Dear Friends,

Here we are again approaching another year's end. In many ways, it's been a good year for us as a country. We've taken some significant strides on issues that matter:

- The Supreme Court handed down a decision that delivered marriage equality to all Americans.

- The Black Lives Matter movement caught fire, making headlines and creating meaningful public dialogue about race and inequality.

- Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist appearing regularly on my show, is strongly in presidential bid, reflecting a major progressive shift in Americans’ attitudes.

But it's also been a hard year. I can't remember a time when the vitriol, racism, and inhumanity of the Republican party has ever been sharper and more destructive.

Sometimes I pinch myself: What’s happened to our country that we can produce a presidential candidate like Donald Trump? What's more, what kind of people are we to have made him the leading Republican candidate?

Honestly, it's more than shocking–It's scary. Because it’s fear itself driving the Donald craze – fear stoked not just by a xenophobic billionaire, but fear stoked by a media that reinforces that fear and spreads lies.

Now, more than ever, Americans need a network to tell the truth. Americans need Free Speech TV.

With the end of the year fast-approaching, we are $10,000 short of our goal for the quarter. Will you chip in $20 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Free Speech TV’s broadcast year?

The 2016 presidential elections are just around the corner, and network news has proven time and again that its corporate bias gets in the way of truthful reporting. My program and others of Free Speech TV is committed to truth-based reporting that empowers people with the information they need to fight for what matters. We don't buy into the scare tactics. We don't encourage hate. We encourage action on behalf of a more just and equal society.

So I ask you to donate right now to Free Speech TV.

Chip in $20 and make your year-end tax-deductible gift.

With your help, a more just and democratic world is possible.

Thank you,

Thom

P.S. We only have 3 more days left of 2015 and your support ensures that Free Speech TV can continue for another 20 years.

If you've shopped at a gardening supply store in the last year, and if you happen to live with someone who drinks tea, guess what?

Your local sheriff could just send a SWAT team into your house.

It's not a far-fetched scenario, in fact it actually happened, here in America, just 3 short years ago.

Back in 2012, a Kansas SWAT team raided the home of Robert and Addie Harte and tore their house apart looking for evidence of a major marijuana growing operation.

The investigation began when a state trooper stationed at a gardening supply store (yes, they had the gardening store staked out!) spotted Robert Harte and his son purchasing supplies to grow hydroponic tomatoes.

According to the Washington Post, having seen the Harte's buying hydroponic growing accessories, the Johnson County Sheriff's Department started investigating the Harte family.

They searched the family's trash and found "saturated plant material" that supposedly tested positive for THC, the active chemical in marijuana.

But the reality was, Mrs. Harte is a tea drinker, and that wet plant matter was nothing more than used tea leaves, and the SWAT raid turned up nothing.

Just last week, a federal judge dismissed the family's lawsuit against the police, and said that the sheriffs had probable cause - based on the garden store purchase and old tea leaves.

But the Hartes aren't the average targets of this kind of drug sting, and one sheriff actually boasted after the raid that the operation was so unusual because they'd shut down a drug operation that was run by an "average family" in a "good neighborhood" - all coded language for "middle class white people".

Aside from the fact that the Hartes weren't actually doing ANYTHING illegal, the sheriff unwittingly showed just how exceptional it was that the family was a target at all.

Because the war on drugs has never been about drugs.

No, the war on drugs, since it's very beginning, has been about controlling political power - by breaking up black communities and the dissident left.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... What The Hell Is Going on In Chicago? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Tuesday's Daily Stack

Hour One: How the Koch brothers helped dismantle the Democratic Party
- Sam Smith, Progressive Review

Article: "How the Koch brothers helped dismantle the Democratic Party" by Sam Smith.

Article: "Democratic Leadership Council" by Wikipedia.

Book: The New Democrats and the Return to Power by Al From.

Book: The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance by Kirstin Downey.

Article: "Money to Burn: How CEO pay is accelerating climate change" by Sarah Anderson, Chuck Collins and Sam Pizzigati.

Article: "DuPont to cut 5,000+ jobs ahead of Dow merger" by Joseph N. DiStefano.

Article: "Vietnamese French woman files dioxin lawsuit against 35 US companies" by Tuoi Tre News.

Article: "Koch Industries gave funding to the DLC and served on its Executive Council" by Joe Sudbay.

Article: "The Democratic Party's Future Is Awash in Dark Money" by Lee Fang, May 16, 2014.

Video: Sen. Bernie Sanders State of the Union: Full interview.

Article: "Sen Bernie Sanders on gun control: "I do not accept the fact that I have been weak on this issue. In fact, I have been strong on this issue"" (Sanders on the DNC restricting the number of debates: “I think that that is dead wrong, and I have let the leadership of the Democrats know that).

Article: "Martin O'Malley Says He Asked Bernie Sanders To Debate. Sanders Said No." by Elise Foley.

Article: "One person shows up to O'Malley event in Iowa, remains uncommitted" by Nick Gass.

