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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Natural gas pipeline explodes in suburban Houston; Unprecedented, deadly storms and floods ravage Central Europe, West Africa, and North Carolina; PLUS: Trump threatens the entire state of California... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The disaster no major U.S. city is prepared for --- a combined power outage with a heat wave; Climate scientists troubled by damage from floods ravaging central Europe - it shows how unprepared the world is; Scientists just figured out how many chemicals enter our bodies from food packaging; A decade after signing of California groundwater law, major challenges remain; Biden’s green policies will save 200,000 lives and have boosted clean energy jobs, data shows ... PLUS: Norway: electric cars outnumber petrol for first time in 'historic milestone'... and much, MUCH more! ...

I think we've got a humdinger for ya on today's BradCast. At least if you, like me, are still scratching your head every day as to why --- after all these years and all we now know about the disgraced former President and cognitively declining convicted criminal, and after last week's crushing debate defeat --- about a half of the nation's voters are still supporting this guy. Yes, his supporters are even out here in theoretically "liberal" Southern California, as our callers demonstrate today! [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

First, we catch up a bit on some of the weekend's news, including the little that is currently known about the second attempted assassination of Donald Trump at one of his golf courses on Sunday; the many lies Trump told about immigration, the economy and wildfires during an appearance out here in Los Angeles on Friday (when he threatened to let the state burn to the ground if California Gov. Gavin Newsom --- who he called "Newscum" --- refused to do Trump's bidding if he becomes President again); and as Trump ignored and exacerbated the number of bomb and terror threats now being made against the residents of Springfield, Ohio.

After nearly a full week of Trump (and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance) making false claims that Haitian immigrants in the town are "illegally" there --- (They aren't. Both President Biden and then President Trump granted them the right to be there under a 1952 law) --- and that they are eating the dog and cat pets of other residents, Trump continues to double-down and make things even more perilous for the folks of Springfield, both old and new.

The Ku Klux Klan and other neo-Nazis have now descended on the town. The state's Republican Governor Mike DeWine has decried the rhetoric and false claims by Trump and Vance as "disgusting". The woman who made the initial Facebook claim, highlighted by Vance, about a neighbor's cat disappearing has admitted she had no first-hand knowledge and says she regrets her post. And the city has had to shut down or lock down city hall, elementary schools, college campuses and hospital facilities over the past week, thanks to Trump supporters threatening political violence.

Despite all of that, Trump had the temerity on Sunday night to blame the "rhetoric" of Biden and Harris for a mentally unstable guy's failed attempt to shoot the former President at one of his Florida golf courses. While both Biden and Harris immediately condemned the thwarted attack, noting "there is no place for political violence in America", Trump charged that it was the President and Vice President's words that that has put HIM In danger. He went so far as to tell Fox "News" that it was "their rhetoric [that is] causing me to be shot at," in the same breath that he charged they "are destroying the country --- from both the inside and out."

So, with all that we know about this guy, how can it be that he is still largely neck and neck with Kamala Harris in pre-election polling just 50 days out from this year's critical election?!

I thought I'd open the phones today specifically to Trump supporters (and, yes, we have them here in Southern California) to answer that question, by inviting them to let us know why they are still on board with him. They don't get a free pass. I challenge them a bit, but let them explain themselves in the bargain.

And, yup, if we can believe the very first caller, "Luther," who says he is from Arkansas, it is for at least one of the very worst reasons you can possibly imagine. You'll decide if he's for real or not. He was rather convincing. But the callers that followed didn't necessarily have much better reasons for their support of this guy.

Anyway, you'll be the judge. And I welcome your comments in response. Give it a listen. I think you'll "enjoy" today's program...

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At last Tuesday's Presidential Debate, one of ABC News moderator David Muir's questions to Donald Trump referenced a recent apparent admission by the former President that he'd actually lost the 2020 Presidential election "by a whisker". Trump went on to claim that those televised remarks were meant as sarcasm.

That produced the following colloquy...

