SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
LIVE COVERAGE
Opinion
Climate
Economy
Politics
Rights & Justice
War & Peace
Further
Well Done, America
Well that was a night. The glad spectacle of a newly sentient America tottering back to its capacious ideals was dubbed Orange Crush, Bluenami, a political earthquake, a wily tweak to Hegseth's coveted public execution and "one of the great acts of defiance in American history." It was both landslide too big to rig or stop and "extinction-level" rout. Above all, it was a thunderous rejection of fear, greed, lies, cruelty, war-mongering, authoritarianism. Tell your kids, urged Abdul El-Sayed, "The bad guys lost."
Who knew, pundits marveled: Turns out if you keep lying, stealing, abusing children, terrorizing, kidnapping, assaulting neighbors, shooting people in the street, making it impossible to get food, gas, health care or education while gloating about it and lining your fat pockets, everyone hates you. So it was that a "Trump Reckoning" and GOP "Armageddon" beyond even their worst doomsday scenarios arrived wherein Democrats swept "nearly every race that matters” as Americans en masse embraced all the shithole, lunatic, transgender, anti-Semitic, dog-eating, Medicare-wanting Muslim Brotherhood communists they'd been so helpfully warned about, alas, in vain.
This, of course, despite MAGA's best/worst efforts to re-draw districts, shutter polling places, strong-arm election officials, browbeat brown and black voters, pre-litigate election results they couldn't buy, and launch 1,000 DOJ "polling monitors" into all 50 states in hopes of targeting vulnerable minority districts. And yet, noted Garrett Graff, nothing untoward happened. Instead, voters "gave America another chance." Millions stood up, showed up, voted early, refused to bend the knee or be silenced. Graff said a friend wrote from deep-red Mississippi, where Democrat Scott Colom still had a stunning, razor-thin lead. "My flabbers are gasted,” she wrote. “Be on the lookout for pigs in the sky."
"So much history was made last night," Graff added, much of it shaped by both the 250 years and then Trump's dark reign of white supremacist politics. The startling result: The most diverse set of newly elected lawmakers the country has ever seen, with one historian writing Dems are winning races "they haven’t won since they were the white supremacist party.” An Atlanta Journal-Constitution story begins, "In 1860, an enslaved man named Sheppard Peek was listed among the possessions of William Peek, a white man in Crawfordville"; Sheppard's value was placed at $1,400. In Georgia on Tuesday, his great-great-granddaughter, Keisha Lance Bottoms, was elected the first Black female governor in the country.
Bottoms is just one of many historic firsts. Xavier Becerra, the son of Mexican immigrants, became California's first elected Latino governor. Deb Haaland became New Mexico’s first Native governor. Wisconsin and Nevada elected their first Black governors. There are three other first women governors. New Hampshire's Chris Pappas will become the first out gay man in the Senate. A trans woman won a House seat in...Alabama. Colorado elected its first Gen Z woman; she will be one of a record 100 women to serve simultaneously in the House. Democrats gained full control of a record six state governments, Southern voters swung 20 points to Dems, Jon Ossoff was easily re-elected on a platform, essentially, of "I don't like Nazis." Virginia ended Jim Crow after 124 years, and enshrined abortion in its constitution. Nancy LaCore, a former Navy admiral fired by Hegseth, flipped Nancy Mace's seat in South Carolina. The GOP lost all four of its gerrymandered districts in Florida. Egyptian-born Adam Hamaway, 57, will be the first Muslim elected to the House from New Jersey. A Rutgers-educated doctor, he served 8 years as a combat surgeon in the US Army before starting private practice in Princeton; he also volunteered in Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Jordan.
Beating back a grotesquely Islamophobic campaign, Michigan's Dr. Abdul El-Sayed will become the first Muslim in the Senate.In his victory speech, he thanked "everyone who sent a dollar, made a call, posted a story and most importantly gave us your stake in democracy. You took a chance on the unlikeliest of candidates." Summoning "all the kids who watched and the parents who struggled to explain why the president openly mocked someone for their name or how they pray, let them (know) the bad guys lost...We deserve an America big enough for all our kids - let's go build it." He also cited the "delicious irony" that JD, whose "view of America is small, like him," is constitutionally obligated to swear him in come January.
In another sweet spot and longtime pipe dream, Talarico took back Texas from the scandal-smeared Paxton in "not just a tsunami, but a bloodbath." Adding to the schadenfreude was the upset win by Gina Hinojosa, the state's first Latina governor-elect, over monstrous Greg Abbott. In a stunning twist, Dems also won every statewide office down to railroad commissioner, along with four Supreme Court seats; the wins prompted an explosion of noisy joy in Austin that "sounded like an Eastern European city that just overthrew a dictator.” The cherry on top: Texas' new Dem Attorney General, who campaigned on investigating Elon Musk after he moved his business there to escape California woke, can now prosecute him for state level crimes without any DOJ interference.
Musk, who spent half a billion dollars nationwide and lost every race he tried to buy, is among MAGA fat cats, tech bros and grifters who'll likely be targeted by California's (easily reelected) Robert Garcia, set to chair the House Oversight Committee. His blunt message: "Lawyer up." Many others also feel "the only way we want Dems to reach across the aisle is with a subpoena." With an "accountability bill" ready, Dean Blundell argues, "A LOT of people need to go to jail" - Hegseth, the Trump family crypto empire, the DOJ hacks who covered up Epstein crimes, the Rapist-In-Chief, the sadists of ICE once it's been "torn down to the studs." Scores of voters also demanded justice for their victims Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by putting "I Voted" stickers on their memorials: "They were on the ballot."
Over at the presumably ketchup-encrusted White House, Trump remains in his own daft fantasy world, the "lamest of lame ducks." He burbles he "looks forward to working with" the trans jihadists he says are destroying America, but he'll veto everything. He's awash in his "magnificent" ballroom. He insists if he was on the ballot "we'd have won IN A LANDSLIDE," but of course he was and CNN's John King is happy to name all the places he told voters to pretend he was: "They did. They'd had enough." Even his cultists - and ex-cultists - blame him: "The reason isn't them, it's you. You fucked us. We chose Hitler with Down Syndrome, and we lost." Online, meanwhile, the White House posted a desperate "PSA: Trump Is Still Your President." Like we could forget.
Still, the seismic shift tentatively feels like a new dawn, a path toward redemption, a sliver of hope, the long-ago thing with feathers we can barely remember. Candidates, volunteers, organizers, lawyers stepped up, and vast numbers of Americans showed up to support them. The mood was buoyant. Some said they wished Mitch McConnell was alive to see the Senate results. The Borowitz Report said Mike Johnson begged God to "rapture him up" immediately; tearfully, he said that as a loyal Republican he couldn't bear to be in a "minority" because he hates 'em all. Another report said a bitter Elon Musk put Ken Paxton on eBay; no buyers yet. Also, tragically, two sources say cracks and peeling have again emerged in the Reflecting Pool, but MAGA is on it. Said an Interior spokesperson, "The Reflecting Pool has never looked this beautiful, and it's all thanks to President Donald J. Trump."
Update: Can you say learned nothing, knows nothing, never will, truly astoundingly losing it? On Thursday, our lame-duck loser displayed his stellar grasp on political priorities - what election? - by signing an entirely meaningless order proclaiming nobody can de-Cheesecake Factory his tacky abomination of a golden whorehouse of an Oval Office, 'cause then he'd be some pissed and don't forget we won World War One. Beyond the surreal looking-glass,
- YouTube www.youtube.com
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Nov 05, 2026
SEE ALL
News
Ahead of Next Climate Summit, COP30 Host Brazil Unveils 'Critical Handbook for Ending the Fossil Fuel Era'
With the next United Nations Climate Change Conference less than a week away, greenhouse gas levels soaring, and a temporary overshoot of the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C goal now inevitable, Brazil, the host of last year's COP30, on Tuesday published a pair of roadmaps for transitioning away from planet-heating fossil fuels and tackling deforestation.
"We don't need more negotiations. What we need is for governments to start taking action," André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, the Brazilian diplomat who served as the president of COP30, told Reuters. "We need to completely change the way governments deal with climate change. To implement this, we need finance, infrastructure, and transportation ministers at the table."
