It’s NICOLE SANDLER, filling in again for Brad and Desi on the BradCast. We’re still awaiting word on Brad’s father. In the meantime, we’re sending love and prayers his way.

We’ve been following the saga of the whistleblower who wasn’t being allowed to whistle! I’ll bring everyone up to speed about where we are with holding Trump accountable for his actions. JASON LEOPOLD of BuzzFeed News checked in to tell us about his use of FOIA to get the details on an asteroid that came thisclose to the earth over the summer.

And finally, Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day. The League of Women Voters' JEANETTE SENECAL joined in to tell us about all the voter registration information and tools at vote411.org. I also had to ask her why the League no longer runs the presidential debates (and suggested they take them over again)

Enjoy!...

Download MP3 or listen online below...

It's another busy day on the BradCast, with me, NICOLE SANDLER, holding down the fort while Brad and Desi deal with his father's catastrophic medical emergency.

If you only got your news from the mainstream, corporate media, you probably wouldn't know that almost 50,000 GM workers are on strike because they're virtually ignoring the story. Thank goodness for independent media. MIKE ELK is a long-time labor reporter who finally founded his own, reader-supported outlet, Payday Report. He's on the road covering the strike and the strikers who've had their health insurance cancelled by GM!

Also today: we're finally getting a handle on a strange and disturbing story that's been simmering for the past week or so. GREG SARGENT who writes The Plum Line blog for the Washington Post joins me to explain the story of the whistleblower who, we've now learned, took his or her concerns about a communication between the president and a foreign head of state in which Trump allegedly made a "promise" to the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community. The IG deemed the complaint credible and was a matter of urgent concern, and turned it over to the Acting Director of National Intelligence to give to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, as dictated by law. The problem is, the Acting DNI refuses to do so!

And, with the news that Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have gone down to defeat in Israel's elections this week, I decided to place a cold call to Israel to chat with a random person about the outcome. It's always a crapshoot when I make these types of calls, but this one was a keeper!

Download MP3 or listen online below...

On today's BradCast - guest hosted by moi, Angie Coiro - we hear from the worst and the best of human beings: first Corey Lewandowski then SHANNON WATTS.

Lewandowski worked very hard to smarm and smirk a House committee into submission, as they probed the possibility of impeaching Donald Trump. Arguably, he had the upper hand until Barry Berke took the mound. Then the façade began to crumble. Check out my analysis.

The news roundup reveals a very surprising – as in, compassionate and sensible – proposal from a Trump advisor. Advisory: don't hold your breath waiting for Trump to jump on it.

A jarring new public service announcement from the folks at Sandy Hook Promise – which leads into a long-form interview with Moms Demand Action founder SHANNON WATTS. Sadly, the interview called for bodyguards for Shannon and bag searches for attendees. She is one incredible human being.

Continued good wishes to Brad, Desi, and family!

Download MP3 or listen online below...

It's a somewhat dejected NICOLE SANDLER, once again guest-hosting the BradCast.

I'm dejected because of what I saw in today's House Judiciary Hearing on Trump’s Obstruction of Justice. Corey Lewandowski, the only one of the three witnesses subpoenaed to show up, might as well have stayed home for how forthcoming he was during the hearing. (Read: not at all). When Congressman Cicilline of Rhode Island suggested holding Lewandowski in contempt for his refusal to answer questions, Chairman Jerry Nadler said he’d "take it under advisement". Seriously? He should have sent the Sargent at Arms to arrest Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn, the two former White House staffers who ignored a congressional subpoena, and arrest Lewandowski for contempt of Congress.

So, let's talk about something we can change… er… or try to change. This Friday officially kicks off Climate Week with the Global Climate Strike, followed by a week of protests and activities, and the UN General Session and its climate summit. Today, I'm joined by TAMARA TOLES O'LAUGHLIN, North America Director of 350.org who filled us in on many of the events planned for the week and beyond.

To see just how far we've come (or, for the pessimists among us, not), I dipped back into my radio archives for a short interview I did with 350.org co-founder BILL MCKIBBEN from October 2009, as the organization was in its infancy, on the eve of the first Global Day of Climate Action. We still have a very long way to go...

Download MP3 or listen online below...

Welcome to another BradCast! I'm in for Brad and Desi today - Angie Coiro, heard on some of these same stations and streams with my own show, In Deep with Angie Coiro.

