I worked my way thru prep school and college working mainly as a busboy in a classy restaurant for $1.40/hr. Most of my neighborhood pals just did odd jobs, and few graduated college. Back in the '60s hard work did improve your quality of life. But, as Thom points out, the GOP was re-engineering our rigged economy while our parents watched Ed Sullivan and Ozzie & Harriet on commercial-filled TV from their easy chairs. By the time I got home from the Vietnam War, there were way more sinkholes in America's economic swamp to navigate. Fewer and fewer people did, and the middle class began to shrivel up.
When I sold my first house in 1985, my profit just covered closing costs. That is when I started studying to graduate from Hardknocks University. I discovered how the tax system was rigged to the advantage of banks and businesses by making credit easier for customers. Soon, loan interest rose, then penalties for late payments rose, and most Americans did not even notice that their wallets had permanent plastic leaks.
Instead of wealth "trickling down" as Reagan asserted, it started "flowing upward" to the rich. I mapped out the sinkholes and lived well by avoiding them. It seemed that most of the bottom 80% had been so brainwashed that their eroding quality of life was worth it to avoid evil communism, that they felt patriotic or something for living P2P. The GOP's "America First" conned voters into ignoring that democratic socialist nations were living far better than they were. Europeans were just stupid immigrants, not worth paying attention to. After all, they are coming to America to live better. Just look! We won their World War for them (which of course is pure gaslight - Russia won that war).
Today, Americans are beginning to see that Republicans did not "drain the swamp." They filled it full of hungry alligators that they fed with our tax revenue. Most politicians in both parties did not even seem to realize that they had become indentured servants of the super-rich until "Citizens United." Few politicians dared to risk their jobs to complain. And here we are today.
you pretty much nailed it...though I do disagree about "Russia won the war" ....but the policies of the GOP with Reagan and even before, starting with Nixon, put the country on the path to where we are today....great post !
Most of us have been fed America-first history unless we dug in at the library. Fact is, we were late to the ruckus. Russia had already been fighting Hitler for 4 years when D-Day happened. Russia beat the US to Berlin - Hitler et al. were already dead when we arrived. We suffered a bit over 1 million casualties - Russia's military lost 10 times that. Some generals like Patton went apeshit that Russia beat us to Berlin and urged war with Russia. He, like most Americans, feared communism far more than Nazis.
I'm sorry to still disagree with you about "Russia won the war" .... and I don't get the 'being feed America-First' comment...you seem to make it sound like the allies ( outside of the Russians ) were kind of along for the ride and that they (Russians) did all the heavy lifting......really don't get where you're coming from.... but I do have a pretty good sense of what occurred from 1933 to 1945...but ok, not really here to argue or get a history lesson.
you're right...'REDDIT' isn't....again with the AF hype ( I suppose if it's coming from the right )....using HS textbooks as a legitimate source of information isn't an accurate means to the facts....most HS SS classes can't even get correct or simply refuse the factual info about the Civil War and Slavery ....but stick with your logic gotten from your legit sources of authority to keep yourself enlightened.
Very thoughtful comment. I grew up at that time as well and was oblivious of the legislative scams designed starting mostly with Reagan -- to transfer more wealth to the wealthy. I was probably oblivious because I worked in the tech sector and did well. I have never voted for Republicans but the Dims were eventually co-opted by the 1% and remain an utter disappointment. Hopefully, emerging Mamdani's will help us recover a good life for all.
Thanks Thom for all your work. I want to be sure you are aware of Zev Shalev narativ.org and his series The Greatest Heist. It years of amazing research into the planned financial crises that lead to looting American taxpayers, enriching the morbidly wealthy, meeting Israel's goals to stymie a two state solution. And it persists today with crypto and yet another planned economic crash to benefit crypto. It's a lot to take in over a 10 part series. And he continues the work. His work deserves your attention. Thanks again for all you do.
Zev has high hopes that Senator Wyden will get to meat of the money transfers involved with Epstein. He's a serious producer and reporter that has worked on that for many years. I hope Thom can have him on the show too.
Other good news shows on YouTube: I"ve Had It Podcast, The Left Hook, Secular Talk, Daily Beans, Keith Edwards, Adam Mockler, Harry Sisson, and Reese Waters Runs Deep (so funny).
I do. If each side had authority, a third party could mediate it.
Inside Israel it's civilized. Arabs have more civil rights in Israel than in any Arab country. I've posted here several commentaries from several Arabs who agree.
What you say about civil rights for Arabs in Israel is true, but also irrelevant to the conversation,
Meanwhile Arabs are discriminated against (Christian and Muslim) like the blacks in the old south, but worse yet the orthodox settlers aided by the IDF are driving them off their land in the west bank, attacking them, beating them, burning their cars as they try harvest olives. In fact they can't tend the olive orchards anymore and the trees are dying, because of settler attacks.
You know me Daniel, I am susceptible to psyops and propaganda, I calls them as I see them. I still believe that HAMAS is responsible for every dead and wounded innocent Gazan and the destruction of their city., but my stomach wrenches and revolts at what the settlers, aided by the IDF are doing to the Arabs in the west bank.
I defended Israel's occupation of land after it beat back the Arabs in 1948, but I can't defend their behavior today.
I said there is no chance for peace in the Mid East so long as non Muslims live on "sacred" Arab soil. Not in Islamic ideology, not in Zionist ideology.
In Arab eyes, the Jews defile it's third most sacred site, the Haram al Shariff in East Jerusalem, in Zionist eyes, they are promised what the flag of Israel displays, The River Nile at the top, the river Euphrates at the bottom and Eratz Ysrael in between.
You may cherish your identity, and Muslims and Arabs cherish theirs.
