Hartmann Report

DeSantis, Abbott & other Republican neofascists are playing a dangerous game, that will rip America apart, using Disney as a proxy for the racial and gender minorities they want as whipping boys. Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has declared war on Disney, while his colleague in Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott, is on a jihad against the parents of trans children. This is how fascism progresses through its later stages toward tyranny. Democracies typically don’t turn into fascist oligarchies by being invaded or losing wars. It usually happens from within, and is driven by an alliance between demagogic politicians, corrupt religious leaders, bigoted street brawlers, and some of the wealthiest people in society.

We have the resources to deal with childhood injuries & deaths from the only product sold in America specifically designed to kill human beings - and it's now the leading cause of deaths in children. Nina Shapiro reports at Forbes this week in an article titled “The Leading Cause Of Death In Children And Youths Is Now Guns”: “Access to firearms by children, by unlicensed owners, and absence of safety measures when it comes to both intentional and unintentional gun-related injuries and deaths, are among the reasons that the incidence of this horrific, truly avoidable tragedy is on the rise.” The latest con from the GOP is that they’re all about “the children.”

While Brazil’s Supreme Court is now pursuing what’s called a “Green Docket,” here in the US the GOP is supporting a “Shadow Docket” to gut environmental laws that date back to 1972. Brazil, no environmental hero, is beginning to discuss how to save the rainforest; here in America, SCOTUS is speeding up the poisoning of our environment. When is our media going to figure out that the real threat to our country is not teaching history or acknowledging trans kids?

So why is it that Republicans tolerate breathtaking levels of corruption and criminality among their elected representatives and cronies, but Democrats won’t? Hunter Biden traded on his father’s name to get positions on boards of directors that paid him millions, but there’s no evidence he ever harmed American foreign policy or American interests. Jared Kushner, though, appears to have been paid $2 billion by the Saudis for steering his father-in-law’s administration away from the Khashoggi murder and toward millions in congressionally banned weaponry to further destroy Yemen. Now the Saudis, apparently still collaborating with the Trump family, are refusing to increase oil production so that high prices at the pump will politically damage President Biden and Democrats in the elections this fall.

If the fake news wins and neofascist politicians like Trump again gain serious national power, America will be on a fast track down the same road as Russia. Over on Fox “News,” a recent segment with Tucker Carlson suggested that vaccines are more dangerous than getting Covid. Why do conservatives fall for this kind of BS? Multiple recent studies show that Republicans are as much as 8.5 times more likely to both believe and share fake or false “news” with others than are Democrats. The phenomenon is obvious, actually: while as many as half of Republicans believe the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump, there’s no similarly disprovable “big lie” embraced by Democrats. And it’s not limited to things like elections that are overtly political: Republicans are more likely than Democrats to reject basic science about Covid, and thus die of the disease at much higher rates than Democrats.

How Corporations Became 'People' - and How You Can Fight Back. The Boston Tea Party Revealed.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Have "The Birchers" Won? — There's a debate dividing the Jan 6 committee - Should Trump be referred to the DOJ for prosecution? Or would that backfire? — How the corporate media whittles away at democracy. — Why isn't the media asking if the Saudi sweetheart deal is really just a payout or bribe to Kushner for his services during the Trump presidency? — Why the GOP refuses to do debates with Commission of Presidential Debates. — Why Is It not OK to be a unicorn if you are a child? — Racism Alert! Penn Law professor Amy Wax tells Tucker Carlson that "Blacks" and other "non-western" groups harbor "resentment, shame, and envy" against western people for their "outsized achievements and contributions." But wait...there's more... — Crazy Alert! Are human sacrifices the logical conclusion of deflated tires?

When a guy shooting up a subway car is charged with terrorism but a group kills six people trying to end the rule of law in America isn’t, something is out of kilter. Congress must act. Terrorism is defined as using violence or the threat of violence to achieve political ends. Although the Brooklyn subway shooter has been charged with terrorism, we don’t yet know if he had any actual political goals or was simply mentally ill.

If Trump were to simply ignore AG James’ subpoena and drag things out, it would cost him around $3.6 million a year: that’s chump change for a billionaire oligarch. Last Thursday New York’s Attorney General Leticia James asked a state judge to fine Donald Trump $10,000-a-day until he complies with a subpoena from last December requiring him to turn over documents relating to the development of a fancy estate in upstate New York. The deadline had been March 3rd, but Trump is still procrastinating. Ten thousand dollars a day seems like a lot of money to most of us, but consider Donald Trump’s situation: he has billions, and access to billions more through friends he made when president. The dictator of Saudi Arabia, for example, just apparently paid-off Trump’s son-in-law to the tune of $2 billion, as documented by Judd Legum at Popular.info.

All-powerful for-profit utilities have apparently bribed/persuaded Florida officials to crush what they consider to be a developing threat - solar power. There was a time in America when big business and the politicians closest to them at least pretended to be patriotic, to put the interests of the nation and its citizens first. The latest abomination from Republicans in Florida shows that those days are long gone. In the face of a climate change crisis that threatens our nation, civilization itself, and even human life on Earth, a corrupt profit motive is all-consuming for the GOP.