Not many people are buying Trump's story that he just kind of on a whim, decided to go visit Walter Reed Hospital in a motorcade without even first calling his doctor because he thought it would be a good time to start his February annual check up. The two most prominent theories right now are that
1) As he is having a growing impeachment crisis right now, he had chest pains that were either a mild heart attack or a panic attack, and
2) He figured out that the 25th amendment was actually written to remove a president who is physically incapacitated - it was ratified after John Kennedy was assassinated - and not just mentally incapable, so he is coming up with a physical ailment that might justify his retirement and Mike Pence issuing a blanket pardon for the entire Trump crime family.

If it turns out that theory number 2 is accurate, it wouldn't be the first time that Donald Trump has used a doctor's report to get him out of something; there's a reason Senator Tammy Duckworth calls him Cadet Bone Spurs.

Plus, In other news, Are We Going to Let Capitalism Kill More of Our Children?

Smoking kills and the worst part of capitalism is that our system allows a half million Americans a year to die from their nicotine addictions. Now Donald Trump has decided, after a seven week multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by tobacco and vaping companies, that is just fine for these companies to sell candy flavored Vape to children. Trump has decided that unregulated capitalism is more important than a few million dead teenagers over the next few decades.

-Thom

Monday's Daily Stack

Site: Tedra Cobb for Congress - Tedra Cobb for NY-21.

Tweet: "Resigning because his obesity and bone spurs have made him unable to work any longer would save face and probably keep him and the Trump Crime Family out of jail. Clinton & Obama both forgave & refused to investigate previous GOP presidents' crimes. But will Warren or Sanders?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "GOP lawmaker mocked after whining Adam Schiff wouldn't let her break impeachment hearing rules" by Sky Palma.

Article: "Elise Stefanik's opponent, Tedra Cobb, raises $1M after impeachment hearing" by Mark Weiner.

Article: "George Conway Lashes Out at Female Republican on Intel Committee, Calls Her 'Lying Trash'" by Caleb Howe.

Article: "George Conway maxes out on campaign contribution to Dem opponent of Elise Stefanik after calling GOP lawmaker 'lying trash'" by Matthew Chapman.

Article: "Trump receives 'portions' of annual physical exam, White House said he's 'healthy and energetic'" by Nicholas Wu.

Article: "Trump's alleged 'checkup' at Walter Reed was 'abnormal' and 'scheduled last minute': report" by David Edwards.

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: "Roger Stone found guilty on all 7 counts" by Ali Dukakis, Lucien Bruggeman.

Video: WATCH LIVE: Open Hearing with Ambassador Bill Taylor and George Kent (13 November 2019).

Video: Impeachment hearings live: Public testimony from Marie Yovanovich - Day 2.

Article: "Official who heard Trump ask about Ukraine "investigations" set to appear before committees" by Olivia Gazis, Arden Farhi And Stefan Becket.

Article: "Parnas and Fruman met with Trump during White House Hanukkah party" by Marcy Oster/Jta.

Tweet: "Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President's absolute right to appoint ambassadors." by Donald J. Trump.

Article: "Impeachment Hearings: Alexander Vindman, Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland, and More to Testify Next Week" by AP.

Audio: "Judge orders President Trump to pay $2m for charity fund misuse" by BBC.

Article: "Transient ischemic attack (TIA)" by Mayo Clinic.

Article: "Possible pay-to-play scheme for ambassador role in Trump administration uncovered by CBS News" by CBS News.

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

Article: "William Barr's shady track record of covering up the crimes of a Republican president" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Trump's AG Bill Barr has a history of cover-ups — and he just struck again" by Thom Hartmann.

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.

Hour Two: Issues of the Day
- Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA, 17th District)

Article: "Gavin McInnes" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Proud Boys" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The Proud Boys, The GOP And 'The Fascist Creep'" by Christopher Mathias.

Article: "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006" by Wikipedia.

Law: "H.R.6407 - Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act", 12/20/2006.

Site: J.D. Scholten For Congress.

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

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 2 Section 2. "The President ... shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."

Article: "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare.

Article: "Overseas Contingency Operations: Alternatives Identified to the Approach to Fund War- Related Activities" by GAO.

Article: "The timeline of Trump's decision to withhold aid to Ukraine is increasingly suspicious" by Sean Collins and Alex Ward.

Article: "Op-Ed: Russia's got a point: The U.S. broke a NATO promise" by Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson.