In his foreword for the transition report, Corrêa do Lago explained that at the closing plenary in Belém last November, "and in the context of the COP being held in the Amazon, I committed to developing... roadmaps for implementing two outcomes of the First Global Stocktake, agreed by consensus at COP28 just two years earlier: (i) transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly, and equitable manner; and (ii) enhancing efforts toward halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. With their publication, that commitment is fulfilled."
"Both transitions depend on finance," he stressed. "The two roadmaps are therefore presented alongside a third document, 'Implementing the Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T,' which sets out how financing to developing countries for climate action can be scaled up from all public and private sources to at least US$1.3 trillion per year by 2035. Read together, the three documents describe what has to change and propose ways forward so that change can be financed and sustained."
After ending with what critics called "an empty deal," COP30 was condemned as a "catastrophic failure to take concrete action to implement a funded and fair fossil fuel phaseout," and there was some criticism of the new roadmaps for also not going far enough.
Greenpeace Brazil executive director Carolina Pasquali said in a statement that "this is a major effort by the COP30 presidency and a crucial step towards ensuring the COP28 decision to transition away from fossil fuels is fully implemented. As our climate races towards a 1.5°C overshoot, the roadmap encourages important measures but stops short of setting clear fossil fuel phaseout targets or calling for an immediate halt to the expansion of fossil fuels."
However, Pasquali praised the forests roadmap—launched in the aftermath of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's reelection victory over far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro—which she said "represents a major effort from the COP30 presidency and was launched with the credibility of a Brazilian government that has achieved the lowest deforestation rate in its history. The presidency has helped bring together, through multiple contributions and dialogues, a wide range of existing initiatives and views."
It remains slightly mad that governments have agreed to phase out fossil fuels from energy systems, but can't agree to even the principle that having a plan for doing so would be a good idea. www.businessgreen.com/news-analysi...
[image or embed]
— James Murray (@james-bg.bsky.social) November 3, 2026 at 11:34 AM
Despite some shortcomings, other climate campaigners welcomed the roadmaps—released as activists and world leaders alike prepare for COP31, which is scheduled to kick off Monday in Antalya, Türkiye.
"Brazil has offered a valuable blueprint for the global transition away from fossil fuels," said Oil Change International global policy lead Romain Ioualalen in a statement. "It recognizes there is no one-size-fits-all pathway, that all countries need to plan their transition now, and that equity and finance are critical to achieving fossil-free prosperity in many countries."
Like Corrêa do Lago, he emphasized that "now that we have a global roadmap, we need to see action. If all this process leads to is another series of dialogues, it will be a massive missed opportunity in an already closing window. Countries need to develop their own domestic roadmaps that plan their economic diversification away from fossil fuels using the guidance and tools provided by Brazil’s report."
"We also need to see the global Mutirão for the transition away from fossil fuels deliver key decisions that allow countries with strong economic and energy constraints to unlock their transition. The Second Global Stocktake in 2028 will be a critical opportunity to make that happen," Ioualalen continued.
"Delivering on this global roadmap for countries with deep financial constraints hinges on finance. But it does outline some finance tools that have a track record of failing, like debt swaps and derisking methods," he noted. "Enough public finance can be delivered to fund a fair fossil fuel phaseout as rich countries can unlock trillions every year through taxing polluters and extreme wealth, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and reforming unfair financial rules."
Ioualalen added that "one area of real concern is the suggestion that global action on reducing fossil fuel supply could wait until the 2030s. That would be a grave mistake, and a guarantee to further lock in fossil fuels and for a chaotic transition. Existing fossil fuel extraction projects already commit the world to emissions nearly seven times the remaining 1.5°C carbon budget. There is no time to pass the baton between supply and demand. Both need to be addressed now, through a fair, funded, and fast transition."
“The roadmaps are valuable but fall short of clearly indicating the pace of change needed by including no timeline or key benchmarks” ~Joeri Rogelj, professor of climate science and policy at Imperial College London.
[image or embed]
— Suzanne York (@suzanneyork.bsky.social) November 3, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Fanny Petitbon, a policy analyst at the international movement 350.org, similarly said that "this roadmap is a critical handbook for ending the fossil fuel era, which leaves governments with no excuse not to act. It offers every country a menu of policies to build its own plan to move away from coal, oil, and gas, whether it's a major producer, a big consumer, or an economy that depends on imports."
"Electrification is absolutely central to this transition, but it will only deliver if it is powered by renewable energy, matched by investment in modern grids, and brings clean, affordable energy to everyone," she highlighted. "We cannot swap one energy system for another while leaving the same communities behind."
Petitbon argued that "the roadmap must not end up as just another report gathering dust on a shelf. France, the Netherlands, and Germany have already published national roadmaps, but they fall short of the ambition the climate crisis demands and of their responsibility in it. Pacific Island states plan to deliver a regional strategy to break free from fossil fuels. So the question for all major emitters is simple: When will you submit your roadmap?"
"Rich nations must also mobilize public finance to support developing countries with their transition and ensure that the fossil fuel industry cannot continue to profit from a crisis that is costing people their livelihoods, health, and homes," she asserted. "COP31 must be the moment when governments take this work forward, with clear commitments, timelines, and the resources to deliver a fair and orderly exit from coal, oil, and gas."
"The COP30 presidency has set out clear next steps, and future COPs must keep this issue at the top of the agenda every year so the momentum is never lost," she added. "2028 will be the moment of truth. As the world will take stock of how far it has come in delivering the Paris Agreement, it will become clear who has honored the promise made in Dubai to transition away from fossil fuels, and who has walked away from it."
Nov 03, 2026
SEE ALL
News
'We Cannot Let History Repeat Itself': Progressive US Lawmakers Oppose AI Bailouts
As a progressive US senator warned Wednesday that Anthropic going public could leave "Americans holding the bag" if the artificial intelligence bubble bursts, The American Prospect revealed that key Democrats in the House of Representatives have crafted a resolution opposing federal bailouts for AI giants like the ones "too-big-to-fail banks" got nearly two decades ago.
The seven-page resolution obtained by Prospect executive editor David Dayen frames the 2008 global financial crisis as a result of "profit-driven financial risk-taking, fueled by Wall Street's speculative fervor and unleashed by years of zealous deregulation," as well as an example of what not to do when it comes to the booming AI sector.
"The economic harm of a multitrillion-dollar housing bubble caused by predatory lending, reckless financialization and securitization, and off-balance-sheet lending led to a massive surge in layoffs, with the unemployment rate hitting almost 10% at the trough of the Great Recession in 2009," the seven-page measure recalls. "The weak labor market persisted for nearly a decade."
Now, AI firms "hold trillions of dollars in debt, much of which is raised in opaque and unregulated private credit markets," the resolution continues. Financing terms of many "data centers as well as the costs and revenues of major artificial intelligence firms are not publicly available and... corporate borrowing to fund data center investments are multiples higher than projected revenues."
AI-related stock prices "have inflated even more than the tech giants of the 1990s," the measure notes, warning that "a collapse of an artificial intelligence bubble could have serious consequences for the economy, similar if not more significant than the end of the 1990s tech bubble or the 2008 global financial crisis."
Thus, it argues, "Congress must refuse to provide any additional funds or exceptional regulatory support to companies or financial institutions facing insolvency or financial collapse due to exposures to acute stress within the artificial intelligence market and must provide support to all harmed Americans instead."
While politicians from both parties have been ripped for their ties to Big Tech and AI specifically, the resolution explicitly calls out related failures under Republican President Donald Trump, who recently gathered industry leaders at the White House to sign a "self-policing" accord that critics said was "as dangerous as it is absurd."
House progressives' measure points out that "federal regulators have avoided applying robust scrutiny and oversight regarding enormously complicated debt and equity schemes used by artificial intelligence firms or the circular financing mechanisms involved" in the AI data center build-out.
Additionally, "the White House's artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar was personally invested in at least 449
companies" tied to AI "while pushing to eliminate government obstacles," the resolution says, "reflecting the administration's broad deregulatory focus and conflicts of interest" when it comes to this industry.
The House Progressive Caucus is ready for the collapse of the AI bubble. The rest of us should be also. No bailouts for the AI billionaires prospect.org/2026/10/28/h...
