A spokesman for Donald Trump's campaign said, on CNN this morning, that they don't require people to wear masks at Trump rallies and events because "freedom."

Republicans have a bizarre notion of what that word means.

As President Franklin D. Roosevelt pointed out in 1933, "a necessitous men is not a free man."

If you're hooked up to a ventilator and can't breathe, you're not free.

If you're sick and can't afford to pay for healthcare, You're not free.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tuesday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Mid-day with Mark
- Congressman Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District)

Article: "Democrats introduce sweeping federal police reform legislation in wake of George Floyd death" by Griffin Connolly.

Article: "DC statehood bill set for June 26 House vote" by Chris Cioffi.

Article: "Dems unveil new proposal to shore up the ACA" by Emily Payne.

Article: "House Democrats Introduce $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill" by Matt Perez.

Article: "U.S. coronavirus death toll surpasses 120,000, more than half of states report rising cases" by MSNBC.

Article: "No Distancing or Masks Required at Trump Rally" by Carolyn Crist.

Article: "Trump fires Geoffrey Berman, exposing Barr's bully tactics and lies in the process" by Barbara McQuade.

Article: "House Democrats threaten to "eliminate" Barr's office budget if he doesn't comply with subpoena" by Igor Derysh.

Article: "The Fed will move away from ETFs to direct corporate bond purchases, Powell says" by Jeff Cox.

Article: "Fed Chair Powell Has Upwards of $11.6 Million Invested with BlackRock, the Firm that Will Manage a $750 Billion Corporate Bond Bailout Program for the Fed" by Pam Martens and Russ Martens.

Video: Is the FED About to Own Your Employer? (w/ Richard Wolff).

Article: "Civil forfeiture in the United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Senate GOP to Restrict Police Chokeholds in Emerging Bill" by AP.

Article: "'More Testing, Not More Bombs': 29 House Democrats Demand Cuts to Pentagon Budget Amid Pandemic" by Andrea Germanos.

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 2 Section 2. "The President ... shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.."

Site: Select Committee on Climate Crisis.

Article: "Trump on GOP's $500 Billion Slush Fund: 'I'll Be the Oversight'" by Matt Stieb.

Article: "Master List Of U.S. Airline Seating And Mask COVID-19 Policies" by Becky Pokora.

Article: "Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association" by Wikipedia.

Article: "We must rebuild trust with more than hollow words" by Sheriff Dave Mahoney.

Article: "Jayapal Announces The Paycheck Guarantee Act" by Pramila Jayapal.

Article: "Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey want to give Americans $2,000 a month during coronavirus crisis" by Jacob Pramuk.

Article: "Which happens more: People struck by lightning or people committing voter fraud by impersonation?" by Tom Kertscher.

Bill: "H.R.1 - For the People Act of 2019" by Rep. Sarbanes, John P. [D-MD-3].

Article: "The Courts Won't End Gerrymandering. Eric Holder Has a Plan to Fix It Without Them" by Ari Berman.

Bill: "H.R.7269 - To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to establish a time-limited provisional approval pathway, subject to specific obligations, for certain drugs and biological products, and for other purposes." by Rep. Quigley, Mike [D-IL-5].

Article: "Trump holds rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma" by Melissa Macaya, Maegan Vazquez, Joe Ruiz and Kyle Blaine.

Article: "Trump says he wasn't joking about testing slowdown: "I don't kid"" by Grace Segers.

Article: "Fauci: Trump Never Directed Testing Slowdown - 'We'll Be Doing More Testing, Not Less'" by Jack Brewster.

Article: "The Four Men Responsible For America's COVID-19 Test Disaster" by Tim Dickinson.

Tweet: "Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country, and ever expanding. With smaller testing we would show fewer cases!" by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) and How to Apply" by Jean Folger.

Article: "Robert M. La Follette" (Fighting Bob) by Wikipedia.

Hour Two: It's 100.4°F in Siberia Today... Why it Matters
- Dr. Michael Mann, Professor of Meteorology & Director, Earth System Science Center-Penn State University AND recipient of 2019's 'Nobel Prize for the Environment', the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement / Member - National Academy of Sciences / author of several books including The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy

Article: "'This Scares Me,' Says Bill McKibben as Arctic Hits 100.4°F-Hottest Temperature on Record" by Jake Johnson.

Article: "Polar amplification" (Arctic amplification, Antarctic amplification) by Wikipedia.

Article: "We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN" (2018) by Jonathan Watts.

Article: "Temporary reduction in daily global CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement" by Corinne Le Quéré et al.

Article: "Another rightwing strongman has won – but there is hope for a different future" by Priyamvada Gopal.

Article: "How right-wing nationalism fuels climate denial" by Martin Hultman.

Article: "Employee Retention Credit" by IRS.

Article: "This is what China did to beat coronavirus. Experts say America couldn't handle it" by Kim Hjelmgaard, Eric J. Lyman and Deirdre Shesgreen.

Article: "COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China" by Wikipedia.

Article: "$2.2 Trillion CARES Act Provides A Lifeline To Small Businesses" by Rohit Arora.

Article: "Audrey Strauss" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Acting New York U.S. attorney, Audrey Strauss, once defeated Roy Cohn, investigated the Iran-contra affair" by Colby Itkowitz.

