Let's use this anniversary to honestly evaluate the actions that have so bloodied our soldiers, while transferring trillions of US taxpayer dollars to Bush- & Cheney-related military contractors.

One year ago this week the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, ending the longest "war" in American history.

For this anniversary the media has been covering Afghan government corruption, the Taliban's reversion to violence and misogyny, and the famine that's beginning to creep across that benighted nation.

But the two most important aspects of the war from an American policy perspective are being completely ignored.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

This Sunday, a book review instead of an excerpt...

My trip back to Michigan last weekend for my brother Stan's celebration of life led to a long conversation about the state of literacy in America with my brother Steve who, like me, shares my parent's passion for reading and collecting books. That reminded me of one of my Dad's favorite books, about which I wrote this review back in January, 2007 for Buzzflash.com. I hope you have a chance to read Cannery Row; it's a great short introduction to Steinbeck's extraordinary body of work which informed the nation in a way that set the stage for Truman's, Eisenhower's, Kennedy's and LBJ's reconstruction of America after the Republican Great Depression.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

The Best of the Rest of the News

— Did America have a true "Manchurian Candidate" in the White House for four years? A literal agent for one or more foreign governments and/or international organized crime figures?
— Are death threats now a normal tool of politics for Republicans?
— There're YUGE pro-democracy protests happening in Brazil: will Bolsonaro survive the backlash against the authoritarian dictatorship he tried to set up?
— Republican politicians who openly and enthusiastically reject democracy are winning primaries in the most important swing states, setting up a very dangerous 2024 if they can carry 2022 elections.
— How "Christian" is it to expel a 5-year-old orphaned girl from school because the aunt who adopted her when her parents died is lesbian?
— Geeky Science! What starts in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic...
— Crazy Alert! Trump is calling the Qanon crowd to his side.
— In Good News: The blowout jobs report & "Blowout Joe!"

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Afghanistan a Year Later: Can We Finally Speak Honestly About Bush & Cheney's "Little War"? " by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "2 September 1996 - Osama Bin Laden calls on his followers to "launch a guerrilla war against American forces and expel the infidels from the Arabian Peninsula"" by BBC.

Article: "They Had A Plan" by Michael Elliott.

Article: "9/11 and the Saudi Connection" by 9/11 and the Saudi Connection.

Tweet: "What's more, this figure is just a fraction of the over $14 trillion in Pentagon spending since the start of the war in Afghanistan in total, with one-third to one-half of the total going to military contractors. [3/7] https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2021/ProfitsOfWar" by The Costs of War Project.

Article: "9/11 Commission Report" by 9/11 Commission.

Article: "US military vacates last Saudi base" by Al Jazeera.

Book: "Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years" by Russ Baker.

Article: "Saudi Arabia: Withdrawl of U.S. Forces" by Sharon Otterman.

Video: "Ghani: 'I want to be able to help my country'" by Fareed Zakaria, GPS.

Article: "No Excuse for NPR's Distorted History of US Invasion of Afghanistan" by Bryce Greene.

Article: "Remembering Reagan's Invasion of Grenada" by Democracy Now!

Article: "Marshall Plan" by History.com.

Article: "Real Reason for Iraq Invasion, Finally?" by Russ Baker.

Article: "Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts".

Article: "Before 9/11, Warnings on bin Laden" by Scott Shane.

Article: "A Brief History of Everything That Happened Because of George H.W. Bush's Insecurity" by Matt Taibbi.

Article: "Project for a New American Century".

Article: "Text: Osama bin Laden's 1998 interview".

Article: "Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America'".

Article: "Propaganda: Remember the Kuwaiti babies?" by Lou Marano.

Article: "The Kuwaiti Incubator Hoax" by Washington Post.

Article: "Bush Rejects Taliban Offer On Bin Laden" by John F. Harris.

Article: "Bush Popularity Surges With Gulf Victory" by David S. Broder and Richard Morin.

Article: "Grenada Move Earns Reagan Broad Political Gains, Poll Shows" by Barry Sussman.

