Today's BradCast is, necessarily, a bit dark. There are, however, a few bright spots here and there if you listen closely enough. [Audio link to show follows this summary.]

Very briefly, these are some of the stories covered today...

• The Philippines former strongman President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by Philippine law enforcement officials on Tuesday, on an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of Crimes Against Humanity. Interpol reportedly participated in his detention, after which he was flown to The Hague in The Netherlands to face the charges. Duterte is known for his extra-judicial, often point-blank, shot-to-the-head killing spree of supposed "drug suspects" during his six years as President and two decades as Mayor of one of the nation's largest cities. The government acknowledges some 6,200 killings during Duterte's reign in office. International human rights groups, however, put the bloody total closer to 30,000. Elected to the Presidency in 2016, the same year as Donald Trump, our President had congratulated Duterte (pictured together above) in 2017 for his "unbelievable job on the drug problem," congratulating him for "what a great job you are doing." In addition to victims' families finally seeing some justice, there are a few other perhaps dark, but perhaps hopeful lessons we may learn from this incident regarding our own President.

• Tune in, at least for this part, because I can't even begin to adequately summarize the roller coaster ride today on Wall Street touched off by Trump's threat to double-down on 25% tariffs --- to 50% tariffs --- against our ally Canada last night in retaliation for a threat by Ontario's conservative Premier Doug Ford to cut off electricity to several U.S. states. As the day progressed, both Ford and Trump appeared to back down from the worst of it. For now. But the disaster Trump's tariffs (and threatened tariffs) has made of the markets --- along with increasing inflation and his mass firing of federal workers --- has economist worried about a coming "Trumpcession". If things continue to tank, it could leave a very serious mark --- perhaps even one that MAGA will notice --- given that Trump's "superpower" was supposedly his brilliant business acumen and genius ability to strengthen the U.S. economy. Oops.

• Elliot Higgins, journalist, founder and creative director of Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group, founded in 2014, specializing in fact-checking and open-source intelligence investigations by both professional and citizen journalists, has a few thoughts on what happens when "disordered discourse" captures a political party (like the Republicans) and "then the state itself" (like the U.S.) and the destabilizing, and perhaps deadly effect it has on democracy itself. His first thread on that is here. His follow-up, on potential solutions, is here.

• And with that in mind, a few thoughts about a friend, mentor and occasional on-air guest over the years, Kevin Drum, who, we learned on Monday night, lost a long battle with cancer. He was a pioneering OG blogger, originally of Calpundit (2002-2004), then Washington Monthly's Political Animal (2004-2008), then Mother Jones (2008 through 2020) and, finally, beginning in 2021, his last blog, the independent Jabberwocking. His last appearance on The BradCast was in early 2023, on how to face down Republicans' threat at the time to not raise the dumb debt without sending the U.S. into default on its debt. Today, a brief tribute, including a few personal remembrances of Kevin, one of them an hours long discussion on election integrity in the cold on my back porch. Washington Monthly's remembrance is here. Clare Jeffrey's of Mother Jones is here. Josh Marshall's is here. Ezra Klein's is here. Heather Digby Parton's is here. A tribute page set up by his wife Marian on Facebook is here.

• Finally, Desi Doyen is here with our latest Green News Report, including a burning oil tanker's worth of environmental news, both dark and otherwise, from here in the U.S. and around the world from over just the past few days...

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It's NICOLE SANDLER, back to guest host another episode of the BradCast. Brad and Desi are in Arizona dealing with a family medical emergency. Angie Coiro and I will hold down the fort until they're able to return.

The third of the Democratic Primary debates is now history. To recap, discuss and critique, I'm joined by two of the OGs of the progressive blogosphere: HEATHER 'DIGBY' PARTON, founder of Digby's Hullaballoo and 'DRIFTGLASS', who also hosts the Professional Left Podcast with his wife BlueGal Fran.

We watched the debate so you didn't have to!

Download MP3 or listen online below...

On today's BradCast, it's the 15th Anniversary of The BRAD BLOG! So --- in addition to the news of the day --- we take a precious few minutes on today's program to reminisce a bit with longtime BradBlog.com legal contributor ERNEST A. CANNING and Green News Report co-host and BradCast producer DESI DOYEN! [Audio link to full show is posted below.]

After a few words on Canning's latest article at the blog on the "Political Revolution" embodied by the new freshman class of progressive U.S. House members and the many challenges they are now facing down in D.C., we discuss some of the lessons learned and important stories covered at our little, independent, reader- and listener-supported website over the past decade and a half.

