I guess I need to add that pundits have to get out of a normal democracy mindset too. It’s been a decade of democratic backsliding, and nearly a year of rapid descent. Writing as if it’s 2013 or 1995 is out of touch. Either ”I have my head in the sand” or “I like this but won’t say so directly.”

Not an hour goes by that I don’t think about the people being held at Broadview. In Chicago and the suburbs, the ICE thugs beat up, tear gas, and pepper spray people—old people, toddlers, many U.S. citizens—literally every day. It’s rarely in the news. I never say this, but please pray for us.

thousands on thousands of sharks, swarming round the dead leviathan, smackingly feasted on its fatness

There is a lot of fuss today over whether chatbots can replace human participants in social sciences research when the solution is obvious: ask chatbots to simulate the views of social scientists and survey them on attitudes towards chatbots as substitutes for human subjects.

“If only the tsar knew it‘s no longer the 90s!”

fellas is it normal for a funding bill to waive the sovereign immunity of the united states government in the context of when senators are targets of federal investigation

Hello @support.bsky.team why has @sarahkendzior.bsky.social been suspended without explanation?????

Imagine killing 600,000 black and brown people with a few keystrokes and not having a care in the world but one little old white lady drags you on Twitter and you spiral for a week.

Yo, @support.bsky.team, bring back @sarahkendzior.bsky.social.

I have to hand it to them, it's an incredible bit to publicly lose a game of chicken, admit that's what happened, and then spend the next day lecturing everyone about courage and tenacity

By the way, I see Trump ordered air traffic controllers back to work, even though the CR isn’t law yet and USG is still shutdown. He’s still fighting courts to withhold emergency SNAP funds illegally. Says a lot imo about what the Senate was asking for backstage. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

13) I think Dem leadership still suffers from frame drag. They think it's the 90s. Trump is dismantling the powers of Congress. They have to rise to that moment and demand big things. Vought is expanding the playing field to thinks off the table. Dems need to do the same. ###

“The reality is the government was shut down the first day Trump entered office. We just didn't talk about it that way. The only real leverage Dems had is on appropriations. Schumer screwed that up in February/March for FY 26. It imperiled his political support.” Should’ve gone then. Must go now

im legit cracking up at the “we gave functional criminal immunity to the part of the US government that basically ensures the legislature will never function again under a blue government while simultaneously giving free range to the fascist right wing party” revelation of the vichy dem cave bill

The failure to fight back then — when this was happening in 2023 — harms us today. The lesson is: Pick Big Fights. When you’re on the right side, fight! The fight draws attention, which is essential in today’s media environment.

It was a major mistake that the Senate didn’t hold high-profile hearings and investigations into the corrupt Roberts Court when ProPublica was breaking the scandals. Now that same corrupt Court is blowing up NIH, NSF, and all of US basic science. Our failure to pick a big fight with the Court 1/

I've said it before, and I will say it again. We need courageous leaders that put working families at the center of all they do. 8 democrats caving to empty promises is an indefensible leadership failure For the sake of our country, Schumer needs to resign.

This is my favorite part of this cycle we've been repeating for my entire adult life: when they sit backwards on the chair for some real talk and explain that you're a fucking peasant who doesn't understand how things work.

This hidden provision is so crooked and selfish, it doesn't even apply to US Representatives. Just US Senators.

Obv there are many, many opinions among fed employees but if any tv shows/podcasts/etc want to hear the prevailing takes that seem to be out there hmu

Not a single Democratic Senator who voted NO on surrender with strongly worded posts, statements, emails, videos etc has publicly called on Schumer to resign as the Leader of the Democratic caucus. It’s telling. They are all mostly cowards - followers of public opinions instead of being leaders.

We already knew this about Republicans. Everybody already knew this, that's why we were willing to endure the pain of a sustained shut down. You made that suffering pointless.

🚨 Tim Kaine is saying the quiet part out loud - underscoring why anyone shouldn't be satisfied with any of the "no" statements or posts from Dem Senators. If Dem Senators are truly disgusted with this save they should be calling on #SurrenderSchumer to step aside as the Leader immediately.

all the senators who voted no: uhhh listen. we live... to fight another day. for our fighting. and i think voters will recognize who was fighting for their fighting. tim kaine, out loud: oh you would not believe how many people were glad we're around to get yelled at for them, they were SWEATING

I swear to god if they fix Bivens but only for members of Congres...

