We're lucky to have a guest on today's BradCast who is able to offer a smart perspective on a whole bunch of legal stories breaking over the past 24 to 72 hours, because there has been a whole bunch of those stories tumbling in, regarding our crumbling court system and the Trump Administration's unrelenting assault on the Constitution and rule of law. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

We're joined today to discuss all of them by KEITH BARBER, former lifelong Republican and attorney who now writes on legal matters at the progressive Daily Kos. I had initially asked him to join us to discuss his latest coverage of on an adverse ruling for the Trump Administration late last week in U.S. District Court.

In that case, the lower courts had previously put a hold on the Administration's attempted firing of thousands of government workers across dozens of federal agencies. The temporary injunction on the layoffs issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was meant to allow time for the lower courts to fully hear and try the challenge to the firings, as filed by several employees and their unions. But the injunction was overturned earlier this year by the Supreme Court, without explanation, on their "Emergency Docket", known by critics as the "Shadow Docket".

Before the injunction was blocked by the corrupted Supreme Court majority, it was meant to avoid irreparable harm to the workers by maintaining the status quo until a full trial on the merits could determine whether the firings were lawful in the first place. Late last week, as Barber reports, the court ruled [PDF] against the Administration, describing the government's case as a "sham" based on "fabricated" arguments and "chicanery". That said, thanks to the High Court's earlier ruling, lifting the lower court's injunction, last week's ruling comes largely too late to restore workers who lost their job. Many of the agencies in question have either removed those jobs since then or have been shut down entirely while the case made its way up and back down the judicial system.

The OPM case is just one of dozens like it, where lower court rulings --- meant to temporarily pause the Administration's unprecedented and seemingly unlawful actions until the merits of challenges could be heard --- were "temporarily" overturned by the High Court without explanation on the Shadow Docket as the cases proceeded below.

This same scheme has played out dozens of times in the eight months since Trump returned to office. Over mass firings of government employees, to very specific firings of decades-long experienced agency personnel for obviously (and unlawful) political reasons; to the complete or near-complete shutdowns of entire federal agencies and departments; to attempted Administration takeovers of supposedly independent federal Commissions; to attempted rescission of billions, if not hundreds of billions of dollars in already appropriated spending by Congress; to mass roundups and deportations of migrants by federal agents; to the deployment of U.S. military into American cities against the wishes of state and local authorities. That's just to name a few of the major, unprecedented upheavals and attempted upheavals allowed to "temporarily" proceed by the corrupted Supreme Court majority, almost always in contradiction to lower U.S. District and Appeals Court rulings.

Many of those cases are now completing their full trials on the merits and/or being heard by appellate courts, with inevitable trips ahead back up to the Supreme Court for final rulings. As Barber details today, however, we can be almost certain that if the Supremes choose to take up those cases, they will most likely do so in order to overturn a lower court ruling on the merits against Trump. Otherwise, given the number of cases they must choose between hearing each year, they are likely to simply allow favorable rulings for Trump in the lower courts to simply stand as is. We' find out in the coming months.

Either way, Barber explains all of this by concurring with the argument I have been offering for quite some time. "We have a corrupt Supreme Court," he asserts. "Donald Trump corrupts everything he touches, to include the United States Supreme Court."

I had hoped to dig into related aspects of the OPM mass firing case (in which the Administration falsely claimed that the thousands of fired workers were laid off due to "poor performance") and what it portends in the months ahead. But a whole bunch of other legally related issues came tumbling in today and in recent days, which I was also able to discuss with Barber on today's program.

Among our additional topics for discussion today...

• Longtime federal prosecutor Maurene Comey filed suit against the administration on Monday for her recent firing. She argues it was solely (and unlawfully) due to a political vendetta by Trump. Comey is the daughter of James Comey, the former FBI Director famously fired by Trump during his first term in office.

• Attorney General Pam Bondi's recent vow to "absolutely target" anyone who dares use "hate speech" she doesn't like in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder. For the record, Kirk would have disagreed. "Hate speech does not exist legally in America," he posted on social media last year, adding "ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment." Bondi also recently vowed to prosecute businesses who choose not to print posters of Kirk, despite the 2018 SCOTUS ruling that a religious baker in Colorado could not be forced to bake a cake for a gay wedding.

• Terrorism charges were dropped today by a judge in New York court against the 27-year old man accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare last December.

• In a 4 to 3 split ruling, the Georgia Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' appeal to a lower court ruling removing her and her office from prosecuting the sprawling racketeering indictment against Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants for their alleged efforts to steal the 2020 Presidential election in the state. While a state commission may now assign the case to a different prosecutor, they may choose not to do so or the chosen prosecutor may choose to drop the election interference case entirely. Willis' removal stems from a lower court ruling which determined she had had an inappropriate romantic relationship with a fellow prosecutor on the case.

