I do realize The BradCast has been in occasional danger of late of becoming just giddy enough to, perhaps, become all but unrecognizable to some. Oh, well. Too bad. Those may be folks who are failing to realize they may be living through one of the most extraordinary moments in American political history. Lighten up. There's nothing wrong with appreciating the moment after so many years of darkness. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

But to achieve the promise of this moment, there are still a bunch of very difficult weeks and months (not to mention years) ahead. A little-noticed reminder came from the state of Florida last night --- which voted in Congressional primaries on Tuesday along with Alaska and Wyoming --- when a number of county election result websites were failing to work as expected after the close of polls. They were websites run by a contractor named VR Systems, a little-known Tallahassee firm which also runs voter registration systems in several Florida counties and other states. If the name of the company is familiar, it is likely because we would eventually come to learn in 2017, thanks to whistleblower Reality Winner, that the firm was the victim of Russian-based spearphishing attacks in advance of the 2016 election. We still don't know the extent of those 2016 attacks, nor much about what happened to cause problems on Tuesday night with their websites in Florida. But, since nobody else seems to have connected those dots in the media, it seems worth sticking a pin in here for now.

After a few quick thoughts on that today, it's back to the political history underway in Chicago this week...

"Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn't it?," former First Lady Michelle Obama rhetorically asked the packed, roaring crowd at the United Center on Day 2 of this year's Democratic National Convention. "We're feeling it here in this arena, but its spreading all across this country we love. A familiar feeling that's been buried too deep for far too long. You know what I'm talking about. It's the contagious power of hope," she explained to a packed, raucous arena of Dems, who had just gone through what was absolutely the most electrifying roll-call --- to nominate Kamala Harris and Tim Walz --- in American political convention history.

"The anticipation, the energy, the exhilaration of once again being on the cusp of a brighter day," Michelle continued. "The chance to vanquish the demons of fear, division and hate that have consumed us, and continue pursuing the unfinished promise of this great nation, the dream that our parents and grandparents fought and died and sacrificed for."

"America, hope is making a comeback!," she declared. And the crowd of Democrats reached new heights of ecstasy. And all of that before her husband, former President of the United States, Barack Obama, tried to match her with his own unparalleled oratorical skills.

We've got much, much more for you today on all of the above, as we're joined again by old friends and fellow old school bloggers HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Hullabaloo, and 'DRIFTGLASS' of his eponymous blog and his weekly Pro Left Podcast.

I'm not sure I can even try to summarize our conversation today. There is Parton describing how the DNC --- just half-way over this week as of airtime, mind you --- has "far surpassed my expectations ... And having it be this unusually, upbeat, joyful, happy, enthusiastic experience. I didn't expect it. And I have to say I am truly enjoying it, which I don't normally say about political conventions."

Says Driftglass: "The media has a story they want to tell, and that story is Dems In Disarray and protesters and cops in the street. And we are denying them that story. And that's what is freaking them out. Because that is not the fairy-tale they've been telling the public for forty years, which is that both sides are bad, there's no difference between the two parties. Only when there's a breach, a radical opening in that box, can people peek through that media filter and see the actual Democratic Party. ... The base of the party is finally getting heard. And the base of the party is pretty progressive. This weird filter that everything democratic had to flow through, the people who spoke for us in the media, were Maureen Dowd proclaiming, 'What the Democrats need is an open convention.' And the base said, 'Hell no. That is not what we need. Shut up.' It seems like the progressive base, almost as one, has reached out and told them to shut the hell up, the party is actually us!"

And then there is also Desi today: "I think part of what is going on is that hope is a moving thing for the human heart. It's moving to see Democrats articulate these common values that we all hold, no matter what your political party is --- of family, of patriotism, of opportunity, of equality for all. We've all been through a collective trauma over the last nine years. Seeing this kind of hope is like therapy."

Like I said, I can't even begin to summarize it. Perhaps this is why we don't necessarily realize we are going through historic moments until long after. But, tune in to today's show to hear a bunch of battle-hardened political muckrakers watching so much of what we've been advocating for, for so long, unfolding before our very eyes.

Maybe.

But, as Michelle said, there is a contagious power of hope...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Ernesto knocks out power to Puerto Rico, again; Beach restoration projects protect wealthy homeowners at taxpayers' expense; PLUS: U.S. Forest Service blocks bottled water company from taking California's mountain spring water... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Climate change-worsened wildfires drastically increased odds, severity of 2023 wildfires; Parts of Canada's boreal forest are burning faster than they regrow; In major shift, US to back global target to reduce plastic production; Nearly $10B in Hurricane Debby damage was in areas without flood insurance; Texas oil regulator under scrutiny as zombie wells gush back to life; Texas likely undercounting heat-related deaths; UK firm violating toxic pollutant limits at Louisiana wood pellet facilities... PLUS: The climate law's $8.8 billion in home energy rebates are starting to roll out... and much, MUCH more! ...

