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...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Today on The BradCast: The corporate capitulation is worse than you think. And it strikes right at the heart of what this nation's founders saw as perhaps the most important protection for freedom from monarchs and tyrants. Ya know, like the one we ended up with anyway. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

First up, a few interesting results reported today from both special elections and primaries held on Tuesday in a number of local jurisdictions across the country, including Detroit, Seattle, Delaware and Rhode Island. In short, the news, as we have seen in elections virtually everywhere so far this year, was largely very good for both Democrats and democracy.

The news was less good out of D.C. last night, where the nation's embarrassing Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. --- a man with no professional background in either science or medicine --- announced the Department is now cutting $500 million in grants for the development of new mRNA vaccines of the type that recently, arguably miraculously, helped the planet emerge from the most deadly pandemic in a century.

Of course, if you either didn't hear about that disturbing news from HHS or had no idea how many people are now likely to die unnecessarily because of it, you may have your own favorite corporate media outlet to blame.

Following Donald Trump's gutting of the 80-year old Voice of America earlier this year, his and the Republican Congress' ending of federal funding for NPR and PBS a week or so ago, and the absurd $16 million dollar settlements of ridiculous defamation lawsuits filed by Trump against the corporate owners of Disney/ABC and Paramount/CBS, the largest media conglomerates in the nation continue to rollover in fear, in hopes of placating and/or currying favor with our press-freedom hating, tyrannical man-baby President.

All of that in strict contradiction with the intentions of the U.S. Constitution's framers, who specifically wrote protections into our founding document for just one industry: a free press. All of that is detailed in a new report published last week by FreePress.net entitled "A More Perfect Media: Saving America’s Fourth Estate from Billionaires, Broligarchy and Trump".

That report is meant as a companion to the nonprofit media watchdog's newly released "Media Capitulation Index", grading the independence --- or, far more often, lack thereof --- of the nation's 35 largest corporate media conglomerates.

We're joined today to discuss both reports and the chilling state of our formerly free press, by TIMOTHY KARR, Senior Director of Strategy and Communications at Free Press. We've got a lot to dig into, including how we might finally dig our way out of this disaster.

His group's Media Capitulation Index, amusingly, scores each of the 35 American media conglomerates examined by Karr's group from 1 to 5 Chickens, rating them from "vulnerable" to "compromising" to "capitulating" to "obeying" to "propaganda," respectively. There is one other possible score, a single Star representing "independent". Remarkably, only two of the 35 media giants examined received a Star. For the rest? A whooole lotta Chickens.

So, what distinguishes what we are seeing now under Trump from what we've seen these companies do in years past in hopes of currying favor with previous Presidents of both major parties? Karr explains that what we are witnessing now is of an entirely "different order" than anything we have ever seen in our nation's nearly 250-year history.

"Wealthy media companies were aligning themselves with an authoritarian-minded leader who had little regard for the First Amendment --- that he swore on the Bible to uphold and defend --- on January 20th," observes Karr. "This is capitulation of a different order. It's not a bending to prevailing political winds. It's a complete caving to an authoritarian, and abdicating their responsibility --- the responsibility protected under the First Amendment --- to act as a check against abuses of power, to speak truth to power. That has pretty dangerous consequences for democracy."

As we are now seeing those dangerous consequences play out, we've got a lot to discuss along that score, along with how might eventually emerge from this long national nightmare with even stronger protections for a free press. Perhaps even, with news organizations that might not find it necessary to bend over in order for their corporate owners to receive government approval in completely different industries in which the owner is massively invested. (Hint: Look to the states, not the federal government...for now.)

Anyway, far too much in our conversation today to adequately summarize here. So, I won't even try to go much further. I will urge you, however, to tune in to today's show if you value a truly independent media, and appreciate --- as our founders did --- how crucial that idea is in preventing the rise of a monarch of the very type they were hoping to break free from. (And, how did that work out?...)

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

It is not some dystopian Orwellian future. It is now. Our wannabe-dictator President is --- successfully! --- assaulting and undermining free speech and press freedoms left and right, public and private. On today's BradCast we connect those dots and open the phone lines over your public airwaves (while we still have access to them!), to discuss all of that and what can be done about it. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Sure, discussing the fact that Donald Trump's name is likely all over the so-called "Epstein Files" is fun too. But, if all of the major news outlets which might report on that are systematically shut down or intimidated into pulling their punches, what then?

