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Latest Featured Reports | Friday, October 4, 2024
Time Running Out For
All the Trump Rackets: 'BradCast' 10/3/24
'Pro-choice' Melania wants $250k from CNN; $100k 'Trump Watch' invites influence peddlers; Damning new 1/6 details; MAGA county clerk gets 9 years for CO vote system tampering...
'Green News Report' 10/3/24
  w/ Brad & Desi
After another climate disaster, climate change finally front and center at VP Debate; PLUS: Ongoing climate disaster Helene, now second deadliest hurricane in modern U.S. history...
Previous GNRs: 10/1/24 - 9/26/24 - Archives...
Vance Sane-Washes Trump, Self in Polite, Lie-Filled VP Debate with Walz:
'BradCast' 10/2/24
Special coverage with Heather Digby Parton of Salon, 'Driftglass' of 'Pro Left Podcast'...
How You Can Help Protect Democracy This Year: 'BradCast' 10/1/24
Guest: Emily Levy of Scrutineers.org; Also: Iran/Israel escalation; Dockworkers strike shuts down ports; Search, recovery -- and climate denier lies -- continue after Helene...
'Green News Report' 10/1/24
  w/ Brad & Desi
'GNR' Special Coverage: Climate change-fueled Hurricane Helene unleashes widespread death and destruction, as storm victims face daunting challenge of recovery...
Previous GNRs: 9/26/24 - 9/24/24 - Archives...
The Predictable Horrors of Helene: 'BradCast' 9/30/2024
Climate change strikes again, killing more than a hundred in 5 states, millions without power, concerns about their ability to vote; Also: Callers ring in before VP Debate...
Springfield Haitians Sue Trump, Vance, Musk et al over Defamation, Death Threats
Add'l defendants include Trump, Jr., OH A.G. Yost, OH U.S. Sen. candidate Moreno, LA Rep. Higgins...
Sunday 'Protection Racket' Toons
THIS WEEK: Creepers, Cowards and Conmen! (And they're all the same guy!)... In our latest collection of the week's creepiest toons...
Trump Weaponized Govt Against His Enemies, Vows to Do It Again: 'BradCast' 9/26/24
Also: NYC Mayor indicted; D.C. disbars Rudy; Newsmax settles with Smartmatic; Helene goes Cat 1 to 4 in single day before FL landfall...
'Green News Report' 9/26/24
  w/ Brad & Desi
Hurricane Helene guns for Florida; Global warming doubled odds of Europe's catastrophic flooding; PLUS: Biden promotes climate action at final U.N. address, with a warning...
Previous GNRs: 9/24/24 - 9/19/24 - Archives...
The Climate and Economy Stakes of 2024: 'BradCast' 9/25/24
Guest: Ryan Cooper of American Prospect; Also: Trump's Project 2025 in reality, in the U.S. House, and in song!...
Good News for Democracy in Nebraska, Arizona (Not Montana): 'BradCast' 9/24/24
Also: Hurricanes John and Helene; Biden's final address at the U.N. General Assembly...
'Green News Report' 9/24/24
CA sues ExxonMobil for plastic recycling lies; Cat 3 John strikes Mexico; Three Mile Island coming back to power Microsoft A.I.; PLUS: Climate Week kicks off in NYC...
No, GA's New Rule Does NOT Mandate Hand-Counted Results: 'BradCast' 9/23/24
Guest: Voting system expert Marilyn Marks on the wildly misreported Georgia news and what voters should be worried about instead...
Sunday 'Not Going Back' Toons
THIS WEEK: Springfield Follies ... Political Violence ... The Undecidables ... Pro-Life? ... And much more in our latest collection of the week's best toons!...
Losers' Stench: GOPers Gaming the Map to 270: 'BradCast' 9/19/24
Bad news for Rs in NC; Trump/Vance lies in OH; GOP Elector scheme in NE; Gaming GA result certification; Vote suppression in TX; Vote expansion in CA...
State A.G. and County Election Officials Square-Off Over Voter Registration in Texas
Right to register under assault following state's massive voter roll purge...
'Green News Report' 9/19/24
U.N. weather agency warns of climate chaos...that may already be here; NC storm tops $7B in damage; PLUS: Biden's air pollution policies will save 200,000 lives...
BARCODED BALLOTS AND BALLOT MARKING DEVICES
BMDs pose a new threat to democracy in all 50 states...
VIDEO: 'Rise of the Tea Bags'
Brad interviews American patriots...
'Democracy's Gold Standard'
Hand-marked, hand-counted ballots...
Brad's Upcoming Appearances
(All times listed as PACIFIC TIME unless noted)
Media Appearance Archives...
'Special Coverage' Archives
GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal 2012...
VA GOP VOTER REG FRAUDSTER OFF HOOK
Felony charges dropped against VA Republican caught trashing voter registrations before last year's election. Did GOP AG, Prosecutor conflicts of interest play role?...

