Four years ago, The BRAD BLOG suggested that the "horror that played out during the recent midnight massacre inside a Century theater in Aurora, CO [was] but the latest example of the danger posed to our safety and our very lives by the radical right's expansive interpretation of the Second Amendment."

A few years prior, the narrow 5-4 decision authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia in 2008 (District of Columbia v. Heller) marked the first occasion in which a majority on the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm, unconnected to service in a state militia.

In an erudite dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens forcefully argued that the Heller majority had ignored text, history and precedent. We noted that the ruling appeared to elevate "the profits of the domestic small arms industry above the ability of the government to protect our safety, our general welfare, our domestic tranquility and our very lives." More recently, with Orlando on his mind, The Nation's William Greider went so far as to suggest that Chief Justice John Roberts (a member of the Heller majority) "has blood on his hands."

Several factors --- Scalia's death, a 9th Circuit en banc decision which upheld the ability of local governments to deny concealed weapons permits absent extraordinary need, and the public's increasing revulsion in the face of escalating carnage --- suggest that we may be nearing the end to the high cost extracted by the Court's willful misinterpretation of the Second Amendment in the landmark Heller decision...

On today's BradCast, Democrats take Trump's bait after the Orlando Massacre and the fight for D.C. Statehood continues. [Link to complete audio is posted below.]

First up, more fallout following the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, as both President Obama and Hillary Clinton fall for Donald Trump's disingenuous distractions about "radical Islam". And, thus, the GOP's presumptive nominee succeeds, yet again, in hijacking the important conversation on how to curb the nation's mass shooting and gun violence epidemic, just as the NRA and GOP are likely hoping. We try to correct the record in response to a number of fresh Trump lies related to Orlando, even as we notice that, yes, Trump is now banning even more journalists from his events for reporting on actual facts. The growing list of media outlets being rejected for press credentials now even includes the Washington Post.

Then, as Democrats in D.C. head to the polls for the blessedly final Presidential Primary contest of the 2016 cycle today, we speak to Anise Jenkins of FreeDC.org on the continuing fight for Congressional representation and full statehood for residents of our nation's capital which has, ironically enough, suffered under the tyranny of "taxation without representation" for more than 200 years. "We had African-American slaves. We had women who had no rights. There were a lot of inequalities," at the founding of our country, Jenkins tells me. "Those things have ended, thank goodness, after struggling...and a Civil War. However, D.C. is still --- because of Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 17 of the Constitution --- D.C. is still back in political slavery."

She goes on to explain how, despite paying more in taxes to the federal government than they take from it, all of the city's budgets and laws must still be approved by our dysfunctional U.S. Congress, where members --- often Republicans from far away states --- frequently abuse that power as a political bargaining chip or to just simply punish its residents.

So why have Democrats also failed to keep promises to pass legislation that would give autonomy to D.C., even when they've controlled both houses of Congress and the White House? Jenkins says she's been told it's "the four toos": "D.C. was too black, DC was too progressive --- or, they called it liberal at that time --- we were too urban, and we were too Democrat."

"The United States is the only country in the world that has a democratic form of government, where its residents of its capital have no vote or no local autonomy. The only one in the world," Jenkins says. "It's an international disgrace."

While Trump's multiple positions on statehood for D.C., as Jenkins details, should come as no surprise, even Obama, she says, has "been a huge disappointment" on this matter. When you stop to pay attention to it, which I hope you do, it's actually a remarkable discussion and an extraordinary ironic issue. All happening in the town that is the very seat of governance for a nation supposedly based on both individual freedom and representative democracy.

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: India's Prime Minister praises environmental responsibility to Congressional Republicans; Bankrupt Peabody Coal secretly funded dozens of climate change denier groups; Coal use plunges in the U.S.; More oil companies abandon the Arctic; PLUS: Norway becomes the first nation to ban deforestation... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Scientists Turn Carbon Dioxide Emissions to Stone; Lights Drown Out Milky Way For Third Of World's Population; Arctic Sea Ice Breaks May Record . . . By A Lot; Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To Obama Mercury Air Pollution Rule; Idaho Superfund Site Is Still a Toxic Mess, With Legacy of Suffering; Is Coal Ash Killing an Oklahoma Town?; On Kodiak Island, Flywheels Are In And Diesel Is Out... PLUS: House Opposes Carbon And Oil Taxes In Symbolic Votes... and much, MUCH more! ...

Over the weekend, we saw the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando.

