Our elections, our media, even our justice system, are all owned by the few. The Powell Memo lit the match; Citizens United poured on the gasoline. The fire of corruption is now a national inferno...
That Putin applauds the Lame Duck Felon's new interational goals, we know that he is no longer part of the "Free World".
It makes it most important to remove their cheating in our elections They did it in 2024 and again last week in Tennessee -
Why can't our politicians of both sides stand up and chase down these false election results - their corrections are essential for our future as a Nation that stands by its own Constitution. The evidence of corruption in election vote counting is clear - ask any election expert - ANY...
Add the TechBros and Crypto-Creeps to this toxic swill and.....
What we have is a future of robots and AI Slop. This is the very reason why the computer generation oligarchs jumped on the TRump Train. They know when the Dems take power back they will be facing regulation, trust busting, and TAXES.
These frigin' so-called geniuses have unleashed technology that is not ready. Simple math and dates can stymie AI. It "hallucinates", a word meant to charm us once again into thinking of it as human. The only thing human about it is all the information it scrapes from actual humans. Putting that information to use will always require discernment.
MY discernment informs me that money is not speech and corporations are not people. The corrupt, the dumb-asses, and the thieves do not know who they are dealing with. See you in the streets.
I agree, but it's always been that way. That's how America came into being. But for reaction to sheepcoating and laws against poaching and the industrial revoluton, our founders would not have had to come to a new world to seek their fortunes.
They would have been fat and happy in England, still living under feudalism.
We had Pennsylvania history in the 7th grade. Our state was a propietorship, controlled by a religious dissenter, Willian Penn, a Quaker. Quakers were despised by both the Church of England and the Puritans at home and would have been put to death by the Inquisition in France or Spain. They were excluded from colonies like Massachiusetts and Connecticut.
The reasons our state opposed King George were that citizens were prohibitted from engaging in British industries, were taxed arbitrarily, and could not cross the Alleghanies, where there was "free" land.
Ben Franklin, a true genius in virtually every sense, out state hero, our archetypal tech bro, created industries that didn't exist before his discoveries and inventions, had an estranged only son who was the British governor of New Jersey, and who rerturned to England, rather than live in our "modern," scientific based society.
As I said yesterday, Trump views those tech bros as marks.Surely some of them have it figured out.
I dunno know. Altman and Musk wrestliing... 2-3% of all stocks are driving the markets. That means 98% don't participate.
In 1789 we didn't even have a Bill of Rights. Our best moments were in the Reconstruction period. 14th Amendment.
In 1789, America saw the official start of its new constitutional government with George Washington inaugurated as the first President, the U.S. Constitution taking effect, the First Congress convened and established federal departments (State, Treasury, War) and courts, and the Bill of Rights was proposed by Congress, marking a foundational year for the new republic.
Internecine quarrels, mean nothing to those not in the family.
1789 is the year of the French Revolution.
The constitution is just words and paper and has not protected us from authoritarianism, and the final arbiter, SCOTUS, has proven to be a facilitator of authoritarianism.
I do not understand how a multiply millionaire can be reported as giving millions of dollars to a presidential campaign while I am forbidden to give more than $1,800 or thereabouts.
Thom once again has described the awful situation we are in. Six corrupt members of the Supreme Court will continue to do their movements bidding and solidify their control. No scandal seems big enough to topple cabinet members or their boss. Murdering defenseless individuals after blowing their boats up is just another ho hum in the land of trump. Do we need another great recession to get rid of these people? Or are they so entrenched that even that won't get the non voters to vote? Where are the young people? Why aren't campus demonstrations happening countywide?
Just a quick note that the December 1st "New Yorker" has an article detailing the shipment, often in chains, of people from America to various countries. These are folks who either have no ties with their destinations or are being thrown back to the states they fled from. What is hopeful is the work being done to track and fight such actions. What is depressing is the piece's very accurate title, which could have been applied to my wife's grandfather in Nazi Germany, "Disappeared". Just what kind of government do we have anymore?
Rep. Adelita Grijalva says she was 'sprayed in the face' during ICE confrontation
Grijalva said that she identified herself as a member of Congress and saw "people directly sprayed," including press and members of her staff.