It was another not good day on The BradCast for entitled rightwingers working hard to undermine our American democracy. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our coverage today...

• Disgraced 2020 election denier, former Mesa, Colorado County Clerk and failed Republican Sec. of State candidate Tina Peters was found guilty by a jury of her peers on Monday for seven crimes related to her 2021 breach, copy and unlawful distribution of Mesa County's proprietary Dominion voting system software that she was elected to protect.

  BACKSTORY: Peters' breach in CO, which set off alarm bells at the time among voting system experts across the country, was one of several similar schemes apparently organized, in part, by former Trump attorney Sidney Powell in a futile effort to prove the 2020 election was stolen from him. Similar breaches were carried out in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where some of the breachers are also facing state criminal charges. Deadbeat fellow election denier and reportedly nearly bankrupt MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who is being sued for defamation by several voting machine companies, aided and abetted Peters' crimes in various ways after the Mesa County voting software was released while she was on stage at Lindell's silly "cyber-symposium" in South Dakota.

• Former-Democrat-turned-independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was found by a New York judge on Monday to have used a "sham" address to establish residency in the state where he doesn't actually live. As a result, after a four-day hearing, he will not be allowed to appear on NY's Presidential ballot. Moreover, the ruling may threaten his eligibility for some of the 19 state ballots where he has already qualified to appear and/or the 20 or so states where he is still hoping to do so.

  BACKSTORY: Back in 2011, we reported on then Utah U.S. Senate candidate Mitt Romney having done damn near the same thing. He had owned mansions in both New Hampshire and California, but, in 2010, he fraudulently registered to vote for a U.S. Senate Special Election in Massachusetts, where he had previously served as Governor, using his son's unfinished basement as his voting address. Nonetheless, despite their pretend opposition to election fraud, the Republican Party would later go on to nominate the fraudster Romney as their Presidential nominee in 2012.

• Longtime opponents of workers and organized labor unions, Donald Trump and Tesla/Twitter owner Elon Musk, held what the New York Times described as a "two-hour ramble" on Monday night, on Musk's rickety, now largely rightwing social media site. It didn't seem to go well for either of them. It began about 45 minutes late after Musk's streaming audio platform kept failing. (He blamed a cyberattack. Trump blamed China. Evidence and folks who work at Twitter/X suggested there was no cyberattack at all.) But, at some point in the conversation, Trump and Musk began cackling approvingly about the idea of firing workers who threaten to strike or join unions. On Tuesday, the United Auto Workers, who have been encouraging Tesla workers to unionize, filed legal complaints against each man charging violations of the National Labor Relations Act.

  BACKSTORY: The UAW, and almost every other major labor union, has endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. UAW President Shawn Fain appeared at a rally with Harris and her running-mate Tim Walz in Detroit last week (the one with 15,000 attendees who Trump claims were not there, but were all A.I.) and described Trump as "a scab" who "doesn't know shit about the auto industry and doesn't give a damn about the working class in this country."

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, after the hottest July ever recorded; millions of gallons of raw sewage spills across parts of Florida following Hurricane Debby; and Republicans scheme, via Project 2025, to delete all federal government references to "climate change" if Trump is able to win back the White House in November...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Debby left a parting gift --- tons of raw sewage spills; July 2024 was the hottest July ever recorded globally; PLUS: Republicans' Project 2025 calls for deleting all references to climate change from the federal government... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): More than 47,000 people died in Europe last year due to heat, report says; 'It's Torture': Brutal heat broils Texas prisons, killing dozens of inmates; How to stay safe in the Texas heat; In Pennsylvania's competitive Senate race, fracking takes center stage; Climate change is making us sick, literally, as extreme rainfalls overwhelm outdated sewer systems; Taxpayers on the hook to protect high-end beach communities; 'Massive disinformation campaign' is slowing global transition to green energy... PLUS: How close are the planet's tipping points?... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Tropical Storm Debby isn't done with the East Coast yet; Hottest oceans in 400 years endanger Australia's Great Barrier Reef, scientists warn; PLUS: Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, Gov. Tim Walz, is a proven climate champion... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Harris faces racial attacks for promoting climate policies; July ends 13-month streak of global heat records as El Nino ebbs, but experts warn against relief; Fossil fuel industry's 'massive disinformation campaign' is slowing global transition to green energy; Tropical weather brings record rainfall. Experts share how to stay safe in floods... PLUS: Death toll for birds may be more than 1 billion a year in U.S.... and much, MUCH more! ...

Today on The BradCast: Well, the past 24 hours have turned out to be rather historic. At least I hope. [Audio link to full show is posted below this summary.]

