Progressive Politics

Trump leaves office (dead, impeached, whatever). JD goes to jail. Our speaker of the house takes over. That's my hope for Jan 2027.

United States Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not be investigating the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good, while also confirming reports that it is looking into charges against top Minnesota officials for encouraging protests.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday night, Blanche said the civil rights unit of the Justice Department would not bow to pressure to investigate the shooting death of Minneapolis resident and mother Good, 37, earlier this month.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said her office would seek the death penalty for Elias Rodriguez, who is accused of ~~murdering~~ neutralizing Israeli ~~embassy staffers~~ operatives Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim in Washington in May, the Miami Herald, reported Friday.

US President Donald Trump told Norway's prime minister he no longer needed to think "purely of peace" after failing to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in a message published on Monday.

"Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace," Trump said in a message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

It is unclear why Trump decided to send a message to Støre as the peace prize is decided by the Norwegian Nobel Committee and not the government.

I've completed Hobbes's Leviathan today and this came to my mind because people always refer to Hobbes as the founder of liberalism or at least an important philosopher in the development of liberalism. Many people also say that his ideas are centered on humans being self-preserving entities but he says humans are like that only in the state of nature. And he only mentions property rights and nothing like the existence of inheritence laws or anything. He also mentions that people should have an area in which they are free from other people but not from the sovereign. However, this does not imply liberalism in any way shape or form. I mean are people not allowed to enter eachothers' houses only in liberal societies?

For example, lets say you are living in some kind of a communist village of 50 families. You are the king and your village has produced 500 breads last week and you are going to distribute them equally among all families and you do this every month after you collect the entire production as tax to redistribute it late. So you gave 10 breads to each family for this week. If there were no property rights, then there is nothing preventing one of those families from stealing a bread from the other. One of those families may be sick which would make them more vulnerable to theft. In conclusion, you can distribute products produced equally but it should still become their property by law am I wrong?

I would write individualism vs collectivism too but it would be too long but in short, I think Hobbes defends collectivism in an indirect way despite popular belief. Hobbes does not say humans are inherently greedy and self-interested self-preserving individuals but they are like that in order to be able to protect themselves in the state of nature.

Let's make sure the Streisand Effect goes into full-swing here.

Personal Note: Landlords, especially those owning more than two houses, are a cancer on society and their existence should be banned.

The richest people on the planet are far more likely to be in power politically than everyone else, Oxfam’s annual inequality report found.

Some 74 of the world’s 2,027 billionaires held either executive or legislative government positions in 2023, giving them a 3.6% chance of holding office, according to Oxfam’s study, which was released Sunday. By contrast, the average global citizen had just a 0.0009% chance of holding office.

“This year’s report really shines a light on the relationship between political inequality and economic inequality,” said Rebecca Riddell, senior policy lead for economic justice at Oxfam America. “The fact that billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold office than you or I underscores just how much outsized power billionaires have.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41890395

January 18, 2026

[contains 3 parts: an editorial by World-Outlook; an article from In These Times and Workday Magazine; and a press release from the Minneapolis Regional Federation of #Labor, AFL-CIO.]

MINNEAPOLIS — #Unions and community groups gathered in front of the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, this morning to announce a day of ​“no work, no school, no shopping” on January 23 to oppose the ferocious assault on the state by federal #immigration authorities.

“We are facing a tsunami of hate from our own federal government,” Abdikarim Khasim, a Minnesota rideshare driver, told the crowd. ​“We’re going to shut it down on the 23rd. We’re going to overcome this.”

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7372023

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/20556

Amid unprecedented backlash against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, California Gov. Gavin Newsom—considered a leading contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination—is being accused of giving the increasingly violent agency a pass after an interview with right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro in which he softened his criticism of ICE.

In recent days, following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good last week in Minneapolis, officers of ICE and other federal agencies have been documented engaging in blatant racial profiling, unconstitutional “citizenship checks,” and extreme uses of physical force, including dragging a disabled US citizen from her car on the way to a doctor's appointment, as the Associated Press reported Friday.

It is part of a pattern of behavior by ICE that Newsom's press office described as "state-sponsored terrorism" as recently as January 7, when he used the term to describe Good's killing by agent Jonathan Ross, who was recorded shooting Good in the head after stepping in front of her vehicle and referring to her as a "fucking bitch." Agents also obstructed emergency medical services from arriving at the scene of the shooting to assist Good, according to video and eyewitness accounts.

But when questioned by the cantankerous debater Shapiro on his podcast, This is Gavin Newsom on Thursday, the governor backed off that forceful description of the agency.

— (@)

“Your press office tweeted out that it was state-sponsored terrorism, which, I mean, Governor, I just have to ask you about that. That sort of thing makes our politics worse, and it does,” said Shapiro, to which Newsom responded, “Yeah.”

