We've got two great stories to tell you on today's BradCast. One is likely to invigorate you. The other is likely to enrage you. You're welcome. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

FIRST UP... Be invigorated. After a complicated, three-step, months-long process, a refusal to back down, a determination to stand up against legal challenges, and a willingness to embrace and exploit political loopholes --- in a way that we've become accustomed to seeing Republicans, not Democrats, do --- voters in Virginia on Tuesday narrowly approved a Constitutional Amendment placed on the ballot by Democratic lawmakers to redraw VA's U.S. House map for this November's critical midterm elections.

The Special Election for the referendum was held as a direct response to Trump's orders last summer to Republican-controlled state legislature's to gerrymander their U.S. House maps in the middle of the decade in a pathetic and desperate attempt to hold on to a razor thin GOP majority after this year's midterms.

If (and its still a big if!), the VA Supreme Court doesn't put the kibosh on the entire thing, Democrats hope this move will result in the flipping of four currently Republican-held seats to Democratic ones, increasing their current 6 to 5 majority delegation to a whopping 10 to 1 in the otherwise very "purple" commonwealth.

It was an expensive and grueling election, with a whole lot of confusion purposely seeded into the matter by Republicans hoping to hoax voters into voting against the measure. They didn't succeed, though it was a pretty narrow 3-point victory for the "YES" coalition.

No matter what ends up happening in the courts in regard this matter --- and in a special session of the Florida legislature next week, where state Republicans hope to redraw their own already-gerrymandered U.S. House map to further advantage the GOP --- the complex story of how the measure in VA even made it to Tuesday's Special Election ballot in the first place is a harrowing lesson in how voters will have Democrats' backs if they are willing to stand up and fight for the people.

Tune in for the entire sordid and/or inspirational tale.

NEXT UP... Be enraged. After taking office again last year, Donald Trump placed a non-partisan, career professional with a 30-year history at the Social Security Administration in "acting" charge of the agency.

The good news didn't last long. Soon, Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE Bros came along and demanded access to the agency's master database containing the most sensitive data on 500 million Americans, both living and dead. That includes Social Security numbers, birth dates, medical and income history and much much more. It is data that had been jealously guarded, without a breech, for the nearly 90-year history of the beloved federal program --- until Trump and DOGE came along.

Soon, career professionals, including the top staffer in charge of data security at the agency, were resigning in protest. Lawsuits from unions and whistleblowers started flying, and the corrupt U.S. Supreme Court majority ultimately refused to stop the unprecedented DOGE access to American's most sensitive records. We have since learned, largely via whistleblower lawsuits, that the DOGE Bros entered an agreement to share the data with a disgraced, rightwing "voter fraud" outfit. One of the Bros reportedly even copied the entire database to a portable thumb drive and offered access to it to his next employer.

Our guest today is longtime advocate NANCY ALTMAN, co-founder and President of the non-profit watchdog group, Social Security Works and co-author of Social Security Works For Everyone! Protecting and Expanding the Insurance Americans Love and Count On.

"It is outrageous! They have the most sensitive of all our information," she tells me, detailing so much of what has now been stolen from the elderly, the disabled, and children who receive Social Security to help them stay alive. "All kinds of information. It is a scammer's treasure trove."

"They're talking about suppressing voting and using our information to do that. And Elon Musk, I'm sure, is trying to monetize all of our information," charges Altman. "It has been very securely held, and now it's in some cloud. Who knows who has access to it, who can hack into it? We are all in danger of being scammed." Some, she explains, already have been.

You may recall, in the early days of the second Trump nightmare, when he and Musk were falsely claiming to have found hundreds or thousands of people who were receiving Social Security payments, despite being 122 years old or older. That, she explains, was all a lie. "Whether it was incompetence or intentional, the answer is there is no truth to it."

"Even MAGA voters value Social Security and don't want to see it cut," Altman says. "So what do you do when the whole country feels that way and you want to get rid of it? You undermine confidence. You tell people there are all these people who aren't really disabled who are claiming benefits. They'll tell children they're never going to see their benefits. And they tell the American people there are all these dead people getting benefits. That is such a lie."

In the meantime, Altman asserts, all of this is just "the tip of the iceberg," noting, "I'm concerned that a lot more groups have this information now."

"If the Democrats are able to take the House, they 100% will have hearings on it to get to the bottom of what's going on," she insists, to find out "who has this data, what they've done with it, where it is now, and what --- if anything --- the Social Security Administration is doing to protect the data from further disclosure."

Until then, Trump has fired the Inspector General who might have looked into and exposed all of this, his Dept. of Justice is, naturally, doing nothing to hold anyone to account, and Democrats in Congress have been stymied from carrying out probes or hearings by Republicans who want to pretend none of this is going on.

But it is going on. It is still underway. It's "horrendous" and "malicious" and we are now, according to Altman "in uncharted territory."

"It's important to find out what has happened, what the dangers are, what the risks are, and what can be done to at least ameliorate it," she says, urging action by voters in the months ahead.

