Newsweek is reporting that the United Nations investigation of developed countries around the world finds that poverty in the United States is now so widespread and severe, with over 40 million Americans below the poverty level and many of them living without basic sanitation or enough food and without any access to healthcare, that large parts of America are functionally as bad as or worse than many Third World countries.

Republican policies and 40 years of Reaganomics have turned America into a "shithole country." Americans know this, and the vast majority of them think that wages should be increased, healthcare should be expanded, education should be free, and the federal government should undo Reagan and Clinton's destruction of LBJ's safety net. But the media continues to support Republican candidates and highlight Republican issues like increasing military spending and cheerleading for more tax cuts.

-Thom

Big Pharma spends a small fortune every year buying politicians to make sure we can't import prescription drugs from Canada, but they're more than happy to sell us contaminated medications from countries with weak manufacturing controls and exploitable labor that ensure high-profit margins.

A toxic compound that doesn't belong anywhere near medicine known as NDMA was first discovered in some blood pressure medications in 2018, and the FDA issued an alert and wrote a complaint letter to the raw materials supplier to Big Pharma companies. It turns out the meds follow the very common pattern of being made in India with raw ingredients coming from China. And they are sold by big companies for obscenely high prices to U.S. consumers.

More recently, NDMA contamination provoked a nationwide recall of the popular anti-heartburn medication Zantac and all its generic versions.

And now the world's most widely prescribed drug of all, which is used to treat and prevent Type 2 diabetes called metformin, is contaminated with NDMA.

Read more here.

-Thom

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Alabama Has The Worst Poverty In The Developed World, U.N. Official Says" by Carlos Ballesteros.

Article: "The Republican tax law is bringing in far less money than claimed-but it's not an accident" by Hunter.

Article: "Two Santa Clauses or How The Republican Party Has Conned America for Thirty Years" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "The 1% are much more satisfied with their lives than everyone else, survey finds" by Christopher Ingraham.

Article: "The Finance 202: Mo' money, fewer problems: Two new studies show 1 percenters are the most satisfied" by Tory Newmyer.

Article: "Why are Danish people so happy?".

Article: "Raising the minimum wage prevents suicides, but Republicans won't do it" by Laura Clawson.

Article: "Sorry, but money can and does buy happiness these days" by Laura Clawson.

Article: "Hookworm infection" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The Parasite Underground" by Moises Velasquez-Manoff.

Book: The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment by Thom Hartmann.

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

Article: "Four Reasons Why Millennials Don't Have Any Money" by Robert Reich.

Article: "Starve the beast" by Wikipedia.

Article: "What You Need to Know About 'Chained CPI'" by Sho Chandra.

Article: "Did Trump Propose SSI Changes That Could End Disability Benefits for Thousands?" by Dan MacGuill.

Article: "'A National Disgrace': Trump Proposes Social Security Change That Could End Disability Benefits for Hundreds of Thousands" by Jake Johnson.

Article: "The Trump administration has just declared war on Social Security" by Alex Lawson.

Article: "Trump's DOJ asks SCOTUS to delay - until after election - decision that would make millions uninsured" by David Badash.

Article: "Trump Administration Says Obamacare Lawsuit Can Wait Until After the Election" by Margot Sanger-Katz.

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

Article: "Ayn Rand raged against government benefits - but grabbed Social Security and Medicare when she needed them" by Joshua Holland.

Article: "Marianne Williamson ends 2020 presidential campaign" by Kate Sullivan and Eric Bradner.

Article: "Sen. Cory Booker suspends presidential campaign" by Adam Kelsey and Averi Harper

Article: "What you need to know about Tuesday's presidential debate in Iowa: When it is, who qualified, how to watch" by Katie Akin.

Article: "Trump signs $738 billion defense bill. Here's what the Pentagon is poised to get" by Amanda Macias.

Article: "Hooverville" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Lies over downing of aircraft shake Iran's trust in its rulers" by Najmeh Bozorgmehr.

Article: "President Trump has made 15,413 false or misleading claims over 1,055 days" by Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly.

Video: James Brown - Living in America (Official Video).

Book: You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen.

Article: "Lee Says He Didn't Hear About Soleimani Threat To Attack Four US Embassies In Briefing" by Summer Concepcion.

Article: "Evolution of a lie: from 'imminent attack' to 'four embassies' with no facts in between" by Mark Sumner.

Article: "GOP's Mike Lee and Rand Paul rebuke Trump administration for "worst military briefing" ever on Iran" by Igor Derysh.

Article: "GOP Sen. Mike Lee Says He's "Worried" About The Integrity Of Information Coming Out Of The Government About Iran" by Tim Hains.

Article: "Explosive report indicates that Donald Trump's loans from Deutsche Bank were backed by Russia" by Mark Sumner.

