How The 1968 Election Transformed American Politics
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Thom reads from Lawrence O'Donnell's Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics in this edition of the Thom Hartmann book club.
From the publisher: "From the host of MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, an important and enthralling new account of the presidential election that changed everything, the race that created American politics as we know it today.
The 1968 US presidential election was the young Lawrence O'Donnell's political awakening, and in the decades since it has remained one of his abiding fascinations. For years he has deployed one of America's shrewdest political minds to understanding its dynamics, not just because it is fascinating in itself but because in it is contained the essence of what makes America different and how we got to where we are now. Playing with Fire represents O'Donnell's master class in American electioneering, embedded in the epic human drama of a system and a country coming apart at the seams in real time.
Nothing went according to the script. LBJ was confident he'd dispatch with Nixon, the GOP frontrunner; Johnson's greatest fear and real nemesis was RFK. But Kennedy and his team, despite their loathing of the president, weren't prepared to challenge their own party's incumbent. Then, out of nowhere, Eugene McCarthy shocked everyone with his disloyalty and threw his hat in the ring to run against the president and the Vietnam War. A revolution seemed to be taking place, and LBJ, humiliated and bitter, began to look mortal. Then RFK leapt in, LBJ dropped out, and all hell broke loose. Two assassinations and a week of bloody riots in Chicago around the Democratic Convention later, and the old Democratic Party was a smoldering ruin, and, in the last triumph of old machine politics, Hubert Humphrey stood alone in the wreckage.
Suddenly Nixon was the frontrunner, having masterfully maintained a smooth façade behind which he feverishly held his party's right and left wings in the fold, through a succession of ruthless maneuvers to see off George Romney, Nelson Rockefeller, Ronald Reagan, and the great outside threat to his new Southern Strategy, the arch-segregationist George Wallace. But then, amazingly, Humphrey began to close, and so, in late October, Nixon pulled off one of the greatest dirty tricks in American political history, an act that may well meet the statutory definition of treason. The tone was set for Watergate and all else that was to follow, all the way through to today."
The Nuclear Power Struggle Documentary: The Future Of Energy
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Film maker Robbie Leppzer’s new documentary “Power Struggle” looks at the future of energy and especially focusing on nuclear energy.
On the 40th anniversary of Three Mile Island, Leppzer looks at the dangers of nuclear and the importance sources other than nuclear power. He working with grassroots movements to bring social change.
Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident: 40 Years On
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40 years on, what is the lesson to learn from the Three Mile Island nuclear accident?
Paul Gunther from Project-Beyond Nuclear joined the program to discuss the bigger picture on nuclear power, the state of aging reactors and the drive for alternative energy resources
Public Banking: The Right Solution? (w/ Ellen Brown)
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Public banking is on the rise. Is this the solution to banks in the future.
Ellen Brown from the Public Banking Institute shares her opinion.
Would you move your money to a public bank if there was one close by?
What Gerald Ford Can Teach Progressives About Fighting Trump
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Gerald Ford had advice for Americans who were then experiencing what Ford called a national nightmare. As America waits for the current nightmare, Donald Trump to be over, can we learn anything from Gerald Ford about fighting the Trump administration?
Jefferson Smith joins the Thom Hartmann Program to discuss.
Trump & The Conservative Movement: The Origin Of Trumpism
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How did Donald Trump become a conservative and how did the conservative movement in America grow to accept someone so clearly foreign to their cause?
Professor Seth Cotlar joins the Thom Hartmann Program to discuss the history of American Conservationism and just where Donald Trump fits into the conservative side of American politics.
When he was first running for president, Donald Trump was bashed as not conservative. Now people who call themselves conservatives love the president. Why?
Watch Your Language: How Frank Luntz Used Words As Weapons
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Frank Luntz manipulated language to win battles against democrats, liberals, and progressives. Jefferson Smith brings him up to ask us to watch our language. Are the words we are using today actually hurting the progressive cause by falling into right wing Frank Luntz style traps?
Jefferson Smith suggests that the prominence of the word Neoliberal is one of those traps and that it is aimed at confusing liberals with market fundamentalists.
Do you think the word neoliberal is being misused to attack progressives?
Populism: How Mass Movements Degenerate
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How do mass movements form and how do they degenerate?
