On today's BradCast: The full letter and the full story behind the letter from Martin Luther King's widow, Coretta Scott King, that resulted in Senate Republicans voting to force Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to sit down and shut up for the duration of debate over Donald Trump's objectionable nominee for Attorney General, Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (R-AL). [Audio link to show follows below.]

We detail Sessions' failed 1985 "voter fraud" prosecution/harassment of black civil rights workers in Monroe, Alabama which resulted in the Senate's rare, bi-partisan 1986 rejection of Sessions for a federal judgeship under Ronald Reagan and why the fight for the right to vote matters as much now as it did back then...

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On today's BradCast: If those friendly to America are rising up against Donald Trump's disastrous Presidency, imagine what our actual enemies think! Well, we don't have to imagine quite as much as of today, even as Republicans in Congress continue their work to undermine American democracy. [Audio link to full show follows below.]

Donald Trump's Yemen raid last week --- the first special ops mission he approved after becoming President --- was an unmitigated disaster during which a U.S. Navy SEAL was killed along with a number civilians, including an 8-year old American girl. The target was reportedly meant to be the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who is still alive and well and mocking Trump this week, even as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer ridiculously declared the failed mission "a successful operation by all standards."

Also mocking Trump today is the Supreme Leader of Iran, who thanked the new President for "showing the real face of America" after Trump banned Iranian travelers and put the country "on notice" in a Tweet last week, threatening military action and emboldening Iran's hardliners in the process of an increasing alarming drumbeat toward war. (Corporate media chasing all of Trump's idiotic statements may want to start paying much closer attention to this. Please?)

Back at home, the President's wildly controversial and wholly unqualified nominee for Education Secretary, billionaire Betsy DeVos, became the first cabinet nominee in history to be approved by the U.S. Senate after a tie vote in which the Vice President had to cast the decisive vote. At least this time the Democrats finally stood unified in voting against DeVos, along with two Republican Senators who joined them.

In the meantime, while The Netherlands announces that, due to hacking fears, they will do away with computer tabulation machines in favor of hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots ("Democracy's Gold Standard") for their upcoming election, Republicans in the U.S. House moved to abolish the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the only federal agency tasked with setting standards for our nation's oft-failed, easily-hacked electronic voting and tabulation systems.

As explained in detail on today program, the EAC has been a disaster on several levels since its creation following the 2000 Presidential election debacle in Florida. Among countless BradBlog.com stories highlighting their failures over the years, was our 2006 exclusive on the un-aired network interview with the EAC's first Chair, the Bush-appointed Rev. DeForest Soaries. He described the agency in the interview as a "charade" and warned that our computerized voting and tabulation system is "ripe for stealing elections and for fraud." (Also, as mentioned today, see the chapter I contributed with Michael Richardson and John Gideon to Mark Crispin Miller's Loser Take All, revealing how, in 2004, Nevada's then Sec. of State, now U.S. Senator Dean Heller illegally certified and lied about his state's touch-screen voting systems, which are still in use today, with an assist from the corrupt EAC.)

Nonetheless, despite its many failures, the answer to the EAC's problems is not to abolish the agency, but to fund it properly and make it work. That the GOP is prepared to eliminate it entirely --- even amidst Trump's false claims of millions of fraudulent votes cast in the 2016 election --- is quite telling.

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, along with today's late breaking news that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced in court papers that it plans to grant the final permit needed to complete the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, despite former President Obama's order to conduct a full environmental impact study before construction is completed on the $3.8 billion pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: 400 former EPA officials tell U.S. Senate to vote 'No' on Scott Pruitt's nomination to head EPA; Another heat wave in the Arctic leaves scientists in 'stunned' disbelief; Electric vehicle sales jump nearly 40 per cent in one year; China to slash coal use in Beijing again; PLUS: The March for Science is on for Earth Day 2017... 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): 'Whistleblower' says protocol was breached but no data fraud; Donald Trump and Steve Bannon have turned the White House against America; Reality finally sets in for the media: Trump’s presidency will be a disaster for the climate; There are now twice as many solar jobs as coal jobs in the US; No Data Was Manipulated in a Widely Cited 2015 Climate Study; Extreme Radiation Levels Detected At Fukushima Reactor; Car ban fails to curb air pollution in Mexico City; Once-cautious climate economist reverses course, issues warning against the cost of inaction... PLUS: #RIP: 3 minutes with Hans Rosling will change your mind about the world... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: Despite the New England Patriots' amazing, come-from-behind overtime victory at the Superbowl, it was yet another very rough weekend for Donald Trump. [Audio link to show follows below.]

