Today on The BradCast: A whole lotta madness. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our many, mad stories today...

• The Trump Administration challenged the constitutionality of lower court judges issuing nationwide injunctions at the U.S. Supreme Court today, as part of Donald Trump's wildly unconstitutional Executive Order declaring an end to Constitutional Birthright Citizenship. He's lost in every lower court, so far, even if the merits of that Order, largely, were not heard by the High Court today. The Administration did, however, appear to be on track to lose their maximalist argument against nationwide injunctions as well.

• The House GOP's effort to ram Trump's "big, beautiful" agenda through the House before the Memorial Day recess continues apace, after several all-nighter mark-up sessions in major House committees. The bill is meant to encompass the entire Trump/GOP agenda to give enormous tax cuts to rich people and corporations, while taking health care (and much more ) from millions of the neediest Americans, in one single bill. But many Republicans can't agree on how many Americans should have their health care taken away from them to pay for a bill that will add nearly $4 trillion to the national debt. And some Republicans appear to have no idea about major provisions in the legislation.

• As Congress is gutting health care and nutrition assistance for the nation's neediest, the Trump Administration continues to work toward --- "eliminating" --- the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) just weeks before hurricane and wildfire season kick into gear. Trump fired FEMA's acting Director last week after he dared testify, in contradiction to Trump, that he didn't think it a good idea to eliminate the agency. His replacement is promising to "run right over" anyone who gets in his way, even as an internal review obtained by CNN warns that FEMA "is not ready" for hurricane season.

• And hurricanes this year could be more deadly than ever. That, thanks to both climate change and, more immediately, drastic Trump cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which houses it. Last week, five former NWS directors penned an open letter, warning of great danger to the public in the wake of recent draconian cuts at the Service. Scientific American details their chilling concerns.

• It has now been two months since Maryland father and Venezuelan migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia was "accidentally" disappeared to a gulag in El Salvador by the Trump Administration in violation of a court order. But Trump's ridiculous contention about Abrego Garcia having "MS-13" tattooed onto his knuckles continues. That, as the Administration continues to defy a Supreme Court order to facilitate the man's return. But because Trump was obviously and transparently wrong about "MS-13" on the man's knuckles (it clearly Photoshopped onto a photo shown to him), everybody else in his Administration must pretend he wasn't wrong about it. That led to an absurd and surreal colloquy between DHS Sec. Kristi Noem and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) in a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday.

• Yes, it's a mad world right now in these United States, though one that we should have seen coming. (Some of us did.) Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter --- who died last week in New Hampshire at the age of 85 --- tried to warn us about pretty much everything we're seeing now...back in 2012, before the Trump-era.

• Finally, we close with Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report, as Republicans in Congress work to end Joe Biden's landmark clean, renewable energy initiatives; the Trump EPA rolls back limits on toxic chemicals in drinking water; and some recent good news for the climate out of Australia...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: House Republicans' budget proposal effectively kills Inflation Reduction Act's clean energy incentives; Trump EPA to roll back first-ever limits on 'forever chemicals' in your drinking water; Global sea level rise is accelerating; PLUS: Australia's Labor Party wins big, doubling down on renewable energy and climate commitments... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): Toxic wildfire pollution infiltrates homes of 1 billion people a year: study; Republicans' 'clearly unprecedented' gambit to kill climate programs; Trump's 'fear factor': Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate; FEMA cuts emergency training as hurricane season looms; Georgia shields maker of Roundup weed killer from some cancer claims; Balcony solar took off in Germany. Why not the US?... PLUS: Trump promised U.S. dominance. Instead, energy companies are faltering... and much, MUCH more! ...

It's a bit of a roller-coaster ride on today's BradCast. We begin with some good election and Trump Administration accountability news. But while Trump's latest clownishly absurd attempted corruption may not ultimately work out for him, it serves as a reminder of the rough road ahead for justice and the Justice Department itself in these United States. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

FIRST UP... Some good news...

• On Tuesday, Omaha, Nebraska's Republican Mayor Jean Stothert was defeated in her run for a fourth term by Democratic challenger John Ewing Jr. He will become the first Black mayor of the otherwise "red" state's largest city. Stothert's attempt to leverage anti-trans hate against her opponent appears to have failed to win over voters.