Today on The BradCast, we discuss what happened, the reactions to it from President Obama and many others, including Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump (who lied about the tragedy to say that the alleged killer was a Muslim born overseas. He wasn't. He was born in New York. Like Trump.)

But, while we cover what we know about the tragedy, and the many reactions to it from a number of communities, we also discuss how it might never have happened in the first place had the terrorist-enabling National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Republican Party they support, not fought so hard to ensure that those suspected of involvement with extremist organizations still be allowed to easily and legally purchase all of the semi-automatic, military-style assault weapons and large capacity magazines they might need, in order to carry out the type of mass shooting we saw, yet again, over the weekend in Orlando.

More than 100 were shot at the Pulse nightclub alone, in the nation's worst-ever mass shooting. It was able to happen, thanks in no small part, to the millions of dollars spent over many years by the NRA and the GOP officials who have repeatedly voted to allow even those on the so-called "Terror Watch List" to easily buy weapons meant for nothing more than mass murder --- just as al-Qaeda and other extremist groups have long, publicly instructed their followers.

In the meantime, the NRA-owned GOP officials, including Trump, who proudly stand with the terrorist-supporting NRA, offer nothing more than lies and "thoughts and prayers" in response, as the gun violence epidemic and body count continues to grow in the face of inaction by lawmakers in these locked and loaded United States of America.

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On today's BradCast, while the Democratic Party and the mainstream corporate media may have moved on --- and Elizabeth Warren may feel ready to be Commander-in-Chief if tapped as Vice President --- there are millions of still-untallied ballots in the state of California. Meanwhile, in the key Presidential swing-state of Ohio, Democrats are being disproportionately purged from the voting rolls by state Republicans in advance of the 2016 general election. [Audio link posted below.]

Yes, democracy actually still matters, and that includes counting the ballots of all the legal voters who wish to vote, counting them accurately, and in a way that we can know they have been counted accurately. While we've been reporting this week, often exclusively, on the huge number of still untallied ballots --- both Provisional and Vote-by-Mail ballots --- here in Los Angeles County, ever since Tuesday's Presidential Primary, new data now reveals the totals are even higher than we've so far reported, both in L.A. and across the state. With some 3.5 million ballots now tallied in the Democratic Primary, and a 500,000 vote (appx. 13%) margin for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, there are still some 2.5 million ballots that have yet to be tallied at all. We discuss what that means and why it matters on today's program.

We also discuss the necessity of taking action on issues that effect elections before your candidate is announced as having lost one. While it's a message we've been shouting from the rooftops at BradBlog.com and on The BradCast for more years than we care to remember, perhaps Sanders supporters will now take note and action. And perhaps Clinton supporters will join them now, rather than waiting until the media declare President-elect Trump has sewn up the race. As one of the cell phone companies used to say: Can ya hear me now?

Speaking of taking action before it's too late, it appears that the state of Ohio is purging voters from the rolls at an alarming rate. Specifically, Democratic-leaning voters in urban areas won by Obama in 2008 and 2012 are being purged at a disproportionate rate to more Republican voters in suburban, whiter areas. To date, more Democratic-leaning voters have been removed in the state's three largest counties in OH than Obama's margin of victory in the state in 2012. Can ya hear me yet?

But, there is also some good news for voting rights and democracy advocates out of the Buckeye State on today's show, as a federal judge has found this week that a number of election reforms enacted by the Republican state legislature and signed by its Republican Gov. John Kasich in 2014 are unconstitutional. That good news, however, comes a bit too late for those voters who had their otherwise legitimate provisional ballots unconstitutionally rejected, thanks to those GOP provisions. Naturally, the state's Republican Sec. of State Jon Husted plans to appeal the federal court's ruling.

Finally today, Desi Doyen joins us with the latest Green News Report which, as luck would have it, includes a number of encouraging new laws passed this week to help save the environment, underscoring once again that, yes, elections really do matter. You can hear us now by simply clicking on one of the links below. Enjoy!

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On today's BradCast, Bernie Sanders meets with President Obama, who endorses Hillary Clinton; A look at recent convention battles and whether they suggest Sanders should drop out before the DNC's July convention; And we receive comment from Los Angeles County's chief election official on the seemingly alarming number of Provisional Ballots handed out to voters on Tuesday in the nation's largest voting jurisdiction.

