Today on The BradCast: Analysis (and giddiness) continues amid the fallout from Election 2025, during which the bottom appeared to drop out for Team Trump --- at least for now --- pretty much everywhere that voters turned out in some 30 states holding off-year local or statewide elections. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

We're joined today by listener faves and fellow old-school bloggers HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Digby's Hullabaloo and 'DRIFTGLASS' of the Professional Left Podcast in the wake of Tuesday's remarkable elections, in which Democrats and other anti-Trump voters made their opposition to the failed first year of the second Donald Trump presidency crystal clear --- even to Republicans who care to take notice.

Not only did Democratic candidates --- from the left to the center --- win, so did ballot initiatives supported by them. And, not only did they all win, they all won by huge margins in virtually every jurisdiction across the country holding elections on Tuesday, in both high and low profile contests and ballot initiatives from Maine to New York City to New Jersey to Virginia to Georgia to Mississippi to Pennsylvania to California and beyond.

"Trump and Trumpism, and this style of politics that he has brought into the Republican Party, the cult of personality that has been dominating our country over the last decade --- I think we can see a light at the end of the tunnel here," Digby argues. "Trump is now officially a lame duck. It's earlier than people thought it would be. It sent a shock-wave, I think, through the Republican Party that he's on his way out. And now, let the games begin. Because the fighting within the Republican Party is going to be a glorious thing to see."

"I was surprised how deep the coattails were, how deep the 'blue' ran in all these elections," observes Driftglass. "I am very confident now that a bunch of 'blue' states can redistrict with confidence." Rooting on Texas Republicans to please proceed with their gerrymandering, he continues: "Please, go ahead and do that. Because I think they did not understand that lots of large blocks of voters were not theirs permanently. We saw huge shifts in almost every demographic [on Tuesday]. 'Blue' won everywhere. And that should send a signal to Democrats everywhere it's okay to take risks, it's okay to be who you are, say what you believe and swing for the fences, because that is now being rewarded."

Among the many related and unrelated topics discussed today...

• The death and legacy of Dick Cheney.
• The announced retirement (next year) and legacy of Nancy Pelosi.
• The fallout from the surprising results of Election 2025.
• The media failures in the leadup to the election.
• The ridiculous, cowardly failure of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York (and other "leading" Dems) to endorse the young, charismatic Democratic sensation, now NYC Mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani.
• Are those establishment Dems more afraid Mamdani will fail? Or that he will succeed?
• Who's more of a socialist, Mamdani or Trump?
• Does Trump even know what "socialism" means, much less "communism"? (Much less whatever fairly moderate and measured affordability measures Mamdani ran on in his NYC campaign?)
• The D.C. Sandwich Guy is found "not guilty" of misdemeanor assault with a deadly hero. ("That's a 'wrap'," quips Driftglass. "Another example of the Trump Administration not knowing how courts work.")
• After Gov. Gavin Newsom's Prop 50 redistricting measure's resounding success in California on Tuesday, will other Dem Governors follow suit?
• Will Trump-ordered mid-decade GOP gerrymanders come back to haunt them next year?
• Will Tuesday's results finally bring Republicans any closer to ending the federal government shutdown?

And more! Including Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report on the critical climate races in Tuesday's elections and Brazil's successful climate fight against deforestation under its new President...

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We've covered a lot of Election Nights on The BradCast over the years. But it's difficult, if not impossible, to remember one where Democrats (and anti-GOP, anti-Trump voters) won pretty much everything in every corner of the country. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

True, it was an off-year election. Only about eight states even had statewide contests. But there were also local races in about 30 states. And, wherever voters voted, Team Trump lost on Tuesday. Badly. From "blue" California, to "purple" Virginia, to rural Maine, to battleground Pennsylvania, to deep "red" Mississippi and everywhere in between. And they lost by a lot in almost every case, whether it was for a candidate or an initiative on the ballot.

We run through as many reported results as we can fit in today --- both high profile contests and some that were deep under the radar --- before sharing an excerpt of the electrifying victory speech from Democratic New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who just blew the roof off the Brooklyn Paramount Theater with one of the best victory speeches I have ever seen. Actually, one of the best political speeches, of any kind, I have ever seen.

Then we're joined by longtime progressive journalist and author JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation magazine, where has been covering Mamdani, and many other progressives up and down the ballot --- along with the more centrist candidates in between --- for many months now, during the run-up to Tuesday's elections: the first time since Donald Trump took office for his failing second term that voters have been able to register their opinions about him at the ballot box in a whole bunch of states at once.

"We have had so many conversations where we are trying to find the straw" of good news following an election, Nichols observes, referencing our many post-election conversations. "But now we are in the bizarre, reverse position where, when you look across the entire United States, you are very hard pressed to find any disappointing results. And the reason for that is pretty simple. Donald Trump, a year after his election, nine months into his second presidency, it has been an unmitigated disaster."

"Last night, you got the confirmation that across this country, from New York to Virginia, to New Jersey to California --- but also to Mississippi, where they took away the Republican supermajority in the state Senate; to Georgia, where they were winning Public Service Commissions that they never win; to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Mayoral races in Iowa --- it was just across the board that Democrats won and won and won."

