Big business in America has informed the Republican party that their top priority is making sure that if they essentially force people back to work, provide them with a workplace lacking protections against the coronavirus, or negligently expose their customers to coronavirus, there will be no way to hold them legally responsible.

Mitch McConnell and the Republican senators are willing, on behalf of America's largest corporations and monopolies, to pass out a trillion taxpayer dollars to unemployed people in exchange for making their donor corporations exempt from very clear laws governing workplace and consumer safety.

McConnell has gone so far as to say that without this multi-trillion dollar big wet kiss to his largest corporate donors, there's no way even a penny is going to get through him to unemployed Americans.

Every day we get another example of how corrupt, sold-out, and complicit elected Republicans have become. From their fear and trembling before the throne of Trump, to their enthusiasm for taking corporate and billionaire money while passing out tax cuts and legal loopholes, to their enthusiasm for gutting Social Security and any other government programs that only help average people instead of the billionaire class, the GOP tells us every day who they are.

The question is, how many Americans are listening?

-Thom

Wednesday's Daily Stack

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

Article: "House passes $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill, but McConnell calls it 'pointless political theater'" by Michael Laris.

Article: "Biden and Trump increase campaign travel as 2020 race heats up" by CBS News.

Article: "The DOJ Wants Taxpayers to Pay for Trump's Defense Against E. Jean Carroll" by Paul Blest.

Article: "Michael Cohen book details Trump's racism and toxic family dynamic" by Martin Pengelly.

Book: Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump by Michael Cohen.

Article: "Biden leads Trump on law and order, coronavirus: poll" by Jonathan Easley.

Article: "Trump Faces Fallout From Report He Calls Military 'Losers' And 'Suckers'" by Franco Ordoñez.

Article: "In Sign of Progress, Fewer Than 1% of New York's Virus Tests Are Positive".

Article: "Wisconsin reports 717 new COVID-19 cases and record positive rate, as Evers asks FEMA not to limit PPE funding" by Madeline Heim and Molly Beck.

Bill: "H.R.1000 - Jobs for All Act" by Rep. Wilson, Frederica S. [D-FL-24].

Article: "Jayapal Introduces Paycheck Recovery Act" by Pramila Jayapal.

Article: "House Defeats Amendment To Cut Defense Spending Levels by 10%" by Eric Garris.

Article: "Markey's Win Is A Signal That The Green New Deal Is No Longer Radical" by Frederick Hewett.

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

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

Article: "White House directs federal agencies to cancel race-related training sessions it calls 'un-American propaganda'" by Josh Dawsey and Jeff Stein.

Article: "PHMDC: People who live or work downtown should assume they've been exposed to COVID-19" by Nick Viviani.

Bill: "H.R.6800 - Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act or the HEROES Act" by Nita Lowey [D-NY-17].

Article: "Trump's irrational fear that windmills will ‘destroy the country' makes him the butt of jokes" by Bob Brigham.

Article: "Education Department clarifies Trump executive order on student loans" by Danielle Douglas-Gabriel.

Article: "New York Democrats angered after NYPD union endorses Trump" by Morgan Phillips.

Article: "Biden focuses on Jacob Blake, Trump touts police, and other takeaways from dueling Kenosha visits" by Courtney Subramanian and Rebecca Morin.

Article: "Kamala Harris meets with Jacob Blake's family in Wisconsin" by Jason Silverstein.

Article: "Air Force awards $13.3 billion contract for nuclear missiles" by Robert Burns.

Article: "Bill that would federally decriminalize marijuana passes House committee" By Anna Gunther.

Article: "Lawmakers Prepare for Historic House Floor Vote on the MORE Act" by NORML.

Article: "Tapes of Trump's conversations released" by Mike Hayes, Meg Wagner and Veronica Rocha.

Article: "'Play it down': Trump admits to concealing the true threat of coronavirus in new Woodward book" by Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb and Elizabeth Stuart.

Article: "Swalwell calls for creation of presidential crimes commission to investigate Trump when he leaves office" by Brooke Seipel.

Article: "Trump promises permanent cut to payroll tax funding Social Security and Medicare if he's reelected" by Tony Romm.

Article: "Social Security could come to a screeching halt" by Nancy Altman.

Article: "Trump Will Make Reducing National Debt A ‘Big Second Term Priority,' McEnany Says" by Jack Brewster.

Article: "How Democrats And Republicans Would Tackle The Enduring Retirement Security Crisis" by Teresa Ghilarducci.

Book: Rage by Bob Woodward.

Article: "Woodward book: Trump says he knew coronavirus was ‘deadly' and worse than the flu while intentionally misleading Americans" by Robert Costa and Philip Rucker.

Article: "S. Korea reports 1st confirmed case of China coronavirus" by Yonhap.

Article: "First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States" by Michelle L. Holshue et al.

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

Article: "A scary unidentified virus is spreading in China" by Mike Wehner.

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.

Quote: "I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic." - Donald J. Trump.

Article: "America shuts down" by Nolan D. McCaskill.

Article: "The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate" by Reis Thebault, Andrew Ba Tran and Vanessa Williams.

Article: "Trump's plans to reopen the country face major obstacles" By Joanne Kenen.

Video: 'I'm Not The One Who Had The Affair': Cohen On Taking The Fall For Trump | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC.

Article: "Briefing or rally? Trump shifts to campaign mode as he rails against the media" by David Smith .

