Today's BradCast --- from questions about classified Presidential documents to this week's hand-count of 2020 ballots in a swing-state county --- is ultimately about transparency and sunshine as the best disinfectants when it comes to politics and the necessity of public oversight for the health of American democracy. Even when it may seem annoying to some at first blush.

Much of the corporate media has been doing a fairly lousy job of allowing disingenuous rightwing opportunists to turn the recent reported discoveries of some classified documents said to have been found in old boxes at a Joe Biden office and one of residents into the very same thing that Donald Trump is facing potential felony charges for. In his case, any charges will most likely come in response to blatant disregard for the rule of law and the continuing-to-this-day obstruction of justice in his case of thousands of pages of stolen classified documents.

There is little comparison between the two matters, but the comparisons are being made anyway. Sometimes helpfully, sometimes lazily and destructively. In any event, Robert Hur, a former U.S. Attorney appointed by Donald Trump was designated on Thursday by Biden's Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as Special Counsel in the matter of the Biden documents. That is a good thing, as it will ultimately serve to either expose crimes (unlikely, based on the currently known evidence, but always a good thing if there are any actual crimes) or end with a report from the Special Counsel finding no violations of the law by the President. A normal, non-Special Counsel probe by DoJ would end in either indictments or no comment, allowing false claims to be made forever.

I suspect many Dems will be annoyed by the appointment of a Special Counsel in the Biden case. But it is ultimately be better than the alternative. Transparency, sunshine and independent oversight are always good things.

In a similar vein, the second major story we focus on today involves a hand-count of hand-marked paper ballots from the 2020 Presidential election taking place this week in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. It's a county where Trump won by more than 40 points in both 2016 and 2020, but where many Republicans have been conned into believing there was some sort of fraud that decreased Trump's win from 44.2 points over Hillary Clinton in 2016 to "only" 41.4 points over Biden in 2020.

There is zero evidence of fraud or programming error or mistally of any kind, but local Republicans --- hoaxed by opportunistic national liars --- have collected thousands of signatures to demand a public hand count. The County's of Board of Supervisors ultimately agreed late last year to allow one.

Some of the few covering the count at all in the national media this week have been snarky, snide or dismissive (MSNBC's Alex Wagner, for example, and the very computer voting and tabulation friendly media outlet VoteBeat). But, as it turns out, the count appears to be going smoothly, is reportedly confirming the original results, and was largely completed in just three days rather than the three weeks VoteBeat had suggested it might take, as they offered readers false and misleading claims about hand-counting. (They believe computers are more reliable for that sort of thing, even though the only way to know if computers have tallied paper ballots accurately is to...hand count them.)

But whether there is legitimate cause to be concerned about the results of a Presidential election two years ago in a far-right leaning swing-state county, and while even a hand-count is unlikely to persuade the most brain-poisoned of Republicans, public oversight of vote counting is ultimately a very good thing for democracy. In fact, in all of my years on this beat, I am convinced it is the only thing that can keep it viable and continuing here in the U.S. As you may have noticed, for good reasons and bad, confidence in democracy and election results have taken quite a beating in this country in recent years. That is good for nobody other than the charlatans and autocrats. Public oversight of election results, on the other hand, particularly if they confirm the original counts, can only help to shore up confidence by the electorate. Democracy needs that to thrive and survive

Once again, sunshine, transparency and oversight to the rescue...whether some may be annoyed by it or not.

Finally, we finish out today with Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report, including some disturbing new climate data from NOAA and the latest dumb pretend freak-out by Fox "News"...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Extreme weather cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion in just 7 years; NOAA finds the last 8 years have all been the hottest ever recorded; PLUS: Fox 'News' pretends the Biden Administration wants to cancel your kitchen stove... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Ocean heat hit another record high in 2022, fueling extreme weather; U.S. emissions went up in 2022; New report shows just how much the world's biggest banks give to oil and gas companies: 'The dirty dozen'; UAE names oil chief to lead COP28 talks; Texas project will use wind to make green hydrogen fuel out of water; Majority of disabled people never go home after disasters; Why weeks of rain in California will not end historic drought...PLUS: Hand-feeding manatees appears to be saving the species... and much, MUCH more! ...

