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Latest Featured Reports | Friday, August 23, 2024
Trump's 2024 Scheme; Walz 'Ready to Turn Page' at DNC: 'BradCast' 8/22/24
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Reported 'Hack' of Trump Docs by Iran May be a VERY Serious National Security Issue: 'BradCast' 8/14/24
Guest: NatSec journo Marcy Wheeler; ALSO: Hurricane Ernesto; CT, VT, MN, WI results...
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And Speaking of Vice-Presidential Candidates: 'BradCast' 8/8/24
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GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal 2012...
VA GOP VOTER REG FRAUDSTER OFF HOOK
Felony charges dropped against VA Republican caught trashing voter registrations before last year's election. Did GOP AG, Prosecutor conflicts of interest play role?...

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ALL TOGETHER: ROVE, SPROUL, KOCHS, RNC
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FINALLY: FOX ON GOP REG FRAUD SCANDAL
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Brad Breaks PA Photo ID & GOP Registration Fraud Scandal News on Hartmann TV
Another visit on Thom Hartmann's Big Picture with new news on several developing Election Integrity stories...

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Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) sends blistering letter to Gov. Rick Scott (R) demanding bi-partisan reg fraud probe in FL; Slams 'shocking and hypocritical' silence, lack of action...

VIDEO: Brad Breaks GOP Reg Fraud Scandal on Hartmann TV
Breaking coverage as the RNC fires their Romney-tied voter registration firm, Strategic Allied Consulting...

RNC FIRES NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION FIRM FOR FRAUD
After FL & NC GOP fire Romney-tied group, RNC does same; Dead people found reg'd as new voters; RNC paid firm over $3m over 2 months in 5 battleground states...

EXCLUSIVE: Intvw w/ FL Official Who First Discovered GOP Reg Fraud
After fraudulent registration forms from Romney-tied GOP firm found in Palm Beach, Election Supe says state's 'fraud'-obsessed top election official failed to return call...

GOP REGISTRATION FRAUD FOUND IN FL
State GOP fires Romney-tied registration firm after fraudulent forms found in Palm Beach; Firm hired 'at request of RNC' in FL, NC, VA, NV & CO...
The Secret Koch Brothers Tapes...


Guest: VOA White House Bureau Chief and 26-year East Asia correspondent Steve Herman; Also: DoJ flips in key voting rights case; Trump continues to ignore terror attack on MN mosque...
By Brad Friedman on 8/10/2017 6:17pm PT  

On today's BradCast, the fire, fury, and potentially deadly bluster continues. [Audio link to show follows below.]

Donald Trump re-upped and doubled-down on his recent threats to bring "fire and fury like the world has never seen before" against North Korea, telling reporters at his golf club in New Jersey on Thursday that "maybe that statement wasn't tough enough."

His original threat earlier this week was in response to North Korea's threats against the U.S., after the United Nation's security council voted unanimously for new sanctions against the isolated nation. And, in response, North Korea's military offered an unusually detailed plan to fire a salvo of missiles at Guam, a U.S. territory and home to several U.S. military bases.

We're joined to discuss the still-increasing tensions between the two nuclear powers by VOA's White House Bureau Chief STEVE HERMAN, who returned to report stateside earlier this year after serving as a correspondent and bureau chief in east Asia for more than 25 years.

When he last joined us in April, during the last round of threats between NK and the U.S., the always-remarkably level-headed Herman offered a tip, as a veteran journalist in the region, as to how to assess whether or not NK was bluffing with their public statements. We find out whether the new round of threats from NK's military is now finally cause for legitimate concern, and whether Trump's own bellicose threats --- and the potential for a preemptive U.S. strike --- pose an even greater threat to stability in the region.

Herman also offers some criticism of the U.S. commercial broadcast coverage on this issue, details the divides over the matter within the Trump Administration itself, discusses what North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may actually be seeking here, how big the stakes are for all sides in "this ultimate poker game", and confirms that, despite the increasingly heated rhetoric from both sides, back-channel diplomacy is still ongoing and may ultimately help to avoid what otherwise appears to be a deadly collision course.

He also offers a thought or two on which has been more difficult to cover, the whole of East Asia during his time overseas, or the Trump Administration now that he's reporting from the White House.