Many of the stories we broke years ago --- too numerous to link here, on everything from electronic voting concerns and voting rights to climate change and much more --- have since become part of the national consensus as well as many popular calls for reform. That, even as much (but not all) of our independently verifiable, evidence-based news coverage was marginalized or dismissed by many in the corporate media years earlier. We discuss just a few of those stories today --- too numerous to detail here --- as we look both back and forward on this latest milestone. We also offer thanks to the many who have made all of it possible over the years, from our blogging contributors, to radio affiliate partners, to various whistleblowers (publicly known and unknown) over the years.

Of course, none of it could be done without those of you support our work via BradBlog.com/Donate. So, if you haven't hit that page in a while, please consider doing so, as we operate solely on the support of folks like you. Seriously. Please consider a one-time donation or, even better, an automated monthly donation of any amount you can afford. I hate haranguing folks for this, but it really is necessary in order for us to continue our work, which we now share on a daily basis with dozens of radio affiliates around the country and world for free! Your support alone allows that and so much more that we do at The BRAD BLOG, The BradCast and the Green News Report to continue. And if I can't ask on our 15th birthday, when can I? So click here please! And thank you!

And, yes, there was also a bit of news today for a change in Washington D.C., so we also cover that on today's program. Among those stories...

• Donald Trump's federal government shutdown nears the end of it's fifth record week, as he folded like one of his own cheap and poorly tailored suits on Wednesday night in his standoff with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on delivering his State of the Union next week.

• At the same time, federal aviation unions issued a dire warning about the ongoing effects and potential critical dangers of the shutdown.

• We share a heartbreaking story about a 10-year old girl who suffered a broken wrist in stoic silence for a week, because she was frightened to tell her father, a Dept. of Homeland Security employee forced to work without pay.

• Billionaire crypt-keeper and Commerce Dept. Secretary Wilbur Ross took to the airwaves to, essentially, call 800,000 federal workers whiners for needing to use food banks to feed their families, when they could just go out and get a bank loan instead to cover costs until the federal government reopens.

• In the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell finally allowed votes on measures to reopen the government, one from Rs and one from Ds. Both failed to get the 60 votes needed to overcome filibuster, though the D version --- which did not include funding for Trump's border wall --- received more votes than the R version in the GOP-majority Senate.

• And Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen learned that he may have to appear before both House and Senate Committees next month, despite threats to his family by the President of the United States.

• Finally. Desi brings us the latest Green News Report, with more bad news about the shutdown and Greenland's melting ice shelf, but some encouraging news on a huge majority of Americans who now appreciate the threat of climate change and on the amazing teen climate activist taking on the corporate powers and millionaire/billionaires at Davos this week...

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Today's BradCast is guest hosted by me, Angie Coiro, host of In Deep with Angie Coiro.

The Toddler-in-Chief gives us all more fodder than we can stand for a news review: telling Vietnam vets they can’t tell the difference between napalm and Agent Orange; doubling down on pulling security clearances, because anyone dared challenge his authority to do so (those puny blowhards in the military and from the CIA!); and blaming everyone but himself for the skyrocketing price tag of his vanity parade. He showed us! He'll go to Paris and look at their parade, and buy himself some new fighter jets.

Then it's 'GAIUS PUBLIUS' - or rather, THOMAS NEUBURGER, who’s now publishing his commentaries under his real name. You may know his prolific work at Down with Tyranny. He's asked some provocative questions about unions vs. liberals, and how the Democrats fit into that picture. Just as we were speaking, word came down about Trump threatening to pull Bruce Ohr's security clearance. He had some choice words about that, too.

Finally: how arts groups and independent performers are navigating the dual challenge of diminishing funding and politically divided audiences. DAVID GANS is an itinerant independent musician; MEREDITH HAGEDORN founded the small, eclectic Dragon Theatre in a Silicon Valley suburb; and RONIT WIDMANN-LEVY is Director of Arts and Culture at the Oshman Family JCC , a multiple-venue events space. They all face different hurdles keeping their art vibrant.

Download MP3 or listen online below...

Desi and I are ducking out for a short breather over the Independence Day holiday. But, before we go, I appeared recently on Free Forum, hosted by longtime broadcaster and great interviewer TERRENCE MCNALLY.

So, with McNally's kind permission on today's BradCast, we bring you that recent interview, originally recorded in studio on June 24, 2018 at KPFK, our flagship Pacifica Radio Network station in Los Angeles, in which the tables are turned a bit on me.

I respond to his questions about my background, the bizarre circumstances --- and, yes, election chicanery --- which helped lead me deep into the world of investigative blogging, broadcasting and muckraking some 15 years ago.

