On today's BradCast: With authoritarianism now having descended upon these United States, the full-throated pushback against it, at least by some, continues. In the courts. At the ballot box. And even as the corrupt man baby President ups his abuse of the federal government apparatus in his twisted quest for revenge against his perceived political enemies. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Before we get to our guest today, a few news headlines of note...

• Republicans in the U.S. House surreptitiously moved to create a new January 6 Subcommittee to "uncover the full truth that is owed to the American people...that House Democrats skipped over," according to GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. As discussed today, that effort to reopen the insurrection that Donald Trump incited in hopes of stealing the 2020 election may not go so well for Republicans.

• Meanwhile, Americans continue to reject Republicans at the ballot box by enormous numbers. Last week, it was a state Senate seat in a ruby-red District in Iowa where Kamala Harris had lost by 11 points last November, but where the Democratic candidate won a special election last week by 11 points. On Tuesday this week, it was two state legislative seats in heavily Democratic districts in Florida. There as well, we saw a huge swing towards the Dems, with a state House victory in which the Dem picked up 15 points over Harris' tally last year, and in a state Senate special election, where the Dem candidate won while gaining 22 points compared to the Presidential results in November.

• And it's not just voters turning against Trump. His losses in federal courts continue to mount this week. Among them, yesterday a U.S. District court judge ruled that Trump's use of National Guard troops for domestic law enforcement in Los Angeles was "willfully" in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act (1878). And a federal appeals court affirmed that his use of the Alien Enemies Act (1798) earlier this year to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants was unlawful as well. Today, a federal district court judge sided with Harvard University, finding Trump's attempt to withhold $2 billion in federal research grants from the Ivy League school was unlawful.

• Kyle Clark, brilliant local anchor at NBC-affiliate station 9News in Denver, tells viewers: "If this was happening in another nation, we'd call it by name. It's authoritarianism."

Then it's on to Trump's War of Revenge against his perceived political enemies. He's mad at his Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates quickly enough. But, since he can't fire Powell, he tried to take aim last week at Fed Governor Lisa Cook, the first (and only) black woman ever named to the Federal Reserve Board since its creation in 1913.

Trump is attempting to fire Cook based on public allegations made by Trump's very MAGA head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that she had committed mortgage fraud. Prior to his criminal referrals of Cook to the Dept. of Justice, Trump's FHFA chief Bill Pulte (pictured above) made similar public allegations against New York Attorney General Letitia James (who won a half billion dollar financial fraud suit against Trump, his company and his two eldest sons last year), and California's U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (who played key roles in both Trump's second impeachment for his January 6 insurrection and on the bipartisan U.S. House Select Committee which publicly investigated it.)

As absurd as the mortgage fraud allegations against all three Democrats appear to be, the way they came about is even more absurd, as detailed today by our guest, MICHAEL HILTZIK, LA Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning financial journalist and author. He wrote about all of this last week.

"This is the most transparent act of political retribution that I have ever seen, and I've been at this for a long time," Hiltzik tells me today, in reference to the allegations against Cook, who is challenging Trump's attempt to fire her in a lawsuit. "It's not only that, it's also the most absurd."

Tune in for the remarkable details, but in general, Hiltzik explains, Pulte --- who spends much of his time as a MAGA influencer on social media --- is Director of the FHFA, which oversees the quasi-federal Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac organizations. Those two outfits backstop the majority of the nation's home mortgages.

But, as it turns out, Trump has also named Pulte as Chair of both Fannie and Freddie! So, he is overseeing himself! And, in the case of the allegations against Schiff, as Hiltzik details, a memo reveals the Director of the FHFA (Pulte) ordered the Chairs of Fannie and Freddie (Pulte and Pulte) to, essentially, "go into your files, which are otherwise private, and pull out every document you can see related to Adam Schiff and send it over."

