On today's BradCast, Bernie Sanders finally endorses Hillary Clinton and President Obama offers yet another memorial speech following another mass shooting. All three Democrats call for America to rise above those hoping to divide the nation. [Audio link posted below.]

First up, during a joint rally by the two candidates in Portsmouth, NH on Tuesday, Sanders offered his long-anticipated concession and endorsement of Clinton to be the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States. The Vermont Senator explained that his full-throated endorsement for the former Sec. of State comes on the heels of progressive policy announcements by Clinton on health care and college education and after the completion of what both of them describe as "the most progressive party platform in history".

In Sanders' remarks he contrasted Clinton's positions with those of Donald Trump's, underscoring where he believes Clinton's positions are largely in line with his own on the expansion of health care, appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court, combating climate change, fighting against income inequality and for a living wage, access to college without the burden of student debt, on immigration and on criminal justice reform and much more.

During her own remarks, Clinton effusively thanked and lauded Sanders for his endorsement and his campaign, spoke to the tragic events in Dallas last week and to the epidemic of both police violence and weapons of war on our streets. She detailed her own plans to combat income inequality, to offer tuition-free college for more than 80% of American families, while vowing to block trade details like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). She described plans to reform the tax code, prevent more tax cuts for the rich, as she argued Trump and the GOP are offering, to expand Social Security, to fight for paid family leave and equal pay for women, reform of our campaign finance system and to fight back against voter suppression with the institution of automatic universal voter registration and other electoral reforms, including the restoration of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Shortly thereafter, President Obama appeared in Dallas to memorialize the five slain Dallas Police officers and two African-American men killed by police in the days just prior in Baton Rouge and St. Paul. His moving remarks called on Americans to rise up against hatred, violence and bigotry in all forms.

On today's show, we offer extended excerpts from all three speeches, as each shared a common theme of unity and a call for Americans to rise above divisions to come together as a nation. Also today, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report on the environmental and climate issues hammered out in the Democratic Party platform over the weekend, the results of which are being described by both the Sanders and Clinton camps as the greenest in history...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Sanders and Clinton supporters come together --- mostly --- to adopt the greenest positions ever in a Democratic Party Platform... 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): Solar-Powered Plane Leaves Spain For Egypt; Dupont, Chemours Handed Another Loss in Teflon Chemical Case; Assailants Abduct, Murder Activist in Honduras; June Was Record-Hot For U.S., Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters Surge; House Hearing On EPA Rule Turns Ugly As Rep Calls Regulations 'Un-American'; Global Cloud Coverage Shifting in Ominous Sign of Climate Change; 'Healing' detected in Antarctic ozone hole... PLUS: As Congress Calls Out Fossil Fuel Deception, ExxonMobil Continues to Fund Climate Science Denial... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast, important lessons after the Dallas mass shooting and Dems end up coming together on a whole bunch of more progressive stuff for their party's official platform. [Audio link to today's show is posted below.]

First, my thanks to In Deep Radio's Angie Coiro for filling in for us, and producing a stellar and very enlightening show last Friday under impossible circumstances in the hours after the tragedy in Dallas! (If you weren't able to listen, it's here.)

So what can we learn today from that horrific shooting of 12 cops in Dallas last week at a Black Lives Matter protest following two more tragic killings of African-Americans in Louisiana and Minnesota? For one, we learn that the citizens of Dallas are incredibly lucky to have a Police Department led by Chief David Brown, whose community policing model of 'guardian', rather than 'warrior' cops, has succeeded in drastically lowering the city's crime rate, resulted in the number of excessive force complaints plummeting, and otherwise served to reassure a terrified city (and nation) at the height of last week's massacre and ever since.

But don't tell Texas' despicable Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who chose to blame peaceful protesters for the deranged murderer with a high-capacity, military-style assault weapon. That, of course, is the very type of weapon that folks like Patrick and the National Rifle Association (NRA) have fought to ensure remain on our streets and available to killers (even cop killers) for years, despite law enforcement officials begging them otherwise.

Meanwhile, as the same Rightwing Republican and NRA hypocrites pretend to support cops, they spam the world with myths and pretend facts about guns, protesters and President Obama. Real facts, however, reveal that the killing of police officers is worse wherever legal gun ownership is highest and officer deaths are at a 40-year low, since Obama has been in office.