Who says it never rains in Southern California? Evidence on today's BradCast would strongly suggests otherwise. [Audio link to full show follows below]

Repeated "atmospheric river" downpours continue to drench the Golden State for the second straight week, and will keep doing so through at least the weekend. Some 35 inches of rain have reportedly fallen in some parts of the state over the past two weeks after years of megadrought in the West, which the recent storms are, incredibly, still unlikely to make up for.

Hundreds of thousands of CA residents began Tuesday without power; tens of thousands were under mandatory evacuation orders; millions were under flood watches or warning; at least 15 people have been killed so far by the storms, flooding, hurricane-speed wind gusts and an uncountable number of fallen trees. That, as NOAA clocks in with a new report finding that, over the past seven years alone, there have been more than 122 separate climate-related disasters causing more than one billion dollars in damage and killing at least 5,000 people in the U.S. at the cost of more than one trillion dollars.

Imagine if we had decided to spend anywhere near that much to try and end the use of the fossil fuels that are causing this mess, or at least on efforts to mitigate the worsening effects of this climate crisis. Of course, that would have made paid supporters of the oil and gas industry mad. So, instead, we face these continuing deadly disasters, paid for with every more of your blood and treasure.

We discuss all of the above on today's program.

Also today, after pleading guilty to 15 counts of tax related fraud charges in New York and testifying against the Trump Organization, its longtime Chief Financial Officer (who is still paid more than a million dollars a year to work for them), Allen Weisselberg headed to Riker's Island today for no more than 5 months in the notorious state prison. The Judge who sentenced him on Tuesday said he regretted agreeing to such a short sentence in approving his plea deal last summer, after hearing him testify against the Trump Organization during the company's recent trial. "I would be imposing a sentence much greater," the judge said. ""I'm not going to deviate from the promise, though I believe a stiffer sentence is warranted, having heard the evidence." Trump's company was found guilty on 17 counts of tax fraud, but Weisselberg is the only one person from the company going to jail. For now. That, even though state prosecutors made clear during the trial that Donald Trump and his two sons, Eric and Don Jr., who ran the company while he served in the White House, knew about the massive, years-long tax fraud as well.

That comes after news broke last night that attorneys for Joe Biden recently discovered "a small number of documents with classified markings" on them, according to the White House. The documents, reportedly ten of them, were locked in a closet with other personal Biden family items at an office he used after his Vice Presidency. When the documents were discovered late last year, as the office was being cleared out, Biden's attorneys reportedly contacted the White House immediately and the White House notified the National Archives who took custody of the documents the following day. That, by way of stark contrast with Trump's hoarding of hundreds of classified documents; his refusal to return them to the National Archives, even after receiving a subpoena; and the disgraced former President's attempts to both lie about the documents and conceal them from law enforcement officials. Of course, none of that has prevented Trump's lackeys in Congress from disingenuously suggesting both cases were identical, but for the disparate treatment victim Trump received from the Justice Department. But, of course, selling such nonsense and lies is pretty much all those folks are good for at this point.

