{"id":15244,"date":"2024-12-03T18:56:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T02:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15244"},"modified":"2024-12-03T19:03:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T03:03:36","slug":"in-defense-of-democracy-from-s-korea-to-n-carolina-and-beyond-bradcast-1232024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15244","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of Democracy from S. Korea to N. Carolina (and Beyond): &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 12\/3\/2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_YoonSK-StopThePowerGrabNC-ScottWalker_120324.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">Democracy is under attack again today. And not just in D.C. We&#8217;re here to do our part in defending it wherever possible on today&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>BradCast<\/i><\/a>. [<i>Audio link to full show follows this summary.<\/i>]\n<p>Among our many stories today&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The rightwing, inexperienced, recently elected but now very unpopular President of <b>South Korea<\/b> attempted a power grab today by declaring martial law and the shutdown of the National Assembly for largely trumped up reasons. (Pun intended.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/12\/03\/asia\/south-korea-martial-law-intl\/index.html\">It didn&#8217;t work<\/a>. His own political party joined the opposition Democratic Party majority in the nation&#8217;s parliament for a swift, unanimous vote to shut down the attempted self-coup just hours after it began. The country&#8217;s military wasn&#8217;t much help to the President either. (Which may be just one reason Donald Trump has tapped loyalist stooge, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/hegseth-assault-allegations-police-report-trump-e6ebec0a1a5c7fb51cb5e2198f5e12a5\">accused rapist<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/news-desk\/pete-hegseths-secret-history\">years-long womanizing drunkard<\/a>, <b>Pete Hegseth<\/b> of Fox &#8220;News&#8221;, to be his own Sec. of Defense.) But there are a whole bunch of other lessons that we need to learn in THIS country from what happened today in South Korea which may be very helpful in the months and years ahead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Meanwhile, power grabs by Republicans are underway at the state level in this country as well following the November 5th election. In the closely divided battleground state of <b>North Carolina<\/b>, where <b>Donald Trump<\/b> won at the Presidential level, Democrats were victorious up and down the ballot in a bunch of statewide offices including Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Sec. of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction. The GOP also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/raleigh\/2024\/11\/06\/north-carolina-races-that-broke-gop-legislative-supermajority\">lost its gerrymandered supermajority<\/a> in the state House by one seat. So Republicans, in the weeks they have left with supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature, are <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/north-carolina-governor-legislature-powers-veto-override-e0a2cd77559b9ee1b73a67af38815a05\">now attempting<\/a>, under the guise of a &#8220;sham&#8221; Hurricane Helene disaster relief bill, to strip extraordinarily broad swaths of power from those offices and hand it to the GOP-controlled state legislature. Outgoing Democratic Governor <b>Roy Cooper<\/b> has already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/politics-government\/article296171739.html\">vetoed<\/a> the bill, but Republicans in the Senate have voted to override it and protesters in the state are attempting to prevent House Republicans from doing the same. The measure, among other things, strips the incoming Democratic Governor&#8217;s ability to appoint members of the State Board of Elections, to fill vacancies at both the state Appeals and Supreme Court levels with judges of his choosing, and, in a sop to the fossil fuel industry, prevents the state Attorney General from, as Cooper said in his veto, the &#8220;ability to advocate for lower electric bills for consumers.&#8221; The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncleg.gov\/BillLookUp\/2023\/S382\">131-page bill<\/a>, originally introduced in November and passed by both chambers within 24 hours, would also place new restrictions on elections in the state, which <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/north-carolina-gops-new-power-grab-is-a-recipe-for-disaster-for-elections-too\">election officials charge<\/a> would result in votes going uncounted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>If that <b>North Carolina<\/b> measure is adopted before the new state legislature is sworn in next month, it will almost certainly be challenged by Democrats at the state Supreme Court, where last month one of its two liberal Justices, <b>Allison Riggs<\/b>, very narrowly defeated her Republican challenger, <b>Jefferson Griffin<\/b>, by fewer than 1,000 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast. A machine recount confirmed the initially reported machine-tallied results. Now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/north-carolina-supreme-court-gop-candidate-asks-for-hand-recount-as-party-pushes-controversial-bill\/\">Griffin is seeking<\/a> both a hand-count and the disqualification of more than 60,000 ballots.