After having become the nation's first female Vice President, Kamala Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Asian immigrants, was officially selected on Monday night by Democratic National Party delegates via an online roll call vote to become the first woman of color to lead a major party's Presidential ticket.

But the California Democrat stepped on her own history-making moment by Tuesday morning when announcing her selection for Vice President: 24-year Army National Guardsman, former high school teacher and football coach, 12-year Congressman and two-term Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

In the hours since, the affable, blessedly normal, very progressive 60-year old, union-supporting Nebraska native --- who flipped a rural Minnesota Congressional seat from red to blue in 2006 --- became a bit of a national sensation, it seems to me. He was, after all, the one who appears to have cracked the code of how to attack the Republicans' standard-bearer Donald Trump and his Vice-Presidential candidate J.D. Vance with a simple, and even "Minnesota Nice" dismissal by referring to them as just plain "weird".

But, as our guest today, The Nation's progressive journalist, author, longtime Walz fan and native son of MN's neighboring rust belt state of Wisconsin, JOHN NICHOLS, makes clear, Walz didn't just come from nowhere. He has a history that Nichols has been sharing for days --- well before today's announcement --- on his Twitter feed, with links to some great Walz moments over the years. His incredibly moving radio ad when first introducing himself to run for Congress in 2006; his sweeping video ad announcing his gubernatorial run in 2018; an impassioned, ass-kicking speech at the MN Legislature as Governor in 2023, as the 2nd Amendment supporter and 24-year veteran, deployed both domestically and overseas, promised (and then delivered) long-overdue gun safety laws to finally help stop the massacre of school children; being hugged by school children after signing a bill to ensure free public school breakfast and lunches for all; a telling moment when the Governor, in well-worn blue jeans, bends over to tie the shoe of a little girl.

"He is kind of an outsider on the national political scene," Nichols tells me today, when explaining why he's been posting Tweet after Tweet in support of Walz in recent days. "As of a couple of weeks ago, it's safe to say that 99 out of 100 Americans couldn't have identified him out of a lineup. So in a very short amount of time, this guy has come not from the mainstream, inner circle of the elite Washington Democratic Party, but from way outside, up on the border with Canada."

"So I think there was a lot that people needed to understand quickly about the guy, and that's one of the reasons why I posted a lot of those old campaign ads and videos --- so people could understand that he didn't just appear out of nowhere. This is kind of an amazing political figure."

America is certainly learning that as of today, after what Nichols reported at The Nation this afternoon as the Paul Wellstone disciple who rose to the top during "a two-week 'virtual campaign' in which [Harris' Veep contenders] would present themselves to the party and to the candidate and to the nation. ... And, in so doing, she freed herself up to the prospect that the final pick might not be a predictable insider, or, to be more precise, the predictable choice of the predictable insiders."

"There's nothing radical about Tim Walz," Nichols tweeted today, "except for his faith in the American people. He believes in an America where we treat one another as neighbors, lift one another up and build a future where no one is left behind. Walz is the opposite of JD Vance."

Nichols has a lot to share about Walz' background, Harris' courageous selection, and how he believes that Trump has been "destabilized" by all that has happened over the past two weeks following Joe Biden stepping aside to make way for Harris. "Trump really does believe in a cult of personality. So, he couldn't possibly imagine that Biden would ever give up the leadership of the party, never give up the candidacy. Well, Biden isn't a cult of personality guy. He did give it up. That threw Trump off. I think Trump is still destabilized simply by that reality."

"And then comes this good-humored guy out of the Midwest. Somebody who really does speak to a lot of the people Trump has tried to speak to, but instead of Trumpish-language --- 'I'm a billionaire from New York who knows things you don't know.' Tim Walz comes along and says, 'I'm a teacher from Mankato. I know a lot of things you know. I get you. I get what you need. And I'm telling you, you're not getting it from a weirdo.' Suddenly, it's like the whole conversation has changed. ... And the Republicans are frankly going crazy."

Nichols also explains how Walz on the ticket from neighboring MN, will "absolutely" have an effect on voters in the "Blue Wall" state of WI and beyond, and why the Trump Campaign's laughable attack on Walz as a "West Coast wannabe...obsessed with spreading California's dangerously liberal agenda far and wide" is probably going to miss by a California mile.