Muslims have an unbreakable Ummah, Jews, almost but not quite the same.
Me, I don't have such an identity, and hold all in contempt and with suspicion and apprehension.
Instead of making the middle class larger, perhaps we should consider making the lower class smaller. That we have a lower class at all is indicative of just how corrupted our sociopolitical environment is. Our country, as is often brought up, is by far the richest ever to exist. There is no reason whatsoever for families to fear losing their housing, or losing all they have worked for because of illness, or relying on assistance to feed and clothe themselves. Meanwhile, Musk is angling for a trillion dollar payout.
The top 10 richest Americans saw a net increase in their wealth of 700 billion dollars. Not their total wealth, only this past year's additional income. That is enough to fund SNAP for the next 90 or so years. And that's without touching their nest egg. There are different definitions of obscenity; this should be near the top of the list.
The rich drive our wars, they drive economic inequality. they have turned our healthcare system into their own personal cash cow while denying critical services. Most of this country's failings can at least in part be traced back to the rich. They have more money than they can spend while the bottom 50% see empty cupboards and threadbare closets. Many cannot afford decent housing. Their children can't afford to go to college. Their cities' infrastructure is failing. They have stolen a generation's right to dream. Oh, and thy are killing the environment while poisoning the rest of us with poisoned food. The list could go on but the finger will always point their way.
And, thanks to "well-spent" money, they have stolen our freedom to govern ourselves.
And most egregiously of all, they have given us Donald J. Trump.
Bravo Robert! Every high school and college student in this country should read these few paragraphs you have written.
The smart ones have already figured it out; here's the current headline at FOX: "Socialist shockwave: Zohran Mamdani stuns NYC as voters hand power to Democrats’ far-left flank"
It's amusing to have Faux saying Mamdani's victory stunned anyone in NYC. He carried the city with a margin of victory of 9%. If there was anything stunning, it was how miserably the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, performed. He garnered a whopping 7%.
I like Mamdani, or at least at this point I do — who knows what January 2nd will bring. But again, Faux is either deliberately lying (in the end, that's the only way you can) or they know zilch about the breadth of the political spectrum. He, Bernie, AOC, et al, are not far left at all, it just seems that way because the Republicans are currently hovering on the edge of totalitarianism. I appreciated Mamdani quoting Debs. That should elicit an interesting response from the far-right.
Out here on the Left Coast, Prop 50, the redistricting proposal, passed overwhelmingly.
You’re preaching it straight, Thom. The Reagan revolution didn’t trickle down, it siphoned up. What they called “free markets” was really freedom for billionaires to loot the commons while the rest of us paid the tab.
Every empire has its priesthood, and ours wears cufflinks instead of collars. Blessed be the ones who still remember that democracy dies the moment we forget we built it together.
Sick of being sick without health care, when the rest of the first world nations have figured it out.
Of course Halloween would be TRump's and his pack of psychos favorite holiday. It was a chance to express their disdain for the "little people". I wonder if the tips were any good. Guessing not, but they do have an 18% gratuity policy. He should have had on his gold crown.
And that interview! More gas-lighting! What a whiner!
Let's do this one election at a time. One protest, phone call or e-mail at a time. STAY LOUD---see you in the streets.
Talking of elections, an Excerpt from Greg Olear's Prevailhttps://gregolear.substack.com/p/8647-donald-digs-in
This how Trump will stay in power.
So let’s say he runs in 2028 and he loses bigly. All of his voter suppression techniques fail. So many people hate his fucking guts that the polls are overwhelmed, and he is unable to fuck with the election sufficiently to get the outcome that he wants. Let’s say that happens. He will still have one last arrow in his quiver: Executive Order 13848.
The key takeaway of “On Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election,” issued on September 12, 2018 by President Donald John Trump and renewed by Biden and again by Trump, is this:
Not later than 45 days after the conclusion of a United States election, the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the heads of any other appropriate executive departments and agencies (agencies), shall conduct an assessment of any information indicating that a foreign government, or any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of a foreign government, has acted with the intent or purpose of interfering in that election. The assessment shall identify, to the maximum extent ascertainable, the nature of any foreign interference and any methods employed to execute it, the persons involved, and the foreign government or governments that authorized, directed, sponsored, or supported it. The Director of National Intelligence shall deliver this assessment and appropriate supporting information to the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security.
That means that after the election, but before the winners are seated, the traitor and cultist Tulsi Gabbard will deliver an assessment to Trump, Rubio, mendacious rich asshole Scott Bessent, Hegseth, Bondi, and Noem. Not one of those individuals would stand up against Trump.
As I wrote back in June of 2022:
The alleged plan, as laid out by Gal Suburban and Jim Stewartson in a series of pieces on MindWar, the latter’s Substack, went like this: Per 13848, Trump would receive the IC’s report on foreign interference 45 days after the 2020 election—December 18, 2020. He would use the findings therein to invalidate the results, ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines. Then he would have a do-over. But this time, the election would be managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent agency of the federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance—including running elections in fledgling democracies. (In November of 2020, Trump went to extraordinary lengths to keep the acting head of USAID, a MAGA loyalist named John Barsa, in the job.)
The researchers conclude:
It appears Executive Order #13848 was set to be executed based on fraudulent accusations of foreign election interference, which would have enabled Trump to direct the US National Guard to seize voting equipment in the designated swing states, or any other states of their choosing, and then deploy USAID to function as the “Election Infrastructure.”
This type of operation would be familiar to those who served in the US Armed Forces, specifically during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). One such veteran who would have extensive knowledge of this mission is Michael Flynn, who served as the Director of Intelligence, Joint Special Operations Command at the time.
