This may have been normal politics in the old Confederacy — which Trump is trying to revive with his base namings and statues and purging Black history from museums and monuments — but it shouldn’t be normal today. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

About the "State of the Union," it's the Epstein-class billionaires who are plundering the Treasury. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

Here are a few ideas to chew on this stormy Sunday, how communications technology and social media are changing not only our behavior, but our consciousness. The writer, Derek Thompson, is the co-author (with Ezra Klein) of "Abundance." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

In case you missed it, here's the Colbert interview with Texas Rep. James Talarico, which CBS lawyers prevented from broadcasting Monday night. It's available on the Colbert YouTube channel. youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A?...

Vanity and greed drive Trump to splash his name anywhere he can: so far, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a new class of battleships, and perhaps an airport or two, even “The President Donald J. Trump Ballroom." open.substack.com/.../heath.......

When Democrats win, there’s space to fight for more democracy. When Republicans aligned with Trump win, the fight becomes about whether democracy survives at all in America. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

Trump and Putin appear totally committed to making the world safe for dictators and oligarchs by damaging the democracies of the world. Europe is getting the message, and cutting ties. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

The NFL is a regulated market with enforced rules that prevent monopolies, protect labor, and preserve competition. And because of that, small-market teams can win, dynasties don’t last forever, and fans get a fair game. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

The Seahawks were Superior, the Music in the Heights. Bad Bunny joyfully amplified Puerto Rico's sexy salsa groove, and Green Day kicked the American Idiot again. Belinda Carlisle and Charlie Puth brought us to attention. Diversity ruled onstage and on the field. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

The Washington Post killed its Sports Section today, part of Jeff Bezos' continuing destruction of a great newspaper. To former Post reporter Ashley Parker, now with The Atlantic, it feels like losing not only a good neighbor, but a beacon of democracy. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Have you ever wondered why Donald Trump bows and scrapes before Vladimir Putin? A new investigation connects the dots, including evidence from the Epstein files. Follow the money. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

Much of modern popular music may have passed me by, but the sound of freedom echoes through every age. wapo.st/4qcNw7q

Beware the "bomb cyclone." East Coast cities are in the eye of the storm. wapo.st/4qJ1YoA

Stop the steal! This is about 2026, not 2020. open.substack.com/pub/gregpala...

Trump underestimated Minnesotans. His troops were met with "a real resistance, broad and organized and overwhelmingly nonviolent, the kind of movement that emerges only under sustained attacks by an oppressive state." www.theatlantic.com/.../the-neig....

Throughout the day, there were signs that the administration was preparing to throw Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino under the bus. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

History is unambiguous about what happens when bullies aren’t confronted early and publicly: their violence escalates, their lies morph into history and law, and intimidation against anybody who dares speak up becomes the new normal. Soon, everybody is silent. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

Thom Hartmann's splendid and prophetic book, continued. Embracing tyrants, co-opting corporate bigwigs and billionaires, Trump devalued a nation of ideals, undermining democracy around the world. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

It looked like an execution. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

ICE has absolved itself for violating the U.S. Constitution, and must be stopped before more people are hurt. Stop Trump's war on Americans! open.substack.com/pub/statusku...

Thanks to the New York Times for counting how much money Trump has pocketed in his first year in office. He has played his MAGA minions for fools, and they keep bending over, asking for more. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Do Republicans have no understanding of history, no moral code, no common sense? We're being led by a moron who poses great danger to our nation. He should be removed from office. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

We've been enforcing immigration laws for 101 years without masked thugs. The ICE surge is to spread fear, Trump's his own personal police force to terrify communities and crush dissent. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

Powerful speech tonight from Gov. Walz, urging Minnesotans to continue recording ICE brutality and criminal behavior "to bank for future evidence." youtu.be/fGTsYXBWQgU?...

Trump didn't win. Voter suppression did. This isn’t speculative: it’s the cold, hard math based on documented evidence from our own federal government. And it’s exactly what Republican officials designed their laws to do. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

So many impeachable offenses by this immoral president, so little integrity in the House and Senate, and at the Supreme Court. Trump is not above the law, as he claims. Press him in the courts and on the streets. Begin the process now. open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

Looking for the broader implications of the crazy news today, I find Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect with the best reach. The tide may be turning. prospect.org/2026/01/08/i...

