The favorite phrase in the media right now is "Quid Pro Quo," which is Latin for "this for that." but in the law there is a different word for what Donald Trump and his buddies did: Extortion. The Hobbs Act provides a 20 year prison sentence for anybody who tries to get any "thing of value" while "under color of official right." In other words, using your political office to threaten or promise benefit or harm to somebody else or another country, like Ukraine, in exchange for their doing something for you which has value, like helping you in the election. Democrats need to begin using the right word: Extortion.

-Thom

Tuesday's Daily Stack

Article: "Guy Fawkes Night" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Electoral College" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Milwaukee man arrested for allegedly throwing acid at 'illegal' US citizen" by Amanda Holpuch.

Article: "Milwaukee Mayor Blames Trump's Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and Policies for Acid Attack Against Hispanic Resident" by Julia Conley.

Article: "Mayor Tom Barrett Blames Acid Attack Against Latino Resident On Trump's Anti-immigrant Rhetoric".

Article: "'Only in the Panhandle': Trump chuckles when audience member suggests shooting migrants" by William Cummings.

Article: "2019 El Paso shooting" by Wikipedia.

Movie: "V for Vendetta".

Article: "Neoliberalism" by Wikipedia.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976

Documentary: The Brainwashing Of My Dad by Jen Senko.

Article: "Sikhs" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Bernie Sanders" by Wikipedia.

Quote: "Every constitution then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years." - Thomas Jefferson.

Hour Two: PG&E and Power Belongs In the Hands of the People...
- Ben Ehrenreich, Journalist & Contributor - The Nation Magazine /Author - The Way to the Spring (based on his reporting from the West Bank) & the forthcoming book (out in 2020) Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time

Article: "California Is Burning—Nationalize PG&E" by Ben Ehrenreich.

Article: "Erin Brockovich" by Wikipedia.

Movie: "Erin Brockovich".

Article: "San Bruno pipeline explosion" by Wikipedia.

Article: "PG&E receives maximum sentence for 2010 San Bruno explosion" by Kate Larsen.

Article: "Enron scandal" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Tapes reveal Enron's secret role in California's power blackouts" by Julian Borger.

Article: "The Town Erin Brockovich Rescued Is Basically a Ghost Town Now" by Mike Pearl.

Article: "Rep. Ro Khanna Of California Backs Public Takeover Of PG&E: 'For-Profit Does Not Work'" by Alexander C. Kaufman.

Article: "Why San Jose's Mayor Wants Customers to Own PG&E" by Jill Cowan.

Article: "California's Governor Wants Berkshire to Bid for Bankrupt PG&E" by Mark Chediak and Michael B Marois.

Article: "'You can't hack paper': How Oregon fights election meddling" by Cynthia McFadden and Kevin Monahan.

Article: "How are Ballots Read?" by ES&S.

Book: Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure by Daniel Quinn.

Article: "Quid pro quo" by Wikipedia.

Law: "The term " extortion " means the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right." - 18 U.S.C. § 1951 - U.S. Code - Unannotated Title 18. Crimes and Criminal Procedure § 1951. Interference with commerce by threats or violence.

Law: "Hobbs Act" (18 U.S.C. § 1951).

Law: "U.S. Code §201. Bribery of public officials and witnesses".

Article: "Bribery" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Paul Manafort" by Wikipedia.

Article: "House Releases Transcripts Of Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland Impeachment Testimony" by Marina Fang.

Article: "Rand Paul gets humiliated for wrongly claiming whistleblower must 'face' Trump because 'it's in the Constitution'" by David Edwards.

Article: "6th Amendment" (speedy trial, witnesses, defense)

Article: "IRS whistleblower said to report Treasury political appointee might have tried to interfere in audit of Trump or Pence" by Jeff Stein, Tom Hamburger and Josh Dawsey.

Article: "Christine Blasey Ford" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Republicans Seek to Swamp Democratic Offices With Anti-Impeachment Calls" by Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni.

Article: "Republicans busted paying for phone calls to 'jam the phone lines of House Democrats': report" by Bob Brigham.

Article: "E.P.A. Weakens Rules Governing Toxic Water Pollution From Coal Plants" by Lisa Friedman.

Book: "They Thought They Were Free" by Milton Mayer. "What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise"

Book: The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Inside Pete Buttigieg's plan to overhaul the Supreme Court" by Josh Lederman.

Article: "Pete Buttigieg's Medicare-for-all-who-want-it plan, explained" by Dylan Scott.

Book: It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America by David Cay Johnston.

Site: Mondragon Corporation (co-op)

Book: "Threshold: The Progressive Plan to Pull America Back from the Brink" by Thom Hartmann

Article: "Reaganomics" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Libertarianism" by Wikipedia.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978

Article: "Milton Friedman" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Chicago school of economics" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Austrian School" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Friedrich Hayek" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Ludwig von Mises" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Francis Fukuyama" by Wikipedia.

Book: The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama.

Article: "US navy secretary warns of 'fragile' supply chain" by Peter Spiegel and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.

Article: "Dramatic Video Shows Transit Worker Saving Man Who Fell on Tracks as Speeding Train Approached" by AP.

Article: "Sondland Updates Impeachment Testimony, Describing Ukraine Quid Pro Quo" by Michael S. Schmidt.

Article: "Alleged white supremacist arrested in thwarted synagogue attack in Colorado, FBI says" by CBS/AP.

Article: "Pittsburgh synagogue shooting" by Wikipedia.

Article: "2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Exclusive: How a Ukrainian Oligarch Wanted by U.S. Authorities Helped Giuliani Attack Biden" by Simon Shuster.

Article: "Jared Kushner's Real-estate Firm Sought Money Directly From Qatar Government Weeks Before Blockade" by Clayton Swisher, Ryan Grim.

Article: "Qatar hosts largest US military base in Mideast" by Brad Lendon.

Article: "The troubling overlap between Jared Kushner's business interests and US foreign policy" by Mohamad Bazzi.

Article: "Jared Kushner may have an ethics problem - to the tune of $90m" by Vicky Ward.

Article: "Qatar Shocked, Shocked To Learn It Accidentally Bailed Out Jared Kushner" by Bess Levin.

Book: Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump's International Collusion is Threatening American Democracy by Seth Abramson.

Video: Trump's New Worldwide Autocratic Alliance (w/ Seth Abramson).

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

Congressman Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District) will be calling in to talk about the issues of the day and take your calls.

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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