• That news comes on the heels of last week's School Board elections in Texas (which we are finally catching up with today!), where book-banning, trans-hating right-wingers were voted off of School Board majorities in at least four of the largest districts in the state.

• In one of two good news updates to stories we recently covered on the show, a federal judge on Tuesday ordered some 200 federal workers fired by the Trump Administration from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) back to work. The workers ran the Coal Worker's Heath Surveillance Program which offers health screenings to miners who may have developed incurable Black Lung disease, and helps them find safer jobs and covers health costs if they have. The judge in the case, filed by two West Virginia miners afflicted with the disease, found the Trump Administration (remember when he used to pretend to love coal miners?) had no authority to unilaterally shut down the screening program mandated by the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. NIOSH workers were reportedly back on the job today after the U.S. District Judge issued her order yesterday.

• And, in another happy follow-up story, facing a lawsuit from farmers and First Amendment advocates, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) agreed to restore years of critical climate change date --- relied on by farmers and many others --- to its website, after disappearing it shortly after Trump took office.

THEN... I don't know if we should consider it "good news" or not, but it certainly looks like Trump's plan to accept a tricked-out $400 million "flying palace" jumbo jet as a "gift" from the Royal Family of Qatar, for use as Air Force One while in office and for his own personal use thereafter, ain't gonna work out for him.

Despite his loyalist Attorney General Pam Bondi --- formerly, a $115,000/month lobbyist for Qatar --- pronouncing that the "gift" would be neither a bribe nor a violation of the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause, banning gifts "of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State" to public officials, it appears she's only half right about that.

We're joined today by our old friend RANDALL D. ELIASON, former chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption section at the DoJ's U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. He is now a professor of white-collar criminal law at George Washington University and writes at his own SidebarsBlog, where he wrote about much of this today.

He explains that, thanks to recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, public officials may, in fact, now accept "gifts" of any size or amount from anybody, without violating current bribery statutes, so long as the official does not offer anything in return. Yes, it's as ridiculous as it sounds. Eliason describes it as "absurd...but that's the Supreme Court's concept of corruption" now.

"The Supreme Court, over the last couple of decades, has narrowed public corruption laws so much that there's a strict requirement now of a link to a particular official act that you can identify and say this gift was because Trump agreed to do this in exchange," he tells me. "They could give him $400 million cash in his own bank account, and that's not a bribe anymore, unless they can link it to something he agreed to do in exchange."

"The fact is, the way the Supreme Court has interpreted bribery, it should be a bribe, but it's not, unless there was some agreement we don't know about by Trump to do something in particular in exchange. If it's just to cozy up to him, curry favor with him in general, because they are hoping for future things to happen, that's not a bribe."

"There's no question this is corrupt," he makes clear, "as most of us understand the term," but not a bribe. "Congress could have stepped in to amend those laws, but they haven't done that, for some surprising reason."

Trump's violation of the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause, on the other hand, with acceptance of a "flying palace", would be a different matter, Eliason agrees. Though the question becomes: who exactly has the legal standing to challenge that violation in a court of law?

"I think the bigger picture is that we can't rely on lawsuits to solve this problem," he argues. "It's going to take too long and get bogged down again. If there's going to be a response, it needs to be a political one. It needs to be enough people standing up and objecting and putting pressure on him that he cancels the deal. And ultimately the voters have to respond."

Much more on all of that today along with Eliason's reflections on what has happened to his beloved DoJ and the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. where used to work, soon to be led, most likely, by Fox News' whacked out "Judge" Jeanine Pirro --- and whether all of it can be put back together again when this madness ends...presuming it does.

"What's happening at Justice is terrible, and it's heartbreaking," he laments. "It violates everything that DOJ has stood for, for decades. They are pushing people out for doing nothing more than doing their jobs. Or those people are leaving, because they can't honorably stay there and do what they are being asked to do."

What would he have done had he still been at the DOJ under Trump? And will the institution be salvageable after this? Tune for his thoughts and insight on all that and much more...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

On today's BradCast: While we're all distracted on a daily basis by Donald Trump's endless, lawless, childish idiocy, Republicans have been quietly preparing to adopt some "deeply evil stuff" in Congress in order to help pay for trillions of dollars in huge tax cuts to wealthy Americans. [Audio link to full story follows this summary.]