[image or embed]
— Dean Baker (@deanbaker13.bsky.social) October 28, 2026 at 7:53 AM
Though the resolution has not yet been introduced, Dayen reported on it less than a week before the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the remainder of Trump's second term. It's spearheaded by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) and House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
"Big Tech and Wall Street are taking enormous risks with billions in borrowed money to fuel the AI boom, despite growing warning signs of a dangerous bubble," Waters told him. "We cannot let history repeat itself. The American people should never again be forced to foot the bill for billionaires' reckless bets."
Casar, a 37-year-old former labor organizer, highlighted that "many of us, myself included, came into political life watching as many people who caused the crisis in 2008 or cheered it on weren't held accountable."
"We know that the American people were appalled at these Wall Street executives nearly two decades ago, and they're even more pissed off at these tech oligarchs today. We shouldn't be trying to make them whole," said the congressman, who also leads the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Polling released this past summer by Data for Progress found that among the "bad actors" Americans blame for the country’s concerning conditions, billionaires rank No. 1, but AI companies and social media giants are in the top 10.
The progressives' proposal "is a nonbinding 'sense of the House' measure," Dayen explained. "But it sets a marker that no bailout funds should be made available to AI companies. Casar wants the measure to be voted on early in the next Congress if Democrats take power, if not sooner, to get everyone on the record about an AI bailout."
Welcoming the resolution on social media, economist Leslie Ehrlich called it "both correct and good politics," adding, "Let the Republicans vote against it and be pro-bailouts."
Oct 28, 2026
SEE ALL
News
Progressive Organizers Launch ‘Ready for AOC’ to Urge Presidential Run
After beginning to quietly hold volunteer-led meetings this fall to mobilize voters around a push for US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for president in 2028, a new political organization officially launched Monday with the message that Americans around the country are "Ready for AOC."
"AOC is the only candidate who can lead the working-class movement to fight the oligarchy and transform America," said Ready for AOC in its inaugural social media post.
But to encourage the New York Democrat to launch a bid, which she has said she is considering while also weighing a potential run to unseat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in 2028, the group aims to enlist 10,000 people across the country who believe a presidential run is the direction she must go in following a wave of progressive victories in the midterm elections last week.
Those community leaders would be tasked with gathering at least 1 million signatures from voters pledging to support Ocasio-Cortez's run, talking to others about their support, and volunteering for a presidential campaign for the congresswoman, including by phone-banking and canvassing.
“The goal is to build the infrastructure of a grassroots movement in the case that she decides to run, but also to demonstrate to her that, ‘Look, there is a movement behind you ready to power you to victory should you choose to run for president,’” Ravi Sahai, a spokesperson for the group, told The New York Times.
Ready for AOC has already recruited more than 500 local political leaders and labor organizers in 35 states to begin gathering signatures.
Ocasio-Cortez has said she would consider whether to run for president or Senate, if she will launch a bid for another public office at all, after the midterm elections.
Progressives across the country have taken last week's election outcome as a clear signal that Americans are demanding that the Democratic Party fight President Donald Trump's MAGA agenda not only by holding his administration to account for its illegal war in Iran, violent mass deportation operations, and other alleged lawbreaking, but also by pushing for far-reaching legislation to secure government-run universal healthcare, a wealth tax on billionaires, and other bold and broadly popular policies.
Ocasio-Cortez campaigned on behalf of former Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, a democratic socialist who came within two percentage points of winning her election after being vastly outspent in Trump's home state, and Sens.-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D-Mich.) and Troy Jackson (D-Maine), who centered Medicare for All in their campaigns.
Even candidates who didn't hold rallies alongside Ocasio-Cortez and progressive leader Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) addressed audiences with rhetoric and promises that would not have been out of place on Sanders' presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020.
"We know the status quo isn't working, and that America is hungry for a different kind of candidate. A candidate who will represent the needs of the working class instead of Big Tech billionaires. A candidate who won't fold under pressure. A candidate who is ready to deliver for the many, not the few," reads the Ready for AOC website. "The lesser of two evils won't deliver the landslide victory we need to pull our country back from the brink, but AOC can."
Over the past two years, Ocasio-Cortez has joined Sanders at rallies as part of his Fighting Oligarchy Tour, speaking to large crowds in rural Colorado, Utah, and Montana about the push for Medicare for All, the need to stop billionaires from pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into elections, and the demand for a “fair economy for working people."
Allies of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), another progressive lawmaker, have also formed a committee to urge him to launch a presidential run. California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who recently angered economic justice advocates by opposing the state's proposed wealth tax, and Gov. JB Pritzker (D-Ill.) are among the leaders who are thought to be likely contenders.
In a poll regarding a hypothetical 2028 race taken last December by The Argument/Verasight, Ocasio-Cortez led Vice President JD Vance, widely considered to be the heir to Trump's far-right MAGA movement, 51%-49%.
At the "house meetings" it's already begun holding, Ready for AOC's organizers have hosted groups of 10-20 friends and neighbors to rally support for the congresswoman.
"We believe AOC can build the coalition this moment needs, ignite the spirit of a grassroots movement, and deliver on the promises others have failed to realize," said Ready for AOC. "We believe that together, the many can defeat the monied interests, and that a better world is possible."
Nov 09, 2026
SEE ALL
News
Arrest of Palestinian Israeli Journalist Abed Abu Shehadeh Slammed as 'Campaign to Silence' Truth
Palestine and press freedom advocates on Thursday demanded the immediate release of journalist and activist Abed Abu Shehadeh, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who was arrested during a Tuesday raid on his home, with critics calling his detention part of a "campaign to silence" critical reporting and dissent.
Abu Shehadeh, 38, was arrested by a group of 15 Israeli police officers and agents from the internal intelligence agency Shin Bet, some of them masked, who stormed his family's home in Jaffa and seized him in front of his wife and two children, according to The New Arab.
The arrest of the prominent Arabic-language journalist, podcast host, and political activist was reportedly connected to an interview he conducted with Palestinian intellectual and former Knesset member Azmi Bishara, the exiled leader of the Balad party, which advocates for Israel to become a nation of all its citizens rather than what critics, including the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, describe as a Jewish supremacist apartheid state.
Bishara fled Israel in 2007 and is accused of helping Hezbollah during Israel's 2006 war on Lebanon. Israeli authorities suspect him of being a foreign agent.
On Wednesday, the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court prolonged Abu Shehadeh's detention after police sought an eight-day extension on suspicion of "contact with a foreign agent."
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ):
During the court hearing, a police representative initially acknowledged that Abu Shehadeh was a journalist, but after a recess she retracted this statement and instead said he is a political adviser. The defense objected to this new description and asked whether there was evidence that the meeting went beyond recording a podcast interview or contained information not available to the public.
Adalah, also called the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, noted Thursday:
The legal team representing Abu Shehadeh claimed that there was no justification for holding him in detention. The interview, which dealt with the Israeli election campaign, was widely published and available to all... The mere criminal investigation for a media interview is a serious violation of freedom of expression and freedom of the press, and his detention is completely arbitrary.
Abu Shehadeh's arrest sparked accusations that Israeli authorities are using national security allegations to intimidate Palestinian journalists and suppress political expression.
"Arrest for an interview is not a legitimate criminal procedure, but a tool for political silencing," Adalah civil and political rights attorney Hadeel Abu Salih said Thursday in a statement. "The police are asking to send a message to the entire Arab public: Even a public conversation with a political figure can lead you to the detention cell. Abu Shehadeh must be released immediately.”
Abu Salih told The New Arab that police illegally arrested Abu Shehadeh, lacking a court order for the apprehension and prosecutorial permission to interrogate.
"We cannot disconnect this arrest from the attack on the free speech of Palestinians of Israel since 7 October," she said, citing over 1,000 arrests for speech-related "offenses" in the years since the Hamas-led attack on Israel.
"This is not a criminal investigation, it is a campaign to silence Palestinian journalists and political activists," Abu Salih added.
CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said Thursday: "Journalists should not be punished for platforming views critical of the state. We demand the immediate unconditional release of Abu Shehadeh, the dropping of all charges against him, and an explanation of why he was targeted in what some have described as a political campaign.”
