America's rightwing billionaires comfortably hang out on their massive estates, giving instant Covid tests to their live-in servants, while using the word "freedom" to describe their lifestyle in the rightwing media they own or support. The headline yesterday over at Newsmax reads, "No Masking Biden's Disdain For Freedom" and one at RedState references "Covid Tyranny."

Wealthy right wingers have been telling us this sort of thing for years: that "socialist" programs and regulations that help or protect average people diminish America's freedom.

Freedomworks and their followers in the Tea Party argued that Obamacare and Medicare destroyed American's "freedom" to choose not to have healthcare or get any support or benefits from the government when they get sick.

Read more here.

-Thom

Wednesday's Daily Stack

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

Article: "6 lawmakers in 5 days: New COVID-19 infections put spotlight on Congress' loose guidelines" by Christal Hayes.

Article: "Longtime Union Members Pocan and Norcross Announce Labor Caucus to Advocate for Workers in Congress" by Jessica Corbett.

Article: "Thousands of new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Wisconsin; 7-day positivity rate remains above 36%" by Brandon Arbuckle.

Article: "Conspiracy theorists try to get into Utah Valley Hospital ICU" by kslnewsradio.com.

Article: "Most Red States Take More Money From Washington Than They Put In" by Dave Gilson.

Article: "How Biden Helped Strip Bankruptcy Protection From Millions Just Before a Recession" by Luke Darby.

Article: "Joe Biden's Plan For Student Debt Cancellation" by Wesley Whistle.

Article: "Overton window" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Biden says drug users should not be jailed as he admits crime bill was a mistake at town hall" by Alex Woodward.

Article: "Alert: Democrat Mark Pocan wins reelection to U.S. House in Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District" by AP.

Law: "Presidential Transition Act of 1963".

Article: "Who Is Emily Murphy? Trump Official Delaying Transfer Of Power To Biden" by Dan Graeber.

Article: "CMS Proposes 9% Cut to Medicare Therapy Rates, Threatening PT, OT, Speech Services in Nursing Homes" by Maggie Flynn.

Article: "What is the Medicare donut hole?".

Tweet: "As co-chairs of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, @repmarkpocan & I are hopeful that the new admin will end the revolving door of the defense industry's influence on our national security priorities. It's time we stop the backroom deals & put people over profit." by Rep. Barbara Lee.

Article: "Why The Social Dilemma is the most important documentary of our times" by Alexi Duggins.

Article: "Trump has spoken privately with Putin at least 16 times. Here's what we know about the conversations." by Adam Taylor.

Article: "The 'freedom' America's billionaires are selling is literally killing us" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Trump Adviser Scott Atlas Pushing For 'Herd Immunity' Strategy For COVID-19" by uPolitics.com.

Article: "COVID-19 Herd Immunity Strategies Could Bring 'Untold Death and Suffering'" by Christie Aschwanden.

Tweet: "This week, @SecPompeo is visiting an Israeli settlement in the Occupied West Bank.
I led 40 of my colleagues demanding that he condemn the demolition of 76 structures in Khierbet Humsah-the largest demolition of Palestinian homes in a decade-and stop any further displacements." by Rep. Mark Pocan.

Article: "Trump pursues recount of 2 liberal Wisconsin counties" by Scott Bauer.

Article: "No Masking Biden's Disdain for Freedom" by Michael Reagan with Michael R. Shannon.

Article: "Voters Had a Chance to Reject COVID Tyranny, Now a Price Will Be Paid" by Bonchie.

Article: "McEnany Slams 'Orwellian' Limits on Private Gatherings ahead of Thanksgiving" by Mairead McArdle.

Article: "Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine" by Wikipedia.

Quote: "The occupation of an hairdresser, or of a working tallow-chandler, cannot be a matter of honour to any person - to say nothing of a number of other more servile employments. Such descriptions of men ought not to suffer oppression from the state; but the state suffers oppression, if such as they, either individually or collectively, are permitted to rule. In this you think you are combating prejudice, but you are at war with nature" - Edmund Burke.

Tweet: "1/ The "freedom" America's billionaires are selling is killing us." by Thom Hartmann.

Speech: "A Rendezvous With Destiny", 27 June 1936 acceptance speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt. "An old English judge once said: "Necessitous men are not free men.""

Speech: "1944 State of the Union Address" (Second Bill of Rights or Economic Bill of Rights Speech) by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Article: "Judy Shelton's path to Fed hits another roadblock, amid quarantining senators" by Martha C. White.

Article: "Donald Trump's Fed board nominee Judy Shelton fails crucial Senate vote" by James Politi.

Article: "'This is the time to heal': Joe Biden addresses Americans in election victory speech" by Daniel Strauss.

Article: "Joe Biden has told aides he does not want investigations of Donald Trump to overshadow his presidency and get in way of bid to 'unite the country'" by Emily Goodin.

Twitter: "NoelCaslerComedy".

Article: "Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Peace Prize" by History.com.

Article: "The real reason Trump is terrified of losing the presidency: fear of prosecution" by Samer S Shehata.

Article: "Losing Could Expose Trump To Prosecution For Any Number Of Crimes" by Jon Schwarz.

Article: "16 Trump officials committed at least 60 Hatch Act violations in October to benefit president's reelection: report" by Alex Henderson.

