Donald Trump keeps insisting in his rallies, as he did last night, that he has lowered prescription drug prices, is protecting people with pre-existing conditions, and is improving Medicare. While everybody knows that he lies a lot, these are among the most pernicious lies. In fact, he has authorized the sale of health insurance that does not protect people with pre-existing conditions, has expanded privatized Medicare which is gutting that system, and his trade deal with Mexico and Canada would dramatically increase pharmaceutical prices and lock in pharma profits for decades. The American news media's inability to keep up with his lies is having real world consequences, as mortality and morbidity rates are increasing for the first time in a decade.

-Thom

There has been much discussion about what the framers of the Constitution thought about impeachment of the president, particularly given the wide range of impeachable things Trump has done, and the debate around whether impeaching him is consistent with the thoughts of the men who wrote the Constitution's impeachment clause. (At the time, they'd not yet settled on the term "president" so they referred to the president at the "executive" or "magistrate.")

Here are the framers' own words, recorded by the hand of James Madison, in Philadelphia on Friday, July 20, 1787, during the Constitutional Convention, emphasis added...

Read more here.

-Thom

Friday's Daily Stack

Case: "Plessy v. Ferguson", 1896 (separate but equal).

Case: "Brown v. Board Of Education", 1954 (Segregation in public schools) (overturned Plessy v. Ferguson).

Article: "Two men connected to Giuliani's Ukraine efforts charged with funneling foreign money into US election" by Erica Orden, Evan Perez, Michael Warren and David Shortell.

Article: "Wall Street Journal: Giuliani had lunch with 2 indicted associates at Trump hotel just before their arrest" by Chandelis Duster.

Article: "Senior adviser to Pompeo resigns" by Karen DeYoung.

Article: "At rally, Trump tells 5 big lies in under 3 minutes" by Greg Sargent.

Article: "A Court Ruled, Again, That Trump's Accounting Firm Must Turn Over Financial Documents To House Democrats" by Picture of Zoe Tillman.

Article: "Federal appeals court upholds House subpoena for Trump's financial records" by Dan Mangan.

Article: "Trump Judge Wants To Severely Limit Congress' Ability To Probe POTUS Misconduct" by Tierney Sneed.

Article: "Trump loses big: 8 years of his taxes are one step closer to reaching Congress" by Mark Sumner.

Article: "The US shared intelligence with Turkey that may have helped it target the Kurds in Syria" by John Haltiwanger.

Article: "Turkey launches biggest bombing raid on Kurdish rebels in Iraq" (2007) by Ewen MacAskill.

Article: "Ousted ambassador Marie Yovanovitch tells Congress Trump pressured State Dept. to remove her" by Karoun Demirjian, John Hudson and Paul Sonne.

Article: "Seattle settles Showbox lawsuit, but theater's fate still uncertain" by Gil Aegerter.

Twitter: "#savetheshowbox".

Site: Save the Showbox.

Article: "25th Amendment Section 4" "Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President..."

Article: "Vice President of the United States" by Wikipedia. "Vice presidential vacancies will be filled by the president and confirmed by both houses of Congress"

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 2 Section 2. "The President ... shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."

Article: "Federalist 78: The Judiciary Department" by Alexander Hamilton. "the judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution; because it will be least in a capacity to annoy or injure them."

Article: "Federalist 81: The Judiciary Continued, and the Distribution of the Judicial Authority" by Alexander Hamilton. "The arguments, or rather suggestions, upon which this charge is founded, are to this effect: "The authority of the proposed Supreme Court of the United States, which is to be a separate and independent body, will be superior to that of the legislature. The power of construing the laws according to the SPIRIT of the Constitution, will enable that court to mould them into whatever shape it may think proper; especially as its decisions will not be in any manner subject to the revision or correction of the legislative body. This is as unprecedented as it is dangerous."

Article: "Constitution of the United States", article 3 section 2. "... the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make..."

Case: "Marbury v. Madison", 1803 (judicial review)

Letter: "Thomas Jefferson to Spencer Roane", 6 Sept. 1819 "The constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist, and shape into any form they please."

Case: "Dred Scott v. Sandford", 1857

Article: "Judicial review" by Wikipedia.

Case: "Brown v. Board Of Education", 1954 (Segregation in public schools) (overturned Plessy v. Ferguson).

Article: "Roe v. Wade" by History Channel.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010)

Case: "Continental Television, Inc. v. GTE Sylvania, Inc." by Wikipedia.

Law: "Sherman Antitrust Act", 1890.

Article: "Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914" by Wikipedia.

Article: "'Antitrust was defined by Robert Bork. I cannot overstate his influence.'" by Dylan Matthews.

Article: "United States v. Brown Shoe Company," (1959).

Article: "Trump Has Confirmed 150 Lifetime Federal Judges. That's A Lot." by Jennifer Bendery.

