THIS WEEK: The Cancer Returns ... The Glass Ceilings ... The Consequences ... And too much more, in our latest collection of the week's best, very much-needed, toons...
Guest: Alice Ollstein of Politico; Also: Wildfires in L.A.; Newsom readies CA for Trump; Biden vows 'peaceful transition'; PA U.S. Senate seat 'flipped'?; WA voters back climate law...
Tornadoes, wet weather complicate Election; October one of driest in U.S. history; 'Rafael' eyes Gulf Coast; Positive climate news; PLUS: Biden builds back better ports...
From extreme drought to deadly flooding in Spain; Worldwide toll on health from climate change is rising; PLUS: Environmentalists hold breath for U.S. election...
Felony charges dropped against VA Republican caught trashing voter registrations before last year's election. Did GOP AG, Prosecutor conflicts of interest play role?...
State investigators widening criminal probe of man arrested destroying registration forms, said now looking at violations of law by Nathan Sproul's RNC-hired firm...
Arrest of RNC/Sproul man caught destroying registration forms brings official calls for wider criminal probe from compromised VA AG Cuccinelli and U.S. AG Holder...
'RNC official' charged on 13 counts, for allegely trashing voter registration forms in a dumpster, worked for Romney consultant, 'fired' GOP operative Nathan Sproul...
So much for the RNC's 'zero tolerance' policy, as discredited Republican registration fraud operative still hiring for dozens of GOP 'Get Out The Vote' campaigns...
The other companies of Romney's GOP operative Nathan Sproul, at center of Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, still at it; Congressional Dems seek answers...
The belated and begrudging coverage by Fox' Eric Shawn includes two different video reports featuring an interview with The BRAD BLOG's Brad Friedman...
FL Dept. of Law Enforcement confirms 'enough evidence to warrant full-blown investigation'; Election officials told fraudulent forms 'may become evidence in court'...
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) sends blistering letter to Gov. Rick Scott (R) demanding bi-partisan reg fraud probe in FL; Slams 'shocking and hypocritical' silence, lack of action...
After FL & NC GOP fire Romney-tied group, RNC does same; Dead people found reg'd as new voters; RNC paid firm over $3m over 2 months in 5 battleground states...
After fraudulent registration forms from Romney-tied GOP firm found in Palm Beach, Election Supe says state's 'fraud'-obsessed top election official failed to return call...
Guest-host Nicole Sandler with actor/filmmaker Harry Shearer on NOLA disaster past (Katrina), present (Barry) and future; WH correspondent Brian Karem on his Rose Garden troll scuffle...
It's Nicole Sandler here, guest hosting the BradCast on another busy news day in Trump's Amerikkka.
Alex Acosta resigned, Mueller’s testimony is postponed, Barry is bearing down on New Orleans. And the president held a Troll Summit in the White House. We cover those stories and more on today’s show.
With Barry set to make landfall as perhaps a Category 1 hurricane in Louisiana Friday night or Saturday morning, I reached out to an old friend --- HARRY SHEARER. In addition to his vast body of television and film work, books and albums, Harry made a documentary a few years back called The Big Uneasy, which explores why New Orleans flooded during Hurricane Katrina.
Yesterday, the White House hosted a bunch of internet trolls for an event they called a Social Media Summit… BRIAN KAREM, senior WH reporter for Playboy and a CNN political analyst, got into a slight kerfuffle with none other than Sebastian Gorka in the Rose Garden. Karem joins us to explain what happened and talk about the oddity that is the White House press office.
While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Pandora, TuneIn, Google, Amazon or our native RSS feed!
On today's BradCast: Understanding two new, seemingly conflicting directives on "dark money" in campaigns --- one of them very encouraging --- and a new complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission charging several GOP Senators unlawfully colluded with the NRA during the 2014 and 2016 elections. [Audio link to show follows below.]
