On today's BradCast, guest hosted by me, Angie Coiro, it's Iran Iran Iran - today's developments and (with help from the BradCast archive) historical context. Then a changeup - the second of our interviews about growing up a black woman in America.

Israel is one of the few supporters of Donald Trump's move to disengage from the 2015 international nuclear agreement with Iran. Up front in the show, a collection of less favorable - and sometimes frankly mystified - reactions from world leaders, mainstream media, and social media.

Then for invaluable context: Brad's October interview with Trita Parsi of The National Iranian American Council . They detail the runup to today's developments: how Congress addressed the issue, and the potential it has to start a war.

Finally, it's the second part of this week's look at growing up black and female in America. Today's perspective comes from academic and memoirist Julie Lythcott-Haims, with her book Real American. Her life with a black dad and a white mom makes an interesting contrast to yesterday's guest Morgan Jerkins, with Julie coming of age in the 1970s. That was a very different America (although not different enough, as you'll hear) from what Morgan experienced in the aughts.

You can hear both of those interviews uncut at the In Deep with Angie Coiro podcast page.

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On today's BradCast,

On today's BradCast, Brad is out and I'm in! Angie Coiro, of In Deep with Angie Coiro. Brad's on vacation this week.

Today was just another day when someone of talent, depth, grace, and style glowed in serious contrast to the Toddler in Chief.

On the same day Trump started whining and shrieking early on Twitter --- and his minions scrambled to regroup after Rudy Giuliani cut loose on Fox --- the rap alter-ego of Donald Glover dropped the video for the song he debuted on Saturday Night Live. It's shocking. It's a revelation about race and manhood and American pop culture. It's - oh, just go watch it.

If Trump finally gets around to thanking the Waffle House hero for saving lives, maybe then he'll commend Glover for this stunning piece of art.

Nah.

Then it's a quick review of the headlines, including a story almost lost in the roar: news from the CDC about a scary rise in sexually transmitted diseases. Maybe the grimmest bit: a twenty-eight percent increase in syphilis among newborns. Medical professionals who haven't be presidentially stifled yet are tying the rise to a lack of comprehensive sex education in schools.

My first guest after that rundown is author Morgan Jerkins with her book, This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America.

A key voice from the Daily Stormer has been uncovered as an IT consultant living in Montreal. Good time to review a conversation I had earlier this year with author and investigative journalist Dave Neiwert. His book Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump traces the route of hate and white supremacy in America from the country's beginnings right up to today.

Enjoy! Insofar as one can...

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On today's BradCast, I'm your guest host for a fully-stuffed hour, with lots of news and deep dives into two important books.

A whirlwind review of the news up front:

• the Brennan Center is out with a comprehensive list of voter access legislation across the country;
• The California Dems passed on endorsing Dianne Feinstein;
• CREW and PEER are going after Scott Pruitt's oddly secretive way of conducting EPA business;
• CREW isn't here for TrumpCo's ridiculously opaque "accounting" for what it's done with foreign government spending at its hotels;
• where Trump looked for the next FAA head (hint: Trump One's cockpit, 'cause if you can fly a plane you can run a federal agency!)...

... plus CPAC, the Trump Family Follies, and more.

Author David Neiwert breaks down the roots of America's radical right renaissance, as we talk about his new book Alt-America. David was on the spot when one of the "alt-right" started shooting.

Health journalist Mary Otto covered the young boy who died of a toothache in 2007. That set her on a journey to find out how deep dental care inequality goes in America. Our conversation is an excerpt from my hour-long interview with her for my show, In Deep with Angie Coiro.

Brad is back tomorrow! If you'd like to keep Desi's birthday happier even longer, you can show a little b-day love right here!

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On today's BradCast, guest hosted by my own self, Angie Coiro, we have a whole passel of topics to cover.

First up, we deal as quickly as possible with the latest eye-rolling idiocy from Trump. Then - what a contrast! - the amazing, multi-faceted GEORGE LAKEY – long-time activist and educator who’s been arrested for righteous causes more times than he can remember. His latest book Viking Economics explores four Scandinavian countries, and how their democratic socialist economic models can transfer to the US. Maybe we should at least look at countries that have eliminated poverty – yes, he says: eliminated poverty.

