On today's BradCast: Hurricane Matthew has already wrought death and destruction in the Caribbean, is already breaking records as it bears down on the U.S. Southeastern seaboard, and is "not your grandfather's weather" thanks to global warming, according to my guest, a 40-year veteran broadcast meteorologist. [Audio link to show is posted below.]

With states of emergency declared in Florida and several other states, and millions of Americans scrambling to get out of harms way, I'm joined today by longtime weather forecaster, Star-Tribune blogger and self-identified "Ronald Reagan conservative" Paul Douglas, to discuss the deadly and extraordinarily dangerous Hurricane Matthew as it aims for the East Coast of Florida. (That's not a Halloween decoration, it's an actual infrared satellite photo of the storm in the logo above, as the eye passed over Cuba earlier this week.)

Douglas explains what makes this currently Category 4/5 storm and its path so unusual and how it could actually end up hitting some of the same places twice if it stays on its currently projected bizarre U-turn trajectory.

"Matthew is going to grind up the coast. There's going to be a long stretch of coastline that's impacted by this storm surge. Because much of the circulation is going to remain out over water, it isn't going to fizzle like a normal hurricane," he tells me, adding that it "went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 in 36 hours [because] water temperatures in the Caribbean are running several degrees above average. It's the old 'weather on steroids' analogy. We are super-sizing a lot of these storms."

Because of that, he says, the storm surge could be as much as 9 feet above normal tides. "This is what kills people. It's not the winds. It's not even as much the inland rain. It's the storm surge that can cut off escape routes." And, as to that currently projected U-turn for the storm after it's moved up the coast? "I don't want to overstate it, but this could be unprecedented in terms of the track, the intensity, the amount of real estate that's impacted by this storm surge, and the fact that it's taking this bizarre loop potentially."

I ask Douglas, who has just co-authored the new book Caring for Creation: The Evangelicals Guide to Climate Change and a Healthy Environment with minister and coal miner's son Rev. Mitch Hescox (also a previous guest on The BradCast), to respond to Rush Limbaugh's latest hurricane conspiracy theory, which Douglas dispatches with actual facts and science, explaining: "The atmosphere doesn't care what you believe. The atmosphere responds to physics and chemistry. We've been fiddling with the chemistry of the atmosphere. We've been poking at the climate system with a long, sharp carbon-tipped spike, and then acting surprised when the weather bites back."

I also ask the self-described "Ronald Reagan-Teddy Roosevelt conservative who believes that conservatives should actually conserve," about why he believes corporate media fail to connect climate change dots and, at least so far, to raise the issue of global warming in Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. We discuss that, and much more. I'd suggest that this is another must-listen conversation, no matter what comes of Matthew in the next several days.

Also today (and not unrelated): Donald Trump, who has a record of politicizing election-year hurricanes, has named a Koch Industries climate denying lobbyist to head up his Energy Transition Team. And, finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report on Matthew, the VP debate, the Paris Agreement, and Canada's surprising announcement of a national carbon tax...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Matthew churns towards U.S.; Climate change shut out - again! - at the Vice Presidential debate; Canada to establish a national carbon tax; New study warns the world is rapidly using up its 'carbon budget'; PLUS: Global Paris Agreement surges over the finish line before the U.S. Presidential election... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): No country on Earth is taking the 2 degree climate target seriously; How the Earth will pay us back for our carbon emissions with … more carbon emissions; Hurricane Matthew is super strong — because of climate change; Activists Warn That Toxic PCBs Contaminate Thousands Of U.S. Schools; Dakota Access: Judges Appear Skeptical Of Freezing Pipeline; Invasive Insects Cause Tens Of Billions In Damage: Study... PLUS: China's $450 billion farm plan could determine our fate... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast, coverage and analysis of this year's one and only (thank God!) Vice Presidential Debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia on Tuesday night between Hillary Clinton's centrist Democratic running mate Sen. Tim Kaine of VA and Donald Trump's religious right Republican running mate Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana. [Audio link is posted below.]

It was, in my opinion, as I noted on The Twitters last night, the worst Presidential or Vice Presidential debate in modern U.S. history, thanks in no small part to the disastrously horrible moderator, CBS News' Elaine Quijano. Her questions seem to come straight off of Fox "News" (where CBS News chief David Rhodes previously worked, coincidentally), failed to follow up any answers, failed to either keep decorum between the two candidates or at least get out of their way, and failed to raise real issues of note --- such as gun violence, race issues, health care, global warming, LGBT issues, campaign finance or voting rights, to name just a few --- effecting the actual everyday lives of Americans.

