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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: 2017 leaves parting gift, dumping record snowfall in Pennsylvania; Southern California's Thomas Fire is now the largest in state history; 2017 to rank among top three hottest years ever recorded; PLUS: The clean energy revolution is unstoppable, no matter what Trump does... 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 10 Most Important U.S. Climate Stories in 2017; How Big Oil lost control of its climate disinformation machine; Climate change is happening faster than predicted; Climate change is creating more refugees, so why don't they count as refugees?; Pentagon strategy document will not include climate change; Pebble Mine kicks of permit process; EPA officials are leaving in droves; Fossil fuel industry makes huge investment in plastics production; How much it will cost the United States to save itself from rising seas over the next 50 years?...PLUS: Megadisasters devastated America this year. They’re going to get worse... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: Is it time for Dems to run on soaking the rich? If the GOP's tax legislation doesn't reveal Republicans' own continuing class warfare against the poor and middle-class, nothing will. But will Democrats be smart enough to take advantage of it? [Audio link to show follows below.]

On Tuesday, House Republicans passed what they thought would be the final version of their massive tax legislation to transfer hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars from the poor and middle class to the wealthy and corporations already raking in record profits. A parliamentary issue in the Senate, however, may require the House to vote on the measure once again on Wednesday. But, either way, the bill now looks as if the temporary tax cuts for individuals and massive permanent cuts for corporations will clear both chambers and head to Donald Trump's desk for signing before Christmas.

So, what happened to all of those Tea Party folks who, back in 2010, under a Democratic President, pretended to be demanding fiscal discipline and an end to deficit spending in Congress? All of those dupes, patsies, chumps and suckers --- not to mention the GOPers who scammed them about it all in the first place --- now seem to be cool with adding $1.5 trillion to the national debt via the GOP tax bill. In Congress, Republicans are now giddy about their hopes of dealing with that debt by cutting social programs, like health care to people who need it, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, to help pay for their massive tax cuts to the wealthy and for huge increases in spending for the U.S. war-making machine.

At the same time, Democrats ought to be eying the fact that the vast majority of voters --- including huge majorities of Trump supporters --- would prefer to see taxes raised, not lowered, on the rich. Political scientist and researcher SPENCER PISTON of Boston University, author of the upcoming book Class Attitudes in America: Sympathy for the Poor, Resentment of the Rich, and Political Implications joins us today to discuss his recent article at The Nation with Sean McElwee, on how Republican politicians continue to get away with cutting taxes for the wealthy, despite overwhelming popular opposition to it.

Piston explains how tactics are used by the GOP to confuse the public (which are then echoed by the media) and, when all else fails and such measures are still wildly unpopular --- as with the current GOP tax cuts --- they go ahead and vote for it anyway. It's time, he argues, for Democrats to stop shying away from leveraging resentment of the rich in their politics. And he has the data to prove it.

"There's a common assumption out there that, in a democratic political system, the desires of the public should guide public policy," he tells me. "And in some cases that's certainly true. But, in many cases, the opinions of the public have very little to do with the policy outcomes that actually occur. This [GOP tax plan] is no exception. Americans have desired higher taxes on the rich for decades. And yet, fairly consistently, albeit with some notable exceptions, taxes on the rich over the past few decades have plummeted."

"The reason that this happens is policy makers who don't want to do what majorities of the public want, follow a playbook of confuse, distract, and ignore." Piston explains how it works and what it means --- or should --- for Democrats as they move into the 2018 mid-term election year and look to 2020 beyond it. "There is certainly a benefit to running against the rich, which is that it's easier to get the public on your side," he explains, before cautioning, "But it's not as easy to get donors on your side."

Finally, we're joined by Desi Doyen with the latest Green News Report on the cause of the Atlanta airport blackout, the massive, still-out-of-control winter wildfires in Southern California, Trump's ridiculous new declaration that climate change is no longer a national security threat, and an update on the deadly Amtrak train derailment near Seattle, which could have been avoided...with proper funding from Congress...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Atlanta airport blackout exposes serious vulnerabilities in nation's air transportation system; Fast-growing winter wildfire in Southern California now third largest in state history; Study finds climate change already wreaking havoc on our weather; PLUS: Trump removes climate change from the list of national security threats... 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): Derailed Amtrak train was 50 mph over the speed limit; EPA moves to replace Obama-era Clean Power Plan; EPA's opp-research firm scrutinized EPA employees' emails to find dissenters; EPA's ties to GOP oppo-research firm go back years; China unveils ambitious plan to curb carbon emissions; British Columbia bans grizzly bear hunting; Trump kills USDA organic animal welfare rules, years in the making; GOP tax bill largely preserves renewable energy investment tax breaks; Trump rule change exploits taxpayers for mine cleanup; Meet the microgrid... PLUS: 60 environmental rules on the way out under Trump... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: Yet another mind-blowing adventure in attempted election oversight. This time regarding the complete destruction of all paper ballots in the middle of a Florida lawsuit, following an election between two Democrats, one of them a powerful member of Congress. [Audio link to show follows below.]