Best wishes to Brad and Desi while they take care of family business. If you haven’t read Brad’s post about what’s going on, please do. There’s no better time than now to support the Blog in every way you can.

First up is what I imagine would be Brad's headline story, too: the latest in the ongoing Wisconsin voting machine drama. PATRICK POBLETE from WisPolitics covers the story. The jawdropper: state officials felt they had bigger priorities than to check out reports of potential vote-hijacking.

A big fat news roundup includes two Elizabeth Warren stories: her campaign's endorsement by the WFP, and her newly-announced plan to attack DC corruption. Some of it strikes me as a bit pie-in-the-sky, but why not aim high?

Then a long excerpt from my interview earlier this year with RICHARD A. CLARKE, about his book The Fifth Domain.

And more more more. Check it all out!...

Download MP3 or listen online below...

Apologies for my sudden (and continuing) absence here. Late on Wednesday night (9/11!), I received a phone call from my mother regarding my otherwise-ridiculously healthy 80-year old father...

It's NICOLE SANDLER, back to guest host another episode of the BradCast. Brad and Desi are in Arizona dealing with a family medical emergency. Angie Coiro and I will hold down the fort until they're able to return.

The third of the Democratic Primary debates is now history. To recap, discuss and critique, I'm joined by two of the OGs of the progressive blogosphere: HEATHER 'DIGBY' PARTON, founder of Digby's Hullaballoo and 'DRIFTGLASS', who also hosts the Professional Left Podcast with his wife BlueGal Fran.

We watched the debate so you didn't have to!

Download MP3 or listen online below...

It's NICOLE SANDLER here, guest hosting another episode of the BradCast.

My first guest is JOSHUA POTASH from SOS America 2019. I learned of his efforts to get Americans to take to the streets with mass protests, as they've successfully done in Puerto Rico and Hong Kong, in a column by Will Bunch at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote up his idea in a Medium post called The End of One-and-Done Protests.

Also today: a conversation with progressive broadcaster KRYSTAL BALL, co-host of Rising at Hill.TV

Download MP3 or listen online below...

Follow @GreenNewsReport...

(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Global trade unions commit to walk out for Global Climate Strike on Sept. 20th; Parts of the planet have already warmed 2 degrees Celsius; Benefits of investing in climate adaptation far outweigh costs, report finds; PLUS: Prominent climate science denier departs the Trump White House... 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): Administration finalizes repeal of 2015 water rule Trump called ‘destructive and horrible’; Los Angeles OKs a deal for record-cheap solar power and battery storage; The dystopian lake filled by the world’s tech lust; Trump pushed staff to contradict accurate NOAA tweet on Hurricane Dorian; How strawberry farmers got themselves (and the ozone layer) out of a jam... PLUS: McDonald's Germany served edible packaging in 10-day pilot... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: Questions about the results of a controversial do-over U.S. House election in North Carolina and about disturbing revelations from a secret reexamination of a wildly unsecure touchscreen voting system being deployed in Pennsylvania (and elsewhere) next year. [Audio link to show is posted below.]

At long last, NC's 9th Congressional District has held its do-over election, after a massive GOP Absentee Ballot Election Fraud scheme was uncovered to derail the contest last November. With a new Republican candidate, the very Trumpy state Senator Dan Bishop, and the same Democratic candidate, Marine vet Dan McCready (pictured above), the two faced off in the long-time Republican district on Tuesday. It had long been predicted to be a very close race, seen as a potential bellwether for 2020 and a referendum on Donald Trump, who, with Vice President Mike Pence, helicoptered into the district for last-minute rallies on Monday night.

According to the reported unofficial --- and unverified-by-any-human-being --- results posted by the State Board of Elections (SBE), the Republican Bishop defeated the Democrat McCready by just under 4,000 votes (a margin just over 2%) out of nearly 200,000 votes cast in the district, which is spread over parts or all of 8 counties. While Bishop's margin of victory is slightly more than 1% too large to allow for a candidate "recount", the county with the single largest share of the votes cast in the race is Mecklenberg, which forces voters to use 100% unverifiable touchscreen voting systems at the polls. So there would little to "count" there anyway. Most of the rest of the district votes on hand-marked paper ballots.

