A proposed ballot initiative would gradually raise Washington DC's minimum wage to $15 by mid-2020.

It would also help tipped workers, such as waiters and bartenders, eventually get paid the full minimum wage, instead of the $2.77 subminimum wage.

This proposal would raise wages for 114,000 working people—about 14 percent of all D.C. workers, and over one-fifth of D.C. private-sector workers.

Once the minimum wage reaches $15, the average affected worker would earn roughly $2,900 more each year than he or she does now.

The is not the stereotype of low-wage workers being teenagers working to earn spending money.

The ones who would benefit are overwhelmingly adult workers, and are supporting families of their own.

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Dennis Henigan, “Guns Don’t Kill People, People Kill People” And Other Myths About Guns and Gun Control (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Friday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Issues of the Day
- Congressman Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District)

Article: "Congress Recesses, Leaving More Stalemates Than Accomplishments" by Jennifer Steinhauer and David M. Herszenhorn.

Article: "11 steps Trump skipped before announcing Pence as VP" by Shane Goldmacher.

Law: "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Mike Pence, Cigarette Truther" by Josh Israel.

Article: "The Myth Of Mike Pence" by Think Progress.

Article: "Brooks Brothers riot".

Article: "ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Crushes Gov. Mike Pence’s ‘Religious Freedom’ Facade" by Jason Easley.

Video: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Says Religious Freedom Law 'Absolutely Not' a Mistake.

Article: "Ricketts tells Nebraska agencies to brace for lean times" by Grant Schulte.

Video: Alan Grayson on the GOP Health Care Plan: "Don't Get Sick! And if You Do Get Sick, Die Quickly!"'.

Video: House Democrats Stage Sit-in House Democrats stage a sit-in to call for legislative action on gun control in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. Members stayed on the floor after the House went in to recess. June 22, 2016

Article: "Newt Gingrich: Test every Muslim in U.S. to see if they believe in Sharia" by Sophie Tatum and Tom Kludt.

Article: "Charlie Hebdo shooting", 7 January 2015 by Wikipedia.

Article: "Islamic State’s Goal: “Eliminating The Grayzone” Of Coexistence Between Muslims And The West" by Murtaza Hussain.

Article: "Altered urinary porphyrins and mercury exposure as biomarkers for autism severity in Egyptian children with autism spectrum disorder" by Khaled EM et al.

Law: "Telecommunications Act of 1996" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Fairness Doctrine" by Wikipedia.

TV: "GPS" by Fareed Zakaria.

Video: Outfoxed • Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism • FULL DOCUMENTARY FILM exposes Fox News - Brave New Films.

Article: "Fox News Viewers Uninformed, NPR Listeners Not, Poll Suggests" by Kenneth Rapoza.

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman

Movie: "Idiocracy".

Movie: "Bulworth".

Talk Media News Segment:
- Bob Ney

Article: "Nice attack: 84 dead, attacker identified" by Nick Salazar.

Article: "At least 70 dead after truck plows into Bastille Day crowd in France" by Nick Salazar.

Article: "Trump picks Pence as VP" by TMN.

Article: "Trump postpones VP announcement following attack in Nice" by Justin Duckham.

Article: "Hillary Clinton does first O'Reilly Factor interview in 8 years to discuss France attack" by Gerrad Hall.

Article: "An Early Democratic Convention Lineup" by Nora Kelly.

Article: "9/11 report's classified '28 pages' about potential Saudi Arabia ties released" by David Smith.

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

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman

Hour Three: Addiction & the War on Drugs...
- Johann Hari, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs

Article: "The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think" by Johann Hari.

Site: Green Party US.

Site: Move to Amend

Article: "Former St. Tammany Parish DA Walter Reed found guilty on 18 counts of corruption charges" by WWLTV.

Event: 27 July 3:30–5:30pm EDT Indiana State House Lawn: "ALEC Indianapolis 2016 Protest"

Tweet: "Scoop: @realDonaldTrump was so unsure about @mike_pence that around midnight last night he asked top aides if he could get out of it" by Dana Bash.

Article: "Harry J. Anslinger" by Wikipedia.

Book: "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by Naomi Klein.

Article: "Self-treatment of opioid withdrawal using kratom (Mitragynia speciosa korth) " by Edward W. Boyer et al.

Event: July 18-21, Cleveland Ohio: "Republican Convention 2016".

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

I'll be talking to Rep. Bennie Thompson, Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

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...

Does BREXIT Signify the End of Globalization?

Vote here!

Are the Bubbles About to Burst?

I'm Right & You're an Idiot

How to Rein In the Robber Barons Again

Sorry Cons - There Is More Racism (Not Less) By Police

How MBA Programs Drive Inequality

Netflix & Prison?

Full Show 7/14/16: CEOs Make 276 Times What Their Workers Make

Thom discusses whether we’re in another economic bubble with the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s Mark Weisbrot and professor Maria Luisa Mendonça, how sharing your Netflix password could put you in jail with The District Sentinel’s Sam Sacks, how business school teaches students how to make money instead of creating value with Alternet’s Lynn Parramore, and in tonight’s Daily Take Thom details how today's CEOs are nothing more than modern-day robber barons.

Hey Republicans - Stop Helping The Bad Guys!

Busting The Mike Pence Myths...

Meet Mike Pence - The Tobacco Lobby's Favorite Governor!

Congressman: Congress's List Of Completed Work Wouldn't Fill A Page! (W/Guest: Rep. Mark Pocan)

Should We Put Solar Panels On Parked Cars To Generate Electricity?

Criminalizing Password Sharing Is A Step Towards Fascism