NBC’s Meet the Press isn’t exactly the cutting edge of journalism these days, but on yesterday’s episode, host Chuck Todd said something really, really insightful.

During a panel discussion about how and why Americans are so cynical about our corporate-owned media, Todd told comedian Lewis Black that if he “barks” at politicians - AKA asks them tough questions - they won’t come back on his show.

Amazing, right?

The host of probably the most influential Sunday show in the country basically admitted that he won't do hard-hitting interviews because he knows that lying politicians will refuse to come back on his show if he calls out their lies. And, for a show like Meet the Press, if no politician will come on the air, there's no show. This, in a nutshell, is everything that’s wrong with the American media, and it’s a clear demonstration of how badly broken our political and media cultures have become.

Remember, the Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment to the Constitution so that the press could speak truth to power and challenge the political establishment. Some of the Founders actually believed that having a free press was more important than having a government.

Thomas Jefferson, for example, once said that, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” And Jefferson was tormented by the newspapers of his era! Those are powerful words, and they’re still relevant today, more than 200 years later.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Nuclear power...now we're paying the price (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio

Need to Know: America...now under Koch control
- America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio

Screwed: Nuclear power...now we're paying the price
- Paul Gunter, Beyond Nuclear
- Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear (In Vermont)

Caged chickens...what's the price of humane treatment?
- Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society of the United States

PLUS, Another national park contaminated by coal
- Tyson Slocum, Public Citizen's Energy Program

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Rudy Giuliani crosses line on race: Why GOP must finally push back on his recklessness " by Elias Isquith.

Article: "Rudy Giuliani crosses line on race: Why GOP must finally push back on his recklessness" by babylonsister.

Article: "Obama Is Right on Race. The Media Is Wrong" by Keli Goff.

Article: "Woman Dressed in Body Armor Arrested After Multiple Shootings in Chattanooga".

Article: "Two men who shot up Idaho Walmart with BB gun taken into custody by police" by Tom Boggioni.

Article: "Hundreds Turn Their Back on de Blasio at NYPD Officer's Funeral" by Dean Schabner.

Article: "Serpico: Incidents like Eric Garner's death drive wedge between police and society" by Frank Serpico.

Bible: "Matthew 6:2" So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full..

Article: "Marijuana fights Alzheimer’s disease, new study indicates" by David Downs.

Article: "Bill De Blasio Expresses Concern For The Safety Of His Biracial Son" by Lilly Workneh.

Article: "Sir James Dyson now owns more land in England than the Queen".

Article: "'It's Not My Job' Chuck Todd Admits He Can't Ask Tough Questions" by LeftOfCenter.

Article: "Sherman Antitrust Act", 1890.

Law: "Telecommunications Act of 1996" by Wikipedia.

Book: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.

Article: "Police in Clarkstown, New York have confiscated a cache of high-powered weapons and" by David Edwards.

Article: "De Blasio Increases NYPD Budget" by Stephanie West.

Article: "From Outside or Inside, the Deck Looks Stacked" by Gretchen Morgenson.

Hour Two: Drug testing for welfare...?!
- Neil McCabe, Guns and Patriots Newsletter

Article: "Michigan Governor Signs Bill Requiring Drug Testing Of Welfare Recipients" by Katie Valentine.

Play: "Twelfth Night " by William Shakespeare.

Article: "Twelfth Night (holiday)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Welfare Drug Testing Catches Only 12 Users In Utah" by Arthur Delaney, 08/27/2013.

Article: "AirAsia QZ8501: Indonesia plane 'at bottom of sea'" by BBC.

Movie: The Thorn (Bette Midler).

Movie: The Rose (Bette Midler).

Article: "Fox News channels go dark on Dish as contract talks stall" by Steven Musil.

Video: Can We All Just Get Along? For The Kids & Old People? RODNEY KING SPEAKS!

Quote: "Figures Don’t Lie, But Liars Do Figure" Attributed to Mark Twain" and others.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

Case: "Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad", 1886.

Article: "Kashmir" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Equal Protection Clause" (14th amendment) by Wikipedia.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Bob Ney

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Book: "Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill" by Robert Ney.