Adalah further called Abu Shehadeh's arrest "part of a broad pattern of arrests and investigations [of] Palestinian citizens in Israel due to political statements" that's "worsened" following last week's Israeli elections.
The editors of the progressive US magazine Jewish Currents (JC) wrote Wednesday that "Abu Shehadeh’s imprisonment comes amid a targeted campaign of repression against Palestinian citizens of Israel in the wake of the electoral gains made by Palestinian parties in last week’s elections."
"Spearheaded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet chief David Zini, this campaign follows years of systematic targeting, silencing, and killing of Palestinian journalists," JC continued, referring to Gaza, where at least 200 media professionals are among the more than 74,000 Palestinians, including upward of 21,500 children, killed during Israel's three-year genocide.
"These attacks reflect the Israeli state’s effort to ensure Jewish supremacy and silence the work of those reporting on its human rights abuses," the JC editors added.
Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh, who is the journalist's cousin, told The New Arab "Netanyahu and Zini are escalating their efforts to steal the election," calling his relative's detention "part of a broader campaign of arrests, interrogations, and threats against political activists designed to undermine the election results through the weaponization of the police and the Shin Bet."
The JC editors wrote that, as a media outlet, it "generally refrains from encouraging our readers and allies to take specific action."
"But as journalists in community with Abed Abu Shehadeh," they added, "we call on elected officials and others in the US government to demand his immediate release."
Nov 05, 2026
SEE ALL
News
In Election Day Stunt, 'Serial Liar' Trump Deceitfully Says US to End Israel Aid
President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed the United States would end its annual military assistance to Israel by the end of the year, a dubious announcement made on Election Day as Republicans face mounting backlash over their support for the Israeli government's genocidal assault on Gaza.
In a phone interview with Fox News' Brian Kilmeade, Trump said he had reached a deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu months ago to end the roughly $4 billion in annual assistance Washington provides Israel under a 2016 agreement with the Obama administration.
"They’re fine with it because they’ve become a very successful country," Trump said of Israel. "They don’t need it. And we won’t be paying anymore."
The president also admitted to political motivations, complaining about criticism from Democrats like Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
"Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El-Sayed when they don't need it?" Trump asked, calling American aid a "bad talking point."
But it's not just Democrats. An increasingly vocal faction of Trump's own MAGA movement has been arguing that spending billions of taxpayer dollars on arming Israel is fundamentally incompatible with the president's stated "America First" agenda.
A March Pew Research Center survey found that 57% of Republicans under 50 viewed Israel unfavorably as prominent right-wing figures like commentator Tucker Carlson, reporter Megyn Kelly, and former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) amplify anti-Israel views amid an ongoing genocide in which more than 250,000 Palestinians have been killed and wounded.
The timing of Trump's announcement raised eyebrows, coming on the morning of the midterm elections. Commentators opined that the announcement appeared aimed at undercutting criticism from progressive Democrats and the president's own disaffected supporters.
Skepticism is also rooted in the fact that US military assistance to Israel technically cannot end by the end of the year.
First, the current US-Israel military assistance memorandum of understanding, signed under then-President Barack Obama in 2016, provides $38 billion over 10 years, including $33 billion in foreign military financing and $5 billion for missile defense. The MOU runs through September 2028, not December 2026.
Netanyahu faces an uncertain political future after indecisive parliamentary elections last month, and as The Times of Israel noted Tuesday, he has discussed phasing out American assistance, but over a decade—not abruptly ending it this year.
Second, Section 219 of the House-passed fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act would establish a United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, coordinating joint research, development, testing, and industrial cooperation in areas including missile defense, drones, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. The highly contentious provision would significantly integrate the two countries' defense industries and institutionalize cooperation.
"The announcement that Trump is cutting off US aid to Israel is false hype to make US voters think Trump cut off the spigot," said AIPAC Tracker, which tallies how much money politicians have taken from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "The reality is Trump and Congress are trying to replace aid with [a] military tech merger."
Similarly, Section 622 of the separate fiscal year 2027 Intelligence Authorization Act would compel the president to "expand and enhance intelligence sharing" with Israel, explicitly stating that such sharing shall generally "not be suspended, reduced, or otherwise materially limited," with certain exceptions.
Perhaps most importantly, Trump's own comments suggest that the announcement would not end the flow of American weapons to Israel. When Kilmeade pressed him on whether he meant military hardware or financial assistance, Trump replied: "I'm giving in any way you want to define it. You can consider it barter. You can consider it military aid or cash."
Furthermore, nothing suggests that the US is abandoning its fundamental support for Israel, despite it being the only country that United Nations experts and others say is simultaneously committing genocide in Gaza as well as occupation, colonization, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid in the West Bank.
If you believe that Trump is really cutting off aid to Israel on Bibi's recommendation, I have a $5,000 Trump dividend to sell you as well as shares of Melania's memecoin
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) November 3, 2026 at 6:03 AM
Skepticism over Trump's claim abounded Tuesday, with the Washington, DC-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) noting that US arms sales to Israel will not end.
"Let's be clear. Selling American weapons to a foreign government engaged in war crimes is just as immoral and illegal as giving those weapons away for free," CAIR asserted. "Because federal law prohibits providing weapons to foreign militaries engaged in human rights abuses, ending free military aid is not enough. Our nation must completely stop arming and otherwise enabling the Israeli government's unjust wars and crimes against humanity."
Defense analyst William Hartung said in a statement that Trump's announcement "may be less than meets the eye."
"While the timing is a slap in the face [to] Netanyahu, coming as he struggles to form a coalition that would keep him in power, it may not ultimately change the amount of US tax dollars flowing to Israel, because Congress is considering a measure that would open the way to joint US-Israeli arms development across a wide range of areas," said Hartung.
The IMEU Policy Project said in response to the announcement that “President Trump is a serial liar who has announced over $20 billion in weapons giveaways to Israel since taking office."
"He and other politicians realize our taxpayer funding for Israel is a liability," the IMEU Policy Project continued. "That's why he and his allies in Congress are at this very moment trying to advance legislation to conceal support for Israel by integrating Israeli weapons companies into the Pentagon."
"This is a bait and switch that would result in Americans funding Israeli weapons makers in record amounts," the group added.
Nov 03, 2026
SEE ALL
LATEST NEWS
Defiant Hegseth Says He's 'Proud' to Carry Out Alleged War Crimes Ahead of House Impeachment Vote
"No... secretary of defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations," said Hegseth, who is facing impeachment for allegedly carrying out unlawful military operations.
Nov 10, 2026
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday defended his record, including an unconstitutional war on Iran and a murderous boat-bombing campaign in international waters, during a defiant press conference held one day before an expected impeachment vote in the US House of Representatives.
Hours after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) advanced articles of impeachment against Hegseth that accuse him of waging an illegal war and committing war crimes, the former Fox News host accused his critics of waging a partisan "show trial" with no historical precedent.
"In the 250 years of our American republic," Hegseth said, "no secretary of war or secretary of defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations—and in our case, successful ones at that."
my "no treason" T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt https://t.co/Z0qSUb5ACN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 10, 2026
Hegseth is not facing impeachment for carrying out lawful military operations, but for carrying out unlawful military operations.
Among other things, the impeachment articles filed against him allege he systematically dismantled rules of engagement intended to minimize civilian casualties, while also carrying out an unlawful campaign of extrajudicial killings by bombing suspected drug trafficking vessels in international waters.
Hegseth expressed no regret for any of these operations, including the deadly US attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in the city of Minab, Iran, which killed more than 150 people, including more than 100 children.
"I stand behind every one of these operations," Hegseth said. "I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow."
Hegseth linked the current impeachment effort against him to the past two impeachments of his boss, President Donald Trump.
"We've seen this show before: They impeached President Trump over a perfect phone call," said Hegseth, in reference to Trump's efforts in 2019 to shake down the Ukrainian government to open a criminal investigation into political rivals. "They impeached him again in his final week in office. Both times, they failed."
Hegseth denounces "show trials" and says, "we've seen this show before. They impeached President Trump over a perfect phone call." https://t.co/htAsMLolsJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 10, 2026
Trump's second impeachment came after he tried to unlawfully stay in power after losing the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden, an effort that culminated in a deadly riot carried out by the president's supporters at the US Capitol that sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives.
