It's hard to overstate how much damage these corrupt rulings by Republicans on the Court — from Buckley and Bellotti in 1976/1978 to Citizens United in 2010 — have done to American democracy.

I took a couple of flights this past weekend that reminded me again of the damage Republicans on the Supreme Court did to America when they legalized political bribery.

The good news is that there are numerous things Congress can do to undo the Court's bizarre doctrine that money is the same thing as free speech and corporations have Bill of Rights freedoms and protections as "persons."

Neither of these "rights to bribe" by the morbidly rich and corporations were recognized in the early years of our republic. Even today we're unique among advanced democracies in holding these Supreme Court-created doctrines which underpin much if not most of today's political corruption.

Congress has never, in the history of the United States, passed a law saying rich people buying politicians is the same thing as free speech or that corporations have a right to bribe politicians and lie to the public. To the contrary, Congress has passed hundreds of laws — which were overturned by these three Supreme Court decisions — regulating money in politics and criminalizing political corruption.

The Court's inventing these twin doctrines have even corrupted the other two branches of government, leading today to legislative paralysis, an erosion of civil and voting rights, and widespread public cynicism.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Thursday's Daily Stack

Article: "What the Supreme Did to America When They Legalized Political Bribery" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "What really happened in Florida?" (voter purge) (2001) by Newsnight.

Case: "Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad case".

Law: "Judiciary Act of 1789".

Article: "The Francis Wright, 105 U.S. 381 (1881)" by FindLaw.

Law: "Constitution Annotated: Article III: Judicial Branch: Section 2 Justiciability".

Article: "What to Do When The Hijacker Comes" by Time.

Article: "Did Al Gore Trade Aviation Security for Campaign Contributions?" by traderrob.

Article: "Analysis of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003: The good the bad and the ugly.the bad and the ugly" by Nicholas D. Noble.

Case: "Ex parte Yerger".

Case: "United States v. Klein".

Case: "Wiscart v. Dauchy".

Case: "Durousseau v. United States".

Case: "Daniels v. Railroad".

Case: "The Francis Wright".

Case: "Colorado Central Consolidated Mining Co. v. Turck".

Case: "National Mutual Insurance Co. v. Tidewater Transfer Co".

Case: "Yakus v. United States".

Case: "Flast v. Cohen".

Book: "The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America" by Thom Hartmann.

Law: "Clear Skies Act".

Case: "Ex parte McCardle".

Article: "One 9/11 Family's Brave Effort to Expose Airline Culpability" by James Ridgeway.

Article: "Ginni Thomas reportedly pressed Trump's chief of staff on overturning the election" by Rachel Martin, Nina Totenberg.

Law: "U.S. Constitution - Article 3 Section 2".

Article: "The US once had more than 130 hijackings in 4 years. Here's why they finally stopped." by Libby Nelson.

Article: "Read Georgia Grand Jury Report on Trump Investigation" by Lauren Giella.

Article: "Jethrine Bodine" by timalderman.

Article: "Fannie Mae" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Freddie Mac" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Revealed: Mississippi bill would carve out separate judicial district for 80% of white residents in majority-Black city" by Oliver Laughland, Sam Levine and Andrew Witherspoon.

Law: "Civil Rights Act of 1964".

Law: "Voting Rights Act of 1965".

Article: "Judicial selection in Mississippi" by Ballotpedia.

Article: "MSU gunman's suicide note mentioned school had rejected him for a job and claimed he was part of a group of 20 people carrying out attacks - which cops ruled out after his father said he 'didn't have any friends, let alone 20'" by Emma James.

Article: "How Trump Could Make a Bird Flu Pandemic More Deadly Than Covid" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "New California Law to Punish Doctors for ‘Covid Misinformation Conduct'" by Katy Grimes.

Article: "Murphy, Luján Introduce Legislation to Combat Health Misinformation, Prepare for Future Public Health Emergencies" by Chris Murphy.

Article: "Karine Jean-Pierre" by Wikipedia.

Article: "ASNE Statement of Principles" (7 Canons of Journalism) by ASNE.

Article: "Republicans have won the Senate half the time since 2000 despite winning fewer votes than Democrats" by Stephen Wolf.

Article: "Halloween" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Recordings and Materials From Council for National Policy Meetings" by Documented.

Book: "Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became "People" - And How You Can Fight Back" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Sunday Excerpt: Unequal Protection - The Deciding Moment?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "New details revealed in deadly MSU campus shooting" by Cody Butler.

Article: "Neighbors say MSU gunman shot into backyard to quiet dogs, communicated with father by notes" by Matthew Miller.

Article: "Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections" by Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Manisha Ganguly, David Pegg, Carole Cadwalladr and Jason Burke.

Hour Two: on the ground in Lviv, Ukraine
- Phil Ittner, Veteran War Correspondent in Kiev, Ukraine Youtube

Article: "Putin defence official dies falling from window ‘leaving documents on balcony' in latest mysterious death in Russia" by Aliki Kraterou, Will Stewart.

Article: "Blinken: Crimea a ‘red line' for Putin as Ukraine weighs plans to retake it" by Alexander Ward and Paul McLeary.

Article: "Russia's losses around Vuhledar renew questions about its ability to sustain a fresh offensive." by Marc Santora.