Shortly after taking office, Trump unlawfully shut down Voice of America and its sister networks. They are funded and mandated by Congress --- by law --- to broadcast "accurate, objective, and comprehensive" news and information around the globe in dozens of languages to hundreds of millions of listeners, often in authoritarian nations without any other access to a free press. The truth about what is happening to our government must not get out to the rest of the world, apparently.

Last week, his Trump's cowardly Congressional Republicans took the rare step of rescinding $1.1 billion --- two years of previously appropriated, bipartisan funding --- from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund NPR radio and PBS television stations across the country. That loss of funding will be particularly painful to small stations in rural areas that perform critical, often life-saving functions for their communities. That, after Trump sought the Congressional rescission by lying about the CPB, describing the private entity as a left-wing "monstrosity". (Even if they were, which they are not, it would still be an outrageous violation of the Constitution's First Amendment freedom of the press mandates.)

That move came the week after CBS, currently owned by Paramount, agreed to a ridiculous $16 million settlement with Trump in a lawsuit he filed over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris last year. The suit would have been laughed out of court had it ever got there. But Paramount needs Trump's FCC to approve a buyout by a rightwing company named Skydance. And so, in Stephen Colbert's words early last week on CBS's The Late Show, Paramount agreed to give Trump a "big fat bribe" to make the absurd lawsuit go away.

Two days later, CBS announced The Late Show would be shutting down entirely after next season for "financial reasons". On Friday morning, Trump celebrated the "firing" of Colbert --- the nation's top-rated late night host and long-time Trump critic --- by crowing, "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," before adding: "I hear [ABC's] Jimmy Kimmel is next." (ABC and its owner Disney previously settled a similarly ridiculous defamation suit with Trump for similarly cowardly and corrupt reasons.)

Skydance's purchase of Paramount should now go very smoothly with Trump's corrupt federal government. The company's CEO, a Trump supporter, met with Trump's FCC Chair last week and noted, according to documents filed by the company in support of the merger, that they "discussed Skydance’s commitment to unbiased journalism and its embrace of diverse viewpoints, principles that will ensure CBS’s editorial decision-making reflects the varied ideological perspectives of American viewers." That, just days after Skydance held early acquisition talks to buy a far-right media outlet.

While Trump is killing public media, in the form of the 80+ year old Voice of America and its Congressionally-mandated sister networks, as well as clawing back previously approved bipartisan federal funding for NPR and PBS (the tiniest drop in the bucket in a federal budget that, as of July 4, guts health care and food assistance to millions, while giving $4 trillion in tax cuts, largely to the wealthy, while exploding the national debt by $3.4 trillion), he is also taking down major commercial broadcast outlets, their newsrooms, and even their entertainment divisions that dare to tell the truth about Donald Trump.

Moreover, it's no longer only outlets perceived as "liberal" that Trump is abusing his power to target. On Friday, Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against Wall Street Journal, its parent company News Corp. (which also owns Fox "News"), its owner Rupert Murdoch, and two WSJ journalist who reported last week on a birthday card that Trump allegedly penned to his former longtime friend, sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. The card is said to include a hand-drawn sketch of a woman, signed by Trump, along with comments about the “wonderful secrets” the two men purportedly shared. That, as Trump is taking fire --- even from MAGA --- for blocking the Dept. of Justice from releasing hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence and video recordings said to document the 2019 criminal indictment of Epstein, and an unknown number of references that may implicate his longtime bestie, Donald Trump.

This is not a warning about a potential attack and an attempted undermining of the American free press. It is a loud, blaring alarm that it is ALREADY underway, and is likely to go much further still , unless we all stand up against it. All of us.

In the second part of today's show we open up the phone lines --- and our public airwaves --- to callers on all of the above...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Yikes. On today's BradCast, Trump's fascistic lawlessness is really taking hold this week in several areas...with a lot of help from his fellow corrupt Republicans. A few GOPers, however, who serve as election officials in Colorado, aren't having it. And we are grateful to them. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Lots of news today, and not much of it encouraging amid America's existential fight against Donald Trump's rising tyranny...

• Late last night, for the first time since 1999, in a simple majority vote that avoids the filibuster, Senate Republicans approved a Trump-requested package to rescind some $9 billion dollars in federal spending that had been previously approved through the bipartisan appropriations process. About $8 billion was to have been for foreign aid, and more than $1 billion was slashed from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting which helps fund NPR and PBS stations around the country. That is likely to kill a number of public radio and TV stations around the country entirely, particularly in rural areas which heavily rely on CPB support to continuing broadcasting over our public airwaves. After one more vote in the GOP House tonight or tomorrow, the bill heads to the President for his signature.