Article: "Fox host brought to tears after witnessing the humanitarian catastrophe Trump and Turkey have unleashed in Syria" by Sky Palma.

Article: "What Happened With Merrick Garland In 2016 And Why It Matters Now" by Ron Elving.

Article: "Graham rips into Trump for removing troops from Syria" by Devan Cole.

Article: "New poll finds more than half support impeaching Trump and removing him from office" by Paul LeBlanc.

Movie: "The Great Hack".

Book: Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America by Christopher Wylie.

Article: "Tulsi Gabbard threatens to boycott upcoming debate claiming DNC and corporate media trying to rig 2020 primary" by Beatrice Peterson, Justin Gomez.

Article: "Ron Johnson says Sondland told him of possible Ukraine quid pro quo" by Shane Savitsky.

Tweet: "In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran." by Donald J. Trump.

Tweet: "Now that Obama's poll numbers are in tailspin - watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate." by Donald J. Trump.

Tweet: "I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face!" by Donald J. Trump.

Tweet: "Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly-not skilled!" by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "U.S. to send additional troops to Saudi Arabia to boost defenses against Iran" by Dan Lamothe.

Article: "Turkey bought Russian S-400 missiles designed to down NATO planes. For the US, that's a problem" by Tim Lister.

Article: "After choosing profits over maintenance, California utility giant forces blackouts on customers" by Nicole Karlis.

Article: "The cable industry made $28 billion last year in company-imposed hidden fees" by Walter Einenkel.

Speech: "First Inaugural Address", Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 4 March 1933. "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

Article: "The Powell Memo or Powell Manifesto".

Article: "Report: Bill Clinton May Have Encouraged Donald Trump To Run For President" by Tina Nguyen.

Article: "Susan Sarandon Is Still Glad Hillary Didn't Get Elected: 'We Would Be at War'" by Tom Sykes.

Article: "Amber Guyger found guilty of murdering black neighbour by Texas jury" by Tom Dart.

Book: The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "A key witness in ex-cop Amber Guyger's murder trial was shot to death in Dallas" by Amir Vera, Hollie Silverman, Holly Yan and Ashley Killough.

Article: "Shooting of Michael Brown" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Death of Sandra Bland", 2015 by Wikipedia.

Article: "Shooting of Trayvon Martin" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Constitutional amendment" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Constitution of the United States", article 5 (amendments, convention).

Article: "Harris, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Ban Use of Gay and Trans Panic Defense" by Kamala Harris.

Article: "Gun violence in the United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Employers' Replies to Racial Names" by NBER.

Article: "Exclusive: Wells Fargo beefs up mortgage division to cope with higher volumes" by Imani Moise.

Article: "Black, Hispanic entrepreneurs discriminated against when seeking small business loans" by J.D. Harrison.

Article: "Californians Confront a Blackout Induced to Prevent Blazes" by Thomas Fuller.

Article: "Medicare Advantage" by Wikipedia.

Article: "With death rate up, U.S. life expectancy is likely down again" by AP.

Article: "Federal Reserve to buy $60bn of Treasury bills per month" by Brendan Greeley.

Article: "Drug and suicide deaths rise as US life expectancy drops" by BBC.

Event: Oct 12, 2019: Portland, OR: "2019 Comedy, Candidates, and Cocktails" (Multnomah County Democrats fundraiser).

Article: "Republicans' 'Dead Chicken' Strategy on Impeachment" by The New York Times.

Article: "Sermon on the Mount" by Wikipedia.

Bible: "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink..." - Matthew 25:35-40.

Article: "Public banks can be formed in California as Newsom signs new law" by James F. Peltz.

Book: The American Revolution of 1800: How Jefferson Rescued Democracy from Tyranny and Faction - and What This Means Today by Dan Sisson with Thom Hartmann

Article: "The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection (Continued)" (Federalist 10) by James Madison.

Event: Portland, OR: Oct 18: "Rally for Medicare for All".

Article: "US withdrawal from Syria leaves fate of Isis fighters and families in detention uncertain" by Martin Chulov, Bethan McKernan and Julian Borger.

Article: "Trump administration clears the way for sanctions on Turkey: 'We can shut down the Turkish economy'" by Jacob Pramuk.

Article: "Bilderberg Meeting" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Madison's notes on the Constitutional Convention of 1787: July 20, 1787" by James Madison.

Article: "Here's What the Framers of the Constitution Had to Say About Impeachment" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Rural Utilities Service" (Rural Electrification Administration, also telephone, water, sewer) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Indigenous activists demand Inslee declare a 'climate emergency'" by Paige Browning.

Monday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

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And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Tracing Trump's Roots In Nixon Corruption w/Lamar Waldron

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Can Fed Keep Economy Going For Much Longer? w/ Richard Wolff

Trump is Slaughtering the Kurds for Profit

What Happens If Trump Survives Impeachment?