Trump didn’t invoke EO13848 in 2020 because the Intelligence Community was late, perhaps intentionally, in giving him the report. This time around, Gabbard will make sure he gets what he needs right quick. The dismantling of USAID by Elon Musk and DOGE means that the election equipment can be seized by the National Guard, or ICE, or whatever other entity Trump wants.
EO13848 is the part in the horror movie when the monster we all think is dead appears one last time. It gives him, in theory, the power to invalidate the results of the election.
The Democratic establishment, consultant class and, of course, corporate media continue to promote a “moderation” that serves as de facto campaigning on behalf of Republicans, in effect repudiating the New Deal. Their response to Zohran Mamdani speaks volumes as they remain tone deaf to reasons for his over whelming popularity while endorsing the discredited and corrupt Andrew Cuomo. Let’s hope today proves to be a turning point for the nation.
That bullshit is what Republicans coerced you to say.
You live in California, which went from red to blue. From Reagan to governor moonbeam. It has a completely different vibe than most red states.
T he way to win is to support democrats. I know your're not a golfer, but you have to play the ball where it lies.
IMHO we wuz robbed. We actually won. Did Trump admit that Musk stole Pennsylvania?
We have an election in Bahhdad By the Sea today. Nobody (except me) is reporting on it. We have a Dem majority in the city. Have had nothing but MAGA governments. Outright crooks. How does shit like this happen? Ans. People like you.
It doesn't matter that we wuz robbed Daniel. Trump now has the power of a mafia don, a dictator, and is wielding that power. Do you really think that the 2036 election will be fair and honest, in the current redistricting wars, the Republicans have a 2 to 5 seat advantage. Voter ID laws, voter suppression, MAGA election commissions, voter caging, armed poll watchers,or just flooding the sone with poll watchers as happening in certain counties in California and NJ
Our only hope is that there is a surprise when many Republican voters, say fuck this and vote Democrat.
OK so you have a vested interest in the establishment, the centrist Democratic party, but it has had it's day, the future belongs to the young, and they trend progressive, iconclastic, and rebel against their parents.
The fruits of neoliberal Democratic “moderation”: Donald J. Trump is President, Attorney General, Senate Majority Leader, Speaker of the House and, alarmingly, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I don’t live in California and Repugnicans never coerce me, ‘though people like Thom Hartmann have been influential.
I'm not rich, but my family and I benefitted from stuff like VA preference, and public investment in stuff like the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, etc, which are not part of the budget process.
I come from a town that once had an extermely wealthy population. I knerw the richest private banker in the US. I knew people who were filthy rich and left most of their money to the Heritage Foundation. But now, the average income and wealth there, and in most of the rust belt, is third world.
I'm sure that nobody from the wealthy families I knew, except maybe Tim Mellon, would be welcome or would appreciate a garish Great Gatsby party at Mar-a-Lardo over the weekend to celebrate Trump's accomplishments.
I don't know this as a fact, but I don't think that any of those wealthy families participate in the Trump extortion and co coption of big business. In the Senate, the votes on tariffs, five senate Republicans crossed over.
The tariff issue is being argued tomorrow at SCOTUS. The central question is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 statute, grants the president the authority to impose sweeping tariffs, or if that power rests solely with Congress. Lower courts have ruled that the Trump exceeded his authority, but the tariffs have remained in place pending review.
No senate no tariffs. Here in Baghdad By the Sea, tariffs and extortion of our allies has killed tourism, our number one industry. Where have all the tourists gone, long time passing?
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
At the end of her interview with President Donald J. Trump, recorded on October 31 at Mar-a-Lago and aired last night, heavily edited, on 60 Minutes, Norah O’Donnell of CBS News asked if she could ask two more questions. Trump suggested previous questions had been precleared when he mused aloud that if he said yes, “That means they’ll treat me more fairly if I do—I want to get—It’s very nice, yeah. Now is good. Okay. Uh, oh. These might be the ones I didn’t want. I don’t know. Okay, go ahead.”
O’Donnell noted that the Trump family has thrown itself into cryptocurrency ventures, forming World Liberty Financial with the family of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. In that context, she asked about billionaire Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder and former chief executive officer of Binance. Zhao is cryptocurrency’s richest man. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to money laundering, resigned from Binance, paid a $50 million fine, and was sentenced to four months in prison.
Trump pardoned him on October 23.
O’Donnell noted that the U.S. government said Zhao “had caused ‘significant harm to U.S. national security,’ essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around.” She asked the president, “Why did you pardon him?”
“Okay, are you ready?” Trump answered. “I don’t know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt. And what I wanna do is see crypto, ‘cause if we don’t do it it’s gonna go to China, it’s gonna go to—this is no different to me than AI.
“My sons are involved in crypto much more than I—me. I—I know very little about it, other than one thing. It’s a huge industry. And if we’re not gonna be the head of it, China, Japan, or someplace else is. So I am behind it 100%. This man was, in my opinion, from what I was told, this is, you know, a four-month sentence.”
After he went on with complaints about the Biden administration—he would mention Biden 42 times in the released transcript—O’Donnell noted, “Binance helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase of the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin. And then you pardoned [Zhao].” She asked him: “How do you address the appearance of pay for play?”
Trump answered: “Well, here’s the thing. I know nothing about it because I’m too busy doing the other….” O’Donnell interrupted: “But he got a pardon….” Trump responded: “I can only tell you this. My sons are into it. I’m glad they are, because it’s probably a great industry, crypto. I think it’s good. You know, they’re running a business, they’re not in government. And they’re good—my one son is a number one bestseller now.
“My wife just had a number one bestseller. I’m proud of them for doing that. I’m focused on this. I know nothing about the guy, other than I hear he was a victim of weaponization by government. When you say the government, you’re talking about the Biden government.” And then he was off again, complaining about the former president and boasting that he would “make crypto great for America.”