• Perhaps in hopes that it will somehow make up for Trump's refusal to release the "Epstein Files" (that he is almost certainly named in, many times), the Dept. of Justice in DC on Wednesday night ordered the firing of a top career federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York (SDNY). The longtime, very well respected prosecutor is Maurene Comey, prosecutor of the late Jeffrey Epstein's case, as well as his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell (who is currently serving 20 years for her part in Epstein's child sex trafficking scheme.) Comey --- whose "fear is the tool of the tyrant" statement to colleagues upon leaving is here --- also happens to be the daughter of Trump's imagined enemy, James Comey, the Republican FBI Director fired by Trump during his first term for his refusal to violate the law on Trump's behalf.

• In the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Democrats walked out after Republicans prematurely ended debate on the Appeals Court nomination of Emil Bove, one of Trump's criminal defense attorneys who is currently serving as a top DOJ official. Trump has nominated him for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. Since being tapped for a top job at DOJ, Bove has played a key role in the Department's dismissal of corruption charges against NYC's mayor; headed up weaponized mass revenge firings at the Department; threatened officials who resisted Trump's agenda; and, according to a mountain of on-the-record evidence from a DoJ whistleblower, instructed prosecutors to defy court orders in immigration cases. His nomination is opposed by hundreds of bipartisan prosecutors and judges. So, naturally, Trump wants him to have a lifetime appointment as a federal appeals court judge and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee were happy to approve his nomination today in a 12 to 0 vote after Dems walked out in protest.

• With unpopular Republicans desperate to hold on to their very narrow majority rule in Congress, so they can continue to abuse it, some are now turning to voter suppression schemes in advance of next year's critical mid-term elections. In Wyoming, where it is already unlawful for non-citizens to vote, its MAGA Sec. of State Chuck Gray is implementing a new requirement for physical proof of citizenship for voting. Voting rights advocates --- some of whom are suing --- argue that the new law is certain to disenfranchise thousands of otherwise eligible voters (particularly women, whose married names may not be reflected on papers such as passports, REAL IDs, birth certifications) in a state which, with the recent help of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, has been able to uncover exactly ZERO cases of noncitizen voting in the state's most populous county.

• But the most alarming news this week regarding the Trump White House's assault on voting rights and voters and elections and democracy itself this week, comes out of Colorado. On Thursday the Washington Post reported on what appears to have been a --- so far --- failed scheme to breach sensitive voting systems in 10 counties across the state. The Denver Post subsequently confirmed and added to the report. The clumsy plot appears remarkably similar to the one that resulted in the unlawful copying and theft of proprietary statewide voting and tabulation software by Trump allies in Coffee County, Georgia in early 2021. (We covered that story closely, and helped break some of it, on this show.) In Colorado, however, where Republican County election Clerks say they were contacted last week by someone said to be working for the White House, seeking access to the voting systems by DHS, all of them say they rejected the attempt. No doubt, memories are fresh in the state of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who is currently serving 9 years in prison related to having breached her own County's voting system hardware and software following the 2020 election. Much more on all of this on today's program.

• And, finally, as the "Summer of Floods" continues, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report on that; a new NASA analysis on the dramatic, climate-fueled increase in extreme weather events; and on the Trump Dept. of Defense decision to cut off access to key satellites used in the forecasting of hurricanes...

Told ya today's news wasn't great. So..."enjoy" today's BradCast!...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

On today's BradCast: Some maddening facts about what awaits when Robert Mueller's Special Counsel report is handed over to the Attorney General and what will and won't likely be in it. [Audio link to show follows below.]

But, first up today...in "lighter" news...some followup to our detailed coverage yesterday of the remarkable events leading up to the unanimous 5 to 0 vote by the North Carolina State Board of Elections for a new election in the state's 9th Congressional U.S. House District. The action was in response to what the board described as a "coordinated, unlawful, substantially resourced absentee ballot fraud scheme" in last November's election by the campaign of Trump-endorsed Baptist minister Mark Harris. The decision followed on stunning surprise testimony against Harris by his own son at the Board's public hearings on the matter this week.