• On Monday, Donald Trump announced his latest laughable defamation lawsuit against a major media outlet. This time, it's a $15 billion case against the New York Times for reporting which Trump, apparently, doesn't like. Barber describes the 85-page suit [PDF] as absurd. "I honestly think that Saturday Night Live or somebody should do a comedy sketch where the whole thing should be read out loud," he tells me. "It's nuts." That said, so were the ridiculous defamation suits against ABC News and CBS News, both of which chose to settle with Trump at the insistence of their corporate parents. The Times, however, has no such corporate parent. "I hope they don't settle this," says Barber. "I would expect that not only would they prevail, but they'd also get back all of their legal expenses."

And finally today, we close with Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report on our newly endless summers (no, it's not just your imagination); billions of taxpayer dollars being spent on new subsidies set for the fossil fuel industry, thanks to Trump and the Republicans' newly passed budget bill; and the surging success of renewable energy, lead by China, pretty much everywhere across the globe...except in the U.S...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: It's not your imagination --- summers really are getting hotter and lasting longer into fall; U.S. taxpayers will pay billions in new fossil fuel subsidies under Republicans' big budget bill; PLUS: Renewable energy investment is surging globally --- just not in the U.S... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): How Trump's War on Climate Science impacts all Americans; Charlie Kirk's climate denial tracked with his racism; A steady ocean pattern just failed for the first time ever observed; EPA proposal puts US gas exporters in a bind; US energy chief tells BBC nuclear fusion will soon power the world; GOP plan on pesticides faces revolt from MAHA moms; Wind and solar power over one-third of Brazil's electricity for first time
... PLUS: Forget climate. Make electricity bills the issue... and much, MUCH more! ...

It's clear that Donald Trump would much rather we talk about political violence today than his quickly failing economic policies or his 15-year close personal friendship with notorious pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein. So we do him the favor of discussing both at the top of today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

From there, it's on to our central story. On yesterday's show, we covered the news of the killing of rightwing activist and longtime Trump ally Charlie Kirk, as reports of his death were just breaking. Today, as the manhunt continues for his seemingly well-prepared killer, we've got more details on both the shooting and the investigation and, with 24 hours of perspective, well-considered analysis of what all of this may mean for the nation as we move ahead.

There is still no known motive for the uncaptured and still-unknown shooter. Yet, a huge portion of the MAGA Right --- from wingnut social media trolls to wingnut billionaires to wingnut elected officials, including the President of the United States --- are, in some cases literally, declaring "WAR" on "the radical left Democrats".

Trump took to the airwaves last night after the murder, conspicuously covering up his right hand in a pre-recorded Oval Office tantrum, in which he condemned political "violence and murder" by "the radical left" as the "tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree, day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible." (Hmmm...Can we think of anybody else who might have demonized those with whom they disagree, day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible?)

"My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges and law enforcement officials," vowed the President who has said the most despicable things about federal judges and pardoned --- on his first day in office --- more than a thousand of his own supporters for their political violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, where hundreds of them literally and physically attacked law enforcement officials.

Trump also failed to mention the violent attacks on elected officials in his four-minute revenge screed, like the ones against the Speaker of House in Minnesota, Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated along with her husband in the middle of the night in their own home less than three months ago by a far-right MAGA dude. The same man also gunned down MN State Senator John Hoffman and his wife in their home that same night, as part of a planned string of attacks against dozens of Democratic elected officials.

Let's also not forget Trump's repeated hilarious jokes over the years about the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, whose skull was bashed in with a hammer by a guy hunting down Nancy Pelosi. Trump, his sons, and his supporters, have issued jokes about that violent attack for years. Just as Utah's Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee did on social media earlier this Summer to make light of the shootings at the homes of Hortman and Hoffman in Minnesota.

But now, things are different, apparently. While political violence against Democrats doesn't seem to count, with Kirk dead there will be consequences and retribution. "THIS IS WAR," declared the Trumpers on Twitter. "The Democrat Party must be classified as a domestic terror organization and their members and leaders treated accordingly," warned a bunch of them.

"The Left is the party of murder," pronounced Elon Musk, the man with the most Twitter followers in the world. "If they won't leave us in peace, then our choice is fight or die," he tweeted, joining Trump and the others in trying to increase the blood lust, rather than working to cool it down.

At the same time, Democrats --- as they did when their own were attacked --- have been calling for an end to the growing epidemic of political violence and gun violence in this nation. We call for the same.

Among those whose comments or writings over past 24 hours are cited, either positively or negatively, on today's program...

• Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT)
• Donald Trump
• Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)
• Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ)
• Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL)
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
• Heather Digby Parton
• Josh Marshall

Finally, as Trump and his duplicitous Administration are now, officially, taking credit for U.S. infrastructure improvements made under Joe Biden's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report where, whaddaya know? While Trump is working hard to kill the U.S. wind and solar energy industries on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, the rest of the world is quickly moving to clean, cheap, renewable energy. And China, not the U.S., is making a mint off of it...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump Administration is taking its War on Wind and Solar on the road; Deforestation is a major driver behind the decline of rainfall in the Amazon rainforest; Developing countries shifting from fossil fuels thanks to cheap Chinese solar; PLUS: August 2025 was third hottest August on record globally... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Fossil-fuel firms receive US subsidies worth $31 billion each year, study finds; Study links more frequent and severe heat waves to pollution from major fossil fuel producers; Warming seas threaten key phytoplankton that fuels the food web; Trump administration dissolves group that authored controversial report sowing doubt in the severity of climate change; Plastic recycling is mostly fictional. Trump’s EPA approves... PLUS: California’s first solar-covered canal is now fully online... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: Apparently, the high price of lying to MAGA viewers about the 2020 election has been totally worth it for rightwing "news" outlets, according to a newly released trove of insider documents. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Two years ago, Fox "News" agreed to pay more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to Dominion Voting Systems to make the voting equipment vendor's defamation lawsuit against them go away. Fox' on-air personalities and their guests had falsely, repeatedly, and without evidence, claimed Dominion used their voting systems to steal the Presidential election from Donald Trump in 2020. Many of the top Fox hosts and executives knew the claims were not true at the time. But they ran with them anyway, as MAGA viewers were fleeing to other, even farther right media outlets like Newsmax and OAN, which were even more shameless in their promotion of evidence-free claims that the election had been stolen for Joe Biden.

Those outlets were forced to pay up as well for their knowing, on-air lies. Newsmax settled with Dominion for $67 million and with Smartmatic for $40 million. OAN similarly settled with Smartmatic --- whose only voting systems in the U.S. were in Los Angeles County in 2020 --- for an undisclosed amount. In every such legal case, to date, the rightwing media outfits chose to pay up rather than face public scrutiny in a court of law, and to see their "news" personalities take the stand to defend claims that emails and text messages revealed during discovery proved that even they didn't believe.

Now Smartmatic's $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox is on the verge of going to trial early next year. Last time, Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million to Dominion to avoid a trial where the jury members had already been selected and journalists, including our guest today, were waiting in the courtroom for the trial to begin.

Late last month, a trove of hundreds of pages of "damning filings" were made publicly available in Smartmatic's case against Fox. Media Matters for America Senior Fellow MATT GERTZ, who joins us on today's show, plowed through them. The documents reveal, among other things, Fox personalities like Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld, discussing "how incredible our ratings would be if Fox went ALL in on STOP THE STEAL"; prime time stars Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham worrying about backlash from viewers for failing to cover phony claims about fraud enough; Bret Baier, the network's supposed "straight news" anchor trying to convince the network to reverse its (accurate) call that Arizona had gone to Biden, given how furious that fact had made Trump and the outlet's MAGA viewers.

"I think we certainly filled in some gaps after the Dominion suit that have been answered to one degree or another through the Smartmatic one," Gertz tells me today, summarizing the newly released documents in the Smartmatic case. "More broadly, what the suit shows is they knew. Fox News' top executives and hosts were well aware that Donald Trump lost the election, that there had not been massive voter fraud, as he had claimed, that kept him from being re-elected, and they went out and said the opposite to their viewers. Night after night, segment after segment. For weeks. They did it because they were worried about losing portions of their market share to outlets like Newsmax and OAN that were perceived as more willing to push those lies."

While Fox has paid a price for that to Dominion, and may have to do so again with Smartmatic, Gertz asserts the lesson for Fox seems to be that it was all worth it. "They have, in the days since then, demonstrated that they are absolutely willing to do it again if the Republican nominee in 2028 tries the same con that Donald Trump did in 2020," he argues, citing the fact that those who tried to tell the truth about 2020 have since been pushed out at the network, while those who were willing to lie are still there, have received promotions, or are now members of the Trump Administration itself.

"What happens is that, because Donald Trump lies so much, he forces his supporters to make their peace with either letting the lie go past and ignoring it, or running with it. There are very few who are willing to say, 'This thing is not happening.'"

Much more on all of that with Gertz today, along with what Monday's agreement among the family heirs to 94-year old Fox owner Rupert Murdoch's business empire likely means for the far-right politics of Fox "News" going forward after he dies. And, far more troubling, the news this week that a far-right Trump supporter and donor with no experience in the news business whatsoever, will now serve as the ombudsman for CBS News as part of the recent concessions made by CBS-owner Paramount to win approval from Trump's FCC for its merger with Skydance.