This was a classic case of Trump doubling down on the Big Lie that led to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. In more than 60 cases, state and federal courts --- at the trial and appellate levels --- rejected legal challenges filed by Trump and his allies. In many instances, the cases were lost, not because Trump or his allies lacked legal standing to bring the case, as Trump claimed, but because they failed to produce evidence to support their claims of fraud. Indeed, on some occasions, Trump's attorneys even admitted they couldn't establish fraud.

Consider, for example, our coverage of a Nov. 21, 2020 Decision [PDF] by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann in Donald J. Trump for President v. Boockvar, a case in which then Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani admitted, in open court, that he had no evidence of voter fraud to present to the court...

We're catching up with a lot of news on today's BradCast, as climate change ravages the globe and the critical November general election nears. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our many stories on another busy program...

• The death toll following Vietnam's climate change-fueled Typhoon Yagi climbs to 200, with more than a hundred still missing following flooding and landslides since the devastating storm blew ashore last weekend.

• Climate change-fueled Hurricane Francine is dumping up to 9 inches of water over parts of Louisiana, leaving hundreds of thousands of customers without power as it moves northward through the state and into the Mississippi Valley.

• In preparation for next year's Electoral College certification on January 6th, the Dept. of Homeland Security has, for the first time, declared that day's joint session of Congress to be a "National Security Special Event", on par with Presidential Inaugurations, U.N. General Assemblies and Super Bowls. The new designation is meant to help avoid another deadly security crisis akin to the Trump-incited insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on the same date in 2021.

• The first new polling taken since Kamala Harris' crushing defeat of Donald Trump at Tuesday's Presidential Debate in Philadelphia finds the Vice President's lead over the disgraced former President growing to 5 points nationally, according to Reuters/Ipsos. The survey offers a number of other interesting findings.

• Less than an hour after Tuesday's debate, superstar Taylor Swift endorsed Harris, encouraging her tens of millions of fans to register to vote. More than 300,000 visited the Vote.gov site she recommended in her endorsement during the 24 hours that followed. And on Wednesday night, at MTV's Video Music Awards, she again encouraged followers that were 18 and over to do so. In advance of Donald Trump's rally in Tucson, Arizona tonight, legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Linda Ronstadt also encouraged her fans to vote for Harris, explaining that she felt a responsibility to do so publicly before the disgraced former President's Thursday evening appearance at a venue named after her, the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, in her hometown.

• This week, Kansas' Republican Sec. of State Scott Schwab sent a blistering letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, sharply criticizing the Trump-appointee for the disenfranchisement of about 1,000 Kansans whose August primary ballots were mailed back before the Election Day deadline, but either failed to include a USPS postmark or arrived later than the state's three-day grace period following Election Day. Schwab suggested some ballots mailed back on time are still arriving at county offices weeks later. Schwab's concerns were echoed the following day in what NBC News described as "an unusually frank joint open letter" to DeJoy from the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), excoriating the Postmaster General for failures to address numerous, longterm shortcomings that have alarmed the election officials. The letter reads, in part: "We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service. Failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process." As vote-by-mail ballots are beginning to go out to voters around the country, this is a good reminder to send them back early, to hand deliver them when possible, or to vote in person on or before Election Day (unless you are forced to vote on touchscreen systems at the polls. In which case, fight like hell to vote via hand-marked paper ballot via absentee or vote-by-mail.)

• Good news for young voters in Tarrant County (Fort Worth), Texas today. After more than four hours of impassioned public comment at the Commissioners Court, a list of 51 early voting sites was approved by a 4 to 1 vote that would keep open a number of sites at colleges campuses, such as UT Arlington and four Tarrant Community Colleges, that Tarrant's Republican County Judge, Tim O’Hare, wanted to shut down in opposition to local election officials. More than 10,000 students voted at the UT Arlington campus --- which has a majority of Hispanic students --- during early voting in the 2020 election. Thanks in no small part to a public outcry by local citizens, O'Hare's effort failed today.

