Japan has restarted its first nuclear reactor to generate power since 2013. And that's really bad news.

Remember what happened in 2013? Why Japan closed all of its reactors abruptly and why we're still tracing the spread of radioactive material across our Pacific Coast and into the atmosphere?

First there was an earthquake that did significant damage to that island country - and then a tsunami quickly followed. And what happened next was the largest nuclear meltdown in the history of the world and the evacuation of 160,000 locals who lived in the area of the Fukushima power plant.

We know now that Tepco - the owner of the Fukushima plant - had been warned years earlier about the dangers of an earthquake and a tsunami hitting the plant.

No one did anything about it then - but even if they had - do we have any reason to believe it would have been enough? Because that's the gamble that the Japanese nuclear industry is making with all of our futures right now.

The simple fact about nuclear power generation - is that the risks and the costs dramatically outweigh any benefit.

We've seen some of the risks - in Chernobyl we saw how human error can cause a meltdown. In the Three Mile Island incident we saw how the private corporations aren't afraid to cut corners to pad their bottom line - even if that risks a partial nuclear meltdown.

And in Fukushima we saw what happens when corporate negligence meets a natural disaster.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Could China Trigger the Crash of 2016? (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 newest video: RESTORATION - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners / Visit GreenWorldRising.org to check out all the videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners

Need to Know: Could China Trigger the Crash of 2016?
- Max Fraad Wolff, Economist/New School University
- Emily Zuckerman, Economist/Gender Action

Screwed: Trump Defends Planned Parenthood
- Jess McIntosh, Emily's List

Big Picture Politics Panel:
- Hughey Newsome, Project 21/Move-On-Up
- Charles Sauer, The Market Institute
- Ben Cohen, The Daily Banter

Community Square

"Supporters donate to Planned Parenthood in honor of ... Jeb Bush?"

Wednesday's Daily Stack

TV: "The Rockford Files".

Article: "Did Kasich Just Do an About-Face on Climate Change?" by Eric Pianin.

Article: "Clinton Campaign Shuts Down Black Lives Matter Protest" by Jon Queally.

Article: "Where's the #BlackLivesMatter Critique of the Black Misleadership Class, or Obama or Hillary?" by Bruce A. Dixon.

Article: "Poll: Bernie Sanders surges ahead of Hillary Clinton in N.H., 44-37" by Joe Battenfeld.

Article: "Jeb Bush Blames Hillary Clinton and Obama for Iraq’s Decline" by Adam Nagourney.

Article: "Project for the New American Century (PNAC)" by Wikipedia.

Facebook: "Enough Is Enough! March for a Government of, by, for the People".

Quote: "If Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true." - Ben Carson.

Quote: "Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." - Napoléon Bonaparte.

Article: "Russia and Nato 'actively preparing for war'" by Roland Oliphant.

Article: "Brief Beach Blogging: That Time Megyn Kelly Made It Her Mission to Take Down Sandra Fluke" by The Rude Pundit.

Article: "My Testimony for the Downing Street Memo Hearings" by Cindy Sheehan, June 16 2005.

Article: "Donald Trump Is The Only GOP Candidate Who Understands What Voters Think About Planned Parenthood" by Kira Lerner.

Article: "Republican hopefuls reap $62m in support from donors with fossil fuel ties" by Ed Pilkington.

Quote: "It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it's just an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery being at the essence of getting the nominations for president or elected president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and Congress members. So now we've just seen a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors who want and expect and sometimes get favors for themselves after the election's over'." - President Jimmy Carter on unlimited money in politics on the Thom Hartmann Program, 28 July 2015.

Article: "Snyder: Trump's appeal reflects broken political culture" by Paul Egan.

Article: "Bernie’s Strange Brew of Nationalism and Socialism" by Kevin D. Williamson.

Article: "Human Rights Victory as Amnesty Votes for Decriminalization of Sex Work" by Sarah Lazare.

Article: "Bernie Sanders: Environmental-Justice Champion?" by Clare Foran.

Article: "CNN Analyst: ‘Bernie Sanders Could Win the First Two Primaries’" by Alex Griswold.