But even with the unofficial 2% spread, there may be reason for McCready's team to examine the results, despite his quick concession on Tuesday night after media outlets, using unofficial results, called it for Bishop. His quick concession followed a similar one last November, when he'd reportedly lost by less than 1,000 votes in a race that the NC SBE ultimately refused to certify due to the GOP election fraud for which seven contractors now face felony indictments. Given the fraud last time in NC09, and the importance that both Trump and the GOP had placed on this race in advance of 2020, one might think it appropriate to wait until all votes were at least canvassed by the state before conceding. Moreover, Democratic turnout during early voting outpaced Republican turnout by even more than it did during the very close race during last November's "blue wave" election.

But in a curious new twist, just before airtime today, another anomaly came to light, as shared with us by a listener that I detailed here with screenshots and video. As I break down at that link, video from MSNBC's coverage on Tuesday reveals that McCready, after leading in the vote count throughout the early part of the night after 52% of precincts had come in, was suddenly overtaken by Bishop once 55% of precincts had reported, according to MSNBC's chyron. While that's not unusual, what is unusual is that when it happened, McCready's vote tally actually DECREASED by more than 3,000 votes, even though more votes had supposedly been tallied! After that, Bishop retained a very similar lead for the rest of the night, ultimately "winning" by a margin just under 4,000 votes.

There could, of course, be a good explanation for the vote count appearing to go BACKWARD --- a typo at MSNBC, a transcription error at the SBE, a non-nefarious bad data transfer somewhere along the line --- we just haven't yet been able to figure out what it is yet. Bishop's total also decreased at the same point, but by just over 1,000 votes. If we do figure it out, of course, we'll let you know.

But those maddening anomalies underscore, yet again, the importance of the other big story we cover on today's BradCast out of Pennsylvania. There, a group of citizen election integrity advocates filed a petition some weeks ago demanding a re-examination of the state's newly certified ExpressVote XL voting system made by ES&S. The new 100% unverifiable touchscreen voting system (pictured above) was recently certified to be deployed in Philadelphia and other jurisdictions in the key battleground state of PA before next year's critical 2020 Presidential election. While PA's Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar, did, in fact, carry out the new examination of the system, as required by statute, apparently she did so in secret, employing the same company closely tied to ES&S that carried out the initially flawed certification testing, and did so in another state entirely (Colorado) with no notice or public oversight for the first time in PA history.

We're joined again today by KEVIN SKOGLUND, Chief Technologist for the Pennsylvania-based Citizens for Better Elections. He is a cybersecurity and voting systems expert and was one of the petitioners who joined us several weeks ago after the state agreed to the new examination. Skoglund, along with other long time election integrity advocates both nationally and in PA are outraged by the secret testing which, he explains, failed to even examine 7 of the petitioners' 10 cited concerns.

"This is the same company that did the initial examination. So, we're asking the people who gave the opinion the first time to give their opinion again. It doesn't really make sense," he tells me. "It's not a second opinion like you might get from a doctor." Moreover, he explains, "This was only a two-day examination. The lab that's doing this is not experienced in cybersecurity penetration testing. This is a voting system test lab that tests for the functionality of voting machines...These things are very technical in nature and they require specialists." In this case, it is a company who is actually paid by the vendor, ES&S, to test their systems.

As to those concerns which the examiners reportedly did bother to review [PDF] (in secret), they confirmed the petitioners' concerns. Nonetheless, Boockvar went ahead and recertified the new systems, citing new, additional procedures she hopes to impart to pollworkers next year as protection against the very serious security concerns cited by the petitioners and confirmed during the re-examination. One such concern, for example, is that the computer-marked paper ballot summary card produced by the ExpressVote's touchscreen system for theoretical verification by the voter before it is cast, returns back through the very same printer path after it is approved by the voter. That, Skoglund explains, would allow the voting system to change the voter's vote after they believe they have verified it for casting and counting by an optical scanner. New, similarly computerized touchscreen Ballot Marking Devices being deployed in other jurisdictions, such as Los Angeles County and Georgia (and in many other states before next year) appear to feature the same extraordinary security flaw.

"It's the craziest thing. This voting machines prints the information that you've selected on the screen onto a piece of paper, and then it presents it for you to review. And then, if you decide that it's acceptable, that piece of paper travels through a printer again before it's stored. So if you had a voting machine that was malfunctioning or manipulated or hacked, it could change that paper record before it gets stored. They 100 percent confirmed it," says Skoglund.

Other problems with the PA system include the fact that, due to the way it stores computer-marked ballots, the ballot secrecy of voters may be easily violated. Skoglund suggests the fight against these systems is not over by a long shot, and that the coalition of election integrity groups with whom he is working are reviewing their options for litigation in the days ahead. "We're definitely not giving up. We are not done contesting the certification of this machine."

