Hartmann Report

The reason we're at a pivotal moment in America is because most people don't know how to answer this question: "How do you know when you're really no longer living in a democracy?" This is a threshold moment, this stifling of Jimmy Kimmel. It's the last laugh before the silence. The attack on him is something everyone can understand.

When reporters become prey, the public becomes the battlefield. We've crossed into the second tier… The FCC chairman just threatened to pull ABC's license because of a comment Jimmy Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk, and ABC just indefinitely took him off the air. This is the sort of thing you'd expect in Russia, not America. But let's back up a minute. First, those who use violence come for the politicians. Then they come after the pundits and reporters. And finally they encourage average people to turn their guns on each other.

The rightwing machine wants you scared of progress, but I'm here to speak their worst nightmare out loud… If you're even remotely associated with the Democratic Party, whether running for office, helping out, or just breathing while Democratic, the GOP and their rightwing media attack dogs will label you a "far left radical." So, in the interest of clarity, let me make it official: I'm a far left radical. Here's why.

The recycled lies of trickle-down economics, designed to crush workers, women, and minorities alike… When Charlie Kirk was assassinated, he was sitting under a tent that had "America Comeback Tour" printed in huge letters across all four sides. It was the theme of his tour of college campuses, a tour run by his Turning Point organization that was, according to NBC News, early-funded by ten morbidly rich rightwingers. The question is "America Comeback" to what?

Why authoritarian language always precedes authoritarian rule… Every president and most members of Congress have known for the past two centuries that having the ability to wield the power of government is a serious responsibility that carries with it real obligations for self-control. The reason is simple and obvious, although our media appears to not realize it when they act like Trump's and Miller's rhetoric is normal: Government can legally kill you, imprison you, and take everything you own. Fox "News" and other commentators can't.

“[I]t may be said that effective and rational economic policies can be implemented only by a superior leader of the philosopher-statesman type under a powerful autocracy…” — Friedrich Von Hayek Every generation has its believers in utopia, from Plato’s mythical city of Magnesia[v] to Thomas More’s 16th century Island of Utopia[vi] to the “Scientific Socialism” of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Somehow, none of them worked out: Plato held slaves and was, according to Karl Popper, an early architect of multiple forms of totalitarianism (citing his influence on a particularly brutal form of early Christianity)[vii]; Thomas More supervised the burning alive of six Protestants and tortured a man in More’s own home; Marxism’s victims in the Soviet Union, East Germany and China (among others) are well known.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — What if Tyler Robinson isn't a leftie? — Stop asking America to mourn the makers of hate. — Will Republicans "own the shutdown" if Democratic senators refuse to vote to break a filibuster before the end of the month? — Bolsonaro Behind Bars: What Brazil's Democracy Got Right and America Still Won't. — Trump Admits 'I Couldn't Care Less' When Pressed on 'How Do We Fix This Country?' Say What?! — Senators Merkley and Van Hollen visited Israel recently, and compiled a damning report that calls out the Netanyahu government for "ethnic cleansing" in explicit terms. — Another city with a Black mayor, another raid by the National Guard is on the way. — Trump again chooses to suck up to Putin; what does Vlad have on him? — Bob Kennedy is getting ready to scare the crap out of America's parents, and Trump's down with it. — Hunter in a Farmer's World: Can We Reframe What Medication is Actually Doing for the Hunter's Mind? — Wisdom School: Deep Listening: In Relationships, it Can Be a Lifeline

When pundits blame tone instead of truth, they let one party weaponize threats and lies without consequence… As a guy who regularly gets death threats because of my media presence, I shouldn't have to say that killing people — or even threatening them — for their politics is wrong. But here it is, for the record: nobody in America should die for their politics. That said, in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination — the guy who downplayed slavery, demonized Black and brown people, promoted the racist antisemitic Great Replacement Theory, attacked queer people, made degrading comments about women, said gun deaths were fine because that's the price we must pay for the Second Amendment — the media is afraid to say anything about the state of our politics other than "we need to stop violence-provoking political rhetoric on both sides." As if there were two sides here.

Scalia's Heller ruling — and the decisions that followed — didn't just reshape gun laws; they transformed political disagreements into open-season assassinations… "I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational." — Charlie Kirk Republican Charlie Kirk is dead. So is former Democratic Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. Two clearly political assassinations in the past four months.

But today, Americans tremble as elected leaders kneel to greed, fear, and authoritarianism's dark shadow… Because of the decision made this week by the doughiest white boy on the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, to allow racial profiling by ICE, 65 million Hispanic Americans now live in terror of the police, carrying their passports and dreading traffic stops or shopping at Home Depot. If you're not a criminal, you shouldn't fear government. Instead, as Jefferson often pointed out, government should fear you.