"CBS News has instituted an ombudsman because its parent company was trying to convince the FCC that if he approved their merger, the network's coverage would change in a way he liked," explains Gertz. "They didn't pick a journalist with a reputation for integrity and neutrality. They picked a rightwing think-tanker and Republican donor who has no newsroom experience, but will give Donald Trump what he wants, which is a CBS News that moves its political coverage to the right."

"They are leveraging the power of the Executive Branch through Trump appointees who are willing to corruptly do the President's bidding, in order to force those companies to do so," he asserts. "They are changing the incentives for media outlets so that they need to kneel to the Republican Party's diktats if they want their mergers completed, or if they want to avoid criminal investigations, even. It's certainly a step towards authoritarianism, toward the treatment that Victor Orban of Hungary enforces on media outlets in his country. Orban is someone Trump has said is a model for what he's trying to do."

In other cheery news on today's show...

• The GOP-controlled Missouri state House voted today to approve a new U.S. House map that will likely steal one of the two remaining Democratic seats in the state for Republicans in next year's midterms. They also approved a measure that would make it harder to adopt citizen-led Constitutional ballot initiatives by mandating that measures must win a majority of voters in each of the state's eight Congressional districts, rather than a simple statewide majority as currently required. The move comes in the wake of state voters recently approving ballot initiatives that establish abortion as a state Constitutional right; for the legalization of marijuana; and for the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Both measures adopted by the MO House on Tuesday now head to the state Senate where they are expected to be approved before going to MO's Republican Governor for his signature. The ballot initiative amendment, however, must be approved by voters under the existing, simple statewide majority rules before being added to the state Constitution.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as both electricity usage and prices spike across the country, even as Trump continues to shut down much-needed windfarms and other renewable energy sources around the nation...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Electricity demand is soaring around the country, and so are energy prices; FDA expands recall of potentially radioactive shrimp; Climate change super-charged Europe's worst wildfire season on record; PLUS: Trump Administration moves to revoke the iconic 'Roadless Rule'... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Humans are altering the seas. Here's the the future ocean might look like; Gas turbine manufacturers gun shy about increasing production; Raid on Georgia E.V. battery plant raises new risks for a shaken industry; Global solar installations up 64 percent so far this year; EPA approves four new pesticides that qualify as PFAS; Florida’s fix for its struggling insurance market hurt homeowners, data show... PLUS: 'There is only one player': China is becoming world leader in green energy... and much, MUCH more! ...

The Trump Administration is at war against science (and reality) on at least two different fronts, both of which we dig into on today's BradCast. One is the Administration's War on the Science of Public Health, the other is the ongoing War on Climate Science. [Audio link to full show is posted below this summary.]

We begin with Administration's full-frontal attacks on public health, as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., testified before a U.S. Senate Committee today, facing tough questions from Democrats and even a few Republicans. Some of the colloquies turned into shouting matches.

Kennedy's years-long personal war against life-saving vaccines --- including the COVID vaccine --- often took center stage throughout the three-hour proceeding. But things had gone off the rails long before he showed up to take several verbal beatings today. Among some of the context for today's hearing: An anti-vax gunman shot up the CDC in early August; Kennedy's cancellation of half a billion dollars in research grants for new mRNA vaccines of the type that helped get us out of the COVID pandemic and could offer cures for cancer and other diseases; His firing of the CDC Director last week, less than a month into her tenure because, as she claims in an op-ed today, she refused to follow Kennedy's demand to "preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric".

Add to that, the state of Florida's announcement this week by its loony Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, that it is lifting all vaccine mandates for school children, including for measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, tetanus and polio. Ladapo compares vaccine mandates for school children to slavery. As one elected official in Florida said in response: "This is a public health disaster in the making for the Sunshine State." Unfortunately, as our guest today seems to concur, the entire nation is now facing the possibility of a similar public health disaster under the second Trump term.

We're joined today for a thoughtful discussion on all of this and more by DR. TYLER EVANS, infectious disease and public health expert and former Chief Medical Officer for New York City amid its COVID-19 response. Evans is now CEO and co-founder of the Wellness and Equity Alliance and author of the new book, Pandemics, Poverty, and Politics: Decoding the social and political drivers of pandemics from Plague to COVID-19.

It's impossible to adequately summarize our wide-ranging conversation, but I will share a few brief quotes...

• On RFK Jr.: "At this point, effectively every trusted and established or distinguished organization around infectious disease and public health are essentially demanding his resignation. Time is up. His answers are circular logic. They're definitely not based in science. And the more he talks --- particularly for folks who really understand the science --- it's like nails on a chalkboard for us."

