Tragically, for the third time in our nation’s history, patriots who believe in the ideals of July 4, 1776 must defend America against those who don’t...
Mr. Hartman, you are a lawyer, and you understand that for over 200 years the Constitution was the basic law of the land and described in some detail, but not completely, how our government should function. The courts, especially the Supreme Court, took on the role of deciding what that meant. There have been widely differing opinions over the years, but this last decision by the 6 extremist justices, which they released after a great delay, and then ran out of town, seems to me, a layman, like something that has no basis in the US Constitution.
In order to give the president such total immunity to do anything he wishes while in office, and not being held accountable afterwards seems as if it would need a Constitutional Amendment. The court can’t just declare the document wrong, just because they will be well paid to do so. Do other judges have to follow this unconstitutional ruling? Can Judge Chutkan say that according to the law, Trump has been indicted for several crimes and it is up to a jury, not the Supreme Court ( or even the judge in Florida) to decide if he is guilty or not?
Isn’t it finally time to organize 1,000,000 lawyers, and 20,000 judges to say that they will no longer follow the corrosive opinions handed down by this court. Unless some opposition imposes reform there will be blood in the streets as people protect their freedom. We don’t want or need a second revolution to install a completely corrupt government .
The Seditious Six completely wrote something into the Constitution the Founding Fathers never intended, legalized bribery and placing the president above the law. The Federalist Papers and existing commentary from the formation of the Constitution makes it clear the Founders expected the president to be subject to the law and that bribery was criminal conduct, and grounds to impeach a president.
Active judges risk firing, Many retired judges have already come forward, Doesn't work on Roberts et al.
The ABA meets next week in Chicago. I expect them to condemn the decision.
There is a procedure within 30 days to ask for a rehearing and during that period motions in the nature of exceptions can be filed. Probably would just prolong the agony.
Maybe they should risk firing? I can't say because I'm not one of them. But why be a judge if you can't enforce the law? Are the majority of our judges willing to act like the judges in Moscow? I was naive enough to believe that the courts were supposed to protect us from criminals, and not protect the criminals. But, maybe that just applies to Black people.
@Old: I am only a nurse, but I risked being fired and was fired several times over 35 years because I had to do what I and the Nurse Practice Act believed was the right way to treat patients and families. I tried to keep a low profile and keep my jobs because I needed to care for my family. But when push came to shove, I had to go along with the golden rule. As a nurse, my priorities were my conscience, my license, then my job. Judges should do the same. I survived and they would to.
The Supreme Court also has the dubious distinction of being free of the rules of judicial ethics that bind state court judges and Article III judges from lower courts.
But who can do that to a corrupt SCOTUS? Only the Congress. And probably the DOJ but they don’t have the nerve.
Anyway, it’s the 4th of July and I’m going to the beach with my grandchildren while I’m still healthy and free. I hope to be able to feel free to express myself next year.
I still believe in criminal law. Make me AG and Lennie Leo, Harlan Crow, and dozens of other witnesses would appear under grand jury subpoena re bribery, perjury and statutory financial allegations.
Thanks Daniel, you have validated my opinion that the problem is Merrick Garland. and Biden let the fox inside to guard the henhouse.
I have always distrusted Biden's judgement and his bipartisan friends across the aisle attitude, he is a creature of the beltway and the beltway is out of touch with middle America.
They didn't call him the Senator from Wall Street for no reason.
Having said that I have no choice but vote as I did last time and that is cast my ballot against Trump by voting for Biden., there is no other choice. A third party vote is, by default, a vote for Trump, that is why Andrew Mellon has given 50 million dollars to the Trump Campaign and 25 million to the RFK jr campaign.
If I understand correctly, motion for reconsideration would open door to more amicus briefs: at least opportunity to pile on the scorn and outrage and neon-light the intellectual vacuity!
Let’s be frank and honest. The Court’s decision in the Presidential Immunity case was the functional equivalent of the 1933 Enabling Act in Germany. All that is left is getting the “right” people into power to make it all happen.
They are trying to divide us to conquer us...and it works.
Whereas all SCOTUS members had said at confirmation hearings and in prior decisions that the United States does not have a king, they crowned the degenerate four times indicted, 34 times convicted of 34 state felonies, still faced with many other crimes charged in state and federal court, as King Don I.
It was as if he had not lost the last election. They granted King Don absolute immunity for “core” duties, even when there is no basis for it in the text of the Constitution.
There can be no further appeal. Plus, this term, the court decided to take control of agency rulemaking, despite fifth amendment due process and the language of the Administrative Procedure Act.
They haven’t fully expressed their logic, except that they believe it is their prerogative to make law.
I can’t prove it, but I think the logic is just human nature, if not animal behavior.
Once upon a time, I spent several years listening to judges at many levels who in essence privately admitted that they achieved their positions through divine right. We used to discuss it in my Inns of Court, where judges from all levels spoke openly. Many “entitled” circuit court judges crap on certain district court judges. District court judges on magistrates. A majority of district court judges in Miami would have abolished bankruptcy courts to have direct authority over filers. District court judges nationally crap on decisions from the Social Security Administrative law judges. Within the agency, resentment and hostility became so bad that the judges organized and received collective bargaining status. The agency had a “non-acquisition” policy, meaning they would not accept the decisions of circuit court judges as precedent.
I attribute the logic to the majority belief in pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics. For example, Alito and Thomas often refer to “natural law” as the basis for decisions. Natural law for them is Catholic dogma on such matters as abortion, contraception, marriage, etc.
Most of this “antisocial” conduct comes “naturally.”
But without parties in litigation, even with Article II, section 2 and Article III of the Constitution, there would be no courts. As a matter of biology, without guppies, the bigger fish would not survive.
It’s reasonable to expect that if King Don is elected, this time he will assert a core duty to fish the judicial system as he sees fit.