On Monday, House Republicans finally unveiled the final piece of their proposed, so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" that would "dramatically reshape America for the worse," according to my guest today, who broke down the cruel proposal at the heart of Trump's main budget and tax agenda for his second term at the Center for American Progress last night.

The plan includes, among other things, what my guest describes as "the largest Medicaid cuts in history," cutting access to health care to more than 8 million people at or near poverty-level income; "the largest SNAP cuts in history", threatening daily nutrition assistance to the 1 in 8 Americans who receive, on average, about $2 per meal, per day from the program, many of them children; it would increase the cost of energy and electricity for all Americans by cutting the Biden Administration's landmark investments in clean, renewable energy while keeping billions of dollars in permanent federal subsidies for fossil fuel companies; and the GOP measure would also increase costs for undergraduate student loans for the roughly 1 out of 8 Americans who have them and/or are in the process of trying to pay them off.

All of that to help pay for a massive $68,000 tax cut for millionaires and a $300,000 cut for the luckiest American households in the top 0.1 percent. The House GOP proposal, if adopted as written, would do nothing --- or even raise taxes --- for some 33 million households. But it would increase the federal deficit by trillions of dollars, despite a Republican Party which has long pretended to oppose deficit spending. (At least when they're out of power.)

How's that for making American Millionaires and Billionaires Great Again?

We're joined today to break down all the ugly details on both the bill and its chance for passage by BOBBY KOGAN, Senior Director for Federal Budget Policy at the Center for American Progress. He previously served as an adviser to the Office of Management and Budget in the Biden-Harris White House and as Head of Budget Analysis for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT.)

"It absolutely would really, really hurt the people who they claim to represent and serve," Kogan tells me, referring to the proposed cuts of at least $600 billion to Medicaid and the loss of health care coverage for tens of thousands of Americans in each of the House districts represented by GOP lawmakers supporting these cuts. A number of House Republicans --- especially those representing "blue" or "purple" districts --- previously claimed to oppose Medicaid cuts. If House Speaker Mike Johnson loses just 3 votes he will not be able to pass the bill. So, what does it say that their long-awaited proposal includes massive cuts anyway? "What I would say is they maybe talk a good game," argues Kogan. "They might pretend that they don't want to cut Medicaid. But their actions show that they are actually laser-focused on cutting Medicaid."

Among the many proposed changes to the program would be increased work requirements for recipients, which Republicans claim is necessary to save money by trimming waste, fraud and abuse. "It will save money by kicking people off their Medicaid," Kogan explains bluntly. "It's not about stopping fraud. The hyper-majority of what they are proposing in Medicaid cannot be credibly construed as going after fraud. Instead, what they are doing is transforming Medicaid from a lifeline for folks into something you only get if you meet certain conditions. It'll save money because if you lose your job, now you no longer get your Medicaid."

"States that have implemented these work requirements have led to disaster," he tells me. "It's not actually something that leads to more work. Instead, it puts up so much red tape that folks fail to make it through. They end up disenrolling tons of people who are working. It saves tons of money because people have lost their Medicaid."

The proposed cuts to food for needy adults and children via the SNAP program are no less evil or immoral, he says, along with the increased education and energy costs that tens of millions of Americans will face if this bill becomes law. All to pay for huge tax cuts to already wealthy people.

Is there anything in what Kogan describes as a "profoundly evil bill" that might actually help non-wealthy Americans? Can Republicans even get it over the finish line in the House with their incredibly narrow margin, much less through the Senate, much less agree on a version that can ultimately be passed by both chambers? And what can you do to help prevent all of this from happening? (Hint from Kogan: Call your members of Congress! Especially if they're Republican!) We discuss all of that and much more today with Kogan, who knows a whole lot about all of this stuff and is great at explaining it.

ALSO TODAY: The Washington Post filed a chilling story over the weekend about pizzas being delivered to the homes of federal judges in at least seven states over the last several months. The message being sent --- as Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their supporters have been attacking judges for rulings they oppose over social media and elsewhere --- is all too obvious and disturbing, especially since whoever is behind the threats have recently begun referencing the murdered son of one of the judges.