First up, some breaking news from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which has now upheld the Constitutionality of restrictions on concealed carry weapons. Then, Bernie Sanders meets with President Obama at the White House, vows to work with Hillary Clinton to defeat Trump, but promises once again to continue his fight through next week's primary in D.C. and all the way through the Democratic National Convention in July. And President Obama finally endorses Hillary Clinton.

Next, we're joined by John Judis, formerly of The New Republic, now a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of seven books, included his latest, The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics. Judis, who voted for Sanders, nonetheless argues that it's now time for Sanders to bow out and endorse Clinton. He cites two recent historic examples of convention floor fights (Ford/Reagan in 1976 and Carter/Kennedy in 1980, not to mention the mess in 1968) to buttress his case.

Earlier this week at Talking Points Memo, Judis, who acknowledges "Clinton has a lot of weaknesses", nonetheless argued that Sanders should get out after California and endorse Clinton no matter who ended up winning the primary here. "What concerned me was that the Sanders people would take a win in California as a reason to really go fight it out at the convention, and I thought that that would be a terrible mistake for the party and for the country, because of what I've seen happen at those kind of conventions," he tells me today. "It's in the interest of people who are Democrats, liberals who are queasy about Donald Trump becoming our next President, to do what they can to help her. And having a big convention battle will not help her." He offers much more on today's show.

Finally today, the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan offers us response to concerns about the seemingly huge number of Provisional Ballots cast during Tuesday's primary. As we reported in detail on yesterday's BradCast (which included a bonus second hour of callers from across Southern California, both voters and poll workers alike, describing problems at the polling place on Tuesday), voters cast some 240,000 provisionals in L.A. County alone. Between those and the still-untallied Vote-by-Mail ballots, there still more than half a million untallied ballots in the County.

But, following yesterday's program and my query to Logan about the large number of provisionals, he conceded the number does appear "high, but not disproportionately so, compared to other major elections and given the Primary-specific elements everyone was dealing with." Today, as he had promised, he sent more details with provisional ballot numbers from recent comparable elections in 2008 and 2012, which he believes supports the case that the numbers from Tuesday aren't as disturbing as they may seem at first glance.

Logan also responds to concerns about the many reports we've been receiving and reporting on since Tuesday regarding voters being told they had requested a Vote-by-Mail ballot when they attempted to vote at the polling place, even though the voters say they had made no such request. He explains that he's found a number of such voters had registered online and --- either accidentally or due to poor "design of the original online registration application" --- had selected the box that would have made them a Permanent Vote-by-Mail "without intention or understanding". He adds, however, "that is speculative" at the moment, as more investigation and counting of those ballots moves forward. He has told me that L.A. County generally is able to verify and include about 85 to 90 percent of provisional ballots in their final certified results.

His complete response, and a few thoughts of my own in regard to this latest mess --- and so many before it --- now serving to mar confidence in the results of another important election, on today's BradCast...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: San Francisco adopts a climate change adaptation tax; Alberta, Canada, home of tar sands oil, adopts a carbon tax; U.S. Congress updates toxic chemical regulations for first time in 40 years; Britain's solar crushes coal; PLUS: A breakthrough in the quest to create an artificial leaf...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): How the Great Barrier Reef got polluted – from farms and fossil fuels to filthy propaganda; Drought Sparks Larger Wildfires Throughout California; Another Oil Company Ends Arctic Drilling Hopes; U.S. solar market to nearly double in 2016, led by utilities; Britain's Royal Navy warships are breaking down because sea is too hot; What if climate change emptied India?; Scientists Seek a New Measure for Methane...PLUS: US and India just made progress on a little-known (but potent) climate problem... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's very busy, very lively BradCast (and extra, special, surprise, bonus hour of The BradCast!), we cover the results of the latest (and, thankfully, final for this cycle) 'Super Tuesday' primary contests in California, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico and Montana yesterday. [Audio links to both hours posted below!]

After coverage of responses from all three remaining candidates (Trump, Clinton and Sanders) to last night's reported results, and where they will each go from here, we take a look at some of the reported problems that folks had casting their votes, particularly here in Los Angeles County (the nation's largest voting jurisdiction).

Are the problems being reported in California as "just chaos" (LATimes) and "mired in voting problems" (HuffPo) as bad as some are reporting them to be? The main concerns, at this hour, seem to involve failed electronic ballot readers at L.A. polling places (which don't actually tabulate votes anyway) and voters forced to cast Provisional Ballots (some 240k in LA County alone) for a variety of reasons, some legit, some a bit more troubling.