When the times are tough, the tough get going. We need to be better than the insurrectionists, their aiders, abettors apologists. Regardless of outcome, internal doubts, anxieties, we need to out register and out vote them despite the media blitz.. Uncle Sam needs us to step up.
We have to win the election and then impeach the justices. My fear is that this court will not let Trump lose the election. They will find a way to do the vote counting. They have not put their thumb on the scales of justice, they have jumped on their side with both feet. There is trouble ahead, with or without Biden.
If Trump wins, impeachment and we control both houses of Congress, may still be available. Depends on the interpretation of the term "high crimes and misdemeanors." Criminal immunity should not apply.
It seems that the game here is simply to win. The only “natural law” they seem to subscribe to is survival of the fittest… I am certain that they understand the ramifications of their decisions on the country and our citizens… but they don’t care because they believe they will not be affected. In my business we call this reckless disregard for the law and welfare of others sociopathy.
If I had to pick one piece by Thom Hartmann to share with all of us here in America - right now -,this would be it. Today's "Report" covers all of the most fundamental threats we are confronted with in our daily reality of life under increasingly hostile occupation. The second coming of Timothy McVeigh as a well organized and heavily financed faction is upon us all. It is here.
The burden to push back the undead, to reclaim America as an opportunity for all, and the duty to defend common decency are left in our charge and our charge alone.
I do love all of his pieces, but I agree with you on this one. I felt that this is the most important one (thoroughly put together) and that I wish for it to be spread widely. There are so many that know almost nothing about what has been happening in this country. Unfortunately, we will continue our "sleepwalking into a dictatorship", or whatever it will be.
Thom hit this one out of the park. His composition would make a great outline for another one of Thom's books, he could call it, 'The Hidden History of the Rise of Fascism in the United States'. Thom could released it just before liberals, blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Jews are forced to exit the country, or be shipped to the concentration camps.
The suspicions of the existence of a 'vast right wing(fascist)conspiracy' since Hillary Clinton uttered the words on a debate stage, have since grown exponentially. Last week 6 Republican justices on the Supreme Court made it crystal clear they were fascist co-conspirators, with all the cunning and deception one would expect from Ivy League lawyers raised in elite Christofascist bubbles that have been raised to believe the left is the enemy. The evidence of a pro-fascist movement has been building, ever since the Donald first hit the campaign trail in 2015. But history shows it began even before the Powell Memo in the 1950s & 60s when Robert Welch and one of a dozen co-founders, Fred Koch, established the radical right wing libertarian organization, the John Birch Society. Radical libertarian politics was normalized in the militarily strict Koch patriarchy. Fred's son David Koch ran on the Clark/Koch libertarian ticket in 1980, but flopped. When Charles & David regrouped, the Koch political operation, they would lavishly fund far right conservative causes, primarily mandated to dismantling agencies and deregulation. And they were off to the fascism races.
Last week, the billions that their networks distributed, in campaign bribery dollars, bore fruit in a big way, swaying their purchased Supreme Court justices. The gifts to the Koch network billionaires came in the form of Chevron deference & presidential(dictator) immunity. If you find this upsetting Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durban's phone number is 202-324-7703, let him know you want Supreme Court investigations. And a SCOTUS inspector general armed with tough, Senate imposed, SCOTUS ethics reforms.
So many Americans have been successfully brainwashed by these far right media outlets. I've watched members of my family, who were once normal "thinking" people become radicals and haters. I no longer recognize them or are able to have a sane, coherent conversation. The change from our parents to sensibly protect us from possibly catastrophic diseases to these anti-vaxxers is horrifying. (Just one example.) I may have cancer and not that long to live but I'm scared to death for my children and grandchildren. At least they have the sense and intelligence to know what is right and true. I fear what next year's 4th of July may bring.
Best wishes on the cancer Dawn. I was diagnosed,in Oct 2017, with stage 4 lung cancer that metastasized to the brain. A craniotomy, ten daily treatments of radiation,two years of triweekly immunotherapy (keytruda) and still chugging along. I wish you wel..
@Dawn, I also fear for my family's future. I was thinking that maybe Biden should resign and make Harris President now so that she could run against Trump as an incumbent and be seen as the strong leader of the free world and give the Dems a better chance. As for Hatmann's informative article, the Red coats never left, they have continued lurking, often out of sight. But we can certainly see them now. I will recommend this article to family I will see today.
The red coats, the Nazis, the confederates, the sadists...... Just don't go away! They are like cockroaches, we need to treat them with respect and decency while keeping them from spewing their hatred! The only other option is all out civil war and third world suffering.
I do not want war, but Trump, his minions and Kevin Roberts of the misnamed Heritage Foundation are chomping at the bit to literally start shooting people for the “crime” of wanting government of, for and my the people.
This should alarm everyone, it makes all other conscerns pale
This from Joyce Vances, substack, Civil Discourse
"A week ago, I started my post to you with some comments made by Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation and architect of Project 2025, when he learned Democrats were making plans to take on Project 2025. Roberts said, “Project 2025 will not be stopped,” and that Democrats are “more than welcome to try” to stop it. He concluded by saying, “We will not give up and we will win.”
Now he’s back at it. On Tuesday, Roberts was on Steve Bannon’s War room. It was minus Bannon, of course, because he’s in federal prison. Instead, Roberts was on with a guest host, Dave Brat.
"We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Roberts told Brat.
Did you get that threat if the left lets them get their way, then the revolution will remain bloodless.
Yes and they see us like the campus radicals of yore, which we are not. They accomplished nothing of substance except to give us Tricky Dick. They are just itching to kill the rest of us who hate the destruction of government of, for and by the people.
