In the months leading up to the disgraced former President's recent felony convictions in New York, related to rigging the 2016 election in his favor, many Trump supporters told pollsters that they would reconsider their support for him if he was eventually convicted of a crime. As discussed on today's BradCast (and warned about on many programs prior), that was just another MAGA lie. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

But, first up today, some big news over the weekend and then again just about an hour before airtime today...

• On Sunday, Israeli centrist Benny Gantz quit Israel's war Cabinet citing far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu placing his own "political survival" above the country's security interests. Gantz, the popular former chief of the Israel Defense Forces, had joined Netanyahu in a unity coalition after Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel. But more recently he vowed to leave if Netanyahu continued to refuse to formulate a plan for postwar Gaza. On Sunday, Gantz made good on that promise though, ironically, his move now makes Netanyahu more beholden to his far-right coalition partners.

• In related news, just before air today, the United Nations Security Council voted in favor of an Israel/Hamas peace proposal outlined and backed by President Biden. Russia abstained from the vote and the remaining 14 members of the Council all voted in favor of the resolution that seeks an immediate ceasefire, a return of all hostages and a permanent end to the eight-month war. Hamas welcomed the resolution. We will see if Netanyahu does the same. Don't hold your breath.

• And, over the weekend, far-right political parties across Europe --- particularly in France, Germany and Italy --- made significant gains in EU parliamentary elections. While the center right is still expected to hold, the vote in favor of anti-migrant, anti-climate action factions has seriously shaken up the Eurozone and led to French President Emmanuel Macron dissolving the French government and calling for snap elections. The far-right's parliamentary gains, according to some analysts, are tied to a failure of progressive voters to simply show up to vote. You have been warned.

• Finally, with convicted felon Donald Trump's sentencing in New York set for July 11, he was allowed to participate in a pre-sentencing probation interview remotely on Monday with his attorney present. (Both are privileges that no other convict enjoys) But, where many Republicans told pollsters before his conviction that they would rethink their support of the former President if he was found guilty of felonies, polling since the unanimous verdict finding him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying records as part of a hush-money scheme to rig the 2016 election, finds that many of those same Republicans are suddenly very much in favor of felonious criminals running for office. (See this and this and this and this, for more details.) Go figure. We take some calls today from listeners on that point, including several Trump supporters who try to explain why they are still supporting him even after his felony convictions. It was remarkably enlightening...at least for me...and will probably be absolutely maddening to you (as it also was for me)...

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"The Supreme Court of the United States is anti-democracy and antivoter --- and has been for far longer than you might think." That sounds like something we might charge at The BRAD BLOG or on The BradCast. But, today, that allegation comes from our guest, an esteemed law professor in his brand new book. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

FIRST UP, however... A couple of news items of note today. Convicted felon Donald Trump's 2016 campaign manager and Senior White House Advisor Steve Bannon (also a longtime "anti-democracy and antivoter" activist) may finally be heading to jail as of July 1. That according to a ruling today by the Trump-appointed federal judge overseeing Bannon's two 2022 convictions for Contempt of Congress following his refusal to answer subpoenas from the bipartisan House January 6 Committee. He still has a couple of potential options for delay --- including his hope for a lifeline from the corrupt U.S. Supreme Court. But, otherwise, he is likely to soon be locked up for the next four months in the run-up to this year's election. Sad!

Also today, the EU's climate monitor announced this week that, as of May, the past 12 months have each been the hottest ever recorded on Planet Earth. That announcement came on the same day this week that the U.N. Secretary-General, António Guterres, offered a blistering speech deriding the fossil fuel industry as "the Godfathers of climate chaos" who "rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies" after having set the planet on "the highway to climate hell". He is, of course, correct. But Guterres also called, for the first time, for a ban on all ads by fossil fuel companies, akin to the one against tobacco companies, given the billions that Big Oil has spent on decades of deadly lies "distorting the truth, deceiving the public and sowing doubt" about the harm they've caused. He also called for "news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil fuel advertising." Think they will? We discuss.

