Fight Fascism and Corruption: Dems cave, Epstein news, Mamdani, and more

[Charlie Cooper]

“Moderate” Dems Give In on Budget

As background to any discussion of the impasse on the 2026 budget and the ensuing shutdown, we must remember that Trump and his budget chief, Russell Vought, illegally impounded $410 billion in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget. Here’s just one item that exemplifies Trump using hunger as a weapon against the people. 

The Baltimore Banner: “I am prepared to work toward a compromise, but this funding bill before us tonight does not come close to meeting those terms,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen said in a statement ahead of the vote. He added that the bill doesn’t do enough to restrict President Donald Trump from circumventing Congress’ spending authority. [Emphasis added.] Democrats should have spent money to amplify two messages:

1. No deals with Trump unless he promises in writing to stop violating the budget laws.

2. To please their billionaire buddies, Republicans want to make life less affordable for families

Nate Silver: Non-partisan oddsmaker and elections observer Nate Silver says Democrats had no strategy, and Schumer should resign.

Contact senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen and thank them for voting against the cave-in.

Click to email	Phone Number
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks	202-224-4524
Sen. Chris Van Hollen	202-224-4654

New Epstein Revelations

Drop Site News: The mainstream media seem interested only in juicy - i.e., sex-related - news about Epstein. Analysis of leaked emails between Jeffrey Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak show “. . . Epstein’s role in brokering a security agreement between Israel and Mongolia, Epstein’s [successful] effort to set up a backchannel between Israel and Russia during the Syria civil war [and] Epstein’s role as a key facilitator of a security agreement between Israel and the West African nation of Côte d’Ivoire. He got Barak a meeting with Putin. How’s that for juice? (If you’re not following Drop Site News, you’re missing out on scoops about international intrigue.) With the House coming back into session, there is a possibility that Democrats and a handful of Republicans will be able to force full release of the Epstein files.

What does Zohran’s Victory Mean?

Is Mamdani’s election a template that the Democratic Party can follow to retake power? The billionaires who have been funding the party will fight tooth and nail to prevent that. And many of the old-guard Democratic politicians must be scared as . . . heck! Many of them are taking lessons on how to work the word “affordability” into every other sentence while working behind the scenes to undermine him and the movement that propelled him.

Mamdani is not from the working class, but his empathy is genuine. In 2021, he went on a hunger strike for 15 days in solidarity with taxicab drivers who were drowning in debt to pay for the “medallion” they needed to operate in the City. A settlement was reached that reduced debt payments from $3,800 and up to a maximum of slightly over $1,100 per month. 

Mamdani’s approach is a far cry from the typical scenario of a candidate begging billionaires for money and asking consultants what to say and do. He puts his progressive ideas out front. He leads with socialism, pro-immigrant policies, rent control, public transit subsidies, support for Palestinians, and opposition to Israel’s genocide. Partially as a response to Trump’s brutal anti-immigrant crusade, the City’s vibrant immigrant communities formed the core of more than 90,000 campaign volunteers who created a wave of support that led to record turnout and ultimate victory.

Mamdani used New York City’s public campaign finance law. That’s an innovation that has grown up from grassroots efforts around the country, including in several large jurisdictions in Maryland. It’s not available for Presidential and Congressional races, however.

The Decline of the United States Is Not Attributable to Trump

Trump is a symptom of the problem, but the challenge is to go to the root causes of public dissatisfaction: Big money in politics, offshoring, privatization, declining unionism, unregulated monopoly and high prices, and futile foreign wars – costly in blood and treasure. These forces led to the affordability crisis that led to Trump’s 2024 victory.

Thus, it’s not enough to beat MAGA. Internal decay in the United States is a systemic phenomenon. We must reverse the following: 

• Wasting $5,000 to $7,000 per person per year ($1.7 - $2.2 trillion!) on a health care system that produces declining life expectancy. 

• Ignoring climate change. Hurricanes, forest fires, and coastal erosion can only be mitigated by a Green New Deal.

• Letting Wall Street run amok. The next financial crisis (see below) could be worse than the previous one.

• Permitting a small group of AI companies to steal our data, dominate our water supplies, hog the electricity, and eliminate jobs. 

• Frittering away $1 trillion per year on a war machine that alienates the whole world and risks nuclear annihilation.

On a national scale, the Democrats must regulate rather than embrace Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Oil, and the health system profiteers. If they do win control of Congress, they must stop green-lighting Trump’s sycophantic, unqualified nominees, assert their rightful power over the budget and war-making, and use the power of the purse to block ICE’s criminal excesses.

Despite all Trump’s reverses, his net approval rating is still marginally better than it was in his first term, according to the New York Times. The gubernatorial victories of Spanberger in Virginia and Sherrill in New Jersey are based on voter disappointment in and frustration with Trump, but beating the Republicans in 2026 and 2028 is not guaranteed. It would be easier with a popular campaign that gives people economic hope.

