{"id":13418,"date":"2020-05-18T18:20:45","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T01:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=13418"},"modified":"2020-05-18T18:48:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T01:48:49","slug":"the-race-to-stupid-bradcast-5182020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=13418","title":{"rendered":"The Race To Stupid: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 5\/18\/2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_HangFauciHangGates_LongIslandProtest_051820.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">It&#8217;s a race to stupid. And we&#8217;re all winning! Or losing. Depends on how you choose to look at, apparently. [<i>Audio link to full show is posted below summary.<\/i>]\n<p>Among the stories covered on today&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>BradCast<\/i><\/a>&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The stock market <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/dow-futures-climb-300-points-as-feds-powell-says-dont-bet-against-american-economy-even-as-unemployment-could-rise-to-25-2020-05-17\">soars<\/a> on the barest of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/18\/health\/coronavirus-vaccine-moderna.html\">evidence<\/a> that a vaccine could be on the way. Eventually. But irrational exuberance is&#8230;well&#8230;irrational;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/trump-fires-another-watchdog-state-department-ig-gets-the-boot\">fired<\/a> the State Department Inspector General on Friday night. It was the fourth independent executive agency watchdog that Trump has axed over the past six weeks as he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/01\/us\/politics\/trump-health-department-watchdog.html\">continues to dismantle<\/a> all governmental oversight of the Executive Branch and what is virtually the last firewall against corruption by the most corrupt Administration in the history of the nation.  In this case, the firing seems to have been carried out unlawfully by the President at the request of Sec. of State Mike Pompeo who is under investigation by the IG for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/fired-state-department-watchdog-was-looking-whether-pompeo-made-staffer-n1208981\">forcing agency personnel to run personal errands<\/a> for him and his wife, as well as for his part in funneling some $8 billion in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/saudi-arms-sale-was-second-area-investigation-fired-state-department-n1209521\">arms sales to Saudi Arabia<\/a> under the guise of Trump&#8217;s phony &#8220;Emergency Declaration&#8221;. The sales are in contradiction to a bipartisan vote by Congress last year, specifically denying the appropriation;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Former Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/justinamash\/status\/1261714482864312322?s=21\">decided over the weekend<\/a> that he will <i>not<\/i> run for President on the Libertarian Party ticket after all;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>In <b>Missouri<\/b>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/aclu-comment-missouri-legislatures-passage-bill-granting-mail-voting-all-registered\">under pressure from an ACLU lawsuit<\/a>, the GOP-dominated state legislature passed a law on Friday allowing all registered voters to vote with an absentee ballot if they so choose. That&#8217;s good. However, those who are not either ill or at &#8220;high risk of serious complications from COVID-19&#8221; must still have their ballot verified by a Notary Public before it may be sent or counted. So, yeah, voters will still be forced to put themselves at risk in order to vote in the Show-Me state this November;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Meanwhile, just before air today, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/a767dccbf94575515c1c9e9a1700192f\">California Governor Gavin Newsom announced<\/a> the relaxation of certain criteria for counties to reopen businesses across the state;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>And in Long Island, New York, anti-lockdown protesters <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kevinvesey\/status\/1261054854044229635?s=12\">threatened a journalist<\/a> reporting on their protests by running at him without masks on. &#8220;No,&#8221; one of the jackasses is seen saying as he charges the reporter, &#8220;I got hydroxychloroquine! I&#8217;m fine!&#8221;;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>We then open the phones to listeners to ring in on all of the above as well as on an interesting question the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/amp\/uk-52622673?__twitter_impression=true\">BBC posed<\/a> to its audience over the weekend: &#8220;If you could go back to the start of the year and give yourself some pre-lockdown advice, knowing what was about to happen, what advice would that be?&#8221;. Tune in for the answers!&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\".\/Images\/Speaker_Icon_24.png\" style=\"width: 24px; float: none; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;\"> <b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/audio\/BradCast_BradFriedman-VaccineHype-PompeoStateIG-AmashOut-AbsenteeVotingMO-CARelaxingLockdown-Protests_Callers_051820.mp3\">CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!&#8230;<\/a><\/i><\/b><br \/>\n[audio:http:\/\/BradBlog.com\/audio\/BradCast_BradFriedman-VaccineHype-PompeoStateIG-AmashOut-AbsenteeVotingMO-CARelaxingLockdown-Protests_Callers_051820.mp3]<\/blockquote>\n<p><center><b>* * *<\/b><\/center><i>While we post <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><\/i>The BradCast<i><\/a> here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they&#8217;re available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/id803467610\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pandora.com\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/PC:1000025838\">Pandora<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/radio\/The-BradCast-with-Brad-Friedman-p477565\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9icmFkYmxvZy5jb20vcG9kY2FzdGdlbi9icmFkY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA\">Google<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-BradCast-w-Brad-Friedman\/dp\/B08JJRN86R\/ref=sr_1_1\">Amazon<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/podcastgen\/bradcast\/feed.xml\">our native RSS feed<\/a>!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-START--><\/p>\n<div style=\"background:#f5f0e0; border:2px solid #6b5a2e; border-radius:6px; padding:10px 14px; text-align:center; font-family:Georgia,serif;\"><span style=\"display:block; margin:0 0 8px 0; color:#3a2e0e; font-size:0.95em; line-height:1.5;\"><strong>The BRAD BLOG<\/strong>, <em>The BradCast<\/em> and <em>Green News Report<\/em> are all 100% independent and 100% listener and reader supported!<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/Donate\" style=\"display:inline-block; background:#6b5a2e; color:#ffffff; padding:6px 18px; border-radius:4px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; font-family:Georgia,serif; font-size:0.9em;\">Please CLICK HERE to help support our work today!<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!--BB-DONATEPITCH-END--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a race to stupid. And we&#8217;re all winning! Or losing. Depends on how you choose to look at, apparently. [Audio link to full show is posted below summary.] Among the stories covered on today&#8217;s BradCast&#8230; The stock market soars on the barest of evidence that a vaccine could be on the way. Eventually. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1028,89,675,21,1456,479,969,28,750,176,641,477,579,958,120,111,126,738,349,348,1312],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-13418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accountability","category-aclu","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-california","category-coronavirus","category-donald-trump","category-election-2020","category-election-reform","category-gavin-newsom","category-journalist-intimidation","category-justin-amash","category-kpfk","category-libertarian-party","category-mike-pompeo","category-missouri","category-new-york","category-rights-and-freedoms","category-saudi-arabia","category-state-department","category-vote-by-mail","category-wall-street","bb-type-bradcast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13418"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=13418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}