Trump lives and dies by ratings and reviews. Well, the reviews are in on today's BradCast for his sleepy, low-energy, hour-plus long campaign style remarks to the nation's top military brass at Tuesday's bizarre, in-person convocation of the nation's highest-ranking military generals. The unusual gathering was called at the U.S. Marine base at Quantico by his Defense Secretary. The reviews were not good. [Audio link to full story follows this summary.]

Before we get to today's weird military gathering, a few thoughts as the government is now all but certain to begin a partial shutdown as of midnight tonight. It is the first such federal shutdown since the last time Donald Trump was in the White House and Republicans held majority control of both chambers of Congress. He has been remarkably sanguine about it this time. He refused to even meet with Democratic leaders until yesterday, after which he went on to post an obnoxious, racist, AI-generated video mocking both House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Democrats refuse to sign on to a Republican bill that continues spending at current levels unless Republicans restore hundreds of billions of dollars that Trump and the GOP are cutting to American healthcare via the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid at year's end.

There may be several reasons why Trump is fine with the government shutting down. Beyond a delay in a mandatory House vote on releasing the Epstein Files, a government shutdown would also prevent the Bureau of Labor Statistics from releasing this Friday's much-anticipated jobs report for September, after previous monthly reports revealed grim numbers for Trump's second term. If the shutdown goes on long enough, BLS won't be able to gather its gold-standard data for future economic reports either, which are relied upon by the government, as well as businesses and investors worldwide.

For the record, the BLS didn't close during the last Trump shutdown. He could have mandated it stay open this time as well to continue its critical work. But, for some reason, he didn't.

Then it's on to the "urgent" in-person meeting of the nation's 800+ generals, admirals and other top military brass at Quantico today, as called at the last minute by Fox "News" weekend host turned Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth for unexplained reasons. It featured what amounted to little more than a live-for-the-cameras version of Hegseth's grievance-filled social media feed. The New York Times described his remarks to the generals as "a familiar litany of culture war talking points," including a lot of macho bullshit about the "warrior ethos", "wokeness" and "stupid rules of engagement" which Hegseth argues are somehow holding the U.S. military back.

For his part, Trump's partisan campaign-style rally that followed Hegseth seems to have fallen flat before the generals, who are not supposed to display approval or disapproval for political leaders. Media outlets described Trump's hour and ten-minutes of remarks as a "rambling and sometimes incoherent", "unusually meandering address" in which he attacked his perceived political enemies and called for the generals to use U.S. cities as "training grounds" for the military. Focusing on Democrats, who he described as the "radical left" and the "enemy from within", he suggested "the war from within" would be waged in cities like San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, presumably against Americans in cities that Trump doesn't like.

Experts and Defense officials are describing the comments as "embarrassing", with one telling The Intercept, "We are diminished as a nation by both Hegseth and Trump." Said another: "Listening to Donald Trump was deeply troubling and it is clear he is unfit for the role of commander in chief." Still another, citing the 25th Amendment, observed: "This is truly disturbing. He is clearly unwell even for Trump."

During his long remarks to a nearly quiet room, Trump described Illinois' Governor J.B. Pritzker as "incompetent" and "stupid", vowing that he was "going in very soon" to Chicago. Trump's invasion of the Windy City with U.S. military troops has been promised for several months now. But, over the weekend and into Monday, it looks like it began in earnest, even with just baby steps, including deployment of ICE thugs and other federal law enforcement and a mobilization of 100 U.S. National Guard troops to eventually join them. Pritzker pushed back hard against Trump and ICE as Trump's "jack-booted thugs" at a presser on Monday, charging them with showing up in the city on Sunday endangering citizens and "harassing people for not being white." We share some of his warning comments to the public.

Also over the weekend, Trump federalized 200 U.S. National Guard troops in Oregon to invade Portland "authorizing Full Force", even though there is no local insurrection, no assaults on federal buildings by "antifa", and the city is not burning down, as Trump seems to believe. The state's Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek tried to explain that over the weekend during a phone call with a confused Trump, who reportedly said, "Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different." He is said to have claimed, "They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place…it looks like terrible."

As I suggested yesterday, what Trump is describing appears to be what happened five years ago in Portland, during protests following the murder of George Floyd. Today, Philip Bump details how b-roll footage of those protests has been playing in a loop on Fox "News" ever since, any time they mention Portland, as they did on several different shows on Friday night, just before Trump's Saturday morning announcement about deploying troops there. Like Pritzker, Kotek is also taking to the airwaves to push back on Trump's unwelcome, completely unnecessary military thuggery.