"The Democrats have a plan to expand benefits and require the wealthiest pay their fair share. They also have been pushing, repeatedly and endlessly, to get their colleagues to look into what's happening with DOGE, what's happening with offices, what's happening with pushing out the most experienced people --- so much that's going on that's harmful to our ability to access benefits. So it's very important, if you care about Social Security, to vote."

There's an idea. I hope you'll follow her advice and tune in for today's program...

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What are the odds that The BradCast would take a deep dive into the corruption of White House insiders placing anonymous, incredibly well-timed bets on unregulated "prediction markets' and making a killing at it? [Audio link to full show follows beneath this summary.]

BUT FIRST... It's Special Election Day in Virginia, where voters are deciding on a ballot amendment to allow state lawmakers to redraw their U.S. House map to help Democrats respond to Trump-ordered Republican mid-decade gerrymandering in other states. (Spoiler! The "YES" vote has reportedly won in what appears, at least at this hour, to have been a very close contest!) Full results and insight on tomorrow's program.

Beyond that, the lower courts continue to serve as a bulwark against many of Donald Trump's most corrupt, far-right excesses. Today a federal judge put the brakes on an absurd Administration requirement for new wind and solar energy projects to receive permitting approval from three senior political appointees at the Interior Department, including Sec. Doug Burgam. U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper put the kibosh, for now, on a series of apparently unlawful policies, clearly meant to favor the fossil fuel industry. The results has been the cancellation or delay of numerous clean, renewable energy projects at a time when energy prices are skyrocketing thanks, in no small part, to Trump's policies and wars.

Speaking of which, after repeated vows by Trump that he would not renew his tenuous ceasefire with Iran without a new agreement when it expires on Wednesday, and threats in recent days to drop "lots of bombs" on civilian power plants and bridges with a military that was "raring to go", our empty suit of a sundowning President TACOd yet again. Without a deal --- without even the peace talks he announced would occur on Tuesday --- Trump extended the ceasefire "indefinitely". For now.

THEN... Anonymous insiders are apparently winning millions on unusual, last minute bets on various aspects of Trump's wars --- often placed by brand new accounts on so-called prediction market apps like Kalshi and Polymarket just minutes before Trump's announcements. Now, some lawmakers and good government advocates are calling for reforms, including new laws and, at least, enforcement of existing regulations banning such bets.

For example, on the night of February 27, as talks were still underway between the U.S. and Iran to avoid war, 150 accounts placed bets that the U.S. would launch an attack against Iran the following day. The attack then happened. A New York Times analysis found that 16 of the accounts won more than $100,000 each from the wager. Around the same time, an account named "MagaMyMan" made an $87,000 bet on Iran's Supreme Leader being toppled, just 71 minutes before news of his assassination became public. He earned more than half a million dollars with that incredibly well-timed "prediction".

Similar bets have been placed, and fortunes made, just moments prior to various comments by Trump that have rocked the oil futures market in one direction or another. And while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has regulations already on the books against bets on war and foreign assassinations, Trump has appointed just one person, with industry ties, to the statutory bipartisan 5-member Commission. Moreover, Trump's son, Don Jr., serves as a paid advisor to both Kalshi and Polymarket. To date, existing regulations have not been enforced.

We're joined today by longtime government ethics and reform lobbyist CRAIG HOLMAN of Public Citizen, which has been calling on CFTC Chair Michael Selig to investigate these highly suspicious incidents, improve rule-making on these quickly growing "prediction" outfits, and otherwise enforce existing regulations.

"This is the first time we're seeing very, very large bets being placed and timed perfectly with political events," Holman tells me, describing how these new mobile app marketplaces are different from anything we've seen in the past. "We're talking not only about the size of the bets, we're talking about the timing, which immediately raises the appearance and suspicion of insider trading."

He cites that anonymous bet by "MagaMyMan" for $87,000 on the toppling of Iran's Ayatollah --- and his more than $500,000 payday --- as evidence of that insider trading. "To me, it sounds a lot like someone within the Trump Administration who knows exactly what is about to happen, and places a large bet that's a sure thing," he argues.

Among the related points discussed with Holman, a longtime good-government public policy lobbyist and champion on Capitol Hill, (who is really good at explaining this stuff!)...

• How Trump's own family business expansion into cryptocurrency and prediction markets means he has every incentive to prevent new regulations or the enforcement of existing ones.
• Whether Selig will actually call for probes into so many of the now known cases of what clearly appear to be insider trading.
• How "the CFTC has been basically rigged by Trump" to prevent the statutory seating of the four other members of the Commission.
• How very similar "bets", to the tune of billions of dollars, are also being placed on futures markets that are supposed to be regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
• The chances of several bills now proposed in Congress have of actually being adopted and ultimately signed by the President.

"It is not only the Wild West," Holman asserts, "some scholars like Paul Krugman call it treason. Because this is actually revealing foreign policy secrets, non-public information affecting foreign policy, to whoever is watching the markets. Not only other investors, but I imagine the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, they're all watching the market now" for a heads up on what the Trump Administration is about to do next.