It seems Pulte did something similar for both Cook and James. In the meantime, despite Trump using Pulte's public allegations as a pretext for trying to fire Cook --- which he can only do, under law, "for cause" --- nobody has "produced documents that show any sort of fraud whatsoever in any of these three cases," asserts Hiltzik.

None of this, of course, is by accident. It is not a coincidence that Pulte has referred all three to the DoJ for a criminal probe. Their years-old mortgages --- which have been paid off in full, on time and without incident or complaint --- weren't pulled for some sort of random audit or something. "We know it isn't random because we have the memo that Pulte sent to Pulte," Hiltzik quips.

"You want to say it doesn't pass the smell test, but it's beyond that," he argues. "These cases are beyond absurdity."

So, if these charges are so obviously absurd and corrupt, why is the Administration even playing this game? Is it even lawful for the FHFA to target financial documents of American citizens for personal reasons? And what is Trump's actual hoping to accomplish in removing Cook from the Federal Reserve Board in the first? All of those questions, and many more, asked and answered in my conversation with Hiltzik on today's program. Enjoy!

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We're back on today's BradCast after a much-needed, "end of Summer" break. That's either good or bad news depending on how you (or I) might see it. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

The good news for me, I suppose, is that we missed one of the most insanely busy news weeks of Trump's second term. The bad news is that I need to get both you and me caught up on "our story so far", so everything makes sense (or, as much as is possible amidst this insanity) going forward into the Fall (and pending government shutdown at the end of this month.)

To that end, we've got a day-by-day, blow-by-blow, collected summary of much --- if not all --- of the key news from over the last week today. From many of the ongoing losses for Trump in the (lower) courts, to some very encouraging electoral news on several fronts for Democrats, to Americans pushing back (effectively) against the regime on several levels, to some of the not so good news, including natural and man-made disasters and tragedies, and the ever-ongoing, non-stop, self-destructive idiocy of the Trump Administration.

Also, Desi Doyen is here with our latest Green News Report, catching you up with some maddening and important stuff there as well!

It doesn't make too much sense for me to go into the details here. I'd be writing and linking all night. So tune in to get caught up on a lot of the unofficial "end of Summer" news to help get yourself buckled up for all the madness that most assuredly lies ahead...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump's Border Patrol agents arrest fire fighting crewmembers battling Washington wildfire; Judge orders closure of federal detention camp in protected Florida Everglades for violating environmental laws; Extreme heat ages the body faster, new study finds; Europe's 2025 wildfire season officially the most destructive ever recorded; PLUS: Trump escalates his War on Wind, even as extreme heat pushes U.S. electricity demand to record highs... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): National Weather Service applicants must explain how they agree with Trump; Labor Day swimmers face fecal contamination along US coastline; Shrinking post-Katrina levees need $1B In upgrades; Climate change is severely impacting corn crops; Trump plans to cancel another offshore wind project... PLUS: Africa diverting from the fossil fuel addiction... and much, MUCH more! ...

To Right-Wing Billionaire Charles T. Munger, Jr.: Despite the fact that you, along with former Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, supported the 2008 ballot measure that created an independent redistricting commission for California state legislative offices and the 2010 ballot measure that extended the independent commission's jurisdiction to California's Congressional elections, "cynical hypocrisy" now be thy name.

After being approved by both chambers of the California state Legislature, on August 21, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the "Election Rigging Response Act", a ballot measure (Proposition 50) that will come before the entire California electorate in a Special Election this November 4 for an up or down vote.

The measure, as the Golden State governor explained, calls for a "temporary" shift of the power to redistrict California's Congressional seats from the state's constitutionally mandated extreme partisan gerrymander that, at the express request of President Donald J. Trump, was adopted by the GOP-controlled TX state Legislature. Newsom is of the view that a "temporary" departure from California's non-partisan redistricting is necessary to counteract Republican rigging of the 2026 Congressional election. (In this writer's view, Prop. 50 is needed to prevent this nation from devolving into a full-blown fascist dictatorship.)

Note: Prop. 50 does not alter the continued use of the independent redistricting commission with respect to Golden State legislative offices.

