Before things get really dirty today on today's BradCast, breaking news on Planned Parenthood getting hacked and what that should mean for your electoral system; a U.S. Senator reports that Obama plans to reject the Keystone XL pipeline; NSA plans to finally destroy American phone records (thanks to Edward Snowden); and approval ratings fall off a cliff for the Republican Party --- especially by Republicans!

Then, though you may need a shower afterward (I do!), the latest Trump mess on allegations of 'rape' by his former wife Ivana and the amazing response to those claims by Trump's long-time attorney --- who needs to be fired...immediately.

Yes, this is the man who is now the front-runner for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in 2016. Moreover, the first official Presidential debate is scheduled on Fox "News" for a week from Thursday. So, I guess it's time to start covering the man as we'd cover any other legitimate candidate, much less the front-runner, right?

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report to make everything better again --- except for that stuff about the imminent destruction of the human race...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hillary Clinton pledges to go big --- very big --- on solar; Jeb Bush calls for eliminating all energy subsidies; PLUS: New study suggests worst case sea level rise may happen much sooner than previously thought... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Thousands of salmon die in hotter-than-usual Northwest rivers; Offshore Wind in the Atlantic Would Provide Twice the Number of Jobs, Energy as Offshore Drilling; Alaska's terrifying wildfire season and what it says about climate change; Only 30,000 Chevy Bolts A Year Because….?; More And Bigger Drilling-Linked Earthquakes Rattle Oklahoma; Louisianans Blind to Mercury Contamination in Water, Fish Due to Budget Cuts... PLUS: Enbridge Anniversary: Profiles From the Frontlines of an Oil Spill... and much, MUCH more! ...

Before we get to Hillary Clinton and the awful truth about her climate plan and climate change itself on today's BradCast, Bernie Sanders is now leading all the major Republicans in national polling now.

That's right, in head-to-head national match-ups between the independent U.S. Senator from Vermont and Jeb Bush, Scott Walker or even Donald Trump, Sanders wins the Presidency --- if the election was held today, and those who wanted to vote got to vote (and got to have their votes counted as intended) --- according to a new CNN/USAToday/Gallup poll.

Nonetheless, the corporate media still loves to ignore Sanders. Though, thanks in part to the #BlackLivesMatter protesters that interrupted him during a progressive forum last week (the intra-progressive controversy we've been covering over the past week), he was finally allowed to appear on Meet the Press over the weekend.

Also, over the weekend, Trump continued to widen his lead against the rest of the Republican field and Hillary Clinton offered a tepid plan on how she would begin to deal with climate change.

We speak on today's show to David Roberts, the great environmental journalist from Vox.com (formerly of Grist.org), about Clinton's plan and the awful truth about both her plan and everyone else's.

"It's so polarized between the parties that Hillary can say anything she wants," Roberts tells me about her plan to add half a billion solar panels to the nation's grid by 2021. "But, as long as the House is in Republican hands they are foursquare against any of this --- any clean energy, any efficiency, anything that restrains fossil fuel in any way...If we're being honest with ourselves, what she's capable of doing is what the Presidency can do without legislative help."

Roberts is not optimistic about where the planet is headed, and holds scientists partially responsible for not being straight with the public about how bad things really are. He says "it's still physically possible" to save ourselves from where we're headed, "but it would mean the entire world shifting, basically, to a war footing in the next five years, and remaining on war footing for the next century. It's possible, but do you see anything around you that indicates that's going to happen? We're not doing it. So I think that it's worth at least saying, hey guys, we're headed for the shit. At this point, we're probably going to get mired in some really terrible stuff."

Despite those thoughts, it's actually an enlightening and entertaining discussion with Roberts! Finally, to close things out today (and cheer you up even more!), the U.S. House passes a bill to make it illegal for states and local governments to require consumer labeling of GMOs --- because, ya know, Republicans "hate" Big Government and are all for "local control" of issues.

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Over the weekend, #BlackLivesMatter protesters disrupted a political forum featuring Democratic Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley at the progressive Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix, AZ.

