@ericjhensal.bsky.social
Writing for Progressive Conjecture at https://erichensal.substack.com/ and author of "A Progressive Art of War" outlining the benefit of Sun Tzu’s ancient Art of War for modern progressive efforts. http://amazon.com/dp/B07V9JXRMS
It’s coming right for us!
~ Jimbo
It is the only thing he's working on. How many days has the House been in session since the summer?
19.11.2025 11:59 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Then, with just a few networks of TV stations under the fairness doctrine and local papers as primary news sources, people uninterested in politics would still see useful stories, even by accident on the way to the sports section or weather. How we can easily avoid news is a serious social problem.
15.11.2025 16:48 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0My feeling is if one were researching "Hell hath no fury," Marjorie's picture would turn up quickly.
15.11.2025 15:11 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Political tactics that rely on involuntary hunger aren’t victories. A case for informed consent in protest:
14.11.2025 03:16 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
If starving children is the leverage, the tactic is the problem--For either side. Read Consent in Protest:
13.11.2025 22:33 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Some may say it is a miracle Schumer held them all together for as long as they all did. Senators have no shortage of ego and six year terms. Besides there are other things to consider about "caving in." erichensal.substack.com/p/consent-fo...
13.11.2025 14:53 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Some may say it is a miracle Schumer held them all together for as long as they all did. Senators have no shortage of ego and six year terms. Besides there are other things to consider about "caving in." erichensal.substack.com/p/consent-fo...
13.11.2025 14:52 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Is it protest if the people paying the price never agreed to it? Thoughts on SNAP, shutdowns, and consent:
13.11.2025 14:43 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Consent isn’t optional. What the shutdown reveals about progressives and MAGA using SNAP families as pressure points:
13.11.2025 10:20 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Consent matters—even in protest. Is it ethical for either side to use SNAP recipients as leverage in a shutdown?
13.11.2025 04:34 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Shutting down government to prove a point cannot mean starving kids. SNAP recipients must consent to protest.
13.11.2025 01:07 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Remember the Panama Papers and the media outlet consortium reviewing millions of leaked documents? With the 1000+ eyes working 24 hour days on the Epstein Files' Trump FBI review, perhaps there are reporters, right now, across the world, sifting leaked documents and writing stories. www.icij.org
12.11.2025 14:43 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Ethics check: Who chose to bear the cost of shutdown to protest? On SNAP, shutdowns, and consent to protest:
12.11.2025 14:00 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
This may be a sign of some progress. Instead of just killing ACA, they are going poison pill. As for senate dems, it is a minor miracle Schumer held them together for this long. No ego shortage and 6 year terms in the Senate, Besides there is more to "caving." erichensal.substack.com/p/consent-fo...
12.11.2025 13:46 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Some may say it is a miracle Schumer held them all together for this long. Senators have no shortage of ego and six year terms. Besides there are other things to consider about "caving in." erichensal.substack.com/p/consent-fo...
12.11.2025 13:40 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Trump was happy to starve his own to take their health care and went to the Supreme Court to do so. The shutdown ensures everyone sees the GOP as the ACA killer.Dems got as much leverage as they could, then we reached a point where harm exceeded the good. erichensal.substack.com/p/consent-fo...
12.11.2025 13:17 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
The GOP will kill ACA subsidies and Dems are in no position to stop them. Hell, Trump was happy to starve his own to take their health care. The shutdown ensures everyone sees the GOP as the killer.Then we reached a point where harm exceeded the good. erichensal.substack.com/p/consent-fo...
12.11.2025 13:12 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0When was the last time SCOTUS ruled against Trump? The odds of the good guys winning on SNAP were closer to none than slim, no matter how the case progressed.
12.11.2025 12:19 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Turning hunger into a bargaining chip crosses a line—for progressives and MAGA. On consent, SNAP, and the shutdown:
12.11.2025 01:50 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0How long would a shutdown take for a Trump's GOP ACA capitulation? A party happy to starve its own just to take health care from its own? A party chock full of people who'd happily go back to 1890s government. How much food insecurity trauma for kids are you willing to accept for this idea?
12.11.2025 01:49 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Ever see a truly hungry kid? I have. And I know SCOTUS would never side with SNAP benefits over Trump. So kids would be hungry a month or two for what gain over today? We traumatize kids with food insecurity for what reason? No, progress has been made and we can reset for more--without doing harm.
12.11.2025 01:38 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Apologies for lacking clarity, so I will rephrase. I think the possibility of a January restart if conditions are not met is preferable to months of no SNAP benefits and hungry children during a continued shutdown. Democrats made progress and reached a point where harm outweighed benefit.
12.11.2025 00:52 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0Well, everyone would be screwed with the GOP original position of walking away from ACA subsidy. The asshats going on about abortion restrictions are likely people who thought ACA was dead in the first place. They are staking out negotiating positions as much as anything else.
12.11.2025 00:42 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0In politics--want a loaf of bread, ask for the grocery story. This has been an effort to tag ACA malfeasance directly to the Republicans. Sure Dems would've loved the vote, but get to Trump starving their own to avoid it and you take a fallback position. Not the advance you wanted, but an advance.
12.11.2025 00:37 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0No, I am saying a deal with a fallback to a shutdown in an election year can be motivating. If dems don't get the votes on ACA, then a shutdown can be on. Meanwhile the federal workers get backpay and SNAP funding is out. It sucks, but consider a full on through holidays shutdown.
12.11.2025 00:13 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Well, GOP wasn't keen to extend them at all in the first place, so progress. They are coming to grips with the pressure to extend them. Anger, Denial, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.
12.11.2025 00:06 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0How is this a massive win? This whole conflict can pick back up January. And there is little chance ACA would be renewed at any time if the GOP holds together no matter what dems do. This has all been about showing americans the GOP will take your health care and even starve folks to do it.
12.11.2025 00:01 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0Momentum to what? Could be argued Dems would be using people on SNAP as pawns if the shutdown went on. The costs began to outweigh gain. We cannot assume holding out would win, because dems, structurally, cannot win and a substantial part of the GOP would happily crash everything. We made progress.
11.11.2025 23:32 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0What gift exactly? Dems held on for 40 days, linked ACA increase to GOP, had an great election night, protected federal workers, showed Trump happily starves children to take their insurance, restarted SNAP--and we just reset to January. Oh, and the house must go back into session, so Epstein.
11.11.2025 23:06 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
