Unless it's replaced with something better - like single-payer - repealing Obamacare will make life miserable for millions of Americans.

If Republicans get their way and scrap the healthcare law that is now more popular than ever - these millions of Americans will once again be at the mercy of the insurance companies who see our bodies and our health as nothing more than profit-engines for their shareholders.

This apparently, is Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's idea of freedom.

As Ryan put it in a recent tweet, "Freedom is the ability to buy what you want to fit what you need. Obamacare is Washington telling you what to buy regardless of your needs." Which is really weird, because having the ability to buy anything you want isn't generally called "freedom" - it's usually referred to as "wealth".

In fact, when it comes to healthcare - the government is the ONLY thing that can make us free.

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10:30pm... GOP Wants To Treat Protesters Just Like Terrorists (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Friday's Daily Stack

Article: "Full transcript: President Trump’s CPAC speech" by Tara Golshan.

Article: "Trump's Repeal of Stream Rule Helps Coal at the Expense of Climate and Species" by Nicholas Kusnetz.

Poll: "February 23, 2017 - Republicans Out Of Step With U.S. Voters On Key Issues, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Most Voters Support Legalized Marijuana" by Quinnipiac University.

Article: "Trump administration halts California's plans for high-speed rail and infrastructure improvements" by Walter Einenkel.

Article: "Standing Rock #NoDAPL protest camp cleared in North Dakota" by DW.

Quote: "Necessitous men are not free men" - State of the Union Message to Congress, Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 11, 1944.

Article: "Tommy Douglas" (father of Canadian Healthcare) by Wikipedia.

Article: "White House hints at crackdown on recreational marijuana" by Jordan Fabian.

Article: "Bannon Heralds "Deconstruction of Administrative State" and Trump's "New Political Order"" by Nadia Prupis.

Article: "Read Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus' Joint Interview at CPAC" by Ryan Teague Beckwith.

Video: PDA at CPAC: Trump cronies Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus can't keep their hands off each other. (By @todddracula).

Site: Sirius XM - Progress

Site: Free Speech TV

Site: Common Dreams

Site: Alternet

Site: OpEdNews

Site: TruthOut

Article: "Bank of North Dakota" by Wikipedia.

Book, site: "Web of Debt", Ellen Brown.

Article: "Arizona Senate votes to seize assets of those who plan, participate in protests that turn violent" by Howard Fischer.

Bill: "Arizona Senate Bill 1142: Riot; planning; participation; racketeering".

Law: "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act", 1970 (RICO).

Law: "Enabling Act of 1933"(Germany).

Site: Democracy.io.

Article: "Dismal Voucher Results Surprise Researchers as DeVos Era Begins" by Kevin Carey.

Article: "Could Blood Pressure Drugs Have A Role In Alzheimer's Disease Treatment?" by Georgetown University.

Article: "Candesartan's Effects on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Biomarkers" by NIH.

Article: "Find Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Clinical Trials" by NIH.

Article: "Glutamate (neurotransmitter)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Fasting diet 'regenerates diabetic pancreas'" by James Gallagher.

Article: "Fasting-Mimicking Diet Promotes Ngn3-Driven β-Cell Regeneration to Reverse Diabetes" by Chia-Wei Cheng, Valentina Villani, Roberta Buono, et al.

Article: "$800 million prison plan introduced on first day of session" (Alabama) by Mike Cason.

Article: "Donald Trump, Stephen Bannon and the Coming Crisis in American National Life" by David Kaiser.

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

Book: "Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069" by William Strauss, Neil Howe.

Article: "Sturmabteilung" (Brownshirts).

Article: "St Louis-area Republicans in Congress avoid raucous town halls" by Chuck Raasch.

Article: "Here’s where the Dakota Access Pipeline would go – if it’s finished" by Curtis Tate, December 5, 2016.

Site: DGital Media.

Site: Pacifica.

Site: DISH Network.

Site: Direct TV.

Site: Free Speech TV

Site: XRAY.FM.

Article: "Hate Crime Is Feared as 2 Indian Engineers Are Shot in Kansas" by John Eligon, Alan Blinder And Nida Najar.

Talk Media News Segment:
- Patrick Gavin

Event: Feb 22-25, MD: "Conservative Political Action Conference" (CPAC).

Article: "Trump fires up base at CPAC" by Bryan Renbaum.

Article: "Trump attacks press, doles out red meat at CPAC" by TMN.

Article: "Donald Trump fact-checked after making false claim about CPAC crowd attendance" by Robert Sobel.

Article: "Kellyanne Conway to CPAC: Make It TPAC, Donald Trump Went To The Grassroots And "Brought You Along"" by Tim Hains.

Article: "Polls: Support for Obamacare at all-time high" by David Wright and Tami Luhby.

Article: "Boehner: Republicans won't repeal and replace Obamacare" by Darius Tahir.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Article: "Did Jeff Sessions forget wanting to execute pot dealers?" by John Donohue, Max Schoening.

Article: "Did Stephen Miller Throw a White Power Sign?" by Dan Evon.

Article: "The ‘Respect State Marijuana Laws Act’ Reintroduced In Congress" by NORML.

Article: "Roe v. Wade" by History Channel.

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

Video: "Concord Project GOTV - the importance of precinct committee members".

Video: "Concord Project GOTV - how you become a precinct committee member".

Site: Riverkeeper.

Site: Sierra Club

Site: 350.org

Book: I Paid Hitler by Fritz Thyssen.

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

Article: "Kristallnacht" by Wikipedia.

Video: War Is A Racket By Major General Smedley Butler.

Book: War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier by Smedley D. Butler.

Article: "U.S. House sanctions killing hibernating bears, wolf pups in their dens on federal refuges in Alaska" by Wayne Pacelle.

Article: "H.J.Res.69 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the final rule of the Department of the Interior relating to "Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participation and Closure Procedures, on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska"." by Rep. Young, Don [R-AK-At Large].

Article: "S.J.Res.18 - A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the final rule submitted by the Department of the Interior relating to Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participation and Closure Procedures, on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska." by Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK].

Facebook: "People Of The Union of America".

Article: "Ghosts in the Cabinet" by Mike Allen.

Article: "White House blocks news organizations from press briefing" by Dylan Byers, Sara Murray and Kevin Liptak.

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

Site: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.

Video: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.

Article: "The Powell Memo or Powell Manifesto".

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

Article: "Watch: Robert Reich blames Berkeley riot on right-wing ‘outside agitators’" by Sarah K. Burris.

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

I'll be debating conservative Mark Heckler who wrote: I Helped Launch the Tea Party - Sorry, Liberals, But Your "Resistance" Is Nothing Like Us.

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...

At What Point Do Trump Supporters Feel Betrayed?

Vote here!

Has Big Oil Staged A Coup Of Our Government?

Privatization & Water Don't Mix

How Do You Have Freedom If You Don’t Have Healthcare?

GOP is Wrong…Without Your Health, You Have No Freedom

On tonight’s Big Picture, Thom talks to Scottie Nell Hughes of RightAlerts.com and Linda Benesch of Social Security Works about Paul Ryan’s claim that repealing Obamacare will lead to “freedom” and the GOP’s fight against voting rights. Then, Thom discusses EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s ties to the fossil fuel industry and where the Dakota Access pipeline movement goes from here with Farron Cousins of Ring of Fire Radio.

The Prevalence and Peculiarity of American Gun Culture (w/Guest: Howard Epstein)

Getting Kids Involved In Politics Early?

War: James Madison Dire Warning to Republican Playbook

Send Chicken Feed to Your Chicken Republican Congressman?

Trump Is Here to Protect Programs, Really?