There is a "potential power," a tightly coiled force quietly waiting for a real emergency, buried deep in our Constitution for 232 years. It's time to unleash it.

The Founders of this nation, and the Framers who wrote our Constitution, created (as Ben Franklin famously said) a constitutional republic: a government "deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed" through citizens' (then white men) right to vote.

They referred to this as "republicanism" because it was based on the Greek and Roman republics (then thousands of years in the past but still remembered and idealized), and when put into law they called it "a Republican Form of Government."

Today that form of government in crisis in America, as that core right to vote that defines republicanism is under attack by Republican legislators in red states across our nation.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Two excerpts from a book that changed the worlds of education, psychiatry and psychology by suggesting that neurological differences are not necessarily mental diseases and can actually be assets.

Hunters and Farmers Twenty Years Later

There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors.
—J. Robert Oppenheimer (Life, October 10, 1949)

This book was first published in 1993 and was updated in the decade and a half thereafter. The new 2019 edition includes several new chapters, as well as a few broad updates, but by and large, my original hypothesis still stands and, if anything, has been solidified and reinforced by the passage of time and discovery of new science, particularly in the field of genetics.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

The Best of the Rest of the News.
— One chapter heading for the report from the House Select Committee on Covid issued yesterday is: "The Trump Administration's Persistent Political Interference in the Pandemic Response Contributed to One of the Worst Failures of Leadership in American History."
— Wednesday saw the last checks from the expanded child tax credit.
— Which raises the question: why are Manchin and Sinema so committed to breaking with their own party and stabbing the American people in the back?
— Last Thursday I proposed Democrats in Congress should openly defy the Supreme Court and pass legislation that blows up the Citizens United decision, including language forbidding the Court from ruling against them.
— At the same time Fox "News" personalities Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Brian Kilmeade were downplaying the violence at the Capitol on January 6th and suggesting on the air that "antifa" was sprinkled through the crowd stirring things up, they were frantically texting Mark Meadows to tell his boss, Donald Trump, to call off his mob before more people died.
— Crazy Alert! While one of Elon Musk's companies is working on a way to rebuild the spinal cord connections to the brain for paralyzed people, Steve Bannon sees a plot to "chip" us just in time for the 2022 elections.
— In (Maybe) Good News: New York's Attorney General Tish James says she's "tired of prayers" and is going to do something about guns.
— More Good News: The FDA has ruled that pharmaceuticals that can safely and reliably induce an abortion at home up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy can be sold online and delivered in the mail.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Omicron-fueled COVID wave crashes into New York days before Christmas" by Maria Caspani and Gabriella Borter.

Article: "'This is a no': Joe Manchin goes on Fox News to officially kill Biden's legislative agenda" by David Edwards.

Article: "The "In Emergency, Break Glass" Moment For Democracy Is Here" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "A Comprehensive Look at the Freedom To Vote Act" by Jonathan Diaz.

Book: "Puritans Religion And Politics In 17th Century England And America" by John Adair.

Article: "Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution" by Gordon S. Wood.

Article: "1787: The Constitution and "The Curse of Heaven"" by Walter E. Dellinger III.

Case: "Pacific States Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Oregon" (1912).

Article: "Murkowski is the only Senate Republican who voted to advance voting rights bill" by Liz Ruskin.

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

Book: "What Would Jefferson Do?" by Thom Hartmann.

Bill: "S. 2747: Freedom to Vote Act" by Amy Klobuchar.

Case: "Rucho v. Common Cause" (2019).

Article: "3 Democratic lawmakers announce positive Covid-19 tests" by Greg Clary.

Article: "In deep red West Virginia, Biden's $3.5tn spending proposal is immensely popular" by Zack Harold.

Article: "Statement from Press Secretary Jen Psaki" (on Joe Manchin).

Article: "Democrats don't have to play nice with Manchin anymore" by Joan McCarter.

Article: "How months of talks between Biden and Manchin over Build Back Better broke down" by Kevin Liptak, Phil Mattingly and Kaitlan Collins.

Article: "Biden suffers twin blows from Manchin and another Covid winter" by Maeve Reston,.

Article: "'I'm kind of speechless': Democrats scramble to salvage climate provisions after Manchin sinks Build Back Better" by Ella Nilsen.

Article: "What's in the House-passed Build Back Better bill? Paid leave, universal pre-K and more" by Joey Garrison and Ledyard King.

Article: "Here are the 19 Republican senators who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill" by Ali Zaslav, Clare Foran, Morgan Rimmer and Kristin Wilson.

Article: "Texas' Electricity Resources" by Lisa Minton .

Article: "Wind blows by coal to become Iowa's largest source of electricity" by Tim Webber.

Article: "Constitution of the United States", article 4 section 4. "The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence."

Article: "14th Amendment, July 9, 1868 (citizenship, representatives, public debt, Equal Protection Clause)

Article: "Madison's notes on the Constitutional Convention of 1787: July 18, 1787" by James Madison.

Law: "Taft-Hartley Labor Act", 1947.

Article: "What Is the PRO Act?" by AFL-CIO.