It's both a maddening and enlightening discussion. I hope you'll tune in!

FINALLY... Desi Doyen joins us for our Earth Day edition of Green News Report. But, spoiler alert: It sounds much like many of other reports in that every day is Earth Day on GNR! So prepared to be both enraged and exhilarated...as usual!

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The Strait is open! (It's closed.) We're talking very powerfully! (They're not.) We're winning! (Nope.) Also, Greenland! Okay. Too much nonsense to make sense of on today's BradCast. But it won't stop us from trying. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Today's show is perhaps better listened to than explained. So I hope you'll tune in! Among the stories we cover before moving to Callers for the back half of the show...

Donald Trump claimed J.D. Vance, Trump's real estate pal Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law Jared Kushner (who works for Iran's enemy, Saudi Arabia) were "heading over now" to Pakistan this morning for talks with Iran tomorrow as a fragile two-week "ceasefire" wraps up.

But Vance, at least, was still in the U.S. when Trump said otherwise, and Iran reports they have no plans to speak with the U.S. after a weekend of what they describe as piracy on the high seas. In fact, the U.S. reportedly attacked and took over an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel amid Trump's blockade of Iranian ports and Iran's blockade of the entire Strait of Hormuz.

If "Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again," as Trump claimed over the weekend before Iran announced they were closing the Strait, either they lied or he did. After it was opened for about a day over the weekend, it was closed again after Iran charged the U.S. with violating the ceasefire by blockading their ports and then attacking and stealing a cargo ship.

The supposed ceasefire ends as of Wednesday. Iran says they are ready and restocked for a long war. Is Trump? Is the U.S.? (Reminder: He first said his "little excursion" into war with Iran would take about 2 to 3 days. Then 4 to 5 weeks. We are now in week 8. On the other hand, that's 8 weeks in which few have been talking about the woman who says she was sexually assaulted by Trump when she was 13. So the war isn't all a loss for Trump.)

All of that, and much more news from his ill-considered war with Iran his failed negotiations; his latest promise that "the whole country is going to get blown up" if Iran refuses to make a deal; Iran's accurate response that Trump is too "erratic" to make a deal with, and cannot be trusted to keep it; as his job approval ratings and support on both the economy and war continue over a cliff in advance of November Midterms in which Republicans believe they are "gonna get killed".

In the meantime, more good news for Democrats at the polls in New Jersey late last week. It's Election Day tomorrow in Virginia on redrawing U.S. House maps that could help flip as many as four seats from "red" to "blue" this November. And there is chaos and confusion in California's Governor's race, which quite a few callers choose to chime in on today...

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On today's BradCast: With voters in Hungary demonstrating on Sunday that the ballot box can be mightier than the autocrat, and with shake-ups in the U.S. House this week and fresh news from the Gerrymandering Wars, it seems a good moment to consider all of this news in light of the critical November midterms. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Also today, some weather and climate news, and an update on paper tiger Trump in the Middle East. Among our stories today...

• As we go to air, the most powerful storm currently on Earth --- and of 2026, so far --- Super Typhoon Sinlaku is slamming tens of thousands of citizens on U.S. territories in the western Pacific Ocean, including the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. The damage may continue for a while, as the devastating storm --- unusual for this early in the year --- slowed down as it reached the islands, potentially resulting in maximum destruction.

• Back here on the mainland, it's a political storm blowing through the U.S. House this week. Following serious sexual assault allegations first reported on Friday, California's Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell resigned from the U.S. House on Tuesday. He may now also be facing a criminal probe following a fifth woman stepping forward today with still more disturbing accusations. His resignation was followed shortly after by the resignation of Texas Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, whose affair with a married staffer lead to her suicide. While the allegations against Gonzalez have been known for some time, it was only after Swalwell's announcement that he was stepping down on Monday (facing threats of expulsion) that the Texas Rep. agreed to leave as well, safeguarding the GOP's razor-thin majority in the lower chamber during the interim.

• Speaking of which, new news today in the Gerrymandering Wars kicked off last year by Donald Trump's order to Republican states to redraw their U.S. House maps to steal "blue" seats from voters this November. One of the hopes for Democrats to redraw their own maps in response to the GOP campaign was dashed on Monday night, as state Senate Democrats in Maryland ended their latest session without voting on a new state map, as sought by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore. He had asked for a redrawn map to help flip the state's last Republican-held House District in favor of the Dems, but was blocked by the Democratic state Senate President who felt the move might end up harming Democrats.

• In other related Gerrymandering War news, the Republican-dominated Florida legislature is set to convene a special session next week to consider redrawing its already gerrymandered U.S. House map, even as Virginia voters are already early voting on a state Constitutional Amendment sponsored by Democrats to temporarily set aside the state's independently drawn U.S. House map in favor of one that could flip as many as four more seats from "red" to "blue" this November. The Special Election Day is next Tuesday, April 21, and pre-election polling suggests it could be a close contest!