“So not concerned about the appearance of corruption with this?” O’Donnell asked.
Trump answered: “I can’t say, because—I can’t say—I’m not concerned. I don’t—I’d rather not have you ask the question. But I let you ask it. You just came to me and you said, ‘Can I ask another question?’ And I said, yeah. This is the question….”
“And you answered…” O’Donnell put in.
“I don’t mind,” Trump said. “Did I let you do it? I coulda walked away. I didn’t have to answer this question. I’m proud to answer the question. You know why? We’ve taken crypto….” After another string of complaints about Biden, he said: “We are number one in crypto and that’s the only thing I care about.”
If, among all the disinformation and repetition Trump spouted in that interview, he did not know who he was pardoning, who’s running the Oval Office?
"...This man was, in my opinion, from what I was told, this is, you know, a four-month sentence.” And therein one finds justification for our questioning his cognitive abilities. Given enough time even stable geniuses fail.
So here we have a man who says he doesn't know anything about the people he pardons, which suggests he's a sock puppet, or he knows exactly what he's doing and is lying through his teeth. Considering his track record I'm going to go with lying.
If you actually managed to make it through the interview you have my highest regards.
Don’t forget Pres George W Bush, who cut taxes on the rich and corporations AND gave us the “Medicare Advantage” scam, thereby privatizing HALF (so far) of Medicare to private for profit corporations. Republicans want to put all seniors on Medicare Advantage AND privatize Social Security, giving your hard earned SS savings to private banks. What could go wrong? How about The Republican Great Recession (which is what it was called), Reagan’s Savings and Loan Industry collapse and recession, Bush’s Great Recession? Deja Vu.
The idea of a middle class is consonant with the idea of democracy, in that they are both about equalizing the distribution of wealth/power/freedom. Using socialism as an epithet to ward the masses off of achieving a dignified life was sure to be discovered as the rich man's con game that it is.
I relate. "We stand in a pissed-off progressive populist movement" I will fight for a better future.
Renewed my Thom Hartmann subscription. Proud of Ryan Busse and his "Montana Dispatch" energy celebrating the beauty in Montana. Latest post "Shameful Cowering in Time of Crisis- Ducks Unlimited Fires another celebrated Writer'- Mike Furtman a conservation champion. Watching Free Speech tv... listen to NPR. Afternoon catch up on latest YouTube. Reading "Separation of Church and Hate" and "Civic Self-respect" The snow is on the ground this morning. I love Montana's winter season. Shout out to Food Bank Volunteers!
I grew up in the solidly middle class of the 1950s and 1960s and for the most part was able to continue it through to today. I was lucky to compete my doctorate when it was possible to become more than adjunct faculty. Nixon started some of the policies that started breaking up the middle class, but nothing compared to Reagan. You highlighted all the issues that had more immediate impact. Another longer term change that occurred under Reagan was cutting money for research. The Graham-Ruddman Act cut all federal grants by 20%. I was on a research fellowship that meant two graduate researchers in my cohort would be cut, or part of our tuition and stipend would be reduced (fortunately for us 2 colleagues were able to complete their dissertation before the cuts kicked in). This loss of revenue hurt the universities globally because overhead provided funding for much of the operating expenses. Other cuts to money given to the states affected funding. Good paying unions jobs going away and being replaced with low wage one also affected state budgets. All of this leads to today’s new gilded age which is being led by an addled narcissist.
Krasnov is busy suppressing the vote in Chicago and other polling places as a preview for the 26 and 28 elections. I hope the state officials throw this yoke of hate and corruption off. Meanwhile, the Chosen One is rising. The forces of darkness in the minds of the corrupt will be put down well before 2028.
I worked my way thru prep school and college working mainly as a busboy in a classy restaurant for $1.40/hr. Most of my neighborhood pals just did odd jobs, and few graduated college. Back in the '60s hard work did improve your quality of life. But, as Thom points out, the GOP was re-engineering our rigged economy while our parents watched Ed Sullivan and Ozzie & Harriet on commercial-filled TV from their easy chairs. By the time I got home from the Vietnam War, there were way more sinkholes in America's economic swamp to navigate. Fewer and fewer people did, and the middle class began to shrivel up.
When I sold my first house in 1985, my profit just covered closing costs. That is when I started studying to graduate from Hardknocks University. I discovered how the tax system was rigged to the advantage of banks and businesses by making credit easier for customers. Soon, loan interest rose, then penalties for late payments rose, and most Americans did not even notice that their wallets had permanent plastic leaks.
Instead of wealth "trickling down" as Reagan asserted, it started "flowing upward" to the rich. I mapped out the sinkholes and lived well by avoiding them. It seemed that most of the bottom 80% had been so brainwashed that their eroding quality of life was worth it to avoid evil communism, that they felt patriotic or something for living P2P. The GOP's "America First" conned voters into ignoring that democratic socialist nations were living far better than they were. Europeans were just stupid immigrants, not worth paying attention to. After all, they are coming to America to live better. Just look! We won their World War for them (which of course is pure gaslight - Russia won that war).
Today, Americans are beginning to see that Republicans did not "drain the swamp." They filled it full of hungry alligators that they fed with our tax revenue. Most politicians in both parties did not even seem to realize that they had become indentured servants of the super-rich until "Citizens United." Few politicians dared to risk their jobs to complain. And here we are today.
Somebody asked me what P2P is.
Paycheck- to-Paycheck - or in reality - Patriotism-to-Poverty.
you pretty much nailed it...though I do disagree about "Russia won the war" ....but the policies of the GOP with Reagan and even before, starting with Nixon, put the country on the path to where we are today....great post !
