We'll not be distracted by the Trump Circus (well, mostly), despite what he said in the Rose Garden and on Twitter today! On today's BradCast, just a little bit of Trump, but a whole lot of failed 'conservatism' from the American Heartland to Great Britain. [Audio link to show is posted below.]

Thursday's elections in the UK resulted in disaster for Prime Minister Theresa May. Her Conservative Party took an absolute drubbing as young voters turned out to reject the conservative austerity agenda by casting a for change with the Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn.

Back here in the U.S., hard evidence of the utter failure of "conservative" policies is very much on display if you bother (or know where) to look. Republican-run states like Kansas and Oklahoma are facing desperate budget shortfalls following years of tax cuts that neither boosted the economy nor increased government revenues, as promised. Cuts to essential services like health care and public education have been implemented in hopes of making up for failed GOP economics. Yes, the young, the sick, the poor and the elderly pay the price in the bargain, as usual.

But voters last November and legislators this week in Kansas, at least, are striking back at Gov. Sam Brownback by reversing his failed GOP austerity policies. Given what school kids in Oklahoma are now facing after years of budget shortfalls due to tax cuts and subsidies for the fossil fuel industry by the state's GOP legislature and aptly-named Governor Mary Fallin, voters in the Sooner State will --- hopefully sooner rather than later --- reject similarly failed hard-right policies and elected officials just as Kansas has finally begun to do.

Later this month, at least in one part of Georgia, voters may also send a similar message in the upcoming U.S. House Special Election in a very "red" district, where the young, first-time Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff is now said to be leading by 7 points, at least in one new poll, over Karen Handel, his "conservative" GOP establishment opponent. (She made the case against "conservatism" very nicely this week, when she said, during a debate, that she does "not believe in a livable wage", citing that as "the fundamental difference between a liberal and a conservative".)

Meanwhile, millionaire Greg Gianforte, the Trump "conservative" who managed to eke out a win in the U.S. House special election in Montana last week after body slamming a reporter the night before the election, will now plead guilty to misdemeanor assault in the matter after buying his way out of a civil suit.

Back at the D.C. White House Circus today, the day after his fired FBI Director James Comey's sworn testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Donald Trump accused him of lying and suggested again that the White House may have tapes to prove it. The House and Senate Intelligence Committees have finally asked for copies of those tapes...if they exist. And, as you were distracted, Republicans in the House were quietly passing a bill to roll back the Dodd-Frank big banking reforms enacted after the 2007 global economic collapse and, in the Senate, quietly paving the way to repeal Obamacare, no matter how many millions of Americans will lose their healthcare in the bargain.

Finally, with more news of failed "conservative" policies in both practice and at the polling place, Desi Doyen joins us with the latest Green News Report, before we close with yet another U.S. Supreme Court rejection this past week of a massive racial gerrymandering scam in yet another "red" state...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: As Trump steps back from the Paris Climate Agreement, Hawaii steps up; Defiant California partners with China on clean energy; Switching from coal to solar would save 52,000 lives a year; PLUS: Elections have consequences --- Nevada Democrats reverse anti-solar regulations... 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): VIDEO: John Oliver breaks down everything wrong with Trump’s decision to leave Paris agreement; EPA delays ozone rule; U.S. airlines reaffirm aviation emissions deal despite Trump's Paris Agreement withdrawal; Historic heat wave sweeps Europe, Asia, Middle East; Canada moves to work directly with U.S. states on climate change; Coastal cities will flood more often and more severely; U.S. topsoil is blowing away; Trump to put infrastructure burden on cities, states... PLUS: Sec. Zinke to order review of sage grouse management plans - again... and much, MUCH more! ...

Today on The BradCast: So, what now? What's the next step for Donald Trump's seemingly perpetually faltering Presidency? He and Congressional Republicans suggest they'll go for Tax Reform next. But will that scheme be any more successful than the big promises that Trump has, so far, tried and failed to accomplish? [Audio link to show follows below.]

His Muslim travel ban was blocked for the foreseeable future, once again last night, by a federal judge in Hawaii. His border wall, if it ever actually gets built, won't be paid for by Mexico, apparently, but by U.S. tax-payers. Reportedly, the Administration's not even sure where to put it. His attempt at repealing and replacing ObamaCare went famously down in flames. His effort at rolling back Obama's climate legacy is already facing its first legal challenges on a number of fronts and in a number of courts.