FINALLY... Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as the climate change-enhanced Hurricane Debby wreaks havoc across Florida, Georgia and South Carolina; as climate change changed the Paris Summer Games; as victims of the climate change-exacerbated wild fires in Maui get a small measure of justice; and as oil major BP is now all but conceding that fossil fuels will soon be on their way out...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Debby brings astonishing rains and flooding to Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina; Climate change is a partner in the Paris Summer Olympics; PLUS: Plaintiffs in last year's catastrophic Maui Fires reach a settlement with Hawaiian Electric... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Meet Tim Walz: Kamala Harris's vice-presidential pick, a surprising Green New Dealer; As U.S. Heat Deaths Rise, Some Landlords Oppose Right To Air Conditioning; Sudan's Famine-Stricken Zamzam Camp Hit By Devastating Floods; More Americans Are Moving Into Flood And Fire Hot Spots; Minnesota Settles ‘Deceptive Environmental Marketing’ Suit Over Plastic Bags... PLUS: Wyoming Offers To Sell Land To Grand Teton Park — Or Developers... and much, MUCH more! ...

We've got a flood of news on today's BradCast. Unfortunately, some of that reference is also literal. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our many stories today...

• Last week's primary elections in Tennessee (which they hold on Thursdays in the state, because they hope voters don't turn out for them!) saw state Rep. Gloria Johnson win the Democratic nomination for U.S Senate to run against the far-right Sen. Marsha Blackburn. Johnson was one of the "Tennessee Three" who state GOP lawmakers tried to expel after Johnson and two others state Reps participated in a gun safety protest on the House floor following a deadly mass shooting at an elementary school shooting in Nashville. Johnson, who is white, was spared expulsion by one vote. Her two colleagues, Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both black, were expelled (though were subsequently returned to the House by their local constituents).

• Hurricane Debby made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida Monday morning, just 20 miles or so from where Hurricane Idalia came ashore less than a year ago. Desi Doyen joins us with details on the storm surge and catastrophic flooding that is expected in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina as the storm moves to the north painfully slowly. She also explains why these disasters are made worse and more frequent thanks to man-made climate change.

• Also today, Wall Street weathered its own storm, as investors have begun to panic that the U.S. could be headed into a recession and/or that the Federal Reserve waited too long to lower interest rates. In Japan on Monday, investors really panicked, as the Nikkei 225 plunged more than 12%. The major U.S. indexes, however, "only" fell by about 2 or 3% today. Still, it was a bloodbath. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

• After a months-long pause, Donald Trump's federal indictment for his several failed attempts to steal the 2020 election returned to the D.C. court of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. The pause was thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's absurd ruling that Presidents enjoy immunity from most crimes they carry out while in office. That ruling, of course, though contrary to any non-corrupt reading of the Constitution, could still further derail the case. For now at least, after receiving the case back on Friday, Chutkan issued several rulings almost immediately over the weekend, finding mostly against the Defense in several outstanding motions. The case is, nonetheless, not expected to come to trial before this November's Presidential election, since her eventual rulings in regard to "presidential immunity" will almost certainly need to make their way back up to the corrupted SCOTUS.

• In breaking news shortly before airtime today, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that she was dropping charges against Jenna Ellis after the former Donald Trump attorney agreed to cooperate with prosecutors against her 18 co-defendants. They were all charged earlier this year with fraud, forgery and conspiracy related to the Republicans 2020 fake electors plot in the state. Among those charged along with Ellis and still facing indictments are former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, as well as his former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows. This could be very bad news for all of them.

• Also today, the corrupted SCOTUS did the right thing for a rare change in declining to halt Donald Trump's sentencing on 34 felony crimes in New York related to his successful scheme to cheat in the 2016 election by paying hush-money to a porn star with whom he was said to have had a sexual tryst. Trump's criminal sentencing will now move forward --- unless something else derails it again (which is always a good possibility) --- next month on September 18th.

• Over the weekend, Donald Trump backed out of the Presidential debate he previously agreed to participate in next month, as moderated by ABC News. He is proposing that he and all-but-certain Democratic nominee Kamala Harris debate before a live crowd on Fox "News" instead. The New York Times' coverage of that news over the weekend was wildly misleading and subsequently changed to eventually become accurate.

• In Virginia last week, a machine recount determined that far-right Republican state Sen. John McGuire did indeed defeat the far-right Republican Chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Bob Good, by just over 300 votes out of some 63,000 cast during the GOP's June state primary. Good, a 2020 election denier, ultimately abandoned his evidence-free claims of massive fraud via drop-box and conceded the race to McGuire.

• Down in Venezuela, Socialist Party strongman Nicolas Maduro still refuses to release election results from tens of thousands of polling places after the nation's Presidential election just over a week ago. The National Electoral Council --- heavily stacked with Maduro loyalists --- announced on Election Night that Maduro defeated opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez by about 7 percentage points. Both the U.S. (a longtime Maduro adversary) and Maduro allies such as the leaders of Brazil and Columbia, have called for Maduro to release all precinct-based results from the election. Without the ability for the public to oversee the full results, however, analysts are citing the limited number of Election Night precinct results tapes obtained by opposition-aligned groups from about 1,000 polling sites. Separate analyses of those poll tapes --- by New York Times, Associated Press and Washington Post --- suggest that Maduro not only didn't win by 7 points, he appears to have lost to Gonzalez in a 20-point landslide. We specifically detail the convincing NYTimes analysis and explain how Maduro could refute their findings by simply releasing the data that the voting public deserves to see. Democracy relies on the ability of the public to oversee its own elections. A fact that is equally true here in the U.S.

