Donald Trump has officially ended one of the most important parts of the American experiment by demanding that an independent Department of Justice go easy on one of his buddies.

In 1780, John Adams and Samuel Adams helped draft the constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which says, "In the government of this commonwealth... the executive shall never exercise the legislative or judicial powers to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men." By taking on the judicial powers of convicting and sentencing, Trump has turned our "system of laws, not men" on its head. This is the sort of thing you see in Erdogan's Turkey, but never in an advanced democracy.

Bill Barr and Donald Trump have committed a complete repudiation of one of the most important of the values and structures that made this country a democratic republic. Four brave federal prosecutors have stood up to this and resigned, but if there is not an overwhelming and systematic response to Trump's subversion of the American justice system, our republic is at an end. November may be too late.

-Thom

Wednesday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Mid-day with Mark
- Congressman Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District)

Article: "Confusion over a new law could threaten young voter turnout in New Hampshire" by Jane C. Timm.

Article: "Massachusetts Constitution" Article XXX. In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them: the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men.

Article: "Rigged: How Voter Suppression Threw Wisconsin to Trump" by Ari Berman.

Book: The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote and How to Get It Back by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Trump administration ousts Alexander Vindman, Amb. Gordon Sondland days after Senate acquittal" by David Jackson and Deirdre Shesgreen.

Article: "Trump congratulates Barr on 'taking charge' of Roger Stone sentencing recommendation" by Elizabeth Thomas.

Article: "Invoking his faith, an emotional Mitt Romney explains vote to convict Trump" by Libby Cathey.

Article: "Did Trump Propose SSI Changes That Could End Disability Benefits for Thousands?" by Dan MacGuill.

Tweet: "A budget is our social contract Trump's $4.8 trillion budget
CUTS:
Medicare by $850b
Medicaid by $920b
Social Security by $30b
Food stamp by $181b
Education by 8%
Health & Human Services by 9%
EPA by 26%
Interior(parks) by 13%
Housing by 15%
During booming economy & tax cuts" by Maria Teresa Kumar.

Article: "Trump's 2020 budget proposes 90 percent cut to Great Lakes funds" by Malachi Barrett.

Article: "Trump's 2021 budget seeks extra funds for Great Lakes protection" by Malachi Barrett.

Article: "Would 'Medicare for All' Save Billions or Cost Billions?" by Josh Katz, Kevin Quealy And Margot Sanger-Katz.

Article: "How Much Will the 'Green New Deal' Cost?" by Jessica McDonald.

Article: "Thanks to the Koch Brothers, We Have More Proof that Single Payer Saves Money and Cares for All of Us" by John Nichols.

Article: "Trump Should Be Removed from Office" by Mark Galli.

Article: "Consumer Price Index" by BLS.

Article: "Consumer Price Index for the elderly" (CPI-E) by BLS.

Article: "Deep EPA cuts put public health at risk" by Elgie Holstein.

Article: "Culinary union circulates flyer attacking Medicare for All" by Rory Appleton.

Article: "Affordable Housing" by HUD.

Article: "Bernie Sanders Leads All Democratic Candidates In Support From Non-white Voters, New Polls Show" by Jason Lemon.

Article: "Unexpected shock: Surprise medical bills hit 1 in 5 surgery patients, study says" by Kristin Lam.

Article: "Massachusetts Constitution" Article XXX. In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them: the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men.

Article: "Boston Tea Party" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Shot heard round the world" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Preamble to the Constitution of the United States".
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Article: "Declaration of Independence".

Article: "The Gettysburg Address" by President Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863.

Article: "All four Roger Stone prosecutors resign from case after DOJ backpedals on sentencing recommendation" by Dartunorro Clark, Michael Kosnar, Dareh Gregorian and Tom Winter.

Article: "Prosecutors Quit Roger Stone Case After Justice Dept. Intervenes on Sentencing" by Katie Benner, Sharon LaFraniere and Adam Goldman.

Tweet: "Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought. Evidence now clearly shows that the Mueller Scam was improperly brought & tainted. Even Bob Mueller lied to Congress!" by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "NYT: Prosecutors In Roger Stone's Case Found Out About DOJ Reversal Through Fox News" by Cristina Cabrera.

Tweet: "This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice! ..." by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "Trump says he didn't order Justice to change sentencing for Roger Stone" by Morgan Chalfant.

Tweet: "Who are the four prosecutors (Mueller people?) who cut and ran after being exposed for recommending a ridiculous 9 year prison sentence to a man that got caught up in an investigation that was illegal, the Mueller Scam, and shouldn't ever even have started? 13 Angry Democrats?" by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "Schumer calls on Justice Department watchdog to probe Stone sentencing recommendations" by Melissa Quinn. "This situation has all the indicia of improper political interference in a criminal prosecution"

Tweet: "A shocking, cram-down political intervention in the criminal justice process. We are now truly at a break-glass-in-case-of-fire moment for the Justice Dept." by David Laufman (Former Chief of Counterintelligence & Export Control Section at Justice Dept).