• In Congress' upper chamber, meanwhile, the Cook Political Report this week made four adjustments to their November forecast for the U.S. Senate, with all four changes moving toward the left for this year's races in North Carolina, Ohio, Nebraska and Georgia. That said, Cook's current forecast for the Senate still predicts Republicans hanging on to majority control of the upper chamber next year --- if just barely for now.

• Why has Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to blockade traffic in the Strait of Hormuz in his effort to prevent Iran from blockading traffic through the Strait of Hormuz? We try to explain today, before noting that China now seems to be calling Trump's bluff.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as the war on Iran deepens global poverty even as Big Oil is rolling in profits; as news policies in the UK and France seek to permanently reduce dependency on fossil fuels; and as birds turn out to be smarter than Donald Trump when it comes to wind energy, according to newly released studies...

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On today's BradCast: Finally, even MAGA is beginning to notice. Or, at least they are finally admitting they've noticed. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Day after day, especially as his war on and/or supposed ceasefire with Iran continues to be a global embarrassment, Donald Trump keeps proving his critics were right all along.

In many case, such as MAGA media elite or his own Truth Social supporters turning on him, it's amusing and encouraging. In other cases, like those who, with the encouragement of Republican officials, bought into the Trump myth, it is very sad. Especially in states like deep "red" West Virginia, where energy prices are now skyrocketing amid his broken promises to revive dirty, deadly, expensive coal and his broken campaign vow, repeated dozens of times, to cut everyone's gas and energy prices by 50% within his first year. (See Margie Mason's great piece for AP here.)

Trump is now failing, and very quickly, to paraphrase him. At record levels! Like nobody has ever seen before!

In fact, a majority of Americans would now like to see him impeached an historic third time. New polling appears to break the record for such a finding this early in a President's term.

But, before any of that can happen --- if it ever does --- there are still a whole bunch of folks likely to die in his absurdly ill-considered war, and a whole bunch of Administration friends and insiders likely to profiteer off it all on the so-called prediction markets.

Also, Desi Doyen joins us today for our latest Green News Report. Things don't look any better there either...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Global fallout expands from US-Israel War on Iran; Trump Administration relaxes smog pollution rules to moderate rising gas prices; Three US offshore wind farms survived Trump assault, now delivering clean electricity; PLUS: Earth's climate is out of balance, new report warns... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): America's bookend wars for oil; "If the Strait remains closed, we're not talking about a global recession "“ we're talking about a depression"; Maryland Supreme Court rejects climate lawsuits; The point of no return: new evidence shows Antarctic melting is already locked in; Epic river migrations of fish rapidly collapsing, UN report finds; USDA says it needs roads to fight remote wildfires, but a new study says roads bring more fire to forests ... PLUS: Suddenly, the US manufactures a ton of grid batteries ... and much, MUCH more! ...

Amid life in war time, we are forced to jam several hours worth of news into today's tightly-packed, 57-minute BradCast. Join us, won't you? [Audio link to full show follows this link.]

FIRST UP... Donald Trump's ridiculously ill-considered War on Iran is already a disaster in myriad ways. It has already directly impacted at least 11 additional nations beyond Iran in the Gulf and even into Europe. It is already spiking the global price of oil and natural gas and roiling markets. Trump has no idea who will replace 86-year old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed on the first day of the new war apparently along with a whole bunch of potential successors. Trump concedes the next leader may be "as bad" as the last one. While the State Dept. warned Americans on Monday (three days after bombing began!) in more than 15 countries to evacuate immediately, airspace is closed, the U.S. is providing Americans no way to get out, embassy staffs have been cut to the bone, many have no Senate-confirmed Ambassador, leaving thousands of Americans stranded. Trump's war is already wildly unpopular among Americans, but even MAGA leaders appear to be turning against it (and maybe him). And the entire campaign now seems almost certain to end in disaster for Iranians and potentially Americans in various ways.

NEXT... The best way to move beyond the nightmare that the U.S. and world have been thrust into under Trump still remains at the ballot box, where it was Election Day today in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas, and where voters are participating in the first statewide primaries of the critical 2026 midterm elections. (Noteworthy results on tomorrow's program.) Beyond that, the Gerrymandering Wars sparked by Trump and Republicans in Texas last year are continuing in the courts this week. Good news out of Virginia, where a state court ruled Monday that the Democratic state Legislature's Special Election set for April 21 for voters to decide if they want to draw a new U.S. House map will go forward, even as GOP challenges to the process continue. The new maps, if adopted, may flip four seats from "red" to "blue" this November. (Early voting in that VA Special Election starts Friday.) But very bad and foreboding news from the wildly corrupt U.S. Supreme Court majority on Monday. They reached into an ongoing court process in the state of New York to block a trial court order that would redraw a U.S. House District in NYC due to the dilution of Black and Hispanic voters on Staten Island and a part of Brooklyn. The case hasn't even reached the state Supreme Court in NY and yet SCOTUS has already stepped in to block it, in violation of their own precedents. This is bad news for several reasons beyond NY, as discussed on today's show.