But, first up today, adjusting some numbers! In this past Tuesday's very close U.S. House Special Election in Ohio's (previously, very Republican) 12th Congressional District, the Trump-endorsed GOP candidate Troy Balderson was reportedly up over Democrat Danny O'Connor by just over 1,700 votes out of about 200,000 tallied on election night in the closely watched, bellwether race. On Wednesday, however, Franklin County's Board of Elections discovered an electronic cartridge from one precinct, with 588 votes stored on it, had not been included in the original unofficial tallies. With those ballots now added, O'Connor has netted 190 additional votes over Balderson, lowering the current unofficial margin in the contest to just 0.8 points. A margin of 0.5 or less would trigger an automatic "recount", as thousands of provisional and late vote-by-mail ballots are still being processed.
In Kansas, Tuesday's even tighter race between Sec. of State Kris Kobach and Gov. Jeff Colyer for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, saw its margin cut by more than half, from 191 votes to just 91, out of some 311,000 cast. The adjustment appears due to an incorrectly entered number by the Sec. of State's office on Tuesday night. The controversial, hard-right Kobach's razor-thin lead may further erode (or expand) as some 10,000 provisional and late mail-in ballots are still to be processed. A recount in that contest is all but certain.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico, in an official statement to Congress, now acknowledges that at least 1,427 were killed during and after Hurricane Maria last year, a vastly different figure than the island's still-official death toll of 64. The new numbers place Maria's death toll much closer to the 1,833 said to have been killed during and after 2005's Hurricane Katrina. We discuss why it has been so difficult for Puerto Rican officials to acknowledge those far-higher numbers, long ago estimated by many experts.
Then we're joined by BRENDAN FISCHER, Associate Counsel at the Washington D.C.'s Campaign Legal Center (CLC), to help explain several important, if seemingly conflicting, pieces of campaign finance related news. About two weeks ago, the Treasury Department announced that non-profits who spend money on political campaigns --- so-called "Dark Money" groups --- would no longer be required to disclose the names of their donors to the IRS. The timing of that new policy, Fischer notes, "was pretty terrible. It happened on the same day that federal prosecutors charged Maria Butina with being an unregistered Russian agent who tried to influence American politics through the NRA, which had spent at least $35 million through its 501c4 [non-profit political action committee] arm during the last election cycle."
"So, if you're concerned about foreign money in elections, you should be really concerned about the Treasury Dept. stating that 501c4s, like [Karl Rove's] Crossroads GPS or the NRA, no longer have to disclose their top donors to the IRS."
Then, a week or so later, last Friday, a federal judge ordered the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to rewrite their current rules, within 45 days, in order to require the disclosure of the names of donors to many of those same "dark money" groups. Fischer details how the new mandate from Judge Beryl Howell, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, differs from the Treasury Dept. directive and, in fact, could be very good news indeed for those who believe in transparency and public oversight of elections!
"If the FEC was doing its job, then it wouldn't matter quite so much if the IRS was not collecting this information," Fischer tells me. "Judge Howell said that the FEC has been failing at its job, and it needs to go back to the drawing board and draft new rules that are going to ensure effective donor disclosure for certain types of political advertising."
"Judge Howell's decision is a reminder that the FEC is largely to blame for the rise of dark money. It's not just the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, it also is in large part the fault of the FEC for failing to enforce the laws that are on the books. The Supreme Court has endorsed donor disclosure, and the laws passed by Congress say that donors to politically active dark money groups must be disclosed. It falls to the FEC to draft the rules that interpret laws passed by Congress and to enforce those rules. But what the FEC has done is draft rules that narrow the donor disclosure laws passed by Congress, and then they failed to enforce even those narrow rules."
While acknowledging the new ruling as "a very big deal", Fischer explains why questions remain as to whether the ruling will be (or even can be) appealed and how the current vacancies on the FEC may prevent them from being able to act within the time ordered by Judge Howell.
In a separate, if somewhat related matter, Fischer details CLC's recently filed complaint with the FEC charging that the campaigns of four different Republican U.S. Senators unlawfully coordinated with the NRA's political action committee in violation of long-standing campaign finance laws during the 2014 and 2016 elections. The GOP Senators named in the complaint: Ron Johnson (WI), Tom Cotton (AR), Cory Gardner (CO) and Thom Tillis (NC).
Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, with still more record heat, pushback from California against the Administration's attempt to undermine state mileage and emissions standards, and the extraordinary revelation that Trump's EPA is actually attempting to bring deadly asbestos back! Seriously!...
While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
* * *
MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION
ONE-TIME DONATION
(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Maria's death toll in Puerto Rico is 70 times greater than the official government count; Ellicott City, MD hit with second 1000-year flood in two years; FEMA denies reconstruction funds to some victims of Hurricane Harvey; PLUS: New study finds U.S. insurers are not ready for 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): How more carbon dioxide can make food less nutritious; Humans are giving many other species cancer; Pro-Trump Sinclair analyst gives a softball interview to corrupt EPA administrator Scott Pruitt; Trump slaps U.S. allies with tariffs; Canadian government to buy Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5B; Major paint companies lobby California lawmakers to overturn a court ruling forcing them to clean up lead in homes; Lowe's drops paint strippers blamed in dozens of deaths; Barriers to a circular economy: 5 reasons the world wastes so much stuff; Radium widely spread on Pennsylvania roadways without regulation... PLUS: Trump's abandonment of Paris climate deal to cost U.S. economy trillions, new study reveals... and much, MUCH more! ...
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump visits Puerto Rico, downplays the disaster there; U.S. taxpayers give the fossil fuel industry $20 billion a year in subsidies; Scotland bans fracking; PLUS: Hidden costs of climate change costing U.S. tax-payers hundreds of billions a year, and it's getting worse... 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): TransCanada abandons Energy East, Eastern Mainline projects; Interior Department whistleblower resigns, calling Ryan Zinke's leadership a failure; Scientists mapping Greenland have produced some surprising - and worrying - results; Interior Department rejects 25 endangered species petitions; Federal judge rebukes Trump Admin, reinstates federal methane emissions rules; Solar energy boom sets records, shatters expectations; Trump takes first step toward scrapping Obama's Clean Power Plan; Scientists may have solved 'missing' methane mystery; Harvey damage at San Jacinto waste pits shows bigger problems for EPA... PLUS: Climate change could nearly triple airplane turbulence in the next decades.... and much, MUCH more! ...
On today's BradCast, we move from the "too soon" moment and on to the GOP's "mental health reform" ruse, in hopes of avoiding any actual legislative action to curb gun violence after another record mass murder in the U.S. [Audio link to show follows below.]
We have some good news, however, following the Sunday night massacre in Las Vegas, which killed 59 and wounded more than 550 others in a hail of automatic weapon fire rained down from a casino onto concert-goers on the streets below: The House GOP has put off plans to make silencers easier to purchase! For a while anyway. Feel better? Other than that, it's either "premature" to discuss legislative changes to help curb America's 30,000+ gun deaths per year, or time to pull out the old "mental health reform" scam again, as House Speaker Paul Ryan did today when pressed for what action Congress might take after the latest "worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history."
While toy guns are illegal to carry on the streets of Vegas, real ones are not. Not even fully automatic machine guns. And even a statewide ballot measure passed by Nevada voters last year to expand background checks has been declared unenforceable by the Republican, NRA-owned state Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt. So, if the only thing that the terrorist-enabling NRA will allow to be enacted in order to prevent a man who was allowed to lawfully amass 42 military-style assault weapons and thousands of rounds of ammo from committing mass murder is "mental illness reform", are Republicans even serious about that much?
We're joined by veteran journalist ART LEVINE, author of the new book Mental Health Inc: How Corruption, Lax Oversight and Failed Reforms Endanger Our Most Vulnerable Citizens (and next week's Newsweek cover story) to discuss Republican hypocrisy after Vegas, and how the hopes of forcing mandatory medication by the Right and concerns about stigmatizing the mentally ill on the Left, have all helped to prevent real mental health reform.