There’s a lot that’s heartbreaking about Erica Garner suffering a heart attack reportedly brought on by asthma. Turns out there’s a racial component to that, with African American children twice as likely to suffer from asthma. Following that – a conversation with JAMES FORMAN, JR. He puts the ongoing battle for equal rights and respect in the context of drug laws passed and enforced by well-meaning minorities. Those very groups have suffered the most from those laws.

Finally – who got those holiday gifts out of those big-box warehouses so they could sparkle under your tree? With Amazon and other retailers reporting record sales, JESSICA BRUDER introduces a hidden subculture: white, formerly middle class Americans living on the roads, moving from job to job with the seasons. It’s a strange, symbiotic relationship between these mobile citizens and the companies that hire them: Amazon, Walmart, state and federal park concessionaires, food giants. The companies provide living accommodations but barely-living wages; some nomads work 24 hours a day while getting paid for eight. Jessica’s book Nomadland was selected by the New York Times as one of the 100 notable books of 2017.

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On today's BradCast, I’m happy to sit in for Brad again with a holiday offering and a former Vice President of the United States. [Audio link posted below.]

As the latest blob of crap --- the new tax law --- floats out of Congress and the White House, how about a change of pace: a little hope? Not fairy-tale and pixie-dust hope, but realistic ideas for tackling former VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE tells me is the biggest challenge ever to face the human race: global warming, aka climate change.

The former Veep is also founder and chair of The Climate Reality Project. Eleven years after the original Inconvenient Truth film and book comes his latest, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power. I spent an hour on stage with Gore for my own show, In Deep with Angie Coiro, talking about both the book and its companion documentary.

It seems the right note to strike here on The BradCast as well, when everything is pretty damned bleak. Gore is a walking lesson in how to realistically assess our situation, then push forward with what can be changed. As he says, change can take longer than you expect, then suddenly come faster (and better) than you hoped.

Special thanks to the Kepler's Literary Foundation in Menlo Park, California, who co-produced the original event, and to Brad for his enthusiasm in bringing you highlights of it on The BradCast...

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[Photo credit: Irene Searles/KLF]

On today's BradCast, guest hosted by me, Angie Coiro of In Deep, we start out with a round-up of headlines. Among the fun:

More confirmation of voter disenfranchisement in 21 states, apparently aided by Russian meddling.

From Politico, how Mick "The Knife" Mulvany used Donald Trump's ignorance of exactly what Social Security is to get him to propose Social Security cuts.

Two more cases of police brutality; one cop already off scot-free, a second apparently a law unto himself.

Then - appropriate to the season - we spend time with Sarah Jaffe, author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt. She's got an all-encompassing update on labor issues around the US. Surprise: organized labor is at least as popular as our "president"! The paperback edition of her book is out in November.

Finally, excerpts from an hour long conversation with James Forman, Jr., author of Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America. We touch on black Americans' influence on the justice system, Charlottesville, the Confederate flag, and of course Trump.

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On today's BradCast, guest hosted one last time by yours truly, Angie Coiro of In Deep with Angie Coiro.

Putin, Trump, and Tillerson climbed into the clubhouse today and pulled up the ladder, so no icky observers could get in. Angie reviews the already conflicting reports that emerged, when Donald Trump broke with tradition, bringing only the former CEO of Exxon-Mobile into his G20 convo with Vladimir Putin. Even their accounts of "confrontation" over election tampering conflict.

My guest Richard "RJ" Eskow, host of The Zero Hour, thinks Democrats are putting too many eggs in that latter basket, anyway. And he has very emphatic opinions about that New York Times opinion piece urging the Democratic Party to abandon progressives.

When it comes to Russia - or anything else, for that matter - you might find yourself confused by all those experts out there. That's probably because we've learned to conflate opinionators with actual experts. In an excerpt from In Deep, Tom Nichols, author of The Death of Expertise explains the decay of faith in people who actually know their stuff.

Finally, Kelly Macias, reporter with Daily Kos, parses some stories getting less attention this week: tenant marches on HUD, Texas as a scary barometer for the direction of the country, and how the noose has reemerged as a tool to terrorize African Americans...