Michael Moore's plan to have Biden step down, so Harris gets some exposure, has merit. But if Biden feels he can handle another term, as he indicates, we should ride the Biden express, as long & as far as it will take us. If he falls short in completing another term, he has a good talented progressive, for his back up. We have already witnessed his ability to accomplish an impressively, great amount, with very small Congressional margins. The longer he can remain active and viable as POTUS, the more opportunity Harris has to learn from the old master. Although conservative media has done it's best to downplay & smear Biden's remarkable accomplishments, to keep their audiences loyal, and in the dark, the message is slowly seeping out. (See Hopium's Substack)
We all need to expose the Trump/Heritage Foundation linkage to Project 2025 and the much larger terroristic Christofascist movement and the billionaire/foreign hostiles' conspiracy, that sustains it for what it is, a conspiracy to install a US fascist dictator. Project 2025 and Trump's incredible level of corruption give us all the ammunition we need to take this wannabe dictator out of the running. Even if he has coerced and bought off the Supreme Court & other judges. Here is a link to a PBS Frontline documentary about Mike Flynn, a felonious former Trump National Security Advisor, and now a leader of the Christofascist movement. To be effective our messages have to be very repetitive, just like Trump disinformation.
This video provides us with a sense for the kind of madness we're up against.
I'm sure it's mutual. Hackles on end anywhere in the vicinity. Like tribbles to Klingons. Humans obviously have lost that survival instinct, at least many of us. Not me. My skin crawls at a glimpse of Trump. (M. Scott Peck, "People of the Lie.") From time to time I reiterate my observation that at least early white invaders were self-selected authoritarian followers of religious cults: something concentrated in the DNA? I don't suppose the Ancestry guy on PBS is looking at that.
I read Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck's book, many years ago. But if memory serves me, much of his book was about case histories observing some really messed up patients, and often times how they messed up their children & relatives. Peck ascribed their pathologies to evil. I also recall, near the end of the book, he related the dangers of group think and how it cause groups to select for new additional members based on the idiosyncracies already shared by the group.
So a police department that has issues with brutality, tends to select for similar personality traits in new recruits.
The strange case of Donald Trump and his childhood likely would have made a terrific case study for Peck. Certainly Peck would have noted Trump's narcissism and capacity for capturing cult members and his ability exploit group think. It would be likely that he would make note of Trump's propensity for evil deeds and his ability to fool fellow travelers.
There is little doubt that the cancer was malignant, now with Project 2025, and the toxic waste injected by billionaires with religious prohibitions; by a radical Supreme Court and Christofascist movement, both determined to blood draw & help the patient to death. We've now reached the stage where the tumor has metastasized and we're going to need to take extraordinary life support measures to save the patient. The Trump dictatorship cancer can be stopped with a convincing vote this November, but the cancerous Project 2025 Christofascism extremism will take a very long time to measurably excise.
This immunity decision is so obviously unconstitutional that I can’t believe we have no recourse against it. Can nothing be done? Can these MAGA judges say ANYTHING and we, like sheep, have to obey?!
Very heavy lift. Landslide both House and Senate. Women quick to judge other women as "sluts" need to vote for the lives of their daughters. Men need to hear, don't sterilize yourself: vote blue! But we who care don't have anywhere near the bullhorn evil does.
Human history shows that democracy IS an “idealistic fantasy”, Mr. Hartmann, one rarely attempted and seldom of long duration. Because it rests, in the end, on the delusionary notion that humans are basically good. We are not. We are selfish, greedy, venal, cruel, bigoted overtly or covertly, tribal. Democracy requires that we rise above all of that, and act for the common good. The morbidly rich have destroyed that in this country and are doing it around the world. The question is not whether we will maintain some semblance of our republic here, but whether the world can prevent the catastrophe that the morbidly rich are engineering. That seems doubtful to me, even if there is a blue tsunami in November, which there will not be.
On this last relatively free Fourth of July, I am thankful for our founders, and for you in your constant truth-telling. But sad that our future is probably bleak. Even if the tools of the morbidly rich discover that the rest of us are probably better armed and more committed than they are, our country will be horrifically weakened by the turmoil I now think is almost inevitable. My greatest regret as I type this is that our beloved little grandson, whom it has been our privilege to co-parent, and who is the center of our universe, was ever born. He will inherit a dystopian, hideous, overheated world, and despite the resources he will have as the sole heir of five fairly successful adults, it won’t matter.
I will end by wishing a final happy fourth to those of you who deserve it because you are real Americans who still believe in our ideals and our government as it existed before Reagan began its destruction and the current SCOTUS effectively completed that project. I will stay the course, and keep the faith, and run the race. Despite my hopelessness, because those who fought in our Revolution, on the Union side in the Civil War, and in two world wars, deserve that. It all starts with making November as blue as possible, and using that victory to target and defeat the morbidly rich and their corrupt and ignorant minions.
The right wingers think they can change history to their way of thinking. They are wrong. The path of our history depends on the populous to willingly follow. No matter how inconvenient life could be made for those that oppose their schemes diversity will work constantly against their lack of power to make others do as they desire. They will only cause harm to those that are not the problem. The people will tire of their schemes and intolerance. The children will rise up and demand sanity and they will get it. God bless the children.
The right wing are social communists Clayron. In their America the church will rule, and we will obey or else.
Back in 1998, when internet forums proliferated I was on one populated by these kind of creatures.
One dude, self described Christian Reconstructionist (aka Dominonist) stated that when they regain power, "order will be restored"
Dominionism is pan or trans secular, Catholics, Evangelicals, Pence and Cruz. They may get their way and there will be an orgasm of ejaculation, but it won't last, because they will immediately fragment and war with each other for primacy, privilege and power.
We are talking of the 100 years war, redux only worse, the 100 years war was essentially intermural warfare, this time it will be intramural warfare.