The leader of that lively and lengthy (and, apparently, controversial) protest, Tia Oso, National Coordinator of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) joins us on today's BradCast to explain why she did it and to discuss the reactions from O'Malley, Sanders and the progressives who support them.

"We talk a lot. There are a lot of town halls. We have NAACP and Urban League at the national level having these conversations all the time. Reports are issued. And the fact that it takes almost a spectacle of black suffering for people to even have their hearts moved is heartbreaking to me," Oso tells me.

Also on today's program: Hate crimes charges filed against the Charleston AME Church shooter (though not terrorism charges); Hillary Clinton may be in trouble against Republicans in three key swing states; the Pope's popularity is faltering in the U.S. (largely among Rightwingers, for some reason); and why it's a problem when candidates, like Hillary, get so much of their campaign money from the wealthy donor class...

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As Demos' Sean McElwee tweeted when posting this chart along with a link to his new article on Hillary Clinton's wealthy contributors, "Donors don't want what average Americans want"...

And that is why you can't have nice things.

A busy week kicked off today on The BradCast! Scott Walker makes his 2016 run for the GOP nomination official; Hillary Clinton takes shots at both him and Jeb Bush in a major economic speech; And the long-awaited NAACP/ACLU/DOJ trial begins in North Carolina against "the most extreme anti-voter bill passed by any state since the Jim Crow Era".

But after those updates, we dig into debunking a new global warming denier scam that began making the rounds over the weekend, concerning a "mini ice age" that wingnuts are now certain will happen instead of the planet continuing to warm at record rates just as scientists have long predicted.

The nonsense begin in the Rightwing denialist media, but has since been making its way into the theoretically legit media as well.

Physicist and former Clinton Administration Dept. of Energy official Joe Romm joins me to help with the debunkery and warns that, unfortunately, "there's no escape from the catastrophic consequences of human-caused global warming by hoping the sun does something. The only hope is that humans do something, which is to slash carbon pollution, and have a global treaty negotiated in Paris in December and take action like the United States is doing through the President's EPA Clean Power Plan, replacing dirty fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy that lasts forever."

The new study being cited by deniers "doesn't mean anything about the long-predicted global warming trend," he tells me. "Anybody who cites this study to suggest that global warming science isn't real, or somehow we're going to avoid catastrophic warming this century, literally has never talked to a climate scientist," Romm says, describing the newest "'Jiggery-pokery' from the climate science deniers."

We also discuss a new email charging Exxon knew about CO2 and climate change since the early 80s, but spent millions in the decades since to fund the denier movement instead of taking action. And I also get Romm's thoughts on a newly unearthed 1969 Nixon Administration memo warning about CO2, global warming and sea level rise.

Finally: Since Walker is announcing his 2016 run for President today, it seems a good time to revisit the audio of that prank 2011 phone call to him from "David Koch" during the height of Walker's union-busting campaign. The call was a hoax, but Walker had no idea. We play some clips from the call to help you remember it all, along with a bit of my 2011 interview with then Buffalo Beast editor Ian Murphy, the man who played "David Koch" during the prank call. (If you're interested, you can hear my complete 2011 interview with Murphy, while guest hosting The Mike Malloy Show on April Fools day that year, right back here.)

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"In an age of universal deceit," George Orwell once wrote, "telling the truth is a revolutionary act." That act is now drawing crowds in the thousands --- far larger than any other candidate, Democratic or Republican, in the race for their respective party's 2016 nomination for President of the United States.

The phenomenon known as "Bernie-mentum" could be just the beginning. Bernie Sanders, who is more the focal point of a democratic revolutionary movement than the leader of a presidential campaign, appears to be tapping into what historian Howard Zinn described in A Power Governments Cannot Suppress as "an aroused citizenry."

We are seeing the power of social media and the exponential growth of the Sanders revolution grow to challenge what Noam Chomsky describes as the "democracy deficit" --- the significant gap between the policy positions of the electorate and their "representatives", occasioned by the manner in which "elections are skillfully managed to avoid issues and marginalize the underlying population…freeing the elected leadership to serve the substantial people." Even now, long before the first debate, Hillary's advisers informed The New York Times that they fear Sanders "could move past her in Iowa polls by fall and even defeat her there."