Shapiro continued: “Our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists. A tragic situation is not state-sponsored terrorism.”

“Yeah, I think that’s fair,” agreed Newsom.

A short clip of that exchange, shared in celebration by Shapiro's outlet, the Daily Wire, was met with widespread criticism on social media from those who wanted to see one of the Democratic Party's most prominent leaders take an unapologetic stance against ICE.

Mehdi Hasan, founder of the news outlet Zeteo, questioned why "Newsom is trying to wreck his otherwise very strong chance of winning the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination by doing this self-destructive podcast where he allows right-wing guests to walk all over him and then promote clips online of them walking all over him."

But this clip showed only one of several instances during the nearly two-hour interview in which Newsom rolled over to his guest's pro-ICE framing.

When Shapiro interrogated Newsom about California's supposed "sanctuary state" policy and suggested the state should “cooperate with ICE in the vast majority of cases,” Newsom responded: “That's exactly what they do in California.”

Newsom then boasted that there have been “over 10,000” deportations he’s cooperated with since he became governor of California. Though he emphasized that the sanctuary law only allows for the state’s correctional facilities to cooperate with ICE, advocates have criticized it for allowing the deportation of those who were never convicted and those who’ve had their cases dropped.

“California has cooperated with more ICE transfers, probably, than any other state in the country,” he continued. “I vetoed multiple pieces of legislation that have come from my legislature to stop the ability for the state of California to do that.”

Newsom has indeed vetoed at least two pieces of Democratic legislation that sought to further limit the state’s cooperation with ICE—one in 2023, which would have repealed requirements allowing prisons to transfer noncitizens to ICE custody after they leave prison, and another in 2019, which would have banned private security companies from entering California prisons to transfer people to ICE custody.

Shapiro later questioned Newsom on whether he agreed with calls from some Democrats to “abolish” ICE in the wake of the shooting, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), another potential favorite for the 2028 nomination.

Newsom said, “I disagree,” adding, “I believe a candidate for president by the name of Harris said that in the last campaign. I remember being on [All In with Chris Hayes] hours later saying, ‘I think that’s a mistake.’”

While she has been critical of the agency and suggested changing its enforcement priorities, it is untrue that former Vice President Kamala Harris has ever called to “abolish ICE,” even saying as far back as 2018 that “ICE has a purpose. ICE has a role, ICE should exist.”

She did not call for ICE to be abolished during the 2024 campaign for president as Newsom suggested, and was criticized by immigrants’ rights activists for running further to the right on immigration than in years past.

By rejecting calls to abolish ICE, critics noted that Newsom was expressing a position far out of touch with the Democratic base and with a widening segment of the country, which has grown increasingly hostile toward ICE over the past year, and especially in the wake of its actions in Minnesota, which have led many to see it more as President Donald Trump's personal paramilitary force than a legitimate law enforcement agency.

A poll earlier this week by the *Economist/*YouGov revealed that for the first time ever, “abolishing ICE” had more support (46%) than opposition (43%) among American adults. Among those who said they leaned Democratic, 80% favored abolishing the agency, compared with just 11% who opposed it.

“This is an unbelievably stupid move from Gavin Newsom,” wrote the host of the left-wing talk show One Hand Politics, who goes by Mason, in response to the governor's rejection of the call to abolish ICE.

He implored Newsom to “grow a fucking spine and stop chasing Republican moderates that don’t exist. They all hate you.”

Brian Tashman, a political researcher and strategist at the ACLU, noted that Newsom is “not willing to push back against Ben Shapiro but will push back against labor organizers trying to enact a billionaire tax that would affect a few hundred people."

Left-wing commentator Joe Mayall saw the interaction as a window into how Newsom might perform in a possible 2028 presidential debate against Vice President JD Vance, widely seen as the Republican who would succeed Trump.

He wrote: “If you get cooked by Ben Shapiro, you don’t have a chance against Vance."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7364546

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/20612

The Pennsylvania Working Families Party rolled out an online "hub" on Friday to support a primary challenger to the state's US senator, John Fetterman.

The WFP, an independent party that often supports Democrats with a populist economic agenda, backed Fetterman's 2022 Senate bid when he ran in the general election as a champion of many progressive causes. But the group now says he "sold out working Pennsylvanians" after pivoting hard to the right on key issues.

It launched the campaign to oust him in November after he voted with Republicans to reopen the government without an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, which is expected to spike health insurance premiums for over 22 million Americans this year.

“While Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is supporting Trump’s use of American tax dollars to ‘run’ Venezuela or buy Greenland, 500,000 Pennsylvanians are about to see their healthcare premiums rise because of the Republican budget bill he supported,” said Nick Gavio, mid-Atlantic communications director for the Working Families Party and a former Fetterman staffer. “People across Pennsylvania did not put time, money, and energy into supporting his campaign just to elect a Democrat who votes against our interests time and time again. We need new leadership.”