Now is the time to put together a national plan to defend and win elections

Just as Mamdani won only with 90,000 of supporters on his side, Democrats will win Congress only with hundreds of thousands of volunteers. These people - us - will not merely serve as campaign volunteers; they will defend the election mechanisms in states and localities across the nation. Trump’s plan to upend elections can only be thwarted with people power. 

Please consider not giving through the Democratic Party and its major organs, Democratic Senate Campaign Committee or Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Give it to specific candidates who will steer the nation in the right direction or to progressive organizations like (Justice Democrats) that will address the current crisis. Balletopedia will tell you about candidates endorsed by your favorite political leader. Just search for ‘candidates endorsed by <Politician>’. Here is a link to the list of candidates endorsed by Bernie Sanders for 2026.

News Items

The American Prospect: The Trump administration is decimating banking regulation and may be sowing the seeds of the next financial meltdown/billionaire bailout.

The Baltimore Banner: Baltimore’s housing woes highlight dangers of deregulation.

The New York Times: Book Review: ‘Injustice,’ by Carol Leonnig and Aaron C. Davis, explains how Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, slow-walked investigations of Trump until successful prosecution became impossible.

BIG by Matt Stoller: During the shutdown, “The Antitrust Division and FTC have suspended merger challenges, but not merger approvals.”

The Baltimore Banner: Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson is under fire from officials and rank and file members of his own Democratic Party for blocking (so far) attempts to draw new districts to advantage the Democratic Party in the upcoming 2026 Congressional election.

Charlie Cooper

M: 410-624-6095

[Hank Prensky]

Great compendium of smart politics (AS USUAL) mi Jéfe!

RESIST and PERSIST!

Hank

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GMOM-volunteers" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to GMOM-voluntee...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/GMOM-volunteers/CAAQsMZyCp%3DDfTK93BTLNO-AbcNhB0jLrkqZY-fhryqr%3D4pn11Q%40mail.gmail.com.

[barrie friedland]

Hi everyone.  I am still in deep mourning about the Dems caving in to accept the very offer that Thune presented on day 1.  Of course then there was no need for restorative measures since the shutdown had not yet occurred 

So after 40 days, incredible victories for the Dems- both elective office and ballot issues- together with trump and GOP knowing people blamed them for that plus more- the Dems caved?  For the "promise" of voting on ACA subsidies

next month?  Someone please explain this to me.

The GOP was shellacked all across the country last week and they held firm.

On Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM Jay Steinmetz <jayste...@gmail.com> wrote:

A lot of people screamed, saying that Gaza was being starved. Yet they remain silent when politicians shut down the government, effectively blocking access to 42 million Americans' Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. 

[Charlie Cooper]

Jay, Do you mean to imply that you don't think Gazans were being starved by Israel? All the NGO testimony and the report of our own Senator Chris Van Hollen confirm Israel's role in ensuring that food, medicine, water, and hygiene products are disallowed or allowed only in inadequate dribbles. 

Do you mean to imply that the suffering of SNAP recipients in the U.S. is comparable to the suffering of people in Gaza? 

Do you mean to imply that Democrats bear more responsibility than Republicans for the suffering borne by U.S. residents? If so, I would remind you that it's the Republican budget that cuts SNAP and Medicaid for the long term, that will eventually require Medicare to be cut also (due to existing PAYGO statute), and that ends enhanced subsidies for Obamacare. (Yes, the enhanced subsidies do reflect the major weaknesses in the existing ACA bill.) It is the Republican President who refuses to spend money appropriated exactly for SNAP emergencies despite courts ordering him to spend it.

This brings me to the final point. To repeat what's in the newsletter, Democrats are foolish to agree to any budget deal with Republicans unless and until Trump or a large enough bloc of Republican legislators admit that he violated the 2025 budget law. He refused to spend for USAID, medical and other research, public broadcasting, and myriad other categories of appropriation to the tune of $410 billion. Democrats missed their chance to pound this fact home, and they put us in jeopardy of sinking deeper into fascism.

Charlie Cooper

M: 410-624-6095

On Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM Jay Steinmetz <jayste...@gmail.com> wrote:

A lot of people screamed, saying that Gaza was being starved. Yet they remain silent when politicians shut down the government, effectively blocking access to 42 million Americans' Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. 

On Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 12:04 PM Charlie Cooper <charlie...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Charlie Cooper]

Thanks for your reply, Judith. You are interpreting and defending Jay's assertion that there is silence on SNAP cuts.  I asked Jay whether he considers the hunger in the U.S. comparable to that in Gaza, and he did not reply, but I certainly don't think it's comparable in length of time or depth of deprivation. I will respond to the question of silence on SNAP cuts, but, first, here's a photo of Joan and me at the Poor People's Campaign rally in Washington this past summer.

