Archives

  • For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom Hartmann is joined by blogger - political commentator - and author Keli Goff. You've probably seen her on several television programs - offering up her political and cultural insight on CNN - MSNBC - Fox - and BET. And her writing has been featured in Time magazine - Cosmpolitan - and Essence - as well as the New York Times and USA Today. Her first book - "Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence" received critical acclaim documenting the rise of "Generation Obama." And her most recent book - out just this year - a fictional work entitled "The GQ Candidate" has been labeled a recommended summer read by the Los Angeles Times. Currently she is a contributing editor and columnist to "TheLoop21.com" - and a contributor to the Huffington Post


  • For tonight's Conversation with Great Minds - Thom is joined by Jeff Cohen. Jeff is the founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College - where he is an associate professor of journalism. The former senior producer for MSNBC's "Donahue" program - he has appeared as a political commentator in national media and helped found both the media watchdog group FAIR -- Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting -- as well as the activism site RootsAction.org. Jeff's most recent book is "Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media."


  • Thom is joined by Jeff Shesol, author, Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court. He'll talk about how President Obama may be soon facing a crisis with the Supreme Court like one Franklin Roosevelt took on - and how it may play out. To watch this conversation again - as well as other Conversations with Great Minds - go to our website at www.conversationswithgreatminds.com


  • As the number of people living on planet earth grows by the minute - we are sitting on a ticking time bomb - all 7 billion of us. So does overpopulation actually pose a bigger threat than climate change? I'll ask activist and author Karen Shragg 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!


  • For tonight's Conversation with Great Minds - Thom is joined by Jeff Cohen. Jeff is the founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College - where he is an associate professor of journalism. The former senior producer for MSNBC's "Donahue" program - he has appeared as a political commentator in national media and helped found both the media watchdog group FAIR -- Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting -- as well as the activism site RootsAction.org. Jeff's most recent book is "Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media."


  • Alan Uke, author, Buying America Back: A Real-Deal Blueprint for Restoring American Prosperity, joins Thom Hartmann. Could "buying American" create new jobs across the country and help improve the state of the economy? Is "Buying America Back" a political issue - is it Democrat versus Republican. Or is it simply about looking out for America?


  • In this week's Conversations With Great Minds we'll meet a true pioneer who may well help revolutionize your relationship with our healthcare system. For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds I am joined by Dr. Peter Beilenson. He currently heads up the Health Deparment in Howard County, Maryland where he and his team have launched the Healthy Howard Intiative - a program that joins individuals, businesses, schools, community organizations and government to ceate and make accessible healthy alternatives in many different aspects of daily life for county residents. For 13 years he served as the Health Commissioner of Baltimore City in Maryland where his vision led to expanded drug treatment programs, improved immunization compliance, a wide range of extremely effective lead poisoning prevention initiatives, juvenile violence prevention, and the creation of the state-wide initiative for universal health coverage in Maryland called "Health Care for All" He is also the founder of "The Evergreen Project" - an initiative that was inspired by a provision in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and seeks to create healthcare co-ops that cut costs to both patients and providers while making sure that excellent health care is avaialble to communities. Dr. Beilenson was chosen as an Utne Reader visionary in 2011 - joining a distinguished list of individuals who - as described by the Editors of the publication - "are world visionaries who don't just concoct great ideas but also act on them."


  • Robert Borosage, Campaign for America's Future & Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future join Thom Hartmann. There's an old saying that once the last man who remembers the last great war dies, the next great war is inevitable. Have we reached that point in American politics? After Boomers like Henry Waxman retire, will anyone stand up for the policies that used to make our country prosperous? Let's talk about that period of post-War prosperity in America. Was it an accident of history or a conscious decision by people like FDR to create a middle class?


  • Conversations w/Great Minds: Greg Grandin, Kissinger’s Shadow: The Long Reach of America’s Most Controversial Statesman/History Department-NY University joins Thom. Besides Richard Nixon - the president he served as both National Security Advisor and Secretary of State - there is probably no more controversial modern American political figure than Henry Kissinger. Reviled on the left and admired by many on the right - his legacy is to this day the subject of fierce debate. But whether you love him or hate him - there's one thing most people agree about when it comes to Henry Kissinger - that he's the ultimate cold and calculating statesman - a man of realpolitik. That’s the stereotype - at least.

    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!


  • David Cobb, Democracy Unlimited & Move to Amend joins Thom Hartmann. This week - Portland, Maine became the latest city in America to pass a resolution calling on Congress to amend the Constitution to overturn Citizens United and declare that corporations are not people. Joining a long line of other cities from Los Angeles to Boulder to New York that have passed similar resolutions. For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom is joined by a man who's been intrumental in raising awareness of this issue - and organizing today's Occupy the Courts rallies across America - David Cobb. He is a lawyer, political activist, and engaged citizen. He has sued corporate polluters, lobbied elected officials, run for political office himself, and even been arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. Currently, David is the National Projects Director of Democracy Unlimited - and he's the Spokesperson for Move to Amend - the organization that spearheaded today's day of action. And in 2004 - David was the Green Party's candidate for President.


  • Dale is the founder and brainchild behind UnCollege - an organization that provides resources for those students pursuing a self-directed path to higher learning. A critic of the traditional higher education system - he left college during his second semester and has been "unschooling" himself ever since. He's also a recipient of the prestigious Thiel Fellowship and a frequent commentator on education at the Washington Post - New York Times - and the Huffington Post. His new book is called Hacking Your Education: Ditch the Lectures - Save Tens of Thousands, and Learn More Than Your Peers Ever Will.


  • In Conversations with Great Minds with Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Ethe editor and publisher of The Nation Magazine, Thom and Katrina talk about The Nation, progressive politics and more.


  • Sarah Jaffe, NECESSARY TROUBLE: Americans in Revolt/Nation Institute/Belabored Podcast/Dissent Magazine joins Thom. When Bernie Sanders emerged earlier this year as a serious contender for the Democratic nomination - many mainstream pundits were caught off guard. They simply could not understand how a self-described socialist was close to beating Hillary Clinton. Well - they couldn't understand because they hadn't been paying attention. Contrary to what the talking heads on cable news thought - Bernie's campaign wasn't some kind of magical explosion of populism. It was an extension of the surge in political activism that has emerged out of the 2008 financial crisis - a phenomenon that has seen Americans of all races taking to streets in a way we haven't seen in decades. My next guest has written about this movement in depth - and has traveled across the country to learn from the leaders of this new era in American activism. Joining me now for tonight's Conversations with Great Minds is journalist Sarah Jaffe - author of the new book "Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt." Sarah is also a Fellow at the Nation Institute and the Host of the "Belabored" Podcast for Dissent Magazine.

    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!


  • Professor Anthony Townsend, Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia joins Thom Hartmann. If you think the world is crowded now - then watch out. By 2030 - 6 out of 10 people on earth will live in an urban area. Will technology help keeping things under control?


  • Dr. Joe Romm, Climate Progress joins Thom Hartmann. Right now - we still have have a chance to save our planet from the greatest threat it's ever faced: climate change. But at what point will our efforts be in vain? At what point will climate change become permanent?


  • For tonight's special hour-long Conversations with Great Minds - I'm joined by legendary journalist Phil Donahue. Phil is a longtime talkshow host - writer - and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show - which ran for 29 years. Phil is also the co-director of the Oscar-nominated 2006 documentary Body of War - which chronicled the life and story of Tomas Young - an Iraq War veteran turned anti-war activist - who recently passed away. Over the course of his career - Phil has received nine Emmy Awards - has been named one of TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time - and has been inducted into Academy of Television and Sciences Hall of Fame.