The Opus Dei society (Barr and the Supreme six) have the upper hand, as does the American Catholic Bishops Association,, until the Southern Baptists and Ted Cruz's daddy Rafael, of the Dominionst Society, decide that they want to be in charge
Kevin Roberts (Heritage Foundation), Leonard Leo (Federalist Society, the seditious six of SCOTUS are all radical Catholics.
How does one say conspiracy without saying conspiracy.?
That's sweet. Vote against it NOW. Spread the word! Remember ounce of prevention.....? Why curse "the children" with the heavy lift of the "pound of cure?"
The saddest part of this article for me is the way the Billionaires have played so many people into ultimately hurting themselves. If they win in November, many of Trumps base will be hit very hard by the policies of the 2025 plan. And the sad truth is that these elites do not care… and are willing to subject generations of families to a lifetime of corporate “slavery.”
You may have seen this PBS Frontline documentary about Mike Flynn, PBS was cognisant of the conspiracy & extremism more than a year ago. That YouTube video you suggested is quite good also.
With a 90% tax even, the wealthy were given enough money to buy multiple yachts, homes, all the toys they wanted and money to invest to keep them busy. But that was not enough. The rich crave power and to be worshipped, over ending human suffering, altruism, and serving good and God.
There is no rehabilitating abused children. Even if all there material needs were met, but their intellectual needs were thwarted. The family unit encompasses sibling rivalry, phony religion, irrational thought, sadism, hatred, greed and injustices. If the little monsters (babies) are not raised properly, especially in the womb and until about age 7, they will turn into thugs, feral animals, who are immune to truth, logic, reason and will have little or no empathy for others. It is currently 2024 AD, it might as well be 2024 BC, and the so called "HUMANS' haven't figured this out yet. Why not? It is because the less evolved, less virtuous, more closed minded, greediest, lying parents do not want their children to serve good and God! Because their children would not like them. That is why woke is such a threat to the maga. They prefer their children be raised to be feral lunatics that they can bond with than truth seekers who can not bond with them. Parents who can't sacrifice for their young!
I like to remind, that the 90% was only on the tiny slice of cream over-the-top: NOT 90% of dollar one! NOT 90% on any given working stiff! It's a scare easy to sell, because it needs explanation of why it's no scare!
Thom, I am smiling at your well-meaning political correctness, because of course the document says, "...all MEN are created equal." When one then tries to explain, well, "men" meant "all people" in the common usage, one is well on the way down the slippery slope. Because that is true: men were people in their world; women were a lesser creation. I raise the issue now because, for all of the harmful fallout from Hobbs, several generations of women now have no idea of the full panorama of that world view, nor, especially, of the extent to which it is STILL VERY MUCH WITH US. Do you really think it's far-fetched to imagine Alito's pen poised to decree that women only got the vote in 1920, hardly a mandate of the Founders? I recently heard on regular broadcast news radio that some red states are looking at doing away with no-fault divorce. (Look out for your community property, ladies!) But the significance of "no-fault" is partly against the historical/cultural background that women are inherently less trustworthy, less mature in judgement. Why, even when the Comstock Act came about, a woman wasn't considered reliable enough to be a witness in court! So, fine, let's get that divorce business back to his word against hers.
Then there is that fear and loathing of female seductiveness; her corrupting power and inherent promiscuity. I'm a bit of an addictive YouTube comments reader, and believe me, it is just the tip of the iceberg when you see 1) I'm OK with abortion long as it's not being used as birth control, and 2) she won't need an abortion if she can just keep her knees together. Now we have "abortion after birth." My wish is that eyes could be more massively opened to the visceral hatred and despite reflected in these ideas, and in the policies that will flow from them. The attack on Mifepristone in the mail is only a hint of what may be in store for us. Because I am sure the troglodyte 6 absolutely believe "all MEN are created equal," and a reversal of ALL these 20th Century "rights" of females will just be restoring god's balance to things.
Today is the fourth of July, the day celebrating our established freedom. Good. Let all the effusive saccharine sentimentalites gush forth so that tomorrows sunrise can signal the very last hope of saving the country from the extant compressing coup, especially since Biden's gift to the right--his particicipation or more precisely the lack thereof in allowing the entire nation to witness and verify his senility first hand. Several voices grabbed the spin to deny immediately what the country witnessed, but the subsequent drop by at least points six points (so far) proves what the country really thinks. Biden's smug adamancy, his ego-ridden ambition to stay in the race is now the enemy to defeat. Now is the time to take it to the streets to protest his audaciously obstreperous arrogance. This would be, IS, the protest to be in. This one.
Now that the SC has undone the constitution and the republic as an outcome of the war of liberty, shouldn't king Charles III of Britain be justified to reclaim his American colony? Once you turbo charge the clock to go backwards there is the issue of where to stop.
Mr. Hartman, you are a lawyer, and you understand that for over 200 years the Constitution was the basic law of the land and described in some detail, but not completely, how our government should function. The courts, especially the Supreme Court, took on the role of deciding what that meant. There have been widely differing opinions over the years, but this last decision by the 6 extremist justices, which they released after a great delay, and then ran out of town, seems to me, a layman, like something that has no basis in the US Constitution.
In order to give the president such total immunity to do anything he wishes while in office, and not being held accountable afterwards seems as if it would need a Constitutional Amendment. The court can’t just declare the document wrong, just because they will be well paid to do so. Do other judges have to follow this unconstitutional ruling? Can Judge Chutkan say that according to the law, Trump has been indicted for several crimes and it is up to a jury, not the Supreme Court ( or even the judge in Florida) to decide if he is guilty or not?
Isn’t it finally time to organize 1,000,000 lawyers, and 20,000 judges to say that they will no longer follow the corrosive opinions handed down by this court. Unless some opposition imposes reform there will be blood in the streets as people protect their freedom. We don’t want or need a second revolution to install a completely corrupt government .