AND FINALLY: Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report in which, among other things, the Trump Administration is working toward shutting down FEMA entirely --- and just fired its Director --- weeks before hurricane season begins; and Republicans in Texas are moving to require that all solar plants must produce energy...at night...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump Admin fires Acting FEMA Director just before hurricane season begins; NOAA will stop tracking billion-dollar weather disasters; Forest officials warn wildfire crews are short-staffed due to Trump cuts; PLUS: Texas legislature moves to require solar plants to provide power at night... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): Farmer on clean energy foes: "These people are being manipulated"; Running blind: The silencing and censoring of environmental threats to US national security; What's the cost to society of pollution? Trump says zero; House GOP targets clean energy tax credits and pollution rules in budget bill; Global sea levels are rising faster and faster. It spells catastrophe for coastal towns and cities; PLUS: Enviros release climate emissions data after EPA refused... and much, MUCH more! ...

Given the topics on today's BradCast, it was a pretty lively show anyway. Thanks mostly to the callers, I suspect. Especially the one who loves Trump and doesn't believe in the evolution. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our stories today...

• The three-term Mayor of Newark, New Jersey was arrested by masked federal thugs on a public street on Friday. Mayor Ras Baraka was hand-cuffed and frog-marched (as seen above) outside a newly reopened federal detention center that, reportedly, doesn't have its state or city permits in order to operate. He was there to inspect it. The arrest happened as three Democratic members of Congress were eventually allowed to tour the privately run ICE facility that same afternoon. DHS and Donald Trump's former defense lawyer turned top federal prosecutor in NJ, subsequently took to the airwaves to apparently lie about the arrest. They have since doubled down by threatening to arrest the three members of Congress who were there as well, claiming they and Baraka "broke into" and "stormed" the federal facility. Video and eye-witness testimony of the incident, so far, suggests otherwise.

• After 45 days in detention, Tufts University grad student, Rümeysa Öztürk, was finally released from custody over the weekend, at the insistence of a federal judge. She was snatched off the street by masked federal goons in March, as seen on a chilling viral video, after her student visa was revoked (without her knowledge), apparently in response to her daring to exercise her First Amendment right to co-author an op-ed in the student paper calling for the University to divest from Israel.

• On Sunday, ABC broke the news that Trump intends to accept a tricked-out 747 Boeing jet from the Royal Family of Qatar to use as Air Force One, and then keep it as his own at the end of his term. The plane is reportedly worth about $400 million before it was decked out to serve as "a flying palace". All of which is wildly unconstitutional, if the literal words of Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 (the Emoluments Clause) actually still mean anything. For the record, it reads, "...no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." Seems pretty clear. Unless you are a lawless grifter or one of his duped supporters.

• Then, we open up the rest of the show to callers. Lots of them. Kicking off with a MAGA fan named "Denise", who believes Öztürk was in the country unlawfully, was a "terrorist" who wrote an op-ed in support of Hamas. None of those things, as reality would have it, are true by any measure. Then again, Denise also doesn't understand that First Amendment rights apply to all "persons" in the U.S., and says she knows that Darwin was a total con-artist is a total scam. So, ya know... Her call, and the many that followed, were all fun, however!

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Gotta keep it short today. (You're welcome.) But there's plenty to make up for it on today's very lively BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our coverage...

• Habemus Papam! And all signs are that Pope Leo XIV may be a good one...even if he's from Chicago.

• Happily, the new Pope tossed Donald Trump's dumb, first and only, but not-actually-done trade deal with U.K. right off today's front pages. But, suffice to say, it ain't much of a deal anyway, done or otherwise. At least not for the U.S.

• Speaking of deals from the world's greatest (read: worst) negotiator, the one that Trump struck last week with Ukraine, to share some profits from exploitation of rare earth minerals in the war-torn nation in exchange for our continuing support, actually is a good deal! Especially for Ukraine, which seems to have outfoxed Trump. (Which apparently isn't all that difficult.)

• In other dumb Trump trade news, California Governor Gavin Newsom and U.S. Senator Adam Schiff --- not to mention film and TV producers and unions, etc. --- are calling Trump's weekend bluff, when he claimed to want to save the U.S. film industry. He declared an unworkable, potentially industry-crushing 100% tariff on all films "produced in Foreign Lands". The serious people, however, want to see federal tax credits to encourage more production in the U.S. So, does Donny really want to keep the industry from "DYING a very fast death", as he claimed? If so, his Democratic friends in California have an actual solution. (Don't hold your breath he'll take it.)

