under siege. We're being invaded by our own military."

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