Also today: Political appointees (not career civil rights officials) file legal documents to flip the DoJ's previous position in a crucial voting rights case scheduled to be heard this fall by the U.S. Supreme Court. And, nearly a week has gone by without Donald Trump saying or tweeting a word about last weekend's terror bombing of a mosque in Minnesota...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

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By Brad Friedman on 8/9/2017 5:58pm PT  

On today's BradCast, the world reacts to Donald Trump's alarming threat on Tuesday to rain down "fire and fury like the world has never seen before" on North Korea, if they continue to threaten the U.S. with nuclear weapons. [Audio link to show follows below.]

North Korea further threatens an attack on a U.S. airbase in Guam and describes Trump as "bereft of reason" on whom "only absolute force can work"; U.S. Sec. of State Rex Tillerson tries to calm frayed nerves, promising “Americans should sleep well at night," during a stop-over in the island U.S. territory; some in Congress pretend to assert Constitutional authority for a preemptive strike on North Korea (maybe they should have thought about that when they lauded his unconstitutional bombing in Syria several months back), the President tweets a few lies about himself and the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and the nations of the world try to determine what the hell Trump was actually thinking, if anything, with his reckless "improvised" remarks.

For our part, we cover all of the above and open up the phone lines to callers to get their take on which madman with nuclear weapons, North Korea's Kim Jong-un or U.S. President Donald J. Trump, they are most worried about.

Then, Desi Doyen joins for the 800th episode of our Green News Report!...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

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Plus: On the Espionage Act's 100th Anniversary, it's now being used against whistleblowers and journalists rather than spies...
By Brad Friedman on 7/14/2017 6:15pm PT  

On today's BradCast, take your pick. Either the Trump Administration (and its cronies in Congress) are liars or completely incompetent. There is plenty of evidence for both. [Audio link for show follows below.]

For a start today, the number of people now reported to have been at that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian attorney said to have dirt on Hillary Clinton has now risen to eight. And, not single day has gone by since the revelation of that meeting one week ago, without the Team Trump explanations for it --- including from the President himself --- changing. Why?

But those aren't the stories today to suggest they are either liars or buffoons (and can't do math either.). Among the many additional stories placed into appropriate context today:

  • Trump's own Sec. of State takes a withering shot at Trump's government;
  • A congressional GOPer laments Republicans "simply don't know how to govern";
  • The non-partisan CBO finds Trump's budget doesn't actually balance (it's only off by $3.4 trillion);
  • Senate Republicans newest health care repeal plan doesn't either;
  • Some GOPers are willing to shut down the government if Trump's wall isn't funded (by tax-payers, not by Mexico, as promised);
  • Trump's border "wall" is beginning to sound exactly like Dubya and Obama's border fence (And his plans for immigration reform are beginning to sound a lot like Obama's as well.)

Given a new Pew survey finding a huge majority of Republican voters now believe higher education at universities and colleges has a "negative effect" on the country, perhaps none of today's stories should come as much of a surprise.

Finally, on the 100th Anniversary of the Espionage Act, the Committee to Protect Journalists offers a report on how, since Nixon first did so in the 70's, the Act has been misused to prosecute whistleblowers rather than spies, particularly under Obama, and how Trump may well begin using it against journalists in the bargain...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

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Guest: RJ Eskow, Tom Nichols, Kelly Macias
GUEST HOST: ANGIE COIRO of IN DEEP Radio
By Angie Coiro on 7/7/2017 7:00pm PT  

On today's BradCast, guest hosted one last time by yours truly, Angie Coiro of In Deep with Angie Coiro.

Putin, Trump, and Tillerson climbed into the clubhouse today and pulled up the ladder, so no icky observers could get in. Angie reviews the already conflicting reports that emerged, when Donald Trump broke with tradition, bringing only the former CEO of Exxon-Mobile into his G20 convo with Vladimir Putin. Even their accounts of "confrontation" over election tampering conflict.

My guest Richard "RJ" Eskow, host of The Zero Hour, thinks Democrats are putting too many eggs in that latter basket, anyway. And he has very emphatic opinions about that New York Times opinion piece urging the Democratic Party to abandon progressives.

When it comes to Russia - or anything else, for that matter - you might find yourself confused by all those experts out there. That's probably because we've learned to conflate opinionators with actual experts. In an excerpt from In Deep, Tom Nichols, author of The Death of Expertise explains the decay of faith in people who actually know their stuff.

Finally, Kelly Macias, reporter with Daily Kos, parses some stories getting less attention this week: tenant marches on HUD, Texas as a scary barometer for the direction of the country, and how the noose has reemerged as a tool to terrorize African Americans...