• But potentially bad news for voters elsewhere in Texas this week, thanks to the state's criminally indicted and wildly corrupt Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. Last week Paxton filed lawsuits against Travis County (Austin) and Bexar County (San Antonio) after County Commissioners in each of the two populous and Democratic-leaning counties hired a non-partisan firm to help reach and register non-registered voters. Paxton also threatened a similar suit against Harris County (Houston), the state's most populous (and Democratic-leaning) if they did the same. Critics are accusing Paxton of intimidation and attempting to suppress the Latino vote in the state ahead of the November election. So far, officials in both Bexar and Travis are sticking to their guns. Last month, TX state officials raided the homes of voting rights advocates, including an 87-year old woman, who volunteer with LULAC, the nation's largest and oldest Latino voting rights group. No charges have been filed in what many are decrying as a blatant attempt at voter suppression and intimidation by the state's hard-right Attorney General.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report with coverage of the failure by ABC News to adequately cover climate change during this week's Presidential Debate in Philadelphia, even as heat and fires raged in the West and Hurricane Francine came ashore as a Category 2 in Louisiana...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Presidential debate focused on fracking and energy politics, but climate change got short shrift as fires rage in the U.S. West and Hurricane Francine slams into Louisiana... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Why can't we just tell the truth about fossil fuels?; Levels of potent warming gas methane soar, and people are mostly to blame; Amazon’s shipping and delivery emissions just keep going up; California, Nevada face 'dangerous situation' from fires, officials warn; Extremists keep trying to sabotage the electric grid. What if they succeed?; Girls may be starting puberty earlier due to chemical exposure: study; What happens to the environment and health regulations Biden will leave unfinished?... PLUS: US cave system’s bats and insects face existential threat: discarded Cheetos... and much, MUCH more! ...

I'm not sure I've ever declared a "winner" or "loser" in any Presidential debate, after covering them here for twenty years. They generally just don't work like that. But, as discussed on today's BradCast special coverage of last night's showdown in Philadelphia, there was one clear winner and one very clear loser. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Kamala Harris absolutely dominated her, perhaps one and only, face-off with Donald Trump from the moment she knocked him back on his heels by invading his space to reach out to shake his hand at the top, until she scraped up his lifeless husk of a soul off the debate stage at the very end.

Am I overstating the murder that some 67 million Americans witnessed with their own eyes during the ABC News debate on Tuesday night moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis? CNN's post-debate flash poll of those who watched it said Harris outperformed him by 63% to 37%. Other snap polls found similar. We'll see what the broader polling finds in the coming days. And, of course, none of that ultimately means anything. Only votes do. But I can't think of anything that Harris could have done better, particularly given Trump's years-long record of surprise successes at these things. Finally, someone figured out how to get under his skin and stayed there for 90 minutes, as we all got to enjoy his, at times hilarious, meltdown in the bargain.

Our roundtablers today --- two of our favorite fellow old school bloggers, HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Hullabaloo, and 'DRIFTGLASS' of his eponymous blog and the weekly Pro Left Podcast --- seemed to concur with the bulk of my assessment.

"This was a really great debate for those of us who care about the future of this country, because she absolutely decimated him. And it was beautiful," observed Digby. "All she was doing was telling him facts to his face, and calling him what no one in his circle will ever call him, which is a disgrace, a criminal, and creepy and old. He doesn't know how to deal with that."

"She rolled in there prepped to be a prosecutor of a person who is morally and legally unfit to hold any office in this country, and she prosecuted her case brilliantly," echoed Driftglass. She used "all the keywords that will trigger this lunatic into making dumb mistakes, because we know he can been provoked. Every time, he didn't just take the bait, he swallowed the hook."

I'd share more, but it might take some of the joy out of listening to today's special coverage. Among some of the many specific points we focused on:

• Was Trump catfished by Team Harris' "unsuccessful" pre-debate ploy to keep the microphones open all night?
• Does he actually even know how the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) works?!
• Are undocumented immigrants in Ohio really eating American pets? (Someone said they were "on television" after all.)
• Are those immigrants getting government-funded sex change operations in prison?
• Does Donald Trump know anything about either fracking or solar energy?
• What does that "late great Hannibal Lecter" rally joke actually mean?
• Is Trump being catfished yet again by Team Harris' immediate post-debate call for a second debate?

All of that and much, much, MUCH more on today's BradCast...