• Arizona's two-time statewide loser and election fraud fraudster Kari Lake has a new job with the Trump Administration. She's helping him shut down the world-revered Voice of America news and culture outlet and its global sister networks, despite the Congressionally-mandated and funded outlets' charter to produce accurate and unbiased news and cultural programming --- particularly in regions where a free press is restricted. VOA has done exactly that for the past 83-years since WWII, until being silenced by the Trump Administration. As lawsuits filed by VOA journalists, unions and contractors move forward to reopen the networks, Lake announced this week that she plans to replace the programming with far-right wingnut propaganda produced by the loons at the One America News Network (OAN). Which would, of course, be against the law.

• Finally, Desi Doyen is here with some alarming news that came in after we'd already laid down today's Green News Report. We close today's program with both...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump EPA to reportedly kill off money-saving, energy-saving Energy Star program; Trump's cuts to science funding are hurting the U.S. economy; Most Americans rely on federal science every day, but don't realize it; PLUS: Republican-controlled Congress targets California's clean air standards and more... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): Land under the country's largest cities is sinking. Here's where - and why; Water a weapon in India/Pakistan conflict; Anti-government group threatens crucial weather radars, NOAA warns; Congress asks whether FEMA is ready for hurricane season amid cuts; 17 states sue Trump Admin for blocking funds for electric vehicle charging; Trump Admin. decommissions sea ice data that warned of climate change... PLUS: Coal ash waste could be a rare earth reservoir... and much, MUCH more! ...

We've got a bit more religion-related news than usual on today's BradCast. But it's not to celebrate the new Papal Conclave underway as of today at the Vatican. It's because rightwingers in the U.S. are using phony claims of "religious bias" to rewrite Constitutional rights, freedoms, and the specific intentions of the Framers who wrote it. [Audio link to full story follows this summary.]

First up, before we get to our guest, some quick news, including some election news...

• After six months of trying to undermine democracy and invalidate tens of thousands of lawfully cast votes in North Carolina from last November's election, Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin has finally conceded, giving up his post-election challenge against Democratic incumbent Justice Allison Riggs who defeated him in last year's election for state Supreme Court by 734 votes. Just two days after a Trump-appointed federal judge declared Griffin's challenge --- attempting to change the rules of an election after the election --- to be unconstitutional, while giving him seven days to decide if he wanted to appeal, Griffin gave up the ghost. We've been covering the contest over the past six months and revisited its ugly details on yesterday's BradCast on the heels of Monday's federal court ruling. It took a while --- and revealed a lot of villains in the Republican Party and on the NC Supreme Court --- but Democracy has won this round, at least, in the last unsettled race of 2024.

• Speaking of Republican losers, despite an endorsement from the Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance's half-brother, Republican Cory Bowman, was trounced on Tuesday by Aftab Pureval, the incumbent Democratic Mayor of Cincinnati in the city's mayoral primary. Pureval defeated Bowman by nearly 70 points (82.5% to 12.9%) in the three way race. As the top two vote-getters, however, both will go on to compete head-to-head in November's general election. Cincinnati hasn't elected a Republican Mayor since 1967 and they don't seem ready to do so again any time soon.

• On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court let its cruelty and corruption shine once again, by barring trans service members from serving in the military even while challenges are still underway in lower courts, despite many of those members serving openly and with distinction for years. That the Trump-packed SCOTUS would go along with his cruel mandate is not all that surprising. But the fact that they did so on an "emergency" basis, on the so-called "shadow docket", without explanation or briefing or oral argument, even as trans service members had been suing --- and winning --- at the lower court level, is particularly galling and cowardly. All three of the Court's liberal Justices dissented.

But, speaking of galling news from the High Court, last week, SCOTUS heard oral argument last week in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, a case engineered by rightwingers to challenge --- really, to tear down --- the Constitution's First Amendment establishment clause meant to protect the separation of church and state.

The case involves a wannabe remote charter public school called St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. It would be run by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City in "deep red" Oklahoma. The state's Charter School Board narrowly approved its application for public funding, despite its plans for "the evangelizing mission of the Church," including "that God created persons male and female" and that those who reject the Holy Trinity will "end up in hell". That approval would mean that, as a certified public school, it would receive taxpayer dollars in support of that "mission" whether taxpayers agreed with it or not.

While the state's Republican Governor and Superintendent of Public Schools support the idea of publicly funding religious charter schools, both the state's Republican Attorney General and its Republican-majority Supreme Court decidedly do not. The state Supremes blocked St. Isidore's charter, citing both the First Amendment of the Constitution and state law which prohibits the expenditure of public money on any "sectarian institution" and requires that public schools be "free from sectarian control."

