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Trump's Inferno: Just Stop
In the hopeful, chaotic aftermath of the biggest blue wave in 50 years, the inept “cartoon ghoul of a man” who fomented the carnage and his foul minions - Miller, Hegseth, Unholy Mike, the wrong Dana White - are scrambling like “pigs in the mire” to grasp some thorny new realities. To wit: Accountability is neither revenge nor crime, their once-vaunted “leader” is a dead clown walking, and hundreds of flipped state and federal seats mean their sleazy party is over.
This week we got the first giddy sightings of new Congressional Democrats, who auspiciously look much like diverse America, arriving at the Capitol for orientation. Fresh from their historic wins - flipping 549 legislative seats, ending 13 GOP supermajorities, creating at least six new Democratic trifectas, taking control of the House and Senate - they will now govern three quarters of Americans even as the Republican Party, per one online wiseacre, devolves into the Donner Party. Amidst the lame finger-pointing and precipitous shattering of GOP control, Mike Johnson blindly insisted “voters made the wrong choice" and smarmy Josh Hawley called for Christians to meet the “shocking and historic” election with a (notably modest) hour-long fast on Dec. 15 at the Capitol. Cheap thoughts and prayers: Go for it.
Because nobody ever claimed those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, MAGA world has simply tripled down on their unequivocally rejected folly. First, led by a fragile narcissist snugly embedded in his alternate reality, flaccid calls of a rigged election slowly emerged. "Here we go," noted weary America. “Lather, rinse, repeat." "Does anybody really believe this "Election" was honest?" Trump whined, devising some "creative math" to falsely argue, "The Alaska Race is OVER. Dan Sullivan WON, BY A LOT!" MAGA idiots chimed in. Pillow Guy's "cybersecurity team" vowed to reveal vague "matching algorithmic patterns across multiple states," Alex Jones weirdly declared Trump "the ultimate Democrat sleeper cell," one Christo-fascist announced a Jan. 3 "Million Crusader March - Bring your cross!" SAD. Even evil Megyn Kelly was fed up: "Just stop."
But cults, by definition, don't. Instead, hell-bent on more losing, Trump gave voters a teeny stubby middle finger and chose to boost some of his most abject zealots, all tied to hated and calamitous policies: Stephen Miller, aka Pee Wee German, a literal Nazi with "blood on his hands" whose despised deportation machine moved Hispanics to help turn Texas blue; Pete Kegsbreath, a widely loathed, utterly inept asshole and war criminal whose bungled Iran war has made life unaffordable for vast swathes of America; and Gym Jordan, a buffoonish loyalist and former assistant wrestling coach known for long ignoring an infamous sexual abuse scandal with thousands of victims - there's even a movie - that creepily echoes the regime's ongoing cover-up of Epstein's boundless, Trump-adjacent atrocities. Heckuva job, Donnie et al.
Above all, like cornered animals clinging to the heroic memory of Nixon's refusal to accept any responsibility for his crimes - “When the president does it, it's not illegal” - the MAGA reponse to its glaring failures and looming accountability for them is to cry mean wolf and argue enforcing the law and embracing the constitutional task of Congressional oversight is, in fact, a crime, even months before the fact. Trump's already shrieking Dem "SLEAZEBAGS should go to jail for what they are doing," ie their job, which as an uber grifter he can only weirdly see as "extortion." "They are threatening a lot of people because they happen to be Republicans," he wailed, a scaredy-cat Mob bully pathetically melting down into his usual feeble projection. "There are no impeachable acts committed, or even thought of, by the victims of this illegal process."
His toadies have predictably mobilized to back him up - first, with bonkers threats. White House Counsel Will Scharf sent a mob-like, "legally repulsive" letter to incoming Oversight Chair Robert Garcia warning that Democrats undertaking their constitutionally mandated Congressional oversight "may cross the line into blatant criminality," resulting in, umm, imprisonment. Citing no criminal statute 'cause it doesn't exist, he snarled, "We are monitoring the abusive and capricious threats (to) harass and aggrandize, rather than to advance any legitimate legislative end,” a rebuke one lawyer called "a total bluff” given Dems have that "for miles." Other experts mocked "a ham-fisted stab at intimidation" that "will be Exhibit 1" in a self-own giving Dems "ammo to go straight to subpoenas." Said one, “Get D-team lawyers, win D-team prizes.”
Attorney General (sic) Todd Blanche, who as America's top law enforcement official "clearly doesn’t have the slightest clue what the rule of law is," went on both CNN and Fox to also suggest Dems were committing crimes; when asked what those might be, viewers noted he looked worried - or "scargry," a blend of scared and angry - before he pivoted to, "I'm not interested in explaining." He babbled about Dems' "extremely troubling rhetoric, no basis, no facts, just everyone running around...You have to draw the line, we have to wake up in this country, that's not governing, that's a disappointment." And yes of course it's his job to represent Goebbels and "everyone else...Every A.G. in history actively defends executive members of an administration." In other words, "Trump's former personal lawyer is still Trump's personal lawyer."
Despite MAGA’s efforts at bravado - and cleaning house of flunkies who may have receipts - they continue to be “led” by a sweaty, fumbling clown who lately ends every speech with, “By the way, I was not on the ballot.” On 60 Minutes, even right-wing Ross Douthat nailed him for his clueless retort to $3 billion in grift - the poors are dumb - and corruption: “I have a son who watches over money...Every president has a problem (going) back to George Washington.” And there was his inane choice for Press Secretary, “the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior” who'd maybe bring some UFC fighters “though not from our Country, to defend us against the Lunatic Left.” He said he was “just kidding” after people realized he had the wrong Dana White, who alas is Black - other suggested Whites included Vanna, Betty, Walter - but he still dragged his White to a bizarre presser.
Amidst the tomfoolery, pundits point out the mid-term avalanche was the biggest rejection of any party since Watergate; its 13% net gain was the largest margin of victory since 1926, a "once-in-a century margin." "Everything is coming," says one. "It's going to be an entirely new day." Thanks to another GOP own goal, Dems will hit the ground running: They've been building investigative staffs from a large pool of former career prosecutors purged by Trump who know where the bodies are: "You cannot shred institutional memory - they just changed employers." Dems are working to reverse disastrous cuts in Medicaid, SNAP, other benefits. They're probing Susie Wiles' work with Kremlin-connected lobbyists and Marco Rubio's $1.2 million spent on military flights to Florida to watch his son (occasionally) play college football on our dime.
A judge made a D.C. golf course lawsuit the Caddyshack-like "surprise contender" for a belated legal showdown over feds' defiance of court orders, with a special master appointed to investigate "ethical violations” in the case. In Mississippi, Scott Colom just ousted Cindy Hyde-Smith to become the state's first Black U.S. senator since 1874, flipping the Dems' eighth Senate seat. Rep. Thomas Massie's resolute move to impeach "dangerously incompetent" Pete Hegseth for multiple war crimes failed despite Hegseth's low-rent, lie-filled, "just following orders" hissy fit of a presser: "When he’s attacked, he hides behind the troops.” But John Oliver spoke for many when he urged, "Remove this fucking asshole," and Massie just got enough signatures to force a long-delayed House vote to release millions of Epstein files. Garcia: “Our work is just getting started.”