US Citizens are being arrested and imprisoned by Trumps GESTAPO
American citizens have been deported by ICE, albeit they were children of undocumented mothers, but the precedence is set, It is only going to get worse, there is no check on the regime, not even the judicial system., and if there were the judicial system is in the same situation as Chief Justice Marshall when he ruled that the Indian Removal Act was unconstitutional..he lacked the means of enforcing his ruling.
One wonders "why the F" didn't ALL the Dems march en masse over to the White House / DOJ and DEMAND some action on the perpetrator(s) of the pepper spraying of the CONGRESSWOMAN Grijalva. Because we are represented by cowards who know they or their families would be next.
Allow me to take this opportunity to mention, that Trump has finally found a way to push the Epstein affair off the table and out of the public mind. Gone are the cries and demands for full exposure.
Yet again he punks us, first with Mueller, then the documents case,. you have to give the devil his due, he is good at building up expectations, diverting attention, then letting it collapse into a nothing burger.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, I can't be fooled again., apparently, most others can.
Now we are chasing another snipe. It maters not that it was murder or a war crime, nothing will happen to any of the bad actors. As a final resort they will be pardoned.
Trump will do what he wants and plans to do, or rather what Kevin Roberts, Yarvin, Vaughn, Miller et al,plan to do, and who is going to stop him?
Rep Garcia gave a press conference a few minutes ago. Still on the job.
The December 8, 2025 episode of 60 Minutes (which aired last night, December 7, 2025) featured an interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, where she discussed the Jeffrey Epstein files and her strained relationship with Trump.
During the interview, Greene stated that Trump was "furious" with her for supporting a bipartisan effort to release all the files related to the case. According to Greene, Trump told her that releasing the files was "going to hurt people".
Key points from the interview regarding the Epstein case:
Trump's Anger: Greene described Trump as "extremely angry" that she signed a discharge petition to make the files public.
Reason for Release Support: Greene explained that she believed the victims, many of whom were abused as young teenagers, deserved to have all the information come out.
Political Fallout: Following her stance, Trump reportedly called her a "traitor" and a "disgrace" to the Republican Party, leading to a public feud and Greene's decision to resign from Congress in January 2026.
So Greene's case proves what? That there will be a revolt within the Republican party?
I take notice of how the Republican party, in and out of congress have remained silent.
As regards the Epstein files. What of them, other than providing material for kvetching
After Adelita was sworn in, it became obvious that the Congressional Republicans would have to expose themselves if forced to vote on release of the files, to forestall that problem. it was decided to have all of Congress vote to release them, relying on Pam Bondi and the FBI, to delay, and censor the files.
As I said, the only documents received are from the estate, nothing from the DOJ.
And since Pam has control of the files, she can, and most certainly has, scrubbed them, only she (DOJ) knows what is in them, and can easily withhold tapes.
The real damage in the files is not the paper and emails, but the videos and audio's that Epstein recorded for blackmail.
Nope the Epstein files are a nothing burger, because they are completely under the control of Trump.
The system on which you depend, no longer exists.. Recall how you went to great lengths to prove that the US Marshalls service, worked solely from the Justice Department?
The U.S. Marshals Service helped President Trump's administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by lending its agents, who have broad arrest authority, to bolster immigration enforcement under new DHS directives, shifting them from their traditional fugitive roles to support mass deportation efforts, alongside other agencies like the DEA and ATF, expanding ICE's operational reach against unauthorized immigrants.
U.S. Marshals Service did escort representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) into the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) headquarters in March 2025, after USADF staff initially blocked entry, leading to a standoff that ended when Marshals gained access, though questions arose about the Marshals' involvement and whether Musk's security was deputized, leading to lawsuits.
Yeh, keep on depending on the institutions to protect us, until we are placed in handcuffs and carted off to a concentration camp, many of which Trump is building across the nation.
Thanks William good points. Trump and his ilk are in control and seem to be able to get away with anything. I'm hopeful we will have honest midterms. But the prospect that trump will be willing to take his and GOP chances in a fair election is unlikely.
