Criminal justice reform is dead in Congress - and the War on Drugs lives on.

Even though Congress managed to pass a stopgap budget to keep the government running until December - Mitch McConnell last week made it clear that he won't be bringing criminal justice reform forward during the lame duck session of Congress.

"With regard to the criminal justice issue, as you probably probably know, it's very divisive in my conference. I've got very, very smart capable people, without regard to ideology, who have very different views on that issue. Whether we can take something up that controversial in that limited amount of time available, I doubt."

As Laura Barron-Lopez points out at the Huffington Post - the legislation is designed to address the fact that "U.S. prisons and jails currently hold 2.3 million Americans. ... [And] Fifty percent of those incarcerated at the federal level are drug offenders." A direct result of Nixon's War on Drugs.

And even though the bill has bipartisan support - the "tough on crime" Republicans in the Senate won't let this legislation be brought forward without a tedious fight - at least in part because private prison corporations spend millions bankrolling "tough on crime" Republican candidates.

But this type of politics has also simply become standard procedure for the Senate - ever since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

Harry Reid took to the Senate floor yesterday and explained EXACTLY why Congress has been completely dysfunctional for the last 7 and a half years.

A day or two after President Obama was elected the first time, Republicans met here in Washington -- all the Republican big names -- and they came to two conclusions: Number one, Obama would not be reelected. They failed on that one, quite miserably.

But, number two, that they would oppose everything that President Obama tried to do, and they have stuck by that, without any question.

He went on to list the ways that our first African American president has also been the most disrespected president in history - and how that's played right into Donald Trump's tiny little hands.

"President Obama is the first president to be denied a hearing on his budget. He's the first president to be denied hearing on a Supreme Court nominee. President Obama is the first president asked to show his birth certificate. President Obama is the first president to face over 500 filibusters here in the Senate.

In this Republican Senate, President Obama will receive fewer nominees confirmed than any president in many, many decades. Republicans have not done their basic work of government.

They have not stood by their commitments to restore regular order or to pass a budget.

Republicans have spent their time doing everything in their power to discredit President Obama and empower Donald Trump."

Isn't Harry Reid right here? Isn't Donald Trump the perfect candidate for a party that has spent the last 8 years breaking the American government, promoting policies that disadvantage minorities - women - and working families, and giving credence to conspiracy theories peddled by racist demagogues?

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Pence Bet Big On Gaming... After Big Donations (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Tuesday's Daily Stack 

Article: "Hurricane Matthew: Category Four storm pounds Haiti" by BBC.

Article: "Hurricane Matthew Roars Ashore in Haiti as U.S. Evacuations Feared" by Emma Margolin.

Article: "To avoid the worst climate impacts, Obama tells Leo DiCaprio, 'We're really in a race against time'" by Juliet Eilperin.

Article: "Canada will tax carbon emissions to meet Paris climate agreement targets" by AP.

Article: "The U.S. isn't one of the top 10 most free countries in the world, study says" by Kate Irby.

Article: "How to watch the vice presidential debate on TV and online" (Tuesday Oct. 4) by Adam Epstein.

Article: "7 Questions Mike Pence Should Be Asked at the Vice Presidential Debate" by Adele M. Stan.

Article: "Mike Pence Pushes Guns as Indiana Bleeds" by Michael Daly.

Site: "Law and Disorder Radio".

Article: "Michael Ratner" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement" (TPP) by EFF.

Article: "Great Salt Lake faces ruin" by Jeremy P. Jacobs.

Article: "These typhoon-powered wind turbines could power Japan for 50 years straight. From a single storm." by David Nield.

Article: "Americans for Prosperity" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Poll: 8-in-10 Trump backers say paying taxes is 'civic duty'" by Daniella Diaz.

Twitter: "#periodsforpence".

Article: "CBS CEO on Trump Campaign: It 'May Not be Good for America, but It's Damn Good for CBS'" by Lindsey Ellefson.

Article: "China's Yuan Joins IMF Reserves in First Revision Since 1999" by Robin Ganguly.

Article: "Permanent normal trade relations: U.S. and China" by Wikipedia.

Book: Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich.

Case: "Roe v. Wade", 1973.

Law: "Voting Rights Act of 1965".

Article: "Southern strategy" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Sun Sentinel Editorial Board endorses Hillary Clinton for president".

Article: "Brexit" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Schengen" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Polish Plumber" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Donald Trump Trashes Nafta. But Unwinding It Would Come at a Huge Cost." by Neil Irwin.

Article: "Britain will be fastest growing G7 economy this year, says IMF" by Larry Elliott.

Article: "Quantitative easing" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "QE purchases near record even as doubts grow" by Elaine Moore.

Article: "Global property investment falls for first time in 7 years" by Judith Evans

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

 

What To Expect From Tim Kaine At the V.P. Debate
- Mary Kay Henry, S.E.I.U.      

Article: "Read Hillary Clinton's Remarks From a Rally in Toledo, Ohio" by Daniel White. "Right to Work is wrong for workers and wrong for America."

 

Article: "The Private Debt Crisis" by Richard Vague.

Article: "China debt could wreck the global economy: Leading economist warns country could suffer a calamitous slowdown" by Hugo Duncan.

Article: "Rape Lawsuit Refiled Against Donald Trump" by David Mikkelson.

Article: "Trump University" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Trump Says Judge's Mexican Heritage Presents 'Absolute Conflict'" by Brent Kendall.

 

Talk Media News Segment:
- Victoria Jones 

Article: "WikiLeaks promises more documents, but offers no bombshell" by Justin Duckham.

Article: "Under Intense Pressure to Silence Wikileaks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Proposed Drone Strike on Julian Assange" by True Pundit.

Article: "Gov. Rick Scott: 'We cannot rule out a direct hit on our state' by Hurricane Matthew" by Dan Scanlan.

Article: "In the final weeks, Clinton dispatches the heavy hitters" by Anita Kumar.

Article: "Republican Obstruction Is Undermining The Supreme Court, Enough Is Enough" by Barack Obama.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman 

Article: "Quick Morning News - Veep Debate: Slug fest or snoozer? - October 4, 2016" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: Pence Bet Big On Gaming... After Big Donations
- David Sirota, International Business Times      

Article: "Donald Trump VP Mike Pence Pledged To Limit Gaming, Then Helped Casinos After Campaign " by David Sirota, Andrew Perez and Avi Asher-Schapiro.

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

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

 

Speech: "Farewell Address", by Dwight David Eisenhower, January 17, 1961 (transcript). "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex."

Article: "Dawes Plan", 1924 by Wikipedia (attempt to solve the German World War I reparations problem).

Article: "Treaty of Versailles" by Wikipedia (28 June 1919, at the end of World War I).

Quote: "Those who sign this Treaty will sign the death sentence of many millions of German men, women and children" - John Maynard Keynes.

Article: "Trump Reportedly Tried to Convince Kasich to Be His VP by Offering Him the President's Job" by Josh Voorhees.

Book: Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith, 1759.

Book: "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", Adam Smith, 1776.

Bill: "S.1651 - Social Security Fairness Act of 2015" by Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH].

Article: "Windfall Elimination Provision" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The Fed Audit" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Video: 'Harvest of Empire' Exposes the Reality of Immigration- Full Movie.

Video: America: Empire or Umpire, and At What Cost?.

Article: "United States military veteran suicide" by Wikipedia.

Documentary: San Francisco 2.0.

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

 

I'll be talking with Randi Weingarten, President-American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

 

Plus I'll be debating conservative Gayle Trotter about Donald Trump's "woman problem".

 

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...