But he and Congressional Republicans say massive reform of the tax code will be next, even though it hasn't been successfully accomplished since the 1980's. And, in hopes of getting some Democrats on board, the Administration has been floating the idea of a massive infrastructure bill, perhaps, to go with it. But is Trump's version of a "Grand Bargain" to bring enough Republicans and Democrats together to accomplish this next scheme any more viable than his previous ones? (Or more viable than when Obama tried, but failed, at something similar?) And, does it help that Trump attacked both Democrats and the far-right Congressional Freedom Caucus today?

The great Heather Digby Parton of Salon and Digby's Hullabaloo returns today to discuss all of the above, and a bit more, including whether Democrats can actually hold together in opposition; some little-noticed hypocrisy related to Team Trump attorneys hoping to block a sexual harassment-related lawsuit against a sitting President; an interesting explanation for Ivanka Trump's "new" role in the Administration; and whether Senate Democrats can or will successfully filibuster to keep Judge Neil Gorsuch from being confirmed to the GOP's stolen U.S. Supreme Court seat, as vacated with the death of Antonin Scalia more than one year ago...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Major earthquake rattles Oklahoma, linked to fracking; Violent confrontation erupts at Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's Dakota Access pipeline protest; Typhoons in Asia now 50 per cent stronger than in the 1970s; PLUS: President Obama in China formally signs the U.S. on to the landmark United Nations Paris Agreement... 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): Climate change makes major Gulf Coast deluges more likely: study; Battered Coal Companies Courted State AGs to Fight Climate Rules; Lloyd’s Fight Over Coverage for Oklahoma Earthquakes to be Heard by New York Court; The Truth Behind The Kochs’ New Fossil Fuel PR Campaign; Fish Deaths in Montana's Yellowstone River Tied to Warming Waters; Judge Blocks Central California Oil Development Over Fracking... PLUS: 13 Sperm Whales Found Dead with Stomachs Full of Plastic Trash... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast, the great Heather Digby Parton of Hullabalo and Salon.com joins me to try and help us all make sense --- if that's even possible --- of Donald Trump's whirlwind visit to Mexico on Wednesday and his chilling speech on immigration policy in Phoenix on Wednesday night. [Audio link for show posted below.]

That's no easy feat, but we give it our best try, including a discussion about the success of Trump's calculated strategy to scam the corporate media with his daytime meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieta in advance of his evening speech in Arizona.

"All this discussion that's been going on about 'softening' and 'hardening' [his deportation policy] and whatever else --- in the end it was Trump himself who really wanted to give that speech that he ended up giving," Parton explains. "We ended up with this very strange, two parallel story lines that were being fed to the press. 'Look at the pivot! It's just so wonderful!' --- Then he goes to Arizona last night and basically leads a Nuremberg Rally."

It was, as we both concur, his creepiest, most truly frightening speech to date. As she notes, Trump was targeting immigrants, "illegal" and "legal" both, as "un-American parasites on the American system" and "the reason for whatever distress, both cultural and economic, that 'real' Americans are feeling."

Parton goes on to argue that his supporters ultimately "don't care what he says, it's the attitude with which he says it", and I unveil my new theory explaining why the GOP nominee keeps holding rallies in states where he is almost certain to lose and/or certain to win, as opposed to the swing-states he'll need to actually win the Presidency. (In short: Win the popular vote, lose the electoral college, claim to be the most beloved candidate with the added bonus of not actually having to serve as President. Win, win, win. Cherry on top: The scenario can also serve as even more evidence that the entire system is "rigged"!)

Then, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report as two hurricanes and a U.S. President head toward Hawaii, even as another hurricane bears down on Florida and the East Coast...in an increasingly warming --- and frightening --- world...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: President Obama urges climate action from Tahoe to Hawaii to Midway to his final presidential visit to Asia; Not one but two rare hurricanes threaten Hawaii as Obama visits; PLUS: Global insurance industry tells G20 to 'kick away the carbon crutches'... 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): Colombia: Three Environmental Activists Assassinated; Corps Approved Dakota Pipeline Over Objections of 3 Federal Agencies; Al Gore: The Clean Energy Revolution Is ‘A Dramatic New Reality’; Africa's elephants rapidly declining; Thousands of Homes Keep Flooding, Yet They Keep Being Rebuilt Again; Floridians Overwhelmingly Support Solar In Tuesday Vote; Colorado voters won't get to decide on new fracking rules... PLUS: Fuel economy: Want to know your car's true mileage? It's complicated... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast, Maine's Republican Governor Paul LePage is melting down. [Audio link posted below.]

We've been reporting on the two-term, 'Tea Party' dimwit for years, describing him variously as both the nation's dumbest Governor and the worst in history. But now, at the seeming climax of a months-long saga concerning racist comments by LePage, a threatening and obscene voicemail he recently left for a Democratic state lawmaker, comments about shooting that lawmaker in the head and, this week, an apparent emergency intervention by GOP state legislators, the possibility of resignation --- or, perhaps, mental breakdown --- is seeming likelier by the minute.