Article: "Exclusive: Trump Raid Documents Could Reveal Informants on U.S. Payroll" by William M. Arkin.

Tweet: "Newsweek reports that the documents Trump stole include payroll records for US spies.
Exactly the kind of thing for which Putin or Saudi Arabia would pay the Trump family billions.
Was there a bidding war the Saudis won with their $2 billion to Jared? [link]" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "America First Party (1943)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Sedition Trial of 1944" by CSUN.

Movie: "The Birth of a Nation (1915)".

Article: "Merrick Garland" by Wikipedia.

Article: "US refuses to unfreeze Afghan funds media" by RT.com.

Quote: "Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff." - Will Rogers.

Article: "Halliburton" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Andrew Puzder" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Investigators 'may even check for fingerprints' on seized Trump documents to determine who accessed them: report" by Matthew Chapman.

Article: "This Billionaire Once Bashed Women's Right To Vote, Now He's Donating To Trump" by Emily Peck.

Article: "Phyllis Schlafly" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Mike Pompeo" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Mark Meadows" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Chinese national arrested for trespassing at Trump's Florida resort" by Veronica Stracqualursi.

Article: "Chinese woman Lu Jing found not guilty of trespassing at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort " by AP.

Hour Two: What Are Your Thoughts On How Trump Could Use the Classified Info He Stole?
- Valerie Plame, former covert CIA ops officer. Ran as a Dem candidate for NM CD3

Book: Fair Game: How a Top CIA Agent Was Betrayed by Her Own Government by Valerie Plame.

Book: Blowback by Valerie Plame.

Book: Burned by Valerie Plame.

Article: "Jared Kushner and Steven Mnuchin Have Reportedly Secured Billions from Saudi Government" by Ken Meyer.

Article: "How Trump handled classified documents" by CBS News.

Article: "Viktor Orbán" (Hungary) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Rodrigo Duterte" (Philippines) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Ferdinand Marcos" (Philippines) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections" by Wikipedia.

Article: "What Is "Stochastic Terrorism," And Why Is It Trending?" by dictionary.com.

Article: "Rand Paul calls for repeal of Espionage Act after Trump FBI search" by Ivana Saric.

Article: "'Defund the FBI?' Sounds familiar. But not from this crowd." by Petula Dvorak.

Article: "Robert E. Lee" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Texas is purging voters again, and getting it wrong again" by Dallas Morning News.

Article: "Saudi Crown Prince Boasted That Jared Kushner Was “In His Pocket”" by Alex Emmons, Ryan Grim, Clayton Swisher.

Article: "Trump warns 'terrible things are going to happen' in Fox News rant against FBI's 'sneak attack'" by Travis Gettys.

Article: "Steve Bannon vows MAGA will destroy 'Gestapo' FBI: 'We are a threat to the American state'" by David Edwards.

Article: "Far-right media outlet slammed for publishing names of FBI agents in Trump raid" by Cami Mondeaux.

Article: "Did Trump leak Mar-a-Lago warrant revealing names of FBI agents as threats against bureau rise?" by Peony Hirwani.

Article: "After Mar-a-Lago search, authorities warn of threats to the judge and others involved" by Josh Margolin, Aaron Katersky And Tal Axelrod.

Article: "Trump denies report that FBI sought nuclear documents during Mar-a-Lago search" by Zoë Richards and Dareh Gregorian.

Article: "'All They Had To Do Was Ask' – Trump Bitches on Truth Social They Didn't Need to 'Seize' Documents He Said He Didn't Have" by Caleb Howe.

Article: "Trump lawyer in June said classified material had been returned -NY Times" by Reuters.

Article: "Donald Trump Jr. blasted on social media after whining that the FBI raid on his father's home is 'ripping country apart'" by Tammy Marie Rose.

Article: "Trump University" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Donald Trump's troubled charity foundation to shut down" by BBC.

Article: "'Great Simmering Anger!' Trump Doubles Down on DOJ and FBI Attacks After Mar-a-Lago Raid" by Natalie Korach.