Even before Newsom signed the Election Rigging Response Act into law, Californians, statewide, received a slick, 4-page mailer from a group calling itself "Protect the Voters First Act". At the bottom of the last page, the mailer reveals that Munger is its principal funder.

Munger's mailer accurately describes California's independent redistricting commission system that he helped to create as a "landmark election reform"; one that "has become a national model for independent redistricting." But the right-wing billionaire's deceptive mailer fails to mention that, in 2021-22, every Congressional Republican opposed federal legislation that would have extended California's "national model for independent redistricting" to all 50 States.

Instead, the mailer falsely goes on to proclaim that California's Prop 50 is a threat to democracy...

We will be off from The BradCast and Green News Report this week, for a much-needed, end-of-Summer break until after the Labor Day holiday.

As always (and particularly now), we welcome anything you may be able to drop into our Tip Jar to keep our Prius tank filled over the break and to help put some much-needed air in our figurative tires as we head into the Fall.

I have mentioned it once or twice on air, but I am hoping that The BRAD BLOG will finally be getting a long-overdue face-lift/upgrade in the weeks (months?) ahead.

It's been a while, but they're back for today's BradCast to help send us off with a smile --- and just a little bit smarter --- for a brief, much-needed holiday break from the program next week. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

First up today, however, a few late news headlines...

• Don't be fooled by either bad corporate media headlines or Donald Trump's false claim of "TOTAL VICTORY". In fact, a New York appeals court on Thursday affirmed last year's civil fraud conviction against the nation's criminal-in-chief, but finds [PDF] the nearly half billion dollar fine charged against him for his years of cooking his company's books with faked, artificially inflated financial statements to be 'excessive'. So, the bank and tax fraud verdict holds, the amount of the fine is to be redetermined, and all other penalties against Trump, his company and his two eldest sons remain in place.

• Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the El Salvadoran Maryland man "mistakenly" sent to a gulag in El Salvador by the Trump Administration, will be released from a Tennessee prison on Friday. He has been held in the facility since returning to the U.S. to be be slapped with Trumped-up charges meant to save face for the Administration. The court has now issued several orders to prevent Abrego Garcia from being scooped up by ICE and deported again after he is freed...but we'll see if the Trump Administration has any respect left whatsoever for the courts and the Rule of Law.

• The Gerrymandering Wars continue. Shortly after airtime on Wednesday, the Texas state House --- delayed more than two weeks by state Democratic lawmakers leaving Texas to break quorum --- adopted a newly gerrymandered U.S. House Map to steal five seats from Democrats in next year's midterms. The Lone Star state Senate will soon pass same and the heist will be signed by the state's corrupt Governor. In the meantime, here in California, our state Legislature, by a 2/3rds vote, adopted Gov. Gavin Newsom's "Rigged Election Response Act" today. The measure, quickly signed by the Governor, will ask state voters in November for permission to temporarily waive the Congressional map created by the state's Citizen Redistricting Commission to replace it with a new one that is likely to flip five "red" U.S. House seats to "blue" next year, in response to Texas' obnoxious mid-decade redistricting at the command of Donald Trump.

We pick up on those stories and many more today with our old OG blogger pals, the great HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Digby's Hullabaloo and the notorious 'DRIFTGLASS' of the Professional Left Podcast. Both join us today for a wide ranging conversation that takes a few surprising (and amusing) twists and turns along the way.

On today's court ruling in NY on Trump's fraud fine, Digby finds it "unfortunate that the headlines that are coming out are backing Trump's contention that this is some kind of a vindication. It is not." She observes "there is probably going to be a fine, and it will be a painful fine, it's just not going to be half a billion dollars."

Driftglass has an additional idea. While Trump is "still guilty," he notes, "I will take a straight-up swap: zero fines in exchange for the Epstein Files. How's that? There's a deal!"