NEXT... We're joined by Constitutional election law professor JOSHUA A. DOUGLAS of the University of Kentucky's College of Law to discuss his brand new book, The Court v. The Voters: The Troubling Story of How the Supreme Court Has Undermined Voting Rights. That title almost speaks for itself. But, as you might imagine, it gives us a lot to discuss today.

In his book, Douglas highlights nine different landmark SCOTUS rulings --- some you almost certainly know of, but others that you may not --- going back about 50 years, which he says have "contributed to the rise of anti-democracy forces animating our elections" today, leading the nation on the path toward the attempted rightwing insurrection on January 6, 2021.

"Legitimacy requires buy-in from everyone," when it comes to election law, Douglas tells me today. "So the fact that I make this statement about the Supreme Court, as someone who has tried to be very non-partisan in my work, says a lot about how stark it has become with respect to the way in which the Court has crafted or thought about the Constitutional right to vote."

"It has been death by a thousand cuts," he explains. "A slow march. There's no one case or one concerted effort." But the result of the Court's persistent rulings has been to undermine voting rights and, ultimately, the Constitutional order by giving more and more power to the states, after years of previously requiring strict scrutiny when it comes to restrictive voting laws. Each new ruling, he says, has fed off previous ones, granting more and more power back to states to restrict voting rights, eroding federal protections in both law and the Constitution.

In some cases, Douglas argues, such as 2021's Brnovich v. DNC, the Court (in this case, Justice Samuel Alito writing the opinion for the majority) has taken to simply making up new tests for state election laws "literally from thin air" to support their antivoter rulings.

Ever since the decade following the Civil Rights era, "it's been a slow march towards dismantling some of the protections of the Voting Rights Act, as well as undermining the constitutional importance of the right to vote within the U.S. Constitution. When you look at any one case, you don't necessarily see it. It's when we look at these combined, to note the way in which the Court has placed a thumb on the scale of the [state] legislatures at the expense of voters."

The book is written not for legal scholars, Douglas promises, but for actual voters. Rather than offering simply legal analyses, it is chock full of stories about the individual people involved in each of the cases he highlights. Evidence to support his argument here may be found in the title of Chapter 8, "An 'Embarrassing Judicial Fart'", on 2000's Bush v. Gore ruling.

While The Courts v. The Voters argues "we can no longer count on the Supreme Court to protect an equal right to vote for all" and that "voters are left with nowhere to turn to vindicate their rights," Douglas also offers a prescription for overcoming what he regards as an assault on our Democratic Republic in both the book and on today's program.

FINALLY... Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with more on what the European Union's chief climate monitor describes as the "shocking but not surprising" record heat over each of the last 12 months; the U.N. Secretary-General's well-supported screed against the deadly "Godfathers of climate chaos" in the fossil fuel industry; a record number of heat deaths in the U.S. last year; and the world's largest solar farm --- the size of New York City --- now finally online...in China.

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During opening statements in the disgraced former President's ongoing criminal trial, prosecutors argued the scheme surrounding his hush-money payments to a porn star just before the 2016 election amounted to "election fraud, pure and simple." Similar fraud since then, by Trump and now much of his Republican party, pervades many of our stories on today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

Among our stories today...

• It's Primary Day in Pennsylvania. We'll have noteworthy results and/or problem reports on tomorrow's program. (Recent elections in PA have revealed serious problems with the touchscreen voting systems still shamefully used in a number of jurisdictions.) But the election in the Keystone State today --- as some voters are reportedly struggling with newly implemented Photo ID requirements --- also provides a reminder as to why it's a good idea to vote in primaries, even when races at the top of the ticket may already be foregone conclusions.

