by Jon Queally | Nov 10, 2025 | Article, Democrats, health care, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Nov. 10, 2025. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
Fury on the progressive left and among lawmakers who opposed such “capitulation” to the Republican Party erupted overnight after a handful of Senate Democrats joined with their GOP counterparts in a procedural vote on Sunday night to end the government shutdown without gaining any meaningful concessions.
With the support of eight members of the Democratic caucus—Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Angus King of Maine, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire—Republicans in the upper chamber secured the necessary 60 votes needed to pass a cloture vote that paves the way for a deal critics warn does nothing to save Americans from soaring healthcare premiums unleashed due to the GOP spending bill passed earlier this year and signed into law by President Donald Trump.
“It is thoroughly disappointing that, while most Americans overwhelmingly oppose Republicans’ horrific budget, support the fight to curtail Trump’s authoritarianism, and want to protect healthcare, some Democrats failed to hold the line, and squandered an opportunity to score a popular and decisive win for the American people,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-director of the progressive watchdog group Public Citizen.
The deal will combine three separate funding measures into a single stopgap bill that will reopen the government and keep it funded through the end of January of 2026, but contains no restoration of Medicaid funding, fails to curb Trump rescissions that have devastated government agencies and programs, and does nothing to address Affordable Care Act subsidies other than a “meaningless” promised vote to extend them within 40 days—a vote nearly sure to fail in the
by Adam Johnson | Nov 7, 2025 | Article, elections, Media Criticism, New York, Opinion, Politics and Movements: US
Unable to stop Zohran Mamdani’s momentum after he won New York’s mayoral Democratic primary last June––fueled by a message of populist policies and social justice, and unperturbed by nonstop bad faith attacks by pro-Israel bullies––centrist and liberal media has adopted a different, more subtle tone in their effort to “moderate” the Mayor-elect: using the trappings of pragmatism and technocracy to whittle down the redistributive policies and class-driven language that defined his campaign. Rather than govern as he campaigned, as a crusading outsider socialist standing for tenants, Gaza, and workers, they insist it’s time for Mamdani to Grow Up, put on his big boy pants, purge his circle of Democratic Socialists, and hire Serious People motivated by Serious Solutions.
This makes sense. After all, traditional media attacks on Mamdani fell universally flat for months on end. Nothing seemed to stick, in part due to the fact that Mamdani seems to genuinely be a choir boy whose greatest transgressions are saying objectively true, but critical, statements about Israel and referring to his parent’s cousin at his “Auntie”––two things, it turns out, 90% of the world does. So a new tactic has emerged, one of attempted co-option, supposedly good faith advice, phone calls from powerful and famous Democratic luminaries, backroom meetings with “business leaders,” and the parallel implied threats of pushback if he doesn’t go along with The Way Things Are. This piece isn’t meant to be a commentary on whether this approach has been, or will be, successful (the jury is very much out on that). But it is worth documenting the way this particular mode of ideological disciplining works, and how it
by Chris Walker | Nov 7, 2025 | Article, Economy, Economy and Inequality, labor, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint
This story was originally published on Truthout on Nov. 06, 2025. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
A new report examining worker layoffs in the United States this year finds that the numbers through October closely resemble those seen during recessions in the past.
The report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a private firm that tracks workplace hirings and firings across the country, found that there were 153,074 layoffs reported last month alone, a 183 percent increase from September. October 2025 also saw the highest number of layoffs for that month in particular over the past 22 years.
Around 1.1 million layoffs have been reported in the U.S. from January to the end of October, the report stated. Major companies that posted high layoff numbers included UPS, Amazon, and Target, while tech jobs also saw big hits, with firings at a rate 17 percent higher than in 2024, the result of a slowdown in demand and new technologies.
“Some industries are correcting after the hiring boom of the pandemic, but this comes as AI [artificial intelligence] adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs drive belt-tightening and hiring freezes,” said Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Those laid off now are finding it harder to quickly secure new roles, which could further loosen the labor market.”
The 1.1 million layoffs number is 65 percent higher than what was reported through this same period last year. This year’s numbers are also the highest since the start of the Great Recession, excluding the 2020 layoffs during the global pandemic.
The report comes as President Donald Trump consistently pushes the false narrative
by Marc Steiner | Nov 7, 2025 | Chicago, Fascism, Podcast, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, Racial Justice, The Marc Steiner Show, Trump
by Maximillian Alvarez | Nov 7, 2025 | elections, New York, Politics and Movements: US, video
by Maximillian Alvarez | Nov 6, 2025 | education, Israel, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, Trump, Working People
Life on college campuses has changed dramatically in the last 10 months. While institutions of higher education continue to reel from the Trump administration’s top-down attacks and scramble to adjust, workers on campus say that their universities are simultaneously expanding their own internal repression and surveillance apparatuses to squash dissent. In this episode, we speak with a panel of graduate student workers and union members from Columbia University and the University of Michigan about the chilling new reality on their campuses and what it’s like to live, learn, and work there today.
Panelists include; Vayne, a PhD candidate in history at Columbia University and a member of the bargaining committee for Student Workers of Columbia; Conlan Olson, a PhD student in computer science at Columbia University and a member of the bargaining committee for Student Workers of Columbia; Jared Eno, a grad worker in sociology and public policy at the University of Michigan and a rank-and-file member of the Graduate Employees Organization.
Additional links/info:
Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) website, Instagram, Facebook page, and X page
Student Workers of Columbia-UAW Local 2710 website, Instagram, Facebook page, and X page
Glenn Hedin & Barrett Dolata, The Michigan Daily, “Three pro-Palestine activists arrested for protesting speech given by former Israeli soldiers”
Student Workers of Columbia press release: “Columbia threatens discipline for union picket, extends repression to labor action”
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘The raids happened Wednesday, finals started Thursday’: FBI agents raid homes of pro-Palestine students at University of Michigan”
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “‘Worse’ than McCarthyism: Trump’s war on higher education, free speech, and political dissent”
Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘A tremendous chilling effect’: Columbia students describe dystopian reality on campus amid