Most of us have been fed America-first history unless we dug in at the library. Fact is, we were late to the ruckus. Russia had already been fighting Hitler for 4 years when D-Day happened. Russia beat the US to Berlin - Hitler et al. were already dead when we arrived. We suffered a bit over 1 million casualties - Russia's military lost 10 times that. Some generals like Patton went apeshit that Russia beat us to Berlin and urged war with Russia. He, like most Americans, feared communism far more than Nazis.
I'm sorry to still disagree with you about "Russia won the war" .... and I don't get the 'being feed America-First' comment...you seem to make it sound like the allies ( outside of the Russians ) were kind of along for the ride and that they (Russians) did all the heavy lifting......really don't get where you're coming from.... but I do have a pretty good sense of what occurred from 1933 to 1945...but ok, not really here to argue or get a history lesson.
This is hardly an authoritative source, but it does point out much of my logic derived from sources that are authoritative. https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/1cq2oei/cmv_the_allies_didnt_win_ww2_the_soviet_union_did/
This is a great book that cuts through the America-First hype in most HS textbooks.
https://www.amazon.com/When-Titans-Clashed-Stopped-Studies/dp/0700608990
you're right...'REDDIT' isn't....again with the AF hype ( I suppose if it's coming from the right )....using HS textbooks as a legitimate source of information isn't an accurate means to the facts....most HS SS classes can't even get correct or simply refuse the factual info about the Civil War and Slavery ....but stick with your logic gotten from your legit sources of authority to keep yourself enlightened.
Living in a trickle-down economy is like a starving dog waiting for table scraps.
Very thoughtful comment. I grew up at that time as well and was oblivious of the legislative scams designed starting mostly with Reagan -- to transfer more wealth to the wealthy. I was probably oblivious because I worked in the tech sector and did well. I have never voted for Republicans but the Dims were eventually co-opted by the 1% and remain an utter disappointment. Hopefully, emerging Mamdani's will help us recover a good life for all.
Thanks Thom for all your work. I want to be sure you are aware of Zev Shalev narativ.org and his series The Greatest Heist. It years of amazing research into the planned financial crises that lead to looting American taxpayers, enriching the morbidly wealthy, meeting Israel's goals to stymie a two state solution. And it persists today with crypto and yet another planned economic crash to benefit crypto. It's a lot to take in over a 10 part series. And he continues the work. His work deserves your attention. Thanks again for all you do.
Thanks, Jane.
Zev has high hopes that Senator Wyden will get to meat of the money transfers involved with Epstein. He's a serious producer and reporter that has worked on that for many years. I hope Thom can have him on the show too.
Other good news shows on YouTube: I"ve Had It Podcast, The Left Hook, Secular Talk, Daily Beans, Keith Edwards, Adam Mockler, Harry Sisson, and Reese Waters Runs Deep (so funny).
Forgot the biggest and perhaps best of all.....MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK
They have 5 million subscribers and many in Canada and Australia.
Not "Israel's goals" rather Netanyahu. Israel has Arabs in its government, even in its military.
Serious queston Daniel. Considering the religious nature of the hostilities, do you or anyone honestly think that a two state solution is possible.
Admittedly there are secular and liberal Jews, and even peace loving, even liberal and secular Arabs,
But these are not the factions that grab the reins of power and control the government , example the Likkud, HAMAS, FATAH, the orthodox settlers.
What chance of a peace in such a situation.. If anything Gaza was a sneak peek at such a solution.
Both sides are inflicted with, bigoted, irrational, hateful constituencies .
IMO, HAMAS, Islamists and Judaists and the Israeli right stand with MAGA and the Christian Nationalists Same mentality.
There is no live and let live in this depraved world.
I do. If each side had authority, a third party could mediate it.
Inside Israel it's civilized. Arabs have more civil rights in Israel than in any Arab country. I've posted here several commentaries from several Arabs who agree.
What you say about civil rights for Arabs in Israel is true, but also irrelevant to the conversation,
Meanwhile Arabs are discriminated against (Christian and Muslim) like the blacks in the old south, but worse yet the orthodox settlers aided by the IDF are driving them off their land in the west bank, attacking them, beating them, burning their cars as they try harvest olives. In fact they can't tend the olive orchards anymore and the trees are dying, because of settler attacks.
You know me Daniel, I am susceptible to psyops and propaganda, I calls them as I see them. I still believe that HAMAS is responsible for every dead and wounded innocent Gazan and the destruction of their city., but my stomach wrenches and revolts at what the settlers, aided by the IDF are doing to the Arabs in the west bank.
I defended Israel's occupation of land after it beat back the Arabs in 1948, but I can't defend their behavior today.
I said there is no chance for peace in the Mid East so long as non Muslims live on "sacred" Arab soil. Not in Islamic ideology, not in Zionist ideology.
In Arab eyes, the Jews defile it's third most sacred site, the Haram al Shariff in East Jerusalem, in Zionist eyes, they are promised what the flag of Israel displays, The River Nile at the top, the river Euphrates at the bottom and Eratz Ysrael in between.
You may cherish your identity, and Muslims and Arabs cherish theirs.
Muslims have an unbreakable Ummah, Jews, almost but not quite the same.
Me, I don't have such an identity, and hold all in contempt and with suspicion and apprehension.
You can't tell the difference between Israel proper and the West bank. No such BS inside Israel.
Point taken🙂
Instead of making the middle class larger, perhaps we should consider making the lower class smaller. That we have a lower class at all is indicative of just how corrupted our sociopolitical environment is. Our country, as is often brought up, is by far the richest ever to exist. There is no reason whatsoever for families to fear losing their housing, or losing all they have worked for because of illness, or relying on assistance to feed and clothe themselves. Meanwhile, Musk is angling for a trillion dollar payout.