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as Hurricane Season kicks into high gear with a Trump-gutted National Weather Service trying desperately to keep up. And as the Dept. of Energy's fracking CEO turned Secretary, Chris Wright, cancels billions in subsidies for clean renewable energy in hopes of propping up the dying U.S. coal industry with millions of acres of new federal land access and new subsidies of the kind that he cited as evidence that the wind and solar industry are "maybe not a business that's going places." The DoE also expanded their list of banned words to include "climate change", "emissions", "green" and "decarbonization" among things that Department officials may not utter or use anymore in official documents...

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!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane season wakes up, as National Weather Service struggles with staffing amid Trump layoffs; Trump Administration unveils plans for taxpayers to bail out Big Coal; PLUS: Energy Department orders staffers: 'Don't say climate change'... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): Trump is doing everything he can to raise your energy bills; Hurricanes swerve: Disaster response might avoid a stress test; 'Ludicrous': Bureau of Land Management to sell off federal coal reserve leases in Wyoming; UNESCO designates 26 new biosphere reserves amid biodiversity challenges and climate change; Indigenous land defender killed as Ecuador cracks down on activists... PLUS: World ocean acidity crosses critical threshold for marine life: study... and much, MUCH more! ...

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: New study finds climate change responsible for two-thirds of Europe's 25,000 heat deaths this summer; Trump EPA moves to stop collecting emissions data from most polluters; PLUS: California gets its first-ever solar-covered canal... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): Young activists won a landmark state climate trial. Now they’re challenging Trump’s orders; Corals won't survive a warmer planet, new study finds; National Academy Of Sciences rebuffs Trump EPA effort to undo climate rules; 120 environmental defenders killed or disappeared in Latin America last year; Climate change is accelerating, scientists find in 'grim' report... PLUS: Trump golf course in Scotland accused of breaching sewage limits... and much, MUCH more! ...

We're lucky to have a guest on today's BradCast who is able to offer a smart perspective on a whole bunch of legal stories breaking over the past 24 to 72 hours, because there has been a whole bunch of those stories tumbling in, regarding our crumbling court system and the Trump Administration's unrelenting assault on the Constitution and rule of law. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

We're joined today to discuss all of them by KEITH BARBER, former lifelong Republican and attorney who now writes on legal matters at the progressive Daily Kos. I had initially asked him to join us to discuss his latest coverage of on an adverse ruling for the Trump Administration late last week in U.S. District Court.

In that case, the lower courts had previously put a hold on the Administration's attempted firing of thousands of government workers across dozens of federal agencies. The temporary injunction on the layoffs issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was meant to allow time for the lower courts to fully hear and try the challenge to the firings, as filed by several employees and their unions. But the injunction was overturned earlier this year by the Supreme Court, without explanation, on their "Emergency Docket", known by critics as the "Shadow Docket".

Before the injunction was blocked by the corrupted Supreme Court majority, it was meant to avoid irreparable harm to the workers by maintaining the status quo until a full trial on the merits could determine whether the firings were lawful in the first place. Late last week, as Barber reports, the court ruled [PDF] against the Administration, describing the government's case as a "sham" based on "fabricated" arguments and "chicanery". That said, thanks to the High Court's earlier ruling, lifting the lower court's injunction, last week's ruling comes largely too late to restore workers who lost their job. Many of the agencies in question have either removed those jobs since then or have been shut down entirely while the case made its way up and back down the judicial system.

The OPM case is just one of dozens like it, where lower court rulings --- meant to temporarily pause the Administration's unprecedented and seemingly unlawful actions until the merits of challenges could be heard --- were "temporarily" overturned by the High Court without explanation on the Shadow Docket as the cases proceeded below.

This same scheme has played out dozens of times in the eight months since Trump returned to office. Over mass firings of government employees, to very specific firings of decades-long experienced agency personnel for obviously (and unlawful) political reasons; to the complete or near-complete shutdowns of entire federal agencies and departments; to attempted Administration takeovers of supposedly independent federal Commissions; to attempted rescission of billions, if not hundreds of billions of dollars in already appropriated spending by Congress; to mass roundups and deportations of migrants by federal agents; to the deployment of U.S. military into American cities against the wishes of state and local authorities. That's just to name a few of the major, unprecedented upheavals and attempted upheavals allowed to "temporarily" proceed by the corrupted Supreme Court majority, almost always in contradiction to lower U.S. District and Appeals Court rulings.