• While we ran long with all of today's breaking news, we still had time for a caller or two, one of whom who clearly hates democracy --- and is, apparently, no fan of me either!

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Today's BradCast summary may be necessarily (or mercifully, depending on how you look at it) brief. As noted here yesterday, I've got COVID again. Did a show today anyway. For good or ill. There's just too much going on and standing down yesterday only made me feel like we were falling even farther behind. Plus, big news today out of SCOTUS. So bear with my gravelly, congested voice as we catch up with a few of things on today's show. [Audio link to full show follows below.]

Among those things..,.

• Tuesday's down-ballot primary elections in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina didn't offer many surprises or problems, so far, for voters or tabulation. But the Special Election for the U.S. House in Ohio's otherwise deeply red 16th Congressional District was certainly of note. The Democratic candidate, Michael Kripchak, lost the race to Republican Michael Rulli, as expected. But, continuing a pattern we've seen quite a bit of on Election Days since 2020, the Democrat wildly over-performed expectations by some 20 points! It's another good reminder to take nothing for granted this year, with the November 5th General Election Day now less than 150 days away!

• The packed and corrupted U.S. Supreme Court did (mostly) the right thing for a happy change today. In an opinion [PDF] written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Court unanimously shut down a ridiculous case brought by legal forum-shopping anti-abortion zealots in Texas seeking a nationwide ban on the use of Mifepristone, the most popular and safest method of abortion in the U.S. The challenge, based on false claims about the drug, was rejected 9 to 0 due to a lack of standing by the crackpot doctors who brought the case (with the help of a rightwing extremist legal mill, in a lower court jurisdiction where they were guaranteed to get a favorable finding from Trump-appointed anti-abortion activist judge, Mathew Kasmaryk.) Kavanaugh's ruling, however, left the door open for future challenges by other plaintiffs to the FDA's 20-year old approval of the drug. The executive agency has repeatedly found Mifepristone --- used in about two-thirds of abortion in the U.S. last year --- to be extraordinarily safe and effective.

• Then, we're joined by AMANDA MARCOTTE, Senior Political Writer at Salon and author of Troll Nation: How the Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself. We discuss today's SCOTUS ruling and a related matter which she recently wrote about at Salon, which also highlights the corrupt anti-abortion Texas-to-SCOTUS legal activist pipeline. This case, like the Mifepristone case, is being brought, specifically, in Kasmaryk's North Texas federal court, where he is the only judge overseeing cases filed there. It involves two University of Austin professors, Daniel Bonevac and John Hatfield, who are plaintiffs in a suit challenging Nixon-era federal law that prevents them from mistreating people, women in particular, who don't behave to the professors' liking. They are claiming a violation of their Free Speech Rights in federal laws that prevent them from flunking female students who go out of state to obtain abortions or block them from firing teaching assistants who have had one or forces them to consider the hiring of employees who may be transgendered. It is all of a piece, as Marcotte explains, with the corrupt SCOTUS decision that overturned 50 years of legal precedent for the Constitutional right to abortion back in 2022, and the subsequent total abortion ban in the Lone Star State. As Marcotte identifies, this and a number of other cases, are being brought by the same far-right interests, including former Texas Solicitor General and Federalist Society activist Jonathan Mitchell and legal mill outfits packed with former (and future?) Trump staffers.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for a Brad-free edition of Green News Report! With a warning for upcoming extreme heat across much of the country; seemingly unceasing extreme rainfall in Florida; a new law adopted by the New York legislature to hold Big Oil accountable for climate damage; and hundreds of billions of dollars in health benefits now being realized thanks to President Biden's renewable energy boom...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: In parts of the U.S., air conditioning can't keep up with extreme heat, and a big one is coming over the next week; Record rain triggers flash flooding from Sarasota to Spain to China; New York passes law requiring oil companies to pay for climate change damages; PLUS: Renewable energy in the U.S. has delivered $250 billion in health benefits... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Amid record-breaking heat wave, researchers step up warnings about risks extreme temperatures pose to children; Dangerous heat wave tests Puerto Ricans’ ability to survive the latest power outages; Biofuel refineries are releasing toxic air pollutants in the US farm communities; Air in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ likely more toxic than previously thought; How Biden beat the clock on big environmental regulations; The 'one simple trick' Paris used to reduce air pollution 40% ahead of Olympics... PLUS: Reported birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone park fulfills Lakota prophecy... and much, MUCH more! ...