Download MP3 or listen online below...

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White House 'sources' say Trump plans to pull out of landmark Paris Climate Agreement, but will he really? And what happens if he does?...
By Brad Friedman on 5/31/2017 5:48pm PT  

On today's BradCast, the Trump Administration leaks the suggestion that they, are indeed, planning to drop out of the historic 2015 world pact to limit the dangerous global rise of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent, or at least stall, the worst effects of climate change. [Audio link to show follows below.]

The comments from unnamed White House sources today that President Donald Trump plans to withdraw from the landmark U.N. Paris Climate Agreement are ricocheting across the globe. But will he really drop out? If so, what do leaders from the rest of the world --- friend and foe --- have to say about it? What do leaders here in the U.S. think? What do senior members of his own administration think? What will Trump's own voters think?

And how can it be that Republicans have been so wrong, for so long, even now, on the issue, including over the past decade when they insisted over and again that China and India would never be willing to cut emissions? (Both countries are willing and have each reaffirmed their commitment to the pact, despite Trump's threats to get out.)

How would the decision effect both the global climate itself and the United States' standing in the world? What are the costs financially of ceding leadership on issues of energy and climate, particularly at a moment when the costs of renewable energy like wind and solar are absolutely plummeting and even many fossil fuel companies (and even some coal companies!) are both recognizing the dangers of global warming and encouraging Trump to stay in the agreement with nearly 200 other nations?

What are Trump's legal options for getting out of the pact, and what the hell explains his grievance and bizarre affection for the dying and dirty coal industry, anyway? Oh, and what do ExxonMobil shareholders think about it all?

Those are just some of the many questions asked and answered on today's show, featuring Desi Doyen of The Green News Report, at this perilous moment in world history...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

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With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
By Desi Doyen on 5/16/2017 11:33am PT  


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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: North Carolina's request for disaster relief denied; April 2017 the second hottest April on record for the planet; US Secretary of State Tillerson signs climate change declaration; PLUS: US military warns of national security impacts of climate change --- again... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Listen online here, or Download MP3 (6 mins)...

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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 America's experiment in having no government; DAPL pipeline has no spill response plan for Standing Rock; Regulatory Accountability Act is bad for science; Obama's Clean Power Plan face news battle in court; EPA unfazed by strong case against pesticide; Trump Country is flooding, and climate ideas are shifting; Mexico enlists dolphins to help save endangered tiny porpoise... PLUS: China and India set to reach climate goals early... and much, MUCH more! ...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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Guest: Heather Digby Parton of Salon and Hullabaloo...
By Brad Friedman on 4/28/2017 6:00pm PT  

On today's BradCast, at the 100 days milestone for his Presidency --- which Donald Trump recently dismissed as an "artificial barrier" --- Heather Digby Parton of Salon and the Hullabaloo blog, joins us to try to make sense of (wish us luck) the extraordinary chaos, few successes and many failures, to date, of his historically unpopular Administration. [Audio link to show follows below.]

We do so on a day that Trump watches his hopes for a health care bill fall apart once again in the U.S. House, addresses the NRA in Atlanta, suggests a "major, major confrontation" may be ahead with North Korea, and as he seems to threaten trade wars with everyone from South Korea to Canada to Saudi Arabia.

All of that, as North Korea fires off another ballistic missile test today and Trump tells Reuters he thought being President of the United States "would be easier" than his old job as a real estate hustler and reality TV personality.

Digby --- who also wrote recently about the 100-day mark --- offers her always-enlightening insight on all of the above, explains what has, so far, surprised her most about Trump's Presidency, and speaks to how the corporate media, Congressional Democrats and we, the people, are holding up in The Resistance.

Just another day of havoc and confusion for a stressed out nation (and world) fighting to survive the Trump Era.

Then, speaking of, Desi Doyen joins us with the latest Green News Report as Florida burns and the melting Arctic now appears to be accelerating the rate of sea level rise beyond previous scientific predictions...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

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Guest: VOA's long-time Asia correspondent, now White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman; Plus: Can democracy save democracy?...
By Brad Friedman on 4/11/2017 5:54pm PT  

On today's BradCast, rising tensions and ratcheted up concerns about Donald Trump's escalating saber rattling against North Korea, even as Americans head to the polls in disapproval of the Administration for the first federal elections of the Trump Era.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said something incredibly stupid today. And while that's hardly a news flash, our guest today, Steve Herman, Voice of America's White House Bureau Chief, was there and explains what happened.

