This is our final BradCast of the Biden Era. We’ve got a lot of mixed emotions on today’s program, as you’ll discover when you tune in. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]
Among our coverage…
- Vile Congressional Republicans, such as Alabama’s Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Kansas’ Roger Marshall and many of their far-right media pals are targeting the victims of the Los Angeles Fires as part of their latest reprehensible political strategy. They’re calling for “conditions” and “strings attached” before agreeing to aid Americans who have lost everything out here in these horrific, ongoing fires. They are whipping up disinformation echo chambers to convince themselves that it was something other than climate change-fueled dry weather and hurricane force winds to blame for the past week’s unspeakable disaster and death. I’ve got a word or two in response on today’s program, including some thoughts about the fact that California gives five times more to the federal government in tax dollars than we receive back in return. You’re welcome, Senators — and all of your loser MAGA buddies banging that same pathetic, loathsome drum.
- Speaking of fossil fueled climate change deniers, Donald Trump‘s nominee to head up the Dept. of Energy, fracking company CEO Chris Wright, doesn’t believe wildfires have anything to do with climate change. And Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, used to call for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. Now tapped for Trump’s EPA, he’s singing a different tune, as Desi Doyen reports today in her coverage of Zeldin’s U.S. Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.
- In what suffices for good news today, you may recall that, just before Christmas, President Biden, who vowed during his 2020 campaign to end the federal death penalty (he didn’t), mercifully and morally commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal Death Row to life in prison without the possibility of parole. (He should have done the same for the other three, as reprehensible as they may be. The Government shouldn’t be in the business of killing its own citizens.) But on Wednesday, according to a scoop from LAW DORK’s Chris Geidner, Attorney General Merrick Garland officially withdrew federal approval for the use of single-drug lethal injections of pentobarbital in federal executions. That may slow down, at least, another killing spree by Donald Trump, who ordered the executions of 13 federal Death Row inmates during the final six months of his first term in office. That, after a total of just three people had been executed under all previous Presidents from the years 1975 through 2020.
- And, speaking of warnings of what is coming — or already here — in a 17-minute prepared speech (transcript) from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, President Joe Biden issued his Farewell Address to the American people on Wednesday night. He briefly touted his Administration’s substantive (and, so far, wildly under-appreciated) record, noting that “It’ll take time to feel the full impact of what we’ve done together, but the seeds are planted and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come.” He then went on to issue a series of dire warnings that echoed President Eisenhower‘s 1961 Farewell Address, in which he famously warned of the menace of the then-burgeoning Cold War Military-Industrial Complex. In this case, Biden warned of the dangers of a Tech-Industrial Complex and explained that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.” He hearkened back to the push-back against the Gilded Age of the robber barons over a century ago, while charging that Americans are now “being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power.” We share an extended excerpt of those warnings and others — “the existential threat of climate change”, unchecked A.I. development, our corrupted U.S. Supreme Court, a “crumbling” free press — from Biden’s final Oval Office address before Monday’s Inauguration of the first convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and adjudicated insurrectionist to ever be sworn in as President of the United States.
- Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report with more on the L.A. Fires and the long recovery ahead; more on Trump’s Energy Secretary nominee; more on Joe Biden‘s encouragement to Americans in his Farewell Address to hold the line on climate action in the years ahead…
The BradCast
with Brad Friedman
1/16/2025
Fires, Liars and Oligarchs Rising as Biden Takes Final Bow, Issues Warning: ‘BradCast’ 1/16/2025 | Reprehensible Repubs imperil L.A. Fire victim aid; Trump EPA pick backs off climate crisis; Garland nixes federal execution drug; Biden warns of 'oligarchy', 'tech-industrial complex', 'abuse of power' in farewell address... · · · · · Fires, Liars and Oligarchs Rising as Biden Takes Final Bow, Issues Warning: ‘BradCast’ 1/16/2025 | Reprehensible Repubs imperil L.A. Fire victim aid; Trump EPA pick backs off climate crisis; Garland nixes federal execution drug; Biden warns of 'oligarchy', 'tech-industrial complex', 'abuse of power' in farewell address...
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