The Seditious Six completely wrote something into the Constitution the Founding Fathers never intended, legalized bribery and placing the president above the law. The Federalist Papers and existing commentary from the formation of the Constitution makes it clear the Founders expected the president to be subject to the law and that bribery was criminal conduct, and grounds to impeach a president.
Active judges risk firing, Many retired judges have already come forward, Doesn't work on Roberts et al.
The ABA meets next week in Chicago. I expect them to condemn the decision.
There is a procedure within 30 days to ask for a rehearing and during that period motions in the nature of exceptions can be filed. Probably would just prolong the agony.
Maybe they should risk firing? I can't say because I'm not one of them. But why be a judge if you can't enforce the law? Are the majority of our judges willing to act like the judges in Moscow? I was naive enough to believe that the courts were supposed to protect us from criminals, and not protect the criminals. But, maybe that just applies to Black people.
@Old: I am only a nurse, but I risked being fired and was fired several times over 35 years because I had to do what I and the Nurse Practice Act believed was the right way to treat patients and families. I tried to keep a low profile and keep my jobs because I needed to care for my family. But when push came to shove, I had to go along with the golden rule. As a nurse, my priorities were my conscience, my license, then my job. Judges should do the same. I survived and they would to.
The Supreme Court also has the dubious distinction of being free of the rules of judicial ethics that bind state court judges and Article III judges from lower courts.
Plenty of judges are continually reversed, and some are regularly inspected, dissected and rejected under peer review or the Judicial Code.
Suicide is not a good option.
But who can do that to a corrupt SCOTUS? Only the Congress. And probably the DOJ but they don’t have the nerve.
Anyway, it’s the 4th of July and I’m going to the beach with my grandchildren while I’m still healthy and free. I hope to be able to feel free to express myself next year.
I still believe in criminal law. Make me AG and Lennie Leo, Harlan Crow, and dozens of other witnesses would appear under grand jury subpoena re bribery, perjury and statutory financial allegations.
Thanks Daniel, you have validated my opinion that the problem is Merrick Garland. and Biden let the fox inside to guard the henhouse.
I have always distrusted Biden's judgement and his bipartisan friends across the aisle attitude, he is a creature of the beltway and the beltway is out of touch with middle America.
They didn't call him the Senator from Wall Street for no reason.
Having said that I have no choice but vote as I did last time and that is cast my ballot against Trump by voting for Biden., there is no other choice. A third party vote is, by default, a vote for Trump, that is why Andrew Mellon has given 50 million dollars to the Trump Campaign and 25 million to the RFK jr campaign.
So do I. This week really haunts me.
If I understand correctly, motion for reconsideration would open door to more amicus briefs: at least opportunity to pile on the scorn and outrage and neon-light the intellectual vacuity!
Let’s be frank and honest. The Court’s decision in the Presidential Immunity case was the functional equivalent of the 1933 Enabling Act in Germany. All that is left is getting the “right” people into power to make it all happen.
They are trying to divide us to conquer us...and it works.
Whereas all SCOTUS members had said at confirmation hearings and in prior decisions that the United States does not have a king, they crowned the degenerate four times indicted, 34 times convicted of 34 state felonies, still faced with many other crimes charged in state and federal court, as King Don I.
It was as if he had not lost the last election. They granted King Don absolute immunity for “core” duties, even when there is no basis for it in the text of the Constitution.
There can be no further appeal. Plus, this term, the court decided to take control of agency rulemaking, despite fifth amendment due process and the language of the Administrative Procedure Act.
They haven’t fully expressed their logic, except that they believe it is their prerogative to make law.
I can’t prove it, but I think the logic is just human nature, if not animal behavior.
Once upon a time, I spent several years listening to judges at many levels who in essence privately admitted that they achieved their positions through divine right. We used to discuss it in my Inns of Court, where judges from all levels spoke openly. Many “entitled” circuit court judges crap on certain district court judges. District court judges on magistrates. A majority of district court judges in Miami would have abolished bankruptcy courts to have direct authority over filers. District court judges nationally crap on decisions from the Social Security Administrative law judges. Within the agency, resentment and hostility became so bad that the judges organized and received collective bargaining status. The agency had a “non-acquisition” policy, meaning they would not accept the decisions of circuit court judges as precedent.
I attribute the logic to the majority belief in pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics. For example, Alito and Thomas often refer to “natural law” as the basis for decisions. Natural law for them is Catholic dogma on such matters as abortion, contraception, marriage, etc.
Most of this “antisocial” conduct comes “naturally.”
But without parties in litigation, even with Article II, section 2 and Article III of the Constitution, there would be no courts. As a matter of biology, without guppies, the bigger fish would not survive.
It’s reasonable to expect that if King Don is elected, this time he will assert a core duty to fish the judicial system as he sees fit.
When the times are tough, the tough get going. We need to be better than the insurrectionists, their aiders, abettors apologists. Regardless of outcome, internal doubts, anxieties, we need to out register and out vote them despite the media blitz.. Uncle Sam needs us to step up.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
We have to win the election and then impeach the justices. My fear is that this court will not let Trump lose the election. They will find a way to do the vote counting. They have not put their thumb on the scales of justice, they have jumped on their side with both feet. There is trouble ahead, with or without Biden.
If Trump wins, impeachment and we control both houses of Congress, may still be available. Depends on the interpretation of the term "high crimes and misdemeanors." Criminal immunity should not apply.
Also still liable for civil damages.
Absolutely right. We need to vote blue in overwhelming numbers if we expect to keep what’s left of our democracy.
I am Catholic, and am ashamed that Thomas and Alito are on the court.
It seems that the game here is simply to win. The only “natural law” they seem to subscribe to is survival of the fittest… I am certain that they understand the ramifications of their decisions on the country and our citizens… but they don’t care because they believe they will not be affected. In my business we call this reckless disregard for the law and welfare of others sociopathy.