Among our follow-up coverage today: the (not-at-all-shocking if wildly-hypocritical silence from GOP "voter fraud" fraudsters who've made their living for years lying about phony fraud to encourage laws that suppress the Democratic-leaning vote, while hoaxing Fox "News" brain-addled clowns like Donald Trump into believing there's an epidemic of Democratic voter fraud, rather than the insider election fraud which can easily flip the results of an entire election --- as seen in North Carolina. It was also nice to hear the NC Democratic Chairman finally explain the difference between "voter fraud" and "election fraud" to NPR's Steve Inskeep on today's Morning Edition. We'll see if NPR can remember that difference in the future.

And, speaking of GOP hypocrisy, long-time Trump-supporting billionaire and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged today by Florida police for two instances of soliciting prostitution, as he was caught amidst a probe into human sex trafficking. Ironically enough, human trafficking has long been disingenuously used by Trump to support his "National Emergency" declaration to steal money from the military for use in building his border wall with Mexico. The news of the warrant for Kraft's arrest today raises a panoply of interesting issues which Desi and I take a few minutes to discuss.

Then, with several media outlets reporting this week that a report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller may be coming as soon as next week (and, at least one outlet today reporting that's not so), the question of what happens whenever that report is finally delivered to the Attorney General is coming to the forefront.

My guest today, Professor STANLEY M. BRAND, Distinguished Fellow in Law and Government at Penn State University, recently argued in a column at The Conversation that those hoping the public may see this report after it's turned over, by statute, to Trump's newly-minted AG William Barr may be in for some disappointment. Brand, who formerly served for eight years as General Counsel to the U.S. House, now teaches a course on the Independent Counsel at Penn State, explains how it differs from the Special Counsel statute that replaced it after the Clinton era. He suggests the public may never see any of Mueller's "confidential" report.

More frustratingly, he tells me why he believes that Mueller is unlikely to indict the President or recommend such an indictment and how the by-the-book prosecutor is similarly unlikely to recommend impeachment in his report. Unlike the old Independent Counsel statute in effect under Nixon and Clinton, the new statute, he explains, as written by a Democrat, is limited to criminal matters only (not legislative matters such as impeachment) and requires Mueller largely to issue a "confidential" report with little more than details on who was prosecuted and who was not, and what, if any, actions were blocked by the Attorney General overseeing the probe. What Barr then does with that report, he explains, is a separate matter.

Brand, who says he has worked with both Mueller and Barr in the past, says "you may see portions of it, or you may see selected excerpts, or representations of what it contains, if Bill Barr --- and I take him at his word --- wants to be as transparent as he can within the rules and regulations."

In somewhat more comforting comments, he also contends, in response to my query about the curious timing of Barr being seated just days before news (accurate or not) of the report's imminent release: "I have no notion why it's wrapping up --- if it is --- at this particular point, but I have confidence that, if it is wrapping up, it's because Mueller has decided he's finished." He adds, "Nobody is going to push Bob Mueller around. So if there's a conclusion to this, it's because Mueller has determined in his judgment that it's time and he has no further actions to bring."

Brand also offers his insight on whether Mueller would testify to Congress, if subpoenaed, about what was in the report if it's not released to the public or even to Congress. The central frustration at the core of this conversation, at least for me, is that Brand essentially argues that Mueller can't indict Trump (thanks to very debatable, if long-held DoJ "guidelines") and wouldn't cite evidence of impeachable offensives in his report, since that is not part of the new statute's mandate, as written in the wake of "excesses" under the old statute.

"Leon Jaworski, who was the Independent Counsel in the Nixon case, decided that he had sufficient evidence to indict but determined it was not something he should do, given the ongoing investigation into impeachment by the House of Representatives," Brand explains. "Ken Starr, for his part, determined that he could indict a sitting President but determined as a matter of discretion not to do that, because the statute provided a specific mechanism for referring that type of evidence to the House for impeachment, which he did, and which resulted in an impeachment proceeding of President Clinton."

But now, If Mueller can't indict or recommend impeachment, how is this current process supposed to bring accountability for a scofflaw President? There is a lot more to dig into in our discussion, as maddening as it may be at times. It does, however, raise the clear need for a long-overdue Congressional Hearing in the U.S. House Judiciary Committee into whether a sitting President can, under the Constitution, be criminally indicted (a hearing that would, on its own, likely bring some accountability for our current Executive). It also raises the question of why the hell Democrats are waiting for the Mueller Report to be issued before taking action to bring accountability through impeachment, especially since even they may never see this report! If not this President, then what President would ever merit impeachment proceedings in Congress?!