Today on The BradCast: Imagine if Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was found to have been flying a Joe Biden "Dark Brandon" flag at her house. Ya think Republicans in Congress might have anything to say about it? Might take any action in response to it? [Audio link to full program follows this summary.]

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

• Republicans in the Ohio state legislature are still blocking Joe Biden from this year's Presidential election ballot in the Buckeye State. Even Republican Governor Mike DeWine is now calling it "ridiculous" and "absurd" and has called a special legislative session for next week to fix the problem that GOP lawmakers have so far refused to. Think they'll finally do it?

• The corrupt rightwing majority on the packed and stolen U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, allowed a racial gerrymander in South Carolina to remain in place for the 2024 election. All of the Court's liberal Justices dissented. The 6 to 3 majority opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito, who appeared more concerned that state lawmakers might be seen as having engaged in "offensive and demeaning" conduct, than he did about the tens of thousands of Black voters in the state whose votes have been shifted to other districts to make it easier for Republican Rep. Nancy Mace to hold on to a seat in the U.S. House. It's not a racial gerrymander, the Court's Republican majority claims, it's a partisan one. And, apparently, that's just fine. (Justice Clarence Thomas went out of his way in a concurring opinion to note that racial gerrymanders are just fine as well.) All of that, after a lower court panel of federal judges found that SC's racial gerrymander amounted to the "bleaching of African American voters."

• And, speaking of Sam Alito....Now the whole world knows, if they didn't already, that the corrupt, far-right Republican Supreme Court Justice is both a personal supporter of the Trump-incited 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and a Christian Nationalist. At least based on the two different flags he has been flying over two of his houses, according to more excellent reporting by the New York Times on Wednesday. That, as we await two different major rulings from the High Court regarding accountability for Donald Trump in relation to the insurrection. Neither Alito nor Thomas, whose wife directly participated in the insurrection, have recused themselves from either case. So, what are Democrats in the U.S. Senate going to do about any of it? So far, it doesn't look like they're prepared to do much, at least beyond issuing an occasional "outraged" press release. As discussed in some detail today, that needs to change.

• One of voting system vendor Smartmatic's several, huge, defamation lawsuits for lies told about the company "rigging" the 2020 election, is against the far-right political propaganda outlet known as Newsmax. Court documents made public this week reveal that Newsmax destroyed evidence --- text messages and emails --- that they were required to retain for the lawsuit.

• This week, Joe Biden cancelled student loan debt for another 160,000 borrowers, bringing the total number receiving some form of forgiveness up to nearly five million. His Dept. of Education has now approved about $167 billion in loan forgiveness under a number of different programs, following the corrupt SCOTUS ruling that prevented the President's initial effort to forgive up to $20,000 for some 43 million borrowers. Still, $167 billion is nothing to sneeze at. And it's money that can now go instead into the economy instead to purchase homes, cars, etc., which helps everyone. Fox "News", of course --- which had no problem when Trump gave trillions of federal dollars to millionaires, billionaires and wealthy corporations via GOP tax cuts --- seems to have a different opinion about federal government relief for those who actually need it.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as deadly, climate changed-fueled extreme weather lashes folks from Mexico to Iowa; Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis signs a "Don't Say Climate Change" law as the state broils in yet another heat wave; Oakland, California becomes the nation's first school district to move to 100% all-electric school buses; And microplastics are now found everywhere, even inside of us. You'll have a ball finding out where scientists have discovered them most recently. It's nuts!...

And with that great news, The BradCast (and Green News Report) will be standing down next week for a much-needed break over the Memorial Day holiday week. Will the disgraced former President be a convicted felon by the time we return? We'll find out! Either way, see ya on the other side! (And, of course, well before then for a few Sunday Toons at the very least!)

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Extreme weather unleashes disasters from Iowa to Mexico; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs 'Don't Say Climate Change' law; Oakland, CA first school district in U.S. to switch to all-electric school buses; PLUS: Study finds microplastics in human testicles... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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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): What to do when facing extended summer power outages; NOAA forecasts extraordinarily busy Atlantic hurricane season; Wildfire weather is increasing in California and much of the U.S., report finds; Alaskan rivers turning orange due to climate change, study finds; US says cyberattacks against water supplies are rising, and utilities need to do more to stop them; Chinese battery maker says mining no longer needed after 2042, as recycling takes over... PLUS: California can make climate polluters pay for the mess they have made of Earth... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: Why we're taking sides for democracy in this year's election. And why every real journalist should. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among the many stories covered on today's program (and not necessarily in this order)...

