As the confirmation hearings begin for Trump Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch, new questions are being raised about his ties to a shadowy right-wing billionaire.

Will they sink his nomination?

Or will the oligarchs get another handpicked Supreme Court justice?

A new report in the New York Times has exposed the decades-long connection between Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch and billionaire Phillip Anschutz - a trust-fund baby and oil baron who's also the owner of the Weekly Standard and a funder of the Heritage foundation.

The relationship began when Gorsuch represented Anschutz's companies in court - and continued when Anschutz personally lobbied the Bush administration to make Gorsuch a judge.

The two are still close and Gorsuch even co-owns a vacation home with two of Anschutz's top lieutenants.

The Supreme Court is already very favorable towards - some would say in the pocket of - the billionaire class. How concerned should we be about this connection between Gorsuch and Anschutz?

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10:30pm... Does Monopoly Destroy More Jobs Than China? (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: "Read Elizabeth Warren's statement on Neil Gorsuch".

Article: "Neil Gorsuch hearing: nominee urged to reject Trump's attacks on judiciary" by David Smith.

Article: "Stare decisis" by LII.

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

Article: "SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch said women 'manipulate' maternity leave, Boulder graduates say" by Nicole Hensley.

Article: "In E-mails, Neil Gorsuch Praised a Leading Republican Activist Behind Voter Suppression Efforts" by Ari Berman.

Article: "With Rallies and Warnings, Opposition Calls on Dems to Block 'Supremely Extreme' Gorsuch" by Lauren McCauley.

Article: "Architect of Federal Fracking Loophole May Head Trump Environmental Council" by Steve Horn.

Article: "Trump Budget Director Takes Aim at "Wasteful" Social Security Program That Helps Disabled Americans" (Mick Mulvaney, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)) by Zaid Jilani.

Article: ""I'm coming after you": Trump threatens conservative House Republicans to support Trumpcare bill" by Sophia TesfayE.

Book: The Descent Of Man, And Selection In Relation To Sex by Charles Darwin.

Book: The Origin Of Species By Means Of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin.

Article: "Tom Brady: New England Patriots quarterback's Super Bowl shirt found" by BBC.

Article: "Robert Bork" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The GOP's Stealth War Against Voters" (Crosscheck) by Greg Palast, August 24, 2016.

Article: "Experts criticize US electronic devices ban on some flights from Middle East" by Sam Thielman, Sam Levin.

Article: "Britain will ban electronic devices on flights from six Middle Eastern nations amid terror threat" by Steven Swinford.

Article: "An Interview with Michael Hutchison" by Thom Hartmann.

Tweet: "@Thom_Hartmann Gorsuch reminds me of Paul Ryan. The friendly face who looks you in the eye as he throws people under the bus." by James Silverstone.

Article: "Where Neil Gorsuch Would Fit on the Supreme Court" by Alicia Parlapiano and Karen Yourish.

Article: "Biden in '92: Wait to Appoint New SCOTUS Justice Until After the Election" by Josh Feldman.

Article: "Access to nature reduces depression and obesity, finds European study" by Arthur Neslen.

Article: "Dietary anti-cancer compound may work by influence on cellular genetics" by Oregon State University.

Site: NutritionFacts.org

Article: "Maine Adopts Ranked-Choice Voting. What Is It, and How Will It Work?" by Katharine Q. Seelye.

Article: "Colorado Dem at the center of Gorsuch confirmation fight" (Michael Bennet) by Jordain Carney.

Article: "What's Next For Bernie Sanders? Senator Joins The Anti-Trump Immigration Battle Nationwide" by Chris Riotta.

Quote: "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat." - Will Rogers.

Bill: "H.R.676 - Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act" by John Conyers.

Article: "'Paris in Georgia': political salons spring up across US in push against Trump" by Amber Jamieson.

Article: "Poll Of Likely 2016 Voters" by GBA Strategies on behalf of the Progressive Change Institute.

Article: "Trump's Family Fortune Originated in a Canadian Gold-Rush Brothel" by Natalie Obiko Pearson.