Article: "Unredacted emails show OMB officials knowingly engaged in conspiracy to hide illegal action by Trump" by Mark Sumner.

Article: "White House official ordered aid to Ukraine be withheld 91 minutes after Trump call with Ukraine president, documents show" by Olivia Rubin.

Article: "Trump authorized Soleimani killing months before deadly strike" by Margaret Brennan and Melissa Quinn.

Article: "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists" (AUMF) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Duckworth Demands Secretary Esper Disclose Why DOD Believes Killing Soleimani was Legal".

Quote: "Our men are so happy at home that they will not hire themselves to be shot at for a shilling a day. Hence we can have no standing armies for defence" - Thomas Jefferson.

Article: "Poll: 56% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of Iran crisis" by Jacob Knutson.

Article: "Do 10,000 baby boomers retire every day?" by Glenn Kessler.

Site: Mondragon Corporation (co-op)

Book: "Threshold: The Progressive Plan to Pull America Back from the Brink" by Thom Hartmann

Site: Union Cab of Madison Cooperative.

Article: "GOP Rep. Rips Into Trump, Barr After 'Carefully' Reading Mueller Report" by Summer Concepcion.

Article: "Mueller Report (Redacted) Searchable Version (PDF)".

Article: "Trump Brags About Serving Up American Troops to Saudi Arabia for Nothing More Than Cash" by Peter Wade.

Tweet: "He sells troops.
"We have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia-I said, listen, you're a very rich country. You want more troops? I'm going to send them to you, but you've got to pay us. They're paying us. They've already deposited $1B in the bank."" by Justin Amash.

Article: "Iran nuclear deal: Trump pulls US out in break with Europe allies" by BBC.

Book: Fast Food Genocide: How Processed Food is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It by Joel Fuhrman M.D. with Robert Phillips.

Article: "Pellagra" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Ho ho ho: IRS cuts audits of rich, steps up audits of poor after budget cuts" by Igor Derysh.

Video: "New Covenant speech", October 23, 1991 by Bill Clinton.

Article: "The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote and How to Get It Back" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Jeffrey Alexander Sterling " by Wikipedia.

Video: Gen Wesley Clark Reveals US Plan To Invade Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Lybia, Somalia, Sudan, And Iran.

Article: "Chicago school of economics" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Shanghai Cooperation Organisation" by Wikipedia.

Article: "How Schumer might get the last laugh on impeachment trial" by Burgess Everett, Marianne Levine.

Article: "Involuntary Celibates are an 'emerging domestic terrorism threat': Texas warns of an 'Incel Rebellion'" by Bob Brigham.

Article: "Who are the 'incels' and how do they relate to Toronto van attack?" by Alex Hern.

Article: "Male Sexlessness is Rising But Not for the Reasons Incels Claim" by Lyman Stone.

Article: "Academi" (formerly XE, Blackwater) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Debunked Australian Bushfire Conspiracy Theories Were Pushed by Alex Jones, Murdoch Media" by Justin Mikulka.

Article: "Big Pharma Won't Let Us Import Medicine From Canada, But Insists on Sending Carcinogen-Contaminated Pills to the Public" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "'Dangerous, misinformation': News Corp employee's fire coverage email" by Zoe Samios and Andrew Hornery.

Article: "Great Society" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The End of Welfare as We Know It" by Alana Semuels.

Law: "Sherman Antitrust Act", 1890.

Law: "Telecommunications Act of 1996" by Wikipedia.

Article: ""What It Means to Be a Man"-In The Atlantic's January/February issue, Peggy Orenstein reports on the miseducation of the American boy".

Article: "Donald Trump's Worst Deal" by Adam Davidson.

Article: "Trump Had No Problem With Iran's Revolutionary Guard When He Was Doing Business With Its Associates" by Bess Levin.

Article: "Why has Congress stalled on investigating money laundering allegations at Trump properties?" by Casey Michel.

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

I'll be talking with Ramesh Srinivasan, Professor/Director, UC Digital Cultures Lab-Department of Information Studies and Design|Media Arts, UCLA about Cyber Security, Iran, etc.

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...

Can Innovators Overcome Inequality, or Make It Worse?

Jailbreak Out of History The ReBiography Of Harriet Tubman

How Ro Khanna and Bernie Sanders Almost Stopped Trump (w/ Ro Khanna)

Iran Escalation Changes Trump Supporter's Mind

Mon, Feb 17, 7:30pm PT: Berkeley Arts & Letter Series.

Wed, Feb 19, 7:30pm PT: Seattle Town Hall.

Sat, Feb 22, TBA: Blue State Ball.

Fri, Feb 28, 7:30pm PT: Powell's, 1005 W Burnside St., Portland.

Sun, Mar 1,TBA: Chicago Book Store - TBA.