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I must try and keep today's BradCast summary short to finish up in time to watch tonight's Presidential Debate (which we will be covering in detail on tomorrow's program, natch.) [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

We start off with breaking news out of Missouri, where the state's Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling that had blocked an abortion rights measure from appearing on this November's ballot. Now the measure --- enshrining the right into the state Constitution, if approved by voters-- will be on the ballot this year in the Show-Me State, along with about eight others, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota. That news is likely good for Democrats, who support the freedom for women and their doctors to determine their own medical procedures, and bad news for Big Government Republicans who don't. In the seven states where voters have been allowed to ring on reproductive rights since the corrupted SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, all of them have sided with freedom, even the normally "deep red" states.

NEXT... We cover another right being attacked by Republicans, of late: the right to vote. In this case, the right for former felons in Nebraska, who have fully completed their sentences, including parole, probation and restitution, to register and participate as voters.

Back in 2005, the state adopted a law allowing former felons the right to register and vote following a two-year waiting period after completion of their criminal sentences. Tens of thousands were immediately re-enfranchised. Earlier this year, in April, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of the state legislature, the two-year waiting period was removed. But in mid-July, just two days before the new law was to take effect, and advocates were gearing up to let folks know about it, the state's Republican Attorney General, Mike Hilgers, issued an advisory opinion that the new state law was unconstitutional and so was the twenty-year old measure adopted back in 2005! Furthermore, the state's Republican Sec. of State, Bob Evnen, used that opinion to notify election officials that registration for all former felons must immediately cease!

Voting rights advocates sued and the state Supreme Court is set to hear the case this week. In the meantime, however, chaos has ensued in the state, with former felons uncertain whether they can vote or even register to vote this year. Many, according to my guest today, journalist ALEX BURNESS of Bolts Mag, who recently penned an excellent deep dive article on this mess, are now afraid to register or vote at all, for fear of being sent back to jail for it. That, Burness explains, is largely the point of all of this.

Adding to all of it, as we discuss, is the fact that the Nebraska --- which is mostly a "red" state --- is one of just two that split up its Electoral Votes according to U.S. House Districts, rather than simply winner-take-all. This year, that means that, if Kamala Harris is able to win in all of the so-called Blue Wall States (MI, WI and PA) and all of the traditionally Democratic ones, she would wind up with exactly the 270 needed to win the White House...presuming she also wins the one electoral vote from Nebraska's 2nd District, which leans "blue". Tens of thousands of disenfranchised voters, however --- or, even just fearful ones --- in Omaha, could decide the Presidency this year.

"If you wanted to skew the electorate --- even by a few thousand votes in what could be a very close 2nd Congressional District, that could literally decide the presidency --- if you were looking for levers you could pull at this late hour, that's one of them," Burness tells me. "In fact, it's a very good one."

There is much more to discuss on all of these points with Burness today, including the outrage of using a Jim Crow-era law to suppress the vote in 2024, and the irony that 34-time convicted felon Donald Trump is allowed to run for President of the United States, even while former felons who have served all their time are being prevented from even voting for or against him. A similar outrage is underway in a number of other GOP-controlled states, including Mississippi as Burness recently reported, this year.

THEN... We answer some very smart --- and, even, moving --- listener mail, including a snail mail letter we recently received, if you can believe it!

And FINALLY... Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report with coverage of the extreme heat and wildfires broiling California and elsewhere in the Western U.S., even as Hurricane Florence spins up seemingly overnight in the Gulf of Mexico, where it is now threatening Texas and Louisiana, including, potentially, New Orleans...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: The planet just lived through the hottest summer ever recorded --- again; Extreme heat and wildfires broil the U.S. West, as storm Francine threatens the U.S. Gulf Coast; PLUS: State Ag Commissioner warns parts of Texas are running out of water... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Debate Night! Hot Hot Hot; 1 in 4 U.S. homeowners is financially unprepared for costs of extreme weather, report finds; How Trump could turn a $400 billion Green Bank into a fossil fuel lender; Solar farms look to produce more than power: pollinator-friendly habitat; Planes, trains and monster diggers: The vehicles pushing the limits of electric power ... PLUS: Conservative activist Leonard Leo launches $1 billion crusade to 'crush' liberal media... and much, MUCH more! ...