FINALLY.... Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, kicking off our 17th Anniversary celebration of the world's longest-running (and best!) radio report connecting the climate change dots over your public airwaves! Even with Donald Trump doing his best to undermine humanity and the world, we've still got some very hopeful news to hang our green hats on today! Please tune in! (And please feel free to help us as we head into our 18th year with a much-needed donation! We remain 100% listener supported, thanks only to YOU!)

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As insane as it was, as you may have guessed, we're talking about Tuesday's night State of the Union Address on today's BradCast. But I can say with confidence that today's show is nowhere near as long or insane or angry or boring as that crazy speech last night! [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

As you also may have guessed, we are joined today by our go-to roundtable of progressive old-school bloggers, award-winning Salon columnist and Hullabaloo blogger HEATHER DIGBY PARTON, and co-host of The Professional Left Podcast, the one and only 'DRIFTGLASS'. They are with us for the full hour.

I'm not sure how much I need to tee things up for today's program, especially if you saw what happened last night. If you didn't, we'll give you a good summary at the top of the show, and you won't have to listen to more than a minute or two of Donald Trump's voice thereafter. (You're welcome).

It was, as explained, an angry, racist, ugly, hate-filled State of the Union Address that, at a record length, included astonishingly little of substance and even less that resembled truth or reality. By now, we've come to except no less from a 34-time convicted felon, adjudicate sex abuser and accused rapist of at least one 13-year old girl.

He called Somali Americans living in Minneapolis "pirates"; he called the Mayor of the nation's largest city a "Communist"; he repeatedly called Democrats "crazy" and "sick" and charged they, not he, were "destroying our country". But the most offensive point, at least to me, was likely when he described voting in America as a "privilege", as opposed to what it is: a right for every citizen and one that must be protected. From him.

As also noted, the most important news of Tuesday night may have been the fact that three more Democrats swept Special Elections for state Legislatures in Pennsylvania and Maine yesterday. In PA, in particularly, it was a route, with one candidate winning by 63 points, the other by 35 points. That amounted to two more huge over-performances by Dems, as compared to Kamala Harris' numbers in the same district in 2024. On Tuesday, the swing toward Democrats was by 34 and 17 points respectively, as this year's critical midterm elections are now just 250 days away, with primary voting already underway in several states.

So ddid Trump say anything of importance on Tuesday night? Does any of it really matter? Does the SOTU itself even matter at this point?

Digby doesn't seem to think so. It was "a reality show, a wrestling match, a game show," she argues. "Virtually everything he said was a lie. It was insane. The fact checkers looked like they'd been hit over the head by a 2-by-4."

"This was a spectacle," charges Driftglass. "But it was something out of Imperial Rome. Trump slowed down and reveled in all these gory images of blood and violence. This was ancient, ugly, awful, fascist stuff. This was blood and country and revenge."

Beyond that, we actually had quite a few laughs on today's program, even though we also had to wade through some pretty dark topics, including the news of Trump's DOJ attempting (though now failing?) to hide very serious allegations in the Epstein Files of Trump having raped and assaulted a 13-year old girl.

We also discuss the Democrats response to the speech in the chamber (which seemed to infuriate Trump as his marathon remarks went on...and on) and in Virginia, where, both Digby and Driftglass seem to agree, freshly minted Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivered a very well-considered response on behalf of the party.

"He's bad at fascism, bad at governing, but he's really good at chaos," quips Digby today, as we try to make sense of at least some of that chaos. Wish us luck, and tune in for much, much more...

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We've got a lot to get to on today's BradCast. While much of our coverage may seem like a grab bag from the headlines above, you'll find there is a central theme at its heart. I think. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our coverage today...

• We begin with the darkest news, so things can only get brighter from there, right? The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, keepers of the notorious "Doomsday Clock" reveal their latest adjustment, ticking the metaphorical timepiece from last year's 89 seconds to midnight, to just 85 seconds to humanity's end this year. The group of science advocates cited increasing risk of nuclear warfare, worsening human-caused climate change (Donald Trump was singled out there) and other threats to civilization itself, such as the misuse of biotechnology and artificial intelligence.

• Buffoonish, Nazi-ish U.S. Customs and Border Patrol chief enforcement clown, Gregory Bovino, is pushed out following the latest killing of another U.S. citizen over the weekend in his violent, chaotic Minneapolis operation. New villains are rotated in by the White House, even as Trump appears to try and play nice with his mortal enemies, Minnesota's Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

• But there are even more signs that the courageous people of Minneapolis are winning this one, even if the battle is far from over. The chief federal judge in Minnesota (a George W. Bush appointee) has ordered in-person testimony from the Acting Director of ICE, after the Administration has repeatedly failed to comply with court orders regarding immigrant rights. The judge has ordered him to explain why he should not be held in contempt by the court.