But first: Deadly and costly disasters, natural and otherwise, top the news headlines on today's program. Among them: the catastrophic Amtrak train derailment on a brand-new line near Seattle, the second straight week for still-raging apocalyptic wildfires in Southern California, and the continuing disaster in Puerto Rico where, three months after Hurricane Maria came ashore, one-third of the island is still without power and the Governor has finally conceded that the official death toll of 64 may be off...by as much as 1,000!

All tolled, hundreds of billions will be needed to rebuild from those deadly disasters, and yet Republicans in Congress are still hoping to pass a $1.5 trillion tax cut, largely for wealthy Americans, before Christmas. Their scheme took a troubling turn over the weekend, as a new provision was added to the legislation during reconciliation of the House- and Senate-passed versions late last week. The new provision, it was revealed by David Sirota at International Business Times, would give special tax breaks to owners of large real estate holding LLC's like President Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan and, most curiously, Sen. Bob Corker who, on Friday, mysteriously reversed his previous opposition to the bill after the new provision was tacked on, in what many are now calling the #CorkerKickBack.

Then, we're joined by journalist, documentarian and election integrity advocate LULU FRIESDAT to discuss the remarkable turn of events recently revealed in response to multiple public records requests she has made over the past year in hopes of reviewing hand-marked paper ballots from the Democratic primary election last year between Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and her Bernie Sanders-endorsed challenger Tim Canova.

Just weeks after being forced to step down as chair of the DNC amidst the release of stolen emails from party officials, Wasserman-Schultz soundly defeated Canova in the first primary she'd faced in her six terms as a member of Congress. But, unexplained vote count numbers --- such as hundreds of more voted ballots than voters signed in to the poll books in the 23rd Congressional District race in Broward County, FL --- led to Friesdat's attempt to examine the paper ballots by hand, in hopes of determining if they were tallied correctly by the county's computer tabulators during the August 2016 Democratic primary. Eventually Canova himself filed a lawsuit against the county's Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, after Friesdat says she was continually denied access to the materials.

In November of this year, well over a year after Snipes certified the contest, both were finally invited to inspect the Broward County ballots only to learn upon arrival that all of them had actually been destroyed by the county in the middle of the lawsuit. Only digital images of what were purportedly the original ballots were available for examination, according to Snipes, in what appears to be, according to Politico's survey of election experts, a clear and stunning violation of federal election law requiring all such materials be retained for 22 months after an election.

Friesdat tells me that neither her nor Canova had any idea the ballots were destroyed before showing up to review them. "If you're looking at digital scans, and you don't have the original ballots to turn to, at that point you have no way of verifying that ballots haven't been switched out, that ballots haven't been added, that ballots haven't been taken away --- you don't have any verification that those are the original ballots."

Oddly enough, she explains, "in the very first public records request in November [of 2016], I requested all of the digital ballot scans for the election, and I was told that they didn't have them, that they didn't exist. And then it turned out that they did exist. So the county was duplicitous in regard to that information."

As to what's really going on here, Friesdat demures from speculation, but says, based only on what is already known on the public record, that "according to Politico, seven legal experts that they consulted all agreed that the ballots being destroyed was illegal."

It is of a piece, she observes, with the recent revelations in Racine County, WI, in November of this year, when multi-partisan election transparency advocates were finally allowed to review some of the computer-scanned paper ballots from the 2016 Presidential election. After months of similar public records request, they were allowed to view original paper ballots, only to find that, in the precincts they examined, anywhere from 2 to 6% of perfectly valid Presidential votes had been ignored by the computer tabulators entirely. That, in an election where Trump is said to have pulled off his shocking statewide victory by less than 1%.

"What's going on here is actually just a representative sample of the problems that we have with our elections, and which you have been reporting on for over a decade," Friesdat says. "We're heading into the 2018 primaries. We at least now have a growing understanding and awareness that, in many cases, our election results may or may not be accurate, and that the protocols we are using in order to get those results are not secure." She offers many other troubling observations on all of this during our conversation today.