Meanwhile, the guy whose lamentable victory Trump celebrated as "the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot" again proved what a "warrior ethos jerk" he remains - on Veterans' Day yet - at an event at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the country's most sacred war memorial. Because "everything is a show or photo op" to the empty buffoon with the make-up studio, Hegseth and his clueless coterie stood on the steps of the memorial for a "truly abhorrent" picture ; as they turned away, one of them loudly laughed, prompting a guard to furiously bark at them, as mandated, “ALL VISITORS WILL MAINTAIN AN ATMOSPHERE OF SILENCE AND RESPECT AT ALL TIMES." Online, a gazillion horrified people called Pete an oblivious asshat; many recalled visiting the site as middle-school kids who even then knew better, so what's his fucking problem.
At Arlington Trump was likewise insufferable. He compared his illegal 48-hour kidnapping stunt in Venezuela to America's endless, obscene tragedies in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, hideously argued "we got very little from any of those wars,” and gloated, "We’re taking out billions and billions of dollars of oil...To the victor belong the spoils." What a grotesquerie. Now the knives are out for him. For Veterans' Day, the Secret Handshake erected a new Bone Spurs tribute on the National Mall. Dubbed "The Foot Soldier," it features a golden Trump sitting on a pedestal rubbing a sore foot. Two plaques bear quotes. One from a 2013 photo in his Military Academy uniform: "I can be very military.” The other: "We honor the sacrifice (of) a soldier in spirit who marched to the front lines of dodging the draft, armed with a perfect diagnosis of bone spurs.”
With Democrats already infighting as the lame duck waddles amidst his crimes, lies, hate and question he'll never answer, The Bulwark entreats us to remember "There are no deals to be had." Our sole mission: "Destroy all monsters." In Unpopular Front, John Ganz proffers a similar but darker ultimatum: Eternal torment. He recalls 60 Minutes' Douthat asking Trump, "Do you think you're going to heaven?" Reply: "I hope so." Citing Christian forgiveness of your enemies, he asks if the smallest man on Earth can do that. Nope, he says: "I hate my enemies and I always will." In Dante's Inferno, Ganz notes, Dante and Virgil stop to talk to souls "stuck like animated friezes, repeating their state of sinfulness, the perpetual fate of the Wrathful...already pigs in the mire in this life." Thus is Trump's hatred "the entire substance of his being, the product of his disordered love for himself," and "relinquishing it would be an intolerable loss of self." So, inevitably, will he be "solidified into eternal bronzer."
"He was an arrogant person in the world/No goodness adorns his memory."
“How does it feel being a loser, Mr President?”- Sky News reporter, Dominic Waghorn👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏Give this man his Pulitzer Prize.
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— KittyKatGirl😻🙏💞🐞 (@mary1kathy.bsky.social) November 8, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Nov 12, 2026
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'Off the Charts': UN Sounds Alarm as Planet Plunges Deeper Into Climate Emergency
The Earth is hurtling deeper into a climate emergency, with 2026 on track to be one of the four hottest years ever recorded, ocean temperatures and sea levels hitting record highs, and glacier melt accelerating at an alarming pace, according to a report released Monday by the World Meteorological Organization as the United Nations Climate Change Conference kicked off in Türkiye.
The WMO's "State of the Climate" report "shows that the past 12 years have individually been the warmest on record, with the past four years being the top four," according to a summary of the 25-page publication.
WMO further noted that "the global average surface temperature for January–September 2026 was about 1.47°C above the preindustrial average," or right on the brink of the 1.5°C of warming beyond which scientists say the risks of catastrophic and potentially irreversible climate impacts increase substantially.
2026 is on track to be one of 4 warmest years on record, marked by exceptional global temperatures, melting ice, rising sea levels, and a very strong El Niño that will unleash more heat & extreme weather into 2027.New WMO #StateOfClimate #COP31 Update↪️ https://bit.ly/stateofclimateCOP31pr
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— World Meteorological Organization (@wmo-global.bsky.social) November 9, 2026 at 12:33 AM
UN scientists said last month that the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C this century is no longer achievable without an overshoot.
The 1.47°C figure "is likely to rise through the end of the year because of the warming effect of El Niño, which has been intensifying since August and is expected to be the strongest on record by December," the report's summary states. El Niño is the warm phase of a pattern in the Pacific Ocean whose impact on disrupts weather, ecosystems, and economies.
According to WMO:
Earth’s energy imbalance is rising... The imbalance reached its highest level since monitoring began, as greenhouse gases trap unprecedented amounts of heat and upset the equilibrium between incoming energy from the sun and outgoing energy. The ocean absorbs 90% of this excess heat, and 2026 is on track to be the 10th successive year of record ocean warmth.
Sea level is the highest on record, and sea-surface temperatures hit monthly records during 2026. The long-term retreat of glaciers continues—the annual mass loss of ice in 2025 would have filled five Olympic pools every second of the year. Freshwater storage has been dwindling since 2014.
“Extreme weather has made headlines throughout 2026. Behind the headlines and the statistics in this report are people who suffered the loss of loved ones, threats to their health and safety, flooded homes, failed harvests, empty shelves, lack of water, and choking air," WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo said in the report.
"The past four years have been the warmest in the 177-year observational record, and the heat in the oceans is breaking records for the 10th year in a row," she continued. "The ongoing El Niño is forecast to be one of the strongest on record, and the heat it releases from the ocean will continue to fuel high temperatures and extreme weather into 2027."
“El Niño and indeed the state of the global climate in 2026 gives new meaning to the phrase off the charts," Saulo added. "El Niño doesn't add new heat to the planet. It releases heat from the ocean, which is the warmest ever measured. There is simply more heat available to release."
Indeed, climate scientists are warning that the planet is closer than previously thought to tipping points leading to hellish feedback loops and a "hothouse Earth."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres responded to the WMO report in a statement, saying: "We have entered a new age of climate extremes. A supersized El Niño is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change. Climate records keep falling. The human costs keep rising. And those least responsible are suffering first and worst."
"Leaders must get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels, and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need," he added.
The "State of the Climate" report was released on the first day of the UN summit, or COP31, in Antalya, Türkiye. Advocacy groups warned that world leaders must commit to phase out fossil fuels, finance a just transition to a post-carbon economy, and protect vulnerable populations from worsening climate harms.
“No country can confront this crisis alone. Those who have contributed least to global warming are often suffering the greatest harms. COP31 must deliver collective action that reflects this profound injustice,” Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International's program director for climate, environmental and social justice, and corporate accountability, said Monday.
“The world is not running out of climate warnings. It is running out of excuses," she continued. "After more than 30 years of climate negotiations, governments can no longer hide behind promises of future action or avoid confronting their fossil fuel industry allies."
"The climate crisis is not a failure of knowledge, but a failure of political courage," Schaaf added. "It is time to break the stranglehold of corporate power over political decision-making and end the fossil fuel era before it ends us."
Oil Change International global policy senior strategist Shady Khalil asserted that “we know what needs to happen. Governments must stop fossil fuel expansion, plan a fair phaseout of existing production, and invest public money in renewable energy and economic diversification."
"Wealthy countries must move first and fastest and provide the finance needed to make this transition possible everywhere," he added.
Nov 09, 2026
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Naomi Klein and Illana Glaser Have a Message: Tax the Billionaires and Block Big Tech IPOs
Progressive author Naomi Klein and comedian Ilana Glazer on Monday warned that America's billionaire class is taking "unprecedented risks with our future," and said US policymakers must block further Big Tech initial public offerings and mergers to prevent even more damage from occurring.
In an op-ed published by The Guardian, Klein and Glazer outlined how US billionaires have used tax loopholes, corporate mergers, and IPOs to enrich themselves at an unprecedented scale, as their wealth has grown by an estimated 40% over just the last two years.