More importantly, the veteran 26-year journalist who, until recently, had been based in Asia, joins us to offer key background and perspective on the Trump's provocative, arguably aggressive and certainly cryptic new position on nuclear armed North Korea, on the heels of his cruise missile strike last week on Syria, a U.S. Navy strike group now reportedly heading towards the Korean Peninsula in a "show of force", and North Korea warning of a nuclear strike if provoked.

The always-remarkably level-headed Herman offers important insight on what could be yet another new American military confrontation with a nation that has long charged the U.S. is preparing to attack them. Is Trump offering evidence to prove Kim Jong Un correct? Is this all little more than a continuation of decades-old U.S. policy following the Korean War which has never officially been declared over? Should Americans be confident that Trump's military advisers are fully explaining the potential fall-out from an attack on the politically isolated nation? Will he even listen to them if so? And what about China, Japan, South Korea and others in the region? Are they on board with Trump's new show of force?

Herman speaks to all of those questions and many others, while both succeeding, in part, and failing, in part to talk me fully off the ledge regarding my concerns about a potential new provocation and military confrontation with another, even less stable, nuclear power. Just one example: "One thing I've observed about them [North Korea] over many, many decades --- they seem to have this amazing ability to do something provocative without it leading to an actual military retaliation by the South Koreans and the U.S.," Herman reassures, before cautioning: "But, again, we may be in a different era here with President Trump. He may not want to have the same sort of restraint that we saw through both Republican and Democratic administrations over several decades."

I'd suggest today's conversation is a must-listen.

Also today: Voting is underway today in a special election for what is being seen by both Republicans and Democrats to be a remarkably tight race to fill an open Republican U.S. House seat in a deeply Republican district in Kansas. Today's results could be a bellwether for not only 2018, but for another special election next Tuesday for the U.S. House in another GOP district, in Georgia, which is now being regarded by political analysts, incredibly enough, as a "toss-up". Can democracy really save U.S. democracy? And, finally today, in hopes of lightening things up a bit on the way out, some happily ironic news about the Kentucky Coal Museum in a nearly forgotten tiny coal town...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

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While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
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Guest: Vox.com's David Roberts on Trump, Pruitt, Tillerson and the GOP's ongoing war on science, facts, health care, journalism and much more...
By Brad Friedman on 3/14/2017 6:11pm PT  

On today's BradCast: It's no longer about facts. For Republicans and Team Trump, it's now about undermining virtually every authority on which American democracy has, for so long, relied. [Audio link to show is posted below.]

As an unusual late season blizzard slams the Northeast, the White House continues to deploy a blizzard of disinformation in hopes of disparaging the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in the wake of its estimate [PDF] released yesterday, finding that some 24 million Americans will go without health care coverage by 2026 under the Republican's proposed bill to replace the Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare"). That, even as the White House had reportedly made similarly dire estimates on their own concerning the disastrous affect of the imperiled GOP legislation.

The attack against the non-partisan CBO is just one example of many key, American institutions now under fire by Republicans. David Roberts, climate and politics journalist from Vox.com, joins us to today to discuss the recent comments made with CNBC's Joe Kernan by Donald Trump's EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, pretending that he doesn't know that scientists determined long ago that carbon dioxide is the primary driver for man-made climate change.

But outrage over those falacious remarks and Pruitt's dismissal of basic scientific facts misses the bigger point, Roberts explains. "If the science was going to settle anything, it would have settled it by now," he says. The issue is not about facts or science, but about the Republican Party itself and their on-going assaults on our nation's institutions --- from science to government to academia to journalism to, yes, the CBO.

"If it wasn't Scott Pruitt, it would be someone else who denies climate change," as head of Trump's EPA, Roberts argues. "That's what the party is. It's one major party, in the U.S. --- alone among major parties in the developed democratic world, alone, completely idiosyncratic and unique in this --- den[ying] that climate change is happening and that humans are causing it. So if Pruitt outrages you, the proper target of your outrage is the party. He's just a party functionary. If it wasn't him, it'd be someone else."

Roberts discusses why that denial is so important to the party, and whether or not even they believe their own nonsense anymore.

