The refugee crisis across the Middle East and northern Africa is largely driven by climate change turning millions of square miles of farmland into desert and spiking food prices - this led to a young man in Tunisia setting himself on fire, kicking off the so-called "Arab Spring."

Autocrats in the region like Assad in Syria reacted to the refugee crisis with brutality, but then we responded to their response by bombing their countries back to the stone age. Saudi Arabia is now doing this - with our help - in Yemen, killing tens of thousands with a vicious bombing campaign and throwing millions into famine. Now, the US Senate says "No - this is not the right response; we need to stop supporting Saudi Arabia in their brutal war in Yemen." The worldwide climate refugee crisis has just begin in a big way in the past two decades - and is about to get far, far worse.

We have to, as a nation and a world, come up NOW with a way to respond to this coming wave of desperate humanity that doesn't involve radicalizing them or dropping bombs on them and their children. This is going to be one of the biggest challenges of the next few decades as climate change reshapes our world.

-Thom

Thursday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Trump's College Admission Scandal
- David Dorsen, Author, Legal Scholar & former Assistant Chief counsel for the Watergate Committee

Book: Moses v. Trump: A Contemporary Novel by David M Dorsen.

Article: "50 Charged In Largest College Admissions Scandal DOJ Has Ever Prosecuted" by Meghna Chakrabarti.

Article: "Watergate scandal" by Wikipedia.

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: "Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs" by Brown University.

Article: "Bush Pardons 6 in Iran Affair, Aborting a Weinberger Trial; Prosecutor Assails 'Cover-Up'" by David Johnston.

Article: "MSNBC guest connects the dots between Trump's corruption and college admission scandal" by Travis Gettys.

Article: "US election 2020: Beto O'Rourke launches presidential bid" by BBC.

Video: Beto O'Rourke announces presidential run: This is a defining moment of truth for this country.

Video: "New Covenant speech", October 23, 1991 by Bill Clinton.

Article: "Did Lieberman Just Kill the Public Option?" by Timothy Noah.

Book: "Threshold: The Progressive Plan to Pull America Back from the Brink" by Thom Hartmann

Article: "Basic income" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Andrew Yang, the 2020 long-shot candidate running on a universal basic income, explained" by Dylan Matthews.

Article: "Andrew Yang qualifies for first DNC debate with 65,000 unique donors" by Orion Rummler.

Article: "Joseph Stalin" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Marianne Williamson Wants to Be Your Healer in Chief" by Anna Peele.

Article: "Beto O'Rourke, the Texas Democrat who almost unseated Ted Cruz, is running for president" by Tara Golshan.

Article: "While Hiking Bloated Military Spending, Trump Budget Would Slash Medicaid By $1.1 Trillion" by Jake Johnson.

Article: "Beto O'Rourke frequently voted for Republican legislation, analysis reveals" by David Sirota.

Hour Two: What is Imperialism? The Roman Empire Collapsed, The British Empire Unwound. How do Empires End? How might the American Empire End...and, What Does That Have To Do With Economics?
- Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Democracy At Work/Capitalism's Crisis Deepens Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown

Book: Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny by Edward J. Watts.

Article: "UK wages worth up to a third less than in 2008, study shows" by Press Association.

Article: "For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades" by Drew Desilver.

Article: "2 years on from the Brexit referendum - a timeline of key events" by Institute of Export and International Trade.

Article: "Thucydides Trap" by Graham Tillett Allison, Jr.

Book: Economics of Colonialism: Britain and Kenya, 1870-1930 by Richard D. Wolff.

Article: "Frantz Fanon" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Exclusive: Biden to run for White House, says Dem lawmaker" by Scott Wong, Amie Parnes.

Article: "Rule That Curbs Bank Risk-Taking Nears Approval" (Volcker Rule) by Ben Protess and Peter Eavis.

Quote: "I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power." - Michael Cohen.

Article: "Exclusive - President Donald Trump: Paul Ryan Blocked Subpoenas of Democrats" by Alexander Marlow, Matthew Boyle, Amanda House, & Charlie Spiering.

Quote: " I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don't play it tough - until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad." - Donald J. Trump.

Speech: "Accepting the NY Liberal Party Nomination, 1960" by John F Kennedy, September 14, 1960 "I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal'".

Book: There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion by Jim Hightower.

Talk Media News Segment:
- Bob Ney

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Book: Loving What You Do: The Elements of a Great Working Life by Ellen Ratner.

Article: "Trump faces Senate revolt in vote on border emergency" by BBC.

Article: "Senate Votes Again to End Aid to Saudi War in Yemen, Defying Trump" by Catie Edmondson.

Article: "US House unanimously demands Mueller report be made public" by AFP.

Article: "William Barr's shady track record of covering up the crimes of a Republican president" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "New York appellate court allows Summer Zervos defamation suit against Trump to proceed" by Felicia Sonmez.

Article: "FDA outlines e-cigarette rules, tightens restrictions on fruity flavors to try to curb teen vaping" by Angelica LaVito.

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

Hour Three: Will Social Security Be Expanded?
- Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future/The Zero Hour

Article: "Washington state: at least 20 county sheriffs refuse to enforce new gun laws" by Jason Wilson.

Video: Why Are Sheriffs Refusing to Enforce the Law in Washington State?.

Article: "Trump budget to propose slashing domestic spending, boosting defense" by Damian Paletta and Erica Werner.

Article: "House Democrats roll out bill that would expand Social Security" by Victor Reklaitis.

Bill: "H.R.860 - Social Security 2100 Act" by Rep. Larson, John B. [D-CT-1].

Article: "Republican Party Platform of 1956", August 20, 1956.

Article: "Medicare-for-all: Rep. Pramila Jayapal's new bill, explained" by Sarah Kliff.

Article: "Bernie Sanders's new Medicare-for-all plan, explained" by Sarah Kliff.

Article: "Trump Administration Aims To Use Facebook To Spy On People Collecting Disability" by Mary Papenfuss.

Article: "AFL-CIO criticizes Green New Deal, calling it ‘not achievable or realistic'" by Colby Itkowitz, Dino Grandoni and Jeff Stein.

Article: "Cartoon: They were... Socialist invaders from the future" by RubenBolling.

Article: "Clinton v. Jones" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Beto O'Rourke on Green New Deal: "Literally, The Future Of The World Depends On Us"" by Tim Hains.

Article: "Intelligence Agencies Warn of Climate Risks in Worldwide Threat Assessment" by John H. Cushman Jr.

Article: "Climate Change and Rising Food Prices Heightened Arab Spring" by Ines Perez.

Article: "Arab Spring" by Wikipedia.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978

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

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

It's Anything Goes Friday!

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...

Trump's Wall Collides with Tribal Resistance Over Sacred Sites

Congressman Mark Pocan Answers Your Tweets!