Klein and Glazer argued that the upcoming IPOs of artificial intelligence giants OpenAI and Anthropic could be particularly risky to the economy given questions about their ability to be consistently profitable.
"It’s no secret that the AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI are intending to go public in the near future," they wrote. "Both of these players also had major security flaws exposed recently, and openly acknowledge mind-bogglingly huge amounts of debt."
The risk will only grow, they added, if Nasdaq grants OpenAI and Anthropic the same exception it granted to Elon Musk's SpaceX earlier this year by allowing their shares to be immediately included in index funds without having to wait through the one-year "seasoning" period.
"June’s highly contentious SpaceX IPO already carries great risk for regular investors," they explained. "If more speculative tech companies with staggering risk profiles are allowed to follow suit, the results will become too much for the market to bear."
Klein and Glazer said that policymakers need to intervene to put a halt to new Big Tech IPOs, and also pass a wealth tax to take away billionaires' power to spend cavalierly even as they leave working people potentially holding the bag for their failed investments.
"We cannot let the billionaire class take these kinds of risks with our future," they emphasized. "To stop these reckless IPOs we must stand together, take collective action, and push for real change."
Economist Jeffrey D. Sachs last month similarly called for AI IPOs to be halted until Congress "has enacted a public system of licensing, independent safety evaluation, liability, and financial backstops for frontier AI."
Sachs noted that Anthropic executives and employees, including CEO Dario Amodei, have warned that AI could pose a threat to all human life, and he questioned why the creators of such technology should become unfathomably wealthy before such risks are understood and eliminated.
"A company should not disclose a risk of catastrophe to humanity and then sell its shares to the public before any public authority has the power to evaluate that risk or to stop deployment," argued Sachs. "In fact, to proceed rapidly in the face of such dire warnings is beyond folly."
Nov 02, 2026
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In New Poll, Over 80% of MoveOn Members Say They Oppose Schumer for Senate Majority Leader
A survey of progressive activists released on Wednesday shows an overwhelming demand for new leadership among Democrats in the US Senate.
The poll, which was conducted by MoveOn Civic Action, finds that 82% of MoveOn members who took part in the survey do not support Schumer becoming Senate majority leader next year when Democrats assume control of both chambers of the US Congress. MoveOn said it received more than 10,000 responses to the member poll.
MoveOn members also overwhelmingly say the new Senate leader should "use all their power" to reverse Republicans policies, and they list ending President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran, overturning his tariffs, and repealing cuts to federal healthcare programs as their biggest priorities.
"Our members are tired of politicians content with incrementalism—they want bold, creative leadership that will help Democrats usher in affordability and accountability without delay or compromise in the next Congress," said Joel Payne, executive director of MoveOn. "We welcome and will support any potential Senate leader willing to meet the moment."
The MoveOn poll is the second survey released in the last week showing progressives overwhelmingly want an alternative to Schumer as Senate majority leader.
A poll of over 4,300 progressive activists released by Our Revolution on Monday found that 72% of respondents want a different leader than Schumer, compared to just 5% who say they support him, and 22% who say they’re willing to see what he delivers.
So far, no other Democrats have stepped forward to officially challenge either Schumer or Jeffries. According to a Monday report in Punchbowl News, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is open to challenging Schumer for Senate leadership after having "received an outpouring of calls" urging him to do so.
Nov 11, 2026
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Trump Weighing Executive Order to Label Disliked Nonprofits as ‘Terrorist’ Groups: Report
President Donald Trump is reportedly considering a major escalation of his war against left-wing nonprofits with an executive order that would seek to suspend their tax-exempt status with the stroke of a pen.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the order plans to label some nonprofit groups as having "terrorist" ties—an act that would immediately suspend their tax-exempt status, dramatically imperiling their ability to operate and raise money.
According to the report, the administration is seeking to use a little-known provision in the federal tax code to strip nonprofits of their status without going through the normal Internal Revenue Service investigation and appeals process.
The law, signed in 2003 by then-President George W. Bush, allows the president to identify an organization in an executive order as supporting or engaging in terrorism. The law also prevents organizations from challenging designation or suspension in proceedings concerning federal tax liability.
It’s not clear yet which groups will be targeted, but the administration and its allies in Congress have already signaled their intent to go after left-leaning groups like George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
The latter was forced to cease operations in Florida Thursday following a state-level "terrorism" designation by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In September 2025, weeks after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), which identified “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” “extremism on migration, race, and gender,” and “hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality” as ideological characteristics associated with “domestic terrorism.”
The memo directed the IRS and other federal agencies to investigate nonprofits and their funders for alleged connections to political violence.
Shanna Singh Hughey, a policy strategist at the anti-authoritarian watchdog group Protect Democracy, said in September that the memo's vague and subjective language gave the administration expansive powers to target the nonprofits of its political foes.
“It goes way beyond that to the organizations that are connected to the folks who might be accused [of violence], including board members and staff, as long as that organization is accused of either funding or facilitating the violence done by the target," she told Inside Philanthropy.
“This is exactly what we expect to see when authoritarians attempt to consolidate and hold power,” she said. “There are entities that seek to hold the government accountable, and so the government uses the tools in its toolkit to try to silence them.”
Then-White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller speaks during an event with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on August 6, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Trump's reported plan to attack nonprofits comes on the same day that he named Stephen Miller, the chief architect of NSPM-7, as his new White House chief of staff.
Weeks before the memo was signed, Miller vowed to "dismantle and take on the radical left organizations in this country that are fomenting violence." He has said that descriptions of Trump and his immigration policies as "authoritarian" or "fascist" were examples of language that "incites" violence.
He has also referred to the Democratic Party itself as "not a political party," but "a domestic extremist organization."
During a State Department ministerial on terrorism in July, Miller said that under NSPM-7, the administration was empowered to “disrupt, identify, defund, debank, arrest, and prosecute” what it called terrorist organizations.
In the same speech, he claimed that left-wing extremists invoke "civil liberties" disingenuously to evade criminal punishment.
Describing leftists as the "enemies of civilization," he said, "It is essential that we are wise enough and strong enough to understand that these appeals must fall on deaf ears."
Nov 06, 2026
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‘I Would Do It Again’: Facing Impeachment Vote, Hegseth Celebrates Alleged War Crimes
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.
Jan-Albert Hootsen, Mexico representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists' Americas program, said that the charges against Hegseth outlined in Massie's impeachment articles are extremely serious and likely warrant prosecution.
"Pete Hegseth ordered the extrajudicial execution of over 100 Latin Americans," said Hootsen. "No trial, no evidence. Instead of even a weak attempt to justify the killings, he gloated. Merely firing him is not accountability—it should be the beginning of criminal investigations."
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.
Nov 10, 2026
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'The South Is in Play': Scott Colom Wins US Senate Race in Deep-Red Mississippi
"If this is what Southern organizers and candidates can accomplish with limited investment, imagine what is possible when we meet their leadership and labor with the resources they deserve."
Nov 12, 2026
Local district attorney Scott Colom was declared the winner of a closely contested US Senate race in deep-red Mississippi on Wednesday after more than a week of ballot counting, a historic upset victory for grassroots organizing in a state that Republicans have dominated for decades.
"I had the courage to believe in Mississippi," said Colom, who will become the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction. Colom is also the first Democrat to win a US Senate election in Mississippi since 1982, succeeding despite ongoing attacks on voting rights across the state.
Incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), who in 2023 blocked Colom's nomination to serve as a federal district judge, conceded the race on Wednesday and congratulated the Democratic senator-elect.
Colom said in his victory speech at Tougaloo College, a historically Black college in Jackson, that he sometimes "couldn't get donors to answer the phone" when fundraising for his campaign, a jab at Democratic higher-ups' lack of investment in Mississippi and the South more broadly.
Senate Democrats' campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), excluded Mississippi from a $40 million investment in battleground states across the country in July. The DSCC ultimately intervened in the final days of the race with a $500,000 ad buy for Colom, who campaigned on fighting the affordability crisis, raising wages and tying them to living costs, and reversing GOP cuts to federal healthcare programs.
Colom drew widespread attention with viral ad campaigns spotlighting Hyde-Smith's comments downplaying the rising cost of beef.
"You know, you have so many proteins to choose from," the Republican senator said in February.
"Pick another protein?" a Mississippi resident responds in one Colom campaign ad. "I'd rather pick another senator instead."
Britney Whaley, Southeast regional director of the Working Families Party, celebrated Colom's win as a challenge to "everything conventional wisdom tells us about Southern politics."
"This historic win in Mississippi should serve as a clarion call for the political establishment: It’s time to redraw the entire political map, reevaluate polling methods, and conduct a serious audit of investment portfolios. The South is in play, and it’s time to start acting like it," said Whaley. "This win belongs to the countless Black leaders and grassroots organizers who envisioned a future for Mississippi that much of the country could not imagine and spent years organizing, building, and fighting to bring that vision to life. And it belongs to the Mississippi voters who refused to have their voices silenced, showing up in the face of archaic and suppressive voting laws to make their voices heard."
"If this is what Southern organizers and candidates can accomplish with limited investment," Whaley added, "imagine what is possible when we meet their leadership and labor with the resources they deserve."
Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement that "Mississippi voters made history because they refused to be intimidated, discouraged, or counted out."
"Even in the face of efforts to remove voters from the rolls, attempts to intimidate voters and election officials, and bids to create fear around the electoral process, Mississippi voters showed up," said Johnson. "They showed up for their communities, for their families, and for the future of their state. They reminded the nation that we the people have the power."
With Colom's victory, Democrats are set to hold at least 55 seats in the US Senate come January. Alaska's Senate race, where Democratic candidate Mary Peltola is narrowly leading Republican Dan Sullivan, has yet to be called.
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‘Outrageous’: Omar's Office Slams DOJ Effort to Make Former Bodyguard an Informant
The targeting of Abdullahi Mohamed amounts to the "blatant weaponization of the full federal government to intimidate political opponents,” said a spokesperson for Omar.
Nov 11, 2026
"The country is run by a criminal syndicate," one progressive organizer said Wednesday in response to the news that the Trump administration, as part of its effort to build a criminal case against US Rep. Ilhan Omar, had tried to obtain incriminating information from her former bodyguard—even offering to protect him from deportation in exchange for the information.
As The New York Times reported, Abdullahi Mohamed briefly worked as a bodyguard for Omar (D-Minn.) during an overseas trip, and drew an unusual amount of attention of federal prosecutors when he interviewed with an immigration official for a green card application in October 2025.
Mohamed, who has Somali and British citizenship, was seeking to become a permanent resident after marrying an American citizen in Minnesota.
But his interview included questions that were not routine, including whether he had "any interactions with any government officials or politicians in the United States.”
Mohamed, did not understand the question due to his lack of fluency in English, his lawyer, Bruce Rivers, told the Times, and he answered no despite having worked for Omar.
His green card application was denied—a frequent occurrence if officials believe an applicant has lied or misrepresented themselves. But in a development that one immigration judge told the Times was "deeply unusual," Mohamed received a letter from the US Department of Justice several months later, in February, saying he was under criminal investigation for lying to a government official under oath—a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
At a meeting with prosecutors the following month, the Times reported, it became clear why Mohamed had been targeted and why his case had been assigned to top officials in the US attorney's office in Minnesota who oversaw the criminal division and fraud and public corruption cases.
"The main focus of the meeting was Ms. Omar," according to the Times.
Around the same time, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were heavily focused on an anti-fraud task force led by Vance, and a social services fraud scandal in Minnesota. The administration pointed fingers at Somali American communities across Minnesota and the country, and Trump claimed Omar was “one of the ringleaders" of fraudulent activity in the US.
Vance also told a conservative podcaster that he hoped to hold the congresswoman accountable for immigration fraud.
“They asked him if he knew who she was married to and that kind of stuff. He didn’t know any information about that stuff.”
In October, agents with the Department of Homeland Security raided Omar's Washington, DC home as part of its investigation into her immigration history. Officials have said the White House aims to deport the progressive congresswoman.
At the meeting with Mohamed in March, the prosecutors asked him about Omar's immigration from Somalia to the US when she was a child and her 2009 marriage, which some right-wing politicians and commentators have claimed was a ploy to help a man suspected of being her brother to obtain a green card.
Rivers told the Times that several times during the meeting, prosecutors told him and Mohamed that the investigation into Omar was "100% being run by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue"—the White House.
In an indication that the administration was also investigating Omar's financial records, the prosecutors also asked Mohamed if he knew anything about a $10,000 payment involving Omar and Mohamed's brother. The prosecutors called the payment a potential bribe; his brother later told Mohamed that the payment had settled a loan.
“They asked him if he knew who she was married to and that kind of stuff,” Rivers told the Times. “He didn’t know any information about that stuff.”
The prosecutors also offered to intervene in potential deportation proceedings against Mohamed if they provided the information they were looking for.
Jackie Rogers, a spokesperson for Omar, told the Times that the prosecutors' offer to Mohamed after his green card application had been denied was "outrageous."
“This is a staggering abuse of presidential power and a blatant weaponization of the full federal government to intimidate political opponents,” Rogers said.
The prosecutors then secured a grand jury indictment against Mohamed after their gambit to use him as a witness against Omar failed.
But in September, after Mohamed once again said he had no information about Omar's immigration history as part of testimony before a grand jury, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against the former bodyguard, because he had been placed in deportation proceedings.
“There is no longer a federal interest in continuing prosecution in light of his anticipated removal from the United States,” said the prosecutors.
Mohamed is now in Nairobi, Kenya, while his wife remains in the US.
Despite the administration's attacks on Omar, the congresswoman easily won her reelection campaign last week, with more than 76% of the vote.
"A couple of weeks ago when they decided that they were going to come for me, they thought that they were going to find someone who was going to cower," said Omar on election night. "They thought that if you attacked me and you silenced me, that my community wouldn't show up and vote."
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'A Guy Who Wants to Tinker Around the Edges': Sanders Makes the Case Against Schumer for Senate Leader
"In this moment in American history, Chuck's views are way out of touch with where the American people are at."
Nov 11, 2026
US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday offered a blistering assessment of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's leadership, saying his approach to everything from Israel and artificial intelligence to economic inequality demonstrates why Democrats need new leadership.
"I think, in this moment in American history, Chuck's views are way out of touch with where the American people are at—and especially with where [the base of] the Democratic Party is," Sanders (I-Vt.) told John Nichols, executive director of The Nation.
"On issue after issue, I think he is just not in tune with where his constituents are at," he said of the New York Democrat.