Article: "The 'Death Cross' Forms on the Dow Chart" by Joseph Ciolli.

Article: "Why China has devalued the renminbi and how it will affect the UK" by Peter Spence, and Szu Ping Chan.

Article: "America's worst human, Kris Kobach, ready to deny 30,000 Kansans the vote" by Joan McCarter.

Article: "Scott Walker signs bill clearing public funds for new Bucks arena" by Mary Spicuzza And Jason Stein.

Article: "After Massive Contribution To Scott Walker, NBA Owner Will Get $250 Million In Tax Dollars For New Arena" by Alice Ollstein.

Article: "Switzerland lifts sanctions against Iran" by Michael Shields.

Site: Bernie2016tv (Youtube Channel).

Article: "Lawrence Lessig pondering 2016 bid because 'the system is rigged'" by Nick Gass.

Quote: "Do not destroy oil wells" - George Bush, 18 March 2003.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Luke Vargas

Article: "Clinton’s attorney hands over private e-mail server, thumb drive to FBI" by Carol D. Leonnig and Rosalind S. Helderman.

Article: "Bush White House email controversy" by Wikipedia.

Article: "After Two Corrections, The NY Times' Botched Email Story Still Has An Error" by Matt Gertz.

Article: "A Clinton Story Fraught With Inaccuracies: How It Happened and What Next?" by Margaret Sullivan.

Article: "Tony Abbott's government 'will never introduce same-sex marriage', Australia's opposition claims" by Lizzie Dearden.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

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

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 8/11" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "Presence of armed militia group in Ferguson raises anger" by AP.

Article: "Bribery Used To Be....." by Laxman.

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

Article: "John Boehner Admits To Giving Bribes From Big Tobacco On The House Floor...Why Does The Media Consider Him Credible?" by John Amato.

Article: "Can Desalination Counter the Drought?" by Amanda Little.

Article: "75 Ways Socialism Has Improved America" by TheNewDeal00.

Article: "The Koch Brothers Reboot for 2016" by Philip Elliott.

Article: "What Do the Koch Brothers Want?" (1980 Libertarian Party platform) by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Article: ""ALL forms of socialism are BAD! EVIL!" chant the uninformed" by LynnTheDem.

Article: "Republican Congressman Deeply Regrets Iraq War Vote: ‘I Helped Kill 4,000 Americans’" by Scott Keyes.

Article: "The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats" by Nick Hanauer.

Article: "Martin O’Malley raises legal questions with Democratic debate plan" by Alex Seitz-Wald.

Book: "Unequal Protection: The Battle to Save Democracy" by Thom Hartmann (read online).

Book: "Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became "People" - And How You Can Fight Back" by Thom Hartmann - new updated version out now!

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

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Will the GOP’s attacks on Planned Parenthood hurt them in 2016?

Vote here!

Politics Panel - Where is the BlackLivesMatter Movement Heading?

Politics Panel - Trump To Pull A Perot?

What are the Ferguson Lessons?

Stop Accusing Us Wiccans of Ritual Murder

Fukushima - Selling Out the Next Generation

What If Ferguson Protesters Were Armed Like the Oathkeepers?

Full Show 8/11/15: Japan Restarts First Nuclear Reactor Since Fukushima

Tonight’s politics panel discusses Bernie’s civil rights record and platform, whether Hillary’s college debt reform plan goes far enough, and whether the Iran nuclear deal will die in Congress. Thom gets the latest from the ground in Ferguson with Rev. Osagyefo Sekou and RT Correspondent Manuel Rapalo and in tonight’s Daily Take Thom discusses how Japan is back on nuclear power.

Donald Trump Claims Reagan Slogan as His Own Creation!

Martin O'Malley Courted Pro-Business Democrats...

Kansas Really Loves A Voter Fraud Conspiracy!

How China Just Helped Wal-Mart's Bottom Line..

Vast Majority of American Jews Support Iran Nuke Deal...

No Media Coverage of Bernie Sanders on the Issues!

White Men with Guns Welcome in Ferguson...

Stop Indoctrinating Our Kids About Gender!