Many of those cases are now completing their full trials on the merits and/or being heard by appellate courts, with inevitable trips ahead back up to the Supreme Court for final rulings. As Barber details today, however, we can be almost certain that if the Supremes choose to take up those cases, they will most likely do so in order to overturn a lower court ruling on the merits against Trump. Otherwise, given the number of cases they must choose between hearing each year, they are likely to simply allow favorable rulings for Trump in the lower courts to simply stand as is. We' find out in the coming months.

Either way, Barber explains all of this by concurring with the argument I have been offering for quite some time. "We have a corrupt Supreme Court," he asserts. "Donald Trump corrupts everything he touches, to include the United States Supreme Court."

I had hoped to dig into related aspects of the OPM mass firing case (in which the Administration falsely claimed that the thousands of fired workers were laid off due to "poor performance") and what it portends in the months ahead. But a whole bunch of other legally related issues came tumbling in today and in recent days, which I was also able to discuss with Barber on today's program.

Among our additional topics for discussion today...

• Longtime federal prosecutor Maurene Comey filed suit against the administration on Monday for her recent firing. She argues it was solely (and unlawfully) due to a political vendetta by Trump. Comey is the daughter of James Comey, the former FBI Director famously fired by Trump during his first term in office.

• Attorney General Pam Bondi's recent vow to "absolutely target" anyone who dares use "hate speech" she doesn't like in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder. For the record, Kirk would have disagreed. "Hate speech does not exist legally in America," he posted on social media last year, adding "ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment." Bondi also recently vowed to prosecute businesses who choose not to print posters of Kirk, despite the 2018 SCOTUS ruling that a religious baker in Colorado could not be forced to bake a cake for a gay wedding.

• Terrorism charges were dropped today by a judge in New York court against the 27-year old man accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare last December.

• In a 4 to 3 split ruling, the Georgia Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' appeal to a lower court ruling removing her and her office from prosecuting the sprawling racketeering indictment against Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants for their alleged efforts to steal the 2020 Presidential election in the state. While a state commission may now assign the case to a different prosecutor, they may choose not to do so or the chosen prosecutor may choose to drop the election interference case entirely. Willis' removal stems from a lower court ruling which determined she had had an inappropriate romantic relationship with a fellow prosecutor on the case.

• On Monday, Donald Trump announced his latest laughable defamation lawsuit against a major media outlet. This time, it's a $15 billion case against the New York Times for reporting which Trump, apparently, doesn't like. Barber describes the 85-page suit [PDF] as absurd. "I honestly think that Saturday Night Live or somebody should do a comedy sketch where the whole thing should be read out loud," he tells me. "It's nuts." That said, so were the ridiculous defamation suits against ABC News and CBS News, both of which chose to settle with Trump at the insistence of their corporate parents. The Times, however, has no such corporate parent. "I hope they don't settle this," says Barber. "I would expect that not only would they prevail, but they'd also get back all of their legal expenses."

And finally today, we close with Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report on our newly endless summers (no, it's not just your imagination); billions of taxpayer dollars being spent on new subsidies set for the fossil fuel industry, thanks to Trump and the Republicans' newly passed budget bill; and the surging success of renewable energy, lead by China, pretty much everywhere across the globe...except in the U.S...

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!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: It's not your imagination --- summers really are getting hotter and lasting longer into fall; U.S. taxpayers will pay billions in new fossil fuel subsidies under Republicans' big budget bill; PLUS: Renewable energy investment is surging globally --- just not in the U.S... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): How Trump's War on Climate Science impacts all Americans; Charlie Kirk's climate denial tracked with his racism; A steady ocean pattern just failed for the first time ever observed; EPA proposal puts US gas exporters in a bind; US energy chief tells BBC nuclear fusion will soon power the world; GOP plan on pesticides faces revolt from MAHA moms; Wind and solar power over one-third of Brazil's electricity for first time
... PLUS: Forget climate. Make electricity bills the issue... and much, MUCH more! ...