That, even as the American College of Physicians calls for an assault weapon ban in response to the "public health crisis" of our gun death epidemic in the U.S., existing laws to prevent gun use by the mentally infirmed that go unenforced or are otherwise being repealed altogether, and a mental health reform bill which was already passed by Congress and signed by President Obama last year.
Ryan "apparently doesn't know that the Congress --- he is the head of the House --- actually passed a bill called 'Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act'. In other words, it's such a trope, and such a nostrum that's thrown out --- they throw it out like a tic --- when in fact there was a law [already] actually passed! That is one of the areas of hypocrisy about it," Levine tells me, as he cites the hypocrisy of those who oppose improved gun safety laws and claim to support mental health reform while voting for ObamaCare repeal and cutting back Medicaid. "They are moving forward [with] a war on people with mental illness, opioid addiction and chronic pain."
Levine cites a program by Los Angeles County which he writes about in his book, and describes as "a world-class preventative outreach program that stopped over 50 campus attacks." Yet, he goes on to explain, the successful program is "a political orphan" because the Right won't cite it as a national model ("their big golden goal is mandated drug and outpatient treatment") and neither will liberals and mental health progressives ("it stigmatizes people" as being potentially violent, even though the mentally ill, he says, are far more likely to be the victims of gun violence, rather than perpetrators of it.)
Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report as Trump finally goes to Puerto Rico for a few hours (to blame the victims of Hurricane Maria) and as China finally forces GM to get back into the electric car business. Also today: Rock in Peace, Tom Petty...
While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
* * *
MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION
ONE-TIME DONATION
(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Humanitarian crisis remains dire in Puerto Rico as U.S. military finally steps up its disaster response; Trump attacks San Juan Mayor on Twitter...from his golf club in New Jersey; PLUS: General Motors announces it will make a big push into electric cars...thanks to China... 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): Puerto Rico is all our worst fears about Trump becoming real: A real crisis comes and Trump can’t handle it; Tricks that CA can use to move to all-electric cars; Sec. Perry just proposed sweeping new steps to help struggling coal and nuclear plants; Global warming made Europe's fiery 'Lucifer' summer 10 times more likely; Chinese city bans most coal; Tests find toxic chemicals after Texas plant fire; Solar industry split on trade tariffs controversy; Arctic National Wildlife Refuge targeted for drilling in Senate budget... PLUS: 40 Catholic groups announce divestment from fossil fuels.... and much, MUCH more! ...
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Puerto Rico descends into desperation after Hurricane Maria; Trump Administration finally waives shipping restrictions to the island of 3.5 million U.S. citizens; PLUS: Some small bits of good news amid the bad... 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): Hidden Costs of climate change cost US $240 billion annually; For Puerto Rico, Maria was bad, the aftermath worse, but the future is the biggest challenge; U.S., Mexico reach deal to conserve Colorado River water; EPA threatens to stop funding DOJ enforcement actions; EPA Pruitt's chartered private jet flights cost taxpayers more than $58,000; Pollution could increase in Illinois as governor moves to rescue coal plants; Maryland sues EPA over interstate air pollution; Park Service showed bottled water ban worked, then lifted it; How military outsourcing turned toxic... PLUS: FERC calls court's call for climate test 'inappropriate'.... and much, MUCH more! ...
On today's BradCast: The latest on our nation's quickly piling up megadisasters, what we need to do about them, what we should have done long ago, and why we haven't. [Audio link to full show follows below.]
First up today: A quick overview of Irma's disastrous weekend course as a massive and deadly hurricane which lashed the entire state of Florida. Now, disaster recovery is under way as power remains out for millions, and the storm continues wreaking havoc in that state, as well as Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and elsewhere as a dangerous tropical storm.
This latest storm has been playing out on the heels of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana along with a number of other contemporaneous and ongoing natural disasters. So, naturally, Donald Trump over the weekend called for "speeding up" massive tax cuts that he and Republicans have long been promising. But, if taxes are slashed, who, and what, is going to pay for the likely-record disaster relief funding that will now be needed, not to mention the infrastructure upgrades that are long overdue in the storm areas, as well as across the U.S. --- particularly as we face a quickly changing climate?