Well, we had a few technical disasters during today's BradCast. But that's what makes live radio fun, right? [Audio link to full show --- minus a minute or two of dead air --- follows this summary.]

At the top of the show, Desi and I began coverage of this weekend's deadly Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam, Tropical Storm (soon to be Hurricane) Francine in the Gulf of Mexico, and wildfires raging and heat records shattering in the Western U.S., including right here in our local Southern California listening area. But, almost immediately, we were hit with a few technical snafus as wiring (or something) went haywire during our live show from the KPFK studios.

Apologies for that, and for the minute or two where my mic appears to have gone dead entirely. (We've excised most of that dead air from the version we're posting below. But there are plenty of gaffes along the way to enjoy nonetheless. Don't worry!)

Most of the studio tech issues were largely under control by the time I got to some of my planned news coverage of the Cheneys (both Liz and Dick) and their remarkable endorsements last week of the Democratic Presidential nominee, Kamala Harris; the fact that Bernie Sanders agrees with them; and that Liz even announced she would also be backing Democratic Rep. Colin Allred in his race against Ted Cruz for the U.S. Senate in Texas this year!

Then there is Donald Trump's twisted weekend tweet/threat vowing to prosecute and jail "Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials" if he wins in November (he said "WHEN I WIN" in the tweet) "at levels...never seen before in our Country."

In other words, while he used to vow to imprison political opponents, he is now promising to jail Democratic donors, attorneys and elected officials if he wins in November (or if, as he and the GOP are clearly planning, they are able to steal it this year in the event they lose.)

And, with all of that (and more) we get to today's listeners ringing in with thoughts on all of the above on the eve of Tuesday's first and only Presidential debate between Harris and Trump. That rounds out a quick summary of today's tech-error-riddled, but-otherwise-pretty-lively BradCast. Please enjoy!...

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We're all over the place on today's BradCast, as things seem to be speeding up exponentially as Election Day draws near. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our stories today...

• On Wednesday, the Dept. of Justice filed an indictment against two members of the Russia's state media outlet known as RT for their part in a scheme that covertly paid some $10 million to rightwing media influencers to help spread Russian propaganda via an American-looking website media company based in Tennessee. Among the willing dupes or useful idiots, take your pick, who profited from the scheme to the tune of millions of dollars: popular rightwingers like Tim Pool, Benny Johnson and Dave Rubin (who actually used to call himself a "progressive" when we worked with him years ago at The Young Turks!) Their Kremlin-approved-and-encouraged lies about Russia and Ukraine and much more were spread far and wide from them to Elon Musk, Donald Trump and many others (including far too many on the Left!), in a far-reaching plot meant to cause division in the U.S. and disrupt our electoral system to the benefit of Trump. It was all helped along by those who are apparently all too willing to sell out the U.S. in exchange for power and/or money and/or just to be one of the cool anti-establishment rebel kids out there. We break it all down for ya today.

• Lifelong rock-ribbed Republican conservative, former top member of House GOP Leadership, and daughter of Dick, Liz Cheney announced her intention in North Carolina on Wednesday to do the right thing by voting for Kamala Harris this year. I say "right thing" because, for those Republicans who truly oppose Donald Trump, if they really want to help keep him out of power, the best way is to cast their vote for Harris, as opposed to feebly writing-in Ronald Reagan or some such cowardly measure that only ultimately serves to help Trump regain power.

• Aside from standing up for democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution by voting for Harris, Cheney might also have noticed that Kamala Harris popular economic policies are more likely to grow the economy than Trump's various schemes. His poor economic showing during his term in office makes that clear enough. But, if you need further encouragement that Harris' policies will be better for the economy than Trump's moving forward, check out what the economists at that lefty, pinko outfit Goldman-Sachs had to say about it this week. Turns out, "Comrade Kamala" (as Trump absurdly likes to call her), is the worst communist ever!