— (@)

The website provides past Fetterman donors who feel betrayed by the senator with a form letter to "request a refund" of past contributions from the campaign. It also contains a "Sell-out Tracker," which seeks to "track every bad position" he has taken.

In addition to his vote to reopen the government, the group notes that Fetterman has voted to confirm 50% of Trump's Cabinet picks. He was the only Democrat who voted to confirm Attorney General Pam Bondi and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and one of the very few to vote in favor of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

It also accuses him of "betraying vulnerable people" by supporting Republican legislation that eliminates due process for undocumented immigrants, cheering US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid its mass deportation crusade, and giving full-throated support to Israel's genocidal war in Gaza and Trump's strikes on Iran.

The site also highlights Fetterman's tendency to neglect the basic duties of his job as a senator, which he has admitted he skips to spend more time with his family and because he finds them “overwhelmingly procedural.”

Fetterman has one of the worst attendance records in the Senate, having missed over 100 votes since April 2024 and skipped 44 out of 45 meetings for committees he was assigned to between January and May 2025.

He has also said he hosts very few town halls in order to avoid protesters, who have shown up to voice their discontent with his support for Israel, among other controversial positions.

As the site points out, while some other Democrats fought tooth and nail in a losing effort to stop Republicans from passing massive safety-net cuts in this summer's budget reconciliation package, Fetterman told Politico, "I just want to go home" and complained that he'd missed his family's trip to the beach.

— (@)

So far, no prominent Pennsylvania Democrats have offered themselves up as potential primary challengers for Fetterman, who comes up for reelection in 2028.

Top names, including former Rep. Conor Lamb, who ran against Fetterman in the 2022 Democratic primary, and Philadelphia area Rep. Madeleine Dean have said they would not challenge Fetterman if he ran for another term.

Meanwhile, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), who called Fetterman "Trump's favorite Democrat" last year, told NOTUS he'd be open to running against him.

The Pennsylvania Working Families Party said it is collecting donations that it will use to help "identify, recruit, and elect a real working class champion to replace Fetterman in the US Senate."

The group told NBC News that it has already amassed more than 425 people interested in either running against Fetterman themselves or volunteering their time or donating to help the effort to unseat him.

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41872429

for more information on the march: https://www.iceoutnowmn.com/

March on Jan. 23 - ICE Out of #Minnesota
[Posted on FB]

https://www.iceoutnowmn.com/

#ImmigrantRightsAreHumanRights
#DueProcessForAll
#StopTheDeportations
#ReneeGoodICEBad #MeltICE
#GeneralStrike #Minneapolis
#immigration #immigrants #deportations #ICE
#USA #US #USpol #politics #Trump #news #protest
@progressivepolitics

New York City’s pension funds could resume investing in Israeli government bonds, a move that would funnel public money directly into Israel’s treasury despite the ongoing genocide in Gaza and its apartheid system in the occupied West Bank.

“The Israel bonds have performed very well and they continue to be investment grade rated,” Mark Levine, New York City’s chief financial officer, told the FT. “My fiduciary responsibility is to make investment decisions based on that record of performance.”

Israeli government bonds function as direct loans to the state, providing steady interest payments to investors while channelling cash straight into government coffers.

Edit: Liberals watch this before commenting

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41861198

An intense cat-and-mouse game is putting enraged residents face to face with heavily armed federal agents.

Jan. 17, 2026

Fear and fury can explode on any street corner during this charged time in Minneapolis, any time, any place the muscle of the federal government meets the rage of the citizens who reject its tactics.

Thousands of people attended a march last Saturday to mourn Renee Good, the woman an ICE agent had shot and killed days earlier. There have been school walkouts, daily protests outside the federal building where agents take detainees, four-person protests on frigid street corners and an hourslong demonstration after an ICE agent shot a man in the leg while attempting to detain him on Wednesday night.

The Israel lobby is exposed these days as it has never been before. Or AIPAC is. AIPAC is a dirty word among Democrats because it refuses to criticize the Netanyahu government.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner are both refusing AIPAC donations. In New York City, progressive Democratic candidates are primarying two sitting congressmen, Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, and making the incumbent’s donations from AIPAC an issue.

The liberal Zionist organization J Street looks to be the beneficiary of this shift. J Street used to represent a left/liberal fringe of the Democratic establishment. Now it represents the center/right.

And J Street is lobbying hard for Israel. It doesn’t want the U.S. to cut military aid to Israel. It says it wants young Jews to “fall in love with Israel” all over again.

the home of Shia Islam doesn't need Western values—it needs sovereignty from the Empire that so desperately wants to destroy it.

Cross posted from https://lemmygrad.ml/post/10405618