More startling insider reports continued to pour out from the leakiest White House ever over the weekend, as a federal judge appointed by George W. Bush temporarily blocked Trump's entire Muslim immigration and refugee ban on Friday, and then refused to reinstate it late on Saturday, despite an emergency motion by the Administration.

Moreover, more than 100 major corporations told the court they opposed the ban on Sunday, and a bunch of very senior former security and intelligence officials and cabinet secretaries (mostly Dems, but also a number of Republicans) filed a brief with the court on Monday explaining why Trump's order makes the U.S. less, not more, safe.

All of that took place before John Yoo, the GOP lawyer who penned the infamous "torture memos", arguing in favor of brutal and sweeping executive powers on behalf of the Bush Administration, announced in an op-ed today that even he thinks Trump has gone too far. As if all of that wasn't bad enough for Trump, even conservative members of parliament from one of our oldest and best allies are now announcing they want nothing to do with him, following what they describe as his racism and disrespect for the judiciary after his weekend Tweets blasting the federal judge who stayed his travel ban.

But one thing didn't suck for Trump this weekend, the "gobsmacking" victory by his friend Tom Brady and the Patriots over the Atlanta Falcons, who managed to lose despite a 25-point margin. The Falcons' stunning loss --- grasped from the jaws of what seemed like certain victory --- had a disturbingly familiar ring for many Democrats watching the game. But Lindsay Gibbs, sports writer at Think Progress, joins us for some much-needed perspective for progressives on the politics surrounding and, at times, overtaking Sunday's big game.

"With Trump, everything is political these days. There's no escaping our reality right now," argues Gibbs. "These days, even saying stuff like 'America is Beautiful' is seen as a politically charged statement." But, she notes, citing many of the surprisingly progressive and not-sexist-as-usual ads aired during the game (including the stunning spot from 84 Lumber, which Fox would not allow to run in full), "the fact that all these ads were touting these progressive values, or were openly mocking Trump, does say that right now companies think inclusiveness sells."

Finally today, another disturbing update from the still-insanely-warm-and-getting-warmer Arctic.

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On today's BradCast: The 'Muslim Ban', one week after it was ordered, is even worse than it initially appeared. But, despite the chaos and heartbreak, the response from Americans and those around the world, is heartening. [Audio link to show is posted below.]

Chaos continues in the wake of Trump's executive order banning most travel from 7 majority-Muslim countries. And there were reportedly audible gasps in a federal courtroom in Virginia on Friday, as a U.S. Government attorney revealed that some 100,000 legal visas had been rescinded in the week since Donald Trump's order was signed. (A State Department official later claimed the number was really 'only' about 60,000.)

Jess Hanson of the National Immigration Law Center joins us to describe the continuing crises as "terrifying", as her organization works to assist green card holders who are still being prevented from entering or returning to the U.S., immigrants and other legal visa holders still being detained without legal representation or blocked from traveling here despite federal court orders, and those who are otherwise unconstitutionally losing their rights under the order.

"There have been a lot of organizing efforts with volunteer attorneys on the ground, in U.S. airports, and a massive effort to try to communicate with people who are traveling to the U.S. who are in this situation, to let an attorney on the ground know what airport they're arriving to so that if the individual is allowed to board their flight, when they land in the United States, there is an attorney waiting for them," she explains. But, she adds, "not everyone has the opportunity or resources to find a U.S. attorney before they leave their country of origin" and "a lot of these cases of detention and not allowing someone to speak with an attorney are simply slipping through the cracks."

"Tens of thousands of people...their family, their friends, whatever reason they were going to come to the United States or return to the United States, that has a ripple effect. It's affecting all of us," Hanson tells me. "It's easy to dehumanize numbers --- 'Oh yeah, 60,000 out of 11 million, that's just a drop in the bucket'. But 60,000 or 100,000, whatever the numbers are, that's a lot of people, and it's having global --- honestly global --- effects."

We discuss all of that, as well as the other immigration-related Executive Orders receiving much less coverage since Trump's ban was enacted. Hanson also details a number of ways that you can help.

Also today: The Dept. of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General announces a probe into the Trump Administration's disastrous implementation of the ban; A large swath of Americans already want to see the wildly unpopular Trump impeached; GOP Senators are apologizing to our allies for Trump; Phones are ringing off the hook at the U.S. Capitol; And we share a few more signs of hope and encouragement (and even some laughs!) from both home and abroad after just two weeks(!) of this insanely inept and calamitous Administration.

