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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy!

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Please pardon the whiplash on today's BradCast, from our special coverage of the blockbuster J6 hearing in the U.S. House yesterday to coverage of election results in eight states today, and what they both may mean for November. But that's our world right now. [Audio link to full show is posted after this summary below.]

Critical midterm primary elections (and runoffs), and one Special Election for the U.S. House were held on Tuesday in Illinois, Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah, New York, Mississippi, South Carolina and Nebraska.

We've learned of a few reported problems for voters at the poll yesterday in several of those states (IL, MS, UT, NY) which we cover first today. Thankfully, they were fairly limited --- at least so far --- and not terribly egregious.

Then it's on to our curated and wholly incomplete coverage of noteworthy races in a number of those states, some of which may be quite telling regarding November and the so-called "Conventional Wisdom" that Democrats are due for a drubbing. That's what history tells us, of course, about the party in power for midterm elections during the first term of an unpopular President. But, given these exceedingly unconventional times, it'd be a sucker's bet and political malpractice --- for Democrats and democracy itself --- to simply presume history will repeat itself this fall.

Among the many results of note covered today: losses for 2020 election deniers and alleged criminals (like Tina Peters, the indicted County Clerk in Mesa County who lost her GOP primary for Sec. of State bigly, even in her own home county) in CO; losses for corrupt climate change deniers and disgraced former Trump officials (like his scandal-plagued EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt who came in fifth in a GOP primary for the U.S. Senate) in OK; both wins and losses for loyalist Trumpers and anti-choice zealots in IL and CO (with Dems hoping they'd win their GOP nominations, because they'd be easier to defeat in November); a crushing, if satisfying loss for Rudy Giuliani's son in NY; victories and losses for progressive candidates in several states; And, perhaps most notably today, some telling results from the one D vs. R race on Tuesday, a U.S. House Special Election in NE.

As expected, the Democrat lost that special U.S. House race in NE in an exceedingly Republican district in which the GOP candidate won by 22 points in 2020. But on Tuesday, the Republican won by just over 5 points. More interestingly, in the one Democratic-leaning County in the District held by Republicans since 1964, support for the Democrat spiked from +1 in 2020 to +13 on Tuesday, in the first head-to-head election between the two parties since 'Roe v. Wade' was struck down by the radical rightwing U.S. Supreme Court on Friday. Hopefully, Democrats have taken notice.

There are many mitigating factors that could result in this year's midterms defying history and expert predictions. That doesn't mean they will, but they certainly could, particularly if Democrats figure out how to appropriately activate both their base and those who are furious about SCOTUS stripping away a Constitutionally-protected individual right for the first time in our nation's history.

Initial polling in the wake of Roe's demise find the SCOTUS opinion to be exceedingly unpopular with Democrats, of course, but also with independent voters and even a fairly large chunk of Republicans. We take a look at some of those very interesting tea leaves on today's program and what they could mean for November.

Finally, we close with Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report, in advance of what is probably very bad news indeed for both the climate and the EPA coming from our corrupt Supreme Court tomorrow! But, for today, we've got news about what sparked New Mexico's largest-ever wildfire; Japan's electric grid facing stress under historic record heat; a new leftist climate hawk President for Colombia; and much more....

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: New Mexico's largest-ever wildfire was caused by a prescribed burn; Japan's electric grid strains under historic extreme heat wave; Colombia's new president is a leftist climate hawk; PLUS: Extreme weather disasters have affected most Americans, and many suffer long-term financial problems... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Simultaneous heat waves around the world push people and nations 'to the edge'; Germany, Italy push G7 into watering down pledge to end overseas gas finance; U.N. chief declares 'ocean emergency'; LNG explosion shines light on 42-year-old gas rules; Historic wildfires rage across Alaska; Energy security brings conservatives to renewables... PLUS: Tesla partners with California utility on virtual power plant... and much, MUCH more! ...

Guest Editorial Series by Ernest A. Canning

Even a glimpse at the statistics leads knowledgeable sources, like Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, to describe the 'War on Drugs' as a "failed prohibitionist policy."

"Over the last 40 years, more than 45 million drug-related arrests have cost an estimated $1 trillion," Amy Goodman reported on Democracy Now! "Yet drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever."

And that's just in the U.S.

According to the United Nations' 2011 World Drug Report [PDF], "in 2009, between 149 and 272 million people...aged 15-64 used illicit substances at least once in the previous year." The UN estimated that Cannabis was "consumed by between 125 and 203 million people worldwide in 2009," adding:

But Nadelmann's description of the 'War on Drugs' as a "failed prohibitionist policy" is derived from the supposition that the 'War on Drugs', at least here in the U.S., was actually formulated with a desire to suppress or eliminate drug abuse.

In PART 1 of this series, we examined the question of whether the U.S. Government's effort to challenge legalization of marijuana in California and elsewhere was akin to shutting down the competition, given the CIA's long-documented history of profiting from the world-wide drug trade. In PART 2 we posited that an end to the 'War on Drugs' could deliver a devastating blow to the bottom line of American corporations who have come to depend upon the Prison Industrial Complex in the U.S. and its huge pool of slave laborers --- most, non-violent drug offenders.

So now, we must examine the hypothesis that, if accurate, should rock us all to our core.

What if the horrific consequences of the worldwide drug trade, which, per the UN 2011 World Drug Report, includes an annual death toll of 200,000, are precisely what President Nixon and the covert branches of U.S. Empire had in mind when formulating a policy that would enhance the domination of the 1% over the 99%? Are we now living in a form of Aldus Huxley's Brave New World in which "Failure is Success" can be added to the three slogans from George Orwell's 1984 --- "War is Peace," "Freedom is Slavery" and "Ignorance is Strength" --- a world in which a vote against legalization is actually a vote in favor of illicit distribution by organized crime and their allies in the CIA?...

Guest Editorial Series by Ernest A. Canning

This is the second of our three-part series advancing the hypothesis that one must turn to economics to make sense of the so-called 'War on Drugs' and the U.S. government's seemingly irrational obsession with shutting down something as innocuous as medicinal marijuana dispensaries.

PART 1 examined both historical and recent links between the CIA and the illicit drug trade. It explored the extent to which the so-called 'War on Drugs' has been used as cover for the CIA's covert import of narcotics, both into the U.S. and other nations, in order to fund the mischief the Agency engages in on behalf of U.S. Empire. It postulated that the government’s opposition to controlled legalization, taxation and medical, educational and psychological assistance in avoiding substance abuse is the product of an illicit supplier shutting down the competition.

Here, we will examine the profitability of the Prison Industrial Complex in the U.S. and the extent to which the world's largest prison population provides a ready source of slave labor for some of the world's largest corporations…