Finally, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that a vote will be held in the U.S. House on Tuesday to block Trump's "National Emergency" declaration under the National Emergency Act. It'll likely pass in the Democratic-controlled House, but what are its chances in the GOP Senate, which much also hold a vote within 18 days of a resolution being adopted by the House? And, will EITHER chamber be able to overcome an almost-certain veto by the President?

That all remains to be seen, but satirist Randy Rainbow has a few musical thoughts on Trump's "Border Lies" to play out us out today at the end of another impossible week...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

On today's BradCast, I’m in for Brad and Desi today – Angie Coiro, of In Deep with Angie Coiro.

My guests are AMBER McKINNEY, from Law360, discussing the DACA ruling from the 9th circuit and Trump’s latest royal edicts on immigration; and D.D. GUTTENPLAN, editor-at-large at The Nation, and author of the new book The Next Republic: The Rise of a New Radical Majority.

Of course, we have to start off with a lovely story: the Wall Street Journal reports that Donald Trump's been caught red-handed, connected directly to the hush money sent to former mistresses.

Then it's onto the two ongoing big stories: horrific fires in Northern and Southern California, and the elections grinding on in Florida, Arizona, and Georgia. Both the NAACP and a passel of retired generals have weighed in against GOP interference.

A review of the numerous headlines on Trump's efforts to alter immigration policy by presidential proclamation, and his loss in the 9th Circuit court on his efforts to undercut DACA.

A sprinkling of good news (Ruth Bader Ginsberg already back and work! Thousands in the street protecting Mueller!), then D.D. Guttenplan with his new book on revolutionaries rejuvenating our republic.

Download MP3 or listen online below...

On today's BradCast, you won't hear Brad or Desi --- because you'll be very busy hearing me. I'm the host of In Deep with Angie Coiro.

You may have been fooled for a second --- nah, you're too smart --- but casual observers might mistake Jeff Sessions' announcement of a new DOJ "Religious Liberty Task Force" as an effort to address genuine hate crimes, including attacks on Muslim Americans, Jewish Americans, and Sikh Americans. But of course not. He made it clear it’s about bakers afraid of serving LGBTQ customers, or taxpayers having to support icky women – that sort of thing. ANNIE LAURIE GAYLOR is co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. She puts this latest news in the wider context of Trump’s pro-Christian pandering. While we're at it, we look at how bad for basic civil rights Brett Kavanaugh would be on the Supreme Court.

More news headlines, then DAVE JOHNSON of Seeing The Forest ponders how the concepts of markets, capitalism, and socialism get contorted by propaganda. Even respectable journalists fall victim...

Download MP3 or listen online below...

On today's BradCast, guest hosted by me, Angie Coiro, it's Iran Iran Iran - today's developments and (with help from the BradCast archive) historical context. Then a changeup - the second of our interviews about growing up a black woman in America.

Israel is one of the few supporters of Donald Trump's move to disengage from the 2015 international nuclear agreement with Iran. Up front in the show, a collection of less favorable - and sometimes frankly mystified - reactions from world leaders, mainstream media, and social media.

Then for invaluable context: Brad's October interview with Trita Parsi of The National Iranian American Council . They detail the runup to today's developments: how Congress addressed the issue, and the potential it has to start a war.

Finally, it's the second part of this week's look at growing up black and female in America. Today's perspective comes from academic and memoirist Julie Lythcott-Haims, with her book Real American. Her life with a black dad and a white mom makes an interesting contrast to yesterday's guest Morgan Jerkins, with Julie coming of age in the 1970s. That was a very different America (although not different enough, as you'll hear) from what Morgan experienced in the aughts.

You can hear both of those interviews uncut at the In Deep with Angie Coiro podcast page.

Download MP3 or listen online below...

On today's BradCast, guest hosted by Angie Coiro, we discuss the revelations of Lies, Incorporated: The World of Post-Truth Politics, from Ari Rabin-Havt and Media Matters for America. Then an analysis of the court case that's garnered attention throughout and beyond the US: the conviction and sentencing of attempted rapist Brock Turner of Stanford.

Ari Rabin-Havt hosts The Agenda on Sirius XM. He collaborated with Media Matters for America on the book Lies, Incorporated: The World of Post-Truth Politics. He tracks to the source of lies that will not die, like death panels and climate change denial. Surprisingly, the shadowy, well-funded individuals that do this work aren't always motivated by the money. Remember Todd Akin's claim that "If it’s legitimate(!!) rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down?” Turns out he may have really believed that.

