April 7, 2020, was the day everything changed in America. And hardly anybody realizes it. Continue reading
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US Supreme Court wants to make America more bigoted again
Bigots are switching to "creative expression" instead of religion as the club they'll use to beat down public accommodation laws.
The Supreme Court appears hell-bent on making America bigoted again. Step-by-step, they’re undoing every bit of progressive legislation from the past 80 years that they can find. Continue reading
The ‘freedom’ billionaires & the GOP are selling Americans is deadly
Queer people in America are not feeling “freedom,” particularly after the most recent deadly attack on Club Q in Colorado Springs. As if to amplify the GOP’s message of hate and fear against this vulnerable group of our fellow Americans, it happened on Trans Remembrance Day, when we honor the memory of trans people who’ve been the victims of hate and violence. Continue reading
Have Zoomers ushered in a new political era?
The pundits are mystified by last Tuesday’s election outcome: they were certain a red wave was on its way. Continue reading
Did the fascist mantle just pass to Ron DeSantis?
In democracy, the people choose their leaders; in fascism, the leader chooses his people.
The elections appear to be a mixed bag, with young people and women, in particular, rejecting the rightwing Supreme Court Dobbs abortion decision. The early youth vote in Wisconsin, for example was 360% higher than in 2018 according to Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Continue reading
The weapon that the GOP pointed at the heart of our democracy in 1964 still haunts us
Will we be governed by representatives we elect, or people put in office by angry mobs storming capitols? Continue reading
This is the election you get for nine billion bucks
The polls are tightening up right now, and the media is treating it like it’s some mystical force of nature causing people to shift their concerns from abortion, guns, climate, democracy, and the survival of Social Security over to gas prices, Black crime, banning books, and trans kids playing sports. Continue reading
Why the GOP is no longer a legitimate political party
US News and World Report has a story about how the fringe has become the mainstream in the Republican Party. The headline of their story says it all: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Rises From GOP Fringe to Front.” Continue reading
Why do so many Americans believe the lies pushed by the GOP?
Donald Trump is still insisting he won the 2020 election, despite having lost by about 7 million votes and being wiped out in the Electoral College. Continue reading
Barr covered up Bush I & Reagan’s treason—no surprise he covered up Trump’s
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. Continue reading
Will America see a 2nd major renewal of the middle class?
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. Continue reading
Is the GOP now promoting the business of tracking women seeking abortions?
When the Dobbs decision came down from six Republicans on the Supreme Court, many folks were wondering how long it would take before vigilantes and GOP-controlled states might start tracking women seeking abortion services. Continue reading
The GOP never gave Ray DeMonia a chance to survive
Ray DeMonia of Cullman, Alabama, was a good and decent man, an antique collector and auctioneer, beloved by friends and family. He and his family were vaccinated, so they didn’t have to worry much about COVID. Continue reading
Welcome to the Anthropocene—can we prevent human die-offs?
The world today is on the verge of a major food emergency, provoked in part by Russia’s attack on Ukraine but more broadly by the damage heat from global warming is doing to crops worldwide. This is both a crisis and an opportunity. Continue reading
America is occupied by a dangerous Second Amendment scam
America is now under armed assault, a tyranny that suppresses free speech and has produced almost-daily mass- and school-shootings, in a gun ownership frenzy fed by people who claim their power comes from the Constitution. Continue reading
Where did the religious nuttery come from?
Minneapolis residents Jess and John Pentz—a couple who’ve been married for 17 years—were traveling through Hayward, Wisconsin, over the 4th of July weekend when Jess realized she’d forgotten to bring her birth control pills. Continue reading
The Supreme Court has lit our planet on fire
Longtime readers of my work and listeners to my program know that the Supreme Court has seized for itself extraordinary powers that the Framers of the Constitution never intended for it to have. There are summaries here and here, for example. Continue reading
Have you noticed America has gotten meaner?
“Have you noticed that people are getting meaner?” the villain asks in a Paramount+ promo for their new show Evil.
“What does it mean?” asks the “nice” character.
“It means,” says the evil character with a note of triumph in her voice, “that your side is losing.” Continue reading
How Medicare Advantage scammers get away with it
In my multiple writings on the Medicare Advantage scam, the most common two responses I get (besides, “Thanks, you may have saved my life!”) are, “I’ve never had a problem with my Advantage plan,” and “If it’s so bad, how come so few people are saying so?” Continue reading
The abortion firestorm is also a white freak-out about the browning of America
The abortion battle is not just about religion. Continue reading
Abortion: Why is the court using religious belief to alter what should be secular law?
Democrats are generally disinclined to discuss religion, much less debate it. Continue reading
It’s time to nationalize the fossil fuel industry
If you want to trigger a conservative, just suggest nationalizing the US gas and oil industry. “Venezuela!” they’ll scream hysterically, perhaps adding a few, “Iran!” squeals. (Somehow, they always forget to yell about Norway…) Continue reading
Why Blue state living makes you healthy, wealthy & wise
If you’re concerned about quality of life, education, living longer, and lower crime, move to a Blue state. If you want to carry a gun in public, earn crap wages, and don’t care about access to healthcare or your kid’s education, move to a Red state. Continue reading
Democrats must demand Justice Thomas resign … and his wife is prosecuted
In 1969, Richard Nixon and congressional Republicans took down the Supreme Court’s most liberal member, Abe Fortas, threatening to send his wife to prison. There’s a lesson here for today’s Democrats and Clarence Thomas. Continue reading
Could Putin be failing because of a lack of democracy?
Russia’s President Putin isn’t an irrational actor; he and his administration are suffering from a deficiency of democracy, and that’s why he’s making terrible decisions. Seriously. Follow me on this. Continue reading
New GOP plan to raise taxes on working people & end Social Security & Medicare
They’re at it again: Republicans want to raise taxes on poor and working-class Americans, end Social Security and Medicare, jack up pollution and corporate profits, all while continuing to pamper their billionaire donor base. Continue reading
Why does everything the GOP touches cause poverty, disease & death?
Senator Marco Rubio said he wouldn’t attend the State of the Union address because it required a Covid test and he was too busy to swab his nose. Rubio’s bizarre behavior is right in line with the GOP’s embrace of poverty, disease, and death. Continue reading
How much have Americans lost their sense of agency?
“Agency” is the ability to control yourself and your own life. “Loss of agency” is the psychological term for people no longer being able to influence the course of their own life or the world around them. Continue reading
Why Trump can’t be ignored & must be held accountable
Violent behavior on airplanes has reached such epidemic proportions that the president of Delta Airlines last week asked the Department of Homeland security to allow the airlines to submit passengers who have terrified or otherwise abused flight crews for placement on the government’s no-fly list. Continue reading
Why Republicans now love the Post Office
The Republicans are about to win a major battle in their war on electric vehicles, this time with the second largest vehicle fleet in America owned by the US Postal Service. It’s an outrageous story that most Americans don’t know a thing about. Continue reading
How student debt is sabotaging America
Ronald Reagan knew that an educated populace was more progressive and more Democratic, and he was determined to stop the explosion of college educated Americans caused by both the 1944 GI Bill and free tuition at the University of California. Continue reading
Beware of those who believe they were sent by God
Posted on November 30, 2022 by Thom Hartmann
Whether they believe their God sent them or that their DNA is superior to the rest of us, the new supremacists who own the GOP represent a threat to American democracy. They’ve tried to conquer America three times in the past: will they do it this time? Continue reading →