Criminal GOP Voter Registration Fraud Probe Expanding in VA
State investigators widening criminal probe of man arrested destroying registration forms, said now looking at violations of law by Nathan Sproul's RNC-hired firm...

DOJ PROBE SOUGHT AFTER VA ARREST
Arrest of RNC/Sproul man caught destroying registration forms brings official calls for wider criminal probe from compromised VA AG Cuccinelli and U.S. AG Holder...

Arrest in VA: GOP Voter Reg Scandal Widens
'RNC official' charged on 13 counts, for allegely trashing voter registration forms in a dumpster, worked for Romney consultant, 'fired' GOP operative Nathan Sproul...

ALL TOGETHER: ROVE, SPROUL, KOCHS, RNC
His Super-PAC, his voter registration (fraud) firm & their 'Americans for Prosperity' are all based out of same top RNC legal office in Virginia...

LATimes: RNC's 'Fired' Sproul Working for Repubs in 'as Many as 30 States'
So much for the RNC's 'zero tolerance' policy, as discredited Republican registration fraud operative still hiring for dozens of GOP 'Get Out The Vote' campaigns...

'Fired' Sproul Group 'Cloned', Still Working for Republicans in At Least 10 States
The other companies of Romney's GOP operative Nathan Sproul, at center of Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, still at it; Congressional Dems seek answers...

FINALLY: FOX ON GOP REG FRAUD SCANDAL
The belated and begrudging coverage by Fox' Eric Shawn includes two different video reports featuring an interview with The BRAD BLOG's Brad Friedman...

COLORADO FOLLOWS FLORIDA WITH GOP CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Repub Sec. of State Gessler ignores expanding GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, rants about evidence-free 'Dem Voter Fraud' at Tea Party event...

CRIMINAL PROBE LAUNCHED INTO GOP VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD SCANDAL IN FL
FL Dept. of Law Enforcement confirms 'enough evidence to warrant full-blown investigation'; Election officials told fraudulent forms 'may become evidence in court'...

Brad Breaks PA Photo ID & GOP Registration Fraud Scandal News on Hartmann TV
Another visit on Thom Hartmann's Big Picture with new news on several developing Election Integrity stories...

CAUGHT ON TAPE: COORDINATED NATIONWIDE GOP VOTER REG SCAM
The GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal reveals insidious nationwide registration scheme to keep Obama supporters from even registering to vote...

CRIMINAL ELECTION FRAUD COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST GOP 'FRAUD' FIRM
Scandal spreads to 11 FL counties, other states; RNC, Romney try to contain damage, split from GOP operative...

RICK SCOTT GETS ROLLED IN GOP REGISTRATION FRAUD SCANDAL
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) sends blistering letter to Gov. Rick Scott (R) demanding bi-partisan reg fraud probe in FL; Slams 'shocking and hypocritical' silence, lack of action...

VIDEO: Brad Breaks GOP Reg Fraud Scandal on Hartmann TV
Breaking coverage as the RNC fires their Romney-tied voter registration firm, Strategic Allied Consulting...

RNC FIRES NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION FIRM FOR FRAUD
After FL & NC GOP fire Romney-tied group, RNC does same; Dead people found reg'd as new voters; RNC paid firm over $3m over 2 months in 5 battleground states...

EXCLUSIVE: Intvw w/ FL Official Who First Discovered GOP Reg Fraud
After fraudulent registration forms from Romney-tied GOP firm found in Palm Beach, Election Supe says state's 'fraud'-obsessed top election official failed to return call...

GOP REGISTRATION FRAUD FOUND IN FL
State GOP fires Romney-tied registration firm after fraudulent forms found in Palm Beach; Firm hired 'at request of RNC' in FL, NC, VA, NV & CO...
The Secret Koch Brothers Tapes...

My Speech to the Nation After 9/11 (Were I President, Which I am Not.)

My Speech to the Nation After 9/11
(Were I President, Which I am Not.)

By Brad Friedman
Written for family members on September 14, 2001
Published here for the first time, twenty years later, on September 13, 2021

The events of Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 will never be forgotten. To paraphrase Franklin Delano Roosevelt, this day too will live in Infamy. It will never be forgotten. Not by the people of this nation, nor the peoples of the world. Never before has such cold-blooded aggression struck so deeply, so suddenly and so without warning into the very heart of the civilized world.

The perpetrators of this unholy massacre must - and will - be brought to swift, and harsh justice. Without question. Without delay. And without fail.