Finally, four U.S. Senators --- two of whom had previously called for Sen. Al Franken to resign amidst allegations of inappropriate conduct --- are now, according to a new report today, said to be hoping that he might reconsider his previously-announced plans to resign "in the coming weeks", before the Senate Ethics Committee has even investigated the charges against him...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Officials warn of toxic smoke from Southern California wildfires; New bad news for the Arctic; New good news for Tesla; At global summit, the world fights climate change without the U.S.; PLUS: French president makes good on promise to fund U.S. climate scientists, after Trump drops out... 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): NOAA: The Arctic shows “no sign” of returning to a “reliably frozen region.”; Avocados and lemons also victims of CA fires; Babies born near fracking sites face low birth weight; U.S. meat industry is the largest source of drinking water pollution throughout the Midwest; Trump Admin wrongly withheld funds from ARPA-e; Final GOP tax bill would ANWR drilling; Climate change made Harvey rainfall 15 percent more intense; Exxon to disclose climate risks to shareholders; Former EPA chiefs blast Pebble Mine project; Trump EPA chemical safety nominee withdraws; New discoveries on increase in earthquakes in KS, OK; Puerto Rico object to new excise tax in GOP tax bill... PLUS: United States of Petroleum: Government's secret alliance with Big Oil... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Eruption of Bali's volcano could temporarily lower global temperatures; New study finds drilling wakes up sleeping earthquake faults in Texas; U.N. global treaty to curb HFCs comes into force; Tech company files patent on battery-charging breakthrough; PLUS: Elon Musk makes good on his battery bet for South Australia... 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): Delhi smog crisis worsens; Mexico creates massive ocean reserve; Environmental groups sue to stop AZ Rosemont Mine; Wind energy surpasses coal in Texas; Everglades oil well application rejected; Solar stakes are high as Puerto Rico rebuilds; New Interior plan maximizes fossil fuel extraction on public lands; NC's Outer Banks battles rising seas; Coral reef transplant experiment gives scientists hope for Great Barrier Reef... PLUS: In order to save glyphosate, the Monsanto corporation has undertaken an effort to destroy the United Nations' cancer agency by any means possible... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Alaska National Wildlife Refuge on the chopping block --- again; California officials warn of toxic ashes from the state's devastating wildfires; Like Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands struggling without power or clean water; PLUS: Shell Oil opens electric vehicle charging network at gas stations --- in Britain... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Video: 1 million Americans without power in Puerto Rico; Paris talks set in awkward moment for Trump Admin; With fast-charging, electric cars will soon match or beat gasoline cars in every respect; Iowa governor: Trump 'committed' to ethanol; Hurricane Maria recovery requires extensive federal response; Trump abandons plans to help climate refugees; Developing world struggles with obsolete pesticides; EPA says higher radiation levels pose 'no harmful effect'; Company to pipe water out of Mojave desert to cities... PLUS: Trump voters in storm-ravaged county confront climate change.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Humanitarian crisis remains dire in Puerto Rico as U.S. military finally steps up its disaster response; Trump attacks San Juan Mayor on Twitter...from his golf club in New Jersey; PLUS: General Motors announces it will make a big push into electric cars...thanks to China... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Puerto Rico is all our worst fears about Trump becoming real: A real crisis comes and Trump can’t handle it; Tricks that CA can use to move to all-electric cars; Sec. Perry just proposed sweeping new steps to help struggling coal and nuclear plants; Global warming made Europe's fiery 'Lucifer' summer 10 times more likely; Chinese city bans most coal; Tests find toxic chemicals after Texas plant fire; Solar industry split on trade tariffs controversy; Arctic National Wildlife Refuge targeted for drilling in Senate budget... PLUS: 40 Catholic groups announce divestment from fossil fuels.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Puerto Rico descends into desperation after Hurricane Maria; Trump Administration finally waives shipping restrictions to the island of 3.5 million U.S. citizens; PLUS: Some small bits of good news amid the bad... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Hidden Costs of climate change cost US $240 billion annually; For Puerto Rico, Maria was bad, the aftermath worse, but the future is the biggest challenge; U.S., Mexico reach deal to conserve Colorado River water; EPA threatens to stop funding DOJ enforcement actions; EPA Pruitt's chartered private jet flights cost taxpayers more than $58,000; Pollution could increase in Illinois as governor moves to rescue coal plants; Maryland sues EPA over interstate air pollution; Park Service showed bottled water ban worked, then lifted it; How military outsourcing turned toxic... PLUS: FERC calls court's call for climate test 'inappropriate'.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Widespread devastation in the wake of record-breaking Hurricane Harvey; Officials warn the hardest work is just beginning; Explosions rock flooded Texas chemical plant; Trump revoked flood prevention reconstruction rules; PLUS: Looking ahead, looming battles in Congress over disaster relief and flood insurance... 