Article: "Whitmer says plans for Trump campaign event in Michigan are 'very distressing'" by Paul Egan.

Article: "Trump boasted about holding a rally without social distancing and mocked Democrats for observing coronavirus measures" by Tom Porter.

Article: "Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was 'superspreading event' that cost public health $12.2 billion: analysis" by J. Edward Moreno.

Article: "Political activist Herman Cain dies after covid fight" by Louis Nelson.

Article: "Over 500,000 U.S. kids have tested positive for coronavirus, report says" by Peter Martinez.

Article: "Most Recovered COVID-19 Patients Left With Heart Damage, Study Shows" by Katherine Fung.

Article: ""Not uncommon at all": AstraZeneca pauses COVID-19 vaccine trial" by Beth Mole.

Article: "Transverse myelitis" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Salmon May Harbor Infectious Coronavirus For a Week, Study Shows" by Jason Gale.

Article: "A Doctor Went to His Own Employer for a COVID-19 Antibody Test. It Cost $10,984." by Marshall Allen.

Article: "Mitch McConnell's corporate immunity demand condemned as 'license to turn storefronts and factories and offices into death traps'" by Jake Johnson.

Article: "Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize, putting the Nobel committee on the hot seat" by Monica Showalter.

Article: "Norwegian MP nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize" by AP.

Article: "Anti-Immigration Norwegian Lawmaker Nominates Trump For The Nobel Prize, Again" by Zoë Richards.

Article: "Joe and Jill Biden made more than $15 million in two years after leaving the White House, tax returns show" by Jacob Pramuk.

Article: "Fraud in Nixon's Taxes".

Article: "Trump's Tax Returns Remain Hidden. Blame Richard Neal." by Eleanor Eagan, Jeff Hauser.

Article: "Democrats for Life of America" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Is a second American civil war really possible?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Court Says Agnew Took Bribes; Orders Repayment" by Ben A. Franklin.

Article: "This coronavirus mutation has taken over the world. Scientists are trying to understand why." by Sarah Kaplan and Joel Achenbach.

Hour Three: WARNING! On Creating an Apocalyptic, Devastated Planet...
- Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, Former EPA official who helped found the agency's environmental justice office (worked for the EPA for 24 years)

Article: "Trump EPA Chief Lays Out Vision for Agency Critics Warn Would Create 'Apocalyptic, Devastated Planet'" by Andrea Germanos.

Article: "The Trump Administration Is Reversing 100 Environmental Rules. Here's the Full List" by Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Ripka And Kendra Pierre-Louis.

Article: "Study: Air Pollution Causes 200,000 Early Deaths in US" by VOA News.

The Bad: "EPA to Weaken Public Protections Against Toxic Coal Ash in Water" by Jordan Davidson.

Article: "Trump's EPA Starts Process for Replacing Clean Power Plan" by Georgina Gustin.

Article: "Trump Fights Clean Car Standards Instead of the Coronavirus" by Amit Narang.

Article: "Trump administration weakens mercury rule for coal plants" by Reuters.

Article: "President Trump Nominates Acting EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler, a Former Coal Lobbyist, to Lead Agency" by Jennifer A. Dlouhy.

Article: "Title VI and Environmental Justice" by EPA.

Bible: "Matthew 25:31-46: The Sheep and the Goats". "...All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats... For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ... 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

Article: "75-year-old Buffalo man shoved by police speaks out on incident after month in hospital" by Sarah Taddeo.

Article: "Trump pushes unsubstantiated conspiracy theory about Buffalo protester shoved to the ground by police" by David Jackson.

Michigan Declares Racism a Public Health Crisis...
- Garlin Gilchrist II, Lt. Governor - Office of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Article: "Michigan declares racism a public health crisis" by Doug Reardon.

Video: Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist: Eradicating racism is every elected official's responsibility.

Article: "'It's very sad': Fauci warns blacks disproportionately affected by coronavirus" by Cassidy Morrison.

Article: "Trump WH Reportedly Ditched National Testing Plan in April Because Virus Was Only Hitting 'Blue States' Hard" by KJ Edelman.

Article: "Swing Left" by Wikipedia.

Site: Swing Left.

Bible: "Thou shalt not kill" - Exodus 20:13.

Bible: "Exodus 20 : Ten Commandments".

Article: "How Donald Trump has already broken all 10 Commandments" by David Paskin.

Article: "Is Joe Biden secretly taking hydroxychloroquine?" by Michael Schisler.

Article: "Read the Transition Integrity Project's full report".

Book: The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp.

Article: "Sunrise Movement" by Wikipedia.

Site: Protect the Results.

Site: Indivisible

Article: "Extinction Rebellion" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Students for a Democratic Society" (SDS) by Wikipedia.

Site: Greg Palast.

Article: "Stacey Abrams Georgia primary election problems".

Article: "Georgia secretary of state alleges up to 1,000 cases of 'double voting' in primary, runoff elections" by Quinn Scanlan.

Article: "How Brian Kemp STOLE The Georgia Election" by Greg Palast.

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 including Understanding Marxism and his latest, Understanding Socialism.

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...

Donald Trump's Court's Lead To Dangerous Places...

Did Putin Buy Trump The 2020 Election? (w/ Seth Abramson)

The Death of YOUR Social Security (w/ Nancy Altman)

Is Republican Law and Order Message a Lie?

Trump's Attacks On Social Security Should Have Everyone Worried