If the filibuster can't be done away with or turned into a "Jimmy Stewart filibuster," then Congress has the obligation to Act on the "Nuclear Option."

The US Senate is back in session today, as Texas Republicans prepare to pass another massive voter suppression bill. The only remedy available to the American people is for the federal government to use its constitutional authority to regulate federal elections to block what President Biden has referred to as the GOP's "Jim Crow in the 21st century."

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

The best of the rest of the news this week.

— President Biden fired the Trump holdovers at the head of Social Security and Medicare whose singular focus had been to destroy both those programs. Seriously: this is not hyperbole. That's why Trump had put them there. As the White House itself said yesterday: "Since taking office, Commissioner Saul has undermined and politicized Social Security disability benefits, terminated the agency's telework policy that was utilized by up to 25 percent of the agency's workforce, not repaired SSA's relationships with relevant Federal employee unions including in the context of COVID-19 workplace safety planning, reduced due process protections for benefits appeals hearings, and taken other actions that run contrary to the mission of the agency and the President's policy agenda." Andrew Saul, Trump's head of Social Security, said he was going to refuse to leave after being requested to resign and would show up for work on Monday, but Biden then doubled-down and officially fired him. Good riddance to these GOP mega-donors and welcome back to two of the most successful government programs in American history.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Monday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Do you really think if you can cause enough people to get sick and die that you'll be able to take the economy into another recession and hurt the Democrats in the 2022 and 2024 election?
- Sean Themea, Chief of Staff - Young Americans For Liberty (YAL)

Article: "Biden admin launching 'door-to-door' push to vaccinate Americans, sparks major backlash" by Joseph A. Wulfsohn.

Article: "US could have averted 40% of Covid deaths, says panel examining Trump's policies" by Amanda Holpuch.

Article: "Covid has claimed more than 600,000 lives in the U.S." by Dan Levin.

Article: "Poliovirus" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Macron to address nation amid fears of Delta variant surge in France" by France 24.

Article: "George Washington and the First Mass Military Inoculation" by Amy Lynn Filsinger, Raymond Dwek.

Article: "Required Vaccines for Child Care and School" by CDC.

Article: "Republicans push to ban "discrimination" against unvaccinated people" by Caitlin Owens.

Site: TheRighting (Top News Headlines from the Far Right for the Rest of Us).

Site: Media Matters for America

Site: NewsHounds.

Article: "Libertarian Party" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Understanding mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines" by CDC.

Article: "Novavax COVID-19 vaccine" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS, MERS-CoV)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Long Covid: Vaccine cuts chances of getting condition by a third, according to major new study" by Jane Merrick.

Article: "Fauci said it's 'horrifying' that CPAC attendees cheered about the US' lagging vaccination rate" by Connor Perrett.

Hour Two: CNN Reported Andrew Saul Showed Up For Work This Morning.- After Biden Fired Him. WHAT...?!
- Alex Lawson, Executive Director - Social Security Works / Strengthen Social Security

Article: "Biden fires top official at Social Security Administration after he refuses to resign" by Jeff Zeleny and Rachel Janfaza.

Article: "Social Security Boss Canceled Telework For Others But Wouldn't Come To The Office" by Arthur Delaney.

Article: "Biden fires head of Social Security Administration, a Trump holdover who drew the ire of Democrats" by Lisa Rein.

Tweet: "Saul said in an interview Friday afternoon that he would not leave his post, challenging the legality of the White House move to oust him. "I consider myself the term-protected Commissioner of Social Security."" by Matea Gold.

Article: "COVID-19 pandemic in South Dakota" by Wikipedia.

Article: "It's Much More Likely the Coronavirus Came from Wildlife, Not a Lab" by Josh Fischman.

Article: "Coronavirus Whistleblower Li Wenliang Dies of the Disease" by Gao Yu, Ding Gang, Dave Yin, Qin Jianhang and Timmy Shen.

Article: "North Korea warns that US humanitarian aid is a "sinister plan"" by antoniocollison.

Article: "North Korea Has Been Importing Chinese COVID-19 Vaccines Since Early May" by Hyemin Son, Jeongeun Ji and Myungchul Lee.

Article: "Time to Trigger the Nuclear Option" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "The Constitutional Option To Change Senate Rules And Procedures: A Majoritarian Means To Over Come The Filibuster" by Martin B.Gold & Dimple Gupta.

Article: "Filibuster and reconciliation in the United States Congress" by Ballotpedia.

Article: "Advice and Consent:The Role of the United States Senate in the Judicial Selection Process" by Senator Charles McC. Mathias, Jr.

Article: "Rep. Clyburn: 'We Need to Get Rid of the Filibuster for Constitutional Issues'" by Susan Jones.

Law: "Article I, Section 4, Clause 1.1.1.1.2 Role of Congress in Regulating Federal Elections".

Article: "Elections Clause of the Constitution" by Michael T. Morley, Franita Tolson.

Article: "The Budget Reconciliation Process: Stages of Consideration" by Congressional Research Service.

Article: "A "Jimmy Stewart Filibuster" Would Pass HR 1 & Save American Democracy" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "A Motion to Censure Representative John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts" by Office of the Historian.

Article: "How Opposition to World War One Galvanized the Left" by Juliet Kleber.