• On the effect of vaccine conspiracy theories on public health: "If somebody is in the emergency room and you hear two doctors actively arguing about somebody's diagnosis and treatment, how do think that's going to make the patient feel? ... What we're seeing right now with RFK is doing exactly that. His intent is clearly to disrupt as much of the science as well as the implementation of science in public health as much as he possibly can."

• On the politicization of public health: "It doesn't matter if it's a blue or red city, state. At the end of the day, microbes, or other pathogens, or environmental stressors don't understand the difference between red and blue. It's all humans to them. We really need to depoliticize public health. ... We are politicizing everything about public health [and] now it's getting worse."

• On RFK's defunding of mRNA research: "At this point, we have millions of data points demonstrating it is incredibly safe. The mRNA literally is the most effective vaccine against COVID-19. So these claims that somehow they're not effective, or unsafe, are just patently untrue. They're just completely made up. ... This guy is just completely making stuff up. The defunding of the science behind advancing further mRNA vaccines just hurts all Americans."

Evans has much more on all of the above today, as well as on lessons he learned during the worst of the COVID pandemic in NYC; his personal experiences responding to viral outbreaks, like Ebola, around the world; the importance of a competent federal government during an historic pandemic; the lunatic that Florida has installed as its top public health official and more. "If we are removing vaccination mandates, particularly for kids, it is probably one of the most disastrous things we could ever do, from a public health standpoint," says Evans about the cancellation of vaccine mandates in the Sunshine State.

We ran longer than expected with Evans (though it was well worth it), but we still had a few minutes left today for Desi Doyen to take on Donald Trump's latest escalation in his War against Climate Science and specifically on cheap, clean, renewable, abundant wind and solar energy. All of that before closing with our latest Green News Report on new California wildfires; the deadly landslide in war-torn Sudan; and dozens of climate scientists taking on the Trump Administration's absurd "report" by five prominent climate science deniers meant to serve as the basis for the Administration's cancellation of hundreds of billions of dollars in critical climate change initiatives...

Yes, it's a very busy BradCast today...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Wildfires destroy historic California Gold Rush town; Trump further escalates attacks against on US wind energy; Extreme rains trigger deadly landslide in war-torn Sudan; PLUS: Dozens of climate scientists issue scathing rebuttal to Dept. of Energy's science-denying report... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Powerful rain and floods devastate northern India as experts blame climate change; FEMA staffing shortages could hinder disaster recovery efforts, GAO says; Despite Trump's brags, new data shows massive emissions from Texas wells; Explosion at Louisiana oil plant leaves Black community coated in toxic fallout; EPA plans to dramatically reduce wetland protection; Scientists may have identified a culprit behind declining Amazon rains... PLUS: Despite Trump, US scientists continue to work on key global climate reports... and much, MUCH more! ...

We're back on today's BradCast after a much-needed, "end of Summer" break. That's either good or bad news depending on how you (or I) might see it. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

The good news for me, I suppose, is that we missed one of the most insanely busy news weeks of Trump's second term. The bad news is that I need to get both you and me caught up on "our story so far", so everything makes sense (or, as much as is possible amidst this insanity) going forward into the Fall (and pending government shutdown at the end of this month.)

To that end, we've got a day-by-day, blow-by-blow, collected summary of much --- if not all --- of the key news from over the last week today. From many of the ongoing losses for Trump in the (lower) courts, to some very encouraging electoral news on several fronts for Democrats, to Americans pushing back (effectively) against the regime on several levels, to some of the not so good news, including natural and man-made disasters and tragedies, and the ever-ongoing, non-stop, self-destructive idiocy of the Trump Administration.

Also, Desi Doyen is here with our latest Green News Report, catching you up with some maddening and important stuff there as well!

It doesn't make too much sense for me to go into the details here. I'd be writing and linking all night. So tune in to get caught up on a lot of the unofficial "end of Summer" news to help get yourself buckled up for all the madness that most assuredly lies ahead...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump's Border Patrol agents arrest fire fighting crewmembers battling Washington wildfire; Judge orders closure of federal detention camp in protected Florida Everglades for violating environmental laws; Extreme heat ages the body faster, new study finds; Europe's 2025 wildfire season officially the most destructive ever recorded; PLUS: Trump escalates his War on Wind, even as extreme heat pushes U.S. electricity demand to record highs... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): National Weather Service applicants must explain how they agree with Trump; Labor Day swimmers face fecal contamination along US coastline; Shrinking post-Katrina levees need $1B In upgrades; Climate change is severely impacting corn crops; Trump plans to cancel another offshore wind project... PLUS: Africa diverting from the fossil fuel addiction... and much, MUCH more! ...

It's been a while, but they're back for today's BradCast to help send us off with a smile --- and just a little bit smarter --- for a brief, much-needed holiday break from the program next week. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

First up today, however, a few late news headlines...