They must not be allowed to accomplish their goals of bringing this great country, the greatest the world has ever known, to it's knees. But greatness is earned. Not assumed. Greatness is tested each and every day. Greatness must be demonstrated to the world. And our Greatness is being tested today more than ever before.

This is a turning point in history. From this day forward, life on this planet will never - and must never - be the same. The seeds of this tragedy must now be used to grow the abundant fruits of life and freedom across the globe in a way that our fathers, grandfathers and fore-fathers could have never foreseen.

We must avoid the easy, and well-justified, temptation to avenge. To create more hostility, and, as Nobel Peace Laureate Nelson Mandela so wisely said, "to avoid any course of action that will be as unpopular as the terrorists" in the eyes of the world. For if we fail to do so, certain death and destruction that will inevitably be borne from it. Borne by rash and imprudent action. Both by us, and by those that wish to destroy us. For every Usama bin Laden that we destroy, a thousand will be born in his place.

While we [may] take momentary solace from a swift and thorough retribution, we must, as Americans set an example for the world. We must take this opportunity to change the direction of history itself.

The world has become too technologically advanced, too dangerous, and too easy for the smallest of hate groups, the most desperate of individuals, for a singular madman to cause too much death and destruction in ways never dreamt of before.

We cannot protect every border, every building, every airplane, bus, water supply, the very oxygen we breathe, against madmen bent on the destruction of human life and civility. And our love of freedom and liberty will not allow us to turn our civilization into a police state.

We must instead turn our intelligence, our strength of leadership, the greatness of our ideas, the ingeniousness of our technology, our freedom-loving faith in humanity and our singular ability to set an example for the entire world towards a new course of history. This starts here, this starts now.

No longer can we lead by destruction and vengeance. Destruction that will one day bring us a sense of strength and superiority but will as surely bring us further revenge and destruction in the future. The endless and futile cycle of tit-for-tat stops here.

We do not coddle zealots. We must no longer find ourselves in a position to destroy those who we have, for so many years, propped up when it served our financial, economical and political interests. Madmen that we - America - have brought to power like Sadaam Hussein, Usama bin Laden and Manuel Noriega. Now we must change the way that we think, and do business. The way that we run our foreign policy and the basis for our decisions. We must now set an example by basing our foreign policy on humanity and what is right, rather than economic gain and political expedience.

When Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa after decades of apartheid, injustice, intolerance, murder, torture and the rape of his people, he could very easily have taken retribution out on those who perpetrated those unspeakable crimes for years without end. Instead, a National call for Reconciliation was begun. Conferences held, criminals exposed, victims heard from and a new more hopeful day was born.

This was not done to give horrendous criminals a get-out-of-jail free pass. Certainly Mandela, as much a victim of the haters as anybody in his country, would have been justified in the eyes of the world to destroy all of those that were a party to those many long years of atrocities..But he looked ahead. He looked to the future. He was able to see that vengeance brings more vengeance in an unending cycle of anger and destruction. We must look forward to that same future.

Make no mistake, I am firmly Pro-Israel. But I am also Pro-Humanity. And if Humanity cannot survive, neither can Israel. And we have seen the way in which Israel has been militarily strong throughout the years in it's own defense. We have also seen, that after 60 years, they still fight the same battles each day, and live in fear each day as the enemy lies in wait, possible around every corner. America cannot, should not, and will not live that way.

We do not excuse those who have perpetrated this atrocity on America and the entire world. But until we pause, every American, to try and come to an understanding of the sort of thinking that would compel 19 human beings to hijack four airplanes, murder the occupants, and go down with it in order to destroy thousands of innocent human lives, we are destined to see it repeated over and over again.

The rhetoric and cycles of hate must stop. And it begins with us.

History can and will change now.

These criminals will be brought to justice. And as we do so, it will be our highest priority that not one drop of innocent human blood gets spilled. Not one. We will be as diligent in our quest for justice as the criminals were reckless in their quest for blood. "Collateral Damage" is no longer an acceptable turn of phrase used to justify the cost of bringing vengeance. For as surely as we do it, it will once again bring more hatred and retribution towards us: The leaders of the world. We must instead, set an example for that world.

We will further begin a dialogue across the globe in an attempt - not to excuse the behavior of those who despise us - but to understand it. To understand what these actions are that have caused so many millions in the world to target their hatred upon us. We will listen to them. We will not acquiesce to their demands and fanaticism. But we cannot rid the world of such hostility, until such time as we can come to understand it.

I say all of this tonight, with a heavy heart. And an understanding that the words I speak may be harshly judged by even those who have been supportive of me throughout the years. These are very difficult words to speak and a difficult decisions to make and a difficult time. But in these difficult times, one small courageous act may just light a thousand hearts to move in a new direction. For the good of the United States and for the good of all Humanity for a thousand of years to come.

Good night. And God Bless America.



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