We're joined today for a fascinating interview with DR. SCOTT KNOWLES, disaster historian (who knew there was such a thing?), at Drexel University's Center for Science, Technology and Science, to help put the costs of the one-two punch of Harvey and Irma into historical perspective, to discuss what lessons must be learned from those two record storms, what lessons we should have learned long ago and, frankly, why it is that we haven't learned those lessons by now, given what once was a robust U.S. government effort at disaster research and infrastructure management.
There is a lot of ground covered in my conversation with Knowles, author of The Disaster Experts: Mastering Risk in Modern America, today. Please give it a listen in full below. But, I'll quickly share just one or two of his thoughts to hopefully whet your appetite. Following massive deadly floods and fires in the 18th and 19th century, he explains, there was a largely successful effort to avoid those catastrophic and deadly events by local, state and federal officials in the world's wealthiest nation. That post-WWII effort, however, began to change in recent decades. And, with the worsening of our climate crisis, the "deferred maintenance" of our infrastructure and reduced environmental regulations, the still-prevalent notion that government needs to be scaled back in every way, couldn't have come at a worse time for the nation and the planet.
"We're able now more accurately to trace back the causes of these disasters to historical decisions that have been made since World War 2," Knowles explains. "Where we live, how we live, how we write our building codes, what we choose to spend our money on and not spend money on. Those are traceable historical pathways.
"One would have thought we could've had national standards for safety by now," he tells me. "I think this is the core of what we're really arguing about now. Can we make a national commitment to safety from disaster? If we can't, then I think we've really let down what Americans expect out of science, and government, and infrastructure and engineering, and all other things that we rely on every day."
As to climate change itself, and the need to act on the "settled science" that Republicans continue to ignore at our peril --- Trump's EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt recently said, that now is not the time to discuss such things --- Knowles argues: "These are the moments when people are attuned. This is when you have their attention. I don't think it's disrespectful to people who are suffering to raise the cause of their suffering into political light at these moments. In fact, I think it does them a service. And that's why so many of my colleagues who do this work do that"...
While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
* * *
MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION
ONE-TIME DONATION
(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Widespread devastation in the wake of record-breaking Hurricane Harvey; Officials warn the hardest work is just beginning; Explosions rock flooded Texas chemical plant; Trump revoked flood prevention reconstruction rules; PLUS: Looking ahead, looming battles in Congress over disaster relief and flood insurance... 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): EPA’s regulatory rollback would ensure that in disasters like Harvey, pollution is worse; Two new tropical storms take aim at U.S.; Trapped bakery workers spent days baking bread for Harvey victims; Harvey's toll on energy industry shows a Texas vulnerability; Why '500-year floods' are happening more frequently; MI demands Enbridge fix Mackinac Strait pipelines; Interior misspent $32 million thanks to lax oversight; EPA claims climate scientists trying to 'politicize' record storm; FERC approves controversial pipeline route over residents' objections; Coal payment loophole remains despite court ruling; Sea Shepherd pulls plug on Japan whale hunt... PLUS: Hurricane Harvey is what climate change looks like... and much, MUCH more! ...
On today's BradCast --- 12 years to do the day since Hurricane Katrina made landfall --- the disaster from Hurricane Harvey continues in Houston. How bad will it get? And will officials finally take action to avoid more such catastrophes? [Audio link to show follows below.]
Catastrophic flooding from Harvey continues today, as an all-time continental U.S. record of nearly 52" of rainfall has been recorded, two of Houston's reservoirs have over-topped their dams, a levee has been breached South of Houston, thousands of rescues continue, tens of thousands are stranded in their homes and in shelters, and we are still days away from the water receding.