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>There is somewhat brighter news this week in another battleground state, where a <b>Wisconsin<\/b> judge has finally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/12\/02\/unions-wisconsin-ruling-collective-bargaining-rights-00192229\">struck down<\/a> former far-right Republican Gov. <b>Scott Walker<\/b>&#8216;s wildly controversial 2011 law that stripped the power of certain public unions to collectively bargain for wages and other benefits. The law, according to the judge, is unconstitutional since it takes those powers from &#8220;general&#8221; unions, such as the state teachers union, while allowing it for &#8220;public safety&#8221; officials, such as police and firefighters unions who were supporters of Walker&#8217;s at the time. Back in 2011, you may recall the weeks-long fight over the measure, bringing hundreds of thousands of protesters to the state capital as Republicans in the legislature muscled the bill to passage. Of course, the judge&#8217;s ruling will now be appealed up to the state Supreme Court which, as of last year, finally has a narrow, 4 to 3 liberal majority that will once again be tested during yet another WI Supreme Court election this April.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>And, speaking of every vote mattering, a legal and political battle is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/tabke-paul-54a-scott-county-election\/601189623\">underway right now<\/a> in <b>Minnesota<\/b> over a state House race where Democratic Rep. <b>Brad Tabke<\/b> was declared the winner by just 14 votes over his Republican challenger <b>Aaron Paul<\/b> after a recount and official canvass. That said, an investigation by the local County Attorney found that 21 absentee ballots in the race may have been accidentally discarded prior to being tallied. Republicans have filed suit to declare the seat vacant and are seeking a special election. This one seat matters. As of now, with the Democratic Tabke as the winner, Democrats and Republicans will each hold 67 seats in the state House, where lawmakers are preparing a power sharing agreement. If the Republican Paul ultimately ends up winning the seat, the balance of power would be shifted with a two-vote, 68-66 GOP majority. Yup, every vote matters. Even the ones that were tossed due to &#8220;human error&#8221;, according to the County Attorney.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15243\">our latest <i>Green News Report<\/i><\/a>, our first since returning from the holiday. And she&#8217;s got a <i>lot<\/i> to catch us up on, from the collapse of a <b>U.N. plastics treaty summit<\/b> in South Korea (prior to today&#8217;s attempted coup!), to a lackluster (at best) agreement at the <b>U.N.&#8217;s COP29 climate talks<\/b> in Azerbaijan, to new worries about how extreme drought is set to exacerbate <b>immigration issues<\/b> at our southern border&#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-MartialLawSK-PowerGrabNC-UnionWinWI-HouseElectionBattleMN_120324.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>Democracy is under attack again today. And not just in D.C. We&#8217;re here to do our part in defending it wherever possible on today&#8217;s BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.] Among our many stories today&#8230; The rightwing, inexperienced, recently elected but now very unpopular President of South Korea attempted a power grab [&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":[89,675,543,299,479,1611,6,28,548,883,261,998,477,1628,219,43,2039,1365,1973,300,870,523,959,280,348,478,143],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-climate-change","category-democrats","category-donald-trump","category-election-2024","category-election-irregularities","category-election-reform","category-extreme-weather","category-fascism","category-immigration","category-joshua-stein","category-kpfk","category-labor-unions","category-minnesota","category-north-carolina","category-pete-hegseth","category-pollution","category-recount-2024","category-republicans","category-roy-cooper","category-scott-walker","category-south-korea","category-vote-caging","category-vote-by-mail","category-wi-supreme-court-election","category-wisconsin","bb-type-bradcast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15244","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=15244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15244"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=15244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}