Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi officially resigned last week following a crushing and - some would say self-inflicted - defeat at the polls.

Like British Prime Minister David Cameron before him, Renzi had staked the future of his political career to a referendum, in this a case a referendum on amending Italy's constitution.

Renzi probably expected to win handily, but when voters went to the polls this weekend, he was crushed.

Italians voted overwhelmingly against his proposed constitutional amendments.

In the final tallies, 59.11 percent of voters voted "no," and 40.89 percent voted "yes" - a difference of almost exactly 20 points.

In the wake of Sunday's shocking vote, the mainstream media coverage in the US and across much of the Western press has portrayed the referendum much like it did the June Brexit vote in the UK -- as a massive populist revolt led by the far-right.

The New York Times, for example, ran a story with the headline "Renzi Quits; Italian Populists Seek Quick Vote to Win Power".

This narrative - that far-right populists are on the verge of taking over Europe - is a powerful one these days - especially after Trump's shocking victory here in the US.

But is it accurate, at least in this case with Italy?

Is the far-right on the march - or is something else entirely going on?

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10:30pm... Lynching By Laptop? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Monday's Daily Stack 

Article: "Fiorina, reportedly considered for national intelligence director, calls China 'most important adversary'" by Jacob Pramuk.

Article: "Bipartisan Electors Ask James Clapper: Release Facts on Outside Interference in U.S. Election" by Christine Pelosi.

Article: "McCain, Graham, Schumer, Reed Joint Statement on Reports That Russia Interfered with the 2016 Election".

Article: "Bruno Latour" by Wikipedia.

Book: We Have Never Been Modern by Bruno Latour.

Book: "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late" by Thom Hartmann

Article: "Gaia hypothesis" by James Lovelock.

Site: The Coming War On China.

Article: "Beijing 'seriously concerned' by Trump's One China remarks" by AFP.

Article: "Cuban missile crisis" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Trump secretary of state candidate has long history with Putin" by Rachel Maddow Show.

Article: "Ukraine signs $10 billion shale gas deal with Chevron" by Pavel Polityuk and Richard Balmforth.

Article: "Trump to pick Rep. McMorris Rodgers for Interior secretary" by Devin Henry.

Article: "CIA concludes Russia interfered to help Trump win election, say reports" by Damien Gayle.

Article: "Curveball (informant)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Gulf of Tonkin incident" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Falklands War" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Yellow journalism" by Wikipedia. "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

Article: "Voter Purges Alter U.S. Political Map" by Greg Palast.

Article: "Russia praises possible Trump pick Rex Tillerson's 'highly professional manner'" by Alec Luhn.

Article: "Federal judge blocks Stein's Pennsylvania recount push" by Eric Bradner.

Article: "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights" by United Nations. "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."

Video: Stockman: I see a 'fiscal blood bath' ahead.

 

Talk Media News Segment:
- Victoria Jones 

Article: "'Conspiracy theory': Trump dismisses CIA claim of Russian hacking" by RT.

Article: "Russian Hackers Acted to Aid Trump in Election, U.S. Says" by David E. Sanger and Scott Shane.

Article: "Harry Reid rips FBI's Comey over 'partisan' refusal to investigate Russian hacking of 2016 election" by David Ferguson.

Article: "McConnell supports investigation into Russia's alleged election interference" by Bryan Renbaum.

Article: "Former CIA spokesman: Trump's disrespect for intelligence community is 'shameful'" by Rebecca Savransky.

Article: "Democrats fear another Trump trouncing" by Gabriel Debenedetti.

Article: "Legislation enables transfer of Kennewick Man to tribes" by Christine Clarridge.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman 

Article: "Recounts should be the norm, not the exception" by Carsten Schürmann, Jari Kickbusch.

Video: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.

Article: "What we've learned about arrested NSA contractor Harold Martin" by Chris Bing.

Video: LIVE Press Conference: Greg Palast et al. 12 Dec 2016 Part 1.

Video: LIVE Press Conference: Greg Palast et al. 12 Dec 2016 Part 2.

Article: "North American Free Trade Agreement" (NAFTA) by Wikipedia

Article: "General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade" (GATT) by Wikipedia

Article: "The Red Shift: Anomalies In Electronic Voting Trend Overwhelmingly In One Direction" by National Election Defense Coalition.

Law: "Help America Vote Act" (2002).

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

 

Greg Palast will join me in the studio to talk about "Lynching By Laptop"

 

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