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump Administration is taking its War on Wind and Solar on the road; Deforestation is a major driver behind the decline of rainfall in the Amazon rainforest; Developing countries shifting from fossil fuels thanks to cheap Chinese solar; PLUS: August 2025 was third hottest August on record globally... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): Fossil-fuel firms receive US subsidies worth $31 billion each year, study finds; Study links more frequent and severe heat waves to pollution from major fossil fuel producers; Warming seas threaten key phytoplankton that fuels the food web; Trump administration dissolves group that authored controversial report sowing doubt in the severity of climate change; Plastic recycling is mostly fictional. Trump’s EPA approves... PLUS: California’s first solar-covered canal is now fully online... and much, MUCH more! ...

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Electricity demand is soaring around the country, and so are energy prices; FDA expands recall of potentially radioactive shrimp; Climate change super-charged Europe's worst wildfire season on record; PLUS: Trump Administration moves to revoke the iconic 'Roadless Rule'... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): Humans are altering the seas. Here's the the future ocean might look like; Gas turbine manufacturers gun shy about increasing production; Raid on Georgia E.V. battery plant raises new risks for a shaken industry; Global solar installations up 64 percent so far this year; EPA approves four new pesticides that qualify as PFAS; Florida’s fix for its struggling insurance market hurt homeowners, data show... PLUS: 'There is only one player': China is becoming world leader in green energy... and much, MUCH more! ...

The Trump Administration is at war against science (and reality) on at least two different fronts, both of which we dig into on today's BradCast. One is the Administration's War on the Science of Public Health, the other is the ongoing War on Climate Science. [Audio link to full show is posted below this summary.]

We begin with Administration's full-frontal attacks on public health, as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., testified before a U.S. Senate Committee today, facing tough questions from Democrats and even a few Republicans. Some of the colloquies turned into shouting matches.

Kennedy's years-long personal war against life-saving vaccines --- including the COVID vaccine --- often took center stage throughout the three-hour proceeding. But things had gone off the rails long before he showed up to take several verbal beatings today. Among some of the context for today's hearing: An anti-vax gunman shot up the CDC in early August; Kennedy's cancellation of half a billion dollars in research grants for new mRNA vaccines of the type that helped get us out of the COVID pandemic and could offer cures for cancer and other diseases; His firing of the CDC Director last week, less than a month into her tenure because, as she claims in an op-ed today, she refused to follow Kennedy's demand to "preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric".

Add to that, the state of Florida's announcement this week by its loony Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, that it is lifting all vaccine mandates for school children, including for measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, tetanus and polio. Ladapo compares vaccine mandates for school children to slavery. As one elected official in Florida said in response: "This is a public health disaster in the making for the Sunshine State." Unfortunately, as our guest today seems to concur, the entire nation is now facing the possibility of a similar public health disaster under the second Trump term.

We're joined today for a thoughtful discussion on all of this and more by DR. TYLER EVANS, infectious disease and public health expert and former Chief Medical Officer for New York City amid its COVID-19 response. Evans is now CEO and co-founder of the Wellness and Equity Alliance and author of the new book, Pandemics, Poverty, and Politics: Decoding the social and political drivers of pandemics from Plague to COVID-19.

It's impossible to adequately summarize our wide-ranging conversation, but I will share a few brief quotes...

• On RFK Jr.: "At this point, effectively every trusted and established or distinguished organization around infectious disease and public health are essentially demanding his resignation. Time is up. His answers are circular logic. They're definitely not based in science. And the more he talks --- particularly for folks who really understand the science --- it's like nails on a chalkboard for us."

• On the effect of vaccine conspiracy theories on public health: "If somebody is in the emergency room and you hear two doctors actively arguing about somebody's diagnosis and treatment, how do think that's going to make the patient feel? ... What we're seeing right now with RFK is doing exactly that. His intent is clearly to disrupt as much of the science as well as the implementation of science in public health as much as he possibly can."

• On the politicization of public health: "It doesn't matter if it's a blue or red city, state. At the end of the day, microbes, or other pathogens, or environmental stressors don't understand the difference between red and blue. It's all humans to them. We really need to depoliticize public health. ... We are politicizing everything about public health [and] now it's getting worse."

• On RFK's defunding of mRNA research: "At this point, we have millions of data points demonstrating it is incredibly safe. The mRNA literally is the most effective vaccine against COVID-19. So these claims that somehow they're not effective, or unsafe, are just patently untrue. They're just completely made up. ... This guy is just completely making stuff up. The defunding of the science behind advancing further mRNA vaccines just hurts all Americans."