Book: "Cracking the Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Restore America's Original Vision" by Thom Hartmann

Documentary: SiCKO - Michael Moore.

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

Hour Two: Historically Large Win': Chile Votes for Socialism over Fascism
- Guillaume Long PhD, Policy Analyst - Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR) / Formerly, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador (in the government of Rafael Correa)

Article: "'Historically Large Win': Chile Votes for Socialism Over Fascism" by Common Dreams.

Article: "Gabriel Boric" by Wikipedia.

Article: "José Antonio Kast" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Pink tide" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Chile" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Christopher A. Wray" by Wikipedia.

Video: Mo Brooks gives FIERY speech against anti-Trump Republicans, socialist.

Article: "Ron Johnson (Wisconsin politician)" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Fourteenth Amendment, Section 2: Apportionment Clause".

Article: "Ron DeSantis wants to spend $5.2 million on new election crimes office based on 'Big Lie'" by Bob Brigham.

Book: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

Article: "Ministries of Nineteen Eighty-Four" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Three Republican Residents of The Villages Arrested for Casting Multiple 2020 Votes" by Jamie Ross.

Article: "Texas upholds sentence for woman who didn't know she was ineligible to vote" by Sam Levine.

Article: "International sanctions during the Venezuelan crisis" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Iran nuclear deal framework" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Sanctions against Iran" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Constitution of the United States", article 3 section 2. "... In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make...."

Article: "Deteriorating Infrastructure and Growing Investment Gap Will Reduce U.S. GDP By $10 Trillion in 20 Years: Economic Study" by ASCE.

Article: "FEMA Chief: Magnitude Of Recent Tornadoes 'New Normal' Due To Climate Crisis" by Sanjana Karanth.

Article: "Flooded I-676 Remains Closed for 2nd Day as Crews Deal With Muddy Mess " by Dan Stamm.

Article: "CBO issues score on how much Build Back Better would cost if programs were permanent" by Lauren Fox and Manu Raju.

Article: "17th Amendment. "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof...".

Article: "René Schneider" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Retired diplomats, generals slam Trump over using U.S. military to 'intimidate' protesters" by Dan De Luce.

Video: Are Far Right Christians Taking Over The Military? (w/ Mikey Weinstein).

Article: "Joe Manchin fires back at angry Dems: 'They ought to push me' into the Republican Party " by David Edwards.

Article: "Can Ford become the world's second-biggest electric car maker in just two years?" by IOL.

Hour Three: What Will Be the Impact of Omicron Now Over the Next Few months & Pfizer Saying Covid Will Continue To Be a Pandemic Until 2024? Also Banks Are Cutting the GDP Forecast Because the Build Back Better is Going Down....
- Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Democracy At Work / Author of numerous books - his latest is The Sickness is the System (now also available as an e-book)

Article: "Pfizer executives say Covid could become endemic by 2024" by Hannah Miao.

Article: "Goldman Cuts U.S. GDP Forecast as Biden Economic Agenda in Doubt" by mahatmakanejeeves.

Article: "2020 stock market crash" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The US has 4% of the world's population but 25% of its coronavirus cases" by Scottie Andrew.

Article: "Mortality in the most affected countries" by JHU.

Article: "1347 - 1351: BLACK DEATH kills over 1/3 of Europe population (jan 16, 1347 – jan 1, 1351)" by Time Graphics.

Article: "TRIPS Waiver (COVID)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Olaf Scholz appointed as Germany's new chancellor, replacing Angela Merkel after 16 years" by Ivana Kottasová.

Article: "2021 Maricopa County presidential ballot audit" by Wikipedia.

Article: "'Enraged' homeowners calling cops on Trump supporters as they go door to door looking for voter fraud " by Tom Boggioni.

Article: "Joe Manchin Privately Told Colleagues Parents Use Child Tax Credit Money On Drugs" by Tara Golshan and Arthur Delaney.

Article: "Is Fox News "The Greatest Cancer on American Democracy"?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Cancer eating the heart of Australian democracy" by Kevin Rudd.

Bill: "S.4263 - John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act" by Sen. Leahy, Patrick J. [D-VT].

Bill: "S.2747 - Freedom to Vote Act" by Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN].

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: "WATCH: White House Covid Team's HARSH 'Winter of Death' Truth Bomb for Unvaccinated That Went Viral" by Tommy Christopher.

Article: "Ron Klain defends message that unvaccinated are 'looking at...'" by Morgan Phillips.

Article: "Pfizer says kids under 5 may not get shots until mid-2022 after trial found low-dose vaccine didn't work in kids aged 2-5" by Hilary Brueck.

Article: "Biden: Pentagon said global warming is 'greatest threat facing America' " by Steven Nelson.

Book: The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot by Russell Kirk.

Book: God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of 'Academic Freedom' by William F. Buckley Jr.

Article: "Powell Memo".

Article: "Kellogg to permanently replace striking employees as workers reject new contract" by Reuters.

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

***Happy Winter Solstice***

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

"In Emergency, Break Glass" Moment For Democracy Is Here

Are You Taking Risk To Feel Alive?

Will Angry Progressives Push Democratic Leadership To Act?