{"id":14878,"date":"2023-12-19T19:12:15","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T03:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14878"},"modified":"2023-12-20T10:54:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T18:54:45","slug":"2024s-chance-for-democracys-renewal-bradcast-12182023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14878","title":{"rendered":"2024&#8217;s Chance for Democracy&#8217;s Renewal: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 12\/19\/2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_Election2024_121923.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">Tonight&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-insurrection-14th-amendment-2024-colorado-d16dd8f354eeaf450558378c65fd79a2\">breaking news<\/a> about the disgraced former President and insurrectionist being barred from the 2024 ballot in <b>Colorado<\/b> under the U.S. Constitution&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/constitution.congress.gov\/browse\/amendment-14\/section-3\/\">&#8220;Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause&#8221;<\/a> came just minutes before we were finishing up today&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>BradCast<\/i><\/a> &#8212; our last one of the year! But I suspect we&#8217;ll have plenty to discuss when we return in 2024. [<i>Audio link to full show follows this summary.<\/i>]\n<p>Among the stories we <i>did<\/i> have time to cover in full on today&#8217;s program&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We open with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=55k87HuF6As\">homerun public comment<\/a> from a young man at a meeting of the <b>Sarasota County, Florida<\/b> School Board last week, calling for the resignation of Board Member and co-founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.momsforliberty.org\/\">Moms for Liberty<\/a>, <b>Bridget Ziegler<\/b>. That, following the rape allegations against her husband, <b>Christian Ziegler<\/b>, Chair of the Florida Republican Party, by a woman who says she was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/mom-for-liberty-florida-gop-chair-rape-probe\">involved in a threesome relationship<\/a> with Christian and Bridget, a <a href=\"https:\/\/bridgetziegler.com\/\">supposed &#8220;conservative&#8221;<\/a> who rocketed to rightwing national fame as her Moms for Liberty group worked with FL Gov. <b>Ron DeSantis<\/b> to adopt the state&#8217;s &#8220;Don&#8217;t Say Gay Law&#8221; and to ban books from schools on LGBTQ-related issues. That, even as Bridget was allegedly involved in a sexual affair with another woman. But the guy&#8217;s comment at the Sarasota School Board &#8212; from which Bridget is still refusing to resign &#8212; was killer. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Good news at the end of the year for voting rights out of &#8212; of all places &#8212; the <i>very<\/i> far-right 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in <i>two<\/i> different opinions issued on Friday, in fact. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/5th-circuit-will-not-rehear-case-jeopardizing-voting-rights-act-precedent\/?utm_source=Democracy+Docket+Newsletters&#038;utm_campaign=ca88239cc6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_18_06_01_COPY_01&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_term=0_-933\">In one<\/a>, the full court allowed a lower court ruling to stand mandating a new U.S. House map for <b>Louisiana<\/b> before 2024, after finding that the current map was an unlawful racial gerrymander by state Republicans under Section 2 of the <b>Voting Rights Act<\/b>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/5th-circuit-upholds-strict-texas-voting-law-but-rules-that-private-plaintiffs-can-enforce-civil-rights-law\/\">The other<\/a> decision by the 5th Circuit allows a <b>Texas<\/b> voter suppression law &#8212; which bans online voter registration, in a state with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sos.nh.gov\/sites\/g\/files\/ehbemt561\/files\/documents\/2022-04\/voter-turnout-charts-4-19-21.pdf\">lowest voter turnout<\/a> in 2020 &#8212; to stand. That&#8217;s <i>not<\/i> good. But <i>both<\/i> decisions re-affirmed that voters and private organizations <i>do<\/i> have a legal right to sue to block racist voter suppression laws under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Those affirmations come after the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/11\/20\/1152732216\/voting-rights-act-supreme-court-section-2-private-right-of-action\">ruled just last month<\/a>, for the first time since the creation of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, that <i>only<\/i> the U.S. Attorney General can sue to enforce Section 2 of the VRA. If allowed to stand at SCOTUS, the 8th Circuit&#8217;s ruling would be an extraordinary blow to the landmark Act. So the 5th Circuit&#8217;s rejection of those arguments, filed in both cases by Republicans, is a very encouraging sign.