• Trump's corrupt U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's thuggish letter to Minnesota's Gov. Walz --- sent to the state just after the border patrol agent execution of 37-year old VA ICU nurse and U.S. citizen Alex Pretti over the weekend --- landed with a thud, after she essentially suggested the federal immigration crackdown would end only if the state turned over its voter roll data to the federal government. Voting rights and election law experts described the move as "reprehensible". Bondi has sued some 23 states who refused to comply with the demand. Two weeks ago, a federal judge in California dismissed the DOJ's lawsuit against the state, finding it "unprecedented and illegal". Last week, a judge in Georgia dismissed the lawsuit in the Peach State. And yesterday, a federal judge in Oregon dismissed the DOJ's suit there. In the meantime, MN Sec. of State Steve Simon has explained that he has no intention of violating state or federal law to answer Bondi's "ransom note".

• As we covered last week, a recent federal review of nearly 50 million voter registrations found zero evidence of widespread fraud by noncitizens on the voter rolls in state after state, county after county. In a new report late last week, out of more than two million active voter registrations in Utah, the state was able to find just one single noncitizen on its rolls. The state found that the person never voted and has since been removed from the rolls. Utah is another state that has correctly refused to turn over its unredacted voter data to Bondi and the DOJ.

• In news from the front lines of the Trump/GOP Gerrymandering Wars, Democrats in Maryland are now moving ahead with a plan to draw a new map designed to flip the state's last remaining Republican U.S. House district from "red" to "blue". And a state judge in Virginia, just before airtime today, declared the effort by state Democrats to adopt a constitutional amendment to redraw its U.S. House map to flip as many as 4 or 5 seats from "red" to "blue" this year to be unlawful. Proponents of the measure accuse Republican opponents as forum shopping for a friendly judge and vow to appeal his ruling.

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report following the weekend's deadly winter storm across much of the U.S.; as House Republicans vote to overturn a decades-long ban on toxic mining in MN; as Michigan's Attorney General sues the Big Oil "cartel"; and as a judge blocks Trump's attempt to withhold funding for a national EV charging network adopted by Democrats under President Biden...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Insured losses from wildfires, storms and floods hit new record high in 2025; National disaster declared as wildfires ravage southern Chile; Torrential rains and deadly floods inundate parts of South Africa; PLUS: Federal courts continue to reject Trump's irrational attack on American offshore wind energy... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Why your power bill is spiking faster than a nearby data center's; Trump Is Winning the Fight Against Offshore Wind Despite Court Losses; Clean Energy Advocates Criticize 'Glaring' Omission in White House Plan to Fuel Data Centers in PJM Region; After Helene, rural North Carolina turns to solar and battery hubs... PLUS: The past is an underused tool': An Elizabethan mansion's secrets for staying warm... and much, MUCH more! ...

If it weren't for a handful of Democrats caving Sunday night in the U.S. Senate, we'd have spent the full hour on today's BradCast discussing last week's remarkable election victories for both the party and, more importantly, for democracy, voting rights and elections themselves. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Such as it is, however, today show is a bit bifurcated.

FIRST UP... We're joined by journalist ALEX BURNESS of Bolts Magazine. The outlet did their usual yeoman's job of covering not just the topline election contests you may have heard about, but hundreds of other smaller or more under-the-radar elections in more than 30 states last week that you likely haven't heard as much or even anything about.

Today we focus with Burness on his article last week covering five different ways that last week's off-year elections will reverberate moving forward on issues like mail voting, felony disenfranchisement, mid-decade gerrymandering and related election matters in at least five states. In almost every case --- from redistricting in California and Virginia, to restoring felony voting rights in Virginia, to a Photo ID initiative in Maine, to election scheduling in New York, to "the backstop of democracy" in Pennsylvania --- the news for voters and voting rights advocates was very good indeed. (Texas was, as usual, like a whole 'nother country. Tune in for those details.)

THEN... We turn back to the federal government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history, following last week's enormous wins for Democrats at the polls in state after state; Donald Trump's approval rating at all-time, historic lows; and clear pluralities of Americans blaming Republicans for the shutdown, as Democrats were seen as united in their fight to restore trillions of dollars in health care cuts for millions of Americans (to the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and even Medicare) made by Trump and the GOP.

With that backdrop and the wind very much at the backs of the Dems in this fight on Sunday night, seven Democratic Senators --- Tim Kaine (VA), Dick Durbin (IL), John Fetterman (PA), Maggie Hassan (NH), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), and Jacky Rosen (NV) --- and one independent who caucuses with them (ME's Angus King), decided this would be the perfect time to undercut their own caucus by jumping ship to vote with Senate Republicans to allow them to reopen the government. None of the eight turncoats are facing reelection next year.

What did they get for Dems in return? The promise of a vote in the Senate, perhaps in December, on restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies. That's it. No promise of a similar vote in the U.S. House (where Republicans control the majority anyway), and no promise that Trump would even sign such a bill if the GOP allowed passage in both chambers.

In other words, at least as I see it, those 7+1 Dems got nothing in exchange for their votes, and the rest of the caucus, in both the Senate and House, is reportedly furious about it. On the other hand, thousands of federal workers will be paid again and the critical Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will now eventually be restarted...albeit at lower levels following Trump and the GOP slashing some $180 billion from the program in their so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" over the Summer.

