{"id":15075,"date":"2024-06-26T18:56:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T01:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15075"},"modified":"2024-06-26T19:02:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T02:02:34","slug":"good-news-and-bad-at-the-polls-and-from-the-corrupted-supreme-court-bradcast-6262024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15075","title":{"rendered":"Good News and Bad: At the Polls and From the Corrupted Supreme Court: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 6\/26\/2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_VoteNY-SCOTUS_062624.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">Stand by for news &#8212; some good-ish, some not-ish &#8212; on today&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>BradCast<\/i><\/a>! [<i>Audio link to full show follows below this summary.<\/i>]\n<p>First up today, some noteworthy results from yesterday&#8217;s primary elections. Among a bunch of races covered today from four different states&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Progressive <b>New York<\/b> &#8220;Squad&#8221; member Rep. <b>Jamaal Bowman<\/b> was soundly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/06\/25\/politics\/george-latimer-jamaal-bowman-new-york-16-primary\/index.html\">defeated<\/a> in his 16th District U.S. House primary race by longtime local Democratic official <b>George Latimer<\/b> in what was, notoriously, the most expensive House primary ever run. The cost of the contest was largely due to the <b>American Israeli Political Affairs Conference<\/b> (AIPAC)&#8217;s investment of millions of dollars to defeat Bowman, who, among other sins, described Israel&#8217;s war in Gaza as a genocide. That said, as many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2024\/6\/24\/2248334\/-Rep-Jamaal-Bowman-s-base-eats-itself-and-that-could-cost-him-his-seat\">pointed out<\/a> before Tuesday and as we detail today, Bowman, as a movement progressive, was <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/edblog\/a-different-take-on-jamaal-bowman-israel-ny-16\">likely to have lost this race anyway<\/a> in a very diverse &#8220;normie Dem&#8221; district, even without the flood of AIPAC money.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Far-right <b>Colorado<\/b> Rep. <b>Lauren Boebert<\/b>&#8216;s carpetbagging jump from her right-leaning, but swingy-ish 3rd District to the farther right 4th district &#8212; after barely winning in the 3rd in 2022 by just a few hundred votes &#8212; paid off as she managed to <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/colorado-primary-election-2024-boebert-republican-5f14372b55c0da9e1f872ba590af56d5\">beat off three other Republicans<\/a> to win the GOP nomination in the new district on Tuesday and, with it, most likely, another term in Congress this November.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>U.S. Rep. <b>John Curtis<\/b>, a not-insane, Mitt Romney-like, pro-climate action Republican from <b>Utah<\/b>, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/utah-republican-primary-election-romney-senate-4928a24b86d9d3d2c8fbf6dbc597bdf6\">defeated<\/a> a Trump-endorsed opponent to win the GOP nomination to fill the seat being vacated by the retiring Romney in the very red, but not completely Trumpy state this November.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Another Trump-endorsed Republican lost, if narrowly, on Tuesday to Republican <b>Sheri Biggs<\/b> in <b>South Carolina<\/b>&#8216;s <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/south-carolina-burns-biggs-runoff-sister-senators-330b71548d5e6b5058327055337c8a9b\">primary runoff<\/a> election for the U.S. House in the state&#8217;s solidly red 3rd Congressional District.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And, some noteworthy news today from the corrupted U.S. Supreme Court, where a number of still-outstanding decisions remain, suggesting they may still be releasing opinions after the usual end of term in June, after we&#8217;ll be on break over the Independence Day holiday week. Among the still-unreleased opinions are two that relate to criminal accountability for <b>Donald Trump<\/b>. It&#8217;s up to you if you want to check out the (seemingly encouraging) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/06\/26\/politics\/supreme-court-abortion-idaho-bloomberg\/index.html\">abortion-related opinion<\/a> that the Court appears to have <i>accidentally<\/i> released prematurely on their website for a few minutes on Wednesday morning. Beyond that, the two they <i>meant<\/i> to release today include&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A seemingly absurd finding that federal law does not prevent payoffs by private parties to public officials <i>after<\/i> an official has done something &#8212; such as award a multimillionaire contract &#8212; to the private party. The case overturns a conviction against an <b>Indiana<\/b> Mayor who received $13,000 after fixing the bidding process to award a million-dollar contract to a local trucking company. A payoff, or an agreement for one before such the contract was awarded, in a direct quid pro quo, would be considered unlawful bribery. But a payoff <i>after<\/i> the action in question, no matter how much, is considered a &#8220;gratuity&#8221; that, the Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-108_8n5a.pdf\">ruled [PDF]<\/a> in a 6 to 3 partisan decision today, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2024-06-26\/supreme-court-anti-corruption-law\"><i>not<\/i> barred by federal law<\/a>. State and local jurisdictions may still prosecute such payoffs under their own laws, however, if they wish.