Hillary and, later, Republicans will rely on huge sums to pay for slick political ads. Yet, Sanders is banking on his hope that no amount of ad money can be effective against an "informed" and aroused working and middle class electorate --- one that includes the 63% who did not vote in the last election.

Every new Sanders event not only serves to convince those in attendance to vote for Sanders. They add thousands of new activists to the burgeoning movement. Whether that will be enough to translate into electoral victories remains to be seen. But, as Sanders argues near the end of this video created by his grassroots supporters: "When millions of people stand up and fight, they win." #FeelTheBern ...

On today's BradCast, guest hosted by me, Nicole Sandler of radioornot.com...

Last week we saw two major news dumps! The first was Tuesday night at 9pm (!), the time the State Department thought was optimal for them to release the first batch of Hillary Clinton emails from her private mail server. Jason Leopold, "FOIA Terrorist" from Vice News, filed the FOIA requests that led to this release. He spent the Fourth of July weekend reading the damned things so we wouldn't have to, and he joined in for the last few minutes of the show.

The other big dump came Thursday night, on the eve of the Independence Day holiday, as the U.S. DoJ and five Gulf states announced a deal with BP representing a final settlement on the world's largest offshore oil spill in history in 2010. Oil industry expert/journalist Antonia Juhasz, who covered the deal at Rolling Stone, arguing that, though it's the largest such settlement in history, BP still "got off cheaply", gives us all the details.

Also, if you ever wondered why Brad uses the theme song he does, I've got the "exclusive" on that. Plus, South Carolina legislator really embarrasses himself over marriage equality, and we're happy to help him...

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It's our last BradCast before the long holiday weekend, so, after an amazingly encouraging week or two of news, we head into the July 4th weekend today with a whole bunch of stories that we've been trying to clear off our desk for the past week or two, along with a bunch of breaking news as well today.

From Trump and Bernie-mentum to Jim Webb entering the 2016 race to the dead-enders in Kentucky still fighting the Supreme Court ruling on marriage to more green news than we can even fit into a single Green News Report with Desi Doyen.

Oh, and real-life killer robots on the rise --- no, it's not product placement for the new Terminator movie, but it sure sounds like it --- before we finally end today's show with an encouraging bang (courtesy of our friend D.R. Tucker at Washington Monthly)!

Please enjoy and have a happy (and safe) 4th of July!...

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In a blistering confrontation with then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan during a 2003 Congressional Hearing (see video below) --- five years before the 2008 meltdown of Wall Street --- then-Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) revealed why he may be better positioned now to square off against right-wing economics than Hillary Clinton who, twenty years ago, served as a member of the Wal-Mart Board of Directors.

(The Arkansas-based company was a principal beneficiary of President Bill Clinton's decision to ram NAFTA through on the fast track. And, even now, though Hillary has been critical of a number of the company's practices, influential members of the Walton family, the mega-billionaire owners of the retail giant, have been very supportive of the Clintons.)

During that 2003 hearing, as revealed by this must-see video compiled by Sanders supporters, the Congressman arguably demolished not only Greenspan, but the fundamentalist market-based economics that remain the centerpiece of today's Republican Party and at the center of the dispute over new international trade agreements, such as the TPP.

After chastising the Fed Chairman for being out of touch with the needs of ordinary Americans --- "You don't know what's going on in the real world!" --- Sanders unleashed this...

In "Bernie Sanders Versus the 'Democracy Deficit'" we argued that the independent senator from Vermont's principal opponent in the upcoming election was not Hillary Clinton but the media and PR industries which have created what Noam Chomsky describes as a "democracy deficit" --- the significant gap between the policy positions held by the electorate and those of their "representatives". Chomsky argues that is occasioned by the manner in which "elections are skillfully managed to avoid issues and marginalize the underlying population…freeing the elected leadership to serve the substantial people."

Sanders, who, even before any actual debates, is beginning to show strength in a number of different polls, demonstrated how he believes that gap can be bridged. He explained to Seth Meyers and his audience, during an appearance on Late Night earlier this month, why his self-description as a "Democratic Socialist" is an asset, rather than a liability...