Article: "Bush Pardons 6 in Iran Affair, Aborting a Weinberger Trial; Prosecutor Assails 'Cover-Up'" by David Johnston.

Article: "Essay; The Patsy Prosecutor" by William Safire.

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

Article: "Bill Barr is covering up for Donald Trump - and posing a dire threat to democracy" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Trump Fired Her Boss. Now She's Taking Cases That Incensed White House." by Benjamin Weiser, Nicole Hong and Ben Protess.

Article: "Meat plant must be held to account for Covid-19 outbreak, says German minister" by Kate Connolly.

Article: "Trump Constitutionally Could Remain President Even if He Loses 2020 Popular and Electoral Votes, and He Knows It. Thom Hartmann Explains." by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "12th Amendment"

Article: "Who Are The Boogaloo Bois? These Hawaiian Shirt-Wearing, Gun-Toting Americans Want War" by Sarah Midkiff.

Article: "Fairness Doctrine" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Telecommunications Act of 1996" by Wikipedia.

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.

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

Article: "25th Amendment Section 4" "Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President..."

Article: "Great Depression (1929 - 1930s) by Wikipedia.

Article: "New Deal" (1933 - 1939) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Frances Perkins" by Wikipedia.

Book: The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance by Kirstin Downey.

Book: The Roosevelt I Knew by Frances Perkins.

Article: "CBS CEO: "...may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS"" by Lee Fang.

Hour Three: Bill Barr...Once a Bully, Always a Bully
- former classmate, Attorney Jimmy Lohman, Attorney at Law, who was Bullied By Barr at school

Article: "Bill Barr Was a Sick and Sadistic Kid Who Was A Fascist "High School Tormentor" and Bully, Classmate Recalls to BuzzFlash" by Mark Karlin.

Article: "Classmate shines light on Bill Barr in HS: LOTS of fun facts about the Attorney Criminal" by Dennis Donovan.

Article: "So this is why Bill Barr is such a bully" by Dana Milbank.

Article: "Bill Barr Bullied Me Because I Backed Civil Rights" by Jimmy Lohman.

Article: "Barron Trump is a Dual Citizen of Both Slovenia and the US Which is Odd for the Son of the 'America First' President" by Jason Miciak.

Article: "New York Primary, Kentucky Senate Showdown: What to Watch For Today" by Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Jonathan Martin.

Documentary: Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn.

Article: "If You Want Joe Biden to Govern More Like FDR Than Jamie Dimon, Vote for Bernie Sanders on Tuesday in New York and Kentucky" by Alan Minsky.

Site: Charles Booker - Stand For Kentucky.

Site: Jamaal Bowman for NY-16.

Site: Mondaire Jones for Congress NY-17.

Article: "Former fighter pilot Amy McGrath announces bid to take on Mitch McConnell in 2020" by Rebecca Buck.

Article: "Poll: Booker leads McGrath by 8 points in Kentucky Senate primary" by Max Greenwood.

Article: "What Polls Say about Booker, McGrath and McConnell in Kentucky Senate Race" by Alexandra Hutzler.

Article: "Peaceful Protesters Gassed So Trump Can Do a Sacrilegious Bible Photo Op" by Ed Kilgore.

Article: "Herd immunity" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote" by Ford Fessenden and John M. Broder, November 12, 2001.

Article: "Harlow v. Fitzgerald" (1982) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Qualified immunity" by Wikipedia.

Article: "US religious freedom commission condemns Turkish airstrikes" by CNA Daily News.

Article: "13th Amendment", December 6, 1865. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Article: "120,000 dead: US is 4% of world population but 25% of world death" by Scott Adams.

Article: "Incarceration in the United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Another Step Toward Positive Change Against Racism" by Kent Fuchs, University of Florida.

Article: "Suit alleging private prison company used ICE detainees as 'captive labor force' goes forward" by Gabe Ortiz.

Article: "Feudalism" by Wikipedia.

Book: The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream by Thom Hartmann.

Book: The Hidden History of American Oligarchy: Reclaiming Our Democracy from the Ruling Class by Thom Hartmann.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978

Article: "America is an oligarchy, not a democracy or republic, university study finds" by Cheryl K. Chumley.

Article: "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens" by Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page.

Article: "Deadly Discretion: The Failure of Police Use of Force Policies to Meet Fundamental International Human Rights Law and Standards" by University of Chicago Law School's International Human Rights Clinic.

Article: "2020 Democratic National Convention" by Wikipedia.

Article: "2020 Republican National Convention" by Wikipedia.

Petition: "Why Not A Black Pharmaceutical Wholesale Business?" by Dr. Helen Randolph.

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

I'll be talking with Professor Jeffrey Sachs University Professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University / Director-United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and has been advisor to three UN secretaries-general. He is a New York Times best-selling author, and his Columbia University Press books include The Age of Sustainable Development (2015), Building the New American Economy (2017), and A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism. His latest: The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions

Plus, Danielle Melgar, Toxics Program Advocate - U.S. PIRG, will update us on the Misguided EPA Decision that Would Ignore Rocket Fuel Chemical in Drinking Water

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...

Defund The Police and the Military (w/ Rep. Mark Pocan)

The Never Ending Lies Of Donald Trump...

Is It Time To Abolish The Electoral College? (w/ Robert M. Hardaway)

The Overwhelming Votes We Need to Stop Trump's Anti Democracy Machine