Jefferson Smith takes a deep dive into history to look at how movements degenerate revealing how poverty can push populations into
Donald Trump Played By Musical Satirist Roy Zimmerman
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Political satirist Roy Zimmerman uses his music to parody and mock politics in general. Coming on the Thom Hartmann program to talk about his new album, Rize Up, Zimmerman has made Trump the target of many of his hilarious parodies.
Given how much Donald Trump hates to be made fun of, how do you think he would react to these songs?
To End Patriarchy, You Have To Make Trouble (w/ Cecile Richards)
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Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and current National Leader for Women’s Rights and Social & Economic Justice, Cecile Richards, is out to make trouble.
According to her new book, Make Trouble, you have to make a little trouble if you want to change the world. Cecile Richards has a message for those who want to make trouble themselves and discusses the big topics affecting women and gender and sexual minorities, like personhood bills, Joe Biden and Stephanie Clark and more.
Will you join Cecile Richards and others fighting against pay inequality for women?
For Joe Biden, What Patriarchy's Last Gasp Means In 2020
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Former Vice President Joe Biden is reflecting on the patriarchal society that he grew up in.
A culture that is being rejected by women around the world creating massive changes that are leading some to speculate whether Joe Biden is the right "man" for the job in the upcoming presidential race?
How can we have this conversation on patriarchy and how can we reflect on the culture so many of us grew up in?
Imperialism: Ro Khanna Uncovers Link Between Trump's Worst Policies!
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When Donald Trump had the U.S. exit the International Criminal Court it was primarily because of his xenophobic policies. The same can be said about the ongoing manufactured border crisis where refugees, many fleeing conditions caused by U.S. Imperialism, are being kept in cages.
Now Trump's latest move is to cut off aid that was supposed to help many Central and South American countries fix their refugee problem. Thom Hartmann points out that this can make the situation much worse. Once the funds run out, these countries will have a lessened ability to help would be refugees.
Is Trump undermining international institutions like the International Criminal Court, and creating these xenophobic policies to make sure there are always refugees at the border?
Trump Healthcare - Will His Secret Plan Help Republicans Win In 2020?
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Donald Trump and the Republicans are up to their old tricks.
Telling the American people that they have a secret Trump healthcare plan to fix healthcare that will be better than Medicare, better than Obamacare and he can't tell us anything about it, until after the 2020 election.
The Republicans did this before. Promised that they have a secret plan to fix the problems of the day only to make that problem much, much worse. It happened in Vietnam.
Will Donald Trump's secret plan entice American voters into supporting him for another four-year term?
"If I Die From Gun Violence Please Show The Photos Of My Death"
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Could showing the bodies of the victims of gun violence help put an end to America's gun problem?
Activists and survivors of mass shootings are inspired by the burial of Emmett Till. Photographs of Till's body were published in Jet magazine helped spark the the civil rights struggle. Today's activists are hoping to do the same with the victims of gun violence.
Would seeing the bullet riddled bodies of the victims of gun violence force America to take a hard look at the gun obsession, end the NRA and help spark the movement for gun control bills?
Mueller Report: Time To Protest (w/ Zac Petkanas)
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If the Mueller Report is not released by the end of the time, groups across the nation are planning massive protests.
Aimed at countering Bill Barr's cover-up, these protests have a simple demand, that Donald Trump is not above the law.
Zac Petkanas, the spokesperson for Trump is Not Above The Law Coalition joins the Thom Hartmann program to let you know how you can get involved and find your local Trump Is Not Above the Law Protest.
The Future Of War And Technology
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Thom Hartmann reads from Robert Latiff's Future War, for the Thom Hartmann book club.
From the publisher:
"Latiff, a retired U.S. Air Force general with a background in military weapons systems, emphasizes the need to understand the moral and ethical dimensions of the development of sophisticated military technologies and to craft policy with the potential dilemmas these technologies could cause in mind. He cautions that technology is addictive and seductive, and that human societies have a history of developing technologies without adequately thinking about the consequences. Latiff sees future wars being fought largely by armies of robots; humans will play a part in future war, but it will increasingly be through remote control. He also believes that new technologies will affect future soldiers, who will be isolated from their wider societies and biologically enhanced to be stronger, faster, and smarter than their nonmilitary peers. The nature of the future battlefield and warrior, he contends, will make war more brutal than ever. Latiff states that education, understanding, and expertise on military matters and science must be shared by all segments of society, particularly by the U.S. civilian population, media, and political leadership, as a bulwark against the relentless tide of technological advancement. This is a quick and stimulating read, and its focus on ethics makes it an important part of the growing literature related to managing the continuing acceleration of technological development"
Wealth Inequality Could End Under Progressive Legislation (w/ Mark Pocan)
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Wealth inequality in America is reaching frightening levels and one Thom Hartmann audience member brought it to the attention of Congressman Mark Pocan.
