The coronavirus crisis is highlighting how dysfunctional states run by Republicans are. This is a feature of GOP rule, not a bug.

For the past 40-plus years, a group of "conservative" billionaires have been working as hard as they can to reshape our federal government from one that provides education, health care, housing, food and other necessities into one that does nothing more than run the military and fight wars.

It's time to give them what they've worked so hard to get.

Read more here.

-Thom

The big question that the media is asking is, "Why?" Why is it that right wing billionaires are funding protests of shelter in place orders in the states? Why is it that Fox News is pushing so hard to reopen the economy? Why are TV doctor pundits on Fox saying that having 2% or 3% of our population die is an acceptable price to pay? Why are these people willing to sacrifice our elders and vulnerable Americans of all ages to get the economy back in shape?

Is it possible that one of the reasons these billionaires are pushing these efforts is because any more stimulus packages will require an increase in taxes on billionaires to pay for them? Could it be that simple and that crass?

-Thom

Friday's Daily Stack

Site: Morning Joe.

Article: "'Destroying our health by killing our livelihoods': Gretchen Whitmer orders spark GOP backlash" by David Eggert.

Article: "Dr. Phil downplays coronavirus on Fox News by comparing it to car accidents and swimming pool deaths" by Igor Derysh.

Article: "Dr. Oz apologizes for suggesting it may 'only cost us' 2% to 3% of American lives to reopen schools" by Nicole Lyn Pesce.

Article: "Obesity Linked to Severe Coronavirus Disease, Especially for Younger Patients" by Roni Caryn Rabin.

Tweet: "Not a single jet vapor trail in the sky above Portland today.
I remember being 5 yrs old, laying in a hammock in our backyard in Lansing, watching a single jet carving a long arc across the sky. It was 1956 and there way as little air traffic as today. What do you remember?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Coronavirus: U.S. Still Seeing Thousands Of Flights, Despite A Drop In Air Travel" by Bill Chappell.

Article: "Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and leaders of 6 other states join to work out plan for reopening economy" by Jamie Munks.

Article: "Pro-Trump PAC hits 'Beijing Biden,' cites China cheerleading" by Paul Bedard.

Tweet: "You don't have to ask the death cult their opinion or publish their quotes. False equivalence now is actually life or death. There is no "both sides" to this. There is one group preaching accelerated illness & death because they "love" "business" & if you can't see through that?" by Tripp Stelnicki.

Article: "GOP wants apology after gov. spokesman's 'death cult' tweet" by By Michael Gerstein.

Article: "US alerted Israel, NATO to disease outbreak in China in November - TV report" by Times of Israel.

Article: "'I smell a rat with orange hair': Congresswoman accuses Trump administration of deliberately starving blue states during crisis" by Bob Brigham.

Article: "Governor gives green light for some Fla. beaches to reopen" by AP.

Video: Governor Kristi Noem explains why she's not going to shut down South Dakota.

Article: "Donald Trump's Plan To Reopen The Economy Will Begin With 'authorizing' Each Governor To Reopen State And Decide Timetable" by Andrew Feinberg.

Article: "Merkel Moves Ahead With Gradual Return to Normality in Germany" by Patrick Donahue and Arne Delfs.

Tweet: "LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!" by Donald J. Trump.

Tweet: "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" by Donald J. Trump.

Tweet: "LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "Poultry Worker's Death Highlights Spread of Coronavirus in Meat Plants" by Miriam Jordan and Caitlin Dickerson.

Article: "Coronavirus-stricken SD meatpacking plant to close for cleaning" by Jeremy Fugleberg.

Article: "The Trump administration's botched coronavirus response, explained" by German Lopez.

Article: "Stocks Rally, Dow Jumps 600 Points On News Of Gilead's Possible Coronavirus Treatment" by Sergei Klebnikov.

Article: "Herd immunity" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Herd immunity: will the UK's coronavirus strategy work?" by Sarah Boseley.

Site: Democracy Watch News.

Video: Quarantine Suite - Dedicated To All The Heroes by Mark Taylor-Canfield.

Article: "Read Biden Accuser's Account Of His Alleged Sexual Assault" by Emily Jashinsky.

Article: "A sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden has ignited a firestorm of controversy" by Anna North.

Article: "Grassley calls for investigation into meatpackers, saying they may be using pandemic to 'gouge' farmers" by Donnelle Eller.

Article: "Millions of Essential Workers Are Being Left Out of COVID-19 Workplace Safety Protections, Thanks to OSHA" by Michael Grabell, Bernice Yeung and Maryam Jameel.

Article: "History of Federal Income Tax Rates: 1913 - 2019" by Bradford Tax Institute.

Article: "Follow The Money: On The Trail Of Watergate Lore" by Kee Malesky.