Finally, today, after a very long process, and in advance of what will reportedly be a Bernie Sanders endorsement of Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Democrats adopt a draft of what both the Sanders and Clinton camps are describing as "the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party"...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

On today's BradCast, once-friendly GOPers turn on the FBI Director, and internal DuPont documents reveal more of what the chemical company knew (and when they knew it) concerning a toxic chemical used in cookware and leaked for years into West Virginia's water supply. [Audio link posted below.]

First up: Longtime Republican James Comey, the FBI Director previously beloved by Republicans and Democrats alike, finds himself under fire by GOPers after declaring that his agency's year-long investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server would not result in criminal prosecution. We cover details from today's four-hour long "emergency" hearing convened by the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, following Comey's announcement on Tuesday that while the former Sec. of State's treatment of classified information in her email was "extremely careless", the FBI probe did not find the knowing intent that might have triggered a criminal indictment.

We try to separate real concerns about the scandal (some of which remain unanswered), as based on Comey's testimony at today's Congressional inquiry, from the fictional ones that Republicans are already spinning in hopes of tarring the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Then we're joined by Farron Cousins of DeSmogBlog and Ring of Fire Radio to discuss new disclosures revealed by a recent corporate document dump by the DuPont chemical company, detailing a decades long cover up of the deadly toxic dangers of C8, a chemical used in Teflon.

"C8 exposure through drinking water develops into cancer in the body," Cousins explains. "It has what they call 'bio-persistence' --- it builds up over time and does not get flushed out of the body. We have 99% of Americans with this C8 chemical [now] detectable in their bodies."

The documents, unearthed in a current civil lawsuit (one of hundreds now pending) against the chemical giant, reveal that the company was aware of C8's toxicity for decades, failed to inform their own employees for years, and continued poisoning untold millions for years, particularly those who relied on drinking water from the Ohio River near the company's Parkersburg, West Virginia plant.

"One of the sickest parts of this story, to me," Cousins says, "is the fact that DuPont was fined by the EPA in 2005" related to all of this, "and then they allowed them to continue dumping for another nine years after they were fined by Bush's EPA."

Cousins co-hosts Ring of Fire with our friend Mike Papantonio, whose law firm is currently representing one of the plaintiffs in their suit against DuPont. "This is the only justice that the victims will ever get, and this is the only time that DuPont is actually going to have to pay for their crimes," he tells me. "I defy people to look at these documents and accuse any of [the lawyers] of being ambulance chasers. People have died. People are dying. People will die. All because DuPont didn't want to face the music back in the 1960s. So they kept putting it off. And all throughout this 53 years that they were dumping this chemical into the river --- that's now detectable in the drinking water in 27 states --- they were making money. They're going to be just fine. Those people in West Virginia and Ohio and all over this country that have been poisoned? They are not."

Finally today, Desi Doyen joins us with the latest Green News Report, including very bad news for FL and VT, and very good news for Oakland and NASA...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Toxic algae bloom in South Florida ruins 4th of July for tourism industry; U.S. Senate moves fast to nix Vermont's GMO labeling law; Royalty reform for Big Coal's public lands scam; Oakland City Council bans coal export terminal; PLUS: Solar-powered NASA spacecraft reaches orbit around Jupiter... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): A Model for 'Clean Coal' Runs Off the Tracks; The Alabama Landfill That Brought Noise, Health Woes, and a Lawsuit; TCEQ: Contested Coal Mine Can Release Wastewater Into Drinking Supply; Agency OK With Race Through Nevada Desert; Critics Cry Foul; Canada's Pipeline Watchdog Secretly Talks Safety With Industry; Bornean Orangutan Declared 'Critically Endangered' As Forests Shrink; Floods in China kill almost 130, wipe out crops... PLUS: Modernizing The Grid: A Tugboat 'Trying To Turn A Big Ocean Liner'... and much, MUCH more! ...

As some progressive Democrats freak out about Hillary Clinton's chances against Donald Trump, we're joined on today's BradCast by historian, author and broadcaster Jon Wiener to discuss his recent article detailing why he believes both math and history suggest Trump will be simply unable to win the Presidency this November. [Audio link at end of article.]

Wiener is a longtime friend and colleague at KPFK/Pacifica Radio here in Los Angeles, where he hosts the 4 O'Clock Report (airing right after The BradCast) on Wednesdays. His piece at The Nation, where he is Contributing Editor and host of the Start Making Sense podcast, is headlined "Relax, Donald Trump Can't Win". But is he right about that?