Sanders—who acknowledges that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza as determined by a UN commission of inquiry and many other experts—took particular aim at Schumer's continued support for US military aid to the country. Sanders argued that the United States should not provide "another nickel" in weapons assistance to an ally that the International Court of Justice and others say is an apartheid state, and whose prime minister is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court, wanted for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The two-time social democratic presidential candidate also questioned whether Schumer would fight for a billionaire wealth tax to fund universal childcare, tuition-free public colleges, and affordable housing.
"And I think that basically on other issues Chuck is a guy who wants to tinker around the edges," Sanders said.
Schumer's decision last year to help advance a Republican government funding bill sparked intense backlash from progressives, who accused him of surrendering Democrats' leverage and called on him to resign.
Sanders also criticized Schumer for failing to meaningfully address the power of the technology industry's billionaire executives and the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence and data centers.
The criticism comes amid mounting progressive dissatisfaction with the party's congressional leadership following Democrats' sweeping midterm victories. As Common Dreams has reported, progressive organizers have argued that the electoral results represent a mandate for transformative change, not simply a return to business as usual under establishment Democrats.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has emerged as a potential alternative to Schumer—and one who Sanders said he would support.
"It's not a time for incrementalism," Van Hollen recently said. "It's a time to move forward a very bold kitchen table agenda."
Van Hollen has urged colleagues not to give Schumer a "blank check" without commitments to an ambitious economic program.
Schumer has sounded confident that he will be elected majority leader after Democrats retake control of Congress in January.
"I am going to be elected leader, OK, and we're united on the issues," Schumer told The Washington Sun on Wednesday. "We're united. We're united on costs and chaos."
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UN Expert Calls on Nations to 'Send Humanitarian Vessels' to Break Israeli Siege of Gaza
Israel is blocking around 150,000 tents and other recovery supplies from entering flood-ravaged Gaza.
Nov 11, 2026
A leading United Nations human rights expert said nations must prepare to send ships to break Israel’s “siege” of Gaza as it continues to block humanitarian aid—including tents, shelter materials, and repair supplies—from entering the territory as its population is inundated by deadly floods.
"Israel must immediately open all Gaza crossings and let humanitarian aid in, starting with new tents and modular housing, clean water, nutrient-rich food, medicines," Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, wrote on social media Tuesday. "If... Israel still refuses, any principled leader would send humanitarian vessels to break the siege."
Most buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed by Israel's genocidal three-year military assault. About 1.4 million people now live in makeshift shelters, including flimsy tents.
According to Gaza's Government Media Office, about 70,000 tents were flooded when heavy rains struck the territory over the weekend, leaving tens of thousands of displaced people without shelter, defenseless against the elements. At least four children and two women have died as a result of the flooding.
As The Guardian reported Wednesday, the storms have also damaged sanitation infrastructure, causing sewage to flow into families' tents. About 940,000 people in Gaza live in makeshift tent areas at risk of flooding.
“All our clothes were soaked. My kids are all sick, and I can’t afford to buy them more clothes,” said Raed Jamal, a displaced Palestinian. “Watching them suffering in the cold is heartbreaking.”
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 150,000 tents are awaiting Israeli authorization to enter Gaza, even as humanitarian organizations warn that Israel's restrictions on shelter supplies are exacerbating the deadly flooding emergency.
On Monday, the International Rescue Committee said aid groups had only about 2,800 tents available, compared with roughly 121,000 that are needed. Meanwhile, no emergency shelter kits were available.
"People are exhausted and have spent days trying to secure tarpaulins and scoop water from the floor of tents," said Beckie Ryan, the humanitarian group CARE Palestine's interim country director. "For these families, most of whom have been displaced repeatedly, a flooded tent means losing their last protection against the elements as winter approaches. It also means the loss of essential belongings, including clothing, bedding, medication, documentation, and personal items."
"Israeli authorities must facilitate full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access," she said. "This includes opening all crossings for humanitarian aid and facilitating the entry of shelter and construction materials and machinery."
Israel's restrictions on shelter materials are part of broader limits on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, with only one crossing for humanitarian cargo currently operational. Relief organizations say the closures have created bottlenecks that have delayed deliveries of food, medicine, and desperately needed shelter materials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied responsibility for the conditions, blaming the militant group Hamas for allegedly diverting humanitarian aid for military use, a claim for which he provided no supporting evidence, according to The Associated Press.
His response came after some unusually pointed criticism from the US-led Gaza Board of Peace, which said Israel's restrictions had “exacerbated the consequences of a foreseeable humanitarian challenge.”
The crisis has also drawn pledges of action from foreign officials. Ed Miliband, the UK foreign secretary, said on Monday that the "humanitarian situation in Gaza is getting worse," adding that the British government would "not stand by" and "not rest until we bring an end to the intolerable suffering."
Albanese made her call for humanitarian vessels in direct response to Miliband's remarks, challenging world leaders to do more than condemn the worsening crisis.
Several governments have previously supported civilian efforts to break Israel's blockade—including Spain and Italy, which sent naval vessels to assist the activist-led Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted by Israel last year. But no government has publicly committed to sending its own ships to force humanitarian aid through Israel's blockade.
Albanese and five other UN human rights experts made a similar appeal in May, saying that “states should take necessary action to prevent genocide and to support all efforts to deliver aid to the Palestinian population.”
Richard Burgon, a Labour member of the British Parliament, introduced a motion on Tuesday calling for his government to take more concrete action to compel Israel to allow in aid, which he said has received over 50 signatures.
He said, “Governments around the world should respond to the horrific scenes from flood-hit Gaza with a clear and coordinated message to Israel: We will impose sanctions on everyone responsible for blocking humanitarian aid from getting in.”
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Petition Aimed at Drafting Ayanna Pressley to Challenge Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker Picks Up Steam
"We believe that as speaker of the House, Ayanna Pressley would bring her innovative spirit and unwavering resolve to tackle the pressing challenges facing our nation."
Nov 11, 2026
With calls from progressives growing for congressional Democrats to choose new leaders, a movement is building to have US Rep. Ayanna Pressley challenge Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for the speakership next year.
A Change.org petition launched this week is urging Democratic lawmakers to make Pressley speaker, arguing that the Massachusetts Democrat "represents a beacon of hope and integrity in a tumultuous political landscape."
"We believe that as speaker of the House, Ayanna Pressley would bring her innovative spirit and unwavering resolve to tackle the pressing challenges facing our nation," the petition states. "Her ability to foster meaningful conversations and build bridges across the political aisle makes her uniquely qualified for this pivotal role."
The petition also praises Pressley's leadership style, which it says is "marked by transparency and inclusivity"—traits that align "with what the majority of Americans want to see in their government."
As of this writing, the petition has gathered more than 18,000 signatures.
While Pressley has not shown any intention of launching a challenge to Jeffries' (D-NY) speakership bid, she said in a Tuesday social media post that Democrats need to act boldly to meet voters' expectations.
"Republicans have been flooding the zone with lawlessness, cruelty, and corruption," Pressley wrote. "And Democrats have a mandate to match their energy—boldly and unapologetically. It's not enough to be the adults in the room. We have to prove that we are the FIGHTERS in the room."
According to a tally published Wednesday by Drop Site, 49 House Democrats so far have pledged to support Jeffries for speaker, with 23 Democrats uncommitted and zero Democrats outright opposed. Jeffries needs to secure 218 votes in the next Congress to ascend to the speakership.
Following last week’s midterm elections, progressives have called for Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who aims to continue leading the Democrats in the Senate, to step aside and make way for leaders who better reflect the Democratic base.