Mike Pence is a man who has argued smoking doesn't cause cancer, denies climate change, couldn't run for President himself in 2016 because he screwed up so badly on the anti-LGBT bill he signed in Indiana, in December of just last year tweeted "Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional" in response to Trump's call for same --- and, yet, Quijano couldn't muster up a single question on any of those incredibly disturbing things from Pence's career.

But it was also the remarkable avalanche of lies, as offered by the very impressive if astonishingly dishonest GOP Veep nominee, which made the evening simply jaw-dropping at times. Some of those lies were rebutted by a struggling, over-eager Kaine. Others have since been left to those in the media who care to sort such things out.

That's where we come in, I guess. I'm joined today to try and make sense of all of the above by Heather Digby Parton of Salon and the Hullabaloo blog, John Amato, founder of the Crooks and Liars blog and, of course, our own Desi Doyen.

Buckle up and tune in as we "whip out that Mexican thing again"...

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On today's BradCast, the savior of the working class and "Great Negotiator" refuses to even sit down with union workers at his own property in Las Vegas, even as his party comes apart at the seams and the South-Eastern U.S. buckles up for another deadly storm. [Audio link posted at bottom of article.]

In advance of tonight's Vice Presidential debate, we speak with Bethany Khan of the UNITE HERE Culinary Workers Union Local 226 in Nevada, where workers at the Trump Hotel Las Vegas voted to unionize last December. Nonetheless, the Trump Organizations has refused, to date, to even begin negotiations with some 500 now-unionized workers at his 1,200-room, 64-story five-star luxury tower in Sin City. The union is therefore calling for a North American boycott of all Trump properties (hotels, casinos, golf courses, etc.), using the hashtag #BoycottTrump.

Khan explains the action and how the GOP nominee for President has been using every available tool to challenge the lawful union vote, despite claims to represent the working class in the course of his campaign.

"Mr. Trump and his company is legally required to bargain with the Culinary Union and with the workers. The workers are fighting for fair wages, job security, good health benefits," she tells me. "They filed a series of objections --- the way the vote was counted, or who voted --- a host of things to try and tie this up in court. This practice of expansive litigation is one the union workers have beat --- soundly --- and we won. So there are no more objections they can file on the election. The hotel is certified as a union hotel. It's a union property. The only thing that's missing is a union contract."

While the Culinary Workers have endorsed Hillary Clinton, Khan says their organizing campaign started "before Donald Trump announced he was running for President," but adds that "The path to the White House goes through the Las Vegas Strip."

"There are 550 workers in his hotel here in Nevada. They're working people, living paycheck to paycheck. Culinary Union members comprise a majority of the middle class in Nevada. Mr. Trump, who says he wants to make America great again, has a great opportunity to start here in Las Vegas with his workers and give them a contract."

Also today: Tonight's Veep Debate offers an excuse to reminisce about the first BRAD BLOG story to make into the national press and get under the White House's skin back in 2004; The 2016 election is driving the country mad, but particularly the Republican Party (we've got some of the latest insane examples); And, finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report' with two massive and unusual hurricanes making landfall today and the Paris Agreement on climate change meeting key thresholds at the U.N. in record time, in hopes of "Trump Proofing" the landmark pact before the U.S. Presidential election...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Two new hurricanes breaking records in the Atlantic and Pacific; U.S. House Science Committee chair now investigating the SEC for investigating Exxon; India signs on to the Paris Agreement; PLUS: City of Angels gets on path to 100 per cent renewable electricity... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The Paris climate agreement is entering into force. Now comes the hard part; Trudeau Unveils Carbon Price as Canada Acts on Paris Pledge; Only 1 in 5 people hear people talk about climate change at least once a month; Exxon faces a first-of-its-kind lawsuit over climate deception; Peak salt: is the desalination dream over for the Gulf states?; The planet hasn't been this hot for thousands of years; A Curious Plan to Fight Climate Change: Buy Mines, Sell Coal; Timber Company Tells California Town, Go Find Your Own Water... PLUS: Yes - Donald Trump Is a Threat to the Planet... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast, Trump's "charitable" foundation gets shut down by law enforcement, two major (unusual) hurricanes threaten millions, and actual fact-checks from one side of this nightmarish election to the other. [Audio link posted below.]

Among the stories covered on today's program...