We also discuss detailed concerns about the reported (and still unverified) results of the earth-shaking 2016 Presidential election, how jurisdictions around the country are now moving to new computerized voting and tabulation systems in its wake (even as those systems, with computer-marked, barcoded ballots will only sever to make public oversight of results worse, not better) and what Americans can do right now to fight like hell to assure they are able to vote and have their votes counted as per intent in the crucial 2018 midterms.

Much thanks to Terrence for allowing us to re-purpose his program for today's BradCast! Please see and download his many years of insightful interviews with tons of fascinating and much smarter folks than I, and sign up for his weekly email announcement list, at his website, AWorldThatJustMightWork.com! You can also hear his show on weekends at ProgressiveVoices.com and TuneIn.

We'll be back with ya after the holiday weekend! Please stay safe and, somehow, cool, until our return!

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You probably already heard about the Indiana pizza shop whose owners said, if asked, they would refuse to cater a same-sex wedding, and how the shop has since raised more than $840,000 in donations in the wake of the announcement.

Since then, a florist in Washington state who refused to sell wedding flowers to a same-sex couple has, so far, received "more than $85,000 in a crowdfunding campaign".

In a similar vein, I am herewith declaring that The BRAD BLOG will not sell our blogging services to any same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Our PayPal information follows below...

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When will those butchers of ISIS and al-Qaeda learn how to treat others with peace, respect and dignity so that they can be welcomed into the world of civilized nations like our long time ally Saudi Arabia?...

[Ed Note: The original story at Vice links to a YouTube video of the beheading. We chose not to include that link in the above quoted text.]

The United States' long time friend Saudi Arabia, the world's second biggest oil producer (after Russia), and purchaser of the largest U.S. arms sale in American history (in 2010), has also made headlines of late for, as Vice's Harriet Salem describes it in the same article, "the public flogging of Raif Badawi, a blogger and political activist who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a total of 1,000 lashings for a range of offenses, including insulting religious authorities."

Last year, Saudi Arabia introduced a series of new laws following uprisings in other Arab nations. They claimed the laws were in response to the threat of terrorism. The royal decree is said to have defined terrorism, reportedly, as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based". The favored nation, according to the UK's Independent, also identified "a broad list of groups which the government considers to be terrorist organisations --- including the Muslim Brotherhood."

A spokesman for Human Rights Watch at the time explained that "Saudi authorities have never tolerated criticism of their policies, but these recent laws and regulations turn almost any critical expression or independent association into crimes of terrorism."

But, of course, they're our friends. So, beheadings? Oppression in the name of religion? It's all good.

While I never expected to make a profit, much less a killing, covering the things that we do here at The BRAD BLOG, it would be nice if we could even come close to breaking even. Otherwise, it would very much be a shame if we had to make big changes around here after proving the old axiom true that it's impossible to stay "in business" by covering stuff that may not be popular, that may not be "clicky", but that really does need to be covered.

Please consider a donation to keep that from happening. To put it bluntly, we need your help. So, thanks in advance for whatever support you can offer. - Brad

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If you're anything like me (and I hope you're not), your inbox is now deluged by little more than candidates and political parties repeatedly begging you --- over and over again --- to give them money so they can add your drop in the bucket to their huge pile of corporate "donations".

We, on the other hand, receive no corporate donations or support from major (or even minor) political parties. We survive only thanks to the generous support of readers. And we really do work hard to spend our time clearing away the noise and clutter of today's "LOOK AT ME!" corporate media debacle in our now 10+ year quest to let you know about stuff that actually matters.

If you'd like your giving, whatever you may have to spare for a good cause, to go someplace where it really makes a difference, please consider a contribution to The BRAD BLOG. Unlike the politicos who pretend to give a damn about you and pretend to need your $5, $20, $50 or $100 donations, we really do need your help --- really --- in order to survive through the 2014 mid-terms and beyond.

If you can, I hope you'll help. The form below allows you to send support in about 60 seconds time.

[P.S. I am on jury duty this week. Don't know whether or not I'll be called in each day. But in the worst case scenario, it could be quiet here this week because of it.]

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Just over one year ago, the great climate blogger David Roberts of Grist (we fondly call him "Dr. Grist" around here, as based on his Twitter name: @DRGrist) announced he was unplugging entirely from the Internet for a year.

"I am burnt the fuck out," he lamented at the time. "I spend each day responding to an incoming torrent of tweets and emails. I file, I bookmark, I link, I forward, I snark and snark and snark. All day long. Then, at night, after my family's gone to bed and the torrent has finally slowed to a trickle and I can think for more than 30 seconds at a stretch, I try to write longer, more considered pieces."

