Hartmann Report

Why Republicans Fear Critical Thinking, Science, and Equality. "Those who control the present, control the past; and those who control the past control the future." —George Orwell, 1984 From outlawing the polio vaccine to ignoring the scientific consensus on gender dysphoria to refusing to wear masks in hospitals to trying to strip evolution and science from our schools, stupid has become fashionable in today's GOP. When Republican politicians want to score points, they criticize their opponents as having had "elite" educations; the GOP's war against Ivy League colleges was particularly evident during the student protests of Israel's slaughter in Gaza. Congressional Republican inquisitors voices' dripped with scorn and contempt as they grilled university presidents. It wasn't always this way.

For over a century, most states used biometrics to verify voter identity. Signatures done in front of a witness are nearly impossible to fake (unlike IDs, which can be easily faked). Polling place workers would compare the original registration signature with the signature of the person signing in to vote, and if they didn’t match, the worker would disqualify the voter. When the Motor Voter Act was passed in 1993, not a single state required proof of citizenship to vote, and there was no national problem of voter fraud. The threat of a few years in jail is more than enough to discourage even the most ardent partisan from trying to double-vote or fraudulently vote.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — This is what happens when five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court put our government up for sale to the highest bidder — Far-right activist Christopher Rufo — the guy who put DEI and CRT in the bullseye of Republicans and rightwing media — now wants to take on Harvard. — Will a jury ever convict Luigi Mangioni? — Weiner went to prison but Gaetz won’t? — The CDC reports the first severe bird flu case in the US involves a virus that has mutated in a way that makes it more effective at infecting human lung tissue. — My Australian friend tells me that there’s a huge housing shortage here in Oz “because conservative governments have let housing become an investment vehicle to make money” instead of an essential resource needed by humans that should be protected by government. — Hunter in a Farmers World: ADHD: The Butterfly Chaser and the Seed Planter — Wisdom School: Master the Art of Talking Less and Saying More — Knights Templar: How Powerful a Force is Thought?

The for-profit health insurance industry has attached itself to us like a giant, bloodsucking tick and "Scientific Racism" is part of the reason why There's only one person in this photograph/video of a recent G7 meeting who represents a country where an illness can destroy an entire family, leaving them bankrupt and homeless, with the repercussions of that sudden fall into poverty echoing down through generations. Most Americans have no idea that the United States is quite literally the only country in the developed world that doesn't define healthcare as an absolute right for all of its citizens. That's it. We're the only one left.

How algorithms distill fear and rage into society's deadliest addiction, destroying society and political systems in the process… A fascinating article in The New York Times this week by Kurt Gray, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, gives us the beginnings of an understanding of how and why social media is so destructive to society. Gray points out that most people assume humans have historically been predators, the metaphorical big cats of the jungle. In fact, Gray says, we've historically been prey, the victims of predators: "This picture of fearfulness is consistent with our understanding of human psychology. We're hard-wired to detect threats quickly and to stay fixated on places where threats once appeared, even after they have vanished. We fear that 'child predators' will abduct our kids even when they are safer than ever. "Modern humans, ensconced in towns and cities, are now mostly safe from animal predators, but we are still easily frightened. Whether we're scrolling social media or voting for a presidential candidate, we all still carry the legacy of our ancestors, who worried about big cats lurking in the darkness." Thus, if you could invent a drug that would cause people to be fearful — and thus stimulate the rage that comes from fear — you could have incredible control over a population if you could simply tell them where and against whom to direct that fear-induced rage.

Hopefully this time Democratic politicians and our media will, finally, call the GOP out on Wanniski's and Reagan's Two Santa Clauses scam and put an end to it once and for all… Merry Christmas! The GOP-caused fiscal disaster and government shutdown has been postponed until March, but in the meantime, House Republicans have laid out their vision for the future of America. In a budget document they released last year, anticipating this very moment, the legislators proposed dramatic $9 trillion cuts to Social Security, food stamps, aid to women and children, Medicare and Medicaid, along a new round of tax cuts for America's billionaires. Their argument is that we need to "balance the budget now!" This is the classic Two Santas strategy that the GOP has been running ever since 1981. In addition to showing the hypocrisy and depravity of these politicians who are happy to live on the largesse of rightwing billionaires but see no benefit in feeding hungry children, it also shows that Jude Wanniski's grand plan, adopted by Reagan in 1981, is alive and well. It's no accident or coincidence that the threat of a failure to pay the nation's bills or fund an upcoming year constantly happens when Republicans control the House of Representatives.

During these short, dark days let's remember this ancient Christmas knowledge that illumination always follows darkness & that with love and compassion we will re-light our nations & lives... Today is Christmas Eve, a connection to some of the most ancient of all known northern European shamanic traditions. Like people living in the north for millennia, we continue to embrace them with regional, national, and religious tweaks. It occurs during the week of the shortest day and longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere, when ancient holy men and women lit "yule logs" to push back the darkness and implore the gods or nature to bring back the light of summer.

Using the Tea Party's playbook to reclaim the Democratic Party and advance real progressive change Recently, I mentioned that I'd be sharing more specifics on how to reform the Democratic Party and seize control of our country back from the racist, misogynist MAGAs. This is the first article along those lines. Progressives shouldn't just be fighting the GOP: we should be learning from them. No, we shouldn't be learning from their bizarro economics; we shouldn't be discovering their selfish morality, misogyny, or racism; or selling ourselves out to the world's richest man. But there is a vital lesson progressives must learn, which is how the far right took control of the Republican Party over a decade ago and forced the entire Conservative establishment to lurch so far to the Right that they've even dumped people like Liz Cheney and George W. Bush.

Money in politics has a long and ignominious history. Corruption by money of individual politicians, and of the legislative process as a whole, hit three peaks in the history of our nation: during the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, the Roaring Twenties in the last century, and the years since 2010 when the Supreme Court struck down numerous campaign finance and good-government laws, throwing the doors open to corporate and billionaire cash with its Citizens United decision. The Gilded Age excesses led to the Tillman Act of 1907, which made it a federal felony for a corporation to donate money or anything of value to a campaign for federal office. It was gutted by Citizens United.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Republicans in Congress kick the can down the road to March. — Why is President Musk endorsing the "German neo-Nazi Party"? — Trump is already walking back his promises. Why don't the headlines simply say, "He Lied"? — President Biden says debt student debt cancellation is coming for public servants. — Hunter in a Farmer's World: ADHD: What the Heck is Time? — Wisdom School: Everyone "Sees" (or "Hears" or "Feels") the World Differently: Why It Matters...