• Donald Trump's election-fraud-via-hush-money criminal trial in New York continued on Tuesday. We offer a a few quick updates. One point we missed Monday's opening statements, included the fact that prosecutors say they have hand-written documentation from longtime Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg as to why Michael Cohen was paid $420k as reimbursement for his $130k payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Today, the day began with a contempt hearing over at least ten instances in which prosecutors allege that Trump has violated the court's gag order on attacking jurors and witnesses. The judge has yet to issue his ruling, but the hearing culminated with Trump's attorney Todd Blanche being upbraided by a frustrated Justice Juan Merchan, who told him, "You are losing all credibility with the court." For that, it appears, Trump's campaign and associated groups have been paying about $145,000 in donor money for legal fees each day since early 2023, according to newly released numbers. After the jury arrived, the trial's first witness continued his testimony. That would be former National Enquirer publisher, longtime Trump pal, and alleged "catch and kill"/hush-money co-conspirator David Pecker.

• Arizona's 2022 Republican election losers, Kari Lake and Mark Finchem, both falsely claim their elections, for Governor and Sec. of State respectively, were stolen from them somehow, by the Republican officials who run elections in the state's largest County. They sued in 2022 and have lost in court after court ever since. On Monday, the corrupted rightwing U.S. Supreme Court also rejected their case. They are both running again in 2024, for U.S. Senate and state Senate respectively. What could possibly go wrong?

• Speaking of 2024 Republican U.S. Senate candidates in battleground states, Wisconsin's Eric Hovde really, really wants you to know that he totally thinks "elderly should absolutely vote". Even after his previous comments about elderly voters in nursing homes that really kinda makes it seem otherwise.

• The Trump Campaign and the RNC (now effectively one and the same) have announced their plans for an "Historic, 100,000 person strong Election Integrity operation"! We've got a few thoughts about what that really means. Though it probably doesn't help that a statement from Trump himself included in the announcement echoes almost precisely a statement long attributed to Josef Stalin that "it's not who votes that matters, but who counts the votes".

• As to actual election fraud, as usual, the call is coming from inside the Republican house. This time, it's a guy named Austin Smith, an Arizona's Republican state Rep. and top leader of Turning Point Action --- a group which has long echoed Trump's false 2020 election fraud claims. Smith has apparently been caught submitting dozens of signatures, in his own hand-writing, for his own reelection campaign. While denying the charges, now being investigated by the AZ Attorney General, Rep. Smith has since resigned from Turning Point and called off his reelection campaign. But really, he insists, he didn't do it!

• Finally, Desi Doyen is here for our latest Green News Report, including today: news on Europe's stunning rate of warming; new details on the plastic manufacturing industries contribution to man-made climate change; and another series of sweeping actions from the Biden Administration on Solar for All, the American Climate Corps and a whole bunch of brand new conservation initiatives that I can almost bet you haven't heard about until now...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Europe is the fastest-warming continent on the planet, new study warns; Plastics manufacturers are big contributors to man-made global warming; PLUS: Biden Administration unveils Solar For All program, American Climate Corps, and sweeping new actions on conservation... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Here's how to apply for Biden's Climate Corps job; Oil companies must set aside more money to plug wells, but it won't be enough; Ohio Gov. DeWine got secret $2.5 million boost from power company; World 'losing the battle' against electronic waste, UN finds; Net zero has become unhelpful slogan, says outgoing head of UK climate watchdog; Communities fight the last toxic battery recycling plant in CA; Don’t flush trees down the toilet. Use sustainable toilet paper instead... PLUS: Earth Day: A senator more than 50 years ago got people fighting for the planet... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: March 2024 was the hottest March ever recorded, continuing a 10-month record hot streak; European court rules Switzerland's climate inaction violates human rights; Norfolk Southern settles East Palestine lawsuits for $600 million; PLUS: EPA cracks down on airborne pollution from chemical plants and toxic 'forever chemicals' in drinking water... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): World Bank must take 'quantum leap' to tackle climate crisis, UN expert says; Russia and Kazakhstan evacuate tens of thousands amid worst floods in decades; FirstEnergy gave secret $1 to Ohio Lt. Governor campaign in scandal; Protesters slam gas group’s use of customers’ money to thwart climate efforts; US agrees with Native American tribe that Line 5 Pipeline is trespassing; How the essential, dirty steel industry is going green; Here’s how EVs could get 200 miles per gallon... PLUS: Big Oil could face homicide charges... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: In State of the Union Address, President Biden highlights economic and jobs boom from his climate policies; February 2024 obliterated global temperature and ocean heat records; PLUS: Great Barrier Reef hit with yet another 'mass bleaching event'... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): No big North Sea fossil fuel country has plan to stop drilling in time for 1.5C goal; Adapt, Move or Die? Plants and animals face new pressures in a warming world; How to recycle the giant magnets inside wind turbines? These scientists have a few ideas; CA salmon season to be restricted or shut down, again; Microplastics may be new risk factor for cardiovascular disease, researchers say; Has geothermal's moment finally arrived?... PLUS: Biden’s State of the Union address should give us hope on climate... and much, MUCH more! ...

