We’re old enough to remember when Congress existed

The holidays bring a lot up for people. Some are full of joy. Some are just trying to get through the day. Wherever this lands, it’s okay. May today give you a moment to breathe, a reason to smile, and a reminder that you matter.

“If you can’t afford to pay double for your health care, you can’t afford Matt Van Epps.”

As desperate Republicans attack @aftynbehn.bsky.social on TV constantly, here’s one that accurately hits Van Epps for Trump Republicans spiking costs. #TN7

Starbucks’ CEO makes 6,666x what the average @sbworkersunited.org barista does. It would take less than one day of sales to finalize a fair contract.

Baristas at Starbucks corporate stores nationwide are on strike to fight this corporate greed and get the fair contract they deserve.

These Megan Kelly clips are pretty good proof that a lot of people have gotten much much much worse over the last 10 years

Remember: The richest 1% evade over $160 billion in taxes every year.

That amount would fund SNAP for a year with money to spare.

Ask yourself who the real freeloaders are.

Pritzker breaks ground on state-backed grocery in Venice, calling it a 'revival' for forgotten towns The Illinois governor says the project proves government can help the free market work where private investors walked away.

In 2023, I proposed the Illinois Grocery Initiative to lower food prices and provide options in food deserts across the state. www.ksdk.com/article/news...

Other huge victories from last night's elections:

-PA Dems defended their 5-2 Supreme Court majority
-GA Dems flipped two GOP-held seats on the state utility commission
-CO approved a ballot measure to fund universal school meals

America's Sleeping Giant has awakened.

If you don’t know Lina Khan, now is a great time to know about her. She’s now on Zohran Mamdani’s transition team. She’s also the former FTC Chair, only 36, & committed to leveling the playing field for everyday Americans. She is an absolute star. This is what hope feels like.

Mamdani: "My message to ICE agents & to everyone across this city is that everyone will be held to the same standard of the law. If you violate it, you must be held accountable. There is sadly a sense growing that certain people are allowed to violate that law, whether they be POTUS or ICE agents."

Zohran Mamdani ran on freezing the rent in NYC.

Abigail Spanberger ran on supporting fired federal workers and lowering the cost of living in VA.

Mikie Sherrill ran on lowering utility bills in NJ.

Ensuring people can afford to live a decent life is the path forward.

LA: “They took a US citizen father out and left a toddler in the backseat. Two heavily armed border patrol agents got in that car and drove the child and the vehicle away.”

What are we doing?

Pope Leo calls for ‘deep reflection’ about treatment of detained migrants in U.S. “Many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now,” Chicago-born pope says.

"Pope Leo said Scripture emphasizes the question that will be posed at the end of the world:

'How did you receive the foreigner, did you receive him and welcome him, or not? I think there is a deep reflection that needs to be made about what is happening'..."

chicago.suntimes.com/pope-leo-xiv...

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video.

I don’t know how we’ve gotten to the point where men in full balaclavas can abduct daycare teachers while they’re watching children.

But I do know that this isn’t sustainable. Abolish ICE. There is no way to reform this.

This really hasn’t gotten enough attention this week.

@wired.com #ICE
www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...

The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $6.6 trillion.

The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion.

Read that back.

When 400 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.

Today, Mike Johnson will keep the House adjourned for the 91st day out of the last 103.

12 days of work in 103 days.

With full pay and benefits.

The senate has been working, so this is not about the shutdown.

It is about avoiding a vote to release the Epstein files.

🤷🏼

Exactly. Show him his post first. Put it up on a screen. Then ask him virtually any question about any word, phrase, or sentence in it.

it's time for journos to start asking Johnson meta questions

"Speaker, on 5 occasions last week you said 'I haven't seen it' when asked about news events w/big implications for public policy. Do you ever read the news, and do you agree it's problematic for the Speaker to be so woefully uninformed?"

A tweet from Acyn (@Acyn) reads: “O’Donnell: Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have some of these raids gone too far? Trump: I think they haven’t gone far enough.” Below the tweet is a screenshot from 60 Minutes, showing Donald Trump with a serious expression.

The monster in the White House.

And again, a pattern of putting out statements accusing people of serious Federal crimes and then releasing them hours or days or weeks later with no charges. And no retraction.

This reminds me of how difficult it became years ago to negotiate with terrorists when the U.S. learned they had a new strategy: suicide bombers. How do you negotiate when they’re willing to burn it all to the ground? (Not rhetorical. How do we move forward?)

Plz talk to us about Cabinet members moving to military bases rather than living in ‘civilian’ housing (if, of course, this is true.)

Chris Murphy: "There's a lot of history that has taken place in the East Wing & it was just destroyed without any conversation in the public, without any consent of Congress. It's absolutely illegal. That visual is powerful b/c you're watching destruction of the rule of law as those walls come down"