Both voters and poll workers --- lots of them! --- call in today to report on polling problems from Tuesday, views on the primary in general, on AP reporting the Democratic contest as over on Monday before voters even voted on Tuesday, and much much more on today's show. In fact, the phone lines were so busy, with so many callers, that KPFK asked us to continue on for an unprecedented second hour of our special coverage! Both of which are now posted below...

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I usually try to avoid talk about elections on election days themselves, but the AP, NBC, CNN and all the rest in the corporate media gave me little choice on today's BradCast, even as millions of voters go to the polls today in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. [Audio link to show is posted below.]

Last night, just after we got off air, Associated Press decided to declare that Hillary Clinton had "clinched" the Democratic nomination. Their reporting was based on conversations with unpledged Super Delegates who do not actually cast their vote in the nominating process until the end of July (July 25th, to be specific), at the Democratic National Convention. So, with their misleading, inaccurate pronouncements of the Democrats having 'selected a female nominee for the first time in history' (they haven't --- yet), I offer a word or two today --- okay, a rant or two --- on the amazing disservice those news organizations have done to voters (not to mention the Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigns, their supporters, the DNC and American democracy itself) with their inaccurate and misleading misreporting.

Then, I'm joined by Jonathan H. Adler, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Business Law & Regulation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, to discuss the strange bedfellows who've joined forces in support of onerous new FDA regulations on life-saving vaping (e-cigarette) technology. We've discussed the topic on the show on a number of occasions in the past (most recently here), not only because half a million Americans still die each year, unnecessarily, from cigarette smoking, but because, bizarrely, it has largely been Democrats and other supposedly anti-tobacco crusaders who have been leading the deadly campaign against vaping, making it much harder for smokers to quit smoking in the bargain.

Why would Dems be fighting --- alongside Big Tobacco(!) --- to kill the vaping industry, despite scientific studies finding e-cigarettes to be at least 95% safer than smoking and the UK's Royal College of Physicians (the equivalent of the office of the Surgeon General in the U.S.) recent pronouncement: "in the interests of public health it is important to promote the use of e-cigarettes...as widely as possible as a substitute for smoking"?

In her recent article, "Democrats Work With Big Tobacco and Big Pharma to Choke the Vaping Industry," at the American Media Institute (and at the NY Observer), journalist Monica Showalter offers an answer. She details the "strange bedfellows against vaping," citing both Big Tobacco's support of the crippling new FDA regulations, along with massive donations given by Big Pharma to big name Democrats in the U.S. Senate, just as those politicians came out in favor of restrictions on vaping. The Big Pharma companies include those which control the multi-billion dollar smoking-cessation nicotine industry that produces products such as nicotine gums, patches and, yes, inhalers!

Adler, the co-author of a study titled "Baptists, Bootleggers and E-Cigarettes", joins us to explain the strange coalition, and the powerful history of the "Baptist and Bootleggers" political/economic theory, where seemingly opposing groups, such as bootleggers and religious opponents of alcohol, worked together to keep Prohibition going as long as possible in the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century.

A similarly fascinating and powerful (and bizarre) political and financial coalition seems to be at work here, as Adler explains, to blunt the nascent and life-saving e-cigarette industry, despite recent studies showing, for example, "that when restrictions are imposed upon electronic cigarettes that either make them harder to get or make them more expensive, teen smoking rates go up. The idea that we could adopt policies in the name of public health that increase teen smoking rates should really be frightening."

Also, what should be similarly frightening to Democrats and others who claim to be against smoking, according to Adler, is that the Big Tobacco companies have been very supportive of the onerous FDA regulations no being applied to vaping products. Those are costly new rules that Big Tobacco can afford to comply with, but Mom and Pop vaping shops, currently leading the industry in the U.S., simply cannot. "The major tobacco companies asked [for] and supported the FDA's proposals to regulate e-cigarettes," Adler tells me. "Indeed, Phillip Morris is largely credited with helping to write the statute under which these regulations were adopted."

Finally, we end another very busy BradCast today with our latest very busy Green News Report!...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Tropical Storm Colin batters Florida, as Paris begins to dry out; Oil train explodes in Oregon, railroad keeps running trains right by it; Alaska wildfires now a 'significant contributor' to global warming; Chile has so much solar energy it's giving it away; PLUS: The Libertarian Party has its presidential nominee --- we have his position on climate change...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): EU Countries Refuse To Back New License For Glyphosate Weed-Killer; Groups Urge U.S. Congress To Reject TPP Over Environmental Concerns; Environmental groups reject Rep. Lamar Smith's request for information on Exxon Mobil climate case; Rand Paul Withdraws Block On Chemical Safety Bill; The western US grid is fragmented; The land transfer movement's great public-lands hoax; Poo-to-Power Breakthrough Appears in China... PLUS: For Oil Industry, Smog Fight Was Dress Rehearsal for Climate Denial... and much, MUCH more! ...