As noted at the end of today's program, the woeful story of the likely unverifiable election in NC-09 underscores the important work being done by Skoglund and others BEFORE these dangerously unverifiable and easily hackable voting systems are deployed for U.S. elections in 2020...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

I've got to get on air for today's BradCast shortly, where I'll discuss this in a bit more detail, so please excuse this terse post. But I'd like to get this information out there, in case anyone has additional details or observations to add.

No, I have no yet been able to check with the North Carolina State Board of Elections (SBE) or MSNBC to get their response, since I'm just getting the details myself from a tipster and racing to get on air.

I will also add the caveat that there are sometimes perfectly reasonable explanations for something like this, such as a typo or a bad transcription, or a non-nefarious bad data transfer anywhere along the path from the voting booth, to the county headquarters to the state Board of Elections to the media which report vote counts as they come rolling in.

So, with those caveats out of the way, this is from the Special Election for the U.S. House held on Tuesday night in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District. The election was a do-over after the SBE refused to certify the results of last November's election due to a massive Republican Absentee Ballot Election Fraud scheme that was uncovered, and has led to criminal indictments of seven folks who worked with a GOP contractor hired by Republican candidate Mark Harris last year.

On Tuesday, the Democratic candidate Dan McCready, who ran last November in the never-certified contest in which he was said to have lost by 905 votes, thanks to the absentee ballot fraud scam by the GOP contractor, ran this time against hard-right and very Trumpy Republican State Senator Dan Bishop.

The district has been held by Republicans since the 1960s, but polls showed the do-over race, like the one last November, to be very tight. So much so that both President Trump and Vice-President Pence were in the district for rallies for Bishop on Monday night before the election.

As of today, the State Board of Elections website shows Bishop (R) defeating McCready (D) by almost 4,000 votes or just over 2%.

Which makes this apparent anomaly from during last night's vote counting (most ballots were tallied by computer op-scan systems in the district, though Mecklenberg County's votes --- the county with the largest single share of the votes in the district --- were cast on 100% unverifiable touchscreen voting systems) all the more worrisome...

In this screenshot during Rachel Maddow's MSNBC coverage of the race last night, (the full video of the flip is also posted below) please note that, with 52% of the vote reportedly in, according to the chyron at the bottom of the screen, McCready led Bishop, 69,280 to 67,295...

But, just seconds later, when 55% of the vote was reportedly in, after leading most of the night, McCready's numbers actually appear to have rolled BACKWARD by 3,181 votes for some reason...

On today's BradCast: Is it possible? Could gun reform really be coming to the gun-loving, GOP-run, NRA-controlled state of Texas in the wake of a spate of mass shootings in the Lone Star state? Our guest today, an expert in the matter, is surprisingly optimistic. [Audio link to show follows below.]

But, first up, before we get there, some very quick news of the day. In a move that was a surprise, apparently, to even top White House officials, Donald Trump's very hawkish, very rightwing National Security Advisor --- his third --- John Bolton, was tossed out of his job abruptly on Tuesday morning. That's both good and bad news for several reasons, which we discuss, including the late day concerns about the man reportedly being tapped to replace him, who used to serve as a board member at an Islamophobic organization named as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

On Monday night, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence held rallies for the Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District U.S. House Special Election being held today. Though Trump won the district by some 12 points in 2016 and no Democrat has held its U.S. House seat since the 1960s, the GOP appears to be hedging their bets today by describing NC09 as a "swing district". NC election watchers are scoffing at those comments, citing them as coming from Republican officials in preparation for a potential loss by the extremely Trumpy Republican candidate Dan Bishop who is running in the do-over election against Democrat Dan McCready.

The race is being held to fill the nearly year-long vacancy after last November's contest in the district was never certified by the state, thanks to the discovery of an Absentee Ballot Election Fraud scheme engineered by a GOP contractor hired by the Republican Baptist preacher who had been running for the seat last year.

