Tomorrow, Republicans will officially take control of the Senate for the first time since 2006. Once Vice President Biden finishes swearing in the Senate class of 2015, they will have a 54 to 46 majority over Democrats. It’s not a filibuster- or veto-proof majority, but it’s still a big deal for conservatives.

They’ve been saying for years now that voters were angry about President Obama and his policies, and the fact that Republicans will now control the Senate and the House is about as good a sign as you can get that the American people wanted a change. At least what Republicans want you to think.

The good people over at FairVote crunched some numbers and it turns out that the GOP’s takeover of Congress isn’t as much of a victory as the media says it was - far from it, actually. If you take the states out of the equation and just look at the nationwide totals, Democratic Senators actually got more votes than Republican Senators, and it’s not even close.

According to FairVote, the 44 Democratic Senators and their 2 independent allies received 67.8 million votes over the course of the 2010, 2012, and 2014 elections. The 54 Republican Senators, on the other hand, received only 47.1 million votes during that same time period. That’s a difference of more than 20 million votes!

If you think this is insane that the party that got the fewest votes - by over 20 million - now controls the Senate, well, then, you’re right. As it’s put together right now, the Senate is incredibly anti-(small "d") democratic. Because every state gets two Senators regardless of its population, the 580,000 people who live in Wyoming, for example, have just as much influence with their two senators as the 38 million people who live in California do with their two senators.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... The Police & GOP Teaming Up On de Blasio, plus Native Americans Speak out on KXL Pipeline (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: The Police & GOP Teaming Up On de Blasio
- Max Blumenthal, Alternet / Republican Gomorrah

Screwed: Should the Police Who Turned Their Backs Be Fired?
- David Laska, New York State Republican Party

Plus, Native Americans Speak out on KXL Pipeline
- Tribal Rights Attorney Tara Houska, Not Your Mascots

Best of the Rest: Comcast Lies about Net Neutrality
- Stephen Spaulding, Common Cause

Everything You Know Is Wrong...about finding Mr. Right
- Lynn Stuart Parramore, AlterNet

Monday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Should stair climbing be mandatory?
- Neil McCabe, Conservative Columnist-Townhall.com & Editor-The Washington Mercury

Article: "Turkey: Governor restricts lift use to fight obesity" by BBC.

Article: "The Super-Short Workout and Other Fitness Trends" by Gretchen Reynolds.

Article: "4 Things That Were Supposed To Happen By 2015 Because Obama Was Reelected" by Judd Legum.

Article: "Grand Juror Sues McCulloch, Says He Mischaracterized The Wilson Case" by Chris McDaniel.

Article: "China investors surged into EU in crisis" by Jamil Anderlini.

Article: "China’s migrants thrive in Spain’s crisis" by Tobias Buck.

Article: "Greece primps for big China state deals" by Kerin Hope.

Article: "China investment aids Portugal bailout" by Peter Wise.

Article: "China swoops in on Italy’s power grids and luxury brands" by Rachel Sanderson.

Book: "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", Adam Smith, 1776.

Article: "Sea, sun and easy visas lure China buyers" by Peter Wise.

Article: "Britain celebrates China investment flow" by Amie Tsang, Tom Burgis and Helen Warrell.

Article: "Chile President Seeks Change in Pinochet-Era Labor Code" by teleSUR.

Article: "Report on the Subject of Manufactures" by Alexander Hamilton.

Article: "14th Amendment, July 9, 1868 (citizenship, representatives, public debt)

Article: "Real Estate Chief Fears Troubled Sibling Has New Weapon: TV" by Jim Dwyer.

Hour Two: Call out the NRA over murdered NYC police officers
- Noel Flasterstein, Gun Rights For You.

Article: "Take The NRA To Task, Not De Blasio, For The NYC Cop Murders" by Peter Dreier.

Article: "Commissioner to Cops: Don't Turn Your Backs to de Blasio at Funeral" by Hudson Hongo.

Article: "NYPD Officers Turned a Funeral Into a Massive Protest Against Mayor de Blasio" by Tom McKay.

Case: "John J. McAuliffe vs. Mayor And Board Of Aldermen Of New Bedford".

