Archives

  • Francesco Femia, The Center For Climate & Security joins Thom. Since it began in 2011 - the Syrian Civil War has killed over 240,000 people and displaced millions more. What role has climate change played in perpetuating this awful conflict?

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


  • Greg Palast, BBC News / Al Jazeera / The Guardian / Vultures and Vote Rustlers & Brad Friedman, The Brad Blog join Thom Hartmann. Americans love to think they're number one at everything. But when it comes to the integrity of our election process - new studies say that we're more like 26th. Why is that?


  • For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - we're going to take a look at Part 2 of my interview with legendary TV and film producer Norman Lear. The creative force behind some of the 20th century's most famous television shows including "The Jeffersons", "All in the Family", "Good Times" and "Sanford & Sons" - Norman is a titan of modern American culture. He’s also the founder of the People for the American Way - one of America's most influential political advocacy groups - and the author of the new book "Even this I Get to Experience."


  • In Conversations with Great Minds Rev. Barry W. Lynn, God and Government: Twenty-Five Years of Fighting for Equality, Secularism, and Freedom of Conscience - An Insider's Account/Americans United for Separation of Church and State, joins Thom.

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


  • Evan Thomas, Being Nixon: A Man Divided joins Thom. its been over 40 years since he stepped down - and Richard Nixon is perhaps best known as a "Tricky" politician who was forced out of office after a year of investigations into the Watergate scandal. But how did a Quaker from California become one of the most controversial - and reviled - presidents in American history? I'll ask author Evan Thomas - in tonight's Conversations with Great Minds.

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


  • Norman Lear, (Pt. 2) is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times, and Maude. As a political activist, he founded the advocacy organization People For the American Way in 1981 and has supported First Amendment rights and progressive causes. Shows like "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" didn't just shatter ratings charts - they changed the way we thought about American society. Why is that - and what can that tell us about the power of socially-conscious art? I'll ask legendary television producer Norman Lear - the man behind "All in the Family: and "The Jeffersons" - in tonight's Conversation with Great Minds. His new book is Even This I Get to Experience.


  • Political Scientist Peter Mathews, Dollar Democracy: With Liberty and Justice for Some; How to Reclaim the American Dream for All joins Thom. The American political system has been hijacked by big money - threatening the very foundation of our democracy. So what can We the People do to protect the commons from They the Corporations?

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


  • Joel D. Joseph, Made In the USA Foundation/Inequality in America: 10 Causes and 10 Cures joins Thom. The United States of America is the most unequal society in the developed world. Is that just a natural result of capitalism or is it the consequence of specific policies that have been put in place since the Reagan years?

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


  • Although the Washington, DC metro area is the wealthiest urban area in the country - many DC residents struggle with backbreaking poverty. So how can the city use its recent economic success to give everyone a shot at the American dream? I'll ask Andy Shallal - candidate for mayor of the District of Columbia.


  • Thomas Frank, Listen, Liberal...Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? (Also by Thomas Frank: Pity The Billionaire, The Wrecking Crew and What's the Matter with Kansas? For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - we're going to take a closer look at what happened to the Democratic Party. From the New Deal until the middle part of the 20th century - the Democratic Party - like most left or center left parties the world over - was the party of the people. It was the home of unions - social security - medicare - and American working and middle-classes. But then something strange started happening. Over the course of the 1970s - the 1980s - and then the 1990s - the Democrats - well - they got a lot less democratic. They were still "liberal" - or said they were - but they now got their economic policies from Wall Street - and their trade policies from multinational corporations. And that was just the beginning. Then came school "reform" - welfare "reform" - the bankruptcy bill - the bailout. What happened? What happened to the party of FDR - Henry Wallace - and Lyndon Johnson? When did that party disappear and become the party of Bill Clinton - Tim Geithner and Larry Summers? Joining me now to help answer these questions and more is Thomas Frank, founding editor of the Baffler - contributor to Salon and author of numerous books - including his latest - "Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?"

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


  • Gino Campana and Kristin Kirkpatrick, Bellisimo, Inc. & Tracy Wiedt, Let's Move! Cities, Towns & Counties all Join Thom Hartmann. Now more than ever - Americans are trying to eat local - farm-fresh food. So how do we design communities to help them do that?


  • Jared Genser, Managing Director of Perseus Strategies, LLC. He is also founder of Freedom Now, an independent non-profit organization that works to free prisoners of conscience worldwide / Co-Editor (w/Irwin Cotler) "The Responsibility to Protect: The Promise of Stopping Mass Atrocities in Our Times" and author of the forthcoming, "The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Commentary and Guide to Practice." As the world's largest superpower - does the US always have a moral obligation to take military action to stop human rights atrocities?


  • Dennis Henigan, "Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People" And Other Myths About Guns and Gun Control/(former) Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence joins Thom. Dennis Henigan, "Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People" And Other Myths About Guns and Gun Control/(former) Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence joins Thom. Despite what the NRA and right-wing media might say - the United States has a serious gun violence problem. According one recent study - the gun murder rate in America is actually 25 times that of the other 22 richest nations - combined. The reason for this level of violence is simple :there are too many guns in the hands of too many people. And yet - whenever the calls for reform reach critical mass - the gun lobby and its cronies trot out the same old tired talking points - such as..."If we pass gun control, only the bad guys will have the guns.” They're part of a calculated strategy on the part of the gun lobby to confuse the public and keep it in the dark about just how serious a problem gun violence really is.

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


  • Legendary activist and author Tom Hayden, Listen Yankee!: Why Cuba Matters/Peace & Justice Resource Center joins Thom on The Big Picture. While the Cold War ended more than two decades ago - the relationship between Cuba and the United States has remained frozen - until now. As President Obama starts to normalize relations with our revolutionary neighbor to the south - how will that change America's image abroad? And how will it change the political system right here at home? As a founding member of the Students for Democratic Society - Tom played a pivotal role in the anti-war movement of the 1960s and was the author of the famous Port Huron statement that catalyzed a generation of activists. He also served in the California legislature for almost two decades - and is currently the Director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center.

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


  • Caroline Fredrickson, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy / Demos / Under the Bus: How Working Women Are Being Run Over joins Thom. More than 50 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act - the wage gap is still a fact of life in America. Why is that? And what does it have to do with our troubled history of slavery and racial discrimination?

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


  • Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right/The New Yorker Magazine joins Thom. For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - I'm talking to Jane Mayer - who has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1995 and is the author of three bestselling books. She’s also been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship - the John Chancellor Award - the George Polk Award - the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting - and the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence. Her latest book is "Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.

    For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!