Tootfinder

The #IWW #GDC as an antifascist organization was always kind of a hack. It was a beautiful hack and it worked well for what it did.
In 2016, as Trump was rising, I found info from the Twin Cities GDC. They were super organized, building an amazing community defense organization. When we (Seattle) went to set up our chapter, following their lead, they were extremely supportive. When I got shot, Twin Cities folks were at my house keeping my partner safe. They literally flew people out to support us. They very much remain in my mind when I think about what mutual aid looks like.
Unionism is an important strategy of a larger fight. But it's important to realize that it's not the other way around. The GDC was built to defend the union, because there wasn't something larger to do that work. It filled a gap.
When we organized against Trump, we tried to make the GDC the greater thing. We tried to make the GDC into the vehicle for social revolution against the fascist threat... And it sort of worked. We were able to do a lot.
But that was never what it was built to do. It was always built as an appendage of the IWW. This contains its own problem. If Unionism is the revolutionary movement, then it becomes impossible to build a truly revolutionary society. Unionism centers "workers" which implicitly decenters those who can't work in the traditional sense (the young, the elderly, those physically or mentally able to work). It also decenters care labor that hasn't yet been widely commodified. Sure, there are all types of hacks to patch the holes, but the fundamental construction starts from the wrong assumptions.
It felt, for a while, like things could go another way. Like that our ability to bring members in could shift things a bit, maybe set the GDC on more equal footing with the core focus of the IWW. But that was always an illusion, far less important to think about than the crushing terror of the regime we were fighting.
Now, I will absolutely trash talk the IWW on occasion but in the end I do think they're doing good and important work. Any criticism I have should be taken with a grain of salt... And I know I do have a lot of salt. Again, Unionism is an important strategy. It's useful both in improving immediate material conditions and as part of the most powerful weapon we have against the capitalist system: the general strike. It's important, I can't say that enough. But it's not sufficient.
I've been thinking about this a bit recently, and I wonder if there are any other GDC organizers or former organizers who might be feeling the same. Feel free to DM me. I'd like to get some more perspectives and see if my understanding from several years ago deviates significantly from what other folks are feeling right now.
I'd also like to bounce some ideas around that come from my own organizing experience.

Gemini co-lead Oriol Vinyals says Gemini 3's gains come from better pre-training and post-training, contradicting the idea that pre-training gains are falling (Stephanie Palazzolo/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-unseats-anthropic-…

Google Unseats Anthropic With Gemini 3
Before we get to Gemini 3, we want to highlight this morning’s news that former Harvard University President Larry Summers has resigned from OpenAI’s board of directors following a congressional committee’s release of emails showing a personal correspondence between him and convicted sex ...

Pterosaur with unusual bristle-like teeth discovered in fossilized dinosaur vomit https://www.sciencealert.com/bizarre-new-species-of-flying-reptile-discovered-in-fossilized-dinosaur-vomit

Bizarre New Species of Flying Reptile Discovered in Fossilized Dinosaur Vomit
Imagine throwing up after a bad burrito – only for that heave to reveal the existence of onions to scientists 110 million years in the future.

I haven’t tuned into CBS since its morning news promoted that interview (and Weiss) last week. This latest announcement validates my decision.
“CBS News launches town hall series featuring JD Vance following Bari Weiss’ ratings flop”
https://www.indep…

CBS News launches town hall series featuring JD Vance following Bari Weiss’ ratings flop
Following the Bari Weiss-moderated sitdown with Erika Kirk that was a massive ratings flop, CBS News has doubled down on the format and is launching a new town hall series in partnership with Weiss’ “anti-woke” digital media outlet that the network’s parent company recently purchased.

OLG-Urteil: Biometrische Überwachung bei Online-Prüfungen ist rechtswidrig
Die Online-Überwachung von Prüflingen per Proctoring verstößt gegen die DSGVO, hat das Thüringer Oberlandesgericht nach Klage einer Studentin entschieden.

US prices rose 2.7% in the year to November,
according to federal data released
a day after Donald Trump claimed they were falling “very fast” on his watch.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/18/november-us-inflation?CMP=Sh…

Sources: Pinduoduo and Temu owner PDD fires dozens following a fistfight between employees and Chinese officials probing fraudulent deliveries on its platform (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-17/pd…

PDD Fires Dozens of Workers After Fistfight With China Officials
PDD Holdings Inc. fired a government relations team in Shanghai following a fistfight between employees and Chinese regulators who were performing checks at the e-commerce company, according to people familiar with the matter.

Filing: Sony and Tencent reach a "confidential settlement" over Tencent's Light of Motiram, a game that Sony alleged was a "slavish clone" of its Horizon series (Jay Peters/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/847080/sony-

Sony’s legal battle against Tencent’s Horizon ‘clone’ is already over
Sony has reached a settlement with Tencent in its lawsuit over Light of Motiram, a game Sony alleged was a “clone” of its Horizon series.

Filing: the US FTC ends its review of SoftBank's $6.5B acquisition of chip designer Ampere, granting an early termination; SoftBank announced the deal in March (Josh Sisco/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

SoftBank’s $6.5 Billion Deal for Chip Firm Ampere Wins FTC Nod
The US Federal Trade Commission has ended its review of SoftBank Group Corp.’s acquisition of semiconductor designer Ampere Computing LLC, removing an obstacle to the $6.5 billion deal.

China introduces new rules to curb monks' and clergy's use of livestreaming and AI for unlicensed online preaching and commercial activities, following scandals (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/3f0f240b-c002-4726-a757-01ded711a5a8