Article: "Russian ‘re-education camps' hold thousands of Ukrainian kids, per report" by Missy Ryan.

Article: "Russia Has Deployed 97% of Army in Ukraine but Is Struggling to Advance, U.K. Says" by Isabel Coles, David Luhnow.

Article: "Putin amasses 500,000 troops for 'new Ukraine invasion' ahead of war's first anniversary" by Harvey Lindsay.

Article: "Russia planning 'massive attack' to destroy Ukraine on war anniversary warn spy chiefs" by Robert Fisk.

Article: "Starlink Cuts Off Ukrainian Drones" by Jack Detsch.

Site: Ukraine Children's Action Project.

Article: "Dissatisfaction With U.S. Abortion Policy Hits Another High" by Megan Brenan.

Article: "Opus Dei" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Pope Francis Restricts Use of Old Latin Mass, in a Blow to Conservatives" by Jason Horowitz.

Article: "The Court of God: How a Catholic Secret Society Took Over SCOTUS" by Raul Diego.

Article: "New Biden EV charger rules stress Made In America, force Tesla changes" by Jarrett Renshaw, Hyunjoo Jin.

Law: "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022".

Article: "Abortion could be prosecuted as a homicide under a new Kentucky bill" by Morgan Watkins.

Article: "Texas abortion law: $10,000 penalty could incentivize ‘bounty hunters' to make ‘tens of thousands of dollars' " by Andrew Keshner.

Article: "History of the Supreme Court of the United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Was the Southwest Airlines Meltdown Impacted By the "Great Share-Buyback Scam"?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Rail Companies Blocked Safety Rules Before Ohio Derailment" by David Sirota, Julia Rock, Rebecca Burns & Matthew Cunningham-Cook.

Law: "Tillman Act of 1907".

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

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

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

Article: "Ohio Train Derailment Could Become Full-Blown Ecological Crisis" by Jess Thomson, Aleks Phillips.

Video: Reporter Seymour Hersh on "How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline": Exclusive TV Interview.

Article: "How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline" by Seymour Hersh.

Article: "Can the World Learn from the Failure of the Budapest Accords?" by Thom Hartmann.

Bill: "S.5246 - National Development Strategy and Coordination Act of 2022" by Sen. Rubio, Marco [R-FL].

Bill: "H.R.9512 - National Development Strategy and Coordination Act of 2022 " by Rep. Khanna, Ro [D-CA-17].

Article: "Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen chooses Pete Ricketts to fill Ben Sasse's Senate seat" by Victor Nava.

Article: "Will the "Culture War" Fascists Win?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Pro-Israel Democrat Jeffries elected first-ever Black House minority leader" by Jacob Magid and AP.

Site: Haaretz.

Article: "What you need to know about Italy's new far-right leader Giorgia Meloni" by Adam Raney.

Hour Three: Doesn't the OH train derailment reveal the risks of plastic pollution?
- Matt Simon, Science Journalist - Wired Magazine / Author of the new book, A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies

Article: "What the Ohio Train Derailment Says About the Dark Side of Plastics" by Zahra Hirji.

Article: "The World Is Drowning in Plastic. Here's How It All Started" by Matt Simon.

Article: "What are microplastics?" by National Ocean Service.

Article: "Microplastics: classification" (nanoplastics) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Plastic particles found in bottled water" by David Shukman.

Article: "Fertility rate: 'Jaw-dropping' global crash in children being born" by James Gallagher.

Article: "What is vinyl chloride? Here are some of the hazardous materials on the train that derailed in Ohio" by Li Cohen.

Article: "Vinyl chloride" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Nurdle (bead)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Global plastic use and waste on track to triple by 2060" by Marlowe Hood.

Article: "Precautionary Principle" by Wikipedia.

Article: "France The First To Introduce Mandatory Microfibre Filters On Washing Machines From 2025" by Nasti Susnjara.

Article: "Merkley to Chair Hearing Examining Plastic Use, Identifying Solutions to Reducing Plastic Waste" by Jeff Merkley.

Article: "Single-use plastic waste is getting phased out in California under a sweeping new law" by Rachel Ramirez and Taylor Romine.

Article: "Guns now the leading cause of death for US children, CDC says" by Anders Hagstrom.

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

Article: "DeSantis accused of distracting voters from the 'festering problems in Florida' in scathing editorial" by Sarah K. Burris.

Article: "DeSantis is a master of distraction. When is Florida's governor actually going to govern?" by Miami Herald.

Article: "Iowa Bill Relaxing Back Child Labor Laws Sparks Outrage: 'This is Just Crazy'" by Giulia Carbonaro.

Article: "J.D. Vance releases statement on East Palestine train derailment aftermath" by Zach Mosca.

Article: "Pete Buttigieg Breaks Silence After Criticism Over Ohio Train Derailment" by James Bickerton.

Article: "What you need to know about plant-based plastics" by Sarah Gibbens.

Article: "US life expectancy continues historic decline with another drop in 2021, study finds" by Deidre McPhillips.

Article: "Florida tops list for the most polluted lakes in the U.S., study finds" by Jenny Staletovich.

Article: "Extremist Christian terrorists kill cops after luring them onto their trap-laden farm: report" by Matthew Chapman.

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

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