Tuesday's contest is being seen as both a bellwether for 2020 and a referendum on Trump's job performance. We'll have full coverage of reported results on tomorrow's program. But, at Trump's rally for Bishop on Tuesday night in Fayetteville, the President appeared to, once again, lie about the weather, just as he did during Hurricane Dorian. Those lies have now resulted in a crisis at the senior political level of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Then we're joined by ED SCRUGGS, President of Texas Gun Sense, a nonprofit advocacy group in the Lone Star state fighting for common sense --- and long overdue --- gun safety reforms. In the wake of two recent mass shootings in the state --- one a massacre that killed 22 at an El Paso Walmart last month and the other a rampage just two weeks later that killed 7 and injured more than 20 others in Odessa and Midland --- the previously very pro-gun, very pro-NRA Republican Governor Greg Abbott and his similarly pro-gun, pro-NRA Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have been claiming that they are now open to reform of some of the state's gun laws in the very pro-gun state of Texas.

Scruggs was one of several reform advocates who met with the Governor following the Walmart shooting last month. He reports today that, in contrast with previous such meeting, both Abbott and Patrick brought "startling" and specific ideas for reforms themselves to the meeting planned for two hours, but which was extended to five. Among the measures discussed were expanded background checks to close the so-called "gun show" loophole (which was exploited by the Midland/Odessa shooter) and the possibility of "red flag" laws.

"Both the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor actually had reforms that they brought to the table that they wanted the folks to consider there. Which was very unusual," Scruggs tells me. "I've never heard them speak that way. Two years ago, it never would have happened. It would have been unthinkable."

At the meeting, which occurred after El Paso but before Midland/Odessa, "Both the Lieutenant Governor and the Governor both said, 'Hey, we have this situation where people can get around the background check system. They can go on a private market and can get around it, and it's very dangerous'. And the Governor said, 'Well, that would be a crazy way to sell a weapon because how would you know that you wouldn't be selling a gun to a terrorist, or to a criminal.' Of course, these are things we've been saying for many years."

After the Midland and Odessa spree, Abbott even indicated he might not be opposed to ideas being discussed by state legislators regarding new restrictions on AR-style assault rifles used in a spate of mass shootings since Abbott has taken office as Governor. But, Scruggs explains, the devil will be in the details as far as what Abbott and Patrick may support --- and what the NRA will even allow them to. For example, he notes that Patrick has suggested ending "stranger-to-stranger" sales, while allowing for the ability to transfer firearms within your family, or to loan a gun to your friend or neighbor.

"Everyone agrees these stranger-to-stranger sales, the private sales that take place at gun shows, the sales over the Internet or out of the back of some guy's trunk in a big box store parking lot, something like that, we all know how dangerous and terrible those are. So, everyone seems to want to close that down. However, the catch is, if your exceptions for family transfer and transfer between friends is too large, you're just going to open up a new loophole again."

Nonetheless, Scruggs suggests that with the body count rapidly mounting in Texas and pressure being felt by Republican politicians facing very real demographic and political changes, even one of the nation's most staunchly pro-gun states may be on the verge of long-overdue reform. And if it can happen in Texas...

"There's a realization that's starting to set in where you have responsible gun owners saying, 'Hey, they've been so extreme now for so long, there's a backlash building, and I'm afraid if we don't do something now we're going to lose it all soon.' Because they know these shootings are going to continue. I think that's something that has really hung over the last few weeks in Texas. We're not done with this. So if you don't act, and there's another one, and then maybe there's another one, how much more difficult is it going to be?"

Finally, we're joined by Desi Doyen for our latest Green News Report, with more on the Trump-invoked NOAA scandal in the wake of Hurricane Dorian; an horrific potential death toll in the storm-ravaged Bahamas; and an investigation into what appears to be a corrupt anti-trust probe by the DoJ of four major automakers who made an agreement with California to lower auto-emissions and raise mileage standards in defiance of the Trump EPA's rollback of cost-saving and life-saving regulations enacted under the Obama Administration...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...

(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump's repeated lies about Hurricane Dorian balloon into full-blown credibility crisis for NOAA; Dorian's death toll in The Bahamas potentially in the thousands; PLUS: Trump DoJ opens dubious anti-trust probe into automakers' deal with California... 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): Ban rich white guys from writing about their thoughts on climate change; Beginner’s guide to the debate over nuclear power and climate change; How Big Oil blocked the nation's greenest governor on climate change; Lost among the scandals, Saudis begin enriching uranium; Tesla battery researcher unveils new breakthrough cell; San Francisco offers to buy PG&E's electric grid; Utility: early closure of WY coal plants saves $599 million... PLUS: State rejects natural gas pipeline permit. Utility pushes back. One result: new buildings to go all-electric... and much, MUCH more! ...