"My goal was to take a step back, to try to get a sense of the realities of things separate from our passions and our fears," he tells me, while explaining his case and the critical electoral math that undergirds it. Essentially, he argues, Trump must find millions of more Republican votes than Mitt Romney was able to scrape up in 2012. "It's very much of an uphill climb for [Trump] to find another 6 or 7 or 8 or 10 million people," particularly with the broad baggage that he has already accrued during the primary.

"There are very few people who switch from one party to another between elections," the UC Irvine history professor and author of How We Forgot the Cold War and Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files (and many others) explains. "Trump does claim that he's brought millions and millions of people into the primaries. But the people who looked at this closely discovered that Trump's voters in the primaries were Republican voters in the last general election. They're already committed Republicans. These are not new, first-time, never-before, non-voters --- these are Republicans. These aren't going to increase the Republican total. They've already been counted as Republicans in past elections."

So, even presuming his math is correct, what of a number of critical points that his analysis seems to simply overlook, such as voter suppression, other forms of election fraud, more "scandal" (phony or otherwise) for the presumptive Democratic nominee, and the possibility of Trump becoming a more disciplined candidate? Not to mention so many of the recent failures of pundits, pollsters and political scientists --- on which his case rests --- on everything from the GOP primary election itself to the recent right-wing populist victory in the UK's Brexit referendum?

Tune in for Jon's responses to my skeptical questions on all of the above in our lively conversation today.

Also on today's program: The U.S. Dept. of Defense announces an end to the ban on transgender service members; Trump's African-American support is amazing; Ohio's GOP Gov. John Kasich vetoes a 'poll tax' bill passed by his own party; Canada's Parliament goes gaga for Obama; And Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: US, Canada and Mexico sign major clean energy pact; New report finds millions of Americans may be exposed to lead in drinking water; Germany bans fracking; PLUS: LED streetlights are keeping the American Medical Association up at night... 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): Florida's coral reef system in rapid decay; Conservative to Fund Republicans Who Back Climate Change Action; Stinging Lionfish Are Invading The Mediterranean; Arsenic, Other Toxins Found At Three Georgia Power Plants; Coal Ash Bedevils Oklahoma Town, Revealing Weakness Of EPA Rule; Should Pacific Bluefin Tuna Be Listed As An Endangered Species?; U.S. Virgin Islands To Withdraw Subpoena In Climate Probe Into Exxon; In California, Study Finds Drilling and Fracking into Freshwater Formations... PLUS: Fossil Fuel Industry Ramps Up Anti-Divestment Strategy... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast, the Presidential Primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders becomes a fight over the official party platform and whether progressive reform can actually happen from within; Donald Trump wants the U.S. to torture again; and California goes to pot. [Audio link to show posted below.]

In the wake of this week's horrific terror attack at Turkey's Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, the presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump wants to "Make America Commit War Crimes Again" as he calls for the U.S. to once again implement torture policies such as waterboarding. In the meantime, new Pew polling shows Trump's support from nation's outside of the U.S. is dismal, often in single digits. While back here at home, according to new Quinnipiac poll out today, he remains "neck-and-neck" nationally with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton whose favorability ratings are also dismal, though not as bad as Trump's.

But as Bernie Sanders supporters quickly move toward Clinton, representatives for the two popular Democratic rivals hash out the party's official platform document to be adopted by delegates at the Democratic National Convention in July.

Salon political reporter Ben Norton joins us to discuss progress of the talks, specifically the Clinton camp's refusal to allow a demand for a $15/hour federal minimum wage mandate in the non-binding party manifesto, as well as the failure by Clinton surrogates to agree to more progressive language on a number of issues, from Israel to fracking to trade policies.

Norton goes on to report that the fight between surrogates for the two candidates at the DNC Drafting Committee's platform talks echoes the long Democratic primary race, suggesting, as he sees it, that the party, ultimately, may not be able to reform from within. "You have the Sanders' appointees pushing for more progressive measures, and the Clinton appointees opposing those measures. I think in some ways, we did see some progress, but overall I think there's reason to be pessimistic for a potential Clinton presidency, given the way that this has represented itself at the DNC committee drafting," Norton explains. "It really reflects the war going on within the Progressive community."

Real progressive policy change, he argues, will require new candidates to step up at the local and state level --- even as independents or under the banner of a third party, if necessary --- to take up the fight and seek office, he notes, just as Sanders did when he initially ran for office in Vermont decades ago.