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Today on The BradCast: You're all "on notice"! Public pressure begins to put both Congress and the President on notice. Donald Trump puts Australia(!) and Iran on notice. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seem to be putting themselves on notice. [Audio link to show posted below.]

Nationwide protests and phone calls to Congress seems to be working. At least a bit. We cover a number of encouraging points in that regard today, from businesses like Harley-Davidson shying away from hosting a visit by the President at their Wisconsin factory for fear of huge protests, to one Congressman killing his own bill that would have sold off millions of acres of public lands, to still-plummeting approval ratings for both Trump and his wildly unpopular Executive Orders.

But, in the meantime, Trump continues to tick off international friend and foe alike with his incompetent, make-it-up-as-you-go "foreign policy". It's distressing, if amusing, when he pisses off friends like Australia and Mexico, but it's chilling and damned dangerous when he begins saber rattling with nations like Iran, which he is now threatening with military action and new sanctions for some reason.

Then, as the Administration takes action to dismantle environmental protection by agencies like the EPA, some federal agencies, like the CDC, seem to be sabotaging themselves, rather than waiting for Trump to do so. At least it seems that with the CDC's recent cancellation of long-planned conferences on climate change and LGBT issues.

Former CDC official Dr. Mark Rosenberg, who helped found the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control before going on to eventually become President Emeritus of The Task Force for Global Health, joins me today to help us understand the culture and some of the thinking that seems to be going on amongst the CDC's leadership since the election of the new, anti-science, anti-fact President.

"They act in response to signals," Rosenberg says about the CDC, citing the Trump Administration's aggressive early steps to undermine science-based federal agencies. "Things like that don't go unnoticed. It may be that people at CDC say we're committed to helping the public but we don't want to lose our jobs."

Rosenberg, who worked at the CDC for 20 years, famously battled the gun lobby-funded Congress in the 90s, as they passed the Dickey Amendment legislation to prevent research into gun violence prevention. (My interview with Rosenberg last year, on that topic specifically, is here.)

While he explains that "most of the people at CDC are very committed to serving public health and the public good" and "work very hard to protect the nation --- whether its from Ebola, heart disease, diabetes, bird flu, or climate change," he adds that he was eventually fired "by a Director of CDC who decided that he would rather keep his job than protect the science. And I think that was a terrible turning point for CDC."

Rosenberg explains the agency's role in helping to determine the many "health effects of climate change" which, he notes, "even the politicians who are pro-business and pro-economic development need to understand. You can't respond in a rational way, or a productive way, if you don't understand the problem."

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report where, as usual, everything is awesome!...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court not a big fan of federal agencies; Former ExxonMobil CEO now in charge of U.S. diplomacy; Trump's controversial EPA nominee muscled through GOP Senate Committee; PLUS: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe gears up for another court battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline... 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): Trump Supreme Court Nominee Could Hear Case Affecting Trump Golf Courses; Clean Water Protections Under Attack in Early Days of 115th Congress; As Drought Winds Down, CA Lawmakers Set Stage for Future Water Wars; 3 GOP governors invest in clean energy; Green movement 'greatest threat to freedom', says Trump adviser; Lawmaker Wants To Ease Rules On Drilling In Natl Parks... PLUS: Climate economist sounds the alarm... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast, history and democracy need heroes right about now. Senate Democrats have the option to fight back against Trump's nominee to the GOP's stolen U.S. Supreme Court, or they can become collaborators and enablers of the Republican theft and be voted out of office in response. [Audio link to show follows below.]

In 2016, Senate Republicans stole the U.S. Supreme Court by refusing to hold a hearing, much less a vote, on Barack Obama's centrist (arguably, too centrist) nominee Judge Merrick Garland following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Now that Donald Trump has announced his own nomination for the stolen seat, Judge Neil Gorsuch, history --- and democracy --- demands that Democrats filibuster any nominee other than Garland, even if it leads (as it will) to the "nuclear option" in which Senate Republicans do away the filibuster rule, as Trump has now called for.

We explain why all of this matters on today's show, detailing the GOP's extraordinarily dishonest and hypocritical action and rhetoric on this point from Republican Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Sen. John McCain and others.

Most importantly, we call for listeners to demand their U.S. Senators prevent the Court from being further stolen during Trump's Chaos Presidency. (You can reach your Senators' D.C. offices by calling them at: 202-224-3121). We strongly support Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley's call for exactly this, hope you do too, and hope you'll let your Senators know you will work and donate and vote against them if they fail to protect the Court.

We also take listener calls today from those who both agree and disagree with the above strategy to defend democracy.

