  Failure of amorphous solids is fundamental to various phenomena, including
landslides and earthquakes. Recent experiments indicate that highly plastic
regions form elongated structures that are especially apparent near the maximal
shear stress $\Sigma_{\max}$ where failure occurs. This observation suggested
that $\Sigma_{\max}$ acts as a critical point where the length scale of those
structures diverges, possibly causing macroscopic transient shear bands. Here
we argue instead that the entire solid phase ($\Sigma<\Sigma_{\max}$) is
critical, that plasticity always involves system-spanning events, and that
their magnitude diverges at $\Sigma_{\max}$ independently of the presence of
shear bands. We relate the statistics and fractal properties of these
rearrangements to an exponent $\theta$ that captures the stability of the
material, which is observed to vary continuously with stress, and we confirm
our predictions in elastoplastic models.
