Hartmann Report

The corruption of our justice system is a cardinal characteristic of fascism, which is what Trump and — it turns out, Barr — were actively trying to do to America. Geoffrey Berman has a new book out, Holding the Line: Inside the Nation's Preeminent US Attorney's Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department, laying out chapter and verse of how Bill Barr corrupted the Department of Justice on behalf of Donald Trump. Barr’s coverups for Trump range, in my read, from criminal activity to treason. It shouldn’t surprise us. There was also a time when George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan were facing the possibility of treason charges, much like Trump. Who did they call? Bill Barr.

As the world watches its 40-year experiment with neoliberalism collapse, Republicans in the US and Putin in Russia are facing a crisis they once thought would be an opportunity. There’s a reckoning coming. The kind of oligarchy that neoliberalism has brought to both America and Russia is so unstable it will not hold. Both nations are thus confronting dramatic transitions over the next few years. As Russia has suffered substantial defeats in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin may be looking at the end of his reign. There’s similar tough stuff facing Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and their GOP buddies.

Although we have much that we might change about our government and business, it’s clear that we also have a great and noble heritage on which to build and many great leaders in whose footsteps we can follow. Unlike America’s Founders, however, we don’t have to start from a blank piece of paper. The Founders set the principles for us, and they inspired the world over—from the French Revolution to Tiananmen Square. Our job is to pick up the torch of liberty. In this chapter we ask, “Is this a biased view, or do others see a problem, too?” This time we look to three powerful proponents of capitalism and free enterprise: a billionaire, a Nobel laureate who was chief economist of the World Bank, and Business Week magazine.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Bannon and Trump are grifters, but the Republican Party has been a grift ever since Reagan. — Uvalde suffers again, with another mass shooting this week. — Is voting going to be safe in Georgia this November? — Bucks County, Pennsylvania says "No" to privatizing their water and sewer systems. — Another Republican-appointed right-wing judge goes on the attack against gay people. — Good news! President Joe Biden is repudiating neoliberalism and embracing unions in a big way. — Crazy Alert! Fox "News" host Bret Baer asks Turkish/New Jersey citizen Dr. Mehmet Oz if he should've gone to the meat counter instead of the vegetables.

Elizabeth Warren's new legislation would give back to workers the power Republicans have taken away - It could restore the middle class, and expand it to include people in virtually all labor sectors. Elizabeth Warren has a plan, and it’s great, if only Republicans weren’t committed to fighting it tooth and nail. But first some backstory… Most Americans, having never studied Civics in school since Reagan stopped federal support for it, don’t realize that a middle class is not a normal thing. It has to be intentionally created, by law, by having government “interfere” in the so-called “free market” on behalf of labor.

This year will be an unprecedented referendum on democracy. Fully sixty percent of Americans will have an “election denier” Trump-humping Republican on the ballot this November. Our country has been poisoned, and if we don’t remove the poison and start using the antidote America may soon be completely unrecognizable as a “free” nation. It’s taken 50 years, but we’re now at the point of maximum crisis. First came the poison of big money corrupting politics.

It’s time to enforce the Constitution, and a judge in New Mexico just kicked off the process. Democrats need to jump on this with the vigor of Trump crashing a Miss Teen USA dressing room. Before I even get into the guts of this argument, just ask yourself: if Democratic Members of Congress had engaged in a seditious conspiracy to overthrow our government to put or keep a Democratic president in power against both the popular vote and the Electoral College, and Republicans controlled Congress right now, what would those Republicans be doing?

Like in 1933, a Democratic President is calling out fatcats and fascists in the GOP while uniting Americans in a great project to rebuild our nation... It’s easy to get lost in despair and outrage over the state of affairs in America. Women and queer people are being forced back into the kitchen and closet, climate change is killing scores of Americans every week, our schools and public areas are under constant assault by armed Republican gangs and GOP-sanctioned mass shooters. Over the past decade more than a million American lives have been lost to “deaths of despair” as a result of our 40-year experiment with Reagan’s neoliberalism. And it’s not just domestic bad news coming out of the GOP’s open opposition to democracy. After Trump betrayed Ukraine, Russia attacked them; China is openly threatening a similar sort of war against Taiwan. There’s lots to be concerned about. Nonetheless, I’m hopeful right now.

The people have got to know if their president is a crook," U.S. President Richard Nixon told a national television audience on November 11, 1973, when asked at a press conference if donations from the dairy industry had caused him to reverse his position on dairy price supports. He added, "Well, I am not a crook." A bit over two years earlier, however, Nixon had a meeting at the White House with representatives of the dairy industry, who had apparently just given him a $2 million campaign pledge. With the tape running on March 23, 1971, Nixon said, "Uh, I know…that, uh, you are a group that are politically very conscious…And you're willing to do something about it. And, I must say a lot of businessmen and others…don't do anything about it. And you do, and I appreciate that. And I don't have to spell it out."

The Best of the Rest of the News. — The MAGAts are squealing, even though most didn’t hear Biden’s speech because none of America’s major TV networks chose to carry it. — What did Trump steal, and who did he give it to? — Is the new coarseness and brutality in American politics the result of Trump or social media? Or both? — You could soon lose your right to government benefits, if rightwingers on the Supreme Court go the way observers fear. — The case of Ginny Thomas’ efforts to overthrow our democracy got even more alarming this week. — The destruction of the Amazon is reaching crisis proportions as Brazilian President Jail Bolsonaro has largely refused to enforce laws against illegal logging.. — Geeky Science: Ultra-processed foods, which make up 57% of the American diet right now, are positively tied to bowel cancer.