Article: "Steve Bannon vows MAGA will destroy 'Gestapo' FBI: 'We are a threat to the American state'" by David Edwards.

Article: "Here's the complete guide to every excuse Republicans have made for Trump's theft of classified documents" by David Nir.

Article: "It's Time to Take Down the Cult of Climate Change for Good" by Rick Whitbeck.

Article: "AG Merrick Garland's Trump Raid Is a Farce of the Law" by Michael Goodwin.

Article: "FBI Raid One of the 'Most Dangerous Assaults' in U.S. History" by Conrad Black.

Article: "The FBI Official Cover Story for Its Trump Raid Defies Belief" by Kyle Becker.

Article: "Of All The Scary Aspects Of The Mar-a-Lago Raid, AG Merrick Garland's Comments May Be The Scariest" by Brian Wilson.

Article: "The FBI Is Already Interfering in the 2024 Election" by Scott Morefield.

Article: "Trump 'will do whatever' he can to 'help the country' after FBI raid: 'Temperature has to be brought down'" by Brooke Singman.

Article: "The Payback for Mar-a-Lago Will Be Brutal" by Kimberley A. Strassel.

Article: "IRS Agents Are Literally Gunning for You" by Liberty Paige.

Article: "California K-12 Reading List Includes Books about Transgender Toddlers, How Trump and Founding Fathers are Racist" by Shane Trejo.

Article: "Add to the COVID vaccine disaster: High cancer rates post-jab" by Joel S. Hirschhorn.

Tweet: "This is the sort of stuff that a National Security Advisor could access.
Which might inform us about why Gen. Mike Flynn, convicted of & pardoned for working for a foreign govt, was so enthusiastic for Trump to declare martial law and seize direct control of the Army & FBI… [link]" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Michael Flynn" by Wikipedia.

Article: "New FBI report finds Saudi help in 9/11 terrorist attacks" by Ryan Morgan.

Article: "Wahhabism" by Wikipedia.

Hour Three: How Will Trump Behave If He's Indicted and What Will His Cult Followers Do?
- Psychoanalyst Dr. Justin Frank MD, Psychoanalyst & Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science - George Washington University / Author - Trump on the Couch (Previous books include Bush on the Couch & Obama on the Couch) @JustinFrankMD

Article: "Fire to burn': Criminologist warns Trump supporters could react violently if he is indicted " by Alex Henderson.

Article: "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" by Henry II of England.

Article: "Man fatally shoots self after crashing car into barricade near US Capitol Building" by Daniella Diaz and Aaron Pellish.

Article: "A brief history of the 'Lock her up!' chant by Trump supporters against Clinton" by Peter W. Stevenson.

Article: "Trump says he may pay legal fees of supporter who sucker-punched protester at rally" by Dylan Stableford.

Article: "Trump's business career is more connected to Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy than we ever knew" by Grace Panetta.

Article: "Read Trump's phone conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky" July 25 2019.

Article: "Eating grapes can counteract harmful effects from processed foods, while boosting metabolism too" by Gut News Wire.

Article: "Trump claims FBI seized his passports during Mar-a-Lago search: 'This is an assault!'" by Travis Gettys.

Article: "'Havana Syndrome' likely caused by pulsed microwave energy, government study finds" by Brenda Breslauer, Ken Dilanian and Josh Lederman.

Quote: "There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know." - Donald Rumsfeld.

Article: "Melania Trump" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Wendi Deng Murdoch" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Maria Butina" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Donald Trump-Russia dossier" (Steele dossier) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Trump asked Russia to find Clinton's emails. On or around the same day, Russians targeted her accounts" by Erica R. Hendry.

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...

Mar-a-Lago Classified Files Makes Spy Ask if Trump Foreign Asset Featuring Valerie Plame

The Psychology Of Trump's Guilty Conscience Featuring Dr. Justin A. Frank

Did America Learn ANYTHING from Our Longest War?

Did Biden Accomplish What Trump Never Could?