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>In a slightly more encouraging 6 to 3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/24778084-murthy-v-missouri\">ruling [PDF]<\/a> today &#8212; with three Republican-appointed Justices joining all three Liberals in the majority opinion &#8212; the Court <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/supreme-court-social-media-biden-administration-453b6ae8794548f960c4ebf72a534aff\">sided with the <b>Biden Administration<\/b><\/a> to reject claims by several Republican states and private plaintiffs that federal officials were unconstitutionally forcing <b>social media sites<\/b> to remove posts by so-called conservatives. The Court ruled that Plaintiffs had no standing here, since they all failed to demonstrate they faced any Constitutional harms by actions taken by federal officials &#8212; in both the Trump <i>and<\/i> Biden Administrations &#8212; to advise social media companies like Twitter and Facebook about potentially dangerous or misleading posts regarding COVID-19, election integrity and more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And finally, on his HBO show last week, <b>Bill Maher<\/b> lauded <b>Maryland<\/b>&#8216;s Democratic Governor <b>Wes Moore<\/b> for recently announced <a href=\"https:\/\/governor.maryland.gov\/news\/press\/pages\/governor-moore-signs-nationally-historic-executive-order-pardoning-175000-maryland-cannabis-convictions.aspx\">pardons<\/a> to tens of thousands convicted over the years under state marijuana laws that have since been lifted. Maher then lamented how sad it was that <b>Joe Biden<\/b> wasn&#8217;t smart enough to do the same thing at the federal level&#8230;even though Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/presidential-actions\/2022\/10\/06\/granting-pardon-for-the-offense-of-simple-possession-of-marijuana\/\">did exactly that<\/a> <i>two years ago<\/i> when he also encouraged state Governors like Moore to do the same, as most marijuana convictions are at the state level. Of course, we covered both Biden and Moore&#8217;s pardons as they happened. But, since Maher apparently never heard about it, I also want to make sure that at least <i>you<\/i> know about the <i>new<\/i> set of pardons issued today by the Biden White House&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As the military news outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/taskandpurpose.com\/news\/white-house-pardons-troops-convicted-law-banning-gay-sex\/\"><i>Task &#038; Purpose<\/i> reports<\/a>: &#8220;U.S. troops who were convicted under a now-defunct military law that targeted gay service members will receive formal pardons, the White House announced Wednesday.&#8221; The pardons will apply to thousands of LGBTQI+ troops who were discharged, going back to 1951, for military rules that have since been removed and\/or <a href=\"https:\/\/constitutioncenter.org\/the-constitution\/supreme-court-case-library\/lawrence-v-texas\">found unconstitutional<\/a>. Said <b>President Biden<\/b> in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2024\/06\/26\/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-pardon-of-lgbtqi-service-members-wrongly-convicted\/\">statement<\/a>: &#8220;Today, I am righting an historic wrong by using my clemency authority to pardon many former service members who were convicted simply for being themselves.&#8221;  I hope someone tells Bill Maher before he misinforms millions yet again&#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-ResultsNY-CO-UT-SC_SCOTUS-Gratuities-SocialMedia_BidenMilitaryPardons_062624.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>Stand by for news &#8212; some good-ish, some not-ish &#8212; on today&#8217;s BradCast! [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.] First up today, some noteworthy results from yesterday&#8217;s primary elections. Among a bunch of races covered today from four different states&#8230; Progressive New York &#8220;Squad&#8221; member Rep. Jamaal Bowman was soundly defeated in [&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":[238,89,675,1683,37,299,272,479,1611,1991,428,1494,320,1992,477,1635,332,751,102,111,300,126,894,248,127,313,31,1786],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bill-maher","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-bribery","category-colorado","category-democrats","category-dept-of-defense","category-donald-trump","category-election-2024","category-george-latimer","category-israel","category-jamaal-bowman","category-joe-biden","category-john-curtis","category-kpfk","category-lauren-boebert","category-lgbt","category-marijuana","category-maryland","category-new-york","category-republicans","category-rights-and-freedoms","category-social-media","category-south-carolina","category-the-constitution","category-us-supreme-court","category-utah","category-wes-moore"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15075","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=15075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15075"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=15075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}