Hartmann Report

Why won’t Congress act? Because they’re on the take. Courtesy of Citizens United and its predecessors voted into law by five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court… “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” — Frédéric Bastiat (French economist)

What baffles me is why a TV news host who earns $2.9m a year would go to such lengths to avoid even mentioning a solution that’s been signed onto repeatedly by virtually every Democrat for decades? Why did NBC’s Kristen Welker use an incomplete frame for her question about Social Security at last week’s GOP debate, and why didn’t Lester Holt or anybody else correct her? Here’s her question: KRISTEN WELKER: “Americans could see their Social Security benefits drastically cut in the next decade because the program is running out of money. Former President Trump has said quote, ‘Under no circumstances should Republicans cut entitlements.’ Governor Christie, first to you, you have proposed raising the retirement age for younger Americans. What would that age be specifically, and would you consider making any other reforms to Social Security?” The simple reality is that if a person earns $160,200 a year or less, they pay a 6.2% tax on all of their income. In other words, a person making exactly $160,200 pays $9,932.40 (6.2%) in Social Security taxes.

Americans love freedom: it’s in our political DNA. Can democrats reclaim the political high ground while forcing Republicans to defend their increasingly fascistic and death-promoting policies? Democrats must embrace a 21st century “Freedom Agenda.” Last week I wrote about how important it is for Democrats to reclaim “law and order” as their own by embracing a non-racist community-oriented model of law enforcement and rebuilding the services available to the mentally ill and homeless that were gutted by Reagan, Bush, and Trump. This is part two in a series about Reclaiming American Values. As much as Americans want the safety and security of law and order, they want freedom even more. The challenge is in defining that word and applying it as a brand to a political party.

On April 20, 1938, the Associated Church Press—a group of reporters for religious magazines and newspapers—met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, DC. One of their first questions was, “I would like to ask you, how great is the danger of fascism in this country? We hear about fascism-baiting in the United States.” FDR’s answer was blunt, and it reveals a lot to us today of how Americans thought of “fascist” enterprises back in that day. “I think there is danger,” he replied to the question, “because every time you have the breaking down or failure of some process we have been accustomed to for a long time, the tendency is for that process, because of the breakdown, to get into the hands of a very small group.”

The Best of the Rest of the News. — If Trump gets a second term, be worried. And if a bunch of third-party candidates like Joe Manchin & Jill Stein jump with the goal of eroding the Democratic vote, be really worried... — Speaker Mike Johnson wants to end your right to birth control and, by the way, Ohio Republicans claim they’re going to ignore the state’s constitution and prosecute doctors and women who get abortions. — Will the Senate Judiciary Committee ever vote on issuing subpoenas to billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow and conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo? — Tommy Tuberville really is Trump’s useful idiot, performing Trump’s retribution against a military he believes confounded his coup and preparing the groundwork for his takeover in 2025. — Could the Swifties be the tipping point for Democrats in 2024? — World population hits 8 billion and we're all living on ancient sunlight. — Geeky Science! Only do what you’re good at, and don’t feel guilty about not being able to do what you’re bad at. — Crazy Authoritarian Alert! Is Trump thinking about Tucker Carlson for VP?

This begs a bigger question, "Why have Republicans in the House and Senate become so unable or unwilling to do the nation’s business?" With a government shutdown looming a week from today, the House of Representatives adjourned yesterday for the weekend after Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson failed to get a successful vote on two essential funding bills. One, a transportation bill, would have gutted Amtrak, so a few east coast Republicans objected; the other, funding government operations and oversight of banks, went down in flames because it had a draconian anti-abortion provision built into it and Tuesday’s election appears to have spooked the GOP. Just a week earlier, Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott — who became a near billionaire running a company convicted of the largest ($1.7 billion) Medicare fraud in American history and hails from Ron DeSantis’ home state — endorsed Donald Trump. These stories are connected, and answer the question: “Why have Republicans in the House and Senate become so unable or unwilling to do the nation’s business?”

If Democrats in general, and President Biden in particular, don’t take this opportunity to show real leadership on the crime issue, they could be in a world of hurt in next year’s election… Share Cherelle Parker became the first woman elected mayor of Philadelphia this week, in part because of her tough-on-crime positions. She’s a progressive Democrat and beat five other Democrats in the primary (including one endorsed by both Bernie and AOC) before cruising to victory Tuesday. Her platform was straightforward and almost sounds like Rudy Giuliani back in the 1990s: hire 300 more police officers, fix broken streetlights, remove graffiti, fix up dilapidated buildings, and empower the new police on the street to stop pedestrians they believe may be committing a crime.

Donald Trump is a confidence man, a charlatan, an unrepentant liar whose deceits have cost at least a half-million Americans their lives. Why do so many American support him? When Dustin Thompson was hauled before US District Judge Reggie Walton for assaulting the Capitol police on January 6th, his defense lawyer, Samuel Shamansky, argued about Trump: “You had, frankly, a gangster who was in power. The vulnerable are seduced by the strong. That’s what happened.” The jury didn’t buy the argument and sent Thompson to prison, as US District Judge Reggie Walton, who was overseeing the case, said: “I think our democracy is in trouble because, unfortunately, we have charlatans like our former president who doesn’t, in my view, really care about democracy but only about power.” And yet Trump remains popular with about 20 percent of the American public, making up the majority of the Republican primary-voting base. But why?

There is no more powerful urge humans can experience than to protect and defend our children. For most people it beats hunger, sex, and money… I remember when the USSR launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the Earth. It was the fall of 1957, I was six years old, and my dad and I watched it arc over our house from our back yard one clear October night. My best friend’s father, a ham radio operator, let us listen on his shortwave radio to the “beep beep beep” it was emitting when it was over North America. I’d never seen my dad so rattled. That dramatic technological achievement lit a major fire under the Eisenhower administration and Congress. In his January 27, 1958 State of the Union address, Republican President Eisenhower pointed to Sputnik and demanded Congress fund a dramatic transformation of America’s educational system

The day after President Trump was re-elected (with MAGA Mike's help), he invoked the Insurrection Act and began the mass arrests... The day after President Trump was re-elected (with MAGA Mike's help), he invoked the Insurrection Act and began the mass arrests... 4 November 2025 Leavenworth, Kansas Dear Louise, It's been almost a year since the last time I saw you, as they were arresting me on the sedition charge that's kept me in this prison. If the underground network here succeeds, you should get this letter within a few weeks; it's the third I've written you that got out of the prison, but I understand the first two couriers were busted for carrying contraband mail and are now in prison themselves.