This is our final BradCast of the Biden Era. We've got a lot of mixed emotions on today's program, as you'll discover when you tune in. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our coverage...

• Vile Congressional Republicans, such as Alabama's Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Kansas' Roger Marshall and many of their far-right media pals are targeting the victims of the Los Angeles Fires as part of their latest reprehensible political strategy. They're calling for "conditions" and "strings attached" before agreeing to aid Americans who have lost everything out here in these horrific, ongoing fires. They are whipping up disinformation echo chambers to convince themselves that it was something other than climate change-fueled dry weather and hurricane force winds to blame for the past week's unspeakable disaster and death. I've got a word or two in response on today's program, including some thoughts about the fact that California gives five times more to the federal government in tax dollars than we receive back in return. You're welcome, Senators --- and all of your loser MAGA buddies banging that same pathetic, loathsome drum.

• Speaking of fossil fueled climate change deniers, Donald Trump's nominee to head up the Dept. of Energy, fracking company CEO Chris Wright, doesn't believe wildfires have anything to do with climate change. And Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, used to call for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. Now tapped for Trump's EPA, he's singing a different tune, as Desi Doyen reports today in her coverage of Zeldin's U.S. Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.

• In what suffices for good news today, you may recall that, just before Christmas, President Biden, who vowed during his 2020 campaign to end the federal death penalty (he didn't), mercifully and morally commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal Death Row to life in prison without the possibility of parole. (He should have done the same for the other three, as reprehensible as they may be. The Government shouldn't be in the business of killing its own citizens.) But on Wednesday, according to a scoop from LAW DORK's Chris Geidner, Attorney General Merrick Garland officially withdrew federal approval for the use of single-drug lethal injections of pentobarbital in federal executions. That may slow down, at least, another killing spree by Donald Trump, who ordered the executions of 13 federal Death Row inmates during the final six months of his first term in office. That, after a total of just three people had been executed under all previous Presidents from the years 1975 through 2020.

• And, speaking of warnings of what is coming --- or already here --- in a 17-minute prepared speech (transcript) from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, President Joe Biden issued his Farewell Address to the American people on Wednesday night. He briefly touted his Administration's substantive (and, so far, wildly under-appreciated) record, noting that "It’ll take time to feel the full impact of what we’ve done together, but the seeds are planted and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come." He then went on to issue a series of dire warnings that echoed President Eisenhower's 1961 Farewell Address, in which he famously warned of the menace of the then-burgeoning Cold War Military-Industrial Complex. In this case, Biden warned of the dangers of a Tech-Industrial Complex and explained that "an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead." He hearkened back to the push-back against the Gilded Age of the robber barons over a century ago, while charging that Americans are now "being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power." We share an extended excerpt of those warnings and others --- "the existential threat of climate change", unchecked A.I. development, our corrupted U.S. Supreme Court, a "crumbling" free press --- from Biden's final Oval Office address before Monday's Inauguration of the first convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and adjudicated insurrectionist to ever be sworn in as President of the United States.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report with more on the L.A. Fires and the long recovery ahead; more on Trump's Energy Secretary nominee; more on Joe Biden's encouragement to Americans in his Farewell Address to hold the line on climate action in the years ahead...

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Today's BradCast picks up where yesterday's left off, amid the Trump-instigated attempted insurrection by his MAGA Mob at the nation's Capitol amid the formal affirmation of Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. We continue then with all of the mind-boggling fallout thereafter. [Audio link to full show is posted below this summary.]

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

• Morning Joe speaks for us, in his response to Wednesday's shameful attempted coup and pathetic response to it by the Capitol Police;

• So does Joe Biden, who, like Joe Scarborough, notes how differently a white rightwing MAGA Mob was dealt with, versus how things would have played out had those violent rioters who invaded the Capitol building been BLM protesters;

• Trump won't be escaping to Scotland after all. Guess he'll have to find another country willing to harbor a likely fugitive from justice;

• Once the Capitol building was cleared of Trump's lawless marauders on Wednesday night --- and four insurrectionists had died in the bargain --- the Electoral College affirmation by Congress that they'd attempted to prevent, picked up once again, with a (very slightly) chastened GOP. We share several outstanding speeches from the Senate floor in the middle of the night/early morning, as delivered by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mitt Romney (R-UT). That, before seven Republican U.S. Senators and 138 GOP House Members (68% of the caucus!) voted, unsuccessfully, to nullify millions of votes cast by the voters of Arizona and Pennsylvania;

• For the record, the seven Republican Senators who voted to nullify the voters in those two states --- even after the attempted coup at their own place of work --- are: Cruz (TX), Hawley (MO), Lummis (WY), Marshall (KS), Scott (FL), Tuberville (AL) and Hyde-Smith (MS). May their names live in eternal infamy and shame;

• Trump and his Republican Party's shameful, evidence-free attempt to use the Electoral Count Act of 1887 or 12th Amendment to the Constitution in order to steal the 2020 Presidential election has officially failed, as Biden's Electoral College "landslide" was affirmed by Congress at 3:45am on Thursday morning, January 7th. The MAGA Mob riots served no purpose other than to kill several Trump supporters and injure more than a dozen Capitol police. The results of the election were exactly as they were certified by all 50 states weeks ago;

• Amid the insurrection and while being locked out of his account at both Twitter and Facebook overnight (he has since been allowed to return to Twitter, though Facebook says he will be banned until at least after Inauguration Day), Trump's mood was said to have grown increasingly erratic. His rage reportedly resulted in Mike Pence's Chief of Staff (and Trump's own former Legislative Director) being banned from the White House, and staffers were reportedly instructed by the White House Counsel to stay away from him, lest they find themselves as an accessory to treason under the Sedition Act;

• About eight staffers have resigned following Wednesday's events, including Trump's former Press Secretary (Stephanie Grisham), his former Acting Chief of Staff (Mick Mulvaney) and his Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the only cabinet member, so far, to jump off the sinking ship. Chao also happens to be married to the soon-to-be-former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who will presumably be the Republican Minority Leader following the apparent victories by Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock on Tuesday in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoffs. None of those who waited until now to resign should be hailed as heroes;

• By Thursday morning, both incoming presumptive Senate Majority Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had issued statements calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked by Vice President Pence and Trump's remaining cabinet members to remove him from office immediately. Pelosi correctly describes Trump as having incited "an unpseakable assault on our nation and our people." Short of impeachment, both Democratic leaders say, another impeachment for "willfully inciting violence against the government of the United States"; "gravely endanger[ing] the security of the United States"; and "demonstrat[ing] that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office" remain a possibility, as detailed in Articles now being circulated for consideration by House Democrats;

• If you're not familiar with how the 25th Amendment would work, should it be invoked (there is also at least one Republican lawmaker calling for it today, describing Trump as "unfit" and "unwell"), here's a quick primer;

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for some much brighter news, believe it or not, in our latest Green News Report, where the overlooked news about Democrats clawing back a legislative majority in the Senate may be very very good news indeed...as long as WV's coal-loving Democratic Senator, Joe Manchin, decides to help save the planet by playing along...

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