You'll note that Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is not among those who voted on Sunday night in favor of reopening the government. He voted against it. But, of course, those seven Dems would not have moved forward without his approval. Or, if they did, it's just more evidence of what an awful Leader he is for the Party right now, and how much he needs to be both replaced as Leader in the Senate immediately and primaried out of the Senate entirely next year.

That's my take anyway. At the end of today's show we have time for just a few callers. At least one of them sees things somewhat differently --- at least, sees a brighter side to all of this --- and, for the record, notes that the Government reopening also means that there will (or should) soon be a bipartisan vote on releasing the full Epstein Files in the U.S. House. We'll see if that comes about as the week proceeds. I'm not yet holding my breath...

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Today on The BradCast: Analysis (and giddiness) continues amid the fallout from Election 2025, during which the bottom appeared to drop out for Team Trump --- at least for now --- pretty much everywhere that voters turned out in some 30 states holding off-year local or statewide elections. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

We're joined today by listener faves and fellow old-school bloggers HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Digby's Hullabaloo and 'DRIFTGLASS' of the Professional Left Podcast in the wake of Tuesday's remarkable elections, in which Democrats and other anti-Trump voters made their opposition to the failed first year of the second Donald Trump presidency crystal clear --- even to Republicans who care to take notice.

Not only did Democratic candidates --- from the left to the center --- win, so did ballot initiatives supported by them. And, not only did they all win, they all won by huge margins in virtually every jurisdiction across the country holding elections on Tuesday, in both high and low profile contests and ballot initiatives from Maine to New York City to New Jersey to Virginia to Georgia to Mississippi to Pennsylvania to California and beyond.

"Trump and Trumpism, and this style of politics that he has brought into the Republican Party, the cult of personality that has been dominating our country over the last decade --- I think we can see a light at the end of the tunnel here," Digby argues. "Trump is now officially a lame duck. It's earlier than people thought it would be. It sent a shock-wave, I think, through the Republican Party that he's on his way out. And now, let the games begin. Because the fighting within the Republican Party is going to be a glorious thing to see."

"I was surprised how deep the coattails were, how deep the 'blue' ran in all these elections," observes Driftglass. "I am very confident now that a bunch of 'blue' states can redistrict with confidence." Rooting on Texas Republicans to please proceed with their gerrymandering, he continues: "Please, go ahead and do that. Because I think they did not understand that lots of large blocks of voters were not theirs permanently. We saw huge shifts in almost every demographic [on Tuesday]. 'Blue' won everywhere. And that should send a signal to Democrats everywhere it's okay to take risks, it's okay to be who you are, say what you believe and swing for the fences, because that is now being rewarded."

Among the many related and unrelated topics discussed today...

• The death and legacy of Dick Cheney.
• The announced retirement (next year) and legacy of Nancy Pelosi.
• The fallout from the surprising results of Election 2025.
• The media failures in the leadup to the election.
• The ridiculous, cowardly failure of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York (and other "leading" Dems) to endorse the young, charismatic Democratic sensation, now NYC Mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani.
• Are those establishment Dems more afraid Mamdani will fail? Or that he will succeed?
• Who's more of a socialist, Mamdani or Trump?
• Does Trump even know what "socialism" means, much less "communism"? (Much less whatever fairly moderate and measured affordability measures Mamdani ran on in his NYC campaign?)
• The D.C. Sandwich Guy is found "not guilty" of misdemeanor assault with a deadly hero. ("That's a 'wrap'," quips Driftglass. "Another example of the Trump Administration not knowing how courts work.")
• After Gov. Gavin Newsom's Prop 50 redistricting measure's resounding success in California on Tuesday, will other Dem Governors follow suit?
• Will Trump-ordered mid-decade GOP gerrymanders come back to haunt them next year?
• Will Tuesday's results finally bring Republicans any closer to ending the federal government shutdown?

And more! Including Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report on the critical climate races in Tuesday's elections and Brazil's successful climate fight against deforestation under its new President...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Democrats win in key climate races in the 2025 Elections; Climate change raised in Supreme Court oral arguments over Trump's 'emergency' tariffs; PLUS: Brazil's fight against deforestation is paying climate dividends... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): India's Ganga River drying at unprecedented levels; What the last gas boom (and bust) says about today's rush to build; Trailer: The White House Effect; Fishermen missing in Vietnam as Philippines mourns dead from Typhoon Kalmaegi; FAA reducing air traffic by 10% across 40 'high-volume' markets during government shutdown; Brazil launches plan to scale climate finance to $1.3 trillion a year... PLUS: Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity... and much, MUCH more! ...

We've covered a lot of Election Nights on The BradCast over the years. But it's difficult, if not impossible, to remember one where Democrats (and anti-GOP, anti-Trump voters) won pretty much everything in every corner of the country. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

True, it was an off-year election. Only about eight states even had statewide contests. But there were also local races in about 30 states. And, wherever voters voted, Team Trump lost on Tuesday. Badly. From "blue" California, to "purple" Virginia, to rural Maine, to battleground Pennsylvania, to deep "red" Mississippi and everywhere in between. And they lost by a lot in almost every case, whether it was for a candidate or an initiative on the ballot.

