Author: Thom Hartmann

A hallmark of fascism: Why Congress must act to break America’s cycle of political violence

Terrorism is defined as using violence or the threat of violence to achieve political ends. Although the Brooklyn subway shooter has been charged with terrorism, we don’t yet know if he had any actual political goals or was simply mentally ill. Ted Cruz was closer to the mark when he called the January 6th insurrectionists “terrorists” … at least until Tucker Carlson called him in for a spanking. No more of that kind of talk from Ted. But it does raise an important question in this era of attempted bombings of the DNC and RNC, the siege of multiple...

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Segregationists and the filibuster: Why it is past the time to rename the Russell Senate Office Building

It is time to rename the Russell Senate Office Building, where 33 senators today conduct their daily business, and the effort would be more than a symbolic gesture. Senator Richard Russell was most famous as the guy who wielded the filibuster to destroy Civil Rights legislation. Most of the time he was quite successful, spending decades scuttling legislation proposed to outlaw lynching, end school segregation, or to insure voting rights. In 1932 Russell, then the openly segregationist Governor of Georgia, won election to the U.S. Senate from that state, taking office in 1933. He immediately joined the “Southern Bloc”...

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Leaning into the Culture War: Why it remains so politically profitable to hate on racial minorities

Ron DeSantis, the most likely GOP candidate for president in 2024, has gone to war with trans people and Disney, saying he was doing so to protect Florida’s children. It is a slick trick that seems to be working for him and his Republican colleagues, and is thus spreading to other states. Authoritarian politicians in electoral democracies typically exploit people’s fear to gain political power, and then use that power to destroy the democracy itself from within. But first they have to create that fear by building up a straw-man villain. Republicans today are running that strategy to try...

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Oil over Electric: Understanding who profits from the bizarre political efforts to cripple the U.S. Post Office

The Republicans are about to win a major battle in their war on electric vehicles, this time with the second largest vehicle fleet in America owned by the U.S. Postal Service. It is an outrageous story that most Americans do not know a thing about. To understand what is going on with the Post Office right now, we first must know the backstory that, it seems, most media outlets are not interested in discussing. It is an issue that is hitting millions of Americans right now. One of our kids, for example, recently became the first member of our family to...

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Countdown to Chaos: Understanding the active movement within America trying to start a Civil War

Congressman Adam Kinzinger is worried about a second American civil war. “I don’t think that’s too far of a bridge to recognize,” he said, adding, “It’s going to be armed groups against armed groups, targeted assassination and violence.” There is an active movement within the United States trying to start a civil war. They are armed and serious, having already tried to kidnap and murder the Governor of Michigan and the Vice President of the United States. You may not recall names like Pat Crusius, Anders Breivik or James Fields, but members of a dozen different White supremacist groups in...

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A Party built on Fascism: When 63 Republicans take Putin’s side of the war and vote against NATO

The Republican Party is committed to tearing America apart by pitting us against each other. Why would they do this? Here is a clue: 63 Republicans voted this week against a resolution in support of NATO. Yes, they voted for Putin’s side of the war. Seriously. Although it has been largely ignored by American TV media, you can read all about it over at The Washington Post in an article by Aaron Blake titled: Why 30 percent of the House GOP voted against reaffirming NATO support. Their unflinching support of Putin comes shortly after Koch Industries announced they would be...

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