Case: "Garcetti v. Ceballos", May 30, 2006.

Article: "First Amendment to the United States Constitution".

Article: "Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability at Mt. Sinai United Christian Church on Staten Island" by NYC.

Article: "Updates From the Funeral of Police Officer Wenjian Liu" by The New York Times.

Article: "China Extending Low-To-No-Emissions Vehicle Subsidies To 2020" by James Ayre.

Article: "Mayor DeBlasio: Fire The Commissioner And Discipline Insubordinate Police Officers" by Susie Madrak.

Law: "N.Y. ELN. LAW § 17-110 : NY Code - Section 17-110: Misdemeanors concerning police commissioners or officers or members of any police force".

Book: Death in the Pines: An Oakley Tyler Novel by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Fairness Doctrine" by Wikipedia.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman will not be released from prison" by AP.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 1/5/15" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "Boston Bombing: Trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Begins With Jury Selection" by Pete Williams and Tom Winter.

Article: "Oklahoma City bombing" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Patty Hearst" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Keystone XL to affect gas prices little: Earnest" by Reuters.

Article: "Dems push Keystone bill amendments in early Senate test" by Darren Goode.

Video: If Fructose is Bad, What About Fruit?

Video: Juicing Removes More Than Just Fiber.

Article: "Gut Feeling? Probiotics May Ease Anxiety and Depression" by Rachael Rettner.

Article: "Fructose more toxic than table sugar in mice" by University of Utah.

Article: "Corporations Have Renamed ‘High Fructose Corn Syrup’" by Barbara Minton.

Article: "Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan & Kevin McCarthy: Plot To Sabotage US Economy with Frank Luntz" by keepemhonest.

Law: "Alien and Sedition Acts", 1798.

Law: "Sedition Act of 1918".

Article: "Eugene V. Debs" by Wikipedia.

Article: "NYPD Paid To Disrupt OWS By JP Morgan Chase? w/updates" by TexDem.

Article: "Without Fox News, There Would Have Been No Iraq War" by Kevin Drum.

Book: "What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America" by Thomas Frank.

Article: "President Truman's relief of General Douglas MacArthur" by Wikipedia.

Article: "In Pennsylvania, Judge Paves Way for Private Takeover of Public School District" by Deirdre Fulton.

Article: "Let’s All Screw the 1 Percent: The Simple Move Obama Could Make to Strengthen the Rest of Us" by Paul Rosenberg.

Article: "EBay Cuts Ties To Conservative Political Group ALEC" by Emily Atkin.

Article: "Judge Takes Away Minimum Wage Protections From Home Care Workers" by Bryce Covert.

Article: "Millions Of Workers Will Get A Raise On New Years Day" by Bryce Covert.

Article: "With 21 states raising minimum wage, 2015 is a tipping point (+video)" by Mark Trumbull.

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

We'll have the latest news and information...everything you need to know to win the water cooler wars...

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 the NYPD officers who turned their backs to Mayor de Blasio be fired?

Vote here!

Full Show 12/31/2014: Ralph Nader, Loretta Lynch, Mike Papantonio, & Matt Taibbi

In tonight’s Big Picture, we look back at the top storylines and interviews from throughout 2014. Thom’s conversation with Ralph Nader about the future of the United States and Nader’s new book, “Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.” Thom’s conversation with America’s lawyer Mike Papantonio about the changes, if any, that Loretta Lynch will bring to the Dept. of Justice. Our most watched Geeky Science – discussing the dangers lurking in food packaging. Thom’s conversation with Dr. Michael Mann over the mysterious Siberian craters, Matt Taibbi on how JPMorgan Chase got away with the biggest crime of the century during the 2008 financial collapse, and Thom’s Daily Take talking about what Republican control of congress means for 2015.

Thom Hartmann on the Economic & Labor News - January 5, 2015

Caller: Most Under-Reported, Endangered Species...

Caller: Most Under-Reported, The Trans Pacific Partnership...

Caller: Most Under-Reported, Eric Holder not Prosecuting Banksters...

Half of all Children will be Autistic by 2025...