We cover that insane story today, how this loon became a two-term Governor in the first place in an otherwise not-insane state (hint: you can thank third party challengers), and how, even after all of the years of LePage's various embarrassments, Donald Trump has said this month that he'd be delighted to consider the Maine Governor for a role in his White House cabinet!

Then, Apple owes $14.5B in back taxes in Europe, but it could cost the U.S.; One county official in Colorado is standing up to a major coal company in bankruptcy to force them to pay what they owe in taxes; Desi Doyen joins us for an unusually uplifting Green News Report; and, finally, closing the circle on today's show, how some residents of an impoverished area of Maine (LePage voters, no doubt) tried to block a land grant and millions of dollars to the local community in order to prevent President Obama from establishing a new national monument in that portion of the Maine North Woods...

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I'm back today on The BradCast, after Nicole Sandler of RadioOrNot.com filled in for a few days! (Thanks, Nicki!!!) And while little has changed in the GOP race for the White House since I've been gone, it was a very big weekend for Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side, even if the mainstream corporate media continues to disregard his campaign. [Audio link for the complete show is at bottom of article.]

Then, I'm joined by constitutional law expert Ian Millhiser, author of Injustices: The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted, to explain today's stunning ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of public sector unions. The decision in Friedrich v. California Teachers Association is a major turnaround from what had been the expected outcome earlier this year when we spoke to Millhiser in January just after oral argument in what had been regarded as "the biggest legal attack on unions in decades".

Thanks, however, to a 4 to 4 deadlock on the Court, in the wake of the recent death of Rightwing activist Justice Antonin Scalia, today's ruling is the opposite of what had been previously expected and "one of the first consequences" of his death, says Millhiser. "Scalia was probably going to be the fifth vote to do some serious violence to the way that public sector unions are funded," he explains, while detailing why today's ruling is very good news for both Democrats and democracy itself in the wake of what had been "potentially an existential threat to unions."

"What this decision does mean is that if someone wants to undermine unions, they don't get to take a shortcut. They don't get to go to five Justices and get the Justices to put in place the laws they want for them," Millhiser tells me.

He also decodes the Court's somewhat "baffling" order today concerning a challenge by religious activists to the 'ObamaCare' contraception mandate, as well as the latest status of the GOP's seemingly self-defeating obstruction of President Obama's nomination to replace Scalia.

Finally, we've found something that both Republican and Democratic voters agree on! What happened last week to voters in Phoenix --- many of whom had to wait up to 5 hours to cast a vote (and some of them were the lucky ones!) --- was an outrage across the board, and we've got just some of the outraged voter testimony from the AZ state legislature on Monday to prove it!...

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On today's BradCast, we are live from Pacifica Radio's KPFK studios in Los Angeles, for coverage of last night's amazing nominating contests in MS, ID, HI and, mostly, MI, where Bernie Sanders reportedly overcame a 20pt deficit, according to the pre-election polls, to defeat Hillary Clinton.

Of course, Donald Trump wiped out his GOP competition again almost everywhere (including in Michigan, where there was no polling disparity on the GOP side), leaving Ted Cruz as his only real challenger as John Kasich and, especially, Marco Rubio, fade into near-certain oblivion.

So, how did Sanders' remarkable "win" in MI come about? What does it bode for next Tuesday's big primaries in neighboring (similarly industrial and neighboring) states? Should his supporters worry about reports of "irregularities" already in Chicago? How is it that Sanders ended up losing the delegate count (the real one, not the fake "SuperDelegate" count) anyway yesterday to Clinton? And will the mainstream corporate media continue to ill-inform voters by blatantly misreporting the race?

Also today: Democrats also won three special elections in KY yesterday to maintain control of that state's legislature, and we open the phone line to listener callers to ring in on all of the above and much more today, before Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report on another very busy and very lively BradCast!