• Don't be fooled by either bad corporate media headlines or Donald Trump's false claim of "TOTAL VICTORY". In fact, a New York appeals court on Thursday affirmed last year's civil fraud conviction against the nation's criminal-in-chief, but finds [PDF] the nearly half billion dollar fine charged against him for his years of cooking his company's books with faked, artificially inflated financial statements to be 'excessive'. So, the bank and tax fraud verdict holds, the amount of the fine is to be redetermined, and all other penalties against Trump, his company and his two eldest sons remain in place.

• Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the El Salvadoran Maryland man "mistakenly" sent to a gulag in El Salvador by the Trump Administration, will be released from a Tennessee prison on Friday. He has been held in the facility since returning to the U.S. to be be slapped with Trumped-up charges meant to save face for the Administration. The court has now issued several orders to prevent Abrego Garcia from being scooped up by ICE and deported again after he is freed...but we'll see if the Trump Administration has any respect left whatsoever for the courts and the Rule of Law.

• The Gerrymandering Wars continue. Shortly after airtime on Wednesday, the Texas state House --- delayed more than two weeks by state Democratic lawmakers leaving Texas to break quorum --- adopted a newly gerrymandered U.S. House Map to steal five seats from Democrats in next year's midterms. The Lone Star state Senate will soon pass same and the heist will be signed by the state's corrupt Governor. In the meantime, here in California, our state Legislature, by a 2/3rds vote, adopted Gov. Gavin Newsom's "Rigged Election Response Act" today. The measure, quickly signed by the Governor, will ask state voters in November for permission to temporarily waive the Congressional map created by the state's Citizen Redistricting Commission to replace it with a new one that is likely to flip five "red" U.S. House seats to "blue" next year, in response to Texas' obnoxious mid-decade redistricting at the command of Donald Trump.

We pick up on those stories and many more today with our old OG blogger pals, the great HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Digby's Hullabaloo and the notorious 'DRIFTGLASS' of the Professional Left Podcast. Both join us today for a wide ranging conversation that takes a few surprising (and amusing) twists and turns along the way.

On today's court ruling in NY on Trump's fraud fine, Digby finds it "unfortunate that the headlines that are coming out are backing Trump's contention that this is some kind of a vindication. It is not." She observes "there is probably going to be a fine, and it will be a painful fine, it's just not going to be half a billion dollars."

Driftglass has an additional idea. While Trump is "still guilty," he notes, "I will take a straight-up swap: zero fines in exchange for the Epstein Files. How's that? There's a deal!"

We spend quite a bit of time today on the next steps in the Gerrymandering War begun by TX. Both Digby and Driftglass support CA's response to it. Says Driftglass, an Illinois resident: "I think what California has done, and I hope Illinois does, is show them that nuclear deterrence is the only way we can keep these people in a box. We'd rather not. But if you're going to bring a knife, we are going to bring a gun." As to what his already Democratic-gerrymandered state plans to do? Well, tune in for Drifty's assessment.

Digby, a fellow L.A. resident, is "hopeful" that voters will approve the statewide ballot measure on November 4th, despite a big money campaign already underway to defeat it. "Trump has treated California like garbage," says Parton. "We've been through a lot of trauma in this state. The way that he talks about the Governor, the way he talks about all the politicians here, I think Californians are sick of it."

"Essentially," she rages, "we're here to provide federal money for Trump's red states, including Texas. I think there's this sense that alright, it's time to fight back," She and Driftglass are also both veryfond of Newsom's new, wildly popular Trump trolling routine on social media. We compare our favorite Newsom trolling meme's (one of them is pictured above) before today's show is over.

Other items covered with D&D today include Trump's pathetic, pretend show of force with the deployment of the National Guard in D.C. and elsewhere. ("He is performing acts of fascist theatre" for the benefit of his MAGA supporters, charges Driftglass.); whether any of the Trump/Republican wildly unpopular policies are working or liked by voters and, if not, why the hell do they continue to double down?; and much more.

Finally, we close with Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report, our last before the Labor Day holiday break, as climate change fueled catastrophes continue around the globe, and as Trump's acting NASA Administrator announces his intention to defy federal law by ending the Agency's statutory mission to "study Earth" and "address environmental issues".

NOTE: We are ducking out from both The BradCast and Green News Report next week for a respite until after the Labor Day holiday! Hope you all will have a good one!