The most logical next step is that there will be no elections next year. If people revolt… they will get beaten, arrested and killed. ICE will be reinforced and follow (for a while) their murderous demented convict and rapist in charge The only last line of defense remains the military because they have the brains and the hardware to fight and get rid of those corrupt fascists. Then get rid of scotus corruption. Seize the assets of the corrupting billionaires… and start anew. Lot of blood on the streets I fear. Good luck
Oh there will be elections, the charade must be maintained, there are elections in Hungary, Russia and Turkey, even Iran has elections.
Dominion voting machines were bought by a Republican right wing operative, Redistricting, voter caging, voter restricting laws, like Voter ID, movement and reduction of ballot boxes, and voting booths, MAGA election commissions, (armed) poll watchers (GOP is training 10,000 of them for strategic deployment,. And of course Russian and Chinese interference..
By then… This corrupt lot will think they even do not need anymore to maintain the charade. Let’s see. We are almost there. A few months is quite a long way
If enough Democrats, elected and otherwise, consistently make enough noise about Republican corruption throughout the government, we’ll get all the free press we need to offset billionaire BS peddling. That will include active countermeasures (see: Christopher Armitage). That will likely exclude Schumercrats, Jeffriescrats, Third Way types, and all other status quo adherents who have failed to detect, much less act on, the fact that magats at all levels have forever destroyed traditional American politics.
That Putin applauds the Lame Duck Felon's new interational goals, we know that he is no longer part of the "Free World".
It makes it most important to remove their cheating in our elections They did it in 2024 and again last week in Tennessee -
Why can't our politicians of both sides stand up and chase down these false election results - their corrections are essential for our future as a Nation that stands by its own Constitution. The evidence of corruption in election vote counting is clear - ask any election expert - ANY...
A few of us have been working on it. Only takes a few Congressional Republicans to get started. https://thanedar.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-shri-thanedar-introduces-articles-of-impeachment-against-secretary-of-defense-pete-hegseth
The murder on the high seas might be the vehicle. Trumpepstein, also.
A few Republicans. Lots of luck with that.
How have the Epstein files worked out? Congress is getting it's documents from the Epstein Estate, nothing from the administration.
DOJ drop dead date is December 19.
You are the mouthpiece for MAGA.
I never heard of Frédéric Bastiat, but he was right. Black letter Constitutional law these days is nothing more than a rationalization that the little guy has few rights -- despite the text of the Consitution.
Today a case beore the court could cement the unitary executive theory -- that a president (as long as he is a Republcan) is in effect a king. https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/12/trump-v-slaughter-an-explainer/
Add the TechBros and Crypto-Creeps to this toxic swill and.....
What we have is a future of robots and AI Slop. This is the very reason why the computer generation oligarchs jumped on the TRump Train. They know when the Dems take power back they will be facing regulation, trust busting, and TAXES.
These frigin' so-called geniuses have unleashed technology that is not ready. Simple math and dates can stymie AI. It "hallucinates", a word meant to charm us once again into thinking of it as human. The only thing human about it is all the information it scrapes from actual humans. Putting that information to use will always require discernment.
MY discernment informs me that money is not speech and corporations are not people. The corrupt, the dumb-asses, and the thieves do not know who they are dealing with. See you in the streets.
I agree, but it's always been that way. That's how America came into being. But for reaction to sheepcoating and laws against poaching and the industrial revoluton, our founders would not have had to come to a new world to seek their fortunes.
They would have been fat and happy in England, still living under feudalism.
We had Pennsylvania history in the 7th grade. Our state was a propietorship, controlled by a religious dissenter, Willian Penn, a Quaker. Quakers were despised by both the Church of England and the Puritans at home and would have been put to death by the Inquisition in France or Spain. They were excluded from colonies like Massachiusetts and Connecticut.
The reasons our state opposed King George were that citizens were prohibitted from engaging in British industries, were taxed arbitrarily, and could not cross the Alleghanies, where there was "free" land.
Ben Franklin, a true genius in virtually every sense, out state hero, our archetypal tech bro, created industries that didn't exist before his discoveries and inventions, had an estranged only son who was the British governor of New Jersey, and who rerturned to England, rather than live in our "modern," scientific based society.
As I said yesterday, Trump views those tech bros as marks.Surely some of them have it figured out.
