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We Can't Afford The Fossil Fuel Industry
Thom plus logo  We're constantly told that we can't afford to enact the bold climate solutions necessary to make the switch to 100 percent renewable energy. But, the people who say such things often leave out the hefty price that taxpayers are already paying to cover the cost of dirty fossil fuel energy.

In addition to the twenty-or-so billion dollars that oil and gas companies receive in direct subsidies from the government, they rake in billions more in bailouts in the form of tax write-offs, subsidized clean up costs, and mandated customer fees. Last week alone there were two glaring examples of fossil fuels company bailouts that stuck taxpayers with the bill, even though they never got a vote.

First, utility customers in Ohio learned that they would be stuck paying billions in fees to prop up aging coal and nuclear plants in their state.

Then, Gulf Coast residents learned that BP will be permitted to write off $15.3 billion dollars of the settlement resulting from the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill.

In both cases, the fossil fuel industry benefited from billions of dollars in subsidies on the front end, only to ask for another hand out when their failure to update plants or install appropriate safety mechanisms got them into trouble. And, they are both perfect examples of why people claim that oil and gas are still cheaper than clean energy.

If you never include the external costs or the numerous taxpayer-funded bailouts, it is easy to make fossil fuels appear cheaper than the alternative.

If oil and gas actually had to compete on a level playing field, no one would consider pollution, oil spills, and fracking earthquakes reasonable side effects of energy production.

If we want solar, wind, and other renewable sources to flourish in our nation, all we have to do is stop the massive subsidies that perpetuate our addiction to fossil fuels.

Read more here.

-Thom
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Who's Reading YOUR Emails? Besides You... (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Green World Rising Be sure to check out our newest video: RESTORATION - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners / Visit GreenWorldRising.org to check out all the videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners

Need to Know: Revealed: Big Oil...More Evil Than You Know
- America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio, The Ring of Fire Twitter Twitter

Screwed: Elizabeth Warren Has Had It With Krugman...
- Richard Eskow, Bernie Sanders Campaign/The Zero Hour  Twitter  Twitter  Twitter

Best of the Rest: Robert DeNiro, "Everyone Should See Vaxxed"
- Del Bigtree, Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe  Twitter
- Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe  Twitter

PLUS, Who's Reading YOUR Emails? Besides You...
- Sam Sacks, The District Sentinel  Twitter  Twitter
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Thursday's Daily Stack  Daily Stack
Hour One: Elizabeth Warren Has Had it With Paul Krugman & the Big Banks...
Article: "How to watch tonight's Democratic debate" by Rebecca Shabad.
Article: "Sanders Over the Edge" by Paul Krugman, April 8, 2016.
Article: "GE's CEO is wrong on Bernie Sanders" by Peter Knowlton, Andrew Dinkelaker and Eugene Elk.
Quote: "It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it's just an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery being at the essence of getting the nominations for president or elected president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and Congress members. So now we've just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election's over'." - President Jimmy Carter on unlimited money in politics on the Thom Hartmann Program, 28 July 2015.

Hour Two: The Climate Deniers Began in 1940
Book: "The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger" by Richard Wilkinson, Kate Pickett.
Article: "Why Inequality Matters" by My Fair London in association with The Equality Trust.
Article: "Nayirah (testimony)" by Wikipedia.
Article: "Alternative minimum tax" by Wikipedia.
Article: "Palm Oil" by WWF.
 
Talk Media News Segment:
- Luke Vargas Twitter
Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman  Twitter

Hour Three: What Can Relationships Teach Us About Politics?
Article: "Masters of Love" by Emily Esfahani Smith.
Book: Forgotten Hero by Joseph Lindley.
Article: "Ayn Rand" by Wikipedia.
Article: "Chicago school of economics" by Wikipedia.
Event: April 2 2016 DC: "Democracy Spring".
Event: April 16-18 2016 DC: "Democracy Awakening".
Speech: "State of the Union Message to Congress" by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, January 11, 1944.
Bible: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done." - Genesis 8:21.
Bible: "The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare." - 2 Peter 3:10.
 
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Caller: Online Voting Should Never Happen!

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More Arrests at Democracy Spring, Still NO Media Coverage!

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DC Madam's Attorney Releases Agencies on List

Thom, Reagan Didn't Arrange to Keep the Hostages in Iran!
Thom, Reagan Didn't Arrange to Keep the Hostages in Iran!

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Senator Jeff Merkley Endorses Bernie Sanders!

We Still Practice Human Sacrifice in America and Why and How......
We Still Practice Human Sacrifice in America and Why and How......
Death in the Pines
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The American Revolution of 1800
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