Later in the press conference, Hegseth predicted that US servicemembers who carried out his orders would also face legal consequences, claiming that Democrats plan to "put the secretary on trial today, and the men and women who carried out those orders tomorrow."
"If they want to come for the warriors," Hegseth added, "they're going to have to come through me."
Hegseth: "Put the secretary on trial today, and the men and women who carried out those orders tomorrow. If they want to come for the warriors, they're going to have to come through me." https://t.co/XplGs8CTQq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 10, 2026
Hegseth's performance earned a rave review from Trump in a Thursday social media post.
"Pete Hegseth gets an 'A' PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!" the president wrote.
The House is scheduled to take up a procedural vote on the impeachment articles on Tuesday. If a majority votes to advance it, a full debate and final vote on impeaching Hegseth will likely occur on Wednesday.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Without Demarcation, There Is No Climate Solution,' Brazilian Indigenous Leader Tells COP31
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is moving to demarcate scores of Indigenous territories by the end of the year—but many say the government needs to act faster amid deadly attacks.
Nov 09, 2026
A tribal leader from Brazil stressed on Monday, the opening day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Türkiye, that protecting Indigenous lands is a critical part of tackling the climate emergency, remarks that came as Brazil's government advances a plan to demarcate dozens of Indigenous territories amid surging violence against native people.
Joziléia Kaingang, co-founder and executive director of the National Network of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestral Wisdom (ANMIGA), told attendees of a session in COP31's Brazil Pavilion in Antalya that there are no real climate solutions without Indigenous participation.
"This means a very simple thing for us Indigenous peoples, something that our grandmothers have been saying for a long time and have known for a long time. Protecting Indigenous territory is indeed a climate policy," said Kaingang, who is a member of the Kaingang people of southern Brazil. "It is not charity, it is not compensation, it is a solution."
Kaingang hailed progress under the government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was reelected last month with the support of 608 of the country's 658 Indigenous polling places. Lula's overwhelming support from Indigenous Brazilians is in no small part due to his government's substantial—yet tenuous—progress against illegal mining, logging, and other invasions of tribal lands.
Lula's policies marked a sharp reversal from former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's deliberate dismantling of Indigenous territorial protections and other actions that lived up to his self-bestowed "Captain Chainsaw" moniker.
"The state withdrew invaders from our lands," Kaingang said. "The forest breathes again from the action of the last government of President Lula, and will continue to do so in this presidency in the next four years."
Kaingang continued:
In the Yanomami territory... 98% of illegal mining fell. This is important for all of us. Indigenous lands and local communities keep about a third of the carbon that humanity cannot lose.
And we want to say that we, Indigenous peoples, are here to celebrate the Brazilian government. We want to advance the roadmap to stop and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. But it is necessary that the roadmap brings the perspective of Indigenous peoples, of traditional communities, of our knowledge.
"Let's reaffirm that without demarcation, there is no climate solution," Kaingang added. "So let's keep demarcating the Indigenous territories so that we are the solution."
Brazil's government is preparing to approve dozens of additional Indigenous land demarcations before the end of 2026, Indigenous Peoples Minister Eloy Terena, who is a member of the Terena people, told Brasil de Fato on Sunday, as native communities face continuing deadly violence, land invasions, and encroachment by agribusiness interests.
During Lula’s third term, Brazil's government has recognized 20 Indigenous lands, declared 21 others, and established 31 reserves, according to the minister.
However, recent Indigenous land demarcation protests across Brazil have decried the government's failure to move faster in recognizing and protecting Indigenous territories amid ongoing violence.
Terena linked recent attacks against Guarani Kaiowá communities in Mato Grosso do Sul—including reported murders, vehicle attacks, and threats to poison drinking water—to the government's failure to secure their ancestral territories. He said that more than 150 technical working groups are advancing demarcation procedures, but warned that executive action alone cannot overcome entrenched political and judicial resistance, which is sustained by pressure from agribusiness and other destructive interests.
The minister added that the government seeks "to strengthen Indigenous organizations, the Indigenous movement, and communities. Because we understand that if eventually the democratic winds turn, we need to have a very committed society and very well-structured social movements."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Green Groups Boost Pressure on Schumer to Block Permitting Bill That Guts Environmental Protections
"If Texas of all places can go blue, then we can be bold enough to say a better bill is possible."
Nov 09, 2026
Environmental groups are making a last-ditch push to persuade Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to block a bipartisan permitting bill that they warn would speed up approvals for polluting projects and data center infrastructure.
Activists gathered outside Schumer’s (D-NY) Midtown Manhattan office Monday morning, hours before the US Senate’s planned evening vote on whether to advance the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA).
In a media advisory, organizers from the New York Public Interest Research Group, Food & Water Watch, and New York Communities for Change, who led Monday’s protest and a previous one at Schumer’s apartment on Friday, called the bill an “aggressive attack on federal environmental protections in order to facilitate rapid, unregulated development of fracked gas power plants, dirty fossil fuel pipelines, and expensive hyperscale data centers.”
The motion needs 60 votes to advance, so some Democrats will have to support holding a final vote. The bill’s leading Democratic sponsor, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), said he believes supporters “have the votes to proceed.”
The bill faces longer odds in the US House of Representatives, especially after Tuesday’s Democratic blowout in the midterms, when voters across the country also backed restrictions on data centers.
Sponsors have revised the bill, but David Watkins, director of government affairs for the Climate and Energy programs at the Union of Concerned Scientists, argued that the amendment “fails to address the fundamental imbalance of the legislation” in favor of polluting energy.
“To get bipartisan support for negligible reductions in emissions,” he said, “this deal would convert compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and Clean Water Act into largely voluntary exercises.”
While some Democratic proponents of the bill have argued that these compromises are necessary to speed up permits for clean energy infrastructure, Watkins said existing law already allows much of that work and saw no need to enact “the most significant legislative reversal in environmental and community protections in decades.”
A coalition of conservation groups, including Earthjustice Action, Defenders of Wildlife, and Friends of the Earth, sent a letter to the Senate on Monday urging members to delay the vote until newly elected members of the US Congress—some of whom made opposition to data centers central to their campaigns—can be sworn in.
“The elections on November 3 sent a clear message from the American public denouncing the administration’s actions over the past two years and, in states across the country, rejecting the accelerated proliferation of data centers,” they wrote. “We strongly encourage you to heed the public’s wishes and advance energy infrastructure needs and an affordability agenda without making false and unnecessary trade-offs that severely undermine tribal sovereignty and our bedrock environmental, public lands, waters, wildlife, ocean, and historic preservation laws.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said he would vote against advancing the bill without substantial changes, adding that “robust consideration of the bill should be a priority in the new Congress.”
"Permitting reform for electrical transmission lines is essential," he said. But, he added, "Getting more renewable electrons where they are needed doesn’t tackle climate change if you simultaneously promote the burning of more fossil fuels. Unfortunately, this bill does exactly that."
As questions mount about whether Democratic leaders will use their new mandate to pursue a bold legislative agenda, some see BAAJA as a worrying sign that Schumer and other party leaders may squander the moment by reverting to business as usual.
“If Texas of all places can go blue, then we can be bold enough to say a better bill is possible,” said Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the youth-led climate group Sunrise Movement. “Young people and the working class deserve it. To stop the climate crisis, America needs Senate Democrats to fight harder. Senate Democrats must deliver.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Horrific': Supreme Court OKs Trump’s Border Wall Construction in Big Bend
"The damage done to Big Bend will be felt for future generations of Texans and Americans," one advocate said, "and this administration will bear responsibility for the natural heritage we lose.”
Nov 09, 2026
The US Supreme Court on Monday lifted a court order that had halted construction of a barrier wall and roads across Big Bend National Park and the surrounding region, but advocates warned that the "firestorm of outrage" unleashed by the Trump administration waiving of dozens of environmental laws to build the wall would only intensify.
In an 8-1 vote, with Democratic appointee Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting, the high court lifted an injunction that had been issued October 2 by US District Judge Kathleen Cardone, a Republican appointee in the Western District of Texas.