Not one Ben Franklin in this crowd. They come up with an app, make a fortune, and hire the geniuses.
They have decided his democratic republic does not serve them.
The only way to save ourselves is another 1789.And I don't mean a Constitutional convention either.
I dunno know. Altman and Musk wrestliing... 2-3% of all stocks are driving the markets. That means 98% don't participate.
In 1789 we didn't even have a Bill of Rights. Our best moments were in the Reconstruction period. 14th Amendment.
In 1789, America saw the official start of its new constitutional government with George Washington inaugurated as the first President, the U.S. Constitution taking effect, the First Congress convened and established federal departments (State, Treasury, War) and courts, and the Bill of Rights was proposed by Congress, marking a foundational year for the new republic.
Internecine quarrels, mean nothing to those not in the family.
1789 is the year of the French Revolution.
The constitution is just words and paper and has not protected us from authoritarianism, and the final arbiter, SCOTUS, has proven to be a facilitator of authoritarianism.
I guess you missed A Tale of Two Cities.
Thank you for the most consistently worthwhile articles, Mr. Hartmann.
America has become ruled by motivated reasoning reinforcing the power structures that are doing the most damage to our democracy.
We're in the upside down bubble.
I do not understand how a multiply millionaire can be reported as giving millions of dollars to a presidential campaign while I am forbidden to give more than $1,800 or thereabouts.
Thom once again has described the awful situation we are in. Six corrupt members of the Supreme Court will continue to do their movements bidding and solidify their control. No scandal seems big enough to topple cabinet members or their boss. Murdering defenseless individuals after blowing their boats up is just another ho hum in the land of trump. Do we need another great recession to get rid of these people? Or are they so entrenched that even that won't get the non voters to vote? Where are the young people? Why aren't campus demonstrations happening countywide?
Just a quick note that the December 1st "New Yorker" has an article detailing the shipment, often in chains, of people from America to various countries. These are folks who either have no ties with their destinations or are being thrown back to the states they fled from. What is hopeful is the work being done to track and fight such actions. What is depressing is the piece's very accurate title, which could have been applied to my wife's grandfather in Nazi Germany, "Disappeared". Just what kind of government do we have anymore?
Rep. Adelita Grijalva says she was 'sprayed in the face' during ICE confrontation
Grijalva said that she identified herself as a member of Congress and saw "people directly sprayed," including press and members of her staff.
US Citizens are being arrested and imprisoned by Trumps GESTAPO
American citizens have been deported by ICE, albeit they were children of undocumented mothers, but the precedence is set, It is only going to get worse, there is no check on the regime, not even the judicial system., and if there were the judicial system is in the same situation as Chief Justice Marshall when he ruled that the Indian Removal Act was unconstitutional..he lacked the means of enforcing his ruling.
1789
One wonders "why the F" didn't ALL the Dems march en masse over to the White House / DOJ and DEMAND some action on the perpetrator(s) of the pepper spraying of the CONGRESSWOMAN Grijalva. Because we are represented by cowards who know they or their families would be next.
Yep, frankly yours is a response I never thought of, and I ask the same question, and have the same answer.
So where were YOU Nov. 22????????????
Allow me to take this opportunity to mention, that Trump has finally found a way to push the Epstein affair off the table and out of the public mind. Gone are the cries and demands for full exposure.
Yet again he punks us, first with Mueller, then the documents case,. you have to give the devil his due, he is good at building up expectations, diverting attention, then letting it collapse into a nothing burger.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, I can't be fooled again., apparently, most others can.
Now we are chasing another snipe. It maters not that it was murder or a war crime, nothing will happen to any of the bad actors. As a final resort they will be pardoned.
Trump will do what he wants and plans to do, or rather what Kevin Roberts, Yarvin, Vaughn, Miller et al,plan to do, and who is going to stop him?
Not true at all.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/us/politics/florida-epstein-grand-jury-documents.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-new-photos-private-island-banking-records/
Rep Garcia gave a press conference a few minutes ago. Still on the job.
The December 8, 2025 episode of 60 Minutes (which aired last night, December 7, 2025) featured an interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, where she discussed the Jeffrey Epstein files and her strained relationship with Trump.
