Hartmann Report

The first direct shot across the bow of the doctrine of a corporation’s "right to lie" by using its "personhood" to claim First Amendment "free speech" rights came in April 1998, when Mark Kasky, a California political activist, noticed that Nike was engaged in what he considered to be a deceptive greenwashing campaign.

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Their "Reaganism" sales pitch was effective, and we’ve now had 42 years of the so-called Reagan Revolution: It’s time to say out loud that it hasn’t worked. The 1970s were a pivotal decade, and not just because it saw the end of the Vietnam War, the resignation of Nixon, and the death of both the psychedelic hippie movement and the very political (and sometimes violent) SDS. Most consequentially, the 1970s were when the modern-day Republican Party was birthed. Prior to that, the nation had hummed along for 40 years on a top income tax bracket of 91% and a corporate income tax that topped out around 50%. Business leaders ran their companies, which were growing faster then than any time in the history of America, and avoided participating in politics.

We’ve been at this point over and over again in America: will this be the one that punches through the wall of money the NRA and the weapons industry it fronts for wraps around Republicans? President Biden is right. “For God’s sake” and our children’s sake, we must do something about gun violence in America. And we must do it now. Back in 1996, after a few years of mass shootings, Australia experienced a mass slaughter on a scale like we saw yesterday in Texas. Their Supreme Court hadn’t ruled that Australian politicians could be owned by industries, so they passed extensive gun control and a nationwide gun buyback program. It was a turning point, and the mass shootings have since largely stopped. Over at Daily Kos, Walter Einenkel has summarized how many millions of dollars the top Republicans in Congress have taken from the weapons industry: it’s a grim toll, starting with Mitt Romney taking over $13 million and Richard Burr over $6 million.

Today’s GOP, under Trumpism, is as real a threat to the survival of our republic as was the 1860's Confederacy and reflects a worldview grounded in the white supremacy of the American south. Donald Trump promoted a modern Civil War in America this week on his social media platform. Civil War? Further confounding things, Republican candidates like Pennsylvania’s Kathy Barnette are openly running as ultra-MAGA candidates, having hijacked Trumpism without Trump himself. It’s causing the media and political elites to have a “Huh? What?” moment. Trumpism without Trump? Could it even be a thing? Apparently so: candidates Trump has openly disavowed are claiming Trumpism as their standard, the flag they’ll carry into the election and into office if they win.

After all, doesn’t their wealth prove their brilliance? And doesn’t brilliance at busting unions and destroying competitors translate into the right stuff for guiding the fate of nations? Americans aren’t getting what a majority of us want, even when we show up in majority numbers to vote. The problem is that we’ve trusted the rich to run things here in America for 42 years now since the Reagan Revolution, and it’s not working.

How Corporations Became 'People' - and How You Can Fight Back. On December 12, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court granted yet another gift to corporate power—and hammered yet another nail into the coffin of democracy in America. They did it in a strikingly dramatic fashion: by stealing the presidency. In the process five members of the unelected third branch of government made sure that its majority character and nature probably wouldn’t change for a long enough time that the Court could cast a hugely conservative shadow over the American electoral process, guaranteeing that people like themselves and their patrons—wealthy, powerful, and corporate-connected—would continue to have a disproportionate impact on future elections. Here’s how they did it and what their actions mean for the future of the battle between corporations and citizens for the soul of the nation.

The Best of the Rest of the News. The Best of the Rest of the News. - Why is the GOP taking orders from foreign dictators? - The January 6th treason committee is now investigating a Capitol "reconnaissance" tour led by MAGAT Congressman Barry Loudermilk. - Republicans know how to play political hardball, and former Republican consultant and commentator Charlie Sykes has advice for Democrats. - Meanwhile, Trump is endorsing and primary voters are choosing Republicans for elected office — particularly offices that can oversee the election process — who are openly saying they'll steal the 2024 election for Trump or an equivalent GOP candidate. - Aren't our schools supposed to teach — and demonstrate — the importance of our free speech rights protected by the First Amendment? - Will the leaked Alito decision — whether it survives intact or is watered down — lead to a Democratic sweep in elections this fall? - Remember when Trump issued an executive order forcing meat-packing workers back to work at gunpoint while ending any requirement that their employers use masks or social distancing? - The stock market is in the tank, officially breaking into "bear market" territory yesterday. - Geeky Science! Ready for radioactive fish in the Pacific Ocean? - Crazy Alert! Ever woken up to a strange dog in your bed?

Orbán’s speeches this week raise the question: Is he teaching the American GOP through his example, or is the GOP teaching him through their “replacement theory” & new laws banning books. Republicans believe that Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán has figured out the “secret sauce” to turn a republic into a hard-right oligarchy, and today they’re in Budapest drinking deep from his insights on the fine points of destroying democracy. In two speeches this week, Orbán laid out his Hungarian version of the racist American “Great Replacement Theory,” trashed Jewish financier George Soros as a proxy for Jews around the world, reiterated the importance of having friendly rightwing billionaires seize control of a nation’s media, and attacked societies that allow gay marriage and tolerate trans people as engaging in “gender madness.”

We need a new political vocabulary that includes "populist," "sellout," & "fascist": If the American press were to use simple, clear labels like this, it would save us all a lot of political confusion. The Chyron on MSNBC yesterday said, “Populist Fedderman Wins PA Primary.” A few weeks ago during the French elections the American press was referring to Marine Le Pen as a “French populist.” Trump is often called a “populist” in our media, as is Bernie Sanders. All of which raises the question: “Why are we using this one single word to describe radically different types and stripes of politicians?” Is “populist” simply shorthand or pop-news-speak for media-friendly, outrageous, or high profile politicians?