The morbidly rich have taken over politics, nobody trusts anybody, violence is up, gun sales have exploded & our nation experienced its first armed assault from traitors within since the Civil War. "Conservative" columnists in America are bemoaning how coarse, violent and Third-World-ish the US has become in the past 40 years. David Brooks, for example, comes right out and says "America is falling apart at the seams."

In that, he's largely quoting data from Matt Iglesias' substack newsletter Slow Boring, where he wrote:

"You're seeing more killing, which is a subset of the increase in shooting, which in turn is a subset of the large increase in gun-carrying. But traffic deaths are also up. Unruly passenger incidents on airplanes have surged. Schools report more discipline and student safety issues.

"Basically, the murders seem like the tip of an iceberg of bad behavior."

Brooks correctly notes that it's terrible (Brooks is a genuinely thoughtful guy) but:

"As a columnist, I'm supposed to have some answers. But I just don't right now. I just know the situation is dire."

The rapid disintegration of the nation that was once the world's bulwark of democracy and beacon of freedom has been relentless and brutal — but it should not be a surprise to Brooks or other conservatives: it's all happened right out in the open and most of it has been driven from the right side of our political spectrum.

How this came about is not a mystery, and progressives have been warning about the dangers of this kind of consolidated rightwing (racist, rich and corporate) power ever since the 1901 presidency of progressive Republican Teddy Roosevelt.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Tuesday's Daily Stack

Article: "How America Is Becoming Unraveled" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Executive Order 9981: Integration of the Armed Forces" by Patrick Feng.

Article: "Want to 'Highlight' Senators Blocking Voting Rights? Rename the Russell Senate Office Building!" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Why Conservatives Want Government To Fail Everywhere" by Thom Hartmann.

Quote: "The true Negro does not want integration... He realizes his potential is far better among his own race... It will destroy our race eventually... In one northern city, a pastor friend of mine tells me that a couple of opposite race live next door to his church as man and wife... It boils down to whether we are going to take God's Word as final." - Jerry Falwell.

Article: "Obits Black Out Claims That Reagan Conspired to Keep Hostages in Iran Until After 1980 Election" by Jon Schwarz.

Book: The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "The Lyndon Johnson tapes: Richard Nixon's 'treason'" by David Taylor.

Article: "Airlines report 3,000 unruly passengers this year in US" by BBC.

Article: "The Hillary Nutcracker" by Ilana Garon.

Article: "Car crash deaths have surged during COVID-19 pandemic. Here's why" by Emily Baumgaertner, Russ Mitchell.

Article: "Brown v. Board of Education: Virginia Responds" by Commonwealth of Virginia.

Article: "Advocates fear suspensions could add to pandemic pain for vulnerable students" by Erin Einhorn.

Article: "America Is Falling Apart at the Seams" by David Brooks.

Site: "Slow Boring".

Article: "Southern Manifesto on Integration (March 12, 1956)".

Article: "One possible cause of the 2020 murder increase: More guns" by Rob Arthur and Jeff Asher.

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

Case: "Brown v. Board", 1954.

Law: "Civil Rights Act of 1964".

Law: "Voting Rights Act of 1965".

Article: "Nixon's Southern strategy" by James Boyd.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

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

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

Book: "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.

Article: "Paul Ryan and Ayn Rand" by Rachel Weiner.

Article: "Democratic Leadership Council" (DLC) by Wikipedia.

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

Site: World Trade Organization (WTO).

Article: "Tea Party movement" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories" (birtherism) by Wikipedia.

Article: "New Calvinism" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Supreme Court's Gorsuch refused to wear mask despite request over Sotomayor's Covid concerns, report says" by Kevin Breuninger.

Article: "Who is Oath Keepers' founder Stewart Rhodes?" by Ben Hill, Amanda Castro.

Article: "Neil Gorsuch" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Rules Of The Senate" by Senate.

Article: "Martin Luther King Jr." by Wikipedia.

Article: "Malcolm X" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Shooting of Trayvon Martin" by Wikipedia

Article: "Stand-your-ground law" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Domino effect" by Wikipedia.

Article: "When Bottles (as in Medical Vials) Become the Bottleneck" by Hannah Bai.

Quote: "For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail." - proverb.

TV: "The Family".

Book: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet.

Article: "Florida Republican who lost special election by 59 points refuses to concede, files suit" by Igor Derysh.

Article: "Michael Beschloss" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, Explained" by David A. Love.

