This is actually good spin, or would have been. But the fact that the Democratic cave happened without even a coordinated, agreed-upon message like this indicates the depth of the leadership void.

On November 11, 1887, amid the fight for the eight-hour workday, four anarchists were executed as scapegoats for the Haymarket riot—establishing May Day as a day of labor struggle. "The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today." -August Spies

The most optimistic read is that rapid response networks in place now will be better able to respond to the more targeted kidnappings and continue to jam up ICE whether BP is here or not. The most cynical one is that a lot of people will stop paying attention.

“My son was completely shut down emotionally after this happened.”

I kind of did not know MoveOn still existed (not being glib--it was sort of surprising to read that name again!), but whether Democratic Senators think it makes sense or not, the anger at Schumer and other leaders likely won't be easy to wish away. Plenty of normie Dems are in that boat.

I think it remains important to understand where, exactly, the impetus to cave came from. Who are the exact people who first pushed it and why, who jumped on board and why, who didn't say anything, who objected while the decision was being made, etc. That information matters.

"They ended temporary, concentrated pain (the shutdown) by accepting permanent, widespread harm... "If you’re going to inflict a shutdown, cause real suffering to federal workers and vulnerable people, you damn well better win something concrete for it. Otherwise, you just hurt people for nothing."

I recently had an expansive convo with two of the kickass leaders of a HUGE collective action archiving project, and it's out today. check it out: youtu.be/xrCElwgY5Co?...

Great job, @schumer.senate.gov. You've changed the story from "GOP hurting millions of Americans to please unpopular, failing, delusional despot who's destroying his party" to "Dems are too weak and divided in the face of Trump's strength to take a stand and protect Americans"

An obvious question that must be asked of Schumer immediately and repeatedly. Why did eight members of your caucus vote with the GOP instead of the majority of Senate Democrats and what is your reaction? (In reality, I'm very sure, Schumer was in agreement with that choice--his no vote is phony.)

Harm to SNAP recipients, federal workers, and others is real. In a normal democracy it’d make sense to prioritize reducing that harm in the short term. In a rapidly backsliding democracy, harm is happening no matter what. Preventing authoritarian consolidation is the most harm-reducing move.

So who exactly is in control of the Democratic Party if not the centrist and institutionalist wing and not average people who vote for Democrats? Seems worth looking into...

We should have a collective conversation as to whether it's worthwhile or not to make "change in Senate leadership" a core grassroots demand. Do we start a "anyone with Schumer loses donations/gets primaried" campaign to try to force him out? Could be a good idea, but what are our other demands?

Stop patting senators on the head unless they are calling for schumer's removal. Everything else is just in the script

Warner is up for reelection. He was widely seen driving towards surrender behind the scenes, but he's voting no in public because it's unpopular. The real question is whether he supports a senate leadership change. If not, someone who supports senate leadership change should primary him.

Ro Khanna (while certainly good on some important issues) is a very self-interested political actor, but his choice to go against Chuck seems significant for the direction of the party. Every Democratic Senator now has to respond to Khanna's suggestion. Schumer could be ousted. (But then what? Who?)

The opposition party to the Trump regime cannot have party members who defect/tip the balance to the regime position at moments of heightened political struggle. That's why the Democratic Party is not currently an opposition party. If it cannot become one in the months ahead, it must be replaced.

This is the kind of shit about which I want to see actual in-depth political reporting. Durbin is not running again--what is his *actual* reason for doing this? There is an answer (or really multiple answers) to it and we don't have that info ("he's craven/owned by donors/etc. etc." isn't enough).

Such absolute horseshit. Members of *the caucus he leads* made the deal, and it's almost certain that Schumer is good with it, meaning he is party to the immense suffering. Or, if he genuinely is aghast at his fellow Dems but couldn't keep them with the rest of the caucus, he must resign as leader.

i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.

Perhaps one (pretty non-sequitur) way to think about Dems agreeing to end the shutdown is that the vast majority of elected Democrats (especially in the Senate) would much much rather cave to the fascist GOP for *nothing* than have Zohran Mamdani be an important figure in the Democratic Party.

We polled Indivisible members over the weekend on whether Dems should take a deal or keep fighting for the ACA subsidies. Results: 98.67% said keep fighting. Dems who vote to surrender now are fracturing their own party in a way that will reverberate loudly in the primaries.