• Journalist John Harwood: "As a Veteran Reporter, I've Always Valued Neutrality. But Trump's Threat To Democracy Should be the Biggest Political Story of 2024"

• USA Today: "Exclusive: Homeland Security ramping up 'with intensity' to respond to election threats"

• The RNC, recently taken over by Donald Trump in full, is now little more than an election denialist/voter suppression operation (and, of course, a personal ATM for Trump). They recently fired their newly hired election law expert for not pretending enough that the 2020 election was stolen; New co-chair Lara Trump is taking to Fox "News" to spread disinformation about absentee ballots and ballot counting; House Speaker Mike Johnson is introducing a bill to make it illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections --- which is already illegal --- and claiming that, while there may be zero evidence, "we all know intuitively that a lot of illegals are voting".

Also, some news since we last spoke...

• Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried and then failed spectacularly (thanks to help from House Democrats) to remove the Republican House Speaker again.

• Stormy Daniels completed her testimony in Trump's 2016 election interference case in New York. The cross-examination, according to many reports, did not go well for Team Trump.

• Joe Biden finally cuts off offensive weapons to Israel for Benjamin Netanyahu's promised threat of a full ground invasion in southern Gaza.

And finally...

• Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as tornadoes leave trails of destruction in the U.S.; Florida bans "climate change" as hurricane season begins; House Republicans open a new pretend battle in their "War on Woke Appliances"; and U.S. culture finally begins to reflect climate reality...

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You may be happy to know we don't begin today's BradCast with news about the disgraced former President. But you may be less happy about what we do lead with, especially if you own a home or a car or live on Planet Earth. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our many stories today...

• Recently, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell confirmed that, thanks in no small part to our quickly worsening climate, insurance rates for cars and homes continue to skyrocket. Yes, manmade climate change is a key factor in slowing the decrease of inflation (which, of course, is just one reason Republicans would rather do nothing about it). As the frequency and intensity of weather-related disasters quickens (just ask the folks in New Orleans who were swamped with some 8 inches of rain in a matter of hours last week), the cost of insurance is spiking, becoming unaffordable for many and even unattainable in a number of coastal states. You may soon discover that your home is worth a lot less than you think, thanks to the climate crisis. We step through some of those grim details today, the trillions of dollars it is ALREADY costing Americans, and the even grimmer news about what is still to come unless and until we can end the burning of fossil fuels that is only beginning to wreak so much havoc across the entire globe.

• We started reporting on this story last week, when it didn't seem like it could really be a story. Well, it's beginning, at least, to look more like it really could be a real story. Ohio's Republican Attorney General has now joined the state's Republican Sec. of State to say they will not allow Joe Biden on the state's ballot this November unless the Democratic Party certifies his candidacy before the state's statutory deadline of August 7. The Democratic National Convention, which is set to officially nominate the President, doesn't happen until August 19. When a similar situation occurred in 2020 --- which might have kept Donald Trump off the ballot --- the GOP state legislature simply changed the statutory deadline for that year. But now, because it's only Democrats whose convention isn't scheduled to take place until after OH's 90-day deadline before the November 5th election, Buckeye State Republicans seem to be suggesting they may actually not put Biden on the ballot...as impossible as that seems to believe. Let the lawsuits begin...

• The Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling that had blocked a broad, Constitutional "Reproductive Freedom" measure to protect prenatal care, abortion, vasectomies and infertility care from appearing on this November's ballot in the critical battle ground state. Supporters of the measure are celebrating today, but are also said to be gathering signatures for a second measure that will focus only on abortion rights for this year's ballot.

• After two of seven previously-seated jurors were dismissed on Thursday morning in Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York, seven more were seated before the day was done. Barring any other dismissals, that fills out the 12 jurors that will be needed to begin the case proper, once six alternate jurors are chosen. The judge admonished the press for reporting enough details about jurors that one who asked to be removed this morning said that friends had been able to identify her from media reports. Also, after prosecutors earlier this week sought sanctions against Trump for three violations of his gag order, they cited another seven incidents since then. That issue will be heard next week. Opening Statements in the trial could begin as early as Monday if the case continues to move briskly forward.

• Very exciting news is underway in the South this week, specifically in Tennessee, where workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga are now voting to unionize and join the United Auto Workers. Workers at the plant seem confident that the election will be successful. But that's just the first of 13 non-union automakers who are being targeted for unionization by the UAW since labor unions huge victories last year in strikes against GM, Ford and Stellantis (which now owns Jeep and Chrysler). Another election is likely to happen soon at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama, with 36 non-union plants targeted in all. If workers are successful in unionizing at both VW and Mercedes in the two southern states, according to one labor historian, it "would be nothing less than an earthquake" for the labor movement and its "biggest breakthrough in private-sector organizing in decades." It apparently has anti-labor Republicans worried. In a joint statement described by one expert as "unprecedented and shocking", six southern state governors, all Republican --- from Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas --- issued a joint statement on the day before voting began at VW, charging that "unionization would put our states' jobs in jeopardy." Kentucky's Democratic Governor, Andy Beshear, by contrast, announced last week that he was "proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder" with the UAW.

