Among the many stories covered on today’s BradCast, a bit more than one week from the crucial midterm Election Day. [Audio link follows below.]…
- A 56-year old white man from Florida, suspected of sending mail bombs to about a dozen perceived enemies of Donald Trump, is arrested and charged with federal crimes. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the alleged MAGABomber, Cesar Sayoc, Jr. turns out to be a huge fan of Donald Trump. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fails to call it terrorism;
- In Tennessee, a state court rules in favor of voting rights advocates who sued to require Shelby County (Memphis) election officials to allow thousands of new registrants to cure any alleged omissions or errors on their voter registration applications through Election Day, and to allow those voters to vote on normal, not provisional, ballots. The Republican-majority commission in the very Democratic-leaning county, has said they would appeal the ruling. The matter could be crucial to the tight race for U.S. Senate between popular former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen and Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn in the contest to fill the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Bob Corker;
- In Georgia, massive attempted voter suppression overseen by Republican Sec. of State and gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp, should qualify the entire state as a crime scene, at this point. More troubling news along those lines today, as the DeKalb County Election Commission appears to have lost nearly 5,000 vote-by-mail applications. The Democratic Party claims they turned in 4,700 requests, but the County tells the NYTimes they only received 48! The potential disenfranchisement of thousands of voters could effect the tight gubernatorial race between Kemp and African-American Democrat Stacey Abrams. Given the massive suppression attempts in the state, I don’t see how a Kemp victory could possibly be seen as legitimate;
- In Texas, amid the very tight U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, many of the 100% unverifiable electronic voting machines used across the state are reportedly selecting Cruz during some attempts at straight ticket Democratic votes. State and county election officials confirm the problem with their voting systems made by Hart-Intercivic of Austin has existed for years. Nonetheless, they are blaming voters, rather than themselves or Hart, their private election vendor, for the failure. That, despite conceding that it is those systems, used in many TX counties, that are at the root of the problem for voters;
- Finally, we’re joined by energy and politics writer DAVID ROBERTS of Vox.com, to discuss a very important initiative on the ballot in Washington state this year. Roberts explains Initiative 1631, which, if adopted on November 6th, would create a price for carbon pollution by creating a fee for the use of fossil fuels that cause global warming. The revenue raised by the measure would be used to fund key initiatives to improve the environment and help middle and lower income Americans. Roberts describes, as he recently wrote in much more detail, how the new initiative differs from the revenue-neutral carbon tax which failed at WA polls in 2016, and how the fossil fuel industry is spending tens of millions to crush this effort (just as they did in 2016).
All of this on a week, which we also discuss, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has staked his 2019 re-election chances on a new national carbon tax and dividend policy. The politically courageous effort was announced this week, despite what is predicted to be a neck-and-neck contest next year with his Conservative Party opponent. The scheme would tax the use of fossil fuels and send all revenue from the measure straight back to Canadians each year in the form of a check.
Expect to see many more such efforts both in North America and across the world, to place a price on carbon pollution, as the globe continues to warm while fossil fuel companies continue to pollute the atmosphere for free. As Roberts notes: “Civilization is on the line.”
The BradCast
with Brad Friedman
10/26/2018
Votes Flip to Cruz, TX Blames Voters; Still More Suppression in GA; Carbon Price on WA Ballot: ‘BradCast’ 10/26/2018 | Guest: David Roberts of Vox; Also: Trump fan charged in mail bombings... · · · · · Votes Flip to Cruz, TX Blames Voters; Still More Suppression in GA; Carbon Price on WA Ballot: ‘BradCast’ 10/26/2018 | Guest: David Roberts of Vox; Also: Trump fan charged in mail bombings...
0:00
0:00
The BRAD BLOG, The BradCast and Green News Report are all 100% independent and 100% listener and reader supported!Please CLICK HERE to help support our work today!
Brad and Desi would need to have 10-hour shows for the next couple weeks to even begin to cover all the GOP voter-suppression efforts going on now.
The GOP is lazy and cynical when working to, supposedly, serve the people (which it never does).
But THIS is what the GOP finally gets serious about, and works their asses off for.
This is what they LOVE —- CHEATING.
Such breathtaking corruption!
As a California resident yourself, Brad, you have heard the whining and complaining from drivers in this state about the sorry conditions of the road network and driving surfaces – UNTIL the gas tax (which pays for both) got raised. Now these numbskulls want to repeal the gas tax increase and pretend that all of these road construction and repair projects can continue.
I’ve never been to Washington State, but somehow I believe that they have similar complaints about their taxes. I don’t know how their state raises funds for their projects, but I feel secure in believing that the citizens of WA are complaining about the same things with the same motivations – and expecting something for nothing as too many do in the rest of the nation.