We’ve largely stayed away from the “horse race” on the Democratic side of the 2020 Presidential race to date, preferring, as we’re wont, to focus on more immediate issues, as well as the “track conditions” on which the horses are set to run next year. But on today’s BradCast, we finally open the phones to turn to the horse race a bit, in advance of this week’s first 2020 Presidential debates.
But first, a few news items of note. Among the stories covered today before we turn to the phones….
- Were you thinking that 23 or 24 candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination just wasn’t enough? Were you hoping one more white male from a swing-state might enter the race? Well, retired three-star Navy Vice Admiral, former Pennsylvania Congressman and failed U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak may be the man for you!;
- In U.S. Supreme Court news, the Justices released an opinion today finding that the decades-old federal statute preventing the issue of trademarks to brands determined to have “scandalous” or “immoral” names is, in fact, an unconstitutional violation of the Free Speech clause. That will be good news to lifestyle brand FUCT which had been denied a trademark registration for years. In her opinion for the majority, Justice Elana Kagan also may have offered a preview, according to Mark Joseph Stern, of, at least, her opinion on the Court’s upcoming crucial ruling on partisan gerrymandering, as she noted that free speech cannot be denied on the basis of viewpoints or ideas conveyed. The challengers in the two partisan gerrymandering cases pending before the Court — with a decision due any day now — are arguing that state political opponents are seeing their voting power diluted by the party in power on the basis of their political viewpoints when it comes to the partisan gerrymandering of maps for the U.S. House and state legislatures;
- In a follow-up to our Friday program’s segment focused on horrific conditions for migrant children detainees on the border, Vice President Mike Pence was on CNN Sunday, working very hard to filibuster and otherwise avoid Jake Tapper’s direct questions about the Administration’s argument — offered last week in federal appeals court — that denying soap and toothbrushes to children forced to sleep on freezing concrete under a single foil blanket in overcrowded facilities somehow qualifies as “safe and sanitary” conditions for those children, as required by federal courts. Late today, some good news on that front, as nearly 300 children at a “squalid” Texas facility — featuring lice, the flu, kids who hadn’t showered in weeks, and detained children asked to take care of infants and toddlers — have now been transferred out of at least that horrific facility…at least for now;
- Then, with one failure after another after another in North Carolina’s elections in recent months and years, even the former counsel for the North Carolina state Board of Elections is now calling for HAND-MARKED paper ballots for every voter. So why isn’t the state of Georgia? Why isn’t the city of Philadelphia in the key swing-state of PA? Why is the nation’s largest voting jurisdiction, Los Angeles County, now moving from hand-marked paper ballots to 100% unverifiable touchscreen Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) in advance of the 2020 Primaries? And why is Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate blocking any and all legislation that would increase election security by, among other things, mandating a hand-marked paper ballot for all voters? We discuss. Again;
- Then, we open up the phone lines to callers, with the broad questions in advance of the first 2020 Democratic Presidential debate this week: What will our listeners be looking for in this Wednesday and Thursday’s two-night face-off among 20 candidates? What is the most important factor they hope to find in a Democratic nominee? Who do they like so far and who do they not like? We offer the chance to advocate — or bash — any of the candidates callers may wish, along with the question: Would they vote for a nominee they may not like in the general election, rather than hand Donald Trump a nation- and planet-devastating second term? We got a lot of good callers and interesting thoughts from them along the way…
Please enjoy today’s very lively show!…
The BradCast
with Brad Friedman
6/24/2019
Sizing Up the Field Before the First 2020 Debate: ‘BradCast’ 6/24/2019 | Also: Sestak jumps in; SCOTUS says trademark law is 'FUCT'; Pence defends squalid conditions for detained children; Even NC knows hand-marked paper ballots are needed, so why doesn't L.A. County?; Callers ring in on the Dem 'horse race' before this week's two-night Dem debate... · · · · · Sizing Up the Field Before the First 2020 Debate: ‘BradCast’ 6/24/2019 | Also: Sestak jumps in; SCOTUS says trademark law is 'FUCT'; Pence defends squalid conditions for detained children; Even NC knows hand-marked paper ballots are needed, so why doesn't L.A. County?; Callers ring in on the Dem 'horse race' before this week's two-night Dem debate...
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Whether or not the nation ends the reign of Trump is entirely up to the Democratic Party. But by pushing Trump on the voters and suppressing the prospects of every other Democratic candidate, the Party is telling me that they are OK with the Policies which Trump is promoting but want to replace him and take control of those policies for their own benefit. Biden is already on record as declaring that nothing will fundamentally change, and that can only be read as the Democratic Party will continue on the path that Trump has blazed. The nation be damned.
What the Democratic Party is pushing on us is a Hobson’s Choice of Trump or Trump-lite. The only difference between them is that Biden will sniff our hair before he screws us.