Cardone handed down the injunction after the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), Friends of the Ruidosa Church, and a Big Bend-area river guide and landowner filed a lawsuit challenging the administration's decision to waive laws including the Endangered Species Act, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and the National Park Service Organic Act, arguing that such waivers violate the major questions doctrine, which requires congressional approval for actions with major economic and political consequences.
The majority ruled that construction can continue as the lower court considers its legality, finding that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is permitted by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to waive environmental laws and has “broad authority to construct border barriers and roads."
In August, despite a separate coalition's lawsuit, bulldozers appeared at Big Bend and began leveling part of the national park before the October ruling halted construction.
Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, told The New York Times he was "completely devastated" by the ruling.
Customs and Border Protection has indicated the agency plans to build vehicle barriers and patrol roads across the national park, including in the remote Mariscal Mountain region, which would require "extensive dynamite blasting," according to CBD.
“The Trump administration and its contractors are hell-bent on destroying one of America’s greatest national parks, and the Supreme Court just gave them the green light,” Jordahl said in a statement. “This horrific decision clears the way for contractors to bulldoze pristine desert and dynamite canyon walls before the courts have even decided whether this destruction is legal. They’re signing off on the permanent destruction of the wildest place in Texas, and the theft of a great American river from all of us.”
Sierra Club also expressed outrage, and US Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said the decision would only "destroy the nature and wildlife that we love at Big Bend."
"The corrupt and far-right Supreme Court just gave [President Donald] Trump the OK to rip up Big Bend with a border wall. No one will be safer or freer," said Casar. "Democrats, Republicans, Texans of all backgrounds all agree: Leave Big Bend alone."
Jordahl emphasized that the court had ruled in favor of the Trump administration less than a week after two Texas Democrats, Sen.-elect James Talarico and Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, stunned the Republican Party with their electoral victories in the longtime GOP stronghold.
Texans “roundly rejected the destruction of this national park and border wall destruction at large," Jordahl told the Times, adding that Mullin's agency “would be wise to listen to Texans and pump the brakes on this project.”
In a statement, he warned that "Americans care deeply about this extraordinary national park and they won’t stand by quietly if its irreplaceable landscapes are butchered and paved over."
"The damage done to Big Bend will be felt for future generations of Texans and Americans," he said, "and this administration will bear responsibility for the natural heritage we lose.”
Hillary Pierce, director of communications for the group No Big Bend Wall, which also sued the administration in September, noted that officials haven't "answered why the government is building a wall in one of the least-crossed stretches of the southern border."
“Once the bulldozers cut through a canyon or a family's ranch gets walled off from the Rio Grande, there's no undoing it," said Pierce. "This isn't the end of our fight. The justices didn't decide whether Big Bend actually qualifies as an area of high illegal entry. That matters because the administration used that designation to justify building the wall and bypassing environmental protections. The government's own numbers show Big Bend has the fewest Border Patrol apprehensions along the southern border. That's exactly what we're challenging in our lawsuit in Washington.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Van Hollen Considers Challenging Schumer as Cracks Emerge in Support for Key Democrat
"We need clear and moral leadership in the Senate. We need people who understand this moment and what it demands," one supporter said. "Do it."
Nov 09, 2026
"Do not stop calling!" was the message that the progressive grassroots organization People for Bernie took from the news Monday that not only had Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced that he was considering a run to replace Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after calls poured into his office, but cracks were also appearing to form in Schumer's support among his longtime colleagues in the upper chamber.
As Punchbowl News reported that Van Hollen (D-Md.) had not ruled out running for the top leadership post less than a week after Democrats swept the crucial midterm elections, it was reported that Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) declined to endorse Schumer (D-NY) to be Senate majority leader when the new Congress is sworn in in January.
"We need a conversation about leadership going forward because we need new energy and ideas," Blumenthal told reporters, according to News 12 in Connecticut.
People for Bernie called Blumenthal's remarks an "absolutely seismic shift in less than a week," following last week's elections in which the GOP was stunned by its losses to Democrats in states including Texas, South Carolina, and Kansas.
Progressives have emphasized that many winning candidates, even those who did not run as left-wing contenders, campaigned as adversaries to billionaires, corporations, and the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—which counts Schumer as one of its top recipients of campaign cash—and rallied supporters with rhetoric popularized by progressive leader Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), long dismissed by establishment Democrats as an extremist who was out of step with the party's base.
Despite those dynamics, Schumer has expressed confidence that he will remain as the party's leader in the Senate.
On Monday, he told CNN that Democrats' electoral victory was "about to become the largest landslide in the history of the Senate since the '50s, and now we're ready to roll up our sleeves, get to work, and lower costs for the American people.” He did not answer a question from reporter Morgan Rimmer about a possible challenge for the Senate majority leader post.
After Van Hollen said last week that Schumer must earn the support of his colleagues by putting forward a "bold agenda," a source close to the senator told Punchbowl News that he has "received an outpouring of calls" from voters who want him to challenge Schumer.
Van Hollen, said the source, "is now in active listening mode... The door is not shut."
Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett rejected the suggestion by some political observers that a challenger to the senior Democrat, who has been in office since 1999 and previously served in the US House of Representatives for nearly two decades, would never win the race to lead the party's new Senate majority.
"It’s possible the floodgates open if someone has the courage to step up," said Hackett.
Van Hollen won praise from progressive organizers last year when he swiftly traveled to El Salvador to demand the safe return of his constituent, Kilmar Ábrego García, whom the Trump administration had unlawfully deported to the Central American country. Criminal charges against the Maryland resident were thrown out by a federal judge in May, but the White House has continued pushing to deport Ábrego García to another country.
The senator has also been a vocal critic of the administration's blockade on Cuba and Israel's violent US-backed policies in the West Bank and Gaza, and forced a vote this year on ending President Donald Trump's illegal, unpopular war in Iran.
"Voters elected a majority to fight back. It should be led by someone who's been in the fight all along," said organizer Cheyenne Hunt.
With many establishment Democrats still reticent to vote against the interests of Israel, corporations, and Big Tech, Van Hollen would "have a caucus to deal with," said Saikat Chakrabarti, co-founder of Justice Democrats, "but having him in charge makes sure bills to continue sending money to Israel don’t get votes."
Blumenthal, a longtime defender of Israel, was the third sitting Senate Democrat, after Van Hollen and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who took office last year and has frequently called for a "new generation" of party leadership, to decline to endorse Schumer. Slotkin said Saturday she was considering a run.
Sens.-elect Adam Hamilton (D-Kan.), Annie Andrews (D-SC), James Talarico (D-Texas), Juliana Stratton (D-Ill.), and Troy Jackson (D-Maine) are among the incoming lawmakers who have declined to support the Democratic leader.
After the announcement by Blumenthal, who has served alongside Schumer since 2011, Cory Archibald of AIPAC Tracker said she was "starting to think Chuck might actually be done."
"Do it, Chris Van Hollen," said Archibald. "We need you. We need clear and moral leadership in the Senate. We need people who understand this moment and what it demands. Do it. We're with you."
Meanwhile, in the US House, a number of newly elected progressive representatives have refused to throw their support behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for speaker.
As Blumenthal broke with a majority of his colleagues on Schumer's bid, progressive strategist Deep Singh Badesha said, "I'm begging the House Democrats to also have this courage."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Ex-Democratic Sen. Jon Tester Joins Palantir as Tech Giant Faces Probe for Helping Trump’s Deportation Campaign
"This is an organization that believes in privacy," Tester said of Palantir, whose software ICE has used to identify targets for deportation and compile dossiers on activists.
Nov 09, 2026
Expecting to face a slew of investigations by a Democratic-controlled Congress, the infamous Trump administration-aligned tech firm Palantir is apparently trying to soften its image by bringing in a trusted name: former Democratic US Sen. Jon Tester of Montana.
NPR reported Monday that the three-term senator—who lost his reelection bid in 2024—was joining the surveillance company in an “advisory” role on the government side of the company's work.
Palantir, co-founded by the billionaire right-wing megadonor Peter Thiel, has received tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts supporting President Donald Trump's “mass deportation” campaign during his second term. The company has developed technology that has been used to identify and track immigrants targeted for removal and has reportedly helped federal agencies integrate vast troves of Americans’ personal data—raising concerns among civil rights groups about violations of privacy.