New: I did a super quick audio update—a 'Breaking Basket'—about how SNAP recipients are feeling about Dems helping to reopen the government, and the lawsuit from states' AGs to protect their benefits. (This is new format I'm experimenting with, so bear with me!)

I'm in WaPo today explaining why the administration's profiling of people for immigration stops based on their ethnicity and occupation is unconstitutional: wapo.st/43W3haf

The Battle of Chicago

I like to call this “all the TVs you can eat.”

I feel like we're in a weird world where the average Dem partisan, engaged voter is better informed than most of their representatives

This is the absolute floor for a Dem worth paying attn to. Schumer can’t lead if he can’t control his own whip on THE critical vote. Durbin can’t whip the caucus if he crosses the party on THE critical vote. If they want us to buy that this was an unauthorized revolt, demand new leadership—minimum.

This deal to reopen the government is fucking disgraceful. Tens of millions will lose their healthcare. Trump will be emboldened. This is exactly what’s wrong with Democratic Party leadership and why we need more people in Congress who will actually hold the line.

OK, where are we on the SNAP benefits cases? Two things happened this morning: * DOJ told SCOTUS they're still fighting to stop full November SNAP benefit payments, via their stay request at SCOTUS * District court judge in Mass. stayed USDA's 11/8 memo ordering states to "undo" full payments

Steny Hoyer & Jamie Raskin send letter to MD Senate President Bill Ferguson, who has opposed mid-decade redistricting, saying that he should move forward with a new map: "We believe such an effort can survive any legal attack"

The thing is, even if we had such a rule no one should trust it. The federal govt is plundering & consolidating data systems that are legally separated and rigorously private. Do you think they won’t lean on AI providers for your records, regardless of the law? Would providers will fight for you?

Called my Senators. Told them to call for Chuck Schumer’s removal. Said some things. Felt good to get that off my chest.

Shaheen's constituents are not ill-informed. We are, rather, ignored by our senators. #nhpolitics

If a house is on fire then you have to fight the fire. If the entries are obstructed you have to get rid of the obstruction. If the firefighters won't fight the fire then you have to get new firefighters. This is a metaphor.

MSNBC reported Schumer's office felt that the longer that shutdown went on, the more likely it was that people would start to blame the Dems. My kingdom for Democrats that don't govern out of fear. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The American people are far braver than their reps.

I heard from a bunch of federal employees last night and this morning. They aren't happy. "I would rather be an actual pawn. At least pawn sacrifices are calculated and achieve something. All this for a fucking meaningless vote."

The thing is about political response is that individuals start to learn how to navigate the new order.

I don’t need to be told that Democrats are fighting. I need *shown* that Democrats are fighting, and be told what the plan is to win that fight (or otherwise be convinced one exists)

Durbin, the guy whose job it is to whip the votes for leadership, voted for the deal Schumer was supposedly against. What are we even doing here people

look I know being an engaged citizen IS the work of democracy but it is also the work of elected officials not to create situations where everyone has to be mobilized all the time to prevent them from allowing some kind of Dickensian horror on a Sunday night while you're in between loads of laundry

Gotta say, counting "We got them to agree that a law passed in 2019 is still the law" as a victory is some real learned helplessness

If it's going to end up with either caving or the nuclear option anyway, what was the advantage to picking only one line of attack to hit? Take the top three or four most insane things that are the most unpopular, ACA among them but not just that, and make that your package of "demands" to hammer.

The thing to make it about was the lawless authoritarianism. Just like last week’s elections were.

Voting to fund the government means you voted to fund everything the government is doing. That's the whole point. It's not about some narrow this or that on the margins. You own the whole enchilada, you're saying "yes, this overall package for everything the government's doing is acceptable to me."

The best time to fight was earlier. The next best time is right now. The longer they wait, the more power POTUS grabs & the more accustomed ppl become to the way he tells us it’s going to be now. You can’t build momentum unless you fight. You can’t even get ppl to observe what’s being stolen.

the thing that upsets me about this the most is that Dems had all the momentum, republicans were reeling, and we were getting intra-GOP fighting over the filibuster, all while voters were blaming republicans for their incompetence this destroys all of this. just a total gut punch