That, in a state which has, in recent years, reduced some K-12 schools to just four days a week for lack of public money in the wake of GOP tax cuts. If SCOTUS reverses the state Supreme Court, as appeared likely during last week's oral argument, money from secular public schools will be diverted to religious education. In fact, as my guest explains today, states across the nation are likely to be mandated to approve and pay for such religious institutions --- even schools indoctrinating children into religions that today's proponents of St. Isidore may not wish to see funded by taxpayer dollars.

We're joined today by DANIEL MACH, Director of the ACLU's Program for Freedom of Religion and Belief, which is supporting opponents of this radical assault on 250 years of American separation of church and state. The ACLU's coalition includes Oklahoma faith leaders, parents, and public-education advocates, including national charter school advocate associations which object to turning public schools into Sunday schools.

"Oklahoma officials are not just blurring these lines separating church and state," Mach wrote when sending up alarm bells about this case back in 2023, "they’re attempting to completely eviscerate them." Our friend, legal journalist Mark Joseph Stern of Slate argues that this case is likely to "bury what remains of church–state separation, forcing every American to subsidize the indoctrination of children into faiths they may not share. And it would further enfeeble secular public education, diverting billions of dollars away from inclusive public schools toward religious academies that openly discriminate against those outside their faith."

But there is hope. A little. Justice Amy Coney Barret has recused from the case, meaning that if Chief Justice John Roberts --- the only Justice who appeared to be at least moderately uncertain of his final verdict last week --- decides in favor of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, then SCOTUS would be tied 4 to 4 and the Oklahoma high court's ruling would stand.

"This was a strong decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court," Mach tells me today, explaining that their opinion "wasn't even close", pronouncing the Charter Board's decision as "so far beyond the pale...so far beyond what we have decided as a country that our government should and should not be doing" that even a Republican high court in a very Republican state had to say no to it.

"It's an interesting moment," says Mach, "because we have a conservative movement and an extremely conservative U.S. Supreme Court that supposedly cares about states' rights. But a ruling for the Catholic school here would be giving no weight to Oklahoma state statutes, the Oklahoma constitution, the Oklahoma Republican Attorney General, and the state Supreme Court, which interpreted its own state law. All of which made absolutely clear that charter schools in Oklahoma are public schools."

There is much more in my conversation with Mach today that you'll want to tune in for, much of which defies conventional wisdom about all of this...even if it may not be enough to prevent the corrupted U.S. Supreme Court from further undermining the Constitution and the original intention of its Framers. That, he says, would be not just a "seismic shift in the law", but "a ground-breaking disaster"...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Constitutional Due Process plays a starring role in today's BradCast --- as it damned well should --- in several different stories of note. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

• Today, we revisit the ridiculous story about the one election from 2024 that is still unsettled. At least it was before Monday, when a federal district judge may have finally put an end to it. We'll see. This is the contest for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, where incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs' re-election was challenged by her opponent, Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin. At least two recounts found that he lost by 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast. Nonetheless, Griffin has been deploying a playbook clearly created for Donald Trump prior to last year's election, in demanding some 65,000 lawfully cast ballots be tossed out entirely --- though only in a few Dem-leaning counties, and only for his race. We unpack all the details again on today's show. But, long story short: The state Supreme Court (dominated 6 to 2 by Republicans, or 6 to 1 in this case, since Riggs recused herself) recently okayed the potentially disenfranchisement of thousands of NC voters to help out Griffin. But Riggs then took the matter to federal court, where U.S. District Court Judge Richard Myers --- a Trump-appointee --- on Monday said absolutely not. You may not change the rules of an election after an election and violate the Constitutional Due Process of voters in the bargain, according to his order [PDF]. This is, of course, very good news for Riggs, but also for democracy itself. Hopefully, it's finally over. We'll see if Griffin chooses to keep his six-months of idiocy and attempted vote suppression going on appeal. Myers has given him one week to decide.