Evans has much more on all of the above today, as well as on lessons he learned during the worst of the COVID pandemic in NYC; his personal experiences responding to viral outbreaks, like Ebola, around the world; the importance of a competent federal government during an historic pandemic; the lunatic that Florida has installed as its top public health official and more. "If we are removing vaccination mandates, particularly for kids, it is probably one of the most disastrous things we could ever do, from a public health standpoint," says Evans about the cancellation of vaccine mandates in the Sunshine State.

We ran longer than expected with Evans (though it was well worth it), but we still had a few minutes left today for Desi Doyen to take on Donald Trump's latest escalation in his War against Climate Science and specifically on cheap, clean, renewable, abundant wind and solar energy. All of that before closing with our latest Green News Report on new California wildfires; the deadly landslide in war-torn Sudan; and dozens of climate scientists taking on the Trump Administration's absurd "report" by five prominent climate science deniers meant to serve as the basis for the Administration's cancellation of hundreds of billions of dollars in critical climate change initiatives...

Yes, it's a very busy BradCast today...

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!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Wildfires destroy historic California Gold Rush town; Trump further escalates attacks against on US wind energy; Extreme rains trigger deadly landslide in war-torn Sudan; PLUS: Dozens of climate scientists issue scathing rebuttal to Dept. of Energy's science-denying report... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): Powerful rain and floods devastate northern India as experts blame climate change; FEMA staffing shortages could hinder disaster recovery efforts, GAO says; Despite Trump's brags, new data shows massive emissions from Texas wells; Explosion at Louisiana oil plant leaves Black community coated in toxic fallout; EPA plans to dramatically reduce wetland protection; Scientists may have identified a culprit behind declining Amazon rains... PLUS: Despite Trump, US scientists continue to work on key global climate reports... and much, MUCH more! ...

We're back on today's BradCast after a much-needed, "end of Summer" break. That's either good or bad news depending on how you (or I) might see it. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

The good news for me, I suppose, is that we missed one of the most insanely busy news weeks of Trump's second term. The bad news is that I need to get both you and me caught up on "our story so far", so everything makes sense (or, as much as is possible amidst this insanity) going forward into the Fall (and pending government shutdown at the end of this month.)

To that end, we've got a day-by-day, blow-by-blow, collected summary of much --- if not all --- of the key news from over the last week today. From many of the ongoing losses for Trump in the (lower) courts, to some very encouraging electoral news on several fronts for Democrats, to Americans pushing back (effectively) against the regime on several levels, to some of the not so good news, including natural and man-made disasters and tragedies, and the ever-ongoing, non-stop, self-destructive idiocy of the Trump Administration.

Also, Desi Doyen is here with our latest Green News Report, catching you up with some maddening and important stuff there as well!

It doesn't make too much sense for me to go into the details here. I'd be writing and linking all night. So tune in to get caught up on a lot of the unofficial "end of Summer" news to help get yourself buckled up for all the madness that most assuredly lies ahead...

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!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump's Border Patrol agents arrest fire fighting crewmembers battling Washington wildfire; Judge orders closure of federal detention camp in protected Florida Everglades for violating environmental laws; Extreme heat ages the body faster, new study finds; Europe's 2025 wildfire season officially the most destructive ever recorded; PLUS: Trump escalates his War on Wind, even as extreme heat pushes U.S. electricity demand to record highs... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): National Weather Service applicants must explain how they agree with Trump; Labor Day swimmers face fecal contamination along US coastline; Shrinking post-Katrina levees need $1B In upgrades; Climate change is severely impacting corn crops; Trump plans to cancel another offshore wind project... PLUS: Africa diverting from the fossil fuel addiction... and much, MUCH more! ...

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Spain battles its worst wildfire season --- yes, intensified by climate change; The world is drying out, threatening humanity's supply of fresh water; PLUS: Acting NASA Administrator wants the agency to give up climate science --- despite NASA's statutory mandate... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): Picking losers: Keeping obsolete coal plants open costs ratepayers millions; Kia is launching all the cool new EVs in Europe, while the US gets put on the back burner; A Toxic Landfill Was on the Brink of Expanding. Residents Fought Back and Won; Geothermal Network in Colorado Could Help Rural Town Diversify Its Economy; Court Puts The Brakes On Contested Land Transfer For Arizona Copper Mine; Another Gold Rush Could Bring Open Pit Mines To South Dakota’s Black Hills... PLUS: As Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Clouds Of Dangerous Dust Blow Into Boomtowns... and much, MUCH more! ...