Also today, in very related news, orders have reportedly been sent to the Army Corp of Engineers to allow construction of the final section of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota; Senate Republicans break the rules in order to jam several Trump cabinet nominees through committee, despite their alleged financial improprieties and lying to Congress about them; And several Dems join Republicans to confirm ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the next Secretary of State.

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, as Trump and the GOP Congress move with lightning speed to gut decades of environmental protections, and the state of California pushes back...

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On today's BradCast, the fallout and chaos continues following Donald Trump's reckless Executive Order banning travel from seven majority-Muslim countries and his firing of the Acting U.S. Attorney General who refused to enforce it, after announcing that she was unconvinced the order was lawful. [Audio link to show is posted below.]

But first today, the shooter alleged to have killed six and wounded 19 others at a mosque in Quebec City over the weekend is reported to be a white nationalist (and Trump supporter). Therefore, as with deadly climate change, Trump, Republicans and the corporate media can largely ignore the entire matter...as they largely have. That's particular disturbing in light of new reporting on the FBI's awareness of white supremacists and sympathizers inside the ranks of the nation's law enforcement agencies.

Then, when Sally Yates, the Acting U.S. AG was fired shortly after announcing her act of conscience on Monday night, Trump's White House described it as an act of "betrayal" to the Department. (She is sworn to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution, not the DoJ or the White House). Shortly thereafter, the White House also removed another top official at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, but without explanation. Yates' act was one that she, herself, might have predicted during her 2015 Senate Confirmation hearings, and largely did, while being questioned by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) who now happens to be Trump's nominee for U.S. Attorney General. We play some of the remarkable exchange between Sessions and Yates on today's show, which suggests that a) Sessions should come out in support of Yates (he won't) and b) Democrats should not vote on Sessions' nomination until he answers the very same questions he put to Yates in 2015, seeking to find out if she would, correctly, defy an unlawful, unconstitutional order from a President.

The entire mess is being referred to as the "Monday Night Massacre" by some, for its obvious echoes of Richard Nixon's infamous "Saturday Night Massacre" in 1973 at the height of the Watergate Scandal. Nixon's White House Counsel John Dean, for example, predicts today that "The way the Trump Presidency is beginning, it is safe to say it will end in calamity."

Calamity is already underway across much of the nation and at a number of other federal agencies reporting turmoil and despair following the wildly unpopular President's Friday order. But Democrats appear to be finding at least a partial spine and are now boycotting a Senate committee in order to hold up votes on Trump's nominees to head up the Treasury Department (Steven Mnuchin) and Health and Human Services (Rep. Tom Price), due to alleged financial improprieties and dishonest answers given to Congress about them by both men.

In the meantime, Speaker Paul Ryan and the House GOP remain 100% all-in with Trump, as are most Senate Republicans. So, unless Democrats can figure out how to hold the line (and the public can figure out how to force Dems to do so), the nation's near and long-term future remains perilous, as Donald Trump plans announces his nomination tonight to replace Antonin Scalia on the GOP's stolen U.S. Supreme Court...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: President Trump's new two-for-one deal to repeal regulations, while his Muslim immigration ban undermines US leadership in science; Congressional Republicans move quickly to gut pollution and corruption regulations; PLUS: California pushes back, moving full speed ahead on renewable energy transition... 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): A new battle over politics and science could be brewing. And scientists are ready for it; New York Approves a 90 MW Wind Farm Off The Coast Of Long Island; U.S. Auto Dealers Look To Trump To Ease Vehicle Emissions Rules; Keystone XL Opponents Promise Trump a Mass Mobilization 'On a Scale Never Seen'; Florida Fracking Ban Bill Draws Bipartisan Support; Trump's Promise to Pay for Infrastructure With Fossil Revenue Is Iffy... PLUS: Warming Ocean Waters Off Alaska Bring Widespread Ecological Changes... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: Donald Trump's Executive Order on Friday, banning immigrants and even some permanent U.S. residents from seven majority-Muslim countries, has sparked chaos, confusion and a blizzard of lawsuits in its wake. [Audio link to show follows below.]

Along with Trump's order --- which was largely a surprise to most of the federal agencies tasked with enforcing and vetting it, including the Dept. of Homeland Security, the Dept. of Justice and the State Dept. --- protests continue at airports and elsewhere across the country. Federal agents are reportedly ignoring multiple federal court orders, and elected officials and legal scholars (even some on the Right) are condemning the order as unlawful and/or unconstitutional. ISIS-supporters, however, are "celebrating" Trump's order, which they reportedly regard as a "blessed" victory for their cause.