I'm fighting (and losing to) a sinus infection, so otherwise exhausted after today's very lively BradCast. Thus, Imma try to keep this short and leave you to tune in for all the juicy fun on today's program. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

In general, amongst the stuff we covered...

• GOP South Carolina primary results prove yet again that about 40% of Republican voters, at least in the nominating contests to date, want an alternative toDonald Trump. Clearly, that's a crisis for...Joe Biden, as the New York Times helps us understand.

• A whole bunch of primaries (and caucuses and dysfunctional GOP party conventions) are coming up in a whole bunch of states over the next week, beginning with Michigan tomorrow and some 16 states and territories next Tuesday --- Super Tuesday --- March 5th. We lay out all of the confusing details, attempts by Trump to game the GOP nomination, and a move from some on the Left in Michigan to call out President Biden or his position on Israel.

• In addition to a whole bunch of nominating contests over the next week, the inept House GOP has scheduled a potential (if partial) government shutdown for this Friday, the same day that President Biden is set to deliver his State of the Union Address. At the same time, SCOTUS could come down with two key rulings any minute on whether Trump is allowed to be on the ballot at all this year, as per the Constitution's "Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause", and on his ridiculous "Presidential Immunity" argument in his criminal trials. Buckle up for all of the above over the next week or so.

• AND THEN: Russia's deadly invasion of its peaceful, democratic sovereign neighbor of Ukraine has now entered its third horrific year. More and more evidence over the past week has emerged to document both Vladimir Putin's treachery and his Kremlin's decade-long, active intelligence operation to interfere with the U.S. electoral system. All of it highlights the perfidy and/or stupidity of a whole bunch of Useful Idiots on the Right --- from Trump to rightwing media to Republicans in Congress --- who are all too happy to echo blatant Kremlin propaganda for (potential) political gain.

  But what of the small, if intense, number of folks on the supposed, "anti-war" progressive Left who have also spent years at this point echoing much of the same Kremlin propaganda? The one who, today, agree with Republicans who want to simply throw Ukraine to the Russian wolves because, something something "World War III", something something NATO, something something "negotiate" with the invaders, something something "privileged few" who want Ukraine to "fight to the last Ukrainian"? (That last, literally a documented Russian intel talking point, repeated endlessly now by many on the Left and Right who oppose aid to Ukraine to allow them to both defend themselves and democracy itself against imperialist foreign military aggression.)

  We call out some of those on the Left today for falling for disinformation and talking points, knowingly or unknowingly...because someone has to...and they call in to today's BradCast in response.

  Lively conversation ensues...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: U.S. Supreme Court hears challenge to EPA's landmark 'Good Neighbor' pollution rule; Bizarre winter heat wave hits Japan; New study finds near-universal global public support for climate action; PLUS: Biden Administration unveils billions in new funding to clean up the nation's drinking water... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Record US renewable energy investment not enough to meet climate goals - report; Chicago sues 5 oil companies, accusing them of climate change destruction, fraud; More meteorologists sounding hurricane alarm; Electric cars are driving China toward the end of the Age of Oil; UK to quit energy treaty that ‘penalizes’ net zero; Dead livestock and poisoned water — Texas farmers sue over PFAS pollution... PLUS: The Haves and Have Nots: Clean energy an economic engine in rural America, but not for NIMBYs... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: EPA cracks down on deadly soot pollution; January 2024 was the hottest January ever recorded on Planet Earth; PLUS: Hurricanes are getting so intense, scientists propose a 'Category 6'... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Record drop in EU power sector emissions driven by 'unprecedented collapse' of coal and gas; Data from centuries-old sea creatures suggest the world is warming faster than scientists thought ... PLUS: Two years after deadly tornadoes, some Mayfield families are still waiting for housing... and much, MUCH more! ...