We spend quite a bit of time today on the next steps in the Gerrymandering War begun by TX. Both Digby and Driftglass support CA's response to it. Says Driftglass, an Illinois resident: "I think what California has done, and I hope Illinois does, is show them that nuclear deterrence is the only way we can keep these people in a box. We'd rather not. But if you're going to bring a knife, we are going to bring a gun." As to what his already Democratic-gerrymandered state plans to do? Well, tune in for Drifty's assessment.

Digby, a fellow L.A. resident, is "hopeful" that voters will approve the statewide ballot measure on November 4th, despite a big money campaign already underway to defeat it. "Trump has treated California like garbage," says Parton. "We've been through a lot of trauma in this state. The way that he talks about the Governor, the way he talks about all the politicians here, I think Californians are sick of it."

"Essentially," she rages, "we're here to provide federal money for Trump's red states, including Texas. I think there's this sense that alright, it's time to fight back," She and Driftglass are also both veryfond of Newsom's new, wildly popular Trump trolling routine on social media. We compare our favorite Newsom trolling meme's (one of them is pictured above) before today's show is over.

Other items covered with D&D today include Trump's pathetic, pretend show of force with the deployment of the National Guard in D.C. and elsewhere. ("He is performing acts of fascist theatre" for the benefit of his MAGA supporters, charges Driftglass.); whether any of the Trump/Republican wildly unpopular policies are working or liked by voters and, if not, why the hell do they continue to double down?; and much more.

Finally, we close with Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report, our last before the Labor Day holiday break, as climate change fueled catastrophes continue around the globe, and as Trump's acting NASA Administrator announces his intention to defy federal law by ending the Agency's statutory mission to "study Earth" and "address environmental issues".

NOTE: We are ducking out from both The BradCast and Green News Report next week for a respite until after the Labor Day holiday! Hope you all will have a good one!

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Spain battles its worst wildfire season --- yes, intensified by climate change; The world is drying out, threatening humanity's supply of fresh water; PLUS: Acting NASA Administrator wants the agency to give up climate science --- despite NASA's statutory mandate... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Picking losers: Keeping obsolete coal plants open costs ratepayers millions; Kia is launching all the cool new EVs in Europe, while the US gets put on the back burner; A Toxic Landfill Was on the Brink of Expanding. Residents Fought Back and Won; Geothermal Network in Colorado Could Help Rural Town Diversify Its Economy; Court Puts The Brakes On Contested Land Transfer For Arizona Copper Mine; Another Gold Rush Could Bring Open Pit Mines To South Dakota's Black Hills... PLUS: As Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Clouds Of Dangerous Dust Blow Into Boomtowns... and much, MUCH more! ...

It may not be the most pressing issue many are focusing on right now. But, as discussed on today's BradCast, the Administration's burgeoning attempts to officially whitewash American history is very much of a piece with all of the other authoritarian tactics and policies emanating from this White House. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

Last week, a Florida insurance attorney turned White House Special Asst. to the President, Lindsey Halligan, penned a rather menacing and certainly unprecedented letter to the head of the Smithsonian Institution, the beloved, 179-year old historical organization established by Congress in 1846 (fifteen years prior to the Civil War), as an independent agency led by a Secretary and a bipartisan Board of Regents.

Halligan's letter, citing Donald Trump's March Executive Order titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History", serves to notify the Smithsonian's Secretary that the White House intends to carry out a "comprehensive internal review of selected Smithsonian museums and exhibitions...to ensure alignment with the President's directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions."

Two days later, the 118-year old Organization of American Historians (OHA) penned their own scathing response, calling out what they describe as an "unacceptable instance of ongoing executive overreach, striking at the independence of one of our nation's preeminent historical and cultural institutions." They characterize the White House's stated intentions as "the opposite of a fulsome presentation of the history of the United States" and "in service of authoritarian control over the national narrative, collective memory, and national collections."

Over the weekend, Willamette University historian, award-winning author SETH COTLAR, whose newsletter is called Rightlandia, drew attention in a Bluesky thread to a reference in Halligan's letter focused on what she describes as "Americanism --- the principles, and progress that define our nation".

