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Thom's blog
Criminal Justice Reform Is Dead In Congress
 Criminal justice reform is dead in Congress - and the War on Drugs lives on. Even though Congress managed to pass a stopgap budget to keep the government running until December - Mitch McConnell last week made it clear that he won't be bringing criminal justice reform forward during the lame duck session of Congress.
"With regard to the criminal justice issue, as you probably probably know, it's very divisive in my conference. I've got very, very smart capable people, without regard to ideology, who have very different views on that issue. Whether we can take something up that controversial in that limited amount of time available, I doubt."
As Laura Barron-Lopez points out at the Huffington Post - the legislation is designed to address the fact that "U.S. prisons and jails currently hold 2.3 million Americans. ... [And] Fifty percent of those incarcerated at the federal level are drug offenders." A direct result of Nixon's War on Drugs.
And even though the bill has bipartisan support - the "tough on crime" Republicans in the Senate won't let this legislation be brought forward without a tedious fight - at least in part because private prison corporations spend millions bankrolling "tough on crime" Republican candidates.
But this type of politics has also simply become standard procedure for the Senate - ever since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.
Harry Reid took to the Senate floor yesterday and explained EXACTLY why Congress has been completely dysfunctional for the last 7 and a half years.
A day or two after President Obama was elected the first time, Republicans met here in Washington -- all the Republican big names -- and they came to two conclusions: Number one, Obama would not be reelected. They failed on that one, quite miserably.
But, number two, that they would oppose everything that President Obama tried to do, and they have stuck by that, without any question.
He went on to list the ways that our first African American president has also been the most disrespected president in history - and how that's played right into Donald Trump's tiny little hands.
"President Obama is the first president to be denied a hearing on his budget. He's the first president to be denied hearing on a Supreme Court nominee. President Obama is the first president asked to show his birth certificate. President Obama is the first president to face over 500 filibusters here in the Senate.
In this Republican Senate, President Obama will receive fewer nominees confirmed than any president in many, many decades. Republicans have not done their basic work of government.
They have not stood by their commitments to restore regular order or to pass a budget.
Republicans have spent their time doing everything in their power to discredit President Obama and empower Donald Trump."
Isn't Harry Reid right here? Isn't Donald Trump the perfect candidate for a party that has spent the last 8 years breaking the American government, promoting policies that disadvantage minorities - women - and working families, and giving credence to conspiracy theories peddled by racist demagogues?
-Thom
(What do you think? Tell us here.) |
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Tuesday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: America...no longer "land of the free, home of the brave"
Hour Two: Thom rants on world economics!
Article: " Brexit" by Wikipedia.
What To Expect From Tim Kaine At the V.P. Debate- Mary Kay Henry, S.E.I.U. 
Speech: " Farewell Address", by Dwight David Eisenhower, January 17, 1961 ( transcript). " In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex." Article: " Dawes Plan", 1924 by Wikipedia (attempt to solve the German World War I reparations problem). Quote: " Those who sign this Treaty will sign the death sentence of many millions of German men, women and children" - John Maynard Keynes. |
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Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET
Plus I'll be debating conservative Gayle Trotter about Donald Trump's "woman problem".
And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"
And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...
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Thom's Poll
Elizabeth Warren Demands FBI Director - Why DOJ Didn't Prosecute Banksters? Will They Ever be Prosecuted?
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Is It Time To Start Talking About Doomsday Scenarios?
The Toxic Trade Map
30 Pipeline Protesters Arrested
Progressive Roundtable - Is Trump Helping Down Ticket Dems?
Progressive Roundtable - Trump the Artful (Tax) Dodger
Or watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...
Full Show 10/3/16: Trump The Artful (Tax) Dodger
Tonight’s Progressive Roundtable talks Trump’s $1 Billion loss in 1995 that has allowed him to not pay taxes since, whether Hillary’s ad strategy of ignoring policy and focusing on Trump will work, and Hillary’s potential problems with millennials following some leaked audio. Thom discusses the latest arrests of Dakota Pipeline protestors and how this is bigger than just one pipeline with Friends Of the Earth’s Erich Pica and the Nation Institute’s Sarah Jaffe, the TPP’s potential impact on our climate with Sierra Club’s Ben Beachy, and in tonight’s Daily Take Thom details the dire news about our planet and whether we’ve reached a tipping point.
The Structure Of Our Economy Has Never Been Repaired!
Will One-Issue Voters Decide The 2016 Election?
Caller: "The GOP Has Become A Cult That Worships Rich People."
Hey Democrats, Go After Trump On The Issues!
Will Mike Pence Get The Tough Questions In Tonight's VP Debate?
Thom Hartmann Book Club - "Screwed" - October 4, 2016
Real Charitable Foundations Aren't Afraid To Show Their Taxes. (w/Guest: Donna Shalala)
Former Republican Says Trump's PTSD Comments Made Him A Hillary Voter
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