The top 10 richest Americans saw a net increase in their wealth of 700 billion dollars. Not their total wealth, only this past year's additional income. That is enough to fund SNAP for the next 90 or so years. And that's without touching their nest egg. There are different definitions of obscenity; this should be near the top of the list.
The rich drive our wars, they drive economic inequality. they have turned our healthcare system into their own personal cash cow while denying critical services. Most of this country's failings can at least in part be traced back to the rich. They have more money than they can spend while the bottom 50% see empty cupboards and threadbare closets. Many cannot afford decent housing. Their children can't afford to go to college. Their cities' infrastructure is failing. They have stolen a generation's right to dream. Oh, and thy are killing the environment while poisoning the rest of us with poisoned food. The list could go on but the finger will always point their way.
And, thanks to "well-spent" money, they have stolen our freedom to govern ourselves.
And most egregiously of all, they have given us Donald J. Trump.
Bravo Robert! Every high school and college student in this country should read these few paragraphs you have written.
The smart ones have already figured it out; here's the current headline at FOX: "Socialist shockwave: Zohran Mamdani stuns NYC as voters hand power to Democrats’ far-left flank"
Bravo New York!
Thanks again, Alis.
It's amusing to have Faux saying Mamdani's victory stunned anyone in NYC. He carried the city with a margin of victory of 9%. If there was anything stunning, it was how miserably the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, performed. He garnered a whopping 7%.
I like Mamdani, or at least at this point I do — who knows what January 2nd will bring. But again, Faux is either deliberately lying (in the end, that's the only way you can) or they know zilch about the breadth of the political spectrum. He, Bernie, AOC, et al, are not far left at all, it just seems that way because the Republicans are currently hovering on the edge of totalitarianism. I appreciated Mamdani quoting Debs. That should elicit an interesting response from the far-right.
Out here on the Left Coast, Prop 50, the redistricting proposal, passed overwhelmingly.
See YOU in the streets
Sophisms that are none the less truisms
We have the best government money can buy
Everyone has a price
You don't know what you have until you lose it
Also, only five bought off judges on SCOTUS? Well maybe ACB is ideological and for free. results are the same none the less.
"Everybody has a price." Every coward may, but many of us will not be bought.
I continue to be exasperated by the parties and lawyers with cases when justices and judges who have dispositive records of bribery and prejudice are not challenged. At SCOTUS, Roberts opened the door in November, 2023. https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/Code-of-Conduct-for-Justices_November_13_2023.pdf
The tariff argument is tomorrow.
You’re preaching it straight, Thom. The Reagan revolution didn’t trickle down, it siphoned up. What they called “free markets” was really freedom for billionaires to loot the commons while the rest of us paid the tab.
Every empire has its priesthood, and ours wears cufflinks instead of collars. Blessed be the ones who still remember that democracy dies the moment we forget we built it together.
Despair over disparity.....
Sick of being sick without health care, when the rest of the first world nations have figured it out.
Of course Halloween would be TRump's and his pack of psychos favorite holiday. It was a chance to express their disdain for the "little people". I wonder if the tips were any good. Guessing not, but they do have an 18% gratuity policy. He should have had on his gold crown.
And that interview! More gas-lighting! What a whiner!
Let's do this one election at a time. One protest, phone call or e-mail at a time. STAY LOUD---see you in the streets.
Elections today.
DC Nov. 18.
Talking of elections, an Excerpt from Greg Olear's Prevailhttps://gregolear.substack.com/p/8647-donald-digs-in
This how Trump will stay in power.
So let’s say he runs in 2028 and he loses bigly. All of his voter suppression techniques fail. So many people hate his fucking guts that the polls are overwhelmed, and he is unable to fuck with the election sufficiently to get the outcome that he wants. Let’s say that happens. He will still have one last arrow in his quiver: Executive Order 13848.
The key takeaway of “On Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election,” issued on September 12, 2018 by President Donald John Trump and renewed by Biden and again by Trump, is this:
Not later than 45 days after the conclusion of a United States election, the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the heads of any other appropriate executive departments and agencies (agencies), shall conduct an assessment of any information indicating that a foreign government, or any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of a foreign government, has acted with the intent or purpose of interfering in that election. The assessment shall identify, to the maximum extent ascertainable, the nature of any foreign interference and any methods employed to execute it, the persons involved, and the foreign government or governments that authorized, directed, sponsored, or supported it. The Director of National Intelligence shall deliver this assessment and appropriate supporting information to the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security.
That means that after the election, but before the winners are seated, the traitor and cultist Tulsi Gabbard will deliver an assessment to Trump, Rubio, mendacious rich asshole Scott Bessent, Hegseth, Bondi, and Noem. Not one of those individuals would stand up against Trump.
As I wrote back in June of 2022:
The alleged plan, as laid out by Gal Suburban and Jim Stewartson in a series of pieces on MindWar, the latter’s Substack, went like this: Per 13848, Trump would receive the IC’s report on foreign interference 45 days after the 2020 election—December 18, 2020. He would use the findings therein to invalidate the results, ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines. Then he would have a do-over. But this time, the election would be managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent agency of the federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance—including running elections in fledgling democracies. (In November of 2020, Trump went to extraordinary lengths to keep the acting head of USAID, a MAGA loyalist named John Barsa, in the job.)
The researchers conclude:
It appears Executive Order #13848 was set to be executed based on fraudulent accusations of foreign election interference, which would have enabled Trump to direct the US National Guard to seize voting equipment in the designated swing states, or any other states of their choosing, and then deploy USAID to function as the “Election Infrastructure.”