Article: "Dissertation on the First Principles of Government" by Thomas Paine.

Article: "Text of the President's Statement to the Public, March 4, 1917 " by Woodrow Wilson.

Article: "The Truth About the 'For the People Act'" by Lawrence Norden, Wendy Weiser, Derek Tisler.

Article: "Biden calls Georgia law 'Jim Crow in the 21st Century' and says Justice Department is 'taking a look'" by Maegan Vazquez and Kate Sullivan.

Article: "Examining The Filibuster: Hearings Before The Committee On Rules And Administration United States Senate - 111th Congress" (2010).

Article: "The Nuclear Option: What It Is and Why It Matters" by Alex Seitz-Wald.

Article: "Texas Republicans advance voting restrictions at special session after Democrat walkout" by Alexandra Villarreal.

Article: "The Filibuster Was Grounded in Slavery and Now Threatens All Life on Earth" by Thom Hartmann.

Clip: "Paul Weyrich - "I don't want everybody to vote" (Goo Goo)".

Article: "Anti-vaxx nurse dies from COVID-19 in Louisiana" by Travis Gettys.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976

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

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

Bill: "H.R.1 - For the People Act of 2021" by Rep. Sarbanes, John P. [D-MD-3].

Bill: "S.1 - For the People Act of 2021" by Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR].

Article: "Taxation in Sweden" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The right to vote in Sweden" by Norden.

Article: "Elections in Sweden" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Olof Palme" by Wikipedia.

Book: The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy by Thom Hartmann.

Tweet: "Firenados in northern California. Ocean fires in the Gulf of Mexico. Subway waterfalls in New York City. A heat dome in the Northwest melting power cables, killing hundreds and frying marine animals. I have been told that combatting climate change is expensive. Compared to what?" by Bernie Sanders.

Tweet: "Boebert: We're here to tell government we don't want your benefits. We don't want your welfare… [video]" by Acyn.

Article: "Gina Rinehart" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Fred C. Koch" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Oregon's heat wave death toll grows to 116" by Ardeshir Tabrizian.

Article: "Washington state's heat wave blamed for at least 78 deaths; coroners, medical examiners still counting" by Evan Bush, Elise Takahama and Maddie Kornfeld.

Article: "Record heatwave may have killed 500 people in western Canada" by Leyland Cecco.

Article: "Oregon wildfire robs California of critical electricity supply from Pacific Northwest during heat wave" by Ted Sickinger.

Article: "Arab Spring" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Peddler's martyrdom launched Tunisia's revolution" by Lin Noueihed.

Article: "From the GNR Newsroom, its the Monday Good News Roundup, special coal buster edition!" by Jessiestaf.

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

Site: Outbreak.info (COVID).

Article: "COVID-19 not connected to bats, Israeli biologists say" by Maya Margit.

Geeky Science: "Forget 10,000 steps — here's how much you should actually walk per day, according to science" by Gabby Landsverk.

Article: "Tucker Carlson Has Most-Watched Show In Cable News As Fox Leads Basic Cable For 17 Straight Weeks" by Mark Joyella.

Article: "Cuba protests: Thousands rally against government as economy struggles" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Cuba blames unrest on U.S. interference as Biden backs protests" by Sarah Marsh, Marc Frank.

Quote: "When FDR was about to assume office in 1933, it was said to him, you know, if your new deal works, you'll be the greatest president in history. If it fails you'll be the worst president in history. He said, no, I'll be the last president in history." - Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Article: "No Labels" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Problem Solvers Caucus" by Wikipedia.

Quote: "A number of my friends who belong in these very high upper brackets have suggested to me, more in sorrow than in anger, that if I am reelected they will have to move to some other Nation because of high taxes here. I shall miss them very much." - Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Address at Worcester, Mass.," October 21, 1936.

Article: "House passes $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill, but McConnell calls it 'pointless political theater'" by Michael Laris.

Article: "ExxonMobil admits it owns 11 US Senators" by Hank Z.

Article: "Leaked Audio of Sen. Joe Manchin Call With Billionaire Donors Provides Rare Glimpse of Dealmaking on Filibuster and January 6 Commission" by Lee Fang, Ryan Grim.

Site/movie: Carbon

Site/movie: Last Hours

Book: "The Last Hours of Humanity: Warming the World to Extinction" by Thom Hartmann

Article: "Carbon fee and dividend" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The Little Ice Age Wasn't Global, but Current Climate Change Is " by Javier Barbuzano.

Article: "Juneteenth becomes a national holiday to celebrate the end of slavery" by BBC.

Article: "Juneteenth" (June 19, 1865) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Why not make Election Day a national holiday?" by Cara Korte.

Article: "$1 million winner of Oregon's COVID-19 vaccination lottery is a college student" by Aimee Green.

Quote: "Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play." - Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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

We'll have the latest news and information...everything you need to know to win the water cooler wars...

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...

This GOPer Says Vaccines are Wasteful & Orwellian (w/Sean Themea)

Fired Trump Appointee Andrew Saul Won't Go Away (w/ Alex Lawson)

Did Reaganism kill Christianity?

America's Deferred Maintenance is Like the Falling Condo

Why Can't America Have "Nice Things"?

What Happens When the GOP Flips an Election?