Some observers suggest the order --- which is separating families from loved ones, and undermining the efforts of many who have supported American efforts for years in the countries on the ban list --- may well develop into a full blown Constitutional crisis. All of which Trump described over the weekend as "working out very nicely".

And, as today's show wrapped up, the Acting U.S. Attorney General, a hold-over from the Obama Administration, announced the DoJ would not defend the order in court.

One of the lawsuits she says the department will not defend against was filed this afternoon by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and is being described as "the biggest lawsuit yet filed against Donald Trump’s immigration order".

CAIR's National Litigation Director, Lena F. Masri, Esq., joins us on today's show, just hours after the suit [PDF] was filed with the aim of completely blocking what the group describes as an unlawful and unconstitutional "Muslim Exclusion Order" meant to result in Trump's campaign promise for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States".

"This Executive Order very clearly targets the Muslim community," Masri explains in describing the complaint and its 20 or so plaintiffs, some of which are anonymous because they "will likely face persecution, torture and even execution" if they are sent back to their home countries. "This impacts us all as Americans," she tells me, "and that is the reason why this this order is so dangerous and why, as Americans, we need to stand up and oppose this order."

Also today: California threatens to push back against Trump's order concerning "sanctuary cities", and they've got the pocketbook to do so if they wanted to...

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Today on The BradCast, while it may be pretty slim pickings, we're actually able to carve out a bit of good news, here and there, at the end of the first week of the Trump Presidency (which already feels like a year). [Audio link to show is posted below.]

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

• Still more of Donald Trump's closest political appointees and family members are found to have voter registrations in two separate states (a sign of "voter fraud", if you believe the Clueless-in-Chief);
• Trump's approval rating is just 36% in Quinnipiac's first poll of his Presidency (compared to the much much larger 59% that very popular President Barack Obama enjoyed in his first poll from the same group in 2009);
• Federal courts order redistricting in Alabama and in Wisconsin due to unlawful GOP gerrymandering;
• Nikki Haley, the new U.S. Ambassador to the UN, threatens allies in her first remarks at the peacekeeping body;
• Trump says he believes in torture, but will defer to his new DefSec who says he doesn't;
• Journalist John Judis, author of The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics, joins us to explain how the political story behind Australia's national health care system may offer an encouraging lesson, even if the new administration guts the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") in the U.S.;
• Trump's top political appointees all had private RNC email addresses in the White House, until exposed by the media (Lock them up!);
• And, an effort that could put an initiative for California secession from the U.S. ("CalExit") on the statewide ballot in 2018 receives official approval from the CA Sec. of State.

Did I mention it already feels like a year?...

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On today's BradCast, the board members of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced that their Doomsday Clock has been moved 30 seconds closer to midnight in the wake of Trump's nuclear pronouncements and the increasingly alarming threat of climate change. We're now two and half minutes to midnight. Sounds about right. [Audio link to show posted below.]

Those worries are unlikely to ease anytime soon, as the Administration trashed 150 years of institutional memory at the State Department yesterday with a purge of its leadership, while taking an increasingly aggressive stance against the media, science, facts and other institutional establishments on which the nation and its citizenry have long relied.

Among the related stories also covered on today's program:

• Trump's top political appointee and voter registration fraudster Steve Bannon lashes out at the free press, telling them to "keep its mouth shut";
• Four top State Department officials were forced out of their leadership positions, as world tensions are ratcheted up (in no small part by Trump.)
• Mexico's President cancels his planned visit to the White House after the U.S. President orders a wall between the two countries.
• More pipeline spills in the wake of Trump orders to complete the KeystoneXL and Dakota Access pipelines;
• The sources of Trump's false "voter fraud" claims, reiterated again in a remarkable ABC News interview last night, are revealed and debunked. (Here's the 2012 Pew study that he claims is about "voter fraud". It isn't. Here's his fourth-hand story about non-citizens voting, which he didn't actually hear from the pro golfer he claims told him about it. Here's some of the evidence showing that the illegal votes we know of, to date, from 2016 were cast for Trump, not Hillary Clinton. Here's the story of his daughter Tiffany being registered in two different states at once.)
• Advocate for discriminatory Photo ID voting restrictions is placed in charge of DoJ's Civil Rights Division as the administration prepares to go "all in" on such restrictions nationally.
• Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, recapping the new Administration's chilling assault on the environment and its protectors since taking office less than a week ago.

MSNBC's Chris Hayes tweeted yesterday that "Every day feels like 10 days." I couldn't agree more...

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