Article: "'Alarm bells': What Cooper, Croft and Anderson told impeachment investigators" by Andrew Desiderio, Kyle Cheney.

Site: The Randi Rhodes' Show.

Bill: "H.R.2100 - Safe to Tell Act of 2019" by Rep. Himes, James A. [D-CT-4].

Bill: "H.R.3714 - EAGLES Act of 2019" by Rep. Deutch, Theodore E. [D-FL-22].

Bill: "H.R.1384 - Medicare for All Act of 2019" by Rep. Jayapal, Pramila [D-WA-7].

Bill: "S.1129 - Medicare for All Act of 2019" by Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT].

Bill: "H.R.5010 - To amend title I of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to authorize the establishment of, and provide support for, State-based universal health care systems that provide comprehensive health benefits to State residents, and for other purposes." by Rep. Khanna, Ro [D-CA-17] .

Article: "Why Vermont's single-payer effort failed and what Democrats can learn from it" by Amy Goldstein.

Site: Rep. Sharice Davids.

Article: "There's a Surprisingly Plausible Path to Removing Trump From Office" by Juleanna Glover.

Case: "Burdick v. United States (pardoned person).

Article: "Prison inmates are fighting California's fires, but are often denied firefighting jobs after their release" by CNN.

Article: "'Young Turks' Host Cenk Uygur Files Paper In Race For Katie Hill's Former House Seat" by CBSLA.

Tweet: "It's exciting that a Justice Dem founder and leading national progressive leader @cenkuygur may be the next Congressman from California CD25. He will have my support if he jumps in. @KyleKulinski @justicedems @_waleedshahid @AOC" by Ro Khanna.

Law: "Patriot Act", 2001.

Article: "Fact check: Was Russ Feingold the lone U.S. Senate opponent of the USA Patriot Act?" by Rich Cohen.

Article: "Dear Democrats: Here's How Not to Blow It" by Rahm Emanuel.

Article: "Marshall Islands Special Report" by LA Times.

Hour Three: Globally & Historically, What Role Do Media Takeovers Play in Facilitating the Rise of Authoritarianism?
- David Brock, Founder & Chairman - Media Matters for America / Author of 6 books including The Fox Effect

Article: "Trump tax returns: Supreme Court temporarily blocks release of financial documents" by Clark Mindock.

Article: "Talk show host says he was fired mid-show for criticizing Trump: 'It was pretty startling'" by Dillon Thompson.

Article: "Denver Radio Host Fired in Mid-Show After Criticizing Trump" by Vanessa Swales.

Article: "Shepard Smith leaves Fox News with hope that 'facts will win the day'" by Joan E Greve.

Article: "Cancer eating the heart of Australian democracy" by Kevin Rudd.

Book: The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy by David Brock.

Article: "Dean Takes on Big Media" by Katrina vanden Heuvel.

Article: "Fox News joins Trump in trying to intimidate witness Marie Yovanovitch, calling her "Midas in reverse"" by John Whitehouse.

Article: "Operation Condor" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Monroe Doctrine" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Bolivian court clears way for Morales to run for fourth term" by Reuters.

Site: Extinction Rebellion.

Site: The Grayzone.

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

Article: "Many people are moving from California to Texas" by The Economist.

Article: "Trump's Reported Backtrack On Flavored E-cigarette Ban Is 'a Conscious Decision To Let Children Die,' Says Health Professor" by Brendan Cole.

Science Revolution: New Estimate Triples the Number of People in the Path of Rising Seas
- Dr. Ben Strauss , President, CEO & Chief Scientist - Climate Central

Article: "A new estimate triples the number of people in the path of rising seas" by Sofie Bates

Article: "Extradition law in the United States" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Pete Buttigieg Touted Three Major Supporters Of His Douglass Plan For Black America. They Were Alarmed When They Saw It." by Ryan Grim.

Article: "Pete Buttigieg says he was unaware that stock photo on his website depicted a Kenyan woman" by Matthew Rozsa.

Article: "Bolivia president's initial indigenous-free cabinet heightens polarization" by Dan Collyns.

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

There will be more public impeachment hearings today and my commentary

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...

How Corporate Media Led To Authoritarianism (w/ David Brock)

Will Inquiry Lead To Impeachment or Second Term?

Why Californians Don't Expect Republicans To Give Up Gun Money

Have Libertarians Infected The Republican Party?

How The Supreme Court Keeps America Divided!