Today on The BradCast: is reform of our criminal justice system really possible given, the vast divide between Republicans and Democrats in Congress? One conservative joins me today to say "Yes!" and explain why. Also, the corporate media prepares to call the race for Hillary Clinton on Tuesday and Bill Maher argues that socialism is needed to keep capitalism from eating us alive. [Link to audio of show is posted below.]

First up, voters in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana are getting ready to vote on Tuesday in the final, multi-state Primary Day of the Democratic nomination cycle, after both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands gave the bulk of their delegates to Hillary Clinton over the weekend. (Washington D.C. will, officially, hold the final primary of the season on June 14th.)

While we prepare to vote tomorrow here in California, and for whatever messes will almost certainly come along with it, folks in Florida (and Georgia and South Carolina) are battening down hatches for Tropical Storm Colin, marking the third-named storm of the season in the Atlantic, a record for this early in the year.

At the same time, the corporate media is preparing to declare Clinton the Democratic nominee on Tuesday, most likely after the close of polls in NJ, despite the fact, as Bernie Sanders continues to note, she is unlikely to have won enough pledged delegates to officially win the nomination until unpledged Super Delegates actually cast their votes at the Democratic convention in late July. As Cenk Uygur argued over the weekend with CNN's Brian Stelter, a lot could happen to change the minds of those party insiders before then, so why does the MSM insist on continuing to tip the scales in her favor with misleading reporting? (As I write this item, and before any state has voted Tuesday, when nearly 700 delegates will be up for grabs, including 475 alone here in CA, Associate Press just sent my iPhone a "breaking news" alert to inform me that, based on their tabulation of unpledged Super Delegates, Clinton "will be first woman to top major party ticket." So, take that, voters!)

Then, Tom Giovanetti, President of the right-leaning Institute for Policy Innovation, explains what he sees as a very real opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to come together to reform the U.S. criminal justice system, now that this nation leads the world in incarceration rates. Giovanetti even goes so far, as he did in a recent op-ed at Dallas Morning News, to commend President Barack Obama for his recent commutations of non-violent drug offenders and to call on fellow conservatives to join with progressives to reform what he describes as a bloated, legacy "tough on crime" system that makes little sense and even violates basic social and economic conservative tenets.

"It's fairly rare that we find ourselves agreeing with progressives and liberals on solutions to problems. This is probably one of the rare exceptions," Giovanetti tells me. "Progressives and Liberals have been at the forefront of talking about some of the abuses in the criminal justice system, the problem with mandatory minimum sentences, and things like that. I think conservatives are really only beginning to realize that there's a problem here. So I think for my colleagues on the center-right of the political spectrum, this is sort of an emerging issue."

He goes on to explain why reform is so overdue, how Democrats and Republicans are working together for reform in a number of state legislatures, and the path that he sees to move forward on the federal level. I remain dubious, particularly on that final score, but Giovanetti offers his reasons for optimism here in an encouraging conversation in which he even calls out some of his own for hypocrisy on this issue.

Finally, as Republicans continue to pretend they hate socialism, Bill Maher explains how capitalism is now out of control and eating our nation alive. "It's eaten our democracy, it's eating our middle class, it's eaten our health care system, our prison system, our news media, and even our food system." All of that and more on today's BradCast. Eat up!...

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On today's BradCast, denial, denial, denial. It's not just a river in Egypt. Though, if it were, that river would likely be either drying up about now or rising at a record pace and threatening the lives of everyone who lives near it. [Audio link for show posted below.]

First on today's program, a word or two about the violence outside (and inside) Donald Trump's rally on Thursday in San Jose, CA, and about the anti-American freedom of the press denied reporters covering his campaign.

Then, speaking of denial, the planet's climate crisis continues to worsen and the body count continues to mount from Houston to Fort Hood to Paris and beyond. But, while GOPers continue to pretend that climate science is a "hoax" or "pseudoscience", at least the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is finally warning about the increasing costs of federal spending that it will cause. Will Republicans bother to listen now?