Senator Warren should say exactly who it is who is making the mistake, why she thinks they are doing it, and what she’s going to do about it. Otherwise who cares that she thinks it’s a mistake? You caucus with these people in a political party. Now what?

One of the many problems with the elected leadership of the Democratic Party right now is that most of us have no idea why they are doing what they are (apparently) doing. Why would they cave *right now* for essentially nothing? What is the logic, even if it's dogshit logic? Totally unclear. 1/2

This was one of the best things government has done in a while:

Just pre-ordered Anna's book, which I've been looking forward to for awhile. It's one of those books that I imagine will make me significantly adjust how I teach US history to 1865.

I ~personally~ cannot wait for this AI bubble to burst I am sick of the yellow-stained slop images, mediocre vibecoded projects, shameless cheating, environmental destruction, and the soaring energy prices the worst people are getting richer, and making it worse for the rest of us in the process

I try to say some form of this in every single meeting on AI at my university that I'm involved in

I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved. www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...

A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.

Federal agents in Chicago are aggressive everywhere but they elevate this in the SW Side. They don’t just snatch people and leave. They linger longer, march down streets with guns, interrupt traffic flows. The attacks feel concerted to instill as much fear & display power over immigrant mhoods.

Daily News staffer tells me "there is a lot of frustration and anger within the staff about today’s Mamdani editorial. It doesn’t reflect the majority of the staff and we worry it will make it hard to fairly cover the new administration." Says they don't even know who all members of ed board are.

Friends— here it is. Updated & expanded thanks to the space afforded to me in the @therumpus.net & the guidance of the brilliant @roxanegay.bsky.social’s edits. The win centers Muslims humanity — but what does that mean in a country that rejects that? therumpus.net/2025/11/05/z...

2️⃣ New campaign: Prep for #TaxTheRich launch. NYC-DSA will soon launch its Tax the Rich campaign for 2026. Sign up at bit.ly/ttrjoin to join in the work, which includes— • Field • Deep organizing • Comms • Policy & legislation • Statewide coordination • Fundraising

"It’s likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here," McConnell says. He also says Trump and his allies have admitted to withholding SNAP benefits for "political reasons" rather than to preserve child nutrition programs, which the judge said was a pretext."

Also, if I was a rich liberal/“progressive” type who is upset about Trump, I’d be throwing as much money as I could at journalists and publications that actually cover labor in a way that matters. It’s obvious why normal people don’t like or trust the corporate media; give them something better

I talked to librarians, authors who have had their books banned, and groups that support them for this article. The glee with which schools, libraries, governments, and companies are replacing human workers and nuance with AI would not be possible w/o the successful war on schools and libraries

I have plenty of issues with Nancy Pelosi and her political leadership over the years, but I've said for a long time that she is the US politician in my lifetime about whom I'll be most interested to read a lengthy autobiography by a skilled historian--much to learn studying her life and career.

ICE isn’t going after the worst of the worst. This morning, they took a preschool teacher without a warrant IN FRONT OF CHILDREN in my district. #ice #chicago

Rep. Mike Quigley is having a press conference about this, and it is PACKED.

The White House just posted this they are not mad they swear they are so not mad

Been listening to the audiobook version of Enshittification driving home from work. It's great and I definitely recommend it.

I am taking particular pleasure in the complete collapse of trans-as-unbeatable-wedge-issue narrative this morning. It might be an 80-20 issue in voters minds, but it has to be on voters minds to matter. The results in VA demonstrate that it is very much not on voters minds.

Book reviewers of bluesky! Where y'all at? Got a book (by me) Y'all might wanna check out. 👀

I wish I could show you all the joyous photos and videos being shared on Muslim and South Asian WhatsApp right now with people reacting to Mamdani's victory. It's really beautiful and cathartic. So many years of anti-Muslim bigotry, racism & hate. And all those tears are now sugar for our chai.

From bitter experience, capitalism will cheat, bribe, set traps, and flood the zone with stories of 'ordinary people's dissatisfaction'. This win is a beautiful and hopeful thing and the energy that drove it must be kept up now. He'll need your support even more now. Hold the line. 2/