At this stage in his presidency, President Obama has become something of an amateur comedian. He only has a few months left in the White House, so every state occasion has become an opportunity for him to crack a few jokes, even though most of them end up being pretty corny.

Case in point: Friday night’s Nordic State Dinner, where the president saved his best dad jokes for a riff about how nice life is in countries like Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

I think it’s safe to say that President Obama won’t be tearing up the New York comedy circuit anytime soon.

But here’s the thing: the president wasn’t making this stuff up. His jokes were corny, but they were also accurate.

Life IS nice in the Nordic countries -- like really, really, really nice.

The five Nordic nations (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland), rank at or near the top of almost every single OECD human development index, and their citizens consistently poll among top ten happiest in the world.

These countries aren’t perfect, and do have their problems, especially with anti-immigrant nationalists, but they’re about as good as it gets, at least in this world.

So what’s the secret to their success? Why is life SO nice in the Nordic nations?

Democratic socialism, of course!

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Did America Support the Coup in Brazil? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Here’s what happened at Saturday’s dramatic Nevada Democratic convention" by Philip Bump.

Article: "Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump: Behaved With Women in Private" by Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey.

Article: "Reince Priebus: 'People don't care' about Trump's treatment of women – as it happened" by Alan Yuhas.

Article: "Audio from 1991 surfaces of Donald Trump pretending to be his own publicist" by Ashley Collman.

Article: "‘Graft’ Tree Sculpture by Roxy Paine is Inspiring Symbol for the New Year".

Article: "Successful Public Speaking" by Dale Carnegie.

Book: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

Book: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie.

Book: The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie.

Documentary: Where to Invade Next - Michael Moore.

Article: "Seinfeld" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs" by Brown University.

Article: "Where to drop your Oregon primary election ballot" (by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17) by Dana Tims.

Article: "Fairness Doctrine" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Paul Harvey" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Death Valley Days (radio program)" by Wikipedia.

Video: Dan Rolle: What happened at the Nevada Convention.

Site: Vote California (Voter registration deadline May 23).

Hour Two: What is Going On With Oil & Gold Prices?
- Mary Anne & Pamela Aden, The Aden Forecast

Article: "Gold demand breaks first-quarter record" by Henry Sanderson.

Article: "Gold prices just got KO-ed" by FT.

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

Law: "Tea Act", 1773 (GB).

Law: "Stamp Act", 1765.

Article: "A timeline of the American Revolution from 1763 - 1787" by British Library.

Book: "The Fourth Turning" by William Strauss, Neil Howe.

Law: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999) (Financial Services Modernization Act Of 1999).

Law: "Commodity Futures Modernization Act", 2000.

Law: "Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act", 2010.

Law: "Glass-Steagall Act", 1933.

Article: "Wall Street Crash of 1929" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Negative Interest Rates" by Jana Randow & Simon Kennedy.

Article: "Compare and contrast, 5000 years of interest rates" by David Keohane.

Article: "Fed Chair Yellen Says She Won't Rule Out Negative Interest Rates" by Reuters.

Article: "Trump: Sanders should run as an independent" by Elliot Smilowitz.

Article: "Pic Of The Moment: Great Moments In Presidential Oration" by EarlG.

Site: Democracy Now!

Video: FULL: Bernie Sanders One-On-One Interview with Rachel Maddow, MSNBC; May 6, 2016.

Site: Free Speech TV

Article: "iHeartMedia adds restructuring advisory firm to deal with debt load" by Jessica DiNapoli and Greg Roumeliotis.

Video: Nevada State Democratic Convention: Nina Turner's Speech.

Video: Jason Llanes: DNC Protest.

Video: #NVDemConvention demonstration in front of Bellagio in Las Vegas - GrassrootsForSanders (@GRForSanders).

Videos: Nevada Democratic Convention 2016 - Jessica Reeder (@jhfearless).

Talk Media News Segment:
- Victoria Jones

Article: "Supreme Court sends contraceptive mandate back to lower courts" by Gary Gately.

Case: "Burwell v. Hobby Lobby", 2014.

Article: "Frustrated Democrats plan their own Garland hearing" by Seung Min Kim.

Article: "SASC heads to the NDAA finish line" by Jeremy Herb.

Article: "US and allies open to arming Libya government for ISIS fight" by TMN.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman

Article: "Uh Oh: Trump Named In The Panama Papers 3,540 Times!" by Sarah P.

Article: "trump told stephanapolos none of your business re tax" by Tim Hains.

Article: "Why Trump Can Lie and No One Seems to Care" by Neal Gabler.

Article: "Poll: Majority supports Sanders-like health care plan" by Nick Gass.

Article: "Here are 9 reasons why America is a terrible place to raise kids" by Alex Henderson.

Article: "Data Fail: The Divergence between Rosy International Trade Commission Projections and U.S. Trade Agreements’ Actual Outcomes" by Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.

Article: "Manuel Noriega" by Wikipedia.

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

Article: "Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership" (TTIP) by Wikipedia.

Site: File for Precinct Committee Officer (Washington Filing Week is May 16th–20th).

Site: Washington State Coalition to Amend the Constitution (WAmend).

Article: "Hard-hitting Tammy Duckworth ad reminds voters that Mark Kirk is a liar" by Joan McCarter.

Article: "Ross Perot" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Penguin (comics)" by Wikipedia.

Site: State of Alaska Permanent Fund Division.

Quote: "It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it's just an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery being at the essence of getting the nominations for president or elected president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and Congress members. So now we've just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election's over'." - President Jimmy Carter on unlimited money in politics on the Thom Hartmann Program, 28 July 2015.

Article: "Zuckerberg to meet Glenn Beck and Trump rep after Facebook news woes" by Mark Zuckerberg.

Article: "U.S.-Korea trade deal resulted in growing trade deficits and more than 95,000 lost U.S. jobs" by Robert E. Scott.

Article: "Hedge Fund Managers Are Winning: 2015 Another Year of 'Outrageous Compensation'" by Andrea Germanos.

Article: "Targeting Big Pharma Price Gouging, Sanders Backs California Ballot Fight" by Jon Queally.

Article: "The Rich Have You Beat in Retirement, Too" by Ben Steverman.

Article: "401(K) Fail: Shift Away From Pensions a 'Disaster'" by Andrea Germanos, September 04, 2013.

Article: "Your retirement prospects are bleaker than ever" by Dean Baker.

Do you have all the info you need to vote for @BernieSanders? Find it here.

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...

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And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Do most Americans agree with basic gun regulations?

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Great Minds - How the NRA Got Started

Great Minds - Where Does The Gun Culture Come From?

Rumble - How Olive Garden & Banksters Are Stiffing Workers

Rumble - Is America A Socialist Country?

Full Show 5/13/16: The Secret History of Guns in America

Tonight’s Rumble discusses how Bernie, the crazy Socialist is enslaving our children, Obama supporting making Election Day a national holiday, and how there are now more homeless kids and parents in D.C. than homeless single adults. Thom discusses the business and the making of American gun culture with historian Pamela Haag, author of the new book “The Gunning of America.”

Thom Hartmann on Labor & Economic News: 5/16/16

What Life Is Like For A #Trans Woman In #NorthCarolina!

Who's Stealing Your Vote... and How? (With Harvey Wasserman)

Would you choose #democracy over #healthcare & #BasicIncome?

No, #Bernie should NOT drop out of the race!

Why we MUST #MoveToAmend the #Constitution! (With David Cobb)