During the interview, Greene stated that Trump was "furious" with her for supporting a bipartisan effort to release all the files related to the case. According to Greene, Trump told her that releasing the files was "going to hurt people".
Key points from the interview regarding the Epstein case:
Trump's Anger: Greene described Trump as "extremely angry" that she signed a discharge petition to make the files public.
Reason for Release Support: Greene explained that she believed the victims, many of whom were abused as young teenagers, deserved to have all the information come out.
Political Fallout: Following her stance, Trump reportedly called her a "traitor" and a "disgrace" to the Republican Party, leading to a public feud and Greene's decision to resign from Congress in January 2026.
So Greene's case proves what? That there will be a revolt within the Republican party?
I take notice of how the Republican party, in and out of congress have remained silent.
As regards the Epstein files. What of them, other than providing material for kvetching
After Adelita was sworn in, it became obvious that the Congressional Republicans would have to expose themselves if forced to vote on release of the files, to forestall that problem. it was decided to have all of Congress vote to release them, relying on Pam Bondi and the FBI, to delay, and censor the files.
As I said, the only documents received are from the estate, nothing from the DOJ.
And since Pam has control of the files, she can, and most certainly has, scrubbed them, only she (DOJ) knows what is in them, and can easily withhold tapes.
The real damage in the files is not the paper and emails, but the videos and audio's that Epstein recorded for blackmail.
Nope the Epstein files are a nothing burger, because they are completely under the control of Trump.
The system on which you depend, no longer exists.. Recall how you went to great lengths to prove that the US Marshalls service, worked solely from the Justice Department?
The U.S. Marshals Service helped President Trump's administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by lending its agents, who have broad arrest authority, to bolster immigration enforcement under new DHS directives, shifting them from their traditional fugitive roles to support mass deportation efforts, alongside other agencies like the DEA and ATF, expanding ICE's operational reach against unauthorized immigrants.
U.S. Marshals Service did escort representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) into the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) headquarters in March 2025, after USADF staff initially blocked entry, leading to a standoff that ended when Marshals gained access, though questions arose about the Marshals' involvement and whether Musk's security was deputized, leading to lawsuits.
Yeh, keep on depending on the institutions to protect us, until we are placed in handcuffs and carted off to a concentration camp, many of which Trump is building across the nation.
Thanks William good points. Trump and his ilk are in control and seem to be able to get away with anything. I'm hopeful we will have honest midterms. But the prospect that trump will be willing to take his and GOP chances in a fair election is unlikely.
You're as much a defeatist as he is.
The action is in DC. https://thanedar.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-shri-thanedar-introduces-articles-of-impeachment-against-secretary-of-defense-pete-hegseth
The most logical next step is that there will be no elections next year. If people revolt… they will get beaten, arrested and killed. ICE will be reinforced and follow (for a while) their murderous demented convict and rapist in charge The only last line of defense remains the military because they have the brains and the hardware to fight and get rid of those corrupt fascists. Then get rid of scotus corruption. Seize the assets of the corrupting billionaires… and start anew. Lot of blood on the streets I fear. Good luck
Oh there will be elections, the charade must be maintained, there are elections in Hungary, Russia and Turkey, even Iran has elections.
Dominion voting machines were bought by a Republican right wing operative, Redistricting, voter caging, voter restricting laws, like Voter ID, movement and reduction of ballot boxes, and voting booths, MAGA election commissions, (armed) poll watchers (GOP is training 10,000 of them for strategic deployment,. And of course Russian and Chinese interference..
1789
By then… This corrupt lot will think they even do not need anymore to maintain the charade. Let’s see. We are almost there. A few months is quite a long way
"Logical" for MAGATs.
If enough Democrats, elected and otherwise, consistently make enough noise about Republican corruption throughout the government, we’ll get all the free press we need to offset billionaire BS peddling. That will include active countermeasures (see: Christopher Armitage). That will likely exclude Schumercrats, Jeffriescrats, Third Way types, and all other status quo adherents who have failed to detect, much less act on, the fact that magats at all levels have forever destroyed traditional American politics.
What country has succeeded in overcoming a totally corrupt supreme court?
Didn't the McClutcheon decision follow Citizens United and remove any limits to the amount an individual or corporation could donate in one election?