Hartmann Report

China is looking at their interdependence with us through a national security lens, and we should, too. I’m typing this into a computer made in China, reading it on a screen made in China. The WiFi router that’s connecting me to the internet was made in China, as is the cable modem my internet service provider put in my house. The external keyboard and backup drives are made in China, as are most of the lamps, bulbs and other appliances on my desk. My eyeglasses and the shirt I’m wearing were made in China (the pants are from Malaysia, the shoes from Korea), as is the coat I wear outside. The one medication I take is made in India out of ingredients from China. Meanwhile, this is the year — 2022 — that the government of China has ordered that all “government offices and public institutions” nationwide must “remove foreign computer equipment and software.”

Once citizens believe a nation is "a republic but not a democracy" it’s easier for a strongman to limit majority-rule voting so “only the right people” get to vote or have their vote counted. It’s one of the most toxic and corrosive memes the GOP is pushing today, that’s now being used to minimize the importance of universal, free and fair elections. Writing at the Heritage Foundation’s website in a warning about “egalitarianism,” for example, Bernard Dobski also uses the famous John Birch Society mantra as the title for his article: “America Is a Republic, Not a Democracy.”

For me, all the proof I need that Trump, if not the biblical Antichrist, is at least a political one, is what he says and does... A listener called into my program yesterday and asked, “Is Donald Trump the Antichrist?” I passed on drawing a conclusion, but then the lines lit up with a steady stream of people over the next few hours offering their “proofs” that Trump was, in fact, the Evil One come to ravage the Earth. That first caller clearly hit a nerve.

In America if you kill your spouse you'll end up in prison - but - if you kill millions of people, you can laugh at the law & buy a new yacht. Alfred Ruf poisoned his wife as part of a scheme to get rich off her life insurance. So did Dr. Gregory “Brent” Dennis, who was looking at a $2 million payout. Joshua Hunsucker poisoned his wife for a mere $250K in life insurance money, $80,000 of which he used to buy a boat. David L. Pettis poisoned his wife for $150,000. I don’t know the names of the men who poisoned and killed my father and my brother Stan, who died last Thursday, but I know where they worked and why they did it: just like Ruf, Dennis, Hunsucker and Pettis, they intentionally and knowingly took actions they knew would result in death when they sold asbestos to my dad’s employer and got my brother addicted to tobacco.

The amazing story of why Sigmund Freud abandoned hypnosis in 1895 and his discovery of how we can heal ourselves psychologically...

The Best of the Rest of the News. — How Do We Memorialize January the 6th? — Is Trump Just the “Warm Up Act”? — Will America Start To See a Crackdown on Monopoly? — Has Trump Sent Religion Straight to Hell in America? — After Neil Gorsuch quoted Fox “News” personalities in arguments before the Court this week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus publicly endorsed adding 4 more seats to the Court. — Beware of the “Election Reform” Trap! — Crazy Alert (actually, it should called “Pathetic Alert”): Ted Cruz went on Tucker “Doughboy” Carlson’s show and groveled for having called the January 6th Capitol invaders who tried to assassinate the Vice President “terrorists.” — GOP Death Cult Watch: “Hey, Hey, Marjorie Taylor Greene - How Many People Have You Sickened Today?”

Seniors not getting eyeglasses or diabetics getting price gouged on insulin are all bad, but won’t signal the death of our republic: the failure to pass meaningful voting rights certainly will. Remember when the Biden presidency was brand new and Democrats in the House and Senate proposed a sweeping, $6 trillion package to rebuild our social safety net, cut drug prices, upgrade our infrastructure, rescue our students and elderly, and save the environment? As it was moving forward, a small group of Republicans and Democrats who call themselves the “corporate problem solvers caucus,” told us that if they could just peel off the parts that involved actual physical construction of infrastructure into a separate bill, they’d get it going right away without having to worry about the filibuster.

As Biden told us, we stand at an inflection point of history. The fate of democracy here and around the world is actually hanging in the balance. Hopefully our Attorney General was listening... Today’s the anniversary of hundreds of Capitol police, House and Senate staffers, Members of Congress and others who work in the seat of our nation’s government successfully fighting back the first violent assault on a congressional session in the history of our republic. Trump’s followers and fellow-travelers — including 139 Republicans in the House and 8 in the Senate — tried their best to end our way of government. They incited, participated in, and now are justifying the first violent attack on Congress since the Constitution was signed 235 years ago. They failed.

Is our “reality TV” media up to the task of comparing and contrasting the two political parties, and judging the most likely outcomes of the directions they’ve chosen? With the Republican Party turning to Trumpism, and the Democratic Party returning to their progressive roots, will we have an honest debate this election year in our media? “What you see is what you get” is an old cliche, but it’s endured all these centuries because there’s so much truth in it. “Don’t listen to what people say, instead look at what they do” is another truism we can apply to inform us about today’s politics.

The GOP does have a vision for America and beyond, as does the media aligned with them -- If you want to see that vision, look no further than the Eastern European nation of Hungary. The GOP has a vision for America and the rest of the “liberal” world. Yes, in 2020 they abandoned altogether even the idea of having a Party platform, and appear about to do the same for 2024, but they do have a vision. This is an election year and outside of being “against” teaching American history, “against” acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, and “against” voting rights for minorities the Party is still refusing to say what they’re “for.”