Finally today, more calls for 'Texit'! California announces that an initiative to allow the recreational use of marijuana will be on the statewide ballot this November, and Colorado finds that teen use of pot has actually fallen below the national average since the state adopted a similar policy in 2014.

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

More than half a million ballots remain to be processed and tallied from California's June 7th Presidential Primary, and thousands of those votes have just been saved. On today's BradCast we speak to a citizen vote count observer in Los Angeles County who, through her diligence, just days ago, helped change L.A.'s process for determining which provisional ballots will be tallied, potentially saving tens of thousands of Democratic votes from being tossed in the bargain. [Audio link to complete show posted at bottom of this article.]

First today, the latest on the breaking news out of Turkey where an apparent terror attack had killed at least 28 people by air time today. Then, U.S. House Republicans release their final Benghazi report, for what it's worth, and Donald Trump continues to plummet in national polls, even as he remains quite competitive with Hillary Clinton in swing states.

Then, I'm joined by Julie Tyler, Los Angeles filmmaker and citizen vote count observer with Ballots for Bernie, to discuss how her oversight of on-going Provisional Ballot processing in L.A. has resulted in thousands of Democratic Primary votes cast by "No Party Preference" (NPP) voters being included in the tally, instead of being tossed out, as originally planned by election officials.

Indeed, The BRAD BLOG confirmed late last week with L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan that the County changed its process for determining voter intent after Tyler noticed that some provisional votes cast on Democratic ballot cards (instead of NPP-Democratic "cross over" cards) were being discarded under Logan's original process.

"I have further reviewed that category of provisional ballots," Logan said in a statement he sent via email, "and I am in agreement that the ballot card itself is sufficient to indicate voter intent to participate in the Democratic primary under the liberal construction clause of Elections Code 14312; therefore canvass staff has been instructed to process all such ballots as NPP-DEM cross over ballots and to prepare them for tabulation in subsequent updates as scheduled."

He went on to explain that, "while there is no process for a challenge to the determination of voter intent on provisional ballots, the election official does have to authority to identify the need for and to take corrective action during the canvass period. I am exercising that authority with regard to any provisional ballots processed and counted prior to the clarification listed above. Those ballots are being identified and will be re-processed as NPP-DEM cross over ballots and will reflect a vote cast in the Presidential contest, if any." Logan told me that some 2,801 ballots processed under the original interpretation of the rules were reprocessed under the new ones, and the more than 100,000 still-unprocessed provisionals in L.A. County will be verified and tallied under the new interpretation of the rules as well.

Tyler and others observers estimate some 60,000 votes may have been otherwise tossed, and tells me (though I haven't confirmed this part) that the CA Secretary of State is instructing other counties to similarly review their procedures for the inclusion of provisional Presidential votes from the June Democratic Primary, which Clinton still leads over Sanders, with the statewide margin very slowly narrowing and more than half a million ballots still untallied statewide as of today, in advance of the July 8 state certification deadline.

"It's our democracy, and it doesn't happen in a vacuum," Tyler tells me on today's show, while explaining how she noticed the problem initially and brought it to the attention of election officials, emphasizing "how important it is for observers to be on hand when these tallies are being done, for this very reason."

"It's not something that those people do over there. We have to take part. Frankly, I found the whole thing fascinating," she says, urging others to participate in this crucial aspect of our elections and noting "how empowering [it is] to know that, simply being there and observing, you can find errors and weigh in...Everybody has that power." Thank you, Julie! Couldn't agree more!

Finally today, we finish with our latest Green News Report on Volkswagen's $15 billion settlement with U.S. customers, as part of their emissions cheating scandal, Transcanada's $15 billion NAFTA complaint over U.S. rejection of the KeystoneXL pipeline, and much more...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: More deadly floods, this time in West Virginia; Raging wildfire kills two in California, destroys hundreds of homes; Brexit could undermine international emissions agreement; Volkswagen to pay $15 billion in emissions cheating scandal; PLUS: TransCanada demands $15 billion from U.S. for rejecting Keystone XL pipeline... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The inter-generational theft of Brexit and climate change; From Brexit to Climate, Little Engagement From Young People Washington State Must Fix Salmon-Blocking Pipes: Appeals Court; Study Finds Drilling and Fracking into Freshwater Formations; BP Oil Spill Cost Fishing Industry At Least $94.7 Million In 2010; Africa's Charcoal Economy Is Cooking. The Trees Are Paying... PLUS: How The Battery Revolution Will Change How You Fly... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: Climate change continues to ravage Americans and take lives in the east and west, surprisingly good news from the U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.K. remains gripped with panic, confusion and uncertainty in the wake of last week's vote 'Brexit' vote to leave the European Union.