So, did Donald Trump just blow up the GOP primary? Is he more than just a joke? Is he the Frankenstein Monster created by 40 years of Reaganism, Fox 'News' and the Tea Party as we charged (along with Heather Digby Parton) on yesterday's BradCast? Could he actually win the Republican nomination and...gasp...the White House?

On today's BradCast, callers weigh in on 'Trump World' and other 2016 game changers like Bernie Sanders.

Plus: Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, on Jeb and Hillary's climate strategy (or lack thereof, in one of those cases) and the Pope's upcoming, highly anticipated (and satirized) environmental encyclical...

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As I suggested earlier today, I believe Donald Trump just blew up the 2016 Republican Presidential primary, and maybe even the 2016 general election.

All bets are off, now that, as our guest on today's BradCast, Heather 'Digby' Parton of Salon and Digby's Hullabalo explains, the very embodiment of the misbegotten Reaganist American Dream --- and a TV star, at that --- has entered the contest for the Republican nomination.

Born a millionaire, Trump "became a billionaire, which is really kind of the ultimate American Dream. In fact, it's the only American Dream now," Parton opines. "You're a billionaire or your not and anything less than that is, you're kind of a loser."

Am I right when I argue that media and political pundits who disregard him as a clown (which he is), "misunderestimate" Trump's candidacy at their own peril? Parton, a 2014 Hillman Foundation Prize winner for Opinion and Analysis Journalism, seems to believe I could be. After all, she notes, "this is the culmination of about 30 years of propaganda" that folks like Reagan, Fox "News" and Roger Ailes put in place.

Trump "is channeling the GOP id," she says, adding: "The grand metaphor of this era, is Frankenstein's monster getting out of control. And that's what happened on the Right. And Donald Trump is another manifestation of that particular metaphor coming to life."

Plus: Speaking of misbegotten Reaganists, how Gov. Sam Brownback's Kansas has officially become "a Dickensian nightmare"; And Politifact fails again in rating Hillary Clinton's facts about the voting rights records of her opponents...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Jeb Bush finally jumps in to the 2016 race; Hillary Clinton pushes for renewable energy; Shell's Arctic drilling rig escapes Seattle; PLUS: The Pope's summer blockbuster, coming soon to a planet near you... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): 8 maps that reveal Americans' incoherent opinions on climate change; Behind The Weather Channel's Inventive Climate Change Campaign Aimed At Conservatives; Overcoming the extraction mindset; Climate Change Creating ‘Longer, More Intense’ Fire Seasons; House GOP Takes Aim At EPA Funding ... PLUS: California Moves To Restrict Water Pumping By Pre-1914 Rights Holders... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast...Jeb Bush makes it official! (But don't notice his brother!) Who could have guessed he'd run, after spending so many months violating federal campaign finance laws? And Hillary launches her campaign with a rally on Roosevelt Island in NY, promising to support a Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and "end the flow of secret, unaccountable money distorting our elections".

Public Citizen's Craig Holman joins us to discuss all of the above and how "we are now being besieged --- in the last election it was $300 million --- by dark money. Money that influences our elections, but we have no idea where it came from."

More specifically, Holman discusses how Republicans on the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) continue to block any and all enforcement of existing campaign finance law, as seen in the organization's ongoing lawsuit attempting to hold Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS accountable for campaign finance violations from as long ago as 2010!

"Just as big of a problem, when it comes to enforcing our campaign finance laws, is the Federal Elections Commission," Holman says, while explaining again how the FEC has become purposely paralyzed by its three Republican commissioners who flatly refuse to enforce existing statutes. "When [the FEC] cannot act and when it cannot make a decision, we literally have no cop on the beat when it comes to money in politics."

His use of the word "literally" there, is literally correct, for a change. That's right, even without the Supreme Court's infamous Citizens United decision --- even if it eventually gets overturned somehow --- unless the courts or the DoJ step in to take control of the matter (which, he explains, they actually can!), the GOP and their operatives on the FEC will allow campaigns to get away with campaign finance murder during yet another Presidential election. Listen to today's show for much more on this. But, yes, Citizens United ain't the half of it...

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