Guest: Joyce Howell, 30-year EPA attorney and AFGE Exec VP; Also: 'Bloodbath' at DoJ Civil Rights unit; Federal judges block three different Trump anti-DEI and voting orders...
Largest coral bleaching event on record, impacting 84% of world's reefs; Trump 'loves' coal miners so much he's killing them; PLUS: Admin guts climate and weather research funding...
While we were out...Trump halted major offshore wind farm, exempted U.S. coal plants from regulations; PLUS: Pope Francis, champion of climate action and environmental justice...
THIS WEEK: Constitutional Crises ... White House Easter ... From the Society Pages... And much more! In our latest collection of the week's most festive holiday toons...
U.S. reels after relentless storm damage; Trump's trade war increasing disaster reconstruction cost; PLUS: Senate Repubs push to nix CA's clear air car standards...
We turn to callers for explanation of Trump's absurd trade war; Also: Court orders return of MD man disappeared to El Salvador; NC court orders possible disenfranchisement of 60k voters from LAST YEAR'S election...
THIS WEEK: Ya Get What Ya Vote For ... Deportation Nation ... Spring's Hope Eternal ... And more, in our latest collection of the week's most liberating toons...
Amid mass layoffs, weather forecasters still at it; Trump cuts halt pollution, climate research; PLUS: Admin freezes funds to plug toxic, abandoned wells...
Felony charges dropped against VA Republican caught trashing voter registrations before last year's election. Did GOP AG, Prosecutor conflicts of interest play role?...
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...
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...
'RNC official' charged on 13 counts, for allegely trashing voter registration forms in a dumpster, worked for Romney consultant, 'fired' GOP operative Nathan Sproul...
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...
The other companies of Romney's GOP operative Nathan Sproul, at center of Voter Registration Fraud Scandal, still at it; Congressional Dems seek answers...
The belated and begrudging coverage by Fox' Eric Shawn includes two different video reports featuring an interview with The BRAD BLOG's Brad Friedman...
FL Dept. of Law Enforcement confirms 'enough evidence to warrant full-blown investigation'; Election officials told fraudulent forms 'may become evidence in court'...
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...
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...
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...
Nathan Sproul of Sproul & Associates, Accused of Shredding Democratic Registration Forms in Several States, Now Working on the Republican Presidential Campaign, According to Campaign Disclosure Forms...
And speaking of GOP voter registration hucksters, it looks like Nathan Sproul of Sproul & Associates, the group accused of destroying Democratic registrations in several states during previous elections, has been hired by the McCain-Palin campaign and the RNC again this year. Knock us over with a feather...
The Voting Machine Company Counters With a Strongly Worded Response But Fails to Answer the Critical Question: Do Their Machines Count Votes Accurately?
As I briefly reported in Friday night's "Daily Voting News" a New Jersey Superior Court Judge has ruled that a court-ordered Princeton University report critical of the state's Sequoia Advantage DRE (touch-screen) voting machines could be released to the public. The only stipulation was that four paragraphs and a number of appendices were to be redacted.
The lost votes during New Jersey's Super Tuesday elections "were caused by two different programming errors on the part of Sequoia"
"New Jersey should not use any version of the AVC Advantage that it has not actually examined with the assistance of skilled computer-security experts."
"The AVC Advantage’s susceptibility to installation of a fraudulent vote-counting program is far more than an imperfection: it is a fatal flaw."
"The AVC Advantage is too insecure to use in New Jersey."
Before the Princeton report was even released, however, Sequoia Voting Systems issued a press statement [PDF] and a scathing response to the Princeton report. The Sequoia response, all 19 pages, is a strongly worded attack on the Princeton computer scientists and their motives, but fails to respond at all to, perhaps, the most crucial point in the devastating Princeton report...
Well, that was fun. My first time on Fox. And I don't feel dirty at all! Hopefully, it'll not be my last. Hey, I was even honored to offer them a big scoop on air, in the form my very own "Fox News Alert", after which, I'm told, they ran the headline during top of the hour news and on the crawl. So we did some good, if only for that. You're welcome, Fox!
Host Julie Banderas asked me, kindly, near the end of the segment (video below), if I'd felt they'd been "fair and balanced" with me during the segment. I believe they were, which was much appreciated. Though I wish I had answered "Yes, you were, thanks. In this segment. And I hope you'll have me back to discuss the GOP's ACORN 'voter fraud' hoax, about which you guys have been anything but fair and balanced over the last week or two, and, in fact, dangerouslyunfair and unbalanced."
But, hey, ya can only fit so much into seven minutes. And I think I was able to get some good info in. You'll let me know. Here's the segment...