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Spain battles its worst wildfire season --- yes, intensified by climate change; The world is drying out, threatening humanity's supply of fresh water; PLUS: Acting NASA Administrator wants the agency to give up climate science --- despite NASA's statutory mandate... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Picking losers: Keeping obsolete coal plants open costs ratepayers millions; Kia is launching all the cool new EVs in Europe, while the US gets put on the back burner; A Toxic Landfill Was on the Brink of Expanding. Residents Fought Back and Won; Geothermal Network in Colorado Could Help Rural Town Diversify Its Economy; Court Puts The Brakes On Contested Land Transfer For Arizona Copper Mine; Another Gold Rush Could Bring Open Pit Mines To South Dakota’s Black Hills... PLUS: As Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Clouds Of Dangerous Dust Blow Into Boomtowns... and much, MUCH more! ...

Okay. So, now Republican elected officials who pretend to oppose "Big Government", are literally locking up their elected opponents in the state capital. (Insert eye-roll emoji here.) That's just one of the insane stories --- and disturbing signs of American democracy on the authoritarian precipice --- on today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

• On Monday, Democratic state lawmakers returned to Texas after two weeks of out-of-state quorum breaking meant to prevent Texas Republicans from stealing five U.S. House seats with a new map drawn up at the insistence of Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott. But, before they were allowed to leave the capital building in Austin, the Republican House leader required Dems to sign a permission slip to be escorted 24/7 by Texas state troopers to ensure they return to vote on the new map on Wednesday. Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier refused to sign away her freedoms, and was disallowed from leaving the House chamber, where she has effectively been held prisoner on the floor of the House by Republicans. She was was forced Monday night to sleep under bright lights at her desk House floor desk. [See photo above.] As of today, Collier is still being held prisoner by fellow elected officials from the state's rightwing authoritarian majority party. Lots of details on this remarkable story today, and how it serves as more shameful evidence of what Republicans have allowed American "democracy" to become.

• Out here in California, meanwhile, state Democrats are moving ahead with their plan to counter Texas' attempted heist by redrawing the Golden State's U.S. House map to remove five Republican seats from the map next year, in what Gov. Gavin Newsom describes as "fighting fire with fire". In CA, however, it won't be up to partisan state officials. No imprisonment of the opposition should be necessary. Here, the voters of the state must decide in a special election on November 4th as to whether they wish to temporarily set aside the U.S. House map created by the state's independent redistricting commission. The effort is meant to counter Texas Republicans undermining democracy --- and the odds of Dems winning back the House to put the brakes on Trump's authoritarian agenda --- in the 2026 midterms. I have been supportive of the CA response, called the "Election Rigging Response Act", despite my years-long record in opposition to gerrymandering by either party. One longtime listener calls me out via email today for my new position on this matter, charging that "If you fight fire with fire the fire grows stronger and then spreads." I share his well-meaning thoughts and my response to them on today's program.

• Speaking of corrupting democracy, the Trump-supporting Republican propaganda outlet Newsmax has agreed to pay $67 million to settle the defamation lawsuit filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems. After Trump lost the 2020 election, Newsmax --- along with Fox "News" and other dishonest GOP propaganda outlets --- advanced evidence-free claims that the election was rigged by, among other things, voting machine companies like Dominion. Documents that would have been shown to jurors at trial --- had Newsmax not agreed to settle --- reveal that officials at the fake news outfit knew Trump's claims about a stolen election were BS, but ran the phony conspiracy theories anyway to win duped MAGA viewers. The Newsmax settlement follows a similar $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion by Fox "News", and a reported $40 million paid by Newsmax to Smartmatic, another voting equipment vendor falsely accused of fraud by Trump-supporting outlets after the 2020 election.

• On yesterday's show, we detailed how the Dept. of Homeland Security is now using literal Nazi and neo-Nazi text and references and imagery in their new recruitment campaign for ICE. Today, both NOTUS and The Independent detail pretty good evidence to suggest that the unnamed Nazi-loving social media creator at DHS may be a guy named Eric Lendrum, who has a long public history of both Nazi-like political statements and claims that "conservatives" are being ostracized like slaves, or as Jews were in Nazi Germany. Lendrum now works in the DHS Public Relations office, which does PR for the largest law enforcement agency in the world, and evidence suggests he may be responsible for the relentless recent flood of DHS social media posts using Nazi memes, slogans and images.