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): EPA’s regulatory rollback would ensure that in disasters like Harvey, pollution is worse; Two new tropical storms take aim at U.S.; Trapped bakery workers spent days baking bread for Harvey victims; Harvey's toll on energy industry shows a Texas vulnerability; Why '500-year floods' are happening more frequently; MI demands Enbridge fix Mackinac Strait pipelines; Interior misspent $32 million thanks to lax oversight; EPA claims climate scientists trying to 'politicize' record storm; FERC approves controversial pipeline route over residents' objections; Coal payment loophole remains despite court ruling; Sea Shepherd pulls plug on Japan whale hunt... PLUS: Hurricane Harvey is what climate change looks like... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump revokes Obama's executive order protecting the nation's infrastructure from floods; July 2017 was the hottest July on record, and the hottest month ever; Monday's total solar eclipse to have big impact on solar energy generation; PLUS: National monuments on the chopping block in unprecedented monument review... 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): Court lets Exxon off the hook for Mayflower, AR pipeline damages; Trump EPA to rewrite coal plant wastewater rules; National Park Service ends ban on plastic water bottles; Thousands of dead sharks found on trawler illegally fishing in Galapagos marine sanctuary; Miami taxpayers foot the bill to protect city from climate change; Tough questions at solar panel trade dispute hearing; PA's shad return for first time in hundreds of years after dam removal; Environmental groups lose court challenge to stop LNG export terminal... PLUS: Yemen record 500,000 Cholera Cases, nearly 2,000 Deaths... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump's proposed budget cuts deeply into the environment and Superfund programs; Landslide buries California's iconic Pacific Coast Highway 1; Wind farm company proposes to retrain unemployed coal miners to be wind technicians - for free; PLUS: Pope Francis offers a gift and a message to President Trump... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Scientists publish an entire study refuting Scott Pruitt on climate change - by name; Pruitt's regulatory rollbacks are a boon to the oil and gas industry; Trump’s budget delivers Big Oil’s wish on reducing Strategic Petroleum Reserve; State appeals court rules Exxon must turn over records to NY prosecutor; NASA faces steep cuts in Trump budget; Mystery solved - how did whales get so big?; FERC will not delay proposed pipeline through state forest; OECD: tackling climate change will boost economic growth... PLUS: How a small PA town is standing up to fracking... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: The Global Seed Vault flooded by melting permafrost; Antarctica is going green, and not in a good way; Switzerland votes to accelerate renewable energy transition; PLUS: Trump's final budget proposal takes a hatchet to the environment... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): 2 more leaks found on Dakota Access Pipeline; Rate of sea level rise has tripled since 1990; Senate's Regulatory Review Act is bad for science; No one lives on this remote Pacific island but it’s covered in 38 million pieces of trash; Rural Trump voters fight to keep their land from oil industry eminent domain abuse; States push for stronger oil train rules; Exxoh climate fraud investigation widens over missing Tillerson alias emails... PLUS: Withdrawing from the Paris climate deal could cause ‘lasting damage’ to ties between U.S. and Europe, official warns... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Lake Michigan beaches closed after toxic chemical spill; BP's newest oil spill in Alaska finally shut down after 3 days; US nuclear company bankruptcy raises questions over unfinished reactors; Good news: March 2017 was not the hottest on record! Bad news: it was 2nd hottest; PLUS: London's famous black cabs are going electric... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Science Strikes Back: Anti-Trump March Draws Thousands To Washington; Trump Advisers To Meet Tuesday To Discuss Paris Climate Agreement; DOE Sec. Perry Orders Electric Grid Study to Boost Coal; Saudis Target 30 Solar, Wind Projects in $50 Billion Pledge; Battle Over Endangered Species Law Already Raging Out Of Public Eye; Exodus From Canada's Oil Sands Continues as Energy Giants Shed Assets; In The Rockies, Climate Change Spells Trouble For Cutthroat Trout... PLUS: Canada Glacier Melt Rerouted In Rare Case Of 'River Piracy'.... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Two-thirds of Great Barrier Reef now fighting for its life; Trump EPA plans to dismantle programs that protect kids from lead paint; EPA also plans to eliminate its vehicle testing program and climate adaptation division; PLUS: California's historic drought is officially over, but conservation measures remain in place... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): What’s at Stake in Trump’s Proposed E.P.A. Cuts; VIDEO: No More Ducking the Duck: Negative Electricity Pricing Comes to America; A black community in Oakland says pollution is violating its civil rights; Neil Gorsuch will be bad news for the environment; An Armada of Icebergs Has Just Invaded The North Atlantic; Native American entrepreneurs building a better fishery in PacNW; More Than 100 Florida Wildfires Scorch State; Gag Order Keeps Oregon From Telling Public About Cancer-Causing Pollutant... PLUS: U.S. Scuppers G7 Bid To Find Joint Stance On Energy And Climate.... and much, MUCH more! ...