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On Monday, <b>Texas<\/b>&#8216; authoritarian Governor <b>Greg Abbott<\/b> signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/immigration-texas-border-8c86bc6c20a7c30d6127b2413b8688fc\">new state law<\/a> allowing state police to arrest &#8212; and local judges to deport &#8212; anyone suspected of being an undocumented immigrant. On Tuesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/texas-immigration-lawsuit-border-2be91001567623db8ad3171265d5e739\">civil rights groups sued<\/a> to block the almost certainly unconstitutional new law. At least it used to be unconstitutional, back when SCOTUS overturned a similar &#8220;Papers, please!&#8221; law out of Arizona in 2012. But that was before there was a packed, stolen and corrupted 6 to 3 Republican majority on the High Court.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Very bad news for both <b>Donald Trump<\/b> and <b>Mark Meadows<\/b> out of the also very conservative 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, as a three-judge panel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/12\/18\/politics\/mark-meadows-appeals-court?cid=ios_app\">rejected<\/a> Meadows&#8217; attempt to remove his Georgia state criminal indictment related to 2020 election interference from state to federal court. As Law Professor <b>Lee Kovarksy<\/b> of the University of Texas <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/lee_kovarsky\/status\/1736867625215418474?s=20\">explained<\/a> last night, the ruling, written by the court&#8217;s Chief Judge and very close <b>Clarence Thomas<\/b> ally, is very bad news for appeals of the &#8220;immunity&#8221; defenses filed by both Trump and Meadows in several different cases where they are attempting to use that legal gambit to skirt accountability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>We received a <i>lot<\/i> of email following <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14875\">yesterday&#8217;s lively call-in show<\/a>, in which I asked folks who&#8217;d voted for <b>Joe Biden<\/b> in 2020, but who were planning on not doing so again in 2024, to call in and tell me why. Today we share a few of those notes in response.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>But, for something for nervous pro-democracy Americans to consider over the holidays until we return after the new year, we share a <a href=\"https:\/\/plus.thebulwark.com\/p\/2024-stopping-trump-renewing-democracy?utm_campaign=post&#038;utm_medium=web\">recent column<\/a> from University of Illinois&#8217; Political Science Professor <b>Nicholas Grossman<\/b>, explaining why folks should not (yet) be freaked out about polls showing Trump defeating Biden next year, and why &#8220;pro-democracy Americans [should] approach the 2024 election with enthusiasm, not only dread.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=14876\">our final <i>Green News Report<\/i> of the year<\/a>! She includes a boatload of details on why, though <i>we<\/i> may be done with <b>2023<\/b>, 2023 ain&#8217;t yet done with us yet! But she also has some encouraging news on how long-overdue actions to tackle our climate crisis by the <b>Biden Administration<\/b> are finally beginning to take root as we move into the new year&#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-ZieglerFL-5thCircVRA-AbbottImmigration-MeadowsTrumpImmunity-HopeFor2024_121923.mp3\">CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!&#8230;<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p><\/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>Tonight&#8217;s breaking news about the disgraced former President and insurrectionist being barred from the 2024 ballot in Colorado under the U.S. Constitution&#8217;s &#8220;Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause&#8221; came just minutes before we were finishing up today&#8217;s BradCast &#8212; our last one of the year! But I suspect we&#8217;ll have plenty to discuss when we return in 2024. [&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,"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,89,675,543,37,299,479,969,1611,883,16,72,1110,650,261,1590,320,477,332,199,1497,300,1238,47,127,280,243,517],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-14878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accountability","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-climate-change","category-colorado","category-democrats","category-donald-trump","category-election-2020","category-election-2024","category-fascism","category-florida","category-georgia","category-gerrymandering","category-greg-abbott","category-immigration","category-insurrection","category-joe-biden","category-kpfk","category-lgbt","category-louisiana","category-mark-meadows","category-republicans","category-ron-desantis","category-texas","category-the-constitution","category-vote-caging","category-voter-registration","category-voting-rights-act"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14878","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=14878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14878"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=14878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}