Article: "Fred MacMurray" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Andrew Jackson" (Old Hickory).

Article: "The Trail of Tears " by PBS.

Video: Giuliani decries polls, teases 'big' campaign surprises.

Article: "Don Lemon Calls out Rudy Giuliani For Hinting at Comey Letter Days Before It Went Public" by J.D. Durkin.

Article: "Comey Breaks Silence: White House Tried To Force Incapacitated Ashcroft To Back Spying Program", May 15, 2007.

 

Talk Media News Segment:
- Luke Vargas 

Article: "US to ban electronics aboard foreign flights from Mideast, North Africa" by Luke Vargas.

Article: "Trump administration weighing broad sanctions on North Korea: US official" by Reuters.

Article: "Tillerson promises new policy on North Korea after '20 years of a failed approach'" by Matt Rivers and Joshua Berlinger.

Article: "Trump plans to hold summit with Xi at Florida resort in April: report".

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Article: "Beyond Wetiko Agriculture: Saving Ourselves from the Soil Up" by Tom Newmark, Steven Farrell.

Book: "Columbus and Other Cannibals: The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism" by Jack D. Forbes.

Book: "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late" by Thom Hartmann

Book: "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn.

Article: "Will Amazon Destroy More US Jobs Than China?" by Yves Smith.

Article: "Stock market's up and so is CEO pay-again" by Theo Francis, Joann S. Lublin.

Article: "Spicer: Republicans Who Vote Against Health Care Bill Will Probably 'Pay a Price at Home'" by Josh Feldman.

Book: The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot, Russell Kirk.

Article: "Hobby Lobby and executive power: Gorsuch's key rulings" by Steve Vladeck.

Book: "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" by William L. Shirer.

Article: "Republicans Close To Trump Say President Is Showing Signs Of Mental Illness" by Jason Easley.

Article: "Spicer: 'No Question' That 'Deep State' Is Working To Undermine Trump" by Allegra Kirkland.

Movie: Downfall (2004 film).

Article: "Armin D. Lehmann" by Wikipedia.

Book: Hitler's Last Courier by Armin Dieter Lehmann.

Book: In Hitler's Bunker: A Boy Soldier's Eyewitness Account of the Fuhrer's Last Days by Armin D. Lehmann.

Article: "Ineligibility Clause" (Emoluments Clause).

Article: "In China, Trump Wins a Trove of New Trademarks" by Sui-Lee Wee.

Article: "Spicer confirms Ivanka Trump joining White House" by TMN.

Quote: "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing." - Oscar Wilde.

Article: "The raging bird flu in China is a good reminder the US isn't prepared for a pandemic" by Julia Belluz.

Article: "Comey confirms FBI investigating potential ties between Russia, Trump campaign" by Bryan Renbaum.

Article: "Transcript: Trump On The Couch... (w/Guest: Dr. Justin Frank) - 6 December '16" by Thom Hartmann.

Video: Trump on the Couch w/Dr. Justin Frank, MD.

Book: Bush on the Couch Rev Ed: Inside the Mind of the President by Justin A. Frank, M.D.

Book: Obama on the Couch by Justin A. Frank, M.D.

Article: "Budget director: We can't ask coal miners or single moms to pay for Public Broadcasting" by Paulina Firozi.

Article: "Here's a Service That Turns Your Texts Into Faxes To Your Reps" by Lindsey Ellefson.

Article: "Koch brothers set $889m budget for 2016 presidential election" by Amanda Holpuch, 26 January 2015.

Article: "American Legislative Exchange Council" (ALEC) by SourceWatch.

Article: "Thom Hartmann: How Republicans Quietly Sabotaged Obamacare Long Before Trump Came into Office" by Thom Hartmann.

Site: The Convention of States (COS) Project.

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

 

Congressman Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District) will be calling in to talk about the issues of the day and take your calls.

 

Plus, Brian Darling of Conservative Review will be here to debate the Neil Gorsuch hearings.

 

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

 

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