• Trump said over the weekend that he just doesn't really know if the Due Process mandates of the Constitution are actually, ya know, mandatory. He was answering questions about his use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to detain and deport alleged gang members from Venezuela to a gulag in El Salvador for a life sentence, without ever allowing them a day in court to make their case, or even contact with lawyers or family. But the AEA law may only be invoked in the first place against migrants from nations that have declared war on the U.S., or in the event of "invasion" or "incursion" directed by a foreign government. That is certainly not the case with Venezuela, though Trump argued otherwise in his invocation of the wartime law. Earlier this year, reporting from the New York Times and Washington Post revealed that the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) found back in February that there was no evidence of Venezuela's President directing an invasion of the U.S. Trump made his proclamation to begin deportations in March anyway. At the time, the Admin claimed the reporting was wrong and the DoJ vowed extraordinary measures to track down the leakers. But, according to a redacted memo released on Monday under the Freedom of Information Act by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, summarizing the IC's findings, the newspapers had it right and --- I hope you're sitting down --- it appears the Trump Administration was lying about all of this from the jump.

• In related news, yet another federal judge --- this time in the Southern District of New York --- has enjoined the Trump Administration from moving migrants detained under the Alien Enemies Act until they are given full Due Process. The ruling was not unlike one from a Trump-appointed federal judge in South Texas last week. In this case, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a Clinton appointee, found [PDF] that since the Administration has "not demonstrated the existence of a ‘war,’ ‘invasion’ or ‘predatory incursion,’ the AEA was not validly invoked by the Presidential Proclamation."

• Meanwhile, the fortunes of Trump buddy and richest man on earth, Elon Musk --- also, potentially, the world's most hated --- are really beginning to nose dive. Aside from users fleeing Twitter/X in droves this year in the wake of both his partnering with Trump and the Nazification of the social media site, the future of his Electric Vehicle company appears even bleaker. The stock price of Tesla is down some 40% since he DOGEd himself to Trump last December and subsequently outed himself as a far-right extremist. But sales of the company's cars in Europe have fallen even farther. According to new numbers out this week from both Germany and the UK, where, even as overall sales of cars is dropping, EV sales are booming --- at least for companies not owned by Musk --- Tesla sales continue to drive over a cliff. They are down 46% in Germany compared to last April, and a whopping 62% in Britain. Sad!

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as drastic cuts to the National Weather Service are now beginning to endanger public safety, according to its former leaders; Trump's DoJ is suing states to block climate laws and lawsuits; and the Administration plans to shrink National Parks in the U.S. to make room for more mining and drilling, and violate international law by mining the sea floor...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)

Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Drastic cuts to National Weather Service endanger public safety, former weather chiefs warn; Trump Justice Department sues four states to block climate laws and lawsuits; PLUS: Trump moves to open up the sea floor to mining and shrink national monuments... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

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): 75 percent of North America’s bird species are in decline, study says; Rural communities were promised millions in disaster funds. Trump says no; Scientists map where orphan wells pose threats to aquifers; Trump admin. plans to shut down money-saving Energy Star program soon, sources say; Park Service suspends air-quality monitoring at all national parks; 150+ Nobel-Prize winning scientists warn of imminent global famine... PLUS: Treated Like Dirt: Uncovering the toxic soil lurking in L.A.'s burn zones... and much, MUCH more! ...

Today on The BradCast: The President of the Unites States' war on the U.S. Constitution and Rule of Law continues, even as he keeps losing battle after battle in courts of law, at ballot boxes and in the court of public opinion. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our coverage today....

• At the beginning of last week, we reported the news of the Canada's Liberal Party overcoming an enormous deficit against the Conservative Party last December to triumph in national elections on Monday, when the Conservative Party's Trumpy Leader even lost his own seat in Parliament. By week's end, we saw damned near the exact same story in Australia, where the Labor Party Prime Minister on Friday retained his post (the first time that a ruling PM was elected twice in a row over the past 20+ years) and the conservative opposition lost in a landslide that saw its Trumpy party leader also lose his seat in Parliament as well, for the first time in Australian history. If nothing else, Trump's obnoxious behavior toward our longtime allies seems to be working wonders for center-left political parties in those countries.

• Trump announced over the weekend that he will place a 100% tariff on movies "produced in foreign lands". Apparently, that would include American-made films shot in other countries, though he didn't explain --- and nobody in the Administration seems to yet know --- how such a "tariff" would actually be levied. Many fear it could also devastate the U.S. film industry. The new tariffs are necessary, Trump lied, because foreign film production is somehow a "National Security threat", according to his social media announcement. (It isn't a national security threat, of course. But I explain on today's show why Trump needs to pretend as much.)

