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Will the billionaires buy another election?
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You need to know this...The 2014 midterm elections are officially the most expensive midterm elections in American history. According to the Center for Responsive Politics around $3.67 billion will be spent this election cycle - beating out the previous record of $3.63 billion spent in the 2010 midterms.
 
To put that number in perspective, CNN estimates that if all the money spent on the midterms was spent on something else - it would be enough to build and operate 100 Ebola treatment centers in Africa.
 
It would also be enough to fund the K through 12 education of 12,000 American kids - or enough to buy 25 fighter F-18 fighter jets to help in the fight against ISIS. If it wasn't already obvious before - it should be now.
 
We have the best democracy money can buy - and if there's one story about this election cycle that everyone should be talking about - it's that. Yes - the possibility of a Republican takeover of the Senate gets all the headlines - but the fact that billionaires like the Koch Brothers can now throw money at whatever race they want without any checks on their spending whatsoever is even more important - especially when you look at the big picture of what's really going on here.
 
What we're seeing with all the record-breaking spending in this year's midterms isn't an accident - it's the perfection of the brave new world of money in politics.
 
The Supreme Court opened the floodgates four years ago with Citizens United - and then it opened them a bit a more with its McCutcheon decision earlier this year. This gave the right-wing money machine power like it never had before - and now - in 2014 - that machine has fine-tuned its strategy - creating a monster.
 
Read more here.
 
-Thom
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The Big Picture (small)
Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Midterms 2014 - Special Election Night Special Coverage (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)
 
Green World Rising Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio
 
Need to Know: Big Picture on nationwide races & issues
- Reporters Alexey Yaroshevsky, Lindsay France, Manuel Rapalo and Ameera David, RT America  Twitter
 
Screwed: Money in Politics
- Ian Vandewalker, Brennan Center for Justice  Twitter
 
Plus, the latest on marijuana legalization
- Gabriel Sayegh, Drug Policy Alliance  Twitter  Twitter
 
The Best of the Rest...
 
Election spending and the economy
- Dr. Richard Wolff, Economist / Democracy At Work  Twitter
 
Plus, Third party candidates / legalizing pot
- Jesse Ventura, former Governor of Minnesota  Twitter
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Tuesday's Daily Stack Daily Stack
Quote: "Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt.
 
Hour One: It's election day 2014...have you voted?
Article: "Jim Crow Returns" by Greg Palast.
Fox So-called News Alert: "Tucker Carlson: "We need an 'older white guy' appreciation day"" by Jenny Kutner.
 
Talk Radio News Segment:
- Luke Vargas Twitter reporting on the election from New Hampshire
Article: "Christie: New England Races Will Surprise on Election Night" by Paayal ZaverI and Luke Vargas.
Article: "Holder sends poll watchers to 18 states" by Ben Kamisar.

Hour Two: Chasing dark money
- Brendan Fischer, Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) Twitter
 
Speech: "A Rendezvous With Destiny", 27 June 1936 acceptance speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt. "An old English judge once said: "Necessitous men are not free men.""
Site: PollVault.
 
Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones Twitter
Article: "Reince Priebus: GOP win, Obama signs XL" by Jonathan Topaz.
Article: "Kerry vows to press China on hacking" by Cory Bennett.
Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.
Article: "TRNS News Notes- 11/4" by Victoria Jones.
Article: "TRNS News Notes- 11/3" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: How Mitch McConnell Is Bending Every Last Campaign Finance Rule
- Lee Fang, The Nation & Republic Report Twitter Twitter
Article: "Dark money still a Republican game" by Peter Olsen-Phillips.
 
Protecting your vote
- Chris Melody Fields, Election Protection Twitter Twitter
 
Article: "€54m voting machines scrapped for €9 each" by Paul Melia and Luke Byrne.
Bible: "Ephesians 5:22-24: Wives and Husbands" Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord...
Bible: "1 Corinthians 11:3-9" ...But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head....
 
Talk Radio News Segment:
- Justin Duckham covering the election live from Kentucky Twitter
 
Science and green news
Article: "Reversing Course on Beavers" by Jim Robbins.

 GoToMeeting
Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET 
We'll be catching up on the results so far of the elections, and discussing what they will mean.
 
Plus, author Dan Sisson, returns for Thom Hartmann University Book Club - The American Revolution of 1800 - Chapter 2.
 
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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Full Show 11/3/14: Republicans Don't Want You to Vote
Full Show 11/3/14: Republicans Don't Want You to Vote

In tonight's midterm election special Thom talks tomorrow's Congressional and Gubernatorial races and the 146 ballot measures Americans will be voting on with Progressive Christy Setzer and Conservatives Neil McCabe and Tyler Harber.

Is Mitch McConnell breaking election laws?
Is Mitch McConnell breaking election laws?

Fighting the Dark Money of politics
Fighting the Dark Money of politics

Protect your vote!
Protect your vote!

Thom Hartmann on Science and Green News - November 4, 20134
Thom Hartmann on Science and Green News - November 4, 20134

What happens if the GOP takes the Senate?
What happens if the GOP takes the Senate?
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The Thom Hartmann Program is a Charity Wine Partner with the Organic Wine Company. Purchase any wines and they will donate a portion of the proceeds to The Hunter School for children with autism, ADHD, and other learning challenges.
 
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