Article: "Sanders draws more than 3,000 to hear pledge to fight for economic fairness — PHOTOS" by Eric Hartley.

Article: "Italy bank rescues spark bail-in debate as anger at Renzi grows" by James Politi.

Article: "A Crisis Worse than ISIS? Bail-Ins Begin" by Ellen Brown.

Book, site: "Web of Debt", Ellen Brown.

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

Article: "Mapping Police Violence: New Study Shows Cops Have Killed At Least 1,152 in 2015" by Democracy Now!

Article: "The Endorsement Primary" by Aaron Bycoffe.

Article: "Cleveland Officer Will Not Face Charges in Tamir Rice Shooting Death" by Mitch Smith.

Article: "Grand jury refuses to indict anyone in connection with Sandra Bland's death" by Kaitlin McCulley.

Quote: "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the anti-war left and black people. We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting people to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, break up their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." - John Ehrlichman.

Movie: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".

Movie: "The Revenant (2015 film)".

Hour Two: Beware the Super El Nino...What's Behind the Wild Weather?
- Dr. Jeff Masters, Weather Underground

Article: "U.S. Reeling From Violent Tornadoes, Epic Flooding, Winter Weather, and Weird Heat" by Bob Henson and Jeff Masters.

Article: "Freak storm in North Atlantic to lash UK, may push temperatures over 50 degrees above normal at North Pole" by Jason Samenow.

Article: "El Niño" by Wikipedia.

Site: Arctic News.

Article: "Solar Customers In Nevada Are Getting A Rate Hike For Christmas" by Samantha Page.

Article: "Understanding Deposit Insurance" by The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Article: "Democratic Leadership Council" by SourceWatch.

Quote: "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." - Eubie Blake.

Quote: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life" - Confucius.

Article: "Beware “Sunni-Stan”" by Ramzy Baroud.

Article: "Coalition of the Unwilling" by Philip Giraldi.

Book: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "The Powell Memo or Powell Manifesto".

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

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

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

Article: "Chicago police officer who shot black teen 16 times charged with murder " by Zach Stafford.

Article: "US Crude Oil Export Ban Lifts, Could Hit US Oil Industry" by Tina Casey.

Article: "Significant sales of US Strategic Petroleum Reserve authorised" by Tank Storage.

Article: "Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "US accuses China over aircraft tax breaks" by Shawn Donnan.

Book: "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" by Thom Hartmann (read online).

Book: "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" by Thom Hartmann.

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!

Article: "United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Peru–United States Trade Promotion Agreement" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Free trade agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Korea" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Permanent normal trade relations: U.S. and China" by Wikipedia.

Site: World Trade Organization (WTO).

Article: "North American Free Trade Agreement" (NAFTA) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement" (TPP) by EFF.

Site: ObamaTrade.

Article: "Value added tax" (VAT) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Natural-born-citizen clause" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 2 section 1. "...No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President...".

Video: Bill Gates TED talk: Innovating to Zero!.

Law: "Telecommunications Act of 1996" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA)".

Law: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1999) (Financial Services Modernization Act Of 1999).

Law: "Glass-Steagall Act", 1933.

Law: "Commodity Futures Modernization Act", 2000.

Law: "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act", 1996.

Case: "Defense of Marriage Act", 1996 (DOMA).

Article: "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Three-strikes law" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Anybody know why I'm receiving unsolicited daily emails thanking me for joining "Team Hillary"?" by corkhead.

Article: "Here's the email from Hillary Clinton" by Playinghardball.

Article: "The Sanders campaign is taking its fight with the DNC to the next level" by Hunter Walker.

Article: "Obama's Speech on the Economy and NAFTA", February 24, 2008.

Article: "CNBC Exclusive: CNBC's Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood Sits Down with Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama (Transcript Included)" by Jennifer Dauble, 10 Jun 2008.

Video: Barack Obama: Speech to the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Apr 2, 2008.

Do you have all the info you need to vote for @BernieSanders? Find it here.

Wednesday 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...

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Will Bernie be able to win over Trump supporters?

Vote here!

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Full Show 12/28/15: Trump Fueling Islamophobic Attacks?

On tonight's "Big Picture," Thom talks about the rising hate crimes towards Muslims in America with Zainab Chaudry. Curtis Ellis talks TPP and its infringement on the constitution. Thom breaks down the startling facts about NRA gun money in America in the Daily Take.

In tonight's Conversations with Great Minds, author Harvey J. Kaye talks Bernie Sanders and FDR's legacy.

How the Koch Brothers Helped Dismantle the Democratic Party

'Big Government' is Our Biggest Threat?

The Link Between Poverty and Low IQ...

TPP Rewards Sharia Law Enforcing Brunei!

Caller: FDR was Planning for WWII Before it Started...

The Super El Nino is Upon Us!

Beware of Big Bank Bail-Ins!

Missouri is Proof: Gun Laws Work!

FDR's "Four Freedoms" at 75...More Important Today Than Ever

The Biggest Health Epidemic Ever That Americans Are Ignoring...