Recent comments
ADHD: Hunter in a Farmer's World
Thom Hartmann has written a dozen books covering ADD / ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
Join Thom for his new twice-weekly email newsletters on ADHD, whether it affects you or a member of your family.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
DFMM, the program has been gentrified, it seems, and "trailer trash" like us, with our government, welfare phones, can't participate any more.
I said it before and I'll say it again; I gave up on NPR and PBS at the run-up to the last Iraq war. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Had it not been for Amy Goodman, I would have thought I was going crazy... for it seemed that the rest of the nation had gone crazy. I just couldn't believe how gung-ho that the US was. Although I also couldn't believe how gung-ho the country was for the first Iraq war.
I'll give you a little hint…the support for the Middle East wars was all about racism. Anti Arabic-Islamic racism. Now, Trump is showing us just how racist the US really can be as "The South" seems to be rising out of the ashes of its Confederate past, dragging along with it those numerous pockets of racists from The North that people generally discount as a tiny minority.
True, to the powers that be, the Middle East wars were all about oil. But for the public, the sell job was all about anti Arabic-Islamic racism. NPR and PBS dutifully did their part by never interviewing those that had real facts to contradict the rightwing war machine and often allowed those that supported the wars to blather on as if they were the only ones that could be truly believed.
'What happens when the news media stops covering news objectively-and instead becomes a source of very specific opinions that serve a very narrow agenda?"
The general public....those who try to pay attention anyway, become less and less informed, to the point where Trump is the biggest story....lmao
This of course makes it easier and easier for the Fascists to concentrate the wealth and thus wield the same type of tyrannical power our founders fought and died to break away from.
Soon as Congress voted to de-fund NPR some years back, I saw this coming. NPR used to be a great station with lots of progressive programming... now it's just another corporate noise machine.
Did I miss an announcement, will there no longer be a toll free number for calling in to the radio show?
I think NPR is under threat from the billionares and have to toe the line or their funding will be cut. As FDR said: Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
NPR started to change when Newt Gingrich took it over in 1995.
I heard on a Sunday talk show last week, "Both Sides Now" aired on WCPT, some pundit, whose name I didn't catch, say that Joe Biden had to run because "of course, Bernie Sanders can't be the Democratic Party nominee!" like there would something SOOO improper about it, like he was a well known child molester or something.
I guess following the will of the people instead of the will of big money is now a perversion.
I wondered if NPR would change when they started getting generous funding from the Kochs -- at least that was the story two years ago.
That was when the Kochs were thinking about getting into the newspaper business, a decision on which they apparently backed down.
Snopes has said the report of the funding was false. Still, since Reagan, public broadcasting has experienced less federal funding which would tend to make corporate funding more attractive and necessary for survival. So, yeah, in that development, they would become less public and more private, losing some of their original freshness and journalistic integrity. Kinda like what's happening to our government in what Carter recently called "unlimited political bribery."
It's not that "NPR appears to have forgotten that part of their charter. "
They know and conveniently and intentional marginalize candidates, and in particular Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders, who really mean what they say about deconstructing the corporate media and corporate America in general.
Reply to #8— WOW Mark!! What dictionary, and under what word?!
Reply to #9: Kend, America can’t afford NOT to adopt Bernie’s policies.
Reply to #10: 10K, remember that old adage about a stopped clock? Ann Coulter is that stopped clock.
Reply to #14: RFord, I wholeheartedly concur. Like you, I’ve never respected Ann Coulter or her opinions either; but I think she’s spot-on here.
Thom - was there supposed to be a short clip of the Rachael Martin/Mara Liasson interview? Seems to be missing from your comment.
Bernie Sander's message to supporters is that they MUST stay engaged and that they MUST demand that our governmental representatives represent "the people" not the corporations and that media outlets report the facts and not lies, half truths and infotainment. A Sanders presidency will require an active, involved electorate. So wake up Sanders supporters and give your Reps and Reporters a call (many calls) to let them know how you think and what type of government and news you want. We don't have lots of money, but we can shut down the Senate's and Congress's phone systems (and that WILL be news).