We start today with more on the historic deadly flooding and "mass destruction" in West Virginia 'coal country' and the out-of-control wildfires across bone-dry Southern California. Yes, it's everything we've been warning you about for so long on both The BRAD BLOG and The BradCast, even if just the latest example of the enormous (and growing) cost of climate change, as still both under-reported by the corporate media and over-shadowed by other new events across both the U.S. and world.

Then, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down several major decisions on its final day of the session. Surprisingly, a number of those decisions were very good news for progressives, even on an otherwise divided Court with its still-vacant 9th seat. The biggest decision concerned abortion rights in Texas, where the Court dealt a devastating blow to Republican laws meant to shut down women's health clinics under the guise of 'safety'. The Court saw through the Rightwing con, and the 5-3 decision could result in the overturning of similar "TRAP laws" enacted by Republicans in other states. In any event, the decision is a huge setback for rightwing anti-abortion activists and a big victory for those who believe in Constitutionally protected reproductive rights and freedoms. Can we take anything from this decision as to how SCOTUS might eventually rule in the Texas Photo ID voting restrictions case --- another GOP law meant to rob (certain) citizens of their rights for entirely specious reasons?

Also, the right of states to restrict the possession of guns by domestic abusers was upheld in a surprising bi-partisan 7 to 2 opinion, as was a new rule by the U.S. Dept. of Labor concerning overtime pay for home healthcare workers.

In an unusual unanimous decision by the Supremes, Virginia's former Republican Governor Bob McDonnell saw his bribery conviction vacated, despite having accepted some $165,000 in personal gifts and cash loans from a wealthy businessman hoping the Governor would help promote his products. Will that decision have any effect on Alabama's former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman, who is now serving his 6th year in federal prison for having done far less than McDonnell was found guilty of? That, even as the Republican federal judge who sentenced Siegelman has resigned from the bench after having been arrested for beating his wife and the Republican heads of all three branches of government in Alabama face removal of office via impeachment (Governor), ethics charges (Chief Justice of the AL Supreme Court) and multiple felony conviction (AL Speaker of the House) for various crimes, alleged and proven, in their home state.

Finally today, last week's 'Brexit' vote continues to wreak havoc as world financial markets continue to plunge (though not nearly as low as I incorrectly reported it on today's show, as based on an inaccurate number reported by my iPhone's stock app!); the British government is in complete disarray about how (or, perhaps, even, if) they will officially begin the formal procedure required to leave the EU; voters express 'bregret' over having voted to exit; questions arise about overseas voters failing to correctly receive ballot papers at all; and some call for a second ("do-over") referendum.

All of that and much more on yet another insanely busy BradCast today!

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

We do our best on today's BradCast to keep up with an insane amount of breaking news that continues to pour in today, from the Democratic 'sit-in' protest in the U.S. House to two major rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court to the British vote to leave the European Union to extreme weather in China and back to the U.S. again for even more still-breaking news. [Audio link to show is posted below.]

The Dems' unprecedented 'occupation' of the U.S. House to force a vote on gun legislation came to an end --- without the vote Democrats sought --- earlier today after more than 25 hours, as Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan largely gave up by simply declaring the chaotic House in adjournment until after the July 4th holiday. But will it start all over again when Congress reconvenes? And will Democrats come to regret their popular upheaval the next time they are in the majority?

Meanwhile, constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser, author of Injustices: The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted, joins us to explain the two major U.S. Supreme Court rulings handed down today, one is very bad news for the Obama Administration's immigration policy and, the other, a very surprising decision on affirmative action admissions policy at public university and colleges.

"The good news" on the immigration ruling, he says, "is that because this is an even split, it means that's there's no precedential value to this. It means that when a ninth justice is confirmed [to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Scalia], it can be re-litigated all over again. But the bad news is that until there's that ninth justice, the program is at the mercy of some lower courts that are very hostile to immigration." As to today's other ruling, Millhiser explains: "People have thought that affirmative action was on its deathbed for a really long time. It had a series of near-death experiences. This case has been kicking around for something like eight years, and they finally get around to deciding it, and surprise, they don't strike down the program. There was a lot of language in the opinion that I think is going to give a lot of heartburn to people who support affirmative action, but the punchline is affirmative action lives to see another day."