Also today: why did the judge in the trial of Stanford athlete Brock Turner ignore both mandatory minimum sentence guidelines and the prosecutor to bestow a sentence much lower than anyone expected? Guests Imani Gandy and Sajid Khan, both attorneys, weigh in on what it means in court to be white, male, upper middle class, and a jock.

Download MP3 or listen online below...

[Update 5/31/2016: A text transcript of my interview with Stein from the show posted below has now been published here by Salon...]

In advance of Monday's deadline for registering to vote or changing party affiliation before California's June 7th Presidential Primary, I'm happy to be joined on today's BradCast by Dr. Jill Stein, the 2012 Green Party nominee and 2016 candidate for President. [Audio link to complete interview below.]

In our wide-ranging conversation, Stein offers her case for why voters in both CA and around the country should vote Green this year, explains what she sees as the problem with the Democratic Party (as well as the Republican and Libertarian Parties), offers details on her recent invitation to Bernie Sanders to join forces, given what she describes as a "smear campaign" being run against him by the DNC, and responds to questions about being a "spoiler" in both the CA primary, as well as the November General Election.

"The guys running the show in the Democratic Party are basically the funders --- and that's predatory banks, fossil fuel giants, war profiteers, and insurance companies," Stein tells me. "With the Democratic Party you see basically a 'fake left-go right' situation, where they allow principled, inspired campaigns to stand up and be seen, but they sabotage them when push comes to shove. That, unfortunately, is what we see go on right now with the Sanders campaign, which is making a valiant effort here to do the right thing and change the party."

Alluding to the moment when media used a rallying cry from 2004 Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean in order to undermine his campaign, Stein charges a similar "smear campaign" is now being run against Sanders by the Democratic establishment in the wake of last weekend's raucus Nevada state Democratic Convention in Las Vegas. "I think what we're seeing now is the Dean Scream of 2016," she says. "This is the sabotage of the Sanders' campaign, being conducted by the Democrats."

Stein also responds to my questions about why, after arguing for a more inclusive (small "d") democratic process, her own Green Party will be holding a closed primary --- open to affiliated party members only --- in CA on June 7th, as well as on the charge that she might serve as a "spoiler" this November.

"This politics of fear that tells you you have to vote against what you're afraid of, instead of for what you believe in --- the politics of fear has a track record. It has delivered everything we were afraid of. All of the things you were told you had to bite your tongue and let the 'lesser evil' speak for you --- we've gotten all those things, by the droves. The expanding wars, the meltdown of the climate, the offshoring of our jobs, the attack on immigrants. We've gotten all of that." Stein says. "Not that there aren't some differences between the two parties, but they're not enough to save your life, to save your job, or to save your planet. This is a race to the bottom between the two sold-out corporate parties."

Okay. But if a vote for her might actually result in a President Donald Trump, does she really believe it's smarter to vote Green this Fall? Tune in for her answer.

And speaking of that "smear campaign" against Sanders that has, indeed, followed last Saturday's Democratic state convention in Nevada, with repeated charges made by media and top party officials, such as DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that there was "violence" at the event by Sanders supporters, we join NPR in doing a bit of fact-checking on the evidence said to support those very serious allegations.

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Perhaps we should call it the David Gregory Technique, since the dreadful Meet the Press host seems to use it, and little more, week in and week out during his usually useless interviews with public officials.

Here's how the David Gregory Technique works: Ask a public official for "your response to that charge?" Get that response. And then move on to the next question. No follow-up. No challenge. It's that simple. Just get their "response" on record --- like an in-person performance of the public official's already-published press release responding, either accurately or not, to the same issue.

Afterword, news consumers are no more informed or enlightened than before going in, other than to become familiar with the political talking points in play, whether they are based in fact or reality or not. Who knows?

Such was the treatment that Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) enjoyed last week from Michele Martin on the apparently ironically named TELL ME MORE program on National Public Radio concerning his spate of allegedly unlawful, attempted voter suppression programs in the Sunshine State. NBC's David Gregory couldn't have done it better himself...

Guest editorial by Ernest A. Canning

To what extent has xenophobia greased the wheels of the right-wing smear machine?

For those who follow The BRAD BLOG, the pattern is all too recognizable.

A venal hard-right, operating through a pathological, race-baiting con-artist, like Andrew Breitbart, targets, for one of its deceptive smear campaigns, a group, like ACORN, or an individual, like Van Jones or Shirley Sherrod.