After Trump returned to office in January 2025, Palantir's leadership aggressively courted his administration. The company's CEO, Alex Karp, who had supported Kamala Harris over Trump in the presidential election, gave $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund before pivoting to praise the president's immigration policies and declare his company “completely anti-woke.” Palantir donated an additional $10 million to Trump's White House ballroom project. Meanwhile, company co-founder Joe Lonsdale has been one of the leading backers of the administration's second-term efforts to criminalize homelessness.
This has drawn the ire of Democrats in Congress, who have vowed to put Palantir's practices under the microscope when they take control of investigative committees beginning in January.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who will chair the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has threatened to use compulsory investigative powers if Palantir refuses to answer questions about its role in Trump's immigration enforcement and handling of Americans' personal information. Other Democrats have suggested looking into conflicts of interest between the company and the administration.
Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy, who was appointed White House chief of staff last week, for instance, has disclosed that he sold up to $250,000 worth of Palantir stock last summer. Several former Palantir employees have been appointed to powerful government positions. Thiel helped to finance the political rise of Vice President JD Vance.
Protesters gather in the lobby of 9200 Sunset in Los Angeles on June 13, 2025, to protest Palantir's work with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). (Photo by Madison Swart/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
Tester, a vocal critic of the PATRIOT Act and the resulting expansion of government surveillance, told NPR that Palantir's problem was, more than anything, one of "perception."
"Perception is reality in Washington, DC, and in politics in general," said Tester. "But the fact is, I think Palantir has got a good story to tell, and they need to tell it. And hopefully folks will be receptive to it."
Tester said he does not share the fears that many others hold about his new employer: "I've talked to many people within Palantir. They believe the same way I do," he said. "This is an organization that believes in privacy."
He said Palantir was different from other companies because it does not build “big databases.” Though the company maintains that it does not itself collect or own the personal data processed by its software, it specializes in building systems that consolidate, store, cross-reference, and analyze vast amounts of data from different sources.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for instance, has used a Palantir-developed application called ELITE that combines address data from federal health records, immigration records, commercial databases, and criminal records to map potential targets for immigration raids. Shortly before the midterms, Democracy Docket revealed that ICE had tried to add voter information from at least six states to the platform.
Last month, a WIRED investigation revealed how federal agents assembled dossiers on activists observing immigration enforcement operations in Maine using Palantir's Investigative Case Management system to store information about them—including license plate data and facial recognition information.
During his time in Congress, Tester also criticized lobbyists’ influence over Congress, even while receiving more donations from lobbyists than any other lawmaker in the 2012 and 2018 election cycles.
David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever, said that for the former senator, the transition from surveillance critic to Palantir adviser was quite “on-brand.”
Pollster Adam Carlson described it as "just about the grossest way he could end his career."
"I can count on one hand companies that are more evil and have caused more direct human suffering than Palantir," Carlson said. "And these kinds of revolving door antics make the public even more jaded and distrustful of their elected officials."
Tester has said he would not be acting as a “lobbyist” for Palantir but would instead merely be helping it to navigate its relations with the incoming Congress, using his nearly two decades of insider experience.
Tester is not the first former Democratic lawmaker to take a role advising an industry that has drawn criticism from within the party.
Recent examples include former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), a one-time Democrat who joined Coinbase's advisory council and helped launch an artificial intelligence industry advocacy group, and former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), who joined a fossil fuel industry-funded influence campaign to promote natural gas as part of a clean energy transition.
Melanie D'Arrigo, the executive director of the New York Health Campaign, said Tester's journey to the private sector was an example of this “politician to lobbyist pipeline.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
'A Threat to the Constitution': Massie to Force Vote on Hegseth Impeachment Articles
"Secretary Hegseth has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as secretary of defense, and subversive to constitutional government."
Nov 09, 2026
Rep. Thomas Massie on Monday took to the floor of the US House of Representatives to introduce articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
In introducing the articles, which he first filed in September, the Kentucky Republican said Hegseth has "knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders" in carrying out President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran, which was launched without congressional authorization in February.
"In all of this, Secretary Hegseth has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as secretary of defense, and subversive to constitutional government," said Massie. "Hegseth, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with his duties and the rule of law."
Massie: Hegseth knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders.. Hegseth has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with his duties and the rule of law. Hegseth thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 9, 2026
Because of this, Massie continued, Hegseth "warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States."
Massie then made a detailed case for removing Hegseth, as outlined across eight impeachment articles alleging a wide variety of misconduct and criminality.
The Kentucky Republican argued that, in carrying out Trump's Iran War, Hegseth violated the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which specified that the president cannot send the US military into combat operations absent “a declaration of war, specific statutory authorization, or a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces."
Massie also outlined how Hegseth systematically dismantled rules of engagement intended to minimize civilian casualties, which the congressman said led to the deadly US attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in the city of Minab, Iran.
"Reported death tolls from the strikes on the elementary school indicate that at least 156 civilians were killed, with some reports suggesting the civilian death toll surpassed 170," Massie said. "Those killed include at least 120 school children, 26 teachers, seven parents attempting to evacuate their children, a school bus driver, a pharmacy technician from a nearby clinic, and the six month old unborn child of one of the teachers also killed in the attack."
Massie: Reported death tolls from the strikes on the elementary school indicate that at least 156 civilians were killed, with some reports suggesting the civilian death toll surpassed 170. Those killed include at least 120 school children, 26 teachers, seven parents attempting to evacuate their children, a school bus driver, a pharmacy technician from a nearby clinic, and the six month old unborn child of one of the teachers also killed in the attack.
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 9, 2026
Massie also touched upon Hegseth's campaign of military strikes on purported drug trafficking vessels, which he said resulted in the "summary execution of at least 243 persons in international waters" on the defense secretary's orders.
A vote on Massie's impeachment resolution against Hegseth is expected to take place on Wednesday.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Scientists Sue as Trump Administration Tries to Deliver 'Crushing Blow' to Behavioral and Brain Research
"It's scientific self-sabotage, and the American public will ultimately pay the price in the discoveries never made and lives never changed for the better."
Nov 09, 2026
Some scientists and scientific societies sued President Donald Trump's administration in the District of Massachusetts on Monday for shutting down the entity that provides nearly two-thirds of federal funding for basic academic research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences.
The administration's effort to eliminate the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) "is a disservice to the American public and a crushing blow to the behavioral and brain sciences," declared Juliane Baron, executive director of the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS).
"When I think about the biggest challenges facing people across our country—advancing health and well-being, providing economic and physical security for our loved ones—these are all inherently human questions," Baron stressed. "We can't solve pressing societal challenges without understanding humans."
FABBS partnered with the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS), and two researchers—University of Massachusetts Amherst lecturer Jenna Croteau and Boston College assistant professor Gregg Sparkman—in the lawsuit, which Democracy Forward filed on their behalf.
Over the past century, the complaint explains, "SBE research has driven some of the most groundbreaking innovations in nearly every aspect of modern life—from the way doctors match kidney donors with patients, to how governments approach economic policy, national security, and international relations, to the models behind Google's search engine."
"SBE research has helped mitigate the opioid crisis, the spread of diseases like Ebola and Covid-19, and evolving threats posed by cyberhackers and terrorist networks in the United States and abroad," notes the filing. "And it has transformed economics."
As the complaint details:
When the Trump-Vance administration took office, it deemed these fields “woke.” In its 2026 budget proposal, the administration urged Congress to cut funding for the SBE Directorate. Congress refused. The congressional report that accompanied NSF's January 2026 appropriation expressly directed NSF not to reduce SBE’s budget by more than 5%.
Three months later, NSF decided to shutter the directorate anyway. On April 3, 2026—without a director, and without consulting the National Science Board, the body Congress required to make such decisions—NSF leadership announced that it would unilaterally "close-out" the SBE Directorate in fiscal year 2027. Since the April 3 decision, the agency has stopped funding opportunities for basic SBE research, released the scientists who work in the directorate on assignment from universities, and reassigned nearly all the directorate's permanent staff.
