The “Southern Democrat” is dying, but it’s not dead yet.

On Saturday, things got even worse for the Democratic Party. As many expected, Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu lost in a runoff race to Republican challenger Congressman Bill Cassidy. To make matters worse, it wasn’t even close. With almost all votes tallied, as of earlier today, Cassidy was beating Landrieu by 14 percent of the vote.

Landrieu’s loss isn’t just another defeat for the Democratic Party. It’s an historic defeat. That’s because Landrieu’s Senate seat hasn’t been held by a Republican since 1883, some 132 years ago. And, Landrieu’s loss also signifies the nearly complete swing in party control in the South.

As The New York Times points out, between 1930 and the early 1960’s, nearly 100% of governors’ mansions, senators’ seats and state legislatures in the South outside of Florida and Virginia were controlled by Democrats. However, since then, slowly but surely, Republicans have been picking up state and national seats throughout the South.

Now, the complete takeover of the South by the Republican Party is nearly complete. As Nate Cohn writes over at The New York Times, “In a region stretching from the high plains of Texas to the Atlantic coast of the Carolinas, Republicans control not only every Senate seat, but every governor’s mansion and every state legislative body.”

So, why is this shift happening?

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Torture Report & Gitmo Panel (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: Torture Report & Gitmo Panel
- Alka Pradhan, Reprieve U.S.
- Colonel Ann Wright, US Army (Ret'd) / Dissent: Voices of Conscience.
- Medea Benjamin, CodePink / Global Exchange / Drone Warfare

Screwed: Falling oil prices...what does it mean?
- Professor William Black, University of Missouri-Kansas City / The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One

Everything You Know Is Wrong: Happy Holidays from...the Satanic Temple
- Lucien Greaves, Satanic Temple

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Wall Street Demands Derivatives Deregulation In Government Shutdown Bill" by Zach Carter.

Law: "Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act", 2010.

Article: "Tom Harkin Wants To Take Money From College Students To Pay Reviled Loan Contractors" by Shahien Nasiripour.

Article: "These Super PACs Spent Big As Elections Neared, But Kept Donors Secret Until Now" by Paul Blumenthal.

Article: "Share Our Wealth" by Huey Long, February 23, 1934.

Article: "Eric Garner case: Video of chokehold's aftermath raises new questions" by Jericka Duncan.

Article: "Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General" by Eric Lipton.

Article: "The Powell Memo or Powell Manifesto".

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978.

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

Law: "McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission", 2014.

Speech: "Every Man a King -- Radio Speech to the Nation" by Huey P. Long, 23 February 1934.

Article: "The Danger of American Fascism" by Henry A. Wallace.

Article: "The Ghost of Vice President Wallace Warns: "It Can Happen Here"" by Thom Hartmann, 2004.

Hour Two: What can we learn from Alaska?
- David Morris, Institute for Local Self Reliance / The New City States

Article: "What the Rest of America Can Learn From Alaska Over Drugs and Privacy" by David Morris.

Article: "Alaskans vote to legalize marijuana" by Suzanna Caldwell.

Article: "Message to Congress on the Concentration of Economic Power" by Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 29, 1938.

Article: "Sherman Antitrust Act", 1890.

Law: "Taft-Hartley Labor Act", 1947.

Site: Move to Amend

Clip: "Paul Weyrich - "I don't want everybody to vote" (Goo Goo)".

Article: "American Legislative Exchange Council" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Chuck Schumer's Cure for Democrats" by Russell Berman.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones

Article: "WH: Long Awaited Torture Report To Be Released On Tuesday" by Justin Duckham.

Article: "Sen. Mark Udall Contemplates Revealing CIA Torture Report" by Lauren Walker.

Article: "John Kerry asks to delay CIA torture report" by RT.

Article: "Cameras clatter as Obama hosts Prince William at the White House" by Dan Roberts.

Article: "Why We Need a Truly International Approach to Tackling Illegal Wildlife Trade" by Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge.

Article: "New York attorney general wants power to investigate cases where cops kill unarmed civilians" by Dareh Gregorian, Shayna Jacobs, Oren Yaniv, Kenneth Lovett.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 12/8" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: How one fractivist is fighting back
- Shane Davis, Fractivist / Catch the film, Groundswell Rising (featuring Shane Davis) tonight at 9:30pm ET on Free Speech TV

Article: "How FDR’s island visit helped birth an era of Texas power" by Alan Peppard.

Article: "Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Fascism" by Robert Soucy.

Book: The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great by Harvey J. Kaye.

Book: Thomas Paine and the Promise of America by Harvey J. Kaye.

Article: "Exorbitant Increase of PBGC Multiemployer Insurance Premium Is Attack on Seniors, Robbing Them of What They Worked for Their Entire Lives" by LiUNA.

Article: "What I Did After Police Killed My Son: Ten years later, we in Wisconsin passed the nation’s first law calling for outside reviews." by Michael Bell.

Article: "3.8 magnitude earthquake 50 km from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States", 20 November 2014.

Article: "Wisconsin Passes First State Law Requiring Independent Investigations of Police-Custody Deaths" by Candice Bernd.

Article: "Mitch McConnell Rider Could Roll Back Campaign Finance Laws" by Paul Blumenthal.

Article: "San Francisco Board of Supervisors approves “retail workers’ bill of rights”" by Charles L. Thompson, IV.

Article: "The Paid Vacation Route to Full Employment" by Dean Baker.

Article: "8 Things That Cost More Based on Whether You're a Woman or a Man" by Hannah K. Gold.

Article: "City Council committee OKs Emanuel's $13-an-hour minimum wage" by Fran Spielman and Brian Slodysko.

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

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Conversations w/Great Minds P1 Maya Schenwar - Should Prisons Be Abolished?

Conversations w/Great Minds P2 Maya Schenwar - What Does De-Carceration Look Like?

Rumble - The Most Important Reason for Livable Wage

Rumble - Who Will Watch the Police?

Full Show 12/5/14: House GOP Trying to Block DC Pot Law

Tonight’s “Big Picture Rumble” discusses how no one is policing the police, efforts by House Republicans to prevent DC from implementing their marijuana law and the recent retail strikes throughout the U.S. In tonight's “Conversations with Great Minds" Thom talks with Truthout’s Editor-in-Chief Maya Schenwar, author of “Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better.”

Caller: If Money is Speech, Why isn't Poverty Unconstitutional?

Have we Lost our Democracy?

Thom Hartmann on Economic & Labor News: December 8, 2014

Time for White People to Wake up...

Time for the U.S. to do Like Chile...

Bernie Sanders' 12 Point Plan to Save the Middle Class