Hour Two: Will We Ever Get Back to "Normal" Again...If So, What Will That Look Like and What Path Will Get Us There?
- Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Democracy At Work / Understanding Marxism / Understanding Socialism

Article: "Coronavirus Testing: Criteria and Numbers by Country" by worldometer.

Article: "Dot-com bubble" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Financial crisis of 2007-08" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Severe acute respiratory syndrome" (SARS) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Ebola virus disease" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Nordic model" (capitalism) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Stacey Abrams" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Amy Klobuchar" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Kamala Harris" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Elizabeth Warren" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Poll confirms: Stacey Abrams and Elizabeth Warren are the two best VP options, by far" by kos.

Article: "Patriotism" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Nationalism" by Wikipedia.

Quote: "[False] Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" - Samuel Johnson.

Site: Performers Emergency Fund, PDX.

Article: "Coronavirus Outbreak May Have Started As Early As September, Scientists Say" by Hannah Osborne.

Article: "Protesters in MAGA hats and flying Confederate flags swarm Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Utah, Wyoming and Virginia to demonstrate 'tyrannical' and 'unconstitutional' lockdown orders that are 'worse than the virus'" by Lauren Fruen, Marlene Lenthang.

Tweet: "The Confederate flags are a nice touch because they were also a bunch of losers who died fighting for something stupid. #michiganshutdown" by Jefferson Ornithopter.

Article: "Tea Party movement" by Wikipedia.

Article: "When Older Relatives Shrug at Coronavirus Restrictions" by Julie Fingersh.

Article: "Billionaires Are Willing to Sacrifice American Lives for Lower Taxes" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Russia will accept Trump's ventilator offer for coronavirus patients if needed" by AP.

Article: "Chinese researchers reveal draft genome of virus implicated in Wuhan pneumonia outbreak" by Jon Cohen.

Article: "A Berlin Biotech Company Got a Head Start on Coronavirus Tests" by Stefan Nicola.

Article: "The Huge Cost of Waiting to Contain the Pandemic" by Britta L. Jewell and Nicholas P. Jewell.

Article: "Rick Snyder knew about Flint water crisis earlier than he testified under oath, according to new report" by Lee DeVito.

Site: Senator Jim Ananich / Michigan State Senate.

Article: "Trump plan for coronavirus supplies yields payoff for favored companies" by Noam N. Levey, Anna M. Phillips.

Book: What's the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank.

Hour Three: How Trump Stole 2020
- Greg Palast, The Guardian / Investigative Journalist/Author/Filmmaker, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Event: Sat, April 18 @ 1 PM PT / 4 ET "Facebook LIVE Event: How Trump Stole 2020".

Facebook: Greg Palast.

Facebook: Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Georgia Plans to Purge 300,000 Names From Its Voter Rolls" by Nicholas Casey.

Article: "Brian Kemp" (Georgia Secretary of State) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Liberal Candidate Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Despite GOP's Election Day Hurdles" by Cristina Cabrera.

Article: "19th Amendment "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

Article: "15th Amendment", February 3, 1870 "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude"

Case: "Bush v. Gore", 2000. "The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States"

Article: "National Voter Registration Act of 1993" (Motor Voter Act) by Wikipedia. "The Congress finds that -
(1) the right of citizens of the United States to vote is a fundamental right;"

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

Article: "Why Michael Savage Is Blasting Hannity and the Right-Wing Media on the Virus" by Jeremy W. Peters.

Article: "The tea party radio network" by Kenneth P. Vogel and Mackenzie Weinger.

Article: "Lawyer for Central pastor and church bucking stay-at-home order hospitalized with coronavirus" by David Mitchell.

Article: "Lawyer for Louisiana pastor who told followers to ignore public health warnings has COVID-19 after attending service" by Matthew Chapman.

Article: "Texas AG threatens to criminally sanction any group that tells voters to apply for a mail-in ballot to avoid COVID-19" by Matthew Chapman.

Article: "Interview with Lisa Miller, PhD", California National Primate Research Center (research on wildfires).

Article: "Cytokine release syndrome" (cytokine storm syndrome) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Remdesivir shows promise against COVID-19" by HealthDay News.

Article: "OSU, county assisting with door-to-door testing project" by Nia Tariq.

Article: "Stephanie Grisham is out as White House press secretary, replaced by Kayleigh McEnany" by Sonam Sheth.

Article: "New WH Spokesmodel Going Heavy on Spin" by Iamamerican.

Article: "Pro-Trump PAC run by McMahon pledged $18.5 million the same day DeSantis deemed WWE an 'essential business' in Orlando" by Colin Wolf.

Article: "'This Is Not Over:' NY, NJ Urge Patience, Cite Progress in Face of Relentless Tragedy" by NBC New York.

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

Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA, 17th District) will be here to talk issues of the day and take your calls.

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