So Jackie, Was it the mixture or one specifically one over the other. I've been smoking pot since 1965 when most pot from mexico was laced with opium for added kick. Almost all of it was back in the day along with annoying seeds so the argument that pot is stronger today is not necessarily true. Fortunately you fell off your bar stool instead of hitting a telephone pole with a car. I work in viticulture today and I must say, frankly wine kicks my ass and makes me fall off bar stools. Not pot. In fact, at my age, I really don't feel that much impact from todays pot. In terms of driving I will ride comfortably with someone who is stoned over someone who is drunk or sleep deprived from working to much.
Cat-tails, algae & hemp can easily be grown in areas not used for food production, reducing the need for oil consumption until somebody gets brave enough to introduce energy from a free & abundant source, like EMF. Of course, the military won't like that & might even assassinate you, but what the heck.
Willie W -- A couple of things, I would like to point out. The carbon tax would passed on to the consumer. The usefulness is that the consumer would look more seriously at electrical cars and other such things.
The other thing is we need to keep pointing out that balancing the budget will destroy the economy. Andrew Jackson demonstrated that in a big way. FDR tried it for 3 months (maybe for votes) and immediately saw the negative effect on the economy. One can look at the level of unemployment and detect when FDR tried to balance the budget. Ravi Batra has pointed out that every time the deficit becomes small the DOW crashes. Notice that is every time. He said this long before the latest crash in the DOW. Obama has been reducing the deficit every year since he has been in office and now look at the DOW. Everyone keeps blaming it on China. That is, everyone but Richard Wolff.
I would suspect it's a matter of self-preservation for NPR and similar orgs: the establishment. Even if Mr. Sanders is elected as president, the funding goes through two very red houses of legislators, and that may now be their target audience - not us.
I'd like to comment on the marihuana and wine subject although I don't see it here..please that is the most unsafe ridiculous thing to do...this concoction would be great before surgery ??!!!!! I did that once mixed alcohol and a bong and I passed out off my barstool...my girlfriend was talking to me then she looked over at me again and I was on the floor...don't mix alcohol and pot..its deadly......love your show Thom
xoxojackie
Exactly"
They need more debates, Debbie Wazzerman Shultz is doing this to keep any other candidates from being heard, therefore paving the way for Hillary.
Addressing climate change is a joke. Thom said that the oil and coal industries got over five trillion dollars in subsidies every year from governments. So now the government is going to take some of it back in carbon taxes? Fines? Bribes? What ever! It's funny that these big shots can buy politicians using money that was given to them by politicians. Don't hear much in the debates about big oil subsidies when everyone's spinning their unique ideas on how to balance the budget. Their silence is bought and paid for, same as the media silence. I don't see any meaningful changes happening any time soon.
In the category of " Man Made Objects that best Disrupt the most Wind Flow", I think the real winners are tall buildings. Cities!!
Please discontinue
these two discussants:
These two Rightists {on the “Rumble” panel} are like a couple of my Rightwing in-laws: {i} Their talk is not “conversation” so much as diverting the stream-of-talk posed by their talking’s other side. {ii} Their body-languages, voice-inflections and facial-expressions are off-puttingly {irritatingly} sophomoric. … I avoid these of my in-laws by not attending their family’s gatherings. I avoid these of Thom’s panelists by fast-forwarding.
I guess he went to see how it looks before the spill. I am so upset that he is allowing Shell to move forward with drilling plans.
And, I forgot the most obvious; Do all those KWH cost calculations take into account ny, Los angelos and Miami being under water?
Windymike ~ If you are going to make wild sweeping claims like that I suggest you also post a few links to published studies in peer reviewed scientific journals to back it up. Otherwise, you are just blowing a lot of hot air.