{"id":15589,"date":"2025-12-16T18:26:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15589"},"modified":"2025-12-16T23:44:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T07:44:03","slug":"bricks-in-the-wall-bradcast-12162025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15589","title":{"rendered":"Bricks in the Wall: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 12\/16\/2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_BrickWallCracking_121625.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">Today on <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>The BradCast<\/i><\/a>: It&#8217;s difficult to notice &#8212; or trust your own eyes &#8212; when it all happens in slow motion. At least until it happens quickly. But, yes, the wall continues to crack. Day by day. Brick by brick. [<i>Audio to full show follows this summary.<\/i>]\n<p>Among the many stories covered on today&#8217;s program&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One of the worst headwinds that House Speaker <b>Mike Johnson<\/b> and his <b>Congressional Republicans<\/b> will be facing next year, in their hopes of hanging on to their narrow majority in the lower chamber, is their cuts to <b>Affordable Care Act<\/b> (ACA, or Obamacare) subsidies that are set to expire at year&#8217;s end. It will skyrocket the cost of premiums for millions of Americans beginning on January 1. Today, Johnson <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/aca-obamacare-health-subsidies-congress-expires-42a7a5b9e2aaf5bc84991629dda20108\">announced<\/a> his own caucus in the House could not agree on a fix, all but guaranteeing there will be no such fix until next year earliest. Congress will be recessing until 2026 at the end of this week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On yesterday&#8217;s <i>Rachel Maddow Show<\/i>, she was somewhat misleading in her suggestion that last night at midnight, December 15th, was the last chance to sign up for a health care policy under the <b>Affordable Care Act<\/b> to ensure health care coverage next year.  In fact, the Open Enrollment period for Obamacare &#8212; for both new policies or to change a current one &#8212; continues until January 15th next year in most states. Though, depending on which state you are in, coverage may now not begin until February under a new policy. In several states, however, which run their own exchanges (rather than forcing resident to purchase policies via the <i>federal<\/i> exchange), including <b>California<\/b>, <b>New York<\/b>, <b>New Jersey<\/b>, <b>Rhode Island<\/b> and <b>Washington D.C.<\/b>, you can <i>still<\/i> sign up for policies (or change current ones) before the end of the year to see them take effect as of January 1. Costs are going to go up either way for millions of Americans, thanks to Republicans in Congress refusing to extend subsidies that would prevent monthly premiums for policies purchased via the Obamacare marketplaces from doubling or tripling in many cases from what they were this year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Donald Trump<\/b> and the <b>U.S. Military<\/b>&#8216;s murder spree on the high seas continued on Monday with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/12\/15\/politics\/us-military-strikes-three-boats-pacific\">three new attacks<\/a> on three supposed drug boats near the coast of <b>Venezuela<\/b>, bringing the number of people killed by our completely unlawful attacks to at least 95. In related news on Monday, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/12\/15\/trump-fentanyl-weapon-mass-destruction-00691742?media_author_id=63054589126&#038;media_id=3788579575710098494_63054589126&#038;ranking_info_token=GCA0Y2IzY2U2NTEyYmQ0NGNhYjM4Zjc3ZTA1YjVhOWJiNiX2tbwFFZADFurohpQNGBMzNzg4NTc5NT\">signed<\/a> an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/12\/designating-fentanyl-as-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction\/\">Executive Order<\/a> &#8220;designating fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction&#8221;, in hopes of adding some &#8212; any &#8212; legal justification to both his murder strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, and a promised eventual attack on supposed &#8220;narco-terrorists&#8221; in Venezuela (even though fentanyl is not produced or trafficked from there.) Also relatedly, Defense Secretary <b>Pete Hegseth<\/b> on Tuesday said <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/hegseth-pentagon-wont-release-video-strike-drug-boat\/story?id=128457205\">he will not release video<\/a> of the unlawful second strike on an alleged drug boat from September 2nd, when the U.S. fired on two shipwrecked survivors following an attack earlier in the day, a <i>huge<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justsecurity.org\/125948\/illegal-orders-shipwrecked-boat-strike-survivors\/\">violation<\/a> of both U.S. and International law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Trump&#8217;s not-insane, very powerful, and very low profile White House Chief of Staff, <b>Susie Wiles<\/b>, had a whole bunch of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/12\/16\/politics\/susie-wiles-interview-trump?cid=ios_app\">pretty shocking things<\/a> to say about Trump, his policies (both foreign and domestic), his top appointees (from Vance to Bondi to Vought), his retribution campaign against political foes, and much more in some ten interviews reportedly given over the past year to an author who has written a book about WH Chiefs of Staff over the years. A number of Wiles&#8217; eyebrow raising remarks from those interviews were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/story\/trump-susie-wiles-interview-exclusive-part-1\">published by <i>Vanity Fair<\/i><\/a> today and D.C. is abuzz trying to figure out what it all means. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>As still more bricks in the wall appear to be falling out, a number of Republicans, including MAGA loyalists past and present, have seemingly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2025\/12\/15\/2358586\/-THE-TIPPING-POINT-Even-Trump-s-Loyal-MAGA-tists-are-Disgusted-By-His-Vile-Commentary-on-Rob-Reiner?pm_campaign=front_page&#038;pm_source=trending&#038;pm_medium=web\">turned<\/a> &#8212; gently or otherwise &#8212; against<b> Donald Trump<\/b>&#8216;s deranged, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/opinion\/columnist\/2025\/12\/15\/rob-reiner-trump-derangement-syndrome-truth-social\/87780338007\/#\">repulsive remarks<\/a> on Monday about the murder of Hollywood legend <b>Rob Reiner<\/b>, who was killed just hours earlier on Sunday along with his wife, <b>Michele Singer Reiner<\/b>, in their Los Angeles home.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Finally, Desi Doyen is here with <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=15588\">our latest <i>Green News Report<\/i><\/a> as climate change-fueled torrential rain, flooding and levee failure plague the <b>Pacific Northwest<\/b>; Trump continues his very selective and political approval for <b>federal disaster aid<\/b>; and as <b>New York City<\/b>&#8216;s congestion pricing program (which Trump opposes, natch) continues to clear the air in Midtown&#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-ACAFundingFail-BoatStrikes-WilesRemarks-GOPTrumpPushbackReiner_121625.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:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/256-the-bradcast-w-brad-friedm-30973643\/\">iHeart<\/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>Today on The BradCast: It&#8217;s difficult to notice &#8212; or trust your own eyes &#8212; when it all happens in slow motion. At least until it happens quickly. But, yes, the wall continues to crack. Day by day. Brick by brick. [Audio to full show follows this summary.] Among the many stories covered on today&#8217;s [&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":[89,675,21,299,272,288,477,1922,50,111,2039,1365,441,300,2080,2081,198,610,391],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-appearance","category-bradcast","category-california","category-democrats","category-dept-of-defense","category-health-care","category-kpfk","category-mike-johnson","category-new-jersey","category-new-york","category-pete-hegseth","category-pollution","category-rachel-maddow","category-republicans","category-rob-reiner","category-susie-wiles","category-us-house","category-venezuela","category-washington-dc"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15589","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=15589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15589"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=15589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}