Article: "Trump administration ousts Alexander Vindman, Amb. Gordon Sondland days after Senate acquittal" by David Jackson and Deirdre Shesgreen.

Article: "Trump Fires Defense Official for Refusing to Break the Law on His Behalf" by Jonathan Chait. (Elaine McCusker)

Quote: "A Republic, if you can keep it." - Benjamin Franklin.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976

Video: Joy on Klobuchar's strong showing in New Hampshire: Debates matter (Joy Reid).

Article: "Trump administration family separation policy" by Wikipedia.

Articles: "Gabe Ortiz".

Article: "IBM and the Holocaust" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Gina Haspel, C.I.A. Deputy Director, Had Role in Torture" by Matthew Rosenberg.

Article: "CIA's Haspel applauds during Trump's State of the Union speech, surprising some intel officials" by Ken Dilanian.

Article: "Racially-motivated violent extremists elevated to "national threat priority," FBI director says" by Erin Donaghue.

Article: "The U.S. government's counterterrorism center doesn't track white supremacists. Some think it should." by Jenna McLaughlin.

Report: "The Human Cost of Reconstruction in Afghanistan" by Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

Article: "Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over" by The Guardian.

Quote: "As a matter of fact, in interviews in 1999 with respected journalist, and long time Bush family friend, David Herskowitz, then Governor George Bush stated: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade... if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency." - My Testimony for the Downing Street Memo Hearings" by Cindy Sheehan, June 16 2005.

Article: "Trump attacks federal judge, prosecutors in Twitter tirade defending Roger Stone" by Allyson Chiu.

Article: "75 Ways Socialism Has Improved America" by TheNewDeal00.

Article: "North American Free Trade Agreement" (NAFTA) by Wikipedia

Article: "Fast track (trade) (TPA)" by Wikipedia

Article: "Permanent normal trade relations: U.S. and China" by Wikipedia

Article: "Social Security: Here's what Trump's proposed budget could mean for your benefits" by Aimee Picchi.

Article: "Trump vowed to not cut Social Security and Medicare — hours before proposing just that" by Aaron Rupar.

Tweet: "Democrats are going to destroy your Social Security. I have totally left it alone, as promised, and will save it!" by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "US trade adviser seeks to replace Chinese drug supplies" by James Politi.

Article: "Apple supplier Foxconn restarts key China plant with 10% of workforce, source says" by Reuters.

Tweet: "@BarackObama will attack Iran in the not too distant future because it will help him win the election. If the... (cont) http://deck.ly/~RSKCl" by Donald J. Trump, Nov 14, 2011.

Tweet: "@BarackObama will attack Iran in order to get re-elected." by Donald J. Trump, 17 Jan 2012.

Tweet: "Just as I predicted, @BarackObama is preparing a possible attack on Iran right before November." by Donald J. Trump, 3 Jul 2012.

Tweet: "I always said @BarackObama will attack Iran, in some form, prior to the election." by Donald J. Trump, 16 Aug 2012.

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, 9 Oct 2012.

Article: "Magnitsky Act" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Speaker Pelosi fires back at President Trump, says she prays 'very hard' for him" by Trish Turner.

Article: "An Ivanka Trump Trademark For Voting Machines Was Approved By China - Here's What That Means" by Angela Chen.

Article: "Estimating the Cost of a Single-Payer Plan" by John Holahan and Linda J. Blumberg.

Article: "The Hong Kong protests explained in 100 and 500 words" by BBC.

Article: "Inauguration And Women's March, By The Numbers" by Max Kutner.

Book: "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" by Thom Hartmann (read online)

Book: "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" by Thom Hartmann

Book: "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against The Middle Class" by Thom Hartmann. Get "Screwed" by Thom Hartmann!

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

They Thought They Were Free

Plus, I'll be talking with Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Co-founder, Democracy At Work / Author of numerous books including Understanding Marxism and his latest, Understanding Socialism.

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...

Medicare For All Stops Greed Not Competition!

RedShift: How The GOP Rigged Our Elections

Can Reagan Revolution Be Stopped?

Trump's Budget Is Great For The Rich (w/ Grover Norquist)

Voter Purge Lawsuit Forces Gov. Kemp To Expose Purge List (w/Greg Palast)

Sat, Feb 15, 1pm: Sportsmen's Lodge Hotel, Studio City, CA.

Mon, Feb 17, 7:30pm PT: Berkeley Arts & Letter Series.

Wed, Feb 19, 7:30pm PT: Seattle Town Hall.

Sun, Feb 23, noon or 1pm: Blue State Ball.

Fri, Feb 28, 7:30pm PT: Powell's, 1005 W Burnside St., Portland.

Sun, Mar 1, noon: Frugal Muse Books - Chicago - Call the store to make a reservation 630-427-1140..