• Finally, in case we didn't frighten you enough with our opening coverage of the catastrophic, climate change-fueled weather driving insurance rates through the roof, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report with much more to frighten you about. But she also has good news for workers as well, and bad news for the fossil fuel industry tools at Fox "News"...

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Even Joe Biden is now making jokes about the plummeting value of the former President's latest scam, his attempt to turn his failing social media site into a Wall Street meme stock. As discussed on today's BradCast, it ain't working. At least for now. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

The value of Trump Media & Technology Group, trading under Donald Trump's initials as DJT, has lost about two-thirds of its value since it debuted as a publicly traded stock at the beginning of the month. If it "drops any lower," Biden quipped at a rally in Pennsylvania today, Donald Trump "might do better under my tax plan than his."

When it first went public, DJT quickly shot up to nearly $80 per share. It has been nose-diving by double-digit percentages pretty much every day since. The stock closed on Tuesday at less than $23 a share. On Monday night, the Washington Post's Drew Harwell posted a piece that is nearly equal parts hilarious, for those who enjoy the schadenfreude of Trump losing billions of theoretical dollars in just a few weeks time, and heart-breaking, for those who feel for the hundreds of thousands of Trump fans who have lost, in some cases, their "whole nest egg" because they were brain-poisoned enough to buy into Trump's latest fraudulent scheme.

Harwell's report of the reaction to the plummeting value of the stock by Trump supporters themselves on Truth Social, the money-losing venture that is currently DJT's only actual business, is harrowing and amazing. (But just more evidence of the "deep state", if you believe some of the denialists who are still buying more shares every day now!) But it serves as yet another reminder that, as sick as Trump is, it is our nation itself, and its people, whose illness we must eventually figure out how to attend to.

Anyway, tune in to today's show for many more thoughts on the above, and a whole bunch of other news of the day, including...

• Trump's recent Truth Social video rant on how Presidents simply can't do the job of Presidenting without absolute criminal immunity, the way the Founders wanted it. Then again, there is no evidence that the Founders wanting anything of the sort (quite the opposite, in fact); every President of the United States before (and since) Trump has been able to function just fine without it; and --- oh, yeah --- as Trump said in a separate rant just one day earlier, apparently "Crooked Joe Biden...can't put two-sentences together" but has been clever enough to mastermind all four of Trump's current criminal indictments in two different states and two separate federal jurisdictions, all without leaving a trace of evidence. "At what point are the actions of a sitting President...against his opponent for election interference considered illegal?," Trump asked. But, according to Trump just one day earlier, even if the President had anything to do with Trump's criminal indictments (he doesn't) it would still never be illegal!

• The disgraced former President's criminal trial in New York, on 34 federal counts related to hush-money payments to a porn star to help him win the 2016 election, seems to be moving faster than expected. On Tuesday, seven jurors were selected on the second day of the trial. Just five more jurors and six alternates are needed before opening statements can begin, perhaps as early as the beginning of next week.

• On Tuesday, House GOP lawmakers finally delivered their two articles of impeachment against Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the U.S. Senate, where the high-crime-and misdemeanor-free charges are expected to die either very quickly or somewhat less quickly, in an impeachment trial that, according to the rules, must begin immediately and continue until complete. Good thing there is nothing else Congress needs to be doing right now.

• The far-right conspiracy outlet known as One American News (OAN) has reportedly struck a confidential settlement with voting system vendor Smartmatic, in the defamation lawsuit brought against the Trump-supporting TV channel for lies told about the company's voting systems following the 2020 election. Despite repeated false claims by OAN anchors and guests that Smartmatic software was used "in 30 states" to steal the election for Biden --- with zero evidence in support of those claims --- the company's voting systems are only used in one U.S. jurisdiction: here in Los Angeles County, where even brain-poisoned MAGA dupes aren't dumb enough to claim the election was stolen from Trump.

  For the role that we personally played in confusing Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and the OAN clowns regarding Smartmatic's role in U.S. elections, I can only say: "You're welcome!"

  The terms of the settlement are undisclosed, but it follows on last year's $787 million settlement between Fox "News" and Dominion Voting Systems over similarly false claims, as well as a settlement between OAN and a former Dominion executive. There are many other similar defamation suits still pending, however, by both Smartmatic and Dominion over lies told about them following 2020 by other well-known Trump conspiracists.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with several pieces of pretty cool news littered amidst a number of terrifying climate crisis omens...

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