For those who've asked, yes, when I was booked I was told we'd most likely be discussing "voter fraud" issues, not housing crisis issues...
This just in as Brad is headed over to the FOX News studios. Yesterday the Los Angeles Times reported on the Republican voter registration outfit who had allegedly been illegally changing thousands of registrations from Democratic to Republican.
Last night the head of that GOP backed group, Mark Anthony Jacoby of Young Political Majors (YPM), was arrested by the California State Election Fraud Taskforce and Oxnard, CA Police.
According to CA SoS Debra Bowen's press release, Jacoby himself had committed voter registration fraud and perjury by lying on his own voter registration form. (That's similar to what Ann Coulter did, though she not only committed felony voter registration fraud, she also committed actual voter fraud, as well, even though such fraud is exceedingly rare.)
UPDATE FROM BRAD: It was my pleasure to break this story today on Fox "News" of all places! Thanks to John Gideon for getting it posted as I was on the roll towards the studio. I'll have the video up of my appearance on Fox, and the "Fox News Alert" I was able to do, later tonight (it's now posted here). Please note, this isn't the first time there have been serious problems with GOP-gathered voter registrations in CA, as outlined recently at Alternet. Looks like the GOP's voter registration record for errors far outpaced ACORN! Whaddaya know? (Our special coverage of the GOP's ACORN "Voter Fraud" Hoax is right here.) More updates now at bottom of article.
Bowen's press release, just out, on Jacoby's arrest is posted in full below, along with a number of additional updates after it...
The lede: "Thousands of voters across the country must reestablish their eligibility in the next three weeks in order for their votes to count on Nov. 4, a result of new state registration systems that are incorrectly rejecting them."...
Rightwinger Laura Ingraham ably filled in for Bill O'Reilly in the "No Spin Zone" this week, by seeing her argument dismantled by constitutional attorney, prosecutor, and former (Republican-appointed) special counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, John Flannery on Fox "News."
Ingraham just couldn't believe there would be "all these reports" on the news about "massive voter fraud going on" all over the country, led by ACORN, if they weren't all true! (As we showed both here and at UK's Guardian, it's not true. It's a GOP hoax. More at our special coverage page here.)
Despite being in way over her head, having fallen for the hoax, Ingraham, naturally, played the loyal dead-ender and stuck to her empty guns. (Gosh, we hope there are no typos on Ingraham's own driver's license or voter registration, or she might find herself purged from the voting rolls entirely this November, as they're doing in Florida and so many other state, not mentioned on Fox "News," or even by the Democrats.)
The video follows below, along with further evisceration of Ingraham's "If this were happening to the benefit of the Republicans, the Democrats would be screaming fraud" argument...
See below for a rather breathtaking "Round-up of Problems Facing Voters Nationwide", such as registration backlogs, illegal voting roll purges, deceptive practices and dirty tricks, etc., now plaguing American voters across the country with just 17 days left before our country's biggest election ever.
All of that, while Fox "News" (whose asked me to come on live tomorrow, Sunday, at 2:40pm PT, btw, along with my old friend John Fund "for balance") continues to misreport, alarm and deceive their viewers in regard to the GOP's phony ACORN "voter fraud" fraud. Unfortunately, it's not just Fox who is irresponsibly and dangerously misreporting that scam --- though they seem to have made a small cottage industry out of it of late --- CNN and MSNBC have been filed loads of equally inaccurate and misleading reports on it as well.
But take a look at the "Round-up" below, sent this afternoon via email by the 866ourvote.org Election Protection coalition of non-partisan election watchdogs. And keep in mind that their summary below doesn't even mention the myriad electronic voting issues we've been reporting here of late --- touch-screen votes flipping, paper ballot electronic tabulators that can't count correctly or that add thousands of "phantom votes" or that drop thousands of real ones etc. --- cropping up, yet again, across the country...
Folks, I'm writing to tell you personally about the most important election in America for election integrity: putting Brad Roach into the Pima County (Tucson) Arizona county attorney's office. Why do I believe it's the most important election in America in regard to the issue of Election Integrity? Click the cartoon above and/or read on...
Here we go again. Completely unverifiable touch-screen voting machines, in this case, made by ES&S, flipping votes from one candidate to another. Yet again. From the Saturday Gazette-Mail...
But this election is different. The six early voting sites across the county have experienced lines with 3,292 early ballots cast Wednesday and another 1,126 cast today by noon.
Some voters have complained of long lines in Smyrna and La Verge. Bill Butler a blogger out of Nashville (bill.butler.net) wrote he waited two hours to vote on the first day of voting.