Polls have shown a majority of Democratic voters support Medicare for All and an end to US military aid for Israel, for example, which both Jeffries and Schumer oppose.
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US Taxpayer Coalition Urges ICC to Issue Arrest Warrants for Trump, Rubio Over Gaza Genocide
"Let us be clear: The genocide of the Palestinian people would not have been possible without the unwavering support of the United States."
Nov 11, 2026
A coalition of American taxpayers, including human rights lawyers and activists, formally submitted video footage, firsthand eyewitness accounts, and other evidence to the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, making the case that the tribunal should issue arrest warrants for US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for aiding Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza.
The evidence submission was organized by the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide (TAAG), which recently secured a preliminary court decision that blocked a Trump executive order sanctioning human rights groups and others who work with the ICC—an institution that the Trump administration is actively working to dismantle.
The 28-page document includes detailed accounts of Trump and Rubio's actions in support of the Israeli government's devastating and ongoing attacks on Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank.
Trump, the submission states, "personally authorized and facilitated the release of approximately 1,800 previously withheld 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs" to the Israeli military and "rescinded West Bank sanctions on individuals and entities the United States had formally determined were involved in violence and dispossession."
"These acts of material assistance had a substantial effect on Israel’s ability to carry out military operations in Gaza and on the ability of sanctioned actors to continue violence in the West Bank," the document argues.
As for Rubio, "the evidence records State Department and [Defense Security Cooperation Agency] approvals of major arms sales to Israel after February 2025, including Hellfire missiles, munitions, guidance kits, fuses, munitions support, and large quantities of 2,000-pound bomb bodies and penetrator warheads."
"The [ICC] prosecutor should investigate whether Secretary Rubio approved or expedited the same categories of munitions whose prior use had generated known civilian harm and concerns about violations of international humanitarian law," the document states.
Seth Donnelly, a cofounder of TAAG, said at a press conference in The Hague on Wednesday, "We urge the office of the prosecutor to act quickly on this evidence."
"The evidence includes sworn affidavits from doctors who worked in Gaza, firsthand eyewitness accounts, whistleblower testimony, videos, and extensive documentation concerning US political, military, diplomatic, and financial support for Israel," said Donnelly.
Joining the delegation behind the ICC submission were human rights attorney Huwaida Arraf, Palestinian American author Susan Abulhawa, and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon who has served in Gaza.
"American airplanes burning American jet fuel are dropping American bombs, which are guided by American guidance systems on targets that were picked largely by software developed in the United States," said Sidhwa. "I hope these attempts at reestablishing—or maybe establishing—the rule of law in the international system, these attempts to hold the powerful accountable, something that we unfortunately have failed to do in our own society, can be an effective resistance to the fascist forces that are spreading throughout the world now."
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, applauded the delegation's submission, saying at Wednesday's press conference that "international law remains the last peaceful instrument we possess to confront injustice and pave the way forward."
"The legal tools are there. They are not the only ones, but they are peaceful tools," said Albanese. "What is missing is the political courage to use them. That political courage is [what] the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide is showing. And this is why today's gathering matters."
"The United States continues to arm Israel, protect those responsible for its crimes, and enable individuals and companies to profit from their commission," she added. "So let us be clear: The genocide of the Palestinian people would not have been possible without the unwavering support of the United States."
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'A Mobilization That No One Imagined': Furious Over Housing Costs, Millions Join General Strike in Spain
"The 11N is not only a labor strike or a strike of tenants," its organizers said, "it is a general strike for housing and against the cost of living."
Nov 11, 2026
Spain was rocked by its first general strike in years on Wednesday, as millions of housing rights defenders, students, and workers took to the streets in a nationwide revolt against an affordability crisis and a housing system that critics say prioritizes enriching property investors and landlords over providing homes for people.
The 24-hour walkout, known as the 11N, disrupted transportation, schools, businesses, ports, and industrial production, with demonstrations and picket lines reported in Madrid, Barcelona, and dozens of other cities.
Organized by a coalition of labor unions and tenant organizations, the unprecedented mobilization sought to unite historically separate struggles. The Madrid Tenants' Union said that, despite autumn storms throughout much of Spain, as many as 4 million people took part in the day of action.
"It's time to change the rules of the game. We must end a housing system based on speculation and create a rights-based system," 11N organizers said. "The 11N is not only a labor strike or a strike of tenants, it is a general strike for housing and against the cost of living."
The immediate trigger of the 11N strike was the September eviction of María del Carmen Abascal—popularly known as Maricarmen—an 87-year-old woman who had lived in her Madrid apartment for seven decades. The investment fund that bought her building jacked up her monthly rent by more than 400% from €500 to €2,650 a month—an amount far exceeding her modest pension.
Despite previous legal efforts to prevent her eviction, Maricarmen was forcibly removed from her home and taken away on a stretcher before a deal was reached amid mass protests and she was allowed to return. However, she died in a hospital two weeks later.
Millions of people in Spain who work full-time increasingly cannot afford a decent place to live. Average rents have nearly doubled over the past decade, while housing prices have risen substantially faster than wages.
According to Spain's central bank, the country faces a housing deficit of approximately 750,000 homes, potentially exceeding one million by 2028. Publicly owned rental housing accounts for less than 2% of the country's housing supply, compared with a European Union average of around 8%.
The consequences are particularly severe for younger workers. The Spanish Youth Council estimates that the average monthly rent of €1,176 consumes approximately 98.7% of a young person's average monthly salary.
"I doubt I'll ever be able to own a home, let alone have a family like my parents could have at my age," Elena Carmona, a young bookstore employee participating in the strike in Madrid, told Público.
Pablo Pérez, a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants' Union, told Público that "what is at stake is who keeps the wealth we produce and who has the power to decide over our lives."
"This is a strike of everyone who is fed up with working so that others can enrich themselves at their expense," he continued. "It can't be that we work harder and harder and that much of our salary ends up directly in the pocket of those who live in our homes."
"What began with the fight against the eviction of Maricarmen has triggered a mobilization that no one imagined," Pérez added.
Anti-capitalist activist Beatriz Payo, 26, said Maricarmen's eviction marked a turning point for her. She described witnessing firsthand "the level of violence and injustice behind a system that makes business out of such basic necessities as housing."
That violence was on display Tuesday as police in cities across Spain attacked protesters with batons and pepper spray. At least four people were hospitalized in the capital, according to the Madrid Tenants' Union. Officers also assaulted some of the demonstrators who blocked the M-30 highway in Madrid's Vallecas neighborhood.
Video footage recorded in Granada also showed police literally beating back strikers.
LGBTQ+ activist Samantha Hudson said police pepper-sprayed her and other protesters including actress Laura Weissmahr and journalist María Barrier, in the face during a demonstration on Madrid's Gran Vía.
“Does it bother them that much that we exercise this basic, fundamental right?" Hudson asked after the assault. "A boy’s head has been split open. I’m having a terrible panic attack."
Amnesty International Spain said, "We are documenting concerning police conduct in Madrid, Alicante, Castellón, Vitoria, Valencia, Málaga, Granada, and Santiago."
"Force must be a last resort and can only be used proportionately," Amnesty asserted. "Blows to the head must be avoided because of the risk of serious injury, and police batons and pepper spray must only be used against people who are being violent. They must not be used indiscriminately against protests or to disperse peaceful demonstrations."
"We call on the authorities to guarantee the right to protest at this afternoon’s demonstrations, to ensure that officers visibly display their identification numbers, to ensure that pepper spray is not used and that police do not charge peaceful demonstrators, and to investigate the excessive use of force," the group added.