But that phrase, "Americanism", as Cotlar, who joins us on today's program, explains, has its own troubling history.

"The beauty of it for those who are using it is that is so vague. How could an American be opposed to 'Americanism'?," he asks rhetorically. "What things that would be at the Smithsonian would be operating against 'Americanism'? It's a very undefined thing, which is typical of an authoritarian regime, where they get to decide what it is."

And that, of course, is only the beginning of Cotlar's concerns, given that the phrase "Americanism" has historically been "used by the far right in the U.S. in order to push illiberal, I would argue often fascistic, visions of the nation. Usually racist, often antisemitic."

"The term," Cotlar tells me, "has functioned very effectively as tool of radicalization" going back at least to WWI, throughout the national rise of the KKK in the 1920s, into the anti-Communist McCarthy era in the 50s and 60s, and beyond...right into Trump's White House.

It has "functioned very effectively as tool of radicalization. It would be a way to foster a sense of 'This is what it means to be an American'. It means to be white and Christian, and people who are not white and Christian are somehow not quite as truly American as anybody else."

The phrase "America First," which Trump has used throughout all of his Presidential campaigns, has a similarly troubling history that Trump may or may not know about himself. (He doesn't know much, after all, about history.) But "the people in Trump's movement who do know this history are very aware of what the term 'America First' means, and its genealogy," argues Cotlar.

He goes on to detail how the Administration's unprecedented attempt to push aside actual historians to take control of the Smithsonian is ultimately the "history piece" of Trump's broad and radical "nationalistic" agenda, meant to "restore some nostalgic vision of some idyllic past." He describes the effort as a "weirdly Stalinesque, Orwellian effort to just obliterate parts of the actual historical record."

Much more on all of this with Cotlar today in a fascinating conversation.

ALSO ON TODAY'S PROGRAM...

• The latest on the ongoing Gerrymandering Wars, with the opening salvo both fired and won by Texas Republicans, at Donald Trump's demand, now spreading into California, but perhaps not to Indiana where, despite a pressure campaign by the White House, a handful of Republicans have come out in opposition (for now) to the idea of rewriting their U.S. House map to steal seats from Democrats before next year's midterms.

• And, finally, as yet a third federal judge has now nixed Trump's attempt to distract from his refusal to release the Epstein Files (which he is in) by releasing grand jury transcripts, folk musicians Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer with a "Gathering of Old-Time Musicians" unleash their "Ode to the Epstein Files" which --- their very ear-wormy new tune insists --- "Ain't Gonna Go Away."

Enjoy!...

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Okay. So, now Republican elected officials who pretend to oppose "Big Government", are literally locking up their elected opponents in the state capital. (Insert eye-roll emoji here.) That's just one of the insane stories --- and disturbing signs of American democracy on the authoritarian precipice --- on today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

• On Monday, Democratic state lawmakers returned to Texas after two weeks of out-of-state quorum breaking meant to prevent Texas Republicans from stealing five U.S. House seats with a new map drawn up at the insistence of Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott. But, before they were allowed to leave the capital building in Austin, the Republican House leader required Dems to sign a permission slip to be escorted 24/7 by Texas state troopers to ensure they return to vote on the new map on Wednesday. Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier refused to sign away her freedoms, and was disallowed from leaving the House chamber, where she has effectively been held prisoner on the floor of the House by Republicans. She was was forced Monday night to sleep under bright lights at her desk House floor desk. [See photo above.] As of today, Collier is still being held prisoner by fellow elected officials from the state's rightwing authoritarian majority party. Lots of details on this remarkable story today, and how it serves as more shameful evidence of what Republicans have allowed American "democracy" to become.