This type of operation would be familiar to those who served in the US Armed Forces, specifically during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). One such veteran who would have extensive knowledge of this mission is Michael Flynn, who served as the Director of Intelligence, Joint Special Operations Command at the time.
Trump didn’t invoke EO13848 in 2020 because the Intelligence Community was late, perhaps intentionally, in giving him the report. This time around, Gabbard will make sure he gets what he needs right quick. The dismantling of USAID by Elon Musk and DOGE means that the election equipment can be seized by the National Guard, or ICE, or whatever other entity Trump wants.
EO13848 is the part in the horror movie when the monster we all think is dead appears one last time. It gives him, in theory, the power to invalidate the results of the election.
The Democratic establishment, consultant class and, of course, corporate media continue to promote a “moderation” that serves as de facto campaigning on behalf of Republicans, in effect repudiating the New Deal. Their response to Zohran Mamdani speaks volumes as they remain tone deaf to reasons for his over whelming popularity while endorsing the discredited and corrupt Andrew Cuomo. Let’s hope today proves to be a turning point for the nation.
That bullshit is what Republicans coerced you to say.
You live in California, which went from red to blue. From Reagan to governor moonbeam. It has a completely different vibe than most red states.
T he way to win is to support democrats. I know your're not a golfer, but you have to play the ball where it lies.
IMHO we wuz robbed. We actually won. Did Trump admit that Musk stole Pennsylvania?
We have an election in Bahhdad By the Sea today. Nobody (except me) is reporting on it. We have a Dem majority in the city. Have had nothing but MAGA governments. Outright crooks. How does shit like this happen? Ans. People like you.
It doesn't matter that we wuz robbed Daniel. Trump now has the power of a mafia don, a dictator, and is wielding that power. Do you really think that the 2036 election will be fair and honest, in the current redistricting wars, the Republicans have a 2 to 5 seat advantage. Voter ID laws, voter suppression, MAGA election commissions, voter caging, armed poll watchers,or just flooding the sone with poll watchers as happening in certain counties in California and NJ
Our only hope is that there is a surprise when many Republican voters, say fuck this and vote Democrat.
OK so you have a vested interest in the establishment, the centrist Democratic party, but it has had it's day, the future belongs to the young, and they trend progressive, iconclastic, and rebel against their parents.
The fruits of neoliberal Democratic “moderation”: Donald J. Trump is President, Attorney General, Senate Majority Leader, Speaker of the House and, alarmingly, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I don’t live in California and Repugnicans never coerce me, ‘though people like Thom Hartmann have been influential.
You're the reason we are in that position.
The reason we are in deep shit is because of wimpish, wishy washy,sucking up to plutocrat Democratic Party.
People like you have been treating politics like a sport where you choose one team or another, the NFL vs the AFL.
That and single issue voters.
I'm not rich, but my family and I benefitted from stuff like VA preference, and public investment in stuff like the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, etc, which are not part of the budget process.
I come from a town that once had an extermely wealthy population. I knerw the richest private banker in the US. I knew people who were filthy rich and left most of their money to the Heritage Foundation. But now, the average income and wealth there, and in most of the rust belt, is third world.
I'm sure that nobody from the wealthy families I knew, except maybe Tim Mellon, would be welcome or would appreciate a garish Great Gatsby party at Mar-a-Lardo over the weekend to celebrate Trump's accomplishments.
I don't know this as a fact, but I don't think that any of those wealthy families participate in the Trump extortion and co coption of big business. In the Senate, the votes on tariffs, five senate Republicans crossed over.
The tariff issue is being argued tomorrow at SCOTUS. The central question is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 statute, grants the president the authority to impose sweeping tariffs, or if that power rests solely with Congress. Lower courts have ruled that the Trump exceeded his authority, but the tariffs have remained in place pending review.
No senate no tariffs. Here in Baghdad By the Sea, tariffs and extortion of our allies has killed tourism, our number one industry. Where have all the tourists gone, long time passing?
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
Massive Congressional visits November 18.
https://www.instagram.com/flare.usa/p/DP_mdOyjdiG/
Visit CongressionalRepublicans.
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/851451/
I think that if we play our cards right, many of the old guard can be convinced to support conventional economics.
Nora O'Donnell, not Leslie Stahl
Heather Cox Richardson:
At the end of her interview with President Donald J. Trump, recorded on October 31 at Mar-a-Lago and aired last night, heavily edited, on 60 Minutes, Norah O’Donnell of CBS News asked if she could ask two more questions. Trump suggested previous questions had been precleared when he mused aloud that if he said yes, “That means they’ll treat me more fairly if I do—I want to get—It’s very nice, yeah. Now is good. Okay. Uh, oh. These might be the ones I didn’t want. I don’t know. Okay, go ahead.”
O’Donnell noted that the Trump family has thrown itself into cryptocurrency ventures, forming World Liberty Financial with the family of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. In that context, she asked about billionaire Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder and former chief executive officer of Binance. Zhao is cryptocurrency’s richest man. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to money laundering, resigned from Binance, paid a $50 million fine, and was sentenced to four months in prison.
Trump pardoned him on October 23.
O’Donnell noted that the U.S. government said Zhao “had caused ‘significant harm to U.S. national security,’ essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around.” She asked the president, “Why did you pardon him?”
“Okay, are you ready?” Trump answered. “I don’t know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt. And what I wanna do is see crypto, ‘cause if we don’t do it it’s gonna go to China, it’s gonna go to—this is no different to me than AI.
“My sons are involved in crypto much more than I—me. I—I know very little about it, other than one thing. It’s a huge industry. And if we’re not gonna be the head of it, China, Japan, or someplace else is. So I am behind it 100%. This man was, in my opinion, from what I was told, this is, you know, a four-month sentence.”