• The U.S. House returns from its August break on Monday for a short session before breaking again for the election. But they've got another "fiscal cliff" ahead of them, with a government funding deadline at the end of this month. Apparently, Donald Trump is encouraging House Speaker Mike Johnson to threaten another shutdown before the election, unless Dems agree to adopt the SAVE Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, despite the fact that it is already unlawful for non-citizens to vote in federal elections (and ID is already required for all voters who register in all 50 states under federal law). But, sure, go for it, Mike! I'm sure it'll work out just fine for you guys.

• Pretending there is massive voter fraud being carried out by non-citizens appears to be the GOP's fake news claim of this election year (helped along by all of those folks getting sweet sweet Russian money to lie to that end, and those who choose to believe them). In North Carolina last week, the state and national Republican Party filed yet another lawsuit in hopes of popularizing that claim, despite the complete lack of evidence for it. In this suit, they are claiming that some 225,000 voters in the state's voter registration database did not supply a driver's license or social security number when they registered and, therefore, might be "illegal aliens" voting. They want them all to be removed from the rolls and forced to re-register, even though the election is now just weeks away and Mail-in voting begins this weekend in NC. But there are a few (a whole bunch, actually) problems with their claims and suggested remedy, as we explain on today's program. That said, Republicans know about those problems --- and don't care. They aren't filing these lawsuits to win them. They are filing them to help them try and steal the election, if necessary, next January 6th.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, amid a sweltering heat wave here in Southern California; a record heat wave in Phoenix; record humidity recorded over much of the rest of the country all summer long; and other both good and terrible climate and environmental news items, as usual...

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Attorneys from the watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), including a retired federal judge, have now filed an Amici Curiae Brief [PDF] (friends of the court brief) in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal in relation to the stolen classified documents case (United States v. Trump).

The case was recently dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, a Donald Trump appointee, who contended that Attorney General Merrick Garland did not have the power to appoint Jack Smith as Special Counsel. In the view of former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, the "devastating" 81-page brief [PDF] Smith filed in conjunction with the government's appeal of that dismissal order, suggests a near certainty that Cannon's dismissal order will be reversed by the appellate court.

While Smith may have been constrained by DOJ policy not to seek Judge Cannon's removal in his motion, CREW isn't so constrained...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Most humid summer on record in U.S. intensified by Midwestern corn sweat, as Western U.S. swelters; August 2024 was the hottest August on record globally; PLUS: Brazil's Amazon Rainforest saw record number of wildfires in August... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season keeps underperforming expectations; African nations are losing up to 5% of their GDP per year with climate change, a new report says; EPA restores industrial air pollution rule axed by Trump; What has worked to fight climate change? Policies where someone pays for polluting, study finds; World is pumping out 57 million tons of plastic pollution a year; Drying lakes and thirsty trees: In drought-hit Greece, water trucks are keeping crops alive; Former VW boss goes on trial for cheating on emissions tests... PLUS: Biochar doesn’t just store carbon – it stores water and boosts farmers’ drought resilience... and much, MUCH more! ...

Today on The BradCast: What you may not know about the horrifying Trump-Vance scheme to fire hundreds of thousands of non-partisan career civil servants and replace them with Trump loyalists --- if Trump is elected in November. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

• But, first up, results from Congressional and state legislative primary elections in "deep blue" Massachusetts on Tuesday were completely unsurprising. Though one of our listeners discovered --- and learned more details about --- a tabulation problem that resulted in one of the Democratic races for the state House in the town of Essex needing to be counted by hand overnight after the optical-scan system was unable to tally it accurately.

  As discussed, the incident serves as yet another excellent reminder of the critical importance of hand-marked paper ballots to help ensure results that voters may have confidence in, even when there are problems with the optical-scan systems. Though the issue appears to have been caused by an error in the programming and printing of ballots by the Commonwealth itself, at least MA has enough respect for its voters to allow all of them to cast hand-marked paper ballots --- whether by mail or at the polls --- unlike some other states I could mention. (Hi, Georgia!)