"I would much rather our poll workers be accurate than speed up the line because some people are waiting," [Elections administrator Hooper] Penuel said.
Butler said the hold up was caused by slow computers to validate the voter's registration and that it only took a few minutes to actually vote.
"Most depressing was watching only two of the five voting machines in use because of the slow registration validation process," Bulter wrote.
This is 3,292 voters voting in one day in six early voting sites and lines up to two hours long. What are they going to do on Election Day?
I can't even begin to remember how many different media appearances, of different sorts, I've had this week. I guess that's a good thing. Though I'd have been much happier with none, and no good reason to do 'em! I hope to try to catch up, and post a few of those appearances this week, from the Randi Rhodes Show, Stephanie Miller Show, several public radio shows, and a bunch of others, over the weekend.
More "being the media" today (Friday) as I host KPFK/Pacifica's "Special Election Year Coverage" at 12noon PT. My guests will be Kate Fomar of CA Sec. of State Debra Bowen's office, and Austin King of ACORN. You can listen live on 90.7FM L.A., 98.7FM in Santa Barbara, or online here. I'll also be on the Peter B. Collins Show tonight for my regular Friday appearance from 5p-6p PT.
But the morning starts out today with a "Live to Tape" appearance on Brave New Media's Meet the Bloggers, hosted by Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks. I was in the studio with Cenk earlier this week to tape, and the entire show, featuring myself and guests James Rucker of ColorOfChange.org and Jon Pincus, creator of the Election Protection Wiki will stream live at 10am PT (1pm ET).
It'll then be airing continuously over there for the next week, so check it out now!
I'll be answering questions during and after the "live" show. Go to MeetTheBloggers.org to leave a question on the live blog, or you can even send in a video question, if you like. The show is also carried on a number of cable and satellite stations around the country at various times over the coming week.
The BRAD BLOG covers your electoral system, fiercely and independently, like no other media outlet in the nation. Please support our work with a donation to help us keep going. If you like, we'll send you some great election integrity documentary films in return. Details on that right here...
The Republican Nominee Continues to Put Winning by 'Destroying the Fabric of Democracy' First, and His Country and its Democratic Ideals a Distant Second
As Some (But Not Enough) Republicans Back Away From the GOP's ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Hoax...
Hopefully, soon will come the GOP's ACORN "voter fraud" fraud backlash, though I realize that's still very much a hope given the continuous rightwing media's full-throated reporting attempt to punk American democracy in regards this issue.
Palm Beach Post, thankfully, bothered to do some actual reporting yesterday, and led with the following good news:
Republican National Committee officials are turning up the heat on a left-leaning organization linked with Sen. Barack Obama that tried to register "Mickey Mouse" to vote this summer, but state officials say accusations of voter fraud in Florida are mostly unfounded.
The story goes on to quote FL Secretary of State Kurt Browning who says: "'we have not seen a persistent problem across the state of Florida' with registration fraud by ACORN or other groups."
And FL's Republican Governor Charlie Crist who says: "There's some who sort of enjoy chaos. That's kind of what's going on more than fraud."
Bingo, Charlie. And rather ironic, given the outrageous statement John McCain made during last night's debate; the GOP's own far-worse-than-ACORN's record of registration form problems in California; Crist's own record of voter purges in his own state; and the Republican Party's dismal history of trying to use ACORN at the last minute, just before elections, in order to wreak the "chaos" that Crist was referring to...
The Hill reports today that defense attorneys for Congressman Rick Renzi (R-AZ) have filed a motion to dismiss 35 charges of corruption stemming from a sweetheart real estate deal, claiming the federal government secretly and illegally wiretapped Renzi's cell phone.
Ironically, Renzi appears to have been caught up in the very same warrantless wiretapping that he supported as a Congressman...
After being asked a question about keeping Obama supporters from also voting for Democrats down the ticket at a press conference in D.C., Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), a former chair of the National Republican Congressional Commitee (NRCC) said: "Well you're talking about voter suppression and we would never, ever do anything along that line, for the record."
The room broke into laughter during his comment! (video 1:14 mins)...
Ari at the Oxdown Gazette covered it also and notes that nearly one-quarter of John McCain's laughably and insultingly named "Honest and Open Election Committee," "chaired by Warren Rudman and John Danforth, has been involved in GOP voter suppression efforts or unfounded partisan claims of voter fraud. Of the 21 members of the committee, five have been engaging in these shady efforts."
See his report for the details on those liars, hooligans, and anti-democracy champions. Transcript of the above video follows below...
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About Brad Friedman...
Brad is an independent investigative
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expert on issues of election integrity,
and a Commonweal Institute Fellow.