Turn on the news these days and you're bound to hear some kind of fretting about millennials and their views on the world. Usually - the conversation revolves around questions like "why are millennials so lazy?" or "why do they spend so much time on social media?" - and while questions like that are kind of trite - they have a point. Millennials ARE different from other generations. Very - different in fact - especially when it comes to politics. My guest for tonight's Conversations with Great Minds has tried to find out why. Joining me now now is David Cahn. David is a journalist - an activist - a national leader of the Junior State of America - and an experienced campaign organizer. He also writes for the Huffington Post and along with his brother Jack - is the co-author of "When Millennials Rule: The Reshaping of America."

Turn on the news these days and you're bound to hear some kind of fretting about millennials and their views on the world. Usually - the conversation revolves around questions like "why are millennials so lazy?" or "why do they spend so much time on social media?" - and while questions like that are kind of trite - they have a point. Millennials ARE different from other generations. Very - different in fact - especially when it comes to politics. My guest for tonight's Conversations with Great Minds has tried to find out why. Joining me now now is David Cahn. David is a journalist - an activist - a national leader of the Junior State of America - and an experienced campaign organizer. He also writes for the Huffington Post and along with his brother Jack - is the co-author of "When Millennials Rule: The Reshaping of America."

Gianno Caldwell, Caldwell Strategic Consulting & Siobhan "Sam" Bennett, Political Strategist/Ascend & Scott Greer, The Daily Caller all join Thom. Texas has seen an unprecedented spike in the rate of pregnancy-related deaths since 2010 - according to a new study published in the September issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The state saw a slight increase in pregnancy related deaths during the decade between 2000 and 2010 - but the rate nearly DOUBLED in 2011 and 2012 - spiking from 72 deaths in 2010 to 148 deaths in 2012.

Thom discusses how Obama’s push of the TPP is hurting Clinton and helping Trump with the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s Mark Weisbrot, how Aetna is threatening to pullout of Obamacare if the feds oppose their merger with Humana with Physicians For a National Health Program’s Robert Zarr, and what the continued decline of pollinators will mean for our planet with actor and activist Dominic Monaghan. And in tonight’s Daily Take Thom discusses the biggest trade deal you’ve never heard of.

Paul Gunter, Reactor Oversight Project, Beyond Nuclear joins Thom.The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has revealed that highly radioactive waste has been leaking into one facility for at least FOUR YEARS! So why isn't the plant's owner facing any fines?

Dr. Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research (C.E.P.R.)/Just Foreign Policy/FAILED: What the "Experts" Got Wrong about the Global Economy, joins Thom. As Politico reports - “The White House is making an all-out push to win passage of the deal in the lame-duck session of Congress, organizing 30 events over the congressional recess to gin up support for the [TPP] The strategy is to offer support and cover to the small flock of Democrats who supported legislation to fast-track the deal and to remind wavering Republicans that they oppose it at their own peril.” So - what is Obama thinking? Does he know he’s sabotaging Clinton? Or is he so committed to the TPP that he just doesn’t care?

Dr. Robert Zarr, Physicians For a National Health Program joins Thom. Insurance giant Aetna sent shockwaves through the political world earlier this week when it announced that it would withdraw from Obamacare exchanges in 11 states and only offer insurance in four state-level Obamacare exchanges in 2017. Predictably - conservatives pounced on this news. They said it was proof - PROOF - that Obamacare is doomed to failure. Now the story is a bit more complicated. It turns out that Aetna's decision to pull out of all those Obamacare exchanges had less to do with finance - if it had anything to do with it all. It was about political hardball. According to The Huffington Post "[J]ust last month, in a letter to the Department of Justice, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini made a clear threat: If President Barack Obama’s administration refused to allow [a proposed merger with Humana] to proceed... Aetna would be in a worse financial position and would have to withdraw from most of its Obamacare markets, and quite likely all of them.”

Sam Sacks, The District Sentinel, joins Thom. The Justice Department has announced that it will soon phase out all contracts with private prisons. This is great news - but does it go far enough to reform our broken criminal justice system?

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Climate change is a mortal threat to our way of life - but it's also an opportunity to finally take on fossil fuel oligarchs like the Koch brothers.

Scott Hoffman Black, The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation/Monarch Joint Venture joins Thom. Monarch butterflies are among the world's most elegant creatures - and they're rapidly disappearing. What's causing their disappearance - and what can it tell us about the threat facing the one planet we call home?

With America's third largest health insurer pulling out of the Obamacare insurance exchange in 11 states - the argument has never been clearer for Single Payer.

David Sirota, International Business Times joins Thom. Hillary Clinton announced who will be leading her White House transition team. But what message does it send that her pick has vocally supported the TPP and the Keystone XL pipeline?

Brendan Fischer, Campaign Legal Center joins Thom. In his epic dissent to the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling - justice John Paul Stevens warned that it would open up our elections to foreign money. Well - he was right - and now we have proof. So what needs to be done to ensure that foreign nationals aren't spending millions to undermine our Democratic process?

Hughey Newsome, BOLD.global/Move-On-Up & Anya Parampil, RT America & Bryan Pruitt, RedState joins Thom. Conservative radio host Charlie Sykes. He told Business Insider recently that any blame for the rise of Trump lies squarely at the feet of right-wing hate radio. He said, "When this is all over, we have to go back. There's got to be a reckoning on this. We've created a monster... [W]e have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media...There is a real bias. But, at a certain point you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there.” Who bears more responsibility for Trump - the mainstream media or right-wing hate radio and its more established mouthpiece, Fox So-Called news?