Despite police repression and stormy weather in many cities, the strike caused significant disruptions. Organizers reported 90% participation in the automotive and port sectors, with complete stoppages at Volkswagen and SEAT factories. There were also widespread shutdowns in waste collection, meat processing, and energy sectors.
“The strike has exceeded the labor unions’ expectations,” Workers' Commissions secretary-general Unai Sordo told The Associated Press. “It has been a success in terms of turnout.”
Following the protests sparked by Maricarmen's eviction, social-democratic Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called an early election on November 29 in a bid to secure four more years of rule for his leftist coalition government.
However, last month's high-speed train collision in Toledo province that killed 69 people—the second major rail disaster in the country this year—has complicated Sánchez's strategy.
“The Socialists need for the strike to be a success and for there not to be any violence so that the election campaign can swing back to being about housing,” Autonomous University of Barcelona political science professor Oriol Bartomeus told the AP.
Meanwhile on the right, the Popular Party and far-right Vox "both want the strike to be a flop and to end in scenes of burning dumpsters and shattered shop windows,” Bartomeus said, so that “they can say, ‘This is chaos, and we are coming to establish order.’”
Pepe Álvarez, general secretary of the General Union of Workers, told El Diaro that, after Wednesday's strike, “whoever governs, no matter what happens on the 29th, they will have to listen to the street."
N11 organizers expressed similar sentiments.
"Whoever governs," they said, "we will conquer the right to housing."
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Trump Lawyers Mocked Over 'Pathetic' Effort to Intimidate Congressional Investigators
US Rep. Robert Garcia vowed he and his colleagues "will not be deterred by baseless threats... from the president's lawyers."
Nov 11, 2026
Legal experts openly ridiculed White House counsel William Scharf on Wednesday after he sent a letter threatening congressional Democrats who are preparing to investigate the Trump administration.
In the letter, which was first obtained by Punchbowl News, Scharf warned Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who is in line to become the next chairman of the House Oversight Committee, that his office is monitoring "the abusive and capricious threats" from Democrats "who seek to abuse the legislative process to intimidate and interfere with the lawful functioning of government."
"You and your congressional colleagues have asserted they will issue subpoenas to harass, threaten, and deter dedicated members of the administration from further service," Scharf wrote. "Several have compared their subpoena pledges to handing out 'candy.'"
Scharf further warned that "threats to executive branch officials designed to deter them from public service... may cross the line into blatant criminality" that could warrant prosecution.
Garcia responded to Scharf's letter with a statement asserting Congress' role as a co-equal branch of government with "wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight" under Article I of the US Constitution.
Garcia further vowed that he and his colleagues "will not be deterred by baseless threats from a weaponized [US Department of Justice] or from the president's lawyers."
Some legal experts expressed bewilderment at Scharf's arguments that conducting congressional oversight could warrant criminal charges.
"The letter from Scharf threatening Garcia with criminal prosecution is a total bluff," wrote former federal prosecutor Harry Litman in a social media post. "The only requirement he cites is a valid legislative purpose, which the Dems have for miles. It's telling that the letter comes from the White House counsel and not the DOJ. And a threat prosecution is non-starter."
Deborah Pearlstein, director of the Princeton Program in Law and Public Policy, argued that the letter is "worth the paper it’s written on, not more."
"This strikes me as a particularly ham-fisted stab at intimidation," Pearlstein explained, "driven by fear and an attempt to appease wealthy friends of the president who benefited from the grift and now may be on the receiving end of a congressional inquiry."
Lee Kovarsky, a law professor at the University of Texas, offered a pithy dismissal of Scharf's letter: "Get D-team lawyers, win D-team prizes."
Ryan Goodman, a professor at the New York University School of Law, described the letter as a "legally repsulive" document that ignores the US Constitution's Speech or Debate clause, which provides lawmakers with broad protections from arrest for carrying out their official duties.
Goodman added that the Scharf letter is "also a self-own" that "will very likely damage the Trump administration in any litigation that Congress pursues in courts."
Goodman's analysis of the letter was echoed by Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney, who argued that it "plays right into Dems’ hands."
"Threatening criminal process for oversight gives them ammo to go straight to subpoenas," he explained, "and tell a court, 'What’s the point of lengthy negotiations with a White House trying to criminalize congressional scrutiny?'"
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said the Scharf letter is "a very clear sign of weakness" that "will be Exhibit 1" used by lawmakers' defense attorneys should the DOJ decide to bring any politically motivated criminal charges against them.
Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, said the Trump White House's "continued threats and attempts to intimidate have become pathetic," adding that "I pay them no mind whatsoever."
"Congress’ authority to conduct oversight and investigations comes from the Constitution, and a letter from the Trump Administration has no bearing on that authority," Walkinshaw said. "We will do what the voters demanded: root out corruption and put in place reforms so the widespread graft and self-enrichment characterizing this Administration can never happen again."
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In Rousing COP31 Address, UN Chief Blasts Big Oil for ‘Making a Killing While Killing Our Planet’
“Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs, but that won’t happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby, but fossil fuels do,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Nov 11, 2026
At his last United Nations Climate Change Conference as secretary-general, António Guterres on Wednesday emphasized that he "will not stop telling the truth" about how the fossil fuel industry and the wealthy governments that continue to hand out oil and gas subsidies are allowing the sector to reap massive profits while people around the world suffer from the worsening impacts of the climate emergency.
“The last four years were the hottest ever, and fossil fuel interests keep making a killing while killing our planet," the secretary-general said bluntly.
"Climate disasters are pounding lives, livelihoods, and economies across the globe," he added. "This is the path to mutually assured destruction."
Guterres spoke two days after the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its "State of the Climate" report at the conference, known as COP31, which is being hosted by the Turkish government in Antalya this year. The report warned that while the past 12 years have been the Earth's warmest on record, the trend has particularly accelerated since 2022.
The impacts have been brutal, with more than 1,500 people killed this year in Nepal and Tibet after a glacier collapsed and caused sudden catastrophic flooding, an estimated 200,000 people killed across Europe by extreme heat over the past years, and tens of thousands of acres scorched by wildfires across Europe and in the COP31 host country this summer.
Last month, the UN released a report finding that avoiding a global temperature rise over 1.5°C above preindustrial temperatures is no longer possible. Experts now say governments must work toward a goal of ensuring that the overshoot is only temporary, just over a decade after the warming limit was agreed to in the Paris Agreement at COP21.
On Wednesday, Guterres emphasized that the failure to avoid passing the 1.5°C limit comes as planet-warming emissions from the oil, gas, and coal industries have continued climbing—and as already wealthy companies' profits have soared.
Meanwhile, those same companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying in an effort to delay a transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources.
“The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us," said Guterres Wednesday. "Emissions in 2025 reached all-time highs. Heat records keep shattering."
“Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs," he added. "And that won’t happen on its own. The dinosaurs did not have a lobby. Fossil fuels do. And their strategy is simple: Distort the science. Delay policy. Delay action. Delay accountability.”
Guterres called on governments to tax oil and gas companies' windfall profits, like those the industry has reported since US President Donald Trump joined Israel in launching an illegal war in Iran. Since the conflict began in February, global energy prices have soared.
Last month, ExxonMobil reported $17.5 billion in adjusted earnings for the third quarter of 2026, while Chevron reported $10.4 billion. British company Shell earned $10.8 billion from July-September, and the French firm TotalEnergies brought in $9.1 billion.