Today on The BradCast: Bad news from the DC Court of Appeals for the disgraced former President, though things could get much worse this week depending on how things go at SCOTUS on Thursday. [Audio link to full program follows this summary.]

Among our stories today...

• The unrelenting downpour in Southern California continues for a third straight day, as Los Angeles alone reports more than 300 mudslides since the atmospheric river began pouring in on Sunday, resulting in continuing flash flooding and evacuations throughout the region. Thankfully, there have been no deaths or major catastrophes yet reported, though three were killed in Northern California where strong winds toppled trees as the storm blew ashore on Sunday. It's not yet over, but we're told the sun may finally reappear again in SoCal, at least for a time, on Wednesday.

• Today was the last day to vote in Nevada's all vote-by-mail 2024 Presidential primaries, though few may have bothered. On the Democratic side, President Biden faces little or no competition. On the Republican side, Donald Trump helped rigged the state in his favor with the help of NV state party officials. He's not on the NV Primary ballot, since he objected to the all-mail process created by the state. He demanded caucuses instead. So Nikki Haley will be on the primary ballot, but Trump won't. While Haley won't be participating in the Thursday caucuses, but Trump will. Republican Delegates, however, will only be awarded to the winner of the rigged GOP Caucuses.

• Welp, it took nearly a month, but a three-judge panel on the D.C. Court of Appeals finally released their long-awaited ruling on whether Presidents have immunity against any and all criminal charges for crimes they carry out while serving as President. That is what the four-time indicted former President is arguing. And, to the shock of pretty much nobody, the court ruled in a unanimous, very thorough 57-page decision [PDF] today, that, nope, a President may not avoid criminal consequences for, by way of an example Donald Trump's attorney defended in court last month, ordering Seal Team 6 to murder a political rival. While the ruling was not surprising, it was successful for Trump, at least in part, by delaying his previously scheduled March 4th federal trial on four felony counts [PDF] related to his many attempts to steal the 2020 election. The D.C. panel struck down every single argument made by Trump and ordered the case to be returned to the trial court unless the defendant appeals the ruling to SCOTUS by Monday. Of course he will. The only question for the moment is: will there be enough votes at the corrupted rightwing SCOTUS to bother even hearing this dumb case.

• Then, we're joined by BRAD BLOG's longtime legal contributor ERNEST A. CANNING to discuss both today's Immunity ruling and the arguably far more consequential matter that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday. The Supremes will hear oral argument for and against the case for disqualifying Donald J. Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, the "Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause". The specific case, Trump v. Anderson, is named for the 91-year old Republican, Norma Anderson, who is one of six Republican and independent voters that sued under 14.3 in the state of Colorado to bar Trump from the state's Presidential ballot. They were successful. The CO Supreme Court barred Trump in a very well argued (and very conservative) ruling [PDF] late last year, pending a decision from SCOTUS. In the month since the Justices agreed to hear the case, as Canning writes this week, no fewer than 50 amici (friend of the court) briefs have been filed both for and against the Constitution's post-Civil War ban on insurrectionists serving in public office.

  Canning cites several key points offered in the various briefs from a host of scholars and experts, and we preview the questions likely to be up for debate during this Thursday's landmark hearing. The eventual opinion issued by SCOTUS could determine whether Trump is barred from the Presidential ballot in all 50 states. And what might happen then?

  Canning argues that if you follow conservative "textualist" and "originalist" doctrine, "what the intent was, what the actual language was" by the framers of the 14th Amendment, "there's no way you can come to a decision other than the fact that Donald Trump is disqualified within the meaning of the statute."