• "The Trump Foundation must immediately cease soliciting contributions or engaging in any other fundraising activities in New York," according to the letter from New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office, warning that the GOP nominee's charity "shall be deemed a continuing fraud upon the people of New York" unless it provides required paperwork regarding fundraising activities within the next 15 days.
• Two major hurricanes threatening island nations in both the Atlantic and Pacific.
• Much-needed fact-checking on the misreporting and purposeful mischaracterization of comments made at a February fundraiser by Hillary Clinton.
• More much-needed fact-checking on the misleading (and potentially illegal) comments made by Trump regarding long ago debunked 2012 "voter fraud" in Pennsylvania (which even Philadelphia Republicans are getting sick to death of) and details on why Trump is now being so careful about the words he is using to urge supporters to go to "certain areas" and "watch" the polls.
• Updates on the state of Wisconsin's failure to follow federal court orders concerning their discriminatory Photo ID voting restrictions. (More on this in last Friday's show.)
• More concerns about the possibility of hacked voting, voter registration and tabulation systems resulting in potential chaos this November 8th.

So many pants on fire, so little time before Election Day to try and help put them all out...

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On today's BradCast, another Republican run state appears to be blatantly violating federal court requirements on voting rights, just over one month from Election Day. [Audio link to show posted below.]

While Donald Trump and his businesses have continuously violated state and federal law, even as he calls for 'Law and Order' on the campaign trail as detailed, yet again, on yesterday's program, Republican controlled states continue to violate federal court orders on voting rights. The latest appears to be Wisconsin who, as Ari Berman at The Nation reported, is systematically failing to supply voters with Photo IDs at Departments of Motor Vehicles as the state had promised the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in late August. That promise prevented the court from weakening or killing the GOP's Photo ID voting restriction which has been found, over and over (and over), to disproportionately disenfranchise minority voters in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Joining us to discuss the news --- which has resulted today in a federal judge, on his own motion, ordering the state back in to court to explain themselves --- is Kathleen Unger, President of VotersRiders.org. Her non-profit, non-partisan organization, as Berman detailed, visited 10 DMVs around the Badger State and found only 3 of them prepared to provide Photo IDs to voters who need them to vote within the promised 6 days. Many of the others said the process would take anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks at best, long after Election Day is over and after tens of thousands of voters will have lost their right to vote.

"These Voter ID laws are an unfunded mandate on citizens," Unger explains, for minorities as well as seniors, students, low income voters and others who must take time off work and travel to get the very narrow type of IDs now required to vote in states where these laws have been allowed by courts to stand.

She offers details on the disturbing revelations discovered by her group during visits to WI DMVs with otherwise eligible voters, and what --- if anything --- can now possibly be done to correct the situation less than 40 days out from Election Day and with early voting already under way. She also hopes to point folks towards VoteRiders' downloadable, wallet-sized Photo ID information cards detailing the laws in each state. Informed voters may be the only hope, as chaos in many such states on Election Day is, yet again, a very serious concern.

Wisconsin, as Unger and I discuss, is just the latest scofflaw "red" state to blatantly violate recent federal court requirements concerning voting rights, following on the heels of Texas, Kansas, Ohio and others.

Also today: Yet another major newspaper breaks with years of tradition by asking readers to vote against the Republican nominee; Trump unleashes a bizarre overnight Tweetstorm railing against (and lying about) his former Miss Universe, and Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report recapping what little climate discussion there was at Monday's Presidential debate...

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Today on The BradCast, Donald Trump might be having second thoughts about all of those calls for "law and order", even as he's clearly already having second thoughts about his years of on-the-record climate change denialism.

After a breaking news update on the deadly commuter trainwreck this morning in Hoboken, NJ, we move back to the ongoing Trumpwreck in these United States, including two brand new investigative reports on Trump's, um, extralegal activities regarding the New York Attorney General's probe into multiple apparent illegalities carried out by the GOP nominee's personal use of his "charitable" foundation and a blockbuster new Newsweek exposé concerning his company's unlawful business in Fidel Castro's Cuba at the height of the U.S. embargo against the island nation.

All of that, even as Trump continues to pretend to be the "law and order" candidate. Also, another new report today offers more evidence, despite both the candidate and his campaign's insistence to the contrary, that the GOP nominee treats female employees of his organization poorly.

Then, as yet another massive rain and flooding event plays out today, this time in North Carolina, Desi Doyen joins us for some fact-checking in response to Trump's denial of his own global warming denialism from the first Presidential Debate, as well as a response to charges that Hillary Clinton herself has not done nearly enough on climate and environment issues.

