The US is threatening wanton coups across a region whose people have already faced displacement, often due to US policies, and then are brutalized when they come to the US seeking safety, at the hands of an increasingly belligerent deportation machine. The fortress is part of the offensive.

Trump openly committing an act of war to pursue oil, while fortifying the US fortress to more viciously crack down on people who are displaced. Sounds like the climate dystopia many have been warning about.

It’s surreal to see the Trump admin be so open about their colonial ambitions. One thing this does is expose anyone who is not outright opposing their acts of war. Rubio et al. are not claiming to care about the people of Venezuela. That has nothing to do with what is happening here.

There’s a line out there that sanctions are a more humane alternative to war. US aggression in Venezuela is showing how wrong that is. Not only are US sanctions a form of economic warfare in themselves, they are used as a pretext for direct attacks and incursions.

Can't stop thinking about this. The danger posed to the Venezuelans killed in the bombing, of course, did not enter into the equation. But more, this kind of fealty to perceived US interests is so ordinary because it's rewarded professionally--it's the surest way to rise as a foreign policy reporter

I'm old enough to remember how opponents of the US war on Iraq were ridiculed for slogans like "no blood for oil," and told this misunderstands the role and motives of the US, and now Trump is out there overtly saying blood for oil.

Chevron out there saying, “We’re prepared to work constructively with the U.S. Government during this period, leveraging our experience and presence to strengthen U.S. energy security.” (Source: www.newsweek.com/chevron-reac...)

Reminder that the majority of Americans and Venezuelans oppose a US war in Venezuela.

Trump: Bombs Venezuela, abducts Maduro, openly says the U.S. is going to run the country and take its oil. Jeffries: Not so fast, buddy. We demand a briefing about what you just did!

Trump being cartoonishly overt about his ambitions to “run” Venezuela and get its oil doesn’t make him any less dangerous.

What makes Trump's bombing of Venezuela especially cruel is we already know how his administration treats Venezuelans who are displaced. Here in Chicago, masked federal agents have been kidnapping them from the streets, abducting them from barbershops, hiring sites, their homes.

The US has been sanctioning and starving Venezuela for a decade, more recently committing wanton murder in the Caribbean. Trump has been open about wanting Venezuela's oil. The US does not care about the people of Venezuela. This is about domination and dispossession and oil.

Trump has been trial ballooning the bombing of Venezuela and abduction of Maduro for months and this is the kind of "push back" he has gotten from the top Dem leadership. Interview from 12/10/25.

Solidarity, not slop. @workdaymagazine.bsky.social's year in review.

Hyper exploitation combined with extreme temperatures (thanks to climate change) are destroying workers' bodies. "Of the 138 patients admitted to the dialysis clinic in Kathmandu in the past six months, more than 20 percent had worked in the Gulf." inthesetimes.com/article/risi...

Hyper exploitation combined with extreme temperatures (thanks to climate change) are destroying workers' bodies. "Of the 138 patients admitted to the dialysis clinic in Kathmandu in the past six months, more than 20 percent had worked in the Gulf." inthesetimes.com/article/risi...

This maximalist narrative about fraud in Minnesota has always stunk. Thank you @matthewccook5.bsky.social for asking the most basic questions that outlets like The New York Times failed to raise.

This story of alleged fraud has spread without the most basic fact checking or scrutiny--through right-wing media, but also outlets like NYT. Publications are boosting unverified Trump admin claims being used to justify an assault on MN's Somali communities. Crucial by @matthewccook5.bsky.social

"Militancy without politics isn't enough." lowerfrequencies.substack.com/p/the-teamst... by @lfelizleon.bsky.social

While ICE and Border Patrol invade American cities, the US now threatens a greater incursion against Venezuela. This belligerent "security" state is in fact making the world a much more dangerous place.

A loud and unequivocal NO to war with Venezuela, to starving the people of Venezuela, to belligerence, to anything that takes us even an inch closer to a US invasion.

Jesus. "At least 3,800 children under age 18, including 20 infants, have been booked since Trump took office." Important reporting from @annaflagg.bsky.social and @shannonheffernan.bsky.social

Interesting to see the people fighting against prison slavery start to put public pressure on the companies that profit from it

Marcela Rodriguez from Little Village community org Enlace speaking yesterday at a press conference: "This morning, Agent Bovino and 7 or 8 of his affiliates walked up to our front door, waved and smiled at our team, as if causing fear in our community brought him joy."