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: While we were out: Record settlement in BP's oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico; Former Senator Jim Webb (D?!) enters the 2016 race --- we'll tell you his (terrible!) position on climate change; Extreme heat waves shatter temperature records on four continents; PLUS: Solar-powered plane flies into aviation history... 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): Exxon knew of climate change in 1981, funded deniers for 27 years; Episcopal church votes to divest from fossil fuels; Bernie Sanders’ Plan To Make Solar Power More Accessible; Farmers vs. Fish: Water War Heats Up With Probe Into Who Got Millions; 'Sustainable' Fishery Is Harming Native Alaskans; Mining Heads Into The Deep Sea; Methane Emissions in Texas Fracking Region 50% Above EPA Estimates... PLUS: The Global Coal Renaissance Is the Most Important Climate Story Today... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hours after Amtrak crash, Republicans vote to cut Amtrak's budget; FBI violated its own rules to spy on Keystone XL pipeline protesters; Hawaii votes to be first in the nation to reach 100% renewable energy; PLUS: It's our 600th episode! ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The arguments that convinced a libertarian to support aggressive action on climate; US taxpayers subsidizing world's biggest fossil fuel companies; Vampire power costs Americans $19 billion in electricity every year; French nuclear model falters; Depleted uranium in Utah Desert? What could possibly go wrong? ... PLUS: Could climate change help you go gluten free?... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Another day, another oil explosion, this time at an Exxon refinery in CA; 'Anti-petroleum' activists are a security threat, says Canada; January 2015 the 2nd hottest on record; PLUS: 'Our best idea': President Obama protects 3 new national monuments... 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): NYC could see 6-ft sea level rise; 'Every Kid in a Park': all 4th graders to get free national park passes; What can be done about psuedo-skepticism?; Duke Energy to pay $100m for coal ash spill; Arsenic found in CA water; Four new oil-related spills in North Dakota... PLUS: Fox News has no shame: Easily duped wingnuts spout phony science and climate-change lies... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Fire and explosion at Indiana refinery with a history of exploding; UN climate report warns of 'irreversible' global warming; Million-dollar fines for oil and chemical spills; Renewable energy now produces 22% of world's electricity; PLUS: Get ready for the People's Climate March on Sept. 21 in NYC ... 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): "An actual exit from climate hell"; 4 scenarios of our global warming future; Unpackaged: German market revolutionizes shopping; Hawaii's largest utility will triple rooftop solar by 2020; US coal industry in free fall; Yosemite Rim Fire trees to be logged; Ocean acidification is killing Bay Area's oyster industry ... PLUS: Erick Erickson really wants you to know he doesn't care about global warming ... and much, MUCH more! ...

A very bizarre situation is occurring right now in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in Hawaii, where last Saturday's Election Day was disrupted by a hurricane. While voting was successfully carried out in most of the state's precincts, 2 out of 247 were unable to open for voting due to the storm.

The result is that the contentious U.S. Senate primary race between incumbent, recently appointed, Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz and his challenger Colleen Hanabusa now stands with a little more than 1,600 votes between them out of about 225,000 cast, according to the "too close to call" reported results of those who voted on Saturday.

But the election is now being extended to allow those 2 precincts --- and only those two precincts --- to vote this Saturday.

The approximately 7,000 or so voters from those two precincts will determine the final results of the primary --- and probably the next U.S. Senator from Hawaii --- as Rachel Maddow explains below, while appropriately asking: "Is that fair? And if that isn't fair, what would be fair?...Is holding a new election for just those two precincts fair to either candidate? Does it advantage one or the other of them? Should we expect more voters to go vote now that they know just how important their votes are?"...

I don't pretend to have any answers to the question of "fairness" in this bizarre case, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. The current solution, as unfair as it seems to be, at least seems to be equally unfair to everybody, for whatever that may be worth.

One wonders, however, if Hawaii had a polling place Photo ID restriction, how many voters wouldn't be able to vote at all simply because all of their belongs were lost in the storm? That particular point, while a seemingly exceptional circumstance here, isn't actually all that exceptional. Remember when, for example, in 2012, Hurricane Sandy threatened the Presidential election in NJ, NY, CT, PA, VA and OH?

Please help support The BRAD BLOG's fiercely independent, award-winning coverage of your electoral system --- now in our ELEVENTH YEAR! --- as available from no other media outlet in the nation...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: If it seems like there's more extreme weather --- you're right; What sanctions? ExxonMobil begins drilling with Russia in the Arctic; Methane rising in the melting Arctic; PLUS: Oops: Looks like the U.S. State Dept. vastly underestimated emissions from the Keystone XL pipeline ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): China Will Install More Solar This Year Than The U.S. Ever Has; Bamboo is the new 'green' steel; California Drought Transforms Global Food Market; Uranium mining poisons Navajo drinking water; Colgate Total Ingredient Triclosan Linked to Hormones, Cancer; Right-Wing Press' New Climate Change Lie; Media Still Disproportionately Including Views of Climate Change Skeptics; The World's Biggest PR Firm Is In Denial About Its Climate Change Denial... PLUS: When Did Republicans Start Hating the Environment? Roughly 1991... and much, MUCH more! ...