After he went on with complaints about the Biden administration—he would mention Biden 42 times in the released transcript—O’Donnell noted, “Binance helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase of the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin. And then you pardoned [Zhao].” She asked him: “How do you address the appearance of pay for play?”
Trump answered: “Well, here’s the thing. I know nothing about it because I’m too busy doing the other….” O’Donnell interrupted: “But he got a pardon….” Trump responded: “I can only tell you this. My sons are into it. I’m glad they are, because it’s probably a great industry, crypto. I think it’s good. You know, they’re running a business, they’re not in government. And they’re good—my one son is a number one bestseller now.
“My wife just had a number one bestseller. I’m proud of them for doing that. I’m focused on this. I know nothing about the guy, other than I hear he was a victim of weaponization by government. When you say the government, you’re talking about the Biden government.” And then he was off again, complaining about the former president and boasting that he would “make crypto great for America.”
“So not concerned about the appearance of corruption with this?” O’Donnell asked.
Trump answered: “I can’t say, because—I can’t say—I’m not concerned. I don’t—I’d rather not have you ask the question. But I let you ask it. You just came to me and you said, ‘Can I ask another question?’ And I said, yeah. This is the question….”
“And you answered…” O’Donnell put in.
“I don’t mind,” Trump said. “Did I let you do it? I coulda walked away. I didn’t have to answer this question. I’m proud to answer the question. You know why? We’ve taken crypto….” After another string of complaints about Biden, he said: “We are number one in crypto and that’s the only thing I care about.”
If, among all the disinformation and repetition Trump spouted in that interview, he did not know who he was pardoning, who’s running the Oval Office?
"...This man was, in my opinion, from what I was told, this is, you know, a four-month sentence.” And therein one finds justification for our questioning his cognitive abilities. Given enough time even stable geniuses fail.
So here we have a man who says he doesn't know anything about the people he pardons, which suggests he's a sock puppet, or he knows exactly what he's doing and is lying through his teeth. Considering his track record I'm going to go with lying.
If you actually managed to make it through the interview you have my highest regards.
Worse. Turns out Maduro was using Binance to finance all the sales of oil to China. So, in effect, the benficiaries include Venezuela and China.
The technical term for Trump is "schlemiel."
Not "schmuck"?
Psychopaths are like a cat playing with a live mouse. Lying is all he has ever done, and he loves doing it especially if he gets paid.
I vacillate between hating him and feeling sorry for the fact that his brain is defective. His is a hereditary condition.
Who, indeed? It ain’t Trump, that’s for sure.
Don’t forget Pres George W Bush, who cut taxes on the rich and corporations AND gave us the “Medicare Advantage” scam, thereby privatizing HALF (so far) of Medicare to private for profit corporations. Republicans want to put all seniors on Medicare Advantage AND privatize Social Security, giving your hard earned SS savings to private banks. What could go wrong? How about The Republican Great Recession (which is what it was called), Reagan’s Savings and Loan Industry collapse and recession, Bush’s Great Recession? Deja Vu.
The idea of a middle class is consonant with the idea of democracy, in that they are both about equalizing the distribution of wealth/power/freedom. Using socialism as an epithet to ward the masses off of achieving a dignified life was sure to be discovered as the rich man's con game that it is.
Game is the operative word with these psychos. The money is just a means of keeping score once you get that rich.
I relate. "We stand in a pissed-off progressive populist movement" I will fight for a better future.
Renewed my Thom Hartmann subscription. Proud of Ryan Busse and his "Montana Dispatch" energy celebrating the beauty in Montana. Latest post "Shameful Cowering in Time of Crisis- Ducks Unlimited Fires another celebrated Writer'- Mike Furtman a conservation champion. Watching Free Speech tv... listen to NPR. Afternoon catch up on latest YouTube. Reading "Separation of Church and Hate" and "Civic Self-respect" The snow is on the ground this morning. I love Montana's winter season. Shout out to Food Bank Volunteers!
I grew up in the solidly middle class of the 1950s and 1960s and for the most part was able to continue it through to today. I was lucky to compete my doctorate when it was possible to become more than adjunct faculty. Nixon started some of the policies that started breaking up the middle class, but nothing compared to Reagan. You highlighted all the issues that had more immediate impact. Another longer term change that occurred under Reagan was cutting money for research. The Graham-Ruddman Act cut all federal grants by 20%. I was on a research fellowship that meant two graduate researchers in my cohort would be cut, or part of our tuition and stipend would be reduced (fortunately for us 2 colleagues were able to complete their dissertation before the cuts kicked in). This loss of revenue hurt the universities globally because overhead provided funding for much of the operating expenses. Other cuts to money given to the states affected funding. Good paying unions jobs going away and being replaced with low wage one also affected state budgets. All of this leads to today’s new gilded age which is being led by an addled narcissist.
Overcome Citizens United: support Transparent Election Initiative(the Montana Plan)! Montana AG tried to block it. Now it’s going to SCOTUS.
Krasnov is busy suppressing the vote in Chicago and other polling places as a preview for the 26 and 28 elections. I hope the state officials throw this yoke of hate and corruption off. Meanwhile, the Chosen One is rising. The forces of darkness in the minds of the corrupt will be put down well before 2028.
See my post above, how Krasnov will stay in power.
An analogy, to keep the Xmas theme going:
Fat Donnie is the main bully in "A Christmas Story."
He's Scut Farkus.
There are many GOP and USSC Scuts, and they all wanna Fark Us, if you know what I mean.
What does that make all of us? . . . We ARE Ralphie Parker.
So we must react and figuratively beat 'n' bloody all Scuts, like Ralphie did.
Or we shall remain in a dilly of a pickle, to quote Ned Flanders.
VOTE !!!!