CBP is in Chicago taunting and intimidating organizers. Yesterday, Border Patrol Chief Bovino & other agents: -Harassed striking Teamsters on the Mauser picket line, asking them their status. -Went to front door of community group Enlace and waved, in what the org describes as creepy & intimidating

A labor coalition in Minnesota is demanding that Disney contractor Anagram pay incarcerated workers minimum wage. Right now, prisoners are making as low as $0.90/hour to package balloons. Important reporting by Isabela Escalona for @workdaymagazine.bsky.social

Nico Coronado from Teamsters 705 out here at press conference denouncing Bovino and CBP for visiting the Mauser picket line today, harassing union members, asking them their status. “Our members didn’t take the bait,” he says, thanks to know your rights trainings from Arise worker center.

Marcela Rodriguez from Enlace said Bovino and 8 or 9 federal agents came to Enlace’s front door and waved and smiled to taunt the community group today.

“No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state!” Groups gather for press conference on ICE and CBP’s violent escalation in Chicago.

Greg Bovino of the U.S. Border Patrol showed up at the picket line of Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago today. The workers have been on strike against manufacturer Mauser since June. When workers are intimidated by federal agents, it chills worker organizing! inthesetimes.com/article/maus...

Teamsters Local 705 just confirmed that Bovino went with armed CBP agents to a Mauser picket line in Chicago this morning and "interrogated and laughed at our members while they were on the picket line." These workers went on strike to demand protections for immigrant workers, among other things.

Teamsters Local 705 just confirmed via press release that Bovino and armed CBP agents visited a Mauser picket line in Chicago this morning and "interrogated and laughed at our members while they were on the picket line." No members of the union were detained. Background on the strike here.

This strike is ongoing--and spreading! Just yesterday, 46 people were arrested at distribution sites in Nevada and Pennsylvania.

I met Barbara Lubin in 2009. She was kind and principled and extremely supportive of young people trying to make the world a better place. Thanks for your life's work, Barbara. You never stopped struggling for justice.

On top of how venal this is can we just stop for a moment and acknowledge that the annual expansion of our already bloated military is such a terrible sign our society is going in the wrong direction?

"US media simply accepts, without pushback or critical thinking of any kind, the US State Department’s premise that the US is the leader of the whole world and gets to unilaterally dictate what is and isn’t 'international law.'" www.columnblog.com/p/us-media-r...

“There Is a War Against Us”: Worker Leader, Released from ICE Custody, Speaks Out Willian Giménez González is free, but he worries about thousands of others who were abducted from the Chicago area. Read our latest collaboration with @inthesetimes.com by @sarahlazare.bsky.social

Trump presenting himself as the champion of the everyman coal miner while slowly killing them. inthesetimes.com/article/the-... by @kimkelly.bsky.social

A planned rule to set new silica exposure limits—and finally address Appalachia’s devastating black lung crisis—has been under continued assault by coal bosses and the Trump admin. Now, it looks like it’s off the table entirely. New for @inthesetimes.com: inthesetimes.com/article/the-...

The Trump administration is uniquely cruel and hypocritical in its treatment of coal miners, but I want people to understand that health agencies have been warning about the danger of silica exposure since the 1970s. SO many people—Dems included—have let these workers down and left them to suffer.

Just one example of how Minnesotans are rallying in the freezing weather to defend their neighbors.

“People just started coming up to me right and left, in the streets, at the capital, on the Manhattan Bridge, and saying, ​‘Will you start an anti-Zionist shul? There’s nowhere else to go, for me.’” An important story to tell.

Trump's belligerence abroad and cruelty at home are absolutely connected. So many Venezuelans have already been displaced by (bipartisan) US sanctions, and now Trump is threatening all-out war. Here in Chicago, people who came from Venezuela seeking sanctuary are being abducted from the streets.

Federal agents chased this man, tackled him, cuffed him, put him in a car, and drove him several miles away from the Minneapolis neighborhood where he was abducted. When presented ID showing he's a US citizen, agents released him, and told him to walk home in the freezing weather.

“I owe my freedom to being organized."

Willian Giménez González, Chicago day laborer and beloved worker leader in Chicago, has been released from ICE custody. I spoke to him about his 47-day detention, and what solidarity looks like in this moment. "I owe my freedom to being organized," he says.

Thanks so much to @chuckmertz.bsky.social for having me on this episode of This Is Hell.

Private equity landlords take class solidarity to new and terrifying levels - yikes! Read this piece by @rebeccaburns.bsky.social and @thomasbirm.bsky.social

Willian Giménez González, Chicago day laborer and beloved worker leader in Chicago, is now free from ICE custody. I spoke to him about his ordeal, and what solidarity looks like in this moment. "They should do more to stop this so we can stop living this nightmare," he said.

Private equity landlords are learning from unscrupulous employers: subjecting members of tenants unions to surveillance and harassment, and retaining union-busting firms. Must-read for anyone seeking to understand the terrain of tenant organizing. by @rebeccaburns.bsky.social @thomasbirm.bsky.social