The U.S. Supreme Court is rotten at the top, happy to allow government corruption and call it "tips." open.substack.com/pub/cmarmita...

We see a pattern of behavior that is becoming more erratic, more impulsive, and more detached from constitutional reality week by painful week. When will his enablers wake up to protect the U.S. Constitution? open.substack.com/pub/thomhart...

Biden's national security advisor and his deputy join legal scholar Joyce Vance in dissecting Trump's military operation in Venezuela. Their experience and expertise leads them to ask: What the hell were they thinking? open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

House GOP sought to bury the Jack Smith testimony to the Judiciary Committee, releasing it on New Year's Eve. But the full video (8-plus hours) and 255-page transcript provides convincing "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" that Donald Trump committed serious crimes. youtu.be/gGtlalhdL4c?...

Thoughtful essay on the failings of market economies in a time of great change. Are high-tech media platforms the monsters of our present? open.substack.com/pub/eduardoe...

The failures were so legion, and the attempts to mislead and misdirect so apparent, that EFTA’s authors, Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, publicly threatened to bring contempt proceedings against Attorney General Pam Bondi. open.substack.com/pub/statusku...

For a daily sanity check, I recommend Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American. She provides context for the craziness. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

The wackiest week in Trumpfoolery, from White House plaques defaming former presidents to falling asleep during a ceremony relaxing marijuana restrictions, from carving his name on the Kennedy Center to planning "Patriot Games" eerily similar to Hitler's scheme. open.substack.com/pub/statusku...

In case you missed it, the president of the United States barged into America’s living rooms like an angry, confused grandfather to tell us all that we are ungrateful whelps. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

While the Trump regime is wasting energy on fossil fuels, many other nations, including China, are pioneering efficient, clean-energy systems. Bad for the United States, but maybe we can catch up once the idiot is gone. Bill McKibbon can't help but be optimistic. open.substack.com/pub/billmcki...

Excellent profile of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by a reporter who gives him credit for a brain, exploring his ideas and history. The result is informative, and damn near exhaustive. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

In case you missed it, 60 Minutes explains how Indiana University, with the worst football record in NCAA history, became No. 1 in just two years. "We believe!" says IU quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who won the Heisman Trophy Saturday. www.cbsnews.com/video/indian...

Chief Justice John Roberts Roberts’s papers show how he devised the messaging strategies that made it possible for the Regan administration to claim it supported the VRA, while actually helping to neuter it—an approach he has since mastered as chief justice. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

It's the paycheck, stupid ... www.ms.now/opinion/infl...

The visual of Pilgrims gathering with their native neighbors to celebrate Thanksgiving is trite and deceptive, as if the settlers didn't go on to rout the natives. Historian Heather Cox Richardson explains. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Surprise! Trump's so-called "peace plan" for Ukraine appears, in part, to be translated from Russian. It's a sweetheart deal to Putin from his eager lapdog, with a Thanksgiving deadline. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

First of all, she's sorry for being a MAGA bully. Could she be reasonable? open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Nobody cares about pennies, even when there are 300,000,000,000 of those little nothings in circulation. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

The shocking and bizarre first revelations as the Epstein files trickle out. Here's looking at some intriguing evidence that points to Trump's fingerprints on the Epstein child sex trafficking ring. It was part of his social life. open.substack.com/pub/statusku... youtu.be/p2AGkaj54fE

This is what fascist dictators do when in power - build monuments to glorify themselves so they’d be exalted in history. Democracies memorialize their heroes only after they’ve died, with public support. Trump deserves to be remembered — but not as a hero. open.substack.com/pub/robertre...

AI demand for power is a major reason electric bills are skyrocketing, but AI cultivation by huge tech companies to enrich themselves at our expense is our biggest political challenge. The Professor explains ... youtu.be/imtkNL4v2ks?...

Many of us may follow generative AI to slip into relationships with bots, just as we were lulled into submission by algorithmic feeds and the glow of the smartphone screen. The anti-social-media era transformation is already underway. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Interesting story about Abigail Stanberger's journey from CIA agent to governor of Virginia. Her daughter made her do it ... wapo.st/43aRhBB