We run through as many reported results as we can fit in today --- both high profile contests and some that were deep under the radar --- before sharing an excerpt of the electrifying victory speech from Democratic New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who just blew the roof off the Brooklyn Paramount Theater with one of the best victory speeches I have ever seen. Actually, one of the best political speeches, of any kind, I have ever seen.

Then we're joined by longtime progressive journalist and author JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation magazine, where has been covering Mamdani, and many other progressives up and down the ballot --- along with the more centrist candidates in between --- for many months now, during the run-up to Tuesday's elections: the first time since Donald Trump took office for his failing second term that voters have been able to register their opinions about him at the ballot box in a whole bunch of states at once.

"We have had so many conversations where we are trying to find the straw" of good news following an election, Nichols observes, referencing our many post-election conversations. "But now we are in the bizarre, reverse position where, when you look across the entire United States, you are very hard pressed to find any disappointing results. And the reason for that is pretty simple. Donald Trump, a year after his election, nine months into his second presidency, it has been an unmitigated disaster."

"Last night, you got the confirmation that across this country, from New York to Virginia, to New Jersey to California --- but also to Mississippi, where they took away the Republican supermajority in the state Senate; to Georgia, where they were winning Public Service Commissions that they never win; to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Mayoral races in Iowa --- it was just across the board that Democrats won and won and won."

Beyond that, however, there are a lot of details to discuss, regarding why it happened and what message both Republicans and Dems need to take from what happened on Tuesday and, in particular, from the landslide election of the charismatic, 34-year old, Ugandan-born, Muslim, Democratic socialist immigrant whose charm offensive, good humor and promises of a tangible Affordability Agenda for NYC have now made him its next Mayor. And how, incredibly, it is even possible that many establishment Democratic Party leaders --- including U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York --- couldn't bring themselves to endorse the Democratic nominee for Mayor of NYC.

Are they most fearful that Mamdani will be a failure? Or that he will be a success?

We discuss all of that and much more on today's BradCast...

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As the Federal Government shutdown enters its second month --- now almost certain to become the longest in U.S. history --- it's Election Day tomorrow in the first major elections since our ridiculous and criminal President's disastrous second term began ten hellishly long months ago. It is the first chance for a whole lotta folks to ring in on what theythink of this President and his corrupted Party. So, this week on The BradCast, we continue to keep our eyes on both tomorrow's major off-year elections in several states and next year's critical midterms in all 50, as that election is also already underway in more ways than one. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Tuesday is the last day to vote in statewide elections for Governor and the state House of Delegates/Representatives in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively; Mayor in New York City; and for (or against) Prop 50 in California, among other contests of note that we've been discussing and/or previewing in recent days on the program.

After a few news headlines today, we zero in on the Prop 50 statewide ballot referendum in CA, asking voters if they would like to temporarily allow the state to set aside the U.S. House map drawn by CA's Independent Redistricting Commission in order to allow the Democratic state legislature to create a new one meant to flip five Republican seats to Democratic next year. That effort is in direct response to the Republican state Legislature in Texas, earlier this year, gerrymandering their already-gerrymandered Congressional map to steal five Democratic U.S. House seats for Republicans next year at the orders of Donald Trump who, justifiably, believes his Party will otherwise lose their slim House majority next year due to their terrible, unpopular policies.

(I also share today my amusing, bemusing and confusing experience in the parking lot of an L.A. County Voting Center on Sunday, where I went to vote and was troubled to notice a County voting system IT support truck with TEXAS license plates on it?! WTF?!)

Following TX's gross mid-decade gerrymander over the summer and CA's response to it, Republicans in Missouri and North Carolina have also drawn new Congressional maps to steal two more seats from Democrats next year. So, Virginia Democrats --- in the midst of their statewide election for the entire House of Delegates --- announced a complicated, surprise plan just over a week ago that, if successful, could flip as many as three U.S. House seats in the Old Dominion from "red" to "blue" next year. It's a complicated scheme in VA, requiring two affirmative votes by two consecutive sessions of the State Legislature and then approval from voters on a statewide ballot referendum next year. All in time to redraw VA's Congressional map before primaries begin next year.

Last week, Virginia Dems in the Legislature successfully completed Phase One of the plan, as the measure was adopted by the Senate on Friday, following approval by the House two days earlier. To proceed to Phase Two, Dems must retain their majority in the 100 seat state House on Tuesday, which they currently control with just 51 votes.

Also last week, Ohio's bipartisan redistricting commission redrew the Buckeye State's U.S. House map to make it harder --- but not impossible --- for two Democratic Congressmembers to hold on to their seats in the 2026 midterms.

We break down all the new details on all of those latest battles in the Gerrymandering Wars today (and some of the battles still to come), before opening the phones to listeners here in our live Southern California listening area for their last chance before Election Day to make the case for or against Prop 50 and more...

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