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!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Erin already setting records; Climate change drove record levels of global humidity in 2024, with 2025 breathing down its neck; Deadly rains in Pakistan, deadly Nordic heatwave, both supercharged by human-caused global warming; PLUS: U.N. talks to curb plastic production collapse, with oil-producing nations (like the U.S.) refusing to limit plastic production... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): It's official: NASA is giving up climate science; Trump Admin tightens rules for renewable energy tax credits; Japan's rice harvest suffers under summer's brutal heat; China develops lithium battery twice as powerful as Tesla’s advanced cell; Trump admin redacts entire Empire Wind study; Prominent Texas breeder charged as 'ghost deer' investigation grows... PLUS: The smoldering, noxious waste dump next door... and much, MUCH more! ...

It's your democracy at work, for better or worse, on today's BradCast! [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

FIRST UP... At a lively rally at the Democracy Center here in Los Angeles on Thursday, California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled the "Election Rigging Response Act", legislation meant to push back against Donald Trump and the state of Texas' attempted mid-decade gerrymander of its already-gerrymandered U.S. House map. The new TX map, if enacted, would steal five Democratic House seats from largely minority voters in the Lone Star State in next year's midterms.

"We can't stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country," Newsom declared at the boisterous rally, announcing his plan to ask the Golden State legislature to quickly approve a ballot measure for November 4th that would allow CA to temporarily override the state's U.S. House map. Unlike in Texas, our maps are drawn by an independent redistricting commission. If Newsom's scheme overcomes several hurdles, a new map would be drawn by the Legislature to flip five currently Republican seats in CA. The Act must first be approved by two-thirds of the CA state Legislature. It would then have to pass muster with voters on November 4, and wold only take effect if Texas successfully rigs their map.

The attempted heist in Texas is currently on hold, with state Democratic lawmakers breaking quorum by leaving the state. But Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has insisted that he will call Special Session after Special Session until he is able to rig the map for Trump and Republicans who fear they will otherwise lose their slim U.S. House majority next year.

"We are not bystanders in this world. We can shape the future," Newsom told the crowd on Thursday, adding: "Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back."

"We're giving the people of this state the power to save democracy, not just in California, but all across the United States of America. I hope we are waking up to this reality. Wake up, America. Wake up to what Donald Trump is doing," the Governor concluded. We share his remarks in full on today's show.

THEN... We're joined by veteran, award-winning journalist turned media reform champion SUE WILSON of the Media Action Center, for an update on a remarkable story she has been covering at The BRAD BLOG for at least five years.

Wilson initially reported in 2020 on a citizen Petition filed at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking to deny renewal of Sinclair Broadcasting's TV stion license in Baltimore. The complaint alleged that Sinclair, one of the nation's largest (and most right-leaning) station owners, was violating FCC rules that limit the number of stations that can be owned in a single market by secretly controlling two other television stations in Baltimore. Those two stations are run, according to the well-documented Petition, by sock-puppet companies actually controlled by Sinclair.

Filed in late 2020, the Petition wasn't heard by the FCC during the remaining months of Donald Trump's first term. Over the ensuing four years, for reasons we discuss today, Joe Biden's FCC failed to review the matter as well. In the meantime, in 2023, the Petitioner passed away. Another Baltimore resident was quickly substituted on the paperwork.

Fast-forward to 2025 and the FCC in Trump's second term, now led by his hand-picked Chair Brendan Carr, dismissed the original complaint on the basis that the substitute Petitioner missed the chance to file a petition on her own back in 2020. Her substitution for the man who waited five years for a hearing --- and died waiting --- was not allowed, Carr ruled, even though the well-documented facts of the matter hadn't changed. The Sinclair stations in question have since been re-licensed, despite the companies apparent violations of both FCC rules and federal law.

The lawyer for both the late Petitioner and his substitute, has filed an Application for Review, hoping to appeal the Commission's absurd ruling. Wilson detailed the latest remarkable chapter in this long-running story at The BRAD BLOG this week, and joins us to both break it down, and light up a warning about the next scheme that the FCC's Carr now has in place to undermine federal ownership rules of local television stations nationwide.

FINALLY... Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with the usual litany of disturbing climate and energy news, as well as perhaps the dumbest, most disinformative comment ever uttered on Fox "News" regarding renewable energy --- and that's saying quite a bit!...

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!)