Pocan then informs us that progressive members of the democratic party are already tackling wealth inequality through legislation that would make the CEO's pay tied to the lowest paid person in that company.
Would you be in favor of tying CEO pay to the pay of other workers to create a more equal America?
True Christianity Only Exists On The Left (w/ David Horowitz)
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Conservative David Horowitz believes in a very right-wing version of Christianity and Thom Hartmann takes him to task on his inaccurate interpretations of Christianity, the teachings of Jesus and even the founding of the country.
If Jesus's teaching is all about loving your neighbor, the stranger, and the prisoner, how can any Republican really claim true Christianity?
Does true Christianity exist only on the left?
Will Immigration Czar Kris Kobach, Steal The 2020 Election? (w/ Greg Palast)
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Kansas's Kris Kobach is being tapped by President Trump to become an immigration czar. Kochbach is known for masterminding Crosscheck, a program which compared voters with similar names across state lines and purged millions of eligible voters. Greg Palast has covered this program extensively in the past.
Today Greg Palast is wondering what will the fate of the 2020 election be if Kris Kobach is allowed to use his power as immigration czar to oust voters in a less than transparent attempt to fight against ... people from voting.
How many Americans will be purged from the voter rolls before the 2020 election and is there enough time to stop Kris Kobach?
Not Only Was America Not Christian But Founders Invented Goddess
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Despite popular misconceptions from right wing media, America, the United States, was not founded as a Christian nation.
America has roots in the deism of the founding fathers, atheism of the enlightenment. The founding fathers even went so far as to create an American God [[far before Neil Gaiman).
The Goddess Columbia was the creation of the founding fathers who thought the nation should have their own goddess to protect the young nation. This doesn't sound very Christian does it?
The Hidden History Of Martin Luther King Jr's Assassination (w/ Lamar Waldron)
Total duration 19 minutes:
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Today is the anniversary of both the Beyond Vietnam speech by the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. and a year to the day after the assassination of the Civil Rights leader.
Much of the last moments of Dr. King's life are still not widely known to the public. Exactly who was responsible and why?
What part did federal and state governments play in allowing and executing the order and how does Bill Barr, Donald Trump's attorney general, fit into the cover up?
Lamar Waldron joins the program to give us the hidden history of the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination.
How Long Can Low Interest Rates Hold Off Recession? (w/Richard Wolff)
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Interests rates are suspiciously low for an economy riddled with so much debt. Common economic knowledge suggests that interests rates should be higher and yet we are seeing some negative interest rates?
Professor Richard Wolff joins the program to discuss just why interest rates are so low and how these artificially low interest rates could be working to hold back a possible recession.
Do you think interest rates will keep our economy from crashing?
CO2 Levels Hit Three Million Year High - What Does It Mean? (w/Dr. Michael Mann)
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Carbon dioxide levels [[sometimes written CO2) have reached a three million year high and scientists are starting to worry.
What effects will passing this historic carbon dioxcide level mean for efforts to fight global climate change?
Friend of the show Dr. Michael Mann joins us to discuss how CO2 levels will change the planet.
William Barr: Nixon To Trump, Covering Up Republican Crimes (w/ Lamar Waldron)
Total duration 22 minutes:
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William Barr, Donald Trump's attorney general has recently hidden the Mueller Report resulting in widespread criticism. But it turns out Republican Attorney Generals, like Bill Barr, have a long history of covering up Republican crimes, from Nixon to Trump.
Historian Lamar Waldron joins the program to expose the history of corrupt Republican politicians, conspiracies and cover-ups.
Should Reparations Pay Convicts Who Endured Prison Slavery?
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The 13th Amendment was ratified to end slavery in the United States but actually codified it into law though the use of prison slavery.
Organizers fighting for the rights of prisoners today are now asking that prisoners forced to endure prison slavery receive reparations for the mistreatment.