And, while we're at it, GOPers continue to deny the voter suppression they are working very hard to carry out in 2016, even if it requires them to make a fraudulent case about 'voter fraud', as Tom Mechler, the Chair of the Republican Party of Texas, did this week, when he used cases of absentee fraud to fraudulently make the case for polling place Photo ID restrictions in the Lone Star State. He's hardly alone, however. GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also recently lied about voter suppression, telling USA Today: "There are no serious barriers to voting anymore anywhere in America."

Really, Senator? Hope you'll let the disenfranchised Native Americans in North Dakota and elsewhere know about that before this Tuesday's primary --- not to the mention the millions of Americans who do not have the very specific type of Photo ID now required to vote at the polling place in many states controlled by Republicans. As the Brennan Center for Justice notes, some 17 states have made it more difficult for legal (disproportionately Democratic-leaning) voters to cast their legal vote since the last Presidential election, many of those states passing new restrictions on voting since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the most important section of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. (But, if all goes well, at least registering to vote may soon become a bit easier in Illinois. Maybe. If their Republican Governor plays along.)

Finally on today's BradCast, another oil train derails and explodes in Oregon, and the massive wildfire in the tar sands oil region of Alberta, Canada continues to burn nearly a month after record hot and dry conditions initially sparked the blaze that sent tens of thousands of residents of Fort McMurray scrambling for their lives. Now, some relief has finally arrived, at least in Canada, where 300 South African firefighters have made a 24-hour flight to Edmonton to give exhausted firefighters there a bit of a break. But will the residents of Fort McMurray, a town built to support the tar sands oil industry, continue to deny the damage they have helped cause to their own town and planet?

All of that and much more on today's BradCast...

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On today's BradCast, Paul Ryan gets on board the 'Trump Train', polls remain tight before the California Primary (and continue to give a big edge to Sanders against The Donald), and sudden changes to public policy by both Democratic and Republican elected officials continue to undermine the otherwise booming rooftop solar market across the country. [Audio link to show posted at end of article.]

First up: It's official! U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan is now all in on the 'Trump Train' after weeks of pretending that maybe he wouldn't be. Then, still more polls in California show Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders virtually tied in the state in advance of next Tuesday's Primary, while the same polls continue to show Sanders doing far better against Donald Trump than Clinton does.

Next, after an electric utilities district in the desert near Palm Springs suddenly closed off an important 'net metering' program for new residential rooftop solar customers (which had allowed those residents to recoup their investment by selling back unused clean energy to the utility company), CA Democrats in the state Assembly quietly kill a bill that would have corrected the problem. There is still no explanation from Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), the Appropriations Committee Chair, as to why she shelved AB 2329 last Friday before the holiday weekend, despite the problem which has left some residents on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in solar investments.

But a similar problem is happening in states all over the country, as utility companies begin to freak out at the plummetting cost and growing popularity of residential rooftop solar energy. We're joined today by the Brookings Institution's Mark Muro, whose new report finds that, despite utility company and fossil fuel industry claims to the contrary, "the economic benefits of net metering actually outweigh the costs and impose no significant cost increase for non-solar customers."

"We do think it is a canard to say there is this huge shift of costs to non-solar people," Muro tells me. "If anything, solar households are benefiting the grid."

We covered some similar territory on The BradCast in January, after "catastrophic" new fees on solar owners, levied by Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval's appointees on the state's Public Utilities Commission, crushed the industry and killed hundreds of jobs there. Brookings' reports solar installations have "plunged 92 percent in Nevada in the first quarter of 2016," thanks to the sudden policy change after remarkably booming growth in sunny Nevada's market in the years prior.

"The uncertainty created by the Nevada decision absolutely shut down solar installation in Nevada," Muro explains. "But it's also been part of a chilling nationally. In the first quarter of this year, there's been, for no apparent reason, a massive slowdown in permitting and installation. I think the uncertainty that's been created here --- and especially the retroactive effect in Nevada --- has created a real question mark nationally for homeowners. So, I think we do have a problem. Installation depends on stable policy, and now policy is looking unstable."

We discuss what and who may be behind this "chill throughout the entire system" and what residents and voters can do to help restore stabilitity to the politics and policy currently harming an otherwise booming residential solar market amidst our planet's worsening climate crisis.

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with coverage of Donald Trump's recent, amazing, "everything but the unicorns" energy speech and his remarkable explanation for why he believes there's not really a drought at all in the state of California...

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