The companies have reaped profits while the global Loss and Damage Fund, which experts and developing countries say needs about $400 billion annually from wealthier governments in order to help poorer countries adapt to emergency and repair damages, is woefully underfunded.
“Those who profit most from fossil fuels must help foot the bill for the damage they have caused," said Guterres. "In the last quarter alone, the nine largest oil companies pocketed $95 billion in profits. Meanwhile, the Loss and Damage Fund has received around $600 million. That is what these companies made in about 14 hours. It’s time for governments to tax these windfall profits—and use them to help vulnerable countries recover. Polluters must pay.”
David Tong, industry campaign manager for the global group Oil Change International (OCI), said in a statement that "trusting big oil to solve the climate crisis is like trusting big tobacco to cure lung cancer."
"Fossil fuel companies actively undermine a renewable energy future while trying to wring as much profits as possible out of fossil fuels while cashing in on conflict," said Tong. "It’s time to tax fossil fuel companies’ superprofits to pay for a transition to publicly owned renewable energy, governments must cut ties with fossil fuel companies and limit their influence on politics, and we must hold polluters accountable—legally and otherwise—for the damages they cause.”
OCI noted that Guterres' speech came shortly after YouGov released new polling that showed significant support in countries with large fossil fuel industries—the US, the UK, and France—for laws to phase out oil, gas, and coal production.
The climate action group 350.org said world leaders at COP31 must "turn growing international support for moving away from fossil fuels into a clear commitment at COP31."
Türkiye and Australia, which is serving as co-president of COP31, "will be to blame if this opportunity is allowed to slip away," said 350.org.
On Tuesday, said the group, attendees took part in "high-level events on roadmaps for transitioning away from fossil fuels," which "saw strong support from countries across negotiating blocs, alongside UN Secretary-General António Guterres, former COP presidents and ministers, for continuing the initiative launched by Brazil's COP30 Presidency in Belém last year."
"While Türkiye indicated it was open to considering the initiative, Australia offered no clear pathway for taking it forward," the organization continued.
Fenton Lutunatabua, Pacific and Caribbean program manager at 350.org, said that "the political mandate for a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels is there."
"The world cannot afford another COP where governments acknowledge the need to move beyond fossil fuels but fail to agree on how to make it happen," said Lutunatabua. “If Australia is unwilling to advance this agenda, Türkiye must lead rather than allow one of the world's most fossil-fuel-dependent governments to hold back progress. The political support is there. What is missing is the leadership to turn it into action.”
This year's UN conference marks the second consecutive year without an official delegation from the US, the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, as Trump has refused to participate.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are also skipping the summit, leaving UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham the only G7 leader attending.
“It really is a disgrace,” Mohamed Adow, the director of Power Shift Africa, told The New York Times of the absences. “The world’s biggest economies should be leading the response to the climate crisis, not leaving it to others.”
But Guterres stressed that despite the absence of leadership from the world's wealthiest economies, "science is not telling us to surrender. It is telling us to fight harder.”
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Lawmakers Report That Some Democrats Missed Hegseth Impeachment Vote to Attend Event for ‘AIPAC Front Group’
The event was hosted by the group Elect Democratic Women, which funneled nearly $2.4 million from AIPAC into congressional races this cycle.
Nov 11, 2026
Some of the 11 Democrats who missed Tuesday’s vote to advance the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were reportedly attending an event hosted by a “front group” for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, commonly known as AIPAC.
The vote, which would have prevented Republicans from killing efforts to impeach Hegseth over his launching of an unauthorized war against Iran, extrajudicial killings of sailors in the Caribbean and Pacific, kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and other actions, fell short by just seven votes.
The absent Democrats—Reps. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Lou Correa (D-Calif.), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.), and Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.)—could have changed the outcome.
Andrew Solender, a congressional reporter for Axios, shed new light on why some of them may have missed the crucial vote.
Citing several lawmakers, he posted on social media:
Some of the House Democrats who missed the Hegseth impeachment vote were on their way back from an Elect Democratic Women event at a venue about 1.5 miles down Pennsylvania Avenue but got caught in a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam on Independence Avenue (the road on the House side of the Capitol complex).
Drop Site News co-founder Ryan Grim noted that EDW was one of many groups that served as a "pass-through" for AIPAC funds in Democratic primaries during the 2026 election cycle.
As The Lever reported last month, AIPAC's super political action committee (PAC), the United Democracy Project, donated nearly $2.4 million to the group's political arm, EDW Action, while Democratic Majority for Israel donated another $140,000. Those funds made up nearly half the money the group subsequently spent in elections during the 2026 cycle, including against Democratic primary candidates critical of Israel, such as Reps.-elect Melat Kiros (D-Colo.) and Amish Shah (D-Ariz.).
EDW, which was founded in 2018 but did not start receiving AIPAC dollars through its action fund until 2024, was one of several innocuous-sounding groups—with names like "Affordable Chicago Now" and "BOLD America"—that acted as conduits for AIPAC dollars as the group's support came to be viewed as toxic among Democratic voters who were outraged by Israel's genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and push for Trump to launch a war with Iran.
Drop Site's congressional reporter Julian Andreone found that all eight of the women who missed the vote have some connection to EDW: Brownley is listed as a founding member and current executive board member, while Stansbury has been an at-large board member since 2025. Gillen is listed as a "frontline member" supported by the group.
The group provided support to Wilson, Stevens, Strickland, and Pettersen during the past election cycle. Pelosi, who has helped EDW raise money for years, missed Tuesday's impeachment vote because she was attending a veterans event in San Francisco.
According to an online post, EDW was holding a "new member reception" from 4:30 to 6:30 ET Tuesday at The Roost food hall at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, during the impeachment vote, which was scheduled for 5:30 ET.
Solender did not clarify which Democrats missed the vote because of their attendance at the EDW event. But at least five members have blamed traffic for their absence: Gillen, Jackson, Stansbury, Strickland, and Pettersen.
Jackson said, “A traffic incident and a police-escorted bus caused a delay.” He and Stansbury entered statements in the Congressional Record opposing the referral motion after arriving too late to vote. Strickland also blamed a motorcade for her absence, with her chief of staff saying she missed the vote by just one minute; she said she also would have voted to advance the impeachment effort.
A spokesperson for Pettersen accused Republicans of having "cynically closed the vote early" when several Democratic members were stuck in traffic. In a statement posted to social media, Brownley said she and her colleagues were "rushing to the floor" when House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) closed the vote.
Correa has said he missed the vote due to a medical procedure in California. Horsford's office said he missed the vote due to an unspecified "personal emergency."
As of Wednesday morning, Stevens and Wilson had not provided an explanation for why they missed the vote.
Reports that members of Congress were attending an event hosted by a group linked to AIPAC—which has cheered President Donald Trump's attack on Iran—immediately fueled speculation that their absences from the vote may not have been entirely accidental.
Journalist and AIPAC critic Adam Johnson mocked their explanations in a post on social media: "'I was stuck in traffic after attending an event for an AIPAC front group so I couldn’t (accidentally, and in good faith) vote to impeach the person prosecuting the war AIPAC enthusiastically supports,'” he wrote. "OK. If you say so."
The lawmakers who said they missed the vote due to traffic have not responded to questions from Common Dreams regarding whether they were returning from EDW’s event when the vote took place.
Common Dreams has also asked other members who have not explained their absences why they missed the vote. Those lawmakers have also not responded to the requests for comment.
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