To quote Ray Charles, "Tell me what I say?"
Unfortunately can't tell whether people are honest without a lie detector, the MMPI, and sodium pentothal.
Animal behavior, imo
If I had to pick one piece by Thom Hartmann to share with all of us here in America - right now -,this would be it. Today's "Report" covers all of the most fundamental threats we are confronted with in our daily reality of life under increasingly hostile occupation. The second coming of Timothy McVeigh as a well organized and heavily financed faction is upon us all. It is here.
The burden to push back the undead, to reclaim America as an opportunity for all, and the duty to defend common decency are left in our charge and our charge alone.
I do love all of his pieces, but I agree with you on this one. I felt that this is the most important one (thoroughly put together) and that I wish for it to be spread widely. There are so many that know almost nothing about what has been happening in this country. Unfortunately, we will continue our "sleepwalking into a dictatorship", or whatever it will be.
Thom hit this one out of the park. His composition would make a great outline for another one of Thom's books, he could call it, 'The Hidden History of the Rise of Fascism in the United States'. Thom could released it just before liberals, blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Jews are forced to exit the country, or be shipped to the concentration camps.
The suspicions of the existence of a 'vast right wing(fascist)conspiracy' since Hillary Clinton uttered the words on a debate stage, have since grown exponentially. Last week 6 Republican justices on the Supreme Court made it crystal clear they were fascist co-conspirators, with all the cunning and deception one would expect from Ivy League lawyers raised in elite Christofascist bubbles that have been raised to believe the left is the enemy. The evidence of a pro-fascist movement has been building, ever since the Donald first hit the campaign trail in 2015. But history shows it began even before the Powell Memo in the 1950s & 60s when Robert Welch and one of a dozen co-founders, Fred Koch, established the radical right wing libertarian organization, the John Birch Society. Radical libertarian politics was normalized in the militarily strict Koch patriarchy. Fred's son David Koch ran on the Clark/Koch libertarian ticket in 1980, but flopped. When Charles & David regrouped, the Koch political operation, they would lavishly fund far right conservative causes, primarily mandated to dismantling agencies and deregulation. And they were off to the fascism races.
Last week, the billions that their networks distributed, in campaign bribery dollars, bore fruit in a big way, swaying their purchased Supreme Court justices. The gifts to the Koch network billionaires came in the form of Chevron deference & presidential(dictator) immunity. If you find this upsetting Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durban's phone number is 202-324-7703, let him know you want Supreme Court investigations. And a SCOTUS inspector general armed with tough, Senate imposed, SCOTUS ethics reforms.
Gradually, then suddenly.
So many Americans have been successfully brainwashed by these far right media outlets. I've watched members of my family, who were once normal "thinking" people become radicals and haters. I no longer recognize them or are able to have a sane, coherent conversation. The change from our parents to sensibly protect us from possibly catastrophic diseases to these anti-vaxxers is horrifying. (Just one example.) I may have cancer and not that long to live but I'm scared to death for my children and grandchildren. At least they have the sense and intelligence to know what is right and true. I fear what next year's 4th of July may bring.
Best wishes on the cancer Dawn. I was diagnosed,in Oct 2017, with stage 4 lung cancer that metastasized to the brain. A craniotomy, ten daily treatments of radiation,two years of triweekly immunotherapy (keytruda) and still chugging along. I wish you wel..
Too bad the magas won't undergo that treatment, it may raise their intelligence.
Thank you and it's good to know you're still here.
@Dawn, I also fear for my family's future. I was thinking that maybe Biden should resign and make Harris President now so that she could run against Trump as an incumbent and be seen as the strong leader of the free world and give the Dems a better chance. As for Hatmann's informative article, the Red coats never left, they have continued lurking, often out of sight. But we can certainly see them now. I will recommend this article to family I will see today.
The red coats, the Nazis, the confederates, the sadists...... Just don't go away! They are like cockroaches, we need to treat them with respect and decency while keeping them from spewing their hatred! The only other option is all out civil war and third world suffering.
I do not want war, but Trump, his minions and Kevin Roberts of the misnamed Heritage Foundation are chomping at the bit to literally start shooting people for the “crime” of wanting government of, for and my the people.
This should alarm everyone, it makes all other conscerns pale
This from Joyce Vances, substack, Civil Discourse
"A week ago, I started my post to you with some comments made by Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation and architect of Project 2025, when he learned Democrats were making plans to take on Project 2025. Roberts said, “Project 2025 will not be stopped,” and that Democrats are “more than welcome to try” to stop it. He concluded by saying, “We will not give up and we will win.”
Now he’s back at it. On Tuesday, Roberts was on Steve Bannon’s War room. It was minus Bannon, of course, because he’s in federal prison. Instead, Roberts was on with a guest host, Dave Brat.
"We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Roberts told Brat.
Did you get that threat if the left lets them get their way, then the revolution will remain bloodless.
Yes and they see us like the campus radicals of yore, which we are not. They accomplished nothing of substance except to give us Tricky Dick. They are just itching to kill the rest of us who hate the destruction of government of, for and by the people.
Michael Moore's plan to have Biden step down, so Harris gets some exposure, has merit. But if Biden feels he can handle another term, as he indicates, we should ride the Biden express, as long & as far as it will take us. If he falls short in completing another term, he has a good talented progressive, for his back up. We have already witnessed his ability to accomplish an impressively, great amount, with very small Congressional margins. The longer he can remain active and viable as POTUS, the more opportunity Harris has to learn from the old master. Although conservative media has done it's best to downplay & smear Biden's remarkable accomplishments, to keep their audiences loyal, and in the dark, the message is slowly seeping out. (See Hopium's Substack)
We all need to expose the Trump/Heritage Foundation linkage to Project 2025 and the much larger terroristic Christofascist movement and the billionaire/foreign hostiles' conspiracy, that sustains it for what it is, a conspiracy to install a US fascist dictator. Project 2025 and Trump's incredible level of corruption give us all the ammunition we need to take this wannabe dictator out of the running. Even if he has coerced and bought off the Supreme Court & other judges. Here is a link to a PBS Frontline documentary about Mike Flynn, a felonious former Trump National Security Advisor, and now a leader of the Christofascist movement. To be effective our messages have to be very repetitive, just like Trump disinformation.