• We tried to warn you. Though, for some, it could be the last timely warning they receive. E&E News' is reporting that public radio and TV stations are now scrambling to keep their local disaster-warning systems alive after Trump and Republicans in Congress rescinded all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helped fund hundreds of local NPR and PBS stations. In many areas around the U.S., those stations are --- or, historically, were --- a literal lifeline for local residents, particularly in rural areas. Emergency alert warning systems now at risk include those for hurricanes and tropical storms on the Atlantic Coast; for winter storms across the Northern Plains; tsunamis in Alaska; earthquakes in rural Northern California; tornadoes in states across the Great Plains; and flash flooding just about everywhere these days. Yes, elections have consequences. And now, potentially very deadly ones, including for many rural Trump voters.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report on Hurricane Erin smashing records off the Atlantic Coast; Climate change driving record humidity levels; Deadly rains in Pakistan and a heatwave in Scandinavia intensified by the burning of fossil fuels; and the collapse of a U.N. plastics pollution conference, thanks to nations like the U.S., Russia, and a bunch of Middle Eastern states who undermined a landmark agreement on behalf of the plastic-producing fossil fuel industry at the recent conference in Geneva...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Erin already setting records; Climate change drove record levels of global humidity in 2024, with 2025 breathing down its neck; Deadly rains in Pakistan, deadly Nordic heatwave, both supercharged by human-caused global warming; PLUS: U.N. talks to curb plastic production collapse, with oil-producing nations (like the U.S.) refusing to limit plastic production... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): It's official: NASA is giving up climate science; Trump Admin tightens rules for renewable energy tax credits; Japan's rice harvest suffers under summer's brutal heat; China develops lithium battery twice as powerful as Tesla’s advanced cell; Trump admin redacts entire Empire Wind study; Prominent Texas breeder charged as 'ghost deer' investigation grows... PLUS: The smoldering, noxious waste dump next door... and much, MUCH more! ...

It's your democracy at work, for better or worse, on today's BradCast! [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

FIRST UP... At a lively rally at the Democracy Center here in Los Angeles on Thursday, California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled the "Election Rigging Response Act", legislation meant to push back against Donald Trump and the state of Texas' attempted mid-decade gerrymander of its already-gerrymandered U.S. House map. The new TX map, if enacted, would steal five Democratic House seats from largely minority voters in the Lone Star State in next year's midterms.

"We can't stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country," Newsom declared at the boisterous rally, announcing his plan to ask the Golden State legislature to quickly approve a ballot measure for November 4th that would allow CA to temporarily override the state's U.S. House map. Unlike in Texas, our maps are drawn by an independent redistricting commission. If Newsom's scheme overcomes several hurdles, a new map would be drawn by the Legislature to flip five currently Republican seats in CA. The Act must first be approved by two-thirds of the CA state Legislature. It would then have to pass muster with voters on November 4, and wold only take effect if Texas successfully rigs their map.

The attempted heist in Texas is currently on hold, with state Democratic lawmakers breaking quorum by leaving the state. But Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has insisted that he will call Special Session after Special Session until he is able to rig the map for Trump and Republicans who fear they will otherwise lose their slim U.S. House majority next year.

"We are not bystanders in this world. We can shape the future," Newsom told the crowd on Thursday, adding: "Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back."

"We're giving the people of this state the power to save democracy, not just in California, but all across the United States of America. I hope we are waking up to this reality. Wake up, America. Wake up to what Donald Trump is doing," the Governor concluded. We share his remarks in full on today's show.

THEN... We're joined by veteran, award-winning journalist turned media reform champion SUE WILSON of the Media Action Center, for an update on a remarkable story she has been covering at The BRAD BLOG for at least five years.

Wilson initially reported in 2020 on a citizen Petition filed at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking to deny renewal of Sinclair Broadcasting's TV stion license in Baltimore. The complaint alleged that Sinclair, one of the nation's largest (and most right-leaning) station owners, was violating FCC rules that limit the number of stations that can be owned in a single market by secretly controlling two other television stations in Baltimore. Those two stations are run, according to the well-documented Petition, by sock-puppet companies actually controlled by Sinclair.

Filed in late 2020, the Petition wasn't heard by the FCC during the remaining months of Donald Trump's first term. Over the ensuing four years, for reasons we discuss today, Joe Biden's FCC failed to review the matter as well. In the meantime, in 2023, the Petitioner passed away. Another Baltimore resident was quickly substituted on the paperwork.

Fast-forward to 2025 and the FCC in Trump's second term, now led by his hand-picked Chair Brendan Carr, dismissed the original complaint on the basis that the substitute Petitioner missed the chance to file a petition on her own back in 2020. Her substitution for the man who waited five years for a hearing --- and died waiting --- was not allowed, Carr ruled, even though the well-documented facts of the matter hadn't changed. The Sinclair stations in question have since been re-licensed, despite the companies apparent violations of both FCC rules and federal law.

The lawyer for both the late Petitioner and his substitute, has filed an Application for Review, hoping to appeal the Commission's absurd ruling. Wilson detailed the latest remarkable chapter in this long-running story at The BRAD BLOG this week, and joins us to both break it down, and light up a warning about the next scheme that the FCC's Carr now has in place to undermine federal ownership rules of local television stations nationwide.

FINALLY... Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with the usual litany of disturbing climate and energy news, as well as perhaps the dumbest, most disinformative comment ever uttered on Fox "News" regarding renewable energy --- and that's saying quite a bit!...

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