Finally, don't worry! Just in case we've brought you all down today, we finish with a song almost certain to cheer you up! You're welcome! Please enjoy lawfully...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hillary Clinton promotes climate and clean energy, while Donald Trump denies his denial, in the first Presidential debate; PLUS: Coal industry tries to kill Obama's landmark power plant emissions standards in federal court... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): ExxonMobil sued over polluted river, ignored climate change; No quick fix for Canada’s energy industry from OPEC deal; MSNBC's Morning Joe Features Experts To Explain "Warning Signs" Of Climate Change; U.S. intelligence community warns climate change is already destabilizing communities worldwide; U.S. looks to restrict China coal imports from North Korea; Coal electricity generation falls to record U.K. low this spring; New Wind Turbines Could Power Japan for 50 Years After a Single Typhoon... PLUS: As Norway's Arctic draws visitors, more polar bears get shot... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast, updates, racism, lies, voting rights and video tape. [Audio link posted below.]

We've got several updates on the situation in Charlotte, NC following the police killing of Keith Lamont Scott, including the release of an eyewitness video of the shooting said to be from his wife's cellphone. While the tape is heart-wrenching in and of itself, it also appears to show something that looks like a gun seemingly appearing from out of nowhere on the ground next to the victim's body. As noted on the show, I'm not sure what to make of this. It could somehow be a trick of light, shadows, editing, camera angle or...it might not be a gun at all. Others (NBC's Joy Reid, Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson) seemed to be wondering about it as well.

See it for yourself in both the New York Times version of the video as well as the NBC News version. (Enlarge the videos and watch the ground to the right of the body, just next to one of the cop's feet from appx 1:43 to 1:44 in the NBC version and appx 2:01 to 2:02 in the NYTimes version. The NBC version is a bit easier to see, since they have crop/zoomed-in the cellphone framing a bit.) Strange. No real comment. So, I'll just leave that here for now. (But, yes, police do get caught planting guns and falsifying police reports.)

Also today, more blatant and rather jaw-dropping racist statements from the (now former) Trump campaign chair in Mahoning County, OH, Republican U.S. Congressman Robert Pittenger (who represents Charlotte!) and, of course, from Trump himself.

Then, in advance of Monday's Presidential debate, a new non-partisan analysis finds the GOP nominee's proposed elimination of ObamaCare and replacement healthcare plan would result in 20 million Americans losing health coverage. We also review his repeated lie that he opposed the Obama/Clinton actions to intervene in Libya and take out Qaddafi (with audio from 2011 in which he declares the opposite in no uncertain terms.)

Next, troubling e-voting and hacking news and new court rulings and cases concerning voter suppression in the states of Ohio, Georgia and Texas. Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for an important Green News Report, as well as some disturbing, recently unearthed remarks from Libertarian Presidential nominee Gary Johnson concerning global warming...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: United Nations landmark climate agreement reaches crucial threshold to enactment; White House orders federal agencies to account for climate change impacts in national security planning; Good news and bad news in the Arctic; PLUS: President Obama tells the world to put its money where its mouth is... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Coal's Last Gamble: A choking industry bets on one more big score; SEC Probes Exxon Over Accounting for Climate Change; Greenland's huge annual ice loss is even worse than thought; Trump's plan to seize Iraq's oil: 'It's not stealing, we're reimbursing ourselves'; Canada Will Impose Nationwide Carbon Price: Minister; New study undercuts favorite climate myth 'more CO2 is good for plants'; California governor backs new limits on cow farts and landfill emissions... PLUS: Hundreds of U.S. scientists slam Trump for threatening to abandon Paris climate accord... and much, MUCH more! ...

Today on The BradCast, another police shooting, another heat record smashed, another set of polling data show another tied Presidential race, and callers ring in with questions for the candidates in advance of next Monday's debate. [Audio link posted below.]

Protests turned violent overnight in Charlotte, North Carolina, following another police shooting of an African-American. That, just days after video evidence of another police shooting of an unarmed black man with his hands up in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Earth smashes yet another heat record for the 16th straight month, as Donald Trump takes the lead for the first time in a major national poll.

Meanwhile, in advance of the first Presidential debate at Hofstra University next Monday, Hillary Clinton's campaign vows to fact check her opponent and Trump works the refs by already declaring (whining) that it will all be "unfair" to him somehow. We open the phones to find out what BradCast listeners would like moderator Lester Holt of NBC News to ask either Trump or Clinton or both on Monday night.