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On today's BradCast, guest hosted by my own self, Angie Coiro of In Deep Radio, we peer over to Poland to see Donny still on the election trail - reliving his November victory for a whole new crowd bused in just for the occasion. He took the time, too, to remind everyone it's us versus the boogeymen.

The Election Commission has acquired yet another sworn enemy of voting - Hans von Spakovsky, who once pulled a sock-puppet act on law journal articles, endorsing voter suppression under a pseudonym. And the League of Women Voters released a full-blast denouncement of Kris Kobach, de facto head of Trump's "voter fraud" commission.

That takes us right to returning guest Ari Berman, author of Give Us The Ballot. He's added to his excellent introduction to Kobach at The New York Times Magazine with a more encouraging post at The Nation.

Then David Atkins builds on his Washington Monthly deconstruction of what happened with California's effort toward single payer. He's got some very specific ideas about why the GOP will cross the public to push AHCA: because they don't care.

Then a follow-up on this week's earlier story on the "Donny Trumps CNN" wrestling video, and the anti-semitic rants of the man who created it. Turns out the by virtue of finding that (still anonymous) man's Star of David-emblazoned CNN photos, journalist Jared Yates Sexton became a target of online Nazis.

Finally, a plea to Gloria Allred: how about you take on this misogynistic obscenity on Capitol Hill?

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Sure, Brad and Desi can take the week off from The BradCast. It's a holiday - how big a news week can it be?

So much for that. Your guest host this week is me, Angie Coiro, and right up front I've gathered various reactions and opinions on North Korea's claim to have successfully tested a missile that could hit Alaska. More headlines: the American Enterprise Institute (!) has found that the gender pay gap has tripled since Trump moved into the White House - it's 37% compared to the national 17%; accusations of CNN's "blackmail" of a "15-year-old" ex-Redditor turn out to be wrong in both senses; and Rep. Maxine Waters has some deliciously spicy words for HUD's Ben Carson. And White House aides are - not surprisingly - nervous about Trump's pending meeting with Putin.

Trump's EPA got dinged by a DC federal court, leaving intact for the moment President Obama's plan to curb oil industry methane emissions. I talked with Jane Mayer not too long ago, about how demonstrably false "science" funded by dark money ends up part of mainstream dialogue, eventually yielding battles just like this. She discusses too the influence of Steve Bannon in the White House, and how investigating the Kochs compromised her own safety.

Finally, taco salad + Queen Victoria + Chris Christie = revelations about America's class system. You'll just have to listen.

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On today's BradCast, guest hosted by yours truly, Angie Coiro of In Deep Radio, we talk protests from a micro and macro view. Jan McKim adds to her history of San Francisco Bay Area protest attendance with this past weekend's impeachment march. We'll hear her from-the-ground report.

Those marches will be followed up with sit-ins on Thursday telling Congress exactly how thrilled Americans are at the idea of losing their health insurance. Mike Hersh is with the organizers of both actions, the Progressive Democrats of America. We go beyond the specific action events to discuss the thread of economic justice underlying everything the Left is fighting for.

Then, the hashtag that took over Twitter and made the jump to mainstream media: #25thAmendmentNow. Dr. David Reiss of DMR Dynamics was an early advocate questioning Donald Trump's fitness for office (or lack thereof). While he acknowledges the popularity of matching Donny's quirks to diagnostic lists of personality disorders, he advocates eyes on the prize: official assessment and proper followup action.

Also today: why Germany has unfriended America; and - sorry, Cheeto - more people approve of impeaching Trump than of his performance. Once again, his tweets have triggered a precipitous drop.

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On today's BradCast, I'll be your guest host, Angie Coiro. Would you like to sit at the bar? Maybe not a bad idea.

Have you had the Trump/Russia links up to here? You have a friend in RJ Eskow, host of The Zero Hour. He's not convinced; he advises skepticism and clear thinking when it comes to sorting the proven from the unproven.

With people fleeing America over the northern border in fear, with at least one report of a man who killed himself rather than be forced back into Mexico, with an Oscar-nominated cinematographer kept out of the US, and a Holocaust scholar from France almost deported --- it's time to take a long look at sanctuary cities, emboldened local police forces, and how to stay focused on resistance. Heralded civil rights attorney/activist Jim Brosnahan of Morrison & Forster in San Francisco, and Heather "Digby" Parton of Hullabaloo take on the many facets of that disaster.