It's difficult to explain how much water has fallen. As noted on today's show, generally speaking, one inch of rain equals one foot of snow. So, if this were snow, it would be 50 feet deep in some places! Seth Borenstein at AP reports "By the time the rain stops, Harvey will have dumped about 1 million gallons of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern Texas." Already, as of Tuesday, he notes, "15 trillion gallons of rain have fallen on a large area, and an additional 5 trillion or 6 trillion gallons are forecast by the end of Wednesday...That’s enough water to fill all the NFL and Division 1 college football stadiums more than 100 times over."
DAVID ROBERTS, environment, energy and politics journalist from Vox.com, joins us to discuss the ongoing disaster --- the type of which he has been warning about for more than a decade --- and what we know and don't about the effect of climate change on this storm and its unprecedented rainfall. We discuss the failure of infrastructure officials, in Houston and elsewhere around the nation, to take appropriate measures to help mitigate, much less adapt to, a quickly changing climate that scientists have long warned will become more and more destructive thanks to the continuing man-made emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels.
"Take climate change completely out of the equation, you still have a Gulf Coast that's subject to these mega-storms every so often, and is planning terribly for them," he notes. "In your Floridas, your Miamis and Houstons, they're just building everywhere they can, and they are all --- institutionally, by habit and by law --- extremely biased in favor of developing, including in these vulnerable areas." Will the destruction of Harvey finally force officials to take appropriate action?
"These disasters seem like a time --- which are very rare in the U.S. these days --- when we set our petty squabbles aside and come together to help people," observes Roberts, before wondering: "What's going to happen when these kinds of crises are striking different regions of the country regularly? Or every year? Or multiple cities at once, as climate exacerbates all this and makes all these disasters worse? I wonder how our capacity for empathy is going to keep up."
We also discuss some new revelations regarding Exxon's decades long private knowledge and public denial of global warming, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry's recently commissioned Energy Dept. study on the effect of renewable energy on the power grid and its relationship, if any, to hastening the demise of the coal industry.
Then Desi Doyen joins us for Green News Report special coverage of the Harvey disaster and, speaking of Exxon, news of refinery shutdowns and toxic petrochemical spills amid the flooding at two of its units in Houston.
Oh, and Donald Trump showed up in Texas today and reportedly turned the appearance into a rally "in front of a few hundred Trump supporters who somehow managed to know exactly where the president was doing the briefing," according toDallas Morning News' pool reporters. "What a crowd, what a turnout," he said...
While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
* * *
MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION
ONE-TIME DONATION
(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)
On today's BradCast: With millions of Americans imperiled by a massive, potentially "catastrophic" hurricane tonight, the President of the United States took the moment to give the finger to the Pentagon by signing a ban on transgender service members in the military. [Audio link to show follows below.]
(Note: Giving the finger to the federal court system and the U.S. Constitution itself, with a pardon of the reviled Sheriff Joe Arpaio, didn't happen until the hurricane became a Category 4 and we were already off air today.)
First today, Hurricane Harvey is set to slam into the Texas Gulf coast as dire warnings are issued by the National Weather Service that some areas may be "uninhabitable for weeks or months" thereafter. The startling language in the forecasts echo that not heard since it was used by in the extraordinary NWS warning issued prior to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 12 years ago this week (as we also covered on air at the time).
Our own Desi Doyen --- a native of south Texas herself --- explains the concerns of changing, global warming-fueled weather patterns that are leading forecasters to predict that Harvey may stall in place for days, dropping massive amounts of rainfall (as much as 40 inches in some places) over the next several days, before the storm could move back out to the Gulf only to return for a second landfall. Are state and federal officials --- with many key posts still unfilled by Trump --- fully prepared for what's to come?
Then, we're joined by SUE FULTON, former President of Sparta, an organization supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members of the military and their families, to discuss Donald Trump's recent surprise Twitter-announcement that "The United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military."
Fulton, a former U.S. Army Captain and a member of the first coed graduating class at West Point, had worked with the Obama Administration's Pentagon on the policy that had previously lifted the ban on openly transgender service members last year. She describes the detailed and meticulous process that had been carried out by the Department of Defense, with stakeholders from every branch, as well as outside organizations, and the military's own interest in carrying out the policy change that Trump is now reversing.