  That largely matches conventional wisdom suggesting the Constitutional case for banning Trump from office is pretty rock solid legally. Nonetheless, most of those media pundits and legal experts also tend to argue that the former President's friends and appointees on the High Court are likely to conjure up some sort of jiggery-pokery and pure applesauce to allow him to remain on the ballot this year anyway. "That could very well happen here," Canning tells me, before adding: "But I wouldn't bet the farm either direction."

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report with more on the climate change-related causes of California's historic downpour, Chile's deadly heat and wildfires, and Spain's persistent drought. She also reports on how Europe has avoided Vladimir Putin's energy blackmail, and how Republicans plan to turn back the clock on the Biden Administration's landmark climate achievements if they succeed in winning back the White House in November...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Historic atmospheric river rains down a state of emergency on California; Chile grapples with extreme heat and catastrophic wildfires; Europe is escaping Putin's energy blackmail; PLUS: Republicans' comprehensive plan to dismantle U.S. climate policy if a Republican wins the White House... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Dial it up to Category 6? As warming stokes storms, some want a bigger hurricane category; Biden confronts unfinished business with Ohio chemical train wreck; UN climate chief’s blunt message: Fewer loopholes, way more cash to really halt climate change; Climate activist Greta Thunberg acquitted in protest arrest charge; Ethiopia to prohibit import of non-electric cars; Shuttered coal mine converted into a gravity battery; Big companies cashed in on Mississippi's water. Small towns paid the price... PLUS: The dawn of the clean hydrogen economy... and much, MUCH more! ...

Legislation is hard. It involves compromise and stuff. But the bulk of Republican state Senators in Oregon won't have to worry about that anymore. At least for a few years. Also, stealing money from your duped political donors to cover your mountain of legal fees to defend your law breaking appears to be very easy if you are the disgraced former President. And, a whole bunch of landmark climate and energy successes under Joe Biden that you likely haven't about, but should have. Those are just some of the many news stories covered on today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among them...

• As of airtime, we're still waiting for (sorta overdue) key rulings on Donald Trump's ridiculous "Presidential Immunity" claims at the DC Court of Appeals and on how much Trump and company (and sons) will have to pay up in New York's $370 million bank fraud suit against them. In the meantime, Trump has lost again today in court on an entirely different matter. This time in London, where his lawsuit against the Steele Dossier's author was summarily dismissed by a UK judge (just as the similarly absurd suit filed by Trump against Christopher Steele, Hillary Clinton and top FBI officials was rejected by a U.S. judge in 2022.)

• All of those failed lawsuits, and defending himself against civil cases and four criminal felony indictments is costing Trump's gullible dupes/supporters a lot of money. New FEC filings released today reveal that Trump spent/blew $27 million of his donors' money on personal legal bills in the second half of last year, bringing the total amount of campaign donor money used for legal fees in 2023 to about $50 million. That number is expected to be much higher in 2024, giving the phrase "chump change" a whole new meaning.

• The Oregon Supreme Court, on Thursday, determined that 10 Republican state Senators may not run for office in 2024, after violating a 2022 state Constitutional Amendment adopted by voters in a 36-point landslide that year. The measure bans state lawmakers from running in the next election after they've accrued more than 10 unexcused absences. The GOP state Senators in question walked out for a record 6-weeks in 2023 in hopes of blocking legislation on abortion rights, LGBTQ rights and gun safety, delaying or killing hundreds of other bills in the bargain. The state Senate currently has only 12 Republicans. Ten of them, including the chamber's minority leader, are now barred from running for reelection this year.

• The U.S. House passed a bipartisan bill! It is compromise tax legislation. Republicans agreed to offer modest tax relief to low income families with children, so long as Democrats agreed to extend huge tax breaks to wealthy corporations and small businesses. Nobody got everything they wanted, and the legislation, adopted on Wednesday by a lopsided 357-70 House vote, will almost certainly change or be killed altogether in the Senate. But that's how legislation works. Or is supposed to work. Or used to work. And, for one day this week, incredibly enough, it did again. We discuss why it did.