Trump's "flood the zone" tactic is quite effective. Compared with his first term, he has a much more active staff that lines up actions for him to take. Trump has signed 212 Executive Orders in 2025. Obama signed fewer than 300 in 8 years. Here are some evil things Trump and his lapdogs have done from the top of my head:.

• Violent and often illegal ICE raids on top of invalid deportations
• Mobilized National Guard after touting false crime emergencies
• Raised tariffs irrationally after declaring a fake emergency
• Denied birthright citizenship
• Medicaid and SNAP cuts in the Republican budget
• Gutted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, banking regulation, crypto regulation, USAID, public broadcasting, immunization program
• Gave our personal data to Musk, Palantir, and other big tech firms
• Took a huge bribe from UAE (and many others)
• Granted export rights in exchange for bribes
• Manipulated and deleted federal agency data and ruined websites
• In the shutdown, kept merger approval staff operating while furloughing anti-trust staff
• Murdering people in the Caribbean and Pacific -- which may be a prelude to an attempt to steal Venezuela's oil
• Refused to spend the emergency SNAP money -- one of dozens of such "pocket impoundments."

On October 1, the government shut down, and on October 18, more than 7 million people took to the streets for a No Kings rally. The health and social welfare cuts are certainly a part of that. In light of all this, I don't think it's correct or useful to say that people didn't protest SNAP cuts. I do think there are major community self-help efforts in cities across the nation to backfill for the lack of SNAP, but those efforts cannot fully fill the gap nor do they get much media exposure.

Charlie Cooper

M: 410-624-6095

On Sat, Nov 15, 2025 at 8:16 AM Judith Schagrin <janea...@gmail.com> wrote:

I understood Jay to be commenting on the lack of widespread organized protest when SNAP benefits were denied - a fair point given that an estimated 60,000 Americans die each year from malnutrition. Nearly 42 million Americans rely on supplemental food assistance, including roughly 16 million children and about 8 million adults over age 60.  

As for the rapid shift into what could become a heated debate about Israel - and the declaration of absolute “truths” in a landscape full of misinformation, I’m sorry that's where many progressives feel the need to go these days.  

How about staying the course in what unifies us?

Respectfully,

Judith Schagrin

On Sat, Nov 15, 2025 at 1:44 AM Max Obuszewski <mobusze...@comcast.net> wrote:

Jay,

 

I was stunned to see what you wrote and will try to answer.  You never defined “A lot of people … “ And then somehow you know they silent about SNAP.  I can tell you I and innumerable organizations recognized that the starvation policy was part of the genocide. Sixty three of us were arrested in the Dirksen Senate Office Building cafeteria on April 9, 2024 in a protest against starvation in Gaza. My sentence was 30 days in jail suspended.

 

There were once over 400 feeding stations in Gaza, but that was reduced to four.  And at the four, they were free-fire zones.  Imagine you are desperate and you dare to try to get a bag of flour.  Many never survived.  Possibly you missed the Oct. 15 Washington Post article “Goggle let Israel’s ‘There is food in Gaza’ ads to stay online.” The ads were total propaganda. 

 

When I was part of a human rights tour of Israel/Occupied Palestine in 1989, UNRWA was doing heroic work. Of course, Bibi declared it a terrorist organization.  Shin Bet agents took me into custody, told me to remove my clothes but for boxer shorts  and interrogated me. Also note Bibi made sure Hamas was well-funded and ignored intelligence reports that Hamas was planning an attack.

 

Also, like all progressives, I protested the cut-off of SNAP.  Finally, on Thursday the PBS News Hour did a segment about Palestinian children who were amputees.  It was very difficult to watch.  Kagiso, Max   

 

From: Jay Steinmetz [mailto:jayste...@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 3:50 PM

A lot of people screamed, saying that Gaza was being starved. Yet they remain silent when politicians shut down the government, effectively blocking access to 42 million Americans' Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. 

 

On Wed, Nov 12, 2025 at 12:04 PM Charlie Cooper <charlie...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

“Moderate” Dems Give In on Budget

 

As background to any discussion of the impasse on the 2026 budget and the ensuing shutdown, we must remember that Trump and his budget chief, Russell Vought, illegally impounded $410 billion in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget. Here’s just one item that exemplifies Trump using hunger as a weapon against the people. 

 

The Baltimore Banner: “I am prepared to work toward a compromise, but this funding bill before us tonight does not come close to meeting those terms,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen said in a statement ahead of the vote. He added that the bill doesn’t do enough to restrict President Donald Trump from circumventing Congress’ spending authority. [Emphasis added.] Democrats should have spent money to amplify two messages:

1.       No deals with Trump unless he promises in writing to stop violating the budget laws.

2.      To please their billionaire buddies, Republicans want to make life less affordable for families

 

Charlie Cooper

M: 410-624-6095