Article: "Americans Want Congress Members To Pee In Cups To Prove They're Not On Drugs" by Emily Swanson, Arthur Delaney, 12/02/2013

Article: "Republicans Sort Their Priorities For The New Congress" by Lauren Hodges.

Article: "Kirk puts weight behind Senate GOP plan to impose Iran sanctions, says veto-proof bill possible".

Article: "Bush Blocked Iran Nuclear Deal" by Project Censored.

Article: "Obama Welcomes End Of The Longest War In American History" by AP.

Article: "Bratton: Police Feel 'Under Attack' From Federal Government" by Dale Armbruster.

Article: "House GOP Leadership Would Require Dynamic Scoring of Some Tax Bills. Will It Matter?" by Howard Gleckman.

Article: "Laffer Curve".

Article: "Republicans Plan Another Bush Trickle Down Assault In 2015" byRmuse.

Article: ""Slave Patrol" Origins of U.S. Police" by Trillo.

Article: "2nd Amendment". A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Speech: "Patrick Henry to the Virginia Ratifying Convention (June 24 1788)".

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 1 section 8.

Book: A Brief History of Slavery and the Origins of American Policing by Victor E. Kappeler, Ph.D.

Quote: "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter" Dick Cheney.

Article: "Bernie Sanders: I'll Decide On Presidential Run By March" by Dave Gram.

Book: Watergate: The Hidden History: Nixon, The Mafia, and The CIA by Lamar Waldron.

Article: "New York’s epic white backlash: How a horrid 1960s relic is still with us today" by Joan Walsh.

Article: "Arbeit macht frei" by Wikipedia.

Article: "How David Gregory Lost His Job" by Luke Mullins.

Site: "Congressman With Guts".

Law: "Comprehensive Employment and Training Act" (CETA), 1973.

Article: "The 6-Step Process to Dispose of the Poor Half of America" by Paul Buchheit.

Article: "Bosses Can’t Stop Workers From Using Company Email To Unionize" by Lauren C. Williams.

Article: "America’s wealth gap between middle-income and upper-income families is widest on record" by Richard Fry and Rakesh Kochhar.

Article: "Success Stories from San Francisco Prove That Retailers Profit More When They Treat Their Workers Fairly" by David Morris.

Article: "Break Up Big Banks, Sanders Says as Senate Debates Bill to Gut Wall Street Reform" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Tuesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

We'll have a special year end edition of Brunch with Bernie...America's Senator Bernie Sanders will be here talking about all the important issues of the week and he'll be taking YOUR calls too!

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Please support the Hunter School, a unique therapeutic boarding school for young children diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety, Sensory, Mood and related conditions...

Should all nuclear power plants be closed in the US?

Vote here!

How the New Economic Boom Left Behind the Poor & Middle Class

Politics Panel - Should Guns Be licensed?

Politics Panel - How Many Sorority Girls Have Been Rectally Fed?

Politics Panel - Fox News is tearing apart NYC...

Full Show 12/23/2014: Stand Your Ground Killer Gets Retrial

In tonight’s ‘Politics Panel,” Thom debates Hughey Newsome, National Advisory Council of the Project 21 Black Leadership Network, Sam Sacks, Co-founder of The District Sentinel, and Jennifer Newsome, Contributor at the Washington Times and The Blaze on Fox’s attack on NY Mayor Bill de Blasio, gun control for the mentally ill, the New York Times calling for an investigation into Former Vice President Dick Cheney for torture, ‘stand your ground’ laws and the reopening of a trial in Texas, and the false witness and repercussions in the Michael Brown/Ferguson case.

Richard Eskow, Senior Fellow at the Campaign for America's Future and host of The Zero Hour radio program talks about the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 hitting record highs, big banks , and the 2015 U.S. economic outlook.

If we're Drug Testing for Welfare, Banksters Should be Tested Too!

Chuck Todd Accidentally tells the Truth!

Race Relations in America...

Caller: We are a Nation of Individuals!

Why Prison Doesn't Work and How We Can Do Better...

Have a very Ayn Rand Holiday...?!

How Fox News Covers Right Wing Cop Killers...