But wait! There's much more breaking news on today's program: Yet another oil pipeline ruptures in Southern California; 'Oil Bomb' trains set to begin running again in Oregon just three weeks after fiery derailment; 'Brexit' voting in Great Britain ends amidst flash flooding that could effect turnout, as the 'LEAVE' coalition predicts defeat; Extreme weather, including a rare tornado, kills 78 in China; Volkswagen agrees to pay more than $10 billion to customers amidst emissions cheating scandal; and Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report with still more bad court news for the Obama Administration, this time on fracking rules, but some good news (at least for some of us) about the last remaining nuclear power plant in California.

Buckle up...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Lights out for the last nuclear power plant in California; Federal judge strikes down new rules for fracking on public lands; Study finds high level of toxic chemicals in residents who live near fracking sites; PLUS: Researchers in Iceland figure out how to turn carbon emissions into stone... 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 The Battery Revolution Will Change How You Fly; Chinese State Media Say 51 Killed by Powerful Tornado; Raging Wildfires in the Southwest Stretch Resources; Cities Forge World's Largest Alliance To Curb Climate Change; Obama Signs TSCA Reform Into Law; Cancer Is Contagious Among Clams. What About Us?;
Op-Ed: "The World's Disappearing Sand"; Great Lakes Governors Approve Waukesha Water Request... PLUS: Solar Plane Lands In Spain After Historic Atlantic Crossing... and much, MUCH more! ...

Following the massacre at the LGBT nightclub in Orlando in which more than 100 were shot and 49 killed, the media (including us!) have been reporting the incident as 'the worst mass shooting in U.S. history'. But was it really?

On today's BradCast [audio link to show posted below], I'm joined by Ariela J. Gross, professor of law and history at USC, co-author of several history text books, and the author of What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America to discuss a number of U.S. mass killings from early in the 20th Century that were, arguably, far 'worse', in that the death toll was much higher.

Several of them, including those in East St. Louis, IL and Tulsa, OK, have been largely obscured by history as "race riots" instead of the mass killings they actually were. Some historians, she explains, now use the term "'massacre' because 'race riot' makes it sounds as though there were something two-sided" about these wholesale slaughters of African-Americans. "Some historians refer to them as 'racial cleansing', not unlike the ethnic cleansing that we saw in parts of Eastern Europe in the late 20th Century," Gross tells me.

The exact number of deaths in those horrific incidents (not to mention similar slaughters of Native Americans) are still unknown, but are believed to be in the hundreds in a number of cases. Gross notes, however, that had the killers at the time "had access to military-grade weapons the way [the Orlando shooter] did, we'd be talking about thousands of people dead." She also details how "racial terror has gone hand-in-hand with our gun culture" or the years.

Also today: Surprise! Attempts to pass gun safety legislation in the U.S. Senate fail again; The latest FEC filings are in, and the Trump Campaign appears to be in big big trouble, at least if fundraising, staffing and cash on hand mean anything to his particular candidacy and what it may mean for the RNC as a whole; And new polls find Hillary Clinton still ahead of Trump, though not by as much as might think, particularly given the presumptive GOP nominee's disastrous past couple of weeks.

And finally on today's BradCast, Desi Doyen joins us amidst the horrible heat wave here in Southern California, for the 700th(!) episode of our Green News Report!...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

Follow and stream @GreenNewsReport!...



(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: OUR 700TH EPISODE!!! Heat wave shatters records across the Southwest, as California's snowpack melts away; Bernie Sanders wants YOU to fight climate change; PLUS: President Obama warns climate change is coming for your national parks... 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): The Enormous Threat To America's Last Grasslands; Document Dump: Lawsuit Reveals Extent Of DuPont's C8 Cover Up; Solar Impulse Leaves New York On Trans-Atlantic Flight Without Fuel; Permafrost Soil Under North Slope Lakes Is About To Thaw; Hot Mess: States Struggle To Deal With Radioactive Fracking Waste; As Wind Power Lifts Wyoming's Fortunes, Coal Miners Left in the Dust... PLUS: Texas Tribe Wins 10-Year Fight Over Its Use Of Eagle Feathers... and much, MUCH more! ...