Beyond that, however, there are a lot of details to discuss, regarding why it happened and what message both Republicans and Dems need to take from what happened on Tuesday and, in particular, from the landslide election of the charismatic, 34-year old, Ugandan-born, Muslim, Democratic socialist immigrant whose charm offensive, good humor and promises of a tangible Affordability Agenda for NYC have now made him its next Mayor. And how, incredibly, it is even possible that many establishment Democratic Party leaders --- including U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York --- couldn't bring themselves to endorse the Democratic nominee for Mayor of NYC.

Are they most fearful that Mamdani will be a failure? Or that he will be a success?

We discuss all of that and much more on today's BradCast...

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Today was Election Day for major contests in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia and California, not to mention about 30 other states which also held either statewide or local off-year contests. We'll have full reported results for you, of course, on tomorrow's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

In the meantime, there was a whole lot going on today, while America votes...

• Several polling places were temporarily closed in more than half a dozen New Jersey counties on Tuesday following threats, reportedly via email, ultimately determined by officials to be "non-credible". One local official suggested the emails may have originated "abroad", bringing to mind the emailed bomb threats that resulted in temporary evacuations of a number of polling places in at least five different battlegrounds states on Election Day during the 2024 Presidential election. Those threats were reported, at the time, to have come from IP addresses in Russia.

• Former Vice President Dick Cheney died on Monday at the age of 84. His family announced the news today. We share some thoughts.

• The Trump Administration has fired yet another government watchdog whose job it was to root out waste, fraud and abuse at a federal agency. This time, according to a Reuters exclusive, it was the acting Inspector General at the Federal Housing and Finance Authority (FHFA), whose Trump-appointed activist Director, Bill Pulte, has been issuing bogus criminal referrals to the DoJ about "mortgage fraud" purportedly committed by Donald Trump's political foes, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA). The IG in this case, a 40-year veteran DoJ prosecutor, was said to have been in the process of notifying Congress that FHFA leadership was violating the law by refusing to cooperate with the Office of the Inspector General. To date, the Administration has fired almost 20 IGs at almost every major (and not-so-major) federal agency or department.

• Trump's corrupt Attorney General Pam Bondi filed legal documents on Friday in hopes retroactively fixing some pretty huge problems with the weaponized political indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and NY A.G. Letitia James. The filings attempt to rewrite history regarding the corrupt and almost certainly unlawful appointment of Trump's former insurance lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, as Interim U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. She was expressly appointed to the position after Trump's previous USA either resigned or was fired for refusing to file the politically motivated charges demanded by Trump, due to lack of evidence.

• Trump, almost certainly looking at an embarrassing loss tonight in California's Prop 50 initiative --- which would temporarily rewrite the state's Congressional map in response to a Trump-ordered U.S. House gerrymander in Texas over the summer --- was already falsely claiming this afternoon that the contest was somehow "rigged". CA's Sec. of State called out his evidence-free bullshit in a statement late today.

• Speaking of the Gerrymandering Wars kicked off by our desperate and incredibly unpopular President, Gov. Wes Moore, in the Democratically-controlled state of Maryland, announced a new Commission to consider jumping into the redistricting game before 2026. Maybe.

• Voting Rights advocates had a big victory on Friday, as one of two federal judges overseeing different lawsuits against Trump's bogus election-related Executive Order, issued a permanent ban on his attempt to mandate proof of citizenship documents by those registering to vote with the national voter registration form. The judge made clear --- as we did when Trump originally issued his dumb EO --- that Presidents have zero legal or Constitutional authority regarding elections.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with a grim humanitarian crisis brewing in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean following last week's monster Hurricane Melissa; record rainfall in New York City; incredibly alarming glacial retreat in Antarctica; and the Trump Administration's Godfather-like thuggery used to block the world's first-ever emissions rules for international shipping...

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As the Federal Government shutdown enters its second month --- now almost certain to become the longest in U.S. history --- it's Election Day tomorrow in the first major elections since our ridiculous and criminal President's disastrous second term began ten hellishly long months ago. It is the first chance for a whole lotta folks to ring in on what theythink of this President and his corrupted Party. So, this week on The BradCast, we continue to keep our eyes on both tomorrow's major off-year elections in several states and next year's critical midterms in all 50, as that election is also already underway in more ways than one. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Tuesday is the last day to vote in statewide elections for Governor and the state House of Delegates/Representatives in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively; Mayor in New York City; and for (or against) Prop 50 in California, among other contests of note that we've been discussing and/or previewing in recent days on the program.

After a few news headlines today, we zero in on the Prop 50 statewide ballot referendum in CA, asking voters if they would like to temporarily allow the state to set aside the U.S. House map drawn by CA's Independent Redistricting Commission in order to allow the Democratic state legislature to create a new one meant to flip five Republican seats to Democratic next year. That effort is in direct response to the Republican state Legislature in Texas, earlier this year, gerrymandering their already-gerrymandered Congressional map to steal five Democratic U.S. House seats for Republicans next year at the orders of Donald Trump who, justifiably, believes his Party will otherwise lose their slim House majority next year due to their terrible, unpopular policies.