• As Trump revealed on NBC's Meet the Press over the weekend, he's not entirely sure if Constitutional Due Process, as cited by the 5th and 14th Amendments, is actually mandatory. That despite the Supreme Court making clear that it very much is, and despite his sworn oath earlier this year upon taking office for a second time to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

• Clearly, the Rule of Law and Constitution don't mean all that much to Donald Trump, as again illustrated by his four Executive Orders, so far, targeting four different law firms that dare to represent people he regards as political enemies. His clearly unconstitutional orders bar attorneys at those firms from entering federal buildings, interacting with federal officials or taking federal jobs, etc. The largest and first of those targeted firms to challenge an Order is Perkins Coie. They won a resounding victory on Friday when a U.S. District Court Judge in D.C. found [PDF] the entire Order targeting them to be a clear cut case of "unconstitutional retaliation and viewpoint discrimination, plain and simple." She nullified the entire Order in the bargain.

Meanwhile, out here in Los Angeles, three prosecutors in the U.S. Attorneys office for the Central District of California tendered their resignations over the weekend, after Trump-appointed acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli appears to have struck a deal with former L.A. County sheriff's deputy Trevor Kirk, after his felony conviction by a jury in February.

Kirk was found by a jury to have injured a 58-year old black woman during what police body cam footage revealed as to be an "unjustifiably violent" arrest. The woman apparently had nothing to do with the robbery that the cops were called to respond to at a grocery store in Lancaster, an hour or so north of L.A., in 2023. But she claimed to be live-streaming the arrest of her male companion, who apparently wasn't involved in the reported robbery either. Kirk threw the woman to the ground, threatened to "punch" her "in the face", hand-cuffed and pepper-sprayed her twice.

The unusual deal between Essayli and Kirk was struck after the jury verdict, but prior to sentencing, which could have resulted in as many as nine years in prison for the now-former cop. The new agreement would change his felony conviction to a misdemeanor with prosecutors seeking probation for Kirk instead of jail time, and no bar on him serving as a cop in the future. None of the attorneys who obtained Kirk's conviction signed on to the new agreement struck on behalf of Trump's acting U.S. Attorney. It must still be approved by a judge.

We're joined today by independent L.A. based legal affairs reporter MEGHANN CUNIFF who was the first to break the story of the agreement before the ensuing resignations of the career prosecutors in the L.A. U.S. Attorney's office in what appears to be a response to the deal their new boss struck, undermining their case. Cuniff, who acknowledges how unusual it is for a deal to be struck after conviction and before sentencing, argues that it's possible the prosecutors might be resigning for other reasons in addition to the unusual post-verdict deal.

After making clear that she is not reporting a direct line between D.C. and the Trump-appointed loyalist Essayli and his deal to drastically reduce Kirk's sentencing, she concedes: "I've never seen it before. It's totally unheard of. You might see it if there's an issue of misconduct during the trial or somebody is cooperating afterward. But the prosecutors are definitely outraged after this."

Cuniff is also not at all certain that the U.S. District Court Judge who oversaw the case will agree to the terms of the deal struck by Trump's prosecutors. At the same time, L.A. County has struck a settlement in a $3 million civil lawsuit filed by the two victims in response to their wrongful arrests.

In addition to the Kirk case, the same U.S. Attorney's office is now reviewing the conviction of Alexander Smirnov, who pleaded guilty to lying to federal officials in 2020 about Hunter Biden having corrupt business dealings with a Ukrainian oil company, "in what prosecutors described as a Russian-influenced operation," says Cuniff.

"As soon as Trump took over, all of a sudden, they are trying to get this guy --- who took a plea deal and was sentenced in January --- out of prison, pending appeal, saying they are going to support his appeal," she explains. "The trial judge wouldn't do it, but they're going to the 9th Circuit [Court of Appeals]. The assistant U.S. Attorney who argued for this is the same one who went to court to argue for Trevor Kirk for a sentencing delay" to allow Trump's attorneys to strike a deal with the dirty cop...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION	ONE-TIME DONATION
Choose monthly amount... $10 : $10.00 USD - monthly$20 : $20.00 USD - monthly$50 : $50.00 USD - monthly$100 : $100.00 USD - monthly	(Snail mail support to "Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028" always welcome too!)