We discuss how Trump's own process to reverse the policy change appears to run precisely counter to the one carried out by Obama, as well as the wishes of military leaders and service members and the vast majority of Americans of all parties. We also discuss why Trump appears to be carrying this reversal out, despite both the success of lifting the ban to date and comparable changes to similar exclusionary policies that had previously barred both women and openly gay members.
Fulton has a lot to share and inform us about all of this. I strongly recommend tuning in for today's show in full.
For now, however, especially with all of the breaking news I'm still trying to follow tonight, I'll share just this one quote from Fulton for now: "[The Pentagon] did not make this decision to open transgender service willy-nilly --- they made it based on their judgment about military readiness. That's as it should be. I hear people telling me, 'This should be about military readiness', and the answer is: this is absolutely about readiness. This is about having the strongest, most effective military force that we can muster to protect and defend the interests of the United States. And, as part of that, the Pentagon has determined that allowing transgender people to serve --- to keeping that talent within the armed forces, and continuing to recruit talent from as broad a pool as possible --- is right, is the best thing to create this strongest possible force. And that decision was made carefully. Now that decision is being overthrown based on no evidence. In fact, based on saying that the evidence that the Pentagon itself uncovered and determined to be accurate should somehow be thrown out the window."
Then, as luck would have it, no sooner did I finish speaking with Fulton, then news broke late today that, in fact, Trump has made good on his threat and has officially signed new guidance, ordering the Pentagon to proceed with restoration of the ban on transgender service members.
That, just days after calling for "unity" in the country, and telling members of the military at Fort Myers: "Every person who puts on the uniform makes our nation proud. They all come from across our land. They represent every race, ethnicity, and creed. But they all pledge the same oath, fight for the same cause, and operate as one team --- with one shared sense of purpose."
What an extraordinary monster. And I'm being very polite here...
While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
* * *
MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION
ONE-TIME DONATION
(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: National Academy of Sciences study on health impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining halted by Trump Administration; New Orleans still grappling with flood emergency as potential hurricane brews in the Gulf of Mexico; Volkswagen is bringing back the iconic minibus --- and this time it's electric!; PLUS: California again proves Trump wrong --- climate regulations boost economic growth... 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): Study confirms what Exxon knew about climate change vs. what it told the public; DOE grid reliability study is a Rorschach test; California has a climate problem, and its name is cars; Northeast states propose 30 percent greenhouse gas cut; NIH unit deletes references to climate 'change'; Zinke won't eliminate any national monuments; Bundy Ranch trial ends with zero guilty verdicts; Alaska's permafrost is thawing, with major climate implications; Ocean warming takes toll on undersea kelp forests... PLUS: Trump thinks clean coal is when workers mine coal and then actually 'clean it'... and much, MUCH more! ...
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Media criticized for their slow response to Louisiana flood disaster; Louisiana flooding could accelerate spread of the Zika virus; PLUS: A tale of two Arctics --- Native American tribe forced to move, while luxury cruises are just getting started... 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): 'Climate change is water change' - why the Colorado River system is headed for major trouble; A Deal With The Devil? Russia Kicks Up Arctic Oil Drilling; High-Price Ethanol Credits Add to Refiners' Woes; China's drive to clean up its coal power, one plant at a time; Widening 80 Mile Crack Threatens One Of Antarctica’s Biggest Ice Shelves; Ohio Residents Clash With State and County Government in Fight to Ban Fracking via the Ballot... PLUS: Most Cities Too Hot to Host Summer Olympics by 2085... and much, MUCH more! ...
Both Hurricane Katrina and Cindy Sheehan's 'Camp Casey' protest outside of George W. Bush's Crawford, TX pretend-ranch took place 10 years ago this week. On today's BradCast, we commemorate both with some personal remembrances from our live on-air coverage of both events at the time.
