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Who will be this Generation's Thomas Jefferson?
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We could be looking at the end of the American experiment, and it has gone so far that it'll take a political revolution to set things right again.
 
On Monday, Charles and David Koch, the Koch brothers, pledged they would raise and spend $889 million to help elect Republicans in the 2016 election cycle. To put just how huge this number is in perspective, $889 million is more than both the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee spent combined over the course of the 2012 elections.
 
This is the brave new world we live in thanks to the Supreme Court and it's doctrine of money as speech and corporations as people. Two billionaires - two oil barons - now have just as much power, arguably even more power, than America's two main political parties. But the Kochs are just one example of a very big problem. And that problem is the near total takeover of our political system by plutocrats.
 
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, "Since Citizens United was decided in 2010, there has been more than $1 billion in super PAC spending. Just 195 individuals and their spouses gave almost 60 percent of that money - more than $600 million."
 
It's clear that this investment has paid big dividends for the plutocrats. Republicans now control 69 of the 99 state legislative chambers across the U.S. as well as both houses of Congress, where they're hard at work pushing corporate-friendly legislation like a bill to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline.
 
On the state level corporate influence has become so pervasive that in Kansas Governor Sam Brownback submitted his state budget to Koch-funded lobbyists weeks before he submitted it to his own state's legislature.
 
Meanwhile, wealth inequality remains at an all-time high as the top one percent has captured 91 percent all income gains since the Recession.
 
Read more here.
 
-Thom
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The Big Picture (small)
Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... The GOP declares war on Native Americans (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
 
Big Picture Rumble:
- Kris Ullman, Conservative Commentator/Activist  Twitter
- Sam Sacks, The District Sentinel  Twitter  Twitter
- Charles Sauer, The Market Institute  Twitter
 
Best of the Rest: The GOP declares war on Native Americans
- Tara Houska, Tribal Rights Attorney  Twitter
- Dallas Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network  Twitter  Twitter
 
Daily Take: Will a new Thomas Jefferson come forward to save American Democracy?
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Wednesday's Daily Stack Daily Stack
Hour One: Billionaires give Thom nightmares!
Article: "The Danger of American Fascism" by Henry A. Wallace.
Article: "A Richer World... but for whom?" by Andrew Walker.
Law: "Communications Act of 1934", of which Title II regulates common carriers.
Article: "Let the 2016 Koch ring kissing begin" by Joan McCarter.
Article: "Continued Assaults on Health Reform" by NY Times.
Article: "Fascism Anyone?" by Laurence W. Britt (The 14 Characteristics of Fascism).
Article: "Trans-Pacific Partnership" (TPP) by Wikipedia.
Law: "Federal Advisory Committee Act", 6 October 1972.

Hour Two: Thom's thoughts on Michelle Obama not wearing a head scarf in Saudi Arabia
Article: "Meeting with Pope John Paul II" by Thom Hartmann.
Book: "The Prophet's Way" by Thom Hartmann.
Article: "Sherman Antitrust Act", 1890.
Article: "Mergers and acquisitions" by Wikipedia.
 
Article: "Monopoly (game)" by Wikipedia.
 
Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones Twitter
Article: "Lynch Defends Obama's Moves On Immigration" by Nicholas Salazar.
Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.
Article: "TRNS News Notes- 1/28" by Victoria Jones.
Article: "TRNS News Notes- 1/27" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: The story of Gilgamesh - plus, the re-writing of Wikipedia
Article: "Epic of Gilgamesh".
Quote: "The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor" - Voltaire.
Site: "Icelandic Economics" by Olafur Margeirsson.
Site: "Economy of Iceland" by Wikipedia.
Video: The American Dream - George Carlin.
Event: Minneapolis, February 27th, 2015 "AM950's 11th Annual Blue State Ball".
Book: Today's ISMS: Socialism, Capitalism, Fascism, Communism, and Libertarianism by by Alan Ebenstein, William Ebenstein, Edwin Fogelman.
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