• Out here in California, meanwhile, state Democrats are moving ahead with their plan to counter Texas' attempted heist by redrawing the Golden State's U.S. House map to remove five Republican seats from the map next year, in what Gov. Gavin Newsom describes as "fighting fire with fire". In CA, however, it won't be up to partisan state officials. No imprisonment of the opposition should be necessary. Here, the voters of the state must decide in a special election on November 4th as to whether they wish to temporarily set aside the U.S. House map created by the state's independent redistricting commission. The effort is meant to counter Texas Republicans undermining democracy --- and the odds of Dems winning back the House to put the brakes on Trump's authoritarian agenda --- in the 2026 midterms. I have been supportive of the CA response, called the "Election Rigging Response Act", despite my years-long record in opposition to gerrymandering by either party. One longtime listener calls me out via email today for my new position on this matter, charging that "If you fight fire with fire the fire grows stronger and then spreads." I share his well-meaning thoughts and my response to them on today's program.

• Speaking of corrupting democracy, the Trump-supporting Republican propaganda outlet Newsmax has agreed to pay $67 million to settle the defamation lawsuit filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems. After Trump lost the 2020 election, Newsmax --- along with Fox "News" and other dishonest GOP propaganda outlets --- advanced evidence-free claims that the election was rigged by, among other things, voting machine companies like Dominion. Documents that would have been shown to jurors at trial --- had Newsmax not agreed to settle --- reveal that officials at the fake news outfit knew Trump's claims about a stolen election were BS, but ran the phony conspiracy theories anyway to win duped MAGA viewers. The Newsmax settlement follows a similar $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion by Fox "News", and a reported $40 million paid by Newsmax to Smartmatic, another voting equipment vendor falsely accused of fraud by Trump-supporting outlets after the 2020 election.

• On yesterday's show, we detailed how the Dept. of Homeland Security is now using literal Nazi and neo-Nazi text and references and imagery in their new recruitment campaign for ICE. Today, both NOTUS and The Independent detail pretty good evidence to suggest that the unnamed Nazi-loving social media creator at DHS may be a guy named Eric Lendrum, who has a long public history of both Nazi-like political statements and claims that "conservatives" are being ostracized like slaves, or as Jews were in Nazi Germany. Lendrum now works in the DHS Public Relations office, which does PR for the largest law enforcement agency in the world, and evidence suggests he may be responsible for the relentless recent flood of DHS social media posts using Nazi memes, slogans and images.

• We tried to warn you. Though, for some, it could be the last timely warning they receive. E&E News' is reporting that public radio and TV stations are now scrambling to keep their local disaster-warning systems alive after Trump and Republicans in Congress rescinded all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helped fund hundreds of local NPR and PBS stations. In many areas around the U.S., those stations are --- or, historically, were --- a literal lifeline for local residents, particularly in rural areas. Emergency alert warning systems now at risk include those for hurricanes and tropical storms on the Atlantic Coast; for winter storms across the Northern Plains; tsunamis in Alaska; earthquakes in rural Northern California; tornadoes in states across the Great Plains; and flash flooding just about everywhere these days. Yes, elections have consequences. And now, potentially very deadly ones, including for many rural Trump voters.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report on Hurricane Erin smashing records off the Atlantic Coast; Climate change driving record humidity levels; Deadly rains in Pakistan and a heatwave in Scandinavia intensified by the burning of fossil fuels; and the collapse of a U.N. plastics pollution conference, thanks to nations like the U.S., Russia, and a bunch of Middle Eastern states who undermined a landmark agreement on behalf of the plastic-producing fossil fuel industry at the recent conference in Geneva...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Hurricane Erin already setting records; Climate change drove record levels of global humidity in 2024, with 2025 breathing down its neck; Deadly rains in Pakistan, deadly Nordic heatwave, both supercharged by human-caused global warming; PLUS: U.N. talks to curb plastic production collapse, with oil-producing nations (like the U.S.) refusing to limit plastic production... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): It's official: NASA is giving up climate science; Trump Admin tightens rules for renewable energy tax credits; Japan's rice harvest suffers under summer's brutal heat; China develops lithium battery twice as powerful as Tesla's advanced cell; Trump admin redacts entire Empire Wind study; Prominent Texas breeder charged as 'ghost deer' investigation grows... PLUS: The smoldering, noxious waste dump next door... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: I don't use the word easily. But, if they're gonna use actual Nazi book titles and Nazi fonts in their ICE recruitment ads, they can hardly be offended, much less surprised, if they are called Nazis, right? Also, if they're going to undermine democracy the way the Nazis did, yeah, they're gonna get called out as Nazis! [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

On today's program...