Finally today, speaking of climate change denial: Some very encouraging news when it comes to renewable energy in the U.S. (don't tell Donald Trump or the Republicans) and some bad news in court for Sec. of State and former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

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Guest host Angie Coiro with guests: RJ Eskow; Attorney Jim Brosnahan; Heather 'Digby' Parton; Dave Johnson...
By Angie Coiro on 2/27/2017 5:50pm PT  

On today's BradCast, I'll be your guest host, Angie Coiro. Would you like to sit at the bar? Maybe not a bad idea.

Have you had the Trump/Russia links up to here? You have a friend in RJ Eskow, host of The Zero Hour. He's not convinced; he advises skepticism and clear thinking when it comes to sorting the proven from the unproven.

With people fleeing America over the northern border in fear, with at least one report of a man who killed himself rather than be forced back into Mexico, with an Oscar-nominated cinematographer kept out of the US, and a Holocaust scholar from France almost deported --- it's time to take a long look at sanctuary cities, emboldened local police forces, and how to stay focused on resistance. Heralded civil rights attorney/activist Jim Brosnahan of Morrison & Forster in San Francisco, and Heather "Digby" Parton of Hullabaloo take on the many facets of that disaster.

Finally, Dave Johnson of Seeing the Forest and The Campaign for America's Future deconstructs Trump's promised tax cuts, and their connection to failing infrastructure.

Download MP3 or listen online below...

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With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
8th ANNIVERSARY EDITION!
By Desi Doyen on 2/16/2017 12:20pm PT  


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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump repeals anti-corruption regulation for the fossil fuel industry; From the folks bringing you the Dakota Access Pipeline, another major pipeline spill; Good news for breathers, bad news for coal miners in Arizona; US emissions still declining; PLUS: Scientists discover man-made toxic chemicals in the deepest part of the ocean... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

GNR'S 8TH ANNIVERSARY!
Please help us continue to connect the climate change dots
over the public airwaves, as we begin our 9th year!!!

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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): Climate Change Plus Aging Infrastructure = Multiplying Disasters; Oroville Is a Warning for California Dams, as Climate Change Adds Stress; Scientists have just detected a major change to the Earth's oceans linked to a warming climate; Indigenous People Should Have Rights Over Their Land, Pope Francis Says; Endangered Species Act heading for the threatened list; 'A large blowtorch': worker missing in Paradis pipeline explosion; Ohio GOP targets clean energy standards, efficiency rules... PLUS: India's polluted air now kills 1.1 million people per year... and much, MUCH more! ...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
By Desi Doyen on 2/2/2017 12:15pm PT  


Follow @GreenNewsReport...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court not a big fan of federal agencies; Former ExxonMobil CEO now in charge of U.S. diplomacy; Trump's controversial EPA nominee muscled through GOP Senate Committee; PLUS: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe gears up for another court battle against the Dakota Access Pipeline... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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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 Supreme Court Nominee Could Hear Case Affecting Trump Golf Courses; Clean Water Protections Under Attack in Early Days of 115th Congress; As Drought Winds Down, CA Lawmakers Set Stage for Future Water Wars; 3 GOP governors invest in clean energy; Green movement 'greatest threat to freedom', says Trump adviser; Lawmaker Wants To Ease Rules On Drilling In Natl Parks... PLUS: Climate economist sounds the alarm... and much, MUCH more! ...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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Listeners call in with opinions for and against what will likely result in dishonest, hypocritical Republicans invoking 'the nuclear option'...
By Brad Friedman on 2/1/2017 5:52pm PT  

On today's BradCast, history and democracy need heroes right about now. Senate Democrats have the option to fight back against Trump's nominee to the GOP's stolen U.S. Supreme Court, or they can become collaborators and enablers of the Republican theft and be voted out of office in response. [Audio link to show follows below.]

In 2016, Senate Republicans stole the U.S. Supreme Court by refusing to hold a hearing, much less a vote, on Barack Obama's centrist (arguably, too centrist) nominee Judge Merrick Garland following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Now that Donald Trump has announced his own nomination for the stolen seat, Judge Neil Gorsuch, history --- and democracy --- demands that Democrats filibuster any nominee other than Garland, even if it leads (as it will) to the "nuclear option" in which Senate Republicans do away the filibuster rule, as Trump has now called for.

We explain why all of this matters on today's show, detailing the GOP's extraordinarily dishonest and hypocritical action and rhetoric on this point from Republican Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Sen. John McCain and others.