Video: Ted Kennedy on Republicans and Minimum wage. "When does the greed stop?"

Hour Two: Biden Is Shedding the Support of His Base—and That Could Be Bad for Democracy
- Dean Obeidallah, Host of Dean Obeidallah show weekdays 6-9PMET @SXMProgress Radio Ch127/Columnist-The Daily Beast

Article: "Biden Is Shedding the Support of His Base—and That Could Be Bad for Democracy" by Dean Obeidallah.

Article: "And Now, Some Good News About Americans and Money" by Jordan Weissmann.

Article: "With help from Manchin and Sinema, a Republican revolution from below is driving national policy" by Ronald Brownstein.

Article: "Leader of Oath Keepers militia charged with seditious conspiracy in U.S. Capitol riot" by Reuters.

Article: "'Be There. Will Be Wild!': Trump All but Circled the Date" by Dan Barry and Sheera Frenkel.

Article: "Selina Vickers on How West Virginia Democrats Voted for Bernie But Ended Up with Hillary" by Morgan County USA.

Article: "Justice Gorsuch Reportedly Refused Request to Mask Up Despite Justice Sotomayor's Health Concerns" by Ken Meyer.

Article: "Supreme Court justices aren't 'scorpions,' but not happy campers either" by Nina Totenberg.

Article: "Anne Gorsuch Burford" by Wikipedia.

Article: "World's 10 richest men doubled their wealth during pandemic, Oxfam reports".

Article: "Wife of Justice Clarence Thomas signed off on letter saying Capitol attackers 'have done nothing wrong'" by Sarah K. Burris.

Article: "His family says they were told he died in a car wreck. Video now shows Ronald Greene was kicked, dragged and tased by police" by Jamiel Lynch and Ray Sanchez.

Article: "Electoral Count Act of 1887" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Act Two: The Apocalyptic Plot to Go After Voting Rights" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Libya" by Wikipedia.

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

Hour Three: Free the Press
- Brian Karem, Senior White House Correspondent-Playboy Magazine (now defunct) / Contributor-Salon.com / Host of the "Just Ask the Question" podcast / Author of the new book, "Free the Press: The Death of American Journalism and How to Revive It"

Article: "Requiem for a Dead Bunny" by Brian J. Karem.

Article: "Fairness Doctrine" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Did Ronald Reagan Pave the Way for Fox News?" (Fairness Doctrine) by Dan MacGuill.

Law: "Sherman Antitrust Act", 1890.

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

Article: "United States antitrust law" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Telecommunications Act of 1996" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Patriot Act", 2001.

Article: "Daniel Ellsberg Talks About Whistleblowing, the Pervasiveness Of Official Lies, and the Dangers of the Espionage Act" by Matt Taibbi.

Article: "They went viral on Jan. 6. Here's what happened to them." by Dylan Stableford and Caitlin Dickson.

Article: "PA woman accused of stealing laptop from Pelosi's office during Capitol riot released to home confinement" by Danielle Wallace, Marta Dhanis.

Article: "Kamala Harris Has To Answer For Not Prosecuting Steve Mnuchin" by Jesse Mechanic.

Article: "Michael Flynn's judge suggested he might be guilty of treason. He's not." by Dylan Matthews.

Article: "Realtor who flew to the Capitol riot on a private jet and said she wouldn't go to jail because of her 'blonde hair' and 'white skin' gets 60 days behind bars" by Ashley Collman.

Article: "Iraq War" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Financial crisis of 2007-08" by Wikipedia.

Article: "September 11 attacks" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Vietnam War" (1955 - 1975) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Bay of Pigs Invasion" by Wikipedia.

Article: "When Neil Gorsuch put corporate interests over a man freezing to death" by Joanna Walters.

Site: Daily Kos.

Book: Profits Without Production by Seymour Melman.

Article: "Republican Accountability Project" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Olivia Troye" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Guy Fawkes" by Encyclopedia Britannica.

Article: "Guy Fawkes Day" by Encyclopedia Britannica.

Article: "Watergate scandal" by Wikipedia.

Movie: "Blazing Saddles" (Cleavon Little aims his gun at his own head).

Wednesday 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...

Biden's Support Falls Causing Democracy To Teeter (w/ Dean Obeidallah)

Should COVID Crowded Schools Close? Students Strike!

The Fight to Vote Broken Down (w/ Michael Waldman)

Is MLK's Warning About "White Moderates" Still True?