Earlier this month President Barack Obama created the Atlantic Ocean's first United States marine monument, called the Northeast Cannons and Seamounts Marine national Monument.

President Obama made the announcement at an ocean conservation meeting shortly after he issued a proclamation protecting an area of ocean off the coast of Cape Cod with a total area roughly equal to the size of Connecticut.

The move came after a week of disturbing news about the world's oceans.

One recent report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature shows that the oceans have absorbed much of the energy that's been added to Earth's atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels into the atmosphere.

Another recent study published in "Global Biogeochemical Cycles" shows how all of the CO2 that we've dumped into the atmosphere is causing the oceans to acidify - which is having profound negative impacts on deep-sea shell-forming organisms like sea urchins and snails.

And another study from Stanford University showed that larger marine animals are going extinct faster than smaller animals - marking "a pattern that is unprecedented in the history of life on Earth, and one that is likely driven by human fishing."

How urgent are these threats to our oceans - and what type of efforts will it take to avoid an oceanic mass extinction event?

And what will it take to go even further - to repair our ocean's ecosystems?

Read more here.

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Dakota Pipeline - Why This Struggle Is Bigger Than 1 Pipeline (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Friday's Daily Stack 

Article: "Trump wanted to fire women who weren't pretty enough, say employees at his California golf club" by Matt Pearce.

Article: "Donald Trump Bashes Alicia Machado Again, Alleging a 'Sex Tape' (Without Evidence)" by Alan Rappeport.

Article: "Alicia Machado Sex Tape: Here's The Truth About The Adult Video Donald Trump Referenced In His Twitter Tirade " by Nathan Francis.

Article: "Duterte remarks on 1989 rape victim prompt outrage".

Article: "Philippines President Duterte Likens Himself To Hitler, Wants To Kill Millions Of Drug Users" by Reuters.

Tweet: "You can't say anything bad about Trump to a Trump reporter because..." by BabylonBros.

Article: "Meet Gary Johnson's Koch-Network Money Men" by Adele M. Stan.

Article: "Gary Johnson's Hard-Right Record" by Nick Tabor.

Article: "Gary Johnson: Take a Deep Breath, Voters. There Is a Third Way." by Gary Johnson.

Video: Frontline: The Choice 2016.

Article: "Video shows police fatally shooting a 6-year-old autistic boy in the back of a car" by Tess Owen.

Article: "6-year-old clinging to life after S.C. elementary school shooting" by Nathaniel Cary.

Article: "Armed Police" (in the UK) by PFOA - Police Firearms Officers Association.

Article: "Fossil fuel interests are pouring money into the North Carolina Senate race" by Natasha Geiling.

 

Trump's Disastrous Foreign Policy
- (former) Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, Hillary for America    

Article: "Clinton Leads in Key Battlegrounds; Seen As Big Debate Winner" by Public Policy Polling.

Article: "Election 2016 Presidential Polls" by RealClearPolitics.com.

Article: "Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson: 'What is Aleppo?'" by Louis Nelson and Daniel Strauss.

Article: "US presidential candidate Gary Johnson fails to name a foreign leader he admires" by Nicky Woolf.

Article: "Clinton, Sanders promote tuition-free college in joint NH appearance" by Nicole Gaudiano and Heidi M. Przybyla.

Article: "Podesta to Trump: 'Safety tip: don't reach for your phone' at night" by Madeline Conway.

 

Article: "Ronald Reagan's shameful legacy: Violence, the homeless, mental illness" by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey.

Article: "Election June 2016: Ban on "hack'n squirt;" no on charter county" by Linda Williams.

Article: "2nd Amendment". A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Book: Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas by Sally E. Hadden.

Quote: "Give me liberty, or give me death!" - Patrick Henry.

Article: "The Debates In The Convention Of The Commonwealth Of Virginia, On The Adoption Of The Federal Constitution." - June 24 1788, Patrick Henry.

Article: "Indigenous Peoples' Day" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The growing indigenous spiritual movement that could save the planet" by Jack Jenkins.

Article: "U.S. Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History, 1862-2013 (Nominal and Inflation-Adjusted Brackets)" by Tax Foundation.

Article: "Effects of Minimum Wage Increases Extend Beyond the Law's Reach" by Maurice A. Jones.

Article: "Libertarian Party Platform 2016".

Article: "Democratic Platform 2016".

Article: "Republican Platform 2016".

Article: "Learn more about Hillary's vision for America." (issues).

Article: "Ivanka Trump vacationing with Putin's rumored girlfriend" by Caitlin Yilek.

Article: "Arianna Huffington Blames Donald Trump's Antics on Sleep Deprivation" by Beatrice Verhoeven.

Video: The Wave.

Article: "Shimon Peres 2 years ago: I stopped Netanyahu from attacking Iran, and you can talk about it when I'm dead" by Natasha Bertrand.

Article: "Donald Trump's company violated the U.S. embargo against Cuba" by Kurt Eichenwald.

Article: "Trump Foundation not even certified to take donations, may have to give everything back" by Mark Sumner.

Article: "Obama vetoes 9/11 bill" by Kevin Liptak.

Article: "Investor-state dispute settlement" (ISDS).

Article: "State Sponsors of Terrorism" (U.S.) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Trump Trade Position Is Opposite Of What People Think It Is" by Dave Johnson.

 

Talk Media News Segment:
- Ellen Ratner, Bureau Chief 

Article: "Howard Dean apologizes for cocaine tweet, but says Trump should be called out more" by Brent Griffiths.

Article: "New Trump TV Ad Explains Why Clinton Isn't '50 Points Ahead' In The Polls (VIDEO)" by Matt Shuham.

Article: "Trump aide resigns over discomfort with campaign's direction" by Gabby Morrongiello.

Article: "USA TODAY's Editorial Board: Trump is 'unfit for the presidency'".

Article: "'Shimon never saw his dream of peace fulfilled,' Obama says at Peres funeral" by Wilson Dizard.

Article: "Sanders will stump for Clinton in swing state Iowa" by TMN.

Article: "Sanders to campaign for Clinton in Minneapolis, Duluth" by AP.

Article: "Hoboken train crash: Event recorder recovered" by Jason Hanna, Rene Marsh and Steve Almasy.

Article: "Stuck At The Station" by Ryan R. Hall.

Article: "McAuliffe restores voting rights to 41,000 Virginia felons" by Gary Gately.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman 

Article: "Quick Morning News - Peres Funeral: Obama Eulogy - September 30, 2016" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "Quick Morning News - Congress overrides Obama veto of 9/11 bill - September 29, 2016" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "Giuliani Slams Lester Holt: 'Incorrect, Ignorant Fact-Checker'" by Joe Crowe.

Article: "Sen. John McCain doubles down on Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick walkout video" by Dan Nowicki.

Article: "Senate Passes Sanders-McCain Veterans Bill" by Sen. Bernie Sanders, June 11, 2014.

Article: "Senator Who Has Received More NRA Support Than Anyone Blames Obama For Orlando Shooting" (John McCain) by Aaron Rupar.

Article: "At Fort Lee, Obama addresses concerns of military audience" by Jim Nolan.

Article: "Donald Trump Unveils New, More Diverse Supreme Court Short List" by Nina Totenberg.

Article: "Donald Trump on Marriage: "Ultimately Ivana Does Exactly As I Tell Her to Do"" by Oprah.

Article: "'Are You Calling Him a Liar?!': Conway Snaps Back During Heated Exchange Over Trump's Taxes" by J.D. Durkin.

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

 

I'll be talking to Hillary surrogate Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley, Senior Adviser for Special Initiatives to the Secretary of State (former Ambassador to Portugal).

 

Plus, Dr. Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) will be talking about Cutting Through the Debate Rhetoric on Trade.

 

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...