There’s a common rule of thumb in the news business that if you hear a story that sounds too good or too ridiculously weird to be true, it’s probably from Florida. This is true of stories about politics, it’s true of stories about sports, and it’s most definitely true of stories about crime. But it’s also true of stories about climate policy.

Case in point: the shocking new report from the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR). According to that report, officials working for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, “have been ordered not to use the terms ‘climate change’ or ‘global warming’ in any official communications, emails, or reports.

That’s right - the Florida agency most responsible for fighting climate is banned from talking about climate change!

This insane policy apparently started in 2011 when Republican Medicaid scam artist Rick Scott took office as governor, and, according to the FCIR, it’s had a real impact on the DEP’s ability to prepare for the coming climate disaster.

Now, while banning environmental officials from talking about the most important environmental issue of our time is bad policy for any state, for Florida, it’s downright suicidal. All apologies to LeBron, but in the future no one will take their talents to South Beach because South Beach won’t exist.

Florida is ground zero for global warming here in America, and if global warming keeps up its current breakneck pace, much of Florida's coastline will simply disappear.

Scary? You bet, which only goes to show how ridiculous Rick Scott’s don’t-say-anything policy about global warming really is.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Iran sabotage...is the GOP committing treason? (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: Iran sabotage...is the GOP committing treason?
- David Laska, New York State Republican Party

Screwed: Why we hate right to work laws...
- Brendan Fischer, Center for Media and Democracy
- Mark Ames, Pando Daily / Going Postal: Rage, Murder and Rebellion from Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond

Best of the Rest: Why the GOP doesn't want black people to vote
- Tommy Christopher, The Daily Banter

Green report: How climate change triggers war
- rofessor Richard Seager, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory-Columbia University.

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Republican Senators Write To Leaders Of Iran, Attempt To Sabotage Nuclear Deal" by Igor Volsky.

Article: "Text of GOP Senators’ Letter to Iran’s Leaders on Nuclear Talks ".

Clip: Phone conversation between President Lyndon Johnson and Sen. Everett Dirksen (R) Illinois, November 2, 1968.

Clip: Phone conversation between President Lyndon Johnson and Sen. Everett Dirksen (R) 968. "Here’s the latest information we’ve got... This is treason. ... "

Article: "‘Argo’ helps Iran’s dictatorship, harms democracy " by Abolhassan Bani-Sadr.

Article: "Poll: Fox News most trusted network" by Nick Gass.

Law: "Glass-Steagall Act", 1933.

Article: "Martin O'Malley Doesn't Want Democrats To Hide On Financial Regulation" by Sam Levine.

Article: "GOP Congressman to Obama: ‘You Lie!" by Caitlin Taylor.

Video: Mitch McConnell: Top Priority, Make Obama a One Term President.

Article: "McCain's Kremlin Ties " by Mark Ames and Ari Berman, October 1, 2008.

Movie: Pay 2 Play

Site: Media Matters for America

Law: "Logan Act", 30 January 1799. Citizens may not negotiate with foreign governments

Speech: "Campaign dinner address of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the Fala speech)", 9/23/1944 "According to that technique, you should never use a small falsehood; always a big one, for its very fantastic nature would make it more credible - if only you keep repeating it over and over and over again.".

Hour Two: Conservative alternative for Obamacare...crowdfunding?
- Sheriff Richard Mack, The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association

Article: "Why This Obamacare Opponent Turned To Crowdfunding To Pay His Medical Bills" by Marc Lamont Hill.

Article: "Sheriff’s Life on the Line" (gofundme).

Article: "In Selma, GOP Lawmakers Explain Why They Don’t Support John Lewis’ Bill To Restore Voting Rights Act" by Alice Ollstein.

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

Movie: "Selma".

Site: Fox BGH Lawsuit.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones

Article: "U.N. Finds ‘Alarmingly High’ Levels of Violence Against Women" by Somini Sengupta.

Article: "Arrests after Indian mob raids jail, kills rape suspect" by Harmeet Shah Singh.

Article: "SAE Proudly Touts Association To The Confederacy On Its Website" by Ian Millhiser.

Article: "OU Students Protest Against SAE Fraternity Members’ Racist Video" by Midori Nishida.