• Then, a quick review of the likelihood of the narrowly divided U.S. Senate flipping majority control this November from Democratic to Republican, with all eyes on the great state of Montana, where control of the upper chamber may come down to the tough reelection battle being faced by three term Democratic Senator and Montana native, Jon Tester.

  Recent polling averages show Tester trailing the Trump-endorsed Republican nominee Tim Sheehy, a wealthy rancher who moved to Montana about 10 years ago. But now, audio recordings have emerged of Sheehy slurring Native Americans at Republican fundraisers, where he repeatedly used a racist trope to disparage "drunken Indians" on the reservation. The audio recordings were surfaced last week by Char-Koosta News, "The Official News Publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation," in a state that is home to seven reservations and 12 Native American tribes, representing about 6% of the state population. It's also a state where Republicans have repeatedly attempted to suppress Native American votes.

  The outcome of the Tester/Sheehy contest is very likely to determine majority control of the U.S. Senate and whether Kamala Harris, if she wins this year, will be able to carry out her agenda or see it blocked from Day 1 by Republicans. As Jonathan Martin notes today at Politico, if she does win, but the Senate flips to GOP control (or Dems can't win back the House), Harris "would be the first Democrat to enter the presidency since 1884 without majorities in both chambers."

• And, since we're recalling the 1800s, Donald Trump has a scheme to return to the 1800s "spoils system" of appointing federal government officials based not on their skills or talent, but on their loyalty to their party and President. That system was replaced following the 1881 assassination of President James A. Garfield after he was killed by a man who was furious that he was not appointed to a foreign service position that he believed he was owed based on his work for the Republican Party.

  As James Rainey reported at the L.A. Times last week, after the law was changed under President Chester A. Arthur in 1883 to mandate a merit-based civil service system instead, "The next 22 presidents would leave the basic principles of the civil service intact. That changed when Trump took office."

  In his final year in office, Trump used his executive powers to create something called "Schedule F" which would have converted hundreds of thousands of career civil servants into at-will employees who could be fired without cause. Before full implementation, Trump lost in 2020 to Joe Biden, who quickly reversed the Executive Order.

  But now, both the far-right Project 2025 and Trump himself have detailed plans to remove and/or replace at least half a million federal workers in dozens of federal agencies should the Trump/Vance ticket win in November. In addition to replacing those career officials with loyalists, the scheme would also serve to gut the federal government of an indescribable amount of expertise on science, agriculture, healthcare, national security, education, energy, the economy, the military and so much more.

  We're joined to discuss the ramifications of all of this today by JACQUELINE SIMON, Policy Director of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal employee union representing some 750,000 federal and District of Columbia employees.

  As "horrible" as the Trump Schedule F/Agenda 47/Project 2025 scheme is, she explains, "it's the logical conclusion of something that has been going on in the federal government now for many years."

  "A good way to look at what the outline of what government would look like according to Project 2025," Simon says, "is politicizing the work of people who are right now performing all kinds of functions. Scientific research --- the research that underlays regulations that protect public health, clean air, clean water, safe food --- all of those kinds of things. They want to move everything to the states, or privatize, or defund. Those efforts can also be avenues to politicize the work of the federal government. When you privatize, you can specify exactly what the contractor will do and won't do."

  "They would take all testing and testing development away from the CDC. They would deregulate the inspection of meat and poultry that's performed right now in the Dept. of Agriculture. Completely privatize the work done by civilians at the Dept. of Defense, so that the government would be fully, fully at the mercy of its contractors. They make no bones that they would effectively shut down the VA healthcare system and privatize all of that. They would close hospitals and clinics all across the country. And basically turn the VA into a private health insurance program. There are so many ways that the operations of government, the functions of government would be corrupted, undermined, and politicized, by privatization, and by, of course, a personnel system that would allow them to hire people who aren't competent, who can't perform the duties of the position, and then hire them and fire them at will."

  "It's been the Republican playbook for decades," she tells me. "This isn't new. This is Ronald Reagan moving forward. Almost everything in this document [Project 2025] has either been tried before or is part of Republican dogma, the Republican agenda in Congress for decades." But it is, if Trump is able to return to the White House, Simon warns, likely "the final dagger in the heart of the civil service"...

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