I agree that Schumer’s political approach and public rationale is awful, but not voting for the budget would’ve given the Trump admin free reign to do worse on top of blaming the Democrats for it and convincing their supporters. A government shutdown would’ve given the executive branch more power to manipulate funding, including to things they can’t touch without legal challenges otherwise. I’d rather people be able to go after them in the courts, even if they’re doing awful stuff that takes longer to reverse.

This is why those senators broke with the party, because a no vote would’ve been performative and made the situation worse. The yes votes are mostly in states where deprogrammable independents are a meaningful part of the electorate for 2026.

This torture method is a bit of a stretch…

Super important to note that this was apparently Secret Service, not ICE. Probably looking to talk to a kid who posted a threat against the president, rather than try to deport someone.

Primarily planting in California in the main agricultural areas. There’s stuff being grown that is frost resistant as well, but less than what’ll crop up closer to March and beyond. With that said, yeah, the winter is down time for the workers who fill in like contractors for the major farming operations that don’t have year round employment.