"It's doing things to my brain," he explained. "I've gotten to the point where I'm irritated and impatient with pretty much everything everybody says about anything. And I feel bad about that."

I know the feeling --- including the part about "tweeting in the bathroom".

And with that, a few other related thoughts and explanations of what he'd hoped --- or guessed --- he might do over the next year in his "Goodbye for Now" explanation piece, he promised he'd return a year later, after Labor Day 2014, with a hopefully healed brain and a re-invigorated sense of purpose.

"I'll let you know in a year how it went," he promised at the time. And then he was gone and on his well-deserved, if virtually unheard of, year-long unpaid sabbatical that I've been quietly envious of, on a very regular basis, ever since. If I could figure out how to afford the same, I'd do it. If I could figure out how to afford it for even a month --- hell, I'd take seven uninterrupted days in a row --- I'd do it. I need it.

The very technological innovations that were supposed to have made all of our lives better --- and, still, arguably do --- may also be slowly killing us all and rotting our souls at the same time.

In any event, today, as promised, David Roberts is back on the Internets. Just reading about what he's learned over his year of digital detox, as published today by Outside Magazine, helps calm my own brain and slow my own heart-rate...a bit. It may very well do the same for you.

Yes, I've been working hard this summer to encourage you to support our work here at The BRAD BLOG, so we can focus as much as possible on stuff that actually matters this fall (and hopefully beyond).

I have long been losing money each month and tapping into whatever meager savings I have, in order to keep producing, for as long as possible, the truly independent journalism, blogging, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking --- wholly free from corporate or partisan strings --- that I believe is so important...and that I hope that you do as well.

But we really need your help, before I'm entirely tapped out.

To that end, I'm willing to pull out (most of) whatever stops I have at my disposal. (Hey, at least I'm not as horrible as the DCCC!) So, with that in mind, my birthday is this weekend!

Care to make it an extra special swell birthday, by dropping a birthday gift --- large or small --- into the tip jar? Monthly sustaining contributions are especially appreciated, but any gift is tremendously needed and very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance for whatever you can afford. --- Brad

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The pioneering blogger and indefatigable, uncompromising and unapologetic critic of all things Rightwing, Terry Coppage, better known to the world as "BartCop", has passed away.

He will be sorely missed --- at least by many of us. "BartCop" has been raising hell, taking names and using the Internet to call out the bad guys longer than the word "blog" even existed, much less became known to the world. He also helped established the concept of political "snark" --- of the most viciously biting kind --- before that word existed either.

Fellow pseudonymous blogger "Digby" of Hullabaloo emails today to say: "Many of us early bloggers 'met' at Bartcop, including Atrios, Avedon and me. He's one of the creators of the liberal blogosphere."

In his "Last Word", published today at his site, Coppage asks readers to help "Mrs. Bart" live on...

RIP, Terry. Thank you for everything.

I've been looking back at some of our most noteworthy stories over the years, in the course of reflecting on The BRAD BLOG's 10th Anniversary.

As I was digging into the archives, I was reminded again that while many folks know us for our coverage of election integrity issues, voting machine problems, whistleblowers, etc., it was our scoop about a story concerning the George W. Bush White House in the lead-up to the 2004 President Election that was our first to "go national" and have a direct effect on the national political discourse.

It was before we had even begun digging as deep as we eventually would on the e-voting beat, and the fallout from the story itself resulted in national pick-up by the MSM, pressure on officials and questions at White House press conferences, an academic study (years later) and, the most fun part, the Bush White House eventually being forced to spend what must have been an enormous amount of man hours restoring date to the White House website in the week before the actual election that year...

I was joined on this week's KPFK/Pacifica Radio BradCast by Dan Froomkin, formerly of the Washington Post, where he worked for more than a decade before becoming Washington Bureau Chief for the Huffington Post before becoming the founder of the soon-to-be-launched Center for Accountability Journalism at FearlessMedia.org.

My first question to him: Why should anyone in the public, other than journalism industry insiders, actually care that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post this week?

His response to that question and others on the recent shameful history and hopeful future of journalism were much more optimistic than mine --- but, as I note during the show, I really need a break (which I hope to get somewhere in the mountains next week), so I may be a even more cynical this week than usual.

Speaking of cynicism, I also ranted a bit on the United States of Fear and Redaction, on CA Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley's vote to continue violating her constituents' and every American's civil liberties, and even found some time to offer some improbable kudos to WI Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner for his support of the Voting Rights Act.

All that, a bit more, and even Desi Doyen with the latest Green News Report can be enjoyed in this week's BradCast.

Download MP3 or listen online below [appx. 58 mins]...