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with more on California's extreme downpours; unprecedented flooding in Australia; and bad news about natural gas stoves...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Climate change is profoundly disrupting the Arctic, new report from NOAA finds; Rapid oil and gas expansion poses an existential threat to the world's forests; PLUS: European Union agrees to enact world's first carbon import tariff... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Arctic blast takes aim at U.S. for Christmas, New Years; Internal documents reveal Big Oil's plan for profiting amid climate pressures; Musk pumps climate cenial on Twitter; What to expect from California's new rooftop-solar plan? More batteries; Clouds: One of climate change's great mysteries is finally being solved; U.S. carbon farming takes root; Drought emergency declared for all of Southern California; Florida lawmakers force homeowners to buy insurance... PLUS: Children of India's burning coalfields dream of a fire-free future... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Missing 'red wave' in 2022 midterm elections is good news for the climate; New reports warn of skyrocketing methane levels; PLUS: Mixed results for state environmental ballot propositions... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Former Interior Secretary Zinke wins Montana US House seat; A NASA satellite launched to detect dust has discovered huge methane leaks; COP27: John Kerry makes his move on private climate finance; Heat pumps mandated in Washington state; No Surprise: Climate Denier John Stossel Spreads Disinformation about EVs; US To Climate Summit: American climate policy won't be repealed; How Mitsubishi vacuumed up tuna from a rogue Chinese fishing fleet; Who's driving climate change? New data catalogs 72,000 polluters and counting... PLUS: How to Live in a Catastrophe: In search of a way to think clearly about the planetary crisis... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Drought deepens across the U.S., disrupting crops and increasing fire risks; U.N. warns greenhouse gas emissions are rising and nations must do more to avoid catastrophe; Australia to build world's largest battery; PLUS: Biden Administration kicks off billion dollar transition to all-electric school buses... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Investigation of Brazil's ethanol sector uncovers slavery; Illegal fishing spurs billions in losses for developing countries; Big Oil funding Republican takeover plans; New UK PM Sunak will keep ban on fracking; From E. coli to flesh-eating bacteria, floodwaters are a health nightmare; Huge EV-station battery opens in Calif. desert; Rich countries keep fueling our demise... PLUS: IEA: Russia's war in Ukraine won't save fossil fuels.... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: More than half of Europe grappling with worst drought in 500+ years; Climate change action is way more popular than Americans realize; Increased risk of leukemia for kids living near fracking wells, study finds; PLUS: Saudi Arabia pushes to become a global electric vehicle leader... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): CA poised to ban sales of new gas-fueled cars by 2035; Top 10 emitting power plants in America; Why have five 1,000-year rain events struck the U.S. in five weeks?; How energy-hungry cities are reshaping the Western landscape, again; The climate law will help red states. Can it change minds?; Kentuckians left homeless by floods sue coal company over alleged negligence; Paleoclimate study shows warming oceans could lead to a spike in seabed methane emissions; Alaska’s snow crabs have disappeared. Where they went is a mystery... PLUS: Wind turbine blades could be recycled into gummy bears, scientists say... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Buckle up and batten down --- NOAA forecasts another active, long hurricane season; ExxonMobil loses bid to escape climate liability lawsuit; PLUS: Good news --- Biden EPA moves to permanently block controversial Pebble Mine in Alaska... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): See How Close You Live to the 'Threat Radius' of an Oil & Gas Site; Gas wells leak explosive levels of methane in Bakersfield; How oil companies rebranded deceptive climate ads as 'free speech'; Jimmy Carter, at 97, Steps Into a Big Fight Over a Small Road in Alaska; Tiny, Slipshod Solar Company Threatens US Industry; Block-by-block data shows pollution’s stark toll; MA advances two major offshore wind projects; Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs Hit Population Low... PLUS: 'It Seems This Heat Will Take Our Lives': Pakistan City Hits 51C/123F... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: NOAA reports a disturbing increase in climate-warming methane; Biden Dept. of Transportation tightens mileage standards for cars and trucks; Boston and L.A. shift to all-electric buses; PLUS: Microplastic pollution now found in human blood and lungs... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Four solutions to mitigate climate change, from the IPCC; The climate crisis is supercharging rainfall in hurricanes; U.S. solar expansion stalled by rural land-use protests; Why a ban on Russian energy is hard for Germany; US wind energy just hit a major milestone; Advocating inaction: a historical analysis of the Global Climate Coalition; The US needs a better lithium plan... PLUS: In an exception to the Clean Air Act, Biden will allow E15 gas to be sold this summer... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: U.S. sea levels to rise by at least a foot by 2050, causing profound flooding; Rio hit with deadly torrential rains, floods, and landslides; PLUS: Good news for breathers --- Biden to restore California's clean car standards... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Corn-based ethanol may be worse for climate than gasoline; Nuclear fusion: why the race to harness the power of the Sun just sped up; Zinke broke ethics rules as Trump's Interior Secretary; Oil firms' climate claims are greenwashing, study concludes; Firefighters file multiple lawsuits over PFAS in gear, foam; Jordan tries to save rare red sea corals that can take climate change; CA will put solar panels over canals to fight two disasters at once... PLUS: Flourishing plants show warming Antarctica undergoing 'major change'... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: U.S. emissions spiked in 2021, jeopardizing Paris climate targets; 2021 clocked in as the fifth hottest year ever recorded; PLUS: New York State's new Governor goes big on climate and clean energy... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The hidden agenda behind the attack on vaccine mandates; Disinformation rampant on clean energy; USDA to double cover crop planting to address climate change; Manchin's coal corruption is so much worse than you think; Biden to scrap plan for wider Alaska oil drilling; Lakes are losing their ice cover faster than ever; US has twice as many abandoned oil and gas wells as previously thought; Fusion energy is a reason to be excited about the future... PLUS: From small to large, five green hydrogen projects to watch... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: 'No climate, no deal!' --- Democratic Senators demand climate policies stay in Biden's Build Back Better Act; A quarter of all critical U.S. infrastructure is at risk of failure due to flooding; Mounting costs of extreme weather disasters in 2021 already surpass all of 2020; PLUS: President Biden restores Bears Ears and two other national monuments... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Congress Might Blow Its Biggest Opportunity To Tackle The Climate Crisis; More Than 30 Countries Join U.S. Pledge to Slash Methane Emissions; Madagascar Prays For Rain As U.N. Warns Of 'Climate Change Famine'; New California Law Bans Gasoline-Powered Lawn Mowers, Leaf Blowers; Mass Floods Hit China’s Coal Hub, Threatening Power Supplies; Climate Action At COP26 Could Save Millions Of Lives, WHO Says... PLUS: Can the World’s Most Polluting Heavy Industries Decarbonize?... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Ida's destruction caused a record number of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico; Today's children will face more climate disasters than their grandparents, new study warns; Senate GOP obstruction blocks disaster aid for hurricane victims; Biden EPA moves to cut powerful, climate-warming HFCs; PLUS: California utility PG&E faces new manslaughter felony charges in wildfire that killed four people... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Explosion at Louisiana chemical plant leaves 5 injured; Emerging Impact? Global Warming Effect on Fertility; SoCalGas agrees to pay up to $1.8 billion in settlement for 2015 Aliso Canyon gas leak; Ford Unveils Record $11B Bet On Sprawling EV Factories; PennEast Becomes The Latest To Scuttle A Natural Gas Pipeline Project; 21 States Urge EPA To Toughen Vehicle Emissions Rewrite; Iceland Turns On The World's Biggest Machine To Pull Carbon Out Of The Air; Former Fox News Host Sues Facebook Over Climate Fact Checks... PLUS: Race To The Bottom: Disastrous Blindfolded Rush To Mine The Deep Sea... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Unprecedented storm in Tennessee shatters rainfall records, triggers deadly flooding; Tropical Storm Henri breaks rainfall records, cancels Barry Manilow; Montreal Protocol saved the ozone layer and bought us time on global warming; PLUS: Scientists shocked at first-ever rain at Greenland ice sheet's summit... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Climate change made Europe’s summer floods worse; Trump's border wall torn apart by Arizona monsoon rains; Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness closed for due to wildfires; How water shortages are brewing wars; Army Corps will take closer look at Formosa plant's impact on environment, minority residents in LA; Trump EPA suppressed assessment finding formaldehyde causes leukemia; Carbon from UK’s blue hydrogen bid still to equal 1m petrol cars... PLUS: Economists have quantified the economic risks of climate "tipping points." It's grim.... and much, MUCH more! ...

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Catastrophic floods in Germany and Central Europe show nowhere is safe from our worsening climate emergency; Parts of Amazon rainforest now emit more carbon than they absorb; PG&E says its equipment ignited CA's Dixie Fire; PLUS: High-tide flooding hit a new record in the U.S. last year. NASA warns it's about to get much, much worse... 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 Age of Megafires: The World Hits a Climate Tipping Point; Climate-Driven Changes in Clouds are Likely to Amplify Global Warming; How a Powerful US Lobby Group API Helps Big Oil To Block Climate Action; U.S. Wheat Crop Is in Trouble; Schumer Tees Up Bipartisan Infrastructure Vote After GOPers Urge Delay; Dems Propose a Border Tax Based on Countries’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions... PLUS:

... and much, MUCH more! ...