• We kick off with a new tune at the top of the show called "Join ICE", by brilliant young folk singer Jesse Welles. You'll enjoy it. If I'm right, and you wanna hear it again, or see what Jesse looks like, the video of his new song is right here.

• Next, they're not even trying to hide it anymore. As the nonprofit news site Religious Dispatches points out, it's "less of a dog whistle than a bullhorn" at this point. The outlet cites two recent cases of the Dept. of Homeland Security tweeting out ICE recruitment propaganda with both purposeful Nazi references --- that might only be fully appreciated by actual Neo-Nazis --- and a "Join ICE" recruitment video that uses "the very same gothic lettering, or Frakturschrift, used by Nazis in their publications --- including on the cover of Mein Kampf"!

• Speaking of police states now in America, Democratic state lawmakers returned to Texas on Monday after breaking quorum in the state Legislature for the past two weeks. Their goad had been to block the adoption of a newly gerrymandered U.S. House map for Texas in advance of next year's midterm elections. We discuss why the Dems say they have returned and what that means for the fight against the new map in Texas and for democracy across the U.S. But the Republican's state House caucus leader has now ordered the Democrats who returned from out of state to be escorted "around-the-clock" by Texas state troopers to prevent them from fleeing again, until the new Special Session called by Gov. Greg Abbott (at Donald Trump's order) is over. Or, at least until they've used their rightwing legislative muscle --- and state troopers --- to deprive voters in five blue-leaning U.S. House districts of their right to be represented by a candidate of their choosing.

• Then, Donald Trump is really hoping you'll forget about his failure to strike a ceasefire "deal" with Vladimir Putin in Alaska last Friday (any his failure to apply "severe" consequences, as promised, against Russia if he didn't). Of course, Trump continues to hope that you'll be too outraged about everything else, to remember that he is still refusing to release the Epstein Files that he is featured in. Today's latest attempted distraction was a long post Monday morning on his failing social media site, vowing to end the use of "MAIL-IN BALLOTS" and get rid of "VOTING MACHINES", by Executive Order, before the 2026 midterm elections. Of course, he has no Constitutional authority as President to do any of that and, naturally, his rambling, at-times ALL CAPS screed announcing his plans was filled with one false claim after another, which we break down on today's show. The biggest takeaway, however, is not only that Trump is hoping to undermine democracy, but that he is now putting in place excuses to blame for his party's trouncing in next year's midterms. Presuming, of course, that they are trounced. If so, he'll be able to claim it was the "MAIL-IN BALLOTS" and "VOTING MACHINES" that dunnit, without any actual evidence to support his claims --- other than his previous tweets "warning" about same. It's his 2020 sore loser act redux. Much more on all of this on today's show.

• Finally, we close with a few callers today, on all of the above...

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Coming on the heels of the presently enjoined, 4th Amendment violating, racial profiling mass roundups of Latinos in California, the Trump regime's effort to not only federalize law enforcement in the District of Columbia but also to target the homeless for removal resurrects the ghost of the late Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemà¶ller.

An acknowledged anti-semite, Niemà¶ller initially supported Hitler's rise to power. But he drew the ire of Der Fà¼hrer's totalitarian regime after he openly opposed the Nazification of Protestant Churches.

Narrowly escaping death after he was arrested by the Gestapo in 1937, Niemà¶ller spent the years 1938 to 1945 in infamous Nazi concentration camps.

Following his release from Dachau in 1945, Niemà¶ller penned the poem, First They Came...