This video provides us with a sense for the kind of madness we're up against.
https://youtu.be/lhRNDsLbOvQ?si=fQocIfB_NYjK8-bD
Thanks for recommending the Flynn documentary. I had no idea how crazy and threatening the movement is.
Will watch it now.
Do your friends and relatives know Trump hates dogs?
I'm sure it's mutual. Hackles on end anywhere in the vicinity. Like tribbles to Klingons. Humans obviously have lost that survival instinct, at least many of us. Not me. My skin crawls at a glimpse of Trump. (M. Scott Peck, "People of the Lie.") From time to time I reiterate my observation that at least early white invaders were self-selected authoritarian followers of religious cults: something concentrated in the DNA? I don't suppose the Ancestry guy on PBS is looking at that.
I read Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck's book, many years ago. But if memory serves me, much of his book was about case histories observing some really messed up patients, and often times how they messed up their children & relatives. Peck ascribed their pathologies to evil. I also recall, near the end of the book, he related the dangers of group think and how it cause groups to select for new additional members based on the idiosyncracies already shared by the group.
So a police department that has issues with brutality, tends to select for similar personality traits in new recruits.
The strange case of Donald Trump and his childhood likely would have made a terrific case study for Peck. Certainly Peck would have noted Trump's narcissism and capacity for capturing cult members and his ability exploit group think. It would be likely that he would make note of Trump's propensity for evil deeds and his ability to fool fellow travelers.
I hope I can say the same for you.
So well said. Thank you for sharing this cogent historical perspective, Mr Hartmann.
We have been staring at this growing lump since 2015, hoping against hope that it was not cancerous.
Then, when we find out it is cancerous, we hope against hope that it is not malignant.
Well, January 6th proved conclusively that it is. Those tumors attacked our very soul.
Now we are left to resect these godawful things with a mortar-trowel.
Hoping against hope that it's not too late.
Have a 4th, if not an altogether Happy 4th.
There is little doubt that the cancer was malignant, now with Project 2025, and the toxic waste injected by billionaires with religious prohibitions; by a radical Supreme Court and Christofascist movement, both determined to blood draw & help the patient to death. We've now reached the stage where the tumor has metastasized and we're going to need to take extraordinary life support measures to save the patient. The Trump dictatorship cancer can be stopped with a convincing vote this November, but the cancerous Project 2025 Christofascism extremism will take a very long time to measurably excise.
"Have the Redcoats returned..."? More like "Have the Brownshirts landed?"
This immunity decision is so obviously unconstitutional that I can’t believe we have no recourse against it. Can nothing be done? Can these MAGA judges say ANYTHING and we, like sheep, have to obey?!
Very heavy lift. Landslide both House and Senate. Women quick to judge other women as "sluts" need to vote for the lives of their daughters. Men need to hear, don't sterilize yourself: vote blue! But we who care don't have anywhere near the bullhorn evil does.
That's what they're trying to do, convince us resistance is futile.
Human history shows that democracy IS an “idealistic fantasy”, Mr. Hartmann, one rarely attempted and seldom of long duration. Because it rests, in the end, on the delusionary notion that humans are basically good. We are not. We are selfish, greedy, venal, cruel, bigoted overtly or covertly, tribal. Democracy requires that we rise above all of that, and act for the common good. The morbidly rich have destroyed that in this country and are doing it around the world. The question is not whether we will maintain some semblance of our republic here, but whether the world can prevent the catastrophe that the morbidly rich are engineering. That seems doubtful to me, even if there is a blue tsunami in November, which there will not be.
On this last relatively free Fourth of July, I am thankful for our founders, and for you in your constant truth-telling. But sad that our future is probably bleak. Even if the tools of the morbidly rich discover that the rest of us are probably better armed and more committed than they are, our country will be horrifically weakened by the turmoil I now think is almost inevitable. My greatest regret as I type this is that our beloved little grandson, whom it has been our privilege to co-parent, and who is the center of our universe, was ever born. He will inherit a dystopian, hideous, overheated world, and despite the resources he will have as the sole heir of five fairly successful adults, it won’t matter.
I will end by wishing a final happy fourth to those of you who deserve it because you are real Americans who still believe in our ideals and our government as it existed before Reagan began its destruction and the current SCOTUS effectively completed that project. I will stay the course, and keep the faith, and run the race. Despite my hopelessness, because those who fought in our Revolution, on the Union side in the Civil War, and in two world wars, deserve that. It all starts with making November as blue as possible, and using that victory to target and defeat the morbidly rich and their corrupt and ignorant minions.
“ All Men Are Created Equal “
But some are more equal than others .
We were warned - but many didn’t listen
This country was founded as a Republic.
A Republic is rule by wise men, be it Plato's Republic or Senatus Populus Que Romanus
Only members of the Patrician class could be elected to the Senate.
The Constitution was set up that way, it took the 15,17th,19th Amendments for it to become a Democracy.
The right wingers think they can change history to their way of thinking. They are wrong. The path of our history depends on the populous to willingly follow. No matter how inconvenient life could be made for those that oppose their schemes diversity will work constantly against their lack of power to make others do as they desire. They will only cause harm to those that are not the problem. The people will tire of their schemes and intolerance. The children will rise up and demand sanity and they will get it. God bless the children.