Article: "Florida Officials Ban The Term ‘Climate Change’" by Katie Valentine.

Article: "Klobuchar: Expect to Hear from Clinton on E-mails Soon" by Ali Elkin.

Article: "Obama Announces New TechHire Initiative" by Mary Jarvis.

Article: "Mo. Dem plans bill to ban policing for profit" by Cristina Marcos.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 3/9" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "Confederate States of America - Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union ", December 24, 1860.

Article: "The racist roots of 'right to work' laws" by Chris Kromm.

Law: "The National Labor Relations Act (The Wagner Act)", 1935.

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

Article: "Charles Koch, Liberal Crusader?" by Michael Hirsh.

Article: "Republicans now poised to govern from budget crisis to budget crisis" by Kerry Eleveld.

Article: "Lew to Congress: US hits debt limit on March 16, must be raised ASAP" by Everett Rosenfeld.

Song: "Which side are you on?" by Natalie Merchant (video).

Article: "Oklahoma Frat Boys Caught Singing 'There Will Never Be A Ni**** In SAE'" by Tyler Kingkade.

Article: "SAE Proudly Touts Association To The Confederacy On Its Website" by Ian Millhiser.

Book: "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Article: "This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral-Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking!-in America's Gilded Capital" by Mark Leibovich.

Article: "Trans-Pacific Partnership" (TPP) by Wikipedia.

Quote: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it" - Upton Sinclair".

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

Article: "Governor Scott Walker signs Wisconsin right-to-work bill into law" by AP.

Site: Progressive Democrats of America

Site: Move to Amend

Site: Democracy for America

Article: "The Five Numbers That Explain The Case To Destroy Obamacare" by Tara Culp-Ressler.

Article: "Supreme Court chief justice likely to back healthcare law" by Brianne J. Gorod.

Article: "Obamacare Will Probably Survive Its Second Trip To The Supreme Court" by Ian Millhiser.

Article: "Obamacare opponents should be careful what they wish for" by Wendell Potter.

Article: "Fewer Labor Unions Means More Income Inequality" by Bryce Covert.

Article: "Anti-union ‘right-to-work’ legislation moves forward in Wisconsin legislature" by Reuters.

Article: "Walker: I'll sign right-to-work bill on Monday" by Scott Bauer.

Article: "More Than 100 Economists Pressure Vermont To Implement Universal Health Care" by Tara Culp-Ressler.

Article: "Four Reasons Young Americans Should Burn Their Student Loan Papers" by Paul Buchheit.

Article: "Pope Francis attacks 'throw-away' economic globalization" by James Mackenzie.

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"

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Are Republican lawmakers trying to sabotage the nuclear deal with Iran?

Vote here!

Panel P1: 50th Anniversary of Selma's Bloody Sunday March

Panel P2: 50th Anniversary of Selma's Bloody Sunday March

Rumble: Congressional Progressives Released Plan for America's Trade Policy

Rumble: Why KS GOP To Expand Medicaid Under Obamacare...

Full Show 3/6/2015: Bloody Sunday 50 Years Later

In tonight’s Big Picture Rumble, Thom rips Kansas Gov. Brownback’s failed Reaganomics policy. Shelby Emmett of Project 21, President & CEO of New Heights Communications Christy Setzer, and conservative commentator Kris Ullman join Thom on set to discuss Reaganomics, progressive’s trade alternative, Washington State raising minimum wage, Republicans’ no-go on Selma, Rhode Island Marijuana, and VP Biden’s climate change burn on Sen. Inhofe.

In a special Bigger Picture Panel, Thom remembers “Bloody Sunday” and the Selma marches 50 years later. Author of The Black History of the White House, Dr. Clarence Lusane, Hilary Shelton of the NAACP, and Joe Madison, host of the “Joe Madison Show” join Thom on set.

Poll: Fox News the Most Trusted - Really?

Conservative Alternative to Obamacare...Crowdsourcing?

What's Driving all the Disrespect for President Obama?

Republicans are Committing Treason in Public!

Thom Hartmann on Economic & Labor News - March 9, 2015

Pay 2 Play & How the Political System is Rigged (w/ John Ennis)