Finally, Dave Johnson of Seeing the Forest and The Campaign for America's Future deconstructs Trump's promised tax cuts, and their connection to failing infrastructure.

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On today's BradCast, guested hosted by me, Angie Coiro, Donald Trump lies at CPAC and Sean Spicer excludes journos from hearing White House news --- just another day with the Trump administration. [Audio link posted below.]

Guest Scott Dworkin of The Democratic Coalition Against Trump tackles the massive tangle that is the Trump family's business relationship with Russia. He saves the best for last: why he thinks the FBI's James Comey will ultimately weigh in on the side of justice.

Then, sociology professor Jonathan Martin makes the case that yes, we should look at a third-party break with Democrats.

Gender Spectrum's Joel Baum joins us to talk about supporting transgender children and teens under an administration that works to take their rights away --- and what parents, teachers, and other loving adults can do.

Then, what went down as journalists from established news organs first had to sign up for a White House press gathering, then one by one got turned away. And, finally, a spotlight on Steve Bannon's appearance at CPAC, and his alleged script for "The Singularity: Resistance Is Futile." (Not. Kidding.)

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On today's BradCast, guest hosted by moi, Angie Coiro, we dive down the rabbit hole into the alternate reality that is CPAC.

My guest is Peter Montgomery, Senior Fellow at Right Wing Watch. Going beyond the highlights, he checks out some of the lower-profile breakout sessions. And he proves he's got the "FAKE NEWS!" shout down hard.

A review of the news includes the bizarre taped exchange between a terrorism expert and a guy in White House obsessed with Twitter - no, not him. Another one.

The Anne Frank Center has pretty much had it with Trump and his surrogates giving lip service to uprooting antisemitism - and their executive director isn't hiding it.

Finally, how today's activists hitting the streets can learn from the pros: veterans of MLK marches and voter suppression court battles share their street-tested wisdom.

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On today's BradCast, it's a Trumponanza, guest hosted by yours truly, Angie Coiro.

First a roundup of the latest threats and inanities, including the Trump camp's denial of a darned convincing report from AP about setting the National Guard loose to sweep out undocumented immigrants. Scott Pruitt scores both a win and a loss within twenty-four hours; Arlene's Flowers' claim that it can discriminate against gay couples on the basis of art (!) falls down. And: why a Rasmussen poll and a Pew Research poll can be so far apart, and why that matters at all; and the Case of the Sudden Trademark Protection, a suspicious gift from China to our equally suspicious president. That emoluments case is practically building itself at this point.

And that's just in the first ten minutes! Then Lisa Graves from the Center for Media and Democracy goes into detail on Pruitt developments. She says the Center's victory over Pruitt in an Oklahoma court --- mandating that he turn over thousands of emails from during his tenure as the EPA suing Oklahoma Attorney General --- has a direct connection to his lightning-fast ascendancy to the EPA chair.

Sarah Jaffe, host of the Belabored podcast, explains why Trump's relationship with union workers is so complex.

Finally, a suggestion for organizers of the upcoming Day without Women protest: think ahead about the women who can't afford to take a day off.

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On today's BradCast, guest hosted by Angie Coiro, the impossible challenge of wrangling all the lies and all the damage inflicted on the country in the first three days of an impossible President.

Even as the show was in production, Trump and the GOP continued to stomp all over the little hope that remained for a decent American life in a clean, free, educated country. Among the litany: the return of the "global gag rule" (don't dare acknowledge that abortion exists!), Jeff Sessions won't recuse himself from investigating Trump's finances, because what are friends for?; the White House comments line is eliminated, and Spanish disappears from the White House website.

Follow me as I dissect Chuck Todd and Kelly Ann Conway's amazing "alternative facts" face-off --- a search that yields both classic rhetorical fallacies and the language of domestic abuse.

My first guest, Amisha Upadhyaya, wants to harvest the energy of the weekend's worldwide marches into doable activism for individuals. Thus, the birth of Still We Rise, coming soon to a town near you.

Finally, high school teacher Andrew Simmons joins me to explain how turning his class into a full-immersion Oceania --- with himself as Big Brother --- gives his students a real understanding of Orwell's 1984. Because if not now, when?...

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