The right wing are social communists Clayron. In their America the church will rule, and we will obey or else.
Back in 1998, when internet forums proliferated I was on one populated by these kind of creatures.
One dude, self described Christian Reconstructionist (aka Dominonist) stated that when they regain power, "order will be restored"
Dominionism is pan or trans secular, Catholics, Evangelicals, Pence and Cruz. They may get their way and there will be an orgasm of ejaculation, but it won't last, because they will immediately fragment and war with each other for primacy, privilege and power.
We are talking of the 100 years war, redux only worse, the 100 years war was essentially intermural warfare, this time it will be intramural warfare.
The Opus Dei society (Barr and the Supreme six) have the upper hand, as does the American Catholic Bishops Association,, until the Southern Baptists and Ted Cruz's daddy Rafael, of the Dominionst Society, decide that they want to be in charge
Kevin Roberts (Heritage Foundation), Leonard Leo (Federalist Society, the seditious six of SCOTUS are all radical Catholics.
How does one say conspiracy without saying conspiracy.?
That's sweet. Vote against it NOW. Spread the word! Remember ounce of prevention.....? Why curse "the children" with the heavy lift of the "pound of cure?"
The saddest part of this article for me is the way the Billionaires have played so many people into ultimately hurting themselves. If they win in November, many of Trumps base will be hit very hard by the policies of the 2025 plan. And the sad truth is that these elites do not care… and are willing to subject generations of families to a lifetime of corporate “slavery.”
IMHO the Heritage 2025 plan merely sets the stage for a theocratic dictatorship where only Domionionists will have full citizenship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSnB_Ol-COw&t=1345s
You may have seen this PBS Frontline documentary about Mike Flynn, PBS was cognisant of the conspiracy & extremism more than a year ago. That YouTube video you suggested is quite good also.
https://youtu.be/lhRNDsLbOvQ?si=fQocIfB_NYjK8-bD
With a 90% tax even, the wealthy were given enough money to buy multiple yachts, homes, all the toys they wanted and money to invest to keep them busy. But that was not enough. The rich crave power and to be worshipped, over ending human suffering, altruism, and serving good and God.
There is no rehabilitating abused children. Even if all there material needs were met, but their intellectual needs were thwarted. The family unit encompasses sibling rivalry, phony religion, irrational thought, sadism, hatred, greed and injustices. If the little monsters (babies) are not raised properly, especially in the womb and until about age 7, they will turn into thugs, feral animals, who are immune to truth, logic, reason and will have little or no empathy for others. It is currently 2024 AD, it might as well be 2024 BC, and the so called "HUMANS' haven't figured this out yet. Why not? It is because the less evolved, less virtuous, more closed minded, greediest, lying parents do not want their children to serve good and God! Because their children would not like them. That is why woke is such a threat to the maga. They prefer their children be raised to be feral lunatics that they can bond with than truth seekers who can not bond with them. Parents who can't sacrifice for their young!
I like to remind, that the 90% was only on the tiny slice of cream over-the-top: NOT 90% of dollar one! NOT 90% on any given working stiff! It's a scare easy to sell, because it needs explanation of why it's no scare!
Thom, I am smiling at your well-meaning political correctness, because of course the document says, "...all MEN are created equal." When one then tries to explain, well, "men" meant "all people" in the common usage, one is well on the way down the slippery slope. Because that is true: men were people in their world; women were a lesser creation. I raise the issue now because, for all of the harmful fallout from Hobbs, several generations of women now have no idea of the full panorama of that world view, nor, especially, of the extent to which it is STILL VERY MUCH WITH US. Do you really think it's far-fetched to imagine Alito's pen poised to decree that women only got the vote in 1920, hardly a mandate of the Founders? I recently heard on regular broadcast news radio that some red states are looking at doing away with no-fault divorce. (Look out for your community property, ladies!) But the significance of "no-fault" is partly against the historical/cultural background that women are inherently less trustworthy, less mature in judgement. Why, even when the Comstock Act came about, a woman wasn't considered reliable enough to be a witness in court! So, fine, let's get that divorce business back to his word against hers.
Then there is that fear and loathing of female seductiveness; her corrupting power and inherent promiscuity. I'm a bit of an addictive YouTube comments reader, and believe me, it is just the tip of the iceberg when you see 1) I'm OK with abortion long as it's not being used as birth control, and 2) she won't need an abortion if she can just keep her knees together. Now we have "abortion after birth." My wish is that eyes could be more massively opened to the visceral hatred and despite reflected in these ideas, and in the policies that will flow from them. The attack on Mifepristone in the mail is only a hint of what may be in store for us. Because I am sure the troglodyte 6 absolutely believe "all MEN are created equal," and a reversal of ALL these 20th Century "rights" of females will just be restoring god's balance to things.
Today is the fourth of July, the day celebrating our established freedom. Good. Let all the effusive saccharine sentimentalites gush forth so that tomorrows sunrise can signal the very last hope of saving the country from the extant compressing coup, especially since Biden's gift to the right--his particicipation or more precisely the lack thereof in allowing the entire nation to witness and verify his senility first hand. Several voices grabbed the spin to deny immediately what the country witnessed, but the subsequent drop by at least points six points (so far) proves what the country really thinks. Biden's smug adamancy, his ego-ridden ambition to stay in the race is now the enemy to defeat. Now is the time to take it to the streets to protest his audaciously obstreperous arrogance. This would be, IS, the protest to be in. This one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOOQfGWt8Hc
Is it possible to listen to the daily reports?
Yes, just click on the Daily Read tab…
Now that the SC has undone the constitution and the republic as an outcome of the war of liberty, shouldn't king Charles III of Britain be justified to reclaim his American colony? Once you turbo charge the clock to go backwards there is the issue of where to stop.