"The administration's dismantling of SBE is not only reckless; it is illegal," emphasized Democracy Forward president and CEO Skye Perryman. "NSF provided no public explanation for its decision to close the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate, and this dangerous dismissal of scientific expertise is a threat to crucial scientific research. We are honored to work with this coalition to challenge the administration's crusade against science and the unlawful closure of the directorate."
Coalition members highlighted the importance of them prevailing in court, particularly in the current era of rapidly developing artificial intelligence with inadequate safeguards. SANS president Jennifer Kubota said that "understanding how the brain shapes trust, cooperation, emotion, and social behavior is essential to addressing some of society's most pressing challenges, from social isolation and polarization to the rapid emergence of AI."
"Eliminating NSF SBE funding for this research threatens decades of scientific progress and the next generation of scientists," Kubota continued. "Research opportunities lost today cannot simply be recovered tomorrow. We risk losing not only critical discoveries, but also the talented researchers who will make them."
A coalition of scientific societies and individual scientists has united to challenge the unlawful closure of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Happy to support SESP in joining this lawsuit.democracyforward.org/news/press-r...
[image or embed]
— Kate A. Ratliff (@kateratliff.bsky.social) November 9, 2026 at 1:02 PM
Columbia University professor and FABBS board member Jon Freeman delivered a similar warning, arguing that "we cannot allow this administration to shoot America in the foot."
"American behavioral science has transformed everything from the algorithms powering our technology to how we strengthen human connection, overcome social divisions, improve public health, and make better decisions in our everyday lives," he said. "Dismantling SBE would devastate a vital part of our scientific workforce at precisely the moment we need it most, as AI reshapes society. It's scientific self-sabotage, and the American public will ultimately pay the price in the discoveries never made and lives never changed for the better."
SESP executive officer Steven J. Stroessner also not only acknowledged the past but looked toward the future: "For decades, federal support for basic research in social psychology has helped us understand how people think, make decisions, and relate to one another. The resulting discoveries have strengthened our nation by improving education, informing public policy, fostering cooperation, and helping us address some of society’s most persistent challenges. Dismantling that support threatens not only the research being conducted today, but the discoveries we have yet to imagine."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Should Set Off Every Alarm Bell': Trump DOJ Cleared Merger After Company Donated to Melania Trump Initiative
"The next Congress has a responsibility to take these sorts of transactions seriously and root out the blatant corruption that has allowed America to turn into an oligarchy."
Nov 09, 2026
The American Economic Liberties Project on Monday called on the US Congress and state attorneys general to investigate the US Department of Justice's decision last week to abruptly end its probe into the proposed merger between Fox Corporation and TV streaming company Roku.
In a Friday announcement, the DOJ said that its investigation found it was "unlikely" that a Fox-Roku merger would pose "a substantial risk of harm to competition" in the TV streaming market.
The DOJ also said it was satisfied with Fox's pledge to keep Roku "an open and neutral content partner," noting that the media giant "would suffer monetary and reputational harm if it attempted to use the Roku platform to harm Fox's content rivals."
Although earlier reporting claimed that the DOJ would approve the Fox-Roku merger under a consent decree, the department instead signed off on it "with a simple affirmative press statement outlining commitments from Fox, several of which expire in just three years, and leaving the conditions without any judicial enforcement mechanism attached," explained the American Economic Liberties Project.
Additionally, the group pointed out that the DOJ's decision to end its merger investigation came just weeks after Fox made a $1 million contribution to First Lady Melania Trump's "Fostering the Future" initiative, a scholarship program aimed at helping foster children attend college.
“It should set off every alarm bell that the Fox Corporation is giving any money to the first lady’s foster care initiative during the Justice Department’s review of its Roku deal,” said Lee Hepner, senior legal counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. "This is part of a documented pattern, where big media corporations curry favor with the administration, via donations and promises of favorable coverage, and then deals get done."
Hepner added that the DOJ's decision to sign off on the deal was part of a broader pattern of corporate consolidation and corruption under the second Trump administration.
“The next Congress has a responsibility to take these sorts of transactions seriously," he said, "and root out the blatant corruption that has allowed America to turn into an oligarchy, where power keeps getting consolidated at a remarkable rate."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Progressive Organizers Launch ‘Ready for AOC’ to Urge Presidential Run
"We believe AOC can build the coalition this moment needs, ignite the spirit of a grassroots movement, and deliver on the promises others have failed to realize," said the new organization.
Nov 09, 2026
After beginning to quietly hold volunteer-led meetings this fall to mobilize voters around a push for US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for president in 2028, a new political organization officially launched Monday with the message that Americans around the country are "Ready for AOC."
"AOC is the only candidate who can lead the working-class movement to fight the oligarchy and transform America," said Ready for AOC in its inaugural social media post.
But to encourage the New York Democrat to launch a bid, which she has said she is considering while also weighing a potential run to unseat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in 2028, the group aims to enlist 10,000 people across the country who believe a presidential run is the direction she must go in following a wave of progressive victories in the midterm elections last week.
Those community leaders would be tasked with gathering at least 1 million signatures from voters pledging to support Ocasio-Cortez's run, talking to others about their support, and volunteering for a presidential campaign for the congresswoman, including by phone-banking and canvassing.
“The goal is to build the infrastructure of a grassroots movement in the case that she decides to run, but also to demonstrate to her that, ‘Look, there is a movement behind you ready to power you to victory should you choose to run for president,’” Ravi Sahai, a spokesperson for the group, told The New York Times.
Ready for AOC has already recruited more than 500 local political leaders and labor organizers in 35 states to begin gathering signatures.
Ocasio-Cortez has said she would consider whether to run for president or Senate, if she will launch a bid for another public office at all, after the midterm elections.
Progressives across the country have taken last week's election outcome as a clear signal that Americans are demanding that the Democratic Party fight President Donald Trump's MAGA agenda not only by holding his administration to account for its illegal war in Iran, violent mass deportation operations, and other alleged lawbreaking, but also by pushing for far-reaching legislation to secure government-run universal healthcare, a wealth tax on billionaires, and other bold and broadly popular policies.
Ocasio-Cortez campaigned on behalf of former Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, a democratic socialist who came within two percentage points of winning her election after being vastly outspent in Trump's home state, and Sens.-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D-Mich.) and Troy Jackson (D-Maine), who centered Medicare for All in their campaigns.
Even candidates who didn't hold rallies alongside Ocasio-Cortez and progressive leader Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) addressed audiences with rhetoric and promises that would not have been out of place on Sanders' presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020.
"We know the status quo isn't working, and that America is hungry for a different kind of candidate. A candidate who will represent the needs of the working class instead of Big Tech billionaires. A candidate who won't fold under pressure. A candidate who is ready to deliver for the many, not the few," reads the Ready for AOC website. "The lesser of two evils won't deliver the landslide victory we need to pull our country back from the brink, but AOC can."
Over the past two years, Ocasio-Cortez has joined Sanders at rallies as part of his Fighting Oligarchy Tour, speaking to large crowds in rural Colorado, Utah, and Montana about the push for Medicare for All, the need to stop billionaires from pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into elections, and the demand for a “fair economy for working people."
Allies of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), another progressive lawmaker, have also formed a committee to urge him to launch a presidential run. California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who recently angered economic justice advocates by opposing the state's proposed wealth tax, and Gov. JB Pritzker (D-Ill.) are among the leaders who are thought to be likely contenders.
In a poll regarding a hypothetical 2028 race taken last December by The Argument/Verasight, Ocasio-Cortez led Vice President JD Vance, widely considered to be the heir to Trump's far-right MAGA movement, 51%-49%.
At the "house meetings" it's already begun holding, Ready for AOC's organizers have hosted groups of 10-20 friends and neighbors to rally support for the congresswoman.
"We believe AOC can build the coalition this moment needs, ignite the spirit of a grassroots movement, and deliver on the promises others have failed to realize," said Ready for AOC. "We believe that together, the many can defeat the monied interests, and that a better world is possible."
Keep ReadingShow Less
See More
Most Popular
Progressive Newswire
Statement on Google AI in School Allegedly Helping Teen Girl Plan Suicide
Nov 05 2026 · 04:09pm EDT
ACLU Applauds Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Historic Commutation of All Death Sentences in California
Nov 05 2026 · 03:11pm EDT
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy