Are we really the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On Thanksgiving Day, 26-year-old law student Cesar Baldelomar was pulled over by a police officer in northwest Miami. So what was the reason for his stop? He was playing the song “F**K Tha Police” by N.W.A on his radio.

According to the Miami New Times, police officer Harold Garzon confronted Baldelomar at a stop light, and reportedly said to him, “You’re really playing that song? Pull over.” When Baldelomar pulled over, the officer claimed that it was illegal for him to being playing music that loudly within 25 feet of another person. Being a law student, Baldelomar knew that wasn’t the case.

In fact, as Baldelomar told the Miami New Times, “In 2012 the state supreme court struck down any law banning loud music. I knew that because it was a case I had actually studied in law school." Officer Garzon then reportedly issued Baldelomar a ticket for not having proof of car insurance (even though he did and offered it to Garzon) and tickets for not wearing a seatbelt and having an out-of-state license.

Cesar Baldelomar’s Thanksgiving Day run-in with the police isn’t just another example of abuse of power. It’s a symptom of a much larger problem in America: growing levels of authoritarianism.

Authoritarianism is a disease. It moves and grows gradually, but inexorably. Eventually, it grows to the point where it has completely taken over society. America is dangerously close to that point.

Think about it. Authoritarianism rears its ugly head in America every time a police officer uses excessive force.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Why Does Anyone Support Torture? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio

Need to Know: Why Does Anyone Support Torture?
- Michael Ratner, Attorney / Center for Constitutional Rights (President Emeritus)

Big Picture Politics Panel:
- Hughey Newsome, Project 21 / Move-On-Up
- Ben Wikler, MoveOn.org
- Jennifer Kerns, Washington Times / The Blaze

Left & Right agree...Fast Track & TPP is a bad idea
- Ambassador Alan Keyes, Loyal to Liberty

Tuesday's Daily Stack

Book: "They Thought They Were Free" by Milton Mayer.

Article: "Police Shoot, Kill 80-Year-Old Man In His Own Bed, Don't Find the Drugs They Were Looking For" by 951-Riverside.

Article: "This Harvard Grad Got Pulled Over By A Cop For Playing N.W.A’s ‘F–k Tha Police’" by Adam Fleischer.

Article: "San Jose police officer on leave after posting death threats to protestors on Twitter" by Shaun King.

Book: "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin.

Article: "May cable news ratings spare no one" by Hadas Gold.

Article: "They Thought They Were Free" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Albert Ellis" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Habeas corpus" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Family of John Crawford, man killed by police in Walmart, plans lawsuit" by Cliff Pinckard.

Article: "United Nations Convention against Torture" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Congress gave feds the gift of constitutional spying on Americans’ communications" by Ms. Smith.

Article: "Fusion center" by Wikipedia.

Hour Two: Left, Right...nobody likes 'fast track'
- Ambassador Alan Keyes, Loyal to Liberty

Article: "Fast track (trade)" by Wikipedia.

Book: Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-right Alliance To Dismantle The Corporate State by Ralph Nader.

Article: "The Largest U.S. Ethnic Group? It's Germans".

Article: "Report on the Subject of Manufactures" by Alexander Hamilton.

Book: "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" by Thom Hartmann.

Book: "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" by Thom Hartmann.

Book: "The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America--and What We Can Do to Stop It" by Thom Hartmann.

Video: The Wave (2008).

The good: "Congressman Mark Pocan Introduces Bill to Ban Fracking on Public Lands" by Food & Water Watch.

The bad: Jeff Follmer: "CLE Police Union demands apology from Browns for Andrew Hawkins shirt supporting Tamir Rice" by Tim Rearden, Michael Baldwin.

The very, very ugly: Mike Vanderboegh: "Radical Right-Winger Promises ‘Second Amendment Remedies’ To Fight Background Check Law".

Article: "New poll finds majority of Americans believe torture justified after 9/11 attacks" by Adam Goldman and Peyton Craighill.

Article: "24 (TV series)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Loaded with Lead" by Christine Willmsen, Lewis Kamb and Justin Mayo.

Article: "October 1, 2002: CIA Delivers National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq to Congress; Few Lawmakers Read It" by History Commons.

Article: "Detailed Analysis of October 7, 2002 Speech by Bush on Iraq".

Article: "Senate Report on Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says " by Don Van Natta Jr. March 27, 2006.

Article: "Operation Paperclip" by Wikipedia.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Bob Ney

Article: "Ted Cruz Gave Obama An Early Christmas Gift Over The Weekend" by Sahil Kapur.

Article: "Senate Confirms Controversial Surgeon General Nominee" by TRNS.

Article: "Senate To Vote On Controversial Surgeon General Nominee" by TRNS.

Article: "Obama: Pakistan Terrorist Attack ‘Heinous’" by Nicholas Salazar.

Article: "Government urges dismissal of Arpaio lawsuit over immigration" by Steve Stout.

Article: "Jeb Bush To ‘Explore The Possibility’ Of Running For President" by Nicholas Salazar.

Article: "Source: Rubio on track for 2016 run" by Dana Bash and Eric Bradner.

Article: "President Obama Thanks Troops At New Jersey Military Base" by Cleve Bryan.

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

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 12/16" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 12/15" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: Thom talks with renowned prosector
- Vincent Bugliosi, The Prosecution of an American President

Book: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by Vincent Bugliosi.

Book: "Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders" by Vincent Bugliosi.

Article: "Pardon Bush and Those Who Tortured" by Anthony D. Romer.

Book: Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Got Away with Murder by Vincent Bugliosi.

Article: "President Bush's New Public Face: Confident and 'Impishly Fun'" by Elisabeth Bumiller, March 28, 2005.

Article: "Sherman Antitrust Act", 1890.

Article: "Media cross-ownership in the United States" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Telecommunications Act of 1996" by Wikipedia.

Article: "The 6-Step Process to Dispose of the Poor Half of America" by Paul Buchheit.

Book: The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap by Matt Taibbi.

Article: "Elizabeth Warren was right: The links between Citigroup and government run deep" by Matt O'Brien and Darla Cameron.

Article: "COINTELPRO" by Wikipedia.

Article: "John McCain and Congress helping mining company steal ancestral, ceremonial Apache land" by Carissa Lovelace.

Documentary: Who Bombed Judi Bari?.

Article: "Mike Gravel to Senator Mark Udall: Make Full Torture Probe Public Like I Did with Pentagon Papers" by Democracy Now!.

Article: "Marching in Defense of Mother Earth, Thousands in Lima Demand Climate Justice Now!" by Andrea Germanos.

Article: "Radio burst from beyond Milky Way detected in real time" by Christopher Crockett.

Article: "The Trick Big Food Uses To Get You To Buy Candy In The Checkout Aisle" by Jessica Almy and Priya Fielding-Singh.

Article: "Punishing Children For Lying May Not Bring The Truth" by Kathleen Lees.

Article: "New Zealanders Bury Heads in Sand … Just Like Their Government".

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

I'll be asking Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association why he thinks Jesus would support the use of torture...?!

Plus, author Dan Sisson, returns for Thom Hartmann University Book Club - The American Revolution of 1800 - Chapter 7.

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"

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Will Americans listen to Dick Cheney or the UN - on Torture?

Scalia is Dead Wrong About Torture

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Full Show 12/15/14: Thom talks climate, GMOs and the constitutionality of torture

Thom talks with Karen Orenstein, Senior International Policy Analyst at the Friends of the Earth and Oscar Reyes, Associate Fellow-Climate Policy Program at the Institute for Policy Studies about the climate change agreement reached in Peru.

Shahid Buttar, Executive Director-Bill of Rights Defense Committee & the People's Campaign for the Constitution (PCC) spoke with Thom about the U.N.’s call for prosecutions for U.S. torture. Patty Lovera , Assistant Director-Food & Water Watch and Alexis Baden-Mayer, Political Director-Organic Consumers Association Discussed the GMO labeling defeat in Oregon and GMOs impact.

Caller: I'm More Fearful now Than Ever Before...

We Thought we Were Free...

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OR GMO Recount and ME Phantom Ballots

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