Hartmann Report

And it’s not like we haven’t tried to remove that parasite. Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives, and already have their sights set on forcing major cuts to “entitlements” like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. One of the promises McCarthy made to become speaker was to force a vote on dialing back 2023/2024 spending back to 2021 levels — and there’s been a 7% inflation increase in costs/expenses since then. In other words, they want massive cuts.

And it’s damn well past time that the people who conceived and ordered and facilitated the execution of this crime against all the rest of us are held to account in a meaningful way. There’s a reason the Framers of our Constitution wrote the word “treason” into that document 7 times and the word “rebellion” 5 times: they knew how deadly rebellions are to democracy when they aren’t swiftly and severely punished. Yesterday saw that hard lesson play out in Brazil, with coordinated and simultaneous attacks — explicitly inspired by Trump’s assault on the US Capitol and cheered on by American Republicans — on Brazil’s presidential palace, capitol building, and supreme court building.

The Economy. "Some men rob you with a six-gun—others rob you with a fountain pen". —Woody Guthrie

The Best of the Rest of the News. — It's been two years since the insurrection, aided and abetted by numerous Republican members of Congress, and chaos is still the main note coming from the Republican caucus. — The hilarious meme floating around the internet about George Santos presaged the actual most recent lie he's pushing. — So much for "corporate responsibility" when it comes to political donations. — President Biden has taken serious action against illegal border crossings, even though there's not a single Republican in Congress, House or Senate, who's willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to reform our out-of-date immigration system. — When Trump took unknown millions or billions from the Saudis to bring the LIV golf tournament to the US after he left the White House, it appears he opened the door to that government getting inside information on the families of 9/11 victims. — Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold is calling on the Senate to revise their rules so more Democratic-aligned federal judges can be vetted and placed on the federal bench. — Geeky Science! Global warming is wiping out glaciers that feed some of the world's most important rivers. — Crazy Alert! Apparently dictators like to steal things.

Is this all a continuation of Trump’s January 6th coup attempt and his desire to convert America from a democracy into a despotic strongman-rule nation aligned with Russia? Amazingly, it’s the second anniversary of January 6th and we’re still talking about an ongoing attempt to sabotage the American government. Yesterday, I argued that the Freedom Caucus members and their handful of compatriots voting against Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House may have been doing so because the rightwing billionaires who back them want to roll back FDR’s “big government” in America. Now comes investigative journalist Dave Troy noting that America’s rightwing billionaires aren’t the only ones who want the US government to fail. So does Vladimir Putin.

While the battle for House Speaker appears to be about personality, it’s really about ideology. It’s about the future of “big government” and the American middle class. While Kevin McCarthy’s struggle to become Speaker of the House of Representatives appears to be about personality and struggles within the House Republican caucus, it’s really about something much larger: the fate and future of American “big government” and the middle class it created. Ever since the Reagan Revolution, the phrase “big government” has been on the lips of Republican politicians. They utter it like a curse at every opportunity. It seems paradoxical: Republicans complain about “big government,” but then go on to support more and more government money for expanding prisons and a bloated Pentagon budget. Once you understand their worldview, however, it all makes perfect sense.

As of last week, Republican efforts to ban birth control in America have officially started, and teenagers in Texas are its first victims. To paraphrase Pastor Niemöller, first they came for our abortion rights. Now they’re coming for our birth control. Psychologist Dr. Marty Klein notes at Psychology Today that there are typically only a few reasons why people oppose birth control.

Somehow the “conservative” base voters never seem to figure it out. Why? When will Republican voters figure out how badly they’re getting screwed by Republican politicians?

What motivates Republicans to say they’re for the “little guy” when the only policies they'll pursue are to cut taxes for the rich, gut unions, destroy public schools & ship jobs overseas? Republicans are about to seize control of the US House of Representatives, where the Constitution says all taxation and spending must originate. And the result won’t be difficult to predict.

A book review for the New Year. On this first day of the New Year, I’m pausing the serialization of Threshold for a weekend to share with you one of the most important books in my life. I’ve treasured Markings since I first discovered it in the 1990s, and suspect it’ll become one of your favorites, too.