First, where we are today: As Dubya came out from years of (justifiable) hiding today to speak at a rebuilt school in New Orleans, journalist Colleen Kimmett joins us to discuss the successes and failures of the privatized charter school system that was allowed to take over in New Orleans following the Katrina disaster.
Then we dig deep into the audio archives to revisit some of our on-the-ground, round-the-clock radio coverage of Sheehan's historic anti-war protest in August of 2005 --- including the remarkable on-air moment on Sunday evening, August 28, 2005 when we first received the jaw-dropping National Weather Service bulletin warning of Katrina coming ashore.
Both landmark national events intertwined on our radio coverage from 10 years ago, and, as we discuss on today's program, marked a key turning point for our nation, our wars, and the entire Bush Presidency.
Finally, our latest Green News Report looks back at Katrina's devastation, looks forward to NASA's new warning that at least 3 feet of sea level rise is now "locked in," and the new report from Citigroup finding that moving to renewable clean energy will actually be less expensive than sticking with our current fossil fuel status quo...
[Photo above of Jeff Keys, Cindy Sheehan and Joan Baez courtesy of "Alaska Gyrl" Kim Terpening, who happened to be on air with us in Crawford as the NWS bulletin came across the wires. And here are some of those photos I mentioned on the show today of Karl Rove happily glad-handing the pro-Bush, anti-Sheehan demonstrators in Crawford at the very same moment that Katrina was drowning New Orleans.]
* * *
UPDATE 8/29/2015: As 'PDiddie' (who expertly curates BRAD BLOG's Sunday Toons each week) reminds me in comments below, he was also in Crawford at the very same time! See his contemporaneous 2005 description of some of the same moments remembered in the show above (including him sitting down to listen to some of our live broadcasts at the time) over at his Brains & Eggs' site!
Also, too, see @NTXProgressive's fantastic Storify, which includes a bunch of great photos (including one of us) from the time capsule, documenting moments from 'Camp Casey' in Crawford --- and even as Katrina rolled ashore...
* * *
While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
* * *
MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION
ONE-TIME DONATION
(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)
Standing up to the NRA after Roanoke & a horrifying U.S. gun death toll
PLUS: Denying global warming on Katrina's 10th anniversary; Trump's ugly nativism gets uglier; Good news for Dems in new poll; Marriage dead-enders in KY...
On the heels of yesterday's horrific on-air murders in Virginia, and as guns claim one life every 16 minutes in the U.S., the father of one of the Roanoke victims vows to stand up to the NRA and "cowards" elected to office who fail to take action to help prevent gun violence. On today's BradCast we look at the numbers, the jaw-dropping death toll in this nation, and what, if anything might ever be done about it.
For the record, as WaPo details, we've now had 247 mass shootings in the 238 days of 2015.
Also on today's busy program...
• Louisiana's Republican Governor and also-ran 2016 GOP candidate Bobby Jindal pretends [PDF] global warming had nothing do with Hurricane Katrina as Obama comes to New Orleans to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the devastating storm.
• New national poll finds Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and, yes, Bernie Sanders would all trounce Trump and the other GOP front-runners if the election was held today...and if we had a national election...and if all voters who wanted to vote were allowed to vote...and if those votes were actually counted and counted accurately.
• Donald Trump's ugly nativism gets even uglier as the Republican establishment gets desperate.
• Kentucky dead-ender County Clerk defies still more federal court orders and denies same-sex marriage licenses --- and all marriage licenses --- in her county, under the ridiculous premise of "religious freedom".
While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
* * *
MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION
ONE-TIME DONATION
(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)
Or by Snail Mail Make check out to...
Brad Friedman
7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594
Los Angeles, CA 90028
The BRAD BLOG receives no foundational or corporate support.
Your contributions make it possible to continue our work.
About Brad Friedman...
Brad is an independent investigative
journalist, blogger, broadcaster, VelvetRevolution.us co-founder,
expert on issues of election integrity,
and a Commonweal Institute Fellow.