• "Government, in a large, wealthy, functional modern democracy, is pretty boring. Lots of bureaucracy, lots of agencies, lots of complexity, lots of rules, mostly incremental change. It's not particularly dramatic," noted our friend climate and energy journalist David Roberts on Twitter on the last day of the year. "That makes it a very poor fit for the dynamics & demands of modern media, especially social media. Drama, outrage, sweeping counterintuitive generalizations --- these are the coin of the realm. No one gets clicks by celebrating the workaday operation of the gov't machine," he continued. "Consequently, boring democratic governance --- perhaps the greatest advance in collective human welfare in history --- has no day-to-day defenders. Basically everyone is incentivized to take it for granted."

  Of course, we are defenders of that "boring democratic governance" and we don't take it for granted. Roberts was linking to a lengthy --- and wildly enlightening --- thread from former professor turned White House clean energy policy advisor Costa Samaras, who detailed a stunning year-end list of positive, landmark environmental actions and initiatives undertaken by the Biden-Harris Administration in the wake of passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act (adopted only by Democrats). If you think Biden has done little for climate and clean energy you may want to review Samaras' list.

  Just one of dozens of examples: "The Inflation Reduction Act & @POTUS' agenda have supercharged U.S. grid-scale energy storage. Before the Biden-Harris Administration, grid-connected energy storage was basically zero. This year there will be 9 Hoover Dams worth of batteries on the grid. Next year: 16 Hoover Dams."

• Finally, Desi Doyen is here with our latest Green News Report, as the Saudis nix expanded production (and lower gas prices) in time for this year's Presidential election in the U.S.; Millions of Americans are found at risk of toxic chemical freight train disasters; EU phases out dirty heavy-duty diesel trucks by 2040; and the Biden Dept. of Energy issues new rules to save gas stove users thousands of dollars in efficiency improvements (while taking no one's gas stove away from them, Fox "News"!)...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Saudi Arabia ditches plans to expand oil production; Millions of Americans at risk of dangerous chemical train derailments, new study finds; European Union to phase out polluting heavy duty diesel trucks by 2040; PLUS: Biden Dept. of Energy issues new efficiency rules for natural gas stoves... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): "Nobody and nowhere will be safe": Experts say we can't hide from climate change; Mexico City residents protest 'unprecedented' water shortages; Electrified transport investment soared globally in ’23, passing renewable energy; New York State first in nation to protect birds, insects from neonic pesticides; California counties sue Tesla over hazardous waste; Environmentalists hail Nevada Supreme Court ruling on water management and massive real estate development; U.S. will pay to add solar panels to hospitals, schools after disasters... PLUS: Plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars: We did the math on which is better for you... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Biden pauses approvals of new LNG export terminals, citing climate risk; Canada's tar sands are a larger source of air pollution than previously thought; China installed more solar energy in 2023 than the U.S. did in its entire history; PLUS: Climate change made historic Amazon rainforest drought 30 times more likely... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Scientists warn climate shocks could trigger unrest and authoritarian backlash; The propane industry is trying to dupe you; No, Joe Biden is not coming for your gas stove; Energy Department sets efficiency standards for gas stoves; Colorado environmental group sues Army Corps Of Engineers over $2B river diversion plan; First penguins die in Antarctic of deadly H5N1 bird flu strain; Demand has plunged 80 percent since CA cut home solar payments; Texas companies released excess pollution during cold snap... PLUS: Lithium Valley ramps up in California... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Crunch time at COP28 U.N. climate treaty negotiations in Dubai; Climate change intensified ongoing, catastrophic floods in East Africa; PLUS: Biden announces biggest-ever investment in U.S. high speed and passenger rail... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Endangered species list grows by 2,000, due in part to climate change; With new House Speaker, billions in climate and energy funding hang in the balance; Alberta sets new methane 'super-emitter' record; One side of Florida is running out of water. The other is getting bombarded with too much rain; Rising sea levels threaten hazardous waste facilities along U.S. coast; First Biden-funded electric car charging station opens... PLUS: Specter of second Trump term looms over global climate talks... and much, MUCH more! ...