(I also share today my amusing, bemusing and confusing experience in the parking lot of an L.A. County Voting Center on Sunday, where I went to vote and was troubled to notice a County voting system IT support truck with TEXAS license plates on it?! WTF?!)

Following TX's gross mid-decade gerrymander over the summer and CA's response to it, Republicans in Missouri and North Carolina have also drawn new Congressional maps to steal two more seats from Democrats next year. So, Virginia Democrats --- in the midst of their statewide election for the entire House of Delegates --- announced a complicated, surprise plan just over a week ago that, if successful, could flip as many as three U.S. House seats in the Old Dominion from "red" to "blue" next year. It's a complicated scheme in VA, requiring two affirmative votes by two consecutive sessions of the State Legislature and then approval from voters on a statewide ballot referendum next year. All in time to redraw VA's Congressional map before primaries begin next year.

Last week, Virginia Dems in the Legislature successfully completed Phase One of the plan, as the measure was adopted by the Senate on Friday, following approval by the House two days earlier. To proceed to Phase Two, Dems must retain their majority in the 100 seat state House on Tuesday, which they currently control with just 51 votes.

Also last week, Ohio's bipartisan redistricting commission redrew the Buckeye State's U.S. House map to make it harder --- but not impossible --- for two Democratic Congressmembers to hold on to their seats in the 2026 midterms.

We break down all the new details on all of those latest battles in the Gerrymandering Wars today (and some of the battles still to come), before opening the phones to listeners here in our live Southern California listening area for their last chance before Election Day to make the case for or against Prop 50 and more...

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As the November 4th off-year elections are now just days away, New York City voters appear likely to elect a young, charismatic Democratic socialist vowing to raise taxes on the wealthy as their new Mayor. But, as discussed on today's BradCast, that's not the only place where voters may finally have a chance to begin to even the score against the runaway wealth gap between the rich and...everyone else. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

FIRST... A few quick news items today, including...

• Hurricane Melissa's record-shattering path of destruction through the Caribbean --- including Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and The Bahamas --- and now on toward the Canadian Atlantic coast (with effects likely to be felt across much of the U.S. Northeastern Seaboard this weekend.)
• Breaking news on Donald Trump firing all six members of one of the federal commissions that was otherwise set to review the building plans for his threatened, privately-funded 90,000 square foot ballroom at the White House --- for which he has already demolished the East Wing with neither approval nor permission from anyone --- and a giant "Arc d'Trump" that he wants to build somewhere on the National Mall in D.C.

THEN... Just days from Tuesday's off-year Election Day, New York City's Democratic candidate for Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, appears to be well ahead in pre-election polling. If those polls are correct, it seems that NYC voters are offering enthusiastic support for the "Affordability Agenda" on which Mamdani's remarkable campaign has been built, including promises for a rent freeze, universal child care, free buses and for city-owned grocery stores in food deserts across the city's five Boroughs. Some of those programs, according to the candidate, will be paid for by a small surcharge on the income taxes of those earning more than $1 million per year. Though, even if he wins next week, many of those programs --- including the new surcharge on millionaires --- would need approval from the City Council and/or State Legislature before implementation.

Meanwhile, out here in California, some progressives are already looking toward a straight-on wealth tax for the state's 200 billionaires that voters would need to approve in 2026. But there are some unique elements to this ballot proposal that may distinguish it from other such programs forwarded by progressives in the past.

Last week, one of the state's largest unions, SEIU's United Healthcare Workers West, along with U.C. Berkley economist Emmanuel Saez and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, unveiled what our guest today, HAROLD MEYERSON of The American Prospect, described last week as "The First Politically Viable Wealth Tax" in the nation.

The proposal, which its proponents are hoping to place onto next year's statewide ballot, would levy a one-time, 5% tax on the state's billionaires to help fund California's Medicaid program (known as Medi-Cal) following the massive, historic, trillion dollar cuts to the program enacted by Trump and Congressional Republicans in their so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" this past summer.

Meyerson is careful to delineate between Mamdani's income tax proposal of the wealthy (which he also supports), and the one in CA which would tax wealth itself, including assets owned such as stocks, etc. So, why does he see this one as the "first politically viable" such tax? For one reason, one of the well-worn critiques of such programs is that it would lead wealthy residents to flee or deter other wealthy people from moving in. In fact, Mamdani's main opponent in the NYC mayoral race, former state Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary, has repeatedly made that case against Mamdani's plan.

But, whether Cuomo's attack is true or not (Mamdani calls it exaggerated), the CA proposal introduced last week undercuts the critique entirely.

"First, it only applies to the wealth of people from this year, calendar 2025," explains Meyerson. And the "5% tax on wealth can be paid, spread out, over the next five years. It takes effect [if adopted by voters next year] in 2027. If you move into the state and you're ridiculously wealthy anytime after the end of this year, this doesn't apply to you. It only applies to the wealth of this year. If you move out of the state, you're still liable, under the terms of this tax, for paying it. So it is structured in such a way that it eliminates the argument that it will cause billionaires to move out --- because it only applies to billionaires in the state as of this year --- and that it will keep billionaires from moving in because, assuming they move in after Dec. 31st of this year, it doesn't apply to them."

That element alone of this proposal is likely to take the wind out of the sails of many of those who will certainly oppose the measure next year, if it qualifies for the ballot (supporters have until June to gather enough signatures). Meyerson believes that, especially in this blue-leaning state, the idea will be so popular that even conservative billionaire (and former Republican turned Democrat) Rick Caruso, who is likely to run for Governor, would have little choice but to support it. "It would look awfully self-interested, and against the interests of those Californians --- of whom there are gazillions --- reliant upon Medi-Cal, if he were to oppose it, or not take a stance on it," Meyerson tells me. "The optics would look pretty damn bad."

But there are other critiques that wealthy opponents will try to levee as well. Socialism! If it passes, Dems will just want to make it permanent! etc. etc. Meyerson speaks to all of those and offers his insights into the NYC election next week (and establishment Dems such as Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, who have remarkably failed to back the city's Democratic candidate for Mayor), the Prop 50 redistricting referendum in CA, and the gubernatorial contests in both New Jersey and Virginia...

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We've got a lot of news from all over the world, and no small amount of explainers to go with it on today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our coverage today...

• Deadly, record-shattering Hurricane Melissa finally makes landfall in Jamaica as a catastrophic, slow moving, 185 mph Category 5 storm. As discussed, this is likely to be very very bad. The island nation has set up a support and donations site here.

• So much for Donald Trump's recent declaration of "everlasting peace" in the Middle East, as Israel reignites its brutal attack on Gaza following its claim that Hamas has violated the recent peace agreement.

• "Peace President" Donald Trump continues his unlawful killing spree in international waters with the announcement that he ordered the U.S. military murder of another 14 alleged "narco-terrorists" on four small boats off of Mexico's Pacific coast. That, as the Administration redeploys its largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean, not to help storm victims in Jamaica, but almost certainly to wage --- or, at least, threaten --- war on Venezuela (and, perhaps, Colombia).

• Weird and related?: U.S. Defense Dept. officials are being required to sign NDAs. WTF?

• Twenty-three Democratic state Attorneys General announced they are suing the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to continue food assistance to some 42 million low-income Americans via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP, previously known as food stamps). The suit follows the agency's flip-flop on using already-appropriated emergency contingency funds to feed hungry American families amid the ongoing federal government shutdown. If funding ends on November 1, as planned by the USDA, it would be the first time in the 60-year history of the program.

• Following Friday's announcement by Trump's corrupted Dept. of Justice that it plans to send federal monitors to polling places in five counties in California and one in New Jersey during next Tuesday's November 4th elections, for unexplained reasons, the Golden State has announced it plans to dispatch state monitors to oversee the federal ones.

• The Gerrymandering Wars continue and expand. Following Trump's arm-twisting of state GOP lawmakers in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina to rewrite U.S. House district maps to steal seats from Democrats next year --- and Democrats' attempted responses in California and Virginia --- Indiana's Republican Governor has called a special session of the legislature to try and steal another GOP House seat from Democratic voters. But Dems aren't done responding yet, as House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries is said to be in talks with Illinois lawmakers about redrawing that state's map to further favor Dems next year. We do all of the math for ya today, breaking down which party's voters would come out ahead if all of these plans are successful. The answer may surprise you. But the corrupted, rightwing, activist U.S. Supreme Court could still blow up everything (in favor of Republicans) before all is said and done in the critical 2026 midterms.

• Finally, Desi Doyen is back with our latest Green News Report with more on the monstrous Hurricane Melissa; the Trump Administration's withholding of disaster funding to states that didn't vote for him; and the deadly, expensive climate change threats that continue to worsen, whether the Administration removes climate science data from its websites or not...

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We've done quite a bit on The BradCast over the years, from investigative reporting, to deep dive explainers and interviews with experts and news makers, to ranting monologues, to taking calls from listeners on all manner of things. But, unless I'm mistaken, I believe this is the first time we've turned the show into a game show! [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

FIRST UP... Before we get to our fun (if disturbing?) game today, a few news items of note...

• Category 5 Hurricane Melissa looks to be a monster deadly storm in the Caribbean on several different levels. It's slamming smack-dab into Jamaica overnight tonight. In addition to record wind speeds (satellite records showed the storm, in record warm waters, topping 190mph for a time last night according to satellite records, which would be a Cat 6 if there actually was such a thing on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale), it's also incredibly slow moving. That means it is likely to dump a lot of water --- as much as 40 inches of rain in some places --- as it slowly swamps the entire island. Desi Doyen also joins us for a few insights on how climate change has worsened just about every aspect of this deadly storm.

• Earlier this year the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), detailed how "multi-year contingency funds" would be used to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to "continue operations during a Federal Government shutdown." Last week, however, as the shutdown drags on, a USDA memo explained that, despite already appropriated Congressional funding to be used for such a contingency, federal SNAP money would no longer be made available to states after November 1 if the shutdown was still ongoing. That, after Republicans already slashed some $186 billion from the program in Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" earlier this year. More than 40 million people rely on SNAP to put food on the table --- the vast majority of them employed, by the way --- but the Trump Administration is now planning to help starve people (including millions of their own voters) rather than even negotiate with Democrats who are refusing to help Republicans keep the government open until hundreds of millions (in fact trillions) of dollars in Trump/GOP health care cuts for Americans are restored.

• Next Tuesday is Election Day in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City, California and elsewhere. On Friday, Trump's Dept. of Justice announced that federal monitors were being deployed to polling places in five counties in California and one in New Jersey (which both have Democratic governors), though none to Virginia, which has the most contests on the ballot next week...and a Republican Governor. DOJ has yet to explain why monitors are being deployed or under what law they are doing so. Election experts --- and CA's Governor --- warn this may be a trial run for what the Administration is planning for next year's critical midterms.

THEN... It's on to "Who Wants to be a U.S. Citizen?", the first BradCast call-in game show!

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it was making it more difficult to pass the test required for those applying to become U.S. Citizens. They are doubling both the number of questions asked PDF on the Naturalization Civics Test and the number of correct answers that need to be given to pass the test.

According to experts, the questions are also more difficult than they were previously. So, today, we open up our phone lines to listeners --- most of them, presumably U.S. citizens! --- to see if they could answer the questions now being asked of prospective citizens by this Administration.

Like the Trump Administration, we make up the rules of the game as we go. And our listeners did fairly well! But I'll bet they did a helluva lot better than our current President would have been able to had he been forced to pass this test!

Tune in for what turned out to be both an amusing and troubling hour of fun and games with our lucky listeners!...

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To be fair, we warned you on yesterday's show, when setting aside one blissful hour to celebrate the weekend's joyous and peaceful "No Kings" rallies across the nation, that there would be plenty of time to get back to less-than-joyful news on The BradCast from America's unprecedented criminal Trump Era. Well, as promised, we're back to it today! In spades! [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Donald Trump doesn't know a whole lot. But, if there's one thing he knows well, it's how to break the law. Civil law. Criminal law. Foreign and domestic. You name it. As the first felon to ever become an American President, he knows how to commit crimes of all sorts and, unfortunately, how to get away with most of them. It's especially easy for him now, after taking office again following a ruling last year by his own corrupted, activist, rightwing U.S. Supreme Court majority which, similarly, has no interest in the rule of law, and is willing to make up a wholly nonexistent "Presidential Immunity" doctrine that has existed nowhere in our Constitution or rule of law in the 250 years of our nation's history.

We have a few too many examples of Trump's crime and pro-crime spree in today's news, highlighting the Golden Age of Trump and Republican Lawlessness and Disorder in America...

• In violation of U.S. and international law, Trump has now ordered at least seven explosive attacks by the U.S. Military on small boats off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean, said (without evidence) to be ferrying drugs and "narco-terrorists" to the U.S. After one of those attacks last week, two people survived. They were pulled out of the water by a U.S. war ship and rendered aid. But, rather than trying them for whatever offense Trump is claiming they carried out, the Administration is sending them back to their home countries in Ecuador and Colombia. Now why would they do that? We discuss.

• Here at home, Trump's respect for the Rule of Law is no greater. A bunch of the more than 1,500 January 6th insurrectionists pardoned by Trump on the first day of his second term of office have since been found to have committed additional, separate crimes. Today, CBS News reports on a Trump-pardoned rioter who, according to New York state law enforcement officials, was planning to assassinate Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The man, Christopher Moynihan, one of the first to break into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, allegedly said in text messages that he planned to "eliminate" Jeffries, who he described as a "terrorist" that he "cannot allow" to live. "He must be eliminated, I will kill him for the future," said the man, detailing a plan to do so during a NY speaking engagement this week by the Democratic leader. Remind me again how it is Democrats carrying out political violence?!

• In other wildly corrupt Trump pardon news, he granted clemency last Friday to disgraced former Rep. George Santos, the wildly corrupt Republican New York fabulist and expelled U.S. Congressman. Santos pleaded guilty earlier this year to fraud and identify theft, in which he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from supporters of his own campaign, including family members. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty just before trial. Santos served just two and a half months of that sentence in a "Club Fed" facility before he was sprung last week by the fraud and theft enthusiast currently residing in our White House.

• While Trump's favored Republican criminals run free, his weaponized Dept. of Justice is running down his list of political foes, finding something, anything to criminally charge them with. One of those indicted on particularly ridiculous charges is Trump's former FBI Director James Comey, who he fired for not blocking DOJ probes into Russian interference, on Trump's behalf, in the 2016 election. Describing the indictment as an "egregious abuse of power," Comey's attorneys on Monday filed motions for immediate dismissal of the case, which they characterize as an unlawful "vindictive" prosecution, and one that was brought by Trump's personal lawyer who, Comey alleges, is not legally serving as U.S. Attorney in VA.

• But, according to a Reuters exclusive today, it's not just the Dept. of Justice that has been weaponized against Trump's perceived enemies. Agencies across the entirety of the Executive Branch, including U.S. intelligence officers, have been meeting in what is being described as the "Interagency Weaponization Working Group". It reportedly includes officials from the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Justice and Defense Departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Communications Commission, among other agencies. All banding together in what Reuters describes as revealing "the administration’s push to deploy government power against Trump’s perceived foes is broader and more systematic than previously reported."

• All of that not horrific enough for ya? New York Times reports late today that Trump is demanding the DOJ pay him $230 million for investigating him for the many crimes he has committed over the year. Any such payment, according to DOJ guidelines, would have to be approved first by the Deputy A.G. in charge of the Department's Civil Division. That Deputy A.G. is currently Todd Blanche, Trump's lead criminal defense attorney. Think he'll agree to the payout? It's good to be king, right?

• In other news related to King Donald's abuse of power to try and stay in power, Republican state lawmakers in North Carolina have approved a new U.S. House map that will allow them to steal another Congressional seat from Democrats next year, in a state where gerrymandering has already allowed them to hold 10 out of 14 seats. Earlier corrupt legislation by Republican state lawmakers prevents the Democratic Governor, in the very closely divided state, from vetoing a newly redistricted map. This one is designed to unseat a Black Democratic Congressman in the eastern part of NC.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us with some of the only good news of the day in our latest Green News Report. (Though even that news is somewhat tempered by the rest of her six-minute report.)

Enjoy!

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: CO2 levels in the atmosphere hit highest ever recorded, U.N. says, warning of more extreme weather to come; Victims of July 4 Texas Floods still struggling to get financial aid from Trump's FEMA; Sea levels are rising faster than ever due to man-made global warming; PLUS: Salmon reach Klamath River headwaters for the first time in more than a century... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The government is shut down, but not for fossil fuels; 'Leaving the world’s poorest behind': Nearly 900 million poor people face climate shocks, says UN; Mystery heatwave warms Pacific Ocean to new record; New Florida law blocks communities' efforts to be more sustainable and resilient; California has a new law to prevent big grid battery fires... PLUS: Brazil OKs oil drilling near mouth of Amazon River ahead of UN Climate Summit... and much, MUCH more! ...

There are a lot of ongoing --- even worsening --- nightmares right now. But, before this past remarkable weekend recedes into the annals of history, let's at least offer one BradCast over to celebrating the joy of Saturday's coast-to-coast protest rallies seeking to make America good again. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Even prior to 7 million turning out for last weekend's "No Kings" rallies in some 2,700 cities and towns, instances of individual folks standing up to make America good again abounded.

For instance, our judicial system --- at least below the U.S. Supreme Court level --- continues to hold, by and large, as we saw in last week's ruling blocking Donald Trump (for now) from unlawfully firing some 4,000 federal workers during the ongoing federal government shutdown. U.S. District Judge Susan Yvonne Illston called out the Trump Administration, charging that they have "taken advantage of the lapse in government spending and government functioning to assume that all bets are off, the laws don’t apply to them anymore." But, as the Judge made clear, "The activities that are being undertaken here are contrary to the laws. You can’t do this in a nation of laws.”

We also saw the grand jury and regular jury system holding firm last week, as Trump's U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, former Fox "News" host Jeanine Pirro, was unable to attain even a misdemeanor conviction after three different federal grand juries had rejected her attempt to indict a D.C. protester which the Administration falsely claimed had assaulted federal officers. After defendant Sydney Reid's acquittal last week, she declared in a statement: "This verdict shows that this administration and their peons are not able to invoke fear in all citizens. Correctly describing Trump as "a crazy person who's in charge of the most powerful nation," Reid added: "Knowing that I can stand in front of 12 of my fellow citizens and be found not guilty for standing up for basic human rights makes me feel like, despite the scary times we live in, we have hope for the future."

That "hope" was on display across the nation over the weekend, in cities and towns, large and small, "red" and "blue", by joyous, peaceful protesters, young and old, black, brown, white and everything in between. Even one of our grumpiest listeners and occasional callers, Ron, rang in to today's show to note that attending a protest rally in Venice over the weekend, here in Southern California, "really changed my head."

"I have felt like a voice in the wind," he told me. "I know other people feel like I do. I had no idea it would be this much of a wave." Fighting back emotions, he notes: "It just completely knocked me out. It gives me a whole lot of hope. It's like these bastards aren't gonna get away with it. And I feel really good about that."

It wasn't "the left" which proved to be angry and dangerous on Saturday. There were virtually zero arrests despite the enormous crowds that turned out. These weren't "Hate America" rallies as House Speaker Mike Johnson and fellow Republicans falsely characterized them with lies in advance last week. As callers attest on today's program, they were attended by happy, patriotic warriors, banding together to fight like hell to save our country and Constitution from a tyrant and his enablers. Exactly like the nation's first No Kings protest, on July 4, 1776.

The President of the United States, however, was busy shitting on the nation on Saturday --- almost literally, albeit via AI --- and its peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment rights to speak out against being ruled by a monarch. Trump published a particularly childish (even by his standards) and disgusting artificial intelligence video showing himself as the pilot of a fighter jet, wearing a crown, and dumping tons of excrement on thousands of peaceful protesters in Times Square. The President of the United States actually posted that video to social media on Saturday night. I am told that none of the major Sunday network news shows mentioned it. Other than that, this wildly unpopular President wasn't bothered at all by the massive protests against him, as he claims...right?

Tune in for today's program. I think you'll enjoy it. It is, as you'll note from the very opening, a joyous and defiant celebration of democracy, free speech and all that is good, from a nation of people just like you and me who are standing up to declare that we're not gonna take it anymore.

And, unlike Trump's federal immigration goons, we're not afraid to show our faces in public when declaring as much in thousands of cities across this still-great land...

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It's time for our monthly-ish reality check-in with two of our favorite BradCast guests. And we've got a lot to cover. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

The great HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Digby's Hullabaloo and 'DRIFTGLASS' of the Professional Left Podcast are here once again to both freak us out AND, somehow, cheer us up all at the same time. Among today's topics of discussion...

SHUTDOWN POLITICS: Clearly this is becoming The Epstein Shutdown, at this point. Democrats are "very surprisingly united", says Digby, in their demands for reversing Donald Trump and the Republicans' radical health care cuts for tens of millions of Americans and for some sort of guarantee that Trump and his OMB Director Russ Vought won't simply double-cross any deal by rescinding it after Dems vote to reopen the government. Republicans, meanwhile, are revealing a number of cracks in their coalition, and appear to have no end game. That, even as House Speaker Mike Johnson continues to do Trump's bidding to prevent an almost certain vote on releasing the Epstein Files once he allows Arizona's Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva to be seated and the House to reopen for business. "It's clear that the government is being held hostage," observes Driftglass, "being shut down so that Russ Vought can gut it with impunity, and so that Mike Johnson can keep Trump's dirty secrets locked up."

TRUMP SEEKS VIOLENCE: Yesterday, our delusional President, referring to his deployment of the U.S. military against U.S. citizens here in Los Angeles, absurdly claimed that "had we not gone in at the beginning with a very strong powerful force, they would have lost L.A." That is, of course, a fantasy, as Digby and myself (both of us L.A. residents) are able to attest. She is careful to avoid any FCC language violations in her full, furious response: "It's BS. It is utter nonsense. It is like something from another planet." Meanwhile, Illinois resident Driftglass stands with his Gov. J.B. Pritzker who, he argues, is doing a good job of being both tough and funny in standing up to Trump's madness. As to the President's absurd claims of "war-ravaged" U.S. cities that he must save by unlawfully deploying the military: "It is an attempt to just keep escalating the lunatic rhetoric that they already believe. He is simply a vessel for the delivery of fascism by Russ Vought inside the government, and by Stephen Miller using armed forces...Their brain cannot accept that they are the bad guys."

TRUMP SEEKS VENGEANCE: His beauty queen pageant contestant turned insurance lawyer turned interim U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, has secured ridiculous indictments against Trump's former FBI Director James Comey and the sitting New York Attorney General Letitia James on direct orders from the White House. "It would be very surprising if they were able to get any conviction," says Digby, careful to avoid predictions, but adding: "It's very clear what this is. This is retribution."

'NO KINGS': But there are, apparently, plenty of hilarious inflatable frogs to go around. It should be a very colorful weekend, likely including the largest American protests in U.S. history on Saturday. Find a protest near you. George Soros will send you your paycheck, as usual. Maybe wear a colorful costume because, as Driftglass quips: "A bunch of people parading in inflatable animal suits and various other costumes, making noise and being goofy makes them look like the clowns they are"...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Extreme storms generate torrential rains and deadly floods from the East Coast to the West Coast to Alaska; GOP Senate confirms Trump's 'Sharpiegate' meteorologist to head NOAA; PLUS: Spain's massive blackout earlier this year was not caused by renewable energy, new report confirms... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Coal miners with black lung say they are 'cast aside to die' under Trump; Microplastics are everywhere. Here's one simple thing you can do to avoid them; Wildfires are getting deadlier and costing more. Experts warn they're becoming unstoppable; Climate investment is growth opportunity of 21st century, says economist; Towns may have to be abandoned due to floods with millions more homes in Great Britain at risk; US threatens nations that back IMO shipping emissions plan; The century-old ship sail technology finally catching on ... PLUS: Fossil fuels' comforting delusion... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump Administration is trying to reverse coal's decline, but apparently no one wants to buy it; Officials announce arrest in connection to the catastrophic Pacific Palisades Fire; Solar and wind power are growing faster than demand globally (but not in the U.S.); PLUS: Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics warns Trump's science cuts will have long term, negative consequences... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Wildfires are getting deadlier and costing more. Experts warn they’re becoming unstoppable; After gutting subsidies, Trump White House finds new ways to stifle solar; Exxon steps back from Texas Gulf Coast plastics plant; New England’s final coal plant shuts down years ahead of schedule; Supreme Court shoots down challenge to WA carbon market... PLUS: Experts warn that Colorado River use needs cutting immediately... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Massive oil refinery fire in Southern California set to spike gasoline prices; FEMA halts $300 million in emergency preparedness grants to states; PLUS: Trump Administration blocks billions in transit and clean energy funding to blue states... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): How shutdown gridlock could impede disaster preparedness; How Big Agriculture got its way in the latest MAHA report; Fracking waste in a landfill again poses a pollution problem in PA; Rising sea levels threaten over 100m buildings. Where does Europe stand?; Climate change is disrupting global wind speeds, impacting planetary health... PLUS: MAGA or Markets? Who will win the war on solar?... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: The partial federal government shutdown is soon heading into its second week. So far, Americans are blaming Trump and the Republicans for it. But that hasn't prevented our brain-addled President from deploying U.S. troops against U.S. citizens in U.S. cities that had the temerity to vote against him last year. Only the courts, so far, have been able to slow that down. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Before we get to our main topics today --- Trump's military invasion of the U.S. and the Democrats fight for affordable health care for tens of millions of Americans --- and listener calls to go with them, a public service announcement for listeners here in Southern California!

Vote-by-Mail ballots are now going out to all registered voters in the state for the November 4 Special Election for Prop 50. The ballot measure, if adopted, would allow the state to temporarily set aside the U.S. House Map for California created by the state's independent redistricting commission to allow new maps that could flip as many as five seats from "red" to "blue" in next year's midterms. That effort is in direct response to Texas redrawing its U.S. House Maps --- at the direction of Donald Trump --- to flip five mostly minority Democratic districts from "blue" to "red" next year.

But thousands of SoCal voters in temporary housing after their homes burned down during wildfires earlier this year are not getting their ballots automatically forwarded to them in the mail. Ballots aren't allowed to be forwarded. Those voters have to contact the Registrar's office to notify them of their temporary address in order to receive their ballot by mail. More details on that very important matter are currently right here. If you know anyone who has been dislocated by those fires, please refer them to that page, or let them know they must go to LAVote.gov (or call 800-815-2666) to add a temporary mailing address to their voter registration record to receive a VBM ballot in Los Angeles County.

Beyond that, we focus today in on the weekend's wild court actions up in Oregon, where a federal judge appointed by Trump during his first term has blocked his attempt to federalize the state's National Guard troops to invade Portland. Trump, consistently watching Fox "News" re-run five-year old footage from George Floyd protests in Portland, seems to believe the city is "war-ravaged" and "burning down". It is neither of those things, and U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut made that clear in her order [PDF] temporarily blocking Trump from federalizing the Oregon Guard and deploying them to Portland. In her ruling, she found the federal government argument was "untethered to facts" and that Portland was not "war-torn" or "under siege" by "Antifa, and other domestic terrorists." In fact, she warned, "This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law" and said that "Whether we choose to follow what the Constitution mandates …goes to the heart of what it means to live under the rule of law in the US." That all happened Saturday.

But then, in response on Sunday, Trump attempted to work around the judge's order by sending federalizes National Guard troops from California and Texas to Portland, forcing plaintiffs to go back to court in a late-night emergency hearing with Judge Immergut, who was forced to make clear, in a second ruling, that no troops from any state, were allowed for now to deploy to Portland.

In turn --- and even though he appointed her himself --- Trump is now attacking the judge, misgendering her by charging she "should be ashamed of himself." The attack comes as judges across the nation are facing hundreds of death threats --- particularly after blocking something Trump wants, even temporarily. Over the weekend, a judge's house in South Carolina was apparently blown up, with her husband and son hospitalized with serious injuries after the house was burned to the ground. She had reportedly been facing death threats for weeks after blocking the state from turning over its voter registration database to the Trump Administration.

By Monday, Trump was deploying hundreds of National Guard troops from Texas into Chicago, where both the state of Illinois and the city have now filed a similar suit to the one in Oregon. But, just an hour or so before airtime, the judge in that case declined, for now, to block the deployment. These stories, I'm sorry to say, are likely to continue, as Trump has threatened similar military attacks against "the enemy within" in states and cities that voted against him last year.

Moreover, the federal government shutdown continues today, as Democrats fight to prevent some 25 million Americans from seeing the costs of their health care more than doubled as of January 1. Despite what some have referred to as "conventional wisdom" that Dems would be blamed for the shutdown, so far early polling shows that Trump and Republicans are taking most of the blame and that, by huge majorities, Americans support the extension of Obamacare subsidies that will otherwise run out at the end of the year unless Republicans reverse their plan to defund the popular health care exchanges.

In the second half of today's show, we open the phones to a bunch of lively calls on all of the above!...

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