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, as the U.N. meets and tries to "Trump proof" the landmark international Paris climate accord in advance of the U.S. election...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Massive gasoline pipeline spill in Alabama; Court grants temporary reprieve for Dakota Access pipeline construction; U.N. Secretary General trying to 'Trump proof' landmark climate pact; PLUS: Leonardo DiCaprio wants you to watch over the oceans... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Los Angeles City Council backs planning for 100 percent renewable energy; Canada Will Impose Nationwide Carbon Price: Minister; Most States On Track To Meet Emissions Targets They Call Burden; Tesla Wins Massive Contract to Help Power the California Grid; Seven charts show new renewables outpacing rising demand for first time; China seen investing too much in power plants that burn coal; In Louisiana, only one Senate candidate among 8 thinks climate change a priority... PLUS: Past California Droughts Have Lasted Hundreds of Years... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast, the latest breaking news on the weekend terror attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota, and on the massive, broken gasoline pipeline in rural Alabama.

First up, the latest on what we know (and don't) about the exploded and unexploded pipe and pressure cooker bombs in NY and NJ and the stabbings at a mall in MN over the weekend, following the arrest of a suspect in the NY and NJ attacks after a shootout with police on Monday morning. We also have responses to all of the above from President Obama as well as Presidential candidates Donald Trump (who blames Clinton and Obama) and Hillary Clinton (who accuses Trump of aiding the terrorists' cause.)

Then, after a quick update on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocking construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota late on Friday, we're joined by Alabama Media Group's natural resources reporter Dennis Pillion on the massive pipeline rupture in his state, resulting in a state of emergency in six states, gasoline shortages in the Southeast and, according to the latest estimates from the Colonial Pipeline company and the EPA, the release of some 336,000 gallons of gas into the environment near an abandoned coal mine in Shelby County.

"They are still, ten days after this leak was discovered, having issues accessing the area right around the leak. Those estimates are based on the size of a mining retention pond that has collected a lot of this gasoline," Pillion tells me.

The massive pipeline rupture, as he reports, was discovered by happenstance last week, during an on-the-ground inspection of the abandoned mine after the inspector noticed an overpowering smell of gasoline. As luck would have it, most of the gas from Colonial Pipeline's broken Line 1 --- which pumps some 1.3 million barrels of fuel every day from refineries in Houston, TX through nearly a dozen states up to Linden, NJ --- has reportedly ended up in an old retaining pond from the coal mine. The toxic fumes have made it difficult for emergency responders to begin clean up or for journalists to confirm the official information while they are still barred from the area entirely.

"We don't know when it would have started leaking," Pillion says. "Colonial does says they monitor their lines twice a week by air, looking for evidence of leaks --- dead vegetation, sheens on water, that kind of thing. And they said they did not notice anything in their air patrols, nor did they notice by volume that they were losing product." That's right. They inspect the underground pipeline twice a week from an airplane.

Pillion brings us up to date on what we know (and don't) about the spill and its clean up at this time, while officials from the pipeline company, as well as federal, state and local officials respond to the disaster. He also offers the latest from local environmental groups who remain concerned about dozens of endangered and threatened species of fish and snails found nowhere else in the world but in the nearby Cahaba River.

Finally, as Clinton and Trump are now reportedly tied in polls across 13 swing states, Obama offers impassioned remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus Dinner in Washington D.C. on the imperative of voting in this year's Presidential Election...

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On today's BradCast, the corporate media fall for yet another Trump Trap, while we focus on crucial court rulings on voting rights in both Kansas and Ohio that could determine who ultimately wins the White House. [Audio link to the show posted below.]

First, the MSM beclowned itself yet again today, This time, giving free live coverage to the opening of Donald Trump's new hotel and endorsements from some military members, as the Republican nominee eventually offered lies about his 'birther' claims, in which he has spent years attempting to de-legitimize President Obama as an American and all other African-Americans along with him.

That same de-legitimization effort is at work from Republicans around the country attempting to make it harder and often impossible for certain voters (Democratic-leaning ones, disproportionately African-American) to cast a vote in the upcoming election.

This week we saw court rulings, both good and bad, on that front in both Kansas and the crucial battleground state of Ohio under their voter-restricting Republican Secretaries of State Kris Kobach and Jon Husted, respectively. On today's program we review those court decisions and their effect on the electorate as national polling now reflects a virtual tie between Trump and Hillary Clinton nationally, with the Republican nominee having taken a narrow lead in the Buckeye State, and 538.com giving Hillary Clinton just a 57% chance of winning if the election were held today.

Also today: Bernie Sanders urges potential third-party voters to vote for Hillary Clinton instead; Stephen Colbert offers a "polite reminder"; the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein will not be invited to join the first debate; And, finally, Desi Doyen joins us to try and cheer everybody up with the latest Green News Report. (We wish her luck!)

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