Most importantly, we call for listeners to demand their U.S. Senators prevent the Court from being further stolen during Trump's Chaos Presidency. (You can reach your Senators' D.C. offices by calling them at: 202-224-3121). We strongly support Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley's call for exactly this, hope you do too, and hope you'll let your Senators know you will work and donate and vote against them if they fail to protect the Court.

We also take listener calls today from those who both agree and disagree with the above strategy to defend democracy.

Also today, in very related news, orders have reportedly been sent to the Army Corp of Engineers to allow construction of the final section of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota; Senate Republicans break the rules in order to jam several Trump cabinet nominees through committee, despite their alleged financial improprieties and lying to Congress about them; And several Dems join Republicans to confirm ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the next Secretary of State.

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, as Trump and the GOP Congress move with lightning speed to gut decades of environmental protections, and the state of California pushes back...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

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While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
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Guest: Matt Gertz on Trump's marginalization of media and their failure to push back; Also: House moves to dismantle health care for millions; What's up with Tillerson?; And an Inauguration Day cover-up...
By Brad Friedman on 1/13/2017 6:10pm PT  

On today's BradCast, U.S. media failed to report on the rise and dangers of Mussolini and Hitler with the gravity that was warranted in the 20s and 30s. Are they making similar mistakes today with the rise and elevation of Donald Trump to President of the United States? [Audio link to show is posted below.]

Media Matters' Matt Gertz joins me to today to argue Trump's bizarre press conference on Wednesday, his first since the November election (first since last July, actually), revealed more than a dozen "signs of how bad press treatment will be under Trump". At the presser, the day after the release of an unsubstantiated dossier charging personal and financial compromise with Russia, Trump refused questions from either CNN or BuzzFeed News, declaring them both to be "fake news" for breaking various elements of the story. Gertz suggests the way it played out illustrates that the media are both failing to push back against Trump, and are likely underestimating how bad things are likely to get for them (and all of us) once he becomes President.

"This was not something that came out of nowhere," Gertz tells me. "This was clearly the strategy going into the press conference: to attack Buzzfeed, to attack CNN, to tie the two of them together, and to suggest that all of their reporting was illegitimate."

"They're going to go on trying to de-legitimize the media, one by one, piece by piece, to make it impossible for anyone to try to get out critical news analysis about what his administration is doing. This was the first step, and it's going to keep getting worse," he warns. "Trump bragged on the campaign trail that he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and could shoot somebody and he wouldn't lose voters. Rhetorically speaking, that's what he basically did to [CNN's] Jim Acosta. He basically took him out in front of the entire press corps, humiliated him, pretty brutality, and other reporters just sort of moved along. They went on and they asked their questions, and they just kept going."

But were CNN and BuzzFeed wrong to report as they did in the first place? And do the media, in general, have only themselves to blame for the spot they're in at this point? Have they learned anything from last Wednesday, much last the past year? And is that Breitbart clown "reporter" Matt Boyle the new "Jeff Gannon"? We discuss all of that and much more during today's conversation.

Also today: The GOP Congress gets one step closer to dismantling health care for millions of Americans; What's up with the cancellation of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson's second day of confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate?; Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report as Obama bids farewell and seeks reason on climate change; And a particularly smelly Inauguration Day cover-up is revealed...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

* * *
While we post The BradCast here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they're available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or our native RSS feed!
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With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
By Desi Doyen on 1/12/2017 11:56am PT  


Follow @GreenNewsReport...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson gets a grilling on climate change during Senate confirmation hearings; Court orders Exxon to comply with Massachusetts AG's investigation into its climate science denial; Volkswagen executives indicted in emissions cheating scandal; PLUS: President Obama appeals to reason on climate in his Farewell Address... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Listen online here, or Download MP3 (6 mins)...

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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): Cuomo Confirms Deal to Close Indian Point Nuclear Plant; Is The Great California Drought Finally Quitting?; Alaskan Village, Citing Climate Change, Seeks Disaster Aid To Relocate; Groups Create Roadmap For Replacing Lead Pipes That Poison Water; Carbon Storehouse: Scientists Map Vast Peat Swamps in Central Africa; Interior Dept. Calls For Major Changes To 'Modernize' Fed Coal Program; New DOE Report Warns Of Changing 'Threat Environment' For Electric Grid... PLUS: The emotional toll of climate reporting... and much, MUCH more! ...

--- Click here for REST OF STORY!... ---

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