Article: "Would U.S. Follow Egypt, Brazil, Sudan, And Argentina In Prosecuting Former Presidents?" by Dana Sanchez.

Quote: "There's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families." - Maggie Thatcher.

Article: "False claim: A COVID-19 vaccine will genetically modify humans" by Reuters.

Article: "COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan" by Wikipedia.

Article: "'Just hugging was amazing': joy and tears as Victorian families reunite after Melbourne lockdown" by Matilda Boseley.

Article: "What's in the House Democrats' $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill?" by Grace Segers.

Article: "Democrats Unveil $2.2 Trillion Stimulus Bill - What's In It?" by Samantha McDonald.

Books: "Thom Hartmann" by Amazon.

Books: "Thom Hartmann" by Powell's.

Book: Democracy In America by Alexis De Tocqueville, 1835.

Article: "Alexis de Tocqueville" by Wikipedia.

Quote: "Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom." - Alexis de Tocqueville.

Article: "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" by Saul McLeod.

Book: "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against The Middle Class" by Thom Hartmann. Get "Screwed" by Thom Hartmann!

Quote: "Treat them with humanity, and let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren who have fallen into their hands" - George Washington.

Hour Three: New Study - Hospitals Hike Charges by Up to 18 Times Cost
- Marissa Lee, RN, Nurse Leader - National Nurses United

Article: "Rick Scott 'oversaw the largest Medicare fraud' in U.S. history, Florida Democratic Party says" by Amy Sherman.

Article: "Rick Scott" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The 'freedom' America's billionaires are selling is literally killing us" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Keystone Pricing in Retail" by Shari Waters.

Article: "Killing of George Floyd" by Wikipedia.

Quote: "As a matter of fact, in interviews in 1999 with respected journalist, and long time Bush family friend, David Herskowitz, then Governor George Bush stated: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade... if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency." - My Testimony for the Downing Street Memo Hearings" by Cindy Sheehan, June 16 2005.

Article: "Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War" by Pratap Chatterjee.

Article: "Obama tan suit controversy" by Wikipedia.

Article: "President Obama Criticized For 'Latte Salute' While Stepping Off Marine One" by Ed Mazza.

Article: "Investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attack" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Monica Palmer & William Hartmann: Michigan Republicans Initially Voted Against Certifying Election Results" by Jessica McBride.

Article: "USPS removed 711 sorting machines this year, new court documents show" by Kristen Holmes and Paul P. Murphy.

Article: "Trump Laments Georgia Recount's Signature Verification Block" by Eric Mack.

Article: "Special prosecutor" (independent counsel) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Here's all the evidence of obstruction of justice in the Mueller report, in case you forgot" by Ephrat Livni.

Article: "William Barr Has Shut Down Six Investigations Into Trump" by Jason Easley.

Article: "Retributive justice" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Restorative justice" by Wikipedia.

Article: "US still hasn't reunited 666 children with parents after 'zero tolerance' at border" by Josh Marcus.

Article: "What really happened to the 1,500 immigrant children the Trump administration 'lost'?" by Emily Shugerman.

Article: "Biden might need years to reverse Trump's immigration policies on DACA, asylum, family separations, ICE raids, private detention and more" by Alan Gomez, Daniel Gonzalez.

Article: "Whistleblower says Ivanka, Jared got security clearance over experts' advice" by Ginger Gibson, Mark Hosenball.

Article: "Report: Trump Revealed Israeli Commando and Mossad Operation in Syria to Russians".

Article: "Secret Seychelles meeting between Blackwater founder and Putin ally points to Trump-Russia back channel" by Adam Entous, Greg Miller, Kevin Sieff, Karen Deyoung.

Article: "Did Trump Throw Kurds under the Bus for Turkey because of his Istanbul Revenue Stream?" by Juan Cole.

Article: "Trump wants to make money off the fake 'stolen election' crisis he created. Don't let him." by Paul Seamus Ryan.

Article: "Georgia runoff elections will determine control of US Senate: How we got here" by Josh Peter.

Article: "Jon Ossoff" by Wikipedia.

Site: Jon Ossoff for Senate.

Article: "Ad For Georgia Senate Hopeful Jon Ossoff Touts John Lewis' Backing" by Jon Ossoff.

Article: "Raphael Warnock" by Wikipedia.

Site: Warnock for Georgia.

Article: "Lindsey Graham: Calls for Trump ally to resign over Georgia phone call" by Graeme Massie.

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

I'll be talking with Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Co-founder, Democracy At Work / Author of numerous books - his latest is The Sickness is the System / Regular contributor to the Guardian & other news outlets /Author,

Plus, who should get Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine? - Nick Dearden, Director - Global Justice Now / Regular contributor to the Guardian & other news outlets /Author, Trade Secrets / (Nick was also a founder of the UK's Stop Trump Coalition)

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...

Is Mitch McConnell A Welfare Queen?

Inside Right Wing Media's Dangerous Abyss (w/ Howard Polskin)

Can Joe Biden Nurse America Back To Health? (w/ Theresa Brown)

Trump Aims To Destroy National Forest While He Can (w/ Ellen Montgomery)

Trump's Great Depression Reaction To COVID-19