The smear is amplified by the propagandists at Fox "News." It reverberates throughout the right-wing echo chamber (which has usurped the majority of our public airwaves to bolster their agenda). The smear is then repeated by pliant mainstream corporate media, which will, at best, offer up a belated, chiseling, inaccurate "correction" --- too little and too late to undo the damage wrought by a Democratic "opposition" which timidly seeks to distance itself from the smeared as they scurry to hand the hard-right what it seeks (e.g., a bill stripping ACORN or NPR of public funds, or the forced resignation of the targeted individual).

There is no doubt but that some of the corporate media complicity derives from common financial interests. As Bill Moyers observed in Moyers on America, "media giants...exalt commercial values at the expense of democratic value...squeezing out the journalism that tries to get as close as possible to the verifiable truth."

But there is another issue, magnified by two recent events: (1) The matter-of-fact acceptance of the prompt resignation of two NPR officials over a secretly taped and deceptively-edited video hit piece in which two of convicted federal criminal and Republican con-man James O'Keefe's flunkies posed as members of a Muslim organization seeking to help fund NPR, and (2) The deafening corporate media silence over an outrageously racist remark by a right-wing Kansas state representative who compared "illegal immigrants" to "feral pigs"...

Still on the road and still a bit under the weather, so here's some very quick hits for now...

Naturally Premature Resigners: NPR CEO Vivian Schiller has resigned following the resignation of chief fund raiser Ron Schiller (no relation) after the latter Schiller was featured in a secretly video-taped attempted hit piece with two of convicted criminal and Republican con-man James O'Keefe's flunkies performing as members of a Muslim foundation. Having watched the edited version of the video tape, I have no clue as to why anybody at NPR has resigned. (Sidenote: Imagine if even half of the RWers who committed actual crimes, real ones that actually hurt and/or killed people, resigned in shame as fast as non-RWers resign in shame after having committed absolutely no crime at all.)

Pro-Life in IL: Gov. Pat Ryan (D) signs a bill banning the death penalty in the state. It is the 16th to do so. Prisoners previously on death row have had their sentences commuted to life without the possibility of parole. Welcome to the civilized world, Illinois!

GOP War on Voting in FL: Gov. Rick Scott (R)'s executive clemency board pulled a fast one by changing the rules for re-enfranchising former felons after former Gov. Charlie Crist (R) had previously restored their voting rights. "The board did not release the proposed rule changes to the public until moments before the meeting began and limited public testimony to two-minutes per person for a total of 30 minutes before unanimously approving the changes," reports Palm Beach Post. "Civil rights advocates, including five black lawmakers, objected to the rule changes, saying there is no evidence the current process ... is not working." Leon County Supervisor of Election, and election integrity hero Ion Sancho says the board is turning back the clock to FL's post Civil War era with restrictions "whose sole purpose was to ensure that the former slaves of this state could never reintegrate into the society."

GOP War on Voting Nationwide: ThinkProgress details GOP efforts in 22 states around the nation to impose new polling place Photo ID restrictions likely to disenfranchise millions of elderly, minority and student (read: Democratic-leaning) voters. That, even though there is no "voter fraud epidemic" in this country, or any state in the union, at least not among Democrats. Republican voter fraud, however, as we noted late last week, when IN's new GOP Sec. of State was indicted on 3 counts of felony voter fraud, is a different matter all together.

2012: Newt Gingrich says he cheated on his wife because he loves his country so much. Or something. Sarah Palin won't be in the first GOP Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library (which reminds me that she's only ever been in one national debate, and that was with just one person, Joe Biden. I have a feeling she'll not want to participate in any "real" debates with a bunch of other folks, and therefore, while I don't make predictions, I'll predict she will not be running for President.)

In Memoriam: David Broder, WaPo's "Dean of the Washington Press Corps," died today at the age of 81. The death of the Washington Press Corp itself, however, has yet to be officially reported, even as its passing occurred quietly years ago without public notice.

Discuss.

As mentioned yesterday, on Monday night, wingnut propagandist Andrew Breitbart tweeted to me...

...in reply to The BRAD BLOG's recent series of articles highlighting, among other things, how he lied, along with his accused federal felon employee James O'Keefe, in order to sell their phony ACORN hit videos to gullible media --- and how the New York Times, and so many others, fell for it hook, line, and not-yet-retracted sinker.

But, as it turns out, evidence from Breitbart's own Sept. 21, 2009 Washington Times column reveals that Breitbart did, in fact, not tell the "truth every step of way." In fact, he out and out lied while selling O'Keefe's all together phony misrepresentation (some might call it a lie) that he "dressed as a pimp" while "asking for - and getting - help for various illegal activities," as Breitbart inaccurately reported in his column.

Breitbart's promotion of those videos, as published on his own BigGovernment.com website, with the spectacular, media-friendly marquee selling point of low-level ACORN workers so stupid that they couldn't even spot a skinny white kid as a phony "pimp," kick-started the sting video campaign that was built and sold on an utter lie.

More evidence has been published today at Media Matters highlighting the effectiveness of that lie, and how media outlets from one side of the country to the other --- not just the New York Times as we've shown --- were utterly bamboozled and played for chumps by Breitbart and O'Keefe's phony scheme.

Furthermore, when confronted with the lies --- yes, lies --- in his column, while on the air live last night, Breitbart chose to do what he always does...lie about them...

The parade of disenfranchised and/or soon-to-be-disenfranchised elderly, nuns, U.S. veterans (even those disabled in Iraq and Afghanistan), hurricane victims, and other Democratic-leaning voters continues this week, following the recent Supreme Court decision to allow the disenfranchisement of thousands of such (previously) legal voters in Indiana.

While much of the coverage --- such as today's report by Art Levine at HuffPo --- has been intelligent and serious, the New York Times took the lazy way out in a front page story today, lending credence to the discredited GOP "voter fraud" huckster, Mark F. "Thor" Hearne, with quotes and reference to his defunct, sham organization, The American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR).

Writing about him and it, as if he were legit, and as if the ACVR were still in operation, the article's author, Ian Urbina --- who has written very good reports in the past --- didn't bother to mention the controversy surrounding Hearne and his group, that they had disappeared themselves under the glare of the U.S. Attorney Purge scandal, that they had lied on federal tax forms claiming that the group had not "attempted to influence national, state, or local legislation, including any attempt to influence public opinion on a legislative matter or referendum" (fraudulent tax form here), that Hearne himself has been behind every step of the systematic and dishonest scheme to get laws of this sort on the books across the country, and finally, Urbina didn't even bother to note that Hearne had been the national general counsel to Bush/Cheney '04 Inc. and remains the top election lawyer for the Republican National Lawyer's Association.

It's all easy to find, of course. We've even set up a Special Coverage page at https://BradBlog.com/ACVR so folks like Urbina --- and NPR who similarly quoted Hearne as if he were legit recently --- wouldn't have to look too far.

But darn that "liberal media" again. For the record, we sought comment from Urbina, who we've been a source for in the past, and who has done good work over the years, but he declined to comment on our criticism here.

In the days immediately following the horrible SCOTUS decision, we quickly turned to our old home state of Missouri, where the huckster Hearne has been basing his well-funded voter suppression operation on behalf of the White House and the RNC for years, going back at least as far as the moment we originally outed him in 2005 just after he had created the not "non-partisan," tax-exempt front group, ACVR, and testified just days later at a Congressional hearing, led by Ohio's felonious Rep. Bob Ney. Hearne told of fraud having been committed in Ohio in 2004, but by John Kerry's campaign, after Hearne described himself to legislatures only as a "longtime advocate of voter rights and an attorney experienced in election law."

We called on MO's Sec. of State Robin Carnahan for an exclusive interview, while we were hosting KPFK's "Special Election Year Coverage" last week (audio here), and took the opportunity to inform her, if she didn't already know, that Hearne's group lied on his federal tax form, and has, to this day, illegally failed to discose the source of his group's $1 million in start-up funding.

Our interview with Carnahan took place even as Missouri's Republican legislature was in mid-debate on the House floor about a new state Constitutional Amendment to require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote and for a similarly draconian Photo ID requirement as those approved by the SCOTUS for the polling places in the Hoosier State.

Kansas City Star reporter Dave Helling noticed our interview with Carnahan, and wrote a quick item about it, noting her characterization of these anti-voter efforts as "absurd," and alleging that she has not been quite as available to "reporters in the state"...

...But whether the MO SoS has been available to Helling or not, she has been making quite a bit of noise ever since, concerning what a study by her office has found to be some 240,000 largely Democrati-leaning voters in the Show-Me State who would be disenfranchised by the